The Adventures of Emily Tual: Camp Adventures Book Two

Emily groaned as she woke up. Her head really hurt. She looked around her, not that it was easy for her to see. Either she had gone blind or the room, if it was a room, was pitch black. She could feel the wall behind her and it felt rough and hard. It reminded her a bit of a cave. She wondered how long she had been there. No doubt her little sister and her cousins were worried sick about her. She wondered if her dad even knew that she was missing. She heard something or someone moving towards her. She moved a little and winced when she heard chains moving. So much for trying to be quiet and undetected.

“Oh good, you’re awake.” Emily’s eyes widened. She recognized that voice from the night that she had been tortured by Agent Simmons and the cat lady. It didn’t belong to either of them. It belonged to the person who had fought the cat woman. She looked in the direction of the German accent as lights were turned on. Emily closed her eyes tightly because of how bright the lights were. “Here I was thinking that we would have to wait until the day of the ritual for you to wake up.” The Man with the German Accent continued.

Emily slowly opened her eyes to get adjusted to the light in the room. Her eyes widened when she saw what the room was exactly. It looked like an amphitheater, but inside a building unlike normal amphitheaters. The way that the stone curved around the center looked like benches. Emily looked at the center of the room. There was a stone table at the center. Carved into it were strange markings and symbols. The floor around the stone table had more symbols and carvings. She looked up at the ceiling. To her amazement, there was no ceiling. It looked like the room just went higher and higher. Emily didn’t know why but the place looked familiar. That was impossible though. She had never been there before. The place did look old, older than anything else she had read about in her history classes. That was when she noticed that there were several Black Hands all around the room.

The Man with the German accent was standing in front of her. He looked very fancy in his suit. He wasn’t alone. There was a woman in a large fur coat and a white mask with him. She looked familiar but Emily wasn’t sure why. The way that the woman was looking at her through the eye slots of her mask though made her feel uncomfortable. It was like the woman was sizing her up for some sort of fashionable outfit. Emily noticed that the fur coat was really big and furry. She wondered what animal had been sacrificed for that fur coat. Emily looked down at her feet. There were chains around her ankles that were attached to the wall. There was no way she could escape.

“Why are you doing this?” Emily asked the Man with the German Accent. The Man with the German Accent smiled like he was amused with her question.

It was the woman who spoke though. “We need you for the ritual that is coming.” She told Emily in a funny voice. It sounded like the woman had an accent in her voice. Emily wondered where this woman was from and who she was. “The Darkness is rising but for his rise to be a success, we need the chosen one to be sacrificed.” The woman continued.

The Man with the German Accent nodded. “You will be our sacrifice and the Darkness will rise up.” He told Emily. He then looked at the woman. “Caterina, did your people bring the robes for the ceremony?” He asked.

Caterina, the woman, smiled and nodded. “My dear Magician, I wouldn’t ruin the ceremony by not bringing the robes.” She answered.

Emily looked at the two. It sounded like the two of them got along well. That was when she remembered her counselor and Savannah. Savannah had been knocked out by something before she had been knocked out as well. “Where is Savannah and Kat?” She cried. “What did you do to them?”

The Man with the German Accent looked at Caterina. “My dear.” He said. Caterina smiled and she removed her mask. Emily’s eyes widened when she saw who it was under the mask. It was Kat, her counselor. No wondered the woman looked familiar. It was her counselor.

Caterina put her mask back on her face. “As for Savannah,” Caterina said. “If she hasn’t been cured by now, I doubt she will ever recover.”

Emily’s heart sank. “You poisoned her?” She asked. How could Caterina do that? Savannah had nothing to do with this.

Caterina laughed. “I did care about whether or not she lived two days ago but thanks to the Magician, I remembered my real reason for being at the camp.” She told Emily. Caterina and the Magician both laughed again.

Emily thought about what Caterina had just said. “I’ve been unconscious for two days?” She asked. The police had to be looking for her by now. These two had a lot of guts for keeping her there now, wherever they were. Poor Rachel had to be scared stiff. She hoped that Elizabeth and Delaney were taking care of Rachel. She wondered if Audrey was okay. Did the Black Hand even want Audrey still after she had been kidnapped?

Caterina knelt down in front of Emily. “It’s Wednesday.” She told Emily. “Tomorrow is the day of the ritual. At midnight tomorrow, you will die and the Darkness will rise.” Emily didn’t like the way that Caterina said that.

Emily looked at the table in the center of the room. She remembered her dream about people wanting to sacrifice her but it didn’t look like this place. She wondered why that was. She looked at the two adults. “This isn’t the right place.” She told the two.

The Man with the German Accent and Caterina looked at each other and frowned. “What do you mean?” The Man with the German Accent asked. “This is the right place. The Darkness has told us to have the ritual here.”

Caterina narrowed her eyes. “What do you know that we don’t know Girl?” She demanded.

