OVERLOOKED ㅤkotlc

058

SKYLAR CARLISE.
SIENNALAIR
JAN 2 . 4:42 PM
!! TW: VOMIT [not described] !!

Panic sets in my chest. "What?"

"You know how to swim?"

"No," I say, and for a second, I expect him to let me off easy.

But of course, I'm wrong. He messes with the door and it slides open, revealing an open room and a tier of gemstones protected by a moat of water. "No worries," Koray says. "You probably won't drown."

I turn to look at him. He's way too relaxed for this. He probably knows. I shouldn't have let my guard down with him. He's been analyzing me these past few days, hasn't he?

Methodically searching for a weakness. Exploiting it. Planning out my death, making it seem like an accident. I've walked right into his trap.

Well played.

And then the idiot meets my eyes. But there's nothing malicious or smart behind them.

He notices me studying him and probably notices the way my face has gone pale. "You good?" he asks, like either a massive jerk or a massive fool.

Something tells me it's neither.

"I don't..." I search for words. "Can't you swim instead?"

Koray shakes his head. "Sorry, but that water's toxic to elvin blood. And I can't use my ability here for some reason." I've noticed it before—how he gives off the air of someone neutrally amused—but it hasn't made me want to kick his balls till now.

Now it's his turn to study me. "Are you... scared?"

My heart thuds in my chest. I'm sure he can hear it. "A bit," my lips betray me.

His first instinct is to laugh at me, I can see it in the way his mouth twitches and in the way his eyebrows raise. But then, after watching me further, he changes his mind.

I'm not sure why he did, but a small part of me is grateful.

"On a scale of one to ten?"

I think about it. Seven.

Instead of replying, I step into the room; the water is an unsettling deep blue, tinged with something else. I can feel Koray's gaze on my back, but he eventually follows, locking the door behind us.

I judge the distance of the moat. It's not far, but my heart is racing. How unreasonable of it.

"If I took your place, it'd burn me," he observes.

I want to smack him in the face. He's already mentioned how it's toxic for elves, and as much as I just do not care, I'm not here to kill a man. Or an elf. Or a teenage boy. How old is he?

"How old are you?"

"Seventeen." He laughs to himself. "How's that relevant?"

I shoot him a look. "You could've been five hundred and two. What do you mean, how's that relevant?"

Koray tilts his head. "Touché." A pause. "So are you gonna get your crystal?"

I steal a glance at the water, then regret it. "In a few years, maybe."

He eyes me again. "Are you really that scared?"

There's a nauseating feeling in my gut. I'm not sure if I should say yes or no. They both don't benefit me.

"It's shallow," Koray tries. "You could just ease yourself down, walk there, pull yourself up."

Imagining myself doing that doesn't help. "Well, you know how fear is," I say. "It's unreasonable. You can't control it."