Dance of the Starlit Sea by Kiana Krystle

Author:Kiana Krystle [Krystle, Kiana]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Holiday House
Published: 2024-08-06T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter

FIFTEEN

It’s raining again.

I can’t tell if it’s because of me, but I wouldn’t be surprised. This time, I don’t call Roisin. I don’t even greet Laina when I get home. I can’t risk worrying anyone or giving them a reason to trace Luna Island’s strange weather back to me—as unbelievable as it seems. It’s typically gorgeous here, the perfect, idyllic paradise. Even at night, the air is brisk, but it never storms.

I’m only lying to myself.

Of course the rain is my fault.

Soft candlelight holds me in a cocoon of warm sugar and vanilla, and I wrap my sheepskin blanket around me tighter. It’s no use. The more I try to force the comfort, the harder it becomes to achieve. My arms rouse with goosebumps from the gust of wind sweeping through the cracked window.

Begrudgingly, I pull myself out of bed to shut it, but stumble back with a gasp. Pressed against my window is a single white rose, just like the ones from the garden of my mind. Its velvet petals splay against the glass, contorted like broken limbs but ever sparkling like in my dreams.

“What the hell?”

I move closer, cautious when I approach, as if it’ll spring alive at any moment and hiss curses in my ear, reminding me of what I’ve done and how I’ll pay. Instead, the downpour crumples the bud until it withers. I press my fingers to the glass, frosted by my shaky breath. The flower falls the second my fingers meet it.

I scream, skittering back when I see where it lands.

Beneath my window, more glittering white flowers form a trail leading straight to the ocean—roses, gardenias, and jasmines. I don’t need a reminder of where they come from. I fall to the floor, fighting for breath, as I’m returned to the garden of my mind. A screech reels from my throat. It’s too much, too loud. I’m trapped by my own cries, a prisoner to my mind.

Lila, it calls. Come to me. Come to me where you belong.

My eyes spring open. “No!”

Everything stops, vibrating as it settles. The room spins, and a ringing blooms in my ears. I wrap my arms around my shaking body and slowly rise from the ground.

“Hello?” I tremble, calling out into the night.

Only the wind sings back.

When I look back out the window again, the flowers are gone.

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