ALACRITY! trollhunters

01 | reborn

ALACRITY.
( chapter one )

ARCADIA, ONE OF THE places specifically in the States that hold behind cryptic sightings and wonder. The limerence of another crisp morning begins the moment the sun showed up behind the clouds like a thin brush stroked the white paint on the canvas. The birds are chirping, the leaves on the trees tussle in calming rhythm, and the sky shifted slowly above the land. Few cars roam through the roads and some crossed the bridge since that early morning. Everything sounded so smooth in the city.

That is, until the alarm clock beeped.

"Ugh... Stop..!" The girl tiringly touches her desk beside her bed to look for her annoying alarm clock. She finally reached it and slammed the button.

Milly rubbed her eyes and yawned, stretching her arms widely. She slipped on her slippers and lazily carried herself to the mirror.

As she looked at her reflection, she stared at her excessive lion-like hair which she tends to comb it. She puckered her lips. "Okay, Emily Morales. You have a few months before your crappy life ends, so uhm... Don't mess this up," said Milly to herself, pointing at her reflection in playful anger.

School life wasn't a first for Milly when she, like any other high school student, also had a pack of school work to finish before graduation. Piano practices can be a burden to her as well.

And so does watching out for her seven siblings and their two grandparents while their father is collecting artifacts in New Jersey for a few days.

"Milly, bilis ka na diyan!" One of Milly's siblings, Aracely, exclaimed by her front door. The girl groaned and replied, "I'm on my way!"

She puts on her black undershirt under her long red tank top that reached down her thighs, black leggings that reached below her knees, and blue ballet shoes. It was the only reminder of her ballet years in her childhood. She stopped attending her practices the day after her mother's cruel death. Her father wanted her to focus on piano and of course, she didn't hesitate to give it a shot. Like in her ballet years, she learns fast.

Milly went downstairs and suddenly screamed when a werewolf appeared infront of her out of nowhere, or so she thought. When she heard laughing, she had to smack the "werewolf" on the head.

"Rudy!" She took of her brother's favourite mask, since he collects halloween masks out of boredom. "Aww, and I thought I was the scaredy cat," he cooed, pursing his lips as he continued cooing at his sister.

"Oh my god, Rudy. You're so insufferable." She climbed down past Rudy and entered the kitchen where her other siblings are. The twins, Marie and Mary, were playing with their food. It's not the first time she sees her own siblings do that on a daily basis. "Do not play with your own food. You have to eat them, not smothering them on your faces."

"Sorry, ate," they replied with glee, giggling afterwards.

"Emily, hija, you seem so serious all of a sudden." Her grandmother, Rita, stated as she was cooking omelet for her grandchildren. Milly sighed and sat on her chair, leaning both her elbows on the table. "Lola, I have alot of school work to catch up. And also I can't be late for class again."

"Milly went to detention 'cause she got into a fight with our classmates again," Aracely blurt out, which she received a glare from Milly. She turned to her grandmother with a worried expression, trying to defend herself. "Steve was about to land a punch on Eli, so I had to push him! Do I look like I'd sit here and let that hap─"

Her older brother, Ernesto, gasped at his little sister. "Are you for real?! Milly, this is the third time this month you did that. You got to stop hurting yourself from all that mess." His tone changed from anger to worried, which Milly took notice. She frowned and continued eating her breakfast.

She didn't want that to happen to her again either. Surely, she didn't want to fight, but deep inside she knew the bullying won't stop. A plate of omelets was placed infront of Milly, then she took a bite. The tangy taste of her grandmother's omelet remind her of her old home in the Philippines. It would scare her if that taste disappear.

"Hey, Milly, let's go." Aracely grabbed her helmet and Emily's and went outside, following Rudy. Milly wiped her mouth after she's done eating her omelet, grabbed her bag, and went outside. "Bye guys, bye lola, tell lolo I said 'goodbye'!"

Once the three got out of their house, they buckled up their helmets unto their heads. "We still have twenty minutes left before school starts, so let's make it count."

After they get in their bicycles, they take off. As they peddle their way to school, Aracely broke the silence. "Hey guys, what if we take the shortcut below the bridge?"

"Hmm. That would save us ten minutes before we could reach school. How 'bout it, Rudy?"

"I'm down if you're down with it," Rudy replied bluntly. "Then the bridge, it is." As they entered the forest and the tunnel below the bridge, the three siblings howled with glee.

As they began to peddle down, Rudy suddenly stopped in the middle of the bridge above them, which halted the girls as well. "Woah guys, check this out.."

Rudy stepped out of his bike and ran towards two anonymous pile of rocks. "I... have never seen these kind of rocks before." Milly touched the pile on the left, studying the features of the rocks that appeared out of nowhere under the bridge.

"I don't think these are rocks." Milly and Rudy turned their heads to Aracely. She averted her gaze back to the rocks as she moved it closely to her face. "Or, at least, I don't think these are rocks. This doesn't have any of the characteristics of a mineral."

"This could be cement or something," said Milly as she took another rock for a closer look. Then all of a sudden, her attention was caught by a glowing red light. She whispered, "What..?"

"Emily.... Morales..."

The girl panicked and crawled back from the rock pile. Aracely ran to her sister and asked, "What's wrong? Did you see anything cool in that rock pile?" Milly shook her head and looked back at the pile of rocks. "There's a talking rock calling my name, and you think it's cool?!"

"Hey hey, chi─ wait, a talking what-now?"

"A talking rock, Ara! It's like... It's calling my name without me telling them."

"Oh, you mean this thing?" Rudy grabs something from beneath the pile that doesn't look like a rock at all. Milly and Aracely stood up and took a closer look at what may seem to be a round silver object with markings in it, two clockhands, and below them is what's causing the object glow in faint light.

"This looks like some sort of pocketwatch," said Aracely. Milly took the "pocketwatch" from her brother, looking at every detail the object contains. "I think it's an amulet."

The siblings except for Milly shifted their gaze to her. They question in unison, "An amulet?" Milly arched her eyebrow. "Yeah. I mean, this thing is ticking, but it doesn't have twelve numbers on it."

"You do have a point there." Rudy tapped his chin with his finges. "But how did these pile of rocks get here?"

"I don't know. Maybe they're sculptures about to be sent to the museum."

"Or maybe─"

"Guys," Milly stopped her siblings blabber. "Let's just take the amulet and get outta here. We're gonna be late for school."