Glad to see that you guys seem to be intrigued by the storyline :)
Hope you like this chapter as well!
A little more mystery is revealed, and I'm excited for it! :)
Present Day
"Okay," Caroline called, "That's it for today! Don't forget that we'll have another practice on Friday, before the game!"
Elena groaned, stretching as her friend Bonnie came up next to her.
"Can I strangle her now?"
Elena laughed, "No, you can't. After she gets out of captain mode, she'll go back to being the Caroline we all know and love."
Bonnie sighed, leaning her head on Elena's shoulder, "Fine, but if she keeps at us like this, I'm going to feed her her own pompoms."
"Be nice," Elena told her.
Bonnie groaned, "Well you'd be cranky too if you were exhausted from developing psychic powers."
Elena laughed, "We talked about this, Bon. You are not psychic."
"I refuse to let it go so easily," the dark girl noted, "Too many things I've predicted have come true."
"That's called being lucky," Elena smirked, as their blonde friend scurried over, "Not psychic."
"Call it what you want," Bonnie sighed, "But I have a bad feeling about the comet event this weekend."
Caroline interrupted them, then, "This routine is totally going to win us state! I can feel it!"
Bonnie forced a smile, "Assuming we all survive that long."
Elena elbowed her as Caroline rolled her eyes, "Complaining isn't going to improve our stature, Bonnie. Persistence will! We've got to-"
"Care!" Elena laughed, "We been pepped and spirited for the past two hours. Save the four P's of success for tomorrow, okay?"
"Ugh, fine," Caroline groaned, "But I must say that I am severely disappointed in the lack of commitment here."
Elena smirked, "Yeah, we love you too. Now where's my water bottle?"
She looked around, spotting it on the ground, near her pompoms.
As she went to retrieve it another hand shot out, grabbing it first, "Too slow!"
She looked up, to see Stefan grinning at her, having just ran up.
"You ass," she laughed, "Give it."
He tossed it to her, before grabbing her waist.
He was still in his jersey, so she assumed football practice had just let out for the guys.
She took a drink from the bottle, and dusted some grass off his shoulder, "You're gross."
He smiled, "And you're not so bad yourself, thanks."
"Hey, we're gonna go," Bonnie called over, and Elena waved, "I'll text you."
She watched her friends take off before turning back to Stefan.
"Caroline's roped us all into a pre game practice on Friday, so I think we'll have to move our day date to Saturday."
Stefan pouted, "But we already have plans for Saturday night. Remember? Comet, popcorn, lights in the sky, town square..."
She sighed, "Yeah, I know, but you know Caroline."
He nodded, "Fine. But then we are having a full breakfast date Saturday morning, so no sleeping in."
She laughed, "Okay, sounds good."
He cupped her face, dropping a kiss to her lips.
She pulled away, "Mmhm, I really need to get going."
He sighed, "Fine. I'll see you in the morning?"
"You bet."
She kissed him again, before pulling back, and tucking her bottle under her arm.
"See you tomorrow."
Elena got home shortly after, and called out for Jenna as she opened the front door.
When nothing but an empty house answered back, she hurried up to her bedroom, dropping her bag on the floor.
Still sweating from earlier, she decided to take a quick shower.
It took little time to remove the grass and stickiness.
She turned off the water, and reached for her towel.
After wrapping it around her hair, she threw on her bathrobe, and made her way back downstairs, to the fridge.
She was always starving after practice.
Checking each shelf twice, nothing really stood out to her.
She checked the pantry instead.
Nothing.
Were they seriously almost out of groceries again?
She groaned and succumbed to grabbing an apple.
It didn't take long to slice it and put the pieces on a small plate before moving back upstairs to her bedroom.
Her laptop rested on her desk, where she'd left it yesterday.
She sat in her giant rolling chair, placing the apple slices next to the computer, before running a hand over the touchpad, waking it up.
All day she'd been unable to shake the story they'd been told in history, and she didn't want to wait any longer before scratching the itch it had created in her brain, now that she could focus.
Pulling up her favorite search engine, she typed in "Aurelia, Mystic, 1500's".
A bunch of random articles popped up, and she scanned through each one carefully.
Just as Mr. Saltzman had said, the story had many different variations.
Everything from star-crossed lovers to witchcraft and demons.
