1 Chapter One

This was one of my many confusing dreams, but this one started with me standing atop of a huge mountain. The edges were jagged and sharp on the side of the mountains stone, making the fall seem much more dangerous than just falling. The cool salted air was whisking my long red hair back and forth, making the light from the sun catch the blond highlights in my hair before falling to my shoulders once more. The smile started forming at the corners of my mouth until stretching from cheek to cheek.

I held my arms up in the air, towards the wind, making believe that I was flying for a moment. I stepped forward, soaking up the setting sun ahead of me. A few more steps forward, almost as if the wind and water were pulling me themselves.

'Only one more step and I'll be free' I thought to myself.

Even though I had no idea where the thought came from, my foot began to inch forward, now hanging over the mouth of the mountain. I couldn't remember what I would be free from, but taking that step was about the only thing that I could think of at that moment. Leaning over the mountains edge, I could see the dark blue ocean's water sway closer to the boulders and rocks at the foot of the mountain, before retreating into the belly of the ocean.

Taking that last step, I began to free-fall over the edge of the mountain, without a care in the world, as if everything around me had disappeared into the clouds around me. The moment my body hit the water, I would be free of this life. The feeling of the free fall in my stomach would have made me giggle if I had been able to catch enough breath to do so.

"Willow! Willow goddamn it, wake up! We are going to be late for like the third time this week." Amber yelled unforgivingly at me before kicking the side of my bed, making my entire body shake. I rolled over on my side in response, without removing the blanket from my face, pretending unsuccessfully that I was still asleep. With another kick to the bottom of my bed, I slipped the cover from my face and opened one eye, only to roll it at her.

The recurring dream that I had been having for a few weeks, would have normally left me feeling a little out of breath and panting, but this time it only left behind a feeling of emptiness; an emptiness that scared the hell out of me more than anything. The dream had also kept me from getting to any of my morning classes on time this week, and because I was usually the one to wake us both up for our morning classes, we had both been late a few times already this week. This time Amber must have set an alarm, or there would be no way that she would be up this early on her own.

"Willow, I swear on everything holy that I will drag your ass out of this bed by your ankles, and throw you in the shower myself if I have to." She said with another kick to the side of my bed.

I opened both of my eyes to see Amber already dressed and ready for her first class. Her short chocolate colored hair cut just below her chin, emphasizing her high cheekbones and heart-shaped face always gave a warm feeling; Even though her emerald colored eyes were set in a scowl directed at me.

"I was in the middle of a dream, do you mind?" I asked in a mocking tone.

Her scowl lightened up a little as she sat on the bottom corner of my already small twin bed. Leaning in, she asked, "Was it a wet dream?" with a smug smile she nudged my leg with her elbow. It had been decades since I had been intimate with another person, but I remembered enough about it to miss it under all my façade. On the other side, Amber was sort of known as the perfect catch that couldn't be caught.

"No, if you must know. I was free falling" I replied.

"Oh Jesus, I hate those kinds of dreams, I'd much rather dream about showing up to class naked or something." She said with a snort.

For as long as I had something to do with it, she would never know that the recurring dream that I was having had to mean something much more than just a dream.

Amber stood back up with a hop and said, "Well, I had a wet dream last night, well dreams, about Erick all night." Her smile was one that could light up a room when she did it like that.

I sat up in my bed and tucked the covers under my legs before saying, "You know you can't keep doing that for much longer, or you're gonna wear yourself down, or worse, hurt him without even meaning to."

And with that, her scowl came back with a vengeance. "Look who's talking! Which of us are staying up until the crack of dawn for creepy reasons. Do I even want to know what you're really doing in the Garden that late?" Amber asked with a pout set on her lips.

"What I do at night in the Garden has nothing to do with boys Amber. But you are invading that guy's mind every night just so you can get close to him, without being close. Have you ever tried just talking to him?" I retorted.

"You know as well as I do that my mother would kill me if she knew I was even thinking about other boys. I'm 'promised to another' remember?" She said in a tone that mimicked her mothers.

"So am I, you know that's never stopped me before," I said with a wink.

"Well, I won't hold on to him for much longer, you know me well enough to know I must always have a conquest!" her finger stood in the air as if making a valid point that no one would be able to disagree with. Reaching for her tote bag, she said: "now move your ass, and get dressed, I plan on being on time for class at least once this semester."

I couldn't really disagree with her, but the way she was almost jumping with joy at the very thought of going to class was odd, to say the least. I did know her very well, well enough to know when she was genuinely excited and when she had something up her sleeve. And, more often than not, she had some tricks to play.

She must have noticed my questioning thoughts because her next words were, "Look, my powers have developed even more this past year, and they are getting stronger by the day. It's only natural to explore and practice them to perfection. The full moon will be out tonight and the coven wants to meet up at the Garden anyway. So stop worrying about me and start worrying about getting to class."

