The Adventures of Emily Tual Book One
Chapter Eight

In the hostage room, the elderly lady looked at Emily. The girl looked terrible with the cuts and bruises. She had a gash on her forehead. She was crying in pain. The elderly lady looked at Emily’s torturer. “You didn’t do any more damage to her?” She asked the man. “We’re trying to get rid of her before he can use her for the ritual.”

The man shrugged as he put down a knife. “I want to drag her pain out for as long as I can.” He told the elderly lady.

The elderly lady shook her head. “Listen. We don’t have time you idiot. There’s something happening upstairs and it doesn’t sound good for us. Almost like we’re being attacked by someone.”

The man looked at her and there was a moment where all that could be heard was Emily crying in pain. “Is it him?” The man then asked. “If it’s the Man with the German Accent, we’re all dead Eliza.” He said.

Eliza, the elderly lady shook her head. “I’m more worried if it’s Gabriel.” She replied.

The torturer shuddered. “Either of them means bad trouble for us.” He reminded Eliza. “I should have gone with Johnny. At this point, it sounds safer to be with him.”

Eliza glared at him. “Safer to face an old goddess?” She asked. “Please. That cat is dangerous just because of her temper alone. She’s worse than either of the two men.”

Eliza then went up to Emily and lifted her chin up. “Finish the job and end her!” She ordered the torturer. The man smiled and went up to Emily. He cracked his knuckles. Emily, hearing that, whimpered as she cried.

Outside the hostage room, the remaining men saw a door running towards them. “Shoot it down!” One of them shouted. They all started firing at the door.

Back in the hostage room, Eliza looked towards the door and took her phone out. She dialed Officer Daniel. “Daniel, it’s me.” She said. “There’s someone here and they’re trying to get the chosen one. I need you to show up and arrest them. Charge them with breaking an entry. Cliff and I will take the Chosen One and head to a more secured location. I’ll text you the address when we get there.” She hung up and looked at Cliff. She could tell that he wasn’t even close to being done with the torture. “We need to go!” She ordered. “Whoever is fighting our men is right outside the door. We need to go now!”

Eliza went up to the back wall and put her hand on it. A door appeared in the wall. Eliza opened it and looked at Cliff. “Bring the girl.” She ordered. “And hurry it up. We don’t want to give anyone the chance to save her.” Cliff nodded and untied Emily before slinging her over his shoulder. Emily cried out in pain. The three disappeared through the door and right after it closed, it disappeared.

A few minutes later, Mr. Tual got through the door. He looked around the room. There was no sign of his daughter. “She’s not here?” Anne asked.

Mr. Tual turned around. His sister was standing there. Mr. Tual shook his head. “Did you look everywhere upstairs?” He asked.

Anne nodded. “They must have been left here to delay anyone who tried to replace Emily.”

Mr. Tual looked at the chair in the center of the room. There was rope all around it. He looked at Anne. “She was here though.” He told his sister. “She had been tied up here. They must have held her here before they left.”

Anne could tell that this was frustrating her brother. “Why would someone want to kidnap your daughter?” She asked. “She’s just a child.”

Mr. Tual shook his head. “I’m not sure. It was hard to make sense of what Elizabeth was saying. She was talking really fast.” They left the room. “Call the police. Tell them Emily has been kidnapped. I’ll try to get one of these guys to talk.” Mr. Tual told Anne. Anne nodded and left quickly. Mr. Tual looked at one of the men. “Time for us to have some fun.” He said as he rolled up his sleeves.

Delaney, Elizabeth and Rachel were waiting in Emily’s room. All three of them had their phones lying on the bed between them. They were waiting to hear back from Mr. Tual and Anne. “Do you think they were able to get to Emily?” Rachel asked. Delaney and Elizabeth looked at each other. They weren’t sure how to answer that. They wanted to believe that Rachel’s dad and their mom were able to get to Emily but they just didn’t know.

Rachel’s phone then began to ring. Rachel picked it up and answered it. “Daddy!” She cried. “Did you and Aunt Anne replace Emily?” Her face fell. Delaney and Elizabeth both knew that wasn’t a good thing. “She wasn’t there?” Rachel asked. “Did Officer Daniel get there? He never showed up? But he said that they would send someone there as soon as they could.” Delaney and Elizabeth both looked at each other again. Even without talking, they knew what the other was thinking. That Officer Daniel should have someone keep an eye on him. Rachel sighed with relief. “They just got there? Sure. We can head over there right now.” She hung up.

