Free Awakenings (Elemental Series - Book 1) by Hally Willmott

into bed, completely dumbfounded as to my hand injury. I was unsure if sleep would come again and was apprehensive, to say the least, when I thought of what other dreams may come next. I laid there going over and over my dream until I drifted off.
    Of course the colors came first. They weren’t separate and distinct as I entered the dream—like all of my other dreams. These were completely blended and bright.
    As they dulled, I realized I was back in the room with the crib. I looked around for Mom but she wasn’t there. I went over to the mirror. As I peered into it, Mom’s reflection wasn’t there. In her place was Aunt Grace.
    I turned, finding Aunt Grace directly behind me. She reached out to touch my injured hand. I clenched it protectively against my chest. Neither one of us said a word as she carefully put her hand over my mine and pulled it gently toward herself.
    She began to glow, a mix of crystal blues and pinks. They were the same colors in the beginning of my dream. I looked around to see if there was light coming from somewhere behind her. There wasn’t. I felt a quiver from the center of my hand flow out to each one of my fingers. I looked into my palm and the burn I had there was gone. I looked up at Aunt Grace and asked, “How…how did you do that?”
    “This is my gift. In time, yours will be revealed to you.”
    As she faded away, I woke up immediately. I inspected my right hand. There was nothing there. I remembered burning it. I remembered going to the bathroom. I remembered the throbbing. I looked at my hand as if it was some kind of foreign object. I hadn’t noticed Hudson standing in the door of my bedroom until he let out a throaty chuckle.
    “Yes Jacey, it’s a hand—and the strangest thing—it’s all yours.”
    I grabbed my pillow and threw it at him. He ducked in time for it to fly past him and smack Aunt Grace directly in the face.
    “Umph. I guess I’m going to have to learn to duck and cover.” Aunt Grace smiled.
    “Oh. Sorry, Aunt Grace. That was meant for Hudson.” Hudson bent down to pick up the pillow and saw the look I gave him, which would have melted snow.
    “Jacey’s a little off today, not only with her throwing arm, but with some other stuff, too.”
    “Hudson, back off,” I said, not caring to cover the edginess in my voice.
    He held up both his hands. “I surrender, just yanking your chain a little,” he said. “We have to get going soon. Do you need any help in here?”
    “No, I’ll be fine.”
    Hudson left and went down to the kitchen. Aunt Grace took his place in the doorway.
    “Everything all right?”
    “Can I ask you something? Something without you thinking I’m losing my mind?”
    “I never think you’re losing your mind.”
    “Did you happen to come into my room last night?”
    “No. I didn’t hear you at all last night so I thought you had a pretty decent sleep.”
    “You didn’t see I’d burned my hand and—”
    “You burned your hand? How?”
    “It’s complicated.” I sighed, backing off with my questions. Maybe it was a dream. “I think I need a shower.” I got out of bed. As I passed her, she looked concerned and reached out to touch me. I looked down at her right hand and it was clearly red and burned.
    “What happened to your hand?”
    “I burned it this morning making breakfast. It’s all right, just a little red.”
    “That’s the weirdest thing,” I murmured to myself.
    “What’s weird?” she asked.
    “It’s—I dreamed I burned my hand and then you were in the dream and you fixed my hand, and now your hand—” I looked directly at her.
    “It’s nothing. I burned it making breakfast this morning.” She put her arm over my shoulders and started walking me to the bathroom.
    “No time to waste, Jacey. Get ready. I can’t wait for you and Hudson to see Nevaeh.”
    I closed the bathroom door behind me. There was definitely something going on. I flexed my hand and looked at the reflection in the mirror and