Desire in Frost

  Copyright © 2016 Alicia Rades

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any matter whatsoever without written permission from the author except in brief quotations used in articles and reviews.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Published by PaperPlane Publishing.

  Produced in the United States of America.

  Cover design by Clarissa Yeo.

  ISBN: 978-0-9914693-7-6

  To Heather Wuske, who has been a cheerleader to my writing for years.

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Acknowledgements

  About the Author

  1

  I knew the nightmare was coming before I closed my eyes. The same vision had been haunting my dreams for nearly a month, but as the weeks passed, I only witnessed it more frequently. By now, I was seeing Hope’s abduction in my mind almost every night. I didn’t want to face him again. I didn’t want to feel Hope’s terror as she was taken away. But I couldn’t fight the fatigue any longer. I let my eyes droop, and then I drifted.

  ***

  A hand clamped around my mouth, and my eyes shot open. My heart skipped a terrifying beat, and I began sweating under my covers. I wanted to open my mouth to scream, but the shadowed figure pressed down too hard against my face. Nothing came out.

  An index finger hovered over the assailant’s mouth, warning me that if I didn’t stay quiet, there would be trouble. The room was eerily dark, but the moonlight outside my window illuminated a strip of his face. All I saw were green eyes staring back at me and the faint outline of his form cloaked in a black hoodie.

  He picked me up gently from my bed, wrapping his arms around me, but he managed to keep one hand pressed against my mouth. It wasn’t the comforting kind of hug my mother shared with me but the unfamiliar and terrifying kind I wanted to squirm away from. My six-year-old body was light, and I knew I couldn’t fight my way out of this. I thought about screaming again so my mother would come to rescue me, but I was too petrified to make a sound. I didn’t know what else to do. All I knew was that I couldn’t fight him off. My body shook in fear, and a tear fell down my cheek. I prayed the stranger wouldn’t hurt me.

  The man cradled me in his arms and crawled back through my window the way he came. The pink lace curtains brushed against the top of my head as he pushed us both through the narrow space. He paused for a moment and released his grip on my mouth, but I was too frightened to make a peep. What was going to happen to me if I did? I didn’t want to know the answer to that.

  He quickly but quietly hurried across my yard toward the street, placing me in the front seat of a car I didn’t recognize and shutting the door behind me. I caught a glimpse of myself in the side mirror. My young freckled face stared back at me with big chocolate eyes.

  ***

  My blue eyes shot open. I breathed a sigh of relief, glad the nightmare was over again. My body was drenched in sweat, my heart was racing, and my covers were kicked to the foot of the bed. That’s how it always was when I woke from this nightmare.

  Like every morning this happened, I found myself wondering why. Why did I keep having the same dream about Hope without any new information to find her? This was one of the first dreams I’d had since I found out I was psychic a few weeks ago. If I had known what was happening then, I may have been able to save her. But the fact of the matter was that I didn’t know what was happening then, and I was still confused, especially now that I was seeing something that happened weeks ago. My powers were supposed to help me find Hope, weren’t they? So why weren’t they giving me anything new to work with? All I saw was everything the police already knew.

  I recalled the night of the Peyton Springs Halloween Festival when I visited my mom’s fiancé, Teddy, at the police station. He knew my secret, so he asked if I could help find Hope. I remembered the way I felt and how my heart fell inside my chest when I looked at her picture. I recognized her.

  “This girl went missing from her home recently,” Teddy had told me. “Her name is Hope Ross. Of course, we’re working with some larger departments on the case, but no one has made much leeway. The first 48 hours are crucial in an investigation like this, and we’ve already hit that time limit, but we still don’t know much. We don’t even know if she’s still alive, but we’re hopeful. I was wondering if maybe you could help us crack the case.”

  “I hope so,” I remember telling him. “You’ll have to give me some time, but I can tell you that I know she’s still alive.” I didn’t know how I knew, but a flash of her face told me she was still breathing. Even weeks later, I still believed that wholeheartedly.

  But I’ve spent too much time searching for her in my dreams! I cursed the universe. I kept seeing the same scene over and over with no new information that could lead me to her whereabouts. Since the police still hadn’t found her, I was her only hope.

  I curled into a ball on my bed and let a tear fall from my eye. I’d already helped people by using my newfound abilities, but I couldn’t control them well yet. I could see minor things about people when I tried, but I could never see what I really wanted to see. With Hope, I didn’t even know where to begin.

  I’d tried different techniques, like looking into my crystal ball. Teddy even managed to snag one of Hope’s beanie babies from her room—totally illegal, I know—so that I could touch something of Hope’s and find her. So far, my gift of psychometry—finding things—was limited to lost books, CDs, and games of hide and seek. I didn’t think I’d ever be able to find a person with this method.

