Rising Tides | 2

02 | E m b e r

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Two months later...

Life never goes as planned for anyone and everyone, including me. The gods have accepted the challenge of war, it seems. Whether that means they are to participate or watch the bloodshed, no one knows. They are a mystery to us all, one I hope to understand just the slightest someday. That is, if I live to see the end of this war.

I didn't know what I was getting into when I came here, this world of magic and crazed demagogues. I never knew I would be thrown into the center of a raging revolution. I never planned on ending my short time in the wonders of the mainland by tossing myself into the depths of foreign waters, praying that I would be saved. I never planned to board a ship filled with stalwart rebels and pledge my allegiance to them. I never comprehended the mess I was about to get into.

My life was already a mess and had been for the past few months that I'd been in this realm. Auchterton. My new home. The first two weeks of my new life, I was a citizen. I was out of the spotlight. An ordinary girl. Now, I was a fugitive, a criminal leaving the government itching to lock up.

My experience as a rebel hadn't been exciting. The moment we stepped on the black sand of the island the rebels call Libria, meaning "free", we were stashed in an underground maze. I learned that the entire rebel base was hidden down here as a way to keep their location a secret. It was complete with long, dingy hallways with flickering lights and pipes that ran in hundreds of different directions. When I was shown blueprints for the base, I saw that it was shaped like a sun. All the hallways branched off this one giant, circular pit.

Over the past two months, I had the convenience of celebrating two birthdays, which I suppose have been the only exciting events so far. Adara turned eighteen about a week after landing on Libria. She didn't feel like having a large celebration, but Wren surprised her with one, anyway. Calix had a birthday not long after. We celebrated him turning nineteen.

I'd also met lots of people. Not long after arriving, I learned the name of the guard who kept appearing everywhere I went. His name was Bear Argover. He had short, dark hair and deep brown eyes that matched the dark skin encasing his bulky muscles. I'd only known him since boarding the vessel almost two months ago. However, he insisted on knowing everything about me. Wherever I went, he went too. When I asked him why he followed me so much, Bear told me he had been given orders to protect me. I could tell he thought it was ridiculous, and when I suggested that it was probably so I wouldn't run away, he laughed.

To keep me busy and in shape, General Hatis forced me to participate in training sessions. A brooding girl with fiery red hair and millions of freckles named Rhea Skeldon was responsible for making me the most dangerous person in this realm. She was the first Skeldon I'd come in contact with. I was warned not to push her buttons.

The time that I didn't use to train I used on my friends. Calloway and Gemma got tossed into the mix the moment Adara started talking to them about a book she'd read. Apparently, all three of them had read the same one and had fallen in love. I was also introduced to Giovanni, Calix's friend. He was a lanky boy with strawberry blonde curls and freckles that dotted his pale cheeks. Calix told me that he and Giovanni had grown up together, friends since birth. Their relationship reminded me of my childhood with Jonah. Giovanni hadn't really talked to me, but he was friendly enough.

Today was like any other day. When I woke, my schedule for the day was folded neatly on my nightstand. The rebels put me in a small room with cement walls and a light hanging above my head that buzzed and flickered now and then. All that filled the room was the bunk beds that I shared with Ragan, the nightstand, and some shelves to hold our belongings. Not exactly ornate.