Without The Grace

Museums and Discoveries

Kenneth bought our tickets and we entered the museum. I was kind of scared Kenneth would get obsessed like my father and start pouring his heart into finding and researching these islands.

I kept trying to stop him but he wouldn't listen to me and we only ended up arguing, which I wanted to avoid.

The first room was supposedly the first island, country whatever. It was called Amenthes which meant land of the dead. The room was dark with grey wallpaper, but if you looked closely you could see that the wallpaper had tiny bones engraved in it.

I felt along the wall and down the rigid bumps and dents.

"Cool isn't it?" Kenneth said coming up behind me.

"There are caves like this on that island, deep underground. They used to sacrifice ch-"

"Kenneth." I stopped him before he could finish. "I don't want to hear it, its not real."

He shrugged, moving away from me.

"You don't have to believe it." He said.

"I don't." I muttered.

We continued on to the next room.

"Akekima." Kenneth said. "Meaning beautiful and bright. This place is said to be-"

"If everyone knows the information about the places, how come they've never found them?" I asked.

"There've been explorers who made it and sent back information. But the trip is dangerous and some hardly make it. Some islands are accessible because they're abandoned. With the little information researchers get, they analyze and-"

"It's whatever Kenneth. I don't believe it anyways."

He grabbed my hand, "Come on. I want to see my favorite one."

"And what's that?" I asked.

"Solveig." He responded. "It's named after the ruler of the place. She's a woman and she's hot." He said.

"Have you ever seen her?" He asked.

I scoffed. "I refrain from involving myself in that type of stuff."

He stopped walking. "But that's just the thing." He said. "Nobody has seen her."

"Then how do you know she's hot?" I asked.

He shrugged and began walking again.

"Apparently she's super smart and strong. She has to be hot."

I shook my head in disgust as we entered the room.
It was basically bare.

"There's not much to know about this place. Nobody's ever been. But we know that it's called Solveig which means from the strongest, or from the sun."

"What do you mean nobody's ever been?" I asked sitting down.

"Well, they've been but nobody's allowed through. Theirs a blockade. They think the country is being taken over. From a ship," he picked up a book, "there are some pictures. They're blurry."

The pictures were very faint but I could see lots of trees and ponds. It was pretty from what I could see.

"Still don't believe it?"

"What's this?" I picked up what looked like a magazine. It was covered in plastic.

"Careful." Kenneth said tenderly taking it from me.

"Somebody must have found it in the ocean." He said excitedly. "I've never seen this here "

He gently turned the pages, practically stuffing his face into them.

"I'll be back. I'm going to the bathroom."

He didn't even seem to hear me.
I shook my head and left the room in search for a restroom.

When I returned about ten minutes later, Kenneth was frozen on his seat...even more than he was before.

He slowly looked up at me.

"What?" I asked feeling self conscious.

He continued to stare.

"Kenneth Dean Leeon. Answer me. Gosh darn it."
I walked over to him and he silently handed me the magazine.

I wouldn't have seen it if he hadn't pointed it out.

The writing was so small and warbled and the article took up the entire page. But there it was. My name.

Aaliyah Anastasia Grace.

I stared at it.

It had to be a coincidence.

I tried to make out the rest of the words. Most of them were distorted but I could decipher a few. "It says something about a daughter and..." I held the magazine up higher, squinting.

"Aaliyah." I faintly heard Kenneth say. I wasn't really listening though. My head was swimming.

"I-" I honestly didn't know what to say. "Maybe it's someone else." I said weakly.

Kenneth stood over me and snatched the magazine out of my hands. "All this time you knew the islands were real?" He accused.

I gaped at him. "Are you serious? What are you talking about?!"

"Why is your name in this magazine Li?!" He questioned.

I glared at him and snatched it back just as a couple walked in warily. 

"I don't know." I hissed.

He pulled me aside and continued in a hushed whisper. 

"I don't think you understand what this means Aaliyah. A few months ago, Solveig was raided. The island has been in trouble ever since. The leader...Solveig, well she's being held hostage because whoever took over is waiting."

I was confused but I was so overwhelmed that I didn't ask anything more than the following question. "For what?"

"Not what," he replied. "Who. It's you Aaliyah. They're waiting for you."