The Key to the Warriors (completed)

Chapter 1

1

Charlie

In my dreams, I went home. I didn't know how I knew it was home, or even why, but I could feel it in my soul, and knew it was as real as the world I'd been born to. The grass beneath my bare feet was sharp and ticklish, and I squished it beneath my toes where I stood, breathing deep the smoke of burning pine embers from a fire I couldn't see. Both acrid and pleasant, it filled my senses, and I closed my eyes as the breeze blew it across my face and through my hair. Standing atop a hill's crest, I reveled in the calm that soaked through me.

"Charlie..."

Immediately, my eyes flew open. A woman's voice, familiar, yet strange, drifted on the wind like a distant song. Lowering to my seat, I pulled my knees to my chest and waited, listening.

"Charlie..."

There she called again, her voice so close and clear it was as though she would emerge from the nearby woods at any moment. I watched for her, waiting. I felt no fear, only calm anticipation, and I closed my eyes as I rested comfortably, anxious for her arrival; that we might meet at last.

"Charlie!"

A scream this time, heavy with fear and pain. With my eyes burst open, I scrambled to my feet, my breath catching on a rapid gasp as I beheld my surroundings. Everything was ablaze. The forest, the grass, even the hill I stood on was caught up in flames so high they bled into the blue sky and turned it red. The fire that I could always smell but not see had appeared and was destroying everything in its wake.

My home was being quickly laid to ruin, wrecking the serenity that I found there, and I cried out as an earth-shaking explosion tossed me from my feet. With my arms protecting my head, I tumbled down the hill. Flames licked at my skin, but though I could feel the heat, it didn't burn me. Gasping through the smoke, I rose to stand, my heart racing at the sound of crackling trees, and somewhere in the distance, bitter screaming.

"Charlie!" The woman screamed again. "Help us!" She shouted again, and I swiveled in all directions, looking for her.

My hands tingled and burned with a sensation I couldn't identify, and I clenched them into fists as my eyes scanned the burning woods. "Where are you!?"

There was no answer. Dropping to my knees, I buried my face in my hands, my eyes squeezed shut to it all. When I opened them again, the air was clear, and I was seated peacefully atop the grassy knoll, listening to the song of a voice on the wind, my heart fond with the feeling of home.

My head banged hard into something as I startled awake, and I peeled my eyes open to scowl at the window as I rubbed my fingers over the sore spot. Sitting in the front seat of my Mom's Civic, I lifted myself upright and glanced out the windshield at the crowded gas station we were stopped at.

"Morning, sleeping beauty." A voice came from the backseat, and I glanced back at my brother. "Bad dream?"

Without answering, I rubbed my hands over my face and scraped them back through my hair. "How long have I been asleep?"

He shrugged, his eyes still glued to his phone. He didn't even look up at me. "Few hours. You talk in your sleep. Do you know that? Weird as crap."

Angling myself in the seat, I turned to look at him. "What did I say?"

He shrugged again before finally lowering the phone. "I don't know. Sounded like you were looking for someone."

Pursing my lips, I turned to look out the windshield as fleeting images of my dream passed through my mind, just beyond recollection. "I don't remember." I mumbled, and my brother huffed. "Where's Mom?"