Extraordinary

A special thank you to my editor just_a_bibliomaniac who not only edited but kept me encouraged and excited about writing.

Also this is an actual story-no wankers need apply.

Chapter 2: Sábháil Tréimhse

Christina woke up the next morning with a killer headache and an excessively dry mouth. She stretched her arm out expecting to find her glasses but was stunned to touch a wall; her bed at home is in the middle of the bedroom so where did the wall come from? She opened her eyes in a brief moment of sheer panic of realization, not only was the wall not where it should be, she was not where she should be.

It all came back to her forcing her to hold back the tears that threatened to spill from her large hazel eyes she'd been teased about all of her life. With no small effort she rolled out of bed to find her way to the book filled kitchen where Jerry was.

"I thought I heard you get up. Let me get you some tea while your breakfast finishes cooking," He said with his head hidden away in the old yellow fridge.

Christina has never been a morning person so she merely grunted at him while she took the time to try and calm her frazzled nerves. She could barely keep it together as she remembered how afraid she had been the night before at the club or the gut retching sorrow she felt while watching her home turn to ashes.

"You knew my name. How do you know my name and what do I need a guide for? More importantly how did you know my house was on fire?"

Jerry chuckled and sat down across from her after putting in some toast in an ancient looking toaster, "Not one to beat around the bush are you? I knew your name because I was born with the sole purpose to aid you. You may not see it but you are special and will need support to complete what you're expected to do. Lastly,I knew your house was on fire because it is foretold."

None of what he said made any sense and being far too early in the morning for her, she merely twitched her left eye to show her disapproval of his answer.

With much more snap in her voice then what she intended she asked, "What? What help do I need and why am I sitting here listening to the ranting of an obviously crazy old man?"

Jerry sniggered under his breath, "Tell me something. Did you feel fear last night for no reason?"

When her frown deepened he continued, "And when you ran last night why did you stop in front of my house?"

She thought back and answered honestly, "Because I was tired, and I felt safe."

"That, my dear, is why you remain sitting here talking to me even though you think I am some crazy old man. " Jerry said with an unconvincing smile and went to the toaster right before it dinged. He made her toast exactly how she liked it, with butter and a light dusting of sugar.

As he put a late in front of her he touched her cheek tenderly, "You are so special and I'm very glad to finally meet you." He then leaned forward and kissed her forehead.

His simple action brought back a painful memory. Christina was an orphan who had never found an adopted family, she never fit in anywhere. She had lived her life bouncing between families with issues to people that used fostering children to make an easy buck. She almost preferred the overcrowded youth homes, the mere fact that she was not completely alone had often comforted her. Her birth family has been killed in a car accident when she was three years old. The only thing she could remember of them was a lot of trees and a man with the kindest eyes leaning down to kiss her forehead.

She didn't realize she had been crying until Jerry's thumb brushed away her tears. "I know you miss your family but to be who you are you had to lose what you had." This annoyed her and she stood up to get away from him.

"This is all really too much. I need you to stop being vague and tell me what is going on." He must have heard the frustration in her voice because his face seemed to soften. At the exact moment the door bell rang, she was curious so she followed him to the door and was pleasantly surprised at who stood under the pale light of the rising sun. Lilly and Rem had come to see Christina at Jerry's house. They had been at Undertone's trying to figure out where she had been.

Lilly was the first to push past Jerry to bear hug her before she was enveloped in a massive group hug. When she could take no more squishiness she squirmed from the hug and asked what they were doing there.

"Your friend Jerry called the club and asked to speak to the friends of the one who ran from the ambulance," Rem quoted accurately.

Lilly instantly accused Christina, "We were worried about you. Why did you run away like that?" She looked genuinely hurt.

Before she could answer Rem also ranted at her, "You didn't even call to let us know where you were. We've been looking for you everywhere." She emphasized her displeasure with Christina when she punched her shoulder harmlessly.

She looked back and forth between her friends, "I'm sorry I worried you. I don't really know why I ran I just had to get away from the club. If it makes you feel better I stayed the night here after Jerry found me on his lawn."

Christina's friends didn't look appeased at her answer and started talking at the same time again. Jerry came to her rescue, "The big thing is she is alright and now she needs your help." He herded the girls to the kitchen table before explaining what had happened.

"Alright, come with me and I'll show you." He led the girls to a podium with a massive old book on it. It was open to a page with Christina's face drawn on it with these words written under the picture, "Sábháil Tréimhse". She turned to Jerry and asked him what that meant.

"That is Gaelic and means time saver. This book was written by druids in the 16th century. Druids back then were some of the few who could read and write and this is a book of dreams. Druids had predictions in their dreams and as you see,Christina was dreamt of by many druids." He flipped the pages carefully to show her face was drawn throughout the book.

