Hi there! So sorry for the delay, I've been exceedingly busy this week. Teach are apparently very sadistic. I hope you've all been well, and thank you to my two absolutely wonderful reviewers, you made my day!
Just so I don't cause confusion, later in the chapter it mentions sixth formers. For those not in the know that's years 12 to 13 ergo, 17-18 year olds. Just thought you might like to know, now on to the most depressing part of this authors commentary.
Disclaimer: I do not own Merlin, it is thanks to the wonderful directors of the BBC.
Dragged Through.
Elva woke up for once feeling well rested, whatever those dreams were, they no longer seemed to be affecting her. Not since meeting that old lady. She frowned, she never did receive a name from that peculiar woman. She smiled at the memory of the crisp green apple, the taste smooth and refreshing to the soul.
'Kind of weird for an apple,' her face scrunched up at the thought.
Elva stretched as she yawned, crawling out from beneath the covers of her bed. She thudded her way down stairs in her dressing gown, zombie shuffling into the kitchen where she sat down at the table as her mum plunked a bowl of indiscernible cereal in front of her. She heard a pop as her mum pulled off the lid of the milk.
"Say when." Elva watched as the milk started to fill her bowl just to the right point.
"When." Her mum stopped pouring, and placed the lid back onto the milk. She smiled as she gave Elva a quick peck on the cheek. Elva smiled back as she turned and stuffed a spoonful of the cereal into her mouth, chewing with gusto.
"You still get mum to pour your milk in the morning!" An incredulous voice came from the door way.
"And a good morning to you too, Phoebe." Elva rolled her eyes at her older sister, her sister returning the expression with a shake of her head at Elva's childish mannerisms. She came up to her younger sister giving her a purposely sloppy kiss on the cheek, causing Elva's face to contort as she used the back of her hand to wipe away the spit, grimacing as she pulled her hand away.
Their mum proceeded to make Phoebe's breakfast, having sighed at her daughters antics. Elva gave her sister a pointed look which Phoebe proceed to ignore, her sister was such a hypocrite! The girls' father had already left for work earlier in the morning.
"Are you going over to Erica's house for tonight?" Elva's sister questioned after a few bites of her cereal. Elva looked up from her bowl with a raised eyebrow.
It was Halloween, a very important time for Pagan's and Erica was no exception.
For them it was the time when the veil between the spirit world and the living was at it's weakest, to them it's traditionally called Samhain. The day of the dead, the last harvest, and it was the day to respect your ancestors. Erica would leave offerings to her ancestors, but she usually celebrate by inviting Elva and Alan over to watch scary movies and eat treats.
"Yep, probably!" Elva reached over to her glass of water. Staring into its deeps, she could see her bedraggled appearance, she really needed to brush her hair.
As her hand clasped the glass she felt a cold chill start to extinguish the warmth in her fingers, slowly it began to creep up her arm. Her eyes glazed over as she felt pure unadulterated malice crushing where the chill travelled up her arm.
The water began to splash around, leaping out of the glass towards her. The movement jolted her out of her trance causing her to instinctively bat the glass away from her, as she jumped out of her seat. The chair clattered to the floor behind her with such force, it sounded as if it splintered in half. The contents of the glass spilt across the table.
"Elva!" Her sister screeched as she pushed away from the table to avoid water spilling over her.
"Quickly, go up stairs. I'll sort this out!" Her mother sighed as she grabbed a tea-towel. Elva stood frozen as she stared at the now still pool of water on the table, she took a shaky breath as she tried to get her thoughts in order.
Her head spun with the insanity of the situation, there was no way water could just jump out of a glass. Was is just her imagination, or had the water been trying to encircle her wrist? It certainly felt like the chill had encased her, a shiver ran down her spine. She shook the thought from her head, turned and left the room in a flurry.
-0-
"Oh thank God that's over! I thought I was going to have to destroy the classroom before we were allowed out!"
Exclaimed Alan as he stretched his arms high above his head. Elva rolled her eyes half-heartedly at the exaggeration. Physics wasn't really that bad!
However, it appeared Einstein's theory of relativity was in action for her friend.
"Really Alan, I don't know why you even take physics if you find it so boring." Alan pouted for a few seconds then bounced back into his rant, having given up when Elva merely sighed at his pouting. She fidgeted with her watch.
'Forty five minutes until the end of school,' Elva contemplated, safely home with nothing bad having happened.
She let out a shaky sigh as she turned back to Alan, running a hand through her hair, her nerves were completely frazzled. Elva tried to tune back into Alan's witter.
