The Amulet of Kryshar

Chapter 2

The bus jerked to a stop in front of my house. I was one of the first people to get picked up. I walked up to the bus. It looked like it's been through a blender if it could fit into one. The colour is chipping off, exposing the metal underneath. Dents at the corners of the bus made me question the driver's driving skills. Nonetheless, I clambered on.

The driver shot a look at me, as if I was the reason he always had to wake up this early in the mornings. I paid him no heed and walked down the gangway and quickly grabbed hold of the back of a seat as the bus abruptly started moving forward again. I frowned when I felt a familiar pulsing at my temples. I decided to ignore it and secured one other seat at the back of the bus. After all, I had more important things to worry about at that very moment.

What I understood from Lena's ramblings, is that everyone in the class thought they heard Ms Rose say that this end of the semester test will be next week. I put my head in my hands and groaned. It was too early for this drama. In all honesty, I did almost get a heart attack when Lena told me that the test was on today. For a second it felt like my headache was back and my fingertips were tingling with... pain? Needless to say, I was confused and not in a good mood.

Someone plopped down on the seat next to me. Dragged out of my thoughts, I jumped in shock and sighed in relief when I realized that it was just Lena. I didn't even notice that the bus has stopped at her street already.

"Alright, we need to get cracking on these questions, Ruby. This could significantly improve our chances of passing the test," Lena said. She started digging around in her bag for her math folder.

"I don't know, Lena. It seems kind of pointless."

She flicked her long black hair over her shoulder. "Trying is never pointless. Anyway," Lena said in a softer voice, "you don't look so good and I don't think that it's entirely the math tests fault. So, care to tell me what's up? Oh, wait, is it the dream again? I thought you said that it stopped already."

I sighed. Lena has been my friend since Grade 3, I knew her well enough to trust her not to judge me or my obviously faulty brain, which is why I told her about the dreams. She is the only one who knows about them. Her and Melanie. I saw no reason to hide this dream from her as well. Leaning my head back, I closed my eyes.

"It was worse than usual, Len. The things I saw this time made me sick to my stomach." Just thinking about it sent shivers down my spine. "It wasn't even the same dream anymore. This time there was more to it. I mean," I said slightly louder out of frustration, "-ugh, forget I said anything. It's difficult to understand, I don't even understand! Why would I expect you to understand?"

Lena furrowed her brow. "Look, I know you are having a bad time right now, but that's still no reason to take it out on me. I'm just trying to help!" she snapped. I winced. She's right. I smiled weakly. Lena's always right. I mumbled an apology.

She put a hand on my arm. "Maybe it would be easier if you tell me what you saw," Lena said gently.

And I did. I told her slowly and carefully the different parts of my dream. The deadly fight between a peculiar woman and a scary man, the woman burning to death on the floor, the panther in armour and the man's face. Oh god. That was what probably freaked me out the most. Blood dripping down from his eye socket, part of his ruined eye still dangling down his face and that expression. His expression was probably what rattled me the most: the fury and uncontrollable rage in his remaining eye, the cruel curve of his mouth. But there was something else as well; the feeling of malice was radiating off of him so strongly that Dream-Me wanted to curl up in a corner and cry.

I looked down at my hands. For some reason, after I told my dream to Lena, it seemed ridiculous. Why would a dream like that impact me that much? So, what? Everyone, gets nightmares or bad dreams. While that's true, I know that I'm not everyone. I wished I was though. These dreams started on my sixth birthday. I was having a sleepover party with Melanie and Lena at my house, when I suddenly woke up in the morning with a painful forehead and vague memories of a peculiar dream. Ever since that day, I have been getting dreams similar to this one along with frequent headaches. To put that into perspective, I am sixteen now. I've had these dreams since ten years.

My hands fumbled with the bracelet hanging from my wrist. I had it for as long as I could remember and I have never removed it, ever since I first got it, which must have been when I was very young, because I couldn't remember when my parents gave it to me. For some reason, playing with the little silver wolf-shaped charm always calmed me down. The best thing about it is that it even had a small ruby stone as an eye.

Snapping out of my thoughts, I glanced over at Lena. She didn't look mocking at all. Instead, she had an evaluating expression on her face. I knew that look well. After all, she does tend to overanalyse some things. "This is really freaky, Ruby," she said with a serious look in her eyes. "You got the dream on the same night Ms Rose changed the test date. To add to that," Lena cut off my protests, "everyone in the class, and I mean everyone, thought that the test was scheduled for next week. Something weird is happening and I don't like it. I need to get to the bottom of this."

"You know it could just be a coinci—"

"No! I feel it. In my bones! This is more than just a coincidence! There is a deeper meaning to it all. We just don't understand it yet."

"Maybe we just didn't understand Ms Rose," I suggested.

Lena snorted at the idea as if it's impossible. "You mean the entire class misunderstood Ms Rose? That the entire class thought the test was supposed to be on next week? I don't know about you, but it seems weird to me."

I was starting to feel really uncomfortable talking about this. Just because Lena is overanalysing this, doesn't mean I have to think the same. It's just a coincidence. I'll admit, a weird coincidence, but still a coincidence. Right?

I sighed. This was getting too complicated for my poor head. I don't know if I can handle it. "Never mind, let's just study what we can for the test of doom."

"Yup, that's the spirit!"

Immediately Lena shoved sheets of algebra and calculus rules onto my lap insisting that we need all the time we could get. I completely agreed and started studying as well. We quizzed each other, half-heartedly hoping that we could commit all of these formulas and possible mathematical scenarios to our memories.

It didn't really improve my mood that the pounding has returned. I couldn't concentrate anymore and got almost every question wrong. I got more and more frustrated and annoyed. I just solved problem about a jewellery box and was now working on a question involving Bob doing something like stacking pizza when I finally snapped. Maybe it was the mention of pizza or the fact that Bob was actually stacking pizza instead of eating it, that I snapped.

I threw my hands up. "This is pointless!" I hissed. "We are going over things we just learned and don't even understand. She didn't even teach us half of the things that are coming up in this stupid test! How are we supposed to pass it?" While I was venting my anger out, the bus stopped in the school parking lot. All the other people in the bus stood up and every single student tried to get out as fast as humanly possible, while keeping up the conversation with their friends. It looked like a war in progress.

Lena ignored the chatter around us and peered over the rim of her glasses. "It's still at least worth trying, right?" She tried to smile comfortingly but I was still raging on in the inside about the unfairness of it all. Dad would say in a situation like this that life is never fair. No, really? Thanks for the wake-up call.

Lena sighed and stood up to leave the bus. I huffed and followed her out. We were the last ones to leave. The bus left us with a blast of a grey exhaust cloud. I turned around and plunged into the sea of students.