(Hi, everyone! This chapter contains a lot of violence, mention of drugs and some gore. Just in case it bothers you!)
FOUR YEARS AGO,
JANUARY, 1873.
Dear diary,
What do you do when you accidentally kill someone? I didn't mean to...it's just...he didn't return the favor. So I put an overwhelming dose of clozapine in his vodka...and I don't know what to do. He's laying on the floor...and he isn't responding. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I'm going to throw him in my pool...maybe the police will think he drowned?! I don't know. I feel like someone's watching me...maybe it's him. Maybe he's back to get his revenge. I didn't take my medications yesterday. I didn't take my antidepressants. I just heard a car come into my driveway. I think someone's here. That's not good.
She stands up from her desk, leaving her diary unattended while she peaks open the curtains in her room, her eyes scanning the car that just pulled in.
That's not mine, she thinks to herself, shutting the curtain as someone dressed in all black opens the car door.
She turns back to her desk, shutting the book before the ink from her quill could dry.
She runs down the stairs, pushing her dead date into the closet and locking it shut.
She sighs, snapping her head towards the door when a loud knock is heard.
She scrambles over, opening it.
"Oh! Harlan! I wasn't—"
"Where's my brother, Cora?!"
Cora's eyes widen. His brother, Florian, was indeed the person she just killed and shoved in her closet.
"Florian? He left—"
He grabs her by the jaw, harshly.
"Let me tell you this, Cora. I know for a fact Florian didn't leave your place for the past forty eight hours. Where the hell do you have him?!"
She looks in horror at his hand, then his angry golden brown eyes.
"I don't have him, Harlan, I don't!"
"You must! Where else could he have gone?!"
Just as Cora opens her mouth to spit out another lie, Harlan's eyes snap onto something behind her.
He slowly lets go of her jaw, leaning into her ear.
"Why didn't you tell me you had company, Cora?"
Cora was home alone. Florian was dead. Then who was there?
"Stay there."
"Why, Harlan?"
Harlan stands up straighter, giving her a look that was oddly calm for the words that came from his mouth.
"That person has a knife. They kept coming closer."
Cora's face pales as Harlan moves past her and into the house, and she clamps her eyes shut as she hears his yell of pain, a loud thump, then silence.
"Come back over here, Cora...finish him off."
She stiffly turns around, trying desperately to not cry at the sight of Harlan on the floor, dying.
"Florian...why'd you kill him?"
Harlan's twin brother, Florian, comes from the shadows, with a grin on his face along with a small container of bright red liquid.
"I know you love writing, Cora. And you ran out of that pretty red ink...I got you more."
In shaking hands, Cora takes the container of blood from Florian.
"You tried to kill me again, Cora. Why do you keep trying to get rid of me?"
She looks down at Harlan, her heart's thumping slowly rising.
"You're just a factor of my imagination...a phantom of my fears and self doubts. Why do you haunt us?"
Florian drags the knife along the fabric of Cora's dress, seeing it tear.
"Because I tried so hard to hate you, Cora. Yet I still love you."
He takes the container of blood from her hand, putting it down.
"Turn around, Cora. Face your nightmares."
His breath tickles her neck, and Cora frowns.
How is there breath...when he's dead?
She turns around, staring into the bright hazel eyes of the man she once loved, but killed in the end.
"Why do you look so real?"
Cora reaches up to touch his face despite herself, feeling the supple skin of his tanned cheek.
"Why did you kill me, Cora?"
She frowns.
"I had to protect you."
She then drops her hand, standing on her tiptoes to plant a kiss on his cheek before walking away.
"If you'd excuse me, I have to go finish my letter."
Cora ascends the stairs to the top floor, going back into her bedroom where she peels open the pages, sticky red liquid on it.
Her ink did not dry all the way.
Her letter is now ruined.
She tries to remember the events of what she put, but it would not come to her.
She drops down the letter, deciding otherwise to perhaps take a shower.
Cora pulls off her petticoat, as she feels someone's eyes on her once again.
Someone's always watching.
She ignores it completely, pulling off her slip when she hears a thump, and snaps her head around with a yelp.
Her new scarlet red ink had fallen from her dresser, its contents spilling on her rug, making some sort of pattern.
It would take a while for her to get rid of the ink.
It would take her a while to get rid of the blood.
Just as she's about to go back to what she was doing, Cora feels someone grab her delicate shoulders, dragging her backwards.
Cora flails in a fit of screams as the person bangs her head harshly into the wall, watching her go silent.
They smile down at her, and Cora's eyes start to drift shut when she sees his face. His eyes as he carves her skin with that knife.
