Chapter 3: The mystery of the Darranoi
She woke up as if war had been declared or sleeping had become a dangerous activity. Her heart was beating erratically and her brain was buzzing uncontrollably.
"Ever." She heard Julian's voice, "Queen Angel, Ever's awake."
She slightly turned her head to find her mother, the woman whom she respected the most. Queen Angel was sitting on the right side of the bed, upon seeing Ever awake she came closer to her.
She grasped Ever's hand between her own, "Do you feel any better?" She asked.
Ever nodded, taking a deep breath.
"I was scared. Don't ever leave the palace without soldiers." Ever nodded at her words, "Will you be able to join us for Lunch?" Queen Angel asked.
Ever nodded again.
"Ever-" Queen Angel began to say something serious but Julian interrupted her.
"What if we leave her to rest?" Julian suggested, standing up from the stool he was previously sitting on.
"Hm, okay." Queen said and kissed Ever's forehead, "Let's talk at Lunch."
Both Julian and Queen Angel exited the room, leaving Ever alone to think about what had happened. Without crumbling her expectations Julian reappeared, returning at the exact time Ever had anticipated.
He closed the door and came to Ever hiding something inside his bluish black coat.
He sat on the bed and uncovered the object he was hiding. It was a bowl of grilled chicken. Although the members of the royal family were prohibited to eat meat, Ever ate it secretly, especially when she felt weak and lonely. Ever was the perfect royal daughter in everyone's eyes, they believed she was perfect; ordinary parents put her on a pedestal for their children to look up to. Fortunately, nobody knew that she was breaking the law. The only person who had knowledge of her secrets was Julian, he was the only person she trusted.
Julian placed the bowl on the wooden table near the bed, supporting Ever as she hoisted herself in an upright position on the bed as he offered the bowl to her. After Ever consumed the first piece, Julian took a piece for himself. It was a habit he had never escaped, he always waited for Ever to go first before proceeding with anything himself.
"Thank you." She whispered while eating.
"What happened at the river?" Julian asked.
Ever placed the bowl in Julian's lap and took a deep breath to narrate the story to her best friend.
"The voices called me to the river."
"What voices?"
"I don't know. It was a revolting female voice."
"Then?" Julian urged her.
"She said that I did something to her and wanted me to help her."
"What did you do?" Julian asked, raising his thick brown eyebrows.
"I don't know. Then it persuaded me to jump into the water. I don't know what the hell happened to me. I was about to jump into the water but luckily a Fire child caught me and then the river flooded."
Julian laughed bitterly as if he remembered something that made him utterly jealous.
"Why are you laughing?" Ever asked, taking a chicken leg out of the bowl.
"You both were acting like lovers." He smiled again, jealousy filling within him.
"What?" Ever exploded with laughter.
"He was holding you in his arms, you were wrapped around his body and when he placed you on the bed you were like 'Don't leave me Cael'."
"What? I said that?"
"No, you didn't say that but you were acting like that. You were holding him so tightly."
Ever laughed, nudging Julian, "You're jealous."
"I'm not. Why would I be jealous?" He said, his face redder than an Angelic apple.
"Maybe because you're my best friend?" She suggested, placing her head on Julian's shoulder which was her favorite resting place.
"Best friends don't get jealous." He protested.
"Then what is it?" She said with a huge smile on her face, "Are you in love with me?"
There was silence. Ever expected Julian to respond to her joke with a joke as well, but Julian did not, "Julian?" She urged him, clearly curious as to why he was behaving odd.
"Hmm."
"Answer me." She ordered, lifting her head off his shoulder and looking into his eyes.
"What do you think?" He asked.
She smiled confidently, "You don't love me like that. I already know that Julian."
"How do you know that?" He asked, avoiding her eyes.
"Because." She paused to find an answer for his question but she was unable to.
"Ever." Julian put his hand around Ever's shoulder and yanked her closer to him. He then continued, "You can't just look into my eyes and conclude that I don't love you. You need to look into my heart and I know you will never do that."
"Julian." She placed her right hand on his cheek, "What are you talking about?"
"Nothing." He said as he stood up from the bed.
Ever watched him with startled eyes, not being able to comprehend Julian's behavior.
"I need to go." He said as he walked out of the room.
"Julian stop!" She yelled after him, "Julian!" She tried again but there was no sign of Julian.
* * *
The royal kitchen was the paradise of the palace. It always smelled like heaven. The head royal cook, Marie Roosevelt was always busy with her fellow chefs, cooking the best food in the entire land. Marie was a short lady whose hair was now turning a grey. She was the wife of the Grand Councilor and the mother of Julian and Cedric.
However, today there was a stranger in the kitchen. She was tall and slender with long blonde hair flowing through down her back as straight as an arrow. She was dressed in a blue colored satin gown which matched perfectly with her sky blue eyes. She was the second child of the Air family, Basilia Angel Air.
The kitchen was engulfed with the scent of chocolate. They were baking chocolate cakes and Basilia was helping them; she was an excellent cook.
They were tasked with the responsibility of making hundred small round chocolate cakes. After pouring the cake mixture into several round shaped containers they placed them into the colossal wooden oven. All that was left to do was wait until the timer on the oven dinged, indicating that the cakes were baked.
Marie took a small notebook and started lettering a list with her pen. After she finished the writing the list, she read it aloud.
"Sixteen cakes for the royal families, my lady can you give it to them?" She said, looking at Basilia.
"I will Marie." Basilia replied while sipping her wine.
