Crowning Essence ( Crowning Soul Book 2)

Chapter 2: Ripples

She lifted her white brimmed sun hat. Her eyes met the clear blue of the ocean, its surface glittering from the sunlight. Amaya walked the sand, grains adorning her feet and meeting between her toes. Her white blouse fluttered in the calm breeze as she continued to walk. She'd been thinking of spending time alone this weekend. Last weekend she had gone to karaoke with Tamaki and her friends.

Gulls squawked overhead, weaving in and out over the beach.

"Where should I sit?" She tugged at one strap of her blue bag and finally found a place to sit and relax.

She swung her bag to the sand and unpacked a pink blanket. The cloth rippled like waves over the ground, as Amaya smoothed her hand across the fabric. When the cloth was flattened across the sand, she sat and pulled her bag towards her. After sticking a white umbrella with red hearts into the ground, Amaya took a swig of water from her bottle and went rummaging in her bag. She wasn't planning on doing any physical activities— other than swimming of course, so she had brought something special with her.

She'd almost giggled when she pulled out the book.

Finally, she got to finish where she had left off. The book Amaya had been so excited to finish reading was a Japanese comic book known as manga. This particular one was Inuyasha by Rumiko Takahashi, the fifth volume. I was on chapter forty. Oh, my goodness, his hair!

After finishing her book, she sighed and placed it back into her bag. It was time she went for a swim. She walked toward the shore and bent down. She drew a heart in the sand with a finger. The foaming waves bubbled over the shape and erased it just as she had drawn it. She sighed and took another step as the waves filled in the spaces her footsteps left.

Her earrings were glowing, a blue light reflected off the water. Amaya's smile slipped off her face as her hands glided through the water and the current took her in. There was no one close to her. No one to see her being ripped away from the shore and into the sea.

The bubbles spiraled around her body as she found herself submerged within the water. Her body was floating, the water pushing her up, and then the pressure lifted and she felt like she was falling. But, she wasn't falling, the feeling was but a deception. She was rising up like a butterfly through the water. She recalled her swimming practice, the thought a mere flicker as her head surfaced.

Her heart hammered and her chest was rising and falling like her body had done in the water. Her shaky hand scrambled for hold as she pulled herself out of the body of water and onto land. It was night. The shadows and trees clung to the surrounding.

Amaya's eyes widened as she stood. To her utter disbelief and frankly—horror, she was dry and the forest she stood in was too silent. There was no breeze.

Amaya's arms coiled around her chest, her fingers tightening around her midsection. She wasn't sure how she got here. But, there was no doubt she was lost. Maybe she had lost consciousness and ended up on a remote island? But, it didn't explain how the wave had pulled her away from the shore with such strange force. Something in her compelled her to walk. To go onward and not look back.

Where was she? She was all alone. Okasaan, Tamaki... Rin. No one was here. She was just alone. She needed to find help.

Amaya continued to walk and then she heard rustling in some bushes. A crack of sticks and then a patter of feet. She turned her head to look behind and then her body froze. The sound came from in front of her. There was a low growl. Amaya's head snapped forward and her eyes met with a fox.

The animal silenced for a few moments. Its head held high. Everything was darkness all around her. The animal looked like a red stain painted in the brush. Save for his eyes which flashed white as they caught light of the moon. She was frozen still, a curious sheep in the headlights of the animal's reflecting eyes.