"You're very beautiful, darling. I shall carve you with this knife like you are one of my jewels that I chisel at the jewelers."
No response.
The person frowns, dragging the knife down her face.
Cora does not respond anymore.
And the figment of her imagination disappears as well.
Cora forgot to take her medications.
*******
The next day a story was all over the newspaper of a 20 year old girl who was found dead in the upstairs room of her apartment. Her face was slit right down the middle, and her bare stomach was cut right open, anything inside of it taken.
But those organs were found not too far away from her...and when police investigated more they figured it was a suicide. Because that young girl was in the only house on the street for miles...unless it was the person they found living in her shed. His name was Florian Trinity, who denied anything to do with his brother, Harlan's disappearance, or his fiancée, Coralia Aries's death.
He seemed to be on something, and was sent to jail. A messed up note was found next to her.
It began like this:
Dear diary,
What do you do when you accidentally kill someone?
********
PRESENT DAY,
OCTOBER 15th, 1879.
(IVY'S POV)
I look up at him with wide eyes.
"W-Who are you?"
"Come with us, Ivy. We won't hurt you."
I shake my head rapidly.
"I can't do that!"
"You can, Ivy."
I look back at the girl, frowning.
"Bonnie, is that you?!"
No answer.
"Ivy? Where are you?"
Both of them tense up at Orabelle's voice, and the man grabs my arm.
"You're coming with us."
"But—"
"You're not safe with them."
******
(ASTRID'S POV)
I trot into a sort of open place, with a single, golden yellow tree.
I morph back into a human, walking towards it.
I see a figure leaning against its trunk, and slowly turn back into a wolf, stealthily approaching them.
It's a man, seemingly young with strawberry blonde hair, lightly bronzed skin, amber eyes, and freckles that dot his cheeks.
He has glasses sitting on the bridge of his nose as he writes something on a notepad, moving his head to look up.
He jumps a little, before cocking his head to the side.
"Oh. It's just a wolf."
He blinks a few times, before smiling warmly.
"Do you want to help me write my book? I can't seem to find the right descriptive words for a beautiful woman."
I walk closer, laying properly in the grass next to him.
"I've never seen such a pretty white wolf. Especially in these woods...all you see are monsters. Do you want to hear what I wrote so far?"
I turn my head, and he shrugs.
"I'll take that as a yes—hmm...what do I call you?"
He looks at me, before nodding to himself.
"Eira. I just have a nagging feeling you must be a girl...okay. So, Eira, I'll read to you what I have. On a cold, winter night, a pleasant young woman sat in front of a fire, sipping from a saccharine glass of hot chocolate. As she sipped from the glass, thoughts of all kinds drifted solemnly through her mind, like a merry go round in a carnival..."
I sit there, listening intently to what he's saying.
I stand up, trotting away.
"Eira! Where are you going? Don't leave so soon!"
I go up in a cloud of violet purple sparkles, transforming back into a woman.
I land in the grass, turning my head over my shoulder to see the man staring at me wide eyed.
"Holy...Eira, you just—you just turned into a woman...you're very pretty."
I frown.
How can he see me?!
People can't see me unless...hmm...that's weird.
I stand up, cocking my head to the side.
"You can see me?"
"I—uhh—yes! Yes I can see you!"
He looks at me in wonder from the ground, and I back away a few steps.
"Oh no! Did I scare you? I'm sorry..."
"No...it's not that..."
He looks at me and I look back at him.
"Who are you? What's your name?"
"My name is Gale. I'm a royal marshal, Miss."
"Royal marshal?"
"Yes...I come from the Noor Kingdom. With King Forrest and Princess Lilith."
"No...you must be something else...this tree wasn't always there."
"You live here, Miss? Do you need a home?"
I blink a few times.
"I do live here in the forest, yes. But where did this tree come from?!"
Gale blinks.
"I-I made it, Miss Eira."
"Astrid."
"What?"
"My name is Astrid. But Gale, tell me...how did you make that tree?"
"I don't know, Astrid. I've always been able to manipulate nature...I wanted to make this place prettier."
An elf.
He must be one of the elves but doesn't know it.
I won't tell him now. I don't want to worry the guy.
"It's very pretty."
I sit down across from him, and he looks at me in wonderment.
"How are your eyes so purple? Humans don't have that bright of an eye color. And humans don't have black hair. It's either blonde or light brown."
"I dyed my hair."
"Oh? Where do you get that?"
"Umm...far from here."
"Miss Astrid, do you want to come back with me to the castle?"
"I would...but I wouldn't be excepted by your people."
"Gale?"
I freeze at a woman's voice, and transform back into a wolf, trotting into the shadows.
