The Star and the Ocean (Book 1 in the Starborn Series)

Chapter Fifty

[Content Warning: Strong language]

The waiting was the worst part.

May tried to swallow but her throat was dry. She fiddled anxiously with her ring. Beside her on her parents' couch, Em sat stock still. Her fingers gripped the tops of her thighs; the only sign she was feeling the heat pressing down on them.

The living room may as well have been a courtroom, May's family a jury already prepared to hand down a guilty verdict. They sat around the room, saying nothing but watching the pair squirm through narrowed eyes. The only person who wasn't scowling was Kai who sat on an armchair, face ashen and staring miserably down at the floor.

Em licked her lips and glanced over to May who only gave the tiniest of imperceptible shrugs in reply.

It was May's father who started.

"What's gotten into you, May?" he asked quietly.

May flinched at the disappointment in his voice. She opened and closed her mouth, wanting justify her actions but uncertain of where to start.

"You rope your brother into some ridiculous lie, go to the mainland with someone you hardly know, and you don't even have the decency to tell your own family where you're going. What if something had happened to you out there?"

Heat scorched May's cheeks. Embarrassed and angry, the lecture made her feel like a child again and she hated it.

"If I had told you we were leaving you would have tried to stop us," she mumbled in reply.

Her mother's face pinched with rage. She brought her palm down hard onto the top of the bookshelf she was standing next to.

"Of course we would have," she hissed, eyes flashing dangerously. "People do not leave this island."

"Which is ridiculous," May snapped back.

"It is dangerous out there."

"No, it's not."

May and her mother glared at one another venomously. The air was hot, crackling with tension. This defiance was completely unlike May, or, at least unlike the May her family had always known. She felt bolder now, desperate to be heard and understood. She wanted her family to give her the benefit of the doubt for a change.

"It's amazing out there." Her tone was a little softer but still insistent. "You wouldn't believe the things I saw."

Her mother stalked forward, eyes locked on her daughter like a wild cat stalking its prey.

"I wouldn't, would I?" she challenged. Her words were sharp. "So, I probably wouldn't know about the creatures that live out there, hmm? The spirits and the monsters? The magic?"

May faltered, her mouth hanging open. A subtle ringing filled her ears. "What?"

"There's a reason you won't find any of that here on Hoku," her father said, his voice far steadier than his wife's. "It's the only place in the world that forbids it. That's why people came here in the first place and it's why no one ever leaves - it's safer here."

The memory of Dom and his enchanted way with the forest flashed across May's mind. She didn't know what was more shocking: this sudden and completely unexpected revelation or the fact that her parents could be so mistaken about what existed beyond their shores.

The world felt like it was beginning to spin faster - or perhaps it was just her, at risk of falling. She wrapped her arms around her body just to feel steady. She glanced at Kai who looked as shocked as she was.