Chapter Two

The screen of my phone read 8:46. I got three texts from Dominic asking where I went. I wasn't ready to talk to anyone, not even him. If I responded it would mean I'd have to go back, and I wasn't ready to do that just yet. I stuffed my phone back into my pocket with the picture and got up from the spot in the sand I'd been lying in for a while now. I lifted my surfboard above my head as the sounds of the ocean got louder with each step I took.

Once I was down by the water, I kicked off my flip flops and ran into the lapping waves with my board. By the time I got half in the water I realized I still had my phone and the picture in my pocket and they'd get ruined.

Who cares about the phone? It's in a waterproof case anyways, my mind convinced me, keeping me from turning back.

Mom and Dad got me an iPhone around when I started hating living here. I hadn't really wanted one or asked for one, I had been fine with my practical old flip phone. It was pretty much their way of saying "Here's a nice gift, now shut up and enjoy Hawaii." Not to sound ungrateful, but I literally could care less about a nice phone. I'd rather use a tin can with a string at the end, especially if it meant we could have stayed in North Dakota.

I paddled out as fast as I could, wanting to get as far from everyone as possible. With every stroke against the water, all I could think about was Kendall, accusing me of cheating off her biology test and the teacher tearing mine up and giving me detention. All I could hear was her voice in my head, every sharp and cruel remark she's ever made to me, louder in my ears than the crash of the waves. I paddled harder and faster to try and drown out these thoughts, but they just kept drowning me instead. I kept remembering all the times she'd tripped me in the halls, pushed me into the lockers, passed notes around the class while laughing and looking right at me. When I closed my eyes all I saw was the word 'Loser' dripping in wet paint along my back window.

I finally got out far enough to the point where my arms were getting tired, and again I felt tears on my cheeks that I angrily blinked away. I sat back on my knees on my surfboard and felt my body rock up and down beneath the water as I sobbed. This deep loneliness settled inside me, and it felt like nothing I could ever do would make it go away. I wrapped my arms around my torso to ease the sinking sensation in the pit of my stomach, but it remained. I watched as my tears dripped down the slope of my nose and into the water, mingling and becoming one with the tide. The wind whispered around me, causing goosebumps to trail up my arms and legs.

"Come home…" a windy voice whispered.

I peered around, but saw no one.

"Come home…"

"I'll never be home again," I sighed.

I sprawled out on my stomach and let my eyelids flutter shut, my wet lashes tickling my cheeks. My hand lazily skimmed the surface of the water, feeling its coolness glide between my fingers. I just rested and enjoyed the feeling of bouncing up and down, gently being rocked like a small child. I felt myself slowly drifting asleep and I didn't try to stop the warmth that was spreading over me.

* * *

A stinging in my sinuses woke me as I struggled to breathe. I opened my eyes and they stung from the salt water as I strained to see. Everything in the dark of night appeared blurry and made my eyes hurt. Water suddenly rushed into my mouth down my throat, making me choke.

I must have fallen off my board, was my first thought as my head broke through the surface.

I went to climb back up on my surfboard, but I felt nothing in the water beside me. Panic surged through me as I twisted around rapidly to try and spot it. My stomach knotted even more when I realized not only couldn't I see my board, but the shore had disappeared too. Not even just the shore, everything was gone. The world was shrouded by the darkness of the night sky, the moon was just a sliver and there wasn't a star in sight. How long had I drifted off for? I couldn't have possibly gone far enough out that the shore would be out of sight.

I forced my mind to calm down and took my best guess which direction to paddle. I had no idea where I was going; it was so dark I could only see a few light spots where the moon reflected on the water's surface. My luck got a little better when I bumped into my surfboard not too far away. I quickly climbed on top, desperate to get out of the water.

My breathing came in short, quick gasps and I tried to calm myself down. Once I regained my composure, I took a deep breath and paddled forwards. I just continued to stare into the dark and feel the goosebumps on my arms as the water splashed up onto my skin. A loud roar filled my ears and I strained to listen to where it came from. My heart leapt into my throat when I recognized the sound. .

The crashing sound of a massive wave forming hit me again. I didn't need to see to know that any second a monstrous surge would come down and wash me away. Just as I predicted, it hit me like lightening, knocking the breath out of me and sending me off my board tumbling under the water. I swam up and burst through the surface, taking in a sharp breath just to get smashed back down again.

I felt like someone had me by the ankle and they were dragging me far out to sea, the ocean refusing to let me go as I kicked and thrashed. I rolled around for a while until I emerged again, only to be pulled back under. I started to go numb and my body was aching from both trying to swim and being so waterlogged. I couldn't tread anymore and the waves were too rough for me to float. This was it, I was going to drown.

I couldn't fight anymore to try and stay above water, so I just took in one last breath and let the waves carry me where they wanted. It was like I was caught in a current, a specific belt of suction that was spiraling me down deeper under the surface with each passing second. I felt so tired and weak that I wasn't even afraid anymore, my body too limp to even attempt to save itself. As the cold liquid poured into my lungs as my body gasped and heaved for air that wasn't there, I tried to open my eyes beneath the water one more time. I saw through the dark something even darker up ahead. By the time I got about ten feet away I saw that it was a massive rock. Wait, that was no rock…

Cliff! I thought in panic, remembering my dream and how I had blacked out before I hit the rocks.

I squeezed my eyes shut and tried to grasp the edge of consciousness that I was hanging from. I couldn't stand this burning in my lungs anymore; they were going to burst or something. Hopefully I'll die before they pop because I'm guessing it doesn't feel too pleasant when your lungs explode in your chest. I was approaching the cliff at a rapid speed, caught in this current that was pulling me closer. I waited to feel my bones shatter on impact.

Instead of feeling a break or a snap, I felt like I was stuck. I realized that there was a wide fissure in the cliffside, and I just happened to be able to fit through it, mostly. My head, shoulders, and torso fit but I was stopped at my waist from proceeding.

