“Star, I need you to calm down. Samantha's here to help you.” Though his voice was soothing, his eyes held a different story. He was barely holding onto his own control.
“What's happening to me?” My voice sounded small, frail. I didn't care because that's exactly how I felt. Mom moved forward, reaching out to me. When my eyes locked onto hers, she froze again. She couldn't see this. She'd know. She needed to leave. My jumbled thoughts bounced around, becoming distorted.
They stopped as Andrei kissed me lightly on the forehead. Ms. Beckingdale, Samantha, started her mumbling again. My eyes shut tightly as I held onto the sensation of his lips warming me. I focused on that warmth as the pressure in me increased, bringing more pain. The storm raged harder, and seemed threatened by whatever she was trying to do.
“Goddess help us.” She mumbled. “Eleanor, I need you. Now!” There was nothing but the sounds of the storm, the feeling of Andrei's lips. “She will die! Do you hear me? Her soul is already starting to shatter! The power is too much for her in this state! You need to help me or your daughter will die!” My mind briefly caught on my mother’s indrawn breath before it started fleeing again. Digging deeper into the darkness.
The sound of chanting voices became louder. Beating down on me and tightening around me. I tried to escape the sound, to fall back into the nothingness that started to consume me, but it wouldn't have that. It felt like claws had been dug deeply beneath my flesh, pulling me, yanking me toward something. The pain increased until I felt like at any moment it would end. You couldn't feel that much and survive it.
Suddenly, the pressure started to ease. A light seemed to come from somewhere, weakly pressing into the darkness. I focused on it, confused as to why it would be there. There was never a light within the darkness. Never any good within the evil. It drew closer to me with the increasing volume of the chanting. The storm outside started to die down, fighting to stay alive. As the light grew stronger, I felt myself start to return. Start to break through. I could almost see it. The perfect balance of the light within the darkness. Two halves of a whole.
I felt the pressure within me leave. I opened my eyes, and looked into the steady gaze of Ms. Beckingdale and that of my mother’s. Their eyes seemed to glow in the fading light as the darkness and the storm finally lost its intensity. My body began to relax as the shaking eased, leaving me exhausted.
She released me, and I fell gracelessly to the floor. I was gasping heavily for breath as I tried to sit up, but my arms wouldn't cooperate.
“It should hold, for now.” Ms. Beckingdale stated simply. My eyes slowly moved up her body, resting on her saddened gaze.
“Will one of you please tell me what's happening?” I weakly asked, tears still flowing freely down my face.
Andrei dropped his gaze, refusing to make contact. My mom fared no better. I looked at Ms. Beckingdale pleadingly. I needed to know. I couldn't live without knowing.
She knelt before me and brushed my matted hair away from my face. “There's a lot to explain.”
“Obviously.”
She smiled softly, then turned serious again. “Have you heard the legend of Shiloh?” I nodded my head, too weak to say anymore. My eyes kept moving to my mother, but she had turned away. Her shoulders were shaking. I knew she was crying. “Good. Well it's true. The story is true. Many years ago there was a Sorceress named Sarah,” my mind flashed to the journal, already knowing where this was going. “She was very kind, a true gift to the world and the most beloved of the Goddess. She fell in love when she was about your age to a warlock named Merlo. At first, he was just as kind, but he soon became greedy, wanting more power than the coven would allow. So he turned.
“He went against the coven, against the Goddess, and began seeking out one of the darkest Gods the world had ever known. He was granted more power, but the power started to consume him. Driving him to the brink of madness. Sarah, Goddess bless her, found out while she was pregnant with child. When it came almost time for the birth, she knew he must be stopped. He had grown too powerful, and only she was left with enough power to stop him. If she waited any longer, then no one on this earth could end his reign.
“She sacrificed her life in order to stop him. His power was trapped in the amulet that you have lost, and his soul was trapped within the headstone, waiting to be released. When you went to the graveyard that night, you set into motion everything needed to release him.
“You are the last of Sarah's descendants. While your mother and those before her held some small amount of power, yours will be unparalleled to any others besides Merlo's. You have lived your life without training, without knowledge. For that I am deeply sorry, for it has led you to this moment in time. Without the proper training, the power within you, and that of the amulet, will begin to consume you, just as it did Merlo. You will become lost, and anything good within you will be smothered into nothingness.” She held up her hands weakly then quickly dropped them. I stared at her.
This was what I was waiting for. What I had needed to know since the beginning. But now that I did, I wish I could forget it. All of it. I didn't believe in magic. I didn't believe in legends. I didn't believe that I could be a part of this. Any of this.
My mind screamed in rebellion. This must all be a hallucination. My mind must have finally snapped and I was just as crazy as everyone thought I was. That must be the answer. Yet, deep down within me, there was a small spark of belief. A part of me that was clinging onto the words she spoke, a part that believed. When I looked up at my mother, she was staring at me. A haunted look filled her eyes that I had never seen before. It felt shattering.
“Mom, is this true?”
She nodded as more tears fell down her face. “Yes. I didn't know. I swear to the Goddess, Star, I didn't know! This just doesn't make any sense! The child is supposed to have silver eyes! The only one in the bloodline without the pureness of amethyst! But you! You were born with the eyes of the pure. I just don't understand.” She pressed her hand to her mouth and moved away, barely holding on to her control.
Her words only served to confuse me. What did eye color have to do with anything? My mind was sluggish. I couldn't connect the pieces properly. “What will happen to me? What will happen if I just pretend none of this ever existed, if I went back to being normal?” I asked Samantha.
Her eyes glistened with tears as she smiled sadly. “There is no going back, Starlette. There is no escaping it. If you ignore it, Merlo will still be released and you will still lose every decent part of you. If you don't accept your fate, your destiny, then The Prophecy will shatter, and the world as we know it will end.”
I glanced at Andrei's face, but it was unreadable. He was completely closed off to me now, cold just like before. My heart sank in my chest. It was a lot to take in, to sort through. The words from Sarah's journal seemed to float through my head, mixing with those of Samantha's.
I looked to my mother again, but she still wouldn't face me. “If my eyes aren't like the prophecy said they would be, then how do you know? How do you know I am the one?” I couldn't be the one. I wasn't strong enough. I couldn't even fight the darkness inside of me yet they expected me to save the world.
Andrei left my side, and returned a moment later with a jagged shard of mirror. I looked at him questioningly. He angled it to where I could see the upper half of my face. What I saw stole the breath from me.
Mom must have not been looking close enough. I knew my eyes had turned silver when the darkness unleashed, when the destruction started. It was never there when I was normal. As normal as I could ever be. The shape of my eyes were the same, but the color was wrong. Violet now only rimmed my eyes, seeming to fight its way toward the pupil. From the pupil outward was silver, fighting for supremacy. My mind flashed to the light, how it had morphed within the darkness, creating a perfect balance. Now I knew that the silver represented the darkness, and the violet the light. I took a deep breath and removed my gaze from the mirror shard. I didn't need to see anymore. I understood.