The Adventures of Emily Tual: Camp Adventures Book Two

The next morning, Emily got onto her computer and looked up orphanages that had been closed. The locket from her dream was lying next to her computer. She had to know if the place was real or not. According to James, it was but he hadn’t been there when she had woken up. She had to know for sure. Her heart sank when she saw the number of articles that talked about different orphanages closing over the many years all over the world. What made things worse was that most of them were in different languages. Her eyes widened when she saw one of the articles. The writing on the pictures came to her as she saw strange letters that the article was written in. It was the same.

She clicked the article and found more of the letters. She copied it and pasted them in Google Translate. She had to know what language it was in. It came out as Russian. She smiled a little. She had a better lead now. She started working from there and started looking for Russian orphanages that had closed down over the years. The number of closed orphanages went down but there were still quite a few to go through and she had to keep translating them into English to understand what they were saying.

Emily was about to give up a few hours later when she finally found an article that had the right orphanage. She clicked it and translated the article into English. Her eyes widened as she read it. The orphanage had been opened until about fifteen years ago or so shortly after a baby had been kidnapped. The entire staff and all of the orphans had disappeared never to be seen or heard from again. The only thing that the police had found that seemed odd was the reports of a horse whinnying and a strange rider riding a horse but when they investigated, there were no signs of horse prints or any missing horses nearby.

Emily read the article a few times. The entire group vanished without a trace? Why did that sound familiar? She knew she had heard a story about an entire group of people vanishing without a trace. She looked at her book on her bed. The story wasn’t in there. She knew that she had heard of the story before. She shook her head. She couldn’t remember where she had heard of it before. She leaned back in her chair and thought about it.

That was when her book opened by itself and flipped through itself until it stopped. Emily looked at her book. After everything that had happened the night before and basically everything that had happened to her since her last birthday, she wasn’t questioning whether or not it was all real. She pulled her book over to her and read the section that it had opened to. Her eyes widened. She knew that the section hadn’t been in there the first time she had read her book but it looked like this section had been added after the end of King Arthur. This part though wasn’t from that long ago. It was during the early colonialism at a place called Roanoke.

Roanoke. August Fifteen Eighty-Seven

John White looked around with his family. “This is where we shall settle.” He told his wife.

His wife looked around. “Are you sure?” She asked. “Do remember what had happened to the last group that tried to settle here.”

John White managed not to grimace. The skeleton that his men had found was still haunting. “If it keeps us safe from them, it’ll be good enough for our family.” He was referring to the men that had been stalking his daughter for the last few years back in England.

His wife shook her head. “I hope you’re right.” She said.

Their daughter, Eleanor, looked around the small clearing and smiled. “It’s perfect Father.” She said.

John White looked at his men. “Let’s get to work men.” He ordered.

Hidden within the forest for several weeks, several men watched the colonists set up their homes. These men weren’t with the colonists. In fact, no one knew that they were there. They all wore black armor over their black clothes. Their armor had black hands on their chests. They had been sent by the Magician to watch the colonists. The governor’s daughter was their target. They had been following her back within England but then the governor and his family had gone with the colonists. The men had nearly lost them if it hadn’t been for the Magician and a member of the Black Hand being the one who had brought the colonists to Roanoke.

Within the colony a few months later, there was a celebration. John White had a granddaughter. The first English baby to be born within the New World. John White looked at his daughter and her husband. The couple was looking at their baby girl. They had named the girl Virginia, after the territory that their colony was in. He couldn’t help but smile. He knew that his granddaughter would be safe in this new colony like his daughter would be. He looked out to the ship that was right off the coast. He wondered why Simon Fernandez, the man who had brought them over, wouldn’t come to join them in the celebration. The ship’s captain had spent more time on his ship than in the colony.

John White’s wife came up to him. “When will you go back to England?” She asked him.

John White shook his head. “I was planning on going soon but with Virginia’s birth, I can’t ask my son-in-law to leave our daughter or his daughter just to patrol the colony.” He looked out towards the forest south of them. He couldn’t help but feel like there was something or someone out there, watching them. He had a bad feeling that if he did leave, he wouldn’t see his family ever again.

His wife smiled. “We’ll all be fine here.” She told him. “The other men here can protect us. They don’t need our son-in-law leading them.” She took her husband’s hands in hers. “But we can’t survive without those supplies we are in desperate need of.” They both looked at the people in their colony. “And with a new baby here, we could use more supplies to take care of her.” His wife continued. “Especially if they ever found out that she was born.”

John White hated to admit it but his wife was right. They had to get more supplies to protect Virginia Dare. “Very well.” He said. “I’ll leave within the next few days.”

In the forest a few days later, the men in black armor watched the ship leaving. “Just like Fernandez said.” One of them said. They raised their weapons, black axes, up.