With the last bit of energy I had in me, I shifted to the side and wriggled my hips free, sending my body soaring through the fissure and into the tunnel in the cliff. It was amazing how deep this crevice was, like it had been carved and eroded for years by the sediments in the water. As I was pulled through this endless fissure, I felt like I was falling, the tunnel suddenly dropping down like it led all the way to the center of the earth. Up ahead I saw a faint light.

Is this the light you're supposed to see when you're dying?

Just as the light got closer, I think my lungs finally popped. By the time I could almost touch the light, a heavy black curtain fell over me in the dark shade of unconsciousness, weighing a ton. I couldn't lift it up and I couldn't push it away. My muscles gave in and the dark curtain won, coming over me to signify the end of the show.

* * *

My brain seemed to fire up again when I felt my body shift, but I couldn't find the ability to open my eyes. I felt something soft and padded beneath my aching back and a gentle fabric was pulled up over my body. It felt so nice, like I was being swaddled by a cloud. Every inch of me ached including my eyes, but I finally forced them to open. This was a mistake; the second they opened they burned in their sockets at the sudden brightness around me.

"Ow!" I moaned, cursing and squeezing my eyes shut tight, rubbing them violently with my knuckles.

"The salt burns sometimes," a low voice said.

I jumped and let out a startled yelp at the close distance the voice had come from. I rubbed my eyes a few more times and then cautiously opened them again, feeling my heart pounding as I searched around for who had spoken.

A boy appearing close to my own age was sitting at my side, his eyes carefully judging my facial features as mine were his. He had to be the strangest looking person I'd ever seen in all my life. He was probably the world's palest person; his skin was so fair you could almost see through it, some blue-ish veins clearly visible in his strong looking arms and hands. The skin was strange, it had a pearly hue to it in the light. He had fair golden hair that reminded me of the color of gingerale or a very pale shade of honey. His irises were…white, like two opals resting in his eye sockets with hints of pinks and blues sparkling around the edges. They didn't look like they were white though, they looked almost clear with white reflecting through, like when you hold an object behind a piece of broken glass and the color mirrors through. As strange as his eyes were I found them beautiful as I studied their unusual color in wonder.

"My apologies, I did not mean to startle you." He offered me a kind smile.

"Who are you?" I asked nervously.

"My name is Aden."

"Y-you're not gonna hurt me, are you?"

The pale boy chuckled. "I wasn't planning to, no. Here, this should help with the pain in your eyes."

He reached out cautiously to me and placed a cool, wet cloth over them. I sighed in relief as the coldness numbed the burning as the salt tried to dry up my eyeballs.

"Thank you, but where am I? How did I get here?" I asked, leaning my head against what felt like a pillow.

"Are you in any more pain?" he asked me slowly, not answering my questions. He sounded almost like he was afraid of me, his voice unsure. The way he spoke to me reminded me of how you'd hold your hand out to try and feed a wild animal.

I tried to picture the expression he was wearing now in his opal colored eyes. I was about to shake my head no when the slightest motion seemed to have paralyzed me from the waist down. My hips were aching where they scraped against the fissure in the cliff and the center of my back was throbbing from being smashed against the rocks. Every inch of my body felt bruised all the way to the bone.

"Everything hurts…" I moaned, biting my lip to hold back a shriek of pain as my lungs heaved when I spoke.

"Well this should take care of it," he said.

He took the cloth back, and I was going to protest, but I thought it would hurt my lungs and raw throat so I held my tongue. The boy placed his hand lightly under my chin and tipped my head back, making my heart skip a beat when I thought he was going to try to kiss me. Instead, he held a small brown vial to my lips and trickled a sour tasting liquid down my throat.

I puckered my lips and gagged as I swallowed, killing my stinging throat. That had to have been the nastiest thing I have ever tasted in my life, like drinking acid. It tasted the way a skunk smells mixed with low tide and garbage. I managed to swallow and hoped I could keep it down and not puke everywhere.

"I know it tastes awful, but try and hold it down," the boy, Aden, apologized, uttering a lighthearted laugh that made me smile slightly at him.

"What is that stuff?" I asked, barely recognizing my own voice. I sounded like an eighty-year-old smoker with throat polyps.

"It is pain killer, it should suffice," he replied.

I coughed a few times into my hand, churning my stomach. I got nervous when I saw some blood had come up with the sea water. I cupped my hand in embarrassment, hoping the boy didn't see the blood. From the worry lines on his face, I could tell he did.

"I wouldn't worry about that," he reassured me, reading the distress in my eyes.

I went to smile at him, but I was suddenly overpowered by exhaustion. It came out of nowhere, clouding my thoughts and putting a haze before my eyes. My head slumped back lifelessly against the pillow as I fought with my eyelids, forcing them to stay open. This feeling was like the time I had knee surgery when I tore my ACL in soccer and they put me under anesthesia. It was so sudden and strong it was impossible to fight.

"What's…happening? What did you…give me?" I babbled, sounding incredibly drugged as I slurred my words.

"It is just the pain medicine," he reassured me.

I managed to lift my head so I could sit up, but the boy just pushed me back by my shoulders. I was too weak to fight his strength, and I had a feeling that I wouldn't be able to take him even if I wasn't feeling loopy.

"Just sleep so you won't hurt anymore. We shall watch over you," he said, sounding far away.

"Wait, where…am I? What's happening?" I slurred.

"Just rest for now and heal."

I did as he commanded and I gave into the torpor, letting my eyelids drop.

* * *

A light tug on my hand woke me up and pulled me from my insane drugged land. I had the strangest dreams, some I couldn't even remember completely. I think there had been a mermaid in the ocean with me teaching me how to surf, and I had laughed at how she stood on the board on her tail. I tried to clear my thoughts as my eyes fluttered open and went towards my left hand where I felt that tugging again.

Standing beside me was a little toddler, and they were playing childishly with my fingers and tugging on something attached to me that made me wince. I smiled down at the sweet little face as their round eyes met mine.

"Kyler?" I heard the hope deflate from my voice once I started the second syllable.

