This is probably going to be last chapter I can write before school starts. After it does, my writing is going to slow down. I'll try to write on weekends and post any chapters I finish through out the week, but homework might get in the way. Unlike Meredith, my homework takes more than five minutes. Now for the story.

Chapter 7

I had to wait until the rest of my family was asleep to go to the Domus Animi, otherwise they could have come looking for me and then we would have a bit of a problem. When all was dark and quiet, I opened my locket. Immediately, I was in my garden, but Somni wasn't. "Somni!" I shouted. There was no reply. I moved over to the blue glass door, took a deep breath, and opened it.

I was in a courtyard with very green grass and a path of white marble stepping stones leading to a large central fountain with small glass orbs floating in it. Marble statues of men and women circled the grassy area; they held up a large and, again, marble ring against a night sky, and each wore a necklace of some kind. Between the statues stood doors. Each door was different, there were wooden doors, metal doors, stone doors, and one that looked as though it were made from cloth. I counted them, and they numbered sixteen, if you included my own door. The statues also numbered sixteen. I walked up to the nearest statue, and almost laughed out loud. It was me and I was standing on a pile of books in order to reach the ring! But I noticed something odd too, my statue didn't have a necklace like all the others. Then a statue two over from mine caught my attention, a girl in her late teens dressed in a suit of armor, with the helmet near her feet, and a silver crucifix hanging from her neck. Joan of Arc, I knew her instantly. I walked up to the door closest to her statue and opened it. The room in side was beautiful lavender, with a soft-looking canopy bed. On the bedside table stood a vase of lavender and a copy of the Holy Bible. The walls were full of paintings and a window that looked out onto a field of flowers. All three doors-"Wait a moment, three doors?" I thought and did a recount, "Yep, three." I reached for the third door, but just before my hand made contact-

"You really should not go into the rooms of other people," Somni said. I whirled around.

"This was Joan of Arc's room, right? And you and she were friends. And the statues in the garden are all the people like us, and the necklaces are, were, their keys." I stopped and took a big breath, but before I could start rambling again, Somni spoke.

"I see your new knowledge has kicked in. You might want to learn to suppress part of that, before you die from lack of oxygen, or someone figures out there is something different about your brain." She said.

"Ha, ha," I replied, "Are you going to teach me how to suppress it and how to work my other, um, is powers a good term?"

"That is why you are here is it not?" Somni asked. I nodded. "Very well," she continued. "We will start with the court yard." Somni stepped out of Joan's room, and I followed. "As you guessed, well knew, the statues are all the previous inhabitants of the Domus, people 'like us'. Yes, there have only been sixteen of us in the history of humanity, you and myself, being two of them. All of the doors go to their parts of the Domus. Each room has at least three doors. Don't interrupt me, Meredith." I had just opened my mouth to tell her my room only had two (plus one staircase), I closed it again. Somni continued, "We are going to start today by making your third door, the door that opens to a room where an ability all of us share can happen, the ability to go into the dreams of others." Somni walked to the fountain and one of the orbs floated up. Somni seemed to direct it to move. I noticed she avoided touching it. I followed her back to my room.

"Make another door," Somni directed, and I did. The new door appeared just behind the willow tree. It was made from a slab a polished black rock, with a silver inlay of the moon and stars. I quickly made an arch of roses over the doorway, to match my other doors. I opened it for Somni. " Now make a room behind the door," she said looking into the white space behind the door, and I blushed. The new room I created had a floor of water with white stepping stones leading to a central, circular stone, everything was surrounded by mist. "Now make a pedestal, with a bowl of water on it." Somni instructed. I obliged. I made a pedestal of silver vines, with blue crystal flowers, all in various degrees of blooming, at the top, the vines wrapped around a pale transparent, blue bowl. I filled the bowl with water. Somni placed the orb in the continued" Whenever you want to go into someone's dreams, think of who it is and put your hands in the water. You will enter the dream of that person as soon as they fall asleep, but I warn you, you cannot leave until they wake up. To anyone who sees you while you are waiting to enter or in someone's dreams you will appear frozen. The time you wait to enter a dream will seem like nothing, but it could take hours. If you want to take someone with you, just have them put their hands in the water to. Your powers, as you are welcome to call them, should work in dreams too."

"So how do I work my powers?" I asked.

"You have already used your abilities to make and know," Somni continued," Know comes easily, naturally, you don't have to 'work' it, just control it. You control it simply by not saying everything you know. Control what you say. Make you have used here, but not in the outside world, it won't be as easy there. Now, you will have to say aloud what you want to make, same with will. Will is very difficult to control. in time you will be able to use it easily, but now, well, why not try it. Just think of what you want to happen and say it like it's going to happen."

Flying, I thought, I've always wanted to fly "I can fly. "I said. My feet started to rise off the ground. I got up a bout three feet, and dropped, hard, on my back."Ooow" I yelped.

"You have to keep thinking it, or else it will stop working, at least until you improve." Somni finished. I glared at her, but got up to try it again.

Next chapter is the jump I've been talking about! (Don't worry, you will be filled in on the missing time immediately.)