"The fact is that we have no way of knowing if the person who we think we are is at the core of our being. Are you a decent girl with the potential to someday become an evil monster, or are you an evil monster that thinks it's a decent girl?"

- Derek Landy.

Prologue: Ecaterina

12 Years Prior

It was the beginning of spring, and it was truly beginning to look beautiful in the environment surrounding six year old Cat Ambrosius. Her mother had finally let her go outside after her lessons were finished for the day, and she immediately took advantage of it. She ran into her bedroom and slipped on her favorite tutu, and her colorful tank top to match it. She then slipped on her play shoes and ran back out of her bedroom, making her way towards the door before her mother stopped her.

"Remember what I said, baby. Stay close to the house." Stefani Ambrosius said. Cat nodded quickly and got out of her mom's grip.

"I know mommy!" She said, running towards the door again. She opened it and ran out of the little cottage, making her way towards the rural meadow that a couple of feet away.

Stefani walked over to the window and watched her daughter play alone in the fields, with a huge smile on her face. Oh, how she wished she could go back to the days where she was carefree, and not fearing for the life of hers or her loved ones. She watched Cat pick up a dead flower and moved her fingers around it, instantly bringing it back to life. The brownish sunflower suddenly turned back to its lively yellow color, and Cat cheered happily, twirling around in circles. Cat continued to twirl around in circles, humming a tune out loud that Stefani couldn't figure out. She finally fell to the grass after becoming dizzy from spinning, and began laughing. Stefani sighed with relief and walked back to her kitchen, taking out pots and pans to prepare for dinner.

It had came suddenly, but the skies above Cat went from being bright, blue and clear, to gray and cloudy. The gray didn't stay for long, and the sky began turning into a black-purplish color. Cat stood up slowly and looked up, trying to figure out what was about to happen. It was no longer a little breeze, now the wind was beginning to blow ferociously, to the point where she felt like she was going to fly away. Some of the sunflowers in the field flew off of its sturdy stems, hitting Cat across the face.

"Caterina!" She heard Stefani call out frantically from the front door step. Cat whipped her head around and saw her mother beckoning her to come. She began running towards the house, when she stumbled and almost fell on her face. When she finally got to the house, Stefani picked her up and walked inside of the house quickly, slamming the door shut behind them and locking it.

"Mommy, what's going on?" Cat asked innocently.

"Let's go, baby. I have to pack your things." Stefani answered, taking her towards her bedroom.

"Pack for what? Are we leaving?" Cat asked. Stefani didn't answer right away, she continued taking out multiple outfits and underwear for Cat and stuffing it in one of her bags. Cat looked out of the window and saw lightning in the sky, and looked back at her mother, who was still focused on packing her things.

"Mommy why are you packing my things?" Cat asked again.

"It's...it's time for you to go baby." Stefani answered.

"Go where? Where am I going?" Cat said. The remaining light that was coming from outside began to fade away slowly, as a thick black fog began surrounding the house.

"Shit, they found us..." Stefani muttered nervously as she looked around for anything else valuable.

"Mommy you said a bad word." Cat said.

"I'm sorry...I have to get you out of here baby." Stefani stopped packing momentarily and kneeled down to Cat's level, placing her hands on her shoulders.

"Some very bad people are on their way here to try and take you away. You gotta promise you'll never let them catch you." Stefani said.

"What about you? Are you coming with me?" Cat asked.

"I..." Stefani couldn't answer.

"Mommy? You're coming with me, right?"

The sound of something banging against their front door caused both of them to jump, and Stefani immediately picked up Cat again, running out of her bedroom and taking her to their closet near their bathroom. Stefani opened the door and blasted the wall of the closet, causing it to break apart. The hole lead to the outside of the house, and Stefani put her back down.

"You have to go, Cat." Stefani pleaded.

"Go where? Mommy what's going on?" Cat began to cry.

