I remember walking through darkness following the sounds of my parents' voices calling out for me. I found myself standing in front of the doors that led to the ballroom. I knew what I would see if I walked in, so I turned around and tried to run away, but my feet were stuck to the ground. I looked down to see blood everywhere. I followed the trace until my eyes landed on the source, my parents' lifeless bodies.
I immediately woke up and I couldn't stop crying no matter how hard I tried to stop. My weeping woke Joan up, and she held me in her arms until I fell back asleep, but I don't remember what I dreamed about after that. We spent a month with John and Sarah and by that time, Donatello was practically back to perfect health and we were preparing to leave for Ceres in the following week.
Nathaniel and I were taught how to do basic chores like sweeping floors and even washing clothes, and once a week, John would prepare a bonfire, and we'd spend our evening there. One night, John asked me about what happened at the ball and if anything seemed off. I wasn't sure what he meant until he mentioned how George tried to kill me and Nathaniel. It was then that I remember the scene of George about to harm us and one striking detail that stood out to me: his eyes.
I mentioned how I saw a gloss over his eyes with a red reflection, and we all turned to him to see if it was still there, but it wasn't. John told us how he heard rumors about sorcery being behind that night's events. He said that it was the only plausible reason that he could come up with, and told us about the only person he knew who could help us, a warlock named Merlin.
Donatello asked him why he waited to tell us and he took out a map and showed it to us. It was a map of Pasiphae, except it had no cities, just natural features and a giant X on a plain. He told us that the map could lead us to Merlin. When he was about to tell us how to get to the X, we heard the warning bell John had put in the forest. Soldiers were on their way.