Chapter 1
The Dream
"Follow them. You need him and he needs you. Listen with your heart not your mind." Lani dreamt to herself.
"Lani, Lani, Lani!" her teacher screamed. "Wake up!"
Lani shook from her daydream. "Sorry, Mrs. Peters."
"I hope you did your homework young lady." Mrs. Peters said as she towered over Lani's desk. Lani, embarrassed, slid down her seat hoping Mrs. Peters wouldn't see her. Of course that wouldn't happen.
"No."
"Excuse me." Her teacher said with a tone only a teacher and an angry mother could have.
"No ma'm" Lani said rolling her eyes. Mrs. Peters was busy yelling at another kid that was laughing so she didn't see Lani roll her eyes or she would be in even more trouble.
That's what I thought." Mrs. Peters scolded. "Always day dreaming about who-knows-what! I'll see you in detention." Mrs. Peters whispered in her ear.
Lani was grateful she didn't say it out loud because her crush Jake Thomson was sitting right behind her.
"Now class you all have homework tonight." Mrs. Peters said while all the kids in her class moaned.
"Brrrriinnnggg" the bell rang. All the kids in the classroom ran out of the classroom as fast they could since it was the last period of the day.
"Ah, saved by the bell. Great another detention, second one this week and homework. When will Mrs. Peters ever give me a break?" Lani thought to herself as she walked out of the cramped math room.
"Hey you okay? You looked pretty embarrassed in there." Lani's best friend Julie asked concern. "Hey look its Jake!" Julie said nudging Lani's arm. Jake Thomason walked out of the classroom with Samantha Richard hanging all over him.
"Ha-ha very funny. I wish he would notice me. I sit right in front of him. Yeah, I'm just fine. Thanks. I just wish that everybody knew how smart I am. I mean I daydream for a reason. It's because I'm so bored in class." Lani said still staring at Jake and Samantha walking down the hallway out to the parking lot.
"Maybe if you didn't always fall asleep in class you could make conversation." Julie said jokingly. "I know you're smart you always help me with my homework although you never do yours. Well I'll talk to you later. Do you have detention today?"
"Yeah. Mrs. Peter's whispered that part in my ear about the detention. I guess she noticed that I was already really embarrassed"
"Wow, I didn't think Mrs. Peters was even human. Assigning homework like every single night!" Julie and Lani both laughed at her joke. "I'll call you tonight around 8:00 or so. You should be out of detention by then right?"
"Yeah, I hope so. Bye" Lani said as she and Julie went their separate ways down the halls.
Lani walked down those dark, cold halls of High School watching as the few kids that were running out to catch their bus or ride home. She was a sophomore at Lakewood Ranch. Normally when she didn't have detention she would walk to the nearby car garage. Her family had moved to Florida just that year. Where she met her one and only friend Julie. Julie came up to Lani and took her under wing and showed her the ropes. Julie wasn't popular but she was Charmin of almost every activity they had in school. Whenever there was a play in school Julie always made sure that Lani had a part the play. It would range from the main character to the set designer. Lani tried her hardest to be a strait A student but she was so intelligent that classes were boring and her family didn't have enough money to move her up a grade. And she wouldn't do her homework unless she felt like it. When she was in elementary and middle school she would get strait A's but every since she turned 13 she had been having very weird dreams and kept falling asleep during class. Lani stepped into the cold room where she went at least twice a week. She felt a chill run down her spine as she entered the detention room.
"Here comes the weird hair wonder." Bobby said to her as she sat down in her normal seat in the back of the room, where the teacher watching the students wouldn't see her nap.
Lani wasn't any normal teenager, although she did have the 'attitude'. Lani had black hair. As you may know black hair is impossible to have. Lani's hair was natural and she never dyed it. Her hair had streaks of blue in it. Those streaks of blue didn't mean just anything; it meant that she was a sorceress. The only people that knew this secret were her brother and Julie. Lani has no idea how she came to where she is today. Her parents just thought that she died it one day and they really didn't care anyway. The only person who knows that is her brother. But he just can't tell her now.
"Can it Bobby." Lani said as she rested her head on her desk, and fell into a deep slumber, and had a yet another dream.
She ran and ran in the deep forest of the night. "I can't take it anymore!" She screamed. She stopped with the baby in her arms. She said a chant of protection in an inaudible voice. Then gently dropped the boy that she so dearly clung to her chest. She fell to her knees and pleaded. "Please don't kill my baby. You may kill me, but please do not touch a hair on that child. He is protected under a spell." The woman started to sob. "You witch!" the bounty hunter screamed. Then he raised his dagger and...
