The 10th Hour

The sun blasted into her eyes, making her wince. Just as she sat up, little Layla, Alya's twelve-year-old stepsister, ran in and jumped on the bed, a huge smile on her face.

"I sensed when you woke up," she said, bouncing where she sat. "I had to wait. Mother wouldn't let me wake you. She said you needed to sleep. Come meet the family, Alya!" She rambled on without waiting for an answer.

Alya smiled. "Okay, but let me freshen up first."

"Okay, I'll show you to the bathroom. It's right here." Layla pulled her off the bed and toward a door built so smoothly into the wall it was almost invisible.

Before she closed it, she paused. "I saw him too. The boy you came with. I saw him in your dream." Her smile faltered. "I'm sorry. I invaded your dream. I can't control it yet."

Alya blinked, surprised. "It's okay," she said. "I bet it'll be fun, learning how to control it."

Layla beamed and shut the door.

Once she'd freshened up, Alya stepped into the spiral hallway and was hit with a mouth-watering aroma. She followed it and found Layla waiting with fourteen-year-old Rowan, her stepbrother. He beamed and pulled her into a hug while Layla giggled beside him.

"Layla told me you were awake," Rowan said. "Come on, the whole family's waiting."

He and Layla pulled her into the large dining hall, now filled with people, many of whom looked like Sapphire.

"Oh, you're awake, Alya! Come meet your family," someone called out.

The room held Sapphire's two elder sisters, their partners, and their children, some of them the same age as Alya, some older. They all came to her one after the other, hugging her, kissing her cheeks. Every one of them was emotional. A few even wept.

"We thought you were gone," Sapphire's eldest sister, Celeste, said, holding Alya's face in her hands. "But your mother never stopped believing she could feel your essence. We tried to reach you. We searched the whole earth and couldn't find you. We didn't know you alone had the power to find us."

She led Alya to a seat and sat beside her. "When your mother told me she could sense you getting closer, I thought she was losing her mind. Not until we all felt your essence, from wherever we were. You let us feel you, Alya." Her voice broke. "Thank you for seeking us. Thank you for finding us." She pulled Alya into a hug.

Alya was bawling her eyes out the entire time.

After they'd eaten, the teens, along with Alya's step-siblings, took her to an open-air pavilion filled with more youths and animals bearing the same strange, beautiful features as the people she'd met the day she arrived. They called it the game center. Alya had never seen anything like it. Swords, arrows, board games spread across a wide field, people gathered around every one of them. Stalls lined the sides, selling gears, equipment, and supplies.

Two of Alya's cousins, Nyla and Kellan, both a year older than her, took charge of showing her around, walking her through how everything worked. Nyla demonstrated a floating ring toss game, showing Alya how to throw the ring into a hoop, while Kellan proudly showed off his skills with a set of sparring daggers.

Just as they were about to turn to the stalls, the air suddenly turned cold. Everyone shivered, but no one looked surprised. Nyla smacked her forehead, shaking her head in exasperation.

"He does this all the time," she said.

"Who does?" Alya asked.

"Him."

Gliding in on a transparent ice saucer trailing smoky fog, a young man with startling blue eyes and white hair came into view.

He looked about eighteen, tall and square-shouldered, with short white hair flared into two sharp spikes on both sides of his head, and loose strands covering his ears.

He wore a long white tunic slit at both sides, strange symbols stitched into the hem, the tail fabric snapping in the wind as he glided. His trousers were loosely fitted, occasionally blowing up to reveal strapped sandals fused directly to the ice plate like an extension of his own body.

"Always the show-off," Nyla said, rolling her eyes.

Kellan didn't share her annoyance. He ran straight for the new arrival, shaking his hand enthusiastically.

"You nailed it!"

"Well, it's me, ain't I?" the guy said smugly.

Then his eyes landed on Alya, and the smugness vanished.

He looked from her to Kellan, silently asking who she was.

"Oh, that's my cousin. Alya."

The guy's eyes went wide.

"The missing one?"

"Yep," Kellan said, grinning. "Come meet her."

Kellan reached out to pull him over, but he slipped past him and glided over himself.

"Name's Kaelith," he said, holding out a hand. "I'm an ice elf."

"An elf?" Alya raised her brows.

"Yeah. Don't I look like one?"

"Uh…"

He swept the hair back from one ear, revealing a sharp, pointed tip.

Alya's mouth fell open. "Everything is new to me. I knew there were possibilities, but I never expected elves to be real. I thought it was just a myth."

Kaelith folded his arms, tapping his jaw thoughtfully.

"Hmm."

He began gliding in a slow, lazy circle around her and Nyla, the ice under his feet hissing faintly. "So where have you been all this time? Off with the Norms, trying to fit in?"

"Kaelith." Nyla shot him a warning look.

He didn't take the hint.

"Why'd it take you so long, huh? You don't like your own kind?" He tilted his head. "Or you never expected to meet people as strange and weird as you, huh?"

"Kaelith!" Nyla yelled. "Stop it."

Alya stepped back, her eyes burning with unshed tears.

His smirk died the second he saw her face. He clamped his mouth shut and drifted downward, the ice under his feet melting away.

"Uh."

"I should go spend some time with my mother," Alya said quietly. She turned and walked off.

Kellan shoved Kaelith's shoulder hard enough to make him stumble.

"Why are you so insensitive?" Nyla snapped, then took off after Alya.

"What the heck, man?" Kellan grumbled.

"She said she didn't think elves were a thing," Kaelith said, rubbing his shoulder. "I was just messing around."

"That was a low blow, elf. Even for you." Kellan shook his head and walked off, leaving him standing alone in the damp patch where his glide used to be.

Back in the house, Alya found Sapphire seated with her sisters and their partners, all leaned in close, speaking in hushed tones.

She caught only the last word before they noticed her.

"…danger."

The moment they saw her, the room went quiet.

Sapphire swallowed hard, exchanging a pained look with Celeste before patting the seat beside her. "What is it, dear?"

"What danger?" Alya asked, walking over to join the circle, her gaze darting across their grim faces.

"It's nothing you need to worry about," Sapphire said.

She took Sapphire's hand. "Mum, I just met you. I just met my entire family, my whole kind. I don't want this to be short-lived, not if I can help it. Now tell me. What danger?"

Sapphire sighed and looked around at the others, every face lined with worry. She turned back to Alya.

"You're in danger, Alya."