Prologue
"Aleka. Get your lazy feet downstairs!" A women's voice, sharp and bitter bounced off the white washed walls of Aleka's bedroom. Seventeen years of age Aleka was very beautiful but rather skinny for her age. She sat up on the metal framed bed and groaned. Her face was brown and smooth. Dark hair fell to her shoulders and covered her face from which beneath two green eyes glared. Standing up, Aleka hurried to her bedroom door and unbolted it. She took one last look at her bedroom before hurrying down a corridor and a flight of stairs. She reached the bottom of the winding stair and steadied herself trying to catch her breath, She looked around. She was standing in a great room, with high ceilings and polished floors. Great tapestries hung on the stone walls and candles shone in brackets on the walls. But there was no sight of-
"ALEKA! What are you doing?"
Aleka jumped. A women, graceful and slender had stormed into the room, through a door to Aleka's right. She had dark hair and her face was the mirror image of her daughter.
"Y-you told me to come downstair miss." Stammered Aleka.
"Indeed. I did. You are petty and lazy. Your chores are not finished and your father has gone hungry, waiting for his morning meal.
Aleka swallowed. "Miss I'm sorry. I was up the whole night with a fever and-"
"I would not care in the slightest if you were up all night with the measles, get your father some food and finish your chores, otherwise it'll be the strap." The women turned on her heel and marched out of the large room.
"Yes Miss." Aleka said quietly as her mother slammed the door behind her and left Aleka alone.
Aleka's Mother was born in Africa, her face dark and her skin smooth and clear. She had met her father when he was travelling around the world. Sir Thomas Wayne was born in Hampshire. He brought Aleka's mother home with him to England and moved North to Northumberland. Her Mother and Father were very rich, And with rich people came sourness and scorn. Aleka was a mistake. Thomas and Nina had never wanted a child. But Marriage has ways of placing burdens upon those who deserve them. Aleka was born, and after much fighting, both Aleka's parents decided she could stay, rather than go to an orphanage, and be a slave.
In the late 1800s slaves were an everyday thing. Aleka did not consider her parents family, but her Master and Miss'. She cleaned the house, did the cooking and slept in the smallest bedroom, on a thin mattress and under a thin, moth eaten sheet. She had no brothers or sisters and did not attend school, which brought Aleka to have no friends. Uneducated and lonely Aleka was distraut. her life was meaningless and full of misery. Aleka's life continued. Nothing changed. her back became more scarred from the blows of the belt perhaps, but nothing was different.
One morning however Aleka awoke to hear a scream. Then footsteps. Aleka frowned and slipped out of bed. Her feet were cold, but silent on the wooden floor boards and the door made no sound as it swung open. Aleka held her breath, tiptoeing through the corridor until she had reached the top of the staircase. She peered down, over the banister and gasped. Three men, tall and dark stood facing Aleka's white father. He was talking very fast, shaking.
"N-no. We met in Africa. She was a slave."
"YOU LIE!" The tallest man hit the white man on the side of the face. He crumpled to the ground, his face bleeding.
"You must believe me! We are but a harmless couple."
"Do you have children?"
"N-no. We do not have children."
The tallest man spat on the ground and wiped his brow. Aleka looked at her Father, his eyes met with hers and widened. Aleka saw the fear in his but saw something else too ...
She saw it and obeyed it. Her father was saving her. Aleka looked at her father then turned and sprinted back down the corridor. She heard a gunshot and her heart plummeted. She knew now, without a doubt that She, Aleka Wayne, was an Orphan. She reached her bedroom door, and continued on running. She reached another door and threw it open, not stopping to catch her breath. She fell down another flight of steps and yelled with pain as she hit the hard floor of the cellar. She pulled herself to her feet and swore. She could hear voices behind her. Aleka scurried to the wall of the cellar, grasped a small leaver that was concealed behind a small tapestry and pulled. There was a quite clinking and the tapestry shuddered. Aleka pulled it aside and scrambled into the small box-like compartment behind it. Moments later, holding her breath, Aleka heard footsteps an then voices.
"Sir, there's no-one here. He wasn't lying, they have no child." A man's voice, he sounded tired and worried
"No." This time a man, with a strong Scottish accent spoke. Aleka shivered in her hiding spot trying not to make a sound.
"There is some-one here in this house I know it. The fool was a liar and so was his damned wife."
