Anderlecht, Belgium: 12th July 2010
Resisting the urge to wretch and have her limited breakfast make a reappearance, Liana swallowed back the rising lump, a shaking hand falling to the barely noticeable incline of her stomach. It wouldn't be invisible soon, she mused with a weary dread. Already her coven was noticing her daily, now routine vomiting and her adverse to certain food. It had already started rumours. A child born to one of the most powerful was always sacrificed for more coven power. It was a practice she had upheld, an inhumane one, a one where the elders made sure that no child would reach term and take a breath upon this earth, at least the firstborn. It was what made her coven such a disgrace, such a horrific traditional blend of witches, but it was also what made them the strongest and most powerful.
Liana felt sick once more, this time the urge even more powerful as she leant over the white toilet bowl and heaved, tears leaking from her eyes and down her cheeks. This child brought a new outlook to her life. It was innocent, and with how sick she was, it was healthy, that was definitely sure. A hand wiped shakily across her mouth. She couldn't allow them to steal its life away from it.
Squeezing her eyes shut, her mind reached a conclusion that so many others in her position had done so before. Run away, her mind whispered to her heart. It was difficult to do. She would most certainly be detained before the gates if she took a vehicle. They would see her travel bags and question her motives, and then her secret would be found. It was deadly to lie, an offence almost always punishable by imprisonment in the dungeons that resided under the towers, an impenetrable, formidable structure dating back to ancient times. It had lived through countless battles, and yet, those horrific spirals still stood proud to this day.
Clambering to her feet, she inhaled softly. "If that is what I must do, then I must," she murmured to herself, her mind hardening as she whirled around, moving back towards her bedroom on shaky legs. There were the crumbling tunnels, off limits to all due to their fragile nature, the castle being held up through the magic of the coven. She snatched the rucksack off the top of her wardrobe. It was empty, having never been used.
In a state of madness, she waved her hand towards her drawers, towards where she knew her wallet to be. It came flying out towards her, it barren of anything but a few fake ID cards and around four hundred euros. Another move of her hand brought out a small wooden box from under her lumpy mattress. It contained everything. Her entire life in one small box. She pulled out her locket, the only piece of her murdered mother that she had left. She pulled out the thick wad of notes she had been saving since she was eight; a total of around nineteen-hundred euros. Hopefully that would be enough to buy her the cheapest ticket to America. She had a few allies there, friends made from passing ways, people she could hopefully lean on for a few months that would help her hide until the birth.
Her eyes drifted down to her flat abdomen. It wouldn't be flat for long. She knew that within eight weeks it would swell and show the child inside. It scared her. They would kill both of them when they found her. Having been present at such executions in her seventeen years of life, it wasn't a pleasant ordeal, hearing the countless women plead for their lives before the elders cast the magic from them up into the collective bowl of the magic they drew upon. The bloodstained floors were difficult to clean afterwards, even with magic.
Liana swallowed thickly before she snatched the bag upwards, her eyes watering as she glanced around the room she had called home and her own for all of her seventeen years. It would, hopefully, be the last time she would see it. Her green eyes drifted over the threadbare carpet, the worn and lovingly used bed sheets and the chipped and worn wardrobe that still stood as mightily proud as it did when she was given it at just the age of three.
Before she could change her mind, she stumbled out of the room, concealing her backpack with the quick use of magic before she began to amble down the corridors that she had once called home. They were practically deserted, something that wasn't unusual as everyone was either in prayer or in study, all of them learning about the hybrid curse which had recently been broken. It was a millennia's old curse, one her coven had thought unbreakable, until now when the hybrid had broken it just a month or so ago -she didn't keep track.
The crumbling tunnels loomed before her as she began to run at a moderate, slight pace through them. It amazed her that she still hadn't been detected yet. It wouldn't be that way for long though. Supper was about to commence and everyone would convene then; her absence wouldn't go unnoticed. It made her heart race. They would cast a locater spell on her and she would be swiftly brought back to the castle immediately.
Cold air blasted her as she exited the tunnels, scrambling over the small mound of dirt before it that was used to conceal it from the mortals. Fire burned in her lungs. It burned her whole body. Her heart galloped like a speeding steed in a race for its life.
A tolling bell drew her attention, an alarm warning her sisters of her escape. Her eyes widened and she scrambled forward, her eyes darting around as the piercing lights began to sweep the surrounding area. She tore off towards the small forested area on the land belonging to the estate, her lips parted as she hastily drew in air. It would only be a matter of time before they found her if she didn't put some serious distance between herself and the castle right as of this moment.
With a heavy heart and exhale, as she neared the edge of the forest, she turned to look back at the desolate fortress she had called home. Lights shone from everywhere, the bells still tolling violently, shrieking out the alert that she had escaped. With a small, triumphant smile, Liana turned, her hand falling down to her stomach as she ran towards the gleaming lights of Brussels.