Amber had always had a crazy side to her, doing things that the coven wouldn't catch me dead doing. Though this side to her was still new to me, her being the wild card was something I was used to seeing. While I usually stayed back casting, studying or gluing my eyes to a good book. "I'm sorry Amber, I'm just a little testy today."

"It's ok honey, I know you're just looking out for me." She said before playfully slapping my left cheek and walking to the door. Before opening the door to the hallway, she turned around and said "Oh, by the way, Raven said she wants to meet up at Neon before we go to the Garden tonight. I guess she has a bone to pick with us or something." And with a wave she shut the door behind her and with a twist of my wrist, it locked into place.

I knew that I wasn't Ravens favorite person, but lately, she had been chasing my ass with fire for a reason that I couldn't seem to think of. Amber happened to be right about one thing, our powers were growing rapidly every day. And before too long my powers would mature, and I would be one of the strongest in my line of witches. Robin, my older sister, had already hit her maturity, as did Amber powers. Mine had a late start, which happened to be the story of my life.

Amber and I had been casting together since our wakening over three decades ago, which was similar to a baptizing for Christian children, instead of being accepted into some phony pearly gates, the children that were put through the Wakening were said to be given powers by the gods. Though tradition and practice would tell us that a Wakening was the gift of our powers handed down from ancestor to ancestor.

Because most of the younger people in our coven were promised to each other, the lines always stayed mostly pure. My ancestors were always promised to another whose powers were that of equal or greater strength, as did most of our other ancestors.

When I was a child, it was disheartening to watch the other mortal children play and be normal, while my family spent their summers dancing naked around a fire, and the winters cooped up on a farm near the garden. The only thing I miss about the cabin in the winter was the smell of the wood burning in the fireplace, and the frozen pine trees cluttering the forest nearby. Even now as an adult, I still go to the farm in the winter, and spend most of the colder months there, drinking hot cocoa and reading a good book by the fire.

Yet in the last few years, I have been so wrapped up in my studies that I haven't made it to the cabin to really enjoy my favorite time of year. And with that passing thought, I jumped up from my bed as fast as I could and went to the bathroom, turning on the shower as hot as it would possibly go, the hot water began to steam away from the memories before it began to get to depressing. When I was done I dried off and I felt like I was in control again, I went to the closet I shared with Amber and started to pick out something to wear for the day. Somehow by the time I had chosen something to throw on, half of the closet had been emptied out onto my bed in a very disorganized pile with some on the floor and a shirt hanging off of one of the lamps across the room.

Doing a little Sabrina parlor trick I picked up when I was a teenager still living with my mother, I said a little chant and after moving my hands counterclockwise, the clothes began to fold themselves and hangers came shooting out of the closet, the clothes hanging themselves on the way back to their original spot in the closet. With a smirk, I turned to walk out the door and started to go to the first class that I was so obviously late for by the time I got there.

Through the day I could tell something was off, though I couldn't tell if it was because of the dream I had last night still weighing me down or that there was something more sinister in the air. The full moon was a time where all witches' powers are heightened, and with the extra electricity in the air, the feeling could be coming from anywhere.

When my class finally ended I went to the cafeteria to get some lunch, I usually stayed away from fast food because I could almost taste the preservatives in it, but for some reason today I was craving a thick cheeseburger with some greasy fries. On the way to the condiments bar, is spotted a man that I had yet to see at this school, and this was a little strange because Amber knew more people on campus that I could even try to remember the names of. And by the looks of him, this seemed like something that she would have told me about. But this man seemed different; there was something about him that seemed familiar to me.

Before I could continue that thought process, Ambers face came into my line of view, and without her saying a word, I knew that something was wrong. Her features were grave with an awful frown on her lips, one that didn't belong on her delicate face. "What's wrong Amber?" I said putting my tray of food down on the bar next to me.

She looked around for a second making sure there was no human close enough to hear what she was about to say. "Something happened to Phenelope, your mother said that she hasn't been to the Garden in weeks, and hasn't checked in with my parents either." She said in one long sentence.

"Do you know what could've happened to her? You don't think she ran off with that guy she's been rambling about over the phone do you?" I asked trying to keep her as calm as I could, but I could tell she knew something was up.

"I don't know, honestly it doesn't seem like something she would do. I mean you know she's always kept to herself, and she knows that being with a human is forbidden. She wouldn't jeopardize everything just for some guy. I really think that something is wrong, I can feel it." She said dropping her hands to her stomach, probably with a feeling of nausea.

"Ok" I started, "how about after my next class you and I go to the Garden and we can search for her there, and then we will know where she is. I'm sure this is just a miscommunication between my mother and Phenelope." Even though the words came out of my mouth as if I knew what was going on, I was beginning to have trouble believing myself. It wasn't like Phenelope to just up and leave so close to the full moon.

I couldn't tell her everything was going to be ok, because I had no idea what I was getting myself back into.