Chapter 3

"She was golden in every way a person could be golden. Her light auburn skin seemed to glitter from its own internal light and her hazel eyes shifted colors from one moment to the next."

My sister had the amazing ability to sleep no matter what was happening in the world. I, on the other hand, felt lucky to get a few fitful hours before the restlessness set in again. As soon as the sun peeked through the giant windows in the tiny ritual room and through the door Ix had left open the night before, I was ready to go. My legs twitched. I squeezed my eyes shut, begging my mind for just a few more minutes of serenity but I couldn't breathe, so up I got.

I slipped my hand carefully away from Ix and climbed down from the tall bed. We'd fallen asleep in the clothes from the ceremony, me in my jeans and Ix in the deep purple dress Diana had chosen for her. I checked myself in the mirror and scraped my hair back into a messy ponytail. I glanced back to watch Ix curl up against the pillows before tiptoeing out the door.

The hall was dark and silent. I took the stairs down to the common room two at a time and headed straight for the door. Outside, the center field covered with dew was twinkling with soft sunlight as the dark sky faded again to yellow. Soon, the sky would be its normal soft pink and the school would be alive again as The Fenselle coven girls got up for their morning. I only had a few hours of solitude, if I was lucky. I slipped around the building, sneaking like a child from their room at night, and broke into a run toward the edge of the forest.

I knew I should have been in bed with Ix, or at least in her room watching her, waiting for something to go wrong. That's what I'd been trained— what I’d trained myself to do. That’s why I was here, why I was born, to be in arms reach at all times just in case the unpredictable sea of Ix needed calming. It’s where I was meant to be, where I was always intended to be. My guilt pounded in my head telling me to go back, to be there. Instead I ran headlong into the forest at dawn with little thought or care where I was going and dreading the knowledge that eventually I'd have to go back.

When my lungs stopped burning and my legs went numb, I stopped. I pushed my back against a tree and pushed air in and out of my chest until I could actually breathe. My heart fluttered, not the pounding from running, but actually fluttered as I took in my surroundings. Calm, quiet, light. I saw some rodent scurry through the trees above me and smiled. For the first time in over a month, I felt at home.