Follow the Hummingbird (The Dream Tamer Chronicles Book 1)

by Elena Carter

  Tina moved closer and wrapped her arm around Natalie’s shoulder. “You’re not selfish, Nat. Don’t say that. I know you very well, and trust me, the last thing you are is selfish.”

  “I don’t know what to do, T. I don’t want to lose him, but I think I already have.” Natalie buried her face against Tina’s shoulder.

  “Everything will be all right, Nat. You’re gonna cry, let it all out, and then you’ll calm down and we’ll think of something, okay? I promise.” Tina stroked her hair. “It can all be fixed. Trust me. Everything will be all right.”

  Tina spent half of the day trying to console Natalie. They decided Natalie would spend a few days with her while the girls were with their grandma, since Tod said he’d spend a couple nights at a hotel because he needed to be alone and think. Natalie couldn’t bear the idea of being alone in the house. .

  “In the evening, we’ll go get your stuff, then we’ll go out for dinner and a walk, get some fresh air, and then we’ll buy tons of ice cream and watch something silly, deal?” Tina was tucking Natalie in her bed like a baby. “But first, you need some rest.”

  “Deal. But I don’t know if I can sleep,” Natalie muttered, struggling to keep her eyes open.

  “You can. Trust me.” Tina drew the curtains, gave Natalie a kiss on the top of her head, and left the bedroom, shutting the door quietly.

  While Natalie was resting, Tina wanted to get some work done. She cleaned the table and washed the dishes, turned on her laptop, then remembered she’d finished the last articles she was assigned and sent them for editing. She checked her email to see if there was anything new from Mike, but there was nothing apart from spam.

  Strange. There’s usually a load of things for me to do. I better text him and see if everything is okay.

  She sent a message to Mike, and while waiting for his response, she decided to go through the text she was writing for the Hummingbird Art Center. She wanted to see if there was anything to add or change, but she couldn’t concentrate. She couldn’t help but think of Natalie and Tod.

  She’s thinking that she is selfish, but I’m the one who’s only thinking about herself. How could I not have seen that my best friend is going through this? That her family is falling apart in front of my eyes? While I’m absorbed in my own issues, and everybody is taking care of me!

  Mike wasn’t responding. Tina closed the laptop and moved to the sofa with her phone in her hand and guilt in her heart.

  Everyone focused on saving me. They were there for me every step of the way. I’ll never forget that. But enough is enough. Now it’s my turn to be there for them. Why the hell isn’t Mike responding?

  Tina felt mentally exhausted. She was in shock after Natalie’s news, and she was feeling sorry for Natalie, Tod, and the little M&Ms whom she loved with all her heart. Guilt ate away at her for not being a good friend. And on top of that, she worried for Mike. It wasn’t like him to not reply in the middle of a work day.

  Okay, let’s be straight, not just a work day. ANY day, Tina thought. Mike is always there. Always. Any time of day or night.

  She was winding herself up, thinking of different reasons why Mike wasn’t replying. She tried calling him, but he didn’t pick up.

  I need to calm down. Tina’s heartbeat pounded in her throat. I’m acting stupid. There’s a perfectly normal explanation, I’m sure, but I decided to go into panic mode, because I’m feeling guilty. Relax, Tina. Inhale and exhale. Having a panic attack is not going to help your friends.

  She closed her eyes and concentrated on her breathing, trying to slow it down. Deep inhale, followed by an even longer exhale. And once again. She lay down on the sofa, adjusting herself so that her back was straight and tucked the phone under the cushion her head was resting on. Another slow inhale and long exhale. Her heart slowed. Her eyelids became heavier. And after a few more breathing cycles, she drifted off.

  Sun rays caressed Tina’s skin. The warmth spread across her body, filling every cell with energy. A smile played on her lips. A slight breeze blew across her face, and she inhaled the delicious fresh air and opened her eyes.

  She found herself sitting cross-legged on the ground. In front of her, in a similar position, sat a man with a drum. She widened her eyes at his appearance.

