Children of the Dawnland (North America's Forgotten Past Series) by W. Michael Gear, Kathleen O'Neal Gear Page A

dreamed anything?”
    He gave her a sad smile. “If you asked me here because you hoped I’d dreamed the future, I haven’t. I’m sorry. I didn’t know about any of this. But”—he took another bite of nutcake and chewed it thoughtfully before
he said—“Twig might have. Has she told you about her dreams?”
    Mother shot a glance at Twig, and she pretended to be fast asleep. When Mother looked away, Twig opened her eyes again.
    Screech Owl tilted his head. “She hasn’t told me any of the details,” he lied, “but I know she’s having Spirit dreams. I can feel it.”
    Screech Owl’s eyes flared for a moment before he added, “Riddle, there’s something else I’d like to talk to you about.”
    “What is it?”
    Screech Owl’s lips pressed into a tight line. “If Twig wishes to, I’d like her to live with me while I’m teaching her. So I can make sure she’s safe.” He glanced up hesitantly. “Will you allow it?”
    “Well, I—I don’t know. I’ll have to think about it.”
    Screech Owl glanced at Twig, then stepped to the lodge flap and pulled it aside. “Please, come outside with me so we can talk about this more.”
    “Don’t push me, Screech Owl. I told you I have to think about it.”
    “Usually that means your answer is no.”
    “If you don’t stop pushing me, the answer will be no!”
    His gaze rested on Twig again. She lay absolutely still, watching the worry in his elderly eyes, as if he saw something so terrible in her future that he almost couldn’t bear it.
    “Riddle,” he whispered, “don’t I even have the right to teach her how to be happy?”
    “She’s my daughter, Screech Owl. You have no rights regarding her.” Mother folded her arms and turned away. “Please go.”
    “You know she’ll be miserable if she can’t control the dreams. Soon they’ll begin stalking her.” At the hard look on her mother’s face, Screech Owl said, “Please, I beg you. Just give me the chance to teach her for a few days.”
    “I knew I shouldn’t have invited you here,” Mother snarled. “Leave.”
    Screech Owl closed his eyes wearily for a moment before he ducked beneath the flap and disappeared into the night.
    Tears filled Twig’s eyes. She didn’t understand it. She loved Mother and Screech Owl, but they were always fighting and arguing. It broke her heart.
    Twig waited until Mother turned to pick up the plate of cakes before she slipped completely under her buffalo robe to cry.

CHAPTER 14

    A T FIRST, ALL I hear is the roaring wind.
    Then … the dream begins.
    I’m freezing. Freezing to death, and terrified. The woman is standing beside me, smiling.
    Faint screams creep up from every sparkle in the snow, and fear clutches at my heart. All around me, colors swirl and form pictures, becoming flaming spears that flash through the air.
    “What’s happening?” I cry.
    The woman just keeps smiling.
    Far below, I see a village. It looks tiny from this high. When the flaming spears land on top of the lodges, they burst into flame, and a brilliant fiery wall rises. I see women and children
lunge from their blazing homes and run away into the haze of smoke that billows into the starry sky.
    “What am I seeing? Where is this?”
    “You don’t recognize it?”
    “No, I—”
    “You will. Soon. You must remember that you will not find Cobia’s cave without Greyhawk. You must be braver than you have ever thought possible. Learn every lesson Screech Owl teaches you.”
    She leaps into the frosty, twinkling hearts of the Star People … and the screams and cries of war fill the air. I turn, and the Ice Giants are black, black as coal, and sparkling.
    “Wait. Wait!” I shout. “Don’t leave me! How do I get home?”
    A deep groaning rumble erupts, followed by a loud boom! Several smaller booms shake the ground beneath my feet, and I stagger as a strange orange gleam fills the night.
    The rumble grows to a roar.
    The earthquake strikes like a giant fist slamming the