Chapter 1 - The Unordinary Girl

The morning bell of Wynthorne rang out across the rooftops, calling fishermen to the shore and children to their lessons. For most, it was simply another ordinary day.

For Victoria Arwen, it was another day of pretending to be ordinary.

She hurried across the square with Selena at her side, skirts hitched up to avoid the puddles from last night’s rain. Selena was talking a mile a minute, hands flying as she recounted how she nearly set her kitchen table on fire the night before.

“It was one candle, Victoria! One! And suddenly the whole cloth caught, like it had been soaked in oil. My mother nearly fainted. My father just sighed and said, ‘That’s my girl.’ Honestly, do you think I’m cursed?”

“You’re not cursed,” Victoria said, biting back a laugh. “You’re just clumsy.”

“Clumsy?” Selena gasped in mock offence. “Anthony, tell her!”

Walking a step behind them, Anthony rolled his eyes but grinned. “Selena, last week you tripped over your own cat. Twice. She’s not wrong.”

Selena swatted his arm, and he dodged away with a laugh. Victoria shook her head, but her lips curved in a smile. This was how it always was with the three of them—Selena fiery, Anthony steady, and Victoria caught somewhere in between.

But inside, she didn’t always feel like she belonged.

They passed the bakery, where the smell of fresh bread curled through the air. Neighbours greeted one another with nods, exchanging baskets of fish and trading news about the weather and the tides. Everyone knew their place, their role in Wynthorne’s rhythm.

Everyone except Victoria.

She tried. She really did. She kneaded dough at her mother’s side, carried water from the well, and even learnt to stitch nets, though her fingers ached. But no matter how hard she tried, she felt like an actor in someone else’s play. Always watching, always waiting for a cue that never came.

And sometimes—like this morning—her difference slipped through.

As they crossed the square, Victoria paused, her gaze drawn upward. The light over the rooftops shimmered faintly, just for a heartbeat, like heat rising from stone. Nobody else seemed to notice. Selena was too busy scolding Anthony, and the villagers bustled on with their chores.

Victoria blinked, heart thudding. When her eyes refocused, the shimmer was gone.

“Victoria?” Anthony’s voice pulled her back. He was watching her with that steady, concerned look he always wore when she went quiet. “You all right?”

“Yes,” she said quickly, forcing a smile. “Just thinking.”

Selena groaned. “Not about escaping this boring place again?”

Victoria laughed, though it sounded thinner than she intended. “When do I ever talk about that?”

“Every day,” Selena and Anthony said at the same time.

The three of them burst out laughing, the sound ringing bright across the square. For a moment, Victoria felt lighter—like maybe she really could fit into this ordinary world after all.

But deep down, she knew better.

She wasn’t ordinary. And sooner or later, the truth of it would catch up to her.

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