  He was about fifteen inches in height. His skin was bright red and his forehead was adorned with tattoos depicting the five elements. He wore a loose linen tunic with green, orange, red, and brown stripes, a wide leather belt over it, and sand-beige pants underneath. His shaved head was covered with a small skull cap that had sun, moon, and star ornaments embroidered on its silky surface.

  He looked straight at Tina, but his face showed no emotions. He was serious and focused, and that was it. His facial muscles were completely relaxed. Tina couldn’t spot a single wrinkle on the glowing red skin, yet something in his appearance told her he wasn’t young. She wondered how old he was. She also wondered what he was thinking about.

  “It’s all in the wind,” said the little red man. “When you listen closely, you’ll hear all the answers. Even to the questions you haven’t asked. Close your eyes and listen.”

  He closed his eyes, and Tina noticed the intricate tattoos were not only above his eyebrows, but covered his eyelids too.

  His bright red skin glistened under the sun rays like it was made of polished wood. Tina thought that if she leaned closer, she would see her own reflection in his forehead.

  She turned around and saw about twenty or thirty men of the same appearance. They all looked even smaller when compared to several gigantic rocks in the background. The megaliths cast long shadows on the tall green grass that swayed in the wind.

  Who are these amazing little people?

  “Tapoori,” the little man said, answering her silent question without opening his eyes. “We are called Tapoori, The Listeners. We are guided by the wind and we can tame the wild stones.”

  With his eyes still closed, he started playing the drum he held between his knees. One by one, all the other ones joined in. They were all sitting in a circle, and Tina was in the middle of it. They all had the same skull caps on their red heads, and the gemstone beads in their braided beards sparkled in the rays of the setting sun.

  “Listen,” he whispered. Tina was surprised she was able to hear his words with all the drums around her, but she suddenly felt the urge to close her eyes.

  The land under her feet started trembling, and the wind howled, caught between the gigantic stones surrounding them. The drumbeat grew louder and louder before some tambourines joined in.

  It feels like an earthquake. And we are sitting right by those enormous rocks. If it’s the wild stones he was talking about, I hope they can tame them, Tina thought.

  However, she kept her eyes closed. And she listened.

  The rhythm of the drums and tambourines was relaxing and almost hypnotizing. The ground underneath her moved, but it didn’t frighten Tina. It was actually moving along with the music; it even felt like it was dancing. Tina smiled.

  The wind became stronger. It seemed to blow from different directions all at once. Intense, sharp blows—the kind that could knock anyone off their feet.

  The volume of drums increased.

  The ground shook so much and moved so fast that Tina could hardly maintain her vertical position. The hum of the drums and the wind became almost deafening. And then, all of a sudden, everything stopped.

  The earth was still, and there was no movement in the air. The silence fell upon the grassy field so suddenly that Tina thought she’d gone deaf.

  She opened her eyes and quickly looked around. The Tapoori people were sitting still with their eyes closed; she couldn’t even tell for sure if they were breathing. Tina was afraid to make a sound. On one hand, she was afraid she’d lost her hearing and wasn’t ready to test it. On the other hand, she felt she could mess up an important ritual.

  She glanced at the gigantic stones, whose tops pierced the clouds. They weren’t moving. Tin
a sighed with relief and realized the sky there was dark lavender with light gray clouds scattered across it.

  I guess the wind brought them. But I can still feel the warmth of the sun. What an amazing sky. I wish I could take a picture.

  The clouds started moving. Along with them, everything else came to life. The wind played with Tina’s hair, and the rhythmic drumbeat resumed. But the ground underneath her remained still.

  They did it. They tamed them. Tina felt like jumping to her feet and dancing. She couldn’t stop grinning and struggled to keep still. She gazed at the Tapoori man that had been conversing with her earlier. His eyes were still closed, and he kept playing the drum in the same rhythm, but Tina swore she noticed a slight shadow of a smile at the corners of his mouth.

