"Hollis, would you mind if I took a few days off?"

It was about a month later, and I needed a break. I'd been going flat-out since arriving in London and hadn't had a chance to catch up with myself. First it had been getting Athena and Artemis, then the haunted house, training Athena (and training with Athena), and finally the thing with the Fishers, raising their wards, and all of the research I'd done into their problem (none of which had panned out in any significant way)…all mixed in with my own studies and whatever other work Hollis asked me to do around the house and around town.

He smiled across the breakfast table at me. "I was wondering when you'd ask. How much sleep are you getting?"

"About four to five hours a night on average," Athena said before I could reply with something less truthful. I glared at her for a moment, and she returned my gaze with gentle exasperation.

Hollis frowned slightly. "Have I been working you that hard? Yes, I suppose I have. Why didn't you say something before now?"

I opened my mouth to say something about how it wasn't too much work and I was doing just fine, but Athena beat me to it again. "She doesn't want you to think less of her or that she's trying to shirk any of the work you've given her. She's trying to make the best possible impression."

For a moment, I thought about trying to deny it. But in the end, I sighed and silently admitted the truth of it. Also, I had to admit that I was amused by the looks she gave us both - the gentle exasperation for me and a bit of reproach for Hollis. You could almost hear her saying that I really should have asked him to lighten the workload a little, and that he probably should have noticed that I was working myself to the bone.

Hollis tried in vain to keep from smiling. "I'm terribly sorry, Alys. I got so wrapped up in things that I didn't notice. You're doing as much work as I am and you've been training Athena and Artemis, taking some of Athena's lessons with her, and continuing your own studies on top of it all. Yes, by all means, take a few days off. Catch your breath, get a little sleep. Why not take a trip home to see your mother? I'm sure she'd love to meet Athena and Artemis."

"That's what I was thinking of doing," I said with a nod. "I want to make sure she's doing all right, too. The Council of Druids was giving her a hard time before I left."

Hollis huffed out an irritated breath. "Druids. They didn't used to be as small-minded and insular as they are today. Even in my youth they were more accepting of other ways of life than their own. It's no wonder they've largely retreated to Ireland in the last twenty years. Nobody wants them around."

It took me a moment to mentally translate Ireland into Éire, I was so used using to the traditional name. I smiled uncertainly, not sure how to respond.

He noticed and gave me a sheepish look. "I'm sorry, Alys. It must have been hard for you, growing up so different in that environment."

Unconsciously, I reached up and brushed my fingers through the hair on the side of my head, feeling the delicate point of my ear hidden beneath my pale golden hair. "It certainly wasn't easy," I agreed. "Sometimes I wonder if they would have been more accepting of me if I'd shown a talent for Druidic magic rather than Hermetic."

Being special isn't all it's cracked up to be. Sometimes 'special' just means 'different.' I noticed that Athena was giving me a subtly concerned look, so I shook my head a little and set it aside for later consideration.

"It might have been," Hollis was saying, "but it’s not good to play the ‘what might have been’ game, especially with things that you definitely cannot change." He smiled gently.

I nodded my agreement. He was right. "Anyway..."

"Yes," he said, "Coming back to my original point..." He trailed off into silence, then laughed. "I don't remember what my point was."

"Druids becoming more insular?" I prompted gently.

"Ah yes," he nodded, "My point was that I suspect that unless they get over their growing xenophobia, the Druidic tradition is unlikely to survive another century. There simply won't be a large enough population to sustain itself." He smiled. "Go home and rattle their cages a little."

"When you put it that way..."

Athena and I were packed within the hour. In the meantime, Hollis made arrangements for us to travel from London to Dublin by airship, using his vastly superior connections.

I couldn't wait to see my familiars' reaction to flying.

The airship - the Rosy Dawn - turned out to be an absolutely gorgeous modern thing in the form of a mid-sized galleon, its hull a graceful arc along the bottom with gilded abstract designs along the beam and rails. It was definitely a passenger ship, built to be elegant and comfortable with almost no space for cargo. We found our berth and made our way up on deck in time for takeoff.

Traveling by airship is one of my two favorite ways to travel, the other being by train. But where I've always found traveling by train to be very soothing, going by airship is exhilarating. Or at least, the takeoff and landing are. After a couple of hours, the landscapes mostly look the same at ten thousand feet.

But watching the port and its surroundings dwindle to toy size during launch and grow to seemingly overlarge proportions during landing was always fun. Athena was enchanted, leaning against the railing and staring down at the people and buildings as the airship hummed and gained altitude, until the individual people were effectively invisible beneath us.

Artemis, being perfectly true to herself, stood on her hind paws with her forepaws braced on the railing for about three minutes before losing interest.

