Chapter 10
In New Philadelphia, a police officer was in the driver’s seat of his police car drinking coffee. He shook his head. It was going to be a long night. Ever since the crazy attack earlier that day, the Mayor had given every police officer a double shift. Neighborhood watches had been ordered and SWAT had been sent to the prison facility due to all of the deaths that had occurred there. He had not planned on being stuck in his police car by the mall at one in the morning. He had wanted to go home to be with his girlfriend. He drank more of his coffee and managed not to yawn. He regretted not having any good music to listen to but sadly the stations he listened to were doing either commercials or having the host talking.
That was when the police officer saw something strange. A hunched over figure crawling along the ground in the shadows. He frowned. The figure looked creepy He looked down and took out his radio to call for help. When he looked back up though, it was gone. He shook his head and put his radio down. He probably just saw a dog or something. There were always a few stray dogs that were out and about and he didn’t get a good look at it. It was probably a thin dog. He went to get his coffee and frowned. It was gone. That was when he felt something grab him by the neck. He gasped. It felt like a leathery hand. It tightened its grip on his neck.
“Where is the Chosen One?” A raspy female voice asked. The officer’s eyes widened. Whoever this woman was had a terrible voice. He looked in the rearview mirror. He regretted doing that. The woman’s skin looked like it was decaying and dead. Two milky eyes were looking at him. He was too terrified to even ask how she had gotten from across the street into his car without making any noise. “Where is the Chosen One?” The woman demanded, tightening her grip on the police officer’s neck. “I’ve been brought back from the dead to kill her and I won’t rest until she’s dead.”
The police officer struggled to breathe. “I…don’t know…any…Chosen One.” He answered while gasping for air. Why did he get stuck with having to patrol this part of the city? Why couldn’t he have a more populated area? What did this, whatever it was, mean by Chosen One? Too many questions were going through his head. “Please…let me…go.” He found it hard to breathe suddenly. Most likely because of how tight the woman’s grip was on his neck. He started clawing at the woman’s hand but his fingers only scraped at dead skin. He could feel the woman’s hand tightening its grip on his neck. There was a snap and his hands fell limply to the ground.
Abigail Williams growled angrily as she felt the man slumped in his seat. She could tell that he was dead. She didn’t get the answer she wanted from him. She would have to find someone else to tell her where the Chosen One was. She looked at herself in the mirror that the man had looked at to see her. She would have to change her appearance if she was to blend in with the humans of this time. Her eyes glowed white and she felt her body come to life. The leathery decayed skin returned to a healthy living glow. Her eyes went from white to brown. Her hair grew back.
Abigail smiled as she felt herself become fully rejuvenated She looked at the man she had killed. She smiled. The man was now a leathery dead body in a uniform. She looked down at her clothes. She would need to change her outfit. The tattered dress stuck out. She got out of the strange carriage and looked at the giant building in front of her. She had a feeling that there were clothes in there that she could steal. She ran to the building and hit an invisible barrier. She looked in front of her. She could see into the building but for some reason, she couldn’t enter. She reached out and her hand touched the invisible barrier. She shook her head. She had to get in to try to find better clothes.
“Excuse me?” A loud male voice called out to her left. Abigail Williams managed not to groan and turned to see who was interrupting her. It was another man in a uniform similar to the man she had just killed. This one had a torch in his hand and its bright fire was pointed at her. “What are you doing here?” The man asked her. The man looked at her outfit. “Are you okay Ma’am?” He asked. “You look like you got into a fight with something nasty.”
Abigail Williams looked down at herself before looking at the man. “I require clothes.” She told him. “Clothes to replace these ones.” She gestured to her tattered dress as she said that. She pointed to the building. “What unholy barrier is keeping me out of this building?” She demanded. “I can see into it but I can’t walk in.” Surely this man had to know what this barrier was.
The security officer smiled. He didn’t know what the woman meant by “unholy barrier” but he knew what she was pointing at. “That is called a window.” He told the woman. “It’s pretty much in place of a wall so the customers can see in or out depending on if they’re inside or not. As to why you can’t walk in, it’s simple.” He laughed a little. “The mall is closed. None of the stores are opened so the doors are locked.”
Abigail Williams glared at the man. “Sorry I can’t do anything else to help you.” The man continued. “Is there someplace I can take you?” She noticed that the man was reaching for something at his belt. It was a square black strange looking rock with what looked like a stick poking out of it. She didn’t know what it was but she had a feeling that it was powerful.
“I am here to find someone.” She told the man. “Someone very important.”
