Hiya~ Glad to see some people are actually reading this! Things will get more interesting, I promise! Also, if you hadn't noticed, I have edited the Prologue since I originally uploaded it, so please re-read it if you haven't already. Generally I'll submit a new chapter each time I finish the next one, so gaps between uploads may vary. It also depends whether I have access to my laptop or not, since I write this on my iPod. Anyway, enjoy!
Please review!
Chapter 1: The Stranger
A large bang shook the housekeeper awake. It took several more loud noises for her to realise that someone was knocking on the door. Hurriedly brushing off her smock, the rounded, middle-aged lady went to open the front door to let whoever it was in.
"Alright, alright! I'm coming! Give a lady half a chance!" She cried as she tottered down the hall. Pausing but briefly to check she looked presentable in the hall mirror, she opened the door enough to peer outside.
A man stood on the doorstep, soaking wet. He wore dark clothes and a top hat with a brim large enough to effectively block out the entirety if his face.
Without a word, the housekeeper beckoned him into the house. Without the slightest whisper of a sound he followed her, the door clicking faintly closed behind him. The faint sound echoed loudly in the silence of his wake.
The strange man and the housekeeper progressed into the back of the house, unaware of a second silent being. Above them, the ginger haired girl was lying stretched out on the grey blanket, her ear pressed to a gap in the floorboards. She listened carefully, making notes in a worn book with a stubby pencil.
"...you're sure she doesn't know?" The stranger's voice was gravelly and dark, unidentifiable. "Absolutely" that was the housekeeper. "The only hint we can see is her-" "What about it?" The man cut across the housekeeper angrily. He clearly knew what she was talking about.
"She's so possessive of it. Whenever we try to take it from her, she seems to slip right through our fingers, almost as if she knows what we int-"
The voices stopped and the girl bit her lip. As she was writing, the worn golden chain she wore around her neck had moved slightly, allowing a small pocket watch to fall out from beneath her hoody. The clink of metal on wood, however faint, had alerted the two to her presence, she knew.
Moments later, she heard them rushing up the stairs. She rammed the notebook away, turning to face the door as they barged in. She stood proud as they leered over her, the small watch swinging wildly in response to her abrupt halt.
"Well what have we got here then, hmm?" The housekeeper hissed. "Looks like someone has been listening in. We can't have that..." The stranger said nothing at all, but raised a fist. On one finger was a ring with a stone so dark light itself seemed to be sucked into it. The stone filled the girl's every sense, racing through her mind. Locating her most recent memories, the stranger began to erase all that she had heard.
She fought against him, attempting to grasp her memories even as they were ripped from her head. She backed up into the wall behind her, trying to get away from the dark orb consuming her mind.
Realising there was nowhere she could go to, the girl stood tall, desperate to seem brave despite her trembling. Crossing the space between them, the stranger presses the disturbing stone to her forehead. For a moment, fear covered her young face as recognition sparked in her eyes. Then there was nothing. She fell unconscious to the floor.
"We're going to have to do something about this," the housekeeper said softly, "if she keeps remembering, we'll have to bring forward the plan." But the strange man wasn't listening.
The ring on his finger was now a simple lump of onyx rather than a whirling dark vortex as he stepped over the little girl's slouched body. Slowly he reached out, picking up the small journal she had been writing in earlier. "Can't let her keep that..." He said quietly, voice grating like sandpaper over rough stone. He stepped back over the girl and turned to the housekeeper. "Come." He said simply.
However, the housekeeper strode past him and picked the girl up. As if she weighed nothing, the woman then placed the girl down on her bead. "So she doesn't get suspicious." She said coldly. Then she turned and marched out of the door, the man close behind.
Minutes later, a loud bang of the front door snapping closed announced the strange man's departure. There was the sound of muffled voices in the main hallway as the housekeeper discussed proceedings with the Orphanage mistress. And all the while, a small ten year old with bright ginger hair lay sleeping on her grey bed, dreaming of the stars...