Prologue

 Tomas

Today, the rain finally stopped. It hasn't stopped since October. It is now the middle of June and it has rained every single day since the begining of October. I found it odd that the day the queen called me and asked for me to visit her was the day the rain finally stopped.

She said there was something she had recently discovered, and she wished to discuss it with me. Something... wierd must be going on, something very unusual. However, in a way, I'm kind of looking forward to it, whatever it is. My life has been quite boring these past few months. In fact, these past few years have been rather boring, insignificant, the same thing every day. Nothing different, everyday is almost utterly exact.

Except for the non-stop storm that has been going on for the past nine months, though it did not really affect me directly. Other than that, the only event that has seemed of any importance to me is that of my co-worker, Mrs. Hunt, becoming pregnant. Any new sense of life seems to make me happy nowadays, but only to a certain extent because, again, it does not affect me directly.

 

I was driving down the winding roads when I finally pulled into the parking lot of Main Castle. A castle worker escorted me to one of the castle's libraries, where Queen Isabelle awaited me.

"Tomas," she said, standing up from one of the desks, "It's nice to see you again."

"It has been a while hasn't it, Queen?" I said, with a smile. I would bow to the queen, except I've known her ever since high school and bowing has never really seemed quite right. She led me to the desk where she had about five different books open, scattered across the table.

"So, what exactly is it that you've been... studying?" I continued, examining the books in front of me.

"It's not much studying, mostly just connecting facts," she replied.

"What kind of facts?"

"Well, let's see," she said, looking up at me," you are aware that one of the secrataries at your work, Mrs. Hunt, is pregnant?"

She waited for me to respond. I paused. Of course I was aware, but how was she aware? I nodded so that she would continue, though I was still looking at the books.

"Well, she gave birth early this morning, to a girl..."

Again, how would she know that? I pushed that thought away and looked up.

"Now, she obviously hasn't gotten her gift checked yet, however, if my calculations are correct, she could be..."

I understood where she was going. It was the one thing she had always been trying to find.

"Isabelle," I said," you should really stop with this..."

"But, Tomas, this time I know it is right."

"That's what you said last time..." I mumbled.

"I know... but this time I just know it's correct."

"Isabelle," I sighed, "you can do all the research you want, but you can not figure out when it is going to happen... or if it even willhappen. For all we know...they could be... gone."

"But It's not just research." She obviously wasn't going to give up. "She gave me a vision, Tomas," she said, looking away.

"Who gave you a vision?"

She looked at me with her bright blue eyes, "Siena."

She had to be joking."The baby gave you a vision?" I raised a brow.

"Yes, I know, I know it sounds crazy but..." she swallowed, "This is it. She's... the one. Tomas, I know it..."

"Isabelle..." I had no idea how to respond.

"You don't believe me." She looked me in the eyes.

"No, it's not that. I mean, it's just... how can you be so sure?"

"Tomas..." she looked away again, "If only you saw what I did," she whispered.

"What did you see?" I still did not believe a barely-born baby could send anyone a vision.

"It's hard to explain..." she said, her eyes glowing.

"How did it prove to you that she has the gift of life?"

"Well..." The look on her face showed that she was searching for words, any words.

"Did she just straight out tell you or did she show you something?"

"Well, I guess it was just... sort of... it..."

"It's really that hard to explain?" I asked.

"Yes. It was probably the shortest, most vague vision I've ever had, yet it was the most... amazing," she stated, her eyes still glowing bright.

"How do you know it was her sending the vision to you?" So many questions sat on the tip of my tongue.

"Because! I just do... Tomas, you had to have seen it..."

We were both silent for a moment. Then, all of a sudden, my vision fuzzed away, my sense of reality and conciousness gone. For a second I thought that someone had hit me on the head, knocking me out. Then it really hit me, a feeling in between dreaming and being lost deep in thought. It was a vision. Not my own, someone was sending it to me.

It was not like any other vision I have ever had. I could not see anything, or hear anything, or feel anything. Pretty soon, I had no thoughts, no knowledge. I didn't know where I was, everything just looked white. Then, I did not know what I looked like, how old I was, or who I was. I didn't know anything at all.

Then, there was a mirror. No, it wasn't a mirror. I wasn't looking at myself, I didn't know who I was, I didn't know anything. Yet, I knew that the man I was looking at was Tomas Carter. He's a wizard, he's three-hundred and eleven years old. I do not know how to count. He has the gift of nature. I do not know about gifts. He works in a government office. I don't know what that is. I am not Tomas Carter. I have just been born, and he has just found that out.

Then, I show him.

I don't know how I show him, I don't know how I do it. I do not know where the dead body came from, I do not know how I brought it to life again. Then it walked away, but I don't know where it went. I don't know anything.

He looked so suprised, as if he'd never seen this before. I haven't either, though for me it just seemed so natural. I didn't know how I did it, but it seemed natural. I could do it again. I did.

Another dead body appeared somehow. I didn't know what it was. Then I brought it to life. I don't know how I did it, but I did. Then it left, just like the first one. Tomas looked at me strangely, like I'm something different. I do not know what I am.

 

"Tomas?"

I blinked. I looked around and I was in the library again, the queen of Tyren sitting in front of me.

What the hell? What the hell was that? I just had a vision, but... it was so... wierd.

"You had a vision?" asked Isabelle.

I nodded. I was confused. It couldn't have been...

"What was it?" she asked.

"It...I think..." I did not know how to describe it.

"It was her, wasn't it?"

"I... I think so..."

"I told you," she muttered.

About an hour passed of us discussing what we had seen and what it meant. Then it went silent again.

 "So... you just wanted to tell me this. That you finally found... her?" I asked.

"That's not the only reason," she said with a smirk.

"What else is there?"

"Well, I duscussed things with Mrs. Hunt last night, after I had the vision and-"

"Last night? I thought you had it this morning," I said.

"No, it was yesterday evening," she corrected.

"But Siena was born this morning..."

"Yes..."

"She gave you a vision before she was even born?" I whispered.

"Yes."

"That's...amazing."

She nodded. "We also discussed who Siena's mentor should be..."

"Yeah..."

"Well you don't have an apprentice right now," Isabelle said, looking at me.

"Me? You want me to be her mentor?"

"Yes," she said with a grin.

"But... I've never had an apprentice before," I said, running a hand through my hair.

"You will soon, if you accept."

I pondered it for a moment. "Okay, I accept."

"Really?"

"Yes."

"Good," Isabelle smiled, "I'll call Mrs. Hunt this evening."

"Sounds good," I said with a smile.

"I'm sure Mrs. Hunt will be happy to have a friend mentoring her daughter."

Friend? I thought for a minute. I never really considered Mrs. Hunt a friend.

"I'm not sure how good of a teacher I am, though," I commented.

"Well, you better start preparing, ten years can go by fast."

"I'm sure it can."

And it did.

 

The Day Has Just Begun

Siena

I woke up with a start, another nightmare. I glanced at the clock on my nightstand, 5:23 pm. I had a while before I had to get up so I laid back down to rest my head on my pillow, but I did not go back to sleep. If I did, I would just wake with a start again. So I lay sleepily in my bed until the alarm went off.

I reluctantly got up and put on my school uniform, then made my bed. I combed out my dark hair, then grabbed my backpack and went into the kitchen for breakfast.

 

"Good morning, Siena," my mom said.

"Morning," I mumbled.

"You're going to Tomas' house after school right?" she asked.

"Yeah, and I'm staying there for the week... why?" I replied.

"Could you pick up Sophia from school and drop her off at Lisa's house on your way there?"

"Sure. But aren't you going to be here next week?"

"Yeah, but im going somewhere tonight," she said, "I'll pick her up in the morning."

 

As if she spent enough time with us. Then again, did I want her to?

"She should start staying at Lisa's house longer, to train and stuff," I told her.

"She's only 9, Siena," she replied.

"So?"

"So, she's not supposed to start that until she's older."

 

Right, because nine is old enough to be left home alone, yet not old enough to learn magic.

"I started 3 years ago, when I was 10," I stated.

"Yeah, well, she can wait alittle longer," she said.

"Okay. Hey, Tomas wanted me to ask you if you were going to work late today. Thats wierd, it's Friday, why wouldn't you?"

"Actually," she sighed, "I'm not"

"Why not?" I asked.

"Because..."

"Is it because you're going out tonight? Where are you going?"

"To take care of some business..."

"What kind of business? Like black market business?"

"No. Other business. Just tell Tomas that I'm not going to be there and that I'll talk to him on Monday."

"Okay..." Other business, I didn't think I wanted to know what that meant.

We finished breakfast in silence, which was probably good because I didn't really know what to say to my mother, I never do. And when I think I do, it's usually the wrong thing to say.

After a few minutes Sophia came out of her room and sat at the table, lightening the mood a bit. After she ate, we said bye to our mom and I led Sophia out of the apartmants and down the street.

 

After a couple of minutes, Sophia asked, "What are we doing after school today?"

"Not much..." I replied.

"But it's Friday, we always do something fun on friday until mom gets home from work," she said, looking up at me.

"Well it's up to Lisa, I guess. You're going to her house after school."

"Oh. Why? Where are you going?" she asked.

"Just 'cause, and I'm going to Tomas' house after school," I responded.

"Oh, why aren't we just going home?"

"I don't know."

"Why don't you know?"

I sighed. "Well I do know, but I'm not telling you."

"Why aren't you gonna tell me?" she asked.

"Because, I'm not."

"But why?"

"Because I don't feel like it."

"Why don't you feel like it?" she continued.

"...I don't know..", I paused, pondering what to say, " and mom wouldn't want me to..."

"Why wouldn't she?" Sophia persisted.

" 'Cause.."

" 'Cause why?"

"Just because."

"Because why?"

"Because....because you're not old enough...?" I said with a shrug.

"Why aren't I not old enough?"she questioned. I smiled at the fact of her trying to act mature, even though her grammar was not very good.

"Because you're 9," I said.

"So?" she continued.

"I don't know, you're 9."

"Why?"

"Because you were born 9 years ago, so you're 9."

"Why?"

" 'Cause mom got pregnant with you 9 months before 9 years ago." I really didn't want to continue this conversation.

"Why?" she asked.

" 'Cause..."

" 'Cause why?"

"Sophia."

"What?"

"Stop."

"Stop what?"

"Stop asking 'why' to everything."

"Why?"

"Because it's annoying."

"Why is it annoying?"

"Sophia!"

"Sorry..."

We finally stopped in front of the elmentary school and I sighed.

"Be good, okay?" I said.

Sophia nodded her head, then I kissed her on the forhead and watched her go up the steps and into the school. Then I turned around and continued walking until I reached the middle school. As I walked through the gates I saw a small group of popular girls, wearing tight mini skirts that were obviously against school uniform, but the security gaurd never seemed to notice. I could feel them watch me as I walked by and I tried not to make eye contact with them as they wispered to eachother and laughed.

Oh, how I'd love to turn around, make my eyes glow and throw a ball of magic in their direction.

But doing that would cause all kinds of complications, so I just continued walking. Then I saw Jack walk by, well I think that's his name anyway. I had to admit, for a popular guy, he was pretty cute. Then some girls came up to him and sarted flirting. The only thing that held me back from doing the same was the fact that I wasn't a popular girl. The kind that wears a ton of make up, small and tight clothes, and for some reason just so happened to be a whole lot prettier than all of us other girls. I kept walking and smiled to myself when I heard that he turned them both down about going to the dance.

Then I heard one of them say, "Oh, c'mon, who are you gonna go with, some ugly, emo girl?"

"Yeah, like Siena Hunt?" The other one said.

Then all three of them laughed. I did the only thing I was socially able to do: keep on walking.

It was going to be a long day.

 

I walked across the street from Sophia's mentor, Lisa's house, and headed toward the end of town where my mentor, Tomas, lived. I tried not to think about how terrible today was, and instead I thought about the possibilities of what I'd be learning or doing with Tomas for the next week.

As I got closer to the house, I decided to take a short-cut through the forest, even though it would take longer to get there than it would just walking the streets, but I liked the forest better.

