Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 89379 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 447(@200wpm)___ 358(@250wpm)___ 298(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 89379 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 447(@200wpm)___ 358(@250wpm)___ 298(@300wpm)
“You have a point,” Mum agreed. “But the school is designed to give you knowledge of all areas. Then after you graduate, you can specialise.”
“Well, I already know what I’m doing after I graduate. I’m joining the Guard.”
“Right, but you never know. You might change your mind.” She paused, her expression serious. “Sometimes our greatest plans get derailed unexpectedly.”
I shook my head and sighed. I knew what she was hinting at. Before I was born, a clairvoyant elf had given my parents a prophecy about me. She’d foretold that I would become a leader who would bring peace and prosperity to the city. To many, that might sound like a bright and prosperous future, but to me, it felt like a chain around my neck. I felt the pressure of having to become a person I didn’t want to be.
“You still think the prophecy will come true, don’t you?” I said, folding my arms. “Honestly, I just don’t see that for myself. It isn’t me. I have no aspirations to lead.”
“You’re not exactly a follower, though,” Mum pointed out.
“That’s true,” Rebecca agreed.
“Then what am I?”
“A lone wolf, maybe,” my sister suggested.
“Are you calling me a loner?” I asked, amused.
“What she’s saying,” Mum interjected, “is that you’re a free thinker. Maybe you don’t want to lead, but you also don’t follow the pack, and perhaps that’s what will inevitably make you a great leader.”
I thought about that as I ate a piece of tuna. My mother wasn’t exactly wrong. I did believe that reluctant leaders were often the most effective, but personally, I felt ill at the thought of having that kind of responsibility. I wasn’t merely reluctant. No, my aversion was much stronger than that. Working hard was one thing but being beholden to the fates of a population was another.
“Have either of you got anything else unusual to report?” Mum asked.
“Unusual in what way?” Rebecca questioned.
“Just anything out of the ordinary. I want to make sure my girls are okay.”
At that, my mind returned to Games Night, when Peter and I had been getting hot and heavy in the forest. I hadn’t mentioned the shadow to my parents nor the strange scent that was left behind. In fact, I’d been so busy with school, and Peter with his job in the Market Below, that we hadn’t even discussed it between ourselves. Maybe it was something to be concerned about, or maybe it was nothing.
I decided to relay the details to my mother—leaving out the part about Peter and me getting hot and heavy (obviously). In the version I gave Mum, we were merely taking a night-time stroll in the woods when we saw someone’s shadow lurking in the distance
Mum grew silent when I finished my story. Rebecca looked a little bit spooked, too.
“It might not have been an actual person,” Mum said, surprising me.
“What do you mean?”
“Well, it could have been a ghost,” she elaborated, and I widened my eyes in surprise. I wasn’t foolish enough to deny the existence of ghosts, not when I myself was a being most humans dismissed as fantasy.
“I’ve never encountered a ghost before,” I told her.
“I’ve seen a few over the years,” Mum said. “I have a small affinity for them, actually.”
I gaped at her. How had I not known that? “You do?”
She nodded. “If I’m there when someone dies, I sometimes see their ghost for a little while afterward. A connection occurs, especially if the ghost has unfinished business. Eventually, they fade away into whatever afterlife they’re destined for.”
“But whatever this was had a shadow. Ghosts are incorporeal, right? They don’t have shadows.”
“It might not have had a shadow. It might have been a shadow,” Mum said, and the hairs on the back of my neck rose.
“What makes you so sure it was a ghost?” Rebecca questioned.
“The scent Darya described is a lot like the ones I’ve picked up from ghosts in the past.”
“Okay, let’s say it was a ghost,” I allowed. “What would it want with Peter and me?”
“Hard to say. It might not want anything from you. Some ghosts have unfinished business, but others are trapped in the in-between, forever wandering, lost souls who never find a resting place.”
“Well, that’s not at all unsettling,” I replied.
“The Yellowbranch Forest is very old. I’m sure there are all sorts of lost souls wandering there,” Mum said.
“You realise I walk in the forest regularly,” I said. The thought of being watched by restless ghosts left me uneasy.
“Maybe find a new place to walk,” Rebecca suggested, deftly picking up a piece of sushi with her chopsticks and taking a bite.
“How is Peter?” Mum asked then, changing the subject. “You’ve been spending a lot of time at his place.”
“I have,” I said, eyeing her a moment. “Is that okay with you and Dad?”
“You’re eighteen years old,” she replied. “We can’t stop you from seeing your boyfriend, who we both think is lovely, by the way. We just miss you when you’re gone.”