The Heart of The Sea

ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ꜰᴏᴜʀ

"Oh, no, I'm so sorry I didn't mean to startle the two of you!"

The sword still stood in her hands. while Aiden's housed the twin scimitars.

"I think we can't pretend today never happened anymore." Aru groaned. Her back was sore from the fall.

"Firstly, it's a miracle our necks and spines are fine. Next, what are you?" He directed the second half to the hazy figure, who was blinking in and out of vision.

He pointed one of his scimitars to the haze.

The figure cleared its throat. "I've fucked up on my first try."

The voice was decidedly female.

"Anyway, I'm sorry for the scare back there. My name is Kara, and I'm a spirit."

Aru spat out a bit of grass. She turned to look at Aiden. "I think she's a ghost."

Kara frowned. "I'm not a ghost. I'm a spirit. I'm a sian."

"Do you mind explaining the difference?"

"Well, ghosts are, you could say, worthless. Spirits, on the other hand, are guides."

"We don't need a guide."

"Not even to find the Heart of the Sea?"

"I doubt we need to find it." Aru muttered. "We already have a hundred dozen copies."

"Eso es imposible. There is only one true heart." She put her misty hands on her hips.

Kara let out a tired sigh. "I suppose explanations are due?"

Aiden nodded.

So did Aru.

Kara pursed her lips. "There are two worlds. Paranormal, and Normal, they've been called that for millenia, now. The Heart of The Sea is a jewel, the most iridescent blue jewel you will ever set your eyes upon. The Heart was taken away from Paranormal, around twenty years ago, and that was when the veil started thinning.

The veil kept the two worlds away, with only ghosts being sent here because well, they're worthless. But without the Heart, the veil began to lose its potency. Other things, monsters, undesirables, began to escape, and began to haunt Normal. Your mothers were the ones who took the Heart away, because they wanted a life in Normal."

"My mom put the real world at risk just because she wanted to live... here? This old place that always smells like salted fish?"

Kara shook her head. "She wanted to live in India, but then the effects of the stolen jewel began to show. The Drownings began because of that, and they're never going to stop. Not even if we return the jewel to Paranormal."

"Then what would be the use?"

Aru didn't get why the jewel needed to go back to Paranormal even if the Drownings wouldn't ever stop.

The spirit contemplated, one heartbeat, two heartbeats, three, and then, "It belongs there. And things should always return to where they belong."

Her words were simple. They shouldn't have affected Aru in the slightest.

But where did she belong?

Gujarat, the place she was born which had Drowned?

This coastal town of Amalfi, where she was brought to after the Drowning?

Was her home here her home at all?

Aiden had gone silent too.

"We will leave tomorrow, buy train tickets to find where we must go. The Heart calls me to the North, but we will need to travel a few states before I truly know where it is. Go home and pack, and... and I'm sorry about your mothers."