"She is awake."
The words were still written across the water.
I stared at them.
My reflection had disappeared.
Instead, I could see another girl staring back at me.
She had my face.
My eyes.
But she looked frightened.
I slowly touched the water.
The girl touched it too.
"Who are you?" I whispered.
Her lips moved.
But no sound came out.
Then suddenly, she screamed.
I jumped backward.
The water exploded.
Shawshank grabbed me.
"Bjei!"
"What was that?"
Grandmother rushed toward us.
"Don't look into the water!"
"Why?"
"Because it can show you things that haven't happened yet."
I looked at her.
"But that girl looked exactly like me."
Grandmother's face became serious.
"She isn't another girl."
My heart pounded.
"Then who is she?"
Grandmother looked at Marina.
Marina slowly lowered her head.
"She is your second soul."
I felt dizzy.
"My what?"
Marina took a deep breath.
"When you were born, your body couldn't survive the power inside you."
"So?"
"So we had to divide your soul."
I stared at her.
"Who divided it?"
"Elara."
I looked toward the woman who had been the first keeper.
She nodded.
"The queen was trying to enter your body before you were even born."
"What happened?"
"I separated your soul into two parts."
"Where is the other part?"
Elara pointed toward the sealed gate.
My heart dropped.
"Behind there?"
She nodded.
I looked at the gate.
"No."
"Bjei—"
"No!"
I stepped backward.
"You're telling me part of me has been trapped behind that gate for eighteen years?"
Marina's eyes filled with tears.
"We didn't have a choice."
"You always have a choice!"
My voice echoed through the kingdom.
"You all decided what was best for me without telling me anything."
Marina cried silently.
I turned away.
Shawshank followed me.
"Bjei."
"Don't."
He stopped.
"I need a moment."
He nodded.
"I'll be here."
I walked toward the ruins.
I needed to breathe.
But beneath the sea, breathing wasn't the problem.
It was thinking.
Everything I knew about myself had changed.
My mother wasn't my birth mother.
My father wasn't who I thought.
My blood wasn't ordinary.
I was a keeper.
A queen.
A key.
And now I had two souls.
I sat beside a broken stone.
Then I heard a whisper.
Bjei.
I looked around.
Nobody was there.
Bjei.
I closed my eyes.
"Who are you?"
I'm you.
My heart stopped.
"You're my second soul?"
Yes.
"Where are you?"
Inside the gate.
I swallowed.
"Are you trapped?"
There was silence.
Then—
Yes.
"Can I free you?"
You must.
I stood immediately.
"How?"
Open the gate.
I froze.
"No."
If you don't, I will die.
My chest tightened.
"Why didn't anyone tell me?"
Because they are afraid of what happens when we become whole.
"What happens?"
Silence.
"Tell me!"
The voice whispered:
We become complete.
"That doesn't sound dangerous."
It is.
"Why?"
The voice became faint.
Because the queen will become complete too.
I stopped breathing.
"What does that mean?"
No answer.
"Hello?"
Nothing.
Then I heard footsteps behind me.
Shawshank.
"You were talking to someone."
I turned.
"How did you know?"
"I could hear you."
I looked at him.
"Can you hear her?"
He shook his head.
"No."
I told him everything.
He listened without interrupting.
When I finished, he looked toward the gate.
"So your second soul is trapped inside."
"Yes."
"And the only way to save her is to open the gate."
"Yes."
He sighed.
"Then we'll open it."
I stared at him.
"You aren't scared?"
"Terrified."
I smiled slightly.
"But?"
"But I'm not letting you face this alone."
I stepped closer.
"What if opening the gate releases the creature again?"
"Then we fight it."
"What if we can't?"
He took my hand.
"Then we find another way."
Before I could answer, Marina called my name.
We turned.
She was standing beside Grandmother.
There was something in her hands.
A small wooden box.
She walked toward me.
"This belonged to your grandmother."
I opened it.
Inside was a folded piece of cloth and an old photograph.
I picked up the photograph.
My hands began shaking.
It showed Marina.
Angela.
Grandmother.
Elara.
And a little boy.
I stared at him.
"Who is that?"
Marina looked at Shawshank.
He stepped closer.
His face went pale.
"That's me."
I looked again.
Behind the little Shawshank stood another child.
A little girl.
Me.
But there was something strange about the picture.
The two children were holding hands.
And between them was the golden crown.
I turned the photograph over.
There were words written on the back.
When the two souls reunite, the sea will choose its final ruler.
My heart pounded.
Below it was another sentence.
But one of them must die.
I dropped the photograph.
Shawshank picked it up.
His face changed.
"No."
I looked at him.
"What?"
He stared at the words.
"If your souls reunite…"
He swallowed.
"…one of them has to die."
I looked toward the ancient gate.
A faint golden light appeared behind it.
My second soul was awake.
And suddenly I understood why everyone had been so afraid.
Because the choice waiting for me wasn't between the sea and the land anymore.
It was between my two selves.
And only one of us could survive.