  He opened his eyes and stopped playing.

  “Time to go. The wind is calling. You stay and listen.” He gave Tina a slight nod.

  One by one, the Tapoori got up off the ground and headed toward the stones. Tina remained sitting, unsure of what to say or do. She wanted to ask them what exactly she was supposed to hear in the wind, but as she was about to speak, one of them reached the stones, and her jaw dropped. As he passed between two megaliths, he vanished. As if he had walked through an invisible door. Then another one followed. And just like that, one by one, all of them were gone.

  Tina kept staring at the stones for a few more minutes. She couldn’t believe her eyes. There was nothing extraordinary. No shiny vortex—as portals were usually portrayed in sci-fi movies—no mysterious light, nothing. Just the magnificent-looking local version of Stonehenge, the vast green meadow behind it, and the snow-covered mountain peaks visible in the distance.

  The urge to get up and go through the invisible portal hummed in her veins, but her inner voice stopped her.

  Or is it the wind talking to me? Tina thought.

  The sudden gust of warm air in her face told her she wasn’t far from the truth.

  Tina closed her eyes again, concentrating on her other feelings. She put her hands on her knees, as if she was in a yoga class, and took a deep breath.

  Okay, I’m listening. What do I need to do? Where do I go to find what I’m looking for? She addressed her silent question to the wind and started listening closely.

  What are you looking for? She could’ve confused this thought in her head with one of her own, but part of her knew it wasn’t.

  I’m looking for Greg. And Alice. And … and myself, I guess.

  Find yourself, and you will find everything else. Another thought inside her head planted by someone else. Apparently, the wind, according to the Tapoori.

  Great. And how do I do that? Tina shrugged impatiently. The advice given by the wind was right, while at the same time not easy to follow.

  Listen to your heart. What does it want?

  “Somehow I feel you’re asking more questions instead of giving answers,” Tina grumbled.

  A sudden onset of wind threatened to knock her to the ground. She gripped the grass around her instinctively.

  I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to be rude. I’m just really lost. More than I thought. I don’t even know who I am anymore.

  Tina.

  Very funny, thank you. She forced a smile, although she felt like crying.

  Tina.

  The wind shook her, and she kept grabbing the grass to keep her balance.

  “Tina! Tina! Tina!”

  She opened her eyes and saw Natalie’s worried face above her.

  “Finally! I couldn’t wake you up. I had to literally shake you.” Natalie let go of Tina’s shoulders. “Sorry, you scared me. You were moaning in your sleep, tossing and turning, and grasping cushions. At one point, I thought you’d fall off the sofa.”

  “Thank you, Nat. I’m okay, don’t worry.” Tina blinked, trying to wake up. She shook her head and sat up on the sofa.

  “I had another crazy—” Tina looked at her hands.

  Her fists were still clenched, and tufts of grass stuck out from in between her fingers.

  It was going to be a busy day for Tina. The night before, they’d picked up Natalie’s things as planned, had a nice dinner at their favorite Italian restaurant, and spent the rest of the evening watching Bridget Jones’s Diary with ice cream and wine. Natalie seemed to have calmed down and relaxed a bit, and Tina was trying to avoid any serious talks to give her a break. She also didn’t want to discuss any of her issues, so the grass she sneaked in from one of the worlds in her dreams was tossed in the trash and quickly forgotten, as if it was absolutely normal.

  She finally managed to get a hold of Mike late in the evening, and found out he had broken his leg, spent some time at the ER, and hadn’t been responding to her calls and messages because he’d taken a painkiller medicine with a sedative effect. He’d slept for a few hours straight and texted her as soon as he woke up—still in pain, hungry, and with lots of work to do.

  Tina and Natalie agreed they’d visit him the next day to take him some groceries, and stop to check on Emma and Emmy on the way back.

  “Let’s do all the visits in the first half of the day, then in the afternoon I’ll write and pick up the slack. Later in the evening, we can watch the second Bridget Jones movie,” Tina offered.

