The Light Among Shadows

Edra Renaldi

I looked at Ty expectantly. I did not get an explanation.

'Well?' I prompted him.

Tyler finally turned away from Amanda and looked at me. He took in a deep breath and exhaled loudly. 'Not here Lei, not here.'

Instead of getting irritated that I had to wait for an explanation, I felt elated that Tyler had kept a nickname for me.

'Lei, huh?' I said, flirting a bit.

He smirked at me, 'Should I make it a bit colder so that you stop melting?'

I pushed his shoulder, 'Shut up!'

He laughed.

I was glad that I could raise his spirits even if just a bit.

He tugged at my hand, 'Come on! We don't have forever because the rest of the world is not frozen.'

'Alright, let's go.' I said, laughing.

We ran to the library.

'Why are we at the library?' I said.

'You'll see.' He said, grinning.

He dragged me to the 'Fiction' section. He pulled out a few books to expose a huge portal like thing on the back of the shelf.

'How did I not know about that? I always come to this section!'

'Because you did not know about your own species and were hence counted as a mortal, duh!' he rolled his eyes.

He motioned to the portal. 'After you milady.'

I laughed and crawled through the shelf. The last thing I heard before getting pulled into the portal was Ty snapping his fingers and whispering, 'Cotidianus'

Just thank all the Gods and Angels that I've read so many books that mention portals. Knowing quite a lot about portals, I wasn't that shocked getting pulled into the portal. But then again, reading about something and experiencing it are two very, very different things.

Due to the books, I knew that portals suck you into them and they open up to another portal at your destination and that they get you to your destination in seconds. They're best for long distance travel.

What I didn't know was the physics to it. I guess you're either supposed to dive into it or curl up into a ball. I did neither. I just jumped into it, well rather fell into it. I was practically cart wheeling in air. My hair was a crazy mess, blowing all around me, and an expression of pure shock was on my face.

Suddenly, I fell down right on my face, on exquisite marble flooring. I'm not even kidding, I fell flat on my face, with my limbs spread out.

I struggled to get up. I sat cross-legged on the ground taking in the beauty of the area around me. My inspection was interrupted by loud and obnoxious laughter. And guess who the source was? It was none other than the ever graceful Tyler who had managed a Peter Pan landing.

I got up and dusted my clothes. Then I put my hands on my hips and pouted. 'It's not funny, Peter Pan!'

He wiped a tear from his eye, straightened up and said, 'No, it's not funny at all Ms. Frizzy hair.' And then, he doubled over laughing, again.

I rolled my eyes and allowed myself a smile.

'So are you going to be telling me where we are and giving me your promised explanation?'

He immediately stopped laughing and said, 'Yeah, of course. Follow me.'

'You are at the 'Levis Est Domi'.' He said.

'Doesn't that mean 'Light's house' or something like that?'

'You can speak in Latin?!' he exclaimed, clearly astonished.

'Well, a bit, yeah. Just certain terms.'

'Alright. In other words you're at the palace.'

'Palace, huh...' I said.

I looked around myself. Everything here was beautiful, perfect. There were pictures of previous rulers, most of whom were female. A huge chandelier hung from above. The walls were painted a gorgeous royal purple. There were intricate floral designs in the marble flooring. I read the names of almost every ruler. There were just ten rulers, but each had ruled for around fifty years. I looked at all the portraits but did not find the picture of even one of my parents. Why did Ty call me a princess then? My parents were clearly not rulers according to the list, then how could I possibly be a princess?

I walked up to the most recent ruler. It was a female. It said that she had been ruling since 2007. That meant that she had been ruling for 10 years. She had auburn hair exactly like mine, a small build and height of about 5ft 4inches. She looked exactly like me. The portrait looked like me except with really fancy clothes and a touch of makeup. She was beautiful. Then, I saw her eyes. They were the exact same hazel fading into blue color as mine. I stared right into them. It felt like déjà vu, I knew her, she formed an integral part of my life but then again she seemed so, so far away.

I felt Ty's hand on my shoulder. I looked at his hand and then at him, he turned away from the painting to look at me.

'You seem to recognize her.'

'Surprisingly, I do feel like I know her.'

'Well it shouldn't be surprising.'

'What do you mean?' I said not comprehending a word he said.

'Check her name out.'

I bent down to read the name carved in small yet intricate letters. It said, 'Edra, Edra Renaldi...' I whispered. My eyes had become as wide as Tyler's when he saw my parents' picture, no, my foster parents' picture.

•   •   •

A/n

Well yeah, she was technically adopted. We'll be talking to the parents in the next chapter. So, her real parents were alive but Mariana and Theseus were still dead. in case you're as confused as Leia, don't worry, you'll get your explanation in the next chapter.

About her eyes, they were blue at the outer part of the irises and hazel towards the center. Cool right?!

I'm sorry for the delay in updating. i hope the chapter was worth the wait.

I hope you like the story so far. As usual, comment what you think. And if you're reading the story, thanx a lot, it means a lot to me.

Love ya
💋💋
Wesha