“What were you thinking? When Brandon told you to stay put, why did you run off like that? Anything could’ve happened to you–” Aunt Rose was saying when Vanessa cut her off, now looking up again.
“But it didn’t… so…you can let me off the hook now.”
“Why do you always have to be such a dare girl?” Winona said as if speaking to herself, not expecting any answer but Vanessa replied anyway.
“Because I like it that way,” she snapped and sweet Winona didn’t speak to her after that but Vanessa didn’t care. She made a pouting face. No one here understood her. All she had wanted was a normal birthday party by going outside for a picnic. Sadly it had started raining heavily. Then the whole house had been under some dark spell, as far as Vanessa could understand. Her whole day was ruined, not to mention that now she didn’t even feel like eating the cake anymore. All she wanted to do now was go to her room, shut herself up and get some sleep. She felt tired all of a sudden. Her head was spinning as she held it. Vanessa knew she'd lost a lot of energy, not knowing what she’d done to make herself so tired.
“I’m going up to my room. If anyone wants to talk to me about all this, they’d better wait till tomorrow.” She got up and stomped all the way upstairs and shut the door behind her.
“I wonder what’s got her all upset…” Winona sighed. Then she looked at her mother, Clover, who was giving her a look that meant I’m thinking the same thing.
“When I opened the door of the store room, I found her standing a few feet away with her arms in front of her face as if to protect herself from something. Then all of a sudden, she just let her arms fall and gave me this look of helplessness,” Brandon took a bite out of the cake, chewed it and gulped quickly.
“She must’ve been seeing things…” Lisa suggested.
“Or maybe the thing which broke the back window…” Monica looked at Brawley who nodded thoughtfully.
“It could be possible that something had tried to get into the house. Vanessa must’ve spotted it and followed it to the store room…” Clover said while gazing at the carpets. They had patterns on them, grey, white and blue while the curtains behind her were a royal blue. It all looked beautiful as Aunt Rose’s mind worked very creatively. “Didn’t she say anything… about why she was there?”
“No mom… although she did ask me whether I saw a light and I just shook my head,” Brandon answered.
“That must’ve been when I’d stopped sensing that dark aura. It had vanished all of a sudden, as if Vanessa had done something to lure it away…” Winona wondered out loud.
“But how was it that Vanessa could see the light while Brandon couldn’t?” Innocent little Ruth blurted out something which none of the family members had thought of.
“It’s possible. She may be telling the truth about seeing a light.” Brawley spoke for the first time after thinking about it twice.
“But Vanessa can’t possibly produce a light that can purify…unless she’s a witch,” Lisa asked without realizing she’d given them the answer.
“That could be… since Monica’s a spell caster, maybe Vanessa is too.” Brandon spoke steadily. He had finished his cake and was now leaning over the table to get some more.
“No, no. It doesn’t work that way. Only one member of the family can inherit the spell casting magic. Remember that.” Clover said as though she were teaching a class.
“Then how come–” Ruth was saying when Clover interrupted again.
“Look, there’s something you all ought to know…” She bit her lips, feeling all eyes on her suddenly. When she spoke again, her voice seemed to be coming from a distant part of her,
“Twelve years ago, one night, I heard a terrible banging at the door. It frightened me but since all of you kids were asleep, I had to answer it. When I opened the door, I saw an old man who was panting at the door steps. He handed me a child which seemed about a month old. All he said was, ‘Take good care of her’, and after that, he’d vanished. He was a dragon as well, I could sense that but for some reason I could sense nothing from the child. She was perfectly human, that’s what I thought until now. I know it’s a little more complicated than that. I named her Vanessa because I didn’t know her real name. All I knew was that the moment I looked into those deep blue eyes, I knew there was something very special about the child.”
Clover finished. She looked at all the shocked faces staring back at her. It was Amy who had spoken, rather rudely, “So all this time we’ve been treating her like our own family when she’d always been an outsider? No wonder she’s so different from us.”
Brawley got mad, “First of all, everyone but you treats her like family and she is no outsider. She’s still got magic in her veins which means she’s still one of us and always will be.”
