Nick was having the same dream he had been having for the past couple days, unaware that next to him, Heather, his girlfriend was having the same dream. In it, each was wandering through a single story house, looking for something, but unsure what. Somehow, each found themselves in the same kitchen, watching a boy somewhere between the ages of fourteen and sixteen sat tapping a finger on the kitchen table. As he tapped, his fingernails shifted and became claws.
The dream and they found themselves in a field. The boy was eating something they could not quite see. As the boy ate, something on his back, up by his shoulders, started to push up, stretching the shirt he was wearing. After a bit, the boy stood and looked about and down at himself before finally removing his shirt, revealing that his stomach and part of his upper torso was covered in scales. The boy turned away, but not before Nick and Heather saw that the boy, at some point, had stopped being a boy and had become a girl. Then, before the dream shifted again, they saw that what had been growing out of his shoulder blades was a pair of wings.
Then they found themselves in a forest, watching as the transforming boy climbed a tree, hugging closely to it as he set his claws into the bark and moved upwards. Somehow, following the changing boy up, they watched as he settled into a part of the tree after looking through the foliage. As the boy slept, he continued his transit from human to what looked like some type of dragon.
Bluish-white scales with just a tinge of purple finished growing across his underbelly, while the white scale formed from about the midpoint of his upper arm up to the top of his head. From the midpoint down, blue scales with a tinge of purple formed. His face stretched and lengthened as his nose and mouth formed into a snout, complete with curls of steam that sometimes gave off rainbow-colours issued forth out the nostrils. Muscles became more developed as the toes on the hind-legs and the fingers on the forelegs fused until there were three toes on each foot.
With a start, Nick awoke, the dream he was having slipping away as he looked up at the ceiling, blinking. Next to him, Heather lay on her side and stared at the alarm clock, trying to remember what she had been dreaming about, but also losing it as it slipped away.
After a moment, Nick sat up and swung his feet over the side of the bed and yawned and stretched as he stared at the closed curtains. Standing, he started toward the bathroom, while behind him, Heather rolled over on her back and stared at the ceiling. After a moment, she too sat up, climbed out of bed and headed for the bathroom, where she began to run the shower, as Nick finished peeing in the toilet and casually asked, "Got room enough in there for another?" as he did every morning.
Smiling, still trying to remember her dream, Heather nodded and commented, "I could wash your front if you'll wash mine," as she did every morning in response her boyfriend's question.
After the two had showered, dressed and headed for the kitchen to get something for breakfast, both still trying to remember the dream they had been having, Heather casually asked, "You still coming over to my mom's place to help me pack up her stuff," which drove any thought of remembering the dream from her head as she thought about the recent death of her mother.
Taking down two bowls and the cereal, Nick nodded and replied, "I said I would," and handing one of the bowls to Heather, he asked, "You doing all right?"
As she took the offered dish, Heather nodded and answered, "Uh-huh."
Collecting the milk and two spoons, Nick sat down and began to pour himself a bowl of cereal, thinking of how his own mother had died shortly after he had finished college and his father had died when he had been fifteen, understanding what Heather was going through, unsure how to comfort her. Instead, he pushed the cereal toward her and stated, "It will ease over time, but she'll never be truly gone as long as you have your memories of her."
As she excepted the offered cereal, Heather nodded and sat down next to Nick, wondering what her father, who had disappeared shortly after he had found out her mother had been pregnant with their child, would say. As the two ate in silence, both lost in thought, they eventually forgot about the dream and trying to remember what it had been about, only knowing that they had been having the same dream for past couple days.
After breakfast and the dishes had been taken care of, the two collected their shoes and headed out the front door, deciding that they would walk the couple blocks to Heather's mom's place. As they walked in silence, holding hands, they came to the end of the block and discovered that one of their neighbours from the next block was having a garage sale. Following the signs, Nick and Heather stopped in, Heather to catch up with a couple people she knew, including Mr and Mrs Zuronski, and Nick to browse the various tables.
Coming upon a table with various bits of jewellery on it, Nick almost passed it up, but stopped when something caught his attention. Reaching for the bauble that had attracted his attention, he picked up a medallion by the chain, noting that it had a word on it that he couldn't pronounce and an image that was so scuffed and faded it wasn't possible to make out. Figuring that it would make a nice gift to Heather once cleaned, Nick turned it over, expecting to find a price tag on the back, as there had been none stuck on the front of the odd looking amulet.
To his surprise, there was none and looking, making sure Heather was busy with something else, Nick approached the small table at the front of the driveway and inquired, "How much," as he held the medallion out.
Staring at the amulet, Mr Zuronski blinked in surprise and after a moment, commented, "I've never seen that piece before," and calling over to Mrs Zuronski, who was a talking with someone Nick didn't know, he began to ask her about the amulet. Never taking it from Nick's hand, he merely just pointed and waved at it every once in a while in a manner that suggested he didn't really know anything about it and wanted to find out where it had come from.
As the two conversed, Nick noted that the person Mrs Zuronski had been talking to was gazing at the three of them in a surreptitious manner. When it became apparent that Nick was looking at this them, the stranger turned away and began to walk away as Mr Zuronski announced, "We've never seen it before. Somebody must have ditched it here. If you want it, take it. It's yours."
Feeling like he should pay for it, Nick was about to say something to this effect when he noticed Heather was coming over and telling the two them, "Thanks," he stuffed the amulet into his pocket.
"Find anything," Heather asked as she approached and took his hand.
Smiling, leaning in to kiss her, Nick commented, "Maybe I found something for you," and gently pulling, he lead the way down the driveway as Heather asked what it was, to which he simply said, "You'll find out in good time," as he gave her another kiss.