Jumping For The Stars

Chapter 32 - Luck

Chapter 32

Luck

A black cloaked shadow appeared at Ailia's prison cell, "The Great Teanna Kelsa, caught. The end of the world won't be because of you anymore."

"How can you be so certain?" Ailia's voice cracked as she realized just what it was.

"You're going to die, no sign of salvation in sight," the Hoyle floated.

"I saved myself pretty damn well good last time I saw you," Ailia straightened her back.

"Yes," the Hoyle admitted, regret in it's voice, "But this time you don't know truth from fiction.

"What do you mean?" Ailia took a stubborn step forward.

"I mean," the Hoyle's deatheater grin spread across it's face, "That it's about time we met face to face."

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Teanna: noun, 1. free spirit or 2. beautiful mind

Kelsa: noun, brave

That's was Ailia's parents names her and that's what it meant.

Ailia Mar.

Rearranged, as was done to the infamous Voldemort's name, spelled out something else, giving a whole new meaning to it entirely.

I am a liar.

When Ailia was younger she'd taken a map of constellations and fitting them onto a bedsheet, cutting out small holes where every star landed so that she could be united with the stars both in night and day.

Except, she'd gotten yelled at, not by her parents, but Amy's aunt and before that by Amy's. Amy's parents saw Teanna to be a pest, a nuisance. She'd gotten smacked around and ordered, locked in the basement for a week.

It wasn't Amy's fault that her parents didn't like Tea, but rather Tea's. Tea was forced upon Amy's parents in the middle of an unsettling divorce. They couldn't leave Amy to be in the middle of a custody battle, so they sucked up, fake smiles all around, but even at seven Tea was clever.

Sadly.

Because when Tea was ten and Amy seven, Tea ran away. They were still in Scotland then, still by where Tea lived and Tea would go to her old house when things got too rough.

The day they died was one of those days.

Tea had just gotten kicked out of school, again. Blamed for something that hadn't quite happened, and for using her own name in school instead of the Pond surname, Mrs. Pond wasn't happy.

Mrs. Pond locked the girl in the basement later that night, a punishment she'd executed many times before, Teanna begging and pleading all the way, Teanna stumbled down, fully aware her recent good behavior wasn't going to help her. All Mrs. Pond would see was that she was in trouble.

"Shut up," a voice hissed from the top of the dank basement stairs, "You'll wake our daughter."

Teanna swayed at the bottom of the stairs, her hands clawing at the ground as she attempted to stand, to put her feet beneath herself, "Please. I'll try..."

"No, it doesn't matter. You're leaving in the morning," Mrs. Pond snarled, throwing a plate, the thing that set off the woman, that Ailia had dropped seconds ago after she'd come down from her room in the middle of the night to steal some food for herself and Amy, the younger girl wanting a snack, waiting in bed for Teanna to come back.

Tea wouldn't be coming back with the food, she'd be sitting at the bottom of the steps, watching the light bulb flick back and forth.

Except she didn't want to.