I found myself in darkness.

Floating. . .

As if I was lying on a surface of water.

The liquid was black and gripping, almost as if it had a mind of its own.

Pulling me in. . . .

I struggled against its hold.

Cried out, but my voice was mute.

"You can't get out."

I used all of my strength to crane my neck up.

To meet with blue eyes, the same shade as mine.

Alfred gave me grief stricken look, "I'm sorry."

Blood ran down his face and his skin was paper white.

Fear swarmed inside me.

Again, I struggled.

But in the end, the water engulfed me in its cold embrace.

I gasped.

A dark painted ceiling with glow in the dark stars greeted me as I rose to sit on a bed with bright red sheets. The room was painted in the colors of dusk. At the bottom the paint fused together with red, orange, and yellow then faded into light blue to midnight at the top of the walls. A vanity mirror was across the bed with make-up and a hair brush scattered over the surface. The mirror had photos tapped around its edges. Photographs of family, friends, and myself framed around the mirror. It took me a good minute to figure out that it was my room that I was staring in wonder at.

I took a deep breath and shifted my leg to hang over the edge of the queen sized bed. I tried to control my breathing, refusing to think about Alfred's sad expression or his pale skin or the blood that ran down his face like he just stepped out of a Stephen King's novel.

"Just a bad dream, Amy," I soothed myself, "Just a bad dream."

A small bark from a across the room shook me from my train of thought. I looked up to the three windows of the tower to find a medium sized dog lounging on the red valet seats connected to the windows. The fur was long around the dog's legs and its light brown floppy ears. The light brown patches spread from its ears to circle around its brown eyes; another patch was on its short tail and had bits of light brown splashed across its paws. The rest of its fur was wavy white, almost curling at the ends. It was Lady, my two year old Crocker Spaniel; and yes I've named her Lady from Lady and the Tramp, because its my favorite movie of all time; don't judge me.

Lady barked again and leaped off her favorite sleeping place to sit beside me. She laid her head in my lap. This was her way of saying, 'what's wrong? Pet me, I'll listen.'

I smiled and scratched her behind her ears, "Just a bad dream, girl."

I rose to my feet and walked to my door to head down stairs, with Lady at my side. I was dressed in an over-sized Batman t-shirt with matching pants and slippers. I yawned and heard the radio humming out some classics from the kitchen. I walked in to find Dad flipping pancakes while Mom fried the eggs.

"Morning Kiddo," Dad greeted with a grin as he flipped a pancake. "Chocolate chip right?"

I nodded and I took Lady out into the back allowing her to do her business. I closed the door and pulled out fresh strawberries from the fridge. I rinsed them off in the sink and placed them in a serving blow. Then set the table with three white plates and silver ware. I pulled out a mug for Dad and a tea cup for Mom. I brewed coffee for Dad while Mom had jasmine tea. I grabbed a Captain America cup from a cabinet and served myself milk.

I placed Lady's food and water bowels near our table and called her back in for breakfast. She came running as I sat on the back porch to put on my working boots. Mom lets her in as I went to feed the horses.

Once I came back, Dad sets three chocolate chip pancakes on my plate as Mom placed a small plate of eggs near it. They continued with serving themselves as I brought their morning drinks to them and we took our seats at the table.

"So what's the plan for today Amy?" Mom asked as I stuffed myself with a large piece of pancake.

"I'll think-" I swallowed quickly, "of something," I said with a shrug.

After I washed the dishes and released the horses into the open field, I was about to head back into the house to change, till Midnight nudged his nose from behind. He did it with a bit of force, his code for; 'I want to ride.'

I smiled and petted his nose, "later today, I promise."

He snorted and trotted away.

In less than five minutes was dressed in a cool blue graphic tee, jeans, and sneakers. I wore a black beanie and simple honey flavored chap stick. I slipped my phone and wallet into my jean pockets, grabbed my car keys and I was out the door.

I owned a blue jeep made from the year 2015, now any vehicle made from that year and after carried an energy green button. Another push from the Green Energy Laws; it still ran on gas, but relied more on electric energy. I pulled out my long silver drive and placed into the ignition. These cars didn't really have keys, more like flash drives that you can connect to a plug to charge, just like a cell phone. I charged mine last night so the needle was at full; I pulled out of our dirt driveway and drive into town.

I have no idea why, but I ended up driving to my grandparents shop; Spiritual Path. Come for all your natural remedies, charms, and knowledge of Native Culture. Seriously that's what sign says, but hey whatever sells. I entered through the front to find Melissa balancing the accounts at the cash register.

"Mel! You should be resting, you're eight months in," I remarked.

She groaned, "I'm sorry but I got tired of sitting on my ass all day."

I sighed, it was frustrating to talk sense to her when she was pissed, so I decided to be smart, and offer my help. "Do you need me to do anything?"

