Free Raven by Suzy Turner Page A

feels... right.
But I guess we'll just have to get to know each other better won't
we?” I replied happily, “but now... it's so freezing. Why don't you
walk me back home?”
    As we
turned to walk back towards the house, I looked up at him and
smiled. He caught me watching and he laughed.
    “ In
answer to your question... Canada isn't the only thing I'm falling
for,” and I laughed cheekily as he took my gloved hand in
his.
    As we
approached the front door, Oliver asked me out on a date, “a proper
date,” he said, the following Friday night. I happily accepted and
he leaned in and gently kissed me on the cheek. My first
kiss!
    “ I'll
pick you up at seven,” he said and then he was gone.
    That
night I drifted off to sleep happier than I had done for a long
time. But my dreams were strange and vivid once again.
    I found myself flying freely with the ravens while I was
looking down at the cats below. Only this time they weren't small
cats, one was a white mountain lion and the other a black
panther.
    They were stalking something. I couldn't quite see what it
was but as I flew closer, I saw that they were stalking Oliver. I
tried to get his attention but he couldn't see me, he could only
see and hear ravens squawking at him from above. “Oliver, Oliver
watch out!” I yelled, but as hard as I tried to get him to
understand me, I knew that all he could hear were the
incomprehensible noises of a bird.
    I tried to reach him in time but it was no good, the cats had
already pounced and as I landed nearby, I saw that he was covered
in blood. As I approached the bloody scene, the cats seemed to bow
down to me and skulked away as I picked him up with ease and
carried him to the waterside to try and clean his wounds, but as I
looked down into the water, my reflection wasn't that of a raven or
a girl... it was that of a mountain lion. I screamed.
    I awoke
with a start. My face was soaked from tears streaming down my
cheeks.
    “ Lilly, goodness me,” said Meredith as she rushed into my
room and switched on the light. Sitting down on the bed, she
cradled me in her arms. “It's all right. It was just a bad dream.
Just a dream. Shhhh. It's over. It's over.”
    The
tears wouldn't stop as I tried to tell her that Oliver was in
danger. “The cats, the cats,” I sobbed.
    “ No,
it was just a dream, sweetie. Oliver is fine. Calm down.”
Eventually, I realised that it had been nothing but a nightmare –
triggered by the memory of the words I had learnt just days
before... that Oliver and Ben's parents had been killed by wild
mountain lions. It was nothing more than my subconscious mind
playing horrible tricks on me.
    Meredith
had been kind, assuring me that all was well. She even made me a
cup of sweet cocoa to help soothe me back to sleep. The rest of the
night went by quietly.
     

CHAPTER THIRTEEN
     
    The
following day I was awoken by the gentle sound of Gabriel's
voice.
    “ Another dream, Meredith? I guess I have no choice now but
to tell her the truth. I had hoped the dreams wouldn't have started
until she was at least eighteen. I understand now that it is a
sign. She must be told. It's such a shame that this is all
happening now. She is so young,” he'd said.
    I could
hear the sadness in the way Gabriel spoke and that made me feel sad
too, even though I had no idea what he had to tell me. I finally
felt relief. Relief that, at last, I would know the truth. But
along with the relief came the dread. After all, it must be bad for
there to have been so much secrecy in the first place.
    Now that
I knew he planned to tell me, I waited for him to broach the
subject, so that day I just acted as normal, I went to school and
completed my homework before dinner. It was after we'd eaten and
washed the dishes that something finally happened.
    He had
summoned my father's brother and sister, Wyatt and Meredith, who
had arrived just as we had finished washing the dishes.
    “ Lilly. It is time,” said Gabriel, as Meredith took my