"[She] gazed into eyes the color of a summer morning sky and sighed. It felt as if [her] soul had just come home."

- Grace Willows -

"Wha..what is this?" I stuttered, struggling to get the words out through my tight throat. My mom didn't say anything but merely looked at me, her dark eyes wide as she stared at me, shocked.

In front of her, was a symbol of some kind. It was unfamiliar to me; I'd never seen it before. It was engraved neatly into the stone of the basement wall; a symbol of a star, surrounded by a circle. The dim, feeble light emanating from the candles made the symbol look even more sinister.

"Mom?" I whispered, my eyes dropping down to her. Her tear-stained cheeks were shiny in the light. When she stood up, I involuntarily took a step back away from her, my heart pounding with fear against my ribcage. What the hell was that symbol?

"Lilith," she said in a hushed whisper. There was no anger in her face, which surprised me. I thought that she would be angry with me for coming down here, and discovering whatever she was up too.

"What's going on?" I asked her, my voice stronger and more confident. She parted her lips to say something but no words came out; she was obviously conflicted about what she wanted to say.

"Tell me," I hissed. "What is going -"

"Lilith, darling," she whispered, making the hairs stand up on the back of my neck. "Please, go upstairs. Please."

"No!" I shouted, anger starting to boil within me. "Not until you tell me what the hell is going on!"

"I will, Lilith, I promise. I give you my word that I will tell you. But not right now, darling. Now is not the time."

I raised my eyebrow, not convinced by her soothing tone. My eyes shifted to the symbol behind her. I was compelled to find out what it meant. I was definitely sure about one thing: it didn't mean anything good. It gave off a sinister and disturbing vibe that caused a shiver to pour down my spine like trickling water.

I took a step backward again, and then another one until I decided to turn my back on my mom and walk towards the staircase. Before I ascended them, I glanced at her. She was still watching me, her face now concealed by the shadows around her. It took a lot for me not to run up the stairs, away from the basement. I knew for a fact I wouldn't be going down there again.

As soon as I reached the top of the basement stairs, I slammed the broom cupboard door shut, and sprinted up the stairs to Seth's bedroom, shouting his name. He opened his door immediately; he was in the process of taking his earphones out of his ears. His dark eyebrows pulled into a concerned frown.

"Lili, are you okay?" he asked.

I grabbed his hand and pulled him inside his room, slamming his door behind me.

"Do you have any idea what's going on down in the basement?" I hissed. His expression didn't change; he was still frowning.

"Lili, what -"

"Have you seen what Mom is doing down there?" I whispered, feeling the cold shivers again. I moved his laptop out of the way and sat down on the covers of his bed. He sat down beside me.

"What are you talking about?" he whispered.

"Pass me a piece of paper and a pen," I said.

He frowned at me, taken aback at my sudden command.

"Lili -"

"Please just do as I say, Seth," I pleaded. He walked over to his study desk on the other side of the room and picked a notepad and a black pen. Everything was untidy in his room; clothes strewn about on the floor, books untidily stacked on a shelf, and even an empty Cheetos packet lying next to his bed.

He handed me the notepad and pen, and I started to draw the symbol in the basement as neatly and accurately as I could. When I was finished, I gave him the notepad.

"Does that symbol look familiar to you? At all?" I asked him. He looked down at it, an eyebrow raised.

"Um...no, I don't think so," he answered, looking up at me. "What's going on, Lili?"

"Seth, it's a yes or no question. Have you seen it before or not?"

"No, I haven't," he muttered, placing it back into my hand. "I have no idea what it is." He stood up and walked over to his door, which he opened and indicated with his head that he wanted me to leave.

"Seth, why are you lying to me?" I whispered, placing the notepad on the bed. I walked over to him.

"I'm not lying to you, Lili. I have no idea what that means. And to be honest, you're freaking me out."

"Don't you get it? What I just saw freaked me out. That's what I'm trying to tell you, Seth. That symbol is what I just saw in the basement. And Mom was kneeling in front of it like she was worshipping it or something -"

"Are you on drugs?" Seth laughed. I stood on his foot and he glared at me.

"No, I am not on drugs, Seth. I know what I saw."

"Okay, well what you supposedly saw makes no sense."

"You seriously don't believe me? Out of all people, I thought you would be the one to at least believe me."

He sighed and put his hand on my shoulder. "I'm not saying I don't believe you, okay? It just seems...well, unlikely. Mom worshipping some weird symbol? That doesn't sound unbelievable to you?"

I nodded. "Yeah, it does. Which is why I'm shocked."

"Go get some sleep, Lili. See you in the morning," he said, with a reassuring smile. As he shut the door when I walked out, I felt worse than ever. Seth was the one person I knew would believe me; we were close, and we told each other everything. But I knew he was acting weird, almost...fake. Like he was hiding something I shouldn't know. The mere thought was so illogical I felt like grabbing myself by the shoulders and shaking sense into me. As I climbed into bed, I shook the thought from my mind. At least for now.

Cycling to school the next morning was a complete and utter nightmare. Incessant rain lashed against me as I cycled as quick as I could. Pulling my black hood over my head couldn't even stop the rain from soaking my freshly-washed hair.

