The Adventures of Emily Tual Book One
Chapter Eleven

In Ohio, there was a hospital called Akron Children’s Hospital. In an alleyway near the hospital, Jasper, Emily and James appeared. “Are you sure this hospital is the best choice?” James asked.

Jasper looked at him. “We don’t want the F.B.I. or the police to get here before her family.” He explained. “So once we get her into a room here, we disappear and let the medical staff ask Emily the questions. Once she gives her name, her family will be notified and hopefully they’ll call the police after they’re already coming here. If her family gets here first, it’ll be harder hopefully for the Circles to try to kidnap her again. Especially if there’s more officers here not associated with the Circles.”

James thought about it. It did sound like a good plan. A bit thin because it rode a lot on the “ifs”. “What if there are Circle members within this hospital?” He asked. If there were, that would just ruin their plan. As soon as Emily said who she was, depending on how many Black Hands knew about the kidnapping and who she was, the Black Hands in the hospital could try kidnapping her again and claim they were transferring her to another hospital.

Jasper grimaced. “Let’s not think about that.” He said. “After all, if that is true, then there could be Black Hands in every hospital.”

At the front reception desk of the emergency room, the nurse there was working on the computer when a young man carrying a girl came in followed by a boy. The boy was holding a book. “She needs help.” The young man told the nurse as he carried the girl to the reception desk.

The nurse, surprised and caught off guard for a second, nodded and went around the desk. She went up to the girl. “What happened to her?” She asked.

The young man shook his head. “I’m not sure.” He answered. “My nephew and I were just driving and saw her in an alley way.”

The nurse led them into the emergency room hallway. “We need a stretcher now!” She announced. “We have a young Jane Doe. She looks seriously hurt and could need medical attention right away.” A couple of doctors and nurses brought a stretcher over as quickly as they could. The young man laid the girl down on it. The boy laid the book by the girl.

“She looks really bad.” A doctor said.

The nurse nodded. “Get her to a room now.” She ordered. After seeing the doctors and nurses take Jane Doe away, the nurse turned to speak to the young man and his nephew. To her surprise, they were gone. She ran back into the waiting lounge. There was no sign of them there either. She ran outside the doors hoping to catch them but they were gone. It was like they had never been there.

James hadn’t left though. He had simply cast an invisibility spell over himself. He knew that Emily wasn’t safe until her family was there. He had waited until after Jasper had left before he made himself invisible and had stayed in the emergency room hallway. He then had gone after Emily. He watched over her as the medical team around her started to work on saving her. James started doing a healing chant to help the process. His magic wouldn’t heal her instantly but it would help increase her healing. She had been through so much and deserved to be happy.

“Emily.” Emily looked over her shoulder. It was the stranger in the white robes and white hood. The one with the funny sounding voice. He was still walking towards her. “Come with me Emily.” He said. “So you can fulfill your destiny.” Emily shook her head and kept trying to run towards the building in the field but she wasn’t making any progress.

“Emily!” A voice called. Emily looked to her right. It was Rachel. She wasn’t alone. There were her cousins. They were all running towards her. Rachel had her book and the S was glowing. Emily looked at the man behind her. He was getting closer. She figured that since she couldn’t run straight towards the building she’d run to her cousins and sister. She turned to her right and, to her relief, was able to actually run.

“You can’t escape us Emily.” The man said. Emily didn’t want to hear him say that. She had to get to her family. They’d be able to help her stay safe. As she was running, she tripped over a root and fell to the ground. As if by magic, the roots came to her life and quickly captured her. Emily struggled against her bonds as she heard the man starting to laugh. “Now to take you back to the ritual.” He told her. Red robed hooded figures started to surround her. Emily felt overwhelmed by the number of black hands that she saw on their chests. She quickly closed her eyes.

Emily slowly opened her eyes. She heard something beeping. It sounded familiar. She looked to her right. There was a heart monitor. She frowned and looked down at herself. She was in a hospital bed in a hospital gown. She had bandages on her. She had a feeling that she should be in serious pain but she felt only a little bit of pain. She wasn’t sure why. There were tubes connected to her. She looked towards the hospital door. She could hear nurses and doctors out down the hallway. She tried to remember how she ended up there. The last thing she remembered was being with her cousins running away from a lot of men but that was it. Just like her dream. Emily looked at the medical table. Her book was there. She sighed with relief. She still had it.