Lani woke from that same dream with the same ending, since her 13th birthday. Lani had cold sweat running down her face. Bobby had woken her up. "Lani, come on detention is over." Bobby said gently shaking her.
"Thanks, Bobby." Lani said with a hint of sarcasm.
"Are you okay? I was getting kind of worried. You were shaking and sweating and saying some weird stuff." Bobby said with concern.
"Yeah, I think I'll be fine. It was j-j-just another night mare." Stuttered Lani. She grabbed her backpack quickly and hurried out of the detention room, without looking back to see if Bobby was going to say something sarcastic back. Lani looked at her watch. "Oh, great it's six o' clock. I better get home." she said to herself. Lani looked at all of the trophies in the glass case just down the hall from the detention room. "Man, maybe if I was more like those kids, maybe just maybe my parents would like me more." she sadly thought to herself.
It wasn't likely her parents would like her anymore just because they thought she was a curse, even if she was a strait A student or an athlete. Her parents would hit her anyway and call her horrible names.
Lani walked the three miles home from school. She stopped riding the bus because nobody wanted to sit next to her and she got detention a lot so she would miss the bus anyway. She didn't have a car so sometimes Julie would take her home if it was raining out. She would normally go to Sam's 3 Car Garage, where she worked. But whenever she had detention she wouldn't be able to go since the shop closed at five thirty and detention got out at five-thirty or six. It all depends on what Ms. Canther-the detention teacher- wanted to do. Whenever she walked anywhere she would get these weird looks from people. People would call her freak or poser even if they didn't know her. Lani has had gotten to the point where she just ignores them. Lani's parents didn't have a lot of money. Her dad would always spend it on beer and cigarettes. So she didn't have nice brand name clothes like everybody else. She had her brother old clothes. That is one of the reasons she got looks. On top of having black hair with blue streaks she wore clothes that made her look like a tomboy. Whenever she got her paycheck from the garage she would go out and get something nice for herself. Every once in a while her brother would get her something nice. Since he didn't have a very good job, he gambled a lot. Sometimes if the gamble thing wasn't going to well he would help out at the Garage with Lani. Lani loved working on cars. It seemed that it was the only thing that Lani was good at. She felt free of her parents and school when she worked.
Lani was about three miles from home, when she saw Chris' car. She yelled and waved her hands trying to get his attention. He finally saw her and swung around and picked her up.
"So how was school?" Chris asked after Lani had thrown her book bag in the back seat and sat down.
"Fine, I guess." Lani answered as Chris stepped on the gas when the car behind him honked.
"I guessed you had detention today because I swung by the garage to pick you up but you weren't there." Chris said
"Yeah I fell asleep again." Chris chuckled in the background. "And I had that same dream. It was really weird because when Bobby -"
"Bobby. That jerk what did he do to you now!" Chris interrupted with fist clenched.
"Nothing now just let me finish okay." Lani said with her arms crossed.
"Sorry, go ahead." Chris said apologetically.
"It's okay. Anyway Bobby woke me up and said detention was over." Lani continued
"Yeah so." Chris said sarcastically.
"Yeah so," Lani repeated. "He said I was shaking and sweating and saying weird stuff. What does it mean?"
"I-I don't k-know." Chris stuttered wanting to change the subject. Chris wanted to change the subject because he knew where Lani came from but didn't want to tell her just yet. He was afraid if he told her she would leave and never come back.
They drove the rest of the way home in silence. Not knowing what to talk about. Lani stared out the window in a daze. Chris thought about what he had said earlier. Thinking maybe it was time to tell her. But just when he was going to tell her they pulled into the driveway. As they pulled up they heard and saw their mom and dad fighting in the window. Lani and Chris both looked at each other and Chris pulled the car out of the driveway and to the motel down the road.
One of Chris's friends' dad worked at Motel 6. His dad understood what Chris and Lani were going through so he gave them free nights anytime they needed it. Lani and Chris would come to the motel a lot when their parents were fighting or when their dad was drunk or when they just needed to get away from their parents all together. Motel 6 was only a couple of blocks away from their house. When they got there, they were greeted with a warm friendly smile of Mr. Samuel.
"Hey, kids. You guys be staying' here tonight?" he asked with the southern accent and chirpiness he always had in his voice.
