The Dream Catchers

Gray

"Again."

Lockjaw made a deep, growling sound. He could swear the bird sometimes sounded like a grumpy old man.

"Try and focus."

"I'm trying, just..." Eadan clenched his jaw.

The magpie produced another sound, flapped his wings and fixed his crystal black eyes on Lazar.

"He's tired."

"And we couldn't do anything today, so we're staying for as long as it takes."

Eadan closed his eyes and made another attempt to focus.

He heard the bird landing on the armrest of the leather armchair, making another protest in the form of a low sound which echoed in the big library of their mansion.

It was way past midnight and the servants had long gone to bed. Everything was quiet, which was rare; it was this peaceful, or at least it seemed so at first glance only when they were practicing late at nights like this. Somehow Eadan found the silence distracting as it was making all the sensations and visions even more powerful and bright.

"Sorry Lock, I hope it's the last time for tonight."

The bird acknowledged his promise with a light peck on his fingertip and they began.

He leaned back and felt Lockjaw relaxing from his spot close to him.

"I will guide you and you try to focus on the sound wave first."

"Fine, I know."

Eadan felt the cold slowly creeping up his spine.

It usually started with his hands getting clod and numb, and then the chill moved through his entire body.

He tried not to shiver or tighten his muscles, because he knew it always lasted only for seconds, until he found the soul.

He saw himself in the dark void at first, with nothing around. Normally next time he opened his eyes, he'd be in someone's dream.

But not this time.

"Think of what happened the last time you found the person in the dream,"

the voice said.

"I'm not sure if I can find him at all."

"Focus on the thread. Try to think of it that way- the Dream Catchers and the people you meet in the dreams form a temporary thread."

"Ugh...I know. But it's more difficult when I'm both present here and there."

"That's what we're practicing, Eadan. And you've been awfully distracted the whole time."

The younger man heard a clattering sound of the bird's beak somewhere close to his ear.

"Oh, shut up." he murmured.

"Search and follow the link through the wavelength."

the voice sounded more distant and muffled and Eadan knew he'd begun to sink.

Last time he entered the dream he found the man driving seconds before hitting the little girl who was crossing the dark street and it was too late.

The way it was probably too late right now again, because the moment the man turned and saw Eadan sitting next to him on the passenger's seat, he pressed the gas and turned the car.

"I can't..." he whispered. "I can't live like this anymore. "

Eadan opened his mouth to say something, but the man turned to him

"Why can't you just wake me up?"

He dropped the steering wheel and grabbed the lapels of Eadan's shirt. Eadan saw with his peripheral vision the car was approaching a building at a very high speed.

The man pulled him closer and shouted seconds before they hit the wall.

"Why can't you just wake me up? Why? Why???"

***

Eadan jumped and felt like his heart was going to burst. He lifted a shaking hand and wiped away the sweat he felt trickling down his temples.

"s**t. f**k this whole s**t, I'm serious."

"Eadan..."

He got up, pacing around in the big room, hands on his hips "I can't turn back time and save him from a car crash in real life."

"No, we can't change the past and we are not trying to." Lazar said, keeping his voice as even as possible.

"Then how am I supposed to help him when it's too late?"

"It's not too late. What I want you to try is to alter the way he feels about what happened, not change the event. "

Eadan stopped and turned to Lazar. "I said I can't. "

"Look, maybe if you..."

"I can't do s**t, because he doesn't even listen to me." Eadan knew he was allowing anger to slip and dictate his actions. It made focusing entirely impossible now. He took a deep breath "I just can't save him from something that happened years ago." He repeated slowly, emphasizing on every word.

"No, but you can stop him from dreaming about it and next time he gets on his car, he probably won't think of crashing it into a wall."

"Well, maybe he should finally accept the fact he hit that little girl and then just kill himself. " The only sign betraying how he felt were his clenched teeth . "He won't be the first one to do it, right?"

The older man's face paled at that instant and Lockjaw flapped his wings "How could you say that?" he whispered.

"I'm sorry Dad. Really, I just..." He rubbed his forehead.

Lazar closed his eyes and exhaled "No, you were right. We're all tired." The man took off his glasses and put them next to the big book, lying on the desk.

"No, no. Let's try one more time. I'm sorry, I really didn't mean it." Eadan returned back to his seat and crossed his legs. "I'm not that tired, come on. " He checked the glass, which the maid had left for him on the stand to discover it was already empty. After a pause he added "But you're calling Mr. Kendrick to explain why I didn't finish the geography assignment we had for Tuesday."

His father knew they were back in condition to work and simply said "I already did. "

This time Lockjaw kept quiet and they tried again.

****

When Candice checked the time, it was way past 3am.

She wanted to finish the chapter of the book she was reading, but her eyes were almost closing already. She felt herself sinking, but shook his head.

She really, really wanted to see what happened next, as in the last chapter prince Philip had almost kissed... She gasped.

No, okay. I want to be prepared for what's next- I'll read it tomorrow with a clear head, she thought and closed the book.

She was tired and she knew it.

But when she closed her eyes, she couldn't fall asleep, maybe because she kept trying to hear if something was going on outside; it was quiet and nothing was going on;

still she took a few breaths and after that didn't work out too, Candice gave up.

She got up from her bed and got dressed.

Candice put her riding pants on and a comfortable shirt. She glanced at the hoodie, draped on the chair. She kept it there for whenever she felt like walking outside and it was cold, but decided against taking it.

Their house was also not far from the woods, and although it wasn't small, it would never compare to Eadan's mansion.

Or Ryker's for that matter. Granted, their house was more like the typical farm for the English countryside.

Eadan and Ryker were cousins, but the only thing they had in common were probably the money.

While Ryker never hid the fact his family was among the richest probably in the whole country, Eadan never talked about it.

Candice sometimes felt like he hated all that.

For one thing she was sure- she'd hate it if she were at his place. She wouldn't be able to do her favorite things, just because there would always be a maid around somewhere.

And above all- she'd never be able to wander the woods at night by herself. She suspected her family knew she went out, because when she was smaller, she used to fall asleep in the stable, with the horses, still in her riding clothes and even though she knew it was there that she'd fallen asleep, she woke up in the house in the morning.

Celts believed horses watched over them and protected people; and seeing how close Felix was grounded to the Mother sometimes, she had the feeling those were not only legends. That's the reason why Candice called her horse Epona.

Epona was a gift from her Father when she became twelve.

Jamie and Tyler had basically grown up on horse backs, but her father had always insisted on her getting on one a bit later.

Candice went to the stables and saw Tyler's black stallion was gone, but the other horses were here.

Huh.

Where had Tyler gone, she wondered.

"Hey, girl."

She approached Epona and the red mare moved her ears.

She was smaller than the other horses, but that didn't mean she was slower. The horse now seemed to be as fidgety as Candice was, though.

"Ready for a night walk?"

The horse shook its head and Candice led her out.

"Let's go, then."