As soon as I stepped into a clearing I heard something rustle in the bushes behind me. I turned around, but nothing was there. Then, I heard a SNAP from the other side, and I turned to face it, but again, nothing. I felt my eyes begin to glow as I took a step backwards, then I heard more noise coming from a different direction. I slowly stepped toward the noise, squinting into the thick greenery. All of the sudden, something big jumped at me and I screamed as we both tumbled down the hill and landed in another clearing. A large wolf pinned me down and growled in my face before licking me.

I giggled and said, "Get off me, you furball! I hate you!"

Blake laughed, then rolled off and turned into his 'human' form: a tall fourteen-year-old boy with pale skin, light brown hair and bright gold eyes.

"Not my fault you fall for it every time!" he laughed.

"Oh shut up, I'm going to get you back someday," I replied.

"That's what you always say," he said, standing up. He grabbed my arm and pulled me to my feet.

"Whatever," I said with a smirk.

"Where are you going anyway?" he asked.

"Tomas' house."

"Through the forest?" he raised a brow.

"Yeah," I replied.

"Why?"

"I don't know," I shrugged, " I like the forest."

"Just like how you like the rain?"

"No, it's kinda different."

"Hmph," he grunted with a smirk.

"Hmph what?" I asked and he just continued to smirk.

"Blake," I said.

"What?" he replied, still smiling slightly.

"What?" I asked.

"You're the one who said my name," he said and I rolled my eyes. Blake smiled again and we began to walk back up the hill and past the first clearing, and in the direction I was originally headed.

"So how was your day?" Blake asked after a few minutes.

"It was good," I said with a sigh.

"Okay, that's a lie," he replied.

"No, it's not..."

"Yeah, it is."

"...How do you know?"

"Siena, you're my best friend. I've known you since you were, like, eight. I know when you're lying."

"Oh..." I didn't know what else to say.

"Why, what happened?" he questioned.

"Nothing..." I looked away.

"That's also a lie."

"Well, I'm sorry, how was your day, Mr. Popularity? How many creatures did you hang out with today? How many girls flirted with you?"

"Hey. I'm not that popular, Ms. Loner over here... and I just hung out with my friends."

"Yeah, what about the girls?"

"Oh, c'mon, what are you jealeous?"

"Why would I be jealeous of you?"

"Not me, the girls," Blake said, with a wink.

I rolled my eyes. "Whatever, like I'd be jealous of that..." I could feel my cheeks turn a bit pink.

Blake laughed and I smiled as we walked up to the side of a big two-story house at the end of the forest. I stepped in front of Blake and turned to face him.

"Thanks for walking with me," I said.

"No problem," he replied, "Hey, I'm gonna really talk to you later okay?"

"Hah, about what?"

Blake shrugged, "I don't know, but you've been really quiet lately. You usually tell me everything, and I feel like something's been bugging you, and you won't tell me what," he walked back the way we came.

"Nothing's bugging me," I said barely loud enough for him to hear.

He turned around, rolled his eyes and smiled, then turned into a wolf and walked away. I sighed, for the hundredth time today. I wasn't an adept liar, but I didn't feel like telling anyone about my feelings lately. Not even my best friend.

I walked along the side of the fence until I reached the front, then went through the gate, through the yard and up the steps. I paused, then opened the door and went inside.

Everyone Knows The Princess

Siena

I threw my backpack on the couch and walked toward the office, where I heard Tomas searching through some papers. I was about to say hello when I realized he was on the phone.

"Well, it's possible," he said.

I was going to say something to annoy him when he stopped moving through the papers and just listened to the voice on the other side of the phone in an almost too-dramatic silence. His back was facing the door, so I couldn't see the expression on his face, but I guessed that he wasn't smiling.

"Well, no, she doesn't know yet. I haven't told her, but lately she's had a lot to deal with." He ran his fingers through his black hair.

I stepped into the corner by the stairs and pressed my head against the wall.

"Well I mean if something really upsets her, I have no idea how it would affect her. It could mess with her feelings and that could make her symptoms act up."

Then, I realized he was talking about me.

"Well, yes it's bad! She can barely handle it when the visions come and go, which doesn't happen often, but the bad dreams are becoming more and more frequent."

I wondered what the conversation was about. What was it that might upset me?

"I don't know if Ms. Hunt has told them yet, but I doubt it. ... Well, you could tell her, but when she's with Sienna she might ask questions about it, and I don't plan on telling her... Well, no, not until it actually happens. ... I'm not sure, do you think I should? ... Well, we'll know before tomorrow, right? ... Okay, then she'll know, but if not, then I don't want her to worry about it until then. ... Well, you know she isn't exactly friendly with the idea of this whole thing in the first place. ...No, not yet, but she should be here already, she's running late, she's probably with some friends or something. ... No, probably not him, I don't know why but she refuses to get to know him better. ... No, I'm not, but we have some lessons to go over when she gets here, which better be soon. ... Alright. ... Okay, Goodbye."

Tomas hung up the phone and I ran back to the living room and grabbed my backpack when Tomas walked out of the office and returned the phone to the table next to the staircase.

"Oh, there you are, when'd you get here?" he asked.

"Um, just right now," I replied.

"Oh, okay..."

"Hey, my mom said she's not working late today..."

"Oh, okay, I kind of figured..."

"What?"

"Huh, oh, nothing."

"Why, what is she doing?"

"I don't know, but... nevermind."

"Okay..."

Something wierd was going on. Lately, my mom and Tomas have both been keeping things from me. Though, I guess it didn't really matter considering I haven't exactly been telling them about everything either.

Tomas went up the stairs and I followed. I tried not to seem like I just over-heard a conversation that I should know nothing about.

 

When Tomas finished teaching me about magical politics we went down stairs into the living room and sat down on the sofa. Tomas picked up the romote and turned on the tv. It was on the news channel and the news reporter was talking about something to do with the economy when she stopped and turned it over to a blonde half-cat reporter and a picture of a crown with a question mark appeared behind her.

"In other news," she began, "it has recently been discovered that, not one, but two female wizards have been born with the gift of life."

I leaned forward and Tomas reached for the remote but I grabbed it from him. Something wierd was definately going on.

"They are sisters," the reporter continued, "but their names are to remain anonymous. But we do know that the eldest is 13 years of age and the younger is 9. When it is that their identities will be revealed is up to their parents and mentors. It is certain there will be a coronation ceremony very soon, though it can't happen until the youngest girl turns 10. They will be princesses of Tyren and when the older turns 18 she will take the position of Queen. Currently, Queen Isabelle is very excited to meet the young girls and interested in learning about their gift, that greater of her own gift of nature. This is all very exciting, I'm sure everyone in this world who is hearing the news is pleased to have a gift of life, make that two gifts of life, for the first time in centuries."

The reporter began talking about new renovations being made to a local castle. I turned the tv off and just sat quietly.

"Siena..." Tomas said, facing me.

"No," I replied, still looking at the black screen.

"Siena, look I-"

"Who told creatures about this? I thought we agreed it was to be kept a secret!"

"Siena, listen. It had to happen sooner or later, and I don't see what's so bad about it."

"What's so bad," I said, standing up, " is that my life, and Sophia's, are about to go public; more than public, world-wide! Every single creature on the entire planet is about to know everything about us!"

"Siena, this is a good thing."

"How?!"

Tomas stood up, "You're different, Siena."

"Gee, thanks for reminding me," I muttered, crossing my skinny, muscleless arms.

"Siena, that's a good thing. You're going to be a leader."

"A leader? Are you kidding me? I can't even work up the nerve to flirt with a guy at school. I get nerveous everytime I have to read aloud in english class. I have to force my self to run slow in p.e. so people won't think I'm super athletic and will wanna challenge me and stuff. Tomas, I don't know if you've noticed, but I'm not exactly 'Miss Popularity'. Not in this world, not in the human world. To most people, I'm just that wierd, quiet girl in the corner. To most creatures, I'm just some stupid, little wizard girl who barely knows what she's doing."

"But you do know what you're doing."

"Well, creatures like to think that I don't. Know why? 'Cause I'm not a leader, I'm not social, I'm not outgoing. I'm nothing. I'm normal, less than that. The only thing that makes me superior to anyone at all is my gift, that I can't even control. I can't control myself, how do you expect me to control an entire planet?"

"You feel that way now, but alot can happen in five years, you know."

"Like what? Tomas, this isn't me. I'm not a princess, and definatly not a queen."

"Well, obviously you're not completely ready yet. You'll have to train a bit more, but you aren't stupid, why do you think I've been teaching you about politics and all that? It isn't for nothing."

"Well, maybe I'd be better off using that for a job like yours. I mean this whole time that's what I thought I'd end up doing."

"Well isn't being a Queen much better than being some government worker in an office?"

"Maybe to most creatures, but not me."

Tomas sighed. "Why must you be so stuburn, Siena?"

I shrugged and Tomas sighed again."Well, why don't you think about it for a while, I bet you'll change your mind," Tomas said.

"Doubt it," I mumbled before going upstairs to my room.

Nightmares

 Siena

I stood in the middle of a clearing in the forest. It was pouring rain through the trees, yet I stood there, motionless. I couldn't have noticed anyway, my eyes were glowing and I was in the middle of having a vision. The leaves rustled behind me and I blinked, coming back into reality. I tilted my head up and closed my eyes, feeling the rain fall onto my face. Most creatures with common sense would've gone home, or at least someplace dry. Not me, I love the rain.

The plants in front of me shifted. I looked and saw nothing, then the ones behind me moved, then the ones to my left, then in front of me again.

"Blake...I know it's you!" I shouted.

There was no reply. He didn't jump out of the bushes.

 But something else did.

It jumped straight at me and rolled me down the hill, then pinned me to the ground. It was big, about twice the size Blake was when he's in wolf form. It growled in my face, saliva dripping from it's teeth and its black, matted fur sticking up. I winced and tried to slip out from under its grasp but I couldn't move, its hold on me was too tight. I could feel its claws ripping through my sleeves and digging into the flesh in my arms. I could feel the blood trickle down my skin and it stinged at the source when the pouring rain drops hit it. I tried to push it off, but it was too heavy. It growled deeper in my face and I felt a second of relief when it let go of me, so I began to sit up. However, my relief was replaced with pain when the giant, dog-like beast easily swiped its claw at me and I slid back a few yards, hitting my back against a tree.

I opened my eyes and felt dizzy. My face felt really wet but after a moment I realized it wasn't from the rain. I reached up and my cheek burned as I touched it. I looked at my fingers and saw they were dripping red. Then, I looked up and saw the creature walking towards me. I stood up but then fell back down again, my head was spinning way too fast. My weak arms were shaking, I tried to scream out but my voice was incooperative. Before I knew it, I was against a different tree, at a different angle, my head hurting even worse. I put an arm over my face as the monster charged at me again. Then I heard a bark and looked up to see Blake leap out of the bushes and pounce onto the beast.

Happiness flowed within me for only a moment again before there was a blood-curdling screach and Blake fell to the ground with blood spilling out of several spots and several bones sticking out. I couldn't scream, I was too horror-struck. Then, all of the sudden I felt pain run through my whole body, and everything was tinted in red. For a minute I thought I finally heard myself scream but I couldn't be sure if that was it.

 

I woke with a start, for what seemed like the hundredth time this month. I was being haunted by nightmares just about every day now. My breath was heavy and I could almost feel how bright my eyes were glowing in fear. I looked around found I was in my room and it was still the middle of the night. I jumped as the door swung open and Tomas came in with a startled look on his face.

"Is everything okay?" Tomas asked.

I paused "Yeah, why?" I replied.

"I heard you screaming..."

He sat down next to me on the bed, "Again" he added. A flash of lightening struck down, clearly visable through the open window, and thunder followed, making me jump again. Tomas reached over me and closed the curtains.

"Just a storm," he said, "I thought you like the rain".

"I do.." I looked at the open door and squinted at the light coming in from Tomas' room down the hall.

"You okay? Want some of your medicine?" He asked.

I shook my head and looked up at Tomas staring at me. "What?" I asked, realizing I was shaking a little.

"I'm worried, Siena..." Tomas began.

"Why? I'm fine, Tomas, really." I tried to persuade him, but we both knew it was a lie.

"No, you're not," he said looking into my eyes.