"Uh. Yeah. Parents fighting again." Chris bowed his head in shame.
"Sorry to hear 'bout that. You know you kids are always welcome here." Mr. Samuel smiled.
"Thank you Mr. Samuel." Lani said with a smile.
"Your sure welcome missy." Mr. Samuel said.
Lani blushed a deep red. Nobody ever called her missy before unless she was in trouble. Although Lani didn't try to be a troublemaker it just sort of came out that way because of her home life.
"Well sleep tight and don't let the bed bugs bite." Giggled Mr. Samuel as he reached for a roomkey. "Room number 318. Is that alright, kids?"
"Yes sir." Chris said grabbing the key and heading toward the elevator. Chris and Lani went into the deserted elevator and pressed the 3 on the button panel. Lani still had her backpack from school with her since she had some homework to do. "Here we are room 318." Chris said slipping the key in the keyhole and opening the door.
They stepped inside the humid yet cold hotel room. Lani took a deep breath then gagged at the smell. "Yuck I hate the smell of hotel rooms is so atrocious." Lani giggled and Chris chuckled to himself.
"Ah.... our home away from..." Lani paused thinking about what to say.
"From a nightmare." Chris finished knowing what Lani wanted to say. They both fell on the floor in a laughing frenzy, after about ten minutes of non-stop laughing Lani went and plopped on her bed. Chris jumped on his bed.
"I'm so tired." Lani said lying backwards and landing on her pillow.
"Man, me too." Chris said doing the same.
"Chris?" Lani questioned sitting up in bed.
"Yeah, Lani." Chris was hoping it wasn't the questioned he was dreading to answer for years. Chris had always avoided the question by asking Lani what her day was like.
"I was wondering. How did you know I was a sorceress? And don't even try to change the subject like every other rime I ask you that question!" Lani asked shaking her finger at him.
Chris winced knowing it was the question. He didn't say anything for a few seconds knowing he couldn't avoid the question this time. Lani had him cornered. "Um..." Chris paused not knowing where to start. "As you probably already know mom and dad didn't have you."
"Yeah, I know." Her voice pressing Chris to go on.
Here it goes. I must be calm. Chris thought to himself before he went on. "Well when I was six, somebody came to our house and brought us a two year old girl. That would be you." Chris motioned toward Lani as if he was telling the story to somebody else.
"Well who brought me?" Lani asked
"I remember him very vividly. He wore many robes and resembled a wolf, except he stood on only two legs, not four, just like a human. He had grayish blue fur. And his eyes, oh his eyes were the part of him I could never get out of my head. His eyes seemed to reach into your body and grab your soul and embrace it almost saying everything is okay even if things weren't okay. They were like the ocean after a storm..." Chris continued but what caught Lani's attention was the description of his eyes.
".... He was about six foot four. Man, he toward over me." Chris said smiling to himself, deep in his memories.
"Wait; wait so you remember his eyes?" Lani asked
"Well yeah, I just told you what they looked like. Weren't you listening? They were like the ocean after a storm. Why do you ask?" Chris said noticing the questioning in Lani's voice.
"As I told you I have been having that same dream. The one with a women, a baby and a bounty hunter." Lani said
"Yeah. You have had that one since you were 13. You came running in my room screaming. How could I forget?" Chris said grinning.
"Well there is another dream I haven't told you about. In the dream I hear a distant and enchanting voice calling almost beckoning to me: Follow them. You need him and he needs you. Listen with your heart not your mind. And I see the pair of eyes just as you described in a starry night sky. Then it ends. I only hear and see that." Lani said rubbing her hands.
"Wow that is a weird dream." Chris said looking up at the ceiling.
"Anyway so this guy that dropped me off, did he say anything to you?" Lani questioned
"Yeah, he told me 'When she comes of age thirteen she must come back. I will come for her.' and I asked 'What do you mean?' He said 'She is a very powerful Sorceress, but doesn't know it. A bounty hunter killed her mother. Her mother then put a spell on her so the hunter could not kill her. Then I found her when I was hunting in the forest." At this point Chris got up and started to pace around the small hotel room. "He then told me. 'I mustn't tell you anymore you must protect her from the bounty hunter! Yet she may tell one other person of her gift it must be somebody she trusts.' Then he handed me a box. Then said 'Give this to her when she is thirteen years of age.' Then he handed me you and then ran off into the darkness." Chris finished his story with a far off look in his eyes.
