Read Online Aegis Incursion by S S Segran - Free Book Online

nightmare.”
    “There you go,” Kody said triumphantly and turned to walk back to his bed.
    “No, hold on.” Aari grabbed Kody by the collar of his shirt and yanked him back. “Jag, this isn’t like you. I know there’s more to this. What’s going on, bro?”
    Jag took a deep breath. As he opened his mouth to tell them the story of his recurring nightmare, there was a scream, followed moments later by frantic pounding on their door. The boys hurried over and opened it. Tegan stumbled in, Mariah following closely with a worried look on her face. Tony was behind them in shorts and a sleeveless shirt, his hair tousled.
    “What’s wrong?” Jag asked, alarmed, as he reached out to hold Tegan.
    “I heard a scream and ran out of my room to find these two in the hallway,” Tony said, sounding as if he’d just woken up. He cocked his head at the girls. “What happened?”
    “She had a nightmare,” Mariah started, “and she woke—”
    “Nightmare?” Aari interrupted. Frowning, he pointed at Jag. “She’s not the only one.”
    “Hey, Teegs, come here.” Jag gently guided Tegan to a chair and sat her down. Slowly, he asked, “What was the nightmare about?”
    She covered her face with her hands. “There was . . . I was in a battle or something. I saw a woman collapse in front of my eyes. There was blood on her. A . . . a bullet wound to her chest.” She absently rested a hand under her collarbones, presumably where the bullet had struck the woman in her dream. “And what makes me feel sick is that it felt real. All my senses were engaged throughout. I could smell things and hear screams and . . . and it was as if I was actually there.”
    As Jag listened, he became visibly paler. “Did the dream end there?”
    “No. It went dark at one point and I thought it was over, but then a voice spoke. Directly to me.”
    Jag paled further. “What did it say?”
    Tegan just shook her head and slumped down in the chair, looking spent. Aari got her a glass of water, of which she only took a sip. There was a pregnant silence, broken a couple of minutes later by Tony. “At least it was just a dream . . . I thought someone was attacking them.” He went over and gave Tegan a comforting pat on the shoulder. “You should get back to sleep.”
    She licked her lips and nodded. Jag and the others watched as she and Mariah silently headed back to their room. Tony left after them.
    Kody shut the door and suppressed a yawn. “I’m taking Tony’s advice.” He returned to his bed and was out like a light within moments. Aari gave Jag a reassuring look before he retired as well.
    Jag, however tired he was, couldn’t bring himself to fall asleep until an hour later. He and Tegan would have to talk. It was too much of a coincidence that they’d had similar nightmares on the same night and woke up around the same time.
    Can it get any weirder than this? he wondered as he finally drifted off to sleep.

7
    T egan and Mariah walked out of their room with their bags at ten the next morning. The boys were already packed and were waiting in the hallway. Aari playfully tugged at Tegan’s earlobe. “Morning. Did you sleep okay the rest of the night?”
    “Considering what happened, yes.” Tegan looked at her watch. “We really should get going.”
    “They’re still serving breakfast downstairs,” Kody said. “We’ll leave after we’ve eaten.”
    The five headed down to the main floor where breakfast was being served beside the lobby. As they waited in the short line to get food, a voice behind Tegan sang, “Good morning!”
    Startled, she turned around and relaxed when she saw Tony, who looked fresh-faced despite having had his sleep interrupted. She smiled. “Hey!”
    “You’re looking much better than the last time I saw you.”
    “Thanks. And you . . . ” She scanned him from head to toe. “ . . . are still wearing striped socks.”
    “Life’s too short to wear boring socks,” he responded