  Even when Teddy and I turned to Mom and her business partners, Sophie and Diane, who were also psychic, they hadn’t seen anything. For some reason, my gift was stronger than all three of theirs put together. None of us knew why, but I had a theory. See, I’d only found out that I was psychic a few weeks ago, thanks to my mom hiding it from me for 15 years in hopes that I’d end up normal, but my abilities manifested on their own anyway. Looking back on it, I knew I had it in me all along. Maybe all the time I spent suppressing it and not knowing about it made it build up inside of me or something.

  Without any concrete help from my mom and her friends, it was like everything that Hope was—and is—was frozen in time the night of her abduction.

  A knock rapped at my bedroom door. “Crystal,” my mom said gently. Without waiting for an answer, she opened my door a crack. “Are you awake?”

  I quickly dashed the tear away before she could see me crying. I had told her I’d embraced my abilities. I didn’t want her thinking I couldn’t handle them.

  “If you don’t get up soon, you’re going to be—sweetheart, what’s wrong?”

  I was never good at hiding my emotions, especially from my mother or my best friend Emma. I hated bothering my mom with my troubles. I mean, I knew she would help me and all, and she’d be more than supportive, but on some level, I felt
like it was my responsibility.

  I shrugged. Lying was out of the question. She knew me far too well, so I simply didn’t say anything.

  “Crystal, sweetie,” my mom said. She crossed my room and sat at the end of my bed.

  I rose to sit beside her. She took me in her arms and stroked my long dirty blonde hair. This only encouraged my emotions to run, and I sobbed into her arms. It felt like we had done this too many times since I’d discovered my powers, but I was glad she understood and could relate since she was psychic, too. The problem was that her abilities never seemed to give insight into the same situations as mine did, so she couldn’t exactly help me on that end.

  She didn’t say anything; instead, she let me have my moment. When I was ready, I took a deep breath.

  “It’s Hope again, isn’t it?” she asked.

  I nodded. “I just can’t figure it out.” My voice cracked. “Like, what’s the point of having this gift if it isn’t leading me anywhere? I feel like I should have found her by now, but she just feels so far away.”

  “Crystal,” my mother said with a tone of reassurance. “Our abilities aren’t perfect. We’re often shown what we need to see.”

  “But that’s just it, Mom. I’ve seen the same thing night after night, and I’m not seeing anything new!”

  My mother sighed. “Maybe you’re just not looking hard enough.” She gave me a look as if to say, That’s a good point, you know.

  At first, I didn’t believe her, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized she was right. I was always looking at the facts that were staring me in the face. I never took a chance to forget Hope’s fears and really look at the peripheral of the scene. Maybe it was a good idea to open up to my mom more often so she could give me more insight like this. I thought about her suggestion—to look deeper—and wanted to try it, to see if I could pinpoint exactly what I was missing, but I didn’t have a chance to investigate right now. I was going to be late for school if I didn’t get my butt in gear.

  I thanked my mother for her support and suggestion and then shooed her out of my room. I quickly got ready for school without bothering with makeup. I added my owl necklace—the one Teddy had given me when he proposed to my mom a couple of weeks ago—as a final touch.

  At lunch that day, I found my seat next to Emma and Derek. I caught a glimpse of Kelli and Justine one table over and waved to them. After I used my psychic gift to rescue Kelli from an abusive relationship—with Justine’s help—I’d grown close enough to them that I wasn’t just an underclassman anymore. I was, on some level, a friend. Kelli smiled back at me. She seemed so happy now that Nate was gone. His mom didn’t pull strings at the courthouse like we thought she would. She sent him to live with his dad instead so Kelli would be safe from him during his probation period, and hopefully long after. I could see it in her eyes that she was doing a lot better.

  “You are so lucky,” Emma raved.

  I thought she was going to say something about how cool my abilities were again, something I had only told the people close to me. Sure, they seemed pretty awesome at times, but with the mystery of Hope Ross’s abduction hanging over my head, I still had my uncertainties.

  “How am I lucky?” I asked.

  Derek looked at me like I’d just asked the dumbest question in the world. “You’re kidding, right?” he asked. “You’re leaving for Florida in the morning and get the whole week of Thanksgiving off. We only get two measly days off.”

  I must have lost track of the days because I hadn’t realized it was already Friday. I hadn’t even started packing yet. Sure, I was really looking forward to lazing on the sand at my future step-grandparents’ beachside home, but I was afraid the trip would only complicate things with the responsibilities I felt toward Hope.

  “Oh, yeah,” I said flatly. I couldn’t help it when a hint of uncertainty leaked into my tone. “Lucky.”

  2

  “Emma,” I complained. “I don’t need this many outfits for just one week.”

  Emma was digging through my closet after school and tossing everything she thought I “needed” for my Thanksgiving vacation into a pile on my bed. Derek sat in my desk chair and laughed at us.

  “Besides,” I said, “we’ll be in the car for most of the trip, so I should pack, like, athletic shorts or something comfortable, not all three of my swimsuits.” I picked up my one piece and held it out to her as if that would explain my irritation.

