OCEAN EYES

The way back

Chapter Four

“The Queen.”

The word echoed through the room.

I stared at the creature.

Then at Isla.

Then at the broken doorway behind us.

For the first time since I had entered the ocean, I wasn't afraid of what was chasing me.

I was afraid of what I might discover if I stayed.

“I want to go home.”

Isla looked at me.

“Amara—”

“No.”

I shook my head.

“I don't want to know who the Queen is. I don't want to know why I was brought here. I don't want to know what I am.”

My voice cracked.

“I just want to go home.”

The creature slowly stood.

It looked toward Isla.

Then back at me.

“You cannot run from the sea.”

“I can try.”

I turned.

At the far end of the room was a small opening.

Light was coming through it.

Real light.

Warm.

Golden.

Sunlight.

My heart jumped.

“The surface.”

Isla grabbed my wrist.

“Wait.”

I pulled away.

“I'm going.”

“You don't understand what happens when you leave.”

“Then explain it!”

She opened her mouth.

Nothing came out.

That was enough.

I swam toward the light.

“Amara!”

I didn't stop.

The tunnel seemed endless.

My lungs began to burn.

The strange ability that had allowed me to breathe underwater suddenly disappeared.

I panicked.

I kicked harder.

The light grew brighter.

My chest tightened.

I was almost there.

Almost.

Then everything went black.

I woke up choking.

Water poured from my mouth.

I rolled onto the sand, coughing violently.

For several seconds, I couldn't understand where I was.

Then I heard waves.

I opened my eyes.

The beach.

My beach.

The same beach I had visited that afternoon.

The same beach my mother had warned me about.

I looked toward the ocean.

Nothing.

No palace.

No glowing city.

No Isla.

No creature.

Just waves.

I sat there for a long time.

Maybe it had all been a dream.

A terrifying, impossible dream.

I touched the necklace around my neck.

Still there.

My fingers froze.

Then I noticed something else.

A tiny silver scale was lying in my palm.

I stared at it.

The wind blew.

The scale disappeared into the sand.

I never told anyone what happened that night.

Not my mother.

Not my friends.

Not even myself.

I simply buried it.

And for three years...

the ocean stayed silent.

Three Years Later

“Amara!”

I looked up from my book.

Tessa dropped into the seat beside me.

“You've been staring at that same page for ten minutes.”

“I was reading.”

“You were sleeping with your eyes open.”

I laughed.

“Maybe I was tired.”

“You're always tired.”

Before I could answer, the classroom door opened.

Our teacher walked in with a boy behind her.

“Class, we have a new student joining us today.”

I barely looked up.

New students weren't exactly exciting.

Then Tessa nudged my arm.

“Don't look now.”

I looked anyway.

And immediately regretted it.

He was tall.

Dark-haired.

With an easy smile that made half the girls in the room sit up straighter.

Tessa leaned toward me.

“Okay... I take back everything I've ever said.”

I laughed under my breath.

Our teacher introduced him.

“His name is Adrian. He transferred from another school, so make him feel welcome.”

Adrian gave the class a small wave.

“Hi.”

His voice was ordinary.

His smile was ordinary.

Everything about him was completely normal.

And somehow, that made me notice him even more.

“There's an empty seat beside Amara,” the teacher said.

My smile disappeared.

Tessa immediately looked at me.

“Lucky you.”

“Shut up.”

Adrian walked toward our row.

He stopped beside my desk.

“Hey.”

I looked up.

“Hi.”

“Mind if I sit here?”

I moved my books.

“No.”

He sat down.

For a few seconds, neither of us spoke.

Then he looked at the book on my desk.

“Do you actually understand what you're reading?”

I smiled.

“Do you?”

“No.”

I laughed.

And for the first time in three years...

I forgot about the ocean.

I forgot about the palace.

I forgot about the girl named Isla.

I forgot about the voice beneath the waves.

I felt normal.

Just a girl sitting beside a boy she had never met before.

A completely human boy.

And I had no idea that meeting him would change my life.

Not because he knew my secret.

But because he would become the person I trusted enough to tell it to.