Twisted Love

Chapter 13

Cress sighed loudly, lying sprawled onto the carpet with her limbs splayed out around her. Her hair was in a tangled mess, but she was too lazy to brush through it anyways. I have to find something to do, she pouted to herself.

Living alone in a gigantic mansion may seem great to some people, but it can get boring wandering around all by yourself. Heaving another sigh, she picked herself off of the carpet and walked towards her room, bare feet scuffling against the ground.

Walking down the hallway, she suddenly paused when she saw strange light spilling out onto the ground before her. Looking around, she searched for the source of the light, and saw that the door to her father's study room was open. Or, what was his study room. He had died years ago.

Eyebrows cocked in surprise, she moved towards it, placing her hand on the doorknob. About to close it, a metallic glint from atop her father's desk caught her eye. Stopping, she stared at it. It was a paper clip, attached to a file, collecting dust over the years. Her father's large, messy scrawl appeared on the file name.

From far away, she could read the writing.

Cinder Linh

Cress' curiosity was piqued. What could her father had seen in that girl that he would have his own file about? She wanted to get her hands on those papers desperately. Right when she was about to step in, another memory stopped her.

Closing her eyes, she thought she saw her father's ghost lingering at the edge of the office. She let herself relive the memory. Opening her eyes again, she saw herself when she was little, standing at the doorway and peeking inside.

Her eyes were wide as she watched her father busily bustle around, papers and files flying all over the place.

Immediately, her father saw her and dashed towards her, bursting out of the office and closing it behind himself. Eyebrows furrowed, he bent down to her height and placed his hands on her frail shoulders.

"Oh, Cress, my dear child," he murmured. Little Cress' eyes were wide. "Don't ever look into my office, alright?"

"Why not?" she whined. Her father paused, thinking for a while. Then his mouth softened into a small smile.

"There are some things that you should not see."

Cress thought back to this, mentally debating with herself. Finally, she reached a decision. Opening the door further, she muttered, "Sorry, dad. You're dead now." She stepped foot into the office. Immediately, her steps caused a cloud of dust to rise up. Cress coughed and waved it away, padding towards the desk.

Grabbing the file, she blew all the dust off of it, making them fly in all directions like freed birds from a cage. The file had yellowed and crinkled with age, and the paperclip was rusty. She ran her fingers across her father's writing.

Smiling slightly, she opened the crinkled folder and took a peek at the multiple papers inside. Yelping in surprise, she jumped back when she thought she saw a dead bug inside. The papers flew out of the folder and fluttered all over the floor, scattering everywhere.

Groaning, she bent down on her knees to pick up each paper. In the end, they became a disorganized pile. Cress heaped all of them onto the desk and plopped down into the old, leather chair, sending another gigantic plume of dust up.

Cress sorted through the papers, finding nothing more interesting than boring articles and random snippets about the Cinder Linh. However, what she did find interesting was that there was no birth certificate at all.

A few pictures of Cinder from when she was little was also present.

Pausing for a moment, Cress poked her head out the door and yelled, "LITTLE CRESS!" After a mechanical beep, a kid's voice came over, echoing through the entire house.

"How may I help you?" Glancing back down at the file, Cress answered, "Would you please run a search on the girl Cinder Linh?" Another beep sounded.

"Searching. Cinder Linh. Currently, she is one of the thirty-five girls in the national competition: The Selection. There is no other information on her. Similar searches include Adri Linh, Pearl Linh, Peony Linh, and Garan Linh." Cress' curiosity was piqued.

"Search Garan Linh, then."

"Searching. Garan Linh. Garan Linh died years ago, after a trip to Luna. He brought home a package, but the contents are unknown. It may have been a child, for after that, a girl mysteriously appeared inside their home."

A trip to Luna! Cress thought. What business did he have there? Sighing, she said a quick thank you to Little Cress and kept flipping through all the articles and data. All of a sudden, a page more wrinkled than any of the rest slipped out, floating gently onto the ground.

Heaving out another sigh, she bent down to pick it up. Flinging it back onto the table, it flipped right side up, and in bold, red letters, it read:

Birth Certificate of Selene Channary Jannali Blackburn of Luna

Cress' eyes shot wide open.

Princess Selene's Birth Certificate? Her lithe fingers darted out to grab it, bringing it close to her face to see if it was real. Tracing a finger over the ink, she spotted a little seal in the right corner to signify that it was official. It wasn't a fake. Her father had the birth certificate of Princess Selene in his very own office. About to combust from excitement, Cress hollered, "LITTLE CRESS! Run a search on Princess Selene!"

The machine responded immediately.

"Searching. Princess Selene Channary Jannali Blackburn of Luna. She was born of Queen Channary Jannali Blackburn of Luna, although her father is unknown. The princess was killed when she was a toddler in an accidental fire in a nursery. Would you like to see a picture of Princess Selene Channary Jannali Blackburn of Luna?"

"Yes, please." A mechanical beep echoed through the house, and all of a sudden a holographic image of Selene appeared in front of Cress' face. With a gasp, she realized that the photo of Princess Selene and Cinder were the exact same.

Running her fingers through her long tangled hair that had grown almost past her knees due to all the years stuck inside this satellite, Cress gasped, "It can't be!" Filing through the papers once again, she couldn't find anything to deny it. Instead, overwhelming evidence spilled out at her. "Cinder is Princess Selene!"

The house was filled with complete silence after her sudden realization. A thousand thoughts ran through her mind at once. She would have to find a way to communicate with that girl. If she found out her true identity, Cinder would have the power to completely overthrow Queen Levana.

Cress brain was running at a mile a minute, but the phone suddenly interrupted her train of thought. She yelled at the machine to answer it. With a click, Sybil Mira's voice came on over the speakers, her face appearing in front of Cress.

"Cress," she said in a bored tone. It was cold and devoid of life, and the Queen's first-in- command wasted no time with introductions.

"Yes?" the girl answered timidly, inconspicuously scooting the papers off of the desk and back into the file.

"My queen would like you to run a search."

Cress nodded hurriedly, answering, "Of course. Anything. Who is it?"

"Somebody not of importance," Sybil answered, as if she were trying to convince the researcher not to search deeper. "Cinder Linh." 

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