Rhayne Conner hitched her book bag higher onto her shoulder. Darn thing sure was heavy. She must have hit someone with it as she did that, because a pedestrian gave her a dirty look. Well, they should try carrying it. No wonder so many college students had back problems.

The day was tinged with a grey cloudy light that made everything look all grimy. Usually Rhayne enjoyed the city, but this grey was depressing. And yet, despite that depressing grey, she couldn’t shake a strange giddy feeling that she’d had all morning. Maybe it had something to do with her dream from the night before. She’d talk to Father Matthias and see what he thought.

Father Matthias’ church looked like a typical, if not a little rundown, Catholic Church from the outside, but Rhayne knew better. Though Father Matthias had felt the call and became an ordained priest, things had happened since then that had brought him to leave the Church. Now he preached the Way of Balance, a teaching that believed pure good could be just as harmful as pure evil. His church then had been abandoned and for sale. Matthias, apparently being a man of some means, bought the building.

Inside, though it still had the main architecture of a Catholic Church, it was missing the basics. There were no statutes of the Virgin Mary, or of Joseph, and most importantly, no images of Jesus. Of course, Father Matthias would never turn away anyone of any faith.

As Rhayne entered, she was struck again by the simple beauty of the interior. In place of the statues near what could still be called the alter, were candles. Even though it was day time, the candles were lit. Rhayne knew that Father Matthias had spent a great deal of time renovating the space. There were still parts of it that needed work. Sometimes, even Rhayne would lend a hand. At the moment, Rhayne saw that Father Matthias was near the front of the building, sweeping.

“Good morning,” Rhayne called, heading up the aisle.

Father Matthias paused in his sweeping. “Rhayne, what a pleasant surprise. Good morning. No classes this morning?”

“Nope, not until this afternoon.”

“Well, why don’t I make us some tea? Come on to the back room.”

Rhayne followed Father Matthias. He had converted the back offices of the church into his living quarters. Though some rooms were still offices, he did have a sitting room, kitchen, bathroom and bedroom. Together they headed into the kitchen.

“Sit down,” Father Matthias gestured to one of the chairs at the table once they reached the kitchen. Rhayne gratefully sat her bag down. It hit the ground with a “thump.” “Do I want to know what you’re carrying in there?” Father Matthias asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Oh, just textbooks and stuff.” Rhayne pulled the chair away from the table and sat down. She watched Father Matthias busy himself with making the tea. “Normal college necessities. I think I clipped some guy on the way here though.”

“Heh. I remember those days. So, what brings you by?” Father Matthias leaned against the counter as he waited for the water in the kettle to boil.

“It’s kind of hard to explain.”

“Ah, one of those huh? Well, take your time.”

“I guess….I dreamed about him again.”

“The winged man? Hold on a second.” The kettle was whistling. Rhayne waited while Father Matthias poured the hot water into each of the two mugs he had set out. “You don’t take milk or honey in your tea, right?”

“No. Plain is fine.”

“That’s what I thought. Okay, here you go.”

After setting one steaming mug in front of Rhayne, Father Matthias sat in the chair closest to her with his own mug in hands.

“So, your dream?” Father Matthias prompted.

“Right. I mean, you’re right. It was about the guy with the wings. I wish I could call him an angel, but that never feels right.”

“Well, the way you describe him doesn’t sound like the typical angel. Of course, that wouldn’t keep me from calling him that. My path teaches that darkness can be deceiving.”

Rhayne sipped at her tea. Despite what Father Matthias said, she still couldn’t call the man in her dreams an ‘angel’ any more than she could call him a ‘demon.’ The words just weren’t quite right. Sure, he had wings, but that didn’t mean he had to be one or the other. And he was just too dark to be an angel and too peaceful to be a demon. Usually in her dreams he didn’t do anything violent. There had been one dream once, but he had been provoked. No, despite the very dark skin and grey wings, she couldn’t call him a demon any more than she could call him an angel just because of the white hair.

“So was the dream disturbing?” Father Matthias asked.

“Disturbing? No. It was just another dream about flying. Actually, the thing is, near the end of the dream, he was someone else.”

“Someone else?”

“I couldn’t see exactly who. But when I woke up, I had this incredible sense of freedom. I mean, more so than after some of the other flight dreams. Because usually the flight dreams end with him falling, but not this one.”

“So he didn’t fall this time?”

“No, not this time.” Rhayne couldn’t help smiling. She remembered how exhilarating it had felt when she woke up, staring at her ceiling feeling like she had escaped something.

Father Matthias, apparently noticing her smile, returned it with a grin of his own. “I know we haven’t quite figured out what these dreams mean, but I’d call this one a good dream.”

“Well, since I still feel that way, even though it’s so depressingly grey out, I’d say it was a good dream.”

“Of course. I have to say I’m jealous.”

“Jealous?” Rhayne raised an eyebrow.

“Well, you carry this feeling of flight into the day. Usually, when I have a dream about flying I’m less than successful during the dream, so when I wake up, I still feel frustrated. But you describe it like you actually flew.”

“Oh sure, the flying’s great, but when the guy falls, not so much.”

“True. Warm up your tea for you?”

“No, I’m fine.” Rhayne paused a moment, staring down into her mug. “I wish I knew if this was a metaphor dream, or if I’m really dreaming about someone.”

“It’s hard to say isn’t it? We don’t exactly see people with wings just walking down the street.”

“But you believe they exist?”

“Of course. We’ve talked about this before. My teaching says that anything is possible. Though just because it’s possible doesn’t mean it exists, just that it can. Honestly, I think it’s more likely you’re dreaming about someone without wings. You feel you’re on the right path, right?”

“Yes.”

“Then I don’t think it’s about you. Something tells me the dream is about someone who is unsure about his path.” Father Matthias smiled softly. “Or her path. I think it’s about someone who is searching for freedom. Maybe that someone has even found some measure of freedom. Your latest dream would suggest that.”

Rhayne was glad she had found Father Matthias. She doubted anyone else would take her so seriously. She had always had a strong intuition about people, and then she had started to have dreams about specific people. At first, it had freaked her out. Not because she was dreaming about people, but because after the dreams, she’d find out something almost exactly had happened to the person she had dreamed about. She didn’t think that sort of thing was possible. Then she met Father Matthias. It had just been coincidence that brought her into his church, but then he said people who needed him always seemed to find him. Father Matthias took her dreams as truth and guided her through them. He helped her sort through the normal dreams and the dreams that actually meant something.

“I wonder if I need to find this person,” Rhayne said, not really aware she was speaking out loud.

“Well, that’s up to you. Since he probably doesn’t look like he does in your dreams, it would be a little like a needle in a haystack,” Father Matthias replied. “But as I’ve found, if you’re meant to help someone, the Path will lead that person to you.”

“What? Oh, I said that out loud? Well, maybe now that he’s found his freedom I’ll stop dreaming about him.”

“You never know.”

Rhayne glanced at her watch. “Well, thanks for the tea. I really should head to the library before classes while I still have time.”

“You know you’re always welcome.”

Rhayne pushed up from her chair before lugging the bag back onto her shoulder.

“And try not to hurt yourself,” Father Matthias warned.

Rhayne laughed. “I will. See you later.”