"But, I'm sixteen! Why hasn't he come for me?" Lani questioned.
"I-I-I'm not sure." Chris said still spacing.
"Do you think something happened to him?" Lani asked with concern in her pale blue eyes changing to a watery green color that just would break your heart.
Lani being a sorceress in all has many different traits she doesn't know about yet. One of them was her eyes. Her eyes change color with her moods. When she is mad or angry her eyes fire up and turn into an orangey red color that just eats away your heart. When she is sad or concerned her eyes turn a watery green color that breaks your heart. When she is hurt her eyes turn a grayish green color. Normally her eyes are a pale blue color.
"I'm not sure," Chris replied sensing her emotion. Chris was hoping Lani wouldn't leave to go and find Him. Lani was the only he loved and cared about, but knowing Lani might leave was breaking his heart. Then Chris walked up to Lani and gently embraced her with his arms. Lani had never felt so loved in her whole life. She then tightly hugged him back and rested her head on his shoulder and started to cry. Chris embraced her tighter then started to cry himself.
"I'm so scared. I don't want to leave you or Julie. I love you both so much!" Lani sobbed. "I mean I want to know where I belong, but I don't want to leave you both."
Chris was glad to hear she wanted to stay but he knew that she would leave him. "You don't have to leave. You can stay here and be safe with Julie and me. We can leave this town. Go some place else." Chris said over tears dripping in his mouth. He still embraced Lani with his strong arms. He didn't want to let her go. Fearing he would lose her forever.
Lani felt Chris' powerful arms and hands embrace her tighter. She knew that he didn't want her to leave. She loved her brother so much; words could not express it. She wished she could stay like this forever, safe in her brother's strong, loving arms.
"You have school tomorrow. Look who late it is." Chris drying his tears and motioning toward the clock, it read 11:00.
"Oh, crap. I have homework to do too." Lani said
"You have had a tough night tonight. I'll do the homework for you." Chris said slowly letting go of Lani.
"Oh, thank you so much." Lani said quickly giving Chris a kiss on his cheek then hopping into bed.
Chris sat down at the desk in the hotel room and went to work. Looking back at Lani snoring he knew this would be the last time he would ever see her.
The Dream
"Follow them. You need him and he needs you. Listen with your heart not your mind." Lani dreamt to herself.
"Lani, Lani, Lani!" her teacher screamed. "Wake up!"
Lani shook from her daydream. "Sorry, Mrs. Peters."
"I hope you did your homework young lady." Mrs. Peters said as she towered over Lani's desk. Lani, embarrassed, slid down her seat hoping Mrs. Peters wouldn't see her. Of course that wouldn't happen.
"No."
"Excuse me." Her teacher said with a tone only a teacher and an angry mother could have.
"No ma'm" Lani said rolling her eyes. Mrs. Peters was busy yelling at another kid that was laughing so she didn't see Lani roll her eyes or she would be in even more trouble.
That's what I thought." Mrs. Peters scolded. "Always day dreaming about who-knows-what! I'll see you in detention." Mrs. Peters whispered in her ear.
Lani was grateful she didn't say it out loud because her crush Jake Thomson was sitting right behind her.
"Now class you all have homework tonight." Mrs. Peters said while all the kids in her class moaned.
"Brrrriinnnggg" the bell rang. All the kids in the classroom ran out of the classroom as fast they could since it was the last period of the day.
"Ah, saved by the bell. Great another detention, second one this week and homework. When will Mrs. Peters ever give me a break?" Lani thought to herself as she walked out of the cramped math room.
"Hey you okay? You looked pretty embarrassed in there." Lani's best friend Julie asked concern. "Hey look its Jake!" Julie said nudging Lani's arm. Jake Thomason walked out of the classroom with Samantha Richard hanging all over him.
"Ha-ha very funny. I wish he would notice me. I sit right in front of him. Yeah, I'm just fine. Thanks. I just wish that everybody knew how smart I am. I mean I daydream for a reason. It's because I'm so bored in class." Lani said still staring at Jake and Samantha walking down the hallway out to the parking lot.
"Maybe if you didn't always fall asleep in class you could make conversation." Julie said jokingly. "I know you're smart you always help me with my homework although you never do yours. Well I'll talk to you later. Do you have detention today?"