"…Kamen Rider Wizard transforms by scanning the driver ring against his belt, then flipping it to the left, then he holds his left hand up, flips the ring cover down, says "Henshin" and scans that ring on the driver. The driver then announces "Flame, please" and he holds his arm out to the left as a magic portal appears and covers his body from the left and he transforms into…" Alan jolted as Erica came up from behind, eyes gleaming as she delivered a sharp poke.
"Hi hi, how'd physics go." Erica exclaimed, saving Elva from another rant on Alan's favourite anime. Elva turned away, feeling more relaxed in Erica's presence, to cover up her sniggers at the expression on Alan's face. Alan harrumphed.
"I wanted to die."
"That good then?" Erica laughed, as Alan sulked glaring at the wall, Erica sent Elva an amused glance. They carried on down the nearly empty white halls, only a few students meandered around, chattering to each other until they had to part ways. Elva turned away from her friends, as they trotted off, only to turn smack, bam into Steve.
She bumped her forehead against his chest, the force almost causing her to go crashing to the floor if not for the gentle hands grabbing hold to her arms, steadying her. Steve looked down at her as he took out an earphone from his ear.
"You okay?" He questioned, releasing her from his hold. Elva teetered slightly, but otherwise regained her balance. Realisation of whom she had so clumsily bumped into set in.
"Oh uh yeah, I'm fine." She stuttered feeling a heated blush cover her face, she absolutely hated stuttering, it made her feel like a mindless idiot. She shook her head, regaining her composure as she straightened slightly. Bring her hand to her forehead it felt slightly wet. She couldn't be that affected by his presence could she? She realised however, that her wet forehead was in fact, a direct result of his appearance.
"Why are you wet?" His hair took on a more caramel shade to his usual sunny blond, as water dripped down from his hair onto his face. She couldn't help but notice the few droplets which followed the contours of his face. His voice quickly snapped her out of her delirium, her eyes having become half hooded.
"That's what you get for rambling through this weather." At the puzzled frown, he simply pointed out of a window.
Rain was chucking it down!
Elva's eyes widened, as she ran around him to skid towards the exit. Opening the door, she peered out. It was like stepping out into a cold power shower.
" Wow, it's gotten worse. I'd offer you an umbrella but, as you probably realised, I haven't brought one. Sorry." He shrugged, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly.
Elva stared out at the rain for a few seconds, the hair on the nape of her neck stood on end, before she came to a decision. She gave him a strained smiled.
"That's alright, I'll brave it."
After all nothing bad had happened since this morning!
Those felt like very hollow words to her.
He gave a cheery wave as he jogged away, if they didn't get to class soon, they'd be late!
Elva stepped towards the door again. She took a deep breath, gulping the air in as if it would be her last.
She closed her eyes, and bolted.
-0-
The rain pelted down on her skin causing a prickling sensation, and soaking her to the very bone. Her clothes clung to her slowing down her movements as they increased in weight. Forget power shower, this was like standing in a waterfall.
She opened her eyes. Big mistake!
Water gushed into her eyes as she felt that bone chilling malice again. She wanted to scream, however opening her mouth only allowed water to gush in, causing her to choke. She was going to drown if she didn't get out of it soon!
She fought her way across the distance between her and her goal.
Twenty metres, fifteen, ten!
The feeling of being dragged down almost overcame her resolve to reach the building, she could feel tendrils of water grasp at her ankles sending the chilling sensation up them. All hope was nearly lost until she suddenly found herself slamming into the entrance door of the Chemistry block.
She wrenched open the door, almost pulling off the handles in her struggle, and hurtled in. She startled a group of year sevens who had been skiving around in the halls. They scurried away, like freaked deer, passing the sopping wet sixth former.
Elva breathed heavily as she rest her hands on her knees. She gulped in air again until her breathing levelled out, air had never tasted so good. Standing straight, she looked back out at the waterfall of rain, seeing her reflection in it, a dark shadow moved in the background of the reflection. She shot away from the window, arms flailing as she tripped, scrambling to get to Chemistry.
-0-
Elva slammed open the Chemistry door startling her teacher, Dr Gerald. His face turned a stunning scarlet as he whipped around to face her.
"How d-dare you…Miss Price, you look as pale as a ghost. How long have you been out in the rain?" Elva checked her watch, trying fruitlessly to dry off the face of the watch with her thumb to see the hands, water dripped from her hair on to the dial, her eyebrows rose.
