Page 33 of Nexus
Instead of laughing, mom almost choked on her sandwich. “It’s finally happening,” she said in awe.
“What’s happening? It was just a stupid dream, wasn’t it?”
“It wasn’t a normal dream, Saige. You were given a glimpse of your destiny.”
“It was more than just a glimpse. They flat out told me I need to visit the nine realms of the underworld and stop the overlords from getting their hands on a spell that will unlock something called an axis-gate.”
Mom’s face went dead white and she gaped at me. “I always knew you were destined for greatness, but holy crap!” She took a fortifying gulp of coffee while I tried to figure out how she’d known I was destined for greatness. “Tell me everything you remember,” she ordered.
“Crowmon told me I’d forget most of it, but I guess they didn’t read my resume properly,” I said with a hint of smugness. “I remember everything that happened.”
“They don’t know about your immunity to mind control and memory wipes?” mom said.
“Nope. It’s all still in here,” I said, tapping my head. I relayed everything that had happened and described the second last scene.
“That sounds horrible,” mom said sympathetically. “It couldn’t have been easy to see my body lying on the floor like that.”
“They really twisted the knife, because the dream didn’t end there,” I told her.
“What else did they threaten you with?”
“The final image was of my gaming console,” I said uneasily. “It was sitting on my coffee table, covered in dust. It didn’t look like it had been used in years.”
We both shuddered at the thought of never being able to game again. “That was a low blow,” mom agreed darkly. “They’re obviously trying to manipulate you into doing what they want.”
“It kind of worked,” I admitted. “If the dream isn’t just my imagination, we could really be facing an apocalypse soon.”
“Surely, Drake Gilden would have heard about this,” she said in a disturbed tone. “You should ask him about it the next time you see him.”
“I might ask around at the Den,” I mused. “Lenny knows all sorts of weirdos. One of them might have heard rumors about a widespread conspiracy in the underworld to invade Nexus.” We fell into an uneasy silence as we continued eating our lunch. “What did you mean when you said you always knew I was destined for greatness?” I asked when the silence dragged on for too long.
“I’ve never told you this, but I saw an omen just after you were born,” she replied. She’d given birth to me right here in this house, since she couldn’t exactly have me at a hospital. Humans might have run tests on me and the results would have freaked them out.
“What sort of omen?” I queried, goosebumps rising on my arms in anticipation.
“Right after I pushed you out, I glanced at the window to see the full moon was rising. An owl flew past the window and a werewolf howled at the same time.”
I stared at her, waiting for more. “Is that it?” I asked in disappointment. “No offense, but that’s a pretty lame omen.”
Mom scowled and threw her butterknife at me. I caught it before it could become lodged in my forehead and placed it out of her reach. “Your reflexes are uncanny,” she said in satisfaction.
“I know,” I replied, but I wasn’t about to let her sidetrack me. “What made you think me being born on a full moon and seeing an owl and hearing a werewolf howling was an omen?”
“One of our ancestors used to have prophetic dreams,” she said. “She wrote them down in a journal. One of her dreams was about a distant descendent who she predicted ‘would be born in a new country far from her origins’.”
“We’ve been living here for several generations now,” I reminded her. “That could have applied to any of us who’ve been born here, including you.”
“I haven’t finished telling you the story,” she scolded me and I rolled my eyes. “In her dream, the child was ‘born beneath the watchful eye of the full moon, with an owl and wolf as witnesses’.” Her expression became triumphant at that news.
“You said the owl just flew past the window and you heard a werewolf howl in the distance,” I pointed out. “It’s not like they were in the room with us.”
Huffing out a sigh, mom shook her head at my stubborn refusal to believe in the omen. “Prophecies don’t have to be literal,” she said in a lecturing tone. “Just the fact that it was a full moon and an owl and a wolf were in the area is probably good enough.”
“What else did she see in her dream?”
“She saw the child grow into a strong, dangerous woman. She would be tasked with an important event that would impact our entire world.”
I shivered at her hushed tone. “How come you’ve never told me about the journal before?”