Amethyst- Book one

Epilogue- Song Ri Hiraya

        Watching the water lap against the shore, I found myself feeling utter peace. I was in familiar territory now, standing on a sandy beach, feeling a tropical breeze and watching a couple of palm trees appear black while the sun set behind them, I couldn’t help but feel like I was in paradise. To my right, there was an old, wooden sign that read ‘Grandma Ululani’s Bed and Breakfast’. My eyes caught the tip of a tropical flower that was pinned in my hair and I looked down to see that I was wearing a billowing, silk white dress with wooden beads stitched into patterns at the hem.

    “Any feelings of déjà vu?” Onyx asked me. Smiling as I inhaled the warm, pineapple-scented air, I turned around to see him casually lean against an old picnic table. It was almost painful seeing him in all of his lean, tan and muscled glory. I hated feeling the urge to run my hands through his hair or to trace the bronze skin on his arms. I hated feeling my heartbeat quicken just at the sight of him, and feeling my breath catch at the sound of his voice and knowing that dating him is out of the question. Both of us had missions to accomplish, and we would be having a difficult enough time just trying to survive rather than maintaining a relationship. Though Ted never mentioned any rule against the Viscali dating each other, I could tell that he didn’t need to. There was so much more to worry about, and I needed to step up and take a serious image to teach the novices to protect themselves, not hit on them.

    “So, what did you tell your family?” I asked him. I didn’t want to be pushy, but I knew he couldn’t stay here long. I hoped that I stressed enough to him that staying here risks not only his life, but his family’s too.

    “I didn’t tell them about what we can do. If they figure anything like that out and that people are trying to kill us, then they’ll just worry. So I told them that I’m joining the peace corps.” Onyx informed me.

    “Wow, why didn’t I think of that?” I wondered.

    “I also told them that I would be assigned in a remote African village with no cellphone signals, and that I would be working with you, Alex and a couple of adults, so I think I just made them worry-free for the time being.”

    “Are you sure you’re ready for this?” I asked softly, remembering how I felt when Ted tried to convince me to leave and the horror on Alex’s face when he saw what would happen if you didn’t.

    “No. I’m not ready. But, then again, I don’t think I have a choice. None of us did.” Onyx shrugged, as if uprooting your life and entering a mission to battle ancient monsters and save the world was just as unfortunate of a business as getting a Saturday detention.

    “So, you call us Viscali. Is that Latin? And, more specifically, what is it?” Onyx asked.

    “You know, I think I should consider writing a ‘Beginner’s Guide to Discovering you’re a Viscala’ or ‘Viscali for Dummies’ book.” A familiar voice stated from behind us. I whirled around and tackled Ted into a hug, almost forgetting that my advanced strength could crush him.

    “You know, you two just about gave me a heart attack.” Ted told me. Now that I took a minute to get a closer look at him, I almost gasped. He looked exhausted and he had gauze wrapped around his forehead from a deep cut that stretched over his left eyebrow. Despite his less-than-mint physical condition, though, he looked like the weight of the world had just been lifted off of his shoulders.

    “But we saved Onyx—well, actually, we kind of saved each other.” I recalled, remembering how it turned out that all three of us ended up saving each other’s lives that day. I told Ted everything that happened on our small battle by Kilauea and what happened afterwards. When we left Hawaii—big island Hawaii, not the whole state—we stopped at Molokai and left Hema and the boat there, then Onyx called his cousin and had him pick him, myself and my ‘little brother who accidentally took sleeping meds instead of daily vitamins’ up and took us to Grandma Ululani’s. Luckily, Hema didn’t bother to try to attack again (maybe we finally managed to scare him off) and Alex woke up the next evening like he didn’t spend twenty minutes of the previous day submerged into lava and commanding earth’s most active volcano. We agreed to let Onyx settle back with his family and let them know everything was fine, Onyx just lost track of where his family was and was surprised to see Alex and I visiting (hence the fact that we’re going to spend the next year together in a remote African village).