Chapter 2

       Ellie stared at Seth like a deer caught in headlights. His face was rapidly turning purple, and his eyes flitted dangerously from Ellie to the man frozen in the doorway. Just hurry up and scream at me already, she thought. The silence seemed to go on for an eternity, broken suddenly by the man clearing his throat.

         Seth fixed his glare on the man. You could practically see smoke blasting from his ears his face was so red. He was obviously deciding whether to get mad about the stranger being in his house, or at Ellie for letting him in.

       He didn't get the chance to choose, as the man began to speak.

'Ahem.' he said unnecessarily, as all of Seth's attention was already on him. Ellie was suprised he hadn't backed away already. ' I am Dietrich, an Anathi.' Dietrich told Seth confidently. 'And I'm here to take your daughter away.'

     You don't beat around the bush do you? Ellie almost said. If she thought she was in trouble before, it was nothing compared to now.

'Ellie,' Seth snarled, not taking his eyes off Dietrich as though he was a wild animal about to pounce. ' Have you been talking to this man?'

'No.' she said just a little too quickly. ' I mean- yes, but not...' Ellie's words died on her tongue under Seth's dangerous glare.

'Do carry on.'

'But not... much.' she said pathetically. On the bright side, she thought, if Seth kills me, at least I know I'm not insane. 

      With the knowledge that Seth could see Dietrich as well, Ellie knew came with some life changing realisations, but she decided to deal with those later because Seth came storming at her. Ellie was vaguely aware of Georgina and the others standing at the top of the stairway to watch the scene unfold, but she kept her attention on Seth who was hopping with fury.

 'You stupid girl,' he hissed, spraying Ellie with spittle. 'You let some pisshead into my house, and tell him your life story?'

'I didn't-'

'And you agree to let him take you away? He's clearly in a gang or something, just look at that tattoo on his neck!'

      Ellie looked, and saw Seth was right. Dietrich had a small black symbol on the side of his neck, like a double helix, but with the letter A in the middle. Dietrich himself looked rather calm about the whole situation, which was a huge contrast in itself to the man Ellie had greeted earlier.

'Excuse me, but I would like to point out that I am still here. And with ears. Meaning I can still hear you.' He said, just as calmly as he looked. Ellie would marvel at his carefree attitude if she herself wasn't so stressed.

'You-' Seth rounded on Dietrich. 'You come in here, into my house, strut around like you own it, tell me you're taking my daughter away-'

'She's not your daughter.' Dietrich said levelly, soft and controlling, a vast difference to Seth's shrieking.

     Seth did a double take. If Ellie hadn't been the one causing trouble she'd be laughing at Seth's extreme reactions.

'She's as good as!' he exclaimed, not quite convincingly.

'You don't seem to have treated her as your daughter. For instance, threatening someone into doing something that is impossible doesn't seem very fatherly to me.' he pointed out, gesturing towards the crumpled bike. ' Then again, what do I know about being a father?'

'How dare-'

'Oh I dare. I think you just want her here so you don't have to do labour, which is actually considered slaver-'

'ALRIGHT, GET THE HELL OUT OF MY HOUSE!'

'Seth.' Georgina said quietly. 'Seth, the neighbours...'

'Damn the neighbours Gina! There is a man in my house trying to kidnap our daughter and accusing us of slavery! He's probably some child kidnapper, or worse!'

      For the first time since Seth appeared, Dietrich's face flushed with emotion. Anger, more specifically. ' I assure you,' he growled, his face distorted with fury that put Seth's to shame. 'I want nothing but the best for this child.' 

     Ellie at this point, glanced at everyone's faces; Molly had her face buried in Georgina's thigh, whom was looking anxiously out the door at the neighbours houses. Kai and Rhys were smirking slightly, and Rebecca and Emily looked rather distraught. Ellie couldn't understand why. They'd done nothing but force unwanted jobs upon her for her whole life.

'I want to go with Dietrich.' she said suddenly, surprising herself. Her heart gave a wild thump at the anticipation of the Sharps family's reaction. She forced herself to look at Seth; his mouth was hanging open comically, his icy blue eyes wide. Ellie gulped.

     Seth seemed to find his voice. ' You... want... to go with this....' Seth struggled for the right words, his white face rapidly turning purple. Ellie was impressed with the speed his face could change colour.

'... Pompous twat?' he settled on.

'Yes, I think that's what i implied.' she cheeked.

