"Yet, they forget that without the darkness the light cannot shine. And without the light, the darkness has no shadow to cast."
"Opposites cannot live without each other."
~.~
All she did was go for a swim in the ocean.
Then the storm came.
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When Olivia opened her eyes she felt a burning pain in her temples. The sun peeked through her curtains as it normally did on a Sunday morning. She sat up and rubbed the side of her head.
"What in the world?" she groaned. "What was that dream?"
Images flashed through her mind. Snow, a wolf, a lamppost with flame and oil instead of electricity. She remembered a pair of deep brown eyes, gazing down at her caringly. She felt the arms of someone keeping her safe until she woke up cold.
"Liv! Liv, are you up?" A familiar voice rang from the door of her aunt's spare room.
The door opened and Emmet popped his head in the door. "You slept in, eejit. You promised Aunt Siobhan to take a walk with us on the coast."
"What? What time is it?" Olivia looked up at the clock on the wall. 11:28 am.
With a loud sigh, she rubbed her eyes. "I'll be out in a minute."
Emmet rolled his eyes and left, Olivia wiped the sweat from her forehead and forced herself out of the bed. Her body was stiff and the cool breeze from the window froze the sweat to her skin. Quickly getting dressed, she entered the kitchen where her Aunt Siobhan sipped her tea at the table.
"Never thought of you as someone to sleep in," she commented. "You were always an early riser."
"I fell asleep late last night I guess," Olivia replied sitting down at the table as Aunt Siobhan poured her a cup of tea. "I had the most peculiar dream."
"Oh?" Siobhan's eyebrow quirked up. "About what?"
Olivia opened her mouth to answer but then stopped, her face contorting into confusion. "I... I can't remember..."
"Sounds familiar with you," Emmet snarked when he entered the room. "If your head wasn't attached to your neck, you'd lose it. You really need to wake up, Liv."
Olivia rolled her eyes. "So, where are we walking today?"
"I was thinking the coast, down around the rocks." Aunt Siobhan suggested.
It was then a half-hour after breakfast when the sun was highest in the day, the three wandered together along the rocks by the Atlantic Ocean. It was quite windy out, Olivia having to pull her coat tighter around her. The waves were not calm at all, slightly bringing her on edge. It seemed that even though the sky was happy and clear, the chaos of the Atlantic Ocean still found a way to the island.
"Have you gotten any more letters from your mother yet?" Aunt Siobhan asked and whereas Olivia needed a moment to remember and think, Emmet answered straight away.
"None yet, but she did mention that she plans to visit soon."
"Oh, that'd be lovely!" Aunt Siobhan smiled. "I have not seen her in years."
Olivia seemed caught up in her thoughts as the other two of her family walked on. She was confused, she tried to remember when was the last time she received a letter from her mother, but couldn't recall.
Wait. Something moved out of the corner of her eye. Something in the water. What was that? She squinted out to the sea, focusing on every wave until she saw it. A head bopping in the water looking at the coast. She panicked and rushed closer to where the water met the rocks of the shore. To see someone swimming in these dangerous was a rarity to never find, no one was that reckless. The waves would carry you so roughly out to sea and so unforgivingly. And yet, the human head that bopped up and down with the current didn't seem to be struggling.
"Hey!" Olivia yelled, to see if they needed help. The head looked to have belonged to a young woman but there was something also off about them. They looked so calm as if the harshness of the Atlantic did not bother them. Slowly they drifted closer to where she kneeled over the water. As they got closer, Olivia could see that they looked like a girl, with skin almost transparent.
She was hauntingly beautiful, almost unrealistic. Olivia held out her hand. "Are you alright?"
The girl looked at her and said nothing. It was here Olivia noticed her eyes. The left one was as aqua as the ocean in the summer, but the other was the darkest of reds possible. This gave the girl an alien-like feature, taking away from her ghostly appearance.
The stranger in the water reached out her hand and gently placed it in Olivia's, never breaking eye contact. She had muttered something under her breath lower than a whisper.
"What?" Olivia asked, leaning down towards the water more to hear her.
"Wake up," came the words again. Olivia looked back utterly confused and the mysterious girl spoke again, this time louder. "Wake up."
"What are you... Hey!" Her grip sunk into Olivia's wrist and she was suddenly jerked downwards, her fingertips now below the surface.
"Wake up," the girl said more sternly now. "Wake up!" she demanded.
"Stop! What are you talking about?! Let me go!" Olivia attempted to rip her hand from her grip but it was sealed tight. She was pulled by such a force and the water splashed as she fell in. Her free hand clawed through the ocean and her legs kicked. When she opened her eyes the girl was calmly in front of her and she was able to see the rest of the body.
A tail. A long fishtail hung from the girl's hips, replacing her legs and feet. Her entire form was transparent in the water, Olivia almost found it difficult to see her if it wasn't for her heterochromatic eyes. She was still repeating the same two words. "Wake up. Wake up. Wake up."
Olivia began to pull away, suddenly terrified. "Let me go."
The girl kept her grip, pulling slowly into the water. Olivia struggled against her. "Wake up!" Another tug and her whole arm was now in the sea. With one last final pulled, Olivia was under the surface. All noise was deafening and when she opened her eyes, the mermaid-like woman did not look human anymore. She still held the features, but her skin was transparent like glass. Her once aggressive and panicked expression was gentle as she smiled at Olivia.
"You need to wake up."
Olivia's eyes shut tight and she began shaking her head. At this point, she was certain all this was a dream and that she'd wake up in her bed in Inisheer with her brother in the twin bed next to her and the sound of the ocean waves crashing outside.
~.~
"How much longer?" Edmund asked. Even though he seemed calm as he gazed down at Olivia, his heart still raced with worry.
"Have faith, young king," Sidus replied, lounging in the snow next to him. Olivia laid against him in his fur. "Bearing such powers so quickly can be overwhelming for someone so young."
Edmund brushed some fallen snowflakes off Olivia's cheek. "Come on, Liv."
