"Are you sure I need to bring this stupid backpack?" Trent slipped on the sand for the sixth time on the dune, tightening his grip on the khaki straps.

"Question Roger's backpack one more time, and I'll bite your head off," I snapped.

Trent muttered something and had to do a little skip to get ahead of me.

I patted my pocket, feeling the mushiness of the ashes in the sandwich bag.

"You have the medallion, right cheeky wakes?" Trent asked.

I wrapped my fingers around the golden medallion under my shirt and brought it out. The blazing sun caught the glare of the necklace, it winking back at me. "Yes, I have your dumb medallion."

"Good. I was worried for a second you—"

"How do I know you're not lying about all this? That I'm actually a Hero?"

Trent hiked up the bag, squinting up at me through the sunlight. "Whatever I say won't convince you that I'm telling the truth. So is there really a point in us discussing this until we get to Hero High? Where your family should be the ones telling you their life story?"

I opened my mouth, only to snap it shut. Our skin baked in silence until we got back to the camp area where the rest of the Citizens waited for us.

It was as if we never left—the Citizens huddled under a few tents with rags and tired faces.

Eyes lit up at the sight of us and I kept close to Trent once we reached the Citizens. He dropped the bag down and talked with his men for a moment.

The gaze of someone else was heavy on my shoulders and I turned, catching the eyes of Archer and Lance who kept staring at me. New patches of purple and swelled skin were on their face, and I quickly looked away.

Did they know I was a Hero? No, they couldn't have. They would've immediately taken me to...

They thought I was the Beast of Villains.

I turned my back to them, unsure what to make of that.

Trent motioned me over, and I pulled out the medallion from under my shirt, clenching my hand around it.

"First, we eat. Then, I'll assemble a team to take you to Hero High," he explained.

I had a snappy remark loaded in the back of my throat, but the exhaustion from the transformation had taken a lot of energy.

I nodded in agreement, mouth too tired to put together a proper response.

He pushed aside a curtain as the two of us entered a quieter tent. The hooded witch who promised the Citizens and I food in exchange for the medallion waited, hands disappeared through their long, black sleeves.

Trent spoke in another language, and I stood there, not bothering to question what he was saying. When he stopped talking, the witch refused to say anything and Trent let out a small grunt before gesturing to the witch.

"What?" I asked.

His gaze dropped to the medallion and I opened my hand out, staring down at the precious necklace.

"Oh. Right," I said and unclipped it off of me. I dangled it in front of the witch and we watched it gently sway, waiting for it to take it.

The big sleeve lifted, hand still hidden under the black cloth. But instead of grasping the necklace, ice-cold bones touched my wrist and a gasp shot past my mouth.

I felt the witch shatter my mind, breaking into my memories and rip the deepest, darkest ones open. I threw my head back, trying to grab air, but the memories sucked the oxygen out of my throat.

"Vhalerie!" Trent exclaimed.

But the memories and magic already dug their claws into my back, dragging me down to the pit of recollections.

My feet flopped against the cold tiles, body heavy from an earlier slumber. I clutched pretty tight onto my teddy bear's wrist, especially for someone half asleep. My teddy bear was pink, like my lacy, pink gown that brushed against my ankles and like my pink hair, which sat on the top of head like a nest for "bed bugs to crawl into"—Mommy once said.

That only made me laugh.

My teddy bear's head dragged along with my feet across the hallway as I passed photos of old and ugly people who had their snooty noses high up.

I never liked the look on their faces. It never looked like they were having fun. Shouldn't taking photos be fun and silly?

A crack of light broke through the door at the end of the hall, and I wondered why mommy was up again.

Mommy kinda looked like those people on the photos too. I wish she had more fun.

Voices of Mommy and Daddy came from the door and I shuffled close to the opened crack, peeking through with one eye.

"She isn't ready," Daddy harshly spoke.

"She'll never be if we keep doing this, Isaac!" Mommy cried out.

"Don't do this to her. Why can't we choose another Hero?"

"It isn't like we have a choice," Mommy snapped back. "We didn't decide for her to be the Beast."

"Are you sure this is—"

"I know what's best for my people. We aren't going to be sitting ducks like in last war. We're going to take this historical battle to the Villains"—there was a clink of a glass cup—"without them even knowing."

"She's just a child."

"That's why you'll go with her."

"No. I refuse to go back to that whorehouse!"

"Scared of Villains, now?" I saw a glimpse of Mommy smirking as she used her teasing voice. "Or is it a specific villain that you're scared of?" She leaned closer to Daddy. "Her name starts with A. AAAAALLIICCEEE."

"Stop."

"Alice," Mommy whispered and laughed. "Loosen up, old man. Even if you still love her, you're stuck with me now. Well, except for the fact I'm letting you go to Villain Academy to watch over our daughter."

"A three year old shouldn't be allowed to leave Hero High. We should wait until she's a little older."

"Isaac! Question me one more time, and I'll bite your head off."

There was silence.

"When do we leave?"

"Tonight."

The darkness flooded into my eyes, the vision drowned in black and I gasped. Air filled my lungs and I dropped the medallion.

Trent's arms opened for me as I stumbled back, trying to catch my breath. I kept blinking, coloured blurs popping up. "Vhalerie! Vhalerie!" Trent slapped my cheek. "Wakie wakie, sunshine slut bug!"

I swatted his hand. "Stop brain-fucking weird words to conceive nickname babies."

A whoosh of a curtain blew past us and the tent door was left open, the witch gone.

Trent immediately dropped me and I landed with a harsh back slam to the sand. "Hey! I thought I was your sunshine slut bug!"

Trent threw back the rest of the tent door. He whined and kicked the sand, storming back in. "The bastard disappeared on me." He kicked the sand for the second time. "Dealing with witches never ends well."

"Dropping me never ends well. Ouch!" My face twisted in pain and I lifted up my butt, my hand finding something solid. I brought it up, the medallion winking at me again.

"Stupid witch didn't even take the necklace!" Trent shouted and stomped the sand like a child. "Whywhywhywhywhy?"

I clipped the necklace back on, tucking it under my shirt. I kinda liked it on me.

"Sir!" A Citizen barged in. "You have got to see this."

Trent grabbed my shoulder and with surprising strength, he hoisted me up and I tripped after him. We whipped back the tent door, I banged into Trent as he came to an abrupt stop.

"I don't believe it, flabber dabber." Trent blindly reached for my arm, unable to take his eyes off. "Are you seeing this?"

"For some reason, I liked it better when you called me sunshine slut bug. Yewoch! You don't have to pinch me. I see it, flabber dabber," I remarked and rolled my eyes far enough to see my brain.

"Shitting—"

"Sandwiches? Yeah. I know, right?"

+++

A/N:

DAMN, DANIEL!

Back at it again with the white Vans.

Freaking love that.

There was lowkey a lot of clues in this chapter... ;)

Sorry for taking so long to update!! Haven't had the time to edit this one.

OH! I just got accepted into the university program I wanted so I'm super happy! I study for 2 years in Canada and then 2 more years in Ireland!!

Anyone know if the Dublin City University (DCU in Ireland) is any good? Or the EBS Universität für Wirtschaft und Recht (EBS Business School in Germany)? Because I'm going to have to choose between them.

Thank you so much for reading this story!!

What do you think of it right now? I love hearing your thoughts—I read every single comment.

Comment DAMN DANIEL and I'll eternally love you.

So much love,

Twist.