PAINT - XAVIER THORPE

TWELVE - HAPPY BIRTHDAY, WEDNESDAY

"I thought our cake design was pretty good." Xavier smiled, motioning to Aria who was next to him.

"Make a wish!" Enid exclaimed.

Wednesday opened her mouth to speak, but attention shifted when she saw something on the wall next to her.

"Wait, it's latin." She said, approaching the wall. "Fire will rain, when I rise."

Aria's face paled, almost dropping the cake. She handed it to Enid slowly. "That was burned onto Nevermore's lawn."

"That can't be a coincidence." Wednesday said.

"Wait, we're never eating that cake, are we?" Ajax asked sadly.

Aria's throat felt dry, feeling terrible for Enid, but also by the inscription on the wall. Wednesday went to touch the stone, and Aria leaped forward, anticipating a vision.

What she didn't expect was to be in one too.

"Crackstone is coming." Voices echoed through Aria's head as she snapped up. She never remembered laying down.

She turned, finding herself on the grass. Wednesday was next to her, looking much more calm then she was.

Aria looked up, seeing two figures behind a gate. She stood up fully, squinting to decipher what was in front of her.

Two girls that looked remarkably like Wednesday and Aria stared back at them from behind the fence. They were both in all white, making them look like ghosts.

"Goody." Wednesday called out to her, recognizing her instantly.

"You are the raven in my bloodline." Goody said, appearing next to them. "Wednesday."

"I was told you could teach me how to control my ability." Wednesday says to her, but Aria stops listening. Instead, she walks to the gate, looking at the girl who now sat on the ground, carelessly picking at the grass.

"Hello." Aria says softly. "I'm Aria."

"I know." The girl says, not looking up. "I'm Rose."

"What's going on?" Aria asked hesitantly.

"I'm here to show you something." Rose says, pulling Aria through the gates as if they were never there. Suddenly, Aria's view was very different.

She was surrounded by fire, but wasn't able to feel the heat. Her head whipped around, finding Rose running through the flames, screaming something that Aria couldn't decipher.

"I was like you, once." Aria hears Roses' voice, but can't see her. "And I went mad. I destroyed myself, so please, be careful."

Aria looks closer, discovering that the fire was actually a village burning to the ground. There were people screaming, and she stumbled backwards, closing her eyes.

"I thought I could control it, but I couldn't."

Aria watched as Rose tried to use the same powers Aria had to protect a family that was huddled together. Simultaneously, she used her other arm to stop a house from collapsing. Then, she tried to push a young girl out of the way of a falling tree.

Suddenly, Rose's body started to tremble, and there was a burst of light. Aria was blinded for a second, but when she regained her vision, she was standing in ruins. Gray ash fell from the sky, littering the pieces of wood that were sprawled on the ground.

There was a movement a few feet away from her that caught her attention, seeing Rose rise from under a piece of wood, coughing. Her clothes were singed and she was covered in soot.