      Rebecca and Emily gasped. Ellie couldn't help but wonder if she was making a terrible mistake. 

       Looking over at Dietrich, she thought she caught a glimpse of a smile, but she wasn't sure.

'You ungrateful brat,' Georgina huffed, peeling off Molly, and walking down the stairs to face Ellie. Ellie sort of hoped she'd fall flat on her face. 'You've known us for ten years, and now you want to leave for some man you met 10 minutes ago?'

'Yeah, well anywhere's better than here!'

'Elita.' Dietrich spoke, almost boredly. Georgina gave a little gasp at the word, and Seth just looked startled. 'Elita, you need not speak to these people. I doubt you'll ever see them again. Just go upstairs, and pack what you want to keep, and be back down within 10 minutes.'

     And with that, Ellie pushed her way through the appalled faces, and made her way upstairs.

                                                                         ***

         As she packed her things, her mind raced. Her nerves felt electric. She could still hear the Sharp's shrieking from her room. She couldn't help but wonder what the hell she was doing. Sure, she despised the Sharps family and the way they treated her, but who was to say Seth hadn't been right? Maybe Dietrich's intentions weren't good. Maybe he was a kidnapper. Or perhaps wanted by the police, or maybe he wanted to sell her on the black market in exchange for magical potatoes, or maybe-

   No, she told herself, I'll be fine. I can handle myself. I'm quick, small, and I can come up with a plan if things start to go to hell. 

      She only packed her very best possessions in a rucksack; her camera, her necklace, a couple of books, a small blanket from her childhood and some clothes.

     Ellie checked her watch. 6:39. Sitting down on her mattress, which gave a horrible groan, she ran through the events of the morning. Skipping the part where Dietrich popped into sight out of thin air. She really couldn't be bothered to have a life reconsideration this early in the morning. This whole morning was so strange. First a dream of some kind of fairyland that she hadn't had in about 3 months, some strange middle aged balding guy with a tatty suit knocks on the door, starts claiming he knows her, goes on about some cult called Anathi-

      A knock on the door brought her out of her reverie. Ellie pulled herself off the abused mattress. No one ever knocked. They just barged in. She eased open her door and peered curiously out of it.

       It was little Molly, dressed in Dora the Explorer pajamas and her long mousy hair wild. Her pale blue eyes were worried and her freckled cheeks were flushed. Molly was 6, and the most bearable Sharp. 

'Ellie,' she mumbled, staring at her bare feet.

'Yes?' Ellie answered, her tone cautious.

'Are you...' she trailed off, gulping loudly.

'Am I what, Molly?'

'Leaving.'

     Oh. That was not what Ellie expected. Sure, Molly could be annoying, but she was the one who actually had expectations. She had to live up to the name of Sharp. Ellie couldn't even remember her parents, so she'd never had expectations.

'Well,' she muttered, wincing at a particularly rude word Seth was screaming at Dietrich. 'I guess so. I mean, I don't like it here- Actually, I hate it.'

Molly scowled. 'Do you hate me?'

'No.'

'I don't believe you.'

'Of course you don't.' Ellie sighed. ' Okay, you know how your parents are complete and utter arses?'

'What does that mean?'

'Right. Maybe I shouldn't have said that. In fact never repeat that to your parents. Ever. Well, anyway, if this guy is serious- I mean, if I stay there, where ever there is, I'll do you a deal. I'll come and visit you every summer, okay?'

'Okay.' Molly agreed, still looking rather forlorn. 

'Right, well, I'm gonna go downstairs now.' Ellie announced awkwardly, striding towards the staircase, still feeling Molly's miserable stare on her back.

      Walking past the Sharps was painful. Rebecca and Emily both flicked their hair and strutted away together in perfect synchronization. Ellie was pretty sure they'd spent the past 10 minutes practising. It wasn't made any less creepy by the fact they looked pretty much identical anyway. 

      Kai just smirked through his platinum hair, and Rhys looked down at her like every snobby rich guy in every movie ever.

     Georgina and Seth were the worst though. They looked set to murder her. Ellie didn't even know why they were reacting so strongly. All they had ever done was make fun of her.

'We called the police you know,' Georgina hissed. 'You'll both be locked up, you'll see.'

'I haven't even broken the law!'

'Well, the bank teller in the bad suit has,' Seth snarled. 'He's trespassing on private property. So either way, you're going to be left out there on your own, and don't expect to take you in again when you are! You've been nothing but trouble kid!' Seth called after her as she stalked past and out the door.