The man stopped reaching for the strange rock. “Go on.” The man told her.
Abigail Williams went up to him. “The person I’m searching for is known as the Chosen One.” She answered.
The man smiled. “Chosen One?” He asked. “Is that code for your boyfriend or something?” He laughed at his joke.
Abigail Williams didn’t laugh though. Instead, she grabbed him by the neck and threw him against the wall. “The Chosen One is a threat to my master.” She told the man in an angry voice as she flew up to him faster than the man could have thought possible.
The security guard gasped as he felt something poke him in the chest. He looked down at his chest and saw that the woman had taken his knife from his belt and had it pointed at his chest. The security guard could feel the sharpness pressed against his chest. He was freaked out by this point. He looked for his radio but saw that it was on the ground behind the strange woman. “Who are you?” He asked the woman. The woman pushed the knife harder against his chest. The security guard had a feeling that something bad was going to happen to him. “What do you want?” He asked.
Abigail Williams glared at him. “I want the location of the Chosen One!” She shouted angrily. “I need to destroy her before she can destroy my master!” In her anger, she lashed out and stabbed the man repeatedly with the knife. She didn’t even care that the man slouched to the ground dead, she kept stabbing him. She then stopped after a few minutes and looked at the dead body. “Can no one tell me where the Chosen One is?” She asked herself. How could none of these people have heard of the Chosen One? Were they just that stupid?
“You’re going to the wrong people if you want to find the Chosen One?” A male voice said from behind Abigail Williams. Abigail Williams spun around. A man and a woman were standing behind her. The woman had curly brown hair and was in a black suit. The man had a grey beard and short grey hair and was in a black suit as well. Both of them had long black coats on despite the heat. They both looked dangerous and serious. “None of the humans here know where the Chosen One is.” The man told Abigail Williams. “They don’t know what you mean by Chosen One so they wouldn’t be much help to begin with.” He added.
Abigail Williams glared at the man and the woman. “Who are you?” She demanded. “How do you know about the Chosen One?” Her eyes glowed white. She was ready to fight these two humans. It would teach them for sneaking up on her.
Harold looked at Hannah and nodded. Hannah stepped forward and looked at Abigail Williams. Hannah recognized the witch from the history books’ descriptions of her. If she had to be honest, she was a bit disappointed with the real Abigail Williams. She had imagined the witch to strike more fear into people and to cause more chaos. The Abigail Williams in front of her looked pathetic. “I am Hannah.” Hannah told the witch. “This is Harold.” She gestured to Harold as she said that. “We both work with the people who sent you here to kill the Chosen One.” She explained. “We would have done the job earlier today but there we were outnumbered severely outnumbered.” She thought of Gabriel, Jasper, James and the one known as Emily Tual as she told Abigail Williams that.
Harold nodded. “Anthony sent you here to kill the Chosen One.” He told Abigail Williams. “Why you’re taking care of her, Hannah and I will be attending to the Chosen One’s friends.” He took out a file from within his jacket and opened it. “Gabriel, I’m sure you know who he is, is coming to the Foster System’s office in this city tomorrow to try to find the Chosen One’s family. People who can take Audrey in since her parents are dead.”
“We just need to deal with him while you find Audrey.” Hannah told Abigail Williams. Both she and Harold started walking towards Abigail Williams. “The Black Hand needs a victory after that embarrassing fiasco that the Magician gave us when he attempted to do the ritual.” Hannah continued. “Anthony might be preoccupied with bringing about the apocalypse with the four Horsemen but we haven’t forgotten what the real mission of the Black Hand is.”
Abigail Williams took a step back. She had never seen these two Black Hands back when she had been alive during the Salem Witch Trials but they made her really nervous for some reason. Her eyes stopped glowing and to her horror, the two people smiled wickedly. “What’s the plan then?” She asked the two. “How do I get to the Chosen One?”
Harold took out a slip of paper and handed it to Abigail Williams. “Despite what Josiah believes, the Chosen One isn’t in this city.” He told Abigail Williams. “She’s in a place called Camp Wolfwoods. Gabriel is keeping her there while they try to find a safe place to take her.” He smiled as if he found the idea that there was a safe place for someone so powerful to be amusing.
“With two amateur magicians at the camp guarding the Chosen One, she’ll be easy to destroy.” Hannah told Abigail Williams.
“Very easy.” Harold agreed.
Abigail Williams looked at the slip of paper before looking up at the two Black Hands. She could tell that these two were very powerful. With them helping her, there was no way that she could fail at getting rid of the Chosen One. “When do we start?” She asked the two.