Goddess of the Rose (Goddess Summoning #4)

Goddess of the Rose (Goddess Summoning #4)
P.C. Cast


Part One

Chapter One

"I've been having those dreams again." Nelly straightened in her chair and gave her what Mikki liked to think of as her Clinically Interested Look.

"Would you like to tell me about them?" she asked.

Mikki shifted her eyes from her friend. Would she like to tell her? She uncrossed and then crossed her long legs, ran her hand nervously through her hair and tried to settle into the wingback chair.

"Before I answer that question, I want you to answer one of mine first."

"Fair enough," Nelly said.

"If I tell you about my dreams, how will you be listening? As my friend or as my shrink?"

The psychiatrist laughed. "Please, Mikki! We're at a coffee shop, not my office. You're definitely not paying me a hundred and twenty dollars an hour to sit here with you. And let's not forget" - she leaned forward and exaggerated a whisper - "you've been my friend for years, but you've never been my patient."

"True, but that hasn't been because of my lack of issues."

"Oh, definitely," Nelly said with purposeful sarcasm. "So you gonna tell me, or do I have to use my secret shrink tricks on you to get you to divulge?"

"Anything but that!" Mikki raised her hands as if to fend off an attack. Then she shrugged her shoulders. "Well, they're the same as the others." Noting Nelly's knowing look coupled with her raised eyebrows, Mikki sighed and rolled her eyes. "Okay, maybe they have changed some lately."

"Could you see his face this time?" Nelly asked gently.

"Almost." Mikki squinted and stared at a spot above the cozy brick fireplace in the corner of the coffee shop. "Actually, I think I could have seen his face this time, but . . ."

"But?" she prompted.

"But I . . ." Mikki hesitated.

Nelly made an encouraging sound.

"But I was so preoccupied I couldn't make myself concentrate on his face," she finished in a rush.

"Preoccupied with . . . ?"

Mikki stopped staring at the hearth and met her friend's eyes. "I was preoccupied with having the most incredibly erotic dream of my life. I really didn't give a damn what his face looked like."

"Well, well, well . . ." She drew out the word. "I don't remember you describing sex in the other dreams. Now I really am interested in the rest of the story."

"That's because they weren't . . . or maybe I didn't . . . oh, I don't know. For some reason they're changing." She struggled to describe what was happening to her. "I'm telling you, Nelly, the dreams are getting more and more real."

The joking sparkle went out of Nelly's dark eyes, instantly replaced by concern.

"Talk to me, honey. What's going on?" she asked.

"It's like the more realistic the dreams get, the less real my life is."

"Tell me about your latest dream, Mikki."

Instead of answering her, Mikki twirled an errant strand of thick, copper-colored hair and bought time by sipping her cappuccino. She and Nelly had been friends for years. They'd met at the hospital where they both worked and had been instant girlfriends. On the outside they had little in common. Nelly was tall and slender - dark with an exotic beauty - a gift from her mother's Haitian blood. She towered over Mikki's five-foot-seven-inch frame. Where Nelly was dark, Mikki was fair, just as where her friend was slender and graceful, Mikki was voluptuous and earthy. But instead of being jealous of or put off by the differences in their exteriors, the two women had, from the moment they'd met, appreciated each other for their uniqueness.

It was a solid friendship, founded in trust and mutual respect. And Mikki had no idea why she was so hesitant to tell Nelly about the dreams, especially the last one . . .

"Mikki?"

"I'm thinking of where to start," she prevaricated.

Nelly gave her a little half-smile and sipped her own cappuccino before taking a delicate bite from her chocolate biscotti. "Take your time. All good shrinks have one thing in common."

"I know, I know . . . you're all annoyingly patient."

"Exactly."

Mikki fiddled with her coffee cup. She really did need to get this dream stuff straightened out. It was becoming too weird, in a hypnotic, seductive way.

But she was stalling, and not just because she was hesitant about revealing such intimate details aloud, but also because part of her was afraid her friend - who really was an excellent psychiatrist - would have some kind of magic words that would cure her.

She wasn't sure she wanted to be cured.

"Hey, it's just me," Nelly said softly.

Mikki gave her a tight, appreciative smile, drew a deep breath and began. "Okay, this one started the same as the others." She picked nervously at her fingernail polish.

"You mean in the canopy bed?"

"Huge canopy bed in the enormous bedroom." She corrected and then nodded. "Yeah. It was the same place, only it wasn't as dark as it usually is. This time a little light was coming into the room through a whole wall of windows. I think they're called" - Mikki searched for the word - "mull-something-or-other . . . panes of vertical stripes of glass. Know what I mean?"