Chapter Three

Annalise

She was alone, like always. Lying on her bed, with her face pressed to the pillow so nobody would hear her crying. Not that they would care if they did hear her. She cried a lot.

Annalise sniffled, pulling the blanket around her shoulders and rubbing her eye with her fist, but the tears kept coming. They never seemed to stop when she was by herself. She cried until she fell asleep, and when she woke up she was often crying again. She had bad dreams--dreams of her father leaving, walking out on them. Dreams of her mother, drunk and furious, throwing things at her, screaming that it was all her fault.

A wave of mingled sorrow and guilt washed through her, drowning her, and fresh tears leaked down her cheeks as she pressed a fist to her mouth to muffle her sobs.

Slowly, her eyelids grew heavy. She pulled the blanket tighter around herself and curled up, drifting into an uneasy sleep.

***

In her dream, she saw a boy. He was tall, and he seemed to be looking for something. His light, warm brown eyes scanned the area around him alertly, and when they passed over her, Annalise shivered, experiencing a strangely warm, comforting feeling, like when you wake up from a bad dream and are enveloped in a warm hug by your mom or dad, and they whisper to you that everything will be alright. It was a feeling Annalise hand not experienced in a long time, and it brought fresh tears to her eyes.

Suddenly, she heard a screeching sound, like a bunch of angry birds. The boy whirled around, and Annalise felt her own eyes widen in alarm when she saw… what were those? Flying cats?

The boy cursed. “Griffins…” he muttered, and he pulled a sword out of nowhere. As Annalise watched, puzzled, he lifted his sword--where had that come from?!--and the creatures swarmed him. Annalise winced, expecting him to be ripped to shreds by those…talons? Claws? Whatever--but the boy seemed to know what he was doing with his sword. He slashed and stabbed faster than her eyes could track, and one by one the creatures collapsed in a feathery, furry clump at his feet. A puddle of scarlet blood slowly pooled around them, causing Annalise to cringe again--god, she hated blood.

He cursed again, wiping the blade on his jeans, and took off running. Annalise followed him as though tied to him by an invisible tether. He stopped at a payphone a couple blocks away and dialed a number.

“It’s Matthias,” he said after a moment. “Yes, I’m fine. But I decided I’m going to get a cab, instead of having Uncle Jay come pick me up. Is that alright? Okay, great. Yeah, I’ll probably be there soon. See you soon. Bye.” He hung up, but instead of hailing a taxi, he dialed another number, his face grave.

“Melanie Griffin, please. This is Matthias and I have bad news,” he said grimly after a minute. Then he waited. Curious, Annalise drifted a little closer. After a moment, the boy--Matthias--spoke again. “Yes, there is an issue. Mallory sent griffins after me.” Pause. “I know, but this means she’s aware of our movements! She shouldn’t know I was assigned to Annalise, at least not this soon. She must have a spy, or--” Pause again, and this time Annalise caught a faint buzzing of an angry voice on the other line. Matthias looked angry. “Of course not--you know I don’t want to accuse our people, but how else could she have known?” Another pause. Matthias looked unhappy but resigned. “Of course, I’ll continue my assignment as planned. I’m on my way there now. Of course--yes, I’ll keep you updated of further attacks.” He hung up, glaring at the phone for a minute before sighing and turning away. As he began to walk away, the dream faded.

***

Annalise opened her eyes a crack and stared at her wall, puzzled. She had never been much of a dreamer--dreams were, in her opinion, a waste of time. You wish for things you didn’t have, and it only makes you more miserable than you already are. But usually when she did dream, she paid attention to it--it meant her subconscious was trying to tell her something. What did this dream mean, though?

Annalise shook her head and rolled over, going back to sleep. This time, she slept undisturbed for the rest of the night. When she woke up, she didn't think about strange dreams or what they meant. She continued her life as she always would, having no idea it was about to change forever.

Author's Note

Sooo, here we have our first glimpse of Annalise. What do we think?