This child wasn't Kyler. First of all it was a little girl, I could tell from the flower in her golden hair and length of her eye lashes. Second, she looked older than Kyler, maybe about three years old. As I studied her closer, I also noticed she looked a lot like that boy had. She had the same pearly pale skin, light golden honey hair, and those strange reflective opal eyes. When she saw me looking at her she smiled, revealing a tiny row of little teeth.

"Hello!" she giggled, tilting her chin down bashfully.

'Hello." I smiled back at her.

I wondered to myself where she had come from until I heard something rattle beside me. I looked up—which took a lot of effort— and saw that same boy from earlier attaching a bag of clear fluid to a hook on a metal pole. I think he'd said his name was Aden. He turned his head around and his eyes grew panicked when he saw the little girl playing with my hand.

"Ariet no!" he cried, going over and carefully removing a thin clear tube from her hand. He scooped her up over his shoulder and spun her around three times before placing her back on the ground.

"Again!" she chirped, attempting to reach up to him as she tottered dizzily to the side.

Aden looked over at me and shot me an apologetic smile. "I am sorry, my sister likes to get into things sometimes." He playfully petted her head of light bouncy curls and she held onto his leg while she still tried to steady herself.

"It's fine," I said uncaringly, smiling at the little girl.

"She did not cause you pain, did she?"

His question surprised me, and then he gently tapped on the back of my left hand. I looked down and then cringed, quickly looking away. In the back of my hand an IV had been placed, right through my veins and around the tiny branch like bones. I let out a groan and I think he thought I meant she had hurt me.

"No, I just don't like needles," I grinned sheepishly, looking down at the tube in the tender flesh of my hand.

"You have no need to worry, I set it myself," he smiled proudly. His smile faded the same time I felt the color drain from my face. "Do not worry, that was not my first."

I sighed with relief, although I still felt unsure about him. So my thoughts of this strange boy have gone from him to trying to kiss me, to drugging me and knocking me out cold, to being a doctor now. He couldn't be any older than seventeen or eighteen years old though, there's no way he was a doctor. I don't know why but I trusted him, maybe it was his small soft smile that made me believe in him, or it was the shimmery opal color of his eyes.

A gentle knock made us both look up. For the first time I noticed I was in a room. Not just a room, but a room that appeared to have walls made of glass, thin white curtains hanging over each to offer some privacy. Now that I thought about it, the whole room was white; the floor, the walls, the curtains, the bed and even the blankets. No wonder I'd been blinded when I'd first opened my eyes, it was like the sun's glare of fresh fallen snow in here.

Standing with the glass door a crack was a small, slender woman. She had a youthful glow to her face, but there were tired circles under her eyes that seemed to age her slightly. She had the same strange skin and eyes, and her hair was that light pale honey color too, only hers was curled and pinned neatly on the crown of her head.

"Mama, we spin!" the little girl named Ariet sang, skipping over to the woman and hugging her leg.

The woman tenderly kissed the top of her head and tucked a strand of hair behind the little girl's ear. The look on her face was very delicate, the way a mother smiles down at the innocence of her child.

"That is wonderful sweetheart. Now why don't you go play with your sisters and let your brother work?" her voice sounded so sweet and smooth, it was like music flowing from the bow of a violin.

Ariet giggled and then skipped out of the room as the woman shook her head and smiled.

"How are you holding out?" she asked the boy, smiling wryly at him.

"Fine Alexa. She is awake at last," he grinned at me.

"And how does she fair?" the woman turned her attention on me.

I opened my mouth to say fine, but only a dry squeak came out and I broke off into a coughing spell. My lungs ached as they heaved in my chest. I half expected them to come up my throat.

"Not too well I can see." Her face fell and that aged looked returned and overpowered her youth.

"I'm fine," I croaked, my voice cracking slightly.

"Do you have her hydrated?" she asked him.

He nodded and gently poked the clear bag he'd been hanging on the pole earlier. I saw the clear tube attached to the bag looped all the way down to the IV in my hand.

"Could I possibly see my parents now?" I questioned, interrupting their talk about me staying hydrated.

They both blinked at me in confusion and looked warily at one another. When they turned back to me, I felt my heart sink as I slouched back against my pillow.

"What, did they leave because they had a meeting or something?" I grumbled, crossing my arms and aching my chest when I did so.

They both slowly shook their heads, their expressions starting to make me nervous.

"We have not seen your parents. You were found at the shore near the pipe lines alone. You were barely breathing. Once I resuscitated you I brought you here," Aden said in a low voice.

I frowned inquisitively at him. Had I miraculously gotten out of that hole in the cliffs and floated all the way back to shore after I'd blacked out where someone found me and brought me to the hospital? No way, my luck wasn't that good. I don't think anyone's was.

"Well…where am I now? Isn't this the hospital?" I asked them.

"You are in the Malu Palace infirmary," said the woman gently.

Malu Palace? Was that the name of the Mahina hospital? They made it sound so fancy, like a five star hotel or an expensive restaurant.

"How'd I get here?" I squeaked.

"I was out scouting when I found you along the shore. Your heart was still beating so I carried you here," he said.

"Well, could I call my parents and let them know I'm…okay?" I said warily. I wondered if they'd even care if I wasn't. One less kid to scold the better.

"We can send word out to them. You are from the southern colonies, correct?" the woman asked, pulling a small notepad from the pocket of her light blue skirt.

"What colonies?"

She furrowed her brow at me, "The colonies outside of the palace here in Palekana."

Okay, pretty much everything they've been saying to me hasn't made sense. Pipelines, Malu Palace, the colonies, 'Palekana'. Maybe I was just loopy from that nasty pain medicine and I was still having those weird dreams. Their worried expressions told me that I wasn't dreaming though.

"Alexa, something tells me she is not from here," Aden told her, gesturing his hand towards me like there was a clear distinction between me and them.

"Do you think she is from…" her eyes widened in fear and he nodded gravely. She stared at me with a look of terror and seemed to be pulling the boy away from me like I had some contagious disease.

