Shadows Of War

Abey shuffled through her paperwork on her desk. No sleep last night, she wasn’t looking forward to work today. Another nightmare, kept her eyes open, her heart thumping hard in her chest. She'd been there before, lost in her thoughts the phone startled her.

        “Hello?” she said putting the phone on her right shoulder, going through the mess on her desk.            

      “You coming tonight?” Gabriela asked.

      Abey forgot about the Coven meeting tonight, she didn’t want to disappoint anyone, but she didn’t want to use the remaining energy she had to call on the Goddess. “Um yeah that, I didn’t sleep that well last night. I don’t think I'm going,” she said shifting the phone onto her other shoulder.

      “Wait, you're not going because of your nightmares? I thought you were going to talk to the elders about it?” Gabriela pressed on. “Besides Daniel will be there.” she giggled into the phone.

        Abey rolled her eyes, Daniel was the last thing on her mind right now. “I know, and I don’t think they'd want to hear what I had to say. The dreams, well they're dreams.” Abey said rubbing her temple.

                “Look you're going tonight whether I have to drag you in kicking and screaming. I know Daniel always looks forward to you being there,” she said her voice trailing off.

                 “Um, well my dream last night warned me if I went there would be many people getting hurt. I know it's probably a dream but I don’t want to put anyone in that type of situation.” Abey said. “Look I got to go, meet me for lunch at Mac's okay?”

                “Alright later.”

                Abey put the phone on the receiver. She needed to get out of the house, but she was afraid her dreams would follow her everywhere. She wanted a little peace at night but knew the Elders from the Coven would say they are just night terrors. Grabbing her keys, she headed to the school. Abey had one paper to turn in, and it was late. Getting into her car, she felt watched. Scanning the area, no one walked on the sidewalk or watched her for that matter. “Come on Abey, this is crazy,” she said shaking her head. Grabbing her bag, she headed inside.

          “Abey,” Daniel said walking towards her.

                She half-smiled, “hey Daniel. You go to school here?” she said pointing at the school.

                He half-smiled back, “oh, no.” he said shaking his head, “I was looking for you.”

                “Oh?” she said almost wanting to run into the building to hide from her embarrassment.

                The sunlight caught his green eyes just right, he almost looked like an Angel. “Yeah, I heard you were having some crazy dreams and wanted to urge you onto coming to the meeting tonight. I'll sit by you if you want,” he said taking her hand. The heat on her neck rose, she wanted to tell him she loved him. He moved his fingers around her palm.

                 “My dreams are just dreams,” she said pulling her hand away from his. “They’re really stupid. I can't make it tonight sorry,” she said rushing into the building.

                Abey went into the Counselors office, Betty the receptionist walked over, “did you bring in your paperwork?” she kind of whispered behind Abey's back.

                “Yeah, sorry my parents must have forgotten to send this in before school started.” she blushed under the papers.

                Betty grabbed the papers and walked back to her desk to grab her oversized glasses. She glanced down at the paperwork, “one sec,” she said thumbing through the paper. “It says here that you're Native American, but on this one it says white. Well? Which is it?” she said with a scowling look on her face.

                “The second page didn't allow me to put what I am. It had a choice of white, black, or, Asian.” Abey crossed her arms. “That offended me,” she said before turning her back to the woman, she walked out without looking back.

                Adjusting to a new city, Abey, felt forced to live among the regular people that hated hers. She felt her father betrayed his tribe by falling in love with Molly, her mother, and then conceiving her. After she was born, they were kicked out and forced to live among the more modernized people. Every summer before school started Abey and her family went back to the Tribe for the summer. Slowly her family was being accepted back into the Tribe. She longed for the day they'd ask them to move back.

                Abey met Gabriela in second grade. She'd just started at the same school. Gabriela was Italian and cast out of the friend circle, the two became best friends shortly after that. When they were older, Gabriela found a small group of women that practice healing medicine, something Abey always wanted to learn how to do.

                The girls formed the ground they called “Coven.” Soon after, word got out, and more and more joined. They learned how to heal wounds and broken hearts. Abey and Gabriela tried hard to get the group to try and learn spells to defend themselves if something were to happen. The Elders said it was too dangerous.

                Shaking her head, she realized she was sitting in her car, in the school parking lot. For some reason the Coven wouldn't leave her head, she thought maybe Daniel had something to do with that.

