Haunted Heart

Watch your back

    After finishing their meal Angela and Zander excused themselves and headed off to their rooms. As they walked the halls Angela began asking Zander some of the questions that had plagued her at dinner.

    “How do you know that there are people out to get me? Who is it? If they are here shouldn’t we leave?” After these first few questions Zander stopped in his tracks. He turned to look at Angela for a moment, as if contemplating whether to answer her or just keep walking. “Please, if I am to be queen I need to know who, if anyone, I can trust, right?” 

    “All that you must know is that not all of the council agrees with the prophecy. That being said the ones that don’t each have a large number of shifters at their disposal, most of which have been raised to defend themselves and what is theirs at all costs. If those council members catch wind of you before I can get you trained properly you will not stand a chance.”

    Chills ran down Angelas spine at Zander’s words. “Why do they hate me so much without even meeting me?” Angela asked in a small voice. “Because they hate what you stand for. In having a queen all shifters will have a common leader and therefore will have to start working together as a whole. Each type of shifter has their own leader, who sits on the council, and as of right now those leaders maintain the sole power over their faction of shifters. Once you are crowned queen some of that power will be taken from them, hence the anger. It’s all about power, unfortunately it has a tendency to be all consuming.” 

    Shocked into silence Angela turned to continue down the hallway towards her room. She needed time to think, to process. Opening her bedroom door Angela walked in and quietly closed the door behind her, not bothering to say good bye to Zander. She walked to the bathroom and began drawing a bath in the hopes of finding some sort of clarity with a nice long soak. Angela disrobed and climbed in, shutting her eyes, and counting down from a hundred. Since the day of her mothers murder she had begun this practice to help keep the panic attacks at bay. She needed to center her mind and focus more wholly on the issue at hand before she lost control. 

    The queen of the shifters. Until now it had seemed so far fetched she had refused to fully comprehend it. After spending her whole life running for someone and never really knowing why they had been after her she finally had some answers. Some how the man who had murdered her mother and undoubtedly her father, had known all along what her future held. And he had wanted to stop it. But how had he known, when her parents hadn’t even known? Or did they know and choose to keep it from her for her own safety? 

    And now she had far more to worry about than just one man. Her life was once again filled with the constant worry of who she could trust and who she couldn’t, only this time she couldn’t just run away when she felt uncertain. Zander was depending on her to live up to her role as queen. She could tell that it meant a great deal to him for her to step into the role and flourish. What if she didn’t succeed? What if she couldnt meet his expectations in training and she was killed without ever unlocking her true potential. 

    The weight of the day only became heavier as she pondered her current circumstances. Her bath now cold Angela climbed out and dried off. After searching through the walk in closet for something comfortable, she dressed in a deep blue full length nightgown and robe. Maybe some sleep is all that she needed. 

    Angela opened the bathroom door with the intent of falling into bed, and hopefully sleep quickly. But no sooner had she opened the door did she realize that was not yet a possibility. There sat Zander on the edge of her bed,  scrolling though his phone patiently waiting for her. When Angela stepped into the room his head came, and a look passed over his face, as if he was a bit shocked by her appearance. Though it only lasted a moment, Angela pulled her robe a little tighter. She walked over to sit on the chair opposite the bed and waited for Zander to say whatever it was he had come to tell her. 

    He sat quietly for a moment simply watching her movement. “I don’t generally intrude into people’s personal space uninvited but I wanted to check on you. You seemed shocked and somewhat afraid of what I told you.” Zander said while giving Angela a look that could only be perceived as worry. “I know this is not the life that you had envisioned for yourself but I do hope that its one you can be happy in. You have already spent so much of your life running, my only hope is that with training and a better understanding of whom you really are, that you can stop hiding and start truly living.” 

    Angela seemed to contemplating his words. It was certainly a different way of looking at the very difficult circumstances she was in, and given the weight that she had been feeling on her shoulders all evening, the fresh perspective may just be what she needed. 

    “Okay I will do the best that I can to meet you expectations, but don’t get your hopes up just yet. I still have yet to find out about the other powers that you have spoken of.’ 

    “That’s the other reason for your training. The prophecy doesn’t specify exactly what powers you will hold, just that you will exceed all others and rule with a firm hand and gentle heart. In order to figure out what powers you posses we will have to go through numerous trials during training. This will be the only way to test your capabilities and know for sure. We will start your training In the morning. I will come by your room at 6 AM and will show you the way to out training facilities.” 

    “What?! Why so early?” Angela asked in a incredulous voice. “Because the sooner we start the sooner you become capable of defending yourself”.