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“Serena?”

The voice in my head isn’t my own, but it’s familiar.

“Theo?”

“Yes! Oh gods, Serena, I’ve been trying to call out for weeks, but my magic is so low I thought I’d never reach someone!” I can’t see her, but I can hear the excitement in her voice.Despite that it lacks something, some of her usual pizzazz I’ve come to expect with her.

“What do you mean your magic is low?” I ask as her words finally register. She’s a Goddess, even if not as powerful as someone like her mother, Aranyani, she’s still powerful.

So how can this happen?

“I don’t have time to explain. My magic is low, but I need your help.”

“What can I do? Do you need me to come save you?”

“I don’t know where he’s holding me.”

“Who?” I ask, though I’m pretty sure I already know the answer.

“Draven.” Her voice cracks, low and terrified, and it makes me so mad. She said weeks… Draven has had Theo for weeks!

That would explain why she hasn’t come around recently. I’d thought maybe she was busy; Garrett suggested she might not realize how long she’s been away, seeing as she’s immortal.

I’d missed my friend and had about a million questions for her after that day in the cabin and all the while she’s been here, held prisoner.

A moan fills the air, followed by a shrill scream, and if I were there, I’d probably have chills. The sounds of that place are the things of nightmares, a lot like the cries of whatever it is that wanders the Forgotten Forest.

Oh god, is Draven responsible for the twisted magic there?

“Serena, listen, I don’t know how much time we have, but I need you to call your mother.”

Of all the things I thought she might say, that wasn’t it.

“What?”

“Your mother, call her. If there was ever anyone she might answer, it’s you.” She’s practically pleading with me now, but for some reason I can’t seem to comprehend what she’s asking of me.

“My mother is a mortal woman back on Earth,” I tell her, hardly able to force the words out around the lump of emotions lodged in my throat.

“No! Stop, you know that’s not true. You are so much more than this, than some girl who washed up on the shore. You have to know that with everything you can do.”

My lungs feel like someone is squeezing them as I attempt to breathe but only manage shallow breaths. If this weren’t some kind of weird dream vision thing, I’m pretty sure I’d be on the verge of passing out as I try to make sense of what’s going on.

I know Talia isn’t my birth mother. I know that even before I was on Earth; I was here, washed up on the shore where a fisherman found me and took me to Rosalynn.

“I can’t…” I choke out the words. I want to help Theo, but I can’t do what she’s asking; even if I could, it wouldn’t do any good. I wouldn’t have been washed up on the shore alone if my mother wanted me.

“Yes, you can. Please, Serena.” The desperate plea in her voice tugs at my heart, but I can’t do what she needs.

I’d be calling to nobody. How does she not understand that?

The room goes quiet around us, so quiet it’s as if there is no sound, and for a moment I wonder if I’m even still with Theo.

And then I hear it.

A rumble to my right, low and deep and monstrous.

“I smell you, my shadow princess,” Draven purrs, sniffing the air and groaning, making my stomach roll. “Don’t worry, I won’t kill your friend, at least not yet. I still need her for when I come to visit. I have to make sure you’ll behave, after all. It’s up to you if she survives or not.”