leave the classroom. I rush to the front door of the school, needing fresh air. Only the fresh air doesn’t help the panic or fear creeping over me.
I look over the road at the small park, and in the centre is the wishing well that’s always filled with water. This whole area used to be a forest, but when the council decided they needed a park, they uprooted all the trees. That’s when they found the wishing well, which they decided to keep. Until this moment, I’ve never gone near it, but my mum’s whisper sinks into my mind, drawing my feet towards the park. Every step seems wrong. My whole body itches to run away even as I pass children laughing and running in circles, and the few teenagers from my class hanging out on the swings. Nothing seems right anymore.
I stop at the well and stare into the water down below. I should walk away and go to the house that I share with my roommate, Sage, and get ready for dinner with my parents.
What am I doing here?
“Choose well, Princess, or you will never leave my sea again.”
Why does the creepy water have to talk?
Sea?
What the hell?
Without knowing why I drop my bag to the floor and start climbing the walls. I stand on the edge of the well, looking down into a dark abyss.
“Choose.”
The voice doesn’t tell me what to choose, or why, but I want to jump.
I want to leave.
And so I jump into the water without another thought.
My body plunges into the salty water at the bottom and I gasp as it surrounds me, pulling me down into its depths. Slowly, light burns into my eyes and I see a sword floating right in the middle of the brightness. I stretch my hand out and grab the helm of the sword. The water swooshes away, leaving me on a sandy beach with the burning sun bleeding into my eyes. Every real memory of my past and my reality comes crashing back to me as tears burst from my eyes and sobs from my throat.
My human parents are dead. I killed them and I’ve accepted that it wasn’t my fault.
I could have chosen to stay with them, but that world would never have been real.
This world is, and everything that comes with it, the good and the bad.
In this world, my guys are real, and with them is the only place that I want to be.
I glance at the talking sword, which is so much worse than talking water. It is made of pure gold, but lightweight as I lift it up, my gaze tumbling over the helm which glistens with starlit jewels. Symbols are drawn all over the blade and the leather handle is incredibly soft, fitting perfectly into my hand. As I admire it, the gold changes to pure black, and the stones turn into ravens, the wings holding the blade up. Damn, it’s my sword now. It sinks into my hand like sand dissolving into the ocean, and an amber glow travels up my arm. It vanishes under my skin before turning into a gold tattoo that replicates what the sword had looked like. I always wanted a tattoo.
“Until the end,” I whisper, running my finger over the raised skin, feeling a strange addiction to the power—to the talking sword now etched into me.
“Vina!”
Jonah’s voice carries to me on the ocean breeze. I spin around to see him running over with Pitch and Gage at his side. They all crash into me and hold me in the middle of them. Echo calls out and lands on top of Pitch’s shoulder, and I swear he smiles at me.
“It’s been three days. Where in the name of Selena did you go?” Pitch demands, his worry drifting into anger.
“Three days?” I question with wide eyes. “It felt like an hour to me. The sword took me. It’s a long story. What matters is that I’m okay and I have one of the artifacts.”
I show them my arm and they all frown at me in confusion. They can’t see the sword. So it’s only me who can see it? Ambrose comes rushing out of the forest, sighing and patting his knees when he sees me. To my surprise, the guys let Ambrose hug me when he gets closer and he lifts my arm with a similar frown.