The Adventures of Emily Tual: Camp Adventures Book Two

A horse whinnied followed by another horse whinnying. Emily looked over her shoulders and her eyes widened. There were four horseback riders. Each one looked very disturbing. The first one was in black armor. His horse was blood red just like his sword. It looked like his sword had blood dripping off of it. The second horse was ashen pale and very thin. It looked like it was dead. The rider on it was very thin, boney even. He had long white hair. It was impossible to see his eyes because of how sunk in they were. He had a very long scythe. The third horseman was in green armor. He had a crossbow in his hands. His horse was white. Brighter than the first horseman’s horse. The last horseman was on a black horse. He was wearing yellow armor. He had a weighing scale in his hand that was broken. It looked more like a weapon that way.

The horseman with the blood red sword pointed his sword at Emily. All four horses whinnied and started galloping towards Emily. Emily, afraid for her life, starting running through the woods. She had no idea where she was but she knew where she didn’t want to be. She could hear the four horsemen riding after her. She was surprised that they hadn’t caught up to her yet. That was when she reached a large clearing and stopped. Her eyes widened with what she saw.

The ground was barren and covered with mostly dead bodies. There were tattered banners and flags across the barren land. It looked like a few people were clinging to life still. Emily’s stomach lurched. The bodies were very thin. Unhealthy thin. Starved to death thin. The ones who were still clinging to life looked even worse than the dead. She wanted to look away but it was like she was being forced to look. It was like she could feel a hand on the back of her head, forcing her to look at the terrible scene before her. She looked across the clearing and her heart dropped. There were two olive trees. A man was tied to one of them. He looked familiar but Emily wasn’t sure why. Maybe it was because he looked bruised and beaten. The other tree had a girl tied to it. She looked older than Emily by a couple of years. She also looked bruised and beaten.

An evil laugh could be heard. When it laughed, the survivors in the cleared field screamed in pain. Emily wanted to cover her ears to block out the screams but it was like she couldn’t. She had to watch and listen to the survivors scream before they fell to the ground dead. Emily screamed when she saw that the last three were her cousins and sister.

The evil laughter grew louder. “This is what awaits the rest of the world after you’re gone chosen one.” An evil dark voice said. “A world that shall be destroyed and rebuilt in my image.” As Emily watched the death before her, two of the horsemen appeared by the man and the girl. It was the one with the scythe and the blood red sword. The two raised their weapons and brought them down swiftly on the two, ending them. Emily closed her eyes quickly to avoid watching the murdering. “With their deaths, my rise to power shall be complete.” As the voice was saying that, a figure in a black cloak appeared in the center of the carnage. His cloak was ragged and black. He had a hood on over his head. He had a staff in his hands. On the top of the staff was a black gem.

The figure went up to Emily. “I shall begin my rise with your death.” He told her. Emily tried to look away but she couldn’t. The figure began laughing again. Behind him, the four horsemen appeared on their horses. They all had their heads bent down. The figure grabbed Emily by the neck and raised her up. “Beware child. I am coming for you.” Emily wanted to close her eyes as she was forced to look into the figure’s hood. To her horror, there was nothing there in the hood. She screamed.

Emily sat up in her bed screaming. She was shaking and sweaty. She reached for her neck and, to her relief, felt only her neck. Her light turned on. “Emily?” She turned to her door. It was Mr. Tual. He looked worried and went up to her. “You were screaming.” He said as he sat on her bed. “Nightmare?”

Emily nodded. “It was terrible.” She told her dad. “It was horrible. Everyone I saw was dead. I was being chased by four people on horses. They forced me to see the last two deaths.” Emily shuddered.

Mr. Tual hugged her. “It’s okay.” He told her. “It was just a bad dream.” Emily cried against her father. Mr. Tual looked at Emily’s bed. There was Emily’s book. He shook his head. No doubt the nightmare was because of her being kidnapped. “Were you reading that book again?” He asked his daughter.

Emily looked at him. “Yes.” She admitted before she shook her head. “I’ve been trying to find something that might explain why Mom wanted me to have it.”

Mr. Tual sighed. He knew that Emily had been wanting to find the link between her mom and the book. “You might want to take a break from the book.” He told her. He rubbed her back. “And I know the best way to get your mind off of it.”

Emily frowned and looked up at her father. She wiped her tears away. “How?” She asked.

Mr. Tual smiled. “With a week away at camp.” He told her.

