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Aleah sat straight up, waking in a cold sweat. She couldn’t remember all the details from her dream, but she was terrified. She was at a funeral, and a couple were standing in front of the grave. They looked vaguely familiar, but she couldn’t put her finger on where she had seen them. She stepped closer to the grave, and saw her name on the grave. That was when she had woken up.
As she was walking down the stairs, Aleah smelled fresh muffins in the oven. Her stepfather looked up at her and smiled. “Hey Leah! Happy Birthday! Your mom’s making chocolate chip muffins!” Aleah looked up confused. The dream had shaken her up so much, that she forgot that today was her sixteenth birthday. The dining room table had a pile of gorgeously wrapped presents. Her mom’s work, she thought. Her stepfather couldn’t wrap things if he had all the help in the world.
Aleah looked at the clock. 8:30. She had to leave for school. Her mom came over and kissed the top of her head. “Happy birthday sweetheart! Have a great day at school. When you come home, we will open presents! Bye!” Her mom shooed her out the door.
Aleah was feeling really anxious. She was only halfway to school, but a black pickup truck had been following her since she left her house. She kept glancing back, and the truck was still going steady behind her. The truck started gaining on her. Aleah broke into a run. She wasn’t looking where she was going, she was just trying to get away. She ran into a woman in black. The woman thrust her arm out and grabbed Aleah around the neck. Aleah thrashed but the woman dragged her into an alcove in the wall, that certainly hadn’t been there before.
Aleah wasn’t fully conscious, but she could tell she was in the backseat of a car. Another person was slumped in the seat next to her. A long cut ran down her face. She had long hair but a boyish face. She had obviously been knocked unconscious. Aleah had no recollection of what happened after she had been dragged into the alcove. She tried to sit up, but her bonds were too strong. She caught a pair of eyes looking at her through the rearview mirror. Aleah wasn’t sure how she knew that those eyes belonged to the woman who had kidnapped her. She felt like she had seen them before. “W-w…” was all Aleah managed to get out before the woman spoke in a gentle tone. “Be quiet. Unless you want to wake her up. We can talk when we get to the safe house.”
The person next to Aleah shifted. Aleah leaned over, and smelled a fruity flavor. It smelled exactly as her own peach shampoo did. A smile flashed across her face, but quickly disappeared as she thought about how she might never see her home again. She was abruptly jerked back into reality when she heard muttering from right beside her. She looked younger than nine, and Aleah felt a strange connection with her, almost like a magnet. She also looked vaguely familiar, and Aleah was sure she had seen her somewhere before. Aleah was so focused on the little girl that she had hardly noticed how fast the world was flashing by outside of the windows. They had been going so fast that Aleah noticed immediately when they started slowing down. Suddenly, she felt weightless. She looked out the window, and was shocked when she couldn’t see any ground.
The three ton sedan was plummeting hundreds of feet, with nothing between it and the rocky desert below. Aleah started screaming, and the woman in the front rolled her eyes. She acted like driving off a cliff was a perfectly normal noontime activity to do on Tuesday. She seemed like she had done this before.
The truck never slowed, and Aleah was convinced it would crash and everyone in the truck would instantly be crushed. However, the truck touched down lightly on the rocks, like a feather falling from a height. The sedan was perfectly fine, and they continued on at top speed for another hour. When the truck finally halted, it was stopped right in front of a shabby two story house. Most of Aleah’s fears melted. She had seen this house before. She couldn’t explain where, or why she felt safe there, but everything just made sense. She had a feeling that she was safe here. The stone faced woman went up to the door and knocked twice. The most eccentric looking man imaginable opened it and stepped out. He had safety goggles over large glasses, and he had three extra pairs of glasses tucked into various pockets on his brown business suit. He had long black hair pulled back into a tight low ponytail. The man tipped his hat to the woman and she nodded. The woman lifted her hands above her head, and in a sudden column of flames, disappeared.
Aleah stumbled backwards. She had just seen someone burst into flames, and she was shocked beyond her own comprehension. The man came over and held out his hand to shake Aleah’s. “Well hello there darling! My name is Ed. But all my employees call me Mr.Peterson. But you aren’t my employee. No, no, you are here to be trained. Yes that’s it. Where’s Mary?”The tall man blabbered on under his breath and then looked up. He looked genuinely surprised to see Aleah, even though he had just greeted her. “Uh, hi. What do you mean trained?” responded Aleah. “Well, I need to train you to use your powers of course. We can’t have untrained Warriors running amok in the streets.”
