Chapter 1

It all started when her mother, Mrs. Gone, had announced, matter-of-factly, that Avalon—she’d called her Ava on that very day, which is something she did sparingly—that her fate would soon be fulfilled. All arrangements had been made for her. In her town of Efil Wol, situated in the country of Evird, a woman's fate was to marry and participate in the creation of a harmonious family. The men in that family would contribute to society through labour, while the women would care for their well-being. Theirs and the little ones' who'd grow to form families of their own and keep their society ideally bustling.
She’d long been trained in the skills of a wealthy woman. Avalon had come from moderate wealth, rendering her responsibilities far less demanding than an ordinary woman's, or an impoverished one. Yet it still confined her to what she could not care for: being responsible for another. Her nightmare had come to life, as she had expected long ago.
She couldn't have known when it'd become, for the choice never once grazed her hands and her mother made sure to tell her last. On the flip side, she viewed her lack of choice as motivation. It further fuelled her resolve. So she ran. Holding excess fabric from her multi-layered crimson dress, she rushed down the port. Breathless and dewy from sweat seeping out her temples, she knocked on the wooden door of a small cabin. The cabin, standing so close to the sea, was barricaded from every crevice. It stood the test of time by pure miracle, people said whenever it’d caught their eye.
Avalon pressed her cheek against the door and called out for someone in a loud whisper.
“Reed, please wake up. You have to wake up.”
She kept her eyes away from the door and around her, in case someone stood near.
“I ought to cut that rag of a dress,” she muttered to herself, seething as she let go of it and let it drag across the quay.
The door was cracked open by a man who didn't believe anything could be that urgent so early in the morning. He was groggy and ached all over from the little sleep he'd gotten on his cluttered sofa, which was so narrow one could barely lay sideways.
"What is it?" he said, leaving her space to come in. He too perused around in precaution before he closed the door. "Have they discovered your secret?" he said, comically monotonous.
"Worse. I wish it were that instead," she said, her eyes blazing.
Avalon always had a fire in her eyes, but the middle aged man had only seen this kind of blaze once before.
"I'll listen, but you can't stay long."
Reed's reputation in town was a far cry from Avalon's. It'd be a disgrace to her family if she were caught conversing with him, and worse to be in his cabin unsupervised.
On a regular day, she’d visit bearing a cape. Veiled from head to toe, no one would recognize her. Alas, protecting her identity didn’t matter anymore. Not when the beginning of the end had been triggered. The rope tying her to freedom, as limited as it was, came apart at the seams. If she did not let go, it was only a matter of time before it’d let her go.
“I need as much work as possible. No, more than possible,” she said, pacing in a loop around the few squares that made Reed’s abode.
Not accommodating windows, his cabin was with little light. Rays poured through cracks in the roof onto the wooden planks his walls comprised and the ones beneath their feet. His space was ridden with stacks of papers and messily scattered coffee cups. The air held a mixed aroma of coffee and seawater. It would have been stifling were it not for the cracks in the roof. At the same time, they left the cabin vulnerable on ill weathered days.
“Care to tell me about this sudden ambition?” he said, his energy still relatively low.
Reed was Avalon's broker. He acted as the middleman who connected her to clients while allowing her to remain anonymous; for her parents had not allowed her to work. It wasn’t forbidden for women to work, but it surely was taboo, and Avalon’s unique talent would seem worse than societal taboos to most. It’d seem gruesome.
“They’ve set up an alliance for me. It’s done after that. My plan will become impossible. I think of it more as a funeral than a wedding. Who looks forward to their funeral when they’ve got so much to live for?” she returned, her nails digging into her palms till they marked the area in demi circles.
Reed, like Avalon, knew this day would come. Contrary to most men, and even some women from Evird, he was against such arrangements. Not all unions were loveless, yet people weren’t given ample time to find their match. Unlucky were the ones unable to find love hastily enough, for the alliance of man and women were societal duties—even if the law had not specified it.
“How much time do you have?” he asked, taking a seat.
Reed began to rummage through his mind for possible scenarios where Avalon made it out of this marriage. He fell short, but did not want to admit it so readily.
Over the past year, he’d tracked down jobs she could take on with her unique skill, and merely took the strict minimum when it came to commissions. That, Avalon was unaware of. He’d never disclosed the full paycheck, and she hadn’t asked for details. Alas, even with their combined efforts, a year had not been enough. The jobs requiring her gift were scant. Especially in this coastal area. That alone worried Avalon, for the work wouldn’t sustain her living after she left home and ran out of savings.