“You know what to do.” Their leader said in a French accent. He was wearing a black cloak with his armor. He wore a mask on half of his face. Many of the Black Hands that were following him feared him. Like the Magician, no one knew what his real name was. Instead, people just referred to him as the Phantom. He raised a sword up. “We end this possible chosen one before she can defeat the Darkness!” He shouted. His men all whooped and hollered.

Down in Roanoke, the colonists heard the whooping and hollering. “We’re under attack!” One of the men shouted. Women and children screamed as they ran for cover. The men quickly took up defensive positions facing the noise. They weren’t going to let anyone destroy their homes.

Eleanor held Baby Virginia up to her chest and looked at her husband. “What are we to do?” She asked him.

Ananias looked at her. “I will lead the men against whoever is attacking us.” He told her. “We’ll fight them off and protect our homes.” He took out his sword and rifle.

“They’re not here for the village.” Eleanor’s mother said from her seat. She didn’t seem as worried as everyone else. Both Eleanor and Ananias looked at her.

“Then why are they attacking us?” Ananias demanded.

Eleanor’s mother looked at him. “They’re here for them.” She answered, pointing at Eleanor and Virginia. “Because of their ancestry and what they represent.”

Eleanor went up to her mother. “There’s no way that those men are here.” She said. “How would they have been able to track us here?”

Ananias looked at his wife and his mother-in-law. “What men are you talking about?” He demanded. “Who tracked us?”

His mother-in-law looked at him. “Dangerous men.” She answered. “Men that wish our family’s end.” The ground shook.

Ananias heard the shouting of the other colonists. “I must join the men in defending our home.” He said. He looked at his family. “I want you all to go into hiding. Once the fighting has ended, I’ll return.” He then left quickly.

Eleanor shook her head and held the baby closer to her chest. She looked at her mother. “What am I to do now Mother?” She asked. “Ananias and the others won’t be able to hold off the Black Hand.”

Her mother nodded. “I know my child.” She said. “You and Virginia must flee the colony. Keep running and never turn back.”

Eleanor looked at the baby. Virginia was crying. She looked back at her mother. “How will we survive?” She asked. “There’s no way that a mother and baby will be able to make it to safety.” The shouting outside started turning to screaming.

“There’s no time child!” Eleanor’s mother told her. “You and the baby must flee. You’re both too important to be lost here! Now go!” Eleanor looked at her mother one last time before she turned and fled from the building.

Out in the colony, the Phantom watched as his Black Hands made quick work of the colony’s men with suffering very little loss. The colony’s men had rushed to the fight to defend their homes and by doing so, weren’t ready properly to hold off an attack. Any man that challenged the Phantom was cut down quickly. Soon the men were all dead. The Phantom looked at his Black Hands. “Find the women and children!” He shouted. “The ones we’re looking for are somewhere here!”

A few minutes later, the surviving women and children were lined up in front of the Phantom. They all looked down to avoid looking at the Phantom’s mask. “We’re searching for only two women here.” The Phantom was saying. “A woman and the new baby girl that had been born here.” He looked down the line at the women and children. He frowned when he didn’t see the baby or the baby’s mother. He drew his sword. “Where are they?” He demanded angrily. He wasn’t going to let the two get away from him that easily.

None of the women answered him. The Phantom was expecting that from the children. No doubt the kids had no idea what was happening to them. They were most likely too busy wondering what had happened to their fathers. The Phantom looked at his men. “Start executing them.” He ordered. He looked at the women and children. “Not all of you have to die. Just tell us where the two have fled to before you’re all dead.” Still, none of the women answered him. He realized that the women rather die instead of telling him where the two were.

He turned to his men. “Kill the kids first.” He ordered. “That might loosen these women’s tongues.” His Black Hands took the few kids in front of the women. Noticing that the women still didn’t say anything, the Phantom gave his men the go ahead. They made quick work of the crying kids. Still, the women didn’t cry or talk. They just all stood there stoned face. The Phantom glared at them. “If you want to die for them, so be it!” He shouted angrily. “Kill them all!”

Present Day.

Emily shook her head and closed the book. She couldn’t believe it. The entire colony of Roanoke had been wiped out just to hide someone that may or may not have been a chosen one. She wiped the tears away from her face. She hadn’t even noticed the tears as she had read the passage. She looked at the book. She wondered what had happened to Virginia Dare and her mom. According to what she had learned in history classes, everyone had disappeared without a trace and only a word had been left behind for John White to find. Emily thought about the word. Croatan. She wondered why that word had been left. It was supposed to have been a Native American tribe that was close to the colony. Maybe the Phantom had left the word behind to pin it on them.

Emily looked at her book. “So the orphanage people just disappeared without a trace.” She told it. “You think that the Black Hand was responsible for it, don’t you?” She knew it was silly talking to her book but it felt like the book was trying to tell her that. Emily shook her head. “That explains why it looked abandoned then.” She stood up and picked her book up. “Let’s find the others.” She quickly left.