Athena and I watched the landscape roll past for about an hour while Artemis dozed at our feet. When she caught me yawning, Athena promptly ushered me inside and put me to bed.

I am a bit embarrassed to admit that I was out as soon as my head hit the pillow and didn't wake up until the ship began its descent to dock in Dublin about eight hours later. I was, perhaps, more tired than I had thought.

We caught a train south-west from Dublin to Killarney, by which time the sun had well and truly set. It was a cold night, with a gentle drift of snow beginning to fall from the sky as we stood on the railway platform.

"Well," I said finally, "It's about a half-hour's brisk walk from here to where my mother lives. I wouldn't mind stretching my legs after all that time cooped up, what about you two?"

"The cold doesn't bother us very much, Mistress," Athena said with a smile. "I wouldn't mind the walk either."

<> Artemis said from where she was standing at the edge of the platform, her ears perked alertly and her tail swishing. <>

I smiled. "Then let's take a walk."

With my staff in hand, my coat flapping in the chilly breeze and my familiars flanking me, I had never felt more like a Wizard than at that moment.

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Fortunately, I'd had the foresight to dress warmly, with a thick cable-knit sweater under my coat, and heavy trousers. Even with my coat buttoned up tight, a woolen cap on my head and a scarf wrapped around my neck and lower face, my cheeks and nose were getting numb by the time the warm glow of the lights in my mother's house appeared ahead of us. Athena had bundled up as well, giving in to the biting wind after just a couple of hundred yards and digging her boots, gloves, and a coat, hat and scarf out of our bottomless bag.

Artemis, once again being very true to her feline self, seemed blithely unconcerned by either the cold or the snow. I heard Athena muttering once or twice about missing the thicker fur she'd had before being Elevated, but I could feel through the bond between us that she wasn't really upset about it - just unused to feeling the cold quite so intensely.

Still, it was a relief to all three of us when I shifted my staff to my left hand and knocked on mom's door with my right. We heard her muffled "One moment!" after a minute, and just a few moments before the door cracked open. "Who's out on a bitter night like this one?" She asked suspiciously. Then her eyes drifted down to Artemis, widened, and shot back up to mine.

I tugged down my scarf so she could see my face and smiled. "Hi, mom! Surprise!"

She laughed and opened the door all the way. "I like this sort of surprise. Get in here before you catch your deaths of cold." She pulled me and Athena inside gently and held the door open for Artemis to slip inside before closing it and latching it behind us.

Before I could move, she tugged the hat from my head and pulled the rest of my scarf away so she could look at me. "Goodness. Your cheeks and nose are all red. Get those cold wet things off and go sit by the fire, all three of you."

She hurried off to the kitchen, and within moments our outerwear had been shed and our gear piled by the door. Dressed down to my trousers, shirt and stockinged feet, I stood beside Athena in her leathers at the fire as we warmed ourselves. Artemis did a quick circuit of the room, then sat down by the hearth and purred contentedly.

Mom returned a few minutes later with two steaming mugs of tea, which she handed to me - I passed one to Athena - before disappearing back into the kitchen and returning with a bowl of water for Artemis. Then she looked back and forth between us and shook her head. "Little did I know that when you went off to London, daughter, you'd come home with a twin sister."

I laughed and Athena giggled. "It wasn't intentional," I said, still laughing softly, "But a delightful turn of events nonetheless."

Mom nodded and abruptly hugged me. "Welcome home, honey. I'm so glad you came to visit." Then she hugged Athena, to Athena's intense surprise and pleasure. "And welcome to the family, Athena." She bent and ruffled Artemis' ears, making her purr. "You too, Artemis. Come on, let's drag some chairs up to the fire and you can tell me all about what you've been doing."

The ease with which my mother accepted not only Athena's presence but also her appearance set my familiar's fears to rest and made her feel perfectly at home. We drew two more thickly cushioned chairs over to the fire to join the one my mother had been sitting in, and set to telling her everything. By the time we finished sharing our story almost two hours later, Artemis was sprawled at our feet, dozing contentedly in the glow of the fire, and Athena and I both felt warm and relaxed.

My mother shook her head. "Ghosts, monsters and endless hours of training and errands." She smiled. "Perhaps not quite what you were expecting when you began your study of wizardry, Alys."

I smiled ruefully. "The ghosts and monsters I expected. The additional training I sort of assumed. The endless errand-running? No, not quite what I'd expected."

"What did Mister Ellister say?" Athena asked, her lips curled in an amused smile. "One must crawl before one can walk, and walk before one can run?"

Artemis yawned. <>

Athena laughed and told mother what Artemis had said, prompting mom to bend and stroke Artemis's fur. "You tell them, kitten."

Artemis purred contentedly, pleased to have found an ally.

I chuckled, then yawned hugely, covering my mouth in surprise after the fact.

