Evelyn used her pillow to block out the annoying repeated beeps coming from her alarm clock but sat up when she realised it was time to leave her home.
It was exactly 2 o'clock in the morning.
The moment she was comfortable calling it 'home' was the moment she had to leave it for another place.
She groaned and wiped a stray tear making its way down her cheek. She wished it was the alarm clock calling her up for school, not for leaving this wonderful place.
She got up and got her luggage ready, then changed out of her pyjamas into plain clothing and spent her last minutes wondering around her room.
She noticed things she had never noticed before, now that she was standing in her room a mere few minutes before she has to leave and maybe not ever be able to come back.
A knock on the door startled her from her troubled thoughts.
"Evelyn?" Ellete's voice asked. "Are you done in there?"
"Yeah." Evelyn said. "Just give me a second."
She looked around the room one last time and grabbed her luggage and Doodo, her childhood stuffed chipmunk.
With two bags slung over her shoulders, Doodo in the chest full of her childhood toys and the two chests in her hands behind her, she pushed open the door with her foot and came eye-to-eye with Ellete.
"You ready?" she asked.
Evelyn nodded and Ellete helped her with her chests.
The pair made it down with both heavy steps and hearts, making their way out of the house for the what seemed like the last time and stopped in front of a carriage pulled by four unicorns and a short bushy driver.
Evelyn took Doodo out of one of the chest and after putting her luggage in the carriage's trunk, she headed into the carriage.
The inside of the carriage was decorated with gold and pearls with plush velvet seats on both sides. Evelyn took a seat beside the window and hugged Doodo tightly against her chest.
She watched as Atler and Zak exited the house with more luggage and loaded them in the trunk. The dragon egg was loaded into the carriage trunk as well. Several minutes later, Ellete, Zak and Atler entered the carriage. Ellete took a seat beside her with Zak and Atler sitting on the opposite of them.
With teary eyes, Evelyn waved goodbye to the house as the carriage sped away.
"Will we ever come back here again?" Evelyn asked.
"That is uncertain." Atler answered.
Evelyn sighed and rested her head against the wall of the carriage and drifted into an oblivious sleep.
Evelyn was awoken by the harsh bumps of the carriage and rubbed her eyes. "Are we almost there yet?" she asked groggily.
Ellete answered her this time. "There's still twenty minutes until we reach our destination."
Evelyn noticed the ink-black sky had now faded into a pink and yellow streaked sunrise with white clouds dotting the horizon.
She watched the scenery run past outside- it was quite peaceful for a moment there, actually, since the scenery outside have nature vibes and consisted of trees, lakes, rivers and magical woodland creatures- until she remembered that they were doing this because she was going to get murdered.
Evelyn shuddered and pushed the horrifying thought away, focusing on the scenery and allowing her mind to drift off and think about her friends and her home.
She truly missed her friends and she dreaded having to restart everything and few left out and not fitting in again thought by now she was kind of used to it.
Her thoughts scattered when they entered a village- Ereseville. Evelyn had done a little research about it and found out the village got its name because of Erese flowers that bloomed everywhere. Erese flowers were purple and can survive in extreme conditions. Sure enough, Evelyn could see the purple Erese flowers scattered everywhere.
They passes cottages, trees, Erese flowers-of course, people, markets, gardens and everything a village could have.
People were scattered across the town, chatting and walking around with baskets of grocery. It seemed like a normal-as normal as it could ever get here in Celestia-and friendly village.
Finally, the carriage came to a stop in front on a comfy looking cottage with vines growing neatly along the walls and bushes with a little garden of its own with trees brimming with fruit.
Atler and Zak got out first and helped Ellete and Evelyn out.
Evelyn cautiously stepped out of the carriage and inspected the cottage.
"So, what do you think of our new house?" Ellete asked Evelyn.
Evelyn shrugged her willed herself not to cry- it was the first step of an entirely new life.
She went around, exploring the cottage.
The interior of the cottage had the musky smell of when you buy a new book and sniffed it. The floorboards creaked slightly when you stepped on it and the cottage was small but really comfy. The living room had a fire place and consisted of a plushy couch, armchair, a bookshelf filled with books and a small table in the center with a mat lying in front of the front door and a coat hanger standing next to the door.
Further in, there was a dining room with a long table on a knitted mat with six chairs pushed in, three chairs on either side on the table. The table had a little pot with a plant in it and a box of tissues. Next to the dining room was the kitchen with racks of ingredients and lots of windows to let air in. There was a door on the right leading to the garden outside.
The garden was filled with flowers, fresh green grass, trees sprouting fruit and a ton of butterflies and erese flowers as well. There were carpentered stairs in the living room leading up to the upstairs area, where there were three rooms and a lounge in the middle connecting all the rooms. In Evelyn's room, there was a bed in the middle of the room, a wooden wardrobe, a desk with a table lamp and a plush comfy-looking chair, a bathroom and a nightstand.
As soon as Evelyn was done exploring the house, she went into her room and started unpacking. She hung her clothes up in the closet provided, stacked the chests of toys in a corner, placed Doodo the stuffed chipmunk on the bed and her belongings in a drawer.