"Caterina, please just listen to me. I've taught you a lot, but I haven't taught or told you everything about your self. You have to make sure the bad people don't take you away. You run from them, or you fight them. And you aren't strong enough yet to control your true powers to fight them. You have to run until you find somewhere safe, okay?" Stefani whispered, which was followed by another loud bang on their front door.

"O-Okay..." Cat was still crying.

"And you may not remember everything I taught you, but please remember this. You are not a monster. No matter what anybody says, you are not a monster. You didn't chose to be like this..." Stefani cast a spell over her, and Cat suddenly felt lightheaded.

"Go, baby. I love you so much, and I'm sorry. I really am. I thought we were safe...go straight through the Jacore Forest. When you get out, there should be a little town on the other side. I cast an emergency navigation spell on you, and good friends of mine who lives in the town is going to find you. I want you to stay with them, okay?" Stefani finished, and Cat nodded in agreement.

Stefani hugged her daughter, and Cat got on her knees to crawl out of the hole. Once she was out, Cat turned around and looked at her mother one more time, tears falling from her face. Stefani blew a kiss and mouthed "I love you", before turning around and walking out of the closet. Cat put her backpack around her shoulders, and immediately began running towards the forest behind the house, through the black fog.

Back in the cottage, Stefani placed a magic shield around the entire house, but it was immediately shattered by the last, and loudest bang on her front door, causing it to break entirely. A group of people suddenly ran in and surrounded her. Two more men walked inside, purposely knocking one of her glass cups on the ground.

"Hello Stefani." One of the men, who was dressed in a black cloak said.

"Rin." Was all Stefani said back.

"Where is she?" Rin asked.

"She's gone." Stefani answered.

"Aw, really? You're seriously not going to let me get to her. What a shame, I mean she is my own daughter."

"Stop talking like you want to take care of her, because you haven't been in her life for six years. All you want is her power. But Cat is gone, and I'll be damned if I let you capture her." Stefani said.

"Are you threatening me, woman? You don't remember almost being crushed by me when Ecaterina was in your womb?!" Rin warned her. "I only spared your life for hers."

"You only spared my life because you foresaw the great power Cat is going to obtain." Stefani sneered. "You're not getting her."

"If I don't, my son will eventually find her. As soon as he finds out his baby sister has entered the world, he will soon hunt for the Princess of Death."

Stefani's heart ached at that name. The horrid name that the magic world had already dubbed her baby girl. It was monstrous, and Cat was far from a monster. The spell Stefani had placed on her daughter when she was born had prevented Cat from even experiencing an inkling of that evil power. But, if the wrong person got a hold of her, that spell would be shattered, and Cat would turn into an unstoppable, powerful evil entity.

"My daughter is not a monster. It is not her fault she was born with that, and I refuse to make her experience that kind of destructive power. As long as I'm living and breathing, it will not happen." Stefani said.

"Oh? Do you want me to arrange a quick funeral for you?" A black sphere began forming around Rin's hand.

"You can try." Stefani said, as a similar white sphere began forming around hers.

"All of you." Rin turned to his subordinates. "Go into the Jacore Forest to find my daughter. Search every piece of of greenery. Now!"

The rest of the men in the house suddenly ran out, and ran towards the dark forest behind the cottage. Stefani swallowed hard and closed her eyes, praying silently. Please let my daughter be safe. Do not let them find her.

"Once I kill you and find her, it'll all be over. Ecaterina will finally be with her daddy." Rin said, charging towards her.

"Over my dead body." Stefani spat, charging towards him as well.

"Find her! Rin does not want us to come back empty handed!"

Cat crawled into a small hole under a fallen tree and hid there, breathing heavily. She was confused, scared for her life, cold and hungry. Her little body shivered violently as she tried to warm up her hands by breathing into them. The sounds of footsteps around her continued, as the unknown continued to look for her.

"She's not here...where the hell could she be?" One voice said.

"Who knows, there is no way out of this forest. She's probably dead already." Another voice said.

"A little six year old girl in a dark forest like this? Yeah, she's definitely beasts' dinner. Let's go back."

