Chapter 2 The Story Ella’s eyes widened; she had not been expecting that. “But-how-why me?” She managed to say. Brook grinned and pointed at her crystal necklace. “ Where did you get that necklace?” He asked knowingly. Ella ran her fingers over the smooth blue glowing crystal. “ Um-my mom gave it to me.” She replied confusedly. He nodded. “ And what’s your parents names?” He asked. “ Uh, my mom’s name is Daphne Dreamelle-Everwood, and my dad’s name is Brandon Everwood.” Brook smiled widely. “ Daphne Dreamelle used to be my mom’s best friend! Your mom is a Woodlinian too!” He exclaimed. This was all making Ella very dizzy, she quickly sat down on a rock. “ So…who are the other keepers then?” She asked, trying to remain calm. “ There’s me, Ariel Gale, Isla Woodson, and Aiden Kenneth. You probably can guess, I’m water, Ariel’s air, Isla’s earth, and Aiden’s fire. And of course, you are all of those in one person.” He said. Ella nodded. Brook gave her a mischievous look. “ Hey, do you want to see the Woodlinian world? Then we can test you and make sure that you actually are the fifth element connector!” Ella smiled but shook her head. “ I’m sorry, but I really need to get to my house. It's Saturday so I always help out with my parents' store in the city. Maybe another time though?” She said sweetly. Brook nodded. “ Sure! I’ll meet you here tomorrow!” he said, before disappearing in a shower of sparkles. Ella took a deep breath. In the last twenty minutes she had discovered that she was the bridge between all elements, a Keeper of Aclaria, her mom was a Woodlinian, and that she had powers. She quietly got up and walked towards the city with Snickers following close behind her. As she walked along the cobblestone path of Illumi, she tried to ignore several kids snickering and whispering about her. She kept her head down and quickly made her way across the city that she knew by heart. Soon she came to a nice two story house. It had beautiful white walls, a light blue door, and smooth rock tiles led to the doorstep. She walked inside of her home to a pretty living room with big windows, a large couch, and a very homey feeling. Her dad was in the garden planting some geraniums, and her mom was in the kitchen baking something that smelled delicious. Ella walked into the kitchen, ready to ask her mom all about her secret life. Daphne Dreamelle-Everwood, was a very beautiful woman with dark brown chocolate curls, aquamarine eyes, and she always wore the most detailed flower dresses Ella had ever seen. Now, when Ella looked closely at her mother’s daisy dress, she could see that the daisies were actually real pressed flowers. She probably got all of those dresses from living in the Woodlinian world. Ella thought. “ Hi mom! I’m back from the gardens.” Ella started casually, trying not to immediately start pestering her with questions. Her mom smiled gently, not stopping rolling the dough that she had made. Ella looked in the oven to see some cookies baking in it, again noticing the flower designs that her mom had iced onto them. That also must have been something she had learned from being Woodlinian. “Hi sweetie! I’m baking some cookies for us to sell at the store, but I think there should be enough for us to have too.” She said winking. Ella smiled, but she couldn’t stop herself anymore. “ Mom, why didn’t you tell me you were Woodlinian?” She blurted. Daphne froze, and slowly turned around to face Ella. “ How-how do you know about that?” She said quietly. Ella frowned, noticing how upset she actually felt about her mom not telling her anything. “ At the gardens, I met a boy who said he was one. Then he told me that I was one, and that I was a Keeper of Aclaria, AND that I'm a connector between all elements. He also said that a girl named Daphne Dreamelle used to be best friends with his mom, Mrs Bahari.” Her mom gasped. “Bella.” She whispered in disbelief. Ella was confused, who was Bella? “Bella, oh my goodness. Bella.” Her mom kept muttering the same thing over and over. “ Um, who’s Bella?” Ella asked. Daphne took a deep breath. “ Bella Bahari was my very best friend in all of elementary, middle school, high school, and even college! We were always together, no matter what day or time it was we always would be found together. But then, one day everything changed. In the Woodlinian world, sometimes people can get….uh…..it's hard to explain…” Daphne broke off and paused for a moment. “Sometimes people can get accused of things that they never even did, and well-er-the people who accuse them are usually someone important. And when they accuse someone of doing something, no one will even hold a trial because the person who accused them is important. So…one day, one of the King’s most trusted knights accused Bella of doing one of the most dangerous and illegal things in Woodlinian existence. Sir Horton and Bella had always been enemies, ever since the day that
Bella um- stole me from him….” Daphne winced as if she was in pain. Ella was more confused than ever now. Daphne continued with a slightly shaky voice. “ You see, Sir Horton had a MAJOR crush on me, well more of a head over heels in love thingy with me. But I, I’m going to be honest, completely hated him. He was rude, always boasting about himself, trying to impress everyone, and not to mention he always shouted when he talked. After ten minutes of conversation, I had to go to the doctor to help my ears from the horrible pain. And well, he was convinced that when Bella and I became friends, that Bella was stealing me from him by being my best friend. So…he started disliking Bella, VERY MUCH. So, during college, he spied on me and Bella. She was telling me about some things she was studying in her classes, and read to me a story she had been writing. It was from the villain's point of view. Well…..Sir Horton overheard her reading aloud, and he heard her saying stuff about overthrowing the king and queen and taking over the power of all elements in the world. He thought that she was talking about doing that herself, not in the story, so he ran to the king and accused her of planning that. And-then-” Daphne’s voice was now very shaky and tears welled in her eyes as she remembered one of the most painful memories of life. “ Then without any questioning or any trial at all, they took Bella away and-and they had her taken to-Zandarion….” She said quietly. Ella hugged her mom to comfort her. “ What is Zandarion?” She asked. Daphne sighed heavily. “ It's the Woodlinian prison, and it's worse than anything you’ve ever read about. Worse than Azkaban, worse than Exile, worse than anything. When you're there, all you can see is darkness, all you can feel is misery, all you can do is sit still for the rest of life chained to the darkness. All you can ever know is that you're doomed to live like that forever. They don’t even give you food or anything. So unless you can break the chains that you're trapped in, and even if you broke them, all you could do is wander the endless prison, where the only people with you are horrible terrible criminals who aren’t afraid to hurt you. In case you're wondering what and where it is, it is a floating black giant hole in the sky. In the hole, is nothing. Nothing at all. Nothing exists in it, and nothing can happen in it. Most people call it a black hole, and they are almost impossible to escape. Whenever the Woodlinians find a dangerous threat that could disrupt the harmony they thrive on, they throw that threat into Zandarion, where they are never seen or heard of again. When they took Bella away Sir Horton thought that he could finally steal me back, (although he never stole me in the first place) but without Bella by my side, I felt like an incomplete puzzle. So I left my Woodlinian life behind. I left Sir Horton behind. I left everything I had ever known, and I came to Aclaria to live as a human. I married Brandon, your wonderful father, and no one has found out anything yet. Until you figured it out. Oh Ella I never wanted you to know about being the connector of all elements, I knew it was going to happen because in the legend it said that the bridge would be a girl born from a runaway Woodlinian in the city of Illumi Aclaria. So, I knew that it was you. I just never wanted you to go to the place where such awful things happened to me. But I guess I can’t prevent it from happening. You belong there, and you deserve to see where your real life should be. But if Bella is now Mrs Bahari, that would mean that she escaped! Or they let her go. I can’t stay away anymore! Come on Ella, we're going to Woodlinia.”
