ISBN 9789899734869-11
2002 Words
'But how do you know who we are? And how do you know our, our... fathers? Why did you want to bring us here?' asked Emma.
Eleanor smiled, 'I'll get to your fathers in time, my dear. But you should know that you were always destined to join the Praxos Foundation. Both of you were.'
'But you didn't bring us here... Joe did,' Lana let slip before she'd even thought about what she was saying.
'Joe? You mean the young man standing at the back of the room right now?'
The girls gasped, and Joe moved quickly towards them.
'You can see me?' he croaked.
Chuckling, the old lady looked right at him, 'Yes. Of course I can see you, Josiah,' she said before turning back to Lana, 'Yes, Josiah led you here but only because we summoned him in the first place. We knew he was doing the rounds all over London and so we thought it only apt that we used him to lure you here, for want of a better word,' she chuckled.
'You lured us here?' whispered Emma, a little scared.
'Oh, I'm sorry, dear. There's no need for you to fear any of us here at Praxos. We are like a family, and you've just joined us.'
Looking up suddenly, Lana said, 'We have? But we've not agreed to join anything.'
Eleanor smiled, 'It's not something that you have to join as such, you don't have to sign anything. You were destined to be a part of us. You joined us the moment you grew your tattoos.'
'We...g..grew them?' said Lana, absentmindedly rubbing her lower back.
'But how do you know about our tattoos?' exclaimed Emma breathlessly.
Turning around so that she no longer faced them, Eleanor lifted her top to reveal the same kind of tattoo etched into her own lower back.
'Stamus Contra Malum - We stand against evil,' she said as she dropped her top and turned to face them. 'You are now part of the Praxos family. It is simply meant to be,' she said, returning to her chair and lowering herself into it like the very old lady she was.
'So let me get this right. We were born into the Praxos Foundation, and we have to be a part of it, whether we like it or not, because we 'grew' a tattoo?' asked Lana as she stood up to return her cup and saucer to the table.
'Exactly.'
'But what are we meant to do, Eleanor?' asked Emma.
'You will use your special skills to fight evil in whatever form it may arise.'
'Special skills?' asked Joe quietly.
'Yes, I believe the girls have already experienced some of them?' she asked as the sisters looked at each other in pure bewilderment.
Letting her head fall back gracefully as a gentle chuckle erupted from her lips, Eleanor shook her head before continuing, 'Being able to jump from great heights and swim beneath icy cold waters are something you've been able to do throughout your lives, is it?'
Comprehension dawned on the girls as the old lady carried on, 'We all have them here at Praxos, special skills, that is. As you begin your initiation and training, they will develop, you'll see.'
'Initiation?' Lana and Emma said at the same time as Emma's hand shot out to hold her sisters tightly.
'Of course. You didn't think we'd let you loose on the world without one, did you?'
'B... but... what kind of initiation?' asked Emma as she tightened her grip.
Laughing, Eleanor lifted herself from her chair again and stepped towards them, 'Oh, don't worry about that. It's nothing too gruesome,' she winked as she walked past them towards the door through which Wilbur had earlier disappeared.
'Come on, it's time I showed you around,' she said as the girls tentatively stood and followed slowly behind the old woman, with Joe hovering behind.
As they approached the door, Eleanor had barely touched it when it opened wide, revealing a darkened passageway beyond. As they walked along, candles seemingly came to life, flickering pockets of fire dancing in the shadows.
Emma, still clutching tightly onto her sister's hand, swallowed hard as they reached the end of the corridor. She had no idea where they were going or what they were doing. Her thoughts began to race, finding herself recalling her earlier adventure in the Thames. She remembered the adrenaline pulsing through her body and the feeling of extraordinary ecstasy that enveloped her soon after she'd jumped into the water.
The memory was enough to give her newfound confidence, and she released Lana's hand and smiled.
A closed, wrought-iron gate was in front of them. Eleanor reached forward and slid it across sideways, revealing a stainless steel door beneath it. Pressing a hidden button, it instantly opened. Lana gasped as Eleanor smiled and stepped into the modern elevator.
'Well, come on then,' she said, waiting for them to climb in. 'It's only a lift; it's not going to bite you.'
The three of them followed, noticing there was room enough for about another ten people. As the door quietly closed behind them, Eleanor pressed a button, and they stood silently waiting to see where they were going. Before they'd even noticed any movement, the door slid open, and Wilbur stood grinning on the other side.
'Have the others arrived yet, Wilbur?' Eleanor asked as he slid the wrought iron gate across to let them out.
'Yes, they're waiting for you in the White Room.'
She nodded as Wilbur walked away, turning left and out into another room beyond.
The girls and Joe stood staring ahead at the vast room that surrounded them, awe-inspired by the sheer size of it. It was like a giant tunnel, built in old red brick, with massive arches above them. They'd never seen anything like it.
Eleanor stood watching as they took it in. 'It's beautiful, isn't it?' she asked as they nodded.
'Where are we?' asked Lana.
'This is our HQ. We're beneath the city,' she replied, gesturing for them to follow her.
