The Journey to My Heart [Updates Every Thursday!!]

Chapter One ~Crista

"This is what it's come to," I mumble. "I still... can't believe..." I rub my face and take a sharp breath. "After everything we did to fight against Eden... to think we could win. I-"

"Hey. Don't talk like that," John says soothingly beside me in the Day Room, Zaria loved this room; lived in it. And I can see why. Eighteen years of living in this palace and I never really gave a second thought to the Day Room. It always seemed too bright. But now, the brightness of the Day room is the only thing that gives me hope. Three days. How long would it take? Would it ever take?

Lucy? Tyrian? They don't know. They only know what they've seen up until now. Zaria in the Crystal Cave wrapped in a frost cape and a looming dark figure above her. Is that figure Death, just how John described it as a person? Is it Eden? Is it something we can't even comprehend?

"How can you be so calm, John? You know Eden. You know-"

"I do, yes," he says, his voice even, but far off. "I have to trust that this is... okay. Zaria... she's got too much life in her for this to be the end."

"But what if it is?" I argue, my voice getting higher and my nerves becoming shot. "What if that's the reason I have my magic back? How do I have my magic back? It doesn't make any sense. I gave it up. I gave it to Zaria. John, how do I have magic?"

He shakes his head. "I'm not sure, but we'll figure it out." He leans in closer, lowering his voice. "What all does your mother know about your magic?"

"I haven't told her," I admit. "I don't know if I should."

I wasn't prepared to hear that my mother was the one to give us phony slave marks. I wasn't prepared for her to go behind our backs like that. I thought sneaky days for my mother were behind her, especially after giving her a second chance at life. But it seems old habits are hard to push aside. I don't know much about my mother's history of getting herself in trouble and I don't want to know.

What I wanted was just a normal life, with a normal mother who loves me, and a normal family. But normal is all relative.

Lucy, I think to myself. I guess I always knew something was different about her. Taller than everyone else, paler, more graceful... but Fae. I didn't expect that either.

"When do you think she'll wake up?" I ask John, changing the subject. I must have brought this up every other hour since he's been out of prison. He left the moment he felt Eden leave him. He told me about how Eden had enslaved him as her puppet and he told me about the part of Eden that were still inside him. He could feel her struggle to toy with his mind but the magic barrier that Zaria made blocked out Eden's stronger control.

"I'm not sure. No one knows. It could be in a few moments, a few months. Crista, it could be a few years."

"No," I bite, not even wanting to think about Zaria being... whatever she is... in the cave for years.

"I don't like that Lucy and Tyrian can't see anything," John says, unphased by my outburst. "They see the future, right? Why can't they see how this ends?"

I shake my head. "I don't know. I think... our future rides on whether Zaria comes back or not. Two very different fates. I don't think the gods are allowing them to see the future because then where would our trust be? We have to trust. we have to," I say robotically.

"Right. I just wish I knew what exactly happened in the cave that night," John says folding his hands together. "It wouldn't change anything. I just wish I knew the truth."

I look at him. He holds his head down as he balances his elbows on his knees. He's cleaned up since he got out of prison. No one objected to his return. Zaria told Lucy about John before she went into the cave, so his story was told before he escaped. No. I shouldn't use the word escape.