Page 33 of The Last De Loughrey Dynasty

She shook her head, a faint smile on her lips. “It’s not exactly beautiful, but it’s important to me.” Suddenly, her expression turned serious, and I listened closely.

“What is it, Gwyn?”

She stared at her reflection in the water.

“It’s underneath. You need to hold your breath and dive. I’ll help you.”

She’d helped me before, so this was the least I could do for her. It seemed important to her.

I didn’t nod, I simply took her hand and squeezed it, signalling I was ready.

Gwyn tilted her head for just a second, as though considering something deeply, before she sighed and disappeared beneath the surface. I followed her, close behind.

When I opened my eyes underwater, my vision was blurry, and my eyes stung until I adjusted to the feeling.

The first thing I noticed was Gwyn’s intense gaze.

Was something wrong?

She pulled me towards her, gripping my hand tightly and wrapping her arms around me. It wasn’t really a hug. No, it was more like she was clinging to me. Her actions left me confused, but then a sharp, burning pain hit my chest, and I screamed. All I saw were air bubbles rising from my mouth and floating to the surface. Water rushed into my lungs, and I tried to push Gwyn off, but she was too heavy, and my strength was fading unnaturally fast.

I couldn’t breathe.

Before my consciousness slipped away, the last thing I saw was a burst of light exploding through the lake.

“Don’t run so fast, Dottie!” My voice exploded with laughter as I called after her. The wind was slowing us down today, but of course, my friend seemed to have no trouble defying it.

“Come on, we don’t have all day, Gwyn!” Dottie turned around to wait for me, her red hair covered in snowflakes.

It had always been a mystery to me why my beloved friend had such a deep disdain for her natural hair colour. In my eyes, it made her seem even more magical. She was the kind of person people wrote novels about. I always wanted to be her, but she didn’t know that, because I knew Dottie. She would tell me how special I was because she was the sweetest person to walk the earth. To be alive at the same time as her truly felt like an honour.

“I know, but I don’t want to slip—the ground is frozen,” I defended myself the moment I reached her. Dottie grabbed my hand and shook her head.

“You won’t slip. Besides, the snow will catch you in its soft embrace.” She giggled, pulling me along with her.

I laughed too, lifting the hem of my skirt with my free hand to make it easier to move. These long dresses were torturous, but it was Christmas week, and I was playing Maria in this year’s nativity play. It was my duty to wear the appropriate costume. I never could have guessed my friend would drag me out of school in these same clothes to run through the woods. If I had known, I might have chosen something more comfortable.

“Where are you taking me, Dottie?” I asked, joyful gasps escaping my lips when a mother bunny and her two babies crossed our path.

“I just love animals.” My smile was so wide, my cheeks were aching. I missed my bunny, Gretchen. My mum had promised to look after her while I was away at school, ever since she’d gifted her to me last summer. In a way, Gretchen was also my mother’s bunny. She needed someone to carefor when her only child wasn’t around. I couldn’t wait to see them both over Christmas break. After the holiday celebrations and the nativity play, they’d be taking me home with them for two whole weeks until New Year’s.

“I know. That’s why you’re my fox. You’re clever, focused, and you’ve got that high-pitched laugh that sounds just like a fox’s.” Dottie let out a quiet scream between her laughter when I threw myself into her arms, and we both tumbled into the snow, giggling.

“I do not sound like a fox when I laugh!” I protested, but my friend just shook her head, clutching her stomach as she laughed so hard, tears rolled down her temples. “Yes, you do!”

“You’re terrible, Dottie!” I shot back, laughing just as hard as she was. But when I looked up, all the air left my lungs.

A big smile crept onto my face, and I pushed myself up, nearly losing my balance on the slippery ice.

“You brought me here to show me the lake?” I asked, helping my friend to her feet and holding us both steady by a tree.

Dottie grinned. “I know how much you love it here. When I woke up to all that snow on my balcony, I just knew this place would look even more magical today.”

“Now I’m not even mad at you for pulling me out of class,” I teased, squeezing her hand in mine.

Together, we carefully made our way down the little hill, reaching our hideaway. We always came here when everything got too much. This lake had given us so much hope over the last two years, its waters magical in our eyes. I held on to that.

“This is just—” I couldn’t find the words to describe how beautiful it was.

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