Hastings, England 

Young Adeline age 13

Adeline's father Adrian tutted under his breath, as she held her arm over her face to shield her eyes from the midday sun. She had forgotten her sunglasses again and he was exasperated by her forgetfulness. She wished she had them now as the glare pained her eyes but tried to ignore it and to ignore the long silences from her father who was prone to long periods of not speaking as a form of punishment. Instead Adeline chose to bask in the glory of the days never ending warmth as it was already September and Autumn already nipping at Summers heels. Beads of sweat appeared on her nose and she quickly wiped them away before Adrian saw and thought she was weak. He was marching her somewhere, he never told her where he was taking her or explained things, she would just follow silently her short bird like legs always running to catch up. Her father was a tall broad man with black hair like Adeline's, his own only slightly peppered with white. The angry glare that forever rested on his face sat un-moving when they walked. She sighed and continued to trot after Adrian, it was rare that she called him father their relationship was more formal, it was almost as if their relationship had to exist because they shared a bloodline and Adrian had a job to do, a calling. Adeline thought if she had been normal, just a normal Druid girl and not a Shadow he wouldn't have given her the time of day.

They were using a cut through of the shopping centre of their hometown Hastings it was called Priory Meadow. It was just a short cut through, walking through a big department store to get to a main road on the other side which also joined to the pier. Adeline enjoyed the brief moment she got to see dresses and handbags, bustling people looking at the new seasons summer fashions hanging on the rails for everyone to see and try on. That new clothes smell dancing around her like a dream, it lasted only a moment but in that moment Adeline was a normal girl, with normal hopes and dreams and friends, not a Druid, not a Shadow. Adrian's long legs seemed to take the small staircase in front of them in one stride and of course Adeline followed him at a run. The sun began to surround her when Adrian pushed open the white rimmed glass doors in front of them and the first thing Adeline heard was traffic, life that she would never be part of followed by the crashing of the sea. She welcomed the sea it was as though it called to her. She stood still for a moment just listening to the sea gulls, she even thought she could hear the sunbeams but dismissed it has madness. She took a big breath in letting the sea air hit deep down in her chest, the crashing waves close but distant enough that they would have to cross a main road to get to them. A motorbike moved past and the loud sound brought her back to life. Adrian turned to look at her and relaxed finally "that's the Druid in you," he said he didn't look proud just satisfied, satisfied that it was his daughters' instinct to commune with nature.

Adeline opened her eyes and saw her father peering down at her his black hair moving in the sea kissed winds.

"You are called to nature like all Druids and you doubly so as a Shadow,"

Adeline frowned back at him, she hated that word, Shadow it was like a curse.

"Come now," said Adrian tugging at Adeline's arm. She was thirteen years old and one of the few Shadows left in the world, well in this world at least. Adrian had explained that it was her duty to travel, to keep the vale open, her duty not just as a Shadow but as a Druid. Adeline had never been sure what he meant by that, but Adrian had been determined to show her weather she liked it or not.

"If you connect with nature then the vale will open for you, let you through safely," nobody ever spoke about what happened when you got there or the brutality of getting yourself home. On her sixth birthday Adeline had been shown how to stab herself properly.

"In the heart," Adrian had said throwing the knife on her bed when the lesson was over and leaving the room. She carried that knife everywhere with her just in case the time came when it was her bodies instinct to travel, Shadows had very little control, they had very little say in much at all.

Of course his lessons hadn't been a waste of time, when she was nine she had travelled, not that she told Adrian about it when she came back and she did come back that's all that mattered. She didn't remember much about it, she travelled back within the one hour window so little things always came back to her. The sea most of all and sea glass... As a shadow it was rare to be able to go anywhere alone just in case you travelled but her commune didn't no about it. She hadn't told them about the first time, because her privacy was so limited as it was, the commune would never leave her alone again if they knew. She would barricade herself into her room just to get a little space but she knew they were watching her, waiting for her to travel it was her job in the communes eyes. To keep the vale open, keep the worlds separate, keep us safe. Shadows from all over the worlds were told the same thing or variations of it, I'm sorry you might lose you memory and possibly die but that's just tough luck because you have to do us this favour.

Adeline followed her father across the road he was walking her to the beach, when he thought she was closing herself off to nature he would bring her places in an attempt to open her up again. Regain her connection with the earth, it worked most of the time. Adeline slipped her hands in her pockets and felt the sea breeze roll over her face as the walked along the pier, Adrian walked ahead but Adeline's pace slowed. There was a white barrier guiding people towards the steps that led down to the pebble beach, Adeline hopped under the barrier and let herself fall onto the stones, like a cat she landed on her feet the thud from her hard landing travelling up her thighs. She could hear Adrian calling her name, but she lost his voice on the sea air, instead she followed the Druid call to connect to nature and walked the long laborious walk over the pebble stones towards the sea. When Adeline reach the waves lapping against the sand she slipped her feet out of her pink flip flops and let the water wash over her toes. It was almost caressing a memory somewhere deep, buried in the back of her mind, something she couldn't touch. She allowed herself to walk along the sand her feet still immersed in the water, it was so calming, and she was so at peace. She felt as if nothing could touch her here only the water that splashed against her skin. Adeline began to gaze into the waves and look at the pebbles as the water lapped onto the sand, the black and white stones amongst a sea of grey and brown, what she was really looking for was sea glass its varying colour formations and smooth soft edges. She still found it fascinating that sea could do that to glass demonstrating its power she supposed, but still somehow so beautiful. She had been obsessed with sea glass since she'd been a child, collecting was almost an obsession. Adrian had liked her connection to the glass, any connection to nature was to be encouraged in his eyes. Adeline bent down and picked up a piece of clear sea glass rubbing it between her fingers, she starred at it hypnotised as it if was a crystal ball and she was entranced. Breaking her from the spell was Adrian's footsteps clumsily crunching on the pebbles behind her, he absorbed the scene, a scene he had seen hundreds of times, his daughter traipsing through the waves looking for her own personal brand of treasure.

"You shouldn't run off like that," Adrian wasn't cross just exasperated.

Adeline still stared at the sea glass, her back was facing her father but she turned to him now, she held the glass firmly in a tight first her already pale knuckles turning even whiter. Her eyes were calling out to him "Daddy?" Said Adeline.

Adrian's heart lurched she barely even called him father since her mother had gone, Adrian found himself sprinting down the beach to where Adeline stood starring from him to the sea glass.

"Daddy, I feel sick," said Adeline the sickness rising and falling within her like the waves.

"Oh fuck," said Adrian looking at his thirteen-year-old daughter staring helplessly back at him. Adrian got to his knees and held onto Adeline tightly looking at her taking every little piece of her in " this is it baby, you're going to travel just like your Mumma, you've got your knife?" Adrian gripped onto her tighter now as if holding her would somehow stop the inevitable.

"It's okay Dad, I've done it before," Adeline smiled at Adrian the sickness washing over her.

"What?" Said Adrian he was full of fury, he had a thousand question, how could she not tell him, but before he could ask her anything Adeline slipped away, she vanished as if she had never been there. Adrian's body collapsed underneath him and he sobbed, he cried for his daughter and cried for her mother who he once held in his arms in much the same way. She had never returned but even now when Adrian sobbed alone on a beach he admitted to himself and only to himself that he was still waiting for her return. Alas  she had forgotten him long ago, he was no more to her than sea glass on the sand.