I looked down and Tomas sighed, then hugged me closely. I nudged my head into his chest and tears began to stream out of my eyes. I knew I shouldn't be doing this, I shouldn't be crying into an adults' chest as if I were a helpless child.

But I couldn't help it. I was scared and just wanted the nightmares to stop. But they wouldn't unless I took that special medicine, but I didn't like taking it. It made me feel wierd, it's hard for me to use my powers, it makes me feel restrained.

The worst part about it all was that sometimes my not-so-bad nightmares came true, and now they were all getting bad, the next worse than the last, and one hasn't come true in a long time.

"It's okay," Tomas crooned, putting a hand on my head, "It's okay, whatever it was, it was just a dream."

"You don't know that,"I whimpered.

"Siena..." I could tell he wanted to say something to make me feel better, but he didn't know what to say, so he just put his head on top of mine and held me closer.

Sometimes, I knew that Tomas felt like he was doing more than his job. He was my mentor, he was only suppost to teach me magic and train me to fight. He didn't have to care for me this deeply. He didn't have to be holding me  like this. I wasn't his daughter. Though, I hadn't seen my real father since I was a todler, and Tomas knew I never really received anything like this from my mother either, so it didn't feel that wrong to him. It didn't feel that wrong to me either. I wouldn't mind if he was my father.

Rainy Day

Siena

I decided it was time to wake up. To get out of bed, that is, I had been awake all night. After Tomas left my room last night I opened my curtains again and stared out the window, watching the rain, and after a while I just stared at the ground, at nothing. But now it was a little past seven o'clock so I pushed the blankets off and walked over to my closet.

I slipped on some black tights, then black shorts and a Pierce the Veil t-shirt. I made my bed and slipped on some socks and boots. I looked in the mirror and combed out my black hair that fell just past the bottom of my chest. I put on a black beanie, grabbed a jacket and went down stairs.

Tomas and I spent the morning reviewing spells and making an abundance of potions. Towards the afternoon we went to the end of another forest, to a hidden building called The Round. The Round was a type of black market where creatures sold and traded things, mostly potions and medicines and hard-to-find specialty spells. It wasn't exactly illegal, but not everyone knew about it. Some of the local police officers and government related workers, like Tomas, knew about it and actually went there to trade or sell but never reported it. There were plenty of places like it all over the magical world, but none of them were ever shut down. I took it as just another example of how corrupt the government was.

However, I actually kind of enjoyed going there sometimes, and it's not like the creatures there were bad or anything, most of them are pretty nice in my opinion. Though, sometimes I did see creatures hanging out there that had run away from the cops or broke out of jail. Sometimes, I also saw bounty hunters, waiting for requests to go after, or even kill, certain creatures or even humans. That probably made the place a bit illegal, but I always stayed clear of the bad creatures like that.

I didn't have a problem with the place, but I was glad that Lisa didn't know about it and wasn't into doing things like this, I wouldn't want Sophia to be around this kind of place.

By the end of the day Tomas and I got back into his car with quite a bit of profit from all the potions we had sold. He spent some of it on another bottle of medicine for me, I would have bought it myself if I wasn't underage, not that the creatures there cared that I was, they all knew that I was Tomas' apprentice.

He's suppost to get the medicine through a hospital, but lately the hospitals have been running out of alot of medicines for some reason. Tomas' best guess is that they've run out of the ingredients needed to make them. At The Round, the traders just made medicines using magic, which was alot faster.

  As we began to drive on the freeway, it began to rain again and I watched the drops trail down the window. I brought my feet up on the seat and wrapped my arms around my long legs.

After a while, we pulled into Tomas' driveway and went inside. I looked outside the living room window and watched the rain fall against the trees. I thought about Blake, I wondered what he was doing at that moment. Was he inside his house watching tv, or maybe playing video games? Was he out with his friends? Was he out in the forest, in the rain? If he was, was he with his brother, or by himself? I wondered what he was thinking about. I tried to stop thinking about him, but it just wasn't working.

I guess I was too deep in thought to realize that Tomas had walked over and was leaning against the wall, next to me.

"You really like the rain, don't you?" He commented, startling me.

"Oh," I said, "Yeah."

Tomas sighed and stared at the trees. He knew I was thinking about something. As vaguely as I could, I read his thoughts.

He couldn't help but think how much I had changed since I was little. Or how much being a princess would change me. He knew I didn't want to be one, but he always wondered why. Wasn't it every girls dream to be a princess when they were little? But then again, I wasn't like other girls. Though, that's why I had the opportunity in the first place. I was usually bright about everything and always so willing, but lately I'd been distant, which made Tomas a bit nervous.

"What are you thinking about?" Tomas asked.

I paused and got out of his mind and into my own. "Nothing..." I said, looking at the rain again.

"That's a lie," he stated.

"So?" I smirked. He smirked back. At least he didn't know I was in his head, he hated when I did that. Probably because it's one thing his apprentice could do that he couldn't.

"Do you think you're almost ready?"

"For what?" I looked at him from the corner of my eye.

"The coronation."

I sighed, looking forward again. "I don't know."

"Why don't you want to be a princess? Or a Queen?"

"Honestly...I really don't know. It's just not me. I'm just a girl, I'm just a little different that's all. I wanna live in a house next to the forest, like this, not a castle in the middle of the city."

"Is that it? 'Cause we're going to visit the main castle very soon, I think you'll like it very much."

"It's not just that, I'm sure it's very nice but.... I don't know, I can't take over control of a whole world. If it were a city, then maybe, yeah, I'd be able to do that, but a whole planet?"

"Siena, you can do it, I know you can, you're gonna be good at it too."

"How do you know that?" I questioned as I turned to look at him.

"Because. I just do, I have a feeling," he said, looking me in the eyes.

"Well, what if that feeling's wrong?" I looked at the floor.

"I don't think it is." I could feel his eyes still on me.

We were both silent for a minute.

"You protect Sophia, you take care of her. She looks up to you," Tomas said, breaking the silence. I looked up at him again.

"So? She's my little sister. The whole world isn't made up of nine year old girls," I replied.

"No, but if you're good enough, creatures will look up to you."

"But what if I'm not good enough?" I mumbled. I'm never good enough for anything.

"You just have to try. Don't be afraid to try, the worst you can do is fail, but it's not certain that you will, but you won't know if you don't try."

In his words, and in his big, bright brown eyes, I sensed the one thing I knew I lacked: Hope.

I looked through the window again.

"Will you please try?" Tomas asked.

"...Fine.." I mumbled.

Tomas smiled "Thanks. I know you're gonna do great."

"I guess."

I looked at him and beared a grin. Then, we both went into the kitchen and began cooking.

I went upstairs to my room after dinner. I threw my jacket on the chair by my desk and sat on my bed. Tomorrow was Sunday but Tomas had to work for a few hours, which meant I would be home alone for that time. I wasn't suppost to leave the house when I was home alone except for if I had to run errands. Tomas didn't have anything for me to do, but I knew I wasn't going to stay inside all day. In fact, I knew exactly what I was going to do. I was going to go into the forest to find Blake. Just the simple thought of his name made me feel happy.

I slid to the end of the bed and leaned against the wall. I looked out the window and watched it sprinkle outside with a smirk on my face.

Old House In The Woods

Siena 

I noticed it was 7:30 in the morning. I took my earphones out and turned the music off. I didn't sleep last night because I didn't want to have another nightmare.

I changed out of my pajamas and put on a grey long-sleeved shirt and some skinny jeans. I slipped on some socks and black vans, then used magic to make my bed. Then, I grabbed a jacket and headed downstairs.

When I went into the kitchen I noticed my mentor had already left for work. I got a bowl of cereal and ate quietly, then put the empty bowl in the sink.
 I stepped out the front door and saw it was cloudy, but not raining yet. The wind swept my face as I went down the steps, around the fence and into the forest. I walked over to the clearing where Blake and I usually met and saw him leaning against a tree.

"Hey," he said when he noticed me walking over to him.

"Hey," I replied.

"What's up?" He asked.

"Nothing."

"You're up early."

I shrugged. I'd been up all night.

We began talking about random things, like we always did, and began walking. I admit, we sometimes lost track of where we were going but found that we hadn't wandered too far, though this time we had gone too far. We stopped walking and looked around, realizing that the forest around us wasn't as bright as the part a few yards away was. Bright, as in the sense of life in it. There wasn't any animals or bugs in sight. The plants all around were either dead, or drooping, though some were alive, inviting even. A bit too inviting. They were probably poisonous.

"Should we go back?" I asked, trying to hide my fear of where we were.

"No," Blake paused and looked around, "let's keep going, let's see what there is." He said, then began walking forward.

I caught up with him and we both continued to look around as we walked. "Probably not much," I muttered.

After a few minutes, Blake and I were pretty deep into the bad side of the forest and we came up to an old house that was obviously abandoned. It was two stories and looked alot like the ones in the neighborhoods at the end of the forest, except this one was by its self. It had plants and mold growing out of it in ways that didn't even look naturally possible. The yard had over-grown weeds and a ton of leaves that made it look like it would be very hard to get across. It began to sprinkle a bit, which was pretty natural for it being the end of February, though it added to the creepiness of the run down house.
 

 

It was the kind of house that you might see in an old fashioned scary movie where the kids go in and look around, then some one or some thing comes out and scares them. It was so creepy and beyond out of place, but something about it made me want to go inside.

"Let's go inside," I muttered.

"Okay," Blake said and began to walk toward the open gate. I paused.

"What? Umm... maybe we shouldn't... this place looks... it, it doesn't really..." I stuttered.

Blake turned around. "What, are you scared?" he teased.

"What? No," I replied.

"Then come on."

I looked at the house and sighed. I slowly walked over to Blake, then we headed past the disaster of a yard and went through the front doorway that didn't have a door on it. As soon as we stepped inside they could see it was about as bad as the outside was. Even though the windows were closed and the broken ones were boarded up, it was still pretty visable inside, even in the gloomy weather, which I thought was pretty unusual.

There wasn't any furniture in the first room we entered, but the wall had a big crack in it. Blake stepped into the next room, leaving footprints in the dust, and I followed. This room was a little darker but still visible, and covered in just as much dust, but there was a small cabinet against the wall with a few pieces of broken old china in it. I guessed that it was probably once a dining room, which is why it was a bit smaller. I also figured that the boarded up door in the corner led to a kitchen.

I noticed a staircase at the other end and walked over to it. Blake followed me up the stairs into a small hallway with three doors on each side and one at the end. Blake went into the closest door on the left side and I followed. It was darker, and seemed to be an office or a study room. There was empty book cases lining all of the walls and there wasn't any windows, but there were lamps all around without lampshades or lightbulbs.

We continued to search a couple more rooms together, then I went into one room while Blake wandered into another. The room I was in was really dark and it was difficult to make anything out so I created an orb of magic in my right hand. The magic gave off light and brightened the room an incredible amount, though it was still a little hard to see. I stepped forward and saw an old vanity with a set of drawers that had a cracked mirror on top. I looked into the mirror and noticed something move in the backround. I spun around and put my hand out in front of me, like a flashlight, to get a better view. There was an old bed with vintage-looking blankets that looked as if they hadn't been touched in, at the very least, a decade.

Besides that, there was nothing else in the small room except for another door next to the bed that looked like it was probably a closet. I turned back to the cracked mirror and looked at the drawers underneath it. I reached to open one of the top drawers but stopped when I saw something move again. I turned around and, again, there was nothing. But the door. I noticed the door was now slightly opened.

Then something shuffled under the bed, scratching against the floorboards.

"I know it's you Blake," I said in an annoyed voice.

It scratched again.

"Blake. It's not funny. Come out."

Then there was an eerie noise that was almost a growl.

"Blake?"

I took a step toward the bed, making the floorboards creek underneath my feet.

It happened so fast that I didn't even realize I had screamed. My head hurt and there was broken glass all around me. I reached for my cheek. It was bleeding.

I looked up, it was only about a foot away from my face. It was a pale, leathery-skinned, human-looking creature with bat-like wings connected to its arms and long skinny fingers with long talon-like claws. I looked at its wrinkly face. It had two holes instead of a nose and its eyes were completely black. It's mouth opened wide to reveal a mouthful of white little daggers on the top and bottom, connected with thick likes of spit. It was about to bite down on my face, and I tried to stop it but it was already pinning me down, it's nails digging into my arms. Its face was now just an inch away from mine.

