Closer: Bay City Paranormal Investigation, Book 4

wasn’t sure he would be able to keep his own emotions in check. And none of them could afford for him to lose control here.
There was also the very real likelihood that he was wrong. He didn’t believe he was, but what sort of hypocrite would he be if he berated Bo for denying some of the possible explanations, then did the same thing himself?
He had no answer to that. Still undecided about what to tell Bo and when, Sam cuddled closer to Bo and waited for the night’s work to be over.
When they left two hours later, Sam still hadn’t mentioned what he’d felt in the little stone room. Exhausted, with Bo falling asleep on his shoulder as the SUV bumped along the pocked road to the house, Sam decided it could wait until morning.
    Dark. Cold.
    Bone-freezing blackness, terror like a fist in the throat.
Sam thrashed, struggling to breathe, to move, to get away from what was coming for him. He couldn’t see it, but he felt its approach through the living dark, felt its malevolence thumping through his mind.
Out of the nothingness appeared a point of brilliant light. It writhed, stretched and elongated, and became a shining thread winding through the inky night. Sam followed its bright length with his eyes. One end disappeared into an aperture which led to a world of light, noise and life, so radiant Sam couldn’t look directly at it. On the other end loomed the thing Sam had felt, a presence which swallowed the thread’s luminescence in shadow.
In an instant of blinding clarity, Sam realized the thing wasn’t coming for him at all. It was following the thread, following its path to the door, and beyond…
Sam woke gasping and drenched in sweat. The moonlight pouring through the curtains bathed the room he and Bo shared in silver light. Sam sat up and looked around, peering into the shadows pooled around the furniture. God, the dream had been so vivid, he could almost believe he’d really been in that other place, even though logically he knew he couldn’t have been.
Keeping his eyes open, Sam stretched out his psychic senses. The house felt exactly like it always did. Nothing was out of place, or different. No thread of light, no dark presence filling Sam’s mind with hate and bloodlust. Just the normal energy of a peacefully slumbering house.
Reassured, Sam lay down and spooned himself around Bo, who was curled into a ball and still fast asleep. A shudder went through Bo’s bare back. He let out a soft mewl. Something about it sounded lost and terrified.
Sam frowned. He pushed up on one elbow and leaned over to look into Bo’s face. Bo’s eyes were wide open, staring at nothing. His hands clenched his pillow in a death grip. This close, Sam could hear the faint clackclack-clack of his teeth chattering.
Adrenaline raced through Sam’s veins. Slipping an arm beneath Bo’s shoulders, Sam hauled Bo’s rigid body into his arms. Bo’s skin felt hot and damp. “Bo! Wake up. Come on.” He held Bo to his chest with one arm and gave his cheek a light slap with his other hand.
Bo’s body jerked violently a couple of times, then relaxed. Awareness filled his empty eyes. He stared up at Sam, panting.
“Bo? Are you all right?” Silence. Sam stroked Bo’s cheek. “Say something, huh? You’re scaring me.”
Without warning, Bo flung both arms around Sam’s neck in a crushing embrace. He buried his face in Sam’s shoulder. He was shaking hard.
“It’s okay,” Sam whispered, holding Bo tight against him. “It’s okay. I think you had another nightmare.”
Bo nodded. His fingers dug painfully into Sam’s back. “It was bad.”
“You want to talk about it?”
Another nod. Relaxing his grip a little, Bo pulled Sam down so that they lay face-to-face, arms and legs wound together. “It was similar to the one I had yesterday. I saw strange things, I think, but I can’t remember what they were now. It was dark and cold and I couldn’t breathe. But this time, something was after me. Something was following me, and I knew I couldn’t get away. That it would catch me eventually.” Bo stared at Sam with haunted eyes. “It seemed so real. For a second, when I woke up, I thought the thing had followed me here. I really expected to see it, and God, I didn’t want to. I was so relieved to see you there instead.”
Dread trickled down Sam’s spine. “I just had a dream almost exactly like that. Except I wasn’t being followed. I was in that same place, but I saw this thread of light leading to a doorway,