Chapter Two

I woke up very confused. Mostly because I was awake. I mean, I thought I died. Maybe I was wrong. Confused thoughts swarmed my mind as I looked around the room for any search of an answer. It was a beautiful room. It looked... it couldn't be. It looked just like the dream room I drew when I was younger. The walls and ceiling were white and there were two windows. I suspected that if I turned off the light, the fake stars on the ceiling would glow and the floor-length mirror showed my reflection but I didn't look like me. I looked like some weird version of myself. Don't get me wrong, I loved the new look and I felt gorgeous but it wasn't me. I shook myself out of my daze and focused on the room. There was a bookshelf next to me filled to the brim with all of the books I could ever read. I stood up from the cloud-like bed and made my way to the bookcase. It was perfect. They had all the books I had read in my childhood and there were so many more that I had planned to read. And, was I hallucinating, or was that... no. That's not possible. There was no way that that was the Shattered Hearts. I hadn't even finished it.

I jumped when the door opened. A beautiful woman walked in. She seemed to be glowing. She had long, dark brown hair and was surprisingly tall. She wore a purple gown that reached the floor. Lace crept up her arms. It lined the very top of the dress and trickled down to a solid violet embroidered with flowers here and there. The dark purple matched her dark skin perfectly. I wasn't one for dresses but even I loved the one she was wearing.

I focused on my curiosity once again. "Who in the heckity heck are you?" I asked, my crazed thoughts doing their usual job at scrambling my words.

"My name is Dariah. I am the keeper of the Sacrificials," she informed me.

"And what might Sacrificials be?" I wondered, making sure I sounded as fancy as she did.

"A Sacrificial is someone who dies sacrificing themself for someone else."

"So I am dead! I called it," I exclaimed, trying to stay happy which was hard considering the fact that I'd literally just found out that I was dead. Not the easiest thing to learn.

Dariah chuckled for a minute before her expression turned stern. She looked like stone as she spoke. "I am going to tell you something important. It will most likely be hard to process. You need to focus," she told me.

I was getting more curious by the second as I looked into her eyes. "Okay?"

"You have a chance to return to the living. It will take a lot of hard work and you don't have much time. Death is permanent, but luckily for us, it has a one month grace period in certain cases."

I considered this. What if he hadn't gotten caught? What if he was hurting Lily? I couldn't watch that. "What if I don't wish to return?" I wondered.

"Then you don't return. This is your choice. Your decision," she told me.

"Can I have time to think about this?" I asked her.

"I'm afraid you won't have much. If you wish to return to living, you must tell me by the end of the hour."

"Why does there always have to be a time limit?" I wondered. "I mean, every single thing has a time limit! Can't I just, I don't know, eat pie and lay back for a while?"

"No." Her voice was sharp and I stepped back a bit. Dariah sighed. "You have one hour to make your decision." And then she disappeared. Like literally. Her body exploded into colorful, rainbow dust and she was gone.

I sighed and sat down on my bed. I knew what I was going to do. If I had the chance to see Lily again, I would take it. Even if that meant giving up possibly my only chance for peace.

A few seconds later, Dariah returned. "You leave in thirty minutes," she informed me. Okay, what the heck?

"How do you know I want to go and do this... whatever it is?"

"Your thoughts, obviously," she stated as if this was completely normal. Let me tell you, it wasn't.

"You read my thoughts?" I wondered.

"It's a simple science, really. You will get used to these things eventually."

"Mmm... I doubt that," I retorted.

"This is a pointless argument!" she told me. "You will leave in half an hour. Be ready," she warned.

I sighed and watched as she disappeared again. This time, she left sparkles behind. I looked around the room for anything that I could take with me. I mean, what was I supposed to take with me on a magical journey to "return to the living"?

I noticed a drawer towards the back of the room and went to go and opened it. Inside, I found a comb, a little mini mirror thingy, and some bandages. I decided to take them 'cause why not? It was then that I realized I didn't have a backpack or anything to hold it in.

I walked through the room. I noticed an actual, real-life wardrobe to the side and walked over to it. Inside was a large variety of outfits. Most were dresses but thankfully there were some pants and blouses. I immediately grabbed those and put them on the bed. I kept searching the room, hoping to find literally anything else.

Luckily, the room seemed to be stashed with anything and everything somebody would need when going on a quest or whatever it was. I was able to find a dagger, a bow and some arrows (which I found weird but decided to take anyway), a flashlight, a notebook, some shoes, and a lot more random stuff including a stuffed turtle. Why there was a stuffed turtle in this weird afterlife room, I didn't know. It was really cute though and I decided to take it. Don't judge me! It was adorable.

I found a backpack to put my stuff in and shoved everything in it. I didn't think it would fit everything but it did. I was really confused but it only helped me so I decided not to question it.

A few seconds later, Dariah returned. "It's time for you to leave," she told me. I sighed. I knew the time would come but did it have to be so soon?

"Fine. And how long do I have again? I forgot."

"One month," she told her.

"Will do. Now, how do I get out of here? Do you just zap me away or do I have to walk?" she asked.

She sighed. "I will teleport you out of here, if that is what you're asking," she informed me.

"Nice." I just kind of stood there for a few seconds, pursing my lips and looking down at my shoes, which I then realized were diamond covered flats. I thought my eyes would pop out of their sockets. What the heck!? Why did anybody need shoes covered in diamonds!? I wondered.

"So..." I started. "When are we gonna go?"

"Right," she responded. Dariah seemed to have snapped out of... whatever it was that was going on. "Let's go."

Seconds later, Dariah and I arrived... somewhere. I looked around to find that we were in some sort of cavern.

Geodes lit the ceiling, casting an array of colors around the stone room. There was some sort of waterfall leading into a beautiful spring. Plants flowed over the side and covered the cave, crawling up the walls and creating a curtain at the mouth of the cave. It smelled like saltwater and roses. It reminded me of Lily. I swallowed the lump that had formed in my throat and focused back on Dariah.

"Soooo... what's this first mission or whatever it is I have to do. I have to admit, I still have no idea what is going on"

"You had better figure it out. Or else, you might never see your family again. This is no joke, Shaye. This is serious."

"I know. So, what am I doing again?" I asked.

"You must find three items."

This is one of those quests, I thought. Great. "Okey dokey. What do I have to find?"

"The Knife of Resurgemus," Dariah said.

"And what the heck is that?"

"That is for you to figure out."

I sighed. "That's great. Anyway, go on."

"You will also need a branch from the Tree of Veritas and the Blood of Amare." I had literally no idea what those were but if it was my only chance to see Lily again, I would willingly do it.

"Could I get a list of that? I don't have a very good memory."

"Yes," she agreed although the rolling of eyes made me think that perhaps she was slightly annoyed. "Oh, and one more thing, in order to find all of these things, you will need the Map of Mortem."

"Where is that?"

"It is in this room." I was about to ask where since she gave me literally nothing but that but by then, she'd disappeared. Again.

"Well, I guess I should start looking. And probably stop talking to myself. But I'm so fun to talk to. Okay, this is weird. Let's stop."

A/N It's not great and it's very late but I hope you like it. Sorry about the wait. So, what do you guys think about Shaye? I mean, other than the fact that her name is freaking awesome because that's just a given. What do you think of the story in all?

Bye Apples

Xoxo - Abby