Scarred

 

"Siena?" I heard Blake call from the other room.

I didn't answer because if I did, the monster would surely bite my tongue off. In fact, it was just about to nip at my nose when it tumbled backwards, Blake pinning it to the ground and growling in its face.

It scratched at his chest in defense, then it dug its claws into his sides. Blake growled and ripped his claws into its shoulders, then scratched down its chest. It let out a horrific shriek that made Blake back up and paw at his ears. While he did so, the creature jumped up and pounced at him, pinning him to the wall and shrieking in his face, ready to bite down on his snout.

I wanted to help him. I tried to get up, but as soon as I began to sit up a rush of pain deluged my head. I grunted and slipped down onto the floor again. I blinked and saw that now Blake was on top of the creature and biting at its face and neck. It screamed and pushed Blake off, then he chased it down the hall and down the stairs, barking at it the whole way. I heard one final bark preceding the sound of wings flapping away.

I closed my eyes, wrapped my arms around my legs, and burried my face into my knees. My head was pounding so much that I didn't even hear Blake come back up the stairs.

"Siena! Are you okay?!" he exclaimed, rushing to kneel down next to me.

I felt tears stream down my cheeks, burning down the left side of my face.

"Siena?"

I looked up slowly. I could tell my eyes were glowing bright and I could feel the blood oozing from the scratches on my cheek. Blakes mouth gaped open once he saw my face.

I felt embarrassed that I still didn't know how to fight adequately. If I was good at fighting, or even knew a bit more than just a couple simple moves, I would've been able to fight the creature off myself.

"Siena...Siena I'm so sorry..."

"For what?" I sniffed.

"For this, I ...it was all my fault...I, I'm the one who wanted to come in here... you didn't even want to..." His broken voice was faint.

"It's not your fault," I said in a quiet voice, trying to make the tears stop.

"Here..." he said getting up and helping me up as well.

"Ouch!" I whimpered as my body straightened.

"What?" Blake asked.

"It hurts..."

"What hurts?"

"My head... and my back..."

"Here, I better get you to my mom, she can fix you."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"So what I don't understand is why you were leading her into the dark side of the forest anyway," Mrs. Kart said as she rubbed a mushy mixture of herbs onto my cuts.

"Owww!" I exclaimed.

"Sorry sweetie, I told you it would hurt," she said as she washed the medicine off of my arms.

"It wasn't just Blake's fault... we weren't really paying attention to where we were going..." I said.

"Hmmm... well you two better be more careful, next time you might end up worse, or even dead... and we don't want that... do we?"

"No," I repied.

"No, mom," Blake replied.

Mrs. Kart rinsed the herbs off my face and poured a potion on it, then rinsed that off too. After a few seconds Blake and his mom watched as my cuts healed up into scars and the puffiness went down.

"Thank you," I said.

"No problem, sweetheart." Replied Mrs. Kart as she cleaned up the herbs and potions and put them away on shelves and in a cabinet.

Mrs. Kart entered the kitchen while Blake and I went into the hallway. Since Blake was a werewolf, his wounds healed almost completely after almost an hour, no medicine necessary. I looked into the mirror and touched the scars on my face, which were alot bigger than the ones on my arms. At least my sleeves covered the cuts somewhat. I began moving my bangs to cover my face.

Blake chuckled, "What are you doing?"

"Trying to cover the scars", I replied.

"Why?", he asked, stepping closer to me.

" 'Cause, I don't want Tomas to see them."

"Why not?"

"Because... I'll have to tell him how I got them... then, he'll know I went past the line..."

There was a boundary line past the second river in the Mead forest, if you go past that invisible line you're not protected from any evil creatures or evil magic in that part of the forest. Around five-hundred years ago, some of the most powerful good wizards cast spells to protect planet Tyren. However, their magic wasn't abundant enough, so they had to leave some of the more rural areas unprotected, areas like big portions of desert or forest, such as the Mead forest. Since then, evil creatures could only roam this planet on the unprotected areas.

"Oh. Well it's not that bad... you could lie to him, you know," Blake said.

"Well, I don't want to... I should get home before Tomas does," I replied.

"Want me to walk you?"

"If you want to." I shrugged. I wanted him to.

 

Blake and I went out the door and into the rain. We walked to the end of Blake's neighborhood and entered the forest, walking in silence for a while until we reached the end where Tomas' house was. We hugged for a moment. My head only reached Blakes chest, even though I was standing on my toes. I whispered "Thank you" into his ear. He nudged his head into my hair and whispered "You're welcome... I'm sorry."

I let go and I could tell he didn't want me to.

The Cold Truth

As soon as I entered the house I ran into the upstairs bathroom and flicked the light on. I looked at myself in the mirror. My tan skin was clean because Mrs. Kart washed away the blood, though my dark hair was matted and tangled in the back. At least the puffy pinkness of my brown eyes had gone down. I looked at my arms and saw rips in my sleeves, surounded by dried blood.

I took my clothes off and got in the shower. The hot water stung my face a little.  After I got out I combed my hair out and dried it with a snap of my fingers. I pulled my bangs forward to conceal half of my face and used a little hairspray to make it stay. I went into my room and shoved my clothes to the bottom of my laundry basket. I slipped on some fresh jeans, a gray v-neck t-shirt and a hoodie. I looked out my window and noticed it was getting dark out.

I also noticed a car pull into the drive-way.

I turned the light on, grabbed a book and jumped in bed. The noise of footsteps ascending the stairs echoed in the silence of the house. Tomas knocked on the open door and I looked up.

"Well, how was your day?" he asked, entering the room.

"Good, I guess."

He sat on the bed. "What'd you do all day?"

I shrugged. "Just hang around," I replied, looking down at my book.

"What're you reading?"

"Warm Bodies," I replied, showing him the cover.

"Hmph, human book."

"Yeah, so? I like it. It's good," I replied.

He smiled and looked at me. I didn't look at him for the rest of the night, even through dinner.

That night I was oblivious to how much my body ached. I stared out my window for what seemed like years. At some point that night, I guess Tomas couldn't sleep either because he came into my room and sat next to me on the bed.

"You really should sleep," he said.

I shrugged, though he couldn't see it in the darkness.

"You aren't tired?"

I shrugged.

"It's been a few days since you slept, you know?"

I shrugged. He sighed.

I was starting to feel alot like 'R', the zombie in my book. He shrugs alot. I shrug alot. He never sleeps. I never sleep. I guess I'm a zombie.

There was a loud "Whooo" from outside. Tomas opened the curtain, letting in an incredible amount of moonlight. We looked out to see a beautiful white owl sitting on a branch near the window.

I smiled. Tomas looked at me.

"Siena?" There was a slightly scared tone to his voice,

"What?"

Then I realized my hair was tucked behind my ears. I quickly threw my hair across my face and diverted my head to the side. Tomas reached for my chin and braught my face closer to his, then pulled my hair back behind my ears. I squeezed my eyes shut, not wanting to see the look on his face.

"Siena, what happened to you?" he whispered.

He put his hand on my arm. I remembered I was wearing a tank top. His hand flinched away from the scars on my arms. My skin was already cold, though I grew goosebumps at his touch.

"Siena? How did all of this happen?"

I opened my eyes, but I didn't dare look into his. I wanted to tell him what happened, but I had no idea where to begin.

"Siena. How did you get scratched up like this?"

I glanced up at his face for a second, then squeezed my eyes closed again.

"Siena, how the hell did this happen to you?!"

"I don't know," I mumbled.

"What?!?"

I looked up at him. His eyes were glowing. His scared face looked scary in the shadows cast from the moonlight. I looked down again.

"We just... we were walking... in the forest... and I guess, I guess we just went a little too far..."

"You went into the forbidden part of the forest!"

"I know, I know, but it wasn't on purpose. We just... I guess we just weren't paying attention and we sort of-"

"Hold on. We?"

I swallowed. "Yeah..." I still didn't look up.

"Who's 'we'?" he questioned.

I paused. I didn't want to answer, besides, he already knew who it was. Why did he have to make me say it to him?

"Who's 'we'?" he repeated.

"Just me and... Blake," I mumbled.

"That stupid wolf boy?!"

I looked up at him. Big mistake.

Tomas stood up. Now I was really in for it.

"Siena! How many fucking times have I told you to stay away from that stupid boy?! He's trouble, Siena, nothing but trouble! His family has always been trouble! I knew from the moment I first saw him as a little boy, I knew he was related to them! I knew I couldn't fucking trust them, any of them! Especially not him! He's not only led you into the forbidden forest, but he also got you all scratched up! I swear to god, Siena!"

I stood up slowly.

"Tomas, you don't understand," I said softly, "he didn't do this to me."

"He didn't?" Tomas raised a brow.

"No. Blake would never hurt me."

Tomas grunted. "I don't know about that." His eyes were glowing brightly, almost acting as a lamp to the dark room.

"If he didn't do that to you,'' he continued, ''then what did?"

"I'm not really sure..." I replied.

"You don't even know how you ended up like that?!"

"No, I do know. I just... I think it was... a doremal."

"A doremal?!"

"I was in the bad part of the forest, remember."

Tomas grunted. We stood in silence for a long time. Tomas' eyes were still glowing bright. My head hurt even worse than it had all day and I faught as hard as I could to not release the tears that were welling up underneath my eyes.

"Tomas. I'm sorry," my voice was bearly audible, but I knew he heard it.

"It isn't your fault," he replied.

"So... I'm not in trouble?"

He sighed. "You're only allowed to go into the forest if it's within sight of these houses."

"Fair enough," I said.

"And," he continued, "you're not allowed to see the Karts anymore." He turned around and walked out of the room, closing the door behind him.

Then, I let out every single tear that had been building up, all without making the slightest noise.

I heard wings flapping behind me. The owl flew away.

I stood there awkwardly, the moonlight illuminating my skinny, scarred, fatigued body. Today had truely been the worst day of my life.

I turned and looked in the mirror. My normally brown eyes were glowing bright yellow. They were swollen and, even in the half darkness, incredibly pink. Tears streamed, one after another, down my cheeks, down my neck, down my chest.  They didn't stop, they just kept flooding out, as if there were no end to them. I crossed my arms under my chest. 

 Imagine me as the queen. Me. This srawny, scratched up, troubled, stupid little girl.  

There was really no use for me in this world. Or the human world. Or the evil world.

 And I began to think, would there ever be?

 

 

The Letter

    I walked down the hallway, throwing my packpack into my room as I passed it. I went straight to the bathroom and looked in the mirror, my scars were almost gone. I smiled, glad that my apperance was almost normal again, and because, even though it was friday, I was going to spend another week at Tomas' house. It's not that I didn't like my apartment, I just liked Tomas' house better. Sometimes, I felt that Tomas cared about me more than my own mother. If I did something bad, it was Tomas who punished me for it. If I asked her mom to pick something up for me, like deoderant, a snack, toothpaste, etc. , she would always forget, though Tomas would remember. My mom still thought my favorite color was purple and my favorite food was french fries. And those were my favorite things. When I was nine.

Over the week, I had learned more about fighting, and a bit more about healing, and I couldn't wait to learn more today. With all the practice lately, I'd been getting faster and stronger, more agile.

I went downstairs and turned on the tv, then sat on the couch until Tomas came home. We went into the forest, into a clearing about thirty yards from the houses.

"Okay, you remeber the tecnique I taught you on wednesday?" Tomas asked.

"Yeah," I replied.

"Well, that applies here," he said before darting at me. I fell against a tree and Tomas stumbled onto the floor next to me.

"I told you that it applies here," he said. I grunted and got up. Tomas jumped at me again, but this time he fell on his face. He got up and turned around. I was leaning against a tree on the opposite end of the clearing. Tomas charged at me a third time, his hands glowing. This time I didn't move out of the way, when he got near me and jumped at me I dunked and turned around to face him, my hands glowing. He got up and threw a ball of magic at me, but I caught it and threw it back at him in less than two seconds. Tomas was about to move, but it hit him on the side of his ribs. He fell back and winced as he clenched his side.

