Jordan woke up from her nap feeling groggy and more tired than ever. She decided to walk to the river near her house take a dip and wake herself up. For months she had been battling extreme fatigue and migranes. The doctors had not been able to figure it out and she had been to too many of them. Her parents were convinced she was making it up. She hoped that it would clear by her 21st birthday tomorrow. She wanted to celebrate and not be in bed all night with a migrane.

Jordan made her way to the river through the forest behind her house. It was a small river with a tiny waterfall. She took off her clothes and stripped down to her underwear, placing her clothes and towel on a rock. She into walked to the water. It was icy but it cleared her head. She was chest deep. Her silver hair was damp at the ends. She shivered bracing herself to dunk her whole body. She took a deep breath and forced herself under. She forced herself to stay under the water. Counting down from 30. Jordan had been doing this every day for the past few weeks. She discovered that it seemed to cure the fatigue and headaches for at least a couple of hours. She did not know why but the water gave her energy, it seemed to restore her.

She got out of the water and wrapped herself in the towel. She tried to stay as damp as possible, the sooner she dried, the sooner her symptoms returned. She sat at the edge of the water, leaving her toes submerged. Suddenly, Jordan saw a man coming out of the waterfall. She gasped. _How did she not _see_ him before? How long was he there? And how long could he hold his breath?_ He was very tall and very muscular. It was almost unnatural how handsome he was. His eyes were the color of the ocean, eyes popping out more because of his wavy auburn hair. That was when she noted his pointy ears. His eyes widened when he saw her.

“Serelune? Is that you?” his eyes burned as he looked her over. He was looking at her with a mix of emotions.

"Um no. I'm Jordan. You have me confused with someone else.” Jordan stood up and started backing away. She felt exposed. She was very aware of how little clothing she was wearing. Nobody was ever out here. _This guy must be either crazy or on drugs_ she thought. She didn't care to stick around to figure out which one.

"Serelune, it's me Rhydan, I've been looking for you for years. What happened to you? Why did you leave?” He stepped closer.

“Listen, man, I have no idea who you are or what you want but you need to leave me alone or I'm calling the police” Jordan gripped her towel tighter.

“Sera, please princess you have to come with me, you're in grave danger. We need to get you back to Elarune. Your life depends on it.” Rhydan’s voice was strong. He didn’t seem like he was high so he must be delusional.

“Princess? Sorry, I have no idea what you’re talking about” Jordan started backing away faster. This guy was definitely crazy. She was definitely in danger.

“Princess, please trust me, you know me, you just need to remember. Please come with me. I promise I’ll help you figure this out. Please princess” his eyes were desperate. Pleading for her to come with him. Jordan almost trusted him. She could almost feel a pull to go with him. However, she knew she was naive. Her parents had been telling her this her whole life. Everyone she thought she could trust, was someone untrustworthy and everyone she had a bad feeling about, she was told was trustworthy. She felt guilty. The guy was experiencing a very intense delusion.

“Just leave me alone” She started running. She ran as fast as she could. She looked back. The man yelled for her or for Sera. His eyes were cloudy with tears and he looked absolutely devastated.

Jordan ran into her house, breathing heavily. She ran to her bedroom and locked the door. She felt anxious. She needed to leave her house. For whatever reason, her childhood home had made her head feel cloudy. She always felt anxious here. As a child, she had panick attacks if she didn't leave the house frequently. She needed to get our of here to calm down. She dressed in comfortable clothing and running shoes. Her hair was still damp but she decided to leave it. She learned last week that if there was still water from the river in her hair the migraines would go away for a while longer and keep her energy up.

She walked down the street into town. Her house was only a 20 minute walk to town. She could go get a coffee and clear her head. She walked slowly but kept her eyes open. Looking at each person she passed making sure it was not that guy from the river.

She walked into the shop and greeted the barista. She ordered a hot latte and waited at the counter. She felt odd. She had lived in this town all her life but the past few years have felt like a dream, she felt a strange distance from everyone. She normally felt like this but it had gotten worse with the decline in her health. She knew people found her odd but it was typically tolerable. She grabbed her coffee and started walking home. She kept thinking about the man at the river. _Maybe I should tell someone? _she thought. He seemed so desperate. Maybe he needs help.

