The Adventures of Emily Tual Book Four: The Rising
Chapter Twenty

October Thirty First

The Man with the German Accent, the Camazot and Virginia Dare were at the ritual grounds. They weren’t alone. There were several Black Hands there setting up the arena. Virginia Dare was impressed with how many Black Hands there were. She had thought that most of the Black Hand had been killed with all of the fighting within their forces. There must have been at least a good hundred that she could see in the arena. Virginia Dare saw the altar in the center of the arena. She could sense the ancient magic that came from it. It was a lot older than the arena around it. How was that even possible?

Virginia Dare went up to the altar and reached out to it. “Virginia, what are you doing?” The Man with the German Accent demanded. “Don’t touch that altar!” Virginia ignored him and her hand touched the altar. Her eyes widened as visions came to her.

…A young girl in black robes and a hood standing on top of the altar. Hundreds of people bowing to her…

… A young Gabriel standing over an open book casting a spell…

…A dark cloud coming out of a warrior’s mouth and being locked away…

Virginia stepped away from the altar and looked at the man with the German Accent with disbelief. “This altar was at the original fight?” She asked him. “How is that possible?” The altar looked like it couldn’t be moved easily. How had it been at the original fight?

The Man with the German Accent and the Camazot looked at each other before they looked at Virginia Dare. “How dare you disobey me Virginia.” The Man with the German Accent said in a dangerous voice. “I told you not to touch it and yet you did.” The Camazot’s eyes glowed black and it growled.

Virginia Dare took a small step back. “Why does it matter if I touched the altar or not?” She asked. “I could sense how ancient it was and it didn’t match how old this place is.” She had a feeling that she had done something wrong.

“Capture her.” The Man with the German Accent said. Before Virginia Dare could do anything, the Camazot had her in his grip. Virginia Dare’s eyes grew wide once she looked down. The Camazot’s hand was wrapped around her entire body. Virginia Dare looked at the beast. The Camazot had grown in size. It was now the largest thing in the chamber.

“What is the meaning of this Azehesser?” Virginia Dare demanded while she tried to break free of the Camazot’s grip. To her disappointment, the Camazot tightened its grip on her and growled again.

“I’m sorry my dear but I can’t let you leave now.” The Man with the German Accent said. “You know too much now about the Darkness and that makes you a threat to everything we’re trying to do now.” His eyes glowed. “I thought you had a place amongst our ranks when the Darkness came back but I can see now that I was mistaken.” The Man with the German Accent sighed before he looked at the Camazot. “Do it.” He ordered.

Virginia Dare felt herself being squeezed. She could hear her bones breaking. “You will pay for this Azehesser.” She told the Man with the German Accent. “I hope you die when the Darkness comes back.”

The Man with the German Accent smiled as he heard the final bones cracking and Virginia Dare going limp in the Camazot’s hand. “I will be rewarded quite nicely for bringing the Darkness back correctly this time.” He told Virginia Dare’s dead body. He looked at the altar. “This time I won’t fail you Master.” He said. The Man with the German Accent turned to a close Black Hand. “Get the Chosen One here now.” He ordered. It was time to sacrifice her to bring back the Darkness.

Bastet’s suite

“We need to talk about what is going to happen.” The Professor said. His associates and he were sitting around a long table in what they believed was Bastet’s old dining room. There was no one else in the room except for the five of them. The only light that was on in the room came from the candle at the center of the table. It barely lit the room up but it was light enough for the five to see each other. “The Magician is about to bring back the Darkness and we need to make sure that we’re all on the same page about this.”

“I don’t trust the Magician.” Wolf Slicer said. Its arms were over its chests and the way Wolf Slicer was leaning back in its chair told the others that Wolf Slicer was stuck on his opinion. “He has always had an agenda hidden from everyone. He could very well use this as leverage to gain the upper hand against the rest of us.”

“Wolf Slicer is right. The Darkness is putting too much trust in the Magician to get the ritual done correctly this time.” Duchess Annamarie said. “The Magician could easily threaten us and even the Darkness before he carries out the ritual. Especially if he has the Chosen One in his possession.” She looked at the other members of their team. “We should move in quickly before the Magician can capture the Chosen One.”

Mistress Prom cracked her knuckles. “I can easily capture the kid.” She said confidently. “Just give the order and I will do it.”