"Yeah. Mrs. Peter's whispered that part in my ear about the detention. I guess she noticed that I was already really embarrassed"
"Wow, I didn't think Mrs. Peters was even human. Assigning homework like every single night!" Julie and Lani both laughed at her joke. "I'll call you tonight around 8:00 or so. You should be out of detention by then right?"
"Yeah, I hope so. Bye" Lani said as she and Julie went their separate ways down the halls.
Lani walked down those dark, cold halls of High School watching as the few kids that were running out to catch their bus or ride home. She was a sophomore at Lakewood Ranch. Normally when she didn't have detention she would walk to the nearby car garage. Her family had moved to Florida just that year. Where she met her one and only friend Julie. Julie came up to Lani and took her under wing and showed her the ropes. Julie wasn't popular but she was Charmin of almost every activity they had in school. Whenever there was a play in school Julie always made sure that Lani had a part the play. It would range from the main character to the set designer. Lani tried her hardest to be a strait A student but she was so intelligent that classes were boring and her family didn't have enough money to move her up a grade. And she wouldn't do her homework unless she felt like it. When she was in elementary and middle school she would get strait A's but every since she turned 13 she had been having very weird dreams and kept falling asleep during class. Lani stepped into the cold room where she went at least twice a week. She felt a chill run down her spine as she entered the detention room.
"Here comes the weird hair wonder." Bobby said to her as she sat down in her normal seat in the back of the room, where the teacher watching the students wouldn't see her nap.
Lani wasn't any normal teenager, although she did have the 'attitude'. Lani had black hair. As you may know black hair is impossible to have. Lani's hair was natural and she never dyed it. Her hair had streaks of blue in it. Those streaks of blue didn't mean just anything; it meant that she was a sorceress. The only people that knew this secret were her brother and Julie. Lani has no idea how she came to where she is today. Her parents just thought that she died it one day and they really didn't care anyway. The only person who knows that is her brother. But he just can't tell her now.
"Can it Bobby." Lani said as she rested her head on her desk, and fell into a deep slumber, and had a yet another dream.
She ran and ran in the deep forest of the night. "I can't take it anymore!" She screamed. She stopped with the baby in her arms. She said a chant of protection in an inaudible voice. Then gently dropped the boy that she so dearly clung to her chest. She fell to her knees and pleaded. "Please don't kill my baby. You may kill me, but please do not touch a hair on that child. He is protected under a spell." The woman started to sob. "You witch!" the bounty hunter screamed. Then he raised his dagger and...
Lani woke from that same dream with the same ending, since her 13th birthday. Lani had cold sweat running down her face. Bobby had woken her up. "Lani, come on detention is over." Bobby said gently shaking her.
"Thanks, Bobby." Lani said with a hint of sarcasm.
"Are you okay? I was getting kind of worried. You were shaking and sweating and saying some weird stuff." Bobby said with concern.
"Yeah, I think I'll be fine. It was j-j-just another night mare." Stuttered Lani. She grabbed her backpack quickly and hurried out of the detention room, without looking back to see if Bobby was going to say something sarcastic back. Lani looked at her watch. "Oh, great it's six o' clock. I better get home." she said to herself. Lani looked at all of the trophies in the glass case just down the hall from the detention room. "Man, maybe if I was more like those kids, maybe just maybe my parents would like me more." she sadly thought to herself.
It wasn't likely her parents would like her anymore just because they thought she was a curse, even if she was a strait A student or an athlete. Her parents would hit her anyway and call her horrible names.
Lani walked the three miles home from school. She stopped riding the bus because nobody wanted to sit next to her and she got detention a lot so she would miss the bus anyway. She didn't have a car so sometimes Julie would take her home if it was raining out. She would normally go to Sam's 3 Car Garage, where she worked. But whenever she had detention she wouldn't be able to go since the shop closed at five thirty and detention got out at five-thirty or six. It all depends on what Ms. Canther-the detention teacher- wanted to do. Whenever she walked anywhere she would get these weird looks from people. People would call her freak or poser even if they didn't know her. Lani has had gotten to the point where she just ignores them. Lani's parents didn't have a lot of money. Her dad would always spend it on beer and cigarettes. So she didn't have nice brand name clothes like everybody else. She had her brother old clothes. That is one of the reasons she got looks. On top of having black hair with blue streaks she wore clothes that made her look like a tomboy. Whenever she got her paycheck from the garage she would go out and get something nice for herself. Every once in a while her brother would get her something nice. Since he didn't have a very good job, he gambled a lot. Sometimes if the gamble thing wasn't going to well he would help out at the Garage with Lani. Lani loved working on cars. It seemed that it was the only thing that Lani was good at. She felt free of her parents and school when she worked.
