The Stone Dragon

by H. M. Gooden

  Vanessa took the paper back, flipped over another page and handed it to Evelyn, who also looked perplexed until she read it. Her expression instantly became serious and she looked up.

  "This was in my dreams. How did you..." Evelyn trailed off, then tried again. "What does it mean?"

  All traces of humour about the situation with their English teacher had vanished from her face.

  Vanessa took the paper back, folding it in half again.

  "Well, you already know I've been doing a lot of looking in a lot of different places. I grabbed a few newspapers when I was at the coffee shop today and as I was looking through them I saw this one and remembered what Evelyn had described from her dream. And I was thinking, what if what you've been seeing all along isn't necessarily something that's going to happen soon, but instead something that had already happened? You mentioned a large fire and the ground shaking and people dying. When I saw this article, it made me wonder if you were describing the great earthquake in San Francisco in 1906. I mean, we know this guy is old, right? So maybe we're seeing something that happened in the past that could help us now."

  Cat looked at Evelyn, who still looked dazed, staring off into space. "Evelyn, are you okay?"

  Cat was worried. Evelyn had been having a hard time before, but each new piece of information seemed to be another slap in the face and she looked as if she was finally at the end of her ability to cope.

  Evelyn blinked and looked back at Cat. Seeing the worry in her friend's face she tried to smile reassuringly, but failed horribly.

  "Sorry, guys," said Evelyn. "I went back into the dream for a minute to walk around and see if it matched. I think you're right, Vanessa. I've been so worried about the future that I never even considered the past, even though I've seen past events in my dreams often before. I thought it was trying to show me the future."

  Evelyn paused, looking thoughtful again.

  "But while I think you're right about the earthquake of 1906, I don't think it's completely accurate to say that it was in the past, Vanessa. It feels like it is, but at the same time it isn't. I think I need to spend some time trying to walk around in the dream to get more details. I'll work on it more tonight."

  Vanessa looked pleased with herself. "Perfect. I love being right, but you already knew that."

  Cat smirked at her sister as she continued talking.

  "Now, I need to get out of here, and given that this is where I think we need to be, I was planning on auditioning for a few roles in San Francisco. Grandma left me some money that I can use to rent a place for a few weeks. I think maybe she knew about this and I feel like I'm supposed to go first and get settled, then you guys can come out when it's time."

  Cats smirk faded away, replaced by apprehension. "Are you sure? I'm a little uncomfortable with the idea of you being hours away when we have this big evil lurking. What if he gets to you before we can get to him?" She wasn't reassured when Vanessa countered her argument.

  "I get that, but this feels like what needs to happen next. I think I have to go and get a place in San Francisco. This battle isn't going to take place on our turf this time, so it's up to us to get comfortable with the battle terrain. I don't like to sit around and wait for things to come to me. I'll be leaving in two days on the bus and I'll start by staying at one of the hostels by the wharf. Mom and Dad are already in the loop and they agree it's time for me to spread my wings."

  Vanessa winked at Cat and Evelyn."After all, I'm hardly defenceless. Remember, I can bring a hurricane down on anyone if they cross me."

  Evelyn nodded. "I think it's a good plan. Once you find a place, we can come up on weekends. We both have our license and can take turns driving. It's not very far." She smiled at the other two, adding, "one good thing about having magic powers is that our parents don't worry as much about us being on the interstates."

  Vanessa snorted with laughter. "Speak for yourself! I think our mom has decided that since she has no control over the magic part of the world that she'll firmly control the car keys for as long as she can."

  Cat chuckled, knowing Vanessa was completely right about their mom.

  "Totally. But don't worry, I'm sure Dad will convince her otherwise. I'm getting excited now. I love San Fran and without parents around, it'll be totally awesome!"

