Fragments - Book One of the Missing

Chapter 25 - Rowan

There was no rest for the weary at Hamza's Bootcamp. Hamza woke Rowan up from her nap next to the dying fire, where apparently she had fallen asleep after Taniel left her. Now that she could finally feel her muscles again, the soreness was returning, only compounded by the obstacle course that morning.

Taniel was standing in front of the stove, and whatever he was making smelled heavenly. The familiar scent of cake batter waft past her nose, but she didn't dare hope. The smell made her acutely aware how ravenous she was.

"What's for dinner?"

"Chocolate chip pancakes, my favorite!" Taniel said in his best falsetto.

"Are you making fun of me?" Rowan said with false anger and graced him with her best smile. He stopped flipping for just a moment to smile back.

"You made the worst day better!"

"I hope this isn't the worst day you've ever had, Sunshine, or you are in for a rude awakening." He tried to bat her head with the spatula as she ducked her head under his arm.

"You were not that nimble on the course. Holding out on me, huh?" he asked.

But despite the friendly banter, Rowan could hear Hamza mutter something about there being plenty more bad days ahead of them.

She ignored him and sat next to Taniel at the table. Hamza sat at his customary seat across from them. Rowan could barely wait for Taniel to put the plate of pancakes in front of her before shoveling them into her mouth.

"Glad to see your mother taught you manners," Hamza grumbled. "After dinner I want to work on manipulating your gift. When you are tired is the best time to practice. You'll have less energy to worry about what you are doing, and you can tap into your innate skills you are both so hesitant to use."

"But I dream, I can't control that," Taniel said.

"Dreamers can only dream. But as I said before, there is a chance you are something so much more, Taniel."

"But if I am not a dreamer, what am I?"Although part of him recalled his last conversation with Edie.

"A Weaver. Dreamers can see what will happen. But Weavers can manipulate the dreams. If you can dream it, you can make it happen. There is not much known about Weavers, it is incredibly rare. But some have been able to take unrelated dreams and apply them to real life, which is what I suspect happened with the knives. Others, can try altering the course of a dream in its tracks."

"The knives?"

Hamza waved him off. "Scrying, I told you already. The knives you threw back at your apartment, that was not just coincidence. You had dreamed of the knives before, I am sure of it, but in different circumstances. Why would you dream of hurting your childhood friend? But if you can learn to walk through your dreamscape, you can learn to control the dreams. You could be incredibly powerful, and incredibly dangerous. You could be sculpted into the most terrible weapon if the wrong side got their hands on you. Darkness would come surely and swiftly."

Rowan shuddered at the image. Further destruction of this world? A world controlled by Auctor Darus or the Officials with armies of sleep-walking humans, controlled by the worst mankind had to offer. No thank you.

"Unfortunately, I have never met a Weaver, so I don't know how to teach you perfectly. It will be a bit of trial and error. The dreamscape is a very protected space, and only Dreamers and Weavers can access it."

"So basically I am on my own?" Taniel said.

"I didn't say that." Hamza huffed. "We will just work on control, and hopefully that filters into your dreams. Eventually you may be able to direct your dreams."