The file weighed heavily in Ellie's hands, the smell of old paper drifting up to her nose. It was enough to make her heart thump wildly in her chest. This was it. This was the moment she had been waiting years for.
She could feel Felicity's eyes burning into her. Her curious gaze seeping into her skin like lotion on a dry summer day.
"Did you know?" Felicity asked, her gaze sweeping the blonde's face, searching for any sign that she was hiding more than she let on.
Ellie finally lifted her eyes from the file to face her friend. She knew she was a Cartwright. She just felt like she never knew them enough to carry their name. Of course, if she thought about it, the DuPree family didn't deserve for her to carry their name. Not with how they had treated her. Regardless, she gave a curt nod of her head.
"Are you related to Harmon?" the brunette asked, not truly surprised to find out Ellie knew.
Ellie glanced to the file before bringing her vision back to Felicity and shrugging her shoulders. A quiet, "I don't know," slipped passed her lips.
A sigh left the brunette's mouth before she nodded. She had her own suspicions on the matter considering how eerily similar the two people who were closest to her were, but she believed that Ellie truly did not know if she was related to the sandy haired emissary across the room.
She lifted her gaze to the said boy, finding him immersed in a file she was sure he would tell her about later. He deserved to know if he had any remaining family out there. She wanted that for him more than anything, but what was she willing to do for it?
Dragging her eyes back to Ellie, she said, "I suppose the only way to find out is to read it then."
The blonde nodded. This file was going to change her life. She could just feel it, and if she gained something from it, it couldn't be as bad as Jesse. That she was sure of.
Felicity glanced back to Harmon who seemed to be exploring the rest of the room, watching as he looked from the windowless walls to the grates on the floors until his attention landed on the wardrobe in the back of the room. "I'll, uh, let you get to that then."
As the brunette moved toward her tether, Ellie braced herself to find out the secrets the council had, so generously, been keeping from her. Hopefully, one of them could help her defeat the monster that haunted her dreams.
Pulling her bottom lip between her teeth, Ellie flipped open the folder.
Her eyes were met with a mugshot taken the night she had been arrested for the murders of sixteen innocents, a crime she had not actually committed, but a stark reminder of why she despised the idea of vampires mingling with humans.
Under the photo, an informational list followed.
Eleanor Violet Cartwright-DuPree
Status: Alive
Sex: Female
Age: 18
Height: 5'10''
Weight: 125 lbs
Mother: Elizabeth Marian Cartwright nee Brown
Father: Philip Steven Cartwright
Ellie's eyebrows furrowed as she took in the new information. Her father was Philip Cartwright? The Philip Cartwright? The one who had a statue standing in the training room? He couldn't be. Her eyes followed the list as she recognized other family that she never knew she had.
Harmon Cartwright's name was nestled among the list as was a name she hadn't considered or hoped she would ever see again.
As far as she was concerned, Ed-Life-Destroyer could go die in a hole. He had ruined everything, and she didn't think she could ever forgive him. Of course, in the end, she knew Jasper had made the decision to leave on his own, and she couldn't place all of the blame on the bronze-haired vampire, but she could definitely blame him for planting the thought.
Ellie moved to flip the page when a call from Harmon caught her ear. Rolling her eyes, she closed the folder and questioned, "What do you want now?"
Harmon raised his eyebrows at her snappiness, but shook it off deeming his news more important. "I just thought you'd want to take a look at this."
He gestured to the large wooden cabinet in the back corner of the room. The swirls on the aged wood drew Ellie's eyes i first, but it was the bright blue lights glowing from the depths of the wardrobe and washing over the faces of Harmon and Felicity that kept her eyes trained on it.
As she reached the cabinet, her eyes studied every facet of the floating orb that rested inside. It's luminescence was nearly blinding, but Ellie couldn't pull her eyes away from it.
"What do you think it is?" Harmon questioned, his eyebrows tightly knit together in concern. Anastasia had been keeping too many secrets in his opinion, and this looked far more dangerous than the few he was privileged to know.
