"Sweetie, I need you to understand exactly what's happening." Ellie was looking up, deep into her mothers blue eyes. She nodded quickly, eager to hear anything that her mother had to say.
"Look, by the time you completely get everything I'm saying, you won't remember. I've put I charm on you." Small Ellie turned her head to the side imitating a confused puppy. Her mothers soft hand pressed against her tilted cheek, her cold rings meeting the child's skin.
"You won't remember any of this until the universe thinks you're ready. No doubt it will be awhile after your father and I leave you."
"you're leaving?" Asked Ellie, her adolescent voice trembling slightly as she gazed at the woman she idolized with all her heart.
"No no, darling. Not for awhile. Look, Elektra. Your father doesn't now I'm telling you all of this. You must keep it to yourself. Our little secret." She smiled at her kid, the smallest tear beading in her eyes. "See, your father and I are involved in some... Well, dangerous systems, I guess you could say. I know these words might be a little confusing for you right now, Elektra, but the older you will understand." She took a deep breath and gathered a small smile for her beautiful daughter. "When we do leave, there are some things you will be responsible for. Things you wouldn't have to worry about if your father and I had been more careful. There are some people who might want to... Hurt you, dear."
"But mother..." The child didn't know what to say. She was confused. All she understood was that her mother and father were planning to leave her. Lip trembling, she grabbed her mothers hands into her miniature ones.
"I'll... I'll stay strong for you, mother."
Her mother drew a shaky breath, a tear rolling gently down her cheek.
"I know you will baby. But I need you to know. When the time comes, and your father and I are gone, you mustn't tell anyone what I tell you. Your own father doesn't even know I'm telling you this."
Elektra's small blue eyes settled on the floor.
"I need you to promise, honey." Her mother said, placing a hand under Elektra's chin and letting her head to meet her eyes. "If you don't promise me now, I won't be able to help you in the future. I need you to promise me with all your heart."
Elektra thought for a moment. Her young brain found it nearly impossible to process everything at once, so she decided to just trust her instincts. She met her mothers eyes dead on and said, "I swear, mother."
"Thank you so much, Elektra Varner Bell. You have no idea how thankful I am that you've promised." The tension seemed to flood from the woman's body.
"Now, here is how it'll work. Slowly, I will send you information. But only when you absolutely need it, all right? You won't even remember our conversations for years to come. We have plenty of time, given our gift." She smiled sweetly and continued, "Now I'm going to do something now. It might sting a little, but this will make our connection stronger in the future, okay?"
Elektra nodded, willing to give her mother anything she needed.
"All right. Move your hair away from your neck for a moment, will you?" Brushing her long brown hair over to one shoulder, she turned so her back was facing her mother.
"Ready, dear?" Elektra nodded once more.
Ellie felt her mothers wand press into her neck, heard a few muttered words. She understood what her mother meant when she said it would sting a little. It felt almost as if a layer of skin was being pulled from her body. But she strong and still until her mother hugged her from behind.
"Stay strong, baby. Stay strong." Tears ran down each girls face.

I woke with a start, quickly reaching up to place my hands on my face. It was damp from tears I didn't knew I cried in real life. So many questions flooded my mind at once. Did they know they would die all along? Why doesn't my mom want dad to know that she was giving me information? Why did my mother think I would need help in the future?
I mean, I did, didn't I? Fuego posses a greater threat as each day passes. Did my mom somehow now what was going to happen?
Obviously, the dreams were my mothers way of sending me information in 'the future'. Which just so happened to be now. But so far, I had no idea what message she was trying to get across to me. Was she warning me? Preparing me?
I leaped from my bed as I suddenly remembered what my mother had done to my neck in my dream. I glanced around, and noticed Alice and Lily were deep asleep. I hadn't even known they came in.
I tip toed over to the mirror on the opposite side of the room, grabbing a smaller mirror as I went. Turning around, I held up the small mirror so that I could see the reflection in the larger one. Moving my hair from my neck, I gasped as I saw my skin.
A mark was now etched into my neck. It was small and black, but I knew exactly what it was the moment I saw it, even though it wasn't in its signature shade of blue.
Flames.
I didn't know exactly what the mark meant, but it seemed like I saw it every where. First on the notes, and now, it was probably permanently on my body. Great.
I wasn't in the mood to deal with this now. Looking at the clock by my bed, I saw it was two in the morning. Definitely not a time I wanted to be awake, especially with classes the next day.
I placed the small mirror back into its rightful home and shuffled back to my bed, crawling under the warm covers as if they could protect me somehow.
Rolling over to get comfortable, I grabbed a stuffed dinosaur from the floor. I let tears flow freely down my cheeks as I gave up on trying to understand everything that was happening. I simply filed it into my brain.
And since I had promised my mother, I decided I wasn't about to tell anyone about the notes or dreams. It was now solely my problem. No one else's.
My very own battle.
And I felt trapped in it.