  “Oh, come on,” Emma insisted. “You’re going to be lying on the beach. You need a swimsuit so you can come back all tan. Why not this one?” Emma reached into my closet and held up the bright pink bikini she made me buy when we were shopping together last summer.

  “A bikini? I’ve never even worn that thing. You’re the one who made me buy it.”

  Emma rolled her eyes and tossed it back into my closet. “Yeah, so you could wear it for something like a trip to Florida.”

  “Why not this one?” I asked, holding up my tankini. “It’s still a two-piece but a little more appropriate.”

  “Fine,” Emma said. “Bring that one along, but I’m going to sneak your bikini in your bag anyway. You can leave your one-piece here.” Emma shifted through some more clothes. “You might as well wear a sun dress while you’re down there, too.”

  I sighed. “Okay. One sundress. I don’t need four of them!” I didn’t even know I had four sundresses. I reached for one of the dresses and placed it back on its hanger.

  “Are you guys hungry?” Derek asked, running his fingers through his brown hair. “I’m hungry. Mind if I make us some sandwiches or something?”

  My friends never had to ask to raid my kitchen. I nodded. “Sure. Sounds great.”

  Derek left the room.

  I gazed at Emma as she watched him leave. Her eyes fixed on him, and her lips parted slightly and curled up at the ends, almost forming into a smile. When she turned back toward me, I was grinning in a teasing manner.

  “What?” she asked defensively.

  “Oh, don’t think I didn’t see that. You are so hot for him. I don’t think I should ever leave you two alone,” I laughed.

  “Whatever,” Emma said a little too high pitched. “I am not.”

  I kept my eyes fixed on her.

  Emma crinkled her nose. Whenever she did that, it made her look like a chipmunk. “Is he cute? Okay, maybe a little. Is he, like, super nice? Yeah. But do I like him?” She paused. “But it’s not me we should be talking about, Crystal. Are you okay?”

  Emma caught me off guard.

  I quickly dropped to my closet and pulled my duffel bag from the corner. “Yeah, I’m fine. Why?” My eyebrow began twitching. Emma knew that happened when I lied, so I always tried to turn away from her when I did. But I was a terrible liar. She could hear the dishonesty in my voice. I was sure of it.

  “Crystal, we’ve known each other our whole lives. I can tell when something is bothering you.” She paused for my response, but when I didn’t say anything, she continued. “It’s Hope again, isn’t it?”

  I finally turned to her and bit my lip. I’d confided with Emma about my dreams, but I never thought she’d be able to help me. Emma was thrilled about my abilities, and even though she wasn’t born with the same gift, she’d been practicing “getting in touch with her inner psychic,” as she called it. She came over almost every day for our “psychic exercises,” her words, not mine, which consisted mostly of yoga and meditation.

  As my mom explained, everyone is born with a sort of psychic ability, and all it took was practice—unless you were born with a stronger connection to the other side, like me.

  Sometimes Emma would tell me more about things she read up on regarding the supernatural. I wasn’t always sure what information to trust, so I’d spent some time with my mom at her Halloween-themed shop recently to learn more about being psychic. Even so, I didn’t feel like I was getting anywhere new with my powers. Surprisingly, however, Emma had made quite a bit of progress in the last mo
nth. She was pretty accurate when she got feelings about a situation, which only made it harder for me to lie to her.

  “Okay,” I admitted. “Yeah, it’s about Hope. It’s just . . . I keep having this nightmare, and each time, I think it will continue and show me where she is or something, but it just stops when she gets in the car, and I don’t know how to find her.”

  “Well, maybe if you tell me more about it, I can help,” Emma offered.

  “Come on, Emma. I can’t tell you about the case.” I wasn’t actually supposed to know anything other than what was released by the media. I’m pretty sure Teddy had broken some laws by telling me what he knew, but he was convinced I could help him find Hope. At first, I thought I could, too, especially because I saw her in my dreams before she was even taken, but it had been weeks, and I still had nothing. In fact, no one had anything. Most everyone on the case had already given up.

  Emma stared at me with her big brown eyes and played with a strand of curly dark hair. “Crystal, you know I’ve been getting better at this stuff. I just want to help.”

  She had a point. I mean, I knew she wouldn’t tell anyone, and Teddy hadn’t exactly made me promise anything.

  “Okay,” I caved.

  We both took a seat on my bed, and I told her everything I knew. “Teddy says Hope’s dad died right before she was abducted. It was a motorcycle accident.” My voice caught in my throat for a second. I coughed to clear it.

  Emma rested a hand on my shoulder. She understood far too well. My dad had died when I was around Hope’s age, and to this day, the thought of death still got to me.

  “Anyway,” I continued, “the police have been on the guy’s brother because of a mental history and a criminal background—I think it was just drugs and stuff like that—but Teddy doesn’t think it’s him. Well, they haven’t actually found anything to tie the brother to Hope’s abduction, but I’m thinking that maybe he was working with someone else or something.”