  The girl's conversation slowly morphed from a serious discussion about good versus evil into something discussing story lines from TLC and fashion and celebrity gossip. They passed the rest of the evening the way girls sometimes do. But while they appeared outwardly relaxed, each of the girls tucked away their deeper, darker thoughts and worries to bring out later when they were alone. They all felt things beginning to shift and knew they'd worry in the depths of the night, whether they wanted to or not.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  Cat was excited. Sure, the previous month had been long and boring, with only the anvil of evil hanging over her head providing any excitement, if you could call it that. She'd been a dutiful student, making sure her schoolwork was handed in on time, group sessions actively participated in, and she’d attended each after school run until the running season finished. Vanessa had been true to her word and left a few days after the girls had told her about Mr. Grayson, but had been in contact with them frequently by phone since. The trip back and forth would have cost too much for her to come back while she was trying to make a go of it with acting, but she'd promised to be careful and so far, hadn't hit any major roadblocks.

  In fact, the last time they'd talked to Vanessa on the weekend, she'd just landed a role in a new television series that would be filming over the winter in San Francisco. She had her fingers crossed that it would lead her to a career in film. Although it wasn't a major character, it was a recurring role with the potential to become bigger as the season progressed, depending on the public reception of the series. Cat had no doubt that if Vanessa wanted to be a famous actress she would be, with her natural flare for drama and her charisma being what it was even without any magical cheating.

  Cat didn't really envy her sister, except in the general sense that she was jealous Vanessa got to go and live her dream, while she was still stuck going through the motions of high school. When there were so many other things that one could accomplish in life, it sometimes felt like a cruel punishment to have to attend school Monday through Friday, ten months of the year. Yes, everyone else had to go through it too, but most other people also didn't have the threat of a spectacularly magical death hanging over their head on a daily basis.

  Cat gave herself a mental slap on the back of the head for such negative thinking. Not only did that type of thinking accomplish nothing productive, it also interfered with her ability to read auras and heal others. She'd started to practice again in order to prepare for the coming battle, whenever or wherever that may be. She hated not knowing what they were up against, so she'd been thinking of every possible scenario to try to ready herself.

  Evelyn had been working every night with Mr. Grayson. According to her, she'd been able to get past the terrified emotions that the dream generated in her and had been able to examine the scene in more depth. They had plans to meet at the coffee shop to discuss the latest changes after Evelyn's mom got home that day and gave her the car. It would give them a chance to get away from their well meaning but often worried parents to talk without interruption.

  And that was why Cat was currently sitting at a table near the window, staring out at the road over a large milkshake while she waited for her friend. She liked to come early to their meetings so she could practice reading the people that came and went on the street and try to heal them from a distance. It still didn't come easy, but it was something that she wanted to get better at, in case it was needed. Healing by touch worked great, but wasn't always possible. So she sat, a normal looking redheaded and ponytailed high school girl with freckles, staring out the window while sipping on a way-too-sugary drink. No one would have suspected the intense concentration that she was honing or at t
he physical changes she was creating in passersby.

  She watched as a middle aged woman crossed the street in the cold October evening. She was holding a large purse awkwardly while using a pair of crutches. Her hair was disheveled and her face appeared to be on the verge of crumpling into tears. Her foot was in a plastic cast, so Cat concentrated on that area. She felt an area of discord around the heel of the woman's foot and sent waves of warmth toward it, focusing as intently as she could.

  She felt the moment of change in the woman's aura and saw the darkness dissipating from the foot, as though removed by an invisible eraser. As the woman crossed the street, Cat turned her attention to her face, noticing that some of the lines between her pinched eyes had begun to smooth out and a look of peace had replaced the tears that had been welling in her eyes. By the time she'd finished crossing the street she looked down at her foot, obviously confused but happy about the change.

