Samuel and Sarah sat on playground swings, the hill in the center of the park to their backs, and the tennis court on the other side of that.
“How much do you remember?” Samuel asked.
“None of it. I remember nothing. I was really a magical girl?”
“I guess it all fades away over time if you don’t keep using the jewel.”
“And this is really all a dream? Even these swings? Even the tennis court? All of it?”
“All of it,” Samuel confirmed. “There really is a park like this, and we visit it often when we’re awake, but this one is only an illusion in the mind.”
“I’ve had dreams,” Sarah said, looking at her tennis shoes hovering over the sand, “where I realized it was a dream. When I realize this, I wake up. Sometimes I think I wake up, but it’s really still a dream. Shouldn’t I wake up now? If I know this is a dream, why don’t I wake up from it?”
“It’s the jewels.” Samuel looked at the sky, watching a few clouds slowly pass by. “The jewels stablize our dreams. They connect our dreams, to each other’s dreams, and to other peoples’ dreams. I guess they also let us remember our dreams, connecting each dream with the last.”
“Will I ever remember being Clover when I was younger?”
“Maybe.”
“Um, I have a question.”
Samuel turned his head to look at his neighbor. She continued to look at the ground.
“Why did I stop being a magical girl?”
Samuel stepped down from the swing. He walked forward a few steps, his gaze returning to the clouds racing at a slow pace through the wide blue above. “I can only theorize. Something tramatic happened. Something that made being a magic girl too dangerous. I think you realized if you were killed in a dream, it would hurt you when you’re awake. I mean really hurt you. I’ve woken up in a bad state after more than a few hard times in dreams. There was even one time when I died in a dream. I think that was the last time I saw you as Clover.”
“You died in a dream?” Sarah looked up at Samuel. “You really died in a dream?” She stepped down from the swing. Sarah step up beside Samuel. “What was it like? Did it hurt?”
“When I dream, I can run over one hundred miles. I can run for over 24 hours. I’ll never get tired, never need to stop and rest. Yet, if I trip and fall, it’ll hurt. That’s all you need to know. The tip is this: don’t die.”
“What was it like when you woke up from your dream?”
“I’m not sure. I don’t remember anything for a while, then I Was in a hospital, recovering. Everything in-bewteen is a blank. But it’s only happened once in over seven years. If you know your limitations and keep an eye on things, it’s actually not that dangerous.”
“Do you become a magical boy every night, Samuel?”
“I do. There are always fun dreams to be a part of, and there are also nightmares waiting for someone to help in.”
“Do you think I could help you out, as a magical girl?”
Samuel looked at Sarah’s wondering face. He smiled, causing her to smile back. “I wouldn’t have it any other way.” The smile quickly turned to a frown as Samuel’s look turned back to the park in front of him, his gaze blank. “However, I don’t have time for dreams and nightmares right now. There’s something dangerous going on?”
“What do you mean?” Sarah asked. “What kind of danger?”
“I don’t know. Those two guys took my jewel for a moment, and they tried to take yours, even though you didn’t have it. Somehow, they know about us from when we were younger. That black-haired girl, Arle, is involved in some way, too. She didn’t seem to know the curly-haired one, but she called the other boy ‘Bernard’. She knows his language, and knows about these jewels.
“I think there are more jewels like ours. Bernard must have used one to find us. If we use our jewels together, maybe we can find more jewels like this. If we can get more information from Arle, maybe we can work out a deal, exchanging the extra jewels for leaving us alone.”
“How do we find these other jewels?”
“Our jewels act as sonar for other jewels. If we transform into Shamrock and Clover, we should be able to sense the location of other jewels using our own. If we spread out, we can better pinpoint the location of any other jewels. I don’t know what kind of dangers we’ll face, and if they really do have a jewel, I don’t know how powerful they’ll be.” He looked at Sarah. “It’s not too late to back out.”
“And miss all this?” Sarah reached into the side pocket on her tennis shorts, taking out the green jewel. She lifted the jewel up, holding in between her finger and thumb. The light of the sun’s rays passed through the jewel, causing it to glisten and sparkle. “It seems Clover’s been away for far too long. An’ besides, that Bernard creep might come back to give me nightmares again. When I see him again, I’ll use magical girl magic on him.”
“Shall we give it a try?” Samuel asked, lifting the blue jewel from his tennis shorts pocket.
“Okay!” Sarah replied with a nod.
The two lifted their jewels, transforming in a flash of green and blue. The green jewel set itself on a brooch at Clover’s chest. The blue jewel dangled from an earring hanging from Shamrock’s right ear.
“I’ll be honest, I don’t know what we’ll be looking for,” Shamrock told Clover. “Keep the tips of your finger on your jewel, and you can feel its pulse. If we use magic, that pulse will spread out. If there’s another jewel out there, the pulse should bounce back. I hope we’ll be able to feel it.”
A rap at the door woke Sarah.
“Are you awake yet?” Sarah’s mother asked. “Breakfast is ready.”
