Kai’s POV“Do you mind telling me something about your magic," Avila says beside me on the boat. But I’m not listening. Instead, my eyes are on Aelia. I know I should apologize for what I said but she hasn’t given me that chance since we got to the cabin as she continues to avoid me. My mind goes back to how we spent the night and I wonder if that made things worse. I actually didn’t want Aviala to lay beside me, and expected Aelia to be against it and stop it. However, when she threw her face away like she didn’t care, I got a little mad and childish. Now, I regret it. She turns and our eyes lock. “Kai?” Aviala’s voice rings in my ear, pulling me back to her face. I turn and to my surprise, she’s sitting beside me now. She had been sitting a few seats away when we first climbed. “Do you mind telling me more about your void magic,” she asks enthusiastically, essentially cutting short whatever questions I wanted to ask myself.“What?” I mumble. She shrugs with a smile. “You know,

Kai's POV“Aelia!” The monster turns its black eyes toward her fallen body and begins to charge. Jafser comes out with the Aviala. “Kai, what is going on? Where is Aelia?” I don’t answer but he quickly understands as she sees me rushing towards her. I get to her and drop to the ground beside her. “Aelia, are you okay?” She sprawled out on the ground, groaning in pain. Then she looks at me. “I’m okay. What the hell was that?” She asks slowly. Although she’s able to talk, I can tell the fall did a number on her. Her face is pale and she can barely lift herself off the ground.“Come one, we have to go.” I pick her from the ground, turning and watching as Jafser is trying to fight off the monster but is failing miserably. The monster doesn’t even seem interested in him. Instead, he still seems to have his eyes on Aelia. He looks at me. “Kai, you need to leave here. You need to get as far away as possible. If not, I won’t be able to do anything.”“Leave me here. Go join him,” Aelia whis

Kai’s POV“That’s it. That’s the seventh river,” Madam Javilla says. Jafser who decided to follow us stares in awe. “Really?”She nods. “My goodness, I’ve always heard about the beauty of the seventh but never knew it would be an understatement.”He looks at me. “That must have been why we experienced the turbulence. It was very close.”I agree. From where we are standing, I can see our boat, even though it is on the other side. I let out a slow breath, looking at the massive stretch of sea before us. “So this is where I do it?” I look at Jafser. “The cleansing?”He nods, still focused on the picture in front of us. “Who told you this anyway?” I ask. He smirks. “Do you not believe I discovered it myself?”I stare. “Jafser…quit messing around. Who told you about this place?” He rolls his eyes, sighing deeply. “Well, it was principal Harden.” I narrow my eyes. “Principal Harden?”“Yes. He was the one who discovered everything about Orin being responsible for the cave incident.” Aelia’

Kai’s POV“There’s something I need to tell you,” Madam Javilla joined me at the backyard not too long after Aviala left. I’m still thinking about what you said. What kind of a proposal is that?Become hers? I scoff. I stare at the Woman in front of me who looks very serious so I know whatever she’s about to see is equally serious. “What is it?”She hesitates. “I’m not sure about this but it’s a good assmumption. It’s about your friend.” I squint. “The one that just left?” she shakes her head. “No. The sick one.”Aelia. I give her my phone attention. “What is it?” “Now like I said, I’m not very sure about this, but I don’t think her illness is just ordinary fever.” my eyes narrow. “What are you talking about?”She holds my gaze intently. “I think she’s been poisoned.”“Poisoned?” I repeat. She nods. “With black magic,” she adds. My mouth drops to the ground. She continues. “I’ve never experienced it, but I’ve heard people talk about it. She has all the symptoms. Like you said, her f

Aviala’s POV“Are you sure about this? I don’t think we should have carried Aelia without Kai’s permission,” Jafser complains for the fifth time in my ear. What a bloody fool. He’s nothing like his friend. If he had even been able to have half of Kai’s wits, maybe I would have managed to pay attention to him, instead of putting effort into a boy that won’t even look at me twice all because of this girl.I look at her on Jafser’s back, whispering to be taken back to the house. Open “stop complaining, Jafser. I already told you I will find a way for Kai to join us. As for Aelia, we need to take care of her as soon as possible. We don’t know when the village driver will get better and even if he does, it will still take a few days to get to the physician. Do you really want to take that risk?”“But she doesn’t want to go. She’s complaining, she wants to return to the house,” he says. “She’s sick, Jafser, do you really think this is the time to take what she wants into consideration? No.