The Adventures of Emily Tual: Camp Adventures Book Two

The Man with the German Accent was shocked as he stared at Anastasia. So were his Black Hands. They had never come across a possible Chosen One, a descendant of Seraphina, that was also a member of the Black Hand. There was an awkward silence in the study. Derdrom was looking at Anastasia with a worried look on his face. His plan for keeping Anastasia a secret was ruined now. He didn’t look at the Man with the German Accent. He didn’t want to give the Magician the chance to be smug about beating him at something. He was also worried about what the Man with the German Accent was planning now that he knew who Anastasia was.

“I wasn’t expecting this.” The Man with the German Accent finally said after a few minutes of the awkward silence.

Anastasia raised an eyebrow. “Let me guess, you were expecting me to be the Horseman of Pestilence or the Horseman of Famine?” She asked in her Russian accent.

The Man with the German Accent nodded. “Derdrom has been so secretive down in the basement and since we have two of the other Horsemen in coffins, I thought you might have been the last Horseman.” He admitted.

The Man with the German Accent then looked at Derdrom. “Why would you keep a descendant of Seraphina a secret from me and from the Black Hand?” He demanded. Who did Derdrom think he was for doing something like that?

Derdrom cleared his throat. “I didn’t want you to know about her because I know how blood thirsty you Black Hands are when it comes to Seraphina’s descendants.” He answered. What he didn’t mention was what he was hoping to achieve with her help. He wasn’t going to let the Darkness or the Man with the German Accent ruin that plan.

The Man with the German Accent went up to Anastasia and looked at her closely. There was something about her that seemed familiar. “Have we met before?” He asked her.

Anastasia glared at him. “I’m sure that if we did, I wouldn’t be standing here right now.” She told him.

The Man with the German Accent knew that she was probably right. He was known for not letting descendants of Seraphina live if he found them. “You said that your life was ruined because you were a possible Chosen One.” He said as he returned to his seat. He sat down and looked at Anastasia. “Please tell me more about that.”

Anastasia looked at Derdrom. He gave her a slight nod. Anastasia returned her gaze to the Man with the German Accent. “I was a child when it happened. My father was the Czar of Russia before my entire family was slaughtered by Revolutionary soldiers.” She told him. “I was all alone after I had lost my family. Nowhere to go and Revolutionary soldiers were hunting me down to get rid of the last of my family.” She gestured to Derdrom. “I was about to give up when Derdrom came to me. He told me why my family had been targeted and why they were dead.” She saw that the Black Hands were looking at each other and whispering. No doubt they realized where she was going with this and she was willing to bet that they were scared.

“Derdrom told me that the Black Hand had hunted my family down to kill me because they believed I was a possible Chosen One because of my ancestry!” Anastasia cried in an angry voice. Her Russian accent became thick. “My entire life was ruined because of a feud that had existed for thousands and thousands of years.” She noticed that even the Man with the German Accent had stood up and looked like he wanted to back away. She reached out and her eyes glowed silver. The Man with the German Accent gasped and reached for his throat as he found it suddenly hard to breathe.

Derdrom reached out and touched Anastasia’s arm. “My dear.” He said.

Anastasia looked at him and the silver glow vanished from her eyes. She looked at the Man with the German Accent. “You Magician, you ruined my entire life by bringing your Black Hands and revolutionary soldiers to my family’s home.” She told him. “Rasputin.”

The Man with the German Accent’s eyes widened. That was why Anastasia was familiar. He had never met her but he had spent much time with her father. It was her father that he was seeing in her. He backed away a little. For the first time, he felt fear. He had no idea how dangerous Anastasia was now. It was the first time that he ever feared a Chosen One before. He could sense that his Black Hands were looking at him curiously. They must have wanted to see what he was going to do about this.

“What do you want from me?” He asked Anastasia. “You must want something as a form of revenge against me.” He had a feeling that Anastasia wanted something from him. He looked at Derdrom. He wondered how long the old man knew about his connection to Anastasia’s past.

Anastasia walked up to him and her eyes glowed silver. “I want to be there when you sacrifice the Chosen One to the Darkness.” She told him. “A very close seat to where the Darkness will be resurrected so that he knows that a Chosen One is on his side.” She told him.

Derdrom smiled as he heard the Man with the German Accent speak with fear in his voice. He looked at Anastasia. He had no idea how much fear she would put into the Man with the German Accent but he liked this result. He wanted to see how this would continue. He looked at the Man with the German Accent. For the first time ever, he saw the Man with the German Accent sweating. No doubt the Man with the German Accent had never expected a Chosen One to survive his wrath.

