The Adventures of Emily Tual: Revelations Book Three

Audrey, James and Aunica reappeared in a dark room. Audrey didn’t recognize the place but it felt familiar to her. It looked like it had been abandoned for a long time. There were cobwebs and dust everywhere. The walls and floor were made of stone. There was only one door but Audrey had a feeling that it was locked. The room looked old. Even the wooden bench looked old. It was the only piece of furniture in the room. Audrey wasn’t sure why the place would look familiar to her.

“Where are we?” Audrey and James turned to Aunica. The young girl looked very scared. “Where did you bring me? I want to go back to the camp.”

James looked at Audrey. “Did you bring us here?” He asked her. He was more curious as to why they were there instead of where they were.

Audrey shook her head. “I didn’t bring us here.” She told them as she went back to looking around them. “I was trying to get us back to Gabriel when we vanished. I thought my spell was working but it clearly didn’t if we ended up here, wherever here is.” She went to the door and tried to open it but, just as she suspected, it was locked. She turned to James. “My guess is that the barrier might have interfered with my spell.” It was the only thing that made sense to her.

James thought about it. Audrey might be right about that. No one had ever successfully pulled off a vanishing spell with a barrier around them before that he knew of. Audrey was the first to actually perform the spell successfully in a barrier even if they didn’t end up at Gabriel’s cabin. “Then where did the spell take us?” He asked. They still had no idea where they were.

“What are you two talking about?” Aunica asked. Neither of the teens was making sense to her. It almost sounded like they were talking about magic or something like it. There was no such thing as magic though. There couldn’t be. She had made so many wishes in the past to find a family and none of them had ever come true.

Audrey and James looked at each other. “She needs to know what’s going on.” Audrey told James. “You’re more familiar with this then I am so you might want to explain it.” Audrey also wanted to know just what James would tell Aunica. After all, it sounded like there were secrets that Gabriel was keeping from her and Emily and Josiah’s words was still fresh in her mind. Audrey wanted to know what James would say. She would confront him at a later time for the whole truth.

James sat down on the bench and looked at Aunica. “You’re here with us because Anthony, the man we sort of told you about earlier, wants you for his evil plans.” He told Aunica. It wasn’t the best way to start explaining but it was the only way he could start the explanation. “Anthony and several people in what you would probably call a cult are after a special child, someone called the Chosen One, for a ritual to raise their master up. Audrey and I were looking for you to try to protect you from Anthony and his friends.”

Aunica shook her head. “I’m not a special child or Chosen One.” She told James. “I’m just an orphan who was abandoned as a baby.” There was no way that she could be the Chosen One that everyone wanted for their own reasons. Aunica looked around her. She didn’t like the way that the room looked. “Where are we?” She asked. “Why did you bring me here?”

Before Audrey could explain, the door opened and a few Black Hands came rushing in. Audrey and James pushed Aunica behind them to shield her from the Black Hands. Audrey looked at James. “Do you think that Anthony brought us here?” She asked him. It was the only thing that made sense to her.

James shook his head as he looked at the Black Hands. These weren’t anything like the ones that Anthony usually had. These were in more traditional Black Hand uniforms of the Seven Circles. He thought about who could be commanding them. The Man with the German Accent was gone without a trace as to where he was and Bastet, the only other likely choice, was locked up in Gabriel’s basement. He looked closer at the Black Hands and that was when he saw it. The insignia on their jackets right over their hearts. It was a cat head. There were only two people who used that so it had to be Caterina.

Sure enough, Caterina came into the room. She was wearing a long fur coat and had a cat mask over her face. She had a smug smile on her face as she looked at her prisoners. “How nice.” She said. “Gabriel’s errand boy and Anthony’s two Chosen Ones.” She went up to Audrey. “How is my mother?” She asked.

Audrey was surprised to hear Caterina ask that. There was no way that Caterina should have known that Bastet was alive. Bastet was supposed to be dead to the rest of the world because she had become a Horseman of the Apocalypse so how did Caterina know that her mother was alive?

“Oh yes Child, I know that my mother is alive still. Do you really think that I didn’t know the truth about what had happened to my mother or that she’s no longer the Horseman of Famine?” Caterina continued. “I was given that information by an interesting informant.” She smiled. She didn’t know who the informant was but she didn’t care. She didn’t even care about her mother.

Caterina then pushed James and Audrey aside and looked at Aunica. “So you’re the little kid that Anthony is so interested in.” Caterina said before she knelt and looked at the girl. “You don’t seem like much to me.” Caterina pinched Aunica’s arm, making the little girl cry in pain. Caterina laughed. Why was Anthony convinced that Aunica was a possible Chosen One if he had only been interested in Audrey for so long? That was a question Caterina was looking forward to answering. She knew that the Darkness would also want to know as well.