“You’re being too over-protective about her. Didn’t you see what she can do? Produce a light only visible to her eyes that completely banishes the dark aura from this house. She can fool you guys around with her witchy magic. She probably already knows about all this and doesn’t want to tell anyone so she can mess with all of you.” Despite Amy’s fairly rude warnings, everyone kept on talking about Vanessa as if she were an angel of light.
Amy groaned and went to her room, seeing no one here was going to believe her. Aunt Rose left too since she never understood all this magic stuff. Ruth, on the other hand, stayed. She was interested in this talk and enjoyed taking part in it.
Back inside her room, Vanessa wondered…
“I don’t know what happened back there in the store room. It was almost like the light was coming out of my hands but that can’t be true. I’m not a spell caster. I can’t be because Monica is one and magic is only inherited by one of the siblings… Although, I am part of this family, sometimes I feel this urge to escape to some place which I can call my home. I know that this is my home, I still feel that there’s something I’m supposed to do. If only I could get some sleep somehow, maybe this feeling will go away…” Vanessa was lying on her bed with her eyes shut, trying to get some sleep. She hadn’t realized how tired she was at that moment until her mind started to drift away somewhere… and she was fast asleep.
Vanessa opened her eyes to realize that she wasn’t in her room anymore; in fact, she wasn’t even sure this place was Earth. It looked so magical and unreal but somehow Vanessa knew it was real. There was a tiny voice at the corner of her mind telling her that this wasn’t exactly a dream.
“No… it’s not…” said a female voice from behind her somewhere. It was so soft that it made Vanessa think of petals. She stood up in one swift motion and turned around to face a gorgeous looking lady with long dark hair, the same color as Vanessa’s. She was glowing and her hair was flowing in mid-air. It was hard to see her face. All that light shimmering around her was blurring Vanessa’s vision. Still she noticed something. They both looked a lot alike except for the dark grey eyes which were now staring into Vanessa’s deep blue ones, as though they reminded the woman of someone.
“Uh… do I know you?” Vanessa asked breaking the silence.
“No, not yet you don’t…” said the soft voice again.
“Then who are you and where on Earth am I? Although I’m starting to get the feeling this isn’t Earth…”
The lady nodded to that, “That’s right. This isn’t Earth–” Then all of a sudden, as if something bad was about to happen, she turned her face sideways to look at something behind her. When she turned back, Vanessa could detect the worried look on her face even through the light.
“Look, there isn’t much time. You have to be strong for I’m afraid the protection spell on you may not last very long. It seals away your powers and prevents others from sensing even the tiniest fragment of power. Aida isn’t well lately and you’ve already started unveiling your magic to yourself, although no one else can see it, thanks to the protection spell, but you still have to be on your toes. Think before you act and do not let Gale find you… this is all the help I can give you for now. The link between two dimensions doesn’t stay very long. Take care of yourself, okay?”
And before Vanessa could even ask her who she was, the connection broke and Vanessa woke up with a gasp, staring straight into the ceiling. She sat up on her bed, it was still dark and she could hear voices downstairs.
“I wonder what time it is. Those guys are probably thinking of staying awake all night,” she said while getting out of bed. Vanessa went to turn on the light and then squinted at the clock hanging on the wall. It was 8:45. Alarm struck her. “But that’s the exact time I had gone to sleep, unless this clock stopped working and now it’s started again.”
Vanessa wanted to know the real time so she snuck out of the room and came downstairs. When she entered the lounge, everyone fell silent and stared at her, half expecting her to sit down on the couch again.
“Hey, guys, I just wanted to know the time. The clock in my room seems to have stopped all the while I was asleep.”
“It’s…8:46 now and you couldn’t have gone to sleep so quickly. You just stomped all the way to your room and you’re back down here in less than two minutes.” Brawley told her.
“That’s… impossible. I did go to sleep and I had this weird dream about this lady warning me about some danger… although it seemed too real.” Vanessa protested but Monica spoke to her, “Maybe you were just too confused, I mean you must’ve used up a lot of energy producing a spell like that,” but when Vanessa gave her a questioning look, “In the store room when you saw a light which banished all traces of darkness from this house. That was all you, Vanessa, you’re the one who casted the spell.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I couldn’t have casted a spell. It must’ve been somebody else because I’m not a spell caster. There can only be one amongst all the siblings to inherit magic. And that person is you, Monica. You know as well as I do.”