“We’re needed at the library.” Rachel told her two cousins. “Apparently the police are just now arriving. They want us over there to talk to because we’re the last ones who saw Emily.” The three girls quickly left for the library.

Up in Cleveland, Johnny entered Bastet’s suite. Bastet was lounging on her couch by the window, basking in the sun. Her limo driver was standing there. “Excuse me.” Johnny said.

Bastet opened her eyes and looked at him. “Is it done?” She asked. She sat up.

Johnny smiled. “When I left, my mother was about to torture the girl.” He answered. “I figure they should be done by now.”

Bastet frowned. “Then why are you here?” She demanded. “I thought you were given the order to get rid of the Chosen One.”

Johnny went up to her and placed the book in her paws. “I thought you would want this.” He told her.

Bastet looked down at the book and her eyes widened. “This is the…” She didn’t finish.

Johnny smiled. “It is.” He told her. “After centuries of waiting, it’s in the possession of the Circles.”

Bastet looked at her limo driver. “Put this in the safe.” She ordered. “And be quick about it. I don’t want to take a chance on him replaceing me with it.” She shuddered. She knew that the Man with the German Accent would be very mad if he knew that she had it. He’d force her to turn it over to him.

Johnny crossed his arms over his chest. “So now what?” He asked. “When do you tell him that the Chosen One is dead?”

Bastet looked at him. “We don’t.” She told him. “We’ll let him replace out the hard way. When his spy doesn’t replace the girl at the camp, he’ll go to her hometown and then he’ll learn that she’s dead.” Bastet laughed as she thought about it. “It’ll be sweet revenge seeing him having to explain to the Master that he can’t perform the ritual.”

Johnny sat in a chair near her. “And I’ll be promoted to one of the higher circles?” He asked.

Bastet nodded. “I’ll tell the Master that you brought me the book.” She told him. “After all, I’m sure that the Master would replace it useful.”

Bastet leaned back and closed her eyes as she basked in the sun and her triumph. She’d finally show to all the Circles that she was superior to the Man with the German Accent. That she deserved a spot in the First Circle and not in the Third Circle. She just had to wait until after the man with the German accent tried to pull off the ritual and fail at it to show off her score. She opened her eyes and looked at Johnny. “Go to your mother and make sure she completes her task.” She ordered. Johnny nodded and left.

Emily moaned as she sat up. She had no idea where she was. She looked around her and nearly cried out in pain. It was hard for her to turn without feeling pain. Whoever had tortured her must have bruised and cut her up badly. It also felt like there was something wrong inside of her. She was scared that she had broken bones. From what she could tell, it looked like she was in the back of a truck and she was alone. She looked down. Her hands were tied together and her feet were tied together. There was a bump. She cried as she landed on the hard ground.

She was scared. She had no idea where she was going or how long she had been in there. All she could remember was going down a dark tunnel before blacking out from the pain. She didn’t see Cliff or Eliza. They had to be in the front of the truck driving. She looked towards the back of the truck. The doors were closed. She had a feeling that the latch and lock were on the outside. It looked like she was the only thing in the back of the truck. She crawled towards the front of the truck and curled up. She started crying. She’d never see her home or family again. She knew that wherever they were going, it would lead to her death.

She thought back to her mom. “I’ll soon be with you.” She whispered as she cried. She always wanted to be reunited with her mom but not like this. She closed her eyes as she sobbed. She wondered if her family was looking for her. She doubted that they would look outside of the town until after they looked everywhere in town. She knew that by then, it would be too late. She wished that she knew why all of this was happening to her.

That was when the truck slowed to a stop. Emily looked towards the doors. She was dreading what was coming next. The truck stopped. She heard several people walking followed by two doors opening and closing. So Eliza and Cliff had taken her somewhere where there were more of these people. She wished that she knew what to call them. All she had to go on was the black hand that she kept seeing on them. The latch moved. Emily whimpered as the doors opened.

There were several men and women there. They were all glaring at her. Emily noticed that they were all dressed the same. Black shirts, black jackets, black pants, black gloves and black boots. It was amazing that they weren’t sweating. Cliff and Eliza then appeared. “Time to go.” Eliza told Emily.

Emily looked at her. “Where are we?” She asked in a quiet voice.

Cliff went up to her and slung her over his shoulder. “Wouldn’t you like to know?” He told her. He dumped her on the ground outside the truck. Emily cried in pain as she hit the rocky hard ground. Cliff jumped down next to her. “Let’s just say that you’re in one of our places.” He told her. “And that no one will replace you here.” He laughed and others joined in. Emily looked at Eliza weakly before she lost consciousness.