The Adventures of Emily Tual Book One
Chapter Ten

Gabriel was in his room meditating when Jasper came in. “Have you heard anything yet?” Gabriel asked him.

Jasper shook his head. “Nothing good.” He answered. He sat down across from Gabriel. “It sounds like Emily was captured by the Circles.”

Gabriel opened his eyes. “Have you heard where they took her?” He asked.

Jasper sighed. “Out of the state.” He answered. “It wasn’t easy getting that answer. Had to disguise myself as one Johnny’s men to get that answer. The F.B.I. will never replace her. They won’t think of searching outside the state until after the Circles have finished her up and her dead body is found.”

Gabriel turned his head to face the shadows behind him. “She’s most likely in the fortress in the mountains.” He said. “That’s the closest place for the Circles. Go quickly there to save her. Bring her back here.”

Jasper looked past Gabriel at the shadows. “Was he there this entire time?” He asked.

Gabriel nodded. “What of the book?” He asked. “Did the Circles take Emily’s book?”

Jasper nodded. “According to what I found out, Johnny took the book. I don’t know where he took it though.”

Gabriel stood up. “I’m pretty sure I can guess where the book was taken to.” He said. “Come. We must get the book back.”

Emily woke up and looked around weakly. She was still shackled to the wall. She was all alone and looked even worse than she did the day before. Cliff had tortured her some more last night. His table with his tools was still there. She now had a black eye and her other eye had swelling all around it. Her hair was singed along the ends. She had burn marks on her and her clothes were torn. It hurt a lot to breathe. She was sure that she had a few broken ribs. It was amazing that she was still alive. She thought for sure that Cliff would have ended her right there. She heard people talking outside of her cell. She couldn’t tell if Eliza or Cliff were outside the cell. There were too many people talking.

She looked at her hands. Her fingers were broken. She couldn’t move them so there was no chance of her trying to hold the shackles when trying to escape. Not without causing herself more pain than what she was feeling. The cell door opened and Cliff came in. He wasn’t alone. There were a few men with him. “So this is the dangerous girl you spoke of Cliff?” One of them asked. “She looks more like a pathetic weakling.” The other men laughed.

Cliff simply smiled. “That is because I tortured her. She can’t do anything now. Not even beg for her life.” He took a knife from the table and sliced Emily’s left arm through the sleeve. Emily closed her eyes tightly as tears came with the pain.

Cliff laughed. “Look at the little brat.” He told the men. That made the other men laugh as well. Cliff looked at Emily and punched her face. Emily felt her nose breaking and blood dripping down over her lips. Cliff took a cloth from the table and wiped his hand clean of her blood. “And to think that she was supposed to be a threat.”

That was when Eliza came in. She looked down at Emily. “The twerp is still alive I see.” She said. She turned to Cliff. “Why aren’t you killing her yet?”

Cliff shrugged and took another blade from the table. “Torture should be dragged out so that they die on their own. It’s no fun if I just kill her now.” He explained.

Eliza rolled her eyes. “Daniel was right. I should have had someone else do this job.” She said.

Cliff laughed. “If it was up to Daniel, we’d have no fun at all.” The other men there laughed. Clearly they knew what Cliff was talking about. There was a part of Emily that just wished that Cliff did end her. There would be no more pain for her. She didn’t want to feel broken anymore. Cliff went up to Emily and lifted her face up. “Trust me girl. There will be more pain before I end you.” He told her. He made a new cut on her cheek. Emily cried.

They then all heard a commotion in the hallway. The men, Cliff and Eliza turned to the door. Emily looked down. She was too weak to keep her head up. She heard someone enter the room and several of the men whisper. “So this is the chosen one that he was so interested in.” A female voice said. It wasn’t Eliza. The way that the men were whispering after hearing that made Emily get the feeling that being this chosen one was obviously a big deal and that that was the reason why they all hated her. Whoever the woman was went up to her. Emily saw a pair of cat paws the size of human feet appear in front of her. “She was so small during that attempted murder years ago.” The woman continued.

Emily’s heart sank. Did this woman mean the accident that took her mother’s life? It was an attempted murder? That meant that her mom didn’t just die from an accident. It had been done intentionally. She had the feeling that it was her who was supposed to be dead. A furry hand, no, a paw, lifted her face up. What Emily saw shocked her. The woman had the features of a cat. “She did grow a little bit but she’s still a child.” The cat-woman said. Emily opened her mouth. “You tried to kill me when I was four?” She managed to ask before talking became too painful for her.

