The Adventures of Emily Tual: Revelations Book Three
Chapter 32

Gabriel leaned back in his seat. It had been a long day and Bastet being trapped in the basement wasn’t helping his headache. Bastet refused to give him the information he wanted and he was getting tired of having to deal with her. That wasn’t the only reason he was tired now. He looked at his hands. They were starting to have wrinkles on them. He had a feeling that the immortality spell that Seraphina had placed on him was starting to wear off.

He looked at an old manuscript that was by him on a table. He first got it back during the old war against the Darkness. The manuscript had been a gift from Seraphina. It was like Emily’s Codex but it didn’t have the important information about defeating the Darkness. That belonged to Emily’s Codex alone. He picked up the manuscript and opened it. The text on the pages was written in a language that predated every known and unknown language.

Gabriel looked at the text. “Did you know that it would be this difficult or challenging when the Chosen One was found?” He murmured softly, thinking of Seraphina. She had told him to find her heir that would defeat the Darkness. He thought back to the final fight. Seraphina would have defeated the Darkness if it hadn’t been for Victor’s betrayal. He closed the manuscript and set it down.

James and Aunica then appeared in a puff of smoke. Gabriel stood up and looked at the two. “Where’s Audrey?” He asked. She should have been there with the two kids.

James shook his head. “We had to escape Anthony and his Black Hands but ended up getting captured by Caterina and Josiah. Audrey covered our escape. I thought that she got away as well but after we saw more Black Hands coming for us, I decided to get Aunica here first and see if you could help us.”

Aunica sat down and looked around. “Where am I now?” She asked. It seemed nice and the fact that James was talking to Gabriel nicely gave her encouragement.

Gabriel looked at James before he looked at Aunica. “Aunica, it’s a pleasure to meet you once again.” He told Aunica. James winced. He hadn’t told Aunica about her past life. He had no idea how Aunica would react to that.

Aunica was surprised to hear that she had met Gabriel before. She was sure that she had never met Gabriel before. “What do you mean meet me again?” She asked. “We had never met before.”

Gabriel looked at James. “You didn’t tell her about her past?” He asked before he looked back at Aunica. “This isn’t the first life you’ve had.” He told Aunica. “You lived a long time ago during the age of the Salem Witch Trials. You were suspected of being a Chosen One by the Black Hand back then. Audrey tried to save you by bringing you to the future but you fell into a different year before dying and being reborn.” He explained.

Aunica shook her head. “Impossible.” She said. She looked at James. “Is that true?” She asked. James nodded. Aunica stood up. “I couldn’t be reborn. That doesn’t exist.” She told them. She couldn’t believe it.

Audrey groaned as she slowly woke up. She found that she couldn’t move her arms or legs. She looked down at herself and saw that her feet were chained to the wall. She looked at her hands and saw that they were also chained to the wall. She looked around her. She was in another stone-walled room. There were torches on each of the other walls. There were quite a few Black Hands there as well. They were all watching her. No doubt to make sure she didn’t try to escape.

“Is our prisoner awake yet?” Audrey turned to the entrance. Caterina and Josiah were standing there. Caterina was the one speaking. Caterina smiled when she saw that Audrey was awake. “Perfect.” She said. “Awake in time for the ritual to happen once again.” Caterina couldn’t help but laugh as she thought about it. “I’ll finally be able to do what my mother failed to do.”

Audrey struggled a bit against her chains. “I’m not the Chosen One.” She told them. “Emily is. That’s what everyone in your group believed in.” Were they all really going to forget all about Emily? That’s when Audrey realized that she hadn’t been thinking about whether or not Emily was safe. For all she knew, Emily had been captured.

Josiah went up to Audrey. “Emily was never the Chosen One.” He told her. It was time to reveal the secret to Audrey. “Anthony knew that you were always the Chosen One. He just leaked that Emily was the Chosen One so that certain people like the Magician and Bastet would go after her leaving Anthony to hunt you down.” He had supported that plan but he no longer cared about Anthony. Anthony only cared about himself.

Audrey thought about what Josiah was saying and that was when she realized something. “You said that you don’t care about Anthony anymore before you knocked me out.” She said. “So where does he think you are now?” She asked. She seriously doubted that Anthony would approve of Josiah being there.

Josiah laughed. “Anthony still thinks I’m in Greig New York burning the place to the ground.” He told Audrey. “Luckily I have Black Hands to do that for me. Gives me time to be here to deal with you.” By the time that Anthony realized that he wasn’t following him, it would be too late. The Darkness would have risen by Josiah and Caterina’s hands. Anthony and the Magician would both be embarrassed by the two of them.

Audrey looked at Caterina. Helping Caterina find her father and a place away from the Black Hand had to be her fifth Tribulation. But it seemed like Caterina didn’t really care about her own mother even. Audrey didn’t want to give up though. “Caterina, I can help you find a better life that doesn’t include the Black Hand.” Audrey said quickly. “Your mother might have raised you to be evil but I’m sure you can start a new life with your father, whoever he is.”

Caterina laughed. Audrey didn’t like the sound of Caterina’s laughter. “Do you really think that I care about my father?” Caterina asked Audrey. “He was useless and the world is better off without him.”

Audrey’s heart sank. She had a feeling that she knew what Caterina meant. “You killed him?” She asked Caterina. So much for trying to help Caterina find her father and a better life. There went the fifth Tribulation. So what would be her fifth Tribulation, fighting Caterina? Audrey focused on her chains. She had to escape wherever she was, get to Gabriel and James and then find out what her new Tribulation was supposed to be.

Josiah saw that and laughed. “You can’t escape from these chains Audrey.” He told the girl. “These chains are made to keep magical people from escaping.” He rattled the chains. “You’re our prisoner for the ritual.” He turned to the Black Hands in the room. “Take our prisoner to the ritual room.” He ordered. “Once she’s there, get back to patrolling the castle. We don’t want any unwanted guests trying to ruin the ritual.”

Audrey was surprised to hear that. “We’re in a castle?” She asked. She would have never guessed that. There was no way that the Black Hands had a castle in the United States. Someone would have noticed it by now. Her thoughts went to James and Aunica. Were they able to escape back to Gabriel?

Caterina nodded. “This castle was transported brick by brick from Russia after the fall of Czar Nicholas by order of my mother.” She explained to Audrey. “I’ve kept this castle for a few years now.” She looked at Josiah. “Make sure that Anthony and any Black Hands he has don’t get inside.” She ordered the demon.

Outside the castle, several Black Hands were on patrol on the ground and the walls. They were heavily armed with weapons. These Black Hands came from all over the world. They only had allegiance to Caterina and Josiah. They were deadly and ruthless. On their left shoulders was the Black Hand patch and on the other shoulder was a red-eye patch. The Black Hands were dangerous. More dangerous than even the First Circle of Black Hands in the United States and the First Triad of Black Hands in Europe and Asia.

At the front gates to the castle, over fifty Black Hands were standing guard. None of them were about to let anyone pass through the gates. James and the little girl had managed to get by them but they weren’t about to let anyone else do that. In the forest around the gates were even more Black Hands. These were in camouflage uniforms that made them look like ninjas. They were the new first line of defense. Josiah had recruited them after James and the girl had vanished.

On the battlements over the front gate, Josiah appeared with six demon Black Hands. “Don’t let anyone, especially Anthony, into the castle.” He ordered them. He looked at the only road that led to the castle. There was no way that Anthony was going to make it into the castle.

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