Heyyy! So…another story. I just have so much inspiration! I hope you like it:) By the way…have you seen the theatrical trailer?! Just about died because it was so amazing

Enjoy!

The horse's hooves pounded on the dry earth, creating a rippling effect like thunder. They pushed the horses faster and faster, desperate to catch the girl before it was too late. They could see her, just over the peak of the last hill in Idris signaling the border into Alicante where neither woman nor man raised in Idris would ever dare to go.

The girl stopped at the top of the hill hesitantly for one last look at the only family she had ever known. Pushing back her hooded black cloak, she revealed her mane of fiery red hair, silhouetted in gold from the rising sun. At last, she sprinted down the other side of the hill into Alicante.

The leader of the group of ghostly figures removed the hood of his black cloak as well. He let out a roar of anger and anguish, and shoved his black stallion into motion until he was at the very top of the hill. He watched the girl, his daughter, run through the mountain trails of Alicante, still silhouetted in that glorious light. It was too late to go after her once again. If the people of Alicante saw them, they would likely be dead by noon.

Dashing back down to his eager party of followers, the man called out to his most trust worthy accomplice, Sebastian Verlac.

"Sebastian!" The man cried out, not bothering with formalities with his people.

"Yes, master?" Sebastian replied in an almost bored voice. His crisp, pale blond hair shone white in the rising sun.

"I want my Clarissa back to me, so we can finish what we started."

"But Valentine!" The man, Valentine, snapped his cold glare onto the face of the speaker. A woman with the same fiery hair as Clarissa stared back with daggering green eyes.

"You may call me master."

"I'm your wife, Valentine. We can't go into Alicante, it's suicidal. Uncanny." She was shaking with anger. "How dare you put our people at risk like this?"

"She is the only one that can finish what we started, Jocelyn. Anyone who deems it a blood bath, go back to camp. I can't have any of the weak among me." The whole lot of them left with hesitance, not sure what price they would pay for abandoning their leader. Though the dishonour of death seemed much worse than whatever Valentine had in store.

"I can't believe this, Valentine." Jocelyn snarled. "I know what you were planning with our daughter. Did you think I wouldn't find out? It was obvious from the beginning." Shaking her head, she bounded away on her Belgian horse after the group fading in the distance. Only Sebastian remained.

"What do you desire of me, master?" Sebastian asked obediently. His ruthless black eyes held a glint of mischief.

"Bring her back to me in a week's time." Valentine spoke softly, as if someone was listening in on their conversation. He seemed indifferent to the conversation had with his wife.

"What is my reward?" At that, Valentine smacked Sebastian on the cheek hard enough to leave a bruise.

"How dare you assume you get anything out of it?" He spat. As if an afterthought, he added, "Your reward is the girl after we are done with her."

Sebastian broke out in a malicious grin, his eyes tinted with excitement.

"I won't let you down." Sebastian broke into a gallop, cresting up over the hill before him.

"You better not." Valentine called. "If you do not have her by midnight on the seventh day, you're punishable by death."

Clarissa Morgenstern ran as if her life depended on it, though she didn't know why. Surely her father wouldn't dare sneak himself into Alicante, given who he was to the people here. No, she was sure she was safe by now.

She had been running through the mountains of Alicante for what seemed like hours, though she knew it could only be an hour at best. The sun hadn't even lifted itself up over the peaks of the mountains yet. Off in the distance, she could see a little town forming. The chimneys sent off a luscious black smoke, and the red brick of the houses made Clarissa long for a roof over her head, which made her ache for a bed, as well.

All through the night she had ran for salvation, a safe haven of sorts, desperately trying to avoid any confrontation with her father and his army of loyal followers. She had never really known why he had this group. The Circle. It was a secret society to everyone. Including her. Her father couldn't trust her with his master plans he was forming. Or what she assumed he had been forming, as she didn't quite know what really went on behind closed doors and lengthy outings.

The day before, Valentine had excused himself from the table in the middle of dinner and had left without a word. This wasn't the first time he had done this, and Clarissa was curious. So she, too, excused herself and went after her father without touching her food.

He had gone into his study, which wasn't unusual seeing as he spent ninety percent of his day there, talking to different hooded figures, conversing in hushed voices. Clarissa pressed her ear to the door.

"Did you give her the meal?" Valentine asked with an air of authority, as if there wasn't a doubt in his mind that the man to whom he was speaking to would say yes. "The tainted food?"

"But of course, sir." Clarissa could just make out that it was one of the servants. Raphael, she thought his name was. "As well as yesterday and the day before."

"Good." Valentine praised. She could practically hear him smiling. "See to it that she continues to eat it. She's the only one that can." Who is? What were they talking about?

"Yes sir." Seeing as it was the end of the conversation, Clarissa sprinted to the stairwell, desperate not to be caught eavesdropping. She headed for her room, but not before almost toppling her mother over.

"Clarissa, my dear." Her mother cooed, though she saw an undercurrent of horror in her mother's eyes. Her mother stayed there, in that same positing, just staring at her daughter's face for quite some time. Clarissa found it a bit eerie and questioned her mother with concern.

"You must leave here, tonight. Pack your things." Jocelyn seemed to snap out of her trance, and started to shove Clarissa towards her room. "You must hurry, he'll be done soon. You don't want to be here when he's done. He has something planned." Jocelyn looked around warily as she spoke.

"Wait, what? Why must I go, mother? Who is it that you are referring?" Her mother had seemed fine just a mere ten minutes ago, Clarissa was sure she was turning mad as the night pressed on.

"Valentine." Is all her mother whispered before running back into the dining area before someone noticed she was gone. Clarissa was dubious, though a little afraid, so she did as her mother told her to do and quickly and silently took her things and cut into the night.

Now, here she was. Miles from her home and miles from her family. A family that had something dark planned for her. She shuddered and took a look at her surroundings.

Spotting a clear lake that looked as though it was made of glass, she took off for the water, filling her canteen and her mouth when she got there. It didn't taste as fine as the water she got at home. Her water tasted almost…too natural. This water tasted of earth and grit. Heading back to the great, white mountain that sliced up into the changing sky like a knife, she tried to calculate how long it would take to get to the town. Probably a good four hours more.

Clarissa yawned audibly. Enough to make a startled jackrabbit jump from its hiding place in a mountain cave just overhead and run away. Clarissa looked up. The town was too far away for her to make by foot on tired legs, but she could probably rest in the cave for a few hours. The real dangers were at night anyways.

Clary climbed up onto the ledge and, after looking for any rogue animals, lay down and drifted off into a dreamless sleep.

Sebastian was enraged. How could anyone find such a petit girl in seven days? If she turned sideways, she would surely disappear altogether, she was so small.

She could very well be right beside me at this very moment he thought absent mindedly.

Sebastian rode his Quarter Horse to exhaustion, and only paused once to take a swig from his canteen. He was oblivious to the wide eyed Clarissa staring from 5 feet overhead in the tiny cave.

"I will find her, Hermes," Sebastian grunted. Clarissa almost couldn't control a shocked gasp. "For she is mine." Sebastian patted his horse once, and silently loped towards the village.