Did you ever have a monster under your bed when you were a child? Something that kept you awake at night and scarred you for life as a child? Well, I had my very own monster. Night after night as a small child, I used to lie in bed with my eyes wide open because I knew that as soon as I shut them, he would come and visit me in my dreams.

And right now, here was that same monster, standing before me just like I had remembered him. His skin was deathly pale and his eyes were two black, soulless holes in the middle of his skull with two red dots acting as pupils. His teeth were a nasty yellow and sharpened to a point, making him look like he might lunge at any second and tear your throat out. And that wasn't even his most distinguishing feature; his arms and legs were abnormally long and slender, and instead of hands or feet, there were metal devices at the ends with blades the size of butcher knives acting as fingers and toes that could move independently from one another—the reason I had dubbed him 'Cutter'.

"You...You're supposed to be a dream!" I tried to sound strong and brave when I said it, but in the end I just sounded really pathetic and wimpy.

"Oh, I am no dream, Sera. Or should I say...Prince Scarlett of Sciana!" He whispered extremely softly, as though this was his first time speaking. "I am just as real as the air you are breathing right now, as the food you have just eaten, as the music you were listening to, as the supposed 'friends' you think you have just made, and even as the first kiss you experienced only moments ago. But some of those, however, aren't as real as you may think."

My fear suddenly turned to anger. "You saw that!? What the-"

"Oh, I've seen much more than that silly fiasco." Cutter said, smiling sadistically as his finger-blades began twitching. "I've been asked to watch over you since you were small. I've seen you take your first steps, I've seen you on your way to your first day of school, and I've seen you shake and tremble in fear each night when you went to bed thinking of me."

I grit my teeth and balled my fists. "Alright, freak, you'd better start explaining what the hell is going on right now! And what you you freakin' mean 'not as real as I think?!"

Cutter spread his hands. "And why would I do that?"

"Because I guarantee you don't have anything better to do. That and I said so, you half-completed psychotic stalker from Hell!"

He smiled. "Alright, then. My name is Mortulus. I come from the birthplace of all fear. I serve under my Mistress, who rules my land, and she has ordered me to find the Prince of Sciana. You are her, Scarlett Seraphina."

I scoffed. "And I bet you're Abe Lincoln."

"Oh, but you are the Princess." Mortulus grinned and ran his fingers along one another in a motion similar to sharpening knives. "Your father is Ignacius, King of the Dragon Crown of Sciana, and your mother is human. My mistress wants the crown for herself, but she cannot fully take it until you are gone. I'll admit, it was a wise decision on the part of Ignacius to send you to the human realm, but not wise enough for my Mistress. She sent me and more of my brethren to this realm to look for you and kill you, and here we are. I promise I will make your demise as slow and as painful as I possibly can. And I will revel in every second of it!"

I scoffed, slowly standing up. Suddenly, I couldn't take it anymore. The scoff turned to a burst of laughter.

"What?" Mortulus asked, regarding me with a look of what I assumed to be confusion. "What is so amusing to you, Scale Child?"

I looked at him. "You know, I'm not even mad at you anymore. I pity you. Dragons? Princes? Kings? Heck, you even put a mistress in there? It all sounds like something from out of a fantasy novel! It's just too crazy to be real! It sounds cool, though. If you're doing some sort of advertising for a book of yours, I'd love to read it."

Mortulus grinned again. "Oh, but that is where you are wrong! This is no storybook fantasy; I've already told you that this is reality. Mistress has your father still alive! She tortures him everyday, sending shadow creatures to keep him awake so he cannot sleep. His crying is so pitiful! He wants you back, but too bad the next time that he sees you will be at your funeral!"

I felt anger rise up in my chest like a match that had been thrown onto a puddle of gasoline. "You sick, twisted..."

I heard the door to the club open. I looked behind me to see Luke, Talia and Keighlyn behind me.

"Sera..." Keighlyn exclaimed. "Get away from him!"

"He's dangerous!" Talia followed. "He's a creation of darkness, he'll slowly corrupt you if you're around him too long."

I clenched my fists tighter. "I'm a strong girl. I appreciate your concern, but I can take care of myself." I cracked my neck, then my knuckles, then looked at Mortulus. "Now, I don't know how you would ever think in your right mind that it's okay to tell me that my dad is alive, and he's loved me for all this time and being tortured every single day just waiting to be killed when in reality, I'm not going anywhere. But then again, you obviously aren't in your right mind. Now, I'm only going to say this once; either you leave and I never have to see that disgusting face of yours, or you will regret even finding out that I existed."

Mortulus laughed. "I think I'll take my chances with the second option.

I heard the shuffling of feet behind me, but I raised my hand for them to stop. "Don't." I warned them.

"This will be easy." Mortulus said, licking his lips. "Mistress will be so pleased with my accomplishment! I shall be most rewarded, indeed!"

Something snapped inside me. It was like a there had been a cage restraining some part of my soul all my life, and the walls had just now been blown apart. I was sick of being underestimated: just because I was an orphan: just because I was homeschooled: just because I wasn't exactly like every other pathetic human being on this stupid planet. I felt a wave of heat began to pulse through my body, a new sensation of power that I had never felt before. Instinctively, I thrust out my arm in an arc, and then a tongue of fire appeared in mid air. It then solidified itself into a fiery red greatsword at least five feet long.

"You think I'm weak..." I warned, grabbing the sword and pointing it right at him. "Call me weak again. See what happens."

"So she can summon fire and a sword." Mortulus mocked me. "So what?" With inhuman speed, he flashed past me and ran his fingers across my face. Slowly, warm liquid began to trickle down the left half of my face, and I watched as red dripped from my brow.

I just scoffed. "Joke's on you." I said. "I'm right-eye dominant." Without warning, my sword lit completely on fire, and I sent the blade flying into his abdomen and twisted it as far as I could. I watched him in satisfaction as he stared at me with a gaping mouth and a look of utter shock.

"You..." As he tried to grab me with his last strength, I simply stepped backwards as he let out a wail of pain, then dissipated into a pile of dust. I lowered the sword, which then disappeared in a burst of flames. I turned around to see Luke, Talia and Keighlyn all staring at me with their jaws hanging wide open.

"There's no doubt about it now..." Talia said.

"She's Princess Scarlett!" Keighlyn breathed, jumping up and down excitedly.

"And I kissed her..." Luke muttered under his breath, looking away.

"What?" Talia asked.

"And I just danced with her." Luke replied quickly.

"We need to take her to Xiao." Keighlyn said. "He'll know what to do from here."

"But...what about Kali?" Luke asked. "If Kali finds her, then it's game over."

"The Academy is safe, it's highly protected. Kali and her minions won't be able to even think of hurting her." Talia snapped.

"Guys...I don't feel so good..." I breathed, suddenly feeling a massive headache strike me. "I...I feel...feverish." My legs then gave out and the world went black. All that I heard before I lost consciousness was:

"We missed you."

"I'll protect you. I swear."

And then a few moments later, there was a whisper in my ear. "I don't know where this will go from here, but I honestly kinda liked that kiss."

What had I gotten myself into?

Early update. You're welcome.

Signing off, Kiera Savage