The cat-woman smiled before she laughed. “Yes dear.” She said. “You were supposed to die in that car collision but you didn’t. Instead, your mother did.” The cat-woman’s laughter turned to a snarl. “No doubt thanks to that Gabriel.” She spat. She scratched Emily’s face as she released Emily’s face. “But now I will make sure that this is done properly. Even if I have to stay in this dismal place to make sure it’s done.” She turned to Eliza. “You have until tonight to make sure that this girl’s life ends.” She ordered before she left.

Eliza waited until she was gone before she spun on Cliff. “You heard her.” She told him. “Finish the brat up by tonight.” She then stormed out. The other men looked at Cliff. The fun was over. Cliff had a job to do. They left Cliff and Emily alone.

Cliff turned to Emily. “I guess your death will be today.” He told her. Emily didn’t reply. It had taken a lot out of her to ask the cat-woman her question and now she felt too weak to ask or say anything. Cliff took out what looked like a screw driller. “I guess I’ll need to quicken this up.” He said. Tears came to Emily’s eyes. This was the end for her.

That was when Cliff fell to the ground unconscious. Emily didn’t see who it was that had knocked him out. She was too weak. Whoever it was unshackled her hands. Emily would have fallen to the ground if whoever was rescuing her hadn’t caught her first. “There you go.” A male voice said. Emily could tell that whoever it was, he was a boy and sounded like he was a year or two older than her. Whoever it was picked her up. Emily looked weakly at the boy. He had a hood over his face. “Time to get you out of here.” The boy told her. Emily felt the boy carry her out of the cell. She wanted to warn him of the guards but she figured that since he had managed to break in and get her out that he must have already dealt with the guards. Sure enough, the guards were all laying on the ground unconscious.

Emily felt her rescuer carry her down the hallway. She then felt something around them change. One minute they were in a stone corridor, the next, she was being laid down on a comfy couch in what looked like a home. “You’re safe now chosen one.” He told her.

Emily looked at him. The boy kept his hood on. “Who are you?” She asked weakly.

The boy didn’t answer her. Instead, he turned around as a door opened and closed. “She’s here.” The boy said. Emily tried to see who it was but she was in too much pain.

A young man’s face appeared over her. “I think you’ve been missing this.” He placed something next to her.

Emily’s hand brushed the object. It felt like a book. “Is it?” She asked before she had to stop.

The man nodded. “I managed to steal it back.” He answered.

Emily smiled weakly. “Thank you.” She whispered. The man nodded.

“Are you going to heal her?” That was the boy asking.

“If I tried to, it might just draw the Circles back to her exact location.” The young man answered. “Best to take her to the closest hospital and act like we had just found her. The F.B.I. will be able to protect her there.”

“What about her though? What if she tries to tell them about the fortress or about us rescuing her?” The boy then asked. Emily looked at the young man.

“We’ll have to perform a mind wipe then until she’s ready.” The young man answered. Emily didn’t want them to wipe her memories of what had just happened. “If the Circles have spies within the F.B.I or the police who are looking into this, her talking about them will just raise flags and they’ll know where she is a lot sooner.” The young man placed a hand on Emily’s forehead. “You’ll replace us when the time is right.” He told Emily. Emily wanted to protest having her memories wiped but before she could, she fell unconscious.

Jasper removed his hand and looked at the boy. “It’s been done.” He told him. “Next time she sees you and me, it’ll be her first time seeing us.”

The boy nodded. “It’s good that way.” He removed his hood. He looked like he was about 13. He had brown hair and dark brown eyes.

Jasper noticed that the boy didn’t continue. “James?” He asked.

James shook his head and looked at Jasper. “I was just thinking about the F.B.I. and the police looking into her kidnapping.” He said. “If any of them are members of the Circles, they could replace out where she is just by hearing that she’s reappeared.”

Jasper sat in an armchair and leaned back. “What do you suggest we do about that?” He asked.

James looked at Emily. He took her hand. “I think we should keep an eye on her.” He told Jasper. “Make it clear to the Circles that she is being protected until she fulfills her destiny and doesn’t need protection anymore.” James answered. Jasper was about to speak and James knew what he was going to say. “I know that Gabriel is against that and that we could risk the prophecy being fulfilled by doing that but if the Circles were willing to kill her again after all these years, then something must be happening that we don’t know about. If we follow her, we might get more information about what the Circles are up to.” James said quickly.

Jasper thought about it. The boy did have a point. “You do realize that the Black Hands is more than the Circles, right? You know who they serve. Of course there is stuff going on within their organization that we don’t know about.” He hoped that James realized that. The way that James was glaring at him though made it clear that he wasn’t going to give up the idea. Jasper sighed. “Let’s first get her to a hospital before we continue this conversation.” He picked Emily up. “And before she succumbs to what those monsters did to her.” James picked up Emily’s book. The three then vanished.