Strolling along, Eleanor pointed out tunnels that seemed to head off in different directions, 'We're actually underneath The British Museum at the moment, and if you wandered off in that general direction, you'd be standing beneath The Great Ormond Street Hospital. That tunnel leads to Westminster, this one to Hackney Marshes (which is a long way away), oh and over there, if you walked for quite a while, you'd walk under Greenwich and underneath the Thames Barrier...'
'But why, Eleanor? Why are we here? What are the tunnels for?' asked Lana.
'It's easy to access for us, we are well hidden beneath the city, and we're protected down here.'
'Protected from what?' whispered Emma.
'We'll get to all that in time, my dear. For now, I want you to meet others like you; others who also have no idea why they are here. You're all in the same boat. But it's a safe boat, don't worry,' she said with a smile, pushing open a large white door, into another room painted entirely in white where a group of about ten teenagers sat drinking from cans, reading books and playing on their phones.
As they entered the room, their faces lit up, and they all stopped what they were doing.
'Well, everybody is here now. We can begin,' smiled Eleanor. 'Would you girls like a cold drink before we start?'
Both nodded as a boy with cropped blond hair stood up and handed them both a coke. Lana took it immediately, opened it and began to gulp the cold liquid before she eventually stopped to say thanks, while Emma shook her head with a shy smile. 'Is there any water?' she asked him. Grinning, he nodded and bent backwards, putting the can back on the table and grabbing a small bottle of mineral water.
She took it gratefully, drinking it all while Eleanor stood patiently waiting for her to finish.
'Right then, hello everyone. I believe Wilbur has already given you a quick explanation of where you are?' she asked as the others nodded. 'Good, no doubt he has told you about me? I am Eleanor Hayden-Jones, and I'm the Guardian of the Fourth House of Praxos. Why don't you follow me, guys and gals...'
Breaking the silence of the room, everyone stood up, grabbed their belongings and walked out, some chatting to others, some just walking alone, a little too embarrassed to engage in conversation.
Lana left Emma alone to go and chat up a cute dark haired boy she'd had her eye on since walking in.
'Hi,' said a voice to her side as they strolled along behind Eleanor.
Turning, Emma saw that it was the boy with the cropped blond hair who'd kindly given her a drink.
'Hi,' she answered shyly, her cheeks turning a little shade of pink.
Holding out his hand, he said, 'I'm Diarmuid'.
Taking it and shaking gently, Emma smiled, 'Emma Jane. Well, just Emma really,' she said, the pink tinge of her cheeks darkening into more of a red hue.
'It's great to meet you, Just Emma,' he laughed. 'So...'
'So...' she replied, feeling more and more at ease with him.
'Where are you from?' he asked as she pushed strands of her hair behind her ear before remembering she wasn't keen on her ears, so she pulled the strands back down again.
'Andilyse Island. You?'
'Andilyse Island? Where's that?' he asked.
'You've never heard of it?'
He shook his head, 'I never was much good at geography,' he smiled, the brightness of his near perfectly formed teeth almost enticing her in.
'It's just off the English coast, east of here. I guess it's not the most popular of the British Isles,' she giggled before realising she sounded like a love-struck moron and shut up.
'It's not? How come?'
'People are put off by all the fog we get there, I guess... and the rain. And they're not too keen on all the wind turbines. We have tonnes of them on the island, but they don't bother us. We kinda like them, actually. I find them quite soothing, and it's nice to know that our electricity has all been generated by nature if you know what I mean.' Oh My God, I'm mumbling like a moron, she thought to herself just as she tripped up, almost falling to the ground. As Diarmuid caught her, she practically swooned as he very carefully pulled her upwards, looking down into her eyes. Her heart fluttered, and she could have sworn her stomach did its very own triple salchow.
As he eased her back up into position, he grinned at her again as she bit down on her lip, completely embarrassed.
'Thanks,' she muttered.
'Your island sounds nice. I like wind turbines.'
This time her stomach did a backwards somersault.
'Hmm,' she muttered, 'You never told me where you're from?'
'Ireland.'
'You're a long way from home.'
'Well, I grew up in Ireland, but I live in Oxfordshire now with my mum, well, she's not my real mum. I found that out just last week. Came as a bit of a shock.'
'Oh... I'm sorry.'
'That's okay. Did you know about, you know?'
'That I'm adopted? Yes. It was always pretty obvious when you look at the rest of the family. They're all blue-eyed blondes, yet there's me with my dark hair and green eyes and my sister Lana with her afro hair and amber eyes. Not exactly a secret they could keep from us,' she smiled. 'But we only just found out about th... this.......'
'Okay, everyone. Gather around please,' announced Eleanor from the front of the group. The teenagers began shuffling forwards, so they almost surrounded her. Behind her was a massive statue of an angel with enormous wings that cloaked a small child. At the foot of the statue was a plaque with an inscription that included The Praxos Foundation's emblem: the winged eye.
'This statue is thousands of years old, created by those who started Praxos. Each house across the country, and actually around the world, has a similar statue in their HQ. It signifies everything that we stand for. If you look closely at the plaque, it has the words Stamus Contra Malum.'
'What's that mean?' asked a girl wearing glasses and her hair in a high ponytail.
- Writer
