Annika frowned, her nose scrunching up before she sneezed. A strange quirk she had developed when her curiosity spiked, and her questions remained unanswered. Jack always seemed to answer her in riddles when it came to anything that dealt with the Shadow Realm. 

As Annika grew, she came to understand that the Everdark accepting her was a rare thing. It made her appreciate the little things more, but it didn’t make the whole place any less frustrating. If the shadows and the Everdark dictated whether Annika succeeded with a spell, then what was the point? If she studied hard and knew the spellwork forwards and backwards, but the shadows still denied her request, why bother trying?

Annika huffed and rubbed her nose after she sneezed. [color=#663399]”You sound like that [i]Alice in Wonderland[/i] book,”[/color] she informed her father.