The theories were ridiculous, for the most part, but the names repeated were so familiar to her. Salvatore. Petrova. The ruling families.
She had no idea why though, and so far, nothing here had anything to do with the dreams she'd been having.
She sighed.
Of course it didn't.
They were just stupid dreams, meaning absolutely nothing.
She knew that rationally, it was the truth.
But she couldn't deny that something inside of her, beyond rationality, told her a different story.
She cleared the search bar, typing instead, "Aurelia, Salvatore Family Castle".
She was surprised when more recent pictures were available.
Apparently a magazine covering the state's most historic monuments had added the castle's ruins to its list.
There wasn't much left, but Elena knew the place in the photos.
It was in the woods, out behind the falls.
She'd played there as a child.
They'd always assumed the old rubble was a demolition of an old plantation.
There had been plenty around in the 1800's, but apparently they were wrong, and the old, overgrown stone, was all that remained of Aurelia's castle.
Looking through more pictures, the photographs soon turned to paintings.
Art dealers, flashing the gems they now owned which used to hang on the castle walls.
Elena scanned through the priceless pieces, until one caught her eye.
It was the painting of a woman, beautifully done. She had dark hair, crystal eyes, and fine cheekbones.
She held herself with an air of superiority, of royalty.
But none of this was important.
What stood out to Elena was the necklace at the woman's throat.
Identical to the one that adorned her own.
She reached up, fingering the amulet that hung just above her cleavage line.
She never took it off, if she could avoid it.
Her mother had given it to her just before the accident that had claimed her parents life three years ago.
The memory was clear, because it was also the night she discovered she was adopted.
Her parents had found her; a baby in the woods.
The police were baffled, and the process for Grayson and Miranda Gilbert to become her parents had been taken care of in a matter of days.
No questions necessary when no one knew who she was, how she'd gotten there, or where she'd even come from.
The only clue they had; an old necklace clutched in her infant hand.
She gripped it tightly now, as she stared at the painting on her screen.
The description read, "Lillian Salvatore, Queen of Aurelia."
And she was wearing Elena's necklace.
A pain split through her head as she baffled at the picture. She winced, her head falling to her hands. The throbbing got worse, until she nearly fell from her seat.
The picture blurred from her sight, new images replacing it.
The picture of Lillian Salvatore was mounted high above the second floor fireplace.
It loomed over her, as the fire crackled.
A pair of hands drifted over her shoulders, exposed by the dress that curved off her arms.
The necklace was draped over her head, though she couldn't see who was fastening it.
But she could hear him.
His voice a silver song in her ear.
"It should be worn by a woman of worth," he purred, "A woman of beauty."
A kiss on the skin of her neck, "Never take it off, Elena. It's more powerful than you can imagine."
The image cut off as the pain stopped.
She blinked, as she heard her name being called.
"Elena? Sweetheart, are you home?"
She took a deep breath, shaking off whatever that was, "Uh, yeah, I'm up here."
Seconds later, her door opened, revealing her "Aunt".
Jenna was her adopted mother's sister, and had taken care of her since her parent's accident.
"Oh, there you are! Are you busy?"
She started to shake her head, but Jenna's brows furrowed, "Elena, your nose."
She lifted her hand to it, and her fingers were red when she examined them.
Blood.
"Oh, wow," she mused, walking over to her conjoining bathroom and wet a cloth, "I didn't even realize it."
She wasn't sure why she hid what she'd discovered from Jenna, but she did.
It would remain her secret for a little longer.
"What were you needing?" She pressed, once all the blood from her nose was gone.
"Oh, right. I was going to see if you wanted to run to town with me. They have the farmer's market at the square today and I was wanting to pick up a few things."
Elena nodded, "Yeah, I'll go. Just, uh," she looked down at her robe, "Let me get dressed, and blow dry my hair."
Jenna nodded, saying, "Fifteen minutes!"
Before leaving, to give her some privacy.
Elena sighed, turning back to her computer.
She was being silly.
It was just the memory of one of her dreams, she reasoned, that's it.
Still, she couldn't help but save the picture.
Just in case.
Sooo, not sure if anyone picked up on this, but the necklace was mentioned in the first chapter ;)
Things may get a little crazy, but it'll all be explained soon!
Hope y'all enjoyed, and please, leave a review with your feedback :)