Twenty minutes later, when I arrived at school, soaked to the bone, I left my bike at the bike rail and sprinted inside, wringing my sopping hair.

"Lili!" yelled a female voice. I noticed Brea, Alexa and Eva standing by the lockers. The hallway was almost desolate, apart from a few people here and there, standing around and chatting. Only then did I check my watch and realize I was early.

They walked over to me, Brea smiling. I hesitated before returning the smile.

"How awful is this weather?" Brea groaned, running her fingers through her long hair. The rain had darkened it slightly to a dirty blonde color.

"I know," I said, echoing her groan.

"Come on, I want to introduce you to our friends," Brea smiled, grabbing my hand. Her hand was warm as her fingers slipped through mine. She pulled my arm, so I had no choice but to follow her. We walked into a classroom that I had never been in before. I looked at the sign as we walked through the door: Mr. Cole, AP World History.

My heart leaped into my throat as I noticed the classroom had people in it. There were four other girls and six guys; four of the guys were wearing a football uniform, so were obviously jocks, and two of the girls were wearing cheerleader uniforms.

"Guys, this is Lili," Brea announced, her pearly white teeth shining as she grinned. Everyone looked up at me, their eyebrows raised. One of the girls that wasn't wearing a cheerleader uniform gave me a sympathetic smile. My heart thudded in my chest as I felt their critical eyes scanning over me. I tried to pull away, but Brea held on; she had a very tight grip.

"Don't be scared, Lili. Everyone's really friendly, I promise."

I doubt that, I thought. She finally let go of my hand and went and joined a group of jocks. One, who was evidently her boyfriend, slid his arms around her waist and pulled her against his chest, lowering his head to kiss her. He was incredibly good looking, with his dark blonde hair, shiny blue eyes and tanned skin. Alexa and Eva went and joined a couple of cheerleaders sat at the other side of the room. I stood, watching, my fingers trembling slightly. I wasn't sure what to do.

"Hey," a voice said from beside me, making me jump. A dark-haired, dark-skinned girl was standing next to me, a warm smile on her face. I realized she was the girl who gave me the sympathetic smile when we walked in.

"Hi," I smiled back.

"I'm Sage," she said, grinning. "Are you doing okay?"

I shrugged. "Yeah, I guess."

She sat down at a desk in the front of the classroom and I sat down beside her.

"How're you enjoying Oaksten?" she asked me.

I shrugged again. "It's alright. It's my second day here so I'm still getting used to it, I guess."

"And I see Brea's took a liking to you," she laughed, with a roll of her dark eyes.

"Yeah," I snorted. "I'm not really the type of person she'd be friends with, though."

"Yeah, Brea just loves making new friends," she said, with a hint of sarcasm; it made me raise one of my eyebrows in confusion. "So have you seen any guys you like yet?"

I laughed. "Nope."

"Seriously? Come on, Lili. Oaksten has its fair share of hot guys."

I glanced around the room at the jocks; none of them caught my eye.

Except one.

"Who's that?" I asked Sage. Her eyes followed mine to the back of the room where one of the jocks was sitting, away from the others. He was looking out of the window, totally oblivious to what was happening in the room; he seemed to be daydreaming. His messy red hair fell over his pale forehead and one of his dark hazel eyes. His chin was resting on one of his hands as he gazed out of the window at the downpour. A burning light of incandescence shot through me as my eyes traced his features.

"Oh," Sage chuckled. "That's Elijah Collins."

I peeled my eyes away from him and looked back at Sage. She was grinning. I felt my cheeks turning pink and I dropped my head in embarrassment.

"If I could pick one guy out of all them in this room, I'd pick Elijah. He's incredibly sweet. And...well, incredibly hot, too," she laughed.

I picked up my head and looked back at him. Hot was an understatement.

"You should go and speak to him," Sage said.

"No way," I said, shaking my head.

"Why not?"

"I'm...well, I don't really know how to talk to guys," I admitted sheepishly.

"It's okay," she smiled. "Just say hi to him. That's easy enough, right?"

"I guess," I shrugged.

"You know he's captain of the football team," Sage said, with a smirk.

"Seriously? Then why is he sat away from the others?"

"The other guys annoy him sometimes, I think. They...well, they're dooshes."

I laughed at that. "Okay, I'll go and speak to him at lunch."

When the bell rang, I walked to my locker and opened it, collecting my books for the first lesson of the day, which was English. I closed my locker and spun around, walking straight into someone, and dropping my books with surprise. I knelt down to pick up my books and so did the person I walked into.

"I'm so sorry," a deep, male voice said.

I looked up, straight into the dark eyes of Elijah Collins.

A/N

Sorry I'm late guys, I know I was meant to update on Friday - but exams are literally taking over my life at the moment and I have no time to write whatsoever.

Okay, so for all the American Horror Story fans: how was the latest episode of My Roanoke Nightmare? INSANE. This season is definitely my favorite after Freak Show.

Let me know if you're enjoying this book so far. I have so much planned for this book, you have no idea...

- Olivia Clarke -

GIF: Lili (Lilith) Ayres - Crystal Reed

© Olivia Clarke 2016

The Devil's Daughter