The Adventures of Emily Tual: Camp Adventures Book Two

Anthony was reclined in his armchair listening to opera on his computer. He had a big smile on his face. Everyone who worked for him said the same thing. He did love opera. If he wasn’t in Venice or working for the Darkness, he could be found either listening to opera or at an opera. Opera music was his only escape from everything else. He didn’t know what he would do without his opera music.

That was when his phone went off. Anthony’s eyes snapped open and with an annoyed sigh, removed his earbuds. He looked at his phone. It was Josiah. He knew that if Josiah called, it was important. He answered it. “Yes Josiah?” He asked. He frowned. “What do you mean you’re trying a third time?” He stood up. “Josiah, I thought we were going to have Audrey rid of last night.” That was what he had planned and he hated having to change his plans. He then sighed. “Who is going to try to kill Audrey for us?” He asked. After a few minutes, he spoke again. “Fine but this is the last time we can try to kill her. If we fail, I want you back at the Magician’s manor and to wait until a much later time to try to kill her again.”

Anthony then hung up before he sat back down. He put the earbuds back in and started listening to opera music more. As he was listening, he thought about what Josiah had told him. It sounded like there was more happening than he had originally thought. Derdrom, the Horseman of War, was up to something to try to undermine the Man with the German Accent and the ritual. Anthony knew that the Darkness wouldn’t like it if his plan got ruined by one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. The Man with the German Accent had killed Bastet after all because she had gotten in the way.

Anthony sighed and removed his earbuds. He was too greatly disturbed to be soothed by his opera music. Instead, he went to the window and looked out at the city of Venice. His eyes glowed white and the window fogged over. When it cleared, it wasn’t giving him a view of the city. It was showing him several kids at a mud pit. He smiled. Watching Audrey die would soothe him greatly.

Matthew was hiding up in a tree. He was wearing his costume. In the hot summer heat, he was sweating under his mask but he didn’t let that bother him. He was more focused on not disappointing Josiah or Anthony. He knew that if he failed this time, there would be a greater chance that one of the two or even both of the two would go after him to punish him for failing. The heat was something he could deal with if it meant that he stayed on their good sides and he was keeping the last few poisoned bullets to use against the two if they went after him. He removed the gun and aimed it down at the group. He saw Audrey. She was sitting on the side of the mud pit talking to James. He wasn’t surprised to see that. James didn’t like the mud and it seemed like Audrey didn’t like the mud either.

That was when he felt someone appear next to him. He turned and his eyes widened under the mask. It was Anthony. That was when Matthew realized that Anthony wasn’t really there. Instead, a glass circle had appeared on the side of the tree. “This I had to see.” Anthony told him. “Josiah has a lot of faith in you Matthew.” Anthony looked at Matthew. “Now make me proud and kill the girl.”

Audrey and James were talking and watching the others enjoy the mud pit. James had already gone over the rules of tug-a-war in the mud pit and was watching to make sure that nothing bad happened. “So did the camp director find out anything about the attacker last night?” Audrey was asking. She had a feeling that James wasn’t allowed to talk about it but she really needed to know what James knew about it. After all, it was her life that had been put in danger. She needed to know if she was safe or not.

James was about to say something when his ears perked up. He frowned and looked around. There was something wrong. Someone was there that wasn’t supposed to be there. Audrey noticed that. “What is it?” She asked.

James looked at her. “I’m not sure.” He answered. He then stood up and looked at the groups before blowing a whistle. “We need to go to the restrooms to get washed off.” He told them after he got their attention. He looked at their counselors and gave them a very serious look.

Anthony looked at Matthew. “James is going to ruin the plan!” He hissed angrily. “Shoot her now!” Matthew nodded and aimed the gun at Audrey. He pulled the trigger.

James saw a glint of light in one of the trees. His eyes widened. It was the Black Hand up in a tree. He had a gun in his hand and it was aimed, James followed the aim, at Audrey. There was a gunshot. Everyone jumped. James turned to Audrey. Audrey looked at him. “What is it?” She asked before she looked down. James followed her gaze. There was a red spot spreading on her shirt. James caught her as she fell to the ground.

Matthew looked at Anthony. “Mission accomplished. Audrey has been shot.” He told Anthony.

Anthony looked at him and smiled. “Good. Now get out of the camp.” He replied.

Matthew frowned. “Don’t you want to see if the chosen one is the real chosen one?” He asked. That was what Josiah had told him.

