A Light in the Dark

== A Light in the Dark ==
Warning: this plot will contain some violent elements. Read on if you are willing to overlook that.
And also, I didn't mean the title on the video game. Oops.
== Prologue ==
The Queen raised her head, as beautiful and deadly as she was in the day. 
"Is it done?" she asked. 
The girl below her bowed her head. A long silver knife glinted off the moonlight. "Yes...Your Majesty," she said mockingly. 
The Queen leaned forward, her platinum eyes flashing. "Do not speak to me that way, girl. I can still snap your neck as easy as breathing. I can still make sure you don't leave my castle by the time dawn breaks." 
"Of course," the girl said, but this time there was a deeper tinge of fear to her voice. 
"Good." The Queen leaned back in her throne. "I will give you your payment. Your brother shall live...for now." Her silver eyes glimmered. "For now," she repeated ominously. 
The girl bowed again, looking relieved. "Thank you. I promise I will not fail you again." 
"You know what fate will befall you if you do," the Queen growled. 
"I know. I will find her. I will keep her alive. And when the time is right...I will bring her to you." 
The Queen looked down on the girl with her piercing gaze. "Very well. I give you my blessing." 
The girl nodded and hurried on her way, praying that the Queen would keep her word.
== Chapter One ~ Layla ==
"Mom, don't be embarrassing," I mutter. 
Mom claps her hands and looks at me lovingly. "What is there not to be embarrassing about, sweetheart? Look at how much you've grown!" 
I look at the ground to hide my flushing cheeks. Parents. 
"Well, I'm fifteen now. I can take care of myself." 
Mom shrugs. "You'll always be my baby." 
"Mom, can you please be quiet?" I ask, sure my cheeks are on fire. 
She shrugs again. "All yours." 
That's not a very reassuring answer, but I start forward anyway. 
We've just moved here, because Dad found a job at a local law firm. I'm not new to this moving business, but it still hurts every time. 
Focus, Layla, I chide myself. 
Students mill around the building like ants, dragging themselves in and out with colorful bags slung on their shoulders. Soon I'll be one of them - just another insignificant ant in a sea of butterflies. 
Wow. I never knew I could be so poetic. 
Mom pushes me forward. "Come on, Layla! There's so much to be excited about! What are you waiting for?" 
I take a deep breath. "Yeah. Yeah, I'm going. See you later." 
She waves. 
I start for the doors. 
A boy intercepts me, and I blush. He's really cute, with dark tousled hair and an adorable smirk. My heart beats faster, and my pulse speeds up. I try to resist the urge to run after Mom, take her best tube of lipstick, and slather it on for the boy. 
Wow. I really am pathetic. 
"Where are you going?" the boy asks. "The entrance is that way." 
My cheeks get hotter. "Oh." 
He leads me to the proper doors, then walks away snickering quietly to himself. I feel my face flame. 
It's going to be a long day.
== Chapter Two ~ Kierra ==
Mother stands regally at my side. Her posture is perfect, her white-blonde hair perfectly combed. Her silver eyes are like chips of ice. The only crack in her facade is the fierce look she gives me. 
"We've been over this, Kierra," she says in a warning tone. 
I stamp my foot. "And we'll go over it a hundred more times if I will it! I'm not going to the Academy, and you know it!"
The Academy is only the most prestigious school in the world. Only the best or wealthy are able to go there, but I don't feel lucky. I'd rather be hunting with my aunt, Lola, than learning how to fold napkins and mathmatics.
Mother fixes her ice-pale eyes on the fireplace flickering at the end of my room, so vulnerable in a place of icy domain. "Kierra. Don't make me bring Father." 
I shake my head furiously, the silver tiara perched between my dark braids swinging. "Mother, you know I won't go. I can't." 
Mother rolls her eyes. "Yes, you have an entire thing planned during this year. Kierra, your duty is to one day rule this kingdom! You must show continue our royal legacy! It will do you no good tromping around with those village boys." 
I fold my arms and huff, "They aren't villagers, and you know it."
Mother waves a hand dismissively. "Sons of neighboring province's kings and townspeople are all one and the same, dear. Someday you'll understand." She fixes my tiara, which has gone astray in all of the chaos. 
I throw it onto the ground. The look on Mother's face is priceless. "Mother, don't you see? The Academy isn't for people like me. Send Petal instead!"
Petal is my younger sister and therefore second-in-line to the throne. She's pretty, poised, and perfect - everything a proper queen of the Icelands should be, with her white-blond hair just like our mother's, her dark blue eyes, and bronzed skin. Meanwhile, I have thick dark hair, pale skin, and platinum-colored eyes like my mother's. Almost no one has bronze skin - it's a beautiful rarity - but it's one that the Icelands celebrates. Against my perfect sister, I feel like a third wheel. 
Mother sighs. "Precisely why we must send you to the Academy. You have become to rash for the kingdom, we fear, and I think that sending you there will be better for us." 
"So you're getting rid of me." Ice spreads through my veins. 
Mother holds up her hands like a defensive posture. "Not at all."
"It sure sounds like it." 
"Kierra." Mother draws herself up to her full height, her silver scepter clutched tightly at her side. "I am your mother and your queen. And I can order you to go to the Academy. It will not please me, but I must do what is good for my reign." 
So all of this is just do keep your good reputation, I think angrily, but on the outside I wilt. 
Mother, satisfied, sweeps gracefully out of my room, and I stare despairingly at the forlorn fireplace. 
How am I going to get myself out of this? 
== Chapter Three ~ Sebastion ==
(he ain't the crab, people)
I sit in the first seat, staring (apparently) intently at the board where Mr. Thompson is droning on about how mathematics cancel over video games. I have a student record, and I'm not about to break that. 
The girl sitting next to me, who I helped earlier get to the doors, looks like she's about to die of boredom. She keeps staring down at her notebook and making scribbling sounds, but she always frowns with the end result. 
She notices me watching and flushes at the same time red creeps up my ears. We look at each other and grin. 
"Miss Corche! Mr. Coronado! Are you listening back there?" Mr. Thompson bellows. 
We look at each other again, sheepishly this time. "Yes, sir," we respond in unison. 
"Then name what geometrical pattern i just said!" 
Oops. 
She blinks, then rattles off a list of mathematical procedures and how to write them properly. I think my eyes are about to pop out of my head, and Mr. Thompson looks like she's just become his new favorite student. 
"Well...that's just excellent," he says after a few minutes of open mouthed silence. 
She shrugs. "It was nothing." 
After this class, we're done with school for the weekend. I can hardly wait to go back - it's home to a silent, quiet environment, but at least it's better than this good-for-nothing school. 
And as I listen to Mr. Thompson rattle on, and as I watch the girl lean over and give me a small smile, I don't think I could get higher than this. Category:Literature
Category:Fantasy
Category:Fiction
Category:Original Stories
Category:Original Stories (Unfinished)