I opened my eyes to see that the rain from before had stopped and the sun was shining into the room from the open balcony doors. Was all of what happened before just a dream? I looked to the side and could see Aspen asleep next to me, strands of their blue hair falling over their face. I had never looked at them so close up before. They looked so peaceful when asleep; everyone seemed to. I wondered what they were dreaming of before I realized I was probably an inch away from their face.

I tried to slowly back away. I didn't want to wake them up, but I also wanted to put some space between us in case they did wake up. That was until I fell off my bed, landing on the cold stone floor. My elbow stung from where I hit it, and I knew it would most likely leave a bruise.

I stumbled as I stood up, my mind still a bit fuzzy from just waking up. Aspen stirred on the bed. I held my breath, watching them, hoping they wouldn't wake up yet. My head shot up to the door when it was suddenly kicked open. Valen ran in in shorts and a bright yellow button up shirt that seemed to be a few sizes too big. As soon as they made a noise, Aspen sat up quickly and looked over at Valen, confused.

Valen looked as if they were ready to say something before they looked between me and Aspen, with this huge dumb smile growing on their face. Aspen stood up off the bed and grabbed Valen, dragging them out of the room and shutting the door like they had done the day before. I stood in the room, confused about everything that had just occurred. What happened after I had laid down? And why was Aspen asleep next to me?

I fell forward onto the bed and let out a muffled scream. It was so strange how all these things were happening so fast. Why did I feel this way, and why was Aspen suddenly so much more friendly? I mean, I guess the memories explained it, but the marriage from the original life was arranged, and we were just friends.

Were we just friends? It was hard to tell at this point. Emotions were so complicated. I stood up and looked around the room for something to change into; there was no use sitting around and questioning things. I opened the doors to the large wooden wardrobe in the corner of the room, and inside of it there were a few different dresses, but I found a shirt similar to Valen's, but a sage green with matching shorts. I quickly changed and walked out of my room, looking around the hall. There was no one; it was completely empty.

I started walking in the direction I could remember Valen leading us the night before. Eventually I made it to the ballroom. I pushed one of the doors open, struggling a bit from the weight of it. By the way Valen so easily pushed it open before, it seemed as if it would be no trouble at all. When I got inside, I expected to be the last one there, but it was also completely empty besides Aspen, who was sitting on a small stage in the corner of the room, which I assumed was for the bands during any parties thrown there.

Aspen's head shot in my direction when the door closed. I wasn't sure what to really say, especially after what had happened before. I stood there for a moment before giving a small wave. Their body relaxed from being tense, and they jumped down.

“Hey, how do you feel?” they asked as we met halfway in the room.

“Fine, why do you ask?” I was confused before remembering the night before. “Oh right, yeah, I mean, I don't feel any different.”

“Do you remember anything?”

“I guess I do? It's not like some big thing; more like I just feel different but normal.”

“I'll just need to quiz you then,” Aspen joked. I never noticed how they seemed to have a small smile when they spoke or how soft their face seemed. “What's October twenty-fifth?” Aspen asked after a moment.

“That's the day we got married in my last life,” I said without thinking.

Once I processed what I had said, I felt my face grow red. I turned away from Aspen, putting my hands on my face to try and hide it. Did we really get married? I thought that was more of a dream than a memory, but Leta had mentioned it once before, so of course it was real. I just never expected I could actually be married once before, especially to Aspen.

“Elva, are you-” Aspen started to ask, but was cut off by the large doors swinging open.

I looked up, and in walked Valen with everyone else. Ben came over after finishing what he had been saying to Adelphia, and he swung an arm over my shoulder.

“Are you ready for the beach? I can't even remember the last time we went,” Ben said. He looked as if he was trying to think. “Hey, why's your face red? Did something happen?” he asked, looking at me.

“No, nothing happened, it's all good,'' I said nervously.

“Hey, did Aspen try something before we came in?” Ben asked quietly before looking back at Aspen with a glare.