"It can't be anything too bad, right?" Felicity asked, picking at her lower lip. "I mean, this is a school. It would be ridiculous for them to keep something dangerous here."
"I think you're forgetting that this is a restricted area. Only the council members are allowed in her," Harmon shook his head. Whatever this was, it didn't sit well with him. He turned his eyes to Ellie who was staring intensely into the orb, slowly leaning closer by the second.
"Maybe you shouldn't get so close to it," he warned.
Unfortunately, Ellie never was one to listen.
She reached forth a slender hand as if she could no longer control her own body and as Harmon threw his arm forward to stop her, her fingers grazed the bright blue orb.
A bright flash of light erupted around her at the contact, consuming her and seeping into her bones, leaving her to feel as if she was walking on air.
As the light flooded her being, Ellie's mind emptied, leaving her in silence for the first time in years. The air around her was lighter than she had ever experienced. A shuddering sigh left her lips, a near sob following. She could finally breathe, and it was the best feeling that she could think to describe.
Opening her eyes, blue swallowed her vision, only to reveal a woman who looked as if she was made of pure energy.
Her hair floated with each movement of her head, and her eyes were what Ellie could only describe as bottomless pits of knowledge, drawing one in until they could no longer see anyone else. She was hauntingly beautiful. Her lips crooked up into a minuscule smile.
"Hello, my child," her bell-like voice chimed. Its alto tones simultaneously calming and frightening the blonde emissary. "I have been waiting for you to visit for quite sometime."
Ellie's heart was racing. She could feel it drumming against her ribcage with the force of a raging fire.
The woman chuckled as she took in the blonde's expression. "You did not think that I would have beckoned you without reason did you?"
Ellie didn't know what to say. She didn't think she could actually get the words out even if she did know. So she simply shook her head.
The woman's smile grew into a wide grin, causing Ellie to attempt to back away from her, only to fail.
"You don't have to be afraid, Child. I wish you no harm," she said. "You have a purpose greater than I can explain to you in this moment."
The emissary furrowed her brows, tilting her head at the woman's words. What was she talking about?
"You do not understand now, but you will soon." She drifted backward, ascending in height as she went. She reached a hand out to the wide eyed emissary. "Come, my child. There is much to show you."
Ellie wasn't sure that she wanted to take the woman's hand, but she also felt that if she didn't take her hand, it would be the biggest mistake of her life. So instead of running like every instinct in her body was begging her to do, she reached out and grasped the blue being's hand.
She squinted in pain as bright white lights flashed before her, causing a cacophony of visions to dance in her mind's eye.
A wave of blood flooding a pristine white floor, staining it crimson. Haunting, red eyes flashing dangerously. Screams of terror and an overwhelming sense of power. Stone like bodies crumbling under glittering hands. Anger. So much anger. A beautiful being standing at the forefront of an army, her hair flowing with the light breeze, and then nothing.
The visions cleared, leaving Ellie gasping for breath on the floor of the file room. A soft voice whispering, "Soon, my child," filling her mind before dissipating into thin air.
The blonde emissary whipped her head around, frantically searching the room for any sign of the woman in blue, but she only found Harmon and Felicity surrounding her with worried eyes. The woman had disappeared with he strange sights that she had seen. If her heart wasn't beating out of her chest, she would have questioned her sanity, but it had to have been real, and Ellie couldn't shake the feeling that something terrible was going to happen.
A gentle hand grasped her shoulder, her friend's voice following, "Are you alright, El?"
As Ellie's breathing slowed, she looked up at Felicity, her eyes wide and shook her head. She opened her mouth to speak, but the words refused to come out. She was so unsure about everything that had just happened. How was she supposed to explain it?
"Okay, Princess," Harmon started, keeping a close eye on the shaking girl. He had never seen her so terrified. He briefly wondered if this was what she was like before, but he knew it wouldn't do to question her past. It would only hurt them both. "You don't have to talk about it right now."
