ISBN 9789899734869-13
2001 Words
The smile returned to Eleanor's face as she looked at the group with warmth, 'Thank you, but it was an awfully long time ago. I let him go many centuries ago. My only wish is that I had a photograph of him, but such things weren't in existence back then,' she chuckled as she walked across the room towards the door.
'Come on, everyone. People are waiting for us,' she said with a twinkle in her eyes.
As they walked out of the large living room and back into the grand hall, a whole host of people waited to greet them, including Declan and Saleena.
'Declan!' exclaimed Emma as she rushed towards him. 'Why didn't you tell us?' she asked as Lana joined her.
Saleena smiled and walked away as Declan began to speak, 'It wasn't up to me to tell you. Ellie is the guardian, and she must tell you the truth. It's the way it's always been. How are you taking it? Are you okay?' he asked
'We're great, thanks,' said Lana, 'It's all kinda cool, actually. Quite a lot to take in, but cool. So are you, you know... one of us?' she asked cheekily.
Nodding, Declan lifted his shirt, revealing the tattoo in all its glory. Lana and Emma both leaned forward at the same time to check it out, 'Resurgam' was written across his back.
'What does it mean?' asked Emma curiously.
'I shall arise,' he answered as he put his top back down and turned to face them.
'Do you know what it means though, what it really means?' Lana said, twisting her hair around her finger.
'Yes I do, but that's not something you need to know. Not yet, anyway.'
'Spoilsport.'
'Do our parents know, Declan?'
He shook his head. 'No, they believe you are here for work experience.'
'But what do they think we're doing? How can we keep this a secret?' Lana said.
'You'll be amazed how easy it is to keep this a secret, girls. When your lives depend on it, believe me, you will keep the secret. I told Patrick that you were both going to work as assistants/secretaries for me, for my private investigation business.'
'Dad thinks we're working for a private investigator?' exclaimed Emma, 'No way, he would never allow that.'
Smiling and shaking his head, he said, 'Your dad trusts me. Let's just put it that way. He knows I would die for his children and in his eyes that makes wherever I am, the safest place in the world for his daughters.'
'Wow, that's awesome,' said Lana, 'But why does he trust you so much?'
'Because when he and your father worked together in the police force, Declan took a bullet for him on more than one occasion. They were like brothers,' said Saleena, who had crept upon them quietly.
'Wow,' whispered Emma, 'I mean really, like wow.'
Before he explained anything more, Eleanor retook centre stage to speak.
'It's such a pleasure to have everyone together again. Thank you for offering to be this year's Mentors and for coming down to collect your Watchers. The initiation will begin shortly. I'll see you all back here again in the morning. You know what to do,' she said with a cheeky smile. 'Ciao!' she exclaimed, and before the Watchers knew what had happened, Eleanor had disappeared.
'What? Where did she go?' whispered the youngsters as they looked around in astonishment.
The so-called Mentors rounded up their Watchers and started heading out of the main hall. Declan and Saleena led Lana and Emma down a tunnel they'd not been before.
'What was all that about?' asked Lana as they followed behind them.
Taking no notice of her sister, Emma was walking backwards trying to spot Diarmuid, but it seemed he'd already left. She sighed heavily and turned back around, just as Declan chuckled in front of her, 'Don't worry, Emma, he'll be here tomorrow. You'll see him then,' he said.
Lana giggled too, as did Saleena. And Emma blushed from head to toe.
'He seems like a charming young man,' said Saleena quietly over her shoulder and Emma grinned broadly, nodding.
'So what's going on now, Declan? What is this initiation? And where are we going?' Lana asked as they continued to walk down the darkly lit tunnel.
'Where's Joe?' Emma suddenly said, noticing that he was no longer with them.
'Don't worry about Josiah. He's been asked to stay away during the initiation. You'll see him afterwards. He's fine.'
They continued walking in silence, Emma thinking about what the initiation would entail. Lana was thinking about Liam, the sexy rocker type Watcher she'd been chatting to most of the afternoon.
'Is it going to... hurt, Declan?' whispered Emma as her musings began to go into overload.
He smiled and shook his head. 'Don't worry. It's nothing like those horrible rituals they do to students at some of those scary college fraternities in America. You'll be able to do it easily enough. Just remember that you mustn't be seen using your special skills by the general public. That's all you need to know. Everything else will come naturally.'
'Here we are, Declan,' said Saleena as they stopped beside an archway that led up an old crumbling flight of stairs.
