The Golden Core | Secrets of the Core #1

Prologue

Her fork pinged against the white porcelain, echoing off the castle's dining room walls as the smell of roasted chicken and mashed potatoes made her stomach rumble. Wincing, she stole a glance toward her parents, hoping neither of them noticed. A sigh escaped her lips once she realized her father was staring right back at her. "Sorry, daddy."

With her other hand, she grabbed the knife. Turning her head, a smile crept onto her face as her gaze met her brother's bright blue eyes at the other end of the table. Getting him involved was a mistake, but she just wanted to have a little fun.

"Summer! Play with me!"

Her little brother grinned back at her, his blonde hair slightly covering his face; the color was just like her mother's. A giggle escaped from his lips. "Okay!"

Winter covered her ears as Summer slammed his silverware against the plate multiple times. At least he was laughing; she loved putting a grin on his face.

Father sighed. "Enough, both of you. Winter, you know better than this. You're too old for this kind of behavior. Be a good influence on your brother."

She frowned. They could never have any fun. No matter what happened, she always seemed to get into trouble. Probably because she was older.

Her head perked up when a woman walked down the stairs, ending up next to her mother. Winter opened her mouth to speak, but no words came. Even if she wanted to say something, it was too late. The servant just picked up the dishes next to her mother and father, then left. She hadn't even noticed Winter.

Glancing over at Summer, he had his head in his hands and that little pout on his face. She caused that, though she didn't mean to. Playing with him didn't happen too often. He was always doing things with Mother, but she didn't know what. Even though they saw each other every night in the same tan colored room for dinner, sitting in the exact same spot all the time, she just wanted to be with her brother more. It wasn't fair. If only she could figure out why he was never around, maybe she could fix it.

The screech of the chair rubbing against the wood floor rang in her ears, causing her to jump out of her thoughts, as her father walked over to her. She set the knife down and grabbed her cup, peeking inside of it to see what she received to drink. Confusion spread onto her face when a tint of red swirled around in the light yellow color.

"What's wrong, honey? It's apple juice. You can drink it, it's alright."

Turning toward her father, she pointed to the cup. "But there's something in it!"

"I'm sure it's fine. Let me look." Her father leaned over her shoulder as she glanced inside it, but the red tint was gone. "There's nothing in the cup, Winter. It's perfectly fine to drink. I promise." He smiled.

Winter picked up the cup, staring inside of it as the red tint magically appeared again. She set it down. "It's there again, daddy. I don't want to drink it."

At this, her mother chirped up. "Your father says there's nothing in your cup. It will be fine if you drink it. It's just apple juice. Nothing's going to happen."

The color kept appearing every time she stared at it. She didn't want to disobey her father, but she still hesitated. It's just apple juice. She sighed and picked up the cup with both hands and took a sip, placing the cup back down on the table when she was finished.

"See? Nothing happened. Everything's fine." Father grinned, continuing to eat his dinner.

Then, a fuzzy feeling overcame both of her arms. Poking at them with her fingers, she couldn't understand what was happening as a pounding rushed through her head. "Daddy!" she screamed, immediately making both of her parents look up at her.

Father jumped out of his chair and ran over, just as her eyes were beginning to close. Her body was moving uncontrollably, but she couldn't feel a thing. The shocked look on her brother's face appeared in her vision just before her eyelids snapped shut. Then, she fell to the floor, sparks of gold flying in all directions from her body.

"You'll be okay, Winter. I promise you, I will fix this."

And that was the last thing she heard as she went unconscious.