A nurse then came in. She had medical papers on a clipboard with her. She smiled when she saw that Emily was awake. “So how is our Jane Doe?” She asked.

Emily frowned. “How did I end up here?” She asked.

The nurse went up to her. She set down her clipboard and took a blood pressure gauge from the medical side table. “Sounds like you suffered a little bit of memory loss with your injuries.” She said as she took Emily’s blood pressure.

Emily looked at her. “How did I get injured?” She asked.

The nurse shook her head. “Only you would be able to tell us.” She told Emily. “Speaking of which, what is our patient’s name?” She asked.

Emily knew that she meant her. “My name is Emily Tual.” She answered.

The nurse wrote Emily’s name on the medical papers. “Is there anyone we can call so they know you’re here?”

Emily realized that that meant her family had no idea she was there. “Who brought me here?” She asked, suddenly scared.

The nurse looked at Emily’s medical papers. “According to these, it was a young man and his nephew. They said they found you in an alleyway and brought you here.”

Emily shook her head. “Impossible.” She said. “How long have I been here?” She asked.

The nurse took Emily’s temperature. “You’ve been here for four days asleep.” She answered.

Emily’s heart sank. Four days? She’s been gone from her home for four days? She shook her head. “My daddy must be worried sick.” She said. “Please. You need to call him to tell him where I am.” She started crying while she was saying that.

The nurse sat on her bed and hugged Emily. “It’s okay. We’ll tell him where you are. Just give me the phone number so that the receptionist who the two men took you to can call him.” She said. Emily nodded and told the nurse her phone number.

From where he was sitting, still invisible, James watched Emily give the nurse her phone number. He was relieved that she had woken up. He had received many text messages from Gabriel during the last four days. Gabriel had at first been mad at him for staying but then had been asking for updates. It had pained James that he couldn’t cheer her up. She wouldn’t recognize him. The memory spell had seen to that. James took his phone out and texted Gabriel that Emily was awake and that she didn’t remember anything from her time as a prisoner.

Emily looked at her book after she gave the nurse her phone number. “Can you give me my book please?” She asked.

The nurse looked at the book on the medical table. “Of course.” She answered. The nurse picked up the book and gave it to Emily. Emily hugged it tightly. The nurse smiled. “You must really love that book.” She said.

Emily looked at the nurse and nodded. “It was a gift from my mommy before she died.” She told her. The nurse looked at her before she left. Emily looked down at the book. “Now if only I could read it.” She whispered quietly to herself.

Emily looked at S on the cover. “Please let me be able to read you.” She begged it. “I want to know why my mother wanted me to have this.” She opened the book. Her eyes widened. She could actually read what the texts said. She flipped through the pages. It was as if all the text had been translated to English. She read the book. With each page she read, she was surprised even more. She closed the book and held it tightly to her chest. “I can read it Mommy.” She said.

James was amazed. To the best of his knowledge, no one had ever been able to read the book before. Gabriel would need to know this. It seemed like they had finally found their Chosen One after all. He texted Gabriel and Jasper and kept watch over Emily. He was tempted to go up to her but managed not to. The last thing he needed was Emily claiming that there was a ghost in her room.

In his study, Gabriel looked at his phone screen. Both he and Jasper were sitting on opposite sides of his desk. “James just told me something interesting.” He told Jasper.

Jasper tilted his head. “What is that?” He asked.

Gabriel smiled. “The girl can read the book.” He answered.

Jasper realized what that meant. “So she is the Chosen One we’ve been waiting for after all.” He said.

Gabriel nodded. “It’s a very good thing that we managed to get the book away from Bastet.” He told Jasper. “And that James was able to get Emily away from that fortress.” Gabriel stood up and went to his window. He looked out at the camp. The different people that they had hired for the summer were showing up for their training.

“The girl will be put through many trials. You realize that, right?” Jasper asked. His master had to know that.

Gabriel nodded. “Not all of them will be easy for her but it’s vital that she passes them if she is to fulfill her destiny.” He said softly.

Jasper stood up and joined him at the window. “After so many years of waiting, thousands in fact, the prophecy will finally be fulfilled.” Jasper couldn’t believe it. It seemed like that day was still so far away. “So what do we do now?” He asked.

Gabriel looked at him. “We let events play out.” He answered. “If we try to interfere, bad things will happen.” He said.