Author Note: I'm sorry. I was trying to write a song for Claire. This is a lullaby her mother used to sing to her and has a mysterious message behind it.

I get in my pajamas, getting ready to go to bed. After what happened a few hours ago, some friends left and stayed to play games with me. The last person to leave was Jim, giving me a passionate kiss at the door. At 7:00 PM, Mom and Dad take me and Enrique to a restaurant instead of staying home and eating from the fridge. I felt so happy to have dinner with my family outside the house. And best of all, it was where I wanted to go to. We went to Italian Garden, an Italian restaurant I used to eat at when I was younger.

It was so much fun; I felt on top of the world. Aside from Enrique, Mom and Dad treated me like the most important person in the world, smiling, talking, and laughing. I had forgotten how much I missed this when I was younger. It was so long ago. I wish this is the norm. But I know everything might go back to the way it was.

"Sis!" I hear NotEnrique hiss. I turn to find him at the edge of my open door.

"NotEnrique, what's wrong?" I ask, walking to him. I turn on my lights, and he looks sad and worried.

"I think ya want to hear this." He says without answering. He walks out of my door and gestures for me to be quiet and follow him.

I shrug my shoulders and obey. We walked down the hall to the stairs, where I turned my head and saw the bathroom I locked myself in. After dinner, Dad and I cleaned up the blood in the toilet. NotEnrique stops at the top of the staircase and also gestures to me. I hear crying and pacing back and forth.

"Ophelia, calm down. It's going to be okay." I hear Dad say.

"I can't, Javier! This is all my fault!" I hear Mom cry, making me blink.

"Shhh, Ophelia. This isn't your fault, but you need to calm down, or you'll wake her up." Dad whispers, making me think I'm the 'her' in question.

The pacing stops, but the crying continues. "Oh Javier, what should we do?" Mom says in hopelessness and sounds desperate.

"You have to tell her. About your family's history. You need to inform your mother about this." Dad answers.

"Javier, I can't do that. I've tried so hard to keep Claire away from this." Mom cries.

My eyes widen. What is Mom crying about? What are my parents talking about that involves Mom's family and me? A part wants me to go downstairs, check on Mamá, comfort her, and ask what's wrong, but another wants me to stay and keep listening. I chose the latter.

"Oh, Javier. I'm scared... Scared for our daughter's life. The more she knows, the more trouble will come for her." Mom cries, sending a shiver down my spine, and I quietly run to my room.

I don't understand why I did that. I just felt cold and watched. Being in my room gives me comfort and sanctuary. I sit on my bed, looking at the floor while feeling my heart racing.

"Sis, what's wrong? Why did ya run off?" I hear NotEnrique ask. I lift my head and see my troll brother looking again sad and worried.

"I'm sorry NotEnrique. I was just... a little shocked. I felt like running and had the urge to scream. I didn't mean to worry you." I whisper.

NotEnrique leaps up and lands on my bed next to me. "Do you think your parents were talking about you?" He asks.

"Most likely. And my mother's family." I mumble, nodding my head.

"What about your mom's family?"

I know Mom never likes to talk about her family. She finds my Abuela, her mother, an insane woman with imagination. She doesn't like her three siblings, my aunt and uncles. I agree about my aunt and uncles, and I don't like them either and find them all small-minded conservatives. But I'm afraid I have to disagree with my Abuela. I love her and always hung out with Abuela whenever I visited her, along with my Abuelo, aunt, uncles, and cousins, telling her everything, playing with her, and spending time with her.

The only one in Mom's family who she likes is my Abuelo, her father. She finds him the most brilliant man she has ever met and is always grateful to him. I find Abuelo boring, scary, small-minded, racist, and conservative.

"Mom's family is just.. a bit weird, and Mom doesn't like to talk to them," I answer. I look at my mirror and see a pair of glowing yellow eyes in the window's reflection. I blink, gasp out loud, and quickly turn around in terror and horror while hearing an animal growl. But nothing is there. "Did you see that?" I say with shock, scare, and trembling.

"What?" NotEnrique asks.

"In the window, and I just saw a pair of scary eyes reflecting in the window. I point to the window and start shaking.

"I didn't and don't see anything, Sis," NotEnrique replies.

I turn to him and raise an eyebrow. Am I losing my mind, or is something out there with a pair of scary, glowing yellow eyes? NotEnrique can see the panic in my eyes and doesn't argue. Those eyes reminded me of Jim's when he became a full troll. After wrapping one arm around my neck and holding me up, almost choking me, I fear seeing those eyes again.

Suddenly, I hear a hymn of my mother's lullaby.

Sleep, I'll be here as you dream,

No matter where you are, I'll be here for you,

You'll find secrets no one was meant to hear.

My eyes start to get droopy. "Let's go to bed now NotEnrique." I yawn and lay my head on the pillow.

"Ok, I'll keep a look out for those eyes." He says before I drift to sleep.