"What's the problem?" I asked.

Neither of them answered, they both just watched me closely.

"Are you of the surface?" he asked, taking a slow step towards me like I was some alien.

I frowned, setting my jaw in a puzzled manner. Surface? Does he mean, like the surface of the Earth? Don't we all kind of live on the Earth's crust?

"What do you mean? I live in Mahina, Hawaii, 55 Bright Street. You know, in America? Am I at least still in the same country?" I said.

His face showed no signs of recognition to the words I just said, he just remained blank. Now I'm really worried, these people don't even know what America is. How far from home did they take me exactly to this fancy hospital?

"Mahina?" he repeated thoughtfully.

The woman, Alexa, grabbed him by the elbow and urgently pulled him out the door and around the corner. I knew they were still there, I could hear their panicked voices as they spoke quickly to each other. They were gone awhile and I lie there fearfully listening to them speak, my heart going a mile a minute as my brain raced to come up with a logical explanation for the things they were saying. They finally came back in the room with expressionless faces.

"Come with me," Aden said, standing at my bedside.

"Why? What's going on?" I asked nervously.

He didn't answer me, he just pulled back the blanket and quickly hurried me to my feet. My legs felt weak and I nearly collapsed to the floor, catching myself on his shoulder. Seeing I couldn't walk too well at the moment, he scooped me into his arms with ease, careful not to pull on my IV tube. He was a lot stronger than I had thought; he was only holding me with one arm while the other unhooked my IV fluid bag. I wasn't sure why I was being carried off somewhere, but I was too afraid to ask.

"We are so sorry…" the woman muttered, lightly stroking my cheek before ducking out of the room. I noticed her snow colored eyes were moist and tears were trickling down her cheeks. I wonder why she was crying. And what was she sorry for?

Aden carried me down the hall, walking at an even pace and showing no signs that I was too heavy for him. The hall was long and wide, also white, and it smelt incredibly clean like fresh linen. We passed by many other patient's rooms, and I wasn't sure if I saw correctly, but in one of the rooms I saw what looked like a giant bird wing. It had to be at least eight feet long, and I stared at it wide eyed until the room was out of sight and we were exiting what appeared to be the hospital area.

Once he stepped through the door, Aden seemed to start moving a little faster, practically running now. He walked hurriedly over to a tall, thick man wearing clothes made of what looked like the material of that soft blanket I had in that room and he had a black helmet over his head.

"Abel, take us up," he said to the man urgently.

The man looked at him coolly and then his eyes moved unsurely to me in his arms. I noticed his eyes had that same reflective appearance to them, only they were a rich black like the color of his helmet. Aden shot him a look that was almost hostile, and I cringed at his sudden fierceness. The man pulled back a lever, making a thick chain that hung from above start to tighten. As he did so, I felt us rising upwards. My voice was still lost with my fear so I couldn't muster enough courage to ask where he was taking me. I was almost afraid of the answer.

We stopped after a minute of rising up and he ran out of the 'elevator', saying a quick goodbye to the man with the black eyes. He lugged me down the hall and then turned sharply into a nearby room, slamming shut the large metal door. He sat me down on the ground and then to my surprise he let out a loud cry. I stared up at him in alarm as his body began to tremble and all the muscles in his back appeared to tense up beneath his thin shirt. He paced back and forth, clutching his temples and digging his fingers into his light-colored hair as he muttered anxiously to himself.

Maybe he's having a nervous breakdown, I thought.

I just sat there and stared in horror at the shaking mumbling boy before me. I wondered if I could make a break for it and try to find a way out of here while he was busy muttering to himself. When he finally took a long, deep breath and turned on me, I cringed back away from him, trying to hide into the smooth hard wall.

He stepped closer to me and then crouched down to my eye level and I whimpered and tried to hide from him, wishing I could flatten myself even more against the wall. His face seemed calmer, but he was still tense, the muscles in his neck bulging under the tension he felt. His eyes, I noticed, were no longer those two soft opals, but now they were dark with flecks of a glowing orange like a flame. Not even black, more like they were absorbing the darkness around us. It was dark in this room; there were torches hung on the walls, barely illuminating the blackness.

"St-stay away from me," I cautioned him.

"Do not worry. I will not hurt you," he tried to reassure me, "I am not going to let anything happen to you."

I squinted at him in confusion. "What do mean, what's gonna happen to me? What's going on?" I felt my heart rate increase along with my breathing as I watched his dark eyes dance in the torch light.

"No harm shall come to you as long as I am here. Just let me take care of everything," he said.

"W-what's going on?" I repeated, more tense this time.

He didn't answer me again as he stood up at his full height—which had to be close to six feet—and he fumbled around in the dimly light room. I heard him feeling around in the dark, objects rustling and metal clanging like he was desperately looking for something.

Aden came back over to me with two small white boxes. He opened the first, which was filled with medical supplies, and pulled out a thin roll of gauze. Taking my left hand, he held it securely and started to remove the tape around my IV and then he pulled the small tube out. I cringed and tried to pull away, but he held on tighter, pressing a strip this strange gauze-like material over the tiny bleeding pinhole.

He sat back and studied me closely, looking me up and down like he was trying to guess what I'd had for lunch. His black eyes lit up as an idea seemed to hit him. Getting up and searching in the dark again, he came back holding what looked like a wooden can of paint and a paintbrush. He dropped it beside me and held his hand out to me, pulling me to my feet. At least I could stand somewhat more steadily now. I watched him curiously as he opened the can and dipped the brush in the white paint, holding it out to me expectantly.

"What…are you doing?" I asked unsurely as he inched closer with the brush.

"Your skin is too dark, I need to make it look more normal," he said, and I wanted to laugh.

He wants to make me look normal? He's the one with the pearly skin and the translucent eyes that change color. Maybe this was what normal was for the people from around wherever here was, and compared to all of them I was the strange one.

"Why?" I raised my eyebrow.

