Prologue: A forgotten memory…

"Ms. Baris," I looked up to see my nanny, which she has pale skin tone, strawberry blonde hair that's pulled back into a messy bun, and aqua eyes. "Yeah, Blume? What is it?" She smiled at this nickname. I've given her that nickname because she'd always told me what kind of flowers that my mom grew, and what they look like when they blossomed. "Your mother wants to talk to you in the study room." I blinked my turquoise eyes at her to see if she wasn't lying about it because mom never asked me, or even wanted me to go in the study room for some strange reason. Now she wants me to go in there? I knew that something was up because of this. I slowly looked at my half colored page that was a kitten with a butterfly on her or his nose. I need to finish coloring this first. I thought this as I nod at my thoughts, and at what Blume said. "Okay. Can you tell momma that I'll be there in a few minutes?" I heard Blume's footsteps slowly fade away from my hearing range as I said this.

As soon as I finished the coloring page, I start to head to her study. Along the way, I noticed that the moon was out. "I wish that no one will get hurt." I whispered my wish to the moon, but I was foolish to believe that a wish came true when there's a full moon out. I continue to walk to my destination, but stopped midway when I smelled smoke in the air. This caused me to run in fear while my mind filled itself with images of mom being injured by the source of the smoke. Minutes later, I arrived at the door and slowly opened it like as if I was going to be in trouble if I do this, but I knew that I was called up there by her. So I knew that meant that I won't get into trouble if I enter the room. The room's walls were covered by bookshelves; mom was in the center of the room, and sitting in a desk with a candle lit at the corner of it.

"Afërdita, I thought I told you to not run around in the household." I made a face of sorrow when she said this. "Sorry momma, but I thought that you were injured." She smiled at my concern, and nod for me to enter the room, which I did. Then I stopped in front of the desk as I wondered of why she called me up here. "Then I'm sorry that I caused you to worry." She stated then stood up, walked over to me, and knelt down to my level.

"But the reason I called you here is because tomorrow there's an important person going to come over." My interest grew with this new information. Mother had always told me who was coming, but there was something different about this meeting because I wanted to meet this person for some strange reason. "Who's coming?" Her expression changed from happiness to sadness, which caused me to worry. "What's wrong, momma?" She shook her head and smiled again. "He's my older brother, which makes him-"

"My uncle!" She laughed at my eagerness of the news. What do you expect? I was excited about this because I've never met anyone from my family line; plus I was always with Blume, and with the other maids in the household. But there was nothing for me to do because they're always busy with their jobs. "Do you want to meet him?" I gave a nod to this opportunely, which caused her to smile again. "Then head to bed, and get ready for our big day." I repeat the same action again, and start to head to my bedroom. Then mom called out.

"Afërdita," I turned around to see her expression was different from what I usually see on a person's face. This worried me a bit because I knew that something was wrong. "Yeah momma?" She smiled lightly with a good-bye smile, which confused me. "Remember that tomorrow is your birthday as well, so expect a lot of people in the ballroom." I smiled warmly back at her, and continued to head to my bedroom.

The next day, Blume was helping me put on my dress that was light blue with stars at the edge of it. "Do you think that my uncle is mean, Blume?" She chuckled lightly at my concern. "Don't worry, Afërdita; your uncle is a caring, and nice man." I knew that she was trying to reassure me, but I was still nervous about this. Then a question popped in my head. "Blume, why does momma not talk about dad?" That's when she stopped fixing the dress and sighed, which made me confused of why she did this. "Sometimes, little one, some things you shouldn't know till you're old enough." I sighed at this answer because I knew that she wouldn't explain more on the subject.

"Ah, Afërdita," I turned around to see my mom with a man. "Momma!" I ran up to her, hugged her tightly, and then stopped hugging her to look at the man. He had light brown hair, and red eyes; this confused me because I've never seen anyone with red eyes before. "Who are you?" I asked him, which caused him to kneel down in front of me. Then he gave me a warm smile, which gave me the sign that what Blume said the truth about him being a nice and caring man.

