Chapter Seven (7): Doubt from Within
The next day, when Serena woke up at dawn, she noticed Seraphina, wide awake. In fact, some signs proved she did not sleep, such as a chessboard lying on the floor, some cards, and other time killers.
Her eyes were free from dark circles, but laced with worry peered at her smartphone. Then, as she saw Serena wake up, she asked.
"Serena, did you have a nightmare?"
"…" She remained silent, her mind running like a speed train connecting the dots, the door she broke, she wasn't sleeping… then Sophia's words popped in from the back of her mind.
"Serena! Serena!" Seraphina said, making hand gestures, sweeping Serena out of her trance.
"What is it?"
"Oh, thank goodness, you scared me. I thought you had sleep paralysis or something."
"What are you doing on your phone?"
"Oh, my phone, it's nothing," she quickly turned it off, and Serena said
"Using a smartphone at such a late hour, in such a dark room, is not good for your health."
"It's just that sometimes I can't sleep, you know, I may not show it, but there is a lot on my mind."
Serena then took a closer look at Seraphina's room. The wall was lined with a dark scenery, her bathroom was lined with black and white tiles; it all looked classy but ominous. She said to Seraphina.
"I'm going out to get some air", but when she got out, what she saw made her even more suspicious. Jack was on the phone; his face looked like he was in dire worry, and he whispered something about having to get their hands on the Lights technology.
And as soon as she heard him, he stopped talking and turned in her direction. It was dark, and her footsteps were light. He could not have seen or heard Serena's footsteps, but then he started walking in her direction.
Fearful of what he might do to her after hearing such sensitive information, she ran out of the garden and came back into the room, and without exchanging words with Seraphina, she slept like she had never woken up.
Later that day, she felt even more fearful as she bathed, the house was much shadier than she thought, and coming to think of it Jack never left the house to work and had this huge mansion and so many sport cars, she had the urge to ask about it but was afraid they would figure she was on them on whatever secret they held, and she knew it was big, as it was guarded tightly.
At school that day, she was not as jovial, being rather absent-minded in class and wondering if she made the right decision, believing these people were related to her, father and daughter practically had this impossible age gap of around two years.
All the joy she got from the wealth was short-lived, and now she was only searching for a way out of it.
Serena looked troubled as she went about her daily activities, and the school reporter for Raven High, Violet Young, approached her, asking.
"What's making you so crestfallen? On your first day here, you were a totally different person, unmet expectations perhaps?" Just being around this girl brought back bad memories from her past, and just then, she wondered if the fire she was in right now was better than the one she used to burn in.
It is indeed true that the devil you know is better than the angel you do not know. What had she got herself into this time? After not answering for a moment, she just said
"No comment," in a cold tone, and left.
The rest of the day, she decided to drown herself in research and forget about all the troubles in her life, keeping her brain occupied and not leaving any room for negative possibilities, fears.
Around lunchtime, while they sat at the restaurant of a cafeteria the school had, Seraphina kept checking her phone, and every time she looked more worried. She received notifications every two minutes, and Serena could tell she was also out of it that day, but the question was, why?
And she found herself going to the most unlikely individual seeking help, Violet. She told her she knew Serena had noticed strange things about Seraphina and to meet her behind the school campus.
She went there and waited for a minute, then Violet said to her,
"You want to know what your sister is into, eh?"
"Yes, but what's in it for you, and how can I be sure no one knows I have that information?"
Violet smiled uncannily and replied
"I will permanently silence you!"
Then she separated into multiple copies of herself and lunged at her with full speed. Serena flexibly dodged all her attacks with the grace of a swan and said
"Do you really want to go against a level 6 gymnast and ballet dancer?"
They continued to exchange blows, and while at the beginning Violet was faster than her and much stronger, one of her eyes began to turn luminous yellow, her hair having yellow highlights, and her skin lined with yellow highlights.
She moved gracefully and more efficiently by the minute, and very quickly the tide of the battle shifted in Serena's advantage, and just when she was about to land the killing blow, the entire area around them was covered in a black mist.
Then an entity clad in black Armor shaped like a raven stared at her. Violet could not see a thing in the thick mist.
But Serena with one blue eye and another yellow, yellow highlights all over her skin and hair, yet she looked beautiful, like a battle angel, And the entity was absolutely shocked when he noticed that she could see through the mist, she stared into the pitch black orbs he had in place of eyes and he stared back at her and they both felt this sense, of connectivity.