by c a king
“No, I don't think he would believe us,” Willow said leaning back on a branch so her head hung upside down. “No, if we are going to help him we need to figure this out ourselves.” She paused for a moment to sit up, before adding, “What if you bring us into your dream and we search for him? If we can find him and talk to him or see more about where he is, at least then we would have something to go to the others with.”
The two other girls agreed to try that evening.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
The three girls met up after everyone had gone to sleep. It hadn't been hard to convince the guardians to take patrol overnight again. Years of being constantly joined with another being meant Aslo, Kiera and their family enjoyed having some freedom and Shelby was glad to stretch her wings and soar like she never thought she would again. Each of them took their place on a bed with Ashlyn in the middle, ready to fall asleep and hunt for clues. They moved the beds close enough to each other so that they could hold hands falling asleep, hoping the bond would help them meet in the dream world. At the very least it couldn't hurt. All three swallowed a sleeping pill to make sure they went in at the same time. It hadn't taken much to convince Richard the noises from their new telepathic connection were keeping them up and they needed help to fall asleep.
Ashlyn was the first to open her eyes. She was in a familiar white room, which she had decided to call a staging room. It was where she started every dream now. There were doorways that led to other people or dreams she could enter. She began looking for the symbols and calling to her two friends. She heard a knocking noise and followed it to a door, which she opened to find Willow. The two then continued searching doors together until they came across one that was a mirror. The two girls looked at each other and decided to try the handle. Clairity was waiting on the other side. They were together now, but that was the easy part.
It felt like they were walking in circles for a very long time calling out to Mike, without answer, when a different door appeared. It was all black with gold carvings on it that the girls had never seen before.
“I think that's it,” Willow said.
“Feels like,” Clairity agreed.
“How did I know you were going to say that. We couldn't pick a door with daisies or sweets? Noooo. We have to pick a door of darkness and unknown.” Ashlyn shivered. “Go on then. You two open it.”
After exchanging glances, Willow grabbed the handle and pulled the door open to take a peek in. The three girls didn't even have to step through. They were already sucked into the middle of this dream.
It was a town of some sort and it was night time. Although there were street lights, they were flickering on and off so they actually gave off very little light. Willow imagined how the Leander's night vision might have come in handy about now, but shrugged it off as lesson learned. Pride gets in the way of practicality. That led to questions of whether Ashlyn could bring all of the guardians into a dream as well. She shook her head. These were questions for another day.
The girls slowly started walking down the street trying to take in as much of their surroundings as possible and look for clues or signs as to why they were there or where they were. They were definitely walking down a road. It was smooth and even. There were store fronts and businesses, all appearing to be closed. One boasted a sale on magic wands, while another had ingredients for 'All Your Potion Needs' written in the window. There were also people, all wearing dark brown or black. Hoods of cloaks covered their faces, although they all turned to face the three girls as they passed by. Willow realized how badly they stood out, wearing bright white, even if it was a dream.
The next block had six stores. Three on each side. At least they assumed them to be stores. There were no windows to see in and the doors were closed. Each one had a sign that hung above the door with a different picture on each. On one side of the road was a black cat, a raven and a wolf. On the other side was a spider, a sea creature, which Willow identified as a kraken, having seen pictures of it in a book earlier that morning and the last was a snake.
“Where did all the people go?” Clairity asked knowing neither of her two friends had an answer.
Continuing on to the next block it was exactly the same stores, with the same signs. Willow grew a small flower in her hand and placed it on the ground in the middle of the road. Then the three continued walking until they came to the same flower at the same place Willow had left it behind them.
“Guess that means we need to pick a door,” Willow said.
“Why do I have a feeling you aren't picking the fluffy kitty door,” Ashlyn said.
“Serpent?” Clairity asked.
“Serpent,” Willow agreed heading over to the wooden door. Without waiting she pulled it open and stepped through.