"If the boss finds out we don't have her, he'll be upset."

"Well then he should've told us to go after her as soon as he entered the house. Come on."

Cat held her breath until she heard the footsteps eventually fade away, and stop all together. They're gone...she thought as she slowly crawled out of the hole. She stood up and looked around, seeing nothing but darkness around her.

"L-light make..." Cat shivered. "Luminate."

Her body suddenly lit up a bright, white color, and it suddenly wasn't dark around her anymore. The navigation spell her mother had put on her made her go a certain way, and she followed it. It had felt like she was walking for hours, and her little legs were starting to hurt bad. Her stomach growled loudly, and she was still dirty from crawling on the ground. To make matters worse, it had started raining, and she had began to get wet. Mommy...where am I? I'm so cold...she thought as tears welled up in her eyes again.

Another two hours passed, and Cat felt like she was going to pass out. She stumbled over a tree branch and fell flat on her face. The sinking, muddy and wet ground felt nasty under her, but she was too exhausted to move. I can't...stop...gotta keep moving...like mommy said...she thought as she began crawling forward. She didn't get too far before she finally saw an opening, a clearing. The lights from the town not too far ahead made her smile weakly, she was finally out of that dark forest. The Luminate magic she was using to light up her body began to slowly fade as she made her way out of the forest.

"I'm...out..." She squeaked, before passing out.

"This has to be her...looks how big she's gotten! She's so cute..."

"She looks like a mixture of both of them, unfortunately.."

"Yeah but she looks more like Stefani. Come on Macobe, let's bring her home. It must be time."

"Right."

Cat opened her eyes and saw that she was in a bedroom. It wasn't hers...which meant that everything that happened the night before was not a dream. Two people, an older man and woman, were looking down at her. The woman had a sweet smile on her face, and the man wore a stern expression.

"Thank goodness, you're finally awake." The woman said, caressing her face. "Are you okay, Cat?"

"W-Where am I?" Cat squeaked.

"You're safe." The man said.

"My...my mommy..." Cat trailed off.

"Your mommy made sure you were absolutely safe before she sent you off. She didn't want the bad people catching you, so she wants you to stay with us." The woman said.

"Is she okay?" Cat asked.

The woman sighed and looked down, and the man spoke up quickly.

"S-She's fine. I know it's hard for you to understand Cat, but your mom did what was best. You'll see her again someday, okay? Don't worry." He said.

"Uh-okay..." Cat said, still confused about everything that was happening.

"I'm Celia, and this is Macobe." The woman said, introducing herself and the man.

"Ecaterina." Cat said almost immediately, causing both of them to chuckle.

"We know exactly who you are, baby girl." Celia said. "We're very good friends with your mom. We haven't seen you since you were born...you look just like her. Beautiful."

"Thank you, ma'am." Cat said.

"So polite." Macobe smiled, roughing up Cat's hair. "Stefani taught you good manners."

"Are you hungry, Cat? I got some lunch being made, it should be done in about 10 minutes."

"Yes please?"

"Alrighty. I'll go check on it." Celia said, standing up and walking out of the room.

"I'll let you get a little more rest before lunch is ready." Macobe smiled and left out of the room as well.

Cat had tons of questions, but all she wanted to do is go back to sleep. She laid back on the huge bed and closed her eyes.

Everything is okay. You're safe now baby girl.

Cat opened her eyes back up again and looked around. The room was still empty, but she could have sworn she heard a voice. Her mother's voice.

"M-Mommy?" She called out.

Yes, I'm talking to you in your head baby. Lay down, get some rest. I'm okay. I want you to listen to everything Macobe and Celia says, okay? They're going to take care of you, and keep you safe for now on.

"Okay." She whispered.

Remember what I said Caterina. You are not a monster, no matter what anybody says, you understandme?

"Yes ma'am..." Cat whispered as she drifted off to sleep again.

Ecaterina (E-ca-ter-ina): Romanian form of Greek Aikaterine, meaning "pure."