For Nevermore Season 1

to doubt what she’d seen in the dream. What she’d seen in all the dreams. Maybe her TV had been on the night when Katie had been found murdered, and somehow her subconscious drew the news coverage from the real world to paint the gory reality in her dream.
    Maybe it’s all in my head.
    Yeah, then where is Tori?
    “Is there anyone you know who might want to take Tori? Your ex maybe?” Jen asked, changing the subject.
    “No, my ex hardly wants anything to do with her, much less kidnap her! What did you mean, Noella, that he has her? What do you know?” Jen stepped closer, the usual kindness in her face rinsed with the maternal fear and anger of a lioness who would do anything to protect her cub.
    “I had a dream,” Noella said. Josie’s eyes rolled and her hands danced in frustration.
    “It’s nothing,” Josie said, severing Noella to silence. “Noella has an overactive imagination.”
    “I saw her!” Noella said, now furious. The more Josie denied what Noella had seen, the more certain she was of her vision. “I had a dream the other night where Tori was being held in a room by the serial killer, along with another one of the missing women.”
    Jen stared at her, then looked at Josie, then turned her eyes back to Noella.
    “I’m sorry,” Josie said. “She means well.”
    “I saw the other two girls, too,” Noella said defensively. Jen stared at her as if she were either crazy or playing some sort of cruel joke. “And I saw one of them, Katie Blanchard, before she even died!”
    “Are you saying you’re psychic?” Jen asked, the look on her face a mix of shock, anger, and perhaps, hope.
    “I saw the house!” Noella said. And suddenly, a memory flashed through her head. She hadn’t just seen the house, but she’d seen something else in the distance . . . the lights of a water tower.
    “The police will be here soon,” Jen said, starting to walk back to her house. “They told me to go home in case Tori comes back, tries to call, or in case . . . her kidnapper tries to reach me.”
    “Would you like some company?” Josie asked, “Or maybe Noey and I can go house to house and ask around if anyone’s seen her.”
    “I’d appreciate that,” Jen said. “Thank you.”
    “OK, I’ll call the school, tell them Noella’s sick. I don’t have to be to work until three, and I’d be happy to call in later if I need to. Everything is going to be okay.”
    Noella stared in disbelief that nobody was taking her seriously. She wanted to yell, scream, anything to get them to listen. But in the end, what would it do? Even if they believed her, they couldn’t do anything to help. All she was doing was upsetting both of them.
    Then Noella thought of something else.
    “Jen, do you know if Tori sleepwalks?”
    Jen turned, frozen as if Noella had thrown her some rope of hope. “Not that I know of. Why?”
    Noella told her about how she’d seen the girl standing in her room in the middle of the night and how she asked Tori about it, but Tori hadn’t remembered a thing.
    “Why didn’t you say something to me before?” Jen asked.
    “I dunno,” Noella said, guilt flooding her guts. “I guess I didn’t think a whole lot about it. I’m sorry.”
    Josie looked up and down the street, as if she might see Tori walking.
    “Do you think she just walked out of the house while she was asleep?” Josie asked.
    “No, even though I didn’t know about the sleepwalking, I did check the doors and windows and everything was locked up tight. So someone must’ve come in and gotten her.”
    “I’m sorry,” Noella said, wanting to hug Jen. But Jen was distracted, and wanted to get back to her house and wait for the sheriff’s deputies to show up.
    Josie followed Jen across the street.
    “I’ll be over in a few,” Noella said, shutting the door as they left.
    Her head was spinning, regret worming deeper inside her, telling her that she should have said something sooner. Yes, she would have come off as a loon, but at least Tori would be safe.
    Noella told herself that the killer probably wouldn’t actually target Tori. She was just a kid after all. And so far as anyone knew, there were no child victims, yet.
    Still, she’s gone.
    And then there’s the dream.
    She paced the house, trying to think of what she could do.
    Oddly enough, one of her first instincts was to contact Dante. Maybe he would know what to do, or could help find Tori. She wasn’t sure why she thought he could help, but he had