"No more then two minutes."
Her teacher gave her a pointed look, and simply jabbed his finger at the door. He shook his head.
"Soaked! it's only been drizzling. Go tidy yourself up, I won't have my lab soaked by your tardiness." He turned away, grumbling as he took up his pen again and began to write on the white board.
Elva's forehead creased at his first words, as she remained stood for a few more seconds in front of the door. As she turned her head she froze as she gawked out the window.
Her heart slowed at the sight, drizzle!
All the way to Chemistry she could hear the crashing wind and flood worthy rain. She placed a hand onto her forehead in dismay as she reached for the door handle again.
What the heck was wrong with her? She contemplated making her way to the toilets. The lights hummed to life as she walked into the room, her feet tapped on the ceramic tiles as she walked across the floor.
She stopped in front of a sink, securing the plug to prevent the water from escaping, she turned on the hot tap until the water was deep enough to cover both her hands. She looked into the water, seeing only her face reflected back. She scowled as she dipped her hands into the water warming them and distorting the image.
As she lent down towards the sink, she gentle cupped some water splashing it on her face. She repeated the action a few times, before rubbing her eyes with the back of her sleeve, blinking she looked down again.
She jumped back violently falling onto her back, as a hand shot out towards her face. She sat up as she watched the hand retracted back into the sink.
"What the fuck!" Why did this keep happening, first the glass, then the rain, and now this! She paused in her line of thought, this was all happening around water, not only water but, in each case the water was deep enough to produce a clear reflection.
She slowly stood back up, making sure not to walk backwards into one of the cubicles, that's all she needed, death by drowning in toilet water, she grimaced at the thought.
she walked around the room as far away from the sink, keeping her eyes constantly on the sink, it was almost as if it was cackling at her as water bubbled away. She felt the door handle press against her back, causing her to step to the side so she easily grasp the handle from the side. Still facing into the room she slide out.
-0-
Elva stood by the door staring out of the window. The rain had stopped soon after her escapade in the toilets. However, her feet felt stuck to the ground as she stood before the exit. She just couldn't budge herself, the torment of her situation warring in her mind.
She felt a poke to her shoulder causing her to stiffen, her eyes widening at the fear of being dragged away.
"Wow, why so tense?" At Erica's voice, Elva relaxed immediately as she turned to her, her eyes remained guarded though.
"Who's foretold your death?" Erica commented, as she took in her best friend's countenance. Elva's skin had turned an even paler white, so white she looked anaemic, though her eyes had become blood shot.
" I'm fine. It's just…I… I'm not feeling great."
"I can see that. What's the matter?" Erica watched her friend intently as she struggled to find her words, though her lips had twitched upwards for a moment at the comment. The ache in her heart at seeing her friend so lost was excruciating. She'd noticed for a while that she had been suffering from something.
Elva refused to tell her however, probably out of a misplaced belief that she would only be worrying her more. Erica rolled her eyes, she really hated how selfless Elva could be sometimes. To be honest, she could be selfless to the point of selfish, if that made any sense.
Elva's lips quivered as she restrained herself from blurting out the words she so desperately wanted to say.
" I'm going to kill you and put you in a box." Elva jumped out of her skin as Alan laughed hysterically in the back ground, having snuck up on her.
"Damn, your face is priceless!" Elva sent him a ferocious glare, but was glad for the distraction, she turned back to face Erica. Though Erica was laughing, her eyebrows raised, she could still tell that she wouldn't let this go.
"So, are you just going to stand there like some zombie, or go home to prepare for Halloween." He drawled, eyes sparkling as he stared at the two girls. They looked at each other for a moment, the silent message of death if she wasn't told the truth was sent, proving Elva right. This wasn't over, not by a long shot.
Erica smiled as she took a step outside, followed closely by Alan. Elva sighed, she couldn't get anything passed Erica. She took a deep breathe and stepped outside.
Nothing happened.
Even though there were puddles all around them from the bizarre rain storm, nothing ominous was happening. She gave a wide, manic grin of triumph, her fist punched the air, as she looked up from her inspection of the puddles at her feet, only to see Erica with a raised eyebrow and Alan just shaking his head.
"She's been hitting the liquor again." Elva just laughed heartily, her burden slightly lifted from her shoulders, as she ran up to them, grabbing on to an arm each and dragged them along. She'd be absolutely fine, she just knew it.
How wrong could she have been.
-0-
"Elva, you best get going!" Her mum shouted up the stairs.
