Fire Stones - By Kailin Gow Page 0,6

warm, now, and in the aftermath of the rain a rainbow spread itself across the sky.

“Look, Mac!” Chance flew us through the rainbow; colors surrounding us on every side. “I told you – beautiful things.”

I flew through the heart of the rainbow, watching the splendid light refract upon the ocean waves. This was true happiness, I felt – more than anything I had ever experienced before. Only a few days ago I had been a normal girl, living in a normal world. Now I knew that things would never be normal again.

Chance dropped me off at last at the cottage I shared with my mother. A far less palatial residence than Chance's rooms at the Cutter Imperial Hotel, but a charming bungalow it was nonetheless, with panoramic views of the sea. My mother was at work again – her job as Events Director at the Hotel seemed to require round-the-clock attendance at the Hotel – but I didn't mind the time alone. It gave me a chance to sit and reflect on what had happened – and to look over the Book of Vesta.

Yet somehow my mind could not concentrate upon the words of the book. They seemed to blur and fade before my eyes; my head began to throb. I couldn't stop myself from looking out the window, watching the misty evening unfold before my eyes. I had seen this view many times before – the white sands stretching out towards the ocean, the dark waves rolling with their white foaming crests, but somehow the view seemed more powerful this time. Almost as if it were calling to me. Something within me felt a painful longing – the ocean seemed to be singing to me, a siren song luring me out. Something was waiting for me there, I felt, a shiver going through my spine. Something was waiting for me – there was a reason that my heart had begun to flutter, that my throat had gone tight and breathless.

I looked down at the Book of Vesta, then back again at the ocean. With a sigh, I snapped the book shut, carrying it with me as I bounded out the door, following this strange feeling to the ocean's edge. I walked along the sand, feeling the moist earth caressing my bare feet, letting my intuition guide me as I let the cool ocean spray massage my skin.

At last I stopped. This was a familiar place – a lush tropical garden on the ocean's edge I had been to once before. With Varun. I sighed as I recalled his tanned skin, his long and luxuriant blond hair. As hard as I tried, I couldn't forget the sweet, easy romance we had shared: our first date, when he had kissed me beneath the milky moon and held me gently in his arms. I knew now that we could never have the fire, the passion, that I shared with Chance, but I regretted how things had ended between the two of us. After all, Varun was a kind, gentle, romantic boyfriend – he had been all those things with me – and I hated to hurt him.

But how could I resist Chance? How could any girl? Varun had told me that his first love, Jana, had left him for Chance many years before; now I knew why. With his luxuriant dark hair and dangerous good looks, Chance radiated passion. Even thinking of him now, as I looked out over the ocean, I felt my skin begin to tingle at the memory of our kisses.

I took out the Book of Vesta from my satchel. I had to get reading, I told myself – I'd never be able to figure out if I was Vesta or not if I didn't get started on my research. But as I placed the book's spine on the ground, I saw to my surprise that it was opening of its own accord.

“What the...”

I looked down in shock. On a smooth, blank, creamy page, an image was being drawn – as if it were appearing from the depths of the book itself. Dark lines of ink were appearing on the page. It was a language I could not make out – I could not read either the alphabet or the words themselves, but the drawing beneath the letters was unmistakable. It was a map – a map I recognized immediately as a guide to the Aeros coastline. An indent in the map showed a small cove – in the