Dream Weavers

Chapter Six

"What if I fail it, Hallee?" Aline asked, fluttering her wings nervously. She consciously bit at her nails until they were no longer there.

"You're not gonna fail, girl. Chill out!" Hallee exclaimed, placing both her hands on Aline's shoulder. "Listen, as mean as this sounds, Ula is gone so that means one less contender for valedictorian, you know? Plus, you already got an A on the damn test portion of the training, so you're as good as gold as far as I know." Hallee was being as easy-going as ever, waving to a group of older fae nearby.

Aline took a deep breath as the line moved up once more. She was three fae away from the door. She had no idea what she had to do in there but some fae had already left crying. Others had left all smiles but the former was more apparent.

The judges were tougher this year, apparently. They were really cracking down on the Travelers. From the increase in the fae's population, they needed more efficient Travelers to collect dreams for them so they could power their city, not mediocre fae who would barely work and get less than five dreams per trip.

Two fae away from the door.

"Hallee, what if I say the wrong name or something? What if they won't let me into the testing grounds because Lyra saw me in Ula's room with you guys?" Aline groaned, placing her hands in her hair and pulling at it. "I'm going to go crazy."

Hallee rolled her eyes. "Look at Quill! He's not even nervous!" Hallee said, waving to him.

Quill smiled back at both of them before diving headfirst back into whatever he as reading. He didn't even seem to be nervous, eyes flying across the pages of the book.

Aline averted her eyes from Quill and back to Hallee. "Yeah but he's smart. He knows that he has this in the bag."

Hallee looked like she wanted to smack Aline. "You are smart," she hissed, pushing her forward. "Go on."

One fae away from the door.

"Oh my god, Hallee, I'm gonna pass out," Aline whispered. "I'm gonna back out. What if I screw it up?" she whispered, placing her hands on her face. "That's it. I'm totally screwed. I'm gonna pass out in the middle of the exam or something--"

"Next!"

Aline froze as Hallee shoved her into the room. She swallowed as she stumbled into there, just catching herself.

The judges did not look amused at her entrance. She turned back to look at Hallee but the door had already shut. The room was a small one with navy tiles on the walls and flooring. It looked like the night sky in a way, just without the stars or the moon.

She was alone beside the judges. Wiping her palms on her shorts, she puffed out her chest and floated into the center of the room and said, "I'm Aline--"

"Get on with it, fae," an icy-blue haired fae said. She leaned forward and stared at Aline, motioning with her hand. She seemed annoyed that she was even here looking at the faes coming into the room. "If you're willing to be a Traveler, you'd best be showing us how fast you can jump."

Aline nodded and clutched at her satchel. Calm down. She shut her eyes and tried to calm herself, listening to her rapid heartbeat and breathing.

It was just a simple jump into Earth and then right back. Nothing too hard. She had read about it plenty of times and had been asked question after question on how to do it. She just had to take her knowledge and put it onto display for everyone here.

From what she learned, Earth's time was an entire twelve-hour difference. If she went to Earth when it was night here, it would be day on Earth. Vice versa if she went to Earth when it was day here. So it would be night on Earth. Harder to see, darker, and scarier; yet all the more lovely.