She blinked at him, "Why am I called Time Saver?"

Jerry smiled at her and spoke as if speaking to a child, "There have been time savers since the beginning of time. Their purpose is to keep order and make sure time is never messed with. Every time one dies another is born. You are so special because you will be the last."

Lilly cocked her eyebrow at him, "That sounds ominous. Why will she be the last? Will time stop?"

Jerry glanced at her and shrugged "I hope not, let me read you the dream."

A child born from hatred and love. She will be half beast, half pure magic. The first of her kind without ever knowing. Bound and caged, hidden from darkness. She'll break the binding when home and hearth turn to ash and become three fold of ever there was. First she must meet the boy in disguise who lives with his enemies. He will connect her to where she will need to be. Her guide will lead her from blind to death before she finds the key to the door. Inside the door she will win a fight with a warrior from old. Hate will turn into a red rose before he'll die in her stead. Before she gets her eyes she must be mated with red cheeks before all. Standing naked in the sacred circle she will destroy the ones with no souls when she closes the door forever more.

Christina stared at Jerry for a moment before she started to laugh. She didn't find anything particularly funny, she just laughed because there is nothing left to do. The harder she laughed the more concerned her friends became until they realized she was having a mental meltdown. They did what any good friend would have done; they splashed cold water on her face.

Rem had calmly got a glass from the sink while Lilly and Jerry tried to calm her down. Rem walked right up to Christina as if to offer her a drink. When Rem threw the chilled water on Christina, she completely paused with cold water dripping off her nose and chin. Everyone in the room held their breath waiting for her response. She took a deep breath and glared at the smilingly Rem. Lilly started to giggle while Jerry got a hand towel with an amused smile.

After she dried off Jerry led them to some more books and tried to help her decipher what the dream had meant, "The first couple of lines tell of your family." He told Christina with a knowing sad smile, "The next couple of lines are about you becoming who you were meant to be. I believe your parents wanted you to have a normal life and they made it so you appeared human in every way."

He looked at each girl, "The rest of the dream is the details of what you are suppose do to. You have to meet the people who will help you, specifically the people destined to assist you such as: the boy in disguise, your guide, your protector, and finally your mate."

She looked no less confused but held a curiosity in her eyes that encouraged Jerry to continue, "The very last part is your destiny. You will close the door to the past and kill the "cinn gan anam" meaning the ones with no souls. You see every person is born with inherent magic. Unfortunately, this inherent magic is incorrectly called instinct. Like when you get the chills right before the phone rings or when you drive slower than normal just to find out you are a minute late to a major accident."

"Some people can tap into more fantastical magic. A long time ago someone found out how to travel through time. However like all magic you get what you put in. If you use magic for bad purposes you get bad results and those who use magic to change time lose their souls. Only the ones dedicated to keeping order can travel without giving in to the temptation to change time and thus lose their souls. "

Lilly scuffed and asked skeptically, "You want us to believe this fairy tale is true? Come on so her face is drawn in some old books, doesn't make any of this real." She finished her declaration with another scuff before she folded her arms defiantly.

"You don't believe in magic do you?" Jerry countered calmly.

"It's all make believe or smoke and mirrors." Lilly answered.

"What if I can show you magic? Will you believe then?" Jerry said with a sly smile.

With a shrug from Lilly Jerry started gathering candles and chalk while talking, "There is so much magic around that most people simply ignore. Though Hollywood got most of it wrong, their stories about werewolves, vampires, ghosts, and witches are based on true beings."

As Jerry started to draw symbols on the floor with his chalk Lilly bombarded him with questions, "You are telling me there are people that can change into wolves and that the dead come back as see through ghosts? Oh let's not forget the people from Transylvania that suck your blood and witches can fly on brooms. Can you even hear yourself, man you are sounding crazier by the moment."

Rem had been silent since the dream had been read and she actually looked offended at Lilly, "Those are Hollywood's versions of them. When put that way it does sound crazy but you know what they say, movies are a poor imitation of life."

Lilly turned her disbelief to Rem, "You can't believe all of this. You hate all the movies about vampires."

Rem just shrugged and glared daggers at her shoes while Jerry had just finished drawing a big circle around the symbols on the floor. He calmly started to speak in a weird language as he walked around the chalk drawn circle on the floor.

The girls watched on as he did this three times, when he finished the white chalk had started to glow. He had his head bowed as if praying whilst he spoke, "With the veil thinned I ask the mother and the father of the child whose heart is broken to step forward and speak to us."

He repeated this a few times before the room got ice cold and the flames of the candles started to grow bigger. In the center of the candles the space seemed to be fizzling and with a loud pop a large brown wolf and a petite woman literally stepped out of thin air.