Gale watches as another young woman comes in, sighing.
"There you are! I didn't know where you had gone, Gale! You must stop disappearing!"
"I'm sorry...but I met a pretty lady."
"Oh really?" The woman smiles at him. "Where? Or is she another figment of your imagination?"
"No, Wisty. She's real. She had long black hair, and very luminescent purple eyes!"
"I think I left you out here for too long."
She touches one of the leaves of the golden yellow and orange tree Gale made, cocking her head to the side.
"I wonder where this tree came from...it's very beautiful. Come on now, Gale. Lawton is waiting for us back at the castle. Apparently something went wrong with Lilith and Forrest again. Assumably a fight. I guess that's what happens with siblings."
Wisty's pale green eyes drift over to where I am, and hers twinkle.
"Woah...Gale, do you see this?"
Gale peaks over Wisty's shoulder, seeing me.
"Yes...a wolf?"
"I'm taking it...Forrest and Lilith were talking about white wolves in this forest, apparently they're human too."
She picks me up, and I frown to myself.
I move my head to Gale who looks pretty pale.
Him and Wisty walk back towards the castle that I never knew existed...and I realize the further and further I go that I have no idea what I'm getting myself into.
*******
(IVY'S POV)
Bonnie, the mystery man and I disappear into the trees, and the further and further we walk the more sick I start to feel.
Why did I leave in the first place?!
I can't seem to remember anything.
My skirt dragging along behind me.
What am I even doing?
I have to go.
I can't.
I begin to turn around when I feel a tight grip on my wrist, spinning me back around.
"No."
I continue walking, feeling as if someone's watching me.
"Watch out...they're looking for you..."
I frown at the voice, hearing a whisper echo through my skull.
Who's there?
I attempt to respond mentally, hearing a small giggle.
"I want to tell you so bad but you'll figure it out soon..."
The voice completely disappears, and I stare straight ahead, at the both of them walking, no, the three of them walking.
Who is that?
The person's head jerks over their shoulder, and I let out a small scream.
What the hell?!
A woman, with her mouth slit from ear to ear.
"I can tell you everything I saw..."
The woman's voice shakes with fear, and I stare in horror at her.
"It's angry. It will forever chase you. It's alive again. It always knows. It's watching. It's angry."
Her slit mouth stretches into a bloody grin.
"It's here."
*******
(ORABELLE'S POV)
"Guys...where the hell is she?!"
I turn to look at Emmett, Cecily, and Spencer.
Emmett shakes his head.
"She literally disappeared."
"Well we have to look for her! Emmett, Cecily and Spencer, you go that way."
Spencer makes a face.
"Why?"
"I'm going that way alone."
"That's so stupid, Ora. Someone needs to go with you."
"No. Trust me. That path is calling to me...something in it wants me to go alone."
*******
(ASTRID'S POV)
Wisty carries me past the guards of the castle who look at her funny, and Gale follows after her.
"Wisty! Wisty, where are you going?"
"To the quarters. Where Forrest should be. You go check on Lilith."
He looks at me concerned my before nodding.
"Okay...just don't hurt her!"
"Hurt who?"
"I meant the wolf. Don't hurt the wolf."
Wisty looks at me before looking at Gale suspiciously.
"Alright, Gale. After you go to Lilith please go rest. I'm worried for you."
"Whatever you say, Wisty."
******
Wisty takes me up a flight of stairs, and past a bunch of maids.
"Wisty! Why do you have a wolf in the palace? If His Highness sees that he'll kill you!"
"Fear not, Mallory. His Highness would do no such thing to his royal consort."
Mallory's eyes widen and Wisty walks past her to the king's main hall, where we already know he's going to be doing something indecent.
Wisty knocks on the door three times.
"Sir? Are you in there?"
"Wisty! I am busy! What is it you need of me?"
"I need to come in for a moment."
"Very well. Come in."
Wisty opens the door, gasping a little.
"Oh dear! This is a sight I wish not to have seen!"
A few of Forrest's dancers pull back on there clothes hurriedly, scrambling past Wisty and out the door.
"Oh my goodness. Dancers, not prostitutes!"
"They get payed some gold coins, Wisty. Some that you'd get if you agreed."
"I agreed to be a royal consort, not a little plaything, your majesty."
Forrest's pine green eyes snap on Wisty's, then me.
"Why do you have a wild animal in this palace?!"
"I believe this wolf isn't just a wolf...do you see its eyes?! Normal wolves don't have purple eyes. And aren't white."
King Forrest motions that Wisty come closer and she complies, stepping closer to him.
"Don't be shy, Wisty."
