Paranoia (The Night Walkers) by J. R. Johansson

stayed at your place for a while?” Jack started toward the door and didn’t even check to make sure I was following him.
    “No. She’ll probably be happy that I know more people than just Finn and Addie.”
    Jack hesitated, throwing a wadded-up paper from his pocket into the garbage. “She might recognize me.”
    I remembered back in the hospital, when Jack had first introduced himself to Addie and me. My mom had looked at him funny even then. “How does she know you?”
    “Your dad wanted to make sure you both were okay.” Jack stared at the garbage can, his brown hair swinging forward a bit, then pivoted toward the door. “Before we discovered whether or not you were a Watcher, entering your dreams was too risky. We couldn’t know what type of Night Walker you might be … and you’ve seen firsthand how bad it can suck getting stuck with a Taker. So I watched your mom’s dreams off and on … asked her some questions occasionally.”
    “Weird.”
    “Tell me about it.”
    We reached the door, but I stopped as something occurred to me. “Why do you want to stay with us?”
    “If there’s a Taker in town, there’s only one reason for it that I can think of.” Jack pushed the door open. We walked out into the bright sunshine, but his words sent the chill of deep night through my body. “He’s here for you—or your mom.”

    Jack didn’t need to explain why my other questions had to wait. We ran to our cars and drove back to Oakville. Even if Cooper hadn’t known I was a Watcher when we met last night in the parking lot, he sure knew now after being in that suffocating dream with me. And Thor only had to look through Oakville High’s student directory to find out where I lived … where Mom lived.
    The four-hour drive felt like the longest in my life. Darkness was strangely silent and subdued. I only knew he was still very present because every few minutes I had extremely violent thoughts and urges against Thor, Cooper … and, still, Jack.
    I shuddered and turned the radio up, trying to switch my focus to anything else. My phone took a couple of minutes to power on once I’d plugged it in to the charger. At the first stoplight, I responded to numerous texts and two voicemails from Finn with a quick I’m fine, just busy. Call me when your plane lands tomorrow . And I called Mom six times with no answer. She was a realtor—she never went that long without answering her phone.
    “We should kill him,” Darkness muttered from the passenger seat. When I glanced over and met the icy hatred in my own eyes, I cringed. His words, spoken so clearly in my voice, sent a cold chill through me that no amount of heat could melt away. “Kill Cooper and maybe even kill Jack. Kill everyone who gets in the way.”
    Ignoring every word from Darkness, I focused hard on the part of me that was nothing like him. The part that cared only about those I loved. On that side, two thoughts rampaged through my head with every car I sped past on the way home.
    First: Mom had to be okay. The Taker had found out about us because of me, because I was stupid and didn’t want to watch Mom’s nightmares again. I’d never forgive myself if she’d been hurt because of it. I’d do anything to keep the people I loved safe; I’d been willing to run away to prove that, back before the fire. I wouldn’t hesitate to do it again if the Taker would chase me and leave her alone.
    Second: did Dad feel like this when he’d run to keep us safe? If Jack was telling the truth, then we were facing the same enemy now. If so, for the first time in years, I felt like I could understand—that I might be able to forgive him.
    By the time I pulled into the driveway, with Jack’s green VW right behind me, I was in a full-on panic. My palms were so clammy it was hard to hold on to the steering wheel even when I gripped it so tight my knuckles ached. The radio had been blasting the entire drive, but the thrumming in my ears was so loud I couldn’t