She doesn't hesitant, "Dust the charms and statues, polish the wood, and could you vacuum the carpet?"

I nodded to everything she said as I gathered to the cleaning supplies. This took about two to three hours but I didn't mind. It was distraction from my dreams, which must have been the reason why I came into the shop in the first place, to talk to my grandparents.

"Hey where's Grandpa and Grandma?" I asked.

"Um," she thought, "they went to pick some herbs out back."

They had a little garden behind the shop, where they planted and nurtured herbs for their shop's supplies. "Cool," I muttered as packed up the vacuum and placed it back into the supply closet.

"Where are the kids?" I asked, curiously.

"With Sanjay and his parents at Temple," she answered.

"So they're going to be Hindu?"

"For now yes," Melissa sighed, "But when they're older they can choose between the Native, Catholicism, or Hinduism."

"Catholicism?" I asked, confused.

"You know Grandma Jessie, on Mom's side; she's Catholic."

"Yet married a Native Hawaiian that worships tikis," I remarked.

She gave me a look, "can you not. Besides, Grandma Jessie's not hardcore Catholic," she answered.

When I was about to head out to the back, a voice called, "Amy my little bella!"

I turned around to meet with Gemma Russo, my mom's best friend and neighbor on this block. Running a restaurant she and her husband named; A Slice of Italy. She was a curvy woman with dark curls and dark eyes. She wore jeans and loose purple blouse.

She smiled at me and ran to give me a hug, "Oh look at you! You've gotten so big!"

"I was gone for a week," I said but still smiled.

Gemma turned her attention to Melissa, "Oh Melissa, your glowing!" She skipped to her to plant kisses on her cheeks.

Then a dark haired teenage boy walked in with the same grin as Gemma, "Amy!"

"Michel!" I ran to give my best friend a hug.

"How was your spring break without me," he said with a bit of playful banter in his voice.

"Not so bad, but still I missed you," I smiled sweetly at him.

"How could you not? Put more importantly; whatcha bring me?"

I gave him a look, "Seriously."

"What? It's a valid question."

I rolled my eyes, "It's at the house; I'll give it to you tomorrow."

"You better," he grinned.

Then Grandma and Grandpa came walking in from the back, wiping off dirt from their hands. "Oh Gemma," Grandma greeted, "how are you honey?"

"I'm good; we just came to visit and to drop off the supplies. Michel, go get it," Gemma called out.

Michel sighed and quickly ran back to their car to pull out a large box. Must be the blocks of wood and mineral rocks we use as charms.

I faced Grandpa, "Gramps can I talk to you?"

He gave me a strange look but still answered, "Sure, come to the back."

I followed him to his small office where he stored all his Native staffs and clothing, along with books shelved all around the room.

"What is it Amy-bear," he asked using my nickname he gave me as a child.

I sighed and bit the inside of my mouth, "What do you know of the Spirit World?"

His eyebrows raised but he still answered, "The Spirit World, Heaven, the World Tree, Svarga loka; they all forms of the afterlife, but one in the same." He walks over and pulled out a large leather bound book from a shelf and cracks it open. "The Spirit World; its most renowned name, is a celestial realm filled with spirits."

"What kind of spirits?" I asked.

"Spirits of the dearly departed some can stay and become spirit guides for the living or choose to be reborn and return to the Earth realm. Then there are spirits that have existed since the beginning."

"What are they?"

"Living spirits, one's that were never human to begin with. These spirits either play with humans or assist them; it's where most myths of fairies, creatures, monsters, anything you could think of, began."

My thoughts send be back to the talking polar bear, "like talking animals?"

"Yes."

"And fast healing immortals?"

"Yes, most spirits choose to come to Earth, to cause chaos or to bring peace." He showed me a diagram from the book of a spiritual orb taking shape of a human. "Living spirits are shape shifters in nature, but most choose to take the form of a human, and can only be on the Earth plane for a short period of time."

That stumped me, "Could they be able to stay longer?"

"Yes, if they bind themselves to the land."

"Bind?"

"To the land or its people; they would be called Immortals, Fair Folk, Angels, Demons."

"Demons?!" I asked, almost scared.

"There is no such thing as good spirits or evil spirits. All are neutral till there is either a disturbance of balance or if they're bounded to the Earth, choose a side."

"Like countries picking sides in a war?"

He gave me a concerned expression as he placed the book back on the shelf, "Weird reference but yes something like that."

"Why would a spirit decide to stay on Earth?"

"The Spirit World is a magickal place filled light and beauty. It's a never ending spring land, where the spirits roam free in peace and love. But spirits do get curious and wish to explore our world. Some spirits grow too attached to the Earth and bind themselves to a certain amount of land or group. Usually most of these spirits would be worshiped as gods or goddesses, or be the personal guardians of the land and the people."

