Celestial Guardians: Uniting Dimensions (Celestial Guardians Series, #1)

Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Jamaica's POV

I woke up drenched in sweat, my heart pounding like I'd just run a marathon. The remnants of a vivid and unsettling dream clung to me.

In the dream, I was standing in a field under a sky that shimmered with colors I couldn't name. Figures made of light surrounded me, their faces indistinct but their voices clear. They spoke a language I didn't understand, yet somehow, I felt like I should.

And then there was the symbol—a glowing mark on my palm that pulsed with otherworldly energy. It burned, not with pain but with a strange, electrifying warmth.

I looked at my hand now, half expecting to see the mark. But my skin was bare, just like always.

The dream felt too real to dismiss, but there was no time to dwell on it. I had to get ready for school—another day of trying to blend in and not lose control.

As I walked into North Ridge High, the memory of the flying bag haunted me. I told myself it was a fluke, a trick of the light, anything to convince myself it didn't mean what I feared. But deep down, I knew better.

I tried to focus in class, but my mind wouldn't cooperate. The teacher's words blurred into white noise, and my thoughts drifted to the boy who had seen me yesterday.

Who was he? And why did he look at me like he knew something I didn't?

Tessa plopped her tray across from me at lunch, snapping me out of my daze. "You look like you've seen a ghost," she said, biting into an apple.

"Rough night," I mumbled.

"Tell me about it," she said, leaning in conspiratorially. "I heard some first-year student tried to sneak a hamster into their locker this morning. Can you imagine the drama if it got loose?"

I managed a weak smile, but my mind was elsewhere.

After lunch, I headed to the library, hoping for some quiet. The shelves stretched high, filled with books that smelled of dust and paper. It was comforting, in a way—safe.

I wandered until a book caught my eye. It was old, its leather cover cracked and faded, but something about it drew me in.

The title read: The Celestial Prophecy.

I picked it up, my fingers tingling as I flipped through the pages. The text was dense, with diagrams and symbols that looked eerily familiar.

One symbol, in particular, made my breath catch.

It was the same mark I'd seen in my dream.

My hands trembled as I traced the outline on the page. How could this be here? How could a random book hold the same image as my dream?

"Interesting choice," a voice said behind me.

I spun around, clutching the book to my chest.

It was him—the boy from yesterday. He stood there, hands in his pockets, a crooked smile on his face. Up close, his dark eyes gleamed with something I couldn't quite place—curiosity? Recognition?

"What do you want?" I asked, my voice sharper than I intended.

He raised his hands in mock surrender. "Relax, I'm not here to cause trouble. I just... noticed you're into some heavy reading."

"It's just a book," I said, sliding it behind my back.

"Sure," he said, his smile widening. "And I'm just a guy who happens to notice things. Like, say, a flying bag."