Shadow Keepers (Unedited)

Six: Dreams

Chapter Six: Dreams

            The rest of the day went by in relative silence. Penny and I worked on the fliers, and while she was out posting them I filled out my application. Then went and took a shower, dressed in my gray soccer sweats, and my red England Rose Rugby t-shirt, feed Midnight and Amentha, headed down the stairs only to stop short on the first step because Angel and Penny were already home.

Obviously Angel hadn’t heard of the little incident at the café. No doubt she will hear it tomorrow or later tonight, if Matt heard of it. Angel was washing and cutting veggies and Penny was listening to her talk about her day while drinking some Cinnamon Vanilla Herb Tea from The Republic of Tea. I watched as Penny laughed at Angel’s antics as she explained a patient’s reaction to having a female doctor who could out due just about any male doctor. Just then Matt walked in the door put his brief case on one of the bar chairs as Penny ran up to hug him asking him about his day.

“It was really good and I wasn’t late” they all laughed and he walked into the kitchen to kiss Angel on the cheek. He asked what was for dinner and she announced it would be pasta and a garden salad. I couldn’t help but wonder if that’s what it was like in a full blooded human household. All happy and their biggest fear would be not paying the bills in time or a bad grade on their child’s report card. These were rare occasions in our household, even if the fear of hunters coming through the door at any second was in the back of our minds, it was still there.

I walked quietly back to my room, and opened my window to jump out of it, landing quietly like a cat on the ground. I couldn’t be a part of their happiness. What was in me was far too dark to allow me that happiness, even if I seemed just as happy to them. Needing to get away, to find my peace, I ran. I was reaching eighty-five mph when I got to the large wilderness park on the outskirts of town, once inside the trees I picked up speed, and covered fifty miles in two minutes before a reached a good sized waterfall.

I went to the bottom of the falls and found a cave. It was about 12 by 14 feet and you had to walk around a wall of rock just to get into it. I then chose that as one of my get away spots. I could walk out and sit on a ledge under the fall. I looked up so I could lock its location in my mind. I used the stars to navigate a lot since I am more of a night prowler anyways. After I did that I took one leap to the top of the falls so I could investigate it. There was a bunch of large boulders on either side that looked like it would be good to just lie on and sun oneself during the day. There was also a rock that jutted out from the middle of the falls. It looked to be long and wide enough for a six foot broad shouldered man to lay straight and just not get wet. I jumped over to it and saw that I was right. So since I was considerably smaller than that said man, I could lie down quite comfortably, which I did. I lay there watching the stars and listening to the music of the falls. I soon drifted off to sleep.

I awoke to the sound of music playing, and in a very fancy room that did not look like my own room.

“Come now, Your Highness. It’s your party and your mother and father are waiting for you to come out” Said a smallish kind of woman; she wore clothes that looked like she was a chamber maid in the 16 or 1700’s. She was looking right at me, with a disappointed look on her old knowledgeable face. I was about to speak up and say that I was no princess when I heard I small child’s voice coming from behind me.

“I look ridiculous. Why can’t I wear my leggings and a tunic? I can’t do anything useful in a dress especially one this frilly.” The voice sounded muffled and surprisingly young. So I turned around to see a door to, I supposed, a closet of some sort.

“Please Miss Marinda; don’t make me go out there like this, please.” Marinda let out an annoyed sigh and was about to say something when there was a knock on the door.