Pearl Rising

Forty - Pearl

My eyes fully open, I blinked.  Was I seeing things?

Apparently not.

Another shadow... more shadows. The light on Cassius's table flickered and then it all blurred, fading, shapes became unrecognisable like someone had poured paint over a canvas smudging out the picture beneath. In its place came new shapes, colours.

Trees, to be exact, and the smell... that rich earthy smell.

I'd been here before.

I was now standing but didn't remember rising from the sofa.

Okay. Calm down.  It's just another dream and we've been here before.

Wrapping my arms around myself.  I closed my eyes.  "Wake up, you're going to open your eyes and be back in the study."

'Pearl'

I'd heard that voice before too.

'Pearl.'

It was Luna, the Moon Goddess.  "Hello?"

I turned full circle as voices, different ones, all spoke at once.

'The one,'  a voice said.

'Death!' another one said, a male voice with an accent I didn't recognise.

'Harbourer of souls.'

"Whoever is here, please show yourselves."

'Pearl.'  Her voice, ethereal, drowned out all the other voices. Something soft touched my cheek.  'It is time Pearl.'

Time? 

A light, shimmering, almost pearlescent and not one... but many. The voices came from these shimmering beings of light, but I saw no features or discernible outline of bodies... only light.

I spun around.  More shimmering light.  "Why can't I see you?" She'd appeared to me before.  So why not now? I felt a tingle of heat trail from one shoulder to the as if someone ran a finger over my skin.  The breeze forced the trees to sway, but as before, there was no rustling of leaves.

'I'm in the veil between realms, you cannot see me but you can hear me as I can hear you.'

"Okay."  Weird, but whatever.  "What do you want to speak to me about?"  Did she already know the deal I'd made with a demon?

'We all have to make choices, Pearl.'  

Silence.  

Where was she going with this?  If she was talking about my choice to save my mate.  Then that wasn't a choice.

'Sacrifice.'  A whisper in my ear, a brush of air.

Sacrifice.  That was a popular word today.  And she'd said this to me before.  It begged the question.  "What do you want me to sacrifice? I don't understand."  I twirled around, whispers from different locations.   

'The Jinn must be destroyed.'  All the other voices spoke as one.

No shit.  "Do you know a way I can kill the Jinn?"  Her hitching a ride was out the question, but maybe she had another idea.

A swell of hope stirred inside me.  She was a goddess, surely she could help.

Something shimmered and a head of long white hair came into view... then it vanished.

'What do all your fables of old tell you, my child?'

Fables—what the fuck was she going on about?  "You mean fairytales, stories?"