When a creature throws magic at you, it doesn't exactly feel pleasant. It burns and stings and kind of vibrates when it hits you, leaving a tender feeling and, depending on the strength and how much magic was added, it sometimes leaves a bruise. Since it was originaly Tomas' magic that I added my own to, it hurt even more. And I must've added alot of magic because it looked like it really hurt him when he got up, though he got up anyway and ran at me again.

Since we were closer this time, Tomas easily pinned me down, though I pushed back. We continued fighting for hours before Tomas decided it was time to stop because his apprentice was almost better than him. By that time, the sun was setting, turning the sky an orangish color.

Tomas and I entered the house and Tomas went into the kitchen to make dinner. 
 I went up to my room and found an envelope on my bed. I picked it up and a slight breeze blew in through the window, which I didn't remember leaving open. The envelope said SIENA in bold cursive writing. I opened it to a letter that read:

I know what you are. I'm not nearly as powerful as you might one day be, but not for long. I want your power and I intend to have it. I can imagine I am not the only one, however, I will be the one to have it. You must surrender to me, you must find me in the forest. You know where. If you fail to attend, I'll take her instead, but not the same day. In fact, you won't know when, niether will she. It will happen without warning. See you next Friday, Princess.

"Siena," Tomas called from downstairs. I stood there for a moment.

Was this real? Had I really just recieved a threat, and a threat for my sister? What did this mean? Who sent it? Were they planning on killing me or just taking my powers?

My eyes were glowing and her thoughts were racing.

"Siena!" Tomas called again.

I blinked. I quickly folded the paper back into the envelope and shoved it under my pillow. I shut the window and locked it then went downstairs, trying not to think about the letter, where it might have come from, or who might have wrote it.
 

I had sat through dinner, not saying a word. Now, I was helping my mentor wash dishes, not saying a word. My eyes didn't look up, I was deep in thought. I could feel Tomas' curious eyes on me. When we were done with the dishes I was about to leave the room when Tomas said "Hey, Siena?"

I paused. "Yeah?" I said, turning to face him.

"Umm...is everything okay?"

"Yeah. Why?"

"Oh. No it's just...you seem a little quiet...that's all," he said, running a hand through the back of his hair.

"Oh. Sorry, I'm just tired." I smirked so that he wouldn't think I was lying.

"Oh," he smirked back "I'm tired, too... you're getting pretty strong, almost knocked me out a couple times." he chuckled.

It was silent for a moment.

"Tomas?" I asked quietly.

"Yeah?"

"What would happen if..."

"If what?"

"What would happen if there was a girl, that was about to become princess, in say four months..."

"Well, she would have to go through training for a couple months before the coronation, Which reminds me, we're gonna have to-"

"No, I know that, but what if that girl was like...kidnapped?"

"Well, the coronation would be postponed and creatures would probably be looking for her..."

"What if whoever kidnapped her was evil, so she was trapped on the dark side?"

"Well, that can't happen unless she went into an unprotected region," he raised a brow at me, "Or if, for some reason, the protection spell on the whole planet just vanished, but the latter is impossible so..."

"Ok, so if she had a younger sister and the younger sister was threatened also, but she never went into the unprotected zones, then she would be alright? And so would the girl because the girl stayed away from unprotected zones, too."

"Well, yes, they would both be safe, but hold on, this is the most random, continuous question, Siena. Why are you asking?"

"Oh, it just popped into my mind."

"Oh...well, okay then."

"Tomas?"

"Yes, Siena?"

"Say there was this other girl...completely different girl. And say she got this letter..."

"And what would this letter say?" Tomas asked, obviously trying not to sound annoyed as he sat down at the table.

"The letter was from someone anonymous, who wanted her to come and meet them, so that they could kidnap her and take her powers..."

"Well, this imaginary girl should be scared. And if she's not scared then she's very brave. But brave or not, she should show the letter to someone."

"Like who?"

"Like a parent, or a mentor."

"Oh... but what would that letter mean?"

"Well...If that was a real letter, and it were serious, not a joke or something, then it would probably have been sent from an evil creature, because no good creature would want to take another good creature's powers. And if it were sent from an evil creature, then that means the protection on the planet has faded and no longer works. However, since there is no real girl who recieved a real letter, we don't have to worry about our protection."

With that, I got up and went upstairs. Tomas called after me, but I didn't stop. I came down a few seconds later and sat back down at the table next to Tomas, with the letter.

"What's that?" Tomas asked, a bit confused. I handed him the letter and he read it carefully, twice, then set it on the table.

"Well?" I asked shyly.

"Well..." Tomas sighed, "It seems as though the girl is very real...and so is the letter."

"So the protection on the planet has deteriorated...?"

"But, that's impossible, the spells were cast only..."

"Five-hundred years ago."

Tomas looked at me, then towards the letter and sighed.

"Nothing lasts forever, Tomas, not even magic..." I muttered.

"Well, when we go to the castle next week, I'll discuss this with the queen, this whole situation. But don't worry, Siena, you're gonna be fine. No one's going to come for you, or Sophia. I promise."

For a while we both sat there in silence, looking at the letter on the table.

I thought about the one creature that I haven't been thinking about for quite a while; Sophia.

I was tired from lack of sleep, from training with Tomas, from school, and now from this. I didn't know what was going on right now. However, of one thing I was absolutely positive. I wasn't going to let anything get to Sophia. Even if it meant losing my powers, I would keep her safe.

Not Ready Yet

 

It was almost nine o'clock when I decided to get out of bed. I hadn't slept in a week and I knew that wasn't good, especially after training every single day. I didn't want to sleep because I knew the nightmares would come, and since I hadn't slept in a while, there was probably a lot of aweful dreams waiting to deluge my subconscience mind, and still haunt me while I was awake.

I made my bed and pulled on a maroon long-sleeve v-neck shirt and zipped a black and gray hoodie over it, then I pulled on some skinny jeans and vans and opened the door. As I passed Tomas' room I could hear him snoring.

Tomas had been up all night talking to Lisa, then someone else, who I imagined was probably Queen Isabelle or some other official. I eventually grew tired of listening to his conversations and went up to my room. I couldn't remember what time I heard him go to bed, though it was well past three in the morning.

I headed downstairs and went straight out the front door, I wasn't hungry or anything, I just wanted to get out for a while. I walked around the side of the house and began walking straight into the forest, past the clearing I had trained in the day before, and past another clearing, all without thinking. Then, I looked up and remembered I was suppost to stay within sight of the nearby neighborhoods.

Sometimes the lack of sleep deprives you of little things you need to remember.

I turned around and could see nothing but trees. I sighed, my body ached slightly all over. My eyes felt heavy, and though I hadn't looked in the mirror before I left the house, I knew there were bags under my eyes. I began to head back to the first clearing I had passed and when I reached it I leaned against a tree and slid down until I was sitting on the ground.

I looked around the clearing and saw that the flowers were beginning to bloom. I picked up a small, dead flower and twirled it around in my fingers. Then, I began to stare at it, my tired eyes glowing. I tried to remember everything I had read about the gift of life and attempted to preform it. In my hand I conjured up as much magic as I could at the moment and and aimed it towards the flower. I thought hard for a while, then I felt something happening. I got excited and continued doing whatever it was I was doing until the flower disintegrated into dust and blew away in the wind.

I stared at my barely glowing hand. I didn't preform my gift, I preformed exactly the opposite of it. I felt daunted and inane. I really wished that there was someone else like me, so that they could teach me how to work my gift. However, that could not happen if I was the only being in the whole universe with this gift, except for Sophia, though she wouldn't be much help.

I sat there, staring at nothing until I felt so fatigued that I thought I could fall asleep and never wake up. I stood up and wearily walked back to my mentor's house. When I got there I laid on the couch and rested my head on a pillow. I laid there for what seemed like hours, though in reality was probably only ten minutes, yet sleep did not come. I heard footsteps coming down the stairs, but I didn't move. Tomas wandered into the living room in boxers and a t-shirt, there was stubble on his face and his hair was messed up. He yawned and stopped in front of the sofa.

"I thought I heard someone come in," he said in a weary voice. I yawned.

"You're dressed already?"

I sat up and stretched then looked at him.

"Damn, you look terrible," he muttered.

"Gee, thanks," I mumbled sarcastically.

"Did you sleep last night?"

"What do you think?"

He sighed "Why not?"

"I don't like to..."

 "Nightmares?" he asked.

I nodded, then looked away.  Tomas sighed again and went into the kitchen. I got up and followed him. He opened a cabinet above the sink and was about to reach inside.

"I'm not gonna take it," I commented from behind him.

Tomas turned around. "What?" he asked.

"I'm not going to take that medicine," I said in a quieter voice.

"Why not?"

" 'Cause, it makes me feel wierd... and I can't use my powers after I take it."

"But, it'll make your nightmares go away, so you can sleep."

"You were gonna teach me magic today, that's not gonna happen if I take that medicine."

Tomas sighed, closed the cabinet and sat at the table. I took a seat next to him.

"I'm sorry..." I said.

"For what?"

I shrugged. "For being so complicated."

"That's not your fault. You're just special, that's all."

"Hmph," I grunted. Niether of us spoke for a while.

"We're leaving tomorrow," Tomas said, breaking the silence.

"I know," I replied.

"We better start getting ready... tonight you're gonna take the pills, you need to be well-rested for tomorrow."

"Fine..."

We both stood up and went upstairs to our rooms. I grabbed my backpack and emptied it of the books that were inside. I wasn't going to school for the next week, so I wasn't going to need them anyway. I got out everything I was going to neeed for the next week (clothes, shoes, underwear, deoderant, etc.) and put it all on my bed. I began half-heartedly puting clothes in my backpack, then looked up at all of the other items I still had left and realized it wouldn't all fit. I took everything out of my backpack and waved a glowing hand over it. I reached my whole arm into it and still couldn't feel the bottom, yet it still looked the same on the outside. I began filling it again, and this time it all fit.

I looked at my desk. No matter how much I didn't want to, I knew I probably should've took the envelope, too. I grabbed it and shoved it as deep down into my backpack as I could reach. I looked at my bed and saw, about to fall off at the very end, the stuffed-wolf that Blake had given me years ago.

I picked it up and looked at it for a while. Warm memories overwhelmed my mind for a bit, making me smile. 

A small girl and a small wolf who were chasing eachother around. They hid from eachother behind trees. They sat on boulders at the river bank. They talked. They laughed and laughed and luaghed. These events repeated as they got older, not a thing changed.

I put the wolf in my backpack, zipped it up and set it on the floor next to my bed. I looked at the clock, it was 1:35. I felt as ready to go to the castle as I would ever be. I sat on the bed and leaned against the wall, peeking out the window. I yearned to be in the forest, though I felt too tired to do anything but sit there.

Actually, it wasn't the forest that I wanted to be around. It was the stupid wolf boy with the bright eyes that the thought of the forest provoked.

 

The Castle

   

I gazed out the window as the car drove through the towns to get to Main, the capital of the planet Tyren. Tomas was driving, Lisa in the passenger seat, mom and I on the sides of the back seat with Sophia in between us. Everyone seemed in a pleasant mood, except for Tomas and I, who were trying to hide our worry and anxiety behind neutral expressions and ocassional grins. Since we were the only ones who knew about the letter, we planned to keep it that way for a while. Though Tomas had spent hours speaking to Lisa the night I told him about it, he somehow managed to keep the topic vague and anonymous. After about two hours of driving, we finally came within sightable distance of the Main castle.

The Main castle was an incredible height, about twenty or so stories. It was a sandy shade of beige with light blue roof tops and windowpanes the color of the clear sky. It had a large garden behind it, and behind that began the Main forest, which surrounded the castle from behind and the right, other buildings from the city of Main were in front, and not too far to the left began the Carnaba Sea.

After some of the castle officials showed our group to the rooms we'd be staying in, the officials led us to the throne room where Queen Isabelle awaited. As we approached the large, light gray double-doors where two guards stood, the guards opened the doors to reveal a huge room that was a bit longer than it was wide. Starting at the door, there was a long, white carpet covering the floor like a fresh layer of snow. The carpet led to two large, silver chairs, incrested with colorful jewels. Behind the elegant thrones were giant windows, with silky, white curtains that were drawn back, letting in a great amount of light. Leading up to the thrones were about five small steps that were, like the rest of the floor surrounding the carpet, a shiney white marble, streaked with swirls of grey.

