Chapter 6

“It’s an apartment. Bedroom, bathroom, kitchen, living room. Doesn’t look lived in though,” Andi headed back downstairs, “Most of the appliances still have the factory shrink-wrap on them.”

Madame Zedecker was curious. She knew they’d toyed with the idea of building a separate apartment — ‘For Quinn after college,’ Damian said — maybe he actually did it and never told anyone. After all, he had people coming in and out of the house on all sorts of projects. “I want to see,” she said as she glided the wheelchair to the bottom of the stairs.

Once more, Andi took her client in her arms and carefully made her way upstairs.

This time, it was Madame Zedecker that muttered a “Wow” as Andi set her down on the sofa.

“Yeah, this is a pretty sweet pad; I’d move in here in a heartbeat,” Andi joked. Better than living with my parents!

“That sounds like a superb idea,” was her client’s the immediate reply.

Andi stared into the oversized sunglasses, “No way, I wasn’t being serious.”

“Why not? It’s a nice apartment.”

Andi smiled, “Are you going to charge me rent I can’t afford? Wait, are you testing me? Is this a trick?”

“No rent. And no tricks. I’m not like that.”

“I know you’re not…” Andi smiled, “I’m just surprised…”

“No one’s using it, Andi, I definitely won’t be able to,” shrugged Madame Zedecker.

“Are you asking me to move in with you?” Andi joked.

A million emotions zipped through Madame Zedecker in that moment; but she knew the rules. She quickly changed the subject, “Enough playing around today. We have work to do. Let’s get back to the study.”

“Yes ma’am,” Andi nodded, not really understanding what just happened. Madame Zedecker didn’t mention the apartment again for the rest of the day, but it was certainly front and center in Andi’s mind.

That evening, as the Zhaos sat down to dinner, Andi brought it up with her parents.

“She asked you to move into the garage apartment?” Steve was surprised.

“Nope,” Andi said with a mouthful of food, “I made a joke about moving in and she said it was a good idea. And she never asked again.”

“But you’re sure she was the one who said you could live there?” Tina’s mind was whirring.

“Nope, that evil creepster wasn’t in the room. What are you thinking, Ma?”

“I think you go,” Tina said, “I’ll make you food every day. Dad will bring it to you. But you stay there.”

“Uh, Tina, I don’t know if that’s a good idea,” Steve shook his head, “We already took a risk with the contract. I’m not having Andi swallowed up by that crazy house. Everyone is scratching their heads. I mean, the overgrowth has all but disappeared. We’ve cleared some of it, but the rest definitely vanished on its own. And then I swore Stewart showed me a whole section of petunias last week that we were going to get rid of, and today, Jeff came over saying he couldn’t find any of it. But he did rave about the gardenias… which, by the way, I don’t remember ever seeing before.”

“It’s all connected,” Tina said simply, “I don’t know how, but it is. And she wants Andi there. Because she thinks Andi can help. So Andi should go. We can help her stay safe.”

“You’re going to do the feng shui mumbo jumbo and incense stuff?” Steve asked with a touch of sarcasm.

Tina shot him a look, “Don’t knock it till you’ve tried it, Steve. This is a bad curse. Only way to fight it is to find the counter-curse or kill the sorcerer. I think Andi is part of the counter-curse.”

“What do you mean? She needs my blood or something?”

“Tsk! No,” Tina scoffed, “Kei Shang is a sorcerer, and he has Madame Zedecker and the house under his control, it’s a curse. Not poison. Instead of an antidote, undoing the curse would hinge on something that needs to happen in a certain way. Believe me. We just have to pay attention because the counter-curse probably can’t be requested outright. That’s why.”

Andi nodded, “That’s definitely true. She said today she can’t tell me how I can help.”

Steve frowned, “I still don’t like it. Going to the Estate and working on it during the day is weird enough. Andi, it’s your call…”

“I want to help,” Andi said immediately, “Madame Zedecker half joked that she might be dead soon. I think there’s a time element here. I want to go. I’ll be careful.” She felt no ambivalence at all. She’d developed a loyalty to Madame Zedecker; their earlier conversation in the car only spurred her to do more. In the past month, the two women had built a trust – and an affection — between them.

“This is an enormous leap of faith,” Steve sighed, “With a massive downside.”

Tina shrugged, “Most things worth doing are.”

That night, Andi returned to her dream world.

