The Descendants Series Vol. 1

Chapter 11

Chapter 11

It was like going to sleep and dreaming.  And my dream took me somewhere that I knew I’d seen before, long ago.  The Crisante villa.  But once I saw it, it didn’t feel like a dream anymore.  It felt like a memory. 

“Sabina, come before they get closer!” someone yelled.  “We must hide from them!”

“Where?” I asked.  My voice sounded different though, like I was a younger version of myself.  And somehow, I knew that I was seven.

I turned and saw another girl.  She had on a dark red dress, which made her dark hair look even more luscious.  And when she looked at me with her ice blue eyes, I realized who it was.  It was Isobel, only she was about six years old.

 “Leonardo is bringing Niccoló this way now!” the younger Isobel said.

I looked up at the sky, where gray clouds were drifting more rapidly over us.  “It is going to rain soon,” I said, looking back at her. 

“We should head toward the villa,” Isobel said, grabbing my hand.  “That way we’ll be dry when they come in due to the doors being locked.” 

I grinned at her.  “What a marvelous idea!” I said. 

We started running hand in hand toward the door of the villa.  But when it opened, the young Leo and Nic were there, grinning.  Isobel and I both screamed and started running for the side of the villa.  We were split up then, and both Leo and Nic were chasing me. 

A few raindrops fell from the sky, landing on my cheeks and the top of my head, and I turned and, picking up my skirt, ran toward a huge tree that I’d always liked climbing, though I had no idea how I knew it.

I jumped and pulled myself up to sit on the first branch, which was about four feet above the ground.  I stood, steadying myself against the trunk, and climbed to the next branch. 

“Sabina!” Leo called from the ground as he and Nic looked up at me from the ground.  “You have to come down now!  It is about to rain!”

“I think I know that,” I said as another raindrop it the top of my head and ran down my cheek. 

The rain started getting a little heavier, but I climbed even higher until I turned and sat on one of the branches, legs swinging.  I looked down at my skirt, which was muddy and torn in a few places.  And then down at Leo and Nic again. 

“Sabina, come down!” Leo yelled again.

“No,” I said, smiling down at him. 

“The rain is coming!” Nic yelled.

“You do not think that I don’t know that, do you?”

The rain started pouring down then, and the two of them ran for the villa.  I didn’t get down, though, even as the rain ruined my dress.  Lifting my face up to the sky, I let the rain run over my face as I smiled. 

There was a loud bang that came from the direction of the villa and I quickly looked over.  There, in the second story window looking out, was Daria, the head of the house staff.  She looked through the rain, trying to spot me, but I must have not been able to be seen.  She shut the window and no one else came out.

The rain didn’t stop for about another half hour.  And when it did, I quickly climbed out of the tree and ran toward the villa.  But when I rushed in past the dining hall, someone clearing their throat made me pause and slowly turn back to go inside.

“Mother, Father,” I said, twining my fingers behind my back.  Lord and Lady Bellomi and Lord and Lady Ardovini were also in the room.

“And where have you been during the rain?” Father asked.