The walls were a pale grey. Against the left and right walls were long, skinny, silver counters with a few books and papers scattered here and there. Standing in front of the left counter, reading from a large book, stood a tall woman with long blonde hair. A simple silver crown sat on her head.

"Queen?" one of the officials asked as she stepped to the front of the group.

She looked up and when she noticed our small group standing just in front of the doorway she closed her book and set it on the counter, then walked over to us with a smile on her face.

"Why, hello, everyone. I'm Qeen Isabelle," she said in a kind, slightly accented voice and bowed shortly. We all bowed back.

"Mr. Carter," she said, turning to Tomas, "it's so nice to see you again."

Tomas smiled and nodded respectfully. "It's been a while hasn't it, Queen?" he said.

Tomas and Queen Isabelle looked very close in age. Both appeared to be in their early twenties, though Tomas was 324 years-old, and Isabelle was 323 years-old. What incredible things magic can do.

"Well," Tomas continued, "you've met Ms. Hunt before."

My mom and the queen exchanged respectful nods. "Indeed I have," Isabelle said.

"Well, these are her daughters, my apprentice, Siena," Tomas said, motioning towards me, "and my coleague, Ms. West's apprentice, Sophia."

The Queen smiled. "Siena, Sophia, it is a significant pleasure to meet you." She reached her hand out to me and I gently shook it. Then she leaned down a bit to shake Sophia's hand.

When no one else spoke for a few seconds, I said, "It's quite an honor meeting you too, Queen Isabelle." I smiled politely.

"Hah? Why, thank you, dear," Isabelle spoke in a cheerful voice.

I had only met the queen of Tyren a minute or so before I decided that I liked her.

Queen Isabelle had fair skin and big gray eyes with shards of blue mixed in. She wore black eyeliner and mascara, making her bright eyes pop even more. For a queen, she wasn't dressed too fancily. She wore a pale blue, lacey top with a dark grey cardigan over it, as well as a waist-high black skirt with a blue and white floral print that stopped just above her knees. Besides that, she wore silver flats and the silver crown on top of her long, wavey blonde hair. Simply put, the queen was beautiful. As well as incredibly tall, just over six feet. She had to look down to everyone, except for Tomas, who was exactly the same height as her.

　

The queen gave us a tour of the magnificant Main castle. She lead us down stairs to the first floor, we then worked our way up each of the 24 floors, then headed back down to see the gardens. By this time, the setting sun had turned the sky into hues of pink and orange.

"You'll find that time can fly by real fast in this castle," said Isabelle with a smile.

"It sure can," replied Tomas.

We were standing around a beautiful white fountain with little carvings of fish and stars inside it. Just behind it was a patch of elegant, creamy white roses. Though, mixed in here and there, were a few dried out, drooping, brown roses. I longed to make them as beautiful as the rest. If only I knew how.

"I'd say it's about time to get inside," stated the queen.

　

We went into the dining room where there was a dark, shiney wooden table just big enough to seat the six of us. We ate a nice meal of salad, roast turkey, potatoes, bread rolls, roasted vegetables and pasta, then chocolate cake for desert. We sat and chatted for a while before heading upstairs.

"Get a good-nights rest, girls. There's alot to do tomorrow," said the queen as she led us down the hallway to our rooms. "Sleep tight."

"Goodnight," Sophia said before closing the door to her room.

"Goodnight, Queen," I said as I opened the door to my room across the hall.

"Same to you, Princess," she replied with a smile before walking towards her own room down the hall.

Time Flies By

 

I was standing in the middle of a clearing in the forest. It was the first clearing that you couldn't see the houses from. I shouldn't be there. I glanced around without moving my head, peeking through every corner of my eyes. The trees around me were on fire. The fire was slowly creeping all around me. Why didn't I run? What was I doing?

Now, I was surrounded by flames, the heat so intense that I could feel my skin burning even though I wasn't touching the fire. I was trapped. There was absolutely no way out. Why didn't I yell? Scream out for help? I just stood there.

Someone set a hand on my shoulder from behind. I finally managed to gasp, though I didn't turn around. How could anyone possibly enter this flaming enclosure?

"It's time," spoke a deep voice. I yearned to know who the voice belonged to, yet I could not move my body.

I looked down at the hand from the corner of my eye. It was large and pale with several scars. The fire seemed to get hotter and hotter.

"You're going to come with me," he whispered in my ear.

"What?" I managed a whisper that burned my throat worse than the fire.

Then, the hand's grip tightened and it grew claws that sheathed into my shoulder, not stopping until they scraped my bone. I didn't scream. I couldn't.

The anonymous man chuckled deeply. The evil laugh drowned out the sound of the fire crisping the leaves into ash. It drowned out my racing thoughts. It drowned out the sound of my heart beating out of my chest.

   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I sat straight up. I was in my room in the castle. Nothing was on fire but, even though it was raining outside, the blankets felt extremely hot. I shoved them off, then got up to go open the window. I stood there, leaning on the window seal, staring at the cloudy night sky.

 Why did I have such a huge rain fetish? Tomas always said it was a funny story, though he never told me the story, so I couldn't exactly agree.

Speaking of which, the door slowly creaked open. I could only imagine how loud I must have been screaming. Much to my surprise, it was a small, dreamy voice that spoke behind me.

"Siena?"

I turned around and walked over to her.

"What's the matter, Sophie, you okay?" I whispered to her.

"Yeah I'm fine. It's just..." She looked down.

"What is it?"

"I had a bad dream," she whispered.

I thought back to when my nightmares began to get unbearable. It was just before I turned ten years old.

"Oh, sweetie."

"I know. I know it's stupid. I'm almost ten, already. I shouldn't be scared to go to sleep, but..."

"Oh, Sophia. It's not stupid."

"It's not?" She looked at me, the moonlight reflecting off of her big, watery brown eyes.

"No," I sighed, "In fact... you wanna know a secret?"

"Sure."

"I'm afraid to sleep. Not just sometimes, every day. Every day I'm afraid to sleep."

"Really? But why?"

"Because. I have bad dreams, too."

"Every night?"

I shrugged. "I guess. I wouldn't really know, I don't sleep every night."

"Why not?"

"Because I'm afraid..."

It was quiet for a few minutes as we both stared at the ground. There was a flash of lightening and thunder, though neither of us flinched.

So that made two. Two creatures in the entire world. Only two knew my problem, and one was about to have the same problem.

"Is that why you always stare out your window at night, because you don't wanna sleep?" she whispered.

I looked at her. "I guess. But how do you know I always look out the window?"

She srugged. I smirked at her.

"You should get back to bed," I told her.

"But I don't want to," she replied in a soft voice.

"You have to, or else..."

"Or else what?"

I grinned. "Or else you'll be like me."

She looked at me, not understanding what exactly I had meant by that. I sighed. I didn't want her to go through what I had to, though I knew it was inevitable.

 "Why don't you sleep in here tonight?" I asked.

She nodded her head. I closed the door then laid in bed and wrapped my arms around Sophia. I noticed her glance up at the window. I reached my hand up and used magic to close the window. The rest of the night was quiet as we both slept peacefully.

 

 

The next week went by incredibly fast. I got used to traveling around in the castle and soon memorized almost half of it. I learned alot at the castle, from Isabelle, Tomas, some of the castle officials, one of the maids, and the head chef.

By saturday morning I didn't even realize it was time to leave. I slept with Sophia every night that week, and every night that week I slept. It was the longest I could remember sleeping every night in a row without a nightmare. It was also the longest I could remember not looking out into the rain. Though that was impossible because there wasn't any more rain. The day we arrived at the castle was the last day it rained.

On the drive back to Mead, I stared out the window into the azure sky. Once we got there we dropped Lisa and Sophia off at Lisa's house. Tomas then drove my mother and I back to his house where, I assumed, we were going to use a portal to get back home.

Tomas and my mom went into his office room and I went into the kitchen and got an apple. As I took a bite out of it I listened to their not-so-quiet coversation. Sometimes it seemed as though Tomas felt the same way about her as I did. I mean, lately, he usually seemed to be a bit... defensive around her.

So, it turned out that, in a few days, my mom was going somewhere again, this time for two months. So, I was going to stay with Tomas for those two months, which neither of us minded. So, it was becoming clearer that something wierd was occuring with my mother.

Before she left she called Lisa, and Tomas came into the kitchen.

"I guess I might as well just unpack my stuff, huh?" I asked him.

"You heard."

"Yeah." I crossed my right arm over my body, holding my left arm. He sighed and scratched the back of his head. We stood there like that for a few minutes, then my mom walked in.

"Well, sweetheart, look-" she began, though there was no need, I already knew exactly what she was going to say.

"So, I guess I'll see you in a couple months then," I said.

She looked at me, not an ounce of confusion in her expression. "So, I guess you've already heard," she said, glancing at Tomas.

"Yeah," I replied. She nodded. It was quiet.

"I hope you have fun," I stated with the biggest smile I could manage, which was just a pretty big grin.

"I'll try," she grinned back.

We walked into the office, where Tomas opened a portal. Mom turned to me and gave me a hug.

"I'll see you in a while, be good ok?" she said to me. I nodded.

"Thank you, Tomas," she said, turning to him. He nodded.

She grabbed her bags and went through the portal.

One of the maids at the castle had taught me how to read other creatures thoughts. Well, I already knew how to do that, though she helped me improve.

Tomas' thoughts were pretty bad right now, and it was pretty bad that I kind of agreed with them. I was hoping that she would take longer than two months. He was hoping she would take much, much longer than two months. Though, there was one thing that I was unable to find in Tomas' mind.

I looked at him. After a few seconds, he realized that. "What?"

"What's going on with her?" I asked.

"What do you mean?"

"She's been gone alot lately. I mean come on, your work can't let her take that many days off, can it?" I questioned.

"Well, appearantly, she's been doing work while she's away, so I guess they're allowing it. But if you ask me, it's bullshit," he replied, walking back into the kitchen. I followed.

"Whenever I ask her why she's leaving, it's always the same reason: to take care of some business. What kind of business is she taking care of?" I continued.

"Well, I'm not exactly sure but..." his voice carried off as he grabbed a water bottle out of the fridge.

"But what?" I asked. He took a long sip of water.

"Tomas, you know something. Please, just tell me."

He put the cap back on the bottle and sighed. "Well, I don't know anything. However, I do have some... theories of what she might be doing..."

"And what are those theories?"

He hesitated before replying,"You wouldn't like them much."

"But I might. Why don't you tell me so that we can be sure."

"Hah, nice try, but no. I'm not going to tell you because they might not be true. I don't want you to hate your mother or think bad of her."

"A little too late for that," I mumbled.

"Siena, look," he said, putting a hand on my arm," I know as much as you do about why your mother takes off so much. However, I know that, no matter what her reason for leaving is, she loves you. Very much. You're her daughter and she loves you. And, trust me I know, she's not the easiest person to get along with. And she's probably not the easiest person to love, either, but you should try to, because she's you're mother."

My only reply to that was a sigh.

"Siena, she told me that, after she comes home, she's going to take very good care of you, and you're going to be spending alot more time at home."

"Yeah, after you told her that you take better care of me than she does."

He looked at me for a second, then pursed his lips and looked down. "I know, I shouldn't have said that, but-"

"But it's true," I said.

He looked at me. "I know," he mumbled, looking away.

I opened my mouth to speak, however, I was interrupted when Tomas spoke instead.

"How about we eat out for dinner? Early-ish dinner?" he asked.

"Okay," I shrugged.

So we did. We had a good time, and when we got home we had a good night. I was almost positive that the rest of the week would be good, well except for school, of course. In fact, I was pretty sure that the next two months would go good. Great, even.

And I would end up being right.

For the most part.

The Real Letter

 

 

It was finally saturday again.

After we arrived home from the castle, the next week went by slow. It wasn't a bad kind of slow, it was actually pretty enjoyable. I didn't take my medicine, though I didn't have any bad dreams. In fact, I don't think I had any dreams at all.

