The Witch Warrior Chronicles, chapter 2                                    - 3 - "Is he ? ?" Celine couldn?t finish the sentence, fearing the worst. "No, something else. We have to go meet with her and she?ll tell us the rest okay?" Celine nodded in understanding. Fear began to creep it?s way into her heart. "I knew it wasn?t over," she said quietly. "Take it easy, Love," said Raven, burying her own trepidation. "I?m sure she?s just trying to make sense of what happened to her brother. She probably just wants to talk to us to cover all the bases - damn Em for telling her to call us, though. She knows we can?t tell her what really happened down there!" "So ? what are we going to say?" asked Celine as Raven led her into the bedroom to dress. "I don?t know," said Raven, frowning as she pulled on her clothes. Two and a half-hours later Raven and Celine sat down at a small café not far from where the Witches? Brew once stood. They sat quietly going over the past events in their own minds when a medium height woman with long ash-blonde hair approached the table. "Hi, I?m Amelia, I can see by the "Amazon Queen" shirt, you must be Raven. Mrs. Cassidy said you liked to wear them." "She sure does." Celine laughed. "Hi, I?m Celine. Please sit down." Amelia pulled out the chair and sat opposite the two women. "I asked Mrs. Cassidy what happened that night and she really didn?t tell me much. I told her about a couple of dreams I?ve had recently involving Todd and she said she really didn?t know much about that stuff so she gave me your number and said I should talk to the both of you." "Dreams? What kind of dreams?" Celine sat up a bit. She had been having some dreams about the events over the past two weeks herself, but she hadn?t mentioned them to Raven because she didn?t want her to worry. "First let me tell you about Todd. He liked goofing around in a lot of things that people shouldn?t get involved in. You know ?witchy? stuff, demons and the like. He?s always talking about vampires, werewolves, and ghosts. Anyway that night he heard about the party at the tavern and wanted Andy to go with him because he had heard the tavern was haunted. Andy said they were drunk, which is most likely true, but he also said that Todd wanted to go down to the basement to call upon the ghosts that lived there." Amelia was interrupted by the waiter who took her order for coffee. Raven looked at Celine and shook her head already anticipating what was coming. "First of all, witches and demons have nothing to do with one another," said Raven. "I?m sorry," said Amelia, dropping her eyes from Raven?s intent gaze. "I?m afraid I don?t know much about ? these things." "It?s alright. Go on - what else did Andy say?" Celine asked nodding toward Raven. "Well, he said he doesn?t remember much after that, just that he must have passed out." Amelia took a deep breath. "Over the last couple of nights I?ve been ? I don?t know how to describe it, but it feels like I?m not merely dreaming. It feel so real, this place I?ve seen. I don?t know this place but I sense Todd there. He can?t speak and I don?t hear him but I know he is calling for help. I can feel it." Amelia looked at both women worriedly, afraid they would think she was crazy or something. "It?s okay Amelia." Celine said as she patted Amelia on the forearm. "Go on." "Mrs. Cassidy said that you might be able to help me. She said you both would somehow understand. I know it sounds crazy, but I don?t know what else to do and I honestly believe that he?s trapped somewhere." "What do you think we can do?" Raven asked. "I don?t know, I just feel that there is something more going on. How do you explain how a twenty-two year old man can go completely catatonic from being pulled out of a fire. He just sits there, his eyes fixed on the wall. He?s just not there, his mind I mean." "Shock?" said Raven, raising one eyebrow at the woman. "No he must have seen something that made him withdraw like this. I don?t know." Amelia rested her chin in her hand wearily. Celine smiled sympathetically, she reached out and touched Amelia again, this time on the shoulder. Suddenly she was pulled forward. Her mind began to travel past the café toward the tavern beneath the rubble, deeper into the earth. Pulling farther until she was slowed by a gray fog. She looked around seeing nothing but gray, bleak figures, forms, bodies, without color, indistinct in the fog, standing in lines and lines, waiting ... but for what? She stood in the middle of the crowded area but was completely alone, as if encased in a protective bubble. She looked beyond the forms and a splash of color caught her attention. She saw a lone man crouched behind a fence that was also dulled and lacking in color. He wore jeans that had just a hint of blue left in them and a bright yellow T-shirt. He looked up and saw Celine. His hand reached out toward her and silently mouthed the words, Help me. "Celine?" Raven gently shook her lover. Celine pulled back so quickly she felt her neck jerk. "What the ??" Celine spoke and shook her head trying to clear away the vision of what she had just seen.