Sage Hill and the Stones of Power

Chapter 2

That night I had a nightmare. I was drowning in cold water, people screaming all around me. The wreckage of what looked like was once a ferry, from the words I could make out on the side, was steady sinking. I woke up gasping for breath, Cecilia shaking my shoulder,

"You okay?" She asked with a concerned look,

"I, um," I didn't know how to put in in words I was so shaken up, "That was a dream?" I don't think I'd ever remembered a dream so vividly, it seemed so real. It absolutely terrified me.

"That depends, what did you see?" She asked, I just shook my head, I didn't want to describe it. "Could you actually feel the objects around you?"

I nodded, I could.

"Sage, listen to me." She spoke calmly and slowly, like I was a small child who need to be reminded of a rule, "That was vision, or glimpse of a possible future. Whatever you saw, most likely will not happen, okay?"

"Okay," I said, as if her telling me that could happen made anything better.

"Try to go back to sleep, we have to wake up early tomorrow to clean up." I didn't think I could fall again, but I eventually did.

***

The next time I woke up my necklace was gone, along with all the stones on it. That shouldn't have been possible. Cecilia was pacing in the middle of our cabin.

"They can't be lost, they're magically bonded to us so that they can't get lost or broken." She told me,

"Then how did mine disappear?" I asked.

"I don't know, only someone with more power than yourself can take your necklace off for you, and for you that's maybe one person." she said. Izzy gasped in the corner,

"Two people, Cecilia, there is one other person more powerful."

"Well, who is it?" I asked desperately clueless.

"Cynthia," Cecilia whispered.I realized then it was the first time I'd heard her say Cynthia's name, she hadn't said it at all yesterday.

"Are you implying that Cynthia broke back into camp just to steal my necklace?" I asked, I knew the answer, I just wanted her to say that wasn't what had happened.

"Yes. That is exactly what I'm implying."

"We need to talk to Heather." I said. I got up and walked to the door, "Coming?"

"Yep," We jogged to the mess hall, you could normally find her there and today was no different.

"We have a problem." I said.

"Okay, what's your problem?" she asked not looking up from the paperwork she was doing.

"My necklace is gone." She looked up abruptly,

"Come again?"

"I couldn't find my necklace this morning and Cecilia thinks the only person powerful enough to take it is Cynthia so we think she stole it and now I don't have any of my stones."

"And you think Cynthia did this?"

"She's the only one who could, right?"

"Besides myself, yes,"

"So how long do we have to find her necklace?" Cecilia cut in.

"With the power she has? Maybe two weeks."

"Two weeks?" I asked, I was hoping for at least a couple months, but two weeks, how could I ever find my necklace in two weeks?

"Maybe, no one I've worked with has had more than one power, six is unheard of, so maybe less."

"We're going to find it," Cecilia said, seeing the look on my face.

"And if we don't?" I asked, although I knew the answer. If we don't find it I die.

"Doesn't matter, I am not letting this happen again." Cecilia said defiantly.

"So now what?" I asked.

"Now, we pack a bag and go search for the person who stole your necklace, she couldn't have gone that far."

"I don't think Sage should go," Heather said, "If you're right about this then Cynthia's going to do anything in her power to stop you; it would be safer if Sage were here."

"If she needs her necklace within two weeks then I don't want to waste time getting it back to camp, she needs to come."

"I agree, I'm not going to sit here doing nothing when other people are in harms way for me." They both looked at me like they'd forgotten I was even there.

"Sage, nothing against you or anything, but could you let Heather and I talk for a bit?" Cecilia said.

"Seriously? Are you kidding? Anything you want to say about me you can say while I'm here."

"Sage," There was enough warning in Heather's tone to make me turn around and leave without another word. However, it didn't necessarily stop me from turning invisible and eavesdropping.

"Do you really think you can find Cynthia, let alone the necklace, in time?" Heather asked.

"I don't know, we couldn't find her with months to spare before, but that doesn't mean I'm not going to try."

"You know we can't help you once you leave, you're going to be totally on your own."

"Are you trying to convince me not to go after her?"

"No, I'm saying you have to be realistic. It can't just be you and Sage, you're going to need help and I can't ask people to take that risk if you've got no clue where she is."

"Fine, you can't but I can. Zack is coming, and Zack is going to bring Jay. That's two people, teleporters no less, that you don't have to ask."

"What make you so sure that Zack is going to come with you on this near impossible mission?"

"Oh, don't pretend to be that blind, he'll come."

"And if he doesn't? Then who are you going to ask?"

"I don't need to worry about that." I figured I heard enough so I turned visible again and started walking down the hill to my cabin. An unexpected wave of dizziness hit me as I did so. I made a mental note not to do it again; and not to mention that not having my stones was already affecting me.