When she was done, she flopped onto her bed and dug her face in a pillow, allowing her tears to flow freely.
Was she really going to start a new life far, far away from home?
"Evelyn?" Evelyn woke up startled by someone shouting her name from downstairs.
Evelyn slowly got up and let out a yawn, realizing she had accidently cried herself to sleep. She washed her face in the bathroom then hurried down.
"There you are," Ellete said when she spotted her. She took Evelyn's hand and led her to the living room and sat her on a chair.
Atler was there as well, as was Zak with serious expressions.
"Evelyn," Ellete said. "You know we was given two options to possibly save you from death- disguise ourselves and move elsewhere or have bodyguards provided by the government to protect you, right?"
Evelyn nodded with a heavy heart.
"And we chose the second option. Thus, from today onward, we will live a little....differently. We have to change our names a little, but not fully. From today onward you'll be Evelyn Broser."
She continued. "Of course, you'll still have to go to school since education is important but we're not letting you anywhere without protection, which is why we hired someone to protect you. Meet Elara Shadowfrost."
From the kitchen, a teenager who looked about Evelyn's age emerged and stepped into the light.
She had brown wavy hair that cascaded slightly past her shoulder and wore loose black arm warmers with purple gloves. She wore a purple and black shirt with black pants and leggings. She also wore loose striped black and purple leg warmers matched with black heavy boots. She had green eyes, pink lips, rosy cheeks dotted with freckles and a thin scar running across her right cheek. She had a strap full of little weapons which slung across her waist and a sword hung behind her back and two guns tucked in both sides of her pockets.
"Hi! You're Evelyn, right? Nice to meet you- I'm Elara!" she introduced herself. "I'm an assassin and a bodyguard- your bodyguard, to be exact."
Evelyn did a double take. This bubbly teenage girl her age was anassassin and a bodyguard?
Evelyn's new bodyguard- Elara, must have noticed her baffled look. She chuckled. "I know I look way to young to be an assassin and bodyguard but I'm well trained, trust me. Oh- and don't worry, I'm an assassin but I kill for good reasons like religious reasons or murder so I'm on the good side."
She held up her gloved hand and Evelyn shook it.
"Elara will be attending the school you're going to and will be a student in your class so she can protect you when danger comes."
"Yup," Elara smiled. "We're gonna be besties!" she hung a hand around Evelyn's shoulder.
Evelyn was still shocked that this over excited girl who wanted to be 'besties' was her bodyguard and killed people-but for good reasons, at least.
"Anyway, I gotta go. Duty calls!" Elara beamed at Evelyn and teleported away.
Evelyn, baffled by the afternoon's events, headed to her room and stayed there while Atler and Ellete settled some important matters.
She mopped around her room until the setting afternoon sky morphed into the dark star-dotted star and Ellete called her down for dinner.
It was an awkward dinner filled with silence as Evelyn quietly sipped on her bowl of boiling savory corn soup.
After dinner, she washed up and put on her comfiest pair of pajamas then tossed and turned in bed, dreading the next morning. Finally, after countless minutes of worrying, she drifted off into a troubled sleep.
The morning came faster than expected and Evelyn drowsily woke from her troubled sleep. She washed up and put on a baggy sweater with a pair of short denim jeans and combed her wavy hair. She slipped into a pair of comfy white socks and sneakers. Her new school, Pinecrest Secondary School, didn't require students to wear uniforms like S.O.M, the School Of Magic, did.
Satisfied with her looks, she grabbed her turquoise bag, slung it over her shoulders and went downstairs for breakfast. Ellete, Atler and Zak were already there.
"Are you ready?" Ellete asked.
Evelyn nodded and sat at the breakfast table, where a bowl of oats was waiting. She downed it in one gulp and washed the oats down with a glass of water.
"Your driver will arrive shortly," Ellete explained.
Since they had dumped teleporting because hackers could hack into teleballs and track Evelyn's location, they had to get around using traditional ways, like driving around in a carriage being pulled by a unicorn. Ellete and Atler had arranged for a driver to drive her to school and pick her up everyday and luckily, Ereseville was an old-fashioned town and the local people also used carriages for getting around so Evelyn wouldn't stand out. The plan was for them to blend in.
"And remember, your name is temporarily Evelyn Brose, okay?" Atler added.
Evelyn nodded- she had to change her name to seal her true identity in hopes that her killers wouldn't recognize her, wherever they were. There was a heated discussion between them whether or not she should fully change names but in the end they settled for changing her surname.
Like Ellete promised, the driver arrived a few minutes later and after Evelyn said goodbye to Atler, Ellete and Zak.
"Good luck on ya first day of school, kid!" Zak yelled when she hurried to the front door.
She hopped into the carriage and the driver sped away.
Tears dotted Evelyn's eyes as she remembered her first day of school in the School Of Magic and how Leia introduced everyone to her. She remembered their first hangout and remembered the fun time they'd all share together.
And yet, here she was- starting an entirely new life.