Free Light by Adrienne Woods

there, yet.”
    She pulled two black gloves over her hands, and picked up the green coin bag with the golden symbols on it. I just stared at her with eyes filled with questions and curiosity.
    Mom took out golden sand. It was just a pinch and it shined like golden diamonds on the black gloves. She walked a couple of paces toward the place that had injured her badly.
    “Mom, be careful, please.”
    She stopped and blew the dust gently from her glove.
    At first nothing happened and then something started to appear. It was hard to explain.
    I thought about an artist painting and how his paint brush formed outlines on the canvas first. This wasn’t exactly like that, but as close as I could get to what I saw.
    The roof of the cabin appeared first and it was like an invisible blanket was being pulled off the rest.
    I just stared at the cabin and heard mom giggle. “I knew it was here somewhere.” She looked at me and closed my mouth softly. “I’ll explain everything. Come.”
    We walked up the steps of the cabin. It smelled like wood, like pine.
    “No, key?”
    “It doesn’t need a key, sweetheart. Oh, shoot.” She turned back and walked past me again, took out another pinch of sand out of the bag and placed it into a small pot that hadn’t been there a minute ago.
    “Oh, shoot,” I said in a sarcastic tone. She looked back at me. “Yeah, you’re really badass, mom.”
    She laughed and nudged me inside the door playfully.
    The cabin resembled any cabin. It had a small lounge, a table with chairs right opposite a small kitchen and stairs that led to hopefully two rooms with a working bathroom.
    I put my backpack on the couch while mom put hers on the kitchen table and walked into the kitchen and started opening every cupboard. She took out more of the golden sand from the green coin bag and blew a bit softly into each cupboard before she closed it.
    Curiosity killed the cat, or in this case made me bolt to the kitchen to see what she was doing.
    I opened the one cupboard she was done with and found it stacked with food. Every cupboard had different types of food. Pastas, cereals, rice, cookies, chips… you named it, it was somewhere in one of these cupboards.
    I found a bottle of brandy in Mom’s hand and a glass in the other. “You want that cup of coffee now?”
    I stared at her and back into the cupboards. “Mom, what is this?”
    “Coffee it is then.”
    “I don’t understand. What’s in that bag? Magic dust?”
    “Something like that.” The kettle boiled and I just stared at the food stacked in all the cupboards.
    Mom never liked junk food, but here it was, junk food, upon junk food, and more junk food.
    “Mom?” I looked at her who already had a glass of light brown liquid mixed with a couple of ice cubes in her hands. “This is really starting to freak me out. What’s going on? Why did we have to run from those people if we’re like them? And how do you know about my dream?”
    She just gave me a sad look – it was laced with guilt – that much I could tell.
    She didn’t answer and turned around when the kettle finished and poured hot water in a mug with a spoon’s handle sticking out. I watched her take out a jar of milk from the fridge.
    I found myself in front of the fridge as she closed it and opened it again. A gasp left my mouth as food stacked for at least fifteen people stared back at me.
    “This is nuts.”
    “Come sit with me and we’ll talk.” Mom pulled out a chair at the small table made for four.
    I blew out a gush of air and went over, pulled out the chair opposite Mom and plunged down. The cup of coffee stood right in front of me, steam wafting from it. I wasn’t really even in the mood for one, but if coffee was the only thing that would make her talk about all the paranormal things that had been going on these twenty-odd hours, then I welcomed the coffee with open arms.
    My mother let out a huge breath before taking another sip of her brandy.
    “Before we begin, I