The Legacy of Kilkenny (9 page)

“You said courting, who uses that word?
 
Dorks do Ms. Pru, queen of the dorks,”
 
I joke around.
 
I’m not sold on the idea of a pretend death, I’ll address it later.

“Come on, let me take you home.
 
We won’t be coming out here to do all of the training.
 
Josie, Oakley, and I turned the basement of our house in Piedsville into a gym.
 
It will be easier on us with our school schedule to do our training there.
 
My mom is living out there with Oakley and me.”
 
I got a whiff of her hair as she tosses it over her shoulder sending chills down my spine.

“Oakley as in glasses?
 
Who is that?”
 
The way she said his name gives me a tinge of jealousy.

“Yeah, he wears them too, he feels entitled.
 
He is my mentor and bodyguard when I’m away from the Pack.
 
Sounds crazy I’m sure, but you’ll get it.
 
Speaking of Piedsville, I better get you home.”
 
She lowered her voice and put her hand on my shoulder “Abe, I am sure we’re right and I know it is a lot of info but you have to trust us. We believe in you and we’re so relieved that you’re untainted by other Packs.
 
You’ll understand what I mean by that soon.”

We drive in silence to my house.
  
My mind lingers to the things her dad said to me and can’t shake the feeling that someone isn’t telling me everything.
 
I hate, absolutely hate the idea my parents have to mourn my death.
 
I feel the burn in my nose, the one I get right before my eyes water up.
 
I’m not going to cry in front of her.

“Abel?” She turns to look at me as we pull in the driveway of my house.

“Yeah?”

“No matter what happens, you can’t tell anyone about any of this.
 
Even though I see stuff, things are always subjective to change, so be careful.
 
Don’t befriend any new people and trust your instincts.
 
Right now that is all you have until you completely change.
 
Okay?”

“Yeah.
 
See
ya
tomorrow,” I say and push the door of the Camero open.

I get home before curfew but still walk into a dark and silent house.
 
I check and see my mom soundly asleep on the couch.
 
I snicker as I see she still has a book in her hand, apparently waiting for my dad to get home from work as she does most nights.
  
I kiss her on the forehead before running up to my room.
 

 
I’m so worried about controlling my dreams I can’t sleep.
 
I decide to check the internet out to see if there are any suggestions.

PRU

That night I dreamt about the eagle, it just kept circling Abel’s house.
 
As a shaman, the eagle is the giver of truth and knowledge.
 
I had shifted and was sitting in Abel’s yard waiting for the truth to be spoken to me.
 
My heart was racing, I couldn’t find the message and then a field mouse ran across the yard towards me, in a normal situation I would be like any other girl and scream, but in a dream/vision I have to hold my stance.
 
The mouse ran up to me and sat down in front of me.
 
We both stood there looking at each other for maybe five seconds and then he ran off.
 
Before he made it to the end of the yard I woke up.
 
My heart was still racing, but I had to journal before it left my memory.

I sent Josie a text “Call me when u wake up.
Ttyl
”

Over time, I had quit sharing all of my dream journals with my mom, and only consulted with Josie.
 
My mom would read entirely too much in the dreams, sometimes a dream is just that, a dream.
 
Josie helped me decipher a vision over a dream, and I knew that this dream was in fact a vision.
 
Whenever a shaman dreams of animals, particularly a mouse, you have to take heed.
 

My cell started ringing, I knew it was Josie because I had set her ring tone to
Linkin
Parks ‘Nobody’s listening’.

“Hey girl, what’s up?” Josie’s voice made me giggle; she is always so serious but tries to relate to me by being cool.
 
Cool didn’t really fit her personality but I loved and respected her anyway.

“Are you up for a while?” I asked.

“Yeah, you okay?”

“I was hoping I could get with you and we could go over the last dream I had.
 
I won’t sleep again tonight, too much going through my head.
 
I talked to Abel and he knows everything now.
 
Well, not exactly everything, but soon he will.
 
I’ll tell you about it when I see you.
 
Would it be okay if you came over?
 
If that will be too much can we meet tomorrow?
 
I could try to dream walk with you if that would be better.”
 
I rummaged through the cabinets looking for some cookies.

“Slow down, Prudence (I hate being called that), of course I’ll come over.
 
I don’t think we should dream walk while you’re in training with Abel, you need all of your strength mentally.
 
You need to be alert at all times now sweetie.
 
I’ll be there in about fifteen minutes, let me get some jeans on and I’ll see you.
 
You have any French vanilla creamer?”

“Yeah, you want me to get a pot of coffee going?” I said as I was already scooping out some coffee in the coffee pot.

“That would be great! I’ll need it.
 
See you in a few”

Josie and I have been dream walking since I was about seven years old.
 
The first time it had happened I had just had a dream about my teacher Mrs. Walters; she was the meanest teacher ever.
 
I couldn’t seem to wake up from the dream and I started thinking about Josie, I was still asleep and the next thing I knew we were in a park, the two of us.
 
