Free Hacienda Moon (The Path Seekers) by Kasonndra Leigh Page B

dream on the beach she’d dreamt of many times since she arrived at Chelby Rose. She ran along the illuminated white shores. “Breena! Where are you, Baby B?”
     
    The wind whipped her hair across her eyes, and her long white dress flowed around her ankles. It was identical to the one Breena wore during the first dream she had about this place. The scent of the ocean stung her nose with its ancient saltwater smell.  
     
    In the distance, a ship fired a canon. Right away, Tandie’s feet sunk into the sand, unable to move as if they were glued to the spot. She turned toward the sea where the canon had blared. A chill rode across the air, biting at her bare arms with its frigid embrace.
     
    In the distance, an old-fashioned ship loomed into view. It was the kind with the sails stacked on top each other as if it were taken from a pirate movie. The ship sailed toward the shores. It moved quickly, and a strange horn blared through the air. Tandie slammed her hands over her ears.
     
    At once, another canon shot blasted through the night, sending waves of fear through Tandie. She now stood in the midst of a battle between the mystery ship and another one approaching from the left side of the harbor. The area sprung to fiery life under the cannons as the ships opened fire on one another.
     
    Tandie grabbed her leg and tugged at her stubborn feet but they refused to budge from the sands. Tears streamed down her cheeks and she feared for her life as she stood in the midst of a war, terrified that her daughter was lost among this madness.
     
    She glanced over at the ship to her right. The men standing on the decks were dressed in red uniforms and shouted in phrases that warbled together like a song playing in slow motion. The general standing on the deck shouted orders at his men. Tandie couldn’t make out the words, but she knew it was something concerning the other ship.
     
    That was when he glanced down and saw Tandie, his expression turning sour. Frowning, he directed his men to move toward her. Panic seized her chest as she struggled to get free of the sand. She pulled her legs so hard that she lost her balance and fell backward, tiny grains blowing in her eyes and scratching them.
     
    She screamed silently. More sand blew around her and formed a funnel, suffocating her until she fell into darkness.
     
    When she opened her eyes again, she found herself surrounded by a circular wall of dirt, towering about ten feet above her head. “Help me! Please! I’m down here. Oh God, help me!” Sobs wracked her throat, while her fingers ached from trying to claw her way out of the hole.
     
    A small voice that was humming a lullaby of some type drifted overhead. Tandie glanced up at the opening. A child’s smiling face peered down in the hole.
     
    “Wake up, Mommy. Be strong for us,” Breena said, her spirit beginning to fade.
     
    “I can’t be strong without you, Baby B. Don’t go,” Tandie said through sobs.
     
    The child drifted down into the hole, her white light filling the dirt prison with a soft glow, and touched the pink topaz hanging around Tandie’s neck.
     
    “I’m giving it back, Mommy.”
     
    “What are you giving back, Baby B?” Tandie’s heart was racing.
     
    “Your tattle-tale stories. The ones that—” The child’s spirit began to fade. “—help you see what happened a long time ago.”
     
    “No! Don’t go, Baby B!” Tandie’s voice filled the chasm just before dirt started falling down on her head.
     
    “They’re burying me alive. My God! They’re burying me alive!”
     
    Tandie bolted upright in her bed and almost dropped the photograph of Breena she held as she fell asleep every night. She clasped her forehead, feeling a bit anxious and cursing the headache from hell. “Thank you for saving Mommy again,” she said to her daughter’s picture.
     
    A few more sobs heaved through her chest. The nightmare felt so real, and this time she was being buried alive. These latest