Emily was surprised to hear that. “Camp?” She asked.

Mr. Tual nodded. “Your aunt is sending Elizabeth and Delaney to a group in a few weeks. I figured that you would want to go with them. Rachel is joining you three as well.”

Emily thought about it. “What group are we going to?” She asked.

Mr. Tual shook his head. “I’m not sure what group it is. You would have to ask your aunt that question in the morning.” He told her. “I wasn’t sure about sending you to it after everything that had happened but now I think it’s for the best.”

Emily smiled a little. “Sounds like it’ll be fun.” She said.

Mr. Tual smiled. “How about you try dreaming about summer camp instead of whatever you were just reading about in that book.” He told her.

Emily nodded. “I will.” She said. She got back under the covers and looked at her dad.

Mr. Tual smiled and kissed her forehead. “Get a good night rest.” He told her before he went to her door. He turned the light off and left the door opened a crack. Emily sighed with relief when she saw that her dad left the hallway light on. She snuggled down and fell asleep.

In her room, Rachel was awake. She had woken up when she had heard Emily’s scream. She had heard everything her dad and older sister had talked about. She wondered what had happened in her sister’s nightmare exactly. It sounded pretty terrible from what she had heard. She knew that the four horsemen in Emily’s dream were the Horsemen of the Apocalypse. They had to be. They had just been talking about the four Horsemen earlier that day. She had a feeling that she would need to read the part of the Bible that talked about the four Horsemen. Delaney had said that they were in that. The week of camp that they would be at would give her the chance to read about them and find out everything that she could about them.

Rachel looked into the hallway. She was happy that their dad had left the light on. After hearing Emily’s nightmare, there was no way she would be able to fall asleep so easily. She decided to focus on dreaming about summer camp. She was really wanting to find out what group they would be in.

In Camp Wolfwood, Gabriel was on the deck of the house looking out towards the camp. He could hear the peepers peeping and see the fireflies glowing in the distance. He knew that the chosen one had just had a nightmare. He would need to talk to her about that when she came to camp for the week. “Did she have another nightmare?” Gabriel turned to James. The boy had his arms over his chest. Gabriel nodded. James shook his head. “Gabriel. You have got to do something about her nightmares.” He said. “How can Emily be able to do anything if she’s being plagued by nightmares constantly?”

Gabriel sighed. “There is no real way to keep the nightmares at bay.” He told James. “Not all of them will come to pass but she needs to see what could very well happen in the future.”

James sat down across from Gabriel. It was late enough into the night that they should have both been tired but they weren’t. James looked out towards the camp. “How is she expected to have a good week here if she can’t get any sleep?” That was when he noticed that Gabriel had that look on his face. “What is it?” He asked. “What aren’t you telling me?” The way James said it made it clear that he wasn’t giving Gabriel a choice in the matter.

Gabriel sighed. “The Chosen One must face a challenge during her week at camp.” He told James. “A challenge that, if she does not survive, will bring about the end of us all.”

James had a feeling that there was a “but” that went with that. “But what if she does survive?”

Gabriel shook his head. “if she does survive, she will still have her chance at ending the Darkness once and for all but a follower of the Darkness will rise up the day of the ritual.”

James managed not to groan and roll his eyes, which was quite a task when it came to Gabriel. “If you know that a follower will rise up if the Chosen One survives, why don’t we just make sure that the ritual doesn’t happen at all?” He demanded. Didn’t Gabriel see that the whole fight could be avoided if they just did that? No ritual meant that the Darkness remained locked up for a bit longer and Emily could carry on with her life. It sounded easy and simple enough to him.

Gabriel gazed at James. “You do realize that, now with the discovery that Emily is the Chosen One, that there is no longer a world where Emily will be safe from the Black Hand.” He told James. “She’ll be hunted down by the Black Hand until their master has been defeated for good and his most powerful followers are no more.” James had to understand that with this fight, there would never be an easy way out. Everything had to happen the way it was meant to or their chance of victory against the Darkness would never be won.

James shook his head. “I think you’re still making a mistake not trying to prevent the ritual that will bring about the Darkness.” He told Gabriel before he stood up. “I just hope that your actions do not doom us all.” With that, he went back inside to sleep. James wasn’t tired but he liked to dream of a normal life.

Gabriel looked back out towards the camp. He couldn’t stop the ritual from happening but he could try his best to give Emily a normal week of camp. He owed her that much for everything that had happened to her and everything that was going to happen to her that week.