But when Monica started to say something else, Clover gave her a look which meant, ‘Don’t tell her yet. Now’s not the time.’ And so she remained quiet.
All this was too much for Vanessa. She was sure there was some big secret that was about to be unveiled along with her powers but it would have been a lesser headache if she’d only known what that secret was. Her mind was getting foggy again, just like in the store room, except this time, she didn’t have the power to stop herself from falling. All she knew was that one second she was falling and in the other, she was drifting away. Vanessa wasn’t really sure when she had hit the ground because she’d already lost consciousness by that time.
This isn’t normal, she thought. That was all she could do right now, think, because her other senses were cut off. She couldn’t feel her body anymore. Her eyes were closed and she was somewhat floating in the darkness. Not being able to move or cringe or run was one of Vanessa’s worst fears. She was afraid of this terribly. She usually ended up like this when something unnatural happened to her, like that light which was, according to Monica, a spell that she herself had casted. Strange things like these used to leave her short of energy. And now she was stuck like this while she recovered.
What a bummer, Vanessa thought.
“What happened to her?” Ruth asked softly. She was as innocent as a new born baby. Her large forest green eyes always reflected her deepest emotions. Right now it was worry.
“Nothing sweetie, she just fainted, that’s all. She was short of energy I guess. I wonder how she’d managed to get down here in the first place…”Winona told her.
“Like I said before,” Monica was speaking, “She was tired because of that spell she’d cast. She must be a descendant of a very powerful spell caster being able to produce a spell as strong as that at first attempt.” Then she turned to Ruth. “What does Amy have against her? I mean, why is she always trying to instigate people against her?”
Ruth just shrugged, not having a clue about it. Brawley looked at Clover, “Mom, you’ve got to do something about this. I’ve heard from Aunt Rose that Vanessa sometimes does things she shouldn’t be able to do. Last time while all of you were gone, I was here for a month and she burst a light bulb just by radiating waves, not realizing she was the one doing it. Vanessa has to learn to control them otherwise there’s a risk someone else might find out about her.”
“Look, sweetie, I’m sorry but I can’t do anything about it until she fully unveils her powers,” Clover answered apologetically.
“But at this rate, it could take years…” Brawley trailed off.
“Hey, I’ve got an idea,” Lisa spoke while standing up so that this time everyone heard her, “Why doesn’t one of us stay here with her.” She gestured towards the girl with dark hair, curled up in a ball on the long sofa, “We can take turns. Each month any one of us will stay here, for the whole month of course, helping her unveil more and more of her power. Is that possible, mom?” She turned towards her mother who took a moment to think and then nodded.
“So it’s settled then.” Brandon spoke, bringing a cloth dripping from being dipped into cold water. He folded it and placed it onto Vanessa’s forehead gently. “But who will go first?” He asked.
Everyone exchanged glances and there were small murmurs in the room. Ruth watched them all excitedly, sitting on a large square shaped pillow. Lisa, with her blonde hair tied into a ponytail. Monica, with her mahogany colored hair falling in waves. Brawley’s hair was white blonde; it almost made him look unnatural at times. Winona had light blonde hair; almost the same shade as Brawley’s. And last one was Brandon with a mop of Dark brown hair which he seemed to like a lot.
While watching everyone, Ruth noticed Vanessa. She looked like sleeping beauty curled up on the couch like that. Then, as Ruth watched, Vanessa winced and then slowly tilted her head to one side without opening her eyes.
“You guys, she’s coming around.” It was Ruth who didn’t even realize she was saying it. She was just so glad that Vanessa was okay. Everyone gathered around her. Vanessa was starting to open her eyes and trying to sit up straight. Clover supported her with one hand on her back, “You don’t let yourself rest for very long, do you?” she whispered. Vanessa, unable to say anything at the moment just shook her head slightly. She still felt a little dizzy from all that floating and talking to herself in the darkness.