Lani was about three miles from home, when she saw Chris' car. She yelled and waved her hands trying to get his attention. He finally saw her and swung around and picked her up.
"So how was school?" Chris asked after Lani had thrown her book bag in the back seat and sat down.
"Fine, I guess." Lani answered as Chris stepped on the gas when the car behind him honked.
"I guessed you had detention today because I swung by the garage to pick you up but you weren't there." Chris said
"Yeah I fell asleep again." Chris chuckled in the background. "And I had that same dream. It was really weird because when Bobby -"
"Bobby. That jerk what did he do to you now!" Chris interrupted with fist clenched.
"Nothing now just let me finish okay." Lani said with her arms crossed.
"Sorry, go ahead." Chris said apologetically.
"It's okay. Anyway Bobby woke me up and said detention was over." Lani continued
"Yeah so." Chris said sarcastically.
"Yeah so," Lani repeated. "He said I was shaking and sweating and saying weird stuff. What does it mean?"
"I-I don't k-know." Chris stuttered wanting to change the subject. Chris wanted to change the subject because he knew where Lani came from but didn't want to tell her just yet. He was afraid if he told her she would leave and never come back.
They drove the rest of the way home in silence. Not knowing what to talk about. Lani stared out the window in a daze. Chris thought about what he had said earlier. Thinking maybe it was time to tell her. But just when he was going to tell her they pulled into the driveway. As they pulled up they heard and saw their mom and dad fighting in the window. Lani and Chris both looked at each other and Chris pulled the car out of the driveway and to the motel down the road.
One of Chris's friends' dad worked at Motel 6. His dad understood what Chris and Lani were going through so he gave them free nights anytime they needed it. Lani and Chris would come to the motel a lot when their parents were fighting or when their dad was drunk or when they just needed to get away from their parents all together. Motel 6 was only a couple of blocks away from their house. When they got there, they were greeted with a warm friendly smile of Mr. Samuel.
"Hey, kids. You guys be staying' here tonight?" he asked with the southern accent and chirpiness he always had in his voice.
"Uh. Yeah. Parents fighting again." Chris bowed his head in shame.
"Sorry to hear 'bout that. You know you kids are always welcome here." Mr. Samuel smiled.
"Thank you Mr. Samuel." Lani said with a smile.
"Your sure welcome missy." Mr. Samuel said.
Lani blushed a deep red. Nobody ever called her missy before unless she was in trouble. Although Lani didn't try to be a troublemaker it just sort of came out that way because of her home life.
"Well sleep tight and don't let the bed bugs bite." Giggled Mr. Samuel as he reached for a roomkey. "Room number 318. Is that alright, kids?"
"Yes sir." Chris said grabbing the key and heading toward the elevator. Chris and Lani went into the deserted elevator and pressed the 3 on the button panel. Lani still had her backpack from school with her since she had some homework to do. "Here we are room 318." Chris said slipping the key in the keyhole and opening the door.
They stepped inside the humid yet cold hotel room. Lani took a deep breath then gagged at the smell. "Yuck I hate the smell of hotel rooms is so atrocious." Lani giggled and Chris chuckled to himself.
"Ah.... our home away from..." Lani paused thinking about what to say.
"From a nightmare." Chris finished knowing what Lani wanted to say. They both fell on the floor in a laughing frenzy, after about ten minutes of non-stop laughing Lani went and plopped on her bed. Chris jumped on his bed.
"I'm so tired." Lani said lying backwards and landing on her pillow.
"Man, me too." Chris said doing the same.
"Chris?" Lani questioned sitting up in bed.
"Yeah, Lani." Chris was hoping it wasn't the questioned he was dreading to answer for years. Chris had always avoided the question by asking Lani what her day was like.
"I was wondering. How did you know I was a sorceress? And don't even try to change the subject like every other rime I ask you that question!" Lani asked shaking her finger at him.
Chris winced knowing it was the question. He didn't say anything for a few seconds knowing he couldn't avoid the question this time. Lani had him cornered. "Um..." Chris paused not knowing where to start. "As you probably already know mom and dad didn't have you."
"Yeah, I know." Her voice pressing Chris to go on.
