1 The Dream Rider Read Free Page B

say
something that was probably going to be cheesy or cliché, but the words never
made it past my mouth.
    “Don’t talk. Just listen,” she ordered, motioning me to be
quiet with a delicate finger. I frowned, confused. But I obeyed. “They’re coming
for you, Finn. You may not have much time.”
    “What?” I asked. “Who’s coming for me?”   I laughed as I said it.
    She grabbed my leg just above the knee, and I suddenly
felt a horrible numbness surge through my entire body. I couldn’t move. I was
completely paralyzed. All of the things going on around me, the party, the
people dancing, students stumbling around, everything became a blur. All I
could focus on was the girl and her hypnotic eyes.
    When she spoke, it was if her voice was coming from inside
my head. “You know who they are, Finn. They came after you last night. They
will come again.”  
    The men in the trench coats? She nodded as if hearing my
thoughts.
    “They will come after you again,” she repeated. “And they
will keep coming until they finish what they have started.”
    “What? What have they started? Why me?” I asked, fairly
certain my lips weren’t moving, though I could hear the sound of my voice.
    “Because they are afraid,” she said. “Soon, you will
realize who you really are, Finn.”
    “Who I am?” I asked. “Who are you? And what do you want
with me?”
    “You are far more important than you think, Finn.”
    “How do you know my name?” I wanted to scream, but I
couldn’t.
    She looked deeply into my eyes. “You are meant for a glory
you couldn’t possibly imagine. You will save the lives of millions of people,
and lead them to a life they never imagined.”
    “Glory? What are you talking about? I can’t save anyone.”
    “You do not yet know what you are truly capable of, but
soon you will see, Dream Rider.”
    She let go of my leg, and I was immediately able to feel
my extremities again. It all came back so quickly that I felt a little dizzy
for a moment and had to brace myself by putting my elbows on my knees. After a
few seconds, the vertigo dissipated and I sat up. Everything was clear again.
No one was looking at me, like I was afraid they might. The party continued as
if nothing had happened. I looked around frantically; a million thoughts
swirled in my head. And the girl was gone.
    I stood up, cautiously, making sure I could still use my
legs, and walked around for a few minutes to see if I could find Nate. There
was no sign of him anywhere. So, I left and walked quickly through the crowd of
reveling students to my car. I plopped down into the driver’s seat and sat still
for a minute or two, trying desperately to process what was going on. My hands
shook on the steering wheel. Too many weird things had happened over the last
twenty-four hours. I shifted the car into gear and steered it out onto the road
back to the dorm.
    The building was quiet when I arrived. It was like the
entire campus was at the party. The only person I saw as I walked through the
lobby was the resident assistant at the desk who never looked up as I passed.
    It was past 1:00 in the morning by the time I crawled into
bed. I was tired but my eyes were wide open. The experience I’d had with the
strange girl was still fresh in my mind. It was like she’d used some kind of
spell or black magic on me. For a few minutes, I thought that I might have been
dreaming. Somehow, though, I knew that wasn’t the case.
    After lying there in my bed for what seemed like an hour,
my eyes finally started getting heavy. Just as I was about to fall asleep, I
heard a knock at my door. The noise startled me, and I jumped out of my bed. I
looked around for a weapon, anything I could use. Weapon? Why would I need a weapon? It was
probably just Nate. But why would he come to my room?
    I found my baseball bat conveniently sitting next to the
door and hoisted it onto my shoulder. “Who is it?” I asked.
    No one answered so I spoke louder the second