Chapter 3: The Warning
The Dream House
Book One
"The Fire Is Coming."
The words stared back at Maya from the bottom of the page.
Nobody spoke.
Rain continued falling outside the café.
Cars passed.
People hurried down the sidewalk.
The world kept moving.
But for Maya, everything had stopped.
"What is this?" Selena asked.
Maya grabbed the drawing.
"I don't know."
Luna stepped closer.
"Did you really draw that?"
"Apparently."
"You don't remember?"
"No."
The answer came too quickly.
Because she wasn't sure.
The woman in the flames looked familiar.
The handwriting didn't.
And yet...
Something about the page felt strangely personal.
As if she had seen it before.
Somewhere.
Somehow.
Maya slipped the drawing back into her sketchbook.
"I'm going home."
"That's it?" Selena asked.
"What do you want me to do? Call the police because my sketchbook is creepy?"
Luna laughed.
Selena didn't.
"I'm serious."
Maya stopped.
Selena rarely sounded uncertain.
She sounded uncertain now.
"I think you should keep that page."
Maya looked at her.
"Why?"
Selena shrugged.
"I don't know."
Neither did she.
But something about that drawing bothered her.
The next morning, Maya woke up to seventeen missed calls.
Seventeen.
All from the same number.
Her landlord.
"Fantastic."
She rolled over and buried her face in her pillow.
Life was determined to ruin her morning.
Her rent was overdue.
Her fridge was nearly empty.
Her bank account was a joke.
And now she had mysterious prophecies hiding in her sketchbook.
Wonderful.
Absolutely wonderful.
Her phone buzzed again.
This time it wasn't her landlord.
It was Selena.
Maya frowned.
They had met exactly one day ago.
Why was Selena calling?
She answered.
"What?"
"Good morning to you too."
"What do you want?"
"I need your help."
Maya sat up.
"You own a company."
"Trying to."
"You wear clothes that cost more than my rent."
"Probably."
"You clearly don't need my help."
There was a pause.
Then Selena said something unexpected.
"I think my company is about to fail."
Silence.
Maya blinked.
That wasn't what she expected.
Across the city, Luna Faith stood inside a flower shop.
She worked there three days a week.
The pay wasn't great.
But she liked flowers.
Flowers didn't lie.
People did.
Flowers didn't.
A customer approached.
Luna smiled.
"How can I help you?"
The woman pointed at a bouquet.
"My husband forgot our anniversary."
Luna nodded.
"Roses?"
"Definitely roses."
The customer left.
Luna watched her go.
Then she noticed something on the counter.
A folded piece of paper.
Someone must have left it behind.
She picked it up.
Opened it.
And froze.
The paper contained a sketch.
A sketch of three women standing together.
One looked like Maya.
One looked like Selena.
One looked like her.
At the bottom were six handwritten words.
YOU WILL NEED EACH OTHER SOON.
Luna's heart skipped a beat.
She looked around the shop.
Nobody seemed to notice.
Nobody seemed to care.
Yet somehow...
Someone knew who they were.
And someone was trying to tell them something.
The question was:
Who?
And why?