by Christy Shorey and you

ARCHIVE: NOV. 14 edited for spelling and grammar

2459 words

Logan sat on the bed in the room that Lacey had put his suitcase. Her friend, Lional, had set up the nightstand somewhat carelessly in the corner, even after having been told that it was a valuable piece. Logan suspected that might have actually been the reason for its rough treatment; Logan got the distinct impression that Lional didn't like the idea of him moving in with Lacey. No doubt he worried that Logan would take advantage of her, walking all over her offer for aid.

Logan had done his best to assure him that his situation was temporary, that he was in fact looking for a job. The broad-shouldered man had glared down at him for a minute, then said "I hear there's a position of some kind open at the university English department." Logan had thanked him for the tip, and promised he'd look into in the morning.

It amazed Logan that his new host seemed so laid back about everyone knowing a different side of her- that she seemed to have no problem switching from one persona to another. He had watched the subtle change come over her when Lional had appeared, and then that facade drop as soon as he had left the place.

Over dinner he had Lacey had talked about inconsequential things - until the conversation had turned to dreams. He was quite certain that they were not sharing dreams, but couldn't share his reasons with her - not yet. He was still uncertain of her motives, however pure they may seem.

He moved across the room and checked the door for a lock. He was simultaneously reassured when he found one, and awash with guilt for even checking.   Still, he would wait until she was asleep before checking that the device built in to the nightstand was intact. He would try to follow her suggestion for a few weeks, to determine who she was, and what her agenda was. In the very least, until the lock on his door was repaired, which the landlord had said would be at least three days.

And he would have to be careful about viewing dreams while he was here. He knew the nightstand reacted when he was in a dream, viewing it with the original dreamer, then stealing it away from their memory into the banks of the device for deep inspection later. But the truth was he wasn't sure how the device worked, exactly. He had built in mostly during times that he had been lost in memories of previous lives. It had been exciting and terrifying to wake up and find the device had changed while he had been absent, out of control of his body. When it was complete, he wasn't even sure what it did for several months, when his past selves finally "walked" him through the process by bombarding him with memories. He was uncertain if any past self had achieved the completed device, or if this was the culmination of lifetimes of work, of trial and error, to creating the device - but either way he was determined to not miss out on his chance to utilize it to find the terror that haunted him across time.

He lay down, and worried that his abrupt exit at dinner would lead to questions in the morning. He formulated in his mind possible replies to the inquiries. But he knew he was in no state to talk to Lacey again tonight. It was hard enough to keep from exclaiming that it couldn't have been a shared dream simply because he didn't dream. Something about this girl unsettled his balance - and that is why he couldn't find it in him to trust her.

Finally he heard her go to her room, and prepare for bed. He got up and locked the door. Working by the light from a streetlight that poured through his window, he checked the device. It appeared to be in good working order. He turned in on, and placed the necklace in its holder. Before he activated it, he did a quick search and removed Lacey from the list of potential dreamers to "borrow" dreams from. Just in case.

****

Dresden rubbed his eyes, and tried to focus on the text in front of him. With a sigh, he gave up, and marked his place in the books he had spread out on the table in front of him. When Margot had suggested he work for her, he had assumed that it would all be handyman tasks like those he did the first night, but when she discovered his interest in fantasy and lore, she had put him to more academic tasks as well.  

Kyle walked in and handed him a cup of coffee. Dresden shook his head. "I'm worthless now, the words have stopped making sense. I think I'm going to go home."

"I hate when that happens," Kyle said. "The words bit, not you going home."

Dresden gave a smile. After coming over to Margot's house for nearly three weeks, Kyle's comments had finally ceased to surprise him. The boy wasn't the brightest crayon in the box, but he was dedicated to helping Margot, and occasionally had brief flashes of incredible insight that surprised everyone.

"Yeah," Dresden said, standing into a stretch. "Is Margot in bed already," he said, noticing it was half past eleven.

Kyle nodded. "She went in to change around nine. She had a long day. She said it was very frustrating."

Dresden nodded. "I know how she feels. Will you make sure that these bookmarks stay in place, and please put the books on the top of the stacks? I'm still working with them."

"Sure."

Dresden grabbed his jacket, and headed for the door. "Well, I'll see you tomorrow, Kyle. Have a good night. Be sure to lock the door behind me."

Dresden let himself out, and waited for a few moments until he heard the deadbolt slide in to place.   He shrugged into his jacket, and headed towards his car. As he drove home, he realized that his suspension from the school would be ending the day after tomorrow. He had meant to tell Margot before he left, but resolved to tell her in the morning. He wasn't sure that she would still want to pay him for his time, but he was so engrossed with the research now, that he didn't want to just abandon it. Maybe she would let him come over and help out after work, if he could convince her that he really didn't want to be compensated for it.

Actually, for someone suspended from work, he wasn't too bad off financially. Guido had managed to open a shoe store in an out of the way, but popular shopping strip, and after being open only a week, had told Dresden that the shop was such a hit, and that the merchandise that Dresden had "so graciously contributed as an investment" to the start up business had pulled in so much money, that Guido told him that Dresden didn't need to worry about rent any longer, and had given him a check for the first cut of profit at the end of the first week for three hundred dollars. "It was five," the smaller man had explained while making an omelet "but I figured you'd want to keep investing, so the other two went back into the store."