“What do you mean powers?”
“You’ll find out.”
Ed led the two girls into the house. Everything was relatively clean inside, and a real home like air about it. Aleah was still uneasy about everything, but she let herself relax a little bit. Ed wasn’t the sort of guy Aleah imagined to be dangerous. Aleah looked around and was astonished to see the little girl from the car lying on a couch. She hadn’t seen anybody bring her in, yet there she was, tucked under a big fluffy blanket. The little girl looked utterly peaceful, and she was turned on her side, which gave the illusion that her face didn’t have scratches all over it. Aleah almost jumped out of her skin as she saw three teenagers sitting on the couch across from the couch with the little girl on it.
Ed waved his hand, and the trio took the message and went up the stairs. “You will meet them later, but that is a story for another day. Now, I am going to have Mabel get you to your room.” After finishing speaking, Ed turned on his heel and promptly left. A column of flame flared from the middle of the room and the stone-faced woman, apparently named Mabel, appeared. The heat from the flames washed over Aleah. Mabel walked over to the young girl. Aleah surged forward. She felt strangely protective of the young girl. Mabel leaned over, and gently picked the young girl up. She proceeded up the stairs, and Aleah felt obliged to follow.
When they reached the third floor, Aleah saw the three teenagers before whispering in a room. Mabel rolled her eyes and waved her hand towards the door. The door swung shut, and the whispers cut off abruptly. Mabel guided them towards a room that was overwhelmingly filled with pink things. When she set the little girl down, she covered her with a blanket with almost motherly tenderness. Aleah felt excruciatingly uncomfortable, and wanted to break the silence.
“Miss, um, Mabel? I was wondering what Ed meant when he called me a Warrior?” As Aleah was speaking, Mabel turned back to look at Aleah. “Mr.Peterson will explain that child. You are ready, much like the others.” As soon as Mabel finished speaking, Aleah started to walk towards the door. “What am I doing here? I need to get home!” Mabel turned back around, and her face had an undertone of pity. She left the room, and closed the door behind her.
As soon as the door closed, Aleah walked over to her bed. She sat down, and immediately broke down in tears. She had no idea where she was, she was terrified, and she missed her mother. As soon as she got her sobs back under control, she immediately berated herself for crying like a baby, when she was sixteen years old. She immediately stopped crying when the little girl stirred. Aleah ran over to investigate. She put her hand on the little girl's shoulder, and in the blink of an eye, a wicked blade was under her chin. The little girl had grabbed a dagger off the nightstand. When she saw what she was holding, the little girl hastily dropped the dagger.
“I’m so sorry! I, just, um, reflexes.” The words tumbled from her mouth in a matter of seconds. Aleah recovered from her shock. “It’s alright. I shouldn’t have approached you so fast. I’m Aleah Wilson.”
“I’m Alice Bakers. Do you know where we are?”
“No. I’m sorry.What happened there?” Aleah pointed at the scar running down Alice’s face. Alice reached up and touched her face. “A hawk attacked me before I was rescued.”
The two girls were so deep in conversation, that they didn’t notice the door opening until the boy who had walked in was standing behind Alice. “Just dropping some things off from Ed. He wants you to come down to dinner after you get cleaned up. I’m Levi by the way.” Levi ran his hands through his tousled blonde hair. As soon as he set the things he was holding down, he left and closed the door with a click.
Alice got up to see what was in the pile of things Levi had dropped off. They seemed to be separated into two different stacks. Alice pulled off the card from the top, and read it out loud. “Dear girls, I understand you probably are not very comfortable with your surroundings. I will explain everything at dinner. In the meantime, I had Mabel prepare some fresh clothes and towels for you. The first part of the pile is for Alice, and the second part for Aleah. The bathroom is in the second door to the left in the hallway. Sincerely, Ed Peterson.” Alice separated the piles and handed Aleah hers. Alice left to find the bathroom without a word.
As soon as everything was silent, Aleah’s head started spinning. She was completely overwhelmed. She had been kidnapped, knocked unconscious, fell hundreds of feet in a truck, seen a woman burst into fire, and been told she had been told by a crazy man she had powers. She had never thought she was anyone special, and she didn’t have any clue where she was. She had no way to contact her parents.
Aleah was just about to burst into tears again, when Alice walked back in. Alice had cleaned up very well. Her long brown hair was brushed to perfection, and her ratty t-shirt and jeans had been replaced with a knee length floral dress and fabric pants. Alice sat down on her bed without a word and nodded towards the door. Aleah took the clue and went to find the bathroom.
