Into the Realm

Chapter Ten: Across the Brook

She is coming. She is coming. She is coming.

    "Tessa!"

    Tessa rolled over. She dreamed of blue paint and of June, of juice boxes and roses. In her dream she reached out to touch June's face and was shocked to see it ripple like a pond. But then the water started to move quickly and it turned into a rumbling river. Tessa looked up from the river to see a large black wolf standing at the edge of a forest watching her. She is coming, he told her, but his mouth didn't move. A cloud of red smoke descended next to it and the wolf retreated into the shadowy trees.

    "Tessa," came a harsh whisper. "Hey!"

    She is coming. A whisper that kept repeating in her mind. She had no idea what it meant but it still repeated like a mantra, a chant— she is coming, whoever she is. Hopefully she'll get there soon because Tessa wanted to dream about her mother some more. She suddenly became aware of a glowing light— it took form of a small woman, small enough to fit in Tessa's outstretched hand. A set of wings unfurled from the woman's back. She danced around on Tessa's palm, her red hair reminiscent of the bright hue of the rosebush. The rosebush—

    "Hurry up, yeh ninny," a gruff voice said from the shadows. The woman pouted and twirled once more before taking to the air. A thin trail of sparkling dust followed her.

    "Vel, you can't just force me to go here then go there." She wrinkled her nose at someone behind Tessa, who was too enraptured with the tiny woman to turn around. "I have a mind that is capable of making its own choices."

    Her voice was surprisingly rough and accented. Despite her porcelain features and freckles, ginger hair and green eyes— her voice was twangy, reminiscent of an Irish tilt but not quite as brassy. Tessa was captivated by her.

    A huff. Then—

    "Ouch! Aria! Tessa, wake up, dammit!"

    "Rosalyn, now is not the time to have an attitude." The other voice sounded somewhat irritated. "She is coming. It's time to lead."

    "I believe that now is more than definitely the time for an attitude. Even if she is coming that doesn't mean I can't have a bit of fun before we all return. She has ties here, she knows the way."

    "Even if she has ties to the Realm then that doesn't mean that she knows the way. And there's a wee bit of a problem, there. The portal—"

    The woman's eyes flashed in shock. "The portal! Is it—?"

    "Aria, stop that— oh, my God, Tessa you need to get up! Aria is—is— leaving?! Oh, my God, I can't. Tessa. Get up."

    The woman took off from Tessa's hand, apparently terrified of something happening. She looked so real, so tangible, that Tessa foolishly wondered if the woman was an actual person. But of course she wasn't— she was only in a dream.

    A hand tentatively touched Tessa's shoulder. What was going on? She heard Heather-Jane's whining over her dream and she purposefully ignored it because Heather-Jane was incredibly annoying.

    The hand shook Tessa again, but softly. Tessa, still half asleep, moaned and burrowed into her blanket. She wanted to hold onto the dream of the little woman for a little while longer. She was in a forest, standing over the river, and Tessa had never felt so peaceful. The woman appeared again out of nowhere and smiled brightly, standing only five inches tall, and gestured for Tessa to follow her. Tessa put her foot on the water and felt herself be supported by something she couldn't quite explain. June was standing in the middle of the river. Her subconscious started to take over once again and she felt herself start to drift off. She met her mother halfway across the water.