School didn't seem so bad either. In p.e. on monday, I actually decided to run fast, but I ended up tripping. A really tall boy named Mark helped me up and he ran the rest of the mile with me. After that I realized for the first time this year that I had pretty much all of my classes with him. He only had a couple friends, Josh and Ronnie, and the four of us started hanging out.  They're all funny, stupid and kind of perverted, but they were pretty cool. Mark had green eyes and long-ish dark brown hair; Josh was an inch or two taller than me, had brown eyes and brown hair, and always wore beanies; Ronnie was the same height as Mark and had light brown eyes, black hair and a septum ring.  For the first time ever, I actually didn't mind going to school anymore.

When I woke up on saturday the first thing I did was open the window, letting the sun pour into my room.

Then it hit me. The one thing I hadn't thought about at all in the past two weeks. Blake.

Not that I was suppost to think about him, according to Tomas. But still, Blake was my best friend. Today was May third, in exactly one week Blake was going to turn fifteen.

Since it was getting warmer, I put on a grey tank top and some skinny jeans, then grabbed my phone and my wallet and headed downstairs.

 "And where are you going?"

I turned around. "For a walk."

Tomas walked down the stairs and stopped in front of me on the last step. "Where to?" he asked.

"In town," I replied.

"By yourself?"

"I've been to town by myself before. I'm fine."

"Did you think to inform me of your 'walk around town'?"

"I was going to..."

"After you already left?"

"Maybe..."

He sighed. "I'm fine with you going, but next time just tell me, alright? What if I'm looking for you? Especially with the contents of that letter, you just never know, Siena."

There's the other thing I had forgotten about. The letter.

"I know, I know. I'm sorry," I said.

"You have your key?"

"Yes, sir."

"You have your phone?"

"Yes, sir."

"You know your way around, right?"

"Yes, sir."

"You're alright with out a jacket or something? You're not gonna get cold?"

"Yes, dad! Jeeze. You don't even deserve to be a dad, you deserve to be a mom. An over-protective one at that."

"I'm sorry, sweetheart. I just want you to be safe," he replied with a grin.

"I'm fine. I'm gonna be fourteen next month. You've taught me everything I know. Every single thing. Don't you trust yourself?"

"Well, my parents didn't trust me when I was your age, however, I suppose that was centuries ago, so..."

"I'm fine."

"I know."

I stepped back slowly. "So...see you later then?"

"Alright...have fun?"

"I will."

And I was out the door.

 

 

I turned left down RainCloud Street because the name of it interested me. Like lots of other streets in Mead, it was lined with little shops and a few small resturaunts here and there.  One store caught my eye; it didn't have a name on it, though it had a picture of a wolf howling up at a full moon on the window, in the window there was a male mannequin wearing a black shirt, jeans and a grey hoodie, next to it there was a female mannequin wearing the exact same outfit but the girl version.

I walked in and looked around, liking quite a bit of the clothes. I walked over to the guys' section, where I found a necklace with a small wooden wolf charm with black eyes. I took it and continued to look around. Then, considering I'm not much of a purse girl, I found one that I liked. It was more of a bag than a purse. It was made of fake black leather and had studs on it. I looked at the price, which was very cheap. Come to think of it, everything in that store was really cheap.

I decided to get the bag and after a bit more looking around, I went to the check out. The cashier was a man with dark green scale-skin, wearing a dark grey shirt. At first, I thought the scales made it hard to tell if he was young or old, but then again, I was on planet Tyren, not planet Earth, so that didn't matter. I mean, Tomas was over three-hundred years old, but looked as if he were in his early twenties.

Before I left the store, I looked behind me one last time. I realized that I was the only one there, though considering just how many little shops there were in this town, I guess it wasn't that odd. But I looked at the register and the cashier was gone.

I went outside and took my new bag out of the black plastic bag that didn't have a name on it. I folded the plastic bag and put it inside the leather one. I put my phone and wallet in there, too. I looked at the receipt, but it didn't have the store's name on it. Neither did the tags on the bag or the necklace.

I walked back up RainCloud street, turned a few corners then went down Maine street, which was always busy. I headed to Between The Lines, the biggest book store in town. I browsed around for a while until I found a book that Tomas had, which I had read at least five times before. It was about a wizard prince and a werewolf girl who fell in love.

I don't think I ever realized just how ironic my liking of this book was.

I bought it and put it in my bag. At this time my stomach realized I hadn't eaten anything all morning, so I went across the busy street to a smoothie place and bought a smoothie, then headed home.

 

 When I entered the house there was a muffled voice coming from the office. Using magic, I sent my stuff up to my room while I slowly crept towards the closed office door. Tomas was yelling but I couldn't quite make out all of the words. He was on the phone with someone and, from what I could hear, it sounded like my mother.

Then, he hung up and the house was silent. I pressed the side of my head against the wall next to the door. He dialed a number on the phone and began another conversation. This time he didn't yell. His voice was barely higher than a whisper that I couldn't hear that well. He obviously wasn't talking to my mother anymore.

I stood there, straining my ears for no results, for about ten minutes. Before I knew it, the house was completely silent again. I didn't know what to do.

"Come in here, Siena," he said loud enough for me to hear if I were outside.

I squeezed my eyes shut and bit my lip. Then, I opened the door and slowly walked in. Tomas was leaning against the table in the middle of the room. He was facing the door with the phone in one hand and an envelope in the other.

"How'd you know I was home?" I asked. He shrugged.

"I guess it was nothing to worry about," I said, nodding at the envelope in his hand that had my name written in cursive on the front,"I mean, nothing happened, like how it said."

"Siena." He looked at me with slightly glowing eyes.

"What? What's the matter?"

He handed the letter to me. "I found this on your bed after you left," he explained," and I have a feeling you're not the one who put it there. It's not the same letter."

"What?" I muttered, staring at the envelope in my hands, everything was exactly the same, except on the back there was a small, red wax seal.

"What does this one say?" I wondered.

"I don't know, I didn't open it yet. I thought you better open it."

So I did.

  You were not meant to recieve the previous letter. It was sent out after I ordered it not to be. I couldn't keep my word of the other letter, however I will keep it of this one.

You have a great power. A power in which I wish to have. A power in which I intend on possessing. I will have the gift of life one way, or another. Though, how I get it is entirely up to you.

You can give your sister the chance to never have to experience the side effects that you have. You can do so by meeting me in the forest, in front of the old house, at midnight.

Or, you can have no side effects, for the rest of your life. You can do so by sleeping that night, while I take your sister, instead.

 I will take one girl on midnight of next saturday. You have exactly one week to make your choice.

Choose wisely, Princess.

                                                                  -C.H.

 

 "What does it say?" Tomas asked.

I looked up at him and hesitated before saying, "The other letter...it wasn't real. This one is."

"What do you mean real?"

"I mean I didn't meet with whoever sent the letter last time and nothing happened. But, this time, if I don't meet with them..."

"Something will happen?"

"They'll take Sophia instead," I whispered.

"Siena, that's what the last letter said," Tomas said, stepping closer to me, "how do you know this one is telling the truth?"

"I don't... but... should I really take a chance?"

"Siena, meeting up with whoever is threatening you is taking a chance."

"But..."

"But what?"

"If this is real... I'd rather they take me than Sophia..."

"Siena... she's your little sister and you want to proctect her, I get that. But you can't just-"

"Do you really?"

"Yes... My brother... he would've done anything to keep me safe. And he did... That's how he died. Siena, I'm not going to let you end up like that," Tomas said, his eyes glowing.

My eyes were glowing, too. A tear escaped from the corner of my eye and ran down my cheek.

"Tomas, what are we gonna do? I don't know if C.H. would kill either of us, but if they would I don't want it to be Sophia."

"Would Sophia want it to be you?" he asked, wiping my tears away.

I stepped away from him. "No, of course not. But..."

"Siena, look. We can find a way to protect both of you. We can... we can keep you together, in the same house. We'll get others to help defend you when this C.H. comes... Who is C.H.?"

"I don't know, that's what the letter was signed." I handed him the letter and he read it over a couple of times.

"I'll call Lisa again," he said softly, "We'll talk about it."

I nodded. He called her and they talked about it. I sat there and listened but, at some point, I tuned it all out and started thinking.

I thought about Sophia. Was she listening to her mentor on the other side of the phone? What was she thinking? Was she scared? Of course she's scared. That is, if she knew. Maybe she shouldn't know, maybe that'd be better for her. If she found this out would she have bad nightmares? I knew I was going to have nightmares.

What about Blake? Should I tell him? What would he say if I told him? He would want to help. But, Tomas wouldn't want him to. He hates him. I don't even know why. What could anyone in his family possibly have done to Tomas to make him hate Blake?

Eventually my thoughts ended and Tomas hung up. He asked me if that all sounded good and I nodded. Appearantly I'm getting pretty adept in lying. I heard nothing, but honestly, I didn't want to hear any of it. All I wanted was to lay in bed and sleep.

I wanted to have a nightmare.

 

Goodbye. Goodbye. Goodbye.

I wearily blinked my eyes open. It was 6:30; time to get up. I peeked through the curtains at the bright, happy rising sun. It's as if it were mocking me. Such a bright, beautiful day. Might as well make my last days here bright and beautiful, right?

I put my uniform on, went to the bathroom to brush my teeth and comb my hair, then grabbed my backpack and went downstairs. I entered the kitchen, where Tomas was leaning against the counter, sipping a cup of coffee.

"Good morning, Siena," he said in a trying-too-hard-to-be-perky tone.

"Morning," I replied, not-trying-for-anything toned.

Tomas sighed. "Siena, you shouldn't be worried about anything."

"I'm not worried about anything. I know what's going to happen tomorrow. I'll admit, I'm a bit scared, but definately not worried."

"Well, I guess that's good."

"Does Sophia know?"

He sighed again. "Yeah. She over-heard Lisa and I on the phone last night. Lisa had to tell her."

I nodded, looking down. Tomas stepped forward and pushed my hair behind my ear.

"Sophia is going to be just fine," he said firmly.

"I know she is," I replied.

I did know that she was going to be fine. That's because I knew what was going to happen the next day. Tomas thought he knew.

"We've already gone through this, but both of you are going to stay here. Lisa and I are going to stay up. Some of my friends are going to come over, they're going to help, too. Okay?"

"Sure."

"Sure? Siena. You are going to stay here. you are not going out there, is that clear?"

"Yeah."

"Siena, I'm serious."

"I know you are."

He leaned in and kissed me on the forehead. "You're both going to be safe."

I nodded. What the hell's wrong with me?

 

 

And so the day went on. A normal Friday. School was over and Lisa picked Sophia up, she offered to pick me up too, but I told her I wanted to walk. There was still one thing I had to do.

I opened a portal behind the dumpster, like I did everyday, however, today I opened it into the forest. The clearing where Blake and I always meet. Sure enough, right when I stepped out of the portal, I saw Blake in the distance, heading this way. I leaned against a tree and waited for him.

"Well, well, well," he said as he approached me. "I haven't seen you in forever!"

He grabbed me in a tight hug, and I hugged him back.

"I know, I'm sorry. I've just been really busy lately," I said.

He let go and stepped back. "Yeah, I know. The whole princess thing."

"Yeah, but I mean it's not just that."

"School?"

"Um, sorta... not really."

"Oh." He put a hand on the back of his neck.

"It's just... I don't know, my mom. She's just been acting pretty wierd lately."

"Why? What is she doing?"

"Well, she's just been leaving me and my sister with our mentors and every time we ask her where she's going, the answer is always 'to take care of business'... I don't know."

"Man, that sucks. She can't even tell you where she's going, that's pretty bad."

"Well, I never really associate her with good, so."

"At least you have Mr. Carter, right."

Blake and his brother, Kyle, didn't have the advantage of having a mentor to care for them if something ever happened to thier parents, considering thier father was their mentor.

"Um, yeah... Actually, he's sort of the reason why I haven't seen you in so long," I said looking down.

"What do you mean?" He asked.

"After we went to that old house... I had scars on my face and Tomas saw them. He got a bit freaked out and I had to tell him the truth. After that, he didn't want me to see you again or even go into the forest again."