Athena smiled fondly. "I think it's time to get you off to bed, Mistress."

"I slept the whole flight over!" I protested as she pulled me up out of my chair.

"And rarely for the last few weeks before that," she said firmly, turning me and pushing me gently in the direction mother indicated.

"Down the hall, second door on the right, Athena. I'll bring your things in a moment," my mother said.

"My familiars are conspiring against me!" I called over my shoulder to her, but without any real malice behind it. On the contrary, I felt warm inside that Athena was finally overcoming the shyness she'd exhibited since being Elevated.

In no time at all I was nestled beneath the thick blanket on my old bed, Athena snuggled up beside me and Artemis curled up in front of the small fire in the fireplace across from the bed. Again, sleep claimed me before I thought it would.

My sleep on the flight over had been deep and dreamless, probably because of my exhaustion. But now my brain was at least relatively rested, and evidently decided it was time for a bit of mental exercise. I dreamed, and just as I had the last time this had happened, I immediately knew that I was dreaming.

As before, I was standing in front of my mother's house, outside its stone wall. A large barn owl was perched on the gate, staring at me with unblinking eyes.

I moved a few steps towards it and it let out a piercing cry, spread its wings and leaped into the sky. It flew over my shoulder and as I turned to watch it I realized I could smell smoke.

The town was a ruin of burnt-out buildings and still smoldering timber. The only living thing that moved was the owl, gliding over the remains of the town.

The High Druid's voice suddenly cried from off to my right, "It was her doing!"

I turned to look, but there was nobody there.

"As the prophecy foretold!" His voice cried from behind me.

I spun around, but there was nobody there.

"The world will burn!" Druid Fianna Somerled called from behind me.

I spun around once more, but there was still nobody there.

My mother's voice said firmly from just behind me, "It was not her. The world will go on as it has."

I turned slowly, expecting to see her as I had the last time I'd had this dream. Instead, there was a young woman standing there. She looked to be about my age, and we were of a height and build. But her long black hair hung thick and heavy around her head, obscuring her face except for two glittering golden eyes and a rather unpleasant smile. Her skin was an unhealthy pale color that was almost gray; her clothes a ragged black dress that was form-fitting to the waist and down her arms, with a full, loose skirt.

Her head lifted a little and her eyes met mine, making me shiver. "Hello, cuz. I didn't know you were having these dreams too. Interesting. They're right, you know...it's not you. It's me. But it'll be an easy mistake to make."

"Why's that?" I asked, my voice echoing strangely.

Her smile grew in an unsettling way, briefly flashing even white teeth. "You'll find out. See you soon, cuz."

I sat bolt upright in bed, sweating and panting, my heart hammering in my chest. Athena sat up sleepily and looked at me in surprise and concern. "Mistress?"

I shook my head and pushed damp hair back off my forehead. It took me a minute to control my breathing, but finally I shook my head again and smiled weakly. "Just a bad dream, pet."

Artemis peered at us over the foot of the bed. <>

"Okay," I admitted, "More of a nightmare."

"Like the one you had right after I was Elevated?" Athena asked with her usual piercing insight. She knew me too well.

Which was, of course, the point of the familiar bond.

"Just like that one, only weirder," I said.

Athena rose and disappeared into the little attached bathroom, returning with a hand towel. She gently wiped my face and neck with cool water, and in a few moments I was calm again. "Thank you, Athena."

She smiled and kissed my cheek. "Anything for you, Mistress. I just wish we knew why you were having these dreams."

When she returned from putting the towel back, I sighed. "I'll talk to Mom about it in the morning."

Athena nodded. "That sounds like a good idea." She smiled. "When she told me to call her Mom too..."

I laughed softly. "I thought your cheeks were going to spontaneously combust you were blushing so hard."

"Well, it wasn't at all what I was expecting," she said sheepishly.

Artemis hopped up onto the bed and stretched out beside me. <> She put her head down on her paws and yawned. <>

I smiled and ran my fingers through her short fur down her back, then patted her side gently. "Yeah, good moms are like that." I laid back down and Athena burrowed back into the blanket beside me. "I know I've said it before, but I'm so glad you found me, Artemis. I don't know how I got by without you two."

Artemis purred. <>

Athena laughed softly and snuggled close. "Thank you for rescuing us, Mistress. We'll always be by your side."

I woke again in the very early morning with the sun just starting to lighten the sky outside the window. I laid quietly for a time, listening to the soft rumbles from Artemis as she slept and feeling Athena's slow, even breathing against my shoulder.

Why was I having these strange dreams? One was a fluke, easily written off as just a bad dream. But the same dream a second time with changes? A new player in the dream who spoke to me directly and responded to questions? And one who was so...sinister.

I shivered a little and pressed a bit closer to Athena. I didn't get back to sleep.