The Divide: Luminescence

Chapter 1

I opened the box cautiously, not sure if I wanted to know exactly what lay inside. I knew that no matter what it was, it would change my entire life. Everything I had been unknowingly training for, everything my parents had kept hidden from me I was about to find out. The box was no more than the size of my hand, ornately designed in colours of onyx and ivory, the two swirling in different lace like patterns. The inside was dark blue velvet, and placed in it were only two things; a silver key and a letter. I took the letter in my hands, not prepared for what I was about to read.

My dear daughter,

I had not wished for you to ever come upon this. For, if you have, it means your mother and I have passed on from this life to the next. We spent our entire lives trying to protect you from what has now been thrust upon you. There are things here on earth that are no a part of this world. They are dark and have hideous agendas. Your mother and I were a part of a select group of people tasked with ridding the world of these…things.

We’ve been training you since you were little, preparing for the worst case scenario. All the hunting trips I’ve taken you on, every martial arts class, every history lesson with your mother were all for a very specific reason. There is an old magic that runs through your veins, passed on from your mother and I. You must finish what we could not. I know you did not choose this life, and I wish with all my heart that things were different, but you were born for this. There are very few who still posses the magic needed to fight the darkness, and over the past three years, all of our closest friends have disappeared. We believe that there was a mole in our group; that the darkness had gotten to someone, who sold all of us out.

After you have finished reading this letter, go to your room. Pack your things immediately. There is a map in my study that will lead you to our headquarters, better known as the divide.  You must be careful Bronwyn. You will not be alone there, and I can’t tell you who you will be able to trust. There is a book hidden, one that only your mother and I knew the location of. You will sense its presence when you are near it. It is imperative that you find that book. It will explain everything to you in detail that I cannot.

I love you more than you could ever understand Bronwyn, and I am so sorry we couldn’t say goodbye. We are watching over you always, but you must remember you are alone. Keep an eye on those close to you, because the darkness can control anyone, and it is not easily detectible. Do not loose hope, and do not doubt yourself. You are strong enough to beat this, with or without us.

I tried to steady my breathing, and closed my eyes. I wouldn’t allow myself to lose control, not now, not when there was no soft embrace waiting to make me feel better. I was alone now, and caring was a weakness, one that I wouldn’t let darkness have over me. I was so preoccupied with my own thoughts I didn’t hear him come up from behind me.

“Well, well, well, what do we have here?” I jumped at the sound of his voice, not prepared to hear someone so sudden or close to me.

“Nothing that’s of any importance to you.” I said coolly. He looked at me as if he were deciding whether or not to believe me. I kept eye contact with him, silently praying he couldn’t see behind my poker face. Jasper was the last person I wanted in on this.

Its not that he wouldn’t be useful, it’s just that we didn’t exactly get along. And what I mean by we didn’t exactly get along is that I find his voice painfully condescending, and he thinks I have about as much use as a yoyo without a string. My father, for some unknown reason, loved him. I guess it’s because he always thought I needed friends. You see, the town I live in is rather small, and we don’t exactly even live in the town. We live about twenty minutes away from the closest gas station, off a gravel road, and our house backs onto forest. My parents always said they valued their privacy, and now I finally understand why. I think my father thought Jasper would be good for me.