My head was spinning, everything Arthur said was repeating in my head. "Is there any way to prove a person is a living spirit?"

"Not much, they can heal fast but if they know you're trying to discover their true nature they can make their wounds last longer. There are only two ways, you can kill them and wait for them to come back to life or disappear, body and all. Or you find a person with the rare power of the Sight to see if the person is a living spirit."

"Sight? Like the Ghost Whisperer?"

"Something like that, they see spirits but also aura; the energy and the essence of our being. Average humans have normal colors like blue, red, pink, orange, yellow and green. Some rare humans could have purple, silver or white auras. But spirits have gold."

"Why gold?"

"Gold was believed to have come from the celestial world, so living spirits are closely connected to the metal."

I nodded, "Okay." Then another question popped into my head, "How can one get to the Spirit World? Well, without dying of course."

"Dreams." He answered, "Dreams are passage ways to the Spirit World. When we sleep, it is their chance to send messages to us, to warn us, to haunt us." He gave me a worried look, "Why are you asking all these questions?"

"Uh," I mumbled nervously, "I've been having some bad dreams, nothing major just confusing."

He nodded and pulled out a small dream catcher from his desk. It had small wooden figures of deer, wolves, bears, hawks and eagles dangling from the strings along with fake feathers. He placed it in a leather clothed satchel and then puts in green colored stones into the bag. "This is called Aventurine; it's a healing stone, mostly for mental and emotional health. Keep it next to you when you sleep, it will help along with the dream catcher."

He hands me the satchel and I placed the strap over my shoulder. "Thanks Grandpa, for everything."

He smiled, "Anything for my little Amy-bear."

I kissed him on his cheek, say my goodbyes to everyone and jumped back into my jeep.

Once I returned home I parked the jeep over a shaded tree and ran to the stables. I pulled my black saddle out of the stable's storage room. It was made of leather with my name embroidered on the corner along with a Cherokee rose next to it. I pulled out an Inca print blanket along with the matching black reins and the satchel Grandpa gave me. I packed in a water bottle and a granola bar in the bag as I walked out into the field.

Midnight came trotting towards me, knowing perfectly well what was I doing. I placed the blanket and saddle on his back and strapped him in. I slid the reins through his face and threw myself over to sit on top of him. "You ready?" I asked and he snorted. He was restless, his muscles twitched under me, waiting for my command. "Ha!" I cried as I gave a little kick to his sides and he galloped into the forest.

Jessica Hawkfeather was watching her favorite programming when the doorbell ringed. She quickly answered to find her son in law gesturing his children to stand in front of him. Sanjay and his children were still dressed in their temple clothes.

"Grandma!" Blair smiled as she hugged her. Blake quickly followed as Jessica cooed over her grandchildren.

"I have to go help out Melissa at the shop, could you watch the kids?" Sanjay asked.

"Of course," she smiled and Sanjay handed her a bag of casual clothing for the kids.

"Thanks Jessica, I owe you," he gave quick kisses to Blake and Blair and sprinted back to his car.

"Grandma, can we have cookies?" Blair asked as Blake petted Lady in the corner.

"Sure sweetie, but first change out of your temple clothes."

"So this is where she lives," Francis said as he climbed out of the rental car. He takes a moment to admire the house, "Its cute, seems happy."

"Quite," Arthur added as he pulled out his briefcase from the back and Matthew placed the alarm on the car.

With a silent agreement all three walked to the front door, allowing Arthur to stand in front while Francis and Matthew stood behind. Arthur ringed the doorbell, "Remember, let me handle this."

"Did you forget what happen last time," Francis said sarcastically.

Before Arthur could say an insult, the door opened and the three nations turned to meet the eyes of a young Indian boy.

Francis gave Arthur a look that said, 'do we have the wrong house?'

"The adopted couple that took Amy in has a daughter who married an Indian chap, this must be their son," he whispered with his mouth covered. Then he turned back to the boy, "Hello there, can we speak to Jessica Hawkfeather or John Hawkfeather?"

The boy gave a blank stare.

"They should live here," Arthur added.

The boy continued to stare.

"Do you understand English," he asked and Matthew gasped, "Arthur that's rude."

"I'm sorry, but the lad is giving me blank stares and-"

"I speak English," the boy said with a monotone.

Arthur breathed in his frustration, "Okay, then can we speak with an adult please."

The boy stared, not answering.

Arthur's temper was raising and Francis took the lead before his friend could explode. "Little boy we only wish to speak with your grandparents, we have good news."

"You're here to take Aunt Amy away," the boy remarked.

The nations shared an uneasy look but quickly composed themselves.

"Well, not exactly," Matthew added, "We're here to tell her she's won a scholarship for college."

The boy narrowed his eyes, "You're like her, you have gold and you've come to take her away."