(IMPORTANT: The prologue in this book is very significant in advancing the plot and I recommend that you read the Prologue before Chapter One.)

(Note: The protagonist's name is Iolla with an i and not an L and is pronounced as EYE-O-LA.)

To all readers: You are advised to read the Prologue before reading this chapter.

Present Day...

When I was ten, my eyes changed colour overnight. For a while, I thought I was hallucinating.

Until Charlotte had commented on my eyes, remarking that they were beautiful contact lenses and asked where I had bought them. After hearing that, I basically spent half the day looking down at the floor, and the other half staring at the toilet mirror.

You can see why I did not do so well for that subject.

No doctor could explain my eyes, and they only noted that it was unnatural, which I had already registered. My parents bought me a pair of brown-coloured eye contact lenses so as to hopefully cover up my insecurity with it.

I had taken advantage of Charlotte's compliment and used it to excuse my absence, lying that the contact lenses were itchy, so I went to get a new pair.

It is funny how I was already fifteen, and still, no one could explain my eyes. I only took the contact lenses off to clean them and before I slept. Until today.

"No, no, no!" I muttered, my hands flying about as I hastily rummaged through my belongings. This couldn't have happened.

Okay, stay calm, Io, think hard. Did you bring them? I thought, racking my brains. Not on the study table, not on the nightstand...

The sharp rings of an alarm, my mother yelling up the stairs was what happened after I had left the toilet. Unless...I had left the contact lenses beside the sink after washing them.

Oh, great! I bit my lip and fumbled around my bag. I just have to keep my head down, take out my spare lenses and-

"Hey, Iolla, are you free to hang out during the holidays?" A familiar voice broke my train of thought. Denisse.

"Hi, er...yes I will be free. I'll check when I'm home," I replied as casually as possible.

"Okay then!" I waited until Denisse's footsteps had faded away, then heaved a sigh of relief. I grabbed hold of the box that holds my spare contact lenses and let my eyes flicker up to the classroom's digital clock. It's seven thirty, so I have time to rush off to the toilet before everyone starts pouring in, I thought as I stood up.

After putting on my spare contact lenses, I could actually look at people without feeling nervous. Interesting how a pair of small glass dome-like lenses could impact me by simply putting them on. Before I knew it, it was the last school lesson.

"Class, inject one drop of liquid from the syringe to the water. You should be able to see it dissolve," Mrs Hallivy instructed in her usual get-down-to-business tone she only used during chemistry.

I pushed down the plunger slowly and watched as the drop landed. The water swirled around several times around the side of the flask. Confused, I placed it down onto the table. It continued swirling.

Wait, what's happening? I'm not even touching it! I thought as I squinted at the water, which was starting to swirl higher. Meanwhile, contrary to what Mrs Hallivy said, the droplet did not dissolve. It was slowly dropping, but the water below it was parting.

Several of my classmates were looking up from their own flasks and instead, were pointing at mine. I heard Charlotte mumbling behind me, "How is the water doing that? It shouldn't be..." before going on about some super scientific terms used that I clearly did not understand, since Chemistry was my worst subject.

"Mrs Hallivy! Io's flask..." Dylan asked, raising his hand and pointing to behind him. To me.

The chatter around me grew from mumbles and mutters to confused voices. The water from the bottom of the flask parted and rose from the sides of the flask all the way to the top, before curving downwards, like a dome. Almost as if...the water was trying to bury the droplet.

Splash! The water dome suddenly collapsed, and I jerked back. The water shook a little, before going still, and the droplet dissolved, just as Mrs Hallivy said it would. Groans of dismay and scoffs came from behind me, and I heard the squeaks of the laboratory chairs as everyone turned back.

"You were saying, Dylan...?" Mrs Hallivy asked. Dylan took a side glance to the flask on my table, before shaking his head.

"Nothing, Mrs Hallivy."

As everyone returned to their original seats, I continued to stare at the flask. What. Just. Happened. I didn't even touch it!

Just then, the lunch bell rang and Mrs Hallivy dismissed the class. I zipped up my pencil case and was about to leave when I noticed something on my table. Some water had dripped from the flask and was arranged in a... strange formation. As I took a closer look at it, there was no doubt in what was formed.

It is your time.

Chapter One: The Eyes of Surprises

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