“That won’t be necessary.” Doctor Vilt said. She wasn’t looking at the others. Instead, she was looking at her IPad screen. “While we were flying, I sent word ahead to a few loyal Black Hands to capture the child.” She turned off her IPad before continuing. “And they succeeded. The child was captured an hour ago.” Doctor Vilt smiled wickedly. “We now have an important piece needed to bring back the Darkness.”

“Then it’s just a matter of time before the Magician calls us to get the Chosen One.” The Professor said before he smiled. “We now have the upper hand that the Magician would have had.” He looked at the other members. “I think it’s time we made our presence known to the Magician.”

Gabriel’s cabin

Gabriel and Aunica were sitting down to eat lunch when there was a pounding at the door. “Gabriel! We need help!” Someone shouted at the door before pounding at the door again.

Aunica and Gabriel looked at each other. “That sounded like Elizabeth.” Aunica said. “But why would they be here? Don’t they have school today?” The pounding at the door didn’t stop.

“We better see what they want.” Gabriel said. So much for having a peaceful lunch. Gabriel stood up and went to the front door. The minute he opened it, Elizabeth, Delaney and Rachel came rushing in. Gabriel knew that something was wrong when he didn’t see Emily with the three. The four of them were rarely seen without each other. “Where’s Emily?” He asked them.

“That’s why we’re here.” Rachel said before she looked at Gabriel. Gabriel noticed that there were tears in Rachel’s eyes. “Emily was kidnapped by the Black Hand.” Rachel told Gabriel.

There was a silence in the room. The smell of what Gabriel and Aunica were about to eat lingered in the air but no one had an appetite. Not after hearing that Emily had been kidnapped. It also felt a bit colder in the room and not because it was the last day of October.

“What did the police investigators say?” Gabriel asked. “Do they have any leads as to who did the kidnapping?” Not that the police would get it right.

“They’re looking at Griffin but Griffin’s dad is making it hard for them to carry out the investigation against his son. He thinks Emily’s dad is just blaming Griffin because Griffin likes Emily.” Delaney replied. “They would be the best suspects if this was a normal investigation. But the Black Hand is way more clever than Griffin is.” The way that the crime scene looked to Delaney, there was no way that Griffin or his friends would have been able to pull off the kidnapping but she wasn’t about to try to tell the police that a secret cult was trying to bring back their evil ruler after thousands of years and the only way to do it was to sacrifice her cousin.

“What are we going to do about Emily?” Elizabeth asked. “We need to save her before it’s too late.”

Gabriel knew that Elizabeth was right but he also knew that if they were to all go after Emily, they would learn the truth about who the Darkness really was and that was a secret he wanted to keep from them all. He went to his seat and sat down. “I’ll go get Emily myself.” He told the four girls. “I’ll be able to use my magic to protect myself from any of the Black Hands that are there and the Camazot.” He knew that it would most likely kill him but there was no other choice. He had to do this for Audrey, Jasper and every other descendant that Seraphina had that had been harmed by the Black Hand.

“We’re going with you.” Delaney said. “Emily is our cousin and she’s Rachel’s older sister. We should be there in case things go south.” Delaney didn’t want to believe that things could get worst but she knew that it was a possibility. After all, if Emily’s visions were correct, today on Halloween, something terrible would happen either way.

“Gabriel, the day that the Darkness might come back on for sure is today whether any of us likes it or not.” Aunica told Gabriel. “We can’t keep pretending like this day can be held off any longer. Too many signs have been fulfilled.”

Gabriel looked at Rachel. “Where is Emily’s Codex?” He asked. He had to know where it was.

“It was missing as well.” Rachel answered. “The police don’t think that it matters much. Just something for Griffin to sell on the side.”

Gabriel looked down. So the Black Hand had the Codex as well. The Black Hands who had taken Emily were smarter than the ones that Bastet had used. “Then we don’t have much time left.” He said. “If the Black Hand have the Codex, they have the only thing that can defeat the Darkness.” He stood up. “I know you want to save Emily but this is something that only I can do.”

The four girls all looked at each other but before any of them could say anything, Gabriel disappeared in a puff of smoke. Delaney ran to the door. “We need to catch up with him!” She shouted. She tried to open the door but it wouldn’t open. “Try to open up a window or another door! Gabriel locked this one!”

Gabriel looked at his cabin from outside. His eyes were glowing as the locks on each window and door locked. He knew that they wanted to go save Emily as well but he couldn’t risk all of their safety. They had lost nearly half of their team. Jasper and Audrey were dead and James was in the hospital. This was something that he had to do on his own. He disappeared once more.