"Twenty cakes for the councilors. I'll give those to them. One cake for Julian, I'll give that too. And another twenty cakes for the sailors, Richard will come to take those. All we have to do is pack them. Gosra you are in charge of packaging."
"I will Marie."
"Thirty for the army and then thirty more for all the other workers and staff in the palace, Jane take care of it with the rest."
"I will." Jane said.
"And the rest are for us."
Everyone clapped and cheered for their hard work.
"Your highness, it's a pleasure to work with you." Marie said to Basilia.
"Same for me, I love working with all of you." Basilia replied, taking another sip from her wine glass.
There was a knock on the kitchen door.
"Can I come in?" He asked.
"Richard, come in." Said a young lady who was sitting next to Marie.
Richard came into the kitchen. Basilia turned to look at the man. Her heart leapt from her chest, he was the solider who stole her heart at the parade.
"Hello everyone." He said and suddenly noticed Basilia's presence.
He bowed down to her, "My lady."
She just smiled and avoided speaking.
"The cakes will be ready with few minutes." Marie said.
"Richard, you're become more skinny." Another young maid spoke.
"But he's handsome as always," Another commented.
"Oh." Richard looked embarrassed, he looked to see whether Basilia was affected by the maid's behavior but it seemed like she did not care. She was drinking wine, not paying any attention to them. But she did notice that many young maids were flirting Richard.
"Marie, shall I go to Julian and come back? I have some business to take care of." Richard said.
"Of course you can go, the cakes will be ready by then." Marie responded.
Richard walked out of the kitchen and the girls became disappointed about his leave.
Basilia stood up from her seat. "Marie, I'll too go and come back later."
They all stood and bowed to Basilia, "Okay, my lady."
Basilia walked out of the kitchen as well. Richard was walking ahead her, she wanted to go and talk to him but she felt guilty doing that for no apparent reason. Surprisingly, Richard stopped and turned back, immediately stopping her. She smiled at him and he smiled back.
"My lady." He said, bowing his head.
"Richard, right?" She said, walking toward him.
"Yes, my lady."
"I saw you at the parade, you were in the crowd." She said when she reached him.
"I saw you too, my lady." He said with a beautiful smile on his face.
"It's nice to meet you, Richard."
"It's a pleasure that I met you, my lady."
She sighed, "I'll get going then."
He bowed to her and she strolled away.
* * *
The water was thick and black. Silence overflowed through the Darranoi as Ever dived into it along with the three other Water children and Cedric. The water was strange, it smelled weak but it was still lovely. Deep down, under the water it felt like being in a different world. The water was not as clear as it was used to be. A shoal of dark hued fish and strange sea flowers decorated the sand at the depths of the Darranoi.
"Ever." The voice echoed through the water.
Her heart skipped a few beats but she continued swimming.
They swam deeper and deeper into the water. Cedric pointed to a large rock at the very depth of the riverbed. The five of them swam towards the rock. Michael reached the rock before the others, his face turning scarlet red. Ever swam even faster towards him.
There was a seemingly lifeless woman leaning on the rock. She was enormous and unconscious. Ever pointed at the woman and signaled Joseph and Peter to lift her feeble body and take her out of the water. Cedric inched closer to the woman to observe her. After he finished inspecting her Joseph and Peter lifted the woman, guiding her to dry land. Ever swam away from them along with Michael and Cedric to uncover the mystery of the Darranoi.
"Ever." The voice called again.
This time Ever was not the only one who heard it, Michael and Cedric heard it too. They all looked back.
The woman who was previously out cold was now wide awake. Peter's forehead was bleeding and Joseph had made a water lock around the woman to confine her.
"Ever." She shouted and cackled loudly.
It was the same voice that made Ever insane yesterday. Was she the one who had called her, who had asked her to jump into the water, who had cursed her?
The gigantic woman laughed again which made Joseph tighten his water lock on her. Her face expressed the pain she was in due to the lock. She gazed into Joseph's eyes and purred, "Joseph."
Joseph's eyes instantly filled with darkness, they became black. He loosed the lock and swam closer to the woman. He put his hands around her and she began kissing his lips passionately. Likewise, both Peter and Michael's ocean blue eyes turned dark, hypnotized by the woman as they too swam towards her; groping and kissing her.
"Cedric." The woman lured him.
He was stunned by her as well and began to swim towards the wicked woman but Ever gripped his arm to stop him. The darkness disappeared and light overtook him. However, Cedric still had not come back to reality. Ever gripped him and swam towards the woman, dragging Cedric with her.
The woman was enjoying herself with the Water boys and did not seem to care about losing Cedric from her spell. Ever created an air bubble around her and Cedric so she could speak under water.
"Who are you?" Ever asked.
The woman ignored her; preoccupied with kissing young Peter.
Ever created a hand which was made of water and dragged Peter into the air bubble. The darkness in Peter's eyes slowly began to fade. The woman was enraged; she yanked Michael into her arms and threw him into the air bubble, her anger was like a poisoned snake. Cedric who was now conscious reached to Peter and Michael, trying to wake them up. Ever created a massive water bubble and attacked the woman with it. The impact of the water bubble made the evil woman fly away with force.
"Cedric go and bring Joseph into the air bubble. I'll go find the woman." Ever ordered, swimming as fast as she could to catch the woman.
"Where are you?" Ever shouted.
"Ever." Her wretched voice called out.
Ever scanned her surroundings but there was no sign of the woman.
"Ever." She said in a taunting voice.
"Who are you?" Ever yelled with frustration.
The woman cackled wickedly, "Roop."
"Roop?" Ever asked with confusion.
"Yes, Ever." She chuckled again, "I'm the curse on Angelic."
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone