The Hidden Gemstone

Prologue

30th July 1997

Tears left the five-year-old girl's eyes.

The weather was just as strong as her grief. Rain poured down, and though its drops hit her like hail, she didn't feel it. In fact, she couldn't feel anything. It was as though her nerve endings had stopped functioning, relieving her from any physical pain she might've felt.

But adding to her emotional pain simultaneously.

There was a void in her heart that would never be filled again. And that was good because she didn't want it to be filled. She didn't want anyone else to take her mother's space in her heart. So, she sealed it from the top and bottom, from all sides to keep the space safe.

Empty, but safe.

Despite the heavy rain, she lifted her hands, placing them on the dirt of her mother's grave. She closed her glowing blue eyes and willed the water to flow from her palms and into the dirt. As it did, she let out a long breath.

She stayed like that until she heard the footsteps of her older sister close in. Her instincts pulled back the blue glow from her eyes, letting their color return to hazel, and forced her to stop the flow of water from her hands.

"We have to go now," her sister said, placing a hand on her shoulder. She nodded, indicating that she would join them in a minute. She looked at her mother's headstone for one last time.

"Goodbye, Mama."

She got to her feet and wiped her tears away, following her sister as she walked back to their father, older brother, and their baby brother as he slept in his father's arms.

By the time they reached, the girl's tears were gone and she didn't let them come again. She wouldn't. She loved her mother, yes, and she would keep her memory alive. But she wouldn't cry if she could help it.

Why?

Because she was Alex Gray.