He groaned in frustration and grasped me by the elbow, making me start when he pulled me closer to him so he was speaking close to my ear.

"Listen to me. It is not safe for you to be here. Your arrival needs to remain a secret or else it could mean death for us all," he let out a shaky breath, "The council spoke to the hospital and they wish to have you disposed of to protect the city, that is what I was sent to do, but I will not do it…" He was staring at me with a look of pleading in his eyes.

"W-what?" I cried, feeling strangled by panic. He was sent to kill me? What kind of hospital is this? "I don't understand, where am I and what's going on? How did I get here? You need to answer me!"

He shook his head, "I shall explain everything later, but if you wish to survive you must do as I say and trust me."

I nodded to show that I'd obey him since I didn't really want to die. He ordered me to stand with my arms to my sides and my legs spread apart as he quickly slid the paint brush up and down my skin. The soft bristles tickled, and I let out a few occasional giggles, but I tried to remain serious like he did.

The paint dried quickly and he found me what he called "normal" clothes to wear. Since there wasn't time to find a bathroom to change, I just slid the soft gray dress over my red bikini and shorts. I guess my flip flops had washed away in the ocean because I was standing barefoot on the cold stone floor. He handed me a pair of small, strange looking braided sandals, helping me tie them around my calves. Oh yeah, these clothes were totally "normal".

"Much better," Aden said, holding his arm beside mine. "But your hair is much too dark, it will stand out." He rummaged around in a small chest until he found something that he thought could work. He handed me a black shroud-like cloth with a hood and I tied it quickly around my shoulders.

"That should do it," he smiled hopefully, pulling the hood over my head and tucking a loose strand of hair behind my ear. He seemed a little more reassured now that I blended in better.

"Now what?" I questioned, pushing the hood back from over my eyes so I could see him. He stood there blankly, the wheels in his head turning as his mind raced.

"I will have to take you to the shore so you can get back to your own world," he said.

"My own world?" I questioned, raising an eyebrow at him in confusion.

"Like I said, I will explain later," Aden said calmly.

He grabbed my hand and towed me towards the door, opening it a crack and peering out to see if the coast was clear. We walked nonchalantly down the hall like we were two normal kids out for a Sunday stroll. I could feel both of our tension knotting into one giant stress ball, and from the strange looks we were getting my guess was that other people could feel it too. What if they all noticed I wasn't like them? What would happen?

"Aden?" a soft voice questioned from behind us.

We turned around and saw a young girl standing there with her hands judgingly on her hips. She had that same pale golden hair, but hers was styled into an elegant braid that cascaded down to the backs of her knees. There were small light purple flowers twined in with her braid and she wore a thin gold band around her head. It reminded me of a crown, which made me wonder if she had some authority around here, even though she looked no older than fourteen. The way she walked fluidly and the haughty way she held her head told me that she definitely had some power.

"Cousin," Aden said, giving her a polite but rushed bow.

The girl's eyes zoomed in on our hands, which were twined together, and she gave him a puzzled look.

"Who is this?" her eyes bore into mine, and the look she was giving me made me want to shrivel up inside myself and die. She had an even scarier mean look than Kendall did; it chilled me to my very core and made me quickly drop my eyes.

"Adalynn…" he groaned impatiently, seeming to want to escape her almost as much as I did.

She narrowed her eyes and tapped her foot, which was covered by a sandal similar to the one I was wearing.

"Well?" she threw her braid over her shoulder and twirled it around her fingers. She was scrutinizing me carefully when I realized my eyes didn't change colors the way theirs did. They were a bright crystal blue all the time, no matter what, and I quickly lowered them so she wouldn't notice.

"This is…Adelia, a friend of mine whom you do not know," he said slowly.

I wanted to slap my forehead in frustration from the poor tone of his lie. This guy seriously needs to work on his lying skills, that was awful. She didn't seem to have detected his lie though. Either she was naïve or she just had a very good poker face.

"A friend?" Her eyes again didn't miss our joined hands and he quickly released my fingers, feeling her stare on them.

"Yes. Now if you do not mind, we are in a hurry," he said sharply, taking me by the elbow and pulling me past her.

She spun around and did a double back flip better than any cheerleader could execute, landing stealthily on the balls of her feet right in front of us. Aden cautiously shifted me behind his back like he thought if she couldn't see me than she'd forget I was even here. She peered around him to take another look at me, seeming to already know the truth behind his pathetic lies.

"What are you up to?" Adalynn questioned, her elegant but strong looking body blocking our escape through the stone archway we were heading to.

"Nothing of your concern, now stand aside." Aden remained calm, keeping a cool stone mask on to hide the fear I had seen in his eyes earlier.

She took a small skip-like step back and allowed us to pass through, but her eyes remained fixed on us. "Audrina will not be pleased if she comes across you with her," I heard her call after him.

I thought I saw him roll his eyes out of the corner of mine, but I wasn't sure since he was jerking me around a corner to escape her at the same moment.

We turned down the long, winding hallway and then he pulled me through a doorway and out onto a ledge. The ledge had no railing and it was incredibly high up, sticking off the side of the massive building. I dug my heels into the ground and he struggled to pull me forwards. What if he had lied and this was how he was going to try and kill me, by pushing me over the ledge so I'd fall and break my neck at the bottom?

"Stop, what are you doing?" I cried fearfully, tugging against him to try and break free.

"Do not fear," he said calmly.

"Hard not to when you're pushing me off a cliff," I cringed back again.

"Trust me."

For some reason I did trust the soft edge in his voice, so I let out a shaky breath and stepped out guardedly beside him. What if he tried to push me over the edge?

"W-what are we doing?" I stammered, looking down at the steep fall.

Up here you could see the entire glistening white acropolis we were in; it sprawled out for miles both vertically and horizontally. I studied the strange material that the building was made of, seeing what looked like crushed seashells cemented together to form this impressive structure. As high up as we were, we weren't anywhere near the top. When I looked up I couldn't see any signs of a roof, it just seemed to rise up and continue on forever into the thick mist that floated above. Maybe we were in the sky and this dream-like castle was up in the clouds.