Andi was walking down a hallway. Andi felt happy, her heart thumping with giddy anticipation. She reached a door, which she pushed open. Moonlight gently lit the room and Andi looked across to the enormous four-poster bed to her left. It was the bedroom again. Just like before, there was a woman in the bed. Andi walked closer. The woman was asleep, lying on her front. She was nude, the sheets covering just the top of the back of her thighs.

“Hmmm… you’re home,” the woman said softly.

Andi sat down next to the woman and gently brushed the woman’s hair off her face, “Hi beautiful.”

An impish smile revealed itself, “Where’ve you been?”

Andi answered honestly, “I don’t know… I really don’t know what’s going on… you want me to find you, but I don’t even know how… or where… and this all seems so real, but there’s so much I don’t understand…”

“I know… I’ve been confusing… I’m sorry…” The woman shifted onto her side, “Let’s just forget all that tonight…” she reached over and turned on the bedside light.

Immediately, Andi’s eyes feasted on the most perfect pair of breasts she’d ever seen: full, sexy orbs topped with pale pink puffy areolas.

“You’re so beautiful,” Andi breathed out.

The woman chuckled with delight, “I’m glad you like them… they’re in desperate need of attention.”

Andi didn’t need further invitation. She caressed those perfect breasts as the woman moaned in appreciation. It was a heavenly sound to hear. Andi looked up. The magnificence of the woman’s breasts had temporarily distracted Andi from the magnificence of the woman’s face… and the pure majesty of the woman’s eyes. One blue, one hazel. And those eyes were gazing at Andi with such adoration that Andi felt her heart would burst.

Andi couldn’t help but stare in wonder, “I can’t get enough of you…” Andi confessed.

The woman grabbed a fistful of Andi’s shirt and pulled. Andi fell into the woman’s arms. Andi felt soft hands very quickly discarding her clothes. The woman pushed Andi onto her back with a seductive smile, “Something we can immediately rectify, my love.”

“Holy shit,” Andi muttered as the woman trailed kisses down her body. The woman’s tongue traced a journey of passionate worship all over Andi’s skin. Fingers and hands made quick work of disrobing Andi, caressing her body with unambiguous desire. When Andi felt her clit enveloped by the woman’s lips, Andi cried out as a blaze of exquisite pleasure ripped through her. Andi’s body shook as she neared her climax, which the mystery woman’s tongue coaxed into an eruption of orgasmic bliss.

Andi eyes sprung open. She was panting with sheer astonishment. She blinked at the darkness in her room, the dream now a jumble of images and sensations.

Andi rubbed her eyes in frustration, “Who the hell are you?”

Chapter Six — The Truth in the Dream

“Please stop with the ‘Madame Zedecker’ nonsense. They only do it because it makes me sound respectable.”

Andi and Madame Zedecker were in the mezzanine apartment, chatting over lunch, a habit they’d formed over the past week after Andi moved in. Truthfully, it was Andi doing the eating, and Madame Zedecker watching Andi eat.

“You are respectable,” Andi tilted her head and winked.

Madame Zedecker’s heart sped up, like it always did now when Andi did something endearing. Lord help me, she’s adorable. “I’m incapacitated in a wheelchair and I look like a withered tree with a hollowed out trunk. I look beastly.”

“I beg to differ. Like I said before, I don’t see you as a hideous beast. Far from it,” Andi said earnestly, “I mean, you’re not going to be entering Miss Universe competitions, but hey, neither am I!”

“I think butches are beautiful,” Madame Zedecker replied. She was grateful for her sunglasses; her eyes were giving Andi a very un-subtle and appreciative once over.

Andi was surprised. She studied the woman sitting across from her, “Huh, that wasn’t something I expected you to say,” she smiled, “But I appreciate it.”

“I’m full of surprises,” there was a wry smile, “you should know that by now.”

“Did Mr. Zedecker know you have a thing for women like me?” Andi teased.

Madame Zedecker paused for a moment, lost in her memories and utterly paralyzed by Andi’s question.

“I’m sorry,” Andi misunderstood the silence, “I didn’t mean to bring up something painful.”

“No, no. It’s fine — I was… younger. Damian treated it like a flight of fancy. We only talked about it once,” her voice trailed off, “What about you? How did your parents take your coming out?”

“Like they do most things,” Andi shrugged, “Pretty clinically. They’re both very matter-of-fact, and I think my father was relieved he didn’t have to deal with boys coming around. They never blinked an eye.”

“That’s not what I expected…”

Andi grinned, “Yeah, I didn’t get the Chinese parents flipping out thing. Lucky, for sure.”

“And what does your girlfriend think about you living here?”

Andi shrugged, “No girlfriend.”

