Dreamer

By Ja-Mel Vinson

The day before moving into her new dorm, college freshman, Maya Lilac, has a haunting dream that ends with her coming face-to-face with a second version of herself. After being haunted by the dream during move-in day, she finally comes in contact with her double, nicknamed “Lucent”, and learns that she actually has powers and can&mda

• Language: English
• Publisher: Ja-Mel Vinson
• Release date: Mar 19, 2019
• ISBN: 9781732858916

Book preview

Title: Dreamer

Author: Ja-Mel Vinson

On-Sale Date: January 15, 2019

Publication Month: February 2019

Format: Softcover

ISBN: 978-1-7328589-0-9

Retail Price: $11.99 US

Ebook ISBN: 978-1-7328589-1-6

Length: 272 pages

Trim: 5 ½ x 8 ½ inches

Classification: Urban Fantasy, Science Fiction

UNCORRECTED PROOF

MATERIAL FROM THIS COPY SHOULD NOT BE QUOTED OR USED WITHOUT FIRST CHECKING WITH THE PUBLISHER (Ja-Mel Vinson), AS SOME OF THIS MATERIAL MAY NOT APPEAR IN THE FINISHED BOOK.

Dreamer

DREAMER

Copyright © 2018 by Ja-Mel Vinson

All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

For more information, contact:

http://www.jamelvinson.com

Cover design by DANYA RAQUEL

Edited by SHAYLIN GANDHI

Wizard of the Moon Chapter and Title font by RUNES & FONTS

ISBN: 978-1-7328589-0-9

First Edition: February 2019

For 12-year old me. We did it. We shared a story with the world!

Acknowledgements

This is my first book. My first published book. I came up with the idea of a girl that could make her dreams real when I was 10, back when my obsession with writing was truly kicking off. It was Maya and her 18-year old sister, Lily. Fast forward to 2015. I pick up that sheet of Composition notebook paper that I tore out five years ago, and I started writing. This book is a multitude of things: my love letter to science, urban fantasy, superheroes, the tropes and powers I love seeing, young people like me who don’t know what the future holds, everything. And even though my name is on the title of this book and there was one person who designed the cover and one person who edited it, this is so much more than just a one or two or three-person book. This book has spanned four years, most of my adolescence, most of high school, half of college, and multiple friends and supporters, a bunch of whom are listed below.

Firstly, a huge thank-you to Rachael for sort of acting as my mentor throughout the writing and marketing of the book and answering every single question I’ve thrown at her. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve freaked out on the business side of this first book. It probably wouldn’t be here now if you hadn’t talked me down from my paranoia and panic. Thank you for being a good mentor and a great friend, even if you’re all the way across the pond. I appreciate everything you’ve said.

Jess, you’ve helped me more times than I could count. You beta read, you offered advice from the traditional mindset, you basically gave me marketing advice and marketing stuff, helped me through all the moments of self-doubt and stress and all the times that I basically felt I was going to cry because it was all so much. And for that, I thank you. A million times over. You’ve done so much, and this book wouldn’t be out when it is without you. I can only hope I’m as much a help for you as you were for me. And I love Rue. Your Wonder Woman will have her day! Don’t stop fighting. We need your fire.

Radi, thank you for cheering me up and assuring me that I’m not a bad person and that I deserve to be helped and have good things happen to me (I’m very hard on myself sometimes). I’m enthusiastic and wild and loud sometimes, but you and everyone else from Write Fight Gif Club—WFGC Forever!—put up with me. Thanks for getting me in contact with sensitivity readers and helping me with trusting my instincts. I’m so happy and glad to call you a friend.

Jessi, you’ve been with Dreamer for well over a year now. You got to see the rough and tumble version and helped me polish it with your comments and multiple readings (you’re a slow reader, but a helpful and effective one). You’ve helped me with characters sometimes, helped me fix up plots and plot lines, added a new thread for me to explore for the rest of the series, and you’ve always just been there if I needed you for something. You’re amazing for that. You’ll always be a first reader for this series, and I value how much you help and have to say so very much. Can’t wait for The Price of Defiance to be published!

