Free Light by Adrienne Woods Page A

need you to answer me one thing, Chas.”
    I nodded.
    “What color was the sand in your dreams?”
     

 
    .
     
    “WHAT?”
    “The color of the sand, Chas. The sand coming from your hands?”
    I closed my eyes and shook my head. “How in the world do you know what I dreamt about?”
    “Chastity, I need to know. It’s very important.”
    “No, mom. I need to know what the hell is going on.”
    “Fine!” she sighed again. She pulled her black glove resting on the table back over her hand and pick up the small green bag – was far from a coin bag – opened it and took out pure golden dust again. It sparkled, and the contrast against the black glove made the sand even more sparkling. “This belonged to your father,” she said as she played with the golden dust with her index finger. She smiled at a memory forming on her mind and then it disappeared with another sigh.
    “What is that, Mom?”
    “Sand, golden sand that has the ability to do whatever you want it to.”
    She looked up from the dust in her palm at me and smiled.
    “Sand that can do what?” I said, knowing that it wasn’t as farfetched as it would have been a day ago, I’d witnessed it myself at the lake and saw how she’d stacked the food cupboards filled with goodies in a matter of seconds. Even Leigh told me what I was, but I really thought that it was just a dream. The image of Derek and Jake falling flat on their faces, snoring jumped into my mind. “Wait. Sand as in sleeping sand?”
    “One of the things they can do.”
    “So what, you guys ware like the Sandman?”
    Mom laughed. “Sorry,” she said. “The Sandman is just a kids version of what we used to do, or let’s say he used to do. What the Seekers said are true. Revera does exist and it’s real.”
    “Mom, you know how crazy this sounds, right?”
    “I know.” She smiled.
    “So what is it exactly we can do?”
    “That’s a lot to explain with one cup of coffee. But I think the basics are needed. We are what people would call Dream Casters.”
    Leigh told me the same and here my mom was confirming it. I wasn’t crazy. “That I got from Beavis and Butthead.”
    Mom laughed. “Chas, they are far from Beavis and Butthead, that I can assure you. They are very smart and they will send others more scary than them soon.”
    “So the place they spoke about, it’s real?”
    “The dream world, known as Revera, yes. It’s real. For many millenniums, Revera was peaceful. It was ruled by three Somniums. They were what you would call the royals of this world, the best at everything, almost like gods. Magdalena Sodivic, Darius and Selene Faline. They were siblings. Then one day Magdalena’s sand turned dark. We don’t really know what caused it, but it started to have a different effect on Revera. Some of the smaller towns started to disappear and the Faline’s knew she had to be cast out. It only aggravated Magdalena more that they didn’t understand or try to understand and help her figure out how to control it, and she became so angry that her dark sand became stronger. To make a long story short, Revera was almost destroyed and Darius sacrificed himself to overpower Magdalena. She disappeared and through her bloodline, the Shadow Casters were born.”
    “The Shadow Casters?”
    “Who do you think creates all the bad dreams sweetheart? Doubt? Lost dreams?”
    “You mean like nightmares?”
    Mom nodded and she placed the golden sand back into the green bag.
“What does any of this have to do with my dream?”
    “When Dream Caster children turn sixteen, they became Initiates. It always starts with the dream. The dream reveals what color sand you will have, and a couple of days later, it will start appearing.”
    Couple of days later… I didn’t say it out loud. I got up and started to pace around. Leigh said that I could choose. This must be what he meant.
    “What is it Chastity?”
    I shook my head. “I was in a bad place, mom. Everything was dark, smelled awful,