Ch 1

A pair of piercing blue eyes looked into her reflection. Some one once said that the eyes are the windows to the soul, yet if they had seen hers they would have retracted that statement immediately. For this particular set of eyes where blank of all thoughts and emotion and yet, at the same time, held such a wise aura that even the most old and wrinkled would have been captured by them and sat hypnotised for hours on end. However what would have caught their attention first , would not have been her dazzling eyes or, the cupids bow mouth or,her button nose and not even her intriguing constellation of freckles that decorated her face.No, what would have caught their eyes as soon as she came into sight,was an extremely confusing mass of dark red hair. For it seemed that her hair could not decide between being curly or wavy. Her hair reached down the the base of her back, yet no two lengths of hair where the same. There where tight curls, lose curls and deeps waves within her hair. It did however seem to fit this porcelain girl. Her lips stretched into a awkward smile and her mouth moved to form words but not a sound could be coaxed out. Her face creased downwards into a frown and her eyes suddenly held a panicked look about them. A hand reached up to touch the mirror, tracing her face in the reflection, she tried again, but the result was the same not a word came out of her mouth! A soft glow emanated from the top and bottom of the mirror and she read the words inscribed at the top. "should those without pure of heart look into my depths then they will only see their reflection and shall be aloud to leave, but should those with pure of heart look into my depths then they shall be given a challenge to complete without freedom of speech, they have but four years to complete it or forever hold their silence". At the bottom of the mirror was the inscription "1999 have seen what I have to offer and only 199 have been pure of heart enough to accept my challenge, yet none have been able to complete it and have had to hold their silence forevermore, you're challenge is to find and become the Queen of Atlantis as you should have been had it still been standing..good luck number 2000 for you are the 200th to be pure of heart enough to be selected for this almighty task". The reflection of the mirror shimmered and pulsed before a grey haired woman stood in the reflection of the red haired girls place."my dear as you have read you

shall have four years to find and become Atlantis's queen, I am what is left of the last queen Astoria , but you may call me Conscious, or Connie for short, as that is what I am to become", Connie's voice pulsed with power and a slight shiver ran through the girls body."whenever you go to tell someone about Atlantis, who I disapprove of, then I shall take over you're body and change what you where about to say or do to tell that person!"her eye brows rose dramatically and her voice became sharp and authoritative. "now girl tell me you're name unless you would like me to call you number 2000 and 200, so that I may besto the powers and knowledge of all the past kings and queens of Atlantis". The girl with the confusing mass of red hair whispered " Lilith ," and then she screamed in pain as the last queen of Atlantis imparted hers and those before hers knowledge on the girl, and a tear the size of a small marble fell down her check as she realised this young girl would be the last chance. A flash of crimson light enveloped Lilith and everything around her, Astoria had ceased to exist and in her place within the girls mind was Connie the Conscious and sharer of knowledge from thousands of years before.with the flash of crimson light so had the mirror of atlantan prophecy ceased to exist for Lilith became the true last chance for the Atlantans... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The bright sun swam through the crack in the black curtains to a red haired girl and slashed across her eyes before finally settling on the luminescent green numbers that read 7:46, for a moment the room was swathed in silence and foreboding. Almost as if time itself was waiting for this girl to awaken. Before it was shattered rudely by the loud Bbbrrrrrrring bbbbrrrrrrrrring of the alarm clock. "Lilith I swear if you don't get up right this minute I will pour cold water on you" came a muffled shout through the door. Lilith stretched like a baby and then slapped her hand on alarm clock. Sleep dazed eyes blinked slowly, and her hand came up to cover her mouth as she ,through the covers of her bed,yawned. "yeh yeh, ma I'm coming, merlin its not as if anything of importance is gonna happen today!" muttered Lilith as she padded softly across her room to the bathroom to get ready for the morning not noticing the small tattoo like design of a Phoenix and basilisk wrapped around each other at the base of her back. After an hour of choosing what to wear and trying to tame her hair she finally slithered down stairs to the kitchen to,face the wrath of her mother. "and what time do you call this young lady!"came the expected fury in her mothers voice,

