Safe Haven

Chapter 2 : Josh

Blackness all around. Why was it so dark?

No. Not dark. Black.

But she could see and feel the water on the floor. It was not deep, an inch maybe. When she stepped, her feet made no ripples. It was like she was walking on a mirror, but liquid. How could she see? Where was the light coming from?

Her necklace. The necklace her grandmother had given her. There was light coming from it. Leading her. Pulling her forward.

She hadn't gone far into the inky blackness when a form appeared.

A horse? No... not a horse...

It looked like a horse, but there was something... off about it. It's muzzle was too long. It's eyes were too sharp. And it's skin... there was something just... wrong about it. Everything about this animal screamed not to come near, but she walked closer. It was then she noticed the water coming from the animal. Not dripping, as if the animal was wet, but actually coming from it. It didn't make sense and her mind struggled to grasp was she was seeing.

A shock of sudden cold at her neck made her gasp for breath. Then she couldn't breathe at all. Thick liquid filled her mouth, her nose, her lungs. She clawed at her throat, panicking. She was drowning...

-----

Charlotte shot awake, still gasping and reaching for her throat. It was a dream. The same dream again. She was fine. She was home. She could breathe. She was not drowning.

She cursed as her fingers encountered the cord around her neck. She had forgotten to take the necklace off again. Every time she forgot to take it off before going to sleep, she had the dream. She needed to leave herself a damn note.

It was a weird coincidence though.

She got up and went to the mirror, fingering the pendant around her neck. Her grandmother had always told her it was a doubloon, but based on everything she had researched and read it was actually a 'piece of eight', similar but different. Both had been used by pirates during the Golden Age of Piracy, but while doubloons were gold Spanish coin, 'pieces of eight' were silver and had a cross on the back, like hers did, where they would break it into pieces, hence the name. She didn't know if her grandmother had just been confused or maybe she had been told that by whoever she had gotten it from.

The silver had oxidized over time, turning a dark color, but the markings were still somewhat visible. The unusual part was the red stone in the middle. She had taken it to a jeweler, but they hadn't been able to tell her what kind of stone it was, just that it wasn't a crystal or a metal. They had started asking questions that Charlotte hadn't been comfortable with, given her affinity with supernatural creatures, so she had left and not gone back.

Next had been asking around the visitors of Safe Haven. Lilyanna had no idea and Malcolm just snorted and said it smelled funny, but only when he had it right under his nose. Jordan, and other creatures, had offered to buy it from her and she had shot that down immediately. The one thing her grandmother had said was to keep it with her. And she would honor the dead woman's wishes.

But these dreams...

A bang on the window made her nearly jump out of her skin. Opening the drapes she saw a small dragon-like creature sitting on the windowsill, shaking his head. She opened it and he hopped inside onto her forearm.

"I keep telling you to watch the glass," she said, kissing the top of his head. The creature chirped and rubbed against her chest.

Dragonets were a sub-species of dragon. They were very small, some getting no bigger than a house cat. They had bat-like wings but some had colorful feathers, which often led to them being mistaken for parrots when humans saw them flying. They couldn't breathe fire, but they were still dangerous. Their blood was not only extremely poisonous, but highly acidic. They were part of the reason why she never had to worry about mice.