'Right girls, take this. Once you get to the top and out into the open, the door will close firmly behind you, and you won't be able to get back in. You'll know what to do. Don't look so scared, Emma. It'll be a piece of cake. Good luck,' he said, handing them an expensive-looking envelope sealed with wax.
Saleena put her hands on Emma's shoulders and kissed her on both cheeks before doing the same to Lana. 'Good luck,' she said as the girls turned away nervously climbing the stairs. As they faced the old heavy door, they both took a deep breath before Lana leaned forward and unlocked it, pulling it open to reveal another dark tunnel up ahead.
As the door slammed behind them, they realised they couldn't see a thing. The two girls stood in complete pitch darkness.
CHAPTER 19
'Now, what do we do? There's no point in opening the envelope either, coz we can't see it!' said Lana, who was starting to get a little annoyed.
'There's no point in getting irritated, Lana. We're in this situation, now we have to deal with it,' reassured Emma.
'Yeah, I know that, but how?'
'Let's just think... I don't suppose you've got any matches on you?' she joked. 'Okay, maybe not.'
The two stood for a moment in silence.
'This is part of it, isn't it?' asked Lana.
'What? Do you mean part of the initiation? Probably. I guess we should try and walk down the tunnel until we see daylight,' suggested Emma.
'The only problem with that is we don't know how long that will take. It must be nearly seven 'o'clock now. It'll be getting dark around ten-ish, won't it?'
'Well, I hope we're not down here for that long. Let's just try it.'
So the girls tentatively began taking steps in the darkness, one foot carefully in front of the other. But when Lana stepped on something a bit squishy she let out a startled shriek that bounced off the walls around them, echoing off into the darkness.
'No... I can't do this. What WAS that? Ewwww. It could have been anything. We could be walking in the sewers. That could have been a dead rat or worse. It could have been someone's poo...' she wailed.
Emma tried not to laugh and steadied her sister.
'There must be something we can d...' Lana said, suddenly stopping. 'Oh My God, I just realised. Duh! Our special skills, Emma. It's you.. You can light the way.'
'I can?'
'Yes, of course. What does your tattoo say?'
'Lux in Tenebris Lucet,' replied Emma with a grin, adding, 'Light shines in the darkness, of course!' she giggled.
'Okay then, so go ahead,' prompted Lana.
'Erm, I don't know how.'
'Well, just concentrate.'
Standing dead still and closing her eyes in the darkness, Emma concentrated hard on creating light, but nothing happened.
'Well?'
'Nothing's happening,' said Emma with a sigh. 'I just don't know how to do it.'
Lana sighed as she tried to think of something that would work.
'Think about what happened before; concentrate on what happened when you were in the water. Maybe that'll work,' she suggested as Emma closed her eyes once again and took herself back to that morning when she'd thrown herself into the Thames. As she fell beneath the surface of the water, she recalled the feeling that filled her body. It was like adrenaline pumping through her veins, and she'd felt so completely alive.
Suddenly, Lana began laughing and clapping her hands together like a child.
'You're doing it, you're doing it,' she shouted, her words echoing throughout the tunnel around them.
Sure enough, Emma opened her eyes to find light emanating from every pore of her body. She was like a human light bulb. The feeling warmed her as Lana hugged her tightly before they both investigated their surroundings. A thin tunnel led ahead for quite some distance, with several built-in ladders positioned at various locations along it.
'What do you reckon? asked Emma.
Shrugging her shoulders, Lana glanced around, avoiding looking down, she really didn't want to see what the squishy thing was that she'd stepped on. 'Let's open the envelope. It might give us a clue.'
Emma removed it from the back pocket of her jeans and unfolded it before she popped open the red wax seal. Inside was a blank piece of paper.
'Great, now what?' she said as she showed it to Lana who tutted angrily.
'How the hell are we supposed to know what to do now?' she said.
'Let's just walk down the tunnel and maybe climb some of the ladders until we find our way out. At least we can see now,' Emma suggested.
Half an hour later, the girls felt like they'd walked miles. Every ladder they'd climbed had led to a locked hatch, and they were getting increasingly irritated.
'I need a drink.'
'Here, I've got some water in my bag,' said Emma as she pulled out the bottle and handed it to her sister.
In the meantime, Emma was looking more closely at the blank piece of paper, hoping for some sort of clue to appear, but it was just blank, plain and simple.
A loud noise in the distance made Lana spit out the majority of the water in her mouth, drenching Emma's face.
'Great, Lana, thanks!' she said, wiping her face with the sleeve of her