SHINE, The Knowing Ones

Chapters One and Two

Shine

The Knowing Ones

By

Amy Freeman

In the Northern Urals of Russia, a mysterious rock formation towers over a lone plateau. The site is steeped in legend and exactly how it came to be is unknown…unless you are ВЄДУНИ…

Chapter One

Again, the vision flashed. Seven enormous stone monoliths soaked in blood.

“Piqué! Piqué! Keep turning! Watch your spot and five and six and seven, next two! Piqué!”

“Sam.” Erika tugged at her sleeve, jarring Sam back into the moment. Sam vaulted into a piqué turn, her timing in the offbeat.

“Samantha, follow the music!”

The instructor issued a sharp clap for the fifth time that day. Sam moved to catch up and finished the pattern of turns across the floor, then got out of the way.

Standing to the side, she pushed the tips of her pointe shoes into the floor, catching her breath…shaken…flustered. Her willowy fingers rested on her slender hips, her ballet skirt draping her upper thighs as they moved in waif-like grace despite her anxiety. Her eyes drifted to the other dancers, forcing her mind to settle on something familiar.

Brilliant light encased each graceful body.

A rosy hue shrouded Miranda Davis as she waltzed past Sam, her heated energy announcing new love. Paul Brecht followed, emitting darkness, stressed about something going on at home. Sam concentrated on the information more than she really wanted to…anything to shut out the macabre image. This vision was unlike any she’d ever experienced. None of the others had even come close. The stone monoliths flashed with regularity throughout the day, throwing her off, affecting her ability to function. Her professors were losing patience.

The last set of dancers completed the sequence and the Instructor called out, “Come to the center.”

The dancers curtsied toward her and class came to a close. Removing their slippers and collecting their things, the dancers migrated toward the door through a thick aroma of nylon, spandex, and exhaustion.

“Samantha.” The instructor crossed the room in her direction. “You seem very distracted. The university showcase is right around the corner. This can’t continue.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Sam replied. “I’ll get my head straight. You’ll see a new Sam tomorrow.”

“The one we auditioned…”

“The one you auditioned.”

She put a hand on Sam’s shoulder. “You’re one of our best,” she said, “if not the best. When you’re in class, be in class.”

“Yes ma’am.”

The instructor held her gaze a moment, then dropped her hand from Sam’s shoulder and walked toward the door.

Sam’s face fell to her hand and she squeezed her eyes shut. She didn’t know what to do. She didn’t know what this was. With a solid exhale she dropped to the floor, unlacing her pointe shoes to assess the new damage to her feet.

“Hey Sam,”

She glanced up. “Hey Erika, how’s it going?”

Erika Torbin sat down next to her. “I’m fine, but what’s up with you?”

Sam huffed, exasperated. “Nothing, just stressed.”

“What’s going on?” Erika asked.

Sam pulled her pointe shoe off and began rubbing her foot, wincing. “Just the stress of college I guess,” she lied. “It’s a lot more demanding than high school.”