Van

Van clutched her knees against her chest and rocked back and forth. An ocean of black beat against the circle of light she sat in, pulsing and pushing and sometimes closing in on her body but always receding before touching her. A part of her thought the darkness wasn't all bad. The last time it consumed her, she woke up, but she couldn't force herself to reach for it, too frozen in fear by the truth.

She was imprisoned in the void again.

Thank god there had been no burning this time. Just a transition from consciousness into nothingness. So far, her memories and mind remained intact, and she clung to them in desperation, knowing she would need them to find the courage to escape. She could not rot here, knowing Luca was out in the real world with one of those collars around his neck.

That thought took hold of her, and she stopped rocking. Back straight, she kept her knees bent and placed her palms on the cool surface beneath her. Inhale. Exhale. Three times she filled and emptied her lungs until at last her heart settled into its normal rhythm.

Then she stood and pushed her hair behind her ears as she squinted into the darkness. Her newfound courage faltered. What if this wasn't the same void? What if the darkness didn't wake her but sent her spiraling? Or maybe even to the place where she'd burned?

"Come on, Van," she muttered, hands trembling as she reached for the boundary. It was true that the unknown was terrifying, but as she looked about the small lit space, she decided the known was worse. Madness waited for her in the light, and beyond it, there was at least hope. Holding her breath, she threw herself into the shadows.

And she didn't wake up. Instead, she found herself on a beach at nighttime. Her bare feet sank into wet white sand, and indigo waters beat against the shore, leaving behind lacy fringes as it retreated. Overhead, the night sky glittered with stars so numerous only pinholes of black were visible between the sparkling lights, and just above the horizon line that split the sea and sky, a crescent moon hovered, as bright and pearlescent as any full moon she'd ever seen.

"Hello, Van."

She threw her hand over mouth to stifle a scream as a figure rose out of the ocean. Froth and saltwater dripped from his muscular limbs as approached, but the white chiton he wore was dry. A wild array of pale blonde curls covered his head, hanging past his shoulders and contrasting sharply with his deep sienna skin.

But it was his eyes that captivated her. Irises as white as snow ringed black pupils, and the sclera surrounding it was a constellation of ever shifting colors. It made her dizzy to stare too long.

"Wha–who are you?" she asked.

He folded his arms across his expansive chest. This close, she could see that scales protruded from the flesh covering the back of his hands and along his wrists. A quick glance lower revealed they were also on his feet and ankles.

A corner of his upper lip rose. "I have had many names. Though, the worst might be the old man of the sea. I think the one you might recognize me by is Proteus."

"The sea god."

Proteus tilted his head. His smirk became a full smile. "And your ancestor."

"I'm only half Protean," Van mumbles, not sure why she felt it important to provide that information.

He laughed. "Darling child. Thousands of years have passed since I last fathered a child, and while I can't say none of my children reproduced with one of their siblings, most of my descendants have many bloodlines. There are no pure Proteans left, no matter what some may claim. Well, until you."

"B-but you just said, and I said–"

"Sit," he said, lowering himself onto the sand and patting the space beside him. He stretched out his legs so his toes were in the water, and Van watched in awe as they turned clearer than the waves.

"I've been waiting for you."

"To come out of the void?" Van asked, shivering just thinking about that dreadful place.

"No. I've been waiting for you to be born." He tapped his forehead. "One of my many gifts is foresight. It's not one many of my children inherited, and I'm glad of that. Knowledge of the future can be misused, and it can be a great burden."

She recalled the guilt she experienced after the near car accident and nodded. "It's useful, but you're right."

Proteus picked up handfuls of sand and let the grains sift through his fingers. "You will use the gift well."

"I still don't understand why you're waiting for me. What did you see?"

"I cannot tell you everything because it could change things. That's the other thing about the power of foresight. What you see is only a thread in the pattern. It's the piece most likely to happen based on your current choices and actions, but knowing about it changes what you will do, thereby changing the future. Only the Fates know the final pattern, and they're a bunch of hateful old women I wouldn't piss on if they were on fire."

His cheeks darkened with anger, and he threw the sand into the sea. It struck the water with a hiss that was quickly swallowed by the roar of an approaching wave. It crashed into the sand and sprayed Van's legs, sending a powerful thrill through her body. She lifted her hands and turned them over. Her skin had gone translucent, like Proteus's.

"You'll control it soon enough," he said.

The ground rumbled, sending Van sideways. He jumped to his feet and scooped her up, dropping her several yards away from the shore. A few seconds later, a wave taller than the two of them together slammed directly into where they'd been sitting.

"We don't have much time. I did not mean you to be here long."

"Where is here?" she demanded, heart pounding.

"They have trapped me in this dimension for centuries. The place you call the void is the space between worlds." Proteus spoke in rushed, clipped words, his strange eyes watching the water intently. "That potion you drank stripped away all of you that didn't carry my DNA, making you very, very much like me. Purely Protean, like I said. That was the burning. I can only guess at what happened next, but I think you slipped between worlds because the curse that holds me here pulled at you."

Van's chest heaved as the reality of his words hit her. He had been in this place for centuries. "Last time I woke up in my world. Why am I here now?"

The earth groaned again, and lightning slashed across the clear sky. "That I can explain. I pulled at you. I needed you here to warn you about Gabriella, and her plan. It seems I underestimated how quickly this world would spot that you don't belong, and now it's trying to get rid of you."

She latched onto him, nails digging into his arm. "Tell me, please. I need to save Luca."

Proteus swallowed, the colors in his eyes dimming for a second. Van tightened her grip. She refused to wonder why or to ask what he had seen that put that unimaginable sadness in his eyes. A great wind whipped between them, hurling sand at their bodies. The grains cut like glass.

"Van, whatever you do, you must not allow Gabriella to use you. She needs you to be a vessel."

"A vessel for what?" she screamed as the wind tore her from him. He did not even reach for her. The whites of his eyes blazed. "A vessel for what?"

The world fell into darkness between one blink and the next, and when her eyelids raised, she stared at a grungy wall in a bedroom that smelled like must. Loud music played in another room, and every bass note vibrated the door hard enough the handle jingled.

Van had no idea where she was physically, only that it wasn't where she needed to be. Hands covering her face, she whispered, "For what, Proteus? For what?"