She wiped the tears away and pushed off the wall. She walked towards the doorway. She thought she saw a glimmer. The stone felt colder than the air around it, colder than she'd felt before. It almost felt frozen to her touch. It was cold out, but not that cold. Kaily frowned. She focused her attention on one particular rune as it appeared to glow brighter than the rest. She concentrated on the rune and traced it with her fingertips. It felt slightly warm to the touch in contrast to the coldness of the stone around it. She laid her hand on the rune so that her palm covered the entire rune in order to get a better feel of the warmth which emanated from it. She felt warmth penetrate her palm. She yanked her hand away. For a brief moment she saw the same rune pulse a bright silver. Not once in all the time she visited the ruins, not in all the time her parents studied the doorway did anything like that happen. She laid her hand over the rune again, and again felt warmth penetrate her palm. This time she left her hand pressed against the rune. She felt a strange sensation crawl up her leg and flow through her body and out her hand over the rune. She yanked her hand away, unable to keep it in over the rune. The rune glowed brighter. She reached out to touch the rune and heard Mr. Ferguson calling her name.
He sounded panicked. She thought it strange as not enough time passed for him to make it back home, let alone to panic over her absence. She wouldn't be able to see him from the doorway. She took one last look at the rune before turning to see what Mr. Ferguson needed. As she turned towards the sound of his voice, she caught her foot on a nearby rock and stumbled backwards. She grabbed for the edges of the doorway as she fell through it, but her hands slipped on the smooth stone. She couldn't grip the stone arch to stop herself from falling. Pain shot through her tailbone as she landed with a thud on her butt.
Kaily muttered under her breath. She put her hands on the ground to push herself up off the dusty ground. She hated her clumsy times. Maybe she could get up and dust off before Mr. Ferguson saw her on her butt. She placed her hands on the ground and froze. She expected to find dirt and rocks, instead she found cool smooth stone beneath her palms. She lifted her eyes and tilted up her head up towards the doorway. The stone arched doorway frame stood before her, or at least it looked like the same frame except it contained an actual wooden door. As she glanced around, she didn't find the ruins she expected, but a room, walls and all.
She carefully stood and turned around to take in her surroundings. She rubbed her eyes and opened them again. She repeated the process a second time, and then a third time. "Great! Just great!" Kaily said along with other choice words. She took a deep breath in and let it out, and repeated as she turned in a slow circle. She would not panic; she would not panic. It became her mantra as she turned another slow circle. After the third or fourth full circle, she stopped and faced the doorway. A frown creased her brow. She looked around the room. She dreamt, nothing else made sense. She hit her head and dreamt she was in a room instead of sprawled unconscious in the dirt for Mr. Ferguson to find. She dreaded the panic that Mr. Ferguson would feel upon finding her.
"Wake up!" Kaily said aloud. She froze. Her voice echoed in the small confines of the room. "Wake up!" She repeated. Again, her voice echoed. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "I'm dreaming." It was a dream. There was no other logical explanation.
She forced her eyes open and looked, really looked around the room.
The doorway's light tan stone frame looked out of place to the darkness of wooden door. The room itself looked like a library, but none that she could ever recall seeing. There were lit torches interspersed in various places along the walls with the exception of the one wall with floor to ceiling bookshelves filled with all manners of books. The torches themselves did not give off any smoke although from where Kaily stood they appeared to be open flames and medieval fashioned. The ceiling looked taller than the room's width, but she didn't know if it was an illusion. Of course, anything could exist in a dream.
"Stop it!" She told herself. The room was too real to be a dream. Even her dreams of her dark warrior did not look or feel this real. A part of them still held dream like qualities that this one lacked.
She reached out and touched the wooden door with her fingertips. It felt solid enough. She placed her palm on the wood and pushed. No dream felt that solid. As much as she wanted it to be a dream, it felt too real to be a dream. Don't panic! Kaily repeated