Elva looked at the clock on her desk, 8:45. She had to be at Erica's by 9:00!
She'd lost track of time again, staring out at the wonderful, amazing, cloudless night sky. Grinning to herself she got up from the window sill, she could peacefully enjoy this evening without fear nor doubt.
"Coming Mum!" Elva was about to make a swift exit when she realised she was missing something. She raced back to the dressing table grabbing two of her most precious treasures.
"Can't forget these, can I Nanna, Grandpa." Her eyes half closed as she cradled them. Her grandparents had passed away, leaving these as some of her only mementoes of them.
The first was a gold regard ring (Ruby, emerald, garnet, amethyst, ruby, diamond), passed down from her mother to daughter for generations, her mum had given it to her on her eighteenth birthday, just twenty days ago. Though, it wasn't directly from her grandma, her mum had told her stories related to the ring about her grandma.
The second however, had been a gift directly from her grandparents on her sixteenth birthday. It was a gold necklace with a tear drop of an opal, her birth stone. She kissed the items as she sent a silent pray to her grandparents, hoping they were happy where ever they were.
"Elva!" Her mum sounded exasperated at Elva's tardiness.
"Coming!" She called as she slipped the ring on her finger just barely managing to get the necklace on. Grabbing her scarf, and bag containing her phone, off her wardrobe in passing. As she rushed passed her mirror, she never noticed the faint image of a blond haired woman watching her, smirking.
-0-
"Your mum's still got it." Alan exclaimed as he rubbed his bulging stomach, having had seconds.
Erica rolled her eyes as she took the dish away from him, putting it in the sink to be washed. Elva snickered as she could see the all too present blush of happiness and pride on Erica's face, at Alan's forlorn look at the plate. She always worried if people would enjoy the meals cooked at her house, after all, not everyone is vegetarian.
"So what next?" Alan asked as he leaned back in his seat, arms supporting his head. Both girls rolled their eyes this time, as they stood up, each grabbing one of Alan's arms, dragging him from the table. As they strolled down Erica's hall, Elva looked up to the ceiling. Stretching all the way along it, as always, was a giant tapestry.
The tapestry held the image of a giant silver tree set in a background of a starry night sky. Long branches reached to the very edges of the tapestry, almost as if they were growing out, the tree itself had an almost incandescent quality to it, it was most definitely a magical sight to behold. The branches held the names of Erica's ancestors and the dates when they were born and died.
This was Erica's families greatest heirloom and it was said to go all the way back to when the Romans had control of England. No one actually knew though, as all the names before the seventh century had been burnt off. Alan always joked that it had been one of her ancestors trying to cook meat that caused the lose of those names, having set itself on fire in shame, hence why her whole family had been vegetarians for generations now.
They all clambered into Erica's room, finding space on the floor to sit.
"Always so cosy." Alan commented as he shoved a couple of books out of his way. Erica's room was full of charms and books over flowing out of boxes. Her bed rested against one of the rich, royal, purple walls, right next to her wardrobe, which had been painted black. A considerably large, full length mirror stood on the opposite side of the room, a purple, velvet, veil shrouded it.
"Yeah yeah, save it." She thrust her finger in Alan's direction giving him the evil eye and effectively shutting him up.
"I really need to learn how to do that." A look of fake hurt crossed Alan's face at Elva's exclamation.
"What did I do?" Big brown eyes watered as he stared at the two apparent sadistic beings. They merely rolled their eyes at his antics, as Elva lightly karate chopped his dishevelled chocolate brown hair
"No, my hair! Why would you do that?" He cried as he ran to the full length mirror pulling back the veil, so that it was left hanging behind the mirror. Releasing a sigh he relaxed, returning to his original place, taking out his phone he began to text.
The girls would have rolled their eyes again if they weren't already sore, so they settled for an exasperated sigh. Relaxing back into place they enjoyed the comfortable silence.
"So, what's really been going on?" Elva jumped at the abrupt question, Alan looking up expectantly, it appeared he wasn't the only one to notice Elva's mood of late.
Elva deliberated, it wasn't like she was in any real danger now, she knew what to look for. Elva looked up at her friends, determination shone in her eyes.
"I've been having a really strange dream for the past week, and weird things keep happening to me around water." Stilted silence was met with that reply. Then Alan burst into hysterics.