  Cat knew without any way to prove it that the woman had been healed and would be able to go home, take off the cast, and walk normally the next day. She'd never know why and her doctor would probably think that she had amazing healing abilities, or that the injury hadn't been as bad as they'd first thought, but Cat knew the truth. She thought again about the idea of medicine as a career and wondered if she'd live long enough to make it through that kind of schooling. If she did, it might be too draining for her, or it may make people wonder about her abilities, or it could tie her down in a world she needed to be mobile for. Maybe Doctors Without Borders would let her work for them in a non-official capacity, she mused, as the woman began to walk out of sight.

  "Hey, sorry I'm late. How long have you been sitting here?"

  Evelyn dropped her backpack on the chair across from Cat and took off her coat. Cat looked away from the woman who was now gone and smiled at her friend.

  "Not long. Don't worry, I wasn't really waiting for you. I was just doing a little remote work. I guess you could say I want to improve my aim. I like to sit here and look at people coming and going. It's a great place to get in a little practice. How are things going for you with Mr. Grayson and your lessons?"

  Evelyn looked down at Cat's drink.

  "Hold that thought. That looks amazing and I'm pretty sure I need one. Be right back."

  Evelyn got up and ordered before coming back and sitting down.

  "Okay, so as I'm sure you are aware, Mr. Grayson is an incredibly odd dude. Now that we know he's not human, he strangely seems more normal. I have to say, I was pretty weirded out initially about our high school English teacher showing up in my dreams, but thankfully it's not as icky as it sounds. It did take awhile for the creepiness to go away, but now I'm really getting the hang of it. Cat, Mr. Grayson is amazing! The things he knows about is beyond anything I expected and he's an even better teacher for this stuff than for English. He really helps me get it, you know?"

  Evelyn stopped talking when the barista brought her drink over and thanked her, waiting for the woman to walk away before she spoke again.

  "Well, what's different? What can you do now that you couldn't before?" Cat asked, sipping from her straw.

  Evelyn drank before answering. "Mmmmm, that's good. Almost everything. Before, I used to mainly get flashes or feelings about things. And then I started to get these dreams, but it was more like being trapped in a nightmare over and over than actually seeing anything specific. Now, I can actually focus and control what I see."

  Cat leaned in. "What do you mean, focus? Control?"

  Evelyn looked excited as she explained. "I can see specific things on command now. I didn't know when or what I'd see before and had almost zero ability to block things out. But now during the day, I can sometimes read people's minds and get flashes of what they're thinking or the strong emotions they're having at that moment."

  Cat was impressed, listening attentively as Evelyn spoke animatedly.

  "And now when the nightmare happens I can walk around and go to different parts within it. I'm not stuck in the same place anymore, instead, I can walk into buildings and see the dream from different viewpoints. Mr. Grayson's also been teaching me how to build a wall between my mind and my emotions, what you'd consider my soul or aura."

  She stopped and looked eagerly at Cat. "Hey, can you read my aura right now?"

  Cat shrugged. "Sure. Anything in particular you want me to tell you?"

  "Just tell me if it's the same as before, or if anything looks different to you."

  Cat nodded. "No problem."

  Cat focused on her friend, flipping into her aura vision while she did so. She almost jumped up from her chair. Gone was the swirling opalescent aura she was used to seeing on Evelyn and other rare people who had a modicum of second sight or other psychic abilities. Instead, Cat saw a bland silvery-gold aura, much the same as she saw on every relatively normal human being.

  "Holy crap, Evelyn! That's amazing! How'd you do that?"

  Evelyn smiled and looked proud of herself, puffing her chest out slightly.

  "I've been doing the same thing that Mr. Grayson's been doing to hide himself. He taught me how to cloak myself, the special side at least, so that people don't know what I am. That's how he hid from you all last year. He wears a cloak on his aura at school so he passes as human, even to those who have the ability to see. Well, particularly those people, as most humans wouldn't notice him even if he didn't."

  Cat was impressed.

  "Man, I knew he did something, but I never realized it was something other people could do." Cat had an awful thought cross her mind. "Is this something other people can do? Because that'll make finding who we need to even more difficult."