Driving to her candle shop in the middle of town, she felt someone there again. Locking her car doors, she scanned the parking lot, no one seemed out of place. Goosebumps trailed down her arms.

                Shaking off the feeling, she quickly walked to her shop. Gabriela was waiting near the front door, shivering from the cold. “About time you got here, what took you so long.” she managed to say before walking into the warm building.

                “I don’t know, I went to school to give them my paperwork, and zoned out for almost an hour thinking about the Coven,” Abey said shrugging her shoulders.

                “Why would you space about the Coven?” Gabriela said messing with the temperature in the room.

                “Maybe someone is reminding me of the Coven as a helper and that you guys have my back,” Abey said shrugging her shoulders. “I might come tonight, but I need to lay down for a few, I have a killer headache.”

                “Alright, go for it. I got the store,” she said getting the register ready for sales.

Abey laid down on the bed they had in the back room. She often suffered from headaches that made it hard to be awake, a migraine. Closing her eyes, the energy around her circled her until she drifted off to sleep.

                “Abey, Abey, open your eyes.” Whispers filled her ears. Opening her eyes, she realizes she wasn’t in the shop, but somewhere else. Standing up, she remembered this place but didn’t know it.

                Looking around, a man walked closer to her. He wore a dark hood, but she could see his face. More of them appeared, this time the hoods covered their faces. “Abey, welcome.” he said motioning his arms around her surroundings, “I am Dremis, keeper of this world. Usually.” his laughter danced through the air.

                “Where, where am I?” Abey said looking around, the other hooded men moved closer to her.

                “You are where you belong, or soon will be.” he mocked her. “If you go to the Coven about us, this will not be the only thing I can do.” he chattered his teeth together, trying to scare her.

                 “Oh? Yeah really? This is just a dream, a nightmare I'll awake.” she snapped at him.

                “When the portal is opened, and if you've talked about us, there will be death and destruction. I promise you this.” he half smiled, pulling his hood over his face, he backed up. The world faded, Abey jerked her eyes open. Quickly glancing around, she was laying in the bed in the shop. “Gabriela?” she called sitting up.

                Gabriela glanced in the back, “you okay?” she said with a puzzled look on her face.

                “Yeah, I had one of those dreams, this time a real warning,” she said rubbing her neck.

                “Wa- a warning? Why kind?” Gabriela walked towards her.

                 “One that if I talk to the Coven about my dreams, there is going to be death and destruction. Something we won't be able to handle with basic magic.” Abey said standing up. “Look go to the Coven tonight, but don't tell them about my dreams or anything. We have to keep this in whispers,” she warned, grabbing her bag. “I'm, I'm going to leave for a few days, I need to visit my Tribe to see what this is about,” she said closing the door before her friend could say anything.

                Driving to the tribe would take a couple of days, she wanted her parents to know what she was doing, but she didn’t want them to tell her no she couldn’t go. She needed their help more than anything. If Dremis was telling the truth then, this was already way too far out of hand.

                Pulling onto the highway, this part would be quick, the back roads she would have to take to get there would take the time of two moons. Turning on the radio, nothing played that she could sing along to. She wanted her best friend with her but knew someone had to stay and make sure the shop made the rent.

                The moon and the stars lit her way through the dark parts of the highway, she knew it was getting late. She decided to continue the drive tomorrow when the sun came up. She would drive the rest of the way without sleep, but tonight she needed it.

                 “Checking in?” the lady at the desk asked as she walked in.

                 “Yes,” Abey said pulling out her credit card.

The lady handed her a key, she walked to her room. Closing the door behind her, she scanned the room. “Nice,” she said putting her jacket down on the chair. Laying down on the bed, she was exhausted. She couldn’t wait to get back on the road, but she wanted a good night’s sleep. Closing her eyes, she drifted off to sleep for about an hour before pounding on her door startled her awake. “Um who is it,” she called through the door; the darkness made it hard to see who it was.

                 “Daniel, open the door Abey, you're in danger,” he said.

                She opened the door, the rain hammered the ground, “What are you talking about?” she said confused.

                 “If you are having dreams where someone is threatening your life, then you're in danger. Tell me about these dreams,” he said pushing past her. He wanted to help her, he was scared but knew she needed him now.

                 Jerking her eyes opened, she was still safe, and alone in her hotel room. Something about her dream made her want Daniel to come and help her, but she knew the warning she received would be enforced, she would lose a lot of people if she wasn't careful.