CHAPTER 41: DAUGHTER OF DAWN

The beach day kicked off with chaos. Royal, sandy chaos.

"Three! Two! ONE!" shouted Callum.

They took off down the shore in a tide pool race, hopping between sparkling pockets of water like leaping frogs in a magical obstacle course.

"First one to the seaweed throne wins!" Jared cried, sprinting past Leo.

"Seaweed what?" Evelisse called.

"No time for questions!"

Snugglewuff joined in, barking joyfully and leaping across puddles like a dolphin on a sugar high. He slipped once, face-first into a jelly-like pool, and emerged with a crab on his head.

Meanwhile, Jared and Felix argued over who reached the ’throne’ first—an overturned shell with an impressive amount of algae—and promptly fell into it together. Seaweed flew like confetti.

Evelisse laughed so hard she got the hiccups.

And then...

A glimmer in the sky.

Dozens of *flying fish* soared through the air again, caught in the midmorning shimmer. Their scales glittered like rainbows dipped in stardust.

"It’s starting again!" Leo shouted, grabbing a net made entirely of coral string. "Fish chase part TWO!"

"Last one to catch one has to polish everyone’s sandals!" Jared bellowed.

"No one wears sandals," Lucien muttered—but he chased anyway.

Evelisse held out her hands again as one fish twirled midair.

"Please," she whispered. "Just one more. For fun."

The fish winked.

Then pirouetted away.

"Oh come ON—" she laughed.

A violet-glowing one curved toward her, did a flip, and disappeared right above her. Another scale dropped gently into her palm.

Two now.

This one shimmered a different tune.

Almost a melody.

Almost like...

’Wait.’

Her head whipped around.

The cave.

The music from the previous night—the hum from the cliff. Was it matching?

No one else noticed.

They were too busy diving into waves or chasing fish up rocks.

But Evelisse’s heart began to race.

A tug.

Like a memory she hadn’t lived yet.

And then Felix’s voice rang out. "Over here! I found something!"

They gathered near a small, jagged archway carved into the base of the cliff.

Inside, half-hidden by sea moss and coral dust, was another opening.

"A cave?" Marcus stepped forward.

"It’s glowing," Felix said softly.

Jared frowned. "Anyone else getting major fairy tale vibes?"

"I’m in," Evelisse said before thinking. Her voice barely a whisper.

Lucien didn’t argue. That alone told her they were all too curious.

They lit small enchantment orbs and crept through the tunnel.

It opened quickly—wider than last time. As if the passage had shifted. Grown.

The air tasted like brine and lavender. A strange mix. The walls shimmered with soft rune light. Crystals poked through in places, refracting their glows into rainbows.

And on the far side...

A second mural.

It wasn’t as large as the first.

But it was clearer.

Sharper.

And unmistakably her.

This time, the girl wasn’t standing in waves.

She was kneeling.

Arms stretched upward.

The gemstone in her hands now hovered above a stone pedestal. Above her, a constellation of stars—seven points—flickered in a carved sky.

The inscription beneath:

"When the Daughter of Dawn touches the Echo Stone, the path shall open.

Where tides repeat, the door shall sing."

A strange hush fell over the group.

No one spoke for a moment.

Then, softly:

"What’s the Echo Stone?" Callum asked.

Lucien stepped forward. "I’ve read about it... in passing. It’s not just a legend. It’s a real stone... somewhere in the royal vaults."

"A vault we don’t have access to," Marcus added, his voice tight.

Evelisse’s hand brushed the wall. It pulsed beneath her fingertips.

The same hum. The same hum as the seashell. The same *note* the glowing scale in her pocket now resonated with.

’This is too much. This is—’

"I think I need air," Evelisse said quickly, her voice rising.

She turned and darted out of the cave tunnel, Fluffy trailing her like a fidgety balloon.

"Princess?!"

"I’m fine!" she called. "Just—just tired. Too much fish. And inspiration. And cryptic murals!"

"Cryptic murals?" Fluffy wheezed. "That’s your cover story?!"

"I panicked!"

By the time they reached the sand again, the sun had shifted.

It bathed everything in gold.

She fell into the soft beach towel and let the waves roar softly in her ears.

’This is too much.’

’Too soon.’

But something inside her whispered it wasn’t done yet.

And it wasn’t.

Because after dinner, after the fires had died down...

Evelisse went back to her room.

And the shell was waiting.

It sat on her pillow.

Pulsing.

Glowing.

But this time—

When she touched it, it didn’t just hum.

It sang.

A haunting, celestial lullaby that played only in her mind.

And in the center?

That same golden key.

Now spinning slowly.

And behind it...

A faint vision.

Of a door.

Carved into stone.

Buried deep beneath water and sand.

And it was calling to her.

Louder than ever.

Evelisse stared at the key in the vision, the melody still curling softly in her ears like a song half-remembered from a dream.

The door behind it shimmered, water cascading over its surface, glowing faintly with the same runes she’d seen in the cave murals.

Then—blink.

It was gone.

The shell dropped into her lap with a gentle thud, no longer glowing, as if nothing had happened.

Fluffy hovered nearby, eyes wide.

"You saw that, didn’t you?" Evelisse whispered.

"I did," he said, voice uncharacteristically serious. "And I don’t like what it means."

She bit her lip. "Do you think... that key, that door—do you think it’s real?"

"I don’t think, I know." Fluffy narrowed his tiny eyes. "And I think that thing wants you to find it."

"But why me?"

"Because the mural girl looked like you. Because the stone hums for you. Because whatever this is... it’s tied to your soul, Evelisse."

She stared at the shell.

"I’m only seven," she muttered.

"You’re also seventeen in your head," Fluffy muttered back. "So no excuses. You’re old enough to know this smells like prophecy soup."

She sighed. "With a side of mystery fish."

Fluffy chuckled. "Exactly."

She tucked the shell under her pillow again, heart pounding.

"Tomorrow," she whispered, "I’ll figure this out."