“No, nothing happened, Ben, really. It's just kind of hot in here,”

“But its not-”

“That means it's time for the beach!” Valen called out, interrupting Ben.

Valen led us all outside on a dirt path, with bright green grass growing beside it. I glanced up at the sky as everyone walked, noticing there were barely any clouds, unlike the day before. Under my feet, I could feel the dirt path slowly change to sand. The trees and grass around us disappeared too, and ahead of us were the bright blue waves of the ocean. I couldn't help but feel excited; I could already feel the cool water hitting my skin.

We had a bit of a walk left to get down to the sea, but I could smell the salty water. It reminded me of the days when Ben's mother would take the three of us on a weekend trip to see the ocean. I could still picture Rory laughing in the water and finding all kinds of shells to bring home and put on display with her paintings. I couldn't help but think of how much fun she would have here, at the beach and the castle.

I was snapped out of my thoughts when Ben ran past me, hitting my shoulder on his way down to the water, carrying Adelphia on his back. Her small protests and giggles faded the closer they got. Rune seemed to have the same idea, tossing Leta over his shoulder as if she were a sack of potatoes; instead of laughing about it though, she was hitting his back, trying to be put down.

“Want to be carried down like that too?” Aspen asked from behind me.

“Uh, no, I'd rather not,” I said with a laugh.

Aspen smiled at me before moving on ahead, their walking pace speeding up as they went downhill. I followed quickly behind, not wanting to take up too much time just walking. When I finally got to the water, I looked down, and a cool wave gently rolled over my feet as I stood there on the warm sand. The mix of the cold and warmth sent a chill up my body.

I could hear the loud splashing and laughter of the four who had run ahead, and I looked over to see Leta standing on a Rune who had been pushed underwater, almost as if she wanted to be above it all, while Adelphia stood to the side laughing at the two. The past few days, everyone had always seemed so gloomy and sad, but now we all had the chance to just be free. Even if it was for a day, I enjoyed seeing them all smile. I never thought I'd be able to feel really happy again, not after Rory. But in that moment, I couldn't help it.

I closed my eyes, breathed in the cool, salty air, and sighed. It was quiet, which was strange. I opened my eyes, looking around for the others. It was too quiet. Normally Valen would be around somewhere making a lot of noise, but they aren't. I could see the four had run further out into the water, Leta now on Runes' shoulders. I was ready to go sit in the sand for a while, but I caught a glimpse of lavender hair before I was pushed face first into the water.

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Valen's laughs were muffled by the water only for a moment as I quickly pushed my head up, feeling as if there was a weight being released from my body. I flipped my now wet hair back out of my face, coughing up the water I had accidentally swallowed. I looked over as Valen fell back from laughing, their laughs turning to gurgles. They sat up, choking on the water too, which just made me laugh like they had been a moment before.

I crawled out of the water and rolled onto my back; the warm sand was a comfort after being cold. I looked up at the blue sky, wishing there were clouds I could stare up at, imagining them as strange shapes. I closed my eyes and let out a breath, the water hitting my legs every few seconds and cooling me off from the sun that I let dry me.

It wasn't long before I opened my eyes and sat up, looking around to watch the others. I was just in time to see Valen run up behind Aspen, placing a crab on their head and running away before Aspen could turn around. Aspen grabbed the crab from their head and threw it at Valen, hitting them in the back and knocking them off their feet. My eyes followed Aspen as they walked over to a tree, sitting in the shade as an escape from the sun.

“Aspen is so mean,” Valen pouted as they sat next to me, rubbing the back of their head.

“Well, you were the one who put the crab on them.”

“But they didn't have to throw it at me,” Valen whined.

“What did you expect? You do this every time.”

“What?”

“What..?”

“You said I do this every time,” Valen mumbled with a blank stare.

“I did?”

“Yeah!” Valen said with a look of excitement, which then turned into a look of disappointment. “Well, it was fun talking with you; I need to go throw someone into the water.”

