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“…But mom!!”
“That’s enough Joshua Ethel Taylor! You can go to Hetairia on one condition and one condition only! You have to take your sister along!”
“Ughh!! Fine, but tell Sarah she can’t act like such a brat!”
The mother responded by piercingly looking at her son, from head to waist, causing him to remain speechless and filling him with fear.
Joshua was a tall, handsome, young adult. He had hazel eyes and brown silky hair. He resembled no one in his family except his sister and felt quite distant and isolated during family gatherings. Throughout his lifetime, he felt complete only around his childhood friend, Elle. However without any notice, she left him alone, too. Always the oddball, Joshua waited eagerly for this moment. Now he was finally eighteen and could explore outside of Distoville. Something in his mind was telling him to visit his nanny in the great city of Hetairia. Little did he know of the dangers that awaited him…
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A mysterious lady in a black coat runs after a young innocent girl quickly catching speed. She grabs the young girl’s bag yet fails to seize the naïve victim. The girl finds herself cornered against a brick wall. She feels the chilling hands of a nameless woman. Suddenly a force pulls her…
Adalia awoke suddenly. She had dreamt this nightmare several times during the last couple of nights. Who was this lady and why was she after her? Nothing made sense.
Adalia was a beautiful flaxen girl, who attended boarding school. She was currently spending her winter break with her grandmother like she did annually. She loved her grandmother, Natalia Moldavian. She always had pictures of children and nature around the house. There was also something special about her. Natalia (or as Adalia called her, ‘Nat’) had so many stories to tell and so many secrets. Only Adalia had the power or manipulation rather, to extract the thousands of secrets from her grandmother’s vault of experiences.
One day, Adalia and Natalia were sitting in the den on a cool winter day. By the fire, Natalia told her grandchild a story about a lost princess who wished on a star for some truth. The elderly woman also explained about the magic of wishing to this fine star. Completely engrossed in the story, Adalia was infuriated when a sudden knock interrupted the personal chat…
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Joshua packed a couple slacks and dress shirts. However, he made certain to take along several sweaters. He had a faint memory of Hetairia, but was sure to remember the cold chilling weather. As he finished packing the car and was backing out of the driveway, he realized he left his most valuable possession home. Running to his room, he picked up his mattress and searched frantically for his prized possession. Suddenly he realized his room was a mess. Someone had entered his room…As he turned around, Joshua’s eyes dropped and he regretted ever coming back…
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As she opened the door, Adalia found two little hands covering the face of a little girl. As she picked up the girl and took her near her grandmother, Adalia realized the girl was covered with scars all over her body. However as soon as the grandmother saw this abused child, she told Adalia to go to her room and stay there until she said otherwise…
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Joshua could not believe his eyes. There was something written in blood on his window. As he neared the scene, he realized the blood was still fresh. The message read:
“YOU HAVE SOMETHING THAT BELONGS TO ME…I HAVE SOMETHING THAT BELONGS TO YOU!!!
SEE YOU IN HETAIRIA”
Checking his pockets, he realized his Silver possession was always with him. However, questions overwhelmed him. WHOSE BLOOD IS THIS?! WHY IS HE AFTER ME?! WHAT DO I HAVE OF HIS?! WHAT DID HE TAKE OF MINE?!!! Suddenly his eyes bulged and he realized what it was. Frantically, he searched the empty house looking for his sister, Sarah…
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Adalia never argued with her grandmother and went straight to the room. However worrying about the little girl, she wished upon the North Star for some assistance. Holding an amulet she received as a child, she lay in bed, questioning what had happened. How did she get so many scars? Why did Nat not allow me to help me but rather send me to my room? What does Nat know that she’s hiding from me? Suddenly everything became hazy. As things started to clear up, she found herself running away from a woman with a black coat…
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Flooring the gas, Joshua noticed signs for Hetairia. Taking out his lucky chain, he prayed for his sister’s safety. He drove higher and higher until the woods grew thicker, the air grew colder, and road grew darker. As he reached the top of the mountain, he noticed the strangeness of the town. There was a foot of snow yet a person could walk straight on top of it. He also noticed the shops, full of millions of merchandise, had no locks on them and yet several people were walking the streets. Moreover, the town looked completely dark yet he felt completely secure. Joshua got a feeling that this was the place to celebrate the holidays. As he parked and entered the nearest inn, he quickly asked around for unusual activity. However the only response he received was that a mysterious person was heard roaming the town searching for royal blood. Suddenly he heard a scream…
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Adalia awoke suddenly once again, from the same nightmare. Unable to deny it any longer, she headed downstairs to her grandmother, in the hopes to understand the nightmare. On the couch, she noticed the little girl sleeping peacefully, as if it were her own home. Abruptly Adalia heard her front door steps creak. Someone was outside and whoever it was, did not want to be seen…
Simultaneously, the phone rang causing Adalia to jump. Adalia knew that the phone number was only known to her side of the family and hence picked it up. After hearing her grandmother’s voice, she felt relieved. However the grandmother proved otherwise.
“Don’t ask any questions. Just listen to me. There is someone after you, Sarah, and Joshua. I cannot completely explain everything right now but all you need to know is that you have to protect that little girl at our house. If a tall young man comes looking for Sarah, invite him in, and make sure he doesn’t leave.”
“You want me to invite a complete stranger?!”
“Don’t worry; you already know him.”
Before Adalia could say another word, her grandmother had hung up on her. Perplexed by the conversation, Adalia walked slowly to the couch until she heard a THUMP outside. Running to the door and looking through the glass, she saw a depressed man on all fours. Remembering her grandmother’s words, she opened the door languidly.
“Umm…May I help you?”
“Uh yeah, my name is Jossshhu…..Heyyyy!!!”
Before he could finish explaining, the girl had dragged the young man in and settled him onto the other couch. She ran around the house locking doors, latching windows, and closing curtains. Next she ran into the kitchen, prepared some eggnog, and returned back while Joshua sat motionless, baffled and stunned at the girl’s behavior. She rapidly asked question after question while he noticed Sarah in the corner of his eye. However before he could say anything, Adalia explained what her grandmother had previously claimed.
“My grandmother called saying that you, your sister, and I are in danger and that someone’s after us.”
“You too?!! I was planning to have a perfectly normal vacation and right when I’m about to leave, someone kidnaps my sister! Not only that, but instead of writing in normal ink, he/she writes in blood, as if kidnapping my sister isn’t enough!”
“This makes no sense.”
“When I came to this town looking for her, people claimed that the person was looking for royal blood.”
“Royal?! Ha!”
“Wait…let’s say the person thought my sister WAS royal…”
“- Why did the person kidnap your sister and still ask for something that supposedly ‘belonged’ to him/her?!”
Sarah yawned in the background. Both Joshua and Adalia stared at each other in amazement and then sprinted to Sarah. Joshua awoke her sister abruptly while Adalia followed him. As soon as Sarah jumped up, her older brother started the interrogation.
“Who kidnapped you?! Who marred your body?!! Who did this?! WHO!?!”
A bit frightened, Sarah could not speak in proper English. She mumbled until her speech turned lacking ambiguity.
“A woman--long jacket--asked for a silver neckla”
Brusquely, her words were cut off by the constant ringing of the telephone. As Adalia answered the telephone, Joshua instantly recognized who it was. As soon as she hung up, he awaited for the grandmother’s orders. He did not exactly know or recognize Adalia and her grandmother, but he knew just enough to trust them.
“We need to leave this house, now!”
“Yeh, I figured. Where are we supposed to go?”
“We have to meet grandma at”
KNOCK
“Someone’s at the door…Adalia, grab Sarah and take the back exit. My car is in the Inn parking lot. I’m coming there as soon as it’s safe. Goooo!”
Adalia grabbed Sarah and dashed to the back door. She turned around and could see Joshua nodding his head and encouraging her. She quickly opened the door and raced through the narrow street. As she glanced back hoping to see Joshua, she noticed a shadow. She stopped dead in her tracks and told Sarah to go on. Bewildered, Sarah headed toward the car. Surprisingly, Adalia ran in a different direction. She hoped the stalker would not notice Sarah and attempted to fool the strange follower.
As she scurried in a steady pace, she turned back and noticed a woman wearing a black gown. Quickening her pace, Adalia relived her nightmare. The woman grabbed her bag but failed to sieve her. Adalia ran and ran until she reached the end of the narrow passageway. She was cornered against the brick wall. As the lady reached for the young girl’s neck, Adalia felt chills up and down her spine. The lady had come for her death and girl could not even attempt to fight it. Adalia closed her eyes and felt the predator’s cat-like nail scratch her throat and then slowly attempting to pull something off her neck. As Adalia released her energy, a force pulled the prey away from the malevolent predator. As Adalia quickly opened her eyes, she found Joshua protecting her.
“Mom, what are you DOING?! Why are you after us?”
“This doesn’t make sense, Joshua!”
“It makes complete sense. God, how could I be so NAÏVE!” Joshua turned to Adalia. “The day Sarah was kidnapped, my mother was home when I was packing the car. However when I came back to pick up something, my sister was missing and so was she! I suspected my mom from the beginning but figured it couldn’t be her. I had nothing valuable that she would have wanted. Oh boy was I wrong…! Besides that, two people knew of my trip to Hetairia: One being my nanny, Talia” Nods. “yep your grandmother, and the other being this one.” Turned and looked ragingly at the mother.
“That still doesn’t explain why your mother wanted to kill you on Christmas Eve!”
Confused herself, the mother followed the children ran to the grandmother’s guest house. Nothing made sense yet everything made sense.
“I was your nanny, Joshua, to make sure you were safe because you and Sarah are of royal blood. Elle, you liked Joshua and used to come visit me more and more often. However before you were sent away to boarding school, I brought you and Joshua here, giving each of you a piece of the magical North Star Amulet which promised good luck to those who deserved it. However, in the case of your mother, the amulets destroyed her by reminding her of luck she felt she could not deserve and hence tried to steal it from both of you. The amulets are what brought you here to help each other. Check your neck.” Adalia looked down at her silver amulet. “Where did you get that from?”
“From you, when you used –to- BE A NANNY!”
“Yup, she worked in Distoville, the town which you, Elle, considered”
“BoringVille! Josh?!
Nodding his head, Joshua showed his first love the other half of the silver amulet.
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~*Mamta*~
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