Madame Zedecker was delighted with that answer, but she quickly checked herself. She pointed to a pile of debris in the far corner of the living room. “Hmm… what’ve you been unpacking?”

Andi turned to look, “Oh, I found a stack of boxes in the bedroom closet. Six of them, all stretch-wrapped together. I thought you might want to take a look so I undid the wrapping yesterday and–“

“Let’s go open them up!”

“Ok,” Andi grinned. She went into the bedroom and pushed a box out to the sofa and slashed it open with a pair of scissors.

“Oh,” Madame Zedecker started looking through the box, “College stuff. I remember packing these up. Seems like a lifetime ago now…” She picked up a framed photograph and smiled.

“May I?” Andi sat down on the couch as Madame Zedecker handed her the photo frame.

Holy shit! It’s her! “Who’s this?” Andi stammered, “I mean that’s you, right? But who is this?” The photo was a close up of Joan Zedecker and a young woman — a stunning young woman — with beautiful eyes: one blue, one hazel. The same woman who’d been turning up in Andi’s dreams.

“Quinn… before Damian…before Damian’s trip to China,” Madame Zedecker put her fingers on the photo, caressing it gently.

“That’s Quinn? She looks different than other photos I’ve seen… I mean, I guess the other ones were taken when she was younger… and from a distance…”

“Quinn grew a lot in college, she left with an adolescent’s body and came back at woman.”

Andi wasn’t listening, she only had eyes for Quinn Zedecker. It felt like Quinn was looking right at her.

Andi’s dreams of Quinn have lengthened and intensified since moving into the mezzanine apartment. The dreams have become a life lived together. They shared moments of companiable silence in those dreams, their touching flesh offering abundant tenderness and devotion. They had myriad conversations, from the deep to the mundane. They have made love; their physical couplings fiery, explosive, and achingly sweet.

Andi woke each morning cursing the rising sun and wondering if she was losing her mind. After all, she’d fallen for a woman who was a figment of her overactive REM cycles. But she actually exists… or she did exist…

“Oh, you like Quinn,” Madame Zedecker observed.

Andi blushed, “She’s…”

“What? You can tell me…”

“She’s…. um… I’ve seen her before.”

“How?” An atom of hope pulsed in Madame Zedecker’s heart.

Andi blushed, a torrent of images from her nightly dreams felt even more real now that she knew who the mystery woman was. “It’s hard to explain,” Andi kept staring at the photograph, “But I feel that I know her, which I know sounds weird because I’ve never met her before.”

“Maybe you have and don’t remember?”

Andi shook her head, “No. I wouldn’t mix her up with anyone else – that smile, that face.” Those lips…

“Are you sure? Maybe it’s someone you’ve spent time with who resembles her?”

“No,” Andi looked directly into the oversized sunglasses of Madame Zedecker, “I would remember eyes like that.”

“Heterochromia,” Madame Zedecker said, “Those eyes were a lot of trouble: easy targets for bullies at school…”

Andi shook her head, “Kids can be so cruel. I think her eyes are stunning.”

“Quinn would like hearing that,” Madame Zedecker said with a smile.

Andi was captivated by the photo of Quinn; she couldn’t look away.

“You said you’ve seen her before?” Madame Zedecker felt a sudden pang of hopelessness. Andi had certainly never looked at her the way she was looking at the photo of Quinn.

“Yeah,” Andi said quietly. It’s like a cruel joke. I’m in love with a woman who shows up every night in my dreams… and now I find out she’s an actual person who’s missing and presumed dead.

Andi put the photo down for a moment, “I feel like I’m crazy.” She noticed Madame Zedecker struggling to maintain her composure, “I’m sorry, this must be painful to talk about…”

Madame Zedecker’s tears started flowing, “It’s okay, Andi. I keep hoping … I think… no, I know you and Quinn would like each other very much.”

“I think so too,” Andi said quietly, “I wish I could meet her.”

Madame Zedecker’s heart fell once more. Andi’s not going to get it… it’s not going to work. At that moment, the cruelty of her deal with Kei Shang became all too clear: he was never going to let her win. The end of the Zedeckers was always his goal. Any measure of hope he allowed was merely a way to prolong her agony.

For the first time since she took the wager, she helplessly surrendered to the idea that Kei Shang would succeed in bringing his revenge to its final and inevitable conclusion.

The frail woman took a breath and attempted a small smile, “I wish you could, too.”

Andi handed the photo frame back, but Madame Zedecker pushed it into Andi’s hands, “No. You keep it. To remember us by.”