James frowned. “How did you know that Anthony was interested in Aunica?” He asked Caterina. That didn’t make any sense to him. They had just learned a couple of days before from Aunica’s future self that they had to go save her from Anthony to change the future for good. How did Caterina know? Was it her informant and was that informant the same one that told Agent Beckett’s driver about where to try to kill him?

Caterina looked at James. The way she was smiling at him made James feel uneasy. “I was told by someone who wants Anthony out of the way so that the Darkness can rise up.” She told him.

Audrey was surprised by that. Anthony didn’t want the Darkness to rise? If that was true, who wanted Anthony out of the way? It couldn’t be Bastet. She didn’t know about Aunica. What other Black Hand leaders wanted Anthony out of the way? She immediately thought of Harold and Hannah. They were both lethal and dangerous and they would know about Aunica being in an orphanage. But there was one problem with that. They would have wanted to kill Aunica on their own. She then realized that that would be why they told Caterina about Aunica.

That was when the door opened and Josiah came in, surprising Audrey. Audrey’s eyes widened. “You’re the one who wants Anthony out of the way?” She asked.

Josiah nodded and he smiled. “I’ve wanted Anthony out of the way for a few days now.” He told Audrey. Josiah looked around at the room. “You’ve done quite well with establishing a secret Black Hand operation here” He continued. “This will be a nice place to lead the Black Hand once the Darkness rises up.”

James and Audrey both took a step back and held Aunica protectively. Audrey wasn’t sure who she could trust now. Josiah was betraying Anthony or possibly setting up Caterina for a fall, Gabriel was keeping secrets according to Josiah and she still didn’t know if she could completely trust James because he worked for Gabriel.

Josiah thought about how he felt. He didn’t really care about Anthony anymore. Anthony was just focused on gaining more power and taking the world for himself. Josiah wanted things to go back to the way they were supposed to be. Sacrificing the Chosen One to bring back the Darkness. Audrey was the Chosen One that they were supposed to sacrifice. Aunica was just a child that would just be a distraction for Anthony and ruin everything. Josiah looked at Aunica. But the girl would still be some use to them.

“So what’s the plan now?” Caterina asked Josiah. “Do we take them to the Darkness so she can meet them?” She was eager to take her place above her mother.

Audrey’s eyes widened. There it was again. A Black Hand calling the Darkness a “she”. “Who is the Darkness?” She asked, turning everyone to her. “Why do you call the Darkness a female? Who is it?” Audrey had to know. She couldn’t wait any longer for an answer.

“She doesn’t know the truth?” Caterina asked, taken aback by that. She looked at Josiah. “I thought everyone in Gabriel’s circle knew about the Darkness.” She thought for sure that Gabriel would have told Audrey since she was the Chosen One.

Josiah snorted as he tried not to laugh. “Gabriel apparently has secrets that he wants to keep from everyone in his life.” He told Caterina. He couldn’t help but wonder what else Gabriel was keeping from Audrey. He looked at James. “What about you?” He asked James. “Do you know who the Darkness really is?” He wanted to know what James knew.

James could sense Audrey looking at him. He knew that Audrey wanted to know but it wasn’t his place to tell Audrey the truth about the Darkness’s identity. He looked at Josiah. “You know who the Darkness really is as well.” He told Josiah. “Why don’t you tell Audrey who is behind the dark clouds.” It was all he could do to keep Audrey from finding out the truth.

Audrey groaned. Now wasn’t the time to waste on finding out who the Darkness was. She couldn’t believe that she was stupid enough to waste time on that when she had to get Aunica to safety. She looked at Caterina. She realized that she must have been on her next Tribulation. Dealing with Caterina. She looked at Aunica. The little girl was clearly scared for her life. She took Aunica’s hand. “When I say go, flee with James.” She told Aunica quietly.

James looked at Audrey. “What about you?” He asked.

Audrey shook her head and faced the Black Hands. “I’ll deal with these guys.” She answered. All she had to do was keep the Black Hands distracted long enough for James to get Aunica to get safety. She knew that Caterina and Josiah would go after her because she was supposed to be the real Chosen One apparently.

Audrey’s eyes began to glow and she sent silver energy flying out of her hands. The energy hit the Black Hands, sending them flying back. “Go!” She shouted. She heard James lead Aunica out of the room.

Josiah growled and his eyes glowed red. He reached out towards Audrey. “You’ll pay for that little stunt.” He told Audrey. Audrey gasped and the silver glow vanished from her eyes. Josiah glared at Audrey. “You’ll pay dearly.” With that, he slammed Audrey to the ground, stunning her.

Caterina went up to Josiah. “What about the others?” She asked. “Should we recapture them?”

Josiah shook his head and looked at Audrey. “With her as our prisoner, we don’t need the others.” He answered. “We just need to sacrifice Audrey so that the Darkness can rise up.” He looked at the Black Hands. “Take her away.” He ordered.