☆★
PROLOGUE

ELENA
☆★

The car drives off Wickery Bridge in an instant, leaving Elena and her parents hardly any time to react as they free fall into the pitch black water below.

Elena screams as the impact sends them sailing forward and as the water quickly begins to pool inside. She bangs on the window uselessly, crying out as her fists ricochet off the glass like rubber. The cold water cuts like knives as it reaches her chest, sending her into a frenzy. She knows she is going to die, but when her frantic eyes meet those of her father's, a sudden wave of calmness washes over her.

The water rises to Elena's chin, spilling into her mouth. It has a terrible, fishy taste to it.

Her father's hand extends out to her, and their fingers manage to intertwine. Now, fully encased in water Elena holds her breath and stares back at her father. He mouths the words "I love you" to her. Elena mouths them back, nodding.

Elena begins to feel her throat tighten as time passes, and realizes that her mother has not moved since they've crashed. Good, Elena thinks, she died on impact. She doesn't have to suffer through this.

As the will to live slowly leaves Elena's body, as does her consciousness, there is a knock on the window. The motion sends ripples throughout the car's interior, grabbing Grayson Gilbert's attention.

A boy is seen outside the driver side window, and for a brief moment, Grayson believes it is a near-death hallucination. But when he remembers that his daughter is in the back seat, dying, he goes along with it.

With the strength of ten men, the boy then rips the door off its hinges and attempts to reach for Grayson's seat belt. The dying man shakes his head despite the fire in his chest and instead points to Elena.

The boy's face twists in confusion at first, but when his eyes fall on the girl floating lifelessly in her seat, he complies.

Grayson watches as the boy swims to Elena and rips off her seatbelt, enveloping her in his arms. He thinks then that she must be an angel, for her lovely face reveals nothing but tranquility.

As quickly as he appeared, the boy is gone again to the surface. In Grayson's last moments, he looks to his wife and holds her hand for the last time. Now that he knows Elena is safe, he can let go. It is now up to the other hunters to look after her, for his time has come to an end.

Grayson finally opens his mouth and lets the water in, dying a slow and silent death.

***

Elena awakens on the edge of Wickery Bridge with a jolt. She is lying on her stomach, drenched in river water. For a moment, Elena seems to forget the accident, blissfully unaware of the fact that her parents are now floating corpses trapped in the water below. But when Elena suddenly doubles over in order to vomit the water that fills her insides, she vividly remembers herself drowning.

In the distance, sirens are heard.

Elena wipes at her mouth with a shaky hand and looks over her shoulder to see the beginnings of flashing lights just down the road. Help is coming, she thinks morbidly, but it is too late. My parents are already dead.

A sudden fear grips Elena's chest as she ponders the most obvious question-- how did she manage to escape?

There is a rustle behind the tree line on the other side of the road. Elena's head whips in its direction, eyes wide as she surveys the woods for any sign of life. But she finds none.

The police are upon her now, their car lights casting an eerie glow across Elena's face. She is too stunned to comprehend the words directed to her until a familiar face is seen pushing through the officers. It is Stiles's dad.

"My god, Elena." Sheriff Stilinski gasps.

He crouches down beside her and removes his bomber. Elena smiles numbly as the warm material is wrapped around her shoulders, so big that it covers almost her entire body. The Sheriff then manages to get Elena to her feet and lead her to the ambulance.

The bright lights burn at first, but when the tears finally spill down her cheeks, her eyes are able to adjust. Elena doesn't bother wiping them away, either.

The paramedics get to work on her, checking her vitals and asking her questions she did not know the answer to. Elena would simply shrug her shoulders in response until they let her go.

Elena is left standing dully among the sea of men and women in blue. They run around her like ants, frantically gathering evidence and calling for a crane.

A crane, she thinks, how odd. They are going to retrieve my only parents with a machine meant for other things than gathering corpses.

She feels a hand on her shoulder. It is Caroline's mom.

"The Sherif asked me to take you home, Elena."  She says, her voice soft.

Elena complies, ripping her gaze away from the scene. To her surprise, she is not frightened of getting inside another car. It is quite the contrary. In the brief moment when the deputy shuts the door and heads for the other, Elena is alone again. It takes her back to the last place she was with her parents, and she mouths the words "I love you" to no one in particular.

***

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