Jane could hear the noise of the ball beginning, but somehow her legs didn't have the strength to stand up and go down to it. The man had scared her, right to her core. His words had reverberated inside her like an alarm clock, waking her up from the fairy tale she had been living.
The Order is rising again, Elvira. The man had said. The questions were running through Janes' head quicker than she could process them.
What is The Order, and why did it sound oddly familiar? Who is Elvira? Why was he calling her by that name?
The fear coursed through her when she thought of the last words the strange man had said to her.
We will return to our rightful place on the throne.
By "we" did he mean The Order he spoke so proudly of? But the worst part of it all, "Our rightful place on the throne".
Did this mean Alex was in danger? That people wanted to take over? Janes' stomach felt like it dropped thirteen hundred floors. The people who had raised her were perhaps in great danger, and all she could do was sit here with her eyes welling up in fear. She wanted so desperately to talk to Alex, to tell him. But how could she? How could she warn him when he could barely look at her.
Jane turned to look at herself in the mirror. Her eyes looked ragged from a restless nights sleep. How could she sleep when all she could think about was that man. Yet there was something in his eyes, something so very familiar. She tried to look at her own eyes, but her sight was over whelmed with the blurriness of tears.
The way he had gripped her hand, she could feel the power up and down her own even now. The connection had given her something, yet she couldn't figure out what. She was scared, all she could hear now was the man's words going around and around in her head like a Merry-Go-Round
Princess... Elvira... The Order... You are our only hope... know who you rightfully are... return to your people...
His voice was ricocheting around her head, like somebody throwing a hammer. She closed her eyes tightly as if to stop it, but suddenly something started to become clearer in her mind. As if the hammer of his voice was knocking down a wall of her brain which had protected her from seeing something ever before.
It was a soft white light at first, which slowly transformed into movements of colour. A face appeared. A woman's face, hovering above hers. The woman lips were moving, but Jane couldn't hear anything. The woman was beautiful. Her golden waves of hair were let free in the wind which was surrounding her. The lady was smiling a smile which crinkled her eyes, and upturned the corners of her mouth, creating small dimples in her cheeks. The smile sent love and happiness coursing through Jane, in unexpected waves. The woman's eyes held such love in them that Jane didn't think it real. But somehow she could tell. This woman was familiar, like a far off distant memory coming back to her. The familiarity hit her as soon as they connected eyes. The emerald green with gold flakes, the same as Janes, except woman's gleamed even brighter, with so much more wisdom, experience and love.
The memory was changing slightly now, deforming. Jane felt a tug as if someone was trying to bring her back to reality, and it was working. The woman started to grow blurry again, whatever it was, was becoming less visible by the second, and soon all she could see was the blackness behind her eyes.
"Jane, please open your eyes, tell me you are okay." She felt the brush of a thumb across her cheek. Suddenly she could feel the hard stone floor beneath her, and the sticky wetness of her cheeks as a familiar rough thumb caressed them gently. She had been crying, and she had fallen to her knees.
"Jane, please." She reluctantly opened her eyes, and immediately fell into Alex's deep blue ones. He was here, and he was looking at her. Jane didn't feel sad anymore. She fell more into the security of his arms and buried her head into his shoulder. He could feel her hot breath on his neck which created goosebumps all over his body.
"What happened?" His voice was soothing, but there was almost a demand in the question which made Jane remember everything and pull away from his arms. Alex took this as a cue and stood up, helping Jane up with him.
"Are you okay?" He asks this time, taking her in more with his eyes. She looked more beautiful than he had ever seen before. Her hair was in loose curls, flowing freely around her shoulder. Her dress was a soft ash-rose colour, which brought out the pink in her cheeks. It hung softly off her shoulders. It was made entirely of lace, with accurately embroidered birds on the bottom half, and clinging loosely around her waist, a silver belt. Her nose and eyes were slightly puffy from crying, and it hurt him to see her like this, but somehow it made her look even more like an angel.
"I'm sorry, I'm not sure what happened. I didn't get a good nights sleep last night, and I think it just all caught up to me at once. I am sorry." She hadn't looked him in the eyes yet, but she could feel her hairs stand up on end even in his presence.
He took a step forward, and reached out as if to grab her hand, but stopped himself and drew back. "You don't ever have to apologise to me, Jane." His voice was all tender this time, which made her heart ache for him to have grabbed her hand, so she turned to look at him, but the power of his eyes kept her in place.
We will return to our rightful place on the throne.
The man's voice had pushed its way back into her thoughts as she had looked at him, and the fear she had felt before all came rushing back at once.
Alex could be in danger Jane, tell him! She could hear thoughts yelling at her, but her mouth fell locked shut. He shouldn't be near me, not when I could be endangering him from this man. Jane decided.
She brushed quickly past him and left her room with him standing there, adrift from her fears.
She didn't know how to tell him, all she is knew is that she had to speak to that man again. She had to know the answers to questions which have filled her mind. It was like the man had done something to her by touching her, but she couldn't figure out what. And until she did figure it out, she will have to try and stay far away from her.
YOU ARE READING
Hidden
Teen Fiction"Look for her where you least expect, for she will be the downfall of the Human Reign." Jane is in search of herself. What her life was like. Having been adopted into the Royal Castle after a war with invaders, Jane grows more and more curious about...
