Divine Blue [Book One]

Chapter Fourteen

**The room was dark. Every corner was cloaked in pitch black. Taylor could hear herself breathing, calmly at first, until the panic set in. Her heart raced in her chest; she heard it pound. It was as if the room was a vacuum, no air, no breeze. There was only emptiness.

She scanned the room, opening her eyes wider in hopes that her sight would adjust, but she saw nothing. Holding her arms out in front of her, she tried to grasp anything that might be in her proximity, but the space was empty. She couldn't make purchase with any walls of the room, if there were any. Taylor tripped on her own feet and fell to the floor. She caught herself with her hands even as her cheek brushed against the ground. It was slick and smooth—no cracks, no dust. Where was she?

Taylor managed to pick herself back up from the floor. She succumbed to the thought that she was trapped in here, trapped forever. As fear washed over her, a large, round area of the floor beneath her lit up and the area just in front of her feet seemed to slip away and was replaced with a gaping hole. Suddenly, Taylor felt a vortex of wind pull from within the hole. Taylor's hair danced wildly around her head. She felt the force of the wind beckoning her into the hole, but she fought against it.

A woman in a flowing, red dress appeared across the hole from Taylor. She was looking down, tears pouring from her eyes. She brought her head up, met Taylor's eyes, and a look of pleading shone on her face. As quickly as she did this, the vortex pulled her into its clasp by her feet.

"Taylor!" the woman screamed as she fell within the hole. "Help! Help me!" Her screams echoed through the dark room.

Taylor froze. How was she supposed to help this woman? Who was she?

The vortex ceased its pull and the woman was suspended for a moment at the entrance of the hole directly before Taylor. Taylor reached out her hand to help the woman, but as she did, the woman began falling helplessly down the hole. Time slowed. The woman, still screaming in terror, was becoming engulfed in the depths of the hole as Taylor knelt and struggled to reach out a hand. The woman's arms were flailing, trying desperately to get a grip of anything.**

Taylor shot up in her bed. Sleep was her worst enemy these days. She could still see and feel the terror on the woman's face. It was palpable. Taylor felt drawn to this woman, an invisible union to this woman, whoever she was. Even more strange was that after years of not having this dream, Taylor was, out of nowhere, reliving it all over again.

She laid back down on her pillow, now wide awake. She looked over at her bedside table where her phone sat charging. She picked it up from the table. 5:30 AM. It was still dark outside, but Taylor was shaken. She opened her messaging app, fully expecting nothing, but wanted to feel some sort of comfort. She tapped on her conversation with Adrienne and pulled up the keyboard on the display screen.

[Taylor]: are you up babe?

Taylor knew it was probably a long shot. She pulled the phone from the charger and laid it beside her. Seconds later, she felt it vibrate next to her.

[Adrienne]: how weird. yeah i was just thinking about texting you. are you OK?

Taylor began typing her response.

[Taylor]: just had a really weird dream. the one I told you about. had it all the time when I was younger. what are you doing up?

[Adrienne]: same. kind of. i had this wild dream. i was running from someone. something.

[Taylor]: who or what was it?

[Adrienne]: i have no damn clue. it was dark, it had a weird face. it was creepy. was yours the lady falling down the hole?