Valen stood up and walked off with a forced smile. I watched as they grabbed Tex from behind a bush and carried them to the water, throwing them in while Calix ran after them, tripping halfway and laying face down in the sand looking dead. Tex crawled out of the water with their hair falling over half their face, and they kind of reminded me of a wet cat.

I stood up from where I had been in the sand and walked into the water, which now felt a lot colder since I had been in the sun. I walked up behind Ben, who was kneeling down looking at something, and once I was close enough, I pushed him into the water onto whatever he had been looking at. Ben jumped up and looked at me, smacking water across my face with his hair. I wiped the water from my face before it could get into my eyes, and I could see Ben looking annoyed and confused with a shell in his mouth.

Ben spit out the shell, letting it fall into the water and splash us. “You're lucky I didn't swallow that.”

“You would have eaten it either way.”

“You're not wrong,” Ben said with a shrug. “Hey, should we bring crab back for dinner?”

“We have crabs at the castle,” Adelphia said as she walked over, carrying a bucket of shells in her arms.

Ben turned to say something but was interrupted by Valen. “Hey guys! I found something!” Valen yelled from the treeline.

Ben and Adelphia were the first to move towards Valen, being the most curious of us all. I followed behind them, my wet feet picking up sand as I moved forward.

“What is it?” I could hear Aspen asking as we arrived at the spot.

“An old tower; it's just past these trees,” Valen said, pointing behind them before turning and walking into the trees.

“Should we follow?” Ben whispered to us.

“If we don't, they'll just drag us there,'' I said, before moving on the same path Valen seemed to take.

The ground beneath my feet was rough, poking me every few steps I took, but it would be too late to turn back, grab shoes, then return to the path. I could see an opening in the trees, the cool shade from them now turning into the warm sun. I looked up, using my hand to shield my eyes from the sun, and could see an old tower that looked like it touched the clouds.

The stones on the tower had moss across them, and vines stretched up the sides. If it were night, I could almost mistake it for an old tree, seeing how it was more green than stone. Valen stood in front of it, staring up at a small window at the top. I wondered if they were trying to find the best way to enter, maybe climbing up the side like a spider. Valen walked over to the side and kicked at it a few times. There was a wooden door that I hadn't noticed moments before. It crashed down inside with a loud thud, and some dust came flying out the doorway, surrounding Valen.

I walked up behind them once the dust cloud had disappeared. Looking inside, I could see a spiral staircase in the middle of the room that led up, eventually disappearing into the dark. It definitely did not look safe to walk on or even try to reach the top of; I wanted to protest it so no one got hurt, but Valen walked inside with no care, starting up the staircase.

“Should we let them go alone?” I asked as I looked from the doorway to the others.

“Yes,” Aspen said from the back of the group, looking like they would walk away at any moment.

I looked back toward the doorway nervously and took a deep breath before walking inside after Valen. I could hear Aspen trying to call me back outside, then calling after Ben, who decided to run in behind me with Adelphia behind him, like a line of puppies who didn't want to be without their owner. I looked ahead of me and stopped at the first step of the old stone stairs. The floor under us felt cold and uneven, which was definitely an uncomfortable experience I'd prefer to avoid most times.

“Idiots,” Aspen said under their breath as they moved in front of us with a flame in hand, lighting the stairs.

I was the first to follow Aspen up the stairs, everyone else trailing behind us. I looked down and could see Aspen slowly making sure no steps would break under any of us. Eventually we made it to the second floor and could see Valen rushing around the room as if they had never seen anything exist outside of an empty room.

"And then Aspen said..LET THERE BE LIGHT!!!" Valen yelled as they turned around and saw Aspen with the flame.

“Valen, what are you doing?” Aspen asked, annoyed.

“Looking around; let's go!” Valen yelled out once more before running up the next set of stairs and disappearing into the dark less than a second later.

Valen didn't seem to stop at any of the other floors as they ran up. Aspen gave up on testing the steps to see if they were going to break; they would have under Valen, at least that's what I hoped so none of us would fall through. While Aspen ran up, I tried to keep up, but the stone stabbing into my feet slowed me and everyone behind.