The shower cleared Aleah’s head. She had found her favorite sweatshirt and jeans in the pile of things. Aleah pulled the sweatshirt over her tank top and marveled at the fact it was here. She had no idea where Ed had managed to get it from. When she had her sweatshirt on, she had a strange sense of security. She almost felt normal again. When Aleah went back to her room, she saw Alice had already gone downstairs. Aleah dumped her stuff on her bed. Now all she had to do was muster up enough courage to go downstairs.
Aleah stood at the top of the stairs. She ran her hand over the smooth wood while she fidgeted with her sweatshirt string. Her lips were pink from her nervous habit of biting them. Eventually, Aleah took a deep breath and started down. As she walked, she tried to think of what to say. She had so many questions that she was completely distracted. On the fifth stair from the bottom, Aleah stepped too far and tumbled down the stairs. She winced in pain and exhaled sharply as she landed on her tailbone.
Everyone stared at her as she entered. Aleah turned around and realized the stairs were visible from the dining room. Her face flushed bright pink. Ed, who was sitting at the end of the table opposite of Aleah gestured to a seat right next to him. “Come sit down my darling, you must be famished. We have a lovely dinner prepared by yours truly.” As Ed finished speaking, he did a half-bow. Aleah started towards the chair he had indicated, and glanced around the room. Ed was sitting on one end of the rectangular table, with Mabel directly across from him. Levi and the two other girls sat on one side, with Alice in between two empty seats across from the teenagers.
When Aleah reached her seat, she knocked her napkin off of the table. “S-Sorry!” she stuttered nervously. Ed waved his hand dismissively and went back to attacking his food. Aleah reluctantly took a seat and looked down at her plate. A fresh croissant roll was sitting next to a heap of mashed potatoes and asparagus. The smell was so enticing, that after a few seconds, Aleah dug right in. She hadn’t noticed how hungry she was until she started eating. That made sense, as she hadn’t eaten all day. She still felt bad when she finished before everyone else. Aleah sat uncomfortably in the silence, occasionally looking up to see if anybody else was done.
At last, after what felt like an eternity, everyone had finished. Mabel spoke first, which seemed to surprise Ed. “I guess we should get the formalities out of the way,” she said. “So, as you all know, I am Mabel.” She glared pointedly at the dark-haired girl sitting next to her. The girl realized Mabel was talking to her.
“Oh, right,” she said. “I am Evangeline Stevensons. You can call me Eve, but if anyone dares to call me Evie, I will punch you.” Levi rubbed his arm as if remembering a time he had called her Evie. He opened his mouth to speak, but didn’t manage to say anything, as a massive ruckus erupted outside.
A beautiful brightly feathered woman burst through the door with a boy in her claws. Mabel ran towards the harpy. “Hyllith! Is that the sixth child?” The other harpy gently propped the boy against the wall and took a second to respond. “I do believe so. Xyla and her hawks followed me. Maeira, I don’t have enough strength.” Mabel nodded and shed her coat, revealing two owlish wings. She rushed out of the door and took flight so quickly that Aleah couldn’t process what had just happened. She stumbled back, eyes wide, right into Levi’s arms. He chuckled and helped her stand up. Hyllith vanished, leaving a single blue feather on the carpet. Ed sighed and walked off.
It soon became clear that Evangeline knew the most about first aid. Ed just stood there with a bewildered expression on his face, handing her bandages, and for no apparent reason, a screwdriver. Eve took the screwdriver and shook her head.
“Um...Ed? You gave me a screwdriver,” she indicated. “Oh yes, how did that get there? I’m sorry Eve. I might be a little more useful elsewhere. I suppose I must tell you why you are here Aleah. Please follow me,’’ Ed murmured, and then went up the stairs.
The young boy was given a temporary room on the second floor, and after overseeing the process, Ed led Aleah to a room that was presumably his. His perfectly neat room did not match his scatterbrained personality. He pulled an ornately carved wooden box from his dresser, and took a scroll of parchment from it.
“Six children shall hold power beyond explanation,
They shall defeat the queen of the sky,
But will face challenges that only the bravest will pass,
And one shall not survive.
Bonds will be tested,
Lives will be threatened,
An unlikely ally will come into light when least expected.”
Ed took a look at everyone. “Now the only thing I need to ask,” he said, “Is will you be the ones to complete the prophecy?”
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