Ellie's eyes flickered to Harmon's, ignoring the name he had called her. She knew that, in this moment, he wasn't meaning to hurt her. She opened her mouth to speak, but a loud alarm rang throughout the room, followed by a distinct hissing sound, drawing her eyes to the door.
The three emissaries exchanged glances before Harmon and Felicity pulled the blonde to her feet.
"Sounds like we should get out of here," Harmon muttered, just loud enough for the two women to hear.
He wrapped his hand around Felicity and Ellie's wrists, dragging them both toward the door, only to find the door had sealed itself shut.
Panic flooded Harmon's being as he knew exactly what would become of him if Anastasia found him in this room. His eyes quickly scanned the space for any sign of another exit when his eyes spotted it, slowly rising from the floor.
Water.
Water rose from the ground up, quickly pooling around them from the grates spaced throughout the file room. In a matter of seconds, the water was up to their thighs.
"W-We need to stay together," Felicity stuttered, her voice breathy as she surveyed the rising water.
"Do you see a way out?" Harmon asked, his wide eyes frantically scanning the room.
The sound of Harmon and Felicity's panicked states sent Ellie into action. Feeling Harmon's death like grip still on her wrist, she pulled the two emissaries through the room, looking for any sign of escape.
There were no windows in the quickly filling room. The door had sealed itself shut, and the water was now at shoulder height, making it hard for them to get around.
Felicity whipped her head back and forth, tears springing to her eyes. "Th-There's nowhere to go!"
Although he was shaking from the immense effort of keeping hold of his friends and staying afloat, Harmon tried to comfort his tether. "It's going to be alright, 'Lis. We can't panic. It'll only make us sink faster."
He looked to the blonde, struggling to stay above the deepening flood. Her eyes were wide and her forehead was wrinkled rom her eyebrows being raised as high as they could go. She caught his eye as he observed her. "Do you have any ideas?"
Ellie's breathing was getting harder with each passing second. She was well aware there was only one way out of the room at this point. It wasn't going to be easy. She wasn't even sure she could do it with how her body was reacting to Jasper's absence, but she knew it had to be done. "Get as close to me as you can."
Furrowing his eyebrows, Harmon nodded and pulled Felicity and himself as close to Ellie as they could get with the rushing water sloshing them about.
The water was inches from the ceiling by the time they pulled themselves together.
As soon as they were settled, Ellie took a deep breath, aware that the water would overtake them before they were out, and squeezed her eyes shut, concentrating on the room she shared with Harmon. She imagined the three of them there, forcing their bodies to rearrange and reform at a molecular level.
Her lungs were burning as she felt her body thump onto the hard floor of their dorm room. A groan escaped her lips before she coughed harder than she was aware was possible. Felicity and Harmon were panting at her side, wrapped in each other's arms, grateful they would live to see another day.
Sitting up, Ellie soon pulled herself to her feet. Her head was pounding as she trudged to the other side of the room, trying to find dry clothing. Her legs felt weak causing her to brace herself against the silver dresser, not noticing how her entire body was shaking.
Harmon and Felicity watched as the girl turned toward them, her favorite sweater in hand. Blood was trickling down her nose, mixing with the water on her already soaked skin. Her eyes were sunken in, and Harmon could see from where he was sitting that her entire body was trembling, although he was unsure as to whether it was due to adrenaline or fear.
"Ellie?" he asked, watching as her figure swayed.
Ellie lifted her eyes to look at the sandy haired emissary, her vision blurring.
Her eyebrows knitted themselves tightly together as she felt her knees buckling underneath her.
"Ellie!" Harmon yelled, leaving his shocked tether to scramble after him. He flipped the blonde to her back, hoping to help her in some way.
Her chest wasn't moving, causing his own to tighten. He pulled his ear close to her mouth and lifted two fingers to her neck before cursing. His widened eyes looked to his panicking tether.
"She's not breathing."