Dusk

One, Giana

"No! Don't! Giana did nothing wrong!"
 
"You did, Mortimer. You killed my beasts and tried to kill me. This is the way you will pay: when dusk arises the day your daughter turns sixteen, dark power will rise in her. She will turn evil. She will forget everything in her previous life and she will stay that way unless the Prophecy Gem is found…"
 
I have always lived in fear for the final dusk, but now it is finally arriving.
 
I don't know what to do. My sixteenth birthday is in a week, and when I turn sixteen, I will have no time left.
 
It's hopeless, unless we find the Prophecy Gem.
 
The "we" being Ena, Mika-- my best friends-- and I.
 
"We will find it! Don't worry!" Mika says, but I think she's too optimistic.
 
"Mika, it's in a week. We might as well give up," Ena says, but I think she's too pessimistic.
 
"No one knows," I tell them both.
 
"Wait! What's that?!" Ena points at a bottle floating in the air.
 
Inside the bottle is a rolled up piece of paper.
 
Mika grabs it and reads aloud, "'I can find you, wherever you are. Dark Lady.' Wait what, Dark Lady?!" she gasps.
 
"Well, of course! Who else would write such a nice message?" I say sarcastically.
 
They giggle.
 
"Wait! There's another piece of paper!" I gasp as I realize Mika is holding two pieces of paper. I grab it from her and read aloud. "'Riddle for the Prophecy Gem: Through the forests they trek/ Through the oceans they swim/ Yet what they seek is'--" I stop.
 
"Keep reading!" Ena cries.
 
"The paper is torn in half!" I scream desperately.
 
"No!" Ena shouts.
 
"Say it is not so!" Mika cries.
 
"We won't ever find the Prophecy Gem!" Ena says. "We might as well give up."
 
"Hey, we will!" Mika says.

"Who knows," I say again.
 
"We might as well give up," Ena repeats and swears as we stare at the ground.
 
"Oh stop," Mika sighs.