The Dou-Jin Apprentice of Monsters and Men In the Beginning

Chapter 8 The Second Nightmare

Chapter 8

The Second Nightmare

Before the boys went to bed for the night Holiday approached Stephanous confidently and gave him an amulet to wear to bed. It was three gleaming gold circles one inside the other that spun freely on their own when held away from the skin. It was quite heavy to wear for a necklace and all. Stephanous had never worn anything with such weight to it before.

"This is a minor focus." Holiday informed Stephanous as Stephanous had never heard of such a thing living out in the country and all. "It's not the strongest of the focuses but it's not the weakest either. Hopefully it will keep your nightmares at bay. I hope that it does you some good tonight. I know how troublesome nightmares can be for someone as young as yourself."

"I'll be glad for anything." Stephanous told Holiday with a slight smile of reluctance marring his outer exterior trying to put a brave face on but failing miserably. He was trying to put his best face on for Head Mistress Holiday to make her think he was feeling brave about the entire ordeal so that she wouldn't worry about him. "Thank you so much for the help, Head Mistress." He still didn't know what to think of the hefty necklace to help ward off such an atrocious nightmare, but if anything could it would have to be this weighty thing that dangled about his neck.

"You're very welcome." Holiday said with a warm rosy smile. She really wished that she could have done more for the young man, but she felt so helpless in just giving the boy a focus to ward off horrible nightmares. She knew what is was like to be plagued with nightmares, as she use to be plagued by them as a girl herself. Not only the nightmares, but the intrusions by a not so loving step-father that had taken advantage of her youth.

After her mother had gone to sleep he would creep into her small bed chamber and make her be quite or he'd kill her mother and then torture her before slaying her. Holiday would do anything to protect her mother and her little sisters. The day she killed her father was the greatest day and the worst day of her life.

Stephanous put on the amulet around his neck. He gazed down at the golden circles but he didn't feel any different. He thought maybe it was supposed to do something to him, but he hadn't felt anything. The cold golden loops just sat there against his chest doing nothing for him except sit there and twinkle in the candle light.

"How do you feel?' Isaian asked curiously hoping that the minor focus had some surprising magical power. He had never had a chance to touch anything magical in all his days while living in the Brazier home.

"Did it make you feel any different?" Brayothan asked jus as curious about the three circles. Brayothan also had never been around anything magical and he too wondered if the necklace had any wonderful powers over Stephanous or not.

"No, I don't feel any different at all." Stephanous answered a little bit disappointed and his face showing a slight bit of a frown of disappointment from the lack of experience. "Maybe it's not working. I was expecting something more out of it. Being that its magic and all. I was expecting a magical aura or something, but it's not doing anything except hanging around my neck. Kind of a disappointment if you ask me. I don't know what I was expecting, but I thought it would have been more than this."

"Maybe you're too stupid for it to work." Lassitor said from across the room who had obviously been eaves dropping. He had a big stupid grin on his face that showed the trio that they weren't anything special after all. "It doesn't work on stupid farm hicks." He giggled to himself.

"Oh shut up grease ball!" Brayothan told him with a sneer on his face.

"Or should we talk some more about how fat and ugly your momma is?" Isaian told Lassitor.