Chapter Four

Right as Logan stepped through the door to his house, all thoughts of his sister knowing about his dreams were washed away. He took one look around the room with his mouth wide open. The entire living room in his house had been decorated from floor to ceiling in birthday accessories. Streamers, balloons, wall hangings, photos of him throughout his life, and a giant poster that read:

Happy 16th Birthday, Logan!

Which was immediately followed by: his mother, father, two aunts and uncles, his cousin Ryan, a classmate, his sister, and Erik all jumping out from various hiding places and yelling a discombobulated, "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" Logan couldn't help but smile, even though he felt too old for surprise parties and he thought it was corny, his cheeks still flushed red.

After he endured many hearty pats on the back and hugs from his parents, Logan spent the evening chatting with friends and family, reminiscing about childhood events, and opening a slew of pretty decent gifts. He got a new video game, a gift certificate, a stack of Birds of the Northwest identifying books (from his aunts), a wooden bird sculpture (from his mom), and a high five from Erik. Each time he opened a gift his cheeks flushed a little. He had not expected to have a party thrown for him after how crappy his morning had been.

As the night went on Logan couldn't help but realize how much he enjoyed spending time with his friends and family. Everyone seemed to be having fun, the adults had their adult talk and the kids were rowdy and loud as usual. It only took Logan a few moments to notice his father walking toward him with a huge present in his arms, struggling with the weight, about the size of Logan's torso.

The newly turned sixteen year old bent down to try and pick the box up and was barely able to lift it off the ground. As he let it back down to the ground with a thud, he set in to ripping off the wrapping paper. As usual of his parents (who think they themselves are quite hilarious) the box was wrapped with a total of seven different layers of paper. Most said Happy Birthday, but one said Get Well Soon! and another was for a newly born baby girl. Shaking his head at his parents, Logan ripped open the large box, ready to see what it held.

Inside, the box was mostly empty, except for the eight bricks his dad had put on the bottom, and a small wallet sized photo. Logan laughed and reached down to pick up the picture. To everyone else's enjoyment, Logan's jaw dropped as he saw a picture of the inside of their garage with a brand new Motorized Scooter sitting in the middle. Without any hesitation, Logan sprinted from the living room and into the garage before anyone else had time to realize what had happened.

To his surprise and complete and utter giddiness, there in front of him sat a small blue scooter barely big enough for one person to sit on with a helmet placed on top. Without a care in the world Logan pumped his arms straight up and yelled at the top of his lungs.

"AWESOME!"

His mom showed up behind him laughing, and he turned around and gave her one of the biggest hugs he could muster. A silly grin was stretching ear to ear on his face.

After an hour of thanks, and his dad showing him how to ride it, Logan officially decided today was the best day of his life. Sure it wasn't a car, but he knew that it was the perfect vehicle the moment he saw it. After a trip around the block—which resulted in him stalling it once, and almost running into a mailbox—everyone ate cake and ice cream and started playing board games. It wasn't until half through a thrilling game of Yahtzee, that Logan realized Kaylin was nowhere to be seen. In fact, as he thought back a while, he hadn't seen her in a while.

Now, perhaps Logan just wanted her to join in the fun, or perhaps he was worried about her because of his nightmares, but he couldn't sit by without making sure she was fine. He excused himself to go use the bathroom, and instead went looking for his adopted sister. It didn't take him long to find her but he instantly felt a pang of guilt as he found her on the front porch, tears streaming down her cheeks.

He stood there for a moment unsure of what to do. Dozens of thoughts flashed through his mind, and he couldn't land on anything to say other than, you all right? As he was trying to figure out something to say however, Kaylin caught him off guard for the third time that day.

"You are still too noisy." She said with a sort of sobbing laugh that made Logan feel slightly better.

"You all right?" Logan asked and instantly felt dumb.

Kaylin turned to face him with her back to the rail; she leaned against it and wiped the wetness from her face. Logan could tell her tears were already drying up.

"Yes, I was just—thinking—about where I came from. I didn't mean to get so upset on your birthday, Logan, I'm sorry."

Logan didn't really know what to do; he had never seen his sister in such a depressed state before. In fact he had rarely seen her anything but chipper. Logan thought it odd that that was twice today his sister had been off in her own little world. He couldn't help but wonder again when she would tell him something of her past other than one word answers. While he was stuck in his frozen state of apprehension, he realized that Kaylin was talking to him, and felt like a jerk for missing the first of it.

"—just wish I could see it one more time, before I forget." Kaylin looked longingly off into the darkness of night as she had at the creek earlier that day. Logan couldn't help himself at this point, even though his sister was distraught and even though he felt bad about not being able to comfort her; he still had to ask.