“Lisa, take her to her room. She needs to rest.” Clover began when Vanessa started to protest but Lisa was already on her feet. She escorted Vanessa upstairs and waited till Vanessa was in bed, then she turn off the lights and left the room, closing the door behind her.
“Poor girl, her whole birthday got ruined,” Lisa was saying as she got back into the lounge, “So who’s going to stay here first?” she looked around at all of them.
“I am,” Brawley spoke, “I’ve stayed here for a month before and I’m pretty sure my next assignment is in this area so I can do my mission as well.”
“Alright but you better inform our boss because he’s expecting you in his office in a week.”
“I just did, he just told me that he’s arranged a mission in this area and he hopes that I alone will be able to complete it.”
Back in her room, Vanessa couldn’t sleep. She knew something was going on but what was it? She paced back and forth on the carpeted floor, trying to think of a logical explanation. What could it all mean? She thought, and who was that lady? Maybe there’s a way to contact her again somehow… if I really did do that purification light earlier in the dark, then I guess there has to be some sort of magic in me too… there’s no harm in trying…
Vanessa sat back on her bed and closed her eyes, trying to focus all her energy into sending signals towards that lady. She pictured her in her mind with that light shimmering around her and her long dark hair, the same color as Vanessa’s; and those dark grey eyes which stared at Vanessa as if she were some precious jewel or something… and when those eyes stared deep into Vanessa’s blue ones, it was as though Vanessa reminded the lady of someone, changing her expression to a saddened one…
That instant, Vanessa lost control of what she was doing. She started to float with her eyes closed. Although she couldn’t see anything, she could feel that she was no longer in her room now. She was being transported to some other place, the place where the lady was.
After a moment, Vanessa could feel her feet touching solid ground again; strange that it wasn’t her bed she was feeling. She opened her eyes slowly to find herself standing inside a room which was huge. The walls had large light pink roses printed on them and the stone pillars had flowers carved with marvelous beauty. The ceiling was quite high and a chandelier was hanging in the middle. The air conditioner was up in the wall on one corner and the room felt cool. Now Vanessa stared in front at the double-bed on which there lay another lady who seemed ill. She had mahogany hair which was a little wet and her face looked paler than Vanessa had ever seen before. There was also someone wiping the sweat off her face with a wet cloth.
Vanessa gasped. It was the same lady who had tried to contact her earlier when time had frozen. But something was wrong here. Nobody seemed to take notice of her. It was as though she was there but at the same time wasn’t because she was unable to move or walk around. She could move her head around but not her feet. She could move her hands but when she tried to speak, no voice came out. I guess I didn’t do the spell quite well since I was unsure of what I was doing. I must be trapped in between my world and theirs.
She could still hear the conversation though,
“It’s going to be alright, Aida. I’ve warned her about it. And she’s my daughter; she’s bound to figure it out soon. You just hang on because we have to keep that protection spell over Erika. You know that better than I do how important it is that her powers remain hidden,” the lady said.
“How long…” Aida spoke in a weak voice, “how long, Dawn?”
“What…?” Dawn asked in shock.
“How long are we going to keep her hidden, keep her from knowing about her past, about who she is. She doesn’t even know her real name… I bet she’s… very confused… she still thinks she’s Clover’s real daughter. Clover didn’t even tell her. But enough is enough, Dawn. You have to let her know that you’re her real mother…” Vanessa’s eyes widened as she heard this. Aida went on, “She must know the truth… about the dark powers that are in search for her. I am not going to last long… the spell will soon fade and her powers will start revealing themselves. What will she do then? Gale will know it’s her and come in search for her… to ki–” Aida coughed a little and continued, “to kill her… You must do something quick.”
Dawn was on the verge of tears now and spoke in a low whisper, that was all she could do, “but what am I supposed to do? Erika can come here. I’ll keep her safe.”
Aida was shaking her head painfully, “No, she must face him. It is her destiny to banish the darkness from the fate of the world. She is the enlightened child, remember that. She has the power to defeat Gale… you must tell her somehow. After I die, her first task would be to bring back the old mansion we used to live in before she was born.”