"Hold onto me and jump when I say so," Aden commanded, wrapping a strong arm around my waist and pressing me tightly to his side.

"Jump?" I nearly choked with panic. "Are you kidding?"

"We do not have time for kidding. Just trust me and hold on," he said again.

I still don't know exactly why I was listening to him or why I was continuing to trust him, but figuring he was doing this instead of killing me I thought it would be a good idea to obey him. I threw my arms around his shoulders and clung to his side, waiting for his signal as my heart beat wildly in my ears.

He placed two of his fingers between his lips and let out an ear-piercing whistle that went on for three pitches, each one getting higher and making me cringe. He squinted his eyes as he looked out into the distance, seeming to be searching for something hiding in the fog. I noticed his eyes were now light and cloudy like the mist above us, his irises absorbing the cottony texture and making it their own.

"Jump!" he shouted to me, and I felt his grip tighten on my bruised waist as we shot up into the air and over the ledge.

Okay, I've seen enough to make a reasonable assumption that this boy is insane. I let out a high-pitched scream as we dropped, which was suddenly muffled a split second later when my face hit something warm and soft. I coughed and sat up, tasting feathers on my tongue. My nose was throbbing now since I had smashed it into whatever had collided with us. I looked down and saw the ground was far below and it wasn't getting any closer, but farther away. I scooted as far from the edge as I could until I bumped into Aden. What are we flying on now?

I wanted to let out a scream but it got caught in my throat. My heart started beating a mile a minute, aching my chest as it pounded against my bruised ribs. The scream finally made its way out as I took in the sight of the colossal bird creature that we were flying on.

The giant bird looked back at me as I let out an ear-splitting cry, its intelligent round black eyes staring into mine and making me feel like I was in some sort of delusional dream. It was colored like a panda bear, a white face with dark black feathers around the eyes and along part of its back and wings. The bird had a long thin beak that looked like it was made of titanium and its wingspan had to be about fifteen feet easy.

I cringed back away from its penetrating eyes until Aden caught me by the shoulders to try and calm me. My breath came in short gasps as I continued to stare in terror at this monstrous thing. After all the strange things that have been going on since I woke up, this had to be the one to take the cake.

"It is okay, it is just my firebird, Ashlynn," Aden said in a calm tone.

Upon hearing its name, the monstrous bird looked back at me again and gave me what looked like a beaked smile. Its eyes creased in a friendly way, which made me feel uneasy and sort of dizzy.

"W-what…your what?" I stammered unintelligibly as the logical part of my brain went to war with my vision and what I was seeing.

"It is a pleasure to meet you," the bird said in a sweet, high voice that made my jaw drop in shock.

Did this giant bird just speak? Usually when people tell their pet to speak they meant it figuratively, animals don't talk and that was just the natural and comforting way that things are. Maybe I was having one of those crazy dreams from the pain killer again.

"Oh my god, the giant bird just talked," I gasped, not meaning for the words to escape my mouth.

Aden laughed musically like I had just asked if a cat meowed or if a dog barked. I couldn't even fake a smile for him, I was honestly one hundred percent freaked out and in need of an urgent explanation as to where logic had gone and when it would be coming back.

"Yes, of course she can speak. The same as you and I. Although she does speak Manu as well," he said.

I wasn't even going to ask what language "Manu" was. I asked no more questions, I just tried breathing in through my nose and out through my mouth to calm myself down. We soared high in the air until we were up in what looked like the clouds. I couldn't see a thing so I hoped the bird knew where it was going. It was so thick and foggy I could barely even see Aden. His transparent skin appeared to blend in with the smoky mist perfectly.

"The mist should cover us so we can escape the city limits," he explained to me.

He told me it shouldn't be long until we were at the shore. After all the exhausting events of today, I just wanted to sleep. I cautiously slid myself forward until I was lying on my stomach on the back of this majestic creature. The feathers were actually incredibly soft and fluffy. I closed my eyes and drifted asleep, tracing my fingers dreamily along the soft black feathers until my arm went limp.

* * *

A light nudging in my side woke me. I opened my eyes and peered around until I met Aden's face above mine, reminding me that the world was still crazy.

"We are here," he said.

I sat up and took in my surroundings. We were still on the back of that giant bird, but she had landed and was nesting in a small pile of sand while her talons dug deep down into the smooth white ground. The water was calm and still along the shore, not a wave in sight. My eyes lit up with hope at the close sight of the ocean, the one reliable thing that was normal to me. If I could get across the water, I'd be back on the beach and back home. I looked around for a boat or something, but I saw nothing except the endless sea.

"Oh no!" cried Aden, whacking himself on the forehead and leaving a light red mark that quickly faded. "The tide is high, you'll never make it through the pipes…" He hopped down off the giant bird and began pacing back and forth in the sand, running his hand along its smooth feathers.

"What pipes?" I asked, jumping down and falling to my knees on the ground. I quickly stood and brushed the sand off my legs.

"The pipe system, it is how you got here. They had sucked you in out of your ocean and brought you into ours. There is no way to get back to the surface from this way with the tide this high, unless you could fight the current…" His face fell and his eyes looked hopeless.

"I can do it, I'm a strong swimmer," I tried to reassure him, even though the thought of pushing against a powerful current with my aching body didn't sound too fun at the moment.

"It is not a matter of being a strong swimmer," Aden told me, "it is more so about being impenetrable. At the velocity of the rocks and other objects caught in the high tide, you'll be torn to shreds." He winced slightly, and I did too.

"Then what do I do? Can't I just swim out that way?" I pointed in the direction of where the horizon met the water.

He shook his head and paced again, "No, that will take you to the west and you shall be killed for sure if you go there. I do not think you understand. The surface where you are from is nowhere near here and it is not somewhere you can simply swim to. It is hundreds and thousands of miles above while we are deep down below the ocean itself."