She finally arrived at her family’s cottage.

“Hi Mom” Jordan walked into the kitchen feeling nervous. She loved her parents but she had always felt an odd distance from them. They had always seemed like they were keeping her at arm's length. Her health issues made the distance feel worse. Her parents thought she was faking her symptoms and started ignoring her as they got worse. They thought she was doing it for attention so they refused to give her any.

“Hi Jordan, are you feeling any better?” Her mom asked not looking up from the newspaper. Jordan knew her mom did not care. She just had to ask so she didn’t look like an awful mother.

“Yeah, a little. I went to the river to help with the headache but I had the strangest thing happen.” Jordan explained as she sat next to her mother. “A guy seemed to come out of nowhere and acted like he knew me, he called me Serelune, and a princess. I think he was high or crazy”

Her mom set down the newspaper and gave Jordan her full attention.“He called you what?”

“Serelune, he wanted me to go with him but I ran away. Do you think we should call someone? It freaked-“ Jordan’s mom grabbed her wrist so hard that it started to bruise *it wouldn't instantly bruise. You could have her think tha5 it will definitely leave a bruise.*.

“You stay away from that river from now on Jordan, you are not to go there” Her mom scolded.

“Oh *ow?* you’re hurting me” Jordan pulled her hand away. “Mom, can’t we just call the police? Swimming in that river is the only thing that stops my migraines.”

“No Jordan, it’s forbidden, this is the end of this conversation” *whats forbidden?* Jordan’s mom stood up from the table and walked upstairs.

“Mom, I’m in so much pain, I need to go there. It’s the only thing that helps” Jordan followed her mom upstairs.

“Jordan I’m serious, there will be consequences if I hear of you going there again. I know you want more attention but seriously, you’d rather continue to keep up this charade and risk run-ins with a crazy person for it? What is wrong with you?” *is she not an adult?*

“Mom, I’m in real pain. I don’t want attention. I don’t know how many times I have to beg you for help. It doesn’t even matter, I’m 20 years old, there’s not much you can do” Jordan stopped following her mom and walked towards her room. How could she think that this was for attention? Jordan had always been shy and reserved. She hated unwanted attention. She couldn’t believe her parents thought she would do that. *wait I thought she had a different house. Is this her room from when she was younger?*

“Really? This is how you want to play this?” Suddenly Jordan’s mom shoved her into her room. Jordan fell to the floor, “Mom what the -“ The door slammed and she heard the door lock. “This is what I will do, until you decide you’re no longer a child, you can stay in your room”.

Jordan pounded on the door and screamed, “Mom, let me out! What are you doing?”

“This is for your good” Jordan heard her mother walk away. Jordan was shocked. Her mother was never the type to do something like this. She was not overprotective. She typically seemed to act like Jordan did not exist. _What changed? Why does she care so much?_ Jordan tasted salt and realized she was crying. Nobody ever believed her. She walked over to the window. Maybe she’d sneak out tomorrow. There was a lock on the window locking it from the outside but that broke several years ago. Jordan never told her parents that for some reason and now she was glad that she did.

She sat next to the window looking out at the tree outside thinking about when she should sneak out tomorrow. She suddenly saw hundreds of black shadows and her blood went cold.

Hundreds of crows were outside her window. Jordan couldn’t believe it. She knew the migraines were a problem but didn’t think it meant this. She had to get out of here. Crows meant only one thing to humans. Death.

She climbed out the window and scaled the tree landing on the ground. She started running into the forest behind her house. The crows followed her, screaming and swarming over her head. Jordan ran and ran *change this* back to the stream. She dove into the water not caring about the temperature or the fact that she was fully dressed. The crows seemed to slow down. That meant her death was a little further away _What was going on?_ Jordan had nobody to help. Nobody believed her. She had nowhere to turn.

Jordan thought back to this morning. She could think of one person who, for whatever reason, she was certain would believe her. Maybe it was a mistake, maybe she was also crazy but the alternative was accepting her death and she was not going to do that. She made her way towards the waterfall. She did not know how but she was going to find Rhydan. If her gut was right, her life depended on it.