  “Which flavor is it going to be tomorrow?”

  “I’ll let you pick. And I get to choose the wine.”

  “Deal,” Natalie agreed.

  Tina stood by the window, holding her coffee mug, lost in her thoughts. She was tired, more mentally than physically. She worried about Natalie and Tod, she worried about Mike, and she kept thinking of the fascinating Tapoori people and their ability to listen to the wind and to control the earthquakes. She wanted to go back to that world—to sit there and listen to the wind—and maybe try to go through the invisible door between the gigantic stones. She was thinking that maybe it would take her to another world. Maybe it would lead her to Greg.

  I need some peace of mind. Some clarity. The Callimani could help me with that. But how do I get there? That’s the thing I need—to know how to travel to those worlds, so I can go where I want to and when I want to. That would be the best. Pure freedom.

  She wondered if it was the answer to the main question the wind was asking her—what it was that she wanted.

  Freedom sounds good. I want to be free from pain and sorrow. Free to roam the infinite mysterious worlds. Free to choose the roads to take and the doors to open. Free to be happy.

  Although she wanted to go back to the Tapoori world and talk to the wind, she ended up dreaming of different doors throughout the whole night. The doors led to corridors with more doors. She kept opening them and closing them, going through them, and ending up in new corridors full of doors.

  Sometimes she’d find keys and try to unlock the doors she couldn’t open, but they didn’t fit.

  One door opened to reveal a brick wall, and another one led into pitch-black darkness. It looked scary and dangerous, and Tina hurried to close it. The rest of the doors led to corridors again.

  She woke with a feeling of disappointment. For the first time in a while, her dream wasn’t a thrilling journey. She hadn’t gone anywhere, she hadn’t met anyone, and she hadn’t found what she was looking for, even though she didn’t know what that was. It didn’t even make sense. It was boring and tiring.

  However, there was a long and busy day waiting ahead, so Tina shrugged off the frustration and disappointment to focus on the more immediate things—like doing everything according to the plan.

  She felt she had let her friends down. Natalie was going through a rough time and needed her. Mike would never admit it, but he could use some help and support too. And she promised Emma to keep an eye on her.

  She confessed to herself that she still had some hope of Alice coming back. She missed her and was eager to return to her house because she felt like a part of Alice was there—in all the flowers and greenery, in the crystal collection neatly displayed on the shelf, and in the blanket she used to w
rap herself into when taking a nap on the sofa.

  I can’t understand how it all works. Did she vanish and then physically appear in another world? Can she still travel through them when she’s asleep? Can she come back? Would she just materialize here then? What if someone was watching at the moment it happened? What if someone was watching on that day? Would she still have disappeared?

  She took a sip of coffee. A million questions buzzed in Tina’s head. And there was no one to provide her with answers.

  She kept imagining she was watering the flowers in Alice’s house, and Alice suddenly reappeared on the sofa in her office. They would cry, they would laugh, they would hug, and then they’d go and have coffee with a peach cobbler. Alice would tell her fascinating stories about her adventures in other worlds, and Tina would tell her about the Callimani, defeating Umbrus, and the Tapoori taming the earthquake with their music.

  The scene was the main reason she wanted to go to her house. Apart from visiting a lonely old woman who would love to enjoy the company of someone who wasn’t purring in her lap and demanding food from time to time. Tina smiled at the memory of Emma and Emmy.

  I can’t figure out that dream side of my life just yet. But I need to get things right on this side. I’ll focus on that for now.

  She had also received a message from Kate, who was planning to come to town the next day. She was determined to return Tina’s necklace and wanted to discuss their cooperation on the art center, since she loved the draft Tina had sent her.

  Well, that’s an example of something I did right. Kate is happy. Her life is going to change. She has a new purpose now, Tina thought. What’s my purpose, I wonder?

  Tina chuckled, thinking the last question sounded like something she would hear from the wind.