She told me that we were still asleep but the dream was over and we were in a trance-like state.
 
At seven that meant very little to me.
 
 
As I got older I learned that dream walkers are rare, feared, and coveted.
 

My parents sent Josie and me on a spiritual journey to Ireland to meet with Quinney, the leader of a secret society that has been around for three centuries.
 
Quinney was the most serious person I had ever met.
 
Come to think of it, he is still the most serious person.
 
I don’t think I have ever seen him smile or heard him make a joke.
 
He scared the
bejeezus
out of me when we went to meet him. I remember that he looked like a giant to me, after I grew up I realized he wasn’t scary looking. He’s about 6’5” with broad shoulders and looked like he could carry ten men on his back.
 
For fun, he lifted weights, and did yoga daily. When you’re seven you don’t really think of men as hot, but I knew he was handsome even though he scared me.
 
Now that I’m older, I think he is hot, but boring as hell.
 

Quinney taught me how to harness my dreams and to learn from them.
 
Josie met him when she was ten but her family couldn’t afford to keep sending her to Ireland for training.
 
With the help of the internet she had got back in touch with him and they mastered dream walking with each other, but she didn’t see him again until she and I traveled to Ireland together.
 
Only walkers are allowed to go and the secrets that are learned are just that, a secret.
 
If it is suspected that we are sharing trade secrets with anyone that hasn’t been approved, you are hunted, via dream.
 
Your darkest fears will hunt you in your sleep until you have gone insane and most will die in their sleep.
 
Although it is a spiritual group, they guard the secrets with vigor.
  

They believed there are more dream walkers out there, but they aren’t aware of their ability or where to go for help.
 
Even though Quinney is online, the walking isn’t ever discussed, hence the secretive stuff. The only way a walker meets another one is by searching via dreams or they spot the tattoo that Quinney gives his students.
 
The symbol is a small delicate blue jay done behind the left ear.
 
The tattoos are created the old fashioned way of needle and ink, not with the new tattoo guns.
 

My parents had no idea their seven year old was going to come home with a tattoo on her neck but we kept it hidden with make-up until I was sixteen.
 
My dad being the leader of a Pack was privy to the fact there was a secret society and he knew Quinney but he didn’t know what we were taught.
 
He respected the fact it was for the ones that were chosen and was proud that I was one of them…my father was respected in return and Quinney didn’t ask any questions about the Pack.
 

I started the coffee and Oakley appeared like magic.

“Hey Pru
whatcha
doing?
 
Can’t sleep?”
 
Oakley stood in the middle of the kitchen with his arms crossed covering his naked torso.
 
His jeans were loose on his hips and I could see the indentation of his hip bones.
  
The way his dark hair that hung to his chin set off his sea-foam green eyes.
 
I shuddered a little as I thought about how sexy he is. It took two years of practice to keep my heart from skipping a beat when he walked in a room.
 
We all send off pheromones when we are sexually attracted to someone, and
that
is a little harder to control.
 
I would think of Elmo when he was around, nothing like a red furry cute-as-hell monster to cover up your attraction.
 
Imagine Elmo with his arms crossed in jeans in the middle of your kitchen.
 

“No, I’m too restless.”
 
I couldn’t help but see his pecks flex as he stood there talking to me.
 
One word ran through my mind…yummy.

“You think coffee is going to help?
 
I hope that’s decaf,” he said in his Oklahoma drawl.

“I called Josie, she’s on her way over.”

I don’t know if it was me being territorial or he grinned a little when I mentioned her name. I couldn’t help but feel a twinge jealousy over his obvious excitement of seeing her.
 
She was beautiful with her long curly blonde hair and big brown eyes.
 
Her
rockin
’ body didn’t help matters much.
 
Yeah, I was slightly jealous but I knew he was older and looked at me like a little sister.
 

“Is everything okay?
 
Do you need me to alert the Pack of
somethin
’?”

“NO!
 
Lord, we’ll have them all in an uproar.
 
Everything is
fine
, I’m just needing help with a vision.
 
You don’t need to say anything, okay?
 
If Josie thinks we have to alert anyone, I will.”
 
I tried my best to keep a calm tone, but even I could feel the stress of my words.

He uncrossed his arms and walked over and pulled me in for a hug.
 
As my head rested on his chest, a feeling of completeness ran through my body.
 
In a brief moment of clarity, one word came to mind,
mate
.
 
A tap on the door startled me, until I remember Josie was on her way over.

Josie always calms my spirit, but that night she warned me that my vision was indeed a warning and I needed to be leery about someone around me.
 
Sadly, I was already aware that I needed to keep my guard up.

ABEL

Pru and I’ve been training for the last week.
 
She has been teaching me how to block and throw punches.
 
I’ve been debating telling Pru about the wolf in my yard but she seems really stressed out lately. The neighborhood dogs always alert me when he is around.
 
Every night he just sits, staring up at my window.
 
I know Pru will flip out when she finds out I haven’t told her, but I’ll take the risk.