Note: This chapter details Samantha's abduction and time in Arcadia. Parts will not be 100 percent clear, because she will have fairly confused thoughts because of her seeming, and this is mostly streams of consciousness. Warning for suggested rape and all that jazz.
I walked down to the river, angry and upset over a fight with my parents. The river was perfectly safe! It didn't matter -how- late in the season it was, or how much it had rained in the past week. I knew that river like the back of my hand, and looking at it now I knew it was perfectly safe to swim in. The river ran a bit higher, but there were no lines in it's surface to indicate a strong current. The top of the water was as smooth as glass, just like usual.
I kicked off my sandals and then removed my shirt, pausing only to adjust the straps of my swimsuit before sticking a foot into the water to test it. Cool and smooth, probably warmer where the sun is shining through. Much warmer. I begin to remove my shorts as well, when I get the undeniable feeling of being watched.
I look around, but see no one. No one in the bushes, or behind the tree's. No one in the water. I'm completely alone, or so I begin to tell myself. That feeling just won't leave, and suddenly swimming doesn't seem all that appealing to me. Grabbing my clothes and running for the high hills, however, seems like the best idea I've ever heard.
I'm about to do just that, when a boy appears across the river and for some reason he is more then enough to stop me dead. Sandy hair, blue green eyes, and such pale skin... Just looking at him makes me self conscious about my underdeveloped body, but he doesn't seem to notice. Instead he smiles and waves to me, and despite all the silent warning bells going off in my head I wave back in a daze. Why was someone like him paying any attention to me? I must have fallen asleep on the river bank... Yeah, that's it.
"Hey! Do you swim at all?" The boy calls out in a voice that didn't seem to fit him. It sounds so deep and odd, not at all like the voice a boy his age should have. I nod mutely and he grins, suddenly diving into the water and reappearing at my side of the river in mere seconds. He was good. "Do you wanna race?" He asks, watching me carefully.
Did I want to race? How many variations of heck yes did he want? I nod, misgivings suddenly gone, and pull off my shorts before climbing into the water. It was much cooler then I thought, but not frigid and after dunking my head under once I felt fine. Returning to where the boy waits, I stood ready to swim where ever he decided was the 'finish line.' He points across the river, near where he had come out.
"We'll race to over there, okay?" He said, and not waiting for my answer, he leans forward into a racing start. "Ready, set, go!" Barely before he finishes 'Go' we have both taken off. He's ahead of me already, but somehow it seemed unimportant. I am caught up in swimming again, and the more I lose myself to it the faster I become. I stretch my hand out for a bit of earth that was the finish line, am vaguely aware that he is doing the same. See a hand touch the earth, know it is not mine because I feel no earth against my fingertips. The race is over, he has won.
The boy climbs out of the water, somehow still having enough energy to do so, and studies me closely. The way he studies me makes the alarms go off again, as if I am not a person but an object or an animal for auction. As quickly as the look appears it is gone again, and he smiles as he helps me stand up.
"You're pretty good, what's your name?" He asks, keeping a hold on my hand and leading me up the bank. I pull my hand free, very uncomfortable with a strange boy holding my hand as if it were a normal, necessary thing, and then realize just how cold and clammy it was. Almost like a fish or something...
"I'm Amelia, who are you?" I say, following the boy despite the fact that there was nothing making me follow him anymore. Instead of answering my question, he began asking me questions in an odd, interrogation style sort of way. The questioning shatters my focus and forces me to refocus on the questions. How old am I? Where was I born? Where did I learn to swim? Even as I answer the questions we're heading deeper and deeper into the forests, and slowly the environment is changing. Even in my spaced out state I can feel it. Things are cutting my hands and feet, and they make me stop.
Thorns are everywhere, as though the earth has given birth to a large, sprawling mess of them. I have never seen so many vines in my life, and with good reason. This place does not exist, not that I know of. I turn to look behind me, and see nothing familiar. Far off from where I am, I can see a shaft of light and every instinct tells me to run to it and be gone, but where does it lead to?
"Amelia, come on." Now I turn back towards the boy and feel as though I've been thrown into cold water. He no longer looks like the boy who challenged me at the river. His hair is kelpie and long, his skin has become scaly, and his hands and feet and elongated, clawed, and webbed. The only familiar thing I can see are his eyes, still that same blue green. My first reaction is simple, I try to run away as fast as I can. I manage to make it a mere foot and a half before my hair is seized and I'm pulled off the ground. Pain rakes through my head, down my temples, and across the hair on the back of my neck.
