Chapter 7

• As the EMTs later put her friend on the gurney, Dee noticed her laptop on the desk was open to the new manuscript. She knew Luna was working day and night on a new story, and out of curiosity, grabbed it to bring it with her to the hospital. While her friend was being treated, she’d read to pass the time, not expecting what she’d soon find in those well-crafted pages.
• At the hospital, the room was quiet after Luna was settled into a room by the staff. Only the hum of monitors filled the room as the ailing woman rested in her bed.
• Dee read at her bedside, awestruck at what she was seeing. “Wow. LuLu. This is the best story you’ve ever written. It figures that you are using your dream guy as inspiration. That’s so sweet.”
• It was then she became curious as to why so many internet tabs were open and shut each one down. She checked the internet history, unable to fathom what was going on across those tabs. “My gosh. She must have been writing for days.” She looked over at her sick friend with pure concern. “Sweetie, what you doing to yourself?”
• Luna’s eyes fluttered open, and through a weak voice, she tried to wake up to answer. “I couldn’t stop. I just kept writing. My mind wouldn’t rest. Blackouts. So many blackouts. Daydreams. I saw… I saw him. He… knows me. Looking for… me.”
• “What? Who?”
• As quickly as she woke, Luna drifted back to sleep.
• With a sigh, her friend covered her up and tucked her in. “Sleep LuLu. I’ll be right here when you wake up. It’s just a dream sweetheart. Just a dream.”
• Or was it?
• ***
• Gunner paced the floor, wringing his hands together. Little did their peers or the fans know, the men in that room held secrets the outside world would never understand.
• “Zane. Jackson. I have to find this girl. I know this is not my imagination. The dreams are back and stronger than they have ever been. For the past three days, I feel like something is guiding me. It’s just like when Zane and I were a tag team, and the visions were so strong.”
• Jackson Maverick, one of the Tribe members, looked at his friend with concern. “You sure about the dreams, man? Maybe you’re just under a lot of pressure. Wrestle Dome is coming up soon. It’s the biggest event of the year and you are the main event. No wonder you’re stressed.”
• “No, Jackson. I know it’s real.”
• Zane sat back on the hotel room couch rubbing his head. “He’s right. I feel it, too. Not like he does, but it’s there. Ever since his return, it’s gotten stronger.”
• The smallest of the members, Eric Owens, was leaning against the wall with his arms crossed. A skinny guy with sleek black hair that had been shaved underneath with his hair pulled up in a man bun, Eric was a laid-back hipster guy with a huge heart. “So, what do we do? How can we find her? If she’s the Dreamer we’ve been looking for all these years, we need to get to her fast.”
• Dawson Haze, the dark-haired man with a grizzly beard, blocked the light from the hotel room window with his broad-shouldered frame spanning across the view. He was the gruff but quick-witted one of the group. Massively built with intimidating features, Dawson was equally as kind and light-hearted as he was threatening, especially with the huge scar that marred his face just over his eye and down his cheek. It was intimidating in a sexy mysterious way.
• After listening quietly, he cleared his throat to speak, rare for the man of little words. “Gunner is our leader. We need to trust his instinct. He got hurt last year because he’d been alone for far too long, making him weak. If we don’t find the Dreamer, it could be bad for her and us. Why would that Romani woman do this to some innocent girl? All because we made some stupid mistakes. How were we supposed to know that was an unmarked graveyard? All we did was get drunk and dig up some necklace that was stuck in the ground. We didn’t know.”
• Jackson Maverick, the more headstrong of the group, was trying to make sense of it all. “It was her dead child’s grave, that’s why. No one’s to blame but us. We had no idea that spot was a grave, but we shouldn’t have been snooping around where we didn’t belong. It just looked like a simple stone lying on the ground. The Romani woman chose Gunner to lead us because he was always the responsible one and was not drunk that night.”
• “But Zane was the head guy over our crew. It changed everything we had planned for our careers.”
• “Yeah, and he agreed to step down and let Gunner take the lead because we were all being a bunch of screw-ups. Hell, he is the only responsible one amongst us. The rest of us are to blame for this. We are the ones who broke into that place following that dang dog. Gunner warned us not to go there and then defended us from her son when he attacked. That’s why he’s cursed, too. That man would have killed us all if he wasn’t there to help. Regardless, we still have until the spring equinox to set this right. Maybe once we find the Dreamer we can at least get some peace. If not—we’re all screwed.”
• Dawson Haze flipped his chewing gum into the trash with a huff. “What if this is just some sort of mass hysteria between us? Do we go seeking out someone that may not even exist? Zane and Gunner are our leaders, and I trust you both, but we can’t go at this half-cocked. None of the rest of us have dreams or visions.”
• Zane got up from his chair to look out the window, trying to think of their next step. “When I first started having the dreams back then, I knew that old woman knew there was an actual Dreamer out there. Luna must have come of age about that time. Dreamers only have a connection once they turn eighteen. Gunner was the focus of her every dream.
• That’s what the Romani said would happen when she cursed us. I don’t think the old woman thought we would ever find a true Dreamer. They are so rare from what I’ve studied. Gunner is so connected that her dreams have become immensely vivid. He can see them now, even when he’s awake.”
• “He’s right,” Jackson agreed. “The lady said we could never have been truly cursed if we didn’t already have the DNA in us. It would have been temporary magic just to teach us a lesson. Our DNA is why we are who we are. I for one am glad we will never go back. This was our birthright.”
• “Right. The thing is, we need Luna to complete the ritual. Gunner needs her. Maybe we were meant to enter that place that day. At least we know who we are now. I’m second in command and trust he knows what he is doing. We must trust Gunner’s instincts. Maybe we can keep our promise to the old woman and find a cure for what killed her daughter. We owe her that much for disturbing that child’s grave.”
• “All right. But how do we find the Dreamer?” Dawson asked.
• “Hospitals maybe? She’s sick. I can feel it.” Gunner dropped his head with tears in his eyes. “Please don’t let her die before we find her.”
• The Tribe looked at their friend sympathetically. They knew his connection to her was more than what he spoke of. He was too proud to tell them everything. Especially if it meant sharing his emotions. He was a private person and was always trying to be strong for his friends. Tonight, the wrestler just didn’t have the strength in him for the fight, and they all knew it.