Alex paused, the coolness under the trees a slight shock after the heat of the field. He suddenly sucked in a breath, disoriented, momentarily panicked. How had he gotten there? Oh yeah. He took several deep breaths and sighed as a sense of peace came over him. It was such a comfort to know Scott Reid was a scream away, ready to pull him out if things got too scary.

He turned back to the field to look for landmarks, anything to give him a clue where he was. Nothing familiar, though he’d know this place if he ever stumbled on it.

“Christopher, where are you?”

As if pulled by a taut string, Alex’s subconscious hurled along the overgrown path through the forest and in seconds he stood at the edge of the old well. He swayed, dizzy, afraid. The shed loomed close by, the bowed, rotting roof rising above the overrunning scrub brush. Terror slithered up his back and he quickly dropped his gaze. He’d face that fear later. Right now he needed to make contact with Christopher.

He wondered if the young man had felt this same clench of uncertainty in his gut, the horror of the rusted metal grate pulled open. No, it had been worse. Christopher’s head throbbed with pain as he returned to consciousness. He’d hardly taken in the fact that he was slung over his captor’s shoulder before he was swung like a sack into the gaping hole. Oh God! Arms and legs flailing, Alex tried to slow his own fall, but struck the earth hard, the breath knocked from him with a scream.

Alex blinked, feeling the press of the dirt under his cheek. He sneezed at the dust and lifted his head. The air was cooler in the well and he shivered as he sat up, his heart twisting with sorrow when he spotted Christopher in the shadow, back against the hard wall. He seemed asleep and Alex crawled over to him, not wanting to startle him. He blinked with surprise at the scraps of plastic beside the young man, wrappings of a sandwich. Christopher clenched an empty water bottle as if it would magically fill with the life-giving liquid.

Alex sat cross-legged by him, praying their experiment worked. God, he wanted to save him.

“Christopher?”

The heavy lids fluttered, opened on the sunken eyes, and Alex fell immediately into the blue depths of absolute loneliness. A cry was wrung from his heart, and awareness flooded into Christopher’s gaze as if he heard him. He drew back from Alex in terror.

“No! Please ...” Alex held out his hands. Tears streamed down his cheeks. He couldn’t fail, not this close.

Wonder touched Christopher’s thin face making him beautiful to Alex, achingly brave as he moved closer, tried to speak. He reached for Alex, desperate when no sound escaped his lips. His hand passed through Alex’s arm and his gaze turned stricken.

Alex shifted, moving to his knees. “Do you know where you are?”

Christopher shook his blond head, gesturing that he couldn’t hear Alex. Despair flooded his face and he covered his mouth on the sobs that shuddered through his body. Alex leaned closer, wishing with all his heart to wrap the man in his arms and take him home to safety.

“I will find you. I swear to God,” he said urgently, wild with frustration. He put a hand on Christopher’s wet cheek. Oh God! He became undone, atoms shattering into a million pieces of himself. He swirled in a whirlwind, for a second finding himself at the lake by his home.

A boy lay on the sand, blood on his face. Christopher’s brother. Alex heard a sound and looked up to see a chiseled jaw and shaggy blond hair before something smashed against his ear. Pain exploded in his head.

He collapsed on the ground, clutching his head in agony. It was some minutes before the pain lessened and he could sit up. He blinked, horror dripping ice into his heart. The shed at the well waited for him, its door opened wide on its hinges. He must be in a dream! Why had his subconscious taken him there?