"The queen is not the real queen!"
The words echoed through the underwater kingdom.
I stared at the girl behind the gate.
"What did you say?"
She looked at the woman standing before us.
"She is a liar."
The queen's face changed.
For the first time, I saw fear in her eyes.
"You don't know what you're saying."
The girl shook her head.
"I remember everything."
The queen stepped backward.
"No."
"You stole my crown."
The golden mark on my wrist suddenly burned.
I screamed.
Shawshank caught me before I fell.
"Bjei!"
The girl's voice came through my mind.
Remember me.
I closed my eyes.
Suddenly, I saw a memory.
A palace.
A beautiful golden throne.
The first queen sitting upon it.
And beside her stood another woman.
The woman looked exactly like the queen standing before me.
But she was younger.
And she was kneeling.
The real queen was holding a newborn baby.
Me.
I gasped.
The memory changed.
The false queen attacked.
The real queen fought back.
Then the false queen stole the golden crown.
She placed it on her own head.
The real queen screamed.
"You can steal my crown, but you can never steal my soul!"
The memory disappeared.
I opened my eyes.
I looked at the queen.
"You stole it."
She didn't answer.
"You stole the real queen's crown."
Her face hardened.
"I did what I had to do."
"You lied to everyone."
"I saved this kingdom!"
"No."
I stepped forward.
"You destroyed it."
The false queen raised her hand.
Darkness exploded toward me.
Shawshank pushed me aside.
The attack hit him.
He crashed against the ruins.
"SHAWSHANK!"
I ran toward him.
He groaned.
"I'm okay."
The false queen laughed.
"You see what your defiance costs?"
I turned toward her.
"You keep hurting everyone I love."
Her eyes narrowed.
"Because they are your weakness."
"No."
I stood.
"They are my strength."
The golden light returned to my wrist.
The entire kingdom began glowing.
The false queen stepped backward.
"What are you doing?"
"I don't know."
I raised my hand.
The golden light shot toward the gate.
The chains holding the girl shattered.
She floated forward.
The moment she touched my hand, everything went white.
I felt something enter my body.
Not darkness.
Not the queen.
Something warm.
Something familiar.
My own heartbeat.
My own memories.
I suddenly remembered things I had never experienced.
The first time the sea called me.
The first time I opened my eyes beneath the water.
The first time I saw Shawshank.
The night I was born.
And then—
I remembered the truth.
I wasn't created from Elara.
I wasn't created from the queen.
I wasn't created by the sea.
I was born.
I was simply born with a power nobody understood.
The two souls were never two different beings.
They were two pieces of one soul.
The queen had separated them because she feared what would happen if I became whole.
I opened my eyes.
The girl was gone.
I was alone.
But I felt complete.
The false queen screamed.
"No!"
She attacked.
I raised my hand.
Her darkness stopped inches from me.
She stared at me.
"How?"
I smiled through my tears.
"Because you don't control me anymore."
The darkness turned around.
It flew back toward her.
She screamed as it surrounded her.
Marina rushed toward me.
"Bjei!"
I turned.
"Mom."
She hugged me.
"You're whole."
I nodded.
"I remember."
She pulled away.
"What do you remember?"
I looked at her.
"You didn't give me away because you didn't love me."
Her eyes filled with tears.
"You gave me away because you did."
She nodded.
"I was trying to save you."
I hugged her.
"I know."
Behind us, Shawshank stood slowly.
I ran to him.
"Are you hurt?"
He smiled.
"Only a little."
I touched his face.
"You scared me."
"You scare me every day."
I laughed.
Then he pulled me closer.
"I thought I was going to lose you."
"You won't."
Suddenly, a deep roar shook the kingdom.
Everyone turned.
The false queen was gone.
But the ancient gate had begun opening again.
Grandmother stared at it.
"That isn't supposed to happen."
Azrael stepped forward.
"What's behind it?"
Grandmother's face became pale.
"The thing we sealed away."
I looked at my wrist.
The golden crown had returned.
But this time, there was something different.
A small silver symbol appeared beneath it.
A wave.
Marina looked at it.
"Oh no."
"What?"
She stared at me.
"You've awakened the final power."
"What power?"
She whispered:
"The power to command the boundary between the sea and the land."
I frowned.
"What does that mean?"
Grandmother looked toward the gate.
"It means you can open a path between both worlds."
I looked at Shawshank.
"And close one too?"
Grandmother nodded.
"If you learn how."
The gate opened another inch.
A voice came from the darkness.
"Bjei."
I froze.
It wasn't the false queen.
It wasn't Malachai.
It wasn't my second soul.
It was someone I knew.
Someone who should have been impossible.
The voice whispered:
"It's Angela."