Thea, thanks for your honesty. Thank you, AE Essence, KJ White, Erin, and all of my other writer friends, beta readers, and

editors. Regardless of how much you read or how little you think your comments and contributions were, they helped me! Because of you, I was able to make something I’m proud of. Dreamer wouldn’t be as good as it is now without your help.

Thank you, Malachi, for helping me figure out the limits of these amazing characters and their powers; hopefully, I’ve shown the start of it. Also, thanks for letting me take another version of Aaron from the multiverse.

Donna, thank you for everything you did for me throughout high school. Granted, you weren’t an English teacher, and I only went to you once a week for 4 years, but you helped tremendously to get me here. We probably had other things to do related to my hearing loss, but that first day I came in and talked about something related to a story (I don’t remember what it was all those years back), you helped me out. You saw so many versions of this book, helped me out with so many different parts of the lore, gave me your thoughts and ideas and feedback and now, it’s here! Dreamer’s been released, partly because of you! I won’t forget how much you’ve helped me. Thank you.

And lastly, thank you, reader, for deciding to pick this book up. Hopefully, you like it as much as I do!

To everyone I’ve mentioned here and even the people I didn’t, keep dreaming. Your dreams have power. Your dreams can change the world.

Chapter 1

Just when I have think I learned the way to live, life changes.

~Hugh Prather

I rushed through the alleyway. My skin crawled, and a shiver ran down my spine; the darkness was getting to me. Who knew what could be lurking in the shadows?

Dreamkeeper… a male voice sang. I turned around to face the sound but saw nothing. Shaking off the fear, I continued walking, when the voice sang again. Dreamkeeper…

You, Dreamer! A female voice chimed on the tail of the other, holding the note.

I whipped back around. Who’s there?

The invisible singers stopped, and a wind threw me flat on my back, forcing air from my lungs. A cackle hit my ears, and I froze as I faced what appeared to be a wave of light. The watery substance flooded the alleyway, its yellow glow shining through the shadows. My breathing picked up. My heart rate increased. And yet, my body refused to move. Stupid fight-or-flight response!

A girl appeared in front of me, her right arm stretched out to the wave. The light swirled in the empty space of the alleyway but didn’t go further than her palm. She must’ve been a Dreamer with power; she was manipulating something from my dream.

Thank you, I said. My savior turned around, eyes wide with surprise, and I saw myself looking back. The surprise instantly turned to hatred, her typically hazel irises glowing a fiery red.

I shot up, my breath ragged. My eyes darted around my bedroom. Moonlight filtered in from the window, streaks of silver shining against my purple walls. Something shifted in the darkness, and I looked to the foot of my bed. My cat, Bailey, stared back with tired brown eyes. She yawned before stretching and treading through the shadows to my side. I stroked the cat and leaned against my leather headboard, closing my eyes. A ghost of the dream appeared, the wave of light racing towards me.

Yelping, I jumped out of bed and threw open my balcony doors to escape the nightmare. I stopped at the banister that separated my balcony from the empty air. Standing at my perch and wringing my hands on the white paling, I searched the backyard for anything out of the ordinary.

Nothing. My manic breathing slowed as I focused on the dew-tinted grass, the thousands of tiny refractions the beams of light made inside the water droplets. A warm summer breeze tickled my skin as I inhaled the rain-scented air. My shoulders slowly relaxed and a smile played on my lips as I exhaled. I looked to the sky, leaning over the balcony as I laughed at myself.

Getting attacked by light in an alleyway? Really? Of all the things to dream up, that has to be one of the most ridiculous. And to think there was another me that saved my life?

My smile faded as I thought about my double: dark brown hair with blonde highlights past her shoulders, red-and-white corset dress and tiara glowing in the moonlight, red swirls that ran across her arms, gold-flecked hazel eyes full of shimmering malice, dark freckles dotting her nose…

Looking down at my feet, I saw Bailey rubbing against my leg. I took a seat on the balcony, and the cat meowed before jumping into my lap. I started to scratch under her chin when a yawn slipped past my lips, and I snapped my mouth shut. Can’t sleep, I reminded myself with a headshake.