Here it goes. I must be calm. Chris thought to himself before he went on. "Well when I was six, somebody came to our house and brought us a two year old girl. That would be you." Chris motioned toward Lani as if he was telling the story to somebody else.
"Well who brought me?" Lani asked
"I remember him very vividly. He wore many robes and resembled a wolf, except he stood on only two legs, not four, just like a human. He had grayish blue fur. And his eyes, oh his eyes were the part of him I could never get out of my head. His eyes seemed to reach into your body and grab your soul and embrace it almost saying everything is okay even if things weren't okay. They were like the ocean after a storm..." Chris continued but what caught Lani's attention was the description of his eyes.
".... He was about six foot four. Man, he toward over me." Chris said smiling to himself, deep in his memories.
"Wait; wait so you remember his eyes?" Lani asked
"Well yeah, I just told you what they looked like. Weren't you listening? They were like the ocean after a storm. Why do you ask?" Chris said noticing the questioning in Lani's voice.
"As I told you I have been having that same dream. The one with a women, a baby and a bounty hunter." Lani said
"Yeah. You have had that one since you were 13. You came running in my room screaming. How could I forget?" Chris said grinning.
"Well there is another dream I haven't told you about. In the dream I hear a distant and enchanting voice calling almost beckoning to me: Follow them. You need him and he needs you. Listen with your heart not your mind. And I see the pair of eyes just as you described in a starry night sky. Then it ends. I only hear and see that." Lani said rubbing her hands.
"Wow that is a weird dream." Chris said looking up at the ceiling.
"Anyway so this guy that dropped me off, did he say anything to you?" Lani questioned
"Yeah, he told me 'When she comes of age thirteen she must come back. I will come for her.' and I asked 'What do you mean?' He said 'She is a very powerful Sorceress, but doesn't know it. A bounty hunter killed her mother. Her mother then put a spell on her so the hunter could not kill her. Then I found her when I was hunting in the forest." At this point Chris got up and started to pace around the small hotel room. "He then told me. 'I mustn't tell you anymore you must protect her from the bounty hunter! Yet she may tell one other person of her gift it must be somebody she trusts.' Then he handed me a box. Then said 'Give this to her when she is thirteen years of age.' Then he handed me you and then ran off into the darkness." Chris finished his story with a far off look in his eyes.
"But, I'm sixteen! Why hasn't he come for me?" Lani questioned.
"I-I-I'm not sure." Chris said still spacing.
"Do you think something happened to him?" Lani asked with concern in her pale blue eyes changing to a watery green color that just would break your heart.
Lani being a sorceress in all has many different traits she doesn't know about yet. One of them was her eyes. Her eyes change color with her moods. When she is mad or angry her eyes fire up and turn into an orangey red color that just eats away your heart. When she is sad or concerned her eyes turn a watery green color that breaks your heart. When she is hurt her eyes turn a grayish green color. Normally her eyes are a pale blue color.
"I'm not sure," Chris replied sensing her emotion. Chris was hoping Lani wouldn't leave to go and find Him. Lani was the only he loved and cared about, but knowing Lani might leave was breaking his heart. Then Chris walked up to Lani and gently embraced her with his arms. Lani had never felt so loved in her whole life. She then tightly hugged him back and rested her head on his shoulder and started to cry. Chris embraced her tighter then started to cry himself.
"I'm so scared. I don't want to leave you or Julie. I love you both so much!" Lani sobbed. "I mean I want to know where I belong, but I don't want to leave you both."
Chris was glad to hear she wanted to stay but he knew that she would leave him. "You don't have to leave. You can stay here and be safe with Julie and me. We can leave this town. Go some place else." Chris said over tears dripping in his mouth. He still embraced Lani with his strong arms. He didn't want to let her go. Fearing he would lose her forever.
Lani felt Chris' powerful arms and hands embrace her tighter. She knew that he didn't want her to leave. She loved her brother so much; words could not express it. She wished she could stay like this forever, safe in her brother's strong, loving arms.
"You have school tomorrow. Look who late it is." Chris drying his tears and motioning toward the clock, it read 11:00.
"Oh, crap. I have homework to do too." Lani said
"You have had a tough night tonight. I'll do the homework for you." Chris said slowly letting go of Lani.
"Oh, thank you so much." Lani said quickly giving Chris a kiss on his cheek then hopping into bed.
Chris sat down at the desk in the hotel room and went to work. Looking back at Lani snoring he knew this would be the last time he would ever see her.