The Adventures of Emily Tual: Revelations Book Three

James looked at the sign. It read Camp Aldersgate. It had taken him all night but he had finally made it to the small town of Greig. He took a few steps towards town before stumbling. He didn’t realize how tired he was. He wanted to keep going but he knew he wouldn’t be any good to Audrey if he was tired. He looked at the camp and saw a large building down the main road. There was an office sign. There weren’t any vehicles there. He looked past the large building. It looked like everyone was at what he was guessing was the mess hall. That was good. Meant he could find a place to rest for a little bit at the camp. He saw a small chapel in a clear field on the other side of another road that went through the camp.

In the chapel, James laid down on a pew. It looked like the place was rarely used. He would be able to get a few hours of sleep there before continuing his way to find Audrey and Aunica. He closed his eyes and before he knew it, he was fast asleep.

“Wake up Girl.” Audrey woke with a start and looked around. Where was she? The last thing she remembered was being placed in a vehicle with Black Hands on either side of her. She was now in what looked like a warehouse tied up to a chair. There were quite a few Black Hands around the place. They were all armed and looked dangerous.

“Nice to see you’re finally awake.” Audrey turned to see Josiah staring down at her. “And here I was thinking I’d have to use a more painful method to wake you up with.” Josiah continued. “Wouldn’t want you to miss your meeting with Anthony now would we?”

Audrey looked around the warehouse again. So their boss wasn’t there yet. “I see you bad guys have no imagination.” She said. “I mean what is it with bad guys always having prisoners in a warehouse? It’s so movieish.” Did the Black Hand really have no imagination?

Josiah smiled and laughed a bit. “You make it sound like we’re amateurs.” He told Audrey. “I will remind you that the Black Hand has been around longer than your movies have.” He gestured around them. “And this isn’t a normal warehouse if you listen closely.”

Audrey frowned. What did Josiah mean by that? She was about to ask when she heard it. The echoes of screams, the crunching of bones, the slithering of shadows. She thought she saw a flicker to her right and turned quickly. There was nothing there. Just some crates making a...shadow that seemed to be moving.

“You can see it, can’t you?” Josiah asked even though he could tell that the answer was yes. “This place has several carnivorous shadows. All of them starving for human flesh.” As if to prove his point, Josiah flicked his wrist and a Black Hand went flying into the shadows, screaming as the sound of crunching was heard. Audrey closed her eyes tightly so she didn’t have to see the Black Hand getting eaten alive. Soon his screams were gone.

Audrey looked at Josiah. “You’re evil.” She said. How could he do that to one of his own men? “What are those monsters?”

Josiah went towards the shadows until he was right by it. “These monsters were once humans.” He told Audrey. “The first one was an experiment. Stripped to his shadow and then tested by giving him humans. He was able to feast on them until they were shadows as well.” Josiah looked at the shadows. “We now have these monsters in quite a few warehouses around the world. When the time is right, they’ll be sent to the Darkness to serve her.”

There it was again. Calling the Darkness “she”. Audrey wanted to know who the Darkness was. “I thought the Darkness was a he.” She said. According to Gabriel, the Darkness was a he. Why was Josiah acting like the Darkness was a woman?

Josiah turned to Audrey. “Is that what Gabriel said?” He asked her. He started walking towards Audrey. “What did he tell you about the Darkness?” He demanded.

Audrey thought back to what Gabriel had told her and the others. “That the Darkness was defeated by Seraphina but only the Chosen One can defeat him for good. That Victor, Gabriel’s friend helped kill Seraphina and that the Black Hand has been killing Chosen Ones to make sure the Darkness can’t be defeated.” She said. She was confused though. Josiah already knew everything.

Josiah knelt down in front of her. “What if I told you that Gabriel was keeping secrets, including the truth about that fateful from you?” He asked.

Audrey wanted to call Josiah a liar but the way he was looking at her made her hesitant. Gabriel did keep her parentage a secret from her and had kept her own father from her and her mother. In a way, it was his fault she had been in that orphanage. What else could he be hiding from her?

“I can ask James about this.” Audrey told Josiah. James would know the truth for sure.

Josiah laughed. “What makes you think you can trust James?” He asked Audrey. “A boy who can’t even remember his life before Gabriel and Jasper had found him before the great fight.” The way he was looking at Audrey made it clear he knew more than he was letting on.

Before Audrey could say anything, a man came in. He smiled when he saw Audrey and started walking towards Audrey quickly. “Audrey, Audrey, Audrey.” He said. Audrey assumed this man was Anthony. Anthony went up to her and looked at the rope. “Josiah, why is she tied up?” He asked his demon. “She isn’t a prisoner, she’s our guest ”

Josiah frowned and snapped his fingers. Anthony smiled. “Much better.” He said as he helped Audrey out of her chair.

Audrey was completely surprised by this. Anthony wasn’t at all what she expected. She turned to the door that Anthony had entered through. She could easily escape Anthony and his Black Hands. He clearly didn’t have Aunica yet. She just needed a distraction.

