Warrior (Book Three of The Silver Society)

Chapter Two

CHAPTER TWO

Cassandra was struggling in her sleep. At eighteen years old, she lived by herself in a house that was at the edge of Salem. It was a lonely life, but Cassandra preferred being alone. She had little tolerance for stupidity and found that most people were unbelievably stupid.

Trained to be a slaying machine from the age of two, Cassandra had never been allowed to have emotions. The slayers that raised her had turned out to be corrupt, and she had freed herself from them as soon as she was old enough to take care of herself. She had become the number one slayer in Salem at just thirteen, mere weeks after she was old enough to rank. Respected by the good guys and feared by the bad, Cassandra was not one to be crossed.

The memory that was invading her sleep was little more than flashes, but it still put her on edge. She'd had slight flashes of the events before, but never enough to put the pieces together. This time, it was different.

She was two years old. The slayers that raised her had broken into her home in Japan. A little boy shouted, "Kaida!" He began speaking in Japanese. He was trying to protect her, but he was quickly knocked unconscious. A man that Cassandra felt an odd attachment to was murdered right before her eyes.

Cassandra woke up shrieking as if she was two years old again. Taking several deep breaths, she brought herself back into the present. She didn't have nightmares often, but when she did, it always took her a couple of minutes to calm down. She was positive this was a legitimate memory, but she'd been too young to form them when it happened. The only child that young who she knew could have formed such a vivid memory was Joey, and he wasn't an ordinary kid.

Cassandra shook her head and cursed. Maybe her mind had simply decided to torment her with what might have happened when she was abducted. She stood up and walked into the kitchen for a glass of water, hoping to clear her head.

When Cassandra walked back into her bedroom, she turned on the television. She knew that she couldn't go back to sleep, so she might as well try to entertain herself. Skipping over infomercials and other things that could not hold her interest, she finally decided to watch one of the few movies she'd purchased over the years. It was one of her favorite Martial Arts films. Still, she couldn't focus.

As the sun began coming up, Cassandra noticed it reflecting off of something on her desk. Curious, she got off of her bed and picked it up. She spotted an oval silver locket on a chain. The initials "KS" were engraved onto it. Curious, Cassandra opened the locket. She was startled to see a picture of herself as a toddler, wrapped protectively in the arms of the little boy who'd been in her nightmare. He was smiling brightly, and to her surprise, so was her younger self.

"What the hell?" She wondered aloud. There was an energy on the locket that she couldn't quite place, but it was familiar. "Are the faeries playing tricks on me?"

Faeries had a habit of playing tricks on people by messing around with their jewelry, but this didn't feel like the result of fae magick, and the glitter-loving creatures tended to avoid Cassandra out of fear of facing her infamous temper.

Running her fingers over the engraved letters, Cassandra flashed back on her nightmare. The little boy had called her Kaida. Could that be her birth name? She didn't remember anything before getting kidnapped, including her family, but she wondered if the boy was her brother.

"Stop it, Cassandra," she scolded herself. "The past is over. There is nothing you can do to change that. Don't waste your time trying to figure it out now. It doesn't matter anymore. You're not that girl anymore. There are more important things to focus on now."

Knowing her chances of getting some sleep were completely gone, Cassandra put the locket down. She pulled out the silver sword she kept under her bed while she slept and carried it with her into the bathroom.