The girls were greeted with a blast of musty sickly sweet smelling air. The store was dimly lit with candles. Willow could make out some dead flowers and plants hanging from the ceiling, a few of which she recognized as ingredients Micca had needed to make a potion to help the Shinning boys. There were some dead animals, stuffed to make them look alive. Everything was dusty and old. Books lined the walls, some for making spells and potions and others for meanings of herbs and scents. For a moment, she thought she had seen a copy of 'The Portal Prophecies', but how could that be? She took a step closer but stopped when she heard a voice.
“I'd be careful not to touch anything my dears,” sounded from behind them. Willow swung around, she recognized the voice. There, in front of her was the woman from the park, still dressed the same and holding a large knife. She went back to cutting up something black and slimy that looked like it might have been still alive.
“Where are we?” Ashlyn asked.
“Did you not find what you were looking for? There is a button there for help.” The old woman pointed to Ashlyn's side.
“That wasn't there before.” She reached forward with one finger.
Before Clairity and Willow could scream 'NO!', the young dream walker reached forward and pressed the big red button marked help and a trap door in the floor gave way sending all three crashing to a lower level.
“Brilliant!” Willow said.
“How was I supposed to know that would happen?” Ashlyn cried.
“I don't know. Maybe when she said don't touch anything it might have been a hint,” Clairity barked. “I know it was for me.”
“Oh,” she answered. “I thought she meant anything else.”
“Could you two get off me now?” Clairity was patiently waiting squished beneath the weight of both of the other girls.
The three stood up and dusted off. For a dream they still felt the aches from the fall. If they thought it was dark upstairs, it was a hundred times worse downstairs. None of them could see a thing.
“Ashlyn, you can control the dream world, try to create some light,” Willow said.
“I'll try but I haven't been very successful in the past,” she replied, concentrating as hard as she could on light.
Willow felt something in her hand. She looked down and then said “Matches? Really? Couldn't be a lantern, ball of light, torch, one of those flashlight things Mike uses?”
“Told you I wasn't very good at it yet.”
“Never mind, maybe we can find something to make a torch out of. Feel around.” Willow crouched down to the ground and felt the dirt covered floor for anything that could help.
Clairity found a piece of wood and after trying a few matches to light it, the girls decided that wasn't going to work. They definitely needed something to light to get the wood burning, but there wasn't anything.
“Wait,” Clairity said. “I have an idea!” She ripped her white dress and wrapped some of the material tightly around one end of the wood.
“Brilliant!” Ashlyn yelled.
Willow used a match to light the cloth. If nothing else, it would give them a chance to look for something better or move on to another hopefully better lit room.
The hallway they were in wa
s made from grey bricks. The whole area was damp and had a musty smell to it which was less than pleasant.
“Kinda glad we didn't pick spiders right now,” Ashlyn said imagining the cobwebs and creepy crawlers all over a basement behind that door.
The hallway seemed to go on for a long stretch, then ended at a choice. They could go left or right. Both ways were equally dark. There were no signs to tell them where to go.
“So now what?” Ashlyn asked.
Willow examined the walls, looking for any indication of where they were heading, but couldn't find anything.“Guess it's up to you Clairity. Choose.”
“Me? Why me?” Clairity asked stunned.
“Kinda thought you were the psychic. Go with your gut,” Willow answered.
“Gut...gut...Okay. We go left because nothing we choose can ever be right in this place,” she replied.
“Okay, left it is. I like that reasoning.”
“I don't,” Ashlyn mumbled following behind the other two.
They came across several empty rooms before they heard what sounded like mad dogs barking in the background. A few seconds later they found themselves in a room filled with smaller rooms that had bars on them, like cages. People were reaching their hands through the bars grabbing at them, some moaning for help, some screaming in pain. They couldn't see their faces.
“Do you think Mike is one of them?” Ashlyn was on her tip toes trying to see to the back of the cages.
“No, everything tells me he isn't in there,” Clairity answered.
Willow had the same feeling. He was there somewhere but not with these people, somewhere else. Up ahead on the other side of the room was an old fashioned wood doorway. She headed towards it and swung it open.
Sitting upright in bed, Willow opened her eyes, the prophecy they had been working on so hard, it was about Mike. He needed help.
Table of Contents
The Portal Prophecies: A Keeper's Destiny
Dedication And Acknowledgement Page
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
King Cornelius
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine