by Daise, Sonny
When I found it, I looked underneath the picture. On every other page, there were words, explanations. Still nothing. I closed my eyes and wished that it would tell me. When I opened them, the orangey-red ink was moving across the page.
All of the other people had noble destinies, a reason for their sacrifice. Maybe the rest of them didn’t even have to sacrifice, which was fine.
When I saw the reason—when I saw the only thing that made Skylar and I have this bond—I was furious.
“Two people came together, one of which was good and the other evil. Their first-born child will pay for their mistakes. Their heart will belong to two different people, and the one they really want, they will never truly have.”
I dug under my bed and found the box of potions. The glass vials clanked together as I looked through them, and finally, I found the bright pink potion. I stared at it, wondering if this was the key, or just another piece to the puzzle. I clutched my hand around it and closed my eyes. I pleaded for some kind of answer, anything to tell me that things would work out.
Within a matter of seconds, I was transported to somewhere I had never been. There was a woman, she was putting ingredients into a pot, and she hummed as she stirred. The vision flashed forward, and the same woman stood in a beautiful meadow. She stood there, waiting with a vial of pink liquid. Then, a man appeared through the trees, on the other side of the meadow.
He walked toward her, keeping his eyes on her at all times. The way they looked at each other made it obvious—they were in love.
As they moved closer together, my vision followed, giving me a better look at the meadow—and the man tied up, hidden beneath the long grass.
“Are you sure?” The man finally spoke.
“Anything to be with you,” she sighed.
She knelt down next to the man and took the tape off of his mouth. The way he looked at her was almost a mirrored image of the other man’s affection, and almost the same look was on her face.
She bent down further, whispered something in his ear, and then she brought her lips to his. He wriggled around trying to get free, a desperate plea almost escaping his lips. Then, he laid still. She took the cork out of the vial, and a big puff of pink smoke escaped in the shape of a heart. Then, a line of smoke made its way to each of them. As she brought the vial to his lips, he didn’t fight it, he didn’t push her away, he simply opened his mouth and let her pour the liquid down.
As fast as the vision came on, it was gone. Leaving me only with more questions, what happened next? Which of the men in this situation was Dante and which Skylar? Were they in the same predicament; was this how they escaped their fate?
The questions kept coming all throughout the night, and when the sun started to rise I felt more nervous than ever. I still had no clue about what was to take place, but I had a horrible feeling in the pit of my stomach, that today would be the day.
Chapter 11: Behind the Alliance
I sat next to the window, not moving. I stared out at the lake, watching all the waves, and the sun sparkling like diamonds across the surface. The sun rose higher into the sky; I’d lost track of time. Staring out at the beauty in front of me, I’d been dreaming of a life without all of this confusion, without all of these boundaries, without the fear.
The doorbell rang, and I realized I hadn’t gotten ready. I threw on some clothes, trying my best to look nice. I paired a red shirt that was tight down to my waist and pleated from there down, with some black pants. I brushed my hair and ran down the stairs.
I wondered where Violet and Rose were, the house was quiet, and come to think of it, I didn’t see them last night either. I shook my head; they probably went to sleep early.
I opened the door, the first thing I noticed—he was wearing a suit. Not too long after I noticed that, I realized something else. Instead of the dirty blonde hair that I was used to seeing on Skylar, it was a dark brown.
“You dyed your hair?” I asked.
“Yeah,” he said, almost embarrassed. “Do you like it?”
“It’s almost the exact shade—”
“I know,” he mumbled, sounding almost sad.
“So where are we going?”
“There’s a fair a few miles out of Sunny Bay,” he replied.
“You’re dressed like that for a fair?”
“No, this is for afterwards. The fair is just something to do while our real date is being set up.”
“Who’s setting it up?” I asked.
“Elizabeth, George, Cooper and Lily,” he answered.
“How did you convince them to do that?” I wondered.
“Well, they’re very nice people, but I also let George and Elizabeth in on my plan.”
“You told them everything?”
“Yes, I needed to tell someone the whole plan. I needed to know for sure that I wasn’t making a mistake.”
“But you still won’t tell me?”
“No, it would be too hard on you Scarlett. I’m sorry.”
“It’s fine,” I sighed. Not knowing would probably be better anyway.
“Are you ready to go?” he asked.
“Yeah—” Something caught my eye, moving through the trees. Dark-brown hair, black shirt and jeans, I could have been wrong, but I swore it was Dante. “I’ll be right back.”
I walked toward him almost in a trance. I waited until I was far enough away from Skylar, then, I called his name. He didn’t seem to hear me. I hadn’t walked this far through these parts of the woods. I had always assumed the fence continued, and it would be pointless, but there was no fence.
I picked up my pace. I knew exactly the direction he was heading, and if he made it there—I couldn’t even think of what would happen. Even though I was walking twice as fast, I couldn’t catch up. I started running, but still, he was faster. I knew we were getting close, but I wouldn’t stop. I wouldn’t let him get killed.
The leaves all blended together, everything was a blur. I was running as fast as I could. Before I knew what was going on, someone had grabbed me by the shoulders, and then within seconds, their arm was around my neck. I looked in front of me; Dante stood there facing me. Then, he just disappeared—not in his usual way, there were no blue and green swirls; he was just gone.
“So nice of you to come back and visit,” the man behind me said. It was my father.
All around me the trees and shade melted away into a beautiful meadow. It was the meadow where Dante and I spent our one-year anniversary. The next thing I knew, the meadow was on fire. Then as quickly as everything changed, it was back to the way it looked before.
“You tricked me,” I snapped, wriggling to get free.
“Well, Dante refused to lead you here himself. Guess how I got him here?” he laughed playfully. “Go on guess.”
“You did the same thing to him,” I mumbled, not amused.
“Wrong!” he shouted. “Sienna?”
She walked up dressed in something I would wear, with just a touch of makeup. She had a sweet smile on her face one second and the next, the most evil smirk I could imagine.
“Oh, and that’s not all!” she said excitedly. “Your mommy and sister are here as well.”
“What?” I almost screamed. “What do you want with us?”
“I have to thank you for that little stunt you pulled. When you went back in time you changed everything for me for the better,” my dad said, ignoring my question. “Now, at first I was upset. I’d lost the only piece of the puzzle I’d come anywhere near claiming, but when I woke up here and Sienna and Hazel were with me, oh you wouldn’t believe how happy I was.”
“What are you talking about?” I demanded.
“Dear, you didn’t take down the Alliance. You’re looking at the Alliance.”
“What?” I choked. My hands started shaking, and I felt like I was going to puke. This explained the tunnel leading from the Alliance neighborhood to his house.
“Yeah,” he laughed. “You four are all I need. Of course, ot
hers will want to join in, but this time, I won’t make the same mistakes.”
A quick vision of the woman from the theater parking lot, flashed through my mind. ‘It’s your responsibility to take the next steps on this. You’re going to have to cut people from your life, and let new people in. Someone was hiding behind the Alliance, ruling from afar, they still had to follow the rules though, and now all bets are off,’ the woman had said.
“I will never help you,” I cried.
“Of course you will; we’re not too different from you Scarlett. We’ve been watching you, on and off, but some of the things we’ve caught you doing—you made me proud.”
“Almost everyone I’ve ever killed, was part of the Alliance.”
“It doesn’t matter, join us. You’ll never be able to free all three of them. You join us, and I’ll let them go.”
I turned my head, pretending to look at my dad. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Skylar walking along the property. He was heading to exactly where I would‘ve headed if I could—the shed. He was going to find everyone, and they would come and help me; I knew they would.
“Okay,” I said. He took his arm from around my neck, put it around my shoulder, and we walked into the house.
“There is not nearly enough room here for the five of us, as I’m sure you realized, Rose will need to stay with us, too. Your mother and Dante will be set free though.”
“Yeah, okay,” I mumbled.
“Well, girls,” he said as he turned toward Sienna and Hazel. “Have you packed all of your things?”
“Yes, sir,” they said together.
“Alright, grab the most important box first and let’s get going, we can move the rest of this tomorrow.”
They did as he said, and he went to go fetch a box or two of his own. I walked around the house looking out windows, making sure the coast was clear. I didn’t see Skylar anywhere, which was comforting and concerning all at the same time. If I didn’t see him, they wouldn’t see him, and he wouldn’t be captured. But if I didn’t see him... then where was he? The shed door was closed, and latched from the outside.
We began our journey on foot. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. Obviously, it was another house in the woods, but what weird things would be hidden here?
The entire time we walked, I was in the middle. I felt like their hostage, their prisoner. I only hoped it would be as easy to escape as it was to get tangled up in this mess.
I kept looking behind us, looking for any sign that Skylar might have been following, but I didn’t see anything.
When we made it to the house, he had to type a password into the pad on the tall iron gate. I kept my distance, but I still tried to see the code. The first number was ten, the next twenty-eight, then ninety-three—mine and Rose’s birthday.
We walked through the gate and up a fairly large amount of stairs. We made it up to the house. He unlocked the door, and we went inside. He walked with me upstairs, there was a door with my name on it. I looked down the hall, there was a door that said Sienna, one that said Hazel, and one that said Rose.
He opened the door. The room was fully-furnished. He walked in and sat down on the bed.
“Well, this is it, your new room. I’m so glad you’ve decided to join us.”
“Yeah, me, too,” I lied.
“You’ve come at just the right time, too. We’re getting ready for something—big. I’ll tell you the details some other time, you get settled in. Dinner will be ready soon.”
He got up and walked out the door, shutting it behind him. I went to look out the window, but I couldn’t see much from here.
I sat on the bed for a while, deciding what to do later. I would try and look around the house, if I saw a shed outside, I would definitely go check there. I couldn’t know for sure that they had taken anyone here, but I knew that if they were at the other house, Skylar would find a way to help them.
“Dinner’s ready,” Sienna called upstairs.
I didn’t want to go, but I knew I had to. I had to act like I wanted to be here, at all times, no matter what. I sat down at the table; my dad sat next to me, and Sienna and Hazel were across the table glaring at me.
“So, Scarlett, do you like it here so far?” he asked.
“Yes,” I answered.
“Maybe it would be nice for you three to get to know each other after dinner.”
“Okay,” I said.
I wasn’t happy about it, but I couldn’t let that show. Besides, if these two wanted to try anything, siblings fought all the time, right?
“Yes, sir,” they mumbled together.
It was getting late, and still I had seen no sign of Skylar. Sienna and Hazel sat across from me in the living room, just staring. A board game was set on the table between us, but nobody even acknowledged that it was there. Finally, one of them broke their silence, but I almost wished they hadn’t.
“So, your boyfriend is a really good kisser. I found that out earlier when I tricked him,” Sienna said.
“Where exactly did you trick him into going?” I asked.
Her eyes went to the window for a moment, and then she looked back at me.
“Like I would tell you that, but the really weird part was where I found him. He was in these woods, not too far from the other house.”
“The agreement was, that if I joined you, he would be set free. So, why does it really matter if you tell me?” I asked, ignoring her previous statement. Though I did wonder what Dante was doing out here. He pretty much set himself up for this.
“He’s not ready to be freed yet,” Hazel blurted. Sienna punched her in the arm. “Ouch. What the hell, Sienna.”
“Shut your mouth you idiot,” Sienna snapped.
“Well this was fun…” I mumbled. “I’m going to head upstairs.”
“No you’re not, he’ll get mad. He told us to get to know each other.”
“Well, then what the hell do you want to know?”
“Why you’re so much more important than us. We remember before, too. We knew you for all of one day, but you were all Violet ever thought of. Now, here, we’ve known you one day, and you are all dad ever wants to talk about. Scarlett this, Scarlett that. I’m sick of it!” Sienna screamed.
“What’s going on in here, Sienna?” Dad grumbled.
“We were just talking…” she muttered with her head down.
“Do you want to know why your sister is the most special? She was the first born, and then Rose, then you, and then Hazel. I’m the first born in my family as well. You’re just slightly stronger, more powerful when you’re the first born, but the family you were born into, is what really matters.”
“Thanks dad,” she smiled, but still didn’t look toward him.
“Alright, I’ll see you guys in the morning,” he smiled and then walked away.
He was good at pretending to be a nice man. I only wondered if it was an act for me, and how long it would last, or more importantly—how long would it have to?
Sienna and Hazel both got up and walked away, glaring at me until I was out of sight. I waited until they were up the stairs. Then, I ran over to the window Sienna had looked out when I asked her about where Dante was. I looked outside. A light off the side of the house, gave off just enough light to see a small shed about fifteen feet from the house. I would need to get out there and get to it, without anyone knowing.
I turned invisible and concentrated. Then, I started walking toward the wall. I made it through, but once I was on the other side, I felt like I had been hit by a train. I sat down for a minute, trying to recuperate. That’s when I noticed Skylar on the other side of the fence, walking around, looking for a way in.
I walked over to the fence, still invisible. When I got there, I looked up to the windows to make sure no one was looking, and became visible.
“You scared me,” he said. “Are you alright?”
“Yeah, here take my hand,” I whispered, as I squeezed it through a gap in the gate. I went invis
ible, and so did he. “Alright, walk through.”
He tried, but I saw his outline hit the fence and fall back. He got up and walked back up to the fence.
“I can’t do it,” he sighed.
“You have to want to, Skylar, focus.”
He backed up and walked toward the fence again. It took him a while, he stopped for a minute when he was half through, but finally, he was inside.
“Where to?” he asked.
“Inside the shed over there, I have a feeling it’s probably the same as the other one.”
When we got to the shed, it was locked, but that wasn’t a problem—we could just walk right through. Once we did, I grabbed his hand and we both became visible. There was a small door in the floor just like the other shed had.
We opened it and headed down. When we got to the bottom of the stairs, we must have hit a sensor. Starting at the far side of the room, the lights started switching on. It was exactly like the other; it looked like a really nice living room. The only difference: instead of a giant bookshelf, there was only a regular wall. I knew what we were looking for, would be on the other side of the wall. I went over and looked for a button, but I didn’t see one. Then, I noticed a small piece of the wall that stuck out, just a tiny bit. I touched it, and it moved a little. I tried to move it again; it slid over, and there was the button.
I pushed the button, and the wall moved aside. Again, the lights turned on, starting from the back. The first light looked so far away. I found myself wondering how big this room really was. Then, as more lights came on, I was worried about something else entirely.
There were hundreds of huge glass tubes filled with blue liquid. I walked in between them, looking around, and I found Violet. She was connected to one of the tubes with an IV.
“Skylar, come here,” I called, and he ran right over. “What is this?”
“This isn’t good,” he said. “You know how I used the knife to get to my powers? Well, essentially, that is what your dad has going on here. The only difference is the knife didn’t take all of my powers. We need to get the IV out of her, or she’s going to die.”
