"The enemy will always cheat, Isla, you need to be prepared for anything."
Isla and her siblings have lived in a cave for as long as they can remember with no memory of how they got there or who they were before. They only remembered two things...
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This is a picture of the view from the Devils staircase in Scotland
We are lead through more beautiful corridors. Multiple green flowers hang on the walls in a decoration of colour. We come to a stop at a large wooden door and Lady Indira opens it. We are about to step through when she hands us each a cloak.
"Please, put these on. We don't want any students seeing you yet." The four of us do so and we follow her through the door. There are four large stone steps which lead to another corridor. The corridor is long. The wall on our right has multiple arches with large wooden doors sitting between them. A flower sits in the middle. On our left, are more archways with stone pillars. I walk toward one. There is a rumble beneath us from where a waterfall tumbles out of the rock below. I look down and see a direct drop to the ground below. The view looks at the city and the large mountain buildings. It is beautiful.
"Wait here, I'll be back in a few seconds!" Lady Indira says, turning around as she says it. The four of us look at each other then back out of the archways. I lean further out and to the side. I can see the rock of the mountain stick away from the building as this beautiful place has been built into it. Everywhere seems so perfect, so warm. I wonder how this could be true? How can anywhere be so perfect and beautiful? No words pass between us, there isn't any need to speak. We all know what is going on in each other's heads. All of us turn as a door begins to open. On it is a sign we haven't seen. It isn't a flower, but two snakes weaving around each other. A girl walks out and stops, looking straight at us. My eyes widen. Her long face is smooth and her cheekbones sharp. Her eyes are striking. Deep red with thin black slits. Her lips are red, the same deep red shade as her eyes. The girl's hair is black. And falls perfectly straight down her back. A chuck of it is deep red, like her eyes and lips. She is tall, though Serenity and Tanya are taller. The girl before us is beautiful, though not compared to my sisters. She looks at the four of us, an angered look crossing her face.
"What are you doing here?" she asks. "You aren't meant to be up here, this is for royals only!" She snaps. We just look at her.
"Do you know who I am?" she asks.
"No," Toryn says from beneath the hood of his cloak and in a bored voice.
"I am Darcy Scallis, Princess of Zola and future High Queen of Shadow." I raise an eyebrow. I guess this place isn't perfect after all. "When you see a superior, you are meant to bow. I demand you bow." Her voice is oddly calm and elegant as she says these words, yet there is malice behind them.
"No," Tanya says.
"Excuse me?"
"No," I tell her. "I will not bow to stuck up little princesses. Nor will I bow to people who think I am below them." Her slit eyes narrow more and black scales form around her eyes. Long, sharp fangs grow from her thin lips and a forked tongue flickers.
"How dare you. You will be punished. Who are you anyway?" she asks. "Some poor little orphan children who have been rescued and brought to a land where there are manners," she takes a sniff. "and baths. Have you ever seen a bath? Take off your hoods, I want to see you before I punish you." Her forked tongue snaps out of her mouth as she says the last sentence and her words begin to hiss. Calmly, I take a breath.