but before she could answer her mother carried on " I'm going to be late for work now. Just because it's your summer holidays does not mean its mine!"and just like that her mother changed form scolding to warm and welcoming,"now Hun I want you to do the dishes, don't look at me like that there aren't that many, and run the Hoover around the front room okay?" seconds went by and her mothers eyebrows got higher and higher before finally Lilith said" yeh mum sure, don't worry 'bout it"her head falling in her hands as she slumped in her chair. Her mother bustled about in the kitchen before picking up all her things and heading for the door, just as she went to open it she said " oh and Lilith" "yes mum" "feed the cat" "muuum you know I hate touching that stuff" "yes we'll be that as it may you still have todo it and Lilith." "Yes mum" she sighed "I don't want to hear from old mrs Codge that you've had loads of people over while I'm out okay!"she said the treat of a punishment hung in the air if Lilith did. "Kay, mum you goin now 'cos you're gonna be really late for work." The door was wretched open and then slammed closed, before the revving of a car engine was heard as it drove of the drive. "merlin, I thought she'd never leave"said a female voice suddenly,Lilith screamed and turned around looking for the source of the voice. Only to find no one there! "who's there... Where are you!"Lilith called out with a quiver in her voice. "I thought we'd you're friendly neighbourhood Conscious - that you may shorten down to Connie - and that I'm here to prevent you from being idiotic" Lilith's eyes widened as she looked frantically round the small kitchen "so that was real...that dream?" "yes" said Connie "but where are you I can't see you any where!" "I'm you're conscious so I'm in you're mind" Lilith sat down suddenly and blinked slowly. Thinking over every thing before it looked like a light bulb had gone of in her head."so I have to find Atlantis and become its queen." "yes, saints alive girl how long does it take you to grasp something!"said Connie in an exasperated tone. Lilith crossed her arms and mulled over everything she had been "told", she had two problems with this theory that her dream was real a. It would mean she

was more of a freak then she already was and b. it wouldn't be the first time she created a world inside her head and imagined the voices of her characters talking to her (all though she generally she instigated the talking and knew about said characters)."yer, I'm not believing you so see ya later connie or whatever your name is." Lilith said while putting the food down for her cat ,sparrow, and then grabbing her phone and keys. "what do you mean you don't believe me?"screeched Connie making Lilith wince at the noise,"just what I said... Now I'm just gonna ignore you and go annoy Jasper"she talked over Connie's continued screaming about how she had to believe because she was Atlantis's last chance and blah, blah, blah. ~~~~~~~~~~~~ By the time Lilith had reached The Nightingale pub she had a splitting headache from Connie screaming about how time was of the essence and what ever . The Nightingale was placed between the library and car park, for the collection of shops across the road, and always had at least 10 people in there at any one time. The pub had a homely feel to it and was at the centre of the village; it was known for its no nonsense policy, if you caused trouble you where thrown out by the big burly landlord Brian no questions asked and you weren't aloud back in for two months! But Brian was a kitten next to his wife Melinda who nobody crossed and came back into her pub every again (which meant they had to travel 10 miles just to get served because no ones wanted you in their pub if you had been thrown out of The Nightingales). However Brian and Melinda Nightingale had a friendly nature to them and so people very raley crossed them. Lilith walked into the pub and called out to Brian "hey daddy B can I go up?" To which he chuckled a reply of"of course my almost daughter" So she opened the door that lead up to the where the nightingales lived.Lilith had known the nightingales for so long now it was like having another set of parents. After running up the stairs she used her key to open the front door and flounced her way into the kitchen, waiting for jasper, while grabbing a can of Dr Pepper they had brought just for her. She leaned against the fridge sipping her dr pepper when she saw what looked like a duvet moving of its on violation towards her! "jasper it almost 11 o'clock what are you doing?" Lilith said doing her best impression of Melinda Nightingale. " o-Kay that was pretty scary , but seriously it's the summer holidays no ones up yet!" jasper mumbled under his duvet before

shoving Lilith out of the way and grabbing a can of diet coke. "ow jay that hurt" Lilith whined "ye ye lils whatever... Soooo what ya want to do today hmmm?" "well I've got to clean the dishes and hover my front room soo other than that I'm up for anything!" "that was helpful lils" jasper said with a sarcastic tone. "I thought so too!" she said, eyes bud and round an picture innocence. Jasper just rolled his eyes. Used this kind of nonsense