Sarah was humming a song when she was interrupted by her daughter.
"Mommy", said Leah "What are you singing?"
"Oh. I'm humming a tune I heard years ago. Do you know what humming is?" Leah shook her head no. "It's simply doing this" Sarah fixed her daughters hair lovingly while humming the same tune she hummed before.
"Mommy, do it again!"
So her mother hummed the same tune, until her daughter fell asleep in her arms.
Years before her daughter was even born, Sarah lived with her parents. Her mother, named Maria, always hummed this tune while washing the dishes, cleaning the floor, doing laundry, etc. Sarah had no idea why. Until a few years later. This was before she even met Liam and fell in love.
This tune was sung by the ancestors of Sarah. All the way back to the 1800's. Sarah was curious why, and she knew her mother kept all her old things in the attic and that's where she went.
While searching for the reason behind this humming, she found an old notebook. After opening it and reading it, she stumbled onto a page that was in a foreign language. She could read it, though, which shocked her. How, she thought, can I read this?
Digging further into the trunk she found the notebook in, she found another one. This one different than the one before. Upon touching it, letters popped up on the cover in the foreign language she could oddly read.
After a futile attempt at discovering why she could read them, she went back downstairs, carrying the notebooks with her.
"Mom, how can I read this?" Her mother turned around from the kitchen sink. When she saw what her daughter was talking about, her cheeks became pale with fright.
"How'd you find these?" She asked her daughter and took them away. "You weren't supposed to see these till you're 21. It's our law"
Not answering her mother's first question, she asked her this instead:
"Whose law?"
The mother's didn't answer right away. Instead, in front of her daughter, she sprouted wings, and looked even more beautiful than her human look.
"We are called fey. We usually don't live in human conditions for more then a few months, but we had to, to protect..."
"Protect who, mom?" By the look on her mother's face, her second question came with fear. "Me? Why? Is someone after me?"
"Yes, someone's after you and they're pure evil. They're the most evil form of fey, known only to us as Quadica's."
"Why are they after me?"
"Because you have something they want, and don't have: a pure heart"
"Huh?" Sarah was confused. They wanted her heart? The heart she carries with her on a daily basis? The heart in her BODY?!
"They want the heart you carry around with you." Before her daughter could react, she said "Yes, they want to kill you"
"But why? What did I do to deserve this?"
"Absolutely nothing, but that is why you're here, in human form. To stay away from those hooligans."
In the present, while her daughter was asleep, Sarah heard a light knock on her door.
After opening it, she expected to see someone there, but no one was there. She stuck her head out of her entrance, but saw no one. Thinking they must've given up before they even started, she attempted to close the door, but, when she looked down, upon closing the door, she saw a little package addressed to her.
Opening it, she found only a letter and nothing more. On the letter, it said in the foreign language she hadn't seen since the time she found them:
"Please come now"
Not even an explanation. Nothing.
Her daughter, now on the couch where her mother put her, was still fast asleep, just the way she left her.
So many questions popped into her head, but the most serious one was: did they take her mother?
She called her mother and received no answer. Panic stricken, she called her father, and he picked up. She felt some relief, but still had that one question, plaguing her: was her mother safe?
She had no idea why she thought of her mother at this exact moment. Maybe fey had telepathic powers too?
"Hi, dad. Are you home? Is mom safe?" She said, in one breath.
"No, she went shopping. Is something wrong?"
"She's not answering her cellphone and I received a letter in a box with no return address"
Sarah's father, now scared himself for his wife's safety, told Sarah:
"I'll go to the shopping center. If she's not there, we're going to the fey council"
And so, the search party began. Not wanting to leave her daughter, she stayed at home, worrying away, and hoping her mother's safe.
A few hours later, she received a call from her mother.
"Everything's fine, my darling. Everything's fine. We're going to the fey council anyway, in regards to the box you received. Dad told me everything. They live not too far away from us, anyway."
And, so, around an hour later, she received another call from her mom, telling her to meet them at a certain address.
By this time, her daughter was wide awake, so Sarah called a babysitter, and, after the babysitter came, she left.
Meeting the council for the first time seemed scary to her, but they were nice people. They asked her if she'd like a drink, some cookies, and a place to stay. She said yes to all three. She didn't want the Quadica's to come after her, if that's what the box was about.
She brought the box with her, just in case.
After they examined it, they told her it is the Quadica's, trying to lure her in. They asked her if she knew who sent it. She said no.
"Keeping you safe is our main priority" said one of the council members. "We will do just that."
They sent her to a safe house, asking her to pack her essentials before leaving. She did.
Many years passed, and the Quadica's were still at large, but Sarah remained safe, for a very, very long time. Leah grew up, none-the-wiser, until she turned 21...