"Good night, my child. I will be watching over you." Morgana's voice sang in my ear.

"Claire, wake up!"

I open my eyes and find myself standing in a strange hall. I see grey and yellow brick on the wall and a 20-foot high-rise ceiling. Strange, this reminds me a lot of a castle. I don't take my time and walk to try to find a way out. I don't understand where I'm going, where I am, or what I'm doing, but as I walk around, these walls start to feel familiar, like I've been here before.

"Hello? Is anyone here? Jim? Douxie?" I shout, but no one answers.

"Do you anything else, Mistress?" I hear a female voice ask. It's soft, sweet, and ghostly. I look around frantically for it but don't see anything but empty halls.

"No, that will be all, Elaine. Thank you!" Another soft and ghostly female voice hits my ear.

It sounds more familiar than the first. Direct but calm and hauntingly graceful. It's the same voice that woke me up. Morgana. I quickly walk in the direction of the voices ahead of me. The hall ends, and I turn a corner but see nothing anywhere.

"Elaine, where are you? I need you!" I hear Morgana say.

"Coming, Mistress!" Elaine's voice calls out, and I hear footsteps, but no one is there.

I don't remember Elaine being around Morgana when I saw her in Camelot, but as I turn another corner from a dead-end hall, I see pitch black and look back and see more darkness around me.

"A birth of a child in the middle of the 10th month of the year,

Another wizard was born 900 years later on the same day.

Skin the color of golden sand,

Hair as dark as night,

And eye like the color of cocoa beans,

With the power between light and darkness.

The child is born out of the blood and magic of one of the two eldest sorcerers of Mankind's history.

Holds a staff of shadow and emotion.

They will either be the world's savior or doom.

The choice is theirs to make."

A dark, scratchy, and despicable voice laughs out loud, so maniacal and haunting. I feel a pain in my head and stomach, giving me the urge to throw up. The pain feels like a thousand knives, fire, and cold. I crumble to my feet and start screaming, showing the exterior of the suffering, but no one is around to help. I can hear the laughter grows louder and louder in my ears, making me coving them.

"Please, STOP!" I cry out loud. But the laughter overwhelms my voice.

"You belong to us, and you will bring destruction to humanity!" The laughter says.

I feel stinging in my hands and look at them to see my veins become visible and turn purple against my skin. The pain grows more intense, and I scream until my lungs can't take any more.

I hear screaming in the distance and lift my head to see flames. I slowly sit up with my elbows and study to see trolls running and the heartstone being destroyed. But it's not the heartstone in Arcadia; it's the one in New Jersey. The heartstone me and Jim worked so hard to find. The heartstone I helped to find with the exchange of my life.

"No! No! Stop, STOP IT!" I scream, reaching out my hand. But my vision starts fading, and I feel weak. I crumble back into a ball and start sobbing. "No, no, no, no, no!" I cried, closing my eyes.

Suddenly, I hear the same hymn of my mother's lullaby in the same female voice, making me come to peace.

Go down deep to find what is lost,

Listen to your heart and follow the sound,

Follow the wolf as black as night

There is magic flowing through you.

"Don't give up, child. You are strong." I hear Morgana's voice whisper in my ear. "Relax; I will protect you."

I gasp and open my eyes simultaneously, lifting my head to my bedroom image. I look around in panic and cry softly, seeing nothing except my belongings in my room, with the sunlight peeking through my binds.

"Sis, what's wrong?"

I turn to NotEnrique's scared and worried expression from last night.

I take a few deep breaths and let out some tears. "I'm sorry NotEnrique. I just had a nightmare." I breathe, rubbing my eyes.

"But you were talking in your sleep. Crying 'no' and 'stop' to someone. What was it? What happened?" NotEnrique asks, crawling closer to me and sitting on my legs.

I bite my lip and glance down at my chest. "It was hearing a haunting laughter and seeing Trollmarket destruction," I answer, not wanting to say everything I saw.

NotEnrique looks sadder and lowers his ears. "Oh Claire, I'm so sorry." He says with sadness and crawls to wrap his arms around my waist. I smile and return his hug, padding his scruff.

After a moment, NotEnrique lets me go but still looks at me worriedly. "Ummm, Sis."

"Yes?" I ask, raising my eyebrow.

"You better look in a mirror. I think something happened to your hair last night."

I look at him in confusion and get up from my bed, walking to my mirror. I turn on my light and look into my reflection; then, I let out a scream.

Author Note: The Italian Garden is a parody name of an actual restaurant, Olive Garden. Tales of Arcadia can have parody names and versions of pop culture in real life. I don't know if it was to be funny or not to have lawsuits. But great resourcefulness Guillermo Del Toro! I did it to be funny and not the latter, thank god for this website. The song lyrics are written originally by me, wanting to have a song connecting Claire with the woman who sang it in her room and dream. Singing is my universal language and songs can be used as a guide for wanderers. I will put the full song in the next chapter. Claire is really lost. Please review.