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years. I kept the light in bed with me, afraid I wouldn't be able to reach it when I woke up if it wasn't close by.
    In the dreams I was lost and looking for my family. I had a mother, father and a brother.
    I could see them, but they couldn't see me and the more I tried to run to them the farther away they were until I couldn't see them anymore and a waiting shadow gobbled me up.
    I stopped having the dreams when I was ten or eleven and hadn't thought about them since. But with Gage's story of the little girl, stolen from her family, they came back in vivid detail. I caught my breath at the pain that tightened my throat and made breathing difficult for a moment.
    No way was I kidnapped by my aunt. I almost shook my head in denial at the thought and instead thought about what my childhood had been like. Tucson, Cleveland, Kansas City, Pasadena, Tallahassee, Boise, Toronto, Missoula, Charlotte and all the other cities we lived in, each blending together in a jumble of hastily packed bags, rental offices and new schools.
    Celia's evasiveness about family and her insistence on my never staying the night at friend's houses. How she never let me get a school picture or compete in spelling bees, science fairs or talent contests. All the little things that seemed so normal as a child suddenly took on an ominous cast.
    She didn't take me to the doctor when I got sick and my immunization record was spotty at best until a short trip to Nogales when I was nine. We saw a Dr. Diaz there and she made sure that I got all the shots a child my age needed to go to school.
    My head was pounding, this was too much to think about. Gage must have the wrong woman, Celia wouldn't steal me from my family. Celia was the only family I had. My mother and father died in a car crash. I didn't have a brother, grandparents or cousins. Celia was my only living relative.
    “My parents are dead, they died shortly after I was born. My Aunt Celia took me in and raised me as her own. I don't know why you think I am this girl Amelie, but I'm not. I am sorry to disappoint you and Amelie's family. I wish you luck in finding her.”
    Gage was staring at me with a pitying look and I added, “If you don't mind I would like to go home now.” Even as I said it, I knew I was lying to myself.
    What Gage was saying made sense. Celia was hiding something from me and I had, in my naivety, stopped asking questions. I liked my life in Portland. I had friends, my own apartment, a car and a good job, what wasn't to like about that? For the first time in my life I was independent. I did what I wanted and didn't have to answer to anyone about how I spent my WARLOCK’S BRIDE JENNIFER RINEHART 23

    time or with whom I spent it with.
    Gage rubbed his forehead like he had a sudden pain there and gave me a sad, considering look, “I was afraid of that. Come with me, I want to show you something.”
    I followed him from the dining room and into a room off of the main hall. Ten foot high bookshelves lined the walls and were filled with hundreds of leather bound volumes. Golden light spilled out from lamps scattered on occasional tables around the room, creating a warm, inviting glow.
    A well worn brown leather chair sat in front of a fireplace, a book was open and set on the arm of the chair waiting to be picked up and read.
    Piles of books, maps and printouts littered the top of a large wooden table in the center of the room. A huge gray stone fireplace, big enough for a fully grown man to stand in, had a quietly smoldering fire in it. All in all, the room was cozy and warm, it seemed like a nice place to spend an evening and from the look of the books strewn here and there around the well worn chairs, I would guess Gage spent a lot of time in here.
    But my feet dragged as we entered the room because it was familiar. I had been here before. Not literally of course, but I had been here several times in my dreams of Gage. He spent a lot of time in here. I could see him reading in front