Skye Anderson, a young Nigerian woman, sat in the window seat of a plane. Her curly red hair was up in a messy bun and she wore headphones to drown out the people around her. Her tablet rested on the drop down table in front of her as her blue eyes scanned over a history book she downloaded before take-off.

The rumble of the plane engine, however, kept Skye in a strange lul of half-consciousness, nodding off slightly before shaking her head and looking back down at her tablet.

It was odd for her, at least she thought it was, to see her last name show up multiple times in her history book, especially being adopted. She had come to believe that her true name had become some sort of taboo. Anderson… It didn’t sound Irish. But here she was heading to Ireland anyway. She paused her reading for a moment and fished for the letter she received a couple days ago.

Unfolding the parchment inside, her eyes skimmed over the words for the thousandth time, like they might have something else to say. But it still read the same:

“Dear Miss Anderson,

You’ve been summoned to Anderson castle for a vacation of a lifetime. We understand you love history, so why not take a closer look?

The choice is yours. May your adventure begin shortly.

Best wishes, the Anderson Clan.”

She couldn’t help but sigh as she shoved the note back in her pocket. Nothing about her life had ever been an adventure. She was a college student and diagnosed as depressed. But yet, she found herself here, on a plane to Ireland of all places, to look at an old castle. And why? Truthfully, she didn’t even know the answer herself.

The plane hit a small bit of turbulence and she reached out to grab her tablet from falling with one hand, the other one reaching out and catching the small cup of water from the woman sitting next to her.

“Woah, nice catch.” the woman said as she took the water back from Skye. “Thank you.”

Skye laughed softly and nodded. “Of course. My father always said I had good reflexes,” she noted before looking back to her tablet.

“What are you reading?” the woman asked as she set her water back down on her tray.

“Oh, uh, just a history book. Nothing too exciting,” Skye replied with a slight blush. “I-I could always…” But she stopped her sentence when she saw the woman’s face become disinterested. “Nevermind.”

The woman just gave a small smile before going back to her own thing.

Skye sighed again and put her headphones back on completely to try and get some more reading done.

“...The legends state that the Anderson’s were a powerful family. And some even go as far as to put them up as royalty who were betrayed into giving up their home...”

Skye laughed as she read. If she could go around saying she was royalty, she would definitely be getting a lot more girls. But she knew that some history books only speculated and weren’t enitrely reporting all sides of the story.

“...With this speculation, some believe there to be a prophecy. Ancient pictures found inside the castle tell of a portal and a battle. Of an Anderson who would hop across worlds and bring peace to a ruined land.”

Skye rolled her eyes and closed her tablet and shoved it back in her bag.

“Some history books…” she thought to herself as she turned up her music and watched the clouds and Atlantic ocean move past the plane. Before she knew it, she began to slowly pass out.

She only awoke again when a flight attendant carefully shook her and she jumped and pulled her headphone’s free.

“I’m awake!”

The flight attendant gave a gentle laugh and she motioned around the empty plane. “Just in time to see Ireland.”

“Ah, thanks,” Skye muttered as she got up and grabbed the only carry-on bag that she brought before heading out of the plane.

Making her way through the Dublin airport, she found her way to the cabs and signaled for one before she climbed in with a small grunt, her body sore from sitting for so long.

“Where to, class?” the cab driver asked as he looked through the rear view mirror at her, taking note of her appearance.

“Do you know where the old Anderson castle is? I was invited to come see it…” She tried to explain, but she figured he wouldn’t want to hear it.

He simply nodded and immediately pulled away from the curb. “Make yourself comfortable, we’ve got about an hour drive ahead of us.” He then turned onto the main road and began their journey.

Skye shrugged. “An hour is nothing compared to that flight,” she said before taking the note out again. “Do you know anything about the castle?”

The cab driver simply shook his head. “Unfortunately not. No one really knows a lot about that castle other than the ghost stories. But I think every castle has a ghost story.”

“What kind of ghost stories?” she asked curiously, trying to get as much information as she could on this place before throwing herself into it.

He merely shrugged. “The usual. Whispers through the halls, sad shadow people. The reason it’s called Anderson castle is due to a scream of the name a historian heard one night.”

Skye hummed and sat back a little more in the seat. “Thanks, I’ll let you focus on the road now.”

The cab driver nodded. “You’re welcome.” His attention then turned fully to the road.

Skye had a feeling if she tried to get his attention again, she would get nothing, so for the next hour, she just looked out the window at Ireland as it passed by. And she watched as the city turned into fields, and eventually into a forest.

She looked out of the front window, and her eyes widened. The castle was much bigger than she thought it was going to be. “Holy sh*t…” she breathed out.

The cab driver laughed and stopped several feet from the entrance. “Here you are. Thank you for riding with me today,” he said before holding his hand out for the fare.

Skye nodded and put the correct amount of money in his hand before getting out of the cab with her bag. She stared in disbelief at the magnificent stone structure, and didn’t even register the cab leaving as she took her first few steps towards the castle.

She had no idea what to expect, and for once, she felt excited to be somewhere.