“I don’t have much time. A mere week,” she admitted, crestfallen. “I know I’m being unreasonable. Even if I had a client for every day of the week, I’d still be taking a risk leaving the house and my family.” She stood still in her tracks.
“A week?” he raised an eyebrow. “A year wasn’t enough. A week is taxing even for a miracle worker.”
He chose the cleanest glass on the table—it was only chipped on one edge—and poured her water from the carafe. He then handed it to her with a solemn look. Reed wasn’t a man of overt sympathies, though he did care for Avalon. She was much younger than him, but he saw her as a friend, for he’d never had a daughter to know what that felt like.
Avalon held onto the glass, too tense to drink the slightest drop.
“Couldn’t you just adopt me? I’ll take the smallest corner,” she half-jokingly pleaded.
“There’s barely enough space for me. Can you sleep standing?” he went along with the jest, only because he had the feeling this might be one of their last conversations.
“If it were my only choice, I’d take it,” she said with conviction.
“Can you hide from your parents forever?” he said in a warmer tone.
Avalon knew her parents would drag her by the collar when they’d easily find her in the humble area that was their coastal town.
“I’m out of options, Reed,” she said, slumping down on the narrow sofa.
“I know,” he said, dropping a hand on her shoulder. “Leaving might be your only choice.”
“It’s a dangerous choice,” she replied, her voice void of life.
He squeezed her shoulder once before removing his hand.
“It is. But, would you consider it if a high paying commission provided travel to an island?”
Avalon raised her head to look at Reed, and a glimmer of hope hesitated to find a nest in her eyes.
“You’ve always refused overseas work, saying you couldn’t justify coming home the next day. I received a request yesterday from a man who insisted on talking to you. Even after I told him you didn’t take on overseas work, he persisted.”
Avalon’s income had been limited for that particular reason. She’d only taken dainty local jobs. Deep inside, she’d wanted to go big, explore the world and help more people. Yet the risk was larger than she could take. It’d take a jet to get her home early enough to prevent suspicion. It was already arduous here. She’d construct the perfect alibis and had to remember all the stories she made up.
Reed sat next to her to continue. “He mentioned he was a bounty hunter, and that there was a hefty bounty on the line for whoever succeeded in resolving a matter on Foem Island. He’s willing to give you the bigger part, given your talent is the only way he’d come close to reaching the prize. He has a boat, hence you wouldn’t need to find a fisherman willing to hide you.” His voice stiffened. “But if you decide to go, you shouldn’t come back.”
Avalon understood what he meant. This could be her easy getaway. She’d make more money too. Without Reed as her broker, she might struggle to find work, but outside of her town, across the waters, she wouldn’t need anonymity. Avalon never had to fend for herself, let alone find housing. The mere independence she’d gotten from her sheltered life was a number of escapades within town—for work purposes.
Avalon squinted her eyes and rubbed her temple, weighing the options in her head.
“It’s a risk I’m not sure you should take,” admitted Reed. “Maybe I shouldn’t have told you,” he muttered under his breath, but Avalon heard.
“You did well to tell me. I need all the options I can get.”
“But this is reckless. I believe in you, Ava, but I’m also afraid for you.”
He rarely called her Ava. They were friends, yes, but both were clueless about what that entailed. They got along because neither liked to open up or depend on anyone. Reed was aware of Avalon’s strong desire for independence. He’d never intervened in that path, for he thought no one had the right to. He didn’t see a sheltered young lady who’s better off following traditions. He saw a young woman who knew traditions weren’t meant to dictate her life.
Only out of concern did he rue letting her know.
“If you do, there’s no turning back from it,” he added.
“I know. I know what they’d do if I came back. They’ll ship me off to the countryside to marry an old man who doesn’t mind a rebellious bride,” she chuckled without the slight mirth. “Leaving has to be better than marrying a stranger. I could suck it up for a couple of months and eventually safely execute my plans, but I don’t think I’m capable of it. The wedding. The first kiss. The first night.” Her eyes brimmed with tears, angered that it had come to this. “I can’t do it.”
Reed felt a burn in his own eyes. It was a cruel thing to impose her, he thought as he pushed away horrendous images of Avalon’s struggle.
A knock interrupted both her tears and his images. Avalon stood abruptly, her wind spilling sheets of paper onto the sofa. There was nowhere to hide in this cabin where she should never be seen in. With only one door, there was no escaping either. Avalon froze, her tears drying on her cheeks. She looked at Reed, who was ready to let out a string of curses.

Chapter 1

“Worse. I wish it were that instead.”