Cora Pearce

--While not overly graphic or descriptive, Cora's history section below does mention violence. This can also be found in her bio, along with updated history.-- --

Born in Canberra Australia, Cora moved to the town of Ashvale in California at the age of eleven with her mom after her parents separated. Though really pretty and quaint, Ashvale was plagued by many unusual disappearances and the like, most of which occurred in the woods. But despite that, she settled in quickly and made two friends -- Violet Davis and Amaya Hale -- and the three became best friends. It became normal for them to have endless sleepovers and have horror movie marathons, something that became a kind of escape from the oddities of their hometown. It was a love for acting and watching movies that pushed Cora more towards pursuing her dream, often performing in school plays and more often than not getting the leading roles.

The group of three turned to five in high school with the addition of Poppy and Asher Clarke, the latter falling head-over-heels for Cora and following her around like a lost puppy. It was a couple years before she saw him as anything more than a friend, but they began dating near the end of junior year. This relationship would quickly become and on/off one, mostly due to her inability to keep a committed relationship and wanting to focus more on her future as an actress. But even with her constant indecisiveness, Asher still stayed in love with her. It was however a source of conflict with Poppy, though they never really breached the subject.

Cora started attending Ashvale College (not as prestigious as she'd hoped, but hopefully a school that would serve as a good stepping stone) at nineteen, and the five miraculously stayed friends for the next three years. During that time, she also met Toby Williams -- a boy only a couple years older than her -- who would become her platonic soulmate. Though the people around them always insisted that the two were romantic, the people closest to Cora knew that it never was. They understood each other on a level that few could, and Toby was one of the few people she felt like she didn't need to pretend to be someone else around. Unbeknownst to her, she had become so important to Toby that he'd gifted her a spelled necklace that would protect her from evil magic. Her and Asher were broken up at the time of the annual Halloween Party of 2021, and Toby was also away on a trip that kept him out of town. Usually the party was held by more wealthy kids in their ridiculously large houses, but this year it would be held in the woods by the campus One of the most popular spots for Ashvale's infamous mysterious disappearances and deaths.

A large group of students(including Cora and her best friends) went into the woods just before dark, not knowing what awaited them when the clock struck midnight.

A few hours into the party, everything took a turn for the worse. Beautiful strangers emerged from further into the woods near the lake, and no one noticed how inhuman they seemed. How they moved and spoke differently, eyes gleaming with malice. And then the loud music that played was suddenly drowned out by the sound of singing. Like nothing she’d ever heard before. And when it did, when everyone was lulled into that false security -- the sirens -- creatures from lore that lure humans to their death with song -- attacked. Maybe it was the screams that jolted her out of it first, but it was thanks to Toby's magic that she was able to avoid getting grabbed. At the time, however, she was certain it was just luck. Cruel, unkind luck. Asher was less fortunate, and she had to watch as Poppy, Amaya and Violet were all dragged away. She hid until it was over and pursued the sirens in hopes of rescuing her remaining friends. A benevolent faerie(named Fiadh, though this was unknown to her) gave her a cloak and an iron (and steel) dagger, telling her that the remaining victims would either be dragged to their death or become sirens themselves. Steeling her nerves, she continued along to the lake.

On the way, Cora was attacked by other malevolent faeries that had joined in on the chaos and narrowly avoided death herself before reaching the water. There she met a kelpie in its "human form", and he promised that if she could escape him in time he would bring her into the lake. Clutching the iron dagger tightly she agreed, and it was then that he turned into his true form and let her climb onto his back. Although she nearly drowned, she did indeed reach a mysterious other world and escaped the kelpie by cutting him with the dagger and forcing him to let her go. Noting that none of her friends were nowhere to be found and had not survived, Cora realized that it was very possible she was the only one left. A few of the sirens captured her, bringing her to their Queen. She could either join the others or become one of them. Exhausted and scared out of her mind, she did the only thing she could think of: she lunged forward and after a struggle with the Queen and her followers, killed the sirens with the dagger.

With the sirens now dead, she got out of the lake and had to receive medical attention for the injuries she sustained during the fight before being questioned by police. After taking some time to rest and recover at home, she decided to leave Ashvale (and the whispers and gossip that had begun to follow her) behind. Though part of her considered reaching out to Toby, she ultimately decided against it and decided to go to New York for a school of the arts. She then retreated into acting, cutting off contact with family and remaining friends and very nearly turning into a shell of her former self.

Deep down she yearned for a second chance, something to get her out of it. She couldn't have known that eventually an old enemy would find her way to her doorstep, pulling her back to Ashvale.