"What do you want us to do Sir?" Came another voice.
"Leave the place. Lock it up. We will burn it tomorrow morning. Whoever is inside, they won't make it out alive."
"Yes sir."
The sound of footsteps then silence. Aleka did not move. She was aware that the cellar was empty, but she was too frightened to leave her hiding place. Finally after an hour Aleka slipped from beneath the tapestry and looked around the cellar. The door was locked and Aleka was trapped. Aleka looked around, the room was full of boxes of her fathers travels. Objects he had brought back with him. Aleka bit her lip, her mother had always been cruel to her, but her Father, he was ...
Aleka opened a box and looked through, pieces of paper, maps and diaries had been shoved in along with an assortment of strange looking symbols. They were made from thin metal, shaped like snakes, their tails entwining. Intrigued, Aleka took the symbols from their box and sat down laying them in-front of her on the cold floor. There were eight in total, each piece different and more exquisite than the next. Aleka looked at the pieces then realised with a start she had begun to cry. A single tear splashed onto the ornate pieces on the floor and with a shudder they flew up into the air, forming a circle. Aleka wiped her face and looked at the pieces, her mouth open. They had formed and image of a snake, but the tail was being eaten by another snake, which was being eaten by the first. Aleka, transfixed, stretched out her hand. Her fingertip made contact with the snakes head and there was a flash of white light and Aleka passed out.
Chapter one.
Aleka opened her eyes. No longer was she sitting in the cellar of her country home in Northumberland. She was lying in a wooden bed, in a room made from peoples heads. The floor was made from a strange fabric and the walls were painted purple. A door opened and a girl, around Aleka's age walked in. She saw Aleka was awake and beamed.
"Fantastic you are awake!" She exclaimed. "I thought you were in a coma or something. You were asleep for like ages." The girl was shorter than Aleka, her brown hair was straight and fell to her shoulders. She was wearing a baggy T-shirt and jeans. However Aleka had no idea what the names for these clothing were. She just sat on her bed, staring at the girl.
"What your name?" The girl asked.
"A-Aleka." Stuttered Aleka, looking at the walls.
"That's a cool name." She saw Aleka looking. "You like my posters? Pretty spiffy aye? Look at him!" The girl pretended to faint, pointing at a large picture of a man, wearing an assortment of very scruffy clothing and looking as if he had worms coming out of his head.
"Who's is that?" Aleka asked.
"Who is that? That is only Johnny Depp. I mean ..." The girl giggled, "Captain Jack sparrow."
"He looks very funny."
The girl looked at Aleka closely then said,
"My name's Dawn, I know weird. But you can call me D."
"Dawn. That is a very beautiful name." Aleka tried to smile but did not succeed. "Where am I?" Aleka asked quietly.
"You are in my house, No. 7 Daywasher Street, London."
"London?" Aleka sat bolt upright. "But I live in Northumberland, Not in London. London is a dangerous place! I must leave."
"Hay girl, calm down." Dawn frowned, pushing Aleka back into her bed. "You just need some food in you thats all. What do you mean dangerous? London isn't that dangerous, you ever been to the USA? Thats dangerous." Dawn grinned and put down a plate she was holding. "Here's some bacon and eggs. I hope you eat meat."
"Meat? I have never tried. It was too expensive for my Father to buy enough for me." Aleka swallowed, she had not thought about her father since she had awoken.
"You haven't tried?" Dawn raised her eyebrows. "Where are you from Aleka?"
"I don't know, I was sitting in our celler in Northumberland when I came here."
"We found you on the street Aleka, half dead among the gutter."
"The gutter?"
"Yes. Anyway Aleka, I have to go to school, But you eat that and I'll see you later." Dawn smiled, picked up a backpack and left the room.
School? That's amazing. She is one of those rich family's who get their children educated. Aleka stood up and walked over to a mirror. It was only now she realised the difference between her and Dawn's appearance. Dawn had been wearing baggy clothing, yet Aleka could see it was not because of lack of money ... Dawn chose to dress like that. Aleka was wearing plain white dress, it was long and pretty, but thin as Aleka's mother hated to see anything decent wasted on her daughter. Aleka clenched her jaw and strode to Dawns wardrobe. Slowly she opened it and looked inside. Aleka was astounded, fantastic amounts of clothing were hanging inside this wardrobe. She picked out a pair of jeans and a shirt and ripped off her own dress. She pulled on the jeans and the shirt, Aleka felt very strange in the tightly fitting clothes, compared with her loose dress, and looked in the mirror. She looked like Dawn now. Aleka smiled and turned around. The room was a mess. Aleka had nothing to do ...