"I said, come on." My feet make contact with the ground again, and then I am pulled forward by my hair, pain bolting across my forehead and neck. I trip over a vine and fall onto a mess of thorns, cutting up my suit and legs. Where were my clothes? Did I leave them back at the river? What on earth is going on? Before I can answer my own questions, or even seriously consider them, a fist connections with my temple and I know nothing more.
(Note: The rest of this will mainly be streams of consciousness covering a three year period. It is not in order, and a lot probably does not make sense, but then again, I don't believe and Elemental's memories are suppose to make sense)
Black
Water
Dripping
Dark
Where am I?
There's nothing but darkness everywhere and a thin ring of light above. Did I die?
...No, I wouldn't be in this much pain if I had died. My head aches so horribly, and my body hurts... What is this around me? Cool, moist... Like water... But something is different... Something doesn't feel right.
I think I am floating. Maybe I am in water? ...But if so, why does it feel like something is in here with me?
I think I fell asleep. I don't know how, but I managed to do it without sinking to the bottom.
That's good.
There are bad things down there, very bad things...
The ring of light...
Today it became a circle, and it hurt my eyes very badly.
When they finally adjusted, I saw my prison. I think I am in a well, a well with a covering on top. The ring is the light coming in around the covering...
How long have I been down here? I'm beginning to lose count...
Tried to climb up the side of the well.
I fell halfway up, went back into the water. Something in the water grabbed at me, tried to keep me under. Something with cold hands and slippery skin.
I'm staying on the surface now. I don't want it to touch me again.
I don't like this water.
A bucket came down.
It had fruit in it and something like sage, but the food was strange.
I ate it and felt... so odd.
Lethargic... and there was pain... A dull ache in my chest. I wanted to cry and couldn't for some reason... It was all trapped inside.
Why?
The bucket came down.
Nothing was in it, and so I left it alone.
Someone with a deep voice was telling me to get into it, but surely I can't fit into a bucket?
They're still yelling.
I climbed into the bucket.
Somehow I fit, but I don't think I should have done it.
The bucket it hanging only half way up, and I'm still inside...
Why do I feel so odd?
I want to get back to the water, but I am afraid.
The water is black... But I feel like I'm dying...
Oh God, help me...
The bucket is moving again.
How long has it been?
A day? A month? Or a year?
Why is the bucket going up?
What is there beyond this well?
...I... I can't remember... I can't remember anything... Anything at all...
Blood... There's a lot of blood.
The water is bleeding... Or is it me?
...I don't understand... Is this a dream?... If it is, then this pain is what makes it a nightmare...
When I first got here I wondered if I was dead...
...I know I am now...
The bucket came down.
I climbed quickly this time, wasn't punished again...
My hands look like his now, and my skin is changing colors.
...I don't want to be like him. I don't want to be a fish...
Need to run errands... Need to be quick or else I'll be punished...
I didn't matter.
Saw my reflection on the way to deliver a funny looking thing to another Fae.
My eyes... I don't think I've ever seen them before... But... I don't think they were always black like this...
My hair looks like his now... I will not become him. I -will not- become him...
Back in the well.
I can stay underwater longer now, and swimming is no trouble...
I keep hearing things... Whispers... And I keep answering them back.
...Water... I can hear the water... And I think it hears me as well.
...I want to be the water...
It hurts worse now.
So much worse... I need the water but it's so dark... Those things are still there... But I'm drying up.
There's no other way to describe it.
I'm drying up, and it's killing me... It might be better this way...
...He can't kill me if I die like this...
...Water...
...Water...
...It's so cool... So smooth... Water never cries... It cannot be hurt...
It's like glass... Fragile and strong... Breaking and cutting...
I told the water I want to be like it, before I become like him...
...I made my vow... I shall abide by the rules of the contract...
...I am water...
Died again.
...I remember... Water...
The water was blue... It smelled strange... It was so clear...
I remember a whistle... or a buzzer... Going off.
...Swimming for no one but myself... Feeling free... And there was someone there... A lot of someone's, but only a few were important...
A woman.
A man.
And an older woman..
I don't know why, but this memory makes me warm inside... Happy and safe...
...I want to be where they are...
Tried running during my errand.
Didn't make it far, got caught near the thorns.
My skin feels like it's burning up, my belly hurts... But... I want to try again... I will try again...
I don't have anything to lose... He made sure of that...
...I will try again...
...In the Thorns...
...I think I've made it.
Note: Sorry for the extreme confusion!