Shadow of Time (a YA Paranormal Romance novel)

Chapter 7

The next morning, Hannah awoke completely drenched in sweat. Echoes of voices screaming in a foreign language still resounded in her head. Slowly opening her eyes, she breathed deeply in and out. A feeling of dread had settled in the pit of her stomach, and it wouldn't go away.

She'd had another nightmare. Hannah couldn't remember much, but she did know that the old village had been the setting again. There'd been violent attacks by soldiers, but there'd also been people around her that she trusted – people who protected her. And the older version of Josh had been among them.

This time, the end of her dream had been different. She'd met Josh somewhere on a rock plateau near a precipice overlooking a canyon. He had spoken Diné Bizaad, the Navajo language. The strange thing was, she'd been able to understand him in her dream, but couldn't remember what he told her now that she was awake.

She did remember that she'd been upset by his words – she had run away from him because her heart told her she had to. The image still haunting her now was Josh's older face, full of pain and sadness, and the way he'd looked at her when she turned around to face him one last time.

Groaning, Hannah got out of bed and dragged herself to the kitchen. It was less stuffy than her bedroom, but it was still hot. She needed to freshen up. After popping two slices of bread into the toaster, she took a quick shower and got dressed in light summer clothes.

A soft wind caressed her face when Hannah stepped onto the porch. She looked to the left and saw Ben's car was gone. Chewing her toast, she walked back inside and got her wallet from the kitchen table, blinking in surprise when her eyes fell on the clock above the stove. It was almost twelve o'clock. No wonder Ben was gone – he'd probably given up on her crawling out of bed today.

Hannah closed the door behind her and strolled down to the tiny supermarket in St. Mary's Port to buy some canned goods that she and Ben could bring to the rez as a gift. It was tradition to bring the family organizing the rodeo something that could be used for cooking, like corn flour, mutton, dried beans or pumpkin.

Once inside Safeway, Hannah first made her way to the aisle with flour and baking products. This wasn't her lucky day – the Blue Bird flour was nowhere to be found. She couldn't get away with buying another brand. The fry bread just wouldn't taste the same.

A bit lost in thought, she picked up a bag of different flour from the top shelf when she suddenly heard two voices coming from the next shopping aisle. They sounded familiar.

Hannah strained her ears and stopped breathing. Her hands began to shake. She'd swear the people talking in the next aisle were the guys who'd harassed her on Thursday night. Their voices sounded just the same.

Slowly, she shuffled forward, cautiously sticking her head around the corner like a spy. There they were. Two men in plaid flannel shirts. They were about thirty years old and both were carrying a case of beer. Hannah shuffled into the aisle, listening intently to the two men. Okay, this was freaky. They sounded exactly like her bullies, but they were definitely not the same guys. With a frown, she passed the two men on her way to the pay desk. Was she beginning to imagine things?

When Hannah got to the queue, she almost tripped over a display full of Blue Bird flour sacks and a garish-colored sign screaming 'Buy 2 Get 1 Free!!' at her.

With a smile, she bent over to pick up two sacks, accidentally bumping into someone behind her when she stepped back.

"Hey, Hannah!" It was Amber. She looked down at the flour sacks. "Oh – Blue Bird flour. I was going to get that, too."