"Wait, we're under the ocean?" I asked.

Had that crevice I got sucked into actually led me straight down below the Earth's surface?

"Well what is this place called?" I questioned.

"This is Palekana," Aden said, "It was meant to be the safest place on Earth, and it was, until we had to face what was already dwelling down here before us."

"So how long have people lived down here?"

He thought for a moment, "Maybe five or six hundred years now. Our civilization had been led beneath the seas for protection by the Great Chief, Adoniia."

"Why did he bring everyone down here?" I asked. "And how did he even know this place existed so far below if no one had seen it before?"

"He claimed the gods gave him visions of the future, showing him destruction and the world's end, and he saw a place far beneath the seas that was meant to save us all, so he brought his people down here for safety and he built the city of Malu," he said.

I shook my head in disbelief. "No freakin way. This can't be real, I've gotta be dreaming or something."

Aden frowned. "What makes you believe that this is a dream?"

"Umm, because stuff like this doesn't exist," I gestured towards everything around us all at once. "People don't live in underground cities, birds aren't fifty feet tall and don't talk, and people don't have visions of the future, that's just not real."

"It is in Palekana," he whispered. "Tell me, is it much different on the surface?"

I nodded. "Very, compared to where I'm from this place is like…some sort of fantasy world, like something from the movies or something."

"I suppose that if your people would find my world strange then I would find yours very peculiar as well," he said thoughtfully.

"Do people…up there know about this place?" I asked, unsure of how to describe where I'm from.

He shook his head. "No, very few have come here from the surface after the retreat hundreds of years ago. Some have fallen, but most were not as lucky as you had been."

I frowned in confusion. "What do you mean? What happened to them?"

Aden let out a long sigh. "Well, some surface people have drowned in the pipe system, but they were the lucky ones…" he broke off for a moment, "those who were less fortunate to have survived were captured by the Lanakilas where they were most likely tortured and killed. Some were even found by the Po'eles." His voice became distant after those words came out and his eyes became hazy. He sat down in the sand and crossed his legs.

"What are…Lanakilas and Po'eles?" I asked, feeling I pronounced them both wrong.

I sat down beside him in the same fashion and looked up at his face. His eyes were now a soft cream color with a granular texture to them just like the sand. His eyes reminded me of a chameleon the way they changed colors to his surroundings.

"Lanakilas are the humans on the west side of Palekana. During Adoniia's great retreat, there was a group that did not believe in his ways of peacefully settling in Palekana, but instead they wished to conquer and dominate the creatures that already dwelled here in order to survive. This group broke off from the tribe and left to form their own colonies," he said.

"Did a lot of people join that side?" I asked him.

"Sadly many of them did. They were led by Adoniia's brother, Bahram. Adoniia warned his brother to not disrupt the peace they had come in, but Bahram wanted power, even if it meant going to war with his own brother."

I bit the inside of my cheek. "Did they go to war?"

Aden nodded slowly. "In time, war broke out. It began slowly though. Bahram and his followers made their tribe known as Lanakila, and they joined forces with the Po'eles, promising them shared power over all of Palekana. Adoniia's people named their tribe Malu for peace, and they did all they could to hold the peace and to protect those Bahram and the Po'eles tried to destroy and overtake."

"So the one tribe became two that hated each other?"

"Unfortunately. And as time went on, a human of the surface fell similarly to how you did, only she possessed great power. Flowers bloomed where she walked and she had the ability to control the elements at her whim. Adoniia declared her our savior where she was trained to master the elements as well as reach spiritual enlightenment in order to protect us from the impending war Adoniia envisioned."

"So is that why they hate people from where I'm from? Because of her?" I questioned.

"She would not join them, so they declared all surfacers the enemy as well. Any that fell from above where taken prisoner, tortured, and killed." He shook his head in disgust. "For decades, my people used to protect your people when they would fall…"

"Used to?"

He sighed. "We could only intervene for so long. When a human would fall from above, so much bloodshed would occur to protect their life and we would lose so many of our own. It became too dangerous, so now we have a law set that if a surface creature enters Malu territory they must be executed immediately before the Lanakilas hear of it. We consider it mercy to be killed by our people instead as we are quick and humane while the Lanakilas are a much more brutal."

I paused a moment. "So…you were supposed to kill me quick and mercifully?"

I heard him swallow roughly. He nodded, his eyes cast out on the horizon line that disappeared into an endless fog.

"You're not going to…right?"

"I am not like them," he said quickly.

I hesitated with my next question. "Have you…done it before? Killed someone from where I'm from?"

"No."

We were both quiet a moment, Aden continuing to stare vacantly into the distance. The way his eyes looked, I couldn't imagine the things that he was seeing before them in his mind.

"What about those Po'ele things you mentioned? What're they? Would they try to kill me too?" I questioned.

As he took a deep breath in to speak, the giant bird, Ashlynn, suddenly flitted from her sandy nest and flew over towards us. She landed and urgently pecked Aden in the back, her round eyes full of panic.

"Danger! Danger!" she hissed, taking his shirt in her beak and tugging on it to get him to stand.

Aden got to his feet and helped me up too, his eyes wide with panic as he stared at his bird. Horror filled his eyes as he looked down at me and grabbed me by the arm, dragging me towards the rocky cove that rested along the cliffs that surrounded us and the ocean.

"What is it now?" I asked.

"No time to explain! Quickly, come with me!" he whispered.

I couldn't keep up with his pace so he swiftly hoisted me up onto his back without breaking stride. I wrapped my arms tightly around his neck, hoping I wasn't strangling him. He showed no signs of having any difficulty breathing so I think he was okay. That or he was just very polite.

He ran behind Ashlynn with me on his back and we all huddled far back inside the damp cave. It wasn't very small, but it became claustrophobic with Ashlynn in here. She had to close her wings tightly to her sides and sort of hobble in on her small, clawed feet. She hurried Aden and I in the back of the cave behind some rocks and she sat hunched over protectively in front of us. It seemed like her and Aden were very close and have been through a lot together, she seemed ready to fight to the death to protect him. As disturbing and illogical as I found her to be, I still felt safe under her guard.

