I force a smile. “Thank you.”
I give him a look that says, Go away. He grins at Jiah, then looks back at me. “They’re about to play your favorite song,” he calls, already jogging back toward the square.
I stare hard at the cloth in Jiah’s hands, trying to ignore the heat in my face.
“Your beau?” Jiah asks, calm as still water.
“That’s Izin,” I say. “He’s just my neighbor. He married my best friend a few weeks ago. We’ve all known each other since we were small.”
“Ah. Only your neighbor.” There’s a flicker of amusement in his eyes, a barely-there smirk that makes my stomach flip.
Our eyes meet, and my thoughts fall silent.
He unwraps the cloth slowly, and I hold my breath.
Inside is the most brilliant yellow vase I’ve ever seen. It’s tall and elegant, the lip shaped like a flower’s edge. Where the red vase had curves, this one has grace. I dare not touch it. But he offers it to me all the same.
“What do you think?” he asks.
“It’s so bright,” I whisper. “Like a wildflower in sunlight. I didn’t know glass could hold so much color.”
“If you like that one,” he says, placing it carefully back in the box, “you’ll love this.”
He lifts a smaller bundle. This time he unwraps it quickly, then cradles a blue bowl in both hands.
“Hold out your hands,” he says gently.
I do. He places the bowl in my palms.
It’s heavier than I expect. Cool. Smooth. The rim ripples like water. Its color is a deep, endless blue—the color of dreams, of an ocean under the moon.
I look into Jiah’s smiling face.
It’s the color of his eyes.
And I think... I think I may be falling in love.
—Ismene
“Hey Collin! Are you ready? I’ll just be a minute,” Aries shouted from inside his room.
Collin shut his mother’s journal with a muffled thump and let it fall beside the bowl of apples. For a moment, he sat still, the air around him thick with the weight of her voice. Then he swung his feet off the dining table, nearly toppling the flour jar in the process.
“Oops,” he muttered to no one, catching it just in time.
With a groan, he pushed up from the hard-backed chair and stretched until his shoulders popped. The spell of the journal had passed—for now. He grabbed the sack of food and camping gear, slung it over his shoulder, and followed Aries out the door into the already-blazing morning.
The sun hit hard as Collin and Aries stepped onto the pale sand of the Singing Cove. Light bounced off the shore like it had teeth—every grain glittered white-hot, as if the stars had spilled themselves across the earth.
They’d made good time. A few hours’ hike from the mountain had brought them here, to this tranquil pocket of coast tucked between high cliffs and wind-worn stone. The sand was warm beneath his boots, the breeze curling through the inlet with the motion of secrets whispered.
Niall and Clive spotted them and sprang up from the surf-stained sand. Their identical honey-blond hair was drenched and matted, and their shirts stuck to their ribs in uneven patches.
“You look like you’ve been swimming,” Collin said, squinting at the twins.
Niall shook his head like a dog, flinging droplets and sand in every direction. “I waited, but the water wastootempting.”
Clive threw an arm in front of his face. “You’re impossible.”