"Hello, you must be Afërdita. I'm Miroku Barsburg, but you can call me Uncle Miroku, Miroku, or just uncle." I gave a nod as I understood what he meant. I didn't know how to approach a conversation with him because I'd never met the people that mother meets or even my family members in that matter. "Why don't you two talk to one another; I'll make sure that things are running smoothly." Mom said this as she walked out of the room to leave Blume and me with Miroku. I was curious of why he wanted to meet me when none of my family members, or anyone in that matter, never wanted to meet me for some reason.

"So, what do you want to do Afërdita?" I looked at Blume to give me the okay, which she did. Then I looked back at him again, and thought of what we could do. "How about we go to the garden?" He gave a nod to this, and start to follow me to the garden. We had fun, but he seemed to know something that I didn't know. This caused me to ask questions of what he knew, but he kept switching onto another subject. So I stopped asking him, and continued to have fun with him.

Then night came, and it became the worst birthday party for a nine year old. Why? It's because once we entered the ballroom I was in full shock of what I was seeing. There were bodies lying on the ground, and being surrounded by their own blood. This sight caused me to shiver in fear, which caused Miroku to grab my hand, he lead me to one of my secret hiding places, which happened to be under one of the floor boards. "Afërdita, stay here till I come back." I nod at this, and with that he closed it. Before he left, he made sure that it was secure for me, and ran off. I tried to keep my breathing at a normal rate (so that whoever did this won't find me), but then there were footsteps coming on top of me.

"Remember, we have to find our 'birthday girl.'" This caused my heartbeat to rise slightly, which it caused pain within my chest. "Yeah, yeah. But why is master so keen on us finding her?" I heard a growl after this. "Because you idiot! She's going to become our master's bride!" Br-Bride?! This thought crossed through my mind as the pain grew within my chest. I didn't know what was causing it, and I knew that I had to continue to stay hidden because of those men.

"Afërdita, where are you?!" I widened my eyes as I heard mom's voice. I wanted to scream at her to run and get out of there, but I knew that I'll be found by these people. "So, you're the one that hid our master's bride." I tried my best to not to cry when I heard the tone of voice that they were using. Why? It's because it was the tone of voice that meant that they wanted to kill someone. "What do you want with my daughter?!" I heard the person's dark laughter when she said this. It was like he knew, no, he did knew what he wanted from her. "She's no longer yours; she belongs to Master Áed, the King of Demons!" I covered my ears and curled up into a ball when I heard this. I didn't want to hear this. Why were these people after me? Who is this Áed? More questions formed in my head as small tears formed in the corners of my eyes. I could faintly hear mother and the other person's battle cries as I stayed in my location. I knew better then to come out and try to help out my mom.

"Miroku, get Afërdita out of here! Now" That's when I heard footsteps running towards me, and a sudden light appeared above me like if I was going into the afterlife. This caused me to look up to see Miroku with a worried expression on his face. He pulled me out of my hiding place, held me close, and saw that not one, but two identical people were fighting with my mom that was holding a sword and having red eyes.

"Momma!" Mom continued to fight as Miroku ran away from the scene. I continue to scream for her till everything became dark. The next day, I couldn't remember anything from the whole day of my birthday. I try to ask him what happened that day, and he just said that my mom wanted me to move in with him. This confused me because I felt the safest at my home that I grew up in. I asked him why, but he didn't give me an answer to this.

Soon we went back to my home, Blume and mom were waiting for us at the gate with a car filled with items that I need. Tears started to form in my eyes even though I didn't know why I was leaving my save haven. Mom knelt down to my level, and softly wiped my tears that were rolling down my cheeks. "Afërdita, I know that you don't want to leave, but you have too. I know it's going to be hard, but I want you to have this." Then she pulled out a necklace that was a spoon pendent with a diamond on it, and put it around my neck. "P-Promise me that you'll never take it off." Her voice was breaking when she said this, which caused more tears to form within my eyes. I hugged her as tight as I can. "I promise!"

Soon after I said this, I was forced to go in the car, and to leave my home for good. Still to this day, I've wondered what really happened on my ninth birthday, and the reason why I was forced to move in with a man that I've never met. I guess I'll have to find out one way or another…