ZELLA’S POV :

“Why do you have this ring?”

I looked at Grey and couldn't read his expression. All the laughter had drained from his face and he looked serious. I almost couldn't recognize him as the same person who was joking around just a few minutes back. 

Where had I seen this look before? Why can't I remember?

Ugh, whatever.

He had a tight grip on my hand. It was obvious that he wasn't letting go until he got his answers.

Why do I have this ring huh?

I racked my brain trying to find out when exactly I had got that ring. It had been on my hand for as long as I could remember. It was a black metal band with a single dull jewel at the centre. As a kid, I remember scrubbing it with soap to make the jewel shine but no matter what I did the dullness of the jewel never went away.

The jewel at the centre of the ring was the most unsettling. It was as if a cloud was in it. And at times I could've sworn I saw the cloud swirling around. 

Like mist. 

The mist that covers everything. The known. The unknown. The sadness. The happiness. The pain. The lies.

And… the truth.

Now that I think about it, there had been many weird instances connected to the ring. 

When I was eleven, I remember losing it on one of my stealth trips to explore the neighbourhood. I cried looking around for it and then I ran into a troubled Dan, who had been looking for me. I wailed in his arms about losing the ring and Dan looked at me with a mysterious smile and simply pointed at my hands.

There it was. The ring. On my index finger, right where it had always been. Almost as if I had never lost it.

Upon asking Dan about this he smiled and said, “Zella, you didn't lose it. You must have been mistaken.”

Now that I mention it… Why didn't I remember this earlier? It was as if a cloud that had been covering my memory moved slightly and a single beam of sunlight fell through.

At the same time, the ring’s cloud moved and the jewel shone. But just for a moment and then went back to normal.

It happened so fast that if it wasn't for Grey’s troubled expression, I wouldn't have believed that it actually happened.

“Y-you saw that right?”

Grey didn't reply and instead gripped my hand tighter.

“Grey, what’s going on-”

“ACKKKK!”

I was interrupted by an agonized scream and pain racking through my body.

I later realised… that it had been me who was screaming.

The feeling of clean, cool and calm water slowly turned into muddy quicksand instead. It’s suffocating. I can't breathe. The more I try to move the quicker I fall into the sand.

But there was no sand. Just the feeling.

Ugh, it hurts.

I glanced over at Grey who was screaming something and shaking me, but I couldn't hear. 

He seemed confused and… scared.

But he seemed alright physically. Whatever was going on only affects me.

Damn it. I'm about to pass out because of the pain.

I squinted, through the pain trying to understand what Grey was trying to say. 

By reading his lips I was able to make it out somewhat.

“DON’T. PASS. OUT.”

As if on cue, my vision blacked out.

Oops. Sorry, Grey.

It didn't take a genius to realise that I was in deep trouble. Quite literally.