"Nice try, but you're going to have to do better then that to scare us, I'm going to grab my charger, my phones dying on me." He smiled getting up to wonder out of the room, he turned around just before he left,
"Tell me the truth when I get back." Elva looked slightly stricken at the fact her friend hadn't believe her. She turned to Erica and found she was just sat there staring into space, mouth agape as a look of terror flashed through her eyes, face having paled slightly. Erica suddenly sprang from her place as she hurried to the door.
"Stay there, do not leave this room!" As she ploughed through into the hall, door slamming behind her. Elva was left there blinking owlishly, her words had apparently struck a chord with Erica.
She sat there for a while deliberating, she didn't hear the ominous click of the door locking itself, too deep in thought. Getting up, she shuffled her way to the mirror. She rested her forehead against the cool reflective surface, feeling herself calm at the soothing sensation, she stared unto the eyes of her reflection seeing the eyes of worried child.
Sighing she blocked out the thought by merely closing her eyes blocking the image. She allowed her mind to wonder, a sense of weightlessness overcame her making her smile, it felt almost as if she was falling, slowly and gently, a cool breeze caressing her skin.
The door knob of the room began to shake first questionably, slow becoming more frantic and violent, yet Elva still did not open her eyes, too content with the world around her, even with the slamming of a fist against the door, she did not move.
Only at her friend's cry did she stir.
"Elva!" Her eyes snapped open at Alan's screech, and she let out a silent scream as she found herself staring into the now golden eyes of the old woman. She tried to back away but arms encircled her in anticipation and victory. She tried desperately to rip herself from the grasp, but for a second she felt herself become paralysed and blinded in deep darkness.
She heard a crash as the door slammed against one of the wall, she felt splinters gaze her face, yet she could not turn her head, or prevent them from cutting her skin. Her paralysis suddenly ended yet, her sight did not appear to have returned. However, as she turned around, she glimpsed in that moment, a bright light and within it Alan thumped hysterically against what appeared to be glass.
She realised with a sinking heart that it was in fact the mirror he was trying to break though. She could see Erica stood behind him, appearing to be screaming the breath out of her lungs, clutching at a book, as tears rushed down her face like the harsh rain that same day. However, no matter how desperately they tried to communicate with, she could no longer hear them any more.
Her lungs felt like they were filling with water again, her face streaking with tears, only to be harshly removed, as she was dragged through black, inky water. The grip of the old woman tightened to a far greater capacity then she had any right to be able to do at her age, causing Elva mouth to open in a silent cry of pain. She looked back at the old crone, her eyes bulging as she now saw a beautiful blond haired woman, eyes glowing with glee as she dragged Elva towards an icy light in the distance.
Elva panicked, no way in hell was she putting up with this crap any longer. She thrashed around in the vice like grip, the woman scowled at her attempt to flee, turning to further restrain the girl. Elva used that to her advantage and thrust herself at the woman, who's eyes widened. Elva managed to propel her fist though the inky water, throwing a punch which allowed her to feel a satisfying crunch under her fingers.
This was soon followed by her own grimace of pain however, as she felt one or two of knuckles crack at the contact of the woman's face. She tried to muffle her scream of agony as she clutched her fist pushing away from the woman and heading off towards a different light source.
It felt warmer and safer as she neared, she prayed that it led back to home, her hand was still cradled in her other as she desperately reached for that sunny opening.
She was suddenly yanked back by her ankle, turning she saw the woman, now with blood coming down her nose, gripping her ankle. Why couldn't this bitch just give up, her frustration overcoming her fear. Elva kicked the woman in the nose this time, effectively causing her to relinquish her grip. Elva swam with all her might towards the light again, even using her injured hand to propel her forward, she had to bite her lip at the pain, drawing blood.
With sheer determination she pushed through, feeling her lungs inflate with glorious air, relief flooded her very being. This was shorted lived however, as she felt herself start to fall.
-0-
She flapped her hands wildly in a futile effort to suddenly sprout wings as she saw herself start to hurtle towards a forest of pine trees. She crashed through them, slowing her decent, but in returning causing her to gain multiple more scratches as the pine needles mercilessly whipped against her skin.
She could deal with that, it was the floor below she was no match for. She crashed through prepared to meet the ground that would end her pitifully short life, only to find that she'd be drowning instead as a beautiful lake was seen, rushing up to greet her.
Hitting the water, the air was knocked from her lungs and she continued her journey to the very bottom of the lake, hitting her head on the sharp rocks which lay there.
After that, she knew no more.
Hey I hope you all enjoyed it and sorry if you didn't. Merlin and Arthur should be appearing in the next chapter! Sorry if this felt a bit filler-ish.
Please review!