Chapter One

I wrote my name in the wet sand that coated the oceans floor. C-H-A-S-K-A, then I punched it. I hated my name. I hated its meaning. Was it really the only name my mother could find that had the same meaning as my fathers?

I flung myself back into the open sea and just floated above the sand, my eyes fixated on what remained of my name in the sand.

She gave me the wrong name…That’s it. I can blame everything on my name. On my mother. I am no Star Goddess, nor am I like my father, star of the sea. I don’t want to shine, or be the center of attention, and you know what responsibilities really aren’t my thing either, given the choice I would much rather explore and discover what this life has to offer, not be told what my role is in it.

“I thought I would find you out here,” Kaius said, pulling me from the lecture I was giving to myself inside of my head.

My stomach twisted in knots, and my cheeks reddened.

“Why aren’t you with your family?” He asked, his deep green eyes studying me. “Today is a very important day.”

“For them maybe,” I shot back, fiester than I intended as I calmed the butterflies that raged in my stomach.

“For everyone,” he corrected me.

“Right,” I agreed, not really wanting to argue with him. Kaius had always had my back, and with that he always gave me the truth even when it was something he knew I didn’t want to hear.

“This is huge,” he said, swimming in front of me before reaching for my hands. “This, this could change everything. It’s all the Kingdom is talking about, you are all they’re talking about, Chaska.”

My stomach rolled, my breakfast threatening to escape, that’s exactly what I was afraid of. Everyone, every single one of them believe me to be the person that my family has portrayed me to be. They all cling to the prophesized words my mother has told them as if they’re already set in stone. The truth is, no one knows me, not the real me…Okay no one aside from Kaius, but only him.

“They’re already talking about opening the gates. The Merpeople in markets are already starting to prepare for travelers.”

Wiggling my hands free, I turned from him and began to swim away.

“Where are you going.”

“I don’t know. Somewhere… Anywhere that’s not here.”

“Why aren’t you excited? I thought that out of everyone you’d be the most excited. You’re always reading about the other realms, fascinated by how they differ from our own. I mean isn’t it your dream to explore them all?”

He was right, but he was forgetting one thing…Well two.

“Well, what is it? What has your fins all twisted?” He asked as he circled around in front of me to block the exit.

For a moment I froze, I knew I had to choose my words carefully and not bite his head off, I was going to need someone by my side that I could trust, and he was it. By looking at his face though, I could tell that he had been caught up in the excitement. “Change. I despise it. No…I take that back. I flat out hate it, and like you said this is going to change everything.”

“You know, sometimes change is a good thing?”

“Ehhh,” I mumbled. He was wrong, but I didn’t have the energy to argue.

“There’s something else I can tell,” he said grabbing ahold of my hands.

Then it hit me. All at once. Without warning. It’s all I’ve been able to think about all week, and all week every time I was faced with this reality I pushed it back into the depts it crawled out of, and forced myself to forget that it ever crossed my mind. This time that wasn’t going to work. This time reality was truly staring me in face, and tears welled in my eyes.

“What is it? What happened?”

“Nothing happened…” I rolled my eyes and swallowed back the tears. “Well at least not yet.”

“Is something going to happen?”

“Yeah,” I said as though he was an idiot for not knowing.

“Are you going to tell me?” Kiaus asked, grabbing ahold of my the backs of my arm by my elbows, before pulling me closer to him.

“It’s obvious isn’t it?”

“No,” he said as he studied my face for some kind of hint.

“Oh, come on. You can’t not see this coming; all the girls are whispering about it.”

“If this is about what I think it’s about, don’t.”

My heart stopped as I judged his reaction, as I feared for a split second that maybe he didn’t feel the same way about me as I felt about him. “Don’t what?” I asked hesitantly.

“Don’t even think about it. Forget it.”

“Kaius.”

“No, Chaska. It’s not even a possibility.”

“The hell it isn’t.”

“It takes two people.”

I rolled my eyes so hard it hurt, as I twisted away from him, and mumbled under my breath, “It’s like you don’t know Arkyn.”

“Chaska, you’re being ridiculous.”

“No, I’m not.”

“How do you figure you’re not?”

“How do you figure I am?” I countered.

“You’re being irrational.”

“I’m not. She wants you. She’s made that obvious.”

“So.”

“So, Arkyn always gets what she wants. A-L-W-A-Y-S!”

“Well she’s not going this time.”

“Aren’t you the one that always says that there is a first time for everything?”

“Don’t use my words against me. You know how much I hate that.”

“Sorry,” I said, stopping. “This just sucks. All of it. Unending suckery also known as my life.”

“Your life isn’t that bad.”

I laughed. “It’s like you don’t know me either.”

“I know exactly who you are, Chaska. Well I know exactly who you would be if you quit hiding behind everything that’s ever gone wrong in your life.”

“Harsh,” I snapped.

“But it’s the truth.”

“No, it isn’t.”

“You may not see it that way…”

“But let me guess,” I said. “Everyone else does.”

Kaius nodded. “But I have noticed you trying more things lately. You’ve even put yourself out there a few times.”

I smiled.

“So is that all you were worried about, Arkyn getting chosen, and me falling madly in love with a person who’s my exact opposite.”

“When you put it like that,” I said regretting I’d said anything.

“It doesn’t matter how I put it, how I put it, or how anyone puts it, it sounds ridiculous. Plus, why would she want me? Once she gets this title, she can have anyone, in any Realm.”

My stomach churned as the answer to his question popped in to my head. Nope. I told myself. Not telling him that. Not telling anyone that. I’ve made that mistake once, and that’s exactly what it was; a mistake.

Arkyn was my sister, born not even a year before me so you like everyone else would assume we were the best of friends. But no…That is not the case. She made it clear from the very beginning that we would be enemies, and that she hated me. What I ever did to make her hate me so much, I’ll probably never know. What I do know is that every time I walk into a room that she’s in, all the little hairs on the back of my neck stand up, and she stares at me till I leave. She also prides herself in taking everything from me, whether I have it, or whether I want it…and then she parades it in front of me making sure I know that it’s hers.

This morning, my biggest fear, my biggest nightmare, became a reality. As I grabbed breakfast from our mother, I overheard Arkyn talking to our older sister Tanyn, about how she thinks she’s finally found her mate and how mother and father would be thrilled that she was uniting kingdoms…And then, after she was sure I could hear every word she was saying, she said his name. Kaius, of the second kingdom…. And my world shattered.**