Rot & Romance (Rewriting)

Chapter 80

She slowly made her way down the narrow hallway, staring at the photos hanging on the wall. Each photo showed a girl with beautiful brunette hair and lustrous green eyes.
The girl in the photos grew older as Natalie made her way down the hall.
The last photo showed her as a teen. It appeared to be a family photo as she stood between a middle-aged man and woman, both of whom held her in an embraced as they smiled for the camera.

Natalie grabbed the photo to get a closer look.

If Natalie had died a few years younger, she and the human girl could have been twin sisters. Could this girl and her mother really be her descendants?

She was tempted to keep the photo but placed it back on the wall. She entered the first bedroom which she was sure was the mother's bedroom. The room did not exactly scream "teenager". It barely whispered "married woman."

Glancing at the hideous nanny clothes in the opened closet, Natalie noticed that there were no male clothes. In fact, the whole room lacked a male presence. And the way the bed was made suggested that whoever it belonged to slept in the center.

This was either the room of a divorced or widowed woman.

She slowly backed out of the bedroom, closing the door on her way out before making her way into the bedroom at the end of the hall.

Purple was everywhere.

The window curtains, bed sheets, pillows, stuffed animals in a corner and the nail polish on a vanity dresser. All shades of purple.

Definitely a teen girl's bedroom.

A pile of clothes and a barely closed laptop sat on an unmade bed. Natalie opened the laptop and watched a slideshow of photos the girl that shared her green eyes had taken. Some with friends and some selfies.

Then the one photo that confirmed everything displayed. The one that removed all of Natalie's doubt.

The photo of the girl wearing the very same ruby necklace Natalie wore so many years ago. 

The ruby necklace she left with her first child.

If Natalie could tear up, she was sure she would.

She'd found her family.

* * *

"Is everything alright?"

Fawn entered her home to Leah and Monica staring at her from the living room.

"I'm fine, Leah. Thanks. Where is everyone?"

"Still out back honing offensive magic," Monica said. "Your mother and Auntie Jules knows some pretty powerful spells. Seeing them perform actually gives me a bit of hope for tomorrow."

"Monica and I were practicing defensive magic. Want to join us?"

Fawn sighed.

"That's just it," Fawn said hopelessly. "We aren't supposed to be practicing at this point. We're supposed to be prepared and ready. This is the biggest threat to mankind we're facing here."

"Well you can thank Asche for our short window of time to ready ourselves," Monica said. "If only we'd known about this threat sooner."

"Everyone's doing their best to make up for time we don't have," Leah whispered. "And we're actually making great progress. Freya has finally perfected her barrier spells and Noxford has learned a new offensive spell."

"And here I am still struggling to conjure a fireball," Fawn mumbled.

"We all have our strengths and weaknesses," Monica said. "Maybe another class of magic is your calling."