"How did you know about my nightmares, Kaylin?" The firmness in his voice sort of scared him. He didn't intend to sound so demanding but he hadn't stopped thinking about it all day.

Kaylin just stared at Logan for a moment, studying him again, as if she weren't sure to respond or attack. Logan was hoping she didn't lash out at him; he'd never been pushy with her before. Finally she breathed a deep sad sigh and pulled the necklace tucked behind her shirt out and slipped it off.

Logan looked at her in confusion for a while. She stood there a while longer just eying the necklace in her palm. Logan had never noticed her wearing it before, but something about it sparked his memory. He couldn't get a good look at it but he could see the dull glow of bronze against her hand.

After wondering whether she was okay and wondering what it was she was doing, Kaylin stepped forward and placed the necklace in Logan's hand. She kept her hand over the top of it and looked Logan right in the eye.

"I have a present for you too, Logan. I want you to take this and keep it; it might not be as good as a scooter or as entertaining as a video game, but it's brought me luck and I want you to have it." More tears welled up in Kaylin's eyes, and Logan felt himself choke up, unsure as to why. "It might help you get through those nightmares you've been having."

With that, she looked down at her hand once more, leaned up and kissed Logan on the cheek and walked into the house without another word.

Logan could barely understand what had happened. He just turned and watched his sister walk back inside to join the festivities as if she hadn't just been crying her heart out. Logan stood there in the dark and quiet for a long while before he finally looked down to see what Kaylin had given him.

When he opened his hand his heart almost stopped, there sitting calmly in his palm was the same bronze eye from his dream. The one that had carried Kaylin away from danger.

It took Logan a long while to shake off the strange feeling he had on the deck. It was a sort of anxiety that shot through his body whenever he thought about the eye. The rest of his birthday evening had been incredibly awkward because Logan felt obligated to be there but didn't want too. Not anymore.

Periodically he'd look down at the stone eye, the eye of The General, and feel a sense of wonder. He couldn't help but stare at it and wish that the same magical powers resided in it. Like his dreams. Ridiculous, Logan thought, as he put away the eye for the sixth time.

After all of his guests left and he had a talk with his parents, about responsibility on his new scooter and being safe, Logan sauntered upstairs toward his bedroom. As he crept up the hallway, he cursed every time his feet creaked on the floor or he bumped something with his toe. He made his way past Kaylin's door without, he hoped, waking her. Even though he was ashamed to admit it at the time, he was afraid of her that night. Something about the way she talked about his dreams, he had a strange feeling she knew exactly what they were. Normally he wasn't one for believing in superstitions but he skirted her room quickly, just to be sure.

As he slid into his bedroom he didn't bother turning on the light. He just slumped down into the chair by his window and gazed out into the night. No owls called to him this night, no cars drove on the highway; the world was quiet. Waiting. Despite his urges to forget about the creepy gift from his sister he couldn't help but pull it from his pocket and trace the edges.

It looked exactly like the stone eye from his dream; right after it had been ripped from the Gryphon's face. A small coin the size of his fist with an eye resembling that of an eagle engraved in the inside. There was nothing on the back as he rotated it over and over trying to get a good look at it. It was probably just a coincidence, thought Logan, I've just seen her wearing it before and I decided to have a nightmare about it… Subconsciously.

Barely convincing himself Logan kept staring into the eye. As he rotated it over one more time he noticed that on the back symbols had appeared. Not appeared, he told himself, I just didn't notice them before. He looked closer and saw a symbol he did not recognize. On the back of the eye was a circle surrounded by two downward facing claws that intersected at the tips. Like eagle talons. It was an interesting symbol and it gave Logan a sense of longing he didn't understand.

Then the symbol began to glow.

This time Logan felt like he had a real heart attack as he dropped the piece of metal to the ground. He stood up quickly and backed away from it as it began to glow stronger. It was a whitish blue color. The same color light from the same nightmares he'd been having the past few weeks. And if he wasn't so busy trying to convince himself otherwise Logan might have recognized the strange glow. He also might have heard that across the hallway, someone was chanting a very familiar chant. A thirteen year old someone, who looked into Logan's room with tear filled eyes as the light, grew brighter.

Logan squinted against the growing light; he even put his hand up trying to block it out. But no matter how much the light blinded him, Logan didn't move; he couldn't. Instead, he moved closer, that same hope and longing filling him that he felt in his dream through Kaylin. He couldn't help but think of her now, going through the same motions in his nightmares. He wondered when he was going to wake up from this dream, the same bluish light flooding throughout the house. His eyes were completely closed now, but still he moved forward until he was crouched over the metal eye. Tears streamed down his face that he couldn't explain, sadness well up inside of him, and a sense of peace calmed all at the same time.

Then Logan touched the eye and his world went black.