Dead Moon Awakens: A tale of Cherokee myth and Celtic magic (Mystic Gates) by Teresa Joyce Jackson

from bad dreams. Since
I didn’t have it on last night, I had another nightmare.
    In this dream, a circle of fire surrounded Ma.
She had her arms open, waiving for me to come thru the fire to her. I was too
scared at first, but in my mind, I kept hearing Ma tell me not to be afraid,
that the fire would protect me. When I got enough courage to walk thru the
flames, I hit an invisible wall. The wall wouldn’t let me move forward. The
harder I tried pushing ahead, the heavier the pressure got. Ma reached out,
grabbing for my hand, then everything went black and I was suffocating. No
matter how hard I struggled to breathe, I couldn’t get any air. I thought I was
going to die.
    I woke up and the pressure was gone, but my
pillow was on top of my face. I must have been suffocating myself. Then Morri
scared me when she grabbed the pillow and pulled it off. She said I had woken
her, and she saw me struggling with the pillow. Weird.
    Sometimes I wish I could hide in a cave from
everybody! I get so tired of trying to figure everything out—my dreams, what
happened to Ma, why I remember nothing about the fire, whether Mrs. Dawes will
get rid of me before I run away, why Morri acts the way she does, and why Lance
doesn’t want Kelile to go.
     
    11:25 p.m.
    I’m so mad at Morri right now I could spit!!! She
confessed to me that she had told Lance it was me who didn’t want
Kelile to go with us, and that I would snitch on them if he did! No
wonder Lance hasn’t been nice to me. And now, she wants me to tell him
that I’m sorry for the way I acted, that I changed my mind, and it’s okay for
Kelile to go with us. How dare her!!!
    Oh, this makes me so mad!!! I like Lance. I
don’t want him to think I’m that kind of person. She begged me to do this for
her. She told me she knows soul friends don’t do anything to hurt each other
and that she was sorry she had lied to me. She started crying and said she had had
a vision that if Kelile goes we’ll get caught and then we’ll never be able to
leave this place.
    If I don’t lie to Lance, I’ll lose Morri. If I
do, Lance will never like me. And no matter what I do, Kelile won’t like me! I
shouldn’t have to act like a monster to Lance and Kelile! I’m tired of everyone
thinking I’m evil or a monster!!!!!!!

*******
    Sunday, April 14
    Aishling sat next to Kelile when she went to
breakfast. The note she’d written was folded tightly in her hand. She wanted to
slip it to him when Morrigan wasn’t looking. Though she didn’t feel like eating
anything, she had to stall and wait for Morrigan to finish breakfast and leave.
    After a sleepless night, she had thought of a plan
that might keep her friendships with at least Morrigan and Kelile. Two out of
three wasn’t bad, was it?
    She ate one small bite at a time, chewing it as
long as possible, thinking about how nice Morri had been that morning after she
had agreed to lie to Lance. Everything had gone back to normal between them.
Now, if she could just get Kelile to go along with her plan, she’d be happy
enough. She hoped.
    Even though she sat next to him, he wouldn’t look
at her or talk to her. She assumed he was biding his time until Lance got back
that afternoon. Besides being exhausted, she felt like throwing up. What if he
finished breakfast and left before Morri did?
    “I’ll see you back at the room,” Morrigan said,
getting up and taking her plate to the kitchen.
    Aishling shoved the note into Kelile’s hand and
frowned at him, mentally telling him not to say anything. He looked surprised,
but seemed to understand. He put the note in his pocket and got up from the
table.
    As he was going into the kitchen, Morrigan came
out and stuck her tongue out at him. “Come on, Aish.”
    “I’ll be there in a little while.” She took
another bite of food.
    When Morrigan left the dining room, Aishling got
up and took her plate into the kitchen where Kelile stood reading her note.
    “What’d you want to talk about?” He