"Woah Aleka. You've been busy!" Dawn had dropped her backpack on her bed and stared at her room. It was spotless. Aleka, by now, had grown accustomed to Dawns speaking, it was more casual than Aleka, and she had been practising all day, trying to loosen hers up a bit.
"It's cool. I was unoccupied, so i decided to help." Aleka shrugged.
"Well thanks Aleka, that means we can go out and meet some of my boys, instead of tiding my room!"
"Boys?"
"My mates, friends, you know?"
"Yeah .. Sure!" Aleka smiled and then said, "I took some of your clothes is that all-right?"
"Ha, feel free to wear whatever you find in there, we are about the same size anyway?" She grinned,
"But before we go out, you need to meet my mum, and we need to find out where you are from."
"Yes your .. mum." Aleka tried the word and smiled, it made the person 'mother' seem a nicer, kinder person.
"She'll be back at five, so we have a couple of hours to spare, so tell me where, and when you were born."
"I was born in Northumberland in 1878, I am seventeen years of a-"
"What? 1878, Aleka that's not possible."
"Why not?" Aleka frowned.
"Well, because we're in 2006 now."
Aleka shook her head. "T-thats not possible!"
"Well it is .. here." Dawn pulled a newspaper from her dustbin and handed it to Aleka."
Aleka blinked.
"See. There." Dawn pointed to a small date in the right hand corner of the newspaper.
Aleka hung her head.
"Whats the matter Aleka?" Dawn asked, frowning.
"I can't read."
If anything made Dawn believe that Aleka came from the 1800s it was this.
"Y-you can't read Aleka?"
"No, my parents couldn't afford ..."
"Afford? But school is free ..." Dawn jumped up.
"Shit Aleka you really are telling the truth! Either that or amnesia ..."
"I am telling the truth."
Dawn was biting her lip.
"Oh my god I am in so much trouble. Your date of birth isn't registered here. You are seventeen you said?"
"Yes."
"OK I need to call my mum, she will never believe me though, So i'll just say that your and orphan. OK?"
"I am an orphan. Both my parents were shot dead before I came here." Aleka looked up at Dawn, who had frozen at the door.
"Oh Aleka , I'm so sorry!"
Its ... Cool, they made me there slave."
"OK enough info girl, I'm going to call my mum, before I pass out." She shook her head then sprinted out of the room. Aleka paused, looking after Dawn, then followed. She pushed open the bedroom door and stepped out into a brightly lit corridor. Aleka looked up and saw a sky light, blue sky glittering above. She looked to see where Aleka had got too. She opened a door and walked into a room. There was a bed in one corner and a television and desk in the other. On the bed, watching the television was a boy, slightly older than Aleka himself, wearing black jeans and heavy eye makeup. He saw Aleka and his eyes widened. Aleka herself was stunned at the boys appearance, his hair was black and straight, his eyes though obscured by makeup, were grey and kind.
"Hey. Are you one of Dawn's friends?" The boy switched the television off. Aleka was staring at the television, her eyes wide.
"Hello?" The boy sat up on his bed and raised his eyebrows.
"Yes." Said Aleka, not taking her eyes from the television screen.
"I haven't seen you before. Are you that friend from Greece that was going to come for the holidays?"
"Greece? No, I was born in Northumberland"
"Oh OK, sweet."
The door swung open.
"Aleka. There you are!"
"Hi dawn. Sorry I was just talking to you ... brother?"
"Yeah he's my brother, if thats what you want to call him."
Dawns brother made a rude hand gesture and smiled at Aleka.
"Nice to meet you. Im Scott."
"Hey Sco-"
But Aleka was dragged off by Dawn, who slammed the door behind her.
"He was nice." Aleka said.
"He was just flirting with you Aleka."
"What's flirting?"
"Oh god. Never-mind."
"What did your Mum say?" Aleka asked.
"Well ... She said we can take you to the Orphanage ..."
Aleka's smile vanished.
"And Adopt you!!" Finished Dawn, grinning.
"But she hasn't even met me." Aleka said, frowning.
"So? We're laid back people. Come with me, we need to get ready."