Elena walks out of the dining hall after dinner and heads to her room to sleep. But she doesn't let what Anastasia said go; it's still stuck in her head, and she hates to let someone as hateful as Anastasia get to her.
She can't stop thinking about all the what-ifs?
What if Anastasia's right? What if the only thing she has is this power, but she ends up not knowing how to use it? And she ends up failing her family and most especially her parents, who would have died for nothing.
No!
She stops walking and scolds herself for allowing Anastasia to get to her in the first place. It's Anastasia she's busy thinking about. She thrives on making people doubt themselves. No way is she going to allow such a vile person as herself to get to her, no fucking way.
Elena is going to believe in herself because she knows she can do this; she knows she can tap into her full potential and be able to take down any creature of darkness, even evil wizards who have the urge to end babies because they want her power.
She's going to learn how to use her powers, but first, she needs a good night's rest. So she moves forward, but then she trips on something, or rather on someone. She turns around and looks down to see her classmate on the floor. But this classmate looks familiar.
This can't be who she's thinking.
She kneels and moves the body to see that it's Anastasia. Elena gasps at what she's seeing right now. Anastasia looks dead at the moment. No, she doesn't look dead; she is dead.
Her eyes are pitch black, and so are her lips and her fingers; it's like she's been poisoned. But by whom?
"Anastasia?" Elena calls her name, and she doesn't know why she does that since Ana is unresponsive at the moment. Her heart isn't beating, and there is no pulse.
The princess of Russia is dead.
Elena looks at her archnemesis in horror.
"Who would do this?" she asks herself.
"Elena, what did you do?" She whips her head around, and she sees Alex looking at her with fear in his eyes, not just Alex, but the rest of her friends, and her cousin. Pierre doesn't look at her in fear but in anger.
"What? No, no, no, I didn't do this, I met her this way."
"Elena, why would you do this?" Fran asks, disappointed.
"Oh, come on, guys, why would I do this? You know me, I would never hurt anyone. Alex, you know me the most, tell them."
Alex shakes his head, disgusted. "I don't know who you are anymore."
"Alex," she says in a sad voice and now she's almost in tears.
"This is the new me, Alex!" Elena stops in her tracks when she hears her own voice, but she knows for a fact she didn't say anything. So who could be using her voice? She turns around to find that out, and that's when she sees herself.
No, not herself, maybe someone that looks like her.
But it is her, she just looks different. For one, her golden hair is replaced by pitch black hair, and she's dressed in all black; her nails are black as well.
It is her, but she doesn't understand. She's standing right here; how could she be looking at herself?
"Who the hell are you?" Elena asks the impostor. She looks away from Alex and then creepily shifts her gaze to Elena.
Elena's heart almost jumps out of her chest after the way dark Elena looks at her.
"Why, I'm you, but better." She says, and Elena stands there, confused as to whatever she means by that.
Dark Elena's wings spring out, and her wings are dark and bat-like. She begins to fly, and then a large cloud covers her whole being. Then the cloud turns into darkness, she uses to attack Elena, Elena doesn't make a run for it, she only stands there covering herself with her hands.
She wakes up and begins to breathe in and out like she were involved in a race. She sees she's in her room. She looks to her left, and Fran is still asleep on her side of the bed.
She lets out a sigh of relief.
It's just another nightmare…about darkness again. Why does she keep having these dreams? She wonders. Could it be a warning for what's to come? She doesn't know. All she knows right now is that she needs some fresh air. So she gets out of her bed and quietly leaves the room.
Students are not allowed to leave the dorms at night, especially when everyone's supposed to be fast asleep.
But Elena is notorious for breaking the rules, so she doesn't care; she leaves the dorms anyway. And she heads straight for the enchanted forest.
She first makes sure that no one is around, especially Mr Volkov. When she sees that the coast is clear, she quickly but quietly makes a run for the enchanted forest.
The enchanted forest is in fact… Enchanted, filled with magical fireflies, nymphs and dryads, and the croaks of magical toads who make people fall asleep. If she wants to sleep anywhere, she would rather go straight to the enchanted river, which is where she's going.
She walks toward the enchanted river barefoot, and she hasn't gotten close to the river, and she already feels alright, she's already at peace.
The river flows so peacefully, Elena comes here all the time to clear her mind. Maybe after feeling small for not having powers, she comes here, or when she thinks about her parents' death, she comes here to just sit and listen to the river singing.
She sits down on the soft green grass. It's not dark because the bright violet moon reflects wonderfully in the sky. And not to mention the fireflies dancing in the air.
She's at peace, there are no bad dreams here… literally, in the enchanted forest, you cannot have any bad dreams. It only feeds you with good dreams and good dreams alone.
Well, she can't seem to catch a break because she hears some movements in the water. She looks at the water, confused, and then she thinks maybe it's probably nothing. So she looks away from the river and continues stargazing, but then the violence continues.
She quickly gets up from the grass and moves closer to the water. She looks down to inspect whatever the fuck that is. Could it be a sea monster?
Of course not, there are no sea monsters in the enchanted forest. There's a reason why her forefathers created Hollow Academy in this location. That's because this is a safe space.
"Hello, I hope you're not some crazy sea monster."
"Sea monster?" Elena jumps when she hears a voice, and then she sees someone in the water looking at her nails.
"Now that is the most offensive thing I have ever heard in my aquatic life. Do I look like a sea monster to you?
"Oh."
Elena says That's obviously not a sea monster, she's something else, something majestic. A mermaid.
Elena giggles. "I'm sorry."
"It's fine, I shouldn't have startled you." The mermaid moves closer to her. She giggles. "I love making people think I'm a sea monster anyway."
"Oh, right, a prankster. You got me there." Elena says, chuckling. "You got me there," Elena says the last part to herself.
"Nice to meet you. I'm Coraline, but my friends call me Coral." She stretches out her wet hand for a handshake. Elena grabs it, and she shakes her hand.
Coraline has a long, blue, shiny tail, and she's blond, but she has blue strips in her hair that glow when she's under the water. Her eyes are a bright blue. Elena has seen mermaids before, but not up close.
"Nice to meet you, Coral. I'm Elena." Coral retreats her hand. "Elena? As in Princess Elena of England."
"Uh, yes?" Coral gasps.
"Oh, Triton! Your highness." Coral bows her head.
Elena laughs. "Please, please, there's no need for that. I'm not like a strict princess. I'm a cool princess," she says, and Coral gives her the side eye and then goes back to smiling.
"Huh, cool."
"Cool indeed."
"So what are you doing here at this time of the night, princess?"
"I had a bad dream, so I came here to think."
"Ugh, I come here to think as well. Most of the time, to get away from my family because they expect so much of me."
"Huh, must be tough, but how come I haven't seen you here before?"
"Maybe we come here at different times, but this time the universe wanted us to cross paths."
"Hmm, I love that theory."
And Elena is loving Coral already.
"Want to talk about your dream, and I'll talk about my family?"
"Hmm, sure." Elena sits on the grass, and the two tell each other the tale of what brought them to the enchanted forest.
And it's true what they say, the enchanted forest doesn't just give one good dreams, but it creates the most unlikely of friendships.