“You’re more than welcome to leave.” Anthony said. Audrey turned back to Anthony, taken aback by this. Anthony wasn’t acting at all like a Black Hand. Anthony smiled. He could tell that he was catching Audrey off guard. “You were never a prisoner Audrey.” He continued. “We both want the same thing after all.”

Audrey wasn’t sure they did have the same goal in mind. She wanted to help save the world whereas Anthony wanted to conquer it. “What do you mean?” She asked. “We’re nothing alike.”

Anthony smiled. “We’re both looking for Aunica.” He reminded Audrey. “Together we can find her and bring the prophecy to past Chosen One.” He could see that he was getting under Audrey’s skin. It was time to put what he believed into Audrey’s mind. “Do you really think that Emily is the Chosen One?” He asked Audrey. “She hasn’t done anything impressive to prove that she’s the Chosen One. You though,” Anthony took a step towards Audrey. “You’ve proven yourself to be the Chosen One.”

There it was. The thing that made Audrey question Anthony. “If I’m the Chosen One, aren’t you supposed to be taking me to the Darkness then?” She asked. “That’s what the last guy was trying to do with Emily.”

Josiah looked at Anthony. Audrey wasn’t buying his act yet. Anthony kept smiling. “The Magician was a fool who went after the wrong Chosen One.” He told Audrey. “But who said the person who wants to see you is the Darkness?”

Audrey shook her head. Anthony wasn’t making any sense to her. Who was he taking her to see if it wasn’t the Darkness? She took a step towards the door. She had to get out of there. She looked at the Black Hands around them. None of them were focused on her. She took off running.

Josiah watched Audrey run off before he turned to Anthony. “Why did you let her go?” He demanded. “She wasn’t buying your act. We should have stopped her from escaping.” It seemed to him that all they did was waste time trying to convince Audrey to join them. “Just give the word and I’ll capture her.”

Anthony shook his head. “Josiah, do you know why I said the things I did to her?” He asked his demon. “I wanted her to join us freely so that I can prove to the Master that I can do the job better than the Magician.” That was his endgame. To prove he could capture the Chosen One and bring her to the Darkness without any problems.

Anthony looked around. He was originally going to turn Josiah into his Horseman of War there but he wasn’t going to do it yet. He wanted to wait until the Darkness wasn’t expecting it to strike. “Let’s go get Aunica.” He told Josiah.

Audrey ran all the way to a minigolf course and stopped running. She had to stop and think. She sat down on a bench and held her head. Anthony’s words were still in her thoughts. Anthony wasn’t making any sense to her and everything he and Josiah said contradicted what Gabriel had told her and Emily.

Audrey looked up. She didn’t know what to do anymore. Was she really the Chosen One or just a Witness in the fight? What was Gabriel keeping from her and Emily? Josiah said things that were hard to ignore. Audrey wanted to know who the Darkness was.

In the chapel, James woke up. He heard someone walking towards the front of the chapel. His eyes widened. He wasn’t supposed to be there. He wasn’t sure how long he had been asleep. He quickly got onto the ground and quickly rolled under the pew. He stayed as quietly as he could be and looked to see who was there.

A girl went up to the altar and looked up at the cross. James’s eyes widened. It was Aunica. It looked like Aunica was upset about something. Part of James wanted to go up to her and comfort her but he knew that he couldn’t. Aunica wouldn’t remember him. He wondered what Aunica was crying about. He took his phone out. He couldn’t believe that Agent Beckett and his driver had forgotten to take the phone from him. He sent a text to Audrey to tell her where Aunica was.

Anthony looked at Agent Beckett. The Homeland Security Black Hand was on his phone. “Do we have Aunica’s location?” Anthony asked Agent Beckett.

Agent Beckett nodded and looked at Anthony. “She’s at a place called Camp Aldersgate for the week.” He told Anthony. “Should we go capture Aunica?”

Anthony looked at Josiah. “Keep an eye out for Audrey.” He ordered the demon. “My words should have confused her enough to keep her out of the way but if she tries to stop us, deal with her.” Anthony looked at the rest of his Black Hands. “Get ready for a fight with the local police.” He would deal with Aunica personally.

Audrey was looking at her phone screen. She had just gotten a text message from James. He had found Aunica. The evening before, Audrey would have gone after Aunica to keep her safe. Now she wasn’t sure if taking Aunica was the right thing anymore. It seemed like Anthony was only interested in her and not Aunica.

That was when she saw it. Anthony and several Black Hands getting into sedans. Including the Black Hand that had been following her on the first charter bus. Her eyes widened as she looked at her phone screen. James had been captured but he must have escaped. There was no way that Anthony would tell her that they were going after Aunica.

She started running towards the minigolf course’s office when Josiah appeared in front of her. He was smiling. “Shall we Chosen One?” He asked before his eyes started glowing.