Chapter two:

What a clever girl! She can see through me as if I were transparent, Lavinia thought as she answered Sparrow's grin with a chuckle. This might be fun...

ONE WEEK LATER.......  

Sparrow’s long, brown hair shone like gold in the sunlight as the playful wind blew it around her face.  She walked down the beach leaving a set of footprints in the sand behind her.  She smiled as each new wave crashed on shore, taking her footprints with them.  Even though the physical footprints were washed away, she felt as though each step she took left an imprint that could never be washed away.  To her it seemed that she would never really leave this beach, she would always be there.

The sand, disturbed by Sparrow’s small feet was whipping annoyingly at her ankles.  The combination of the wind, her hair, the sand, and the shawl she had on over her swimsuit, made it very difficult to see.  She had walked past it before a glint of bright light pulled her back.  Her jaw dropped.  Her eyes bugged out of her head at what she saw.  Sparrow rearranged the features on her face and looked around, worried that someone had seen her.  All clear.  She looked back down trying to believe what she was seeing.  She squinted her eyes.  Blinked rapidly. Turned around walked away and then back again.  Closed her eyes and told herself it wasn’t there.  When she opened her eyes again, there it was, just sitting there.  It was like she was meant to find it.  The small object in the sand was hers and there was no question about it.  The person who had cast it into the ocean had put it in the ocean so one day she could find it.  It didn’t make sense but Sparrow knew that she had no other choice but to lift the small, glass ZL. & Co. soda bottle, uncork the cap and sneak the note inside her shawl to secretly take home and read privately later. But something struck her as odd when she felt the soft, incredibly dry letter. It was almost as if the paper was reaching out to her eyes and pulling them towards it. A peak wouldn't harm anyone... she thought as her hands grabbed for the letter. But before she had a chance to unroll it, a menacing hurl of wind threw it back into the ocean.

"No!" she shrieked as she jumped into the water after it. When the tips of her fingers touched the surface of the crystal-blue water, a shock of cold ran through her whole body making her jump backwards into something heavy behind her. They were sharp and slippery, and it almost felt like they were pulling her in. Before she knew it, her head was covered in water and she could not tell whether she was up, or down. Her lungs shrieked for air and her eyes felt like they were on fire from the salt water. But just as she thought she would die, the water cleared for just a second, and a small note passed before her eyes. Soft lettering covered the beautiful note and she could almost make out the first words… and then she closed her burning eyes.

Sparrow felt herself being tossed around by the strong current then finally the undertow pulled her beneath the chaos above.  She felt so at peace.  There was no sound. No thoughts. Sparrow opened her eyes to look up at the sky through the strangely clear blue water.  Right as the last of the air in her lungs drifted up to the surface above she saw a strange flash of light.  When she turned to look at where the light came from she found herself looking at the strangest thing.  There was a girl staring right at Sparrow.  

The girl had wavy golden hair floating all around her head casting light that did strange things to her slowly closing green eyes. The girl seemed to start to disappear as Sparrow’s own eyes closed.  The girl’s eyes suddenly snapped open, her long legs suddenly started kicking, fighting the exhaustion.  What’s the point in fighting? Sparrow thought quietly, there is nothing to fight for.

         “You’re wrong,” seemed to say a voice strikingly similar to Sparrow’s. “There’s HIM.”

The girl in the reflection, as this was where the voice appeared to be coming from, pointed towards the surface.  Sparrow looked up and saw what the girl had been fighting for. A boy with fiery red hair dove into the water and began swimming towards her.  He stretched his arm trying to reach her.  Sparrow lifted her own arm in response before the world darkened and went black.