Blue Is for Nightmares by Laurie Faria Stolarz

I can answer, Amber is dialing. "Hi, Officer," she says. "I'm in Room 102 Macomber Center. Yeah, and there's this incredibly hot guy with pecks to die for and the tightest little ass outside our window. Now, he's probably a janitor, but we're not sure, so what do you suggest we do?" Amber dangles the phone away from her ear.
    "What do you know? He hung up on me. That's, like, so rude."
    "I can't believe you just did that," I say. "They're never going to believe us now"
    "Believe what?" she says.
    "Look, Amber," I say, "Drea and I need to talk, and I need to do this spell while the moon is still in position." "Don't let me stop you."
    "I don't care if she stays," Drea says.
    I, on the other hand, am not so sure. But she ends up staying anyway.
    We sit in a triangle on the floor and clasp hands, focusing on the candle in the center of us.
    "Close your eyes," I tell them, "but don't lose sight of the flame. Embrace it--its light, its energy.
    Picture it all around you. Breathe the light's energy in and out, conscious of the action, grateful for it."
    We practice the guided breathing for several minutes, until the energy in the room falls like snow all around us. Until we're ready to begin. "Drea," I say, opening my eyes, "I realize it's going to be hard for you to trust me after I lied to you, but you have to believe me." I break our embrace to reach into my night table drawer for the three cards from her reading. I spread them out in front of her.
    "You saved them?"
    I nod. "Before I tell you what they mean, you have to remember there's a reason we've been given this glimpse into the future. We're destined to change it."
    "0-kay," she says, not okay.
    -The Ace and the Five of Clubs are for a letter and package you're going to receive. The Ace of Spades is the death card. There's a good chance that this letter, this package, or both could be linked by death. Your death."
    "What?!" Drea asks. "What are you saying?"
    "Just be careful," I say. "Be careful of any gifts or packages you receive."
    "What does that mean? I'm going to get a gift and there's going to be a bomb inside?"
    "Drea... " I don't want to say it, but it has to be said, and so I just do. "I think someone might be trying to kill you."
    "What?!" So loud and breathy that it almost extinguishes the candle flame.
    "The recurring nightmare I've been having... it's a premonition. About you."
    -Me?"
    "I've had them before. Three years ago. About Maura, the little girl I used to baby-sit." I look away. I don't want to continue don't want to admit what happened, even though it haunts me every day.
    BecattE it haunts me every day.
    "In the nightmares, she was trapped in a shed. A crammed, dark shed with cracked cement walls.
    I could see her, her 3 ack toward me, lying on a bench, sort of curled up like she was asleep. But she was scared. I could feel how scared she was, like I was living it in a way. And for weeks I had these horrible, aching headaches."
    Drea clutches her pillow. I can tell she believes me. She reaches into her fridge and hands me a fresh can of soda.
    "Thark you," I say. It's just what I need. The artificial sweetness stings the inside of my mouth like icy cold Pop Rocks. as the dreams went on," I continue, "I was tempted to do something, to tell the police, but it just sounded so stupid in my head. So stupid because when you looked outside, there was Maura, playing on her swings, clothes-pinning cards to the spokes of her bike to make that motoring sound. So I just told myself it was a dumb dream, and soon it would pass."
    'And what happened?" Drea asks.
    I bite my lip to steady the shake, and then I just say it. "Someone took her. She was gone."
    "What do you mean, gone?" Amber asks.
    "I mean gone. Missing." I wipe the drizzle from the corner of my eyes.
    "Where?"
    The words about what happened have been building up inside my head for a couple years now, and I know I have to tell them. I've read the books. I've heard the experts on Oprah. If I want to