(sorry for the very very long wait. also please don't assume I'm racist cuz of the paragraph where I'm describing the dead ladies' skin)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~CHAPTER 13~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ellis was struggling in slitting my throat. My eyes filled with rage. I finally remembered it all. I remembered my parents dying before my eyes. I remembered Adeline taking me away, terrified at her sister's death. I remembered Adeline's husband kicking me out and me being homeless, begging on the streets. I remembered the pain and starvation. I remembered getting beat by the older kids everyday. I remembered finally arriving at the Castle, bruised and bloodied by my most recent fight with an Umbra, a shadow monster with six red eyes, razor sharp wings, and terrible fangs. I remembered Marcia taking me in, and I remember mistaking pity for sympathy. And I remembered my name. My true name. Elara. Not Vera or Sierra. Elara. I was one of the building blocks of the living. And the universe. I remembered hearing my mother's history. That we were all seventh daughters. That we formed the universe. I remembered it all and I was furious. At Ellis. At Una. At DomDaniel. At the Darke. For making me die on the inside. I could feel my insanity eating me away, another addition to my pain. I didn't care anymore. Let it. I howled, but I knew it wasn't me. Ellis backed away, terror in his eyes. He waved the knife in front of me. "Stay b-back, Vera, I'm warning y-you." "I" swatted him away. He got up and melted in the shadows of the Great Hall. I knew what had happened to me. Dead. I was finally dead. My insanity got the best of me and finally came out of me. Replacing me was a tall, bony, black figure. Its eyes were filled with a dull orange glow. There were slits and holes in its skin and were filled with the same glow. And my dead body was trapped inside its heart.

(third person, hello again!)

Rose's eyes were tearing up. "I can't believe this," she was saying, voice breaking between sobs. "She-she…"

"We all know what she did!" Septimus snapped, banging his fist against the walls of Aunt Zelda's cottage, or Marwick's cottage, ever since Aunt Zelda had died three years earlier. "She gave Ellis the chance to just slit her throat and Transported us away. Sierra… why did she do it? Why?" Septimus's rant was broken off by a thundering crash. Marwick rushed out of the kitchen, yelling, "What in the world happened?" He peered out the window and swore. "4-er, Septimus?" he asked, still not used to calling his friend by his real name. "Can you put up an Anti-Darke spell or something? Maybe a SafeShield? A strong one? Now?!" Septimus walked up to him. "Sheesh, 409, what happened?" He followed Marwick's gaze and cursed. "Watch your profanity, Septimus," Rose muttered. "Sorry," he replied, and then spoke a series of chants and incantations, each one louder than the previous. After about ten minutes, he stopped. "I can't believe this. She hid it all this time," Jenna muttered from across the room. Another crash was heard, this time not so far away. "She wanted us all to feel safe. She knew all this time what would happen." BOOM! "She thought she could handle it, but she couldn't. Not by herself." BAM! "Jen, what do you mean?" Beetle whispered, followed by another crash. "Ooooh," Septimus began, but Marwick interrupted. "This is no time for jokes."

"Has love blinded you Septimus?" Jenna yelled. "Did you not see it before? She's dead!"

"I know that," Septimus snapped. "Best not remind us all."

"You idiot!" Beetle shouted. Septimus winced. He was only called that in the Young Army. "She killed herself! Because of the Darke, her pain, and her history. But most of all, because of you! You have been cocky and pompous this whole time that you couldn't even care for her! You call that love?!" Septimus opened his mouth to say something but Marwick shoved his hand over his mouth. "I don't have the nerve to insult you, but you've been very inconsiderate. We will try to fix this. You try to fix yourself." He motioned to the others and they all walked out of the cottage. Septimus tried to flash Jenna an apologetic glance, but she ignored him as she walked out, not even looking in his direction. He looked at the ground at his feet and thought. He had been an idiot.

(first person. oof sad sad waah waah emotional, back to story)

I looked around my prison. Six other women were there, three of them the ones that were actually known. All their names were scratched into the walls of the heart, each in increasingly disordered script than the ones before it. Nimue, Kendra, Piper, Alarice, Cyne, and Falyn. I knew Kendra, Piper, and Alarice but not the others. I couldn't honestly tell, because the only thing tangible about them was their skeleton, and their transparent skin hung over it like a thin rag. I could see they died as young women, as they had a healthy, youthful appearance to them. Their rotted flesh was scattered across the black floor. I walked over to them, but I felt slowed down by something. "How did you end up here?" I asked. "Same as thee," they replied in unison. Their voices sent a chill down my spine. I could tell they had practiced this for a while. Living inside the monster living inside me. "Who are you?" I prompted. "Thou knoweth." I had a feeling I did too, so I took a guess. Falyn must be the one dressed in white with the palest skin, Nimue the one dressed in kelly green and turquoise with a darker tone, and Cyne the one dressed in pine green and brown with lighter skin than Nimue but darker than Falyn. "Falyn, are you from the Eastern SnowPlains?" She nodded. I turned to Nimue. "You're from the PathFinder village by the Trading Post." She also nodded, and I caught a mournful look in her eye. I looked at Cyne. "You're from the forest where the House of Foryx is. Or, when it was a forest." She shook her head. "No?" She nodded. I turned questioningly to Falyn, who was looking sympathetically at Cyne. "The lady did turn the most Insane of us all, until thee cameth along. The lady hath forgotten how society works. Anon, bid us, who is't art thee, and what hast becometh of thee?" I did not know I was crying. "I d-don't know. I thought I could handle it without my friends. I wanted to make their lives perfect so they would forget about me and the troubles I brang along. They were my only family left."

"Yond is not true. We art thy family."

"No, I know that. But we are all dead, not? I'm talking about the living."

"Ah, the living. I remember yond timeth, doth we not, Nimue?" Nimue's gray eyes agreed. "Do Kendra, Piper, and Alarice speak?" I inquired. "Nay. Those distaff has't grown so distraught by their sudden ending yond remembering aught hast becometh a difficulty."

"And how do I escape this… penitentiary?" They shared sorrowful glances at each other. "Thou cannot. Believeth us, we hath tried so many times. The heart is impenetrable. There is nothing we can do but to waiteth. Until someone kills the beast, we shall roteth hence h're," Falyn said, her voice resonating through the heart. I sighed. This rampaging beast really was all I-we would ever be. "There really isn't anything we can do?" They shook their heads, minus Cyne, who nodded. I guessed I had better make my time here worthwhile. I wonder why no one had bothered to kill the beast before. Did it find a new victim that quickly? It was such a strange thing to think about. Did they have all their daughters that young? It hurt to think, even though it shouldn't have. I was dead. I shouldn't feel anything. But it hurt. So maybe a part of me was still alive. Maybe a part of me was in my world and could warn the others. Tell them how to bring all of me back. Maybe I would finally end the destruction, pain, suffering and troubles I caused and make things right. It would all be right soon. Just maybe…