Forest of Fireflies

Chapter 46

..........(Present day)..........

(Daniella's POV)

Eliza was the first to speak when Snow left us. "You can just call me Eliza, I find my full name a little too fancy for my liking."

I smiled. Oh, believe me, I know...

"Maria's fine for me. How 'bout you? Got any nicknames you prefer us to call you by?"

I shook my head as I replied, "To be honest, I only get called 'Dani' by my brother. Everyone else just calls me Daniella and I'm fine with that."

Eliza said quickly, "Alright. I was just curious. Anyway, we've started on the project over the weekend. I'm sorry but we've already chosen a topic."

I shrugged. "It's ok, I'm sure your idea is great. What topic is it?"

Maria chuckled and answered, "It's not really original but we've decided to do volcanoes. We're gonna make an exploding volcano for the fair."

"Exploding?!" What does that mean?

In a natural tone, Eliza replied, "Oh, you know...the experiment with baking soda and a soda bottle. Ms Blanchard said that we'll have to make the volcano ourselves though. We can't buy a volcano kit from the store."

I faked a knowing look and said, "Alright, that's sounds good....so um, what would you like me to do?"

"Well, we've started on the poster over the weekend but you could help us find some more info."

I stood up and collected my textbook but when I made my way back to the group, both Eliza and Maria were looking at me with a strange expression on their faces. I frowned. "What?"

"Oh, nothing...it's just...wouldn't you prefer to use the internet?"

My heart fell. Right. Maria noticed the awkward silence and broke it by saying, "How about let's all move closer to the computers? Daniella can find some info while we write what we've already got onto the poster."

After I nodded in agreement, we walked over to the computers at the back of the classroom. As I passed Henry, I whispered quietly into his ear, "Thanks for teaching me to use the internet, if you hadn't I'd be dead right now."

..........(Flashback)..........

I bit my lip as Maria dragged me onto the lake.

"Wait, I haven't even asked for your name!"

Quietly, I replied, "Daniella."

Maria's eyes widened so I hastily asked, "What is it?"

Her reply came as fast as her reaction. "Nothing."

"Maria...please tell me!"

Maria sighed and took a deep breath. Then, she gave me a gaze before saying, "An orphan is missing from this village and her name was Daniella. No one knows where she went but before her disappearance, odd things have happened."

"What things?"

"Well, Snow White was in our village and the Queen came. Snow hid with the orphans but to all of our surprise, the Queen wasn't looking for Snow. She was looking for the girl named Daniella. Now, people are saying that the poor girl was kidnapped by the Queen...but there's one thing that confuses us. Why? Why was the Queen interested in Daniella?"

I looked down as Maria continued, "There have been whispers that Daniella is a witch, but we can't be sure."

I frowned. "How do you know though? Who came up with this idea?"