This dream seems so real, Anakin thought wildly as he struggled to reach the shore. The wind whipped his hair into his face and he almost didn’t see her. It was her orange jumpsuit that caught his eye. Tahiri was in the rapids in front of him. She was struggling to keep her head above the waves. Anakin desperately paddled toward his friend. He tried to shout to her but he couldn’t even hear his own voice above the storm. And then Tahiri saw him. For a split second Anakin’s ice blue eyes met her frightened green ones. He watched as Tahiri struggled toward the paddle he held out to her. She kept getting swept beneath the swells. Swim, Anakin screamed in his mind.
Tahiri’s hand shot toward the paddle and her fingers closed around it, then slipped away. She was swept out of sight beneath the wild water. Anakin leapt from side to side in the raft trying to spot Tahiri beneath the swells. He had lost her. Then he heard a soft sound in the distance and realized it was the academy wake-up bell.
The river slowly faded before his eyes. Anakin walked down the corridor to the dining room. He wasn’t ready to talk to Tahiri about his dream. He wasn’t ready to admit that maybe his friend was right, that maybe something was pulling them both to that river. Whether or not it was destiny Anakin wasn’t sure. But he did know that he didn’t want to have the dream again. It had been terrifying.
“You look terrible,” Tahiri sang out to Anakin as he sat down at the dining hall table beside her.
And he did. There were deep purple circles beneath his eyes. Anakin looked like he hadn’t slept a wink.
“Trouble sleeping?” Tahiri asked as she stuffed her mouth with a roll.
Anakin was silent. Tahiri turned to face her friend squarely.
“Are you still mad about my idea of going rafting?” she whispered.
No answer.
“Well, don’t be. For the first time that I can remember I didn’t have a dream about the river last night. Maybe telling you about it broke some sort of cycle. Now I’m free,” she said with a giggle. “So don’t worry, we don’t have to sneak out of the academy, and I’m sorry for suggesting such a risky idea.”
“Yes we do,” Anakin replied.
Now it was Tahiri’s turn to fall silent. Finally she sputtered, “What in the name of the Great Bantha are you talking about?”
“The reason you didn’t have that dream last night is because I did,” Anakin replied softly as he stared at his uneaten meal. “I dreamt I was in a raft on the river, and it was just like you said, only I was the one paddling and you weren’t there. At least not until later.”
“What happened later?” Tahiri said under her breath. She wondered if Anakin could sense the fear in her voice.
“You drowned,” Anakin quietly replied. “I tried to save you,” he added, “but the river was too strong. I’m sorry.” Anakin hung his head. He was ashamed he hadn’t been able to save his friend. It was only a dream, he knew, but he also knew it was more than that.
Tahiri was staring at him. She looked scared.
“You don’t have to go with me to the river, Tahiri,” Anakin said. “But I feel like I’m being pulled there and I think I’ve got to go see why.”
“Why don’t we talk to your uncle Luke about this? Maybe he should come with us,” Tahiri suggested.
“No!” Anakin cried. It was the first time Tahiri had heard him speak in a voice much above a whisper. “We can’t tell Luke Skywalker. If we do then everything will be lost,” Anakin said fiercely.
“What are you talking about, Anakin?” Tahiri asked.
“I don’t know,” Anakin replied in a surprised voice. “But when you suggested we talk to Uncle Luke I heard a voice inside my head. It said that we can’t tell Uncle Luke or everything will be lost.”
“What will be lost?” Tahiri asked.
“I don’t know,” Anakin said with a look of frustration. This was not what he wanted. He was on Yavin 4 to study. To become a Jedi Knight. Now there was a strange voice inside his head telling him to keep something from his uncle Luke. Telling him to sneak out of the academy to raft a river. And the worst part was that he believed in the voice, felt that what it said to him was right. More than that, he believed that the voice came from a Jedi Master. In it, he had heard a strength and calm that was similar to his uncle’s voice. Perhaps this unknown Jedi Master needed Anakin to perform an important task, a task that would pave the way for his becoming a Jedi Knight.
But what if he was wrong about the voice? What if he was being drawn to the dark side of the Force? What if, he wondered, it’s calling me just as it did my grandfather Anakin Skywalker? There was only one way to find out.