  Evelyn nodded. "Technically, yes. Although the way he described it to me was that it takes someone with very strong abilities of the mind to control what other people see. So it's not just anyone who can do this. Even among those with the sight, it's only the few with strong abilities that can. So I'm pretty sure that Vanessa couldn't cloak herself like this if she wanted to, and you probably can't either, although that's just a guess. You both have other ways to control what people see and think though, so I don't think that you really need to hide yourself the way I do. Also, you have more weapons. I need to hide myself so that people don't know what I know. Does that make sense?"

  Evelyn had her hands open on the table now, having leaned forward while trying to explain.

  "Yeah, I think it does. Vanessa can just blast someone if they go after her and I can apparently withstand almost any threat and regenerate both myself and others. I guess that means you get to be our secret weapon, Evelyn."

  The girls smiled at each other, happy with the progress that had been made.

  "Any news on Vanessa? What's the latest? Last I heard she was in a show now. Where’s she staying? Are we able to visit soon? I'd like to get used to San Francisco and be able to find my way around, sooner rather than later. It'll help me figure out my dreams better. I want to be there, see where they're happening."

  Evelyn shook her drink, trying to stir the bottom with her straw and get the last precious dregs out. Cat bobbed her head like a boxer taking blows, impressed as always by how many words Evelyn could get out in short order.

  "Woah, okay, slow down there, Machine Gun Eve. I talked to her last night. So far she's really liking it there and feels that being near the water is helpful for her abilities. I guess the wind's more active near the coast than it is here or something. She's also been doing well on set and thinks she might get a permanent spot. She doesn't want to use her influence to make them to give her the job, but in this case with what's at stake, she will if she has to. Right now though, she thinks it'll happen anyway. She's going to rent a place once she hears more and then we can go out for Thanksgiving weekend and look around."

  "Sweet. But that's only a few weeks away. Is she going to be ready by then?"

  Cat shrugged again. "She says so. And with Vanessa, if she decides she's going to do something, it happens. She probably has a plac
e already but doesn't want to tell us until she finds out about work, which she said should know about by Friday. I'll know by this weekend what the plan is." Cat thought a second. "Hey, maybe see if your mom is okay with us driving to San Francisco for Thanksgiving? My parents aren't thrilled, but they agreed it's the best plan for now."

  Evelyn nodded. "She won't be happy about it, but she's working that weekend so that she can have Christmas off. At least it'll just be worry about me being safe, not about me missing the holidays that'll bother her."

  Both Cat and Evelyn knew that their parents were unlikely to stand in their way if there was even a hint of anything otherworldly happening, but they weren't keen on their babies being in mortal danger either. It was also possible that driving without adult supervision was going to be the biggest problem for their parents. They might not be able to control evil, but they could control access to a vehicle.

  The girls talked for a bit longer, but wrapped things up soon after they finished their drinks as it was still a school night. They'd gone from the lethargy of the summer to the intense fear of Evelyn's dreams, to something approaching excitement now that things were being set in motion. Soon they'd be going on a road trip, and as every teenager in the history of the world knew, freedom of the open road beckoned!

  AS EXPECTED, VANESSA got the part. She then managed to call and humble-brag to Cat and Evelyn on the weekend as planned, setting out the details for when they were to visit her. Vanessa was on set Monday to Friday on a typical shooting schedule, but had the Monday of that long weekend off, so she'd be available for the entire three days. Her apartment was big enough for all of them and close to the wharf, so they'd be able to get familiar with the landscape and find out if they could apply what they saw while there to what Evelyn had been dreaming about for the previous few months.

  Given that it was a six hour drive, Cat and Evelyn had begged their parents for extra time. Grudgingly, they'd agreed to let them skip school on Tuesday if needed and they were allowed to drive up Thursday night after classes if the weather was decent. However, their parents made them promise that they'd try to be home on time and not miss any more school than absolutely necessary.