Shatter Fate

The Calm Before the Storm (Chase)

When Alina asked me to help her pick up another person that she found with magic, I wasn't the least bit interested. But after she begged and begged I just had to agree to help go get this person. My mom and sister were out shopping, so I grabbed my jacket from my room and took another five minutes trying to locate where the front door. I finally find it and shut the door behind me. Alina is already in her car with it running, she must be in a hurry. I get in and we drive off.

My mom, sister, and I moved in with Alina after my dad left us when we moved to Storylore about ten years ago. Since then my mom's been struggling with earning enough money to support us, so we ended up having to move in with Alina. Alina inherited tons of money from her parents and the family mansion, so she has plenty of room. She was lonely in this big house by herself, so she was overjoyed when we agreed to move in. Her mansion is in the middle of nowhere surrounded by forests. Why her parents built it out here, I may never know.

It's the middle of winter, so the ground already has a foot of snow scattered about. Alina starts talking, "Thanks for agreeing to help."

I roll my eyes. "You begged me to."

She sighs. "I had to. You wouldn't have come if I didn't." She grins. I sigh again.

"So who is this person we're going to get?" I ask. The grin fades from her face.

"I believe she's the one." My head whips in her direction.

"What?! Are you sure?"

"Yes. Her name's Sapphire Woods and she's... different. Even by our standards. She has the eyes."

I take a deep breath. "Then it's time."

"Yeah it is. You ready?" She glances at me before focusing back on the road.

"Ready as I'll ever be." We both grin at my choice of words and sit in a comfortable silence until we reach the neighborhood. It looks like a regular neighborhood from the outside, but nothing is ever what it seems. Alina turns onto a street and our vision is lit up with bright red, white, and blue lights. We see the billow of smoke above one of the houses. I lean down so I can look out through the windshield to determine just how high the smoke goes. We slow to a stop a little ways away from the line of police cars, firetrucks, and ambulances. "Is that her house?" I ask with confusion.

"It was." She replies with bewilderment. I open my door and slowly get out, not taking my eyes off the dying embers of the fire. I look at Alina and get the silent message she sends my way. She heads off to try to find out any information she can on what happened. My job: find Sapphire. I maneuver around the people and look in every car I find until I spot a girl, sitting frozen in fear and shock in the back of an ambulance. I immediately realize that she's not thinking normally. With everything that's happened to her tonight she needs some rest. I haven't even met her yet to know that she's not like the rest of us.

I feel sad for her. She lost everything tonight, and tomorrow her entire world is going to change. I look in the other ambulance and see sleeping pills and some water in the cabinets at the back. I get a glass of water and crush some pills in it. I then walk back over to Sapphire to find her just staring off into space. I slowly hand her the glass of water. She blinks when she sees it, and with shaking hands, grabs the cup and drinks the water. She finishes the drink and I grab the cup from her. I place a hand on her back and gently push her to stand up. She complies, but I have a feeling she's not really paying attention. After a couple steps I feel her stumbling and see her head falling down. We're almost to the car so I pick her up bridal style and am surprised at just how light she is. Her head falls onto my shoulder as I stop suddenly, seeing a police officer walk my way. As soon as he looks the other direction I slip past him and hop into? the car. I gently place Sapphire in the back, laying down, and make sure the blanket she has is wrapped around her. I shut the door as quietly as I can and look up to see Alina heading my way. I get in my seat and so does she. She looks back at Sapphire with sadness in her eyes. "She's had a rough childhood, and now she's lost everything she's ever known. I hope she stays strong throughout all this. For her sake... and ours."

She starts the car and drives off. No one talks on the way to Alina's house. After a little while we pull into the driveway and I get out. I go to the back and get Sapphire out of the car too. Alina holds the door open for me as I walk to the bedroom right across the hall from mine. It's one of the spare bedrooms, so I place her on the bed and pull the covers up to her chin. I feel like saying something, but I just can't find the right words. So instead I quietly exit the room and go into my own separate room. Today has been a long day. I turn over on my side and close my eyes, sleep taking over in an instant.

I've had many weird dreams, but none as weird as this one. I'm standing in a circular room with only one window that overlooks mountains one minute, and a beach the next. In the middle of a room is a balance scale, like the ones used to count money back in the day. On the floor next to it are some items. I move to sit down so I'm able to observe them better. One of them is a tiny earth, another is a small mask, one is a medicine bottle, the next is a child's doll, then a potion bottle, a snake, and the last one is a dark outline of a person shaded in black. Another figurine is placed on one side of the scale. It's a sword in a scabbard with a sapphire at the hilt. It weighs the scale down on one side by a lot. I figure I'm supposed to pick one to balance out the scale. I reach my hand out for the tiny earth, taking a wild guess.

"Choose wisely." A deep voice echoes around the room. My hand freezes. "The balance must be equal for the world to be equal." It continues.

"How do I know which one to pick?"

"You already know. The truth is so loud that you can't ignore it. Choose wisely. The balance must be equal for the world to be equal." The voices fades away after that. I now know the one I have to pick. I reach for the mask, it has to be equal. The balance must not be tipped. I place the mask on the other side of the balance and watch as it equals out. It must all be balanced.