They were dropped off at the foot of a mansion, a rustic and beige sandstone with domed, glass-tipped roofs. The other prospects had arrived first, likely already inside the Villa to avoid the threat of rain that loomed on the horizon.
The four of them trudged up the steps, stopping on a large marble half-circle with a fountain in its middle.
Sol made to follow Cas forward, then stopped.
Sounds of waves, gentle and melodic, beckoned her, lapping against what sounded like clusters of stones. Her chest swelled with nostalgia as she darted to their song, not caring to wait for permission.
Taking the steps in clusters, she jogged across the ground and to a small brick fence. She stood on her toes to peer over it, the sound of the sea pulling her from within.
And there it was.
The ocean was wild, crisp, and violent, nothing like the sapphire waters of Yavenharrow. Nevertheless, it was igniting to be so close to it. Like how there was only one moon, the oceans connected, and in a way it meant they all held her soul.
Her mother's ashes floated in them all.
Sol sighed and sank back to her heels. She had to survive. She and Cas would make it to the end, then figure it out. For now, she just had to avoid being killed—and find a way to get some of these people out, or pardoned, or something.
“Quite beautiful, isn't it, Princess?” Sol jumped then smiled down at Phil.
Up close, she could see his tanned skin was peppered with freckles and a youthful naiveness that made her want to shove him in a carriage and send him back to his home.
At the lack of response, he angled his head at her, a slight blush creeping across his cheeks. “Apologies… my brother said I should leave you be, but I was coming to be closer to the sea and felt you here.”
Sol looked back out, right as a wave crashed into a million shining droplets on a wall of stone. “No bother at all, Phil. I also came to be closer to it. Do you wish to see it?”
The boy was short, maybe to Sol’s midriff—he couldn’t simply stand on his toes as she had.
He smiled and shook his head. “I cannot see at all, Princess. I lost my eyesight as an infant from an illness my stepfather felt was best to leave untreated. But by the sound, I can tell it's ferocious. Is it?”
Sol stared at him stupidly. Carefully, she sank to her knees to investigate his face. She was hyper aware of the proximity, a small voice in her mind warning perhaps this was a trick to impale her with a dagger.
But Phil’s eyes… they were muted, glacier blue, distant, and unfocused.
“I—I hadn't noticed.”
He kicked the ground with a foot. “Not many do.”
“Then how??—”
The boy held up a hand, and the air around them shifted into tendrils, slapping her hair aggressively around her face. Sol stood and stared in awe as leaves and flowers swirled to her, twirling around her arms and legs. She dared a small smile.
“I'm an Air Dancer. I can see by feeling around with it. Negative space, my brother calls it.”
Through the awe, Sol looked over his shoulder to Jonah, who leaned near the front doors, his jaw set, and arms crossed while watching them.
“Why were you both sent here? Truly just for better chances?”
“I think his father wanted to get rid of me,” he said. “His father is the current ruler. I posed a threat since I came from an older, stronger bloodline.”
The more Sol heard of Wielder politics, the more she hated them. All of them, for allowing such brutality. She shook her head. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be. Like my brother said, we prepare for this our whole lives. It’s an honor to even speak to you.” The boy cleared his throat, the air returning to its usual calmness. “You should hurry inside. From the stories the survivors tell, which aren’t many, you pick your own room.” As he skipped away, he called back, “Pick one on the higher floors!”
“Wait!” Sol called. “How did you know I stood here? That it was me and not someone else?”
Phil reached Jonah, who held out a stern hand. The boy smiled sheepishly. “The air dances around you,” he said. “It did at the dinner, too. It seems to really like you.”
SOL TOOKTHEboy’s advice. After several minutes of awestruck wandering around the Villa's foyer, she followed a spiral staircase to the upper floors, no other prospect in sight. Cas had vanished, though she didn’t doubt he lurked in the shadows somewhere.