When we managed to catch Valen, I only then noticed we had reached the top floor. My feet hurt from the stone, my legs were sore from running, and I could tell it was the same for the others, while Rune was almost collapsing from trying to catch his breath. When I looked over at Aspen, they looked as if they wanted to rip Valen's head off for leading all of us up here. Before that could happen, though, the sound of a large door slamming made me jump, almost falling to the side. Ben screamed, and I could feel him jump behind me, shielding himself from whatever had happened, with Adelphia following behind him, using the both of us as a shield.

I looked over and could see the noise was from a door, one that I hadn't noticed when running in. I put a hand over my chest, my heart feeling as if it would pop out from how hard it was beating. Rune seemed to have passed out at that point, with Leta dragging him over to a wall to lean him up against until he woke up.

“Ben,” I said quietly, turning my head to look at him.

“Y-yes?” he asked with a shaky voice.

“It was just the door.”

“Yeah, I knew that. I was just faking it so anyone else who was scared wouldn't feel alone,” Ben said, trying to make himself seem brave.

I could hear Adelphia quietly giggling behind him as he stood up straight and crossed his arms. I laughed at the sight of Ben. An object flew right past my head, crashing into the wall in front of me and chipping off some of the stone. I froze in place, seeing that what just happened could have been my head.

“Are you okay?” Aspen asked, now standing next to me.

“It's a ghost; this place is haunted; it's going to kill us,” Ben said quietly, panicked, as I nodded yes.

“Can ghosts kill people?” Adelphia asked me, now hugging my arm, scared.

“No, Ben's just being dramatic,” I replied, as if I wasn't practically shaking from fear. At the same time, Aspen moved to the door, kicking it open.

We all followed behind Aspen as they walked down the dark stairway, dragging Valen behind them. Adelphia stayed beside me, lightly holding my arm. Ben was now also holding onto my other arm as if he would die if he let go. It didn't take too long to get down to the bottom, which was strange since the tower seemed so tall from the outside but so small inside.

When we were all off the stairs, there was a large gust of wind that blew out the flame Aspen had been holding, drowning us in darkness. I could feel Ben's grip on my arm get tighter while Adelphia climbed onto my back. I thought I would stumble, but she surprisingly weighed practically nothing. My eyes opened wide, trying to see around the darkness to find anyone I could.

I used my free hand to feel around for Aspen. A pit of fear grew in me as I searched; I had always hated the dark, even with people. I hated not being able to see what I was doing or who was with me. I couldn't help but wonder what someone new would do or try to do if they appeared near us. I felt an arm in front of me, and I pulled my hand back for a moment.

“Aspen, is that you?” I asked quietly.

“Who else would it be?” Aspen replied.

I didn't hesitate to grab onto their arm, hugging it tightly, and I jerked my head to the side as there was the sound of someone running next to me. The fear inside now turned to panic. It sounded like a kid's footsteps; we didn't have a kid with us. Maybe ghosts were real. I could feel Ben crouch down but still hold onto me, while Adelphia buried her head into my back.

“She will die tomorrow,” a voice whispered above me, right next to Aspen.

I looked up as a new flame was lit in Aspen's hand. There was no one there. My eyes moved from the dancing fire to Aspen, who looked horrified. I wanted to say something or ask everyone if they had said it, but Leta had no way of doing so as she had Rune on her back while Valen was nowhere near us. The door then swung open, letting in the orange glow of a sunset.

Ben let go of my arm and practically stumbled trying to get outside, with everyone following behind him at the same speed. I was the last out of the door, and Adelphia jumped off my back, grabbing Ben's hand and running back in the direction of the beach. I turned around, letting go of Aspen's arm, and looked at the tower.

The height of it had changed to just being a simple tower, no taller than a tree. Inside the window at the top, there was a woman. Her white hair seemed to be glowing, but she disappeared before I could get anyone else to look. If she was the one to whisper that to Aspen, I couldn't help but wonder who she was talking about.