Why? A voice, a twin of my own, scoffed. Do you think that dream’s going to come true?

My eyes darted to the floor. I mean…it’s not outside the realm of possibility. Not with the world we live in.

You’ve had nightmares before and nothing has happened. Remember that time you stopped a ghost with a broom?

Okay, that may have been a little far-fetched, but—

Or what about the time you fought a bald wizard, and he looked like your Pre-calc teacher? He had the long, crooked nose and the black cloak and that super-powerful wand. And nothing happened after you woke up. Have your dreams ever come true before?

Other Dreamers’ dreams have.

Yeah, but have yours?

Well… I moved my lips from side to side and admitted, No, but I’m not like every other Dreamer.

Exactly. Because you don’t have powers. So, go to bed. You won’t get hurt. Plus, tomorrow’s your first day of college!" I smiled. "You’re leaving home for four years, finally being independent! Get excited! Don’t worry about some stupid little dream; there are bigger things happening.

Looking to the moon again, I yawned deeper than before. I checked my watch and sighed. Although logic—and the voice in my head—said it was impossible that one of my dreams could twist reality like a pretzel, part of me couldn’t agree so easily. I gazed up, stealing a last glance at the stars.

I tightened my grip on the rail as I closed my eyes and wished that nothing would hurt me, that everything would be perfect. Eventually, my shoulders slumped. I had to sleep unless I wanted to be tired for the five-hour car ride up to school. And we’d be waking up at 6:00 a.m. too. Great.

I trudged toward bed with a sort of somber anxiety. A voice in the back of my head begged me to reconsider, to stay up with Bailey and enjoy the time I had left.

I’m in danger! Bailey can protect me! She’s my Guardian Angel!

I ignored the pleading, which grew faster and more desperate as I got closer before culminating in a scream to stop. The voice fell silent as I crossed August twenty-fourth off the calendar and settled into bed.

My dreams can’t come true. I tried to reassure myself. Mom said so. It’s just a stupid little nightmare.

I bit my lip and closed my eyes, hoping that was true.

***

It’s over there! I pointed. The car turned and slowed to a stop in front of the dormitory, where suitcases and bins littered the sidewalk. Several people with large blue containers rolled down a ramp and placed people’s things inside before going back into the building. I stepped out of the car, slamming the door as I let out a satisfied sigh. I was actually here.

After months and months of dreaming, I was looking up at the Victorian-style dorm. The three-story stone edifice stared back, a neon-blue flag sitting atop its octagonal spire. Two wings jutted out from either side, and atop the building, beside the central tower, steep, maroon-colored roofs slid down towards me.

It’s beautiful.

Just then, a blonde girl with a baseball cap came up. She wore a dark blue t-shirt that said, Set-up Squad and was holding a clipboard. There was a pen tucked behind her ear.

She pointed her pen at me and asked, Are you the student?

Yes! I beamed.

She smiled at my excitement. Great. So, all you need to do is head inside; there’ll be some papers for you to sign. We’ll just bring your stuff up to your room and–what’s your room number?

218.

Alright. We’ll take care of this. The girl walked away to grab some other helpers before making her way to the trunk of the car. My mom emerged from the driver’s side, sporting a vintage instant camera and dark brown, wind-tossed hair.

Oh, look at you! Her frost-blue eyes lit up. Let me get a picture in front of the sign. I ran with my suitcase to the white sign that said Strand Hall—Student Residency in big, dark blue letters. Striking a series of goofy poses, I laughed as the camera flashed.

Mom sighed, checking the Polaroid she insisted on keeping for special moments.

Maya Isidora Lilac, she said. Graduating Class of 2021 at D.R.E.A.M. Academy.

My smile widened. I thought back to all the sleepless nights throughout high school, the times I’d had to take a break to eat, the times I’d gotten sick because my immune system couldn’t protect me on such little energy. I’d worked hard to get to this school, and here I was, on a full scholarship. My work had paid off; I was at the college of my dreams, all due to my hard work and grit.

These next four years won’t be like high school, sweetie. You won’t be spending eight hours straight in a school building. You’ll have to plan and balance a lot more than you ever did before. It’ll be tough, but you’re a Lilac. We’ve survived worse than this. Mom winked.

