Page 143 of Caelum

As I buried my feet deeper in the sand, I did the same with my fists, finding a strange comfort in having my extremities covered with the grainy substance.

My face burned from the salt, the wind, and the sun, but I didn't care. It was a moment’s peace, and I really needed it. As I flexed my fingers, I frowned when I felt something. It was strange. Not a stone, because it wasn't cold, but shiny.

Plasticky.

My frown deepened as I felt the rounded edges of the object, and I pushed my hand deeper into the sand to get a firmer hold of the item. When I realized it was stuck, I sat up as curiosity drove the movement, and I pulled my hand free, then with both sets of fingers, dug to where I'd burrowed, the ocean helping me as the tide moistened the sand.

A sharp wave surged over me, filling the small hole I'd made with water. It made the sand easier to shove out of the way and stopped it from sinking where I'd dug. Within thirty seconds, I'd found the item. And seeing it was a key ring surprised me. The water came again, ever helpful, and rinsed off the piece. When I squinted against the sun, shading it with my fingers, I peered at the object then froze.

What in the ever-loving fuck?

The picture was faded, but I'd recognize it anywhere. The text was barely visible, but I recognized the font too.

Coolangatta.

When I turned it over, I saw the back of the key ring, and the coincidence morphed into an impossibility.

One side contained a picture of Coolangatta beach, but the other was a picture of me and my mum all those years ago when we’d vacationed there.

I'd only mentioned this to Eve a week ago.

How was this possible?

I knew things could travel across the ocean. Hadn't there been a shipment full of rubber ducks that had been on a ship that capsized? I knew they traveled across the ocean, finding a new home in the States somewhere. But a key ring?

It was too uncanny.

A too-impossible coincidence.

Sickness pulled on my stomach. And even though I was pathetically grateful to have the tatty memento back, memories of our peaceful time before my life had changed forever with my mum’s death, I felt a deep sense of unease.

I remembered exactly what I'd said to Eve.

How I'd phrased it.

“I wish...”

I'd wished for the key ring to be back in my possession.

I'd wished it, and here it was.

It wasn't as though it had appeared at the blink of an eye, and there was no sign of magic. But this? It was too surreal.

I hadn't thought of this key ring in over five years. There wassomething about Eve that made me think about the past, dredged it up in ways I'd been burying down for far too long.

She'd made me think of it, and the words had spilled from my lips almost as if I hadn't wanted them to, and now? The key ring was back in my possession. After I'd wished it back there.

Concern had me scrambling to my feet, and I slipped my finger through the rusted metal ring to clamp it in my grasp, then I grabbed my board and held it under my arm. The twenty-minute walk back to the Academy took place in ten. I ran at a steady pace, trying to use the motion and momentum to calm my thoughts, but there was no calming me down.

Was I scared? I didn't think I was, but I was definitely on edge. I felt like something momentous had just happened, and I wasn't capable of figuring out what it was.

As I ran through the secondary gate back into Caelum proper, I guess I shouldn't have been surprised to see Eve there.

She wasn't waiting for me. In fact, I wasn't sure what she was doing.

Many kids surfed and took advantage of the beaches while they were here, and there was a section close to the secondary gate where we could shower off and get clean. She was looking up at a tree on the path toward that area, staring up at it in a way that made me wonder what she was looking at.

Her intense focus meant she hadn't seen me arrive, and when I called out, “Eve?” she jerked in surprise.

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