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Even as I thought her name, the image of her sinking to the black abyss stabbed at me, and all those tears began to fall.
“Why, today we have a new princess. The Princess Elara. Born on the high moon to the Ramal and Queen Dalyah.”
I dropped the roll, the woman laughing as she replaced it with a new one, clearly not understanding why my eyes were wide. Why it was suddenly so impossible to breathe and everything was terribly tight. I needed to run from there, run from her.
Dalyah.
Queen Dalyah. The queen who kills the children, who slaughtered the Catalysts. The queen who killed the Ramal and her children, including the princess. Princess Elara, who was somehow born today. It was not possible.
The Princess who had fought the queen at the dawn of the Red Wave, when Dalyah’s true nature was revealed. The Princess who had disappeared over eighty years ago, her light fading then only to blaze anew when she would return and save us.
I had heard the story in whispers, about how she would return. But she never did… not then. Then.
It wasn’t where I was. It was when.
My fist tightened around the roll, the woman’s laughing voice following me as I ran.
“Go! Celebrate, child! ’Tis a glorious day!”
It wasn’t. How could it be? I had somehow traveled back nearly a hundred years, to the same Qit I grew up, to a time before the Queen destroyed magic. To a time before she destroyed everything that meant something to me.
I ran over boardwalks, to the far corner of the Qit where Lily and I would hide away when we didn’t want to get any work done. There was a ledge there, a small outcropping just above the waves where you could sit and not get wet and where the sun never hit. We could spend hours there.
Roll still clenched in my fist, I slid between two houses, sliding between two private docks too fast to be seen.
The familiar outcropping met my feet with a splash, the sun falling to nothing as I crouched my way into the tiny space, turning toward the place Lily and I had carved our names, wood that was still fresh hewn and full of splinters. There was no sign of our names.
It was gone. She was gone. Everything was gone, or rather, it wasn’t there yet.
But I was… I was there.
“Who are you?”
I turned so fast I was sure the Qit above rocked with the motion. The hideaway that had been so forgotten was clearly not so now. Two other children were huddled into the corner, both dressed in rags and clinging to rolls they had obviously gotten from the celebrations at the square.
Two kids, a boy and a girl, just my age. Just as lost and alone as I was.
“I’m Caspyn,” I said, realizing tears were still dripping down my cheeks, blending with the salt water of the ocean. I hoped they didn’t notice.
The girl narrowed her eyes before she turned to the boy, who gave a tiny nod.
“I’m Jayse. This is Jack,” she said, nodding in introduction and sending her red hair shimmering. “You have interesting eyes.”
I pushed the dark hair out of my eyes, “They are just blue.”
She shook her head and took a bite, speaking through the food, “No, one is blue. The other is almost white. Like ice.”
Ice.
“What?” The boy looked scared as I yelled in confusion and scooted to the edge of the hideaway and the water that splashed there. I couldn’t see clearly, but I didn’t have to. I knew what was there. Two shades of blue, one in each eye. Mine and Lily’s.
I touched the side of my face, the warm buzz of her magic moving through me. That’s what I had felt in that last moment. She had given her power to me. She had given part of herself to me.
My chest ached as though I had been hit by a boat, the pressure forcing more tears as I reached toward the water and released the strong pulses of her magic. The powers of a Requisite mixed with the powers of a Catalyst I already held, both igniting a ribbon of purple light on the surface of the water. Magic shouldn’t be in one person, but now it was in me.
I pulled my hand away, shoving the brilliant bright warmth of her magic down as far as I could make it go. The light faded, and I sat back against the board that would someday hold my name, but for now, it was the last bit of home I had.
I had nothing left.