"Wil je ze helpen mijn spullen in de kamer te zetten?" I asked my mom in Dutch. My grandmother was Dutch, and my mom had learned the language growing up, then passed it down to me.

She shrugged and nodded. "Je moet je papieren invullen. Ik zie je boven."

Okay! I bounded up the steps and into the lobby, standing in front of the motion-activated doors. Down the aisle, a hallway led to a winding ramp. People rolled bins full of students’ belongings toward the elevator.

Next to me was a desk with the words Welcome to Strand Hall in neon-blue block letters. A girl with a black t-shirt and a black-and-green ponytail sat behind the desk. An elevator occupied an octagonal space that I could only assume was the tower I’d seen outside.

Are you moving in? the girl at the desk asked.

I nodded.

Just head down there to the lounge. She pointed. I followed her hand down the hall toward several couches and chairs scattered around. In front of the windows were four long tables, each holding sheets of paper. After giving my signature and getting escorted to my room, I looked to the bed on the far left. My roommate was trying to stick a poster to the wall. In the picture, a woman with an afro, surrounded by animals, held a small tree in her hand.

Stay up, will you! My roommate reached for one of the poster’s corners, jumping up to force it down. The poster drooped again. She turned away, rubbing her face as she chuckled to herself. This is going to drive me insane. It was then that she noticed me.

She smiled, her emerald green eyes alight with joy. Reddish-brown cheeks gained a slight glow in the sunlight. Maya, hey! She hopped off the bed, giving me a hug. A Greek-style, gold-leafed tiara encircled her head. Her straight black hair curled to her shoulders, and she wore light pink lip gloss. A gold blouse clung to her body, and her black skirt stopped at her knees. She twirled her necklace in her fingers. It was a golden tree with the words Εμαι Μητριά Φύση inscribed inside.

"Hey, Rose! Sorry I couldn’t talk much today; service was so spotty coming from the city, I could barely get out a text. Honestly, I’m still kinda mad Mom didn’t want to teleport us here. It would’ve saved so much time. We could’ve set up together, but it looks like you’re already done." I gestured to her side of the room.

A bonsai tree sat in the windowsill, and next to Rosemary’s desk was a calendar. Colorful shirts, dresses, and Dashikis hung from her hangers, while bins and shoes were stacked directly below them. There was a mini-fridge in between the desk and wardrobe with food and water bowls next to it. Her purple cat, Naomi, licked away at the water in the dish.

"Well, yeah, you two could’ve teleported here, Rosemary started before jumping back on top of the bed, but Caitlin probably just wanted to spend more time with you. Her feet floated off the mattress, rising until she was face-to-face with the poster’s problematic corner. She shook her head and muttered something about the Command strip attached to the back. Didn’t you guys jam out on the road?" Mid-levitation, Rosemary stole a quick look back at me.

A sheepish grin spread on my face. It was fun; traffic sucked though. I didn’t expect so many people to be on the road so early. I met, like, fifty college kids at our rest stops.

Rosemary shrugged and asked suggestively, Future friends, maybe?

Alright, Maya, my mother said from behind. I turned as she entered. Bailey stalked in behind her, sniffing at my clothes. What do you want to do first?

From one of the bins, I pulled out the bags with my comforter and bedsheets. Or do I want to do my clothes first? I asked out loud. I put the bags down and started for my suitcase. Wait…I could set up the clothes later, so I should probably do the comforter first.

Whipping back around, I stopped and ran my fingers through my hair, then let out a confused huff. What do I do first? I have no idea what I’m doing. I asked myself.

Do you want to do your bed first or your clothes? Rosemary asked, now back on the ground. The nature poster stayed on the wall, the woman proudly displaying her control over the planet.

Bed. I finally made my decision and pulled out my two sets of sheets.

Your parents said you all teleported up, Mom looked to my roommate while helping me take the memory foam out of its bag to set it on the bed. Did you give them a tour of the campus?

Yeah, before we went to the room. Rosemary looked to her open closet and telekinetically brought a box to her. She pulled a large green-and-brown