Anthony shook his head. “Change of plan.” He told Matthew. “You need to get out of there now. James is there and he’s the one who got the Chosen One away from the Magician and Bastet.” Anthony looked at James. The boy was holding Audrey in his arms. The group of kids and their leaders were with them. “He’ll hunt you down as long as you’re in the camp.” Anthony continued. “You need to get out of there now.” The image of Anthony vanished.

James held Audrey close. “We need to get her to the medical building.” He told her counselors. He looked at Tony and Kat. “Get your kids and the kids from the other group to your cabins. Don’t let them leave.” He looked at Eloise and Jonathan. “You two need to get Gabriel and Jasper. They need to have the rest of the groups get to safety locations and met me at the medical building.” He ordered. He was younger than the four of them but at this moment, he was in charge. He picked up Audrey and looked at Emily. “I need you to come with me to be in our group.” He told her.

Emily was about to say that it would be better to have a counselor go with James and Audrey when she noticed the way that James was looking at her. The look was telling her that this was too important to fight about. She nodded. “Okay.” She said. “She looked at her cousins and her little sister. “Stay in the cabin until it’s safe to come out.” She told them. She looked at James. “Let’s get her to the medical building.” She said.

As they were getting Audrey to the medical building, Emily looked at James. “Why did you choose me to help you get her to the medical building?” She asked. “You could have chosen anyone but you chose me.” She knew that something was up.

James nodded and they stopped on the trail. He looked at Emily. “You’re the Chosen One to save the world.” He told her.

Emily frowned. “You mean from the story?” She asked. Did James know about the story from her book?

James nodded and set Audrey down. He pointed to Audrey’s wound. “You’re the only one who can heal her.” He told her.

Emily looked at James before she looked at Audrey’s wound. “How am I supposed to heal her?” She asked. “I’ve never done anything like that before.” She had never used any magical power before. She wasn’t even sure if she had any magical gifts. She wanted to help Audrey but she wasn’t sure how she would be able to do that.

James took Emily’s hands and put them over Audrey’s wound. “Audrey hasn’t just been shot.” He told Emily. He looked at the red stain growing. “She’s also been poisoned.” He could smell the poison coming from her wound. He wasn’t sure what kind of poison it was but it was dangerous.

Emily’s face fell. “She’s been poison?” She asked. Not only was James expecting her to save Audrey from a gunshot, but he wanted her to save Audrey from the poison. She wasn’t sure if she could do that.

Emily leaned back and shook her head. “I don’t think I can do that.” She said in a soft voice. She didn’t want to lose her new friend but she didn’t see how she could have magical powers and not know about them for her entire life. There was no way she could save Audrey. As she looked at Audrey though, she thought back to what her ancestor, if Seraphina was really her ancestor, had done. She had given up everything to defeat the Darkness. If Seraphina had been able to do that, Emily realized that she should be able to save her friend.

Emily looked at her hands over Audrey’s wound. Audrey was really pale and her breathing was slow. Emily focused on what she wanted. To save her friend and to heal her of her wound. She looked at the wound. “How do I save her?” She asked James.

James was happy to hear that Emily was going to try to save Audrey. “Focus and think only of healing Audrey’s wound and of removing the poison.” He told Emily.

Emily nodded and closed her eyes. She imagined the poison and the bullet leaving Audrey’s body. She saw a silver light brighten the inside of her eyelids but she didn’t let that stop her. She had to continue with this. She felt her hands fill with energy. She could feel the energy go from her hands into the wound. “You’re doing it Emily.” She heard James say to her. She kept focusing on the wound and she heard something fall to the ground. She opened her eyes and saw that the bullet hole was gone and there was no blood on Audrey. She looked next to Audrey’s body and saw the bullet.

James took out a handkerchief and wrapped the bullet up. He then looked at Audrey and Emily. “We still need to go to the medical building for Audrey’s sake.” He told Emily. They both could see that Audrey was safe but still unconscious. Emily could also hear what James wasn’t saying out loud. That they couldn’t explain everything that had just happened to the two groups or even the rest of the staff.

“What should I say if Audrey asks me about what happened to her?” Emily asked James.

James shook his head. The truth was, he wasn’t sure what Emily should do. There was no way that Audrey was just going to ignore or forget that she had been targeted three times already. She was going to start snooping around to find out just what was happening. “We’ll take care of that when the time comes.” He answered. He picked up Audrey and continued to carry her to the medical building with Emily right behind them.

From his hiding spot, Josiah watched the entire scene unfold. He had a very annoyed look on his face. He wasn’t going to enjoy reporting to Anthony that Audrey was still alive or that the other girl was proving herself to be the Chosen One even more now since she had just used magic to save Audrey. He disappeared in a column of fire.