Wisty sighs, stepping closer before handing me over to him.
"How is this animal supposed to be anything other than one."
"Gale is acting strange...he called the wolf a she...I believe it's a woman."
He sets me down, and I go trotting around before disappearing in a cloud of purple sparkles, reappearing in my human form. A woman.
Wisty sees me first, letting out a gasp.
"Oh my god..."
"What is it, Wist?"
Forrest moves his eyes, his jaw dropping a fraction.
"Holy hell, aren't you a cute little thing."
He grins and I frown, repulsed.
Feeling exposed, I try to pull down my slip a little.
"You must be from another world..."
Wisty blinks a few times, stepping closer.
I step away, and she sighs.
"I won't hurt you...what's your name?"
"Astrid. Not like you needed to know."
She narrows her eyes.
"Where did you come from?! How do you know Gale?! What did you do to him?!"
I hold out my hands in surrender.
"Woah, woah, woah. First of all, I did nothing to your little friend. He started talking to me and reading me his book. I just met him in the forest."
"But you didn't—"
"Wisty."
We both move our eyes over to Forrest, who's still grinning.
"You may leave now, Wisty. Let me take care of her."
"Oh, okay."
Wisty looks at me then Forrest, disappearing out the door.
Once the door shuts, I get a tight feeling in my chest.
He is not good.
"Come closer, Astrid. I won't bite."
I step away from the corner, walking close enough to him that he'd be able to reach out and grab me.
"Have you ever kissed someone, Astrid?"
"Umm...what?"
"Have you kissed someone? Have you ever done anything for say, impure?"
I shake my head slowly.
"None of that, sir. I'm a maiden wolf."
"Maiden wolf, huh? I would think otherwise of you in that scanty little petticoat."
I follow his eyes down, and cross my arms over my chest awkwardly.
"I didn't think so."
"Usually if I found something like this out—"
"Something like what?"
"Do not interrupt me, Astrid. If I found out that you weren't human, that you were this little wolf, I'd have you executed. But since you are quite easy on the eyes, I figured you'd be of great use to me."
"I'm not a little town wench that you can use as your toy."
"Oh really?"
His face turns stone cold.
"I'd say otherwise, darling. Come here."
I step a little closer, and he grabs my wrist, teleporting to another spot against the wall.
I'm now pinned there, with my hands trapped well above my head so I can't use any of my powers.
"What're you—"
"Shush, sweetheart. It won't hurt too much..."
"Don't...please!"
I rip one of my hands free, throwing an orb at him that makes him stumble backwards, eyes glowing.
"Oh, you'll pay for that you little vixen. Guards!"
Four men March inside the room, grabbing my wrists.
They drag me backwards, and my eyes expand as who I thought was King Forrest morphs into a horrible monster.
******
I wake up, bound to the wall by my wrists.
I look at my ankles, chains holding them onto the floor as well.
My bare body shivers from the cold, and I feel exposed with my petticoat torn up.
I try to yank myself from the wall, coughing.
How long have I been here?!
"It's time for execution, witch!"
I snap my eyes forward, and a man opens the door, unlocking the chains bounding me to the ground.
He yanks me up harshly, dragging me out of the cell door.
"H-How king has it been?!"
"Three days!"
I get dragged outside into a crowd of people from all over the kingdom, seeing a large pile with a fire pit underneath it.
My eyes widen, and the man basically throws me to another.
He tears my slip even more, and I let out a yelp as I'm left simply in a bra and underwear.
I get tied to the pole while people throw sticks into the fire, and I cringe as the flames lick my feet.
My eyes snap on the man standing in front of me, announcing things to the many people watching.
"Today, we hereby declare that this woman will be burned at the stake!"
Everyone starts cheering, while my eyes snap on someone pushing through the crowd.
No one pays attention, and I tune out everything else as I slowly get lowered into the fire, biting my lip in an attempt to redirect the pain from everywhere else in my frying body.
"Wait! Wait, stop this now!"
My eyes move over to a man, with strawberry blonde hair and golden yellow eyes.
Gale.
I stop getting lowered into the fire, and the man glares at Gale.
"What is it, boy?!"
"Don't kill her! As an order from the royal marshal I'm telling you to take the girl down from the stake!"
People immediately start whispering, as other people rush to put out the fire and take me down.
"But the king—"
I get thrown onto the floor, my burnt skin getting dragged across the wood in a painful burn.
"That wasn't your king! There's something extremely wrong going on in this kingdom..."
I stumble towards Gale who catches me before I fall, glaring at the other man.
"This kingdom is being taken abroad by a group of evil beings...a group of witches...who are named the Hybrids of Willow's Peak."
******