The three-story house

Part 8 : The big mission

I was looking for James. But I couldn't see him.

All of a sudden, the leader invited me to come to the front before the judges to tell me what happened to me and present me. Everybody was curiously looking at me.

Nevertheless, all in my head was about James, the book, and the red snake. Then the leaders quickly went on "We need to find the book of the judges. It appeared the red snake took it. When he threw the word "red sneak", the room became deadly silent.

What should we do, dear judges?

After a while, an old man broke the silence with his assumption "I think he is connected to some of us through dream. Since he can hide in a dream, we'd rather harness judges who have the power of seeing things in a dream."

The leader looked me in the eye and turned to say to all "That is right".

"But we have only two judges who have that kind of abilities" the old man went on.

"Ally can enter in other's dream and William can interpret things in a dream."

"Unfortunately, their abilities are not enough to fight the red snake. If someone doesn't allow Ally mentally, then there is nothing she can do about it! And William, he can only interpret things in written words but cannot see in scenery".

The leaders held my hand and said "We have Jasmine now".

"She can see anything in her dream like ghosts and monsters as they are in reality. She can also intervene in whoever's dream. And.........he halted here for a moment. Then he continued "Indeed, the possibility that the red sneak is hiding in her dream is very compelling".

My eyes were on the leader, trying to communicate. He probably read my mind.

"Jasmine has forgotten about her. Perhaps she is not sure about her skills yet. But here I am to assure you the information I just gave you all"

Everyone was quiet again, which proved they agreed with his words.

I was trying to contemplate everything in my head. I had many questions, but I could not ask them.

(Can I even see ghosts and monsters in my dream, and is the red snake still in my dream?)

Then the leader interrupted my thoughts.

"Today at midnight, Ally, Jasmine, and William must come and see me. We'd better hurry up in seeking the red sneak in Jasmine's dream."

Now I came across James, who was standing near the door. I couldn't tell if his expression was surprise or fear. Then he came to me and asked "Were you a judge too?"

"Yes, I guess so. But I'm not sure what I can do as a judge here, especially for catching the red snake"

"Don't worry! You have us, judges and I knew that you had a reason to come here".

He saw my bewildered expression about the situation and started again in a cheerful tone.

"Aren't we neighbors? Your room is next to mine. Mine is 9569. What a coincidence!"

"Yes. It was quite shocking to me as well. I saw the names and the numbers. Then it turned out to be like that! My mom always said, "Be ready for the unexpected and not be sure of everything." I guess that was true."

"Wait! You remember your mom!?" James cried.

"Somehow I remember only about my mom's favorite saying. That is all I guess"

"You know what....It is a good sign. You are going to remember everything soon!"

He sounded positive. So I wanted to believe what he said. James asked me to go to the dining room to have dinner. We went down to the first floor and saw a lot of big round tables with filled green vegetables and fruits.

"Is there any eatable food?" I asked.

"Don't you see the food here? he surprised and asked.

"I mean real food! I like meat........A LOT!."

"Unfortunately, we only eat this kind of food. We are judges" he smiled.

But he didn't mention why. I sat there and ate a little bit. And the leader announced that the learning time would start in 45 minutes. Learning time! That is..." I had no words to define it" so I went on "When you have learned for all of your life and then it came!" He smiled and started explaining what the learning time was. It's included two types: one is for learning cases and the other one is for developing skills. Now go to your room and rest for a while because you have a big mission for the entire village, probably for more than that. You can't even imagine how important for us to stop the red snake!"

I agreed and went up to the second floor, entered my room, and laid on the sofa. I fell asleep promptly. Then I began dreaming:

I saw James: his face was in front of my very eyes. But I was angry with him. "Don't go!"I said desperately. He was mumbling something, which I did not understand or did not want to understand. The expressions on his face were genuine: drooped eyelids raised cheeks and stretched lips. It almost seemed that he was about to cry. His hands were around me. The warmth I felt from him was genuine. I wanted to stop the time forever. Then suddenly there was a small flame appearing in the room and he freed his hands off me as soon as he saw it and followed the flame silently. James turned and said, "wait a little bit. We will meet soon. I promise". Then he disappeared along with the light. When I woke up, I found myself crying.

I wanted to tell James everything about the dream but I was not going to until I fully grasped everything about me and James. Besides, the leader warned me not to say James even his name!

It was already for the case time. So I went up to the third floor and found some of the judges already gathered there. They were busy discussing something. It seemed like people were in groups. Ally and William were there and they waved at me so I went straight to them. All of our attention was stolen by a case of twin brothers.