Emily knew that it was too late to keep silent but she had no choice. Maybe these two knew why she had those nightmares. “I would have nightmares about being sacrificed.” She told the two. She noticed that the two gave each other a look again. “It was out in the forest.” She continued. “I would try to run away from it but it was like at first I couldn’t move and then I was getting dragged back by something.” She left out the part about her cousins and sister in an attempt to keep them safe.

The Magician and Caterina kept looking at each other. “Did you happen to try to run to the lodge at the camp?” The Man with the German Accent asked Emily. Emily looked at him but she didn’t answer. The Man with the German Accent smiled. “You did try to run to the lodge.” He said before he looked at Caterina. “She was having a vision of something that happened years ago.”

Caterina and Emily both frowned. “What do you mean?” Emily asked.

The Man with the German Accent looked at her. “Nearly two hundred years ago, near that camp, there was a possible chosen one. Gabriel knew about her, as did I. We both went after her but I got to her first.” He smiled wickedly.

Emily wasn’t sure if she wanted to hear the rest of this story but she knew she had to. She had to know what had happened to this other Chosen One. “You killed her during the ritual, didn’t you?” She asked.

The Man with the German Accent nodded. “I did but the ritual didn’t work.” He told Emily. “Of course, after it failed, the Master had us look again for the Chosen One but we never did find a good candidate,” He smiled wickedly again. “Until now.” He wanted to enjoy Emily being scared but there wasn’t time for that. He looked at Caterina. “I need to get going.” He told Caterina. “I have to make sure that that old man isn’t ruining anything that the Darkness is planning.”

Caterina nodded. “Of course.” She said. “I’ll take care of Emily until the ritual.” The Man with the German Accent nodded and walked away.

Emily looked around the room. So the nightmares had to do with another Chosen One. That explains why the Man with the German Accent wanted her in that building and why she wasn’t being sacrificed in a forest area. It didn’t explain though why she had seen her cousins and sister in the one nightmare. It did raise the question of who that Chosen One was though. She noticed that the Black Hands were patrolling and staring at her while they walked. She wasn’t sure if they were looking at her with hatred or curiosity. Many of them looked like they were adults but she had no idea how old some of them actually were. That didn’t make her feel any better.

Emily looked at Caterina. “Why are you doing this?” She asked. “I trusted you. Savannah trusted you.” How could Caterina betray her and the other kids? Did James know that Caterina was a traitor? If he did, why did he let her go with Caterina? Why didn’t he go with them? Her head was full of questions. She had to get rid of those questions before she got a headache. She also had to focus on why she was there.

Caterina put her mask back on. “You’re not the only one with mommy issues.” She told Emily. “My mother has never thought highly of me. Now she’s dead and I’m the reason why we finally have the Chosen One.” She smiled.

Emily didn’t understand what Caterina was saying. “Who is your mother?” She asked. What did Caterina’s mother have to do with this? She didn’t even know who Caterina’s mother was.

Caterina glared at Emily through the eyeholes of her mask. “My mother was Bastet.” She answered. “And now, thanks to you, she’s dead.”

Emily gasped. Bastet was dead? The last time she had seen her, Bastet had been fighting the Man with the German Accent. “I didn’t kill your mother! If anyone killed her, it was the Magician!” Emily cried. “Last time I saw your mother, she was fighting the Magician over trying to kill me weeks ago!”

Caterina shook her head. “My mother, even if she was a terrible mother, was the only family I had!” She hissed angrily at Emily. “Her entire life got ruined when she had been ordered to attack your family all those years ago!” As far as Caterina was concerned, Emily was the reason her entire life had been ruined. “When you survived the accident, my mother had been ridiculed by everyone else in the Black Hand for letting you go. What’s worse is that the Man with the German Accent claimed that she had gone rogue during that because he supposedly never gave the order to attack you!” Caterina got angrier as she spoke.

Without warning, Caterina slapped Emily across the face. Everyone there turned to the two and stopped doing what they had been doing. They all wanted to see what Caterina was going to do next. It was really quiet in the amphitheater. The only sound that could be heard was Caterina’s breathing heavily. Emily started crying as she felt the sting of Caterina’s hand linger on her cheek. She had a feeling that there would be a handprint left on her face for a while, maybe even after she was sacrificed to the Darkness. It probably wouldn’t matter to the Man with the German Accent though. A sacrifice was a sacrifice. Caterina grabbed Emily’s face and forced the chosen one to look at her. She could feel Emily’s blood dripping down her nails but she didn’t care. “After tomorrow at midnight, my family will finally be avenged for what you have done to us!” She hissed angrily.

Caterina released Emily’s face and glared at her with hatred. “You shall pay for everything you have done to the Black Hand.” She told Emily before she turned to the Black Hands. “Get back to work!” She shouted. “We have a ritual to get ready for!” The Black Hands quickly scattered and got back to what they had been doing before Caterina had slapped Emily’s face. Caterina glared at Emily. “Enjoy your last day of being alive, Chosen One.” She said in an angry voice. “Because after midnight tomorrow, you’ll be dead.”