Dream Catcher

Chapter 3

The girl stared at Jack expectantly and raised an eyebrow. "Well, you're welcome."

Jack scrambled to say something, but no words would come. He couldn't believe it. Every last detail about her was the same; it was as if she'd walked out of his head.

"Okay I can see you're in shock. Let me explain what just happened. That," she pointed at the pile of dust that was Jack's history teacher, "was a demon. I killed it. Again, you're welcome."

Jack just nodded. "Are you real? Is this a dream?" The girl frowned and leaned closer to him. Jack's heart rate spiked. "Did you knock your head against the wall? This is all real."

Jack nodded again.

"Okay. Okay that's cool. I'm fine. Okay. Demons. Great!" Jack gave the girl a thumbs up and slid down against the wall and buried his head in his arms. "Wake up now Jack. It's time to wake up." Jack closed his eyes tightly and then gingerly opened them again. The scene hadn't changed: classroom, pile of demon ashes, dream girl.

"Jack. I need you to pull yourself together. We have to get out of here before anyone finds us and we're forced to answer some awkward questions." She reached down and pulled him, none too gently, to his feet. Then she guided him over to the door and pushed him through it. She left him in the hallway and went back into the classroom. Jack saw her pull something out of her jacket and spill the contents of it over the ashes. Then she made a series of small, complicated gestures with her hands and the next second the ashes were on fire. The flames glowed a deep red then black then they were gone. The ashes were gone as well. The girl walked out of the classroom shutting the door behind her.

"What did you do?"

"Demon fire. Removes any trace of them. We were lucky, not all of them turn to ash." She was already walking away and Jack had to run to catch up.

"Demon fire? Who are you? What's going on?"

"I'm Elena. I know you must be very confused, it's not supposed to happen like this. Usually we find the cambion before it attacks and the charge never knows."

They had now reached the main entrance. Elena marched through the doors and up the hill towards the gates.

"Charge?" Jack stared at Elena. Everything that had just happened was completely insane.

"Someone we are assigned to look after. Jack come on you need to think for yourself a little."

Jack stopped walking. "Hey! Can we just hit pause for a minute? My history teacher just tried to murder me so sorry if my brain is not functioning at 100%."

Elena stopped a few feet ahead of him and turned around. Arms crossed, face screwed up in a tight frown and eyes staring daggers at him. Jack struggled to relate this girl to the one in his dream. That girl he would have gladly died for a thousand times over. But this girl standing in front of him, he wasn't so sure he'd even get a papercut for her.

"Okay. Fine. I apologise for saving your life. I apologise for cleaning up your mess. I apologise for getting you away from the scene of the crime and I apologise for giving you an alibi." Jack rolled his eyes.

"An alibi? If an alibi is listening to you being rude then you can just-" Jack gasped. Elena had stepped forward, grabbed his face and kissed him.

Just then the bell rang for the end of lunch and the empty hallway was suddenly filled with a crowd of spectators. Belatedly, Jack realised they were standing right outside the doors to the cafeteria. Some noticed Jack and Elena and shouted out congratulations. Immediately Elena released him and stepped back from him.