Aden crouched down in front of me, and I leaned forward against his back to peer over his shoulder at what we were waiting for. Ashlynn tensed and she puffed out her plumage slightly, making her look pretty intimidating from behind. I didn't want to image what the gigantic bird's face looked like now, her sharp beak poised and ready to tear out a throat.

I heard a faint scratching sound and Aden seemed to hear it too. I felt his back muscles tense as the hinge of his jaw clenched. He appeared to be barely breathing so I tried to do the same. A dark shadowy figure appeared before the mouth of the cave and it seemed to be staring directly at us in the darkness. I didn't dare to move, and I wondered if Aden could feel my heart pounding against his back the way I felt his against my chest.

From behind the figure, another emerged of the same shape but a little smaller in stature. They stepped closer into the cavern and sniffed around with their long twitching noses. For a second they looked like really big weasels, but as they stepped into the light from a crack in the ceiling I saw they looked more like possums or some strange cross breed. Whatever the hell these creatures were, they were definitely nothing I'd ever seen before.

The larger one was about eight feet tall and the smaller one about six. Their faces were light gray and reminded me of a bat's with their shell-like cupped ears on top of their heads, and their noses were pink and mushroom shaped. Long twitching whiskers stuck out of their little muzzles and I cringed when they bared their teeth that were a lot bigger and sharper than I'd anticipated. The larger one whipped its long pink tail around, slapping it against the walls to signal the other, causing some pebbles to tumble down.

I lost my grip on Aden's shoulders and I felt myself tumble back onto my butt. I had to bite my tongue to hold back my yelp of surprise, drawing blood inside my mouth. The back of my head cracked against the wall, stunning me for a moment as a few small rocks tumbled down from my disruption. Aden looked back at me fearfully and I saw the two creatures pause and turn in our direction as well.

Oops…

"Do you smell that, Aka?" one of them uttered in a dark throaty chuckle.

Alrighty then, apparently all freaky animals talk down here.

The sound of this voice sent shivers up my spine, it was like nails on a chalkboard. I cringed and hid my face into Aden's back. From his stiff posture I could tell he wasn't breathing again. Ashlynn stepped back ever so slowly, pinning Aden and I into the wall. I got a mouthful of feathers every time I tried to breathe so I just held my breath too so I wouldn't choke on one.

"I sure do Adamu. Shall we play my favorite game where we guess what they are like?" the second one sneered. Its voice was a little higher in pitch like a female's. From the rough edge of the other's, I guessed it was a male. I heard them both titter with excitement as they began sniffing wildly in the cave's dank air.

"Hmm, interesting bunch I am detecting," said the male, Adamu, in an intrigued voice.

"Very interesting indeed," agreed Aka.

I heard more sniffing and then it stopped as the female let out a squeal of what sounded like delight. It set my teeth on edge and made my skin prickle.

"Ohhh, I smell an Ahi Manu!" she squeaked, taking another deep whiff.

From the way Aden rested his hand on Ashlynn's closed up wing, I'm guessing she was the "Ahi Manu".

"Oh joy, how big would you say?" Adamu asked dreamily as if he were imagining a delicious Thanksgiving feast.

"Hmm, it is hard to say. Maybe…fifteen-foot wingspan, black and white feathered, a female," she muttered, breathing in our scents heavily.

My heart jump started in sheer amazement at how she could guess that from a scent that drifted to her from behind the rocks that hid us from plain sight. There's no way they can see us back here, but how did they know what Ashlynn looked like?

"Very good," the male mumbled, satisfied, "Have you picked up on the other two?" he had an amused edge to his voice and they both broke off into an ugly symphony of deep chortles.

Goosebumps rose to my skin at this sound. They could smell that there were three of us, but how?

"Yes, I smell a young male, maybe seventeen years, about six feet in height. Strong, lean, but a good amount of muscle on him." They both made a loud smacking sound like they were licking their lips.

"I cannot say I am too pleased with the other," Adamu complained, "Young female, about sixteen or seventeen years, around one hundred and thirty pounds…"

One hundred and twenty-five pounds actually, I snapped at them in my mind.

"Yes, but she smells sort of…scrawny and she has barely anything in her belly," Aka whined.

As she said this I felt my stomach growl with hunger. When was the last time I had eaten? At Aunt Josie's for dinner however long ago that was. And what does she mean by scrawny? I'm a soccer player, and I'd say I've got some pretty decent muscle definition in my calves from all the sprints I do.

"Oh now you've done it Aka, you've offended the girl!" Adamu cackled, and they both broke off laughing again.

Aden looked back at me and I shrugged innocently. How was I supposed to know they could smell your feelings?

"Yes, the girl…" Aka sighed, "Something about her, as unflavorful as she smells, I find very intriguing…"

"Why whatever do you mean, dear sister?" he asked her.

"Smell the boy again and then her and tell me what you notice different…"

We listened to him break off into a serious of deep inhales until he paused and made a sound in the back of his throat that made me grit my teeth. Chills raced up my spine and Aden seemed to tense at his pause too.

"I see…" he breathed, stretching out each syllable. "She is different, she has the smell of the surface on her and…fresh paint?"

"Yes, the surface and paint, white if I am not mistaken. Dark hair, pale eyes…"

My stomach churned as they were basically describing us without ever seeing us before. What an amazing sense of smell these creatures must have if they can smell actual images.

"They both smell so interesting. I almost hate to eat them," Adamu said in disappointment.

Wait, they want to eat us? I remembered their teeth, which looked like sets of knives lining their gums.

Aden slowly leaned back, pinning me even more against the wall so I could barely breathe. Another hideous snarl-like chuckle gurgled up their throats as I heard them getting closer to us. Their claws scraped loudly against the floor of the cave and I could hear them stepping in the occasional puddle. My pulse rang in my ears, and probably theirs too, as they lurked closer toward us.