Blake looked down. "That's what he said?"

"Well, basically. What he said, word for word, probably was a little more... harsh."

"Oh... I really am sorry about, you know, all that," he said, his bright eyes beginning to glow.

"It's alright, Blake, really, that wasn't your fault. Tomas overreacted, alot."

"I'm still sorry, though." He looked me in the eyes and I shook my head.

"Anyways, tomorrow's your birthday," I said with a grin, he smiled back.

"Yeah, I know, it's no big deal," he said with a shrug.

"Yes, it is, you're turning fifteen."

He shrugged again, with a smirk. He wasn't wearing a jacket, so I could see just how muscular his arms were.

"Well, I got you something," I said with a grin.

"You didn't have to get me anything."

"But I wanted to," I said as I took the present out of my backpack and handed it to him. He unwrapped the necklace from around it and looked at it.

"Cute," he said with a smile. He put it around his neck and unwrapped the blue wrapping paper. He turned the book over and read the back with a grin on his face.

"Cheesey love story, huh? Is there something you're trying to tell me, Siena?" He winked at me.

I laughed. "Ew, no. You know how you always say that you want to get into reading but you can never find any good books? Well, I used to be the same way, then I read that book and it got me reading all of the books in Tomas' house."

"Well, maybe it'll work for me, too. Thank you." He hugged me.

"Sorry it's not much," I said.

"No, but really, it's great. Thank you!"

 He looked me in the eyes and grinned, I looked down and grinned.

"So, what are you doing this weekend?" he asked.

My smile faded. "Not much," I shrugged.

"You wanna come to my house tomorrow? Get away from your mentor for a while?"

"Um...I can't."

"Why not?"

I shrugged.

"There's gonna be cake." He nudged me with his elbow and I smirked.

"I really want to, but... I'm going somewhere...I'm sorry."

"The castle." He looked down.

"Not exactly. I don't really know where I'm going exactly, but I know it's far away. And it's going to be for a while..."

"Oh, ok."

"Blake...I'm really sorry..."

"It's ok. It's no big deal."

"I'm sorry, not just for that."

"Then for what?"

"I just am..."

He hugged me for a long time, and eventually his lips landed on my cheek and stayed there for a long time. He pulled back, pushed my hair behind my ears and looked me in the eyes.

"I haven't seen you in months, and now you're leaving me."

I looked down and a tear escaped my eye.

"I'm really sorry," I murmered. Blake wiped my tear away and shook his head.

"No, don't be sorry, I mean it's not your fault."

I shrugged.

But it was my fault, wasn't it? I mean, I was the one who was choosing to give up my powers. No one was forcing me to do it. Even C.H. said I had a choice. The choices were very clear. Their consequences were very clear. What was starting to become unclear was whether or not I was making the right choice.

A wolf howled in the distance, startling both of us.

"That's my dad," Blake sighed, "I've gotta go. I guess I'll see you sooner or later?"

"Goodbye, Blake."

"Oh, come on. Don't say goodbye. Goodbye means, like, forever. See ya later?"

I looked behind me, to where Tomas' house would be. I turned back to Blake and half smiled. "Goodbye."

 Blake chuckled lightly. "Goodbye," he replied.

He went to his family and I went to mine.

Blake didn't understand, but I didn't really want him to. He didn't know anything, and he, hopefully, wouldn't until it was too late.

I walked slowly through the forest, goodbye repeating in my head.

Goodbye. Goodbye. Goodbye.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

It was around midnight and sleep was not a thought that came to my head. I couldn't help but think that at this time tomorrow I was going to half-willingly be taken away, have my powers taken away and who-knows what else.

I was staring at the dim light peeking under my door that came from Tomas' room. Throughout the night there had been rustling noises coming from behind his door. I had a feeling that because of this no one else in the house was getting any sleep either.

 I reached for my watter bottle next to the alarm clock, but it was empty. I got out of bed and went down the stairs.

"Where are you going?"

I turned around. Tomas was standing at the top of the stairs.

"To get water...?" I said, holding up the empty bottle.

"Oh," he replied as if he was expecting me be on my way to another planet.

I went into the kitchen and turned the light on, Tomas followed. I threw the empty bottle in the trash and grabbed a full one out of the fridge.

I turned to Tomas, who was still wearing a plaid shirt, jeans and shoes, instead of pajamas.

"What are you still doing up?" I asked.

He shrugged. "Couldn't sleep, I guess."

I nodded thoughtfully.

"Siena... I know that you're planning to go into the forest tomorrow night," he said.

"No, I'm not," I lied.

"Siena." He raised a brow.

"I'm not. I was, but not any more."

"Oh... Well, good." I sure was getting good at lying.

"Sophia and I are gonna be safe here. I trust you, and Lisa...and who ever else is coming over. I trust them and as long as I do, Sophia will, too." Might as well make him sure of it, right?

He grinned. "Good. You should go to bed now."

"I was on my way."

"Okay. Goodnight."

"Night."

He leaned in and kissed me on the cheek. I smirked and went back to my room. I sat in bed and brushed my fingers against my cheek. I thought about the scars that had once been there. I thought about all of the times Tomas has kissed me there. All of the times Blake has kissed me there. All of the times Sophia has kissed me there.

The three creatures I cared about more than anything. Tomas, Blake and Sophia.

Sorry Tomas. Sorry Blake. Sorry Sophia.

Goodbye Tomas. Goodbye Blake. Goodbye Sophia.

Goodbye. Goodbye. Goodbye.

 

Ten Past Midnight

 

It was ten o'clock in the morning and I was still laying in bed. I didn't sleep at all last night, I didn't see the point. And now, I didn't see the point in getting up.

Unevidently, there was one, because I got up and got dressed. It was June and it had been warm and the sky had been azure, however today it was rather cold and there were storm clouds in the sky.

Tomas never did tell me the rain story.

I put on skinny jeans, a grey v-neck and black vans. I looked in the mirror. My sad little eyes actually looked happy when I put on a fake smile. My hair grew out quite a bit, it reached the middle of my stomach. I also gained a little muscle from all of the training with Tomas. Because of all of these details, if I added a little make up, maybe even nicer clothes, I suppose that I might be considered pretty. Too bad that didn't matter.

I put on a black hoodie and went into the hallway. The house was quiet. Lisa and Sophia had spent the night in the guest bedrooms. Was everyone still asleep?

I quietly went down the stairs and I began to hear a hushed conversation coming from the kitchen. I stopped, accidently putting my foot down a little harder than I had intended, dispelling the whispers. I bit my lip and waited for them to say something to me. When there was only silence I decided to continue down the stairs and into the kitchen.

Lisa was sitting at the table with a cup of coffee. Tomas was at the sink, drying off some wet dishes. Neither one of them looked at me.

"Good morning..." I said quietly.

Lisa looked up and smiled when she saw me. "Good morning," she said brightly.

Tomas turned around and smirked at me. "Morning," he said cheerfully.

Tomas was wearing the same thing he was the day before, which worried me. At least Lisa was wearing something different; a pale pink v-neck, jeans and a grey cardigan, her blonde hair in a ponytail.

I took a seat across from her.

"Is Sophia up yet?" she asked.

"Um no, I don't think so."

"Well, that's good I guess. She was up late last night. She kept saying she heard loud noises, I had to tell her it was just in her imagination, when it really wasn't." She flashed a glare at Tomas.

"Sorry," he mumbled.

 "What were you doing last night?" I asked. He didn't answer.

"What were you doing?" Lisa repeated.

Tomas ran out of dishes. He turned to face us and sighed.

"Nothing," he said, taking a seat at the end of the table, between Lisa and I, "I was just going through some things."

"What kind of things?" I questioned.

He looked at me for a second then shrugged. "Just...things," he mumbled.

"Goodmorning," Sophia said as she entered the room.

"Goodmorning," we said, one after another.

She took a seat next to her mentor, ending the conversation.

"So... what are we gonna do today?" Sophia asked awkwardly.

"Just wait around, I guess," replied Lisa.

 

And so the day dragged on. Later in the afternoon some of Tomas' friends and coworkers began showing up. This made Sophia a bit uncomfortable, though she eventually began to get used to them. I, on the other hand, had met almost all of them before. There was only one that I did not reconize; a tall guy with slightly tanned skin, dirty-blonde hair and blue eyes, who couldn't have been more than a couple of years older than me.

Everyone was talking to someone else, except for the two of us. After another minute or so, he seemed to notice this as well. He walked up to me with a slight smirk on his face, which only made him seem even more handsome.

"You must be Siena?" He asked as he approached me.

"Yep," I replied with a grin.

"I'm Jared."

"Nice to meet you," I said, putting out a hand.

Instead of shaking it, he, unnecessarily, bowed down to me, making me feel extremely awkward. I could feel my cheeks blush as I swiftly looked around the room to make sure no one else saw it.

"Um, that... that really isn't necessary," I said as he straightened up.

"Well, I should get used to it." He was still smirking.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you are soon to be a princess and I'm training to be a knight," he replied cheerfully.

"Oh. Well, that's... great!" I said as cheerfully as possible.

"Perhaps I'll have the pleasure of seeing you around the castle in a few years."

"A few years?" I questioned a bit too sadly, as if I almost forgot what was going to happen tonight.

"Yeah, I just turned fifteen, I can't start actually working at Main Castle until I'm seventeen."

"Oh, right. Well, I hope we can see eachother around. Maybe even before then?"

Oh god. Was I actually attempting to flirt? Right now, today, of all days?

"Maybe. I would love to get to know you." His smile grew a little wider, and my heart sunk a little deeper.

Jared and I continued our awkward and internally sad conversation for around an hour or so. Then, we all got together in a group and discussed this and that, questioned this and that, and debated this and that. Then, something I will probably say, and have already said, quite often, the day dragged on.

Eventually, night time came around. Tomas, Lisa, and the about fifteen other creatures stayed in the living room while Sophia and I were forced to go to our rooms. There was a mild amount of chatter coming from down stairs, enough so that when Sophia stopped at her door and whispered to me no one else was able to hear.

"Siena?"

"Yeah?" I turned to face her.

"You are going to stay here tonight, aren't you?" She questioned.

"What do you mean?"

"I'm not a little kid. Don't act like I don't know what's going on."

I sighed. "Sophia, remember that night about a year ago? When mom left us home alone and those creatures broke into our house? Remember how I told you that, no matter what, I would always protect you?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm always going to protect you, or at least make sure you're always safe."

"I thought we're both safe right now?"

"We are. But I know you must be confused, about alot of things."

"I kinda am."

"Yeah, well, there's alot of things I'm confused about, as well."

"Siena... promise me that you're gonna stay in your room tonight?"

"I promise that I am going to do whatever you need me to do in order to keep you safe."

Her eyes glowed bright as she smiled at me. Before she could say anything else, I kissed her on the forehead and slowly closed the door. I stood there until I heard her get into bed.

"Too bad staying in my room all night won't keep you safe," I whispered into the door barely loud enough for myself to hear.

I walked over to my own door and opened it, but I stopped when I heard Tomas come up behind me. I turned around to face him. He looked at me with heavy eyes and in his tired look I saw a bit of hope.

His eyes glowed slightly when he spoke. "I know your mother doesn't know anything about this, but if she did, I know that she'd be here tonight."

"Tomas, you and I both know very well that there's a reason why she doesn't know."

"Siena, she-"

"Tomas. Can I spend tonight thinking about only one negative thing?"

He looked down and nodded.

"Well... good night."

I hugged him and mumbled into his chest, "Good night."

"Good night, sweetheart," he mumbled back and kissed my head.

"You already said that," I said as we pulled away.

"Yeah, I know."

My eyes glowed bright as we gave eachother one last weary look. I opened my door and stepped in my room, then closed it slowly.

 

 

I had not noticed how fast time had gone by as I watched the birds settle down in the old tree outside my window. When I looked at the clock it was nearly midnight. My heart racing, I jumped up and put my shoes and jacket on. I rolled up a blanket, placed it on my bed and placed the letters, along with one of my own, on top of my pillow, then covered it all with the other blankets.

As quietly as possible, I climbed out of the window and shut it.

Carson Hill

..

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Tag der Veröffentlichung: 22.11.2012

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