“But Aida, it’s not just the protection spell I’m worried about, it’s you. You’re like a best friend to me and now you’re just going to leave me here to take care of the kids alone? I haven’t even seen Sloane in several years. I miss him so much. We talk but I can never come to see Shang. And now you’ll be gone too and I’ll be alone. I hate being on my own… Aida?”
“You’ll be alright… good luck…” was all she said before she started coughing. Dawn poured water in glass for her but when she got back to Aida she almost dropped the glass at the sight. Aida was still, very still. She wasn’t even breathing or coughing.
“No…no, no, no, no… Oh Aida… You didn’t just… Aida!” Dawn ran towards the pale faced lady lying motionless on the double bed. She tried to feel her pulse but there wasn’t any and Dawn was sure she’d lost her best friend. Now she could finally let out the tears she’d been holding back for so long.
Vanessa’s eyes were watery from seeing the whole scene. It was all too sad and to be exposed to so many truths at the same time was too much for her. Her heart was aching terribly to know more when somehow she lost connection and found herself on her bed again. The room was the same as before but when she looked at the clock, she realized that it had stopped. None of the hands on the clock were moving. Vanessa felt that something odd was going on. She got out of bed and tried to open the door but it didn’t budge. She tried the other door, it didn’t budge either.
Now Vanessa was scared. She had never felt so trapped and so helpless before. Then again, she had never been trapped in a room with frozen time. That’s right. She could feel that the time had frozen. Somehow her senses were sharper than before. She could feel the slightest energy of a person from a long distance. Her senses had never been as expanded as they were now. She had changed in only a second. Aida had been alive that second ago.
“Now I see what’s going on… Clover is not my real mother… it’s Dawn. No wonder she looked so much like me. And it was because of that protection spell I couldn’t use my dragon… I mean I already knew that I had one, somehow but I could never unleash its power. Now I feel like the shell has cracked. I can use my powers freely,” Vanessa wondered out loud, “…which means that… Aida, that lady who was ill, she really is no longer there… and that’s sad…”
But how can I be sure that this is all really happening and not just one big nightmare? Vanessa thought. She tried the door again but it still didn’t budge.
Tired of all the happenings just now, Vanessa paced back and forth in the room, trying to think of a way to break through the door. She was getting irritated by this and slammed her fist at the door angrily. Then it hit her, like some sort of an energy ball that had been lingering over her head. The whole room was full of light in an instant. Vanessa could feel it this time. The light was radiating from her; it felt warm. The last time, since she had no control over the light, it had blinded her but this time she knew what was going on and felt all her worries disappear.
“This light of purification feels…good…” She thought out loud. All of a sudden, she heard a tick… then a tock… another tick; the clock had started which meant that time was no longer frozen. Vanessa was relished the moment by marching around in her room in the not so blinding light. The next thing she heard was furniture; thud, thump, thud, thump. Something was happening, changing, around her. If only the light would get a little dimmer for her to see what is going on.
And just at that moment, as if the light had ears and could hear her, it got dimmer; dim enough for Vanessa to see a little. The change was all around her. The windows opened, shut, and when they opened again, they were different from before. They were at least four feet in length and were made of etched glass; containing carvings of dragons. Vanessa could see several other windows appear on the wall in a straight line. The wall seemed to have extended further on both sides. The ceiling was getting higher and more beautiful. There were more dragon carvings appearing on the walls and windows. A chandelier hung from the ceiling. The doors grew taller and wider. A new door appeared which seemed to belong to a balcony.
Vanessa’s eyes circulated the whole room, studying its every feature which was easy since the light was fading now. The whole room didn’t belong to an ordinary house at all; “It seems to belong more to a mansion…” that’s when she realized something, “the mansion… Aida had said something about the mansion… ‘After I die, her first task would be to bring back the old mansion we used to live in before she was born’, that’s what she’d said… maybe I’ve done it… but how can I be sure of anything? What if all of this really is just a bad nightmare and I’m going to wake up from in any second now and realize that my family is waiting for me downstairs to celebrate my birthday… or”
That instant, Vanessa heard someone,
“Vanessa? Are you alright up there? Come down quickly, something’s happened to the house. It’s changed!” That was Winona’s voice.
End of Chapter one. If anyone has read the prologue, they might have understood what was going on in the story. The mysterious past...