He would tell Margot tomorrow about that, too. She had come home exhausted from her day at the medical center, and he had barely seen her, as his nose was buried in a particularly interesting text. He also had some promising leads for lore regarding the transformation of creatures, and of humans, between forms and between genders. He still wasn't clear exactly what he was searching for, so it made things difficult, but Margot had been encouraging of his work thus far. And when she smiled at him for some sentence he found in an obscure text, well, that made it all worth it.

****

There was a knock on the door, and Lacey looked up from her sketchpad. January was in the door, looking excited. "I got a really cool scholarship, it pays for books and stuff, and it just paid out today. I guess it pays to study," she said with a big grin. "You got time? I've been looking forward to this for weeks!"

Lacey nodded, and waved January in. As the girl sat in the chair, Lacey pulled her file. "You still want that dark man on next?"

"Oh yes, definitely. I can't tell you how excited I am. I've been telling all my friends about it. Most of then roll their eyes, you know, but I just can't wait."

Lacey pulled the image she had drawn weeks before, looking at the dark lines for the first time since she had shown it to Logan. She traced the outline of the image that still inexplicably visited her dreams. "You want me to do you a new sketch? I can-"

"No!" January cried. "I want it just like that. Now shoo so I can get ready. I still have class this afternoon."

Lacey gave a small smile, and left the room. She was looking at image as she wandered out into the lobby area.

"The little lady was insistent," Rocky said from behind the counter. "Sorry, honey, I would have warned you if I could."

"It's okay." Lacey said, and looked up to give him a smile.

"You sure, you look pretty beat. Well, more drained than tired, I'd say. Did your brother have another fight with your parents?"

Lacey gave a small nod. "Not big, but I think they're getting on each other's nerves now."

"I'm READY!"

Rocky gave a laugh. "She sure is eager today."

"Um-hum." Lacey said, and wandered back to the room. January was practically bouncing on the seat when she got in.

"Thank god. I thought you'd forgotten me."

Lacey ignored the comment and set up the inks. January didn't really notice her lack of speaking, as she was super chatty. As Lacey cleaned the spot for the next part of the tattoo, she found her mind wandering back to the dreams.

Logan had moved in over three weeks before, and she was sure that the dreams had been telling her to find him, even if he wouldn't agree to it. But apparently finding him wasn't enough. Neither was it enough for fates for him to have given up his place to permanently move in with her, nor carefully arranging their schedules to ensure that he had the fewest episodes of flashbacks from his previous life as possible.

She had insisted that they test her strange ability to act as a buffer between him and the flashbacks, and he had reluctantly agreed. After some testing, they determined it was her touch, not just her presence, that pulled him out of the memories. Something that has surprised both of them was that the occurrence of the memories lessened after time that they had physical contact. So they had arranged a schedule that had been awkward at first, and still had Logan making faces sometimes, where she would hold his hand, or sit so they were in contact, for at least an hour before they went to their respective jobs, and then again at lunch- which they had arranged to take together every day.

But still he showed up in her dreams, and more and more it seemed the dark figure was seeking help, not just making appearances in her regular dreams. But she didn't know what else she could do to help Logan. He had managed to keep conversation to a minimum during his stay at her place, and she was starting to get frustrated with him. Granted, she hadn't exactly opened up about her past, but the only things he would talk about were the flashbacks (when she wasn't around to pull him out of them, or on those occasions when he told her he wanted to see what they had to show him), and the growing feeling that the person or thing that had doomed him to this life was getting inexorably closer.

She gave a sigh, and finished off January's newest addition to the tattoo. She stepped out of the room to let her get dressed, and was surprised to see Logan standing in the hall.

"You okay," she asked, and he shook his head no.

"Memory?" she whispered, and he nodded, putting his hand to his head. His eyes were still blue, but they were loosing focus on the present. She grabbed his arm, and led him to the front of the tattoo parlor. "I have to ring up a customer," she said, looking around. Rocky was in the back with a customer of his own, and had left the "please ring bell for service," sign on the counter. She led Logan behind the counter with her, said. "You can sit here, behind me."

When January came out of the room she was giggling. "I'm SO excited. I bet this looks AWESOME. Oh!"

Lacey ignored her exclamation, and gave her the total for the work. January was staring at Logan, who sat on the stool, his hand casually resting on Lacey's shoulder.

"But... Oh my GOD. Lacey! You didn't tell me. Oh!"

Lacey felt Logan shifting on the stool behind her, obviously uncomfortable with the attention, and she repeated the price for the tattoo.

January shook her head. "Oh, right." she said, and handed over the money. As Lacey leaned forward to get it, she whispered, "He's not... I mean, you and Erin are still doing okay, right?"

Lacey gave her client a smile. "We're fine. He's a friend of mine. He wants to learn the tattoo business, so I offered to let him shadow me. But he's actually really shy."

January nodded, then looked back at Logan. "I, um, I'm really sorry about your newspapers that day. I've given up coffee, actually, since then."

"Oh, really?" Logan said, "That's nice."

Lacey watched January leave, then turned back to Logan. "There's no need to be so sarcastic."

Logan arched his eyebrows. "That was sarcastic? I was going for shy."

She narrowed her eyes at him. She knew he didn't like to be dragged into her lies, but he had usually taken them in stride. "Don't start with that," she said. "You were the one who showed up two hours early."

"Whose fault is that? You were the one running late this morning, we barely got twenty minutes in," he countered.

"Fine," she said with a sigh, and grabbed his hand, leading him to the room January had just vacated.