MY FATE IS IN MY HANDS

What path awaits her?

PHOEBE

I float in the glowing water, my tail trembling slightly as I struggled to comprehend the woman’s presence and the surreal reality of what had just happened. My head still throbbed faintly from the sharp pain that had struck me earlier, and even now, lingering memories of the day’s cruelty pressed down on my chest like a weight I could not shake.

The woman stepped closer, the soft glow radiating from her form casting dancing reflections across the pond’s surface. Her expression was calm but imbued with authority, the kind that demanded attention without raising her voice.

“You don't need to be afraid,” the woman said, her voice flowing like water itself. “I know you have suffered, I know you have carried pain beyond what most endure. But knowing too much, will bring you great harm.”

I frowned, confusion clouding my features. “Harm? what do you mean?” I asked with trembling voice.

The woman’s glow brightened ever so slightly, illuminating my pale face and tear-streaked cheeks. “The world you know is not ready for what you will become. Secrets exist to protect you until the time is right. To understand prematurely is to invite danger both to yourself and to those who would seek to harm you.”

My mind raced, but fear gnawed at my thoughts. “So… you’re going to teach me later?” I asked, my voice barely above a whisper.

The woman nodded, a serene yet firm gesture. “Yes. But first, I will take you to a place where you will be safe. A place where no one can hurt you, where you can begin to understand who you truly are.”

My chest tightened. I wanted to ask more, to protest, to question what this place was, or how it could exist. But before l could form another word, my vision blurred. The pond’s familiar glow bent and stretched into streaks of light, and my surroundings dissolved into a dizzying whirl of colors.

My body went limp. The last thought that echoed through my mind before I succumbed to unconsciousness was a single, quiet plea “Please… keep me safe…”

Some hours later, on a different side of the country, the night was calm. The city’s streets were emptying, and the traffic that remained moved lazily along the highways. In a sleek black SUV, Mr Lucas, the country’s youngest billionaire and one of its most ruthless bachelors, sat silently in the back seat. His dark eyes stared forward, cold and calculating, reflecting the pale streetlights as he reclined slightly in the leather seat.

Lucas was known for his wealth, power, and an unflinching temperament. He had earned his fortune through a mix of intelligence, daring, and unrelenting ruthlessness. Few dared to oppose him, and even fewer dared to approach him without knowing exactly how the encounter would end.

The vehicle moved smoothly, a silent machine gliding over the asphalt. His driver, obedient and precise, kept the car at a steady pace, the hum of the engine the only sound apart from the occasional rustle of wind past the windows.

Then, up ahead, something caught the driver’s eye.

“Sir,” the driver said, slowing slightly, “there’s… someone lying in the middle of the road.”

Lucas’s gaze sharpened, his lips pressing into a thin line. He leaned forward slightly, eyes narrowing. “Someone?” he repeated, his voice low, deliberate, and sharp. “On the road? Move them and clear the way, I don’t have time for distractions.”

The driver hesitated briefly, glancing at the figure in the faint light. “Yes, sir. But..”

“No buts,” Lucas interrupted, his tone cutting like steel. “Move them. Now.”

The SUV slowed as it reached the figure, a young girl lying motionless in the center of the lane. Her dark hair spread across her face, covering most of it, her clothes damp and clinging to her skin. She was beautiful, in a fragile, almost ethereal way, but to Lucas, she was simply an obstacle. His sharp, calculating mind registered her presence, but he felt nothing no empathy or hesitation.

The bodyguard accompanying the SUV stepped forward. “Shall we move her to the side of the road, sir?”

Lucas’s dark eyes fixed on the girl for a moment, studying her as if she were an object under a microscope. He gave a curt nod. “Yes, be careful but don’t linger. This is not an accident, I don’t tolerate inefficiency.”

The men approached the young woman cautiously. Her form was light, almost weightless, though she seemed to carry a quiet strength even in unconsciousness. One of the bodyguards knelt and lifted her gently, cradling her in his arms.

Lucas leaned back in his seat, observing without a trace of softness. To the average person, his calm would have seemed cold, almost cruel. But to those who knew him, it was expected. Empathy and hesitation were luxuries he could not afford. Weakness could cost everything, and Lucas had learned that early.

“Take her to the side of the road,” he ordered, his voice smooth but carrying the weight of authority. “Set her down somewhere safe. I need to get home.”

“Yes, sir,” the driver replied, guiding the SUV carefully to the side of the road.

The young woman’s limbs were limp, her head tilting slightly as she was laid onto the back seat. Her skin, pale under the faint streetlights, looked almost translucent, like porcelain. Lucas studied her for a moment, noting every detail with the precision of someone used to reading people in seconds. Her clothes were wet, her hair tangled, her breathing shallow.

Lucas said nothing. He gave no orders to question her, no instructions to check her identity. She was a problem to be moved, nothing more, nothing less. And for Lucas, that was sufficient.

The bodyguard carried the girl and was about to drop her but her hair happen to fall from her face, everybody was stunned including lucas.

He turn unusually calm and everywhere seems to turn cold, the bodyguard and Lucas assistant, Jeff, did not dare to breath.

"Take her to the car" Licas ordered. "Yes, sir".

The SUV resumed its journey, smooth and silent. Lucas’s eyes remained forward, focused, unyielding. The young woman rested in the back, unmoving, completely unconscious. The city’s lights flickered past the tinted windows, casting pale shadows across her form.

Lucas sitting beside her appeared to be in thought but nobody knows what he is thinking.

Phoebe, unaware of where she had been taken, lay silent and unconscious, her body still trembling slightly from the shock and transformation she had endured. She had been ripped from everything she had known, yet even in the darkness of her fainting, a strange sense of anticipation began to coil within her.

The glowing woman from the pond, the whispered warnings about harm and secrets, all faded into the recesses of her mind. Only the stark, cold reality remained. she was no longer in her world, and whatever waited for her next would demand she either embrace it or be left behind.

The SUV carried her silently through the empty streets, a vessel moving steadily toward a future she could not yet comprehend, her small frame resting against the seat as the city passed by in streaks of light. The driver, following Lucas’s instructions without question, kept his hands steady on the wheel. The road stretched ahead, quiet except for the faint hum of the engine, and in that quiet, the fate of the unconscious girl hung suspended, fragile as the night itself.

Lucas’s figure in the front seat remained still and imposing, a fortress of control and authority.

Yet somewhere beneath Phoebe’s unconscious form, beneath the fear, the grief, and the disbelief, her body began to sense the shift.

Her chest rose and fell slowly in the back of the SUV, her dark hair clinging to her glowing skin, her mind lost between fainting and waking. In the quiet, the hum of the engine was almost soothing. The night carried her forward, toward a future that would demand she confront things she had never imagined.

And in that journey, she would discover that power, danger, and mystery often arrive when the world least expects them and when the strongest, coldest men think they hold all the control, a single unexpected life can shift everything.

The SUV sped through the dark, taking Phoebe toward a place she had never known, a place that promised both safety and revelation, while the city slept around them, unaware of the girl who would change its course forever.