Page 1 of Silver
Chapter 1
Silver
Two years ago.
“Don’t let them see you cry, Sil,” my grandmother’s firm voice granted me the strength to will my tears away. She had always been the strongest woman I knew, and now, now I was leaving her.
The damn tears tried to force their way through again, but I pushed them away. She needed me to be strong right now.
We’d driven to the city where our leaders lived and ruled. It was the first time I’d ever been here and it would be my last, too.
I’d gotten my letter at sixteen, stating that if no magic had surfaced by the time I turned eighteen, I would be shunned to Sutiner, like that other mage before me had been. My poor grandmother had been furious with the leaders, trying to save my place in this world by organizing protesters against them, but when people were threatened with murder for standing up for my rights as a mage, the support had stopped. My grandmother and I were alone, and we knew there was nothing left for us to do now.
“Remember, don’t hold yourself back in there. I know you want to protect me, but I don’t have long left anyway. My last dying wish…”Damn she was so dramatic, “Is for you to tell those fuckers exactly what you think of them. I want them to grab their expensive pearls and gasp when you bring the truth out in front of them.”
I sighed. “Are you sure? Because I’m dying to finally speak my mind.”
She nodded, a gleam of excitement in her pale green eyes. “It’ll be the best thing I’ve ever experienced.” I highly doubted that, but I didn’t say that. Gran had lived a wild life and from what I’d heard of her adventures, this would benothingcompared to those.
We were pulling up outside the leaders’ castle and from the amount of people that had gathered outside, it seemed like I wouldn’t be able to keep my dignity in place.
Fucking leaders.
They’d taken so much joy from me. From my grandma. As soon as I turned sixteen, my school got a letter, same as us, alerting them that the leaders were watching me closely, and therefore the school was under their watch, too. No one dared treat me kindly after that, too afraid the leaders would come after them for treating a child without magic with anything other than coldness and disdain.
It truly sucked when I had to watch my classmates fall in love and start dating. No guy here wanted to come close to me, and the one time someone did, it was all because of a bet. Randy had been my first crush, someone I’d admired from afar, so when he’d asked me out, I hadn’t even questioned it, just said yes and hoped it would be my fairytale moment. That it was my turning point in life. And it had been, for the worse. It turned out to be a bet, a stupid bet to see if he would die from kissing me—like that was even possible. If the magicless mage would suck out his magic and steal it for myself. I’dhoped I could. When I’d given him my very first kiss, he’d given me my first heartbreak and reality check.
I wasn’t wanted in this world.
I was a freak.
And now, I was leaving.
Gran was right when she said she didn’t have long left. She’d stopped getting healed for her condition, something we knew would cost her in the long run, but she didn’t want to live here without me. I’d tried to reason with her, tried to talk her out of it, but she was a stubborn old lady. When I was five my mother and father had decided they weren’t parent material, and they’d left me with my grandmother. I hadn’t seen them since, and it became a rule in our house that we never spoke about them. It only caused us both pain. After all, Gran had lost her daughter that day and her respect for her, too. And I’d lost my parents.
We had no idea who my grandfather was, my grandma being what she called a “temptress”back in her youth. She’d lived life like every day was her last and honestly, it was one of the things I admired most about her. She did whatever she wanted to and didn’t give one fuck about anyone else.
I knew she would be okay with me gone, but would I be okay?
A hard knock on the door alerted us that now was the moment. I had to leave the car and face all the people who had gathered to watch. I knew many were against us getting shunned, but because of the fear of being killed for speaking their mind, they stayed silent.
Gran whispered before she opened the door. “Remember, do everything you have to to survive, Sil. You are a fighter. You are a survivor. And you will leave this world whatever way you wish, today.”
I nodded, forcing the tears away once again. We left the car, seeing all the people stare and point. God, it was horrible! Had they no life? I shook my head too tired and disappointed to do anything else as we followed the water mage they’d sent to retrieve us.
The walk into the castle was dragging. Almost like the mage had been tasked with taking his sweet time so the people could truly get a good look at the freak mage.
When we finally stood before the leaders, I hugged my grandma, ignoring their presence as I whispered, “I love you. Iwillsurvive this.” She nodded, wiping a tear away from her cheek. I gave her an incredulous look. I wasn’t allowed to cry but she was?!
“If you’re done hugging, might we get on to business,” Mallum droned. He was my least favorite of the leaders, the one right after him was Leah. The bitch had her own son shunned. It was what told me fighting was futile. If a mother could shun her own son without remorse, then she could do so easily with a stranger.
“Oh, I’m sorry,” I said with all the sass I could muster, “Are we ignoring the biggest ass in the room for too long? Do you need constant attention to function? Is it contagious? I really wouldn’t want to act like an ass daily, no offense.” The last thing I saw was Mallum’s nostrils flare with anger, and then I was pushed into a portal on the ground. At least I’d heard my grandma laugh when I called Mallum an ass, I thought as I flew through the portal, and landed right in the middle of a freezing ocean.
Fuck. Me.
Everything was cold. My lips were no doubt a deep blue shade and my toes were likely falling off. The only thing that kept me going was thebright light that kept passing over me, guiding me in the direction of land. How long had I been swimming for? No idea. But I was not giving up. I’d promised Gran to survive and I wouldn’t fail her so soon.
The light came closer and closer, but so did my fatigue. I felt my body weaken more with each stroke I made, the waves working against me. I hadn’t even thought about sharks or other big fish in the ocean. Well, I was now. I fucking hated sharks. The fear was enough to pump my legs and arms, working them faster towards the light. If I could just stop thinking about how deep the water was underneath me, how many fish were near and watching me from the dark depths of the ocean, waiting to devour me whole.