The Man with the German Accent nodded. “Of course.” He said. “I’ll make sure that the Darkness can see you once he rises up.” As he was saying that, a new plan was coming to his mind. He knew that the Darkness would want Anastasia dead. It didn’t matter if she was on their side, she was still a possible Chosen One if Emily wasn’t the Chosen One. That made her dangerous. “I’m sure the Darkness will be thrilled that you’re on our side.” He continued. He managed not to smile as he thought about the Darkness killing her.

Derdrom cleared his throat. “Anastasia and I should be getting back to the basement to keep an eye on the Horseman of Famine and the Horseman of Death.” He told the man with the German accent. The truth was, he didn’t want to give the Man with the German Accent a chance to order his Black Hands to kill Anastasia. He knew the Man with the German Accent would take that chance. He was known for his hatred of Chosen Ones. The thing was, no one really knew why he hated them.

The Man with the GermanAaccent looked at Derdrom. “Of course Derdrom.” He said. He looked at Anastasia. “It was a pleasure to meet you.” He told her. Anastasia glared at him before she left with Derdrom.

At the camp’s medical building, Audrey was sitting by Savannah’s side. She had gotten permission from her counselors to see Savannah. Savannah was still unconscious. There were professional medical doctors from the local hospital working on trying to save her life. Savannah’s heart monitor showed a very slow heartbeat. Savannah’s face was very pale. Audrey was joined by James. “Does Gabriel have a plan for finding Emily?” Audrey asked James. She looked at him. The way that James was looking at Savannah told her the answer. She looked at Savannah. “Why would the Black Hand do this to Savannah?” She asked. “She’s not the Chosen One.”

James shook his head. “The Black Hand must have just wanted to use her as a pawn just so they could easily kidnap Emily.” He said. “The Black Hand is ruthless like that. They’ve used people in the past when they hunted possible Chosen Ones.” He thought about the number of lives that the Black Hand had ruined just to kill possible Chosen Ones.

Audrey shook her head. “Why didn’t the Black Hand go after me?” She asked James. “I would have been the better target. They’ve already attacked me twice.” She was a possible Chosen One. It was why her mother had been killed and why Gabriel had taken her out of that orphanage before hiding her.

James took Audrey’s hand. “The reason why they didn’t attack you this time is because they’ve already attacked you twice. If they tried attacking you again, it would have drawn too much attention to the camp and it would eventually be traced back to the Black Hand.” He told Audrey. He didn’t want to tell Audrey that she had already been attacked a third time but that it had been covered up to protect Emily and what she was supposed to do.

Audrey sighed. “Now that Kat is gone, there’s no way to find Emily.” She said. “Whatever the Black Hand has planned for her, they can do it now that we have no way to find Emily.” She looked at Savannah. “And we have no way to save Savannah.” She leaned against James. She wouldn’t normally do that with any boy but James was like family to her. “Seems like things are hopeless right now.” She continued. James wanted to tell her that things would get better but he wasn’t seeing how it could.

“So what’s your plan?” Audrey asked. She sat up and looked at James.

James thought about it. “I want to try to go find Emily.” He told Audrey. He could see the look on her face. She was clearly surprised to hear him say that he was going to try to find her. “I have a good idea where I can begin the search.” James continued. “Emily had a nightmare about being sacrificed weeks ago. I saw the place where she had been sacrificed to the Darkness. I know where the place is and I can try to go there to save her before it’s too late.”

Audrey didn’t know that James had seen Emily’s nightmares in what sounded like a personal way. She wasn’t sure where the location was but she knew one thing. She was going to go with James. “Take me with you.” She told James. “I want to help with finding Emily. If we’re both possible chosen ones, then it means Emily and I are possibly related and I want to help my family.” She wasn’t going to back down or take no for an answer. She wanted to do this. She looked at Savannah. “I owe it to Savannah. She got caught up in a fight between people who hate my family and my family.” What she didn’t say to James was that she wanted to find out how the Black Hand learned of her and her mother. It was personal for her as well.

James looked in the direction of the door. “If you are going to come with me, we’ll need to get you out of the camp and away from your group. That will be hard enough. We’ll also have to worry about Gabriel and Jasper finding out about the two of us sneaking away. If they only care about having a chosen one on their side, they’ll want to keep you safe and not risk losing you to the Black Hand as well.” He told Audrey.

Audrey smiled. She had a feeling that it would be easy for James to get her out of the camp. “When do we leave?” She asked him.

James thought about it. “We’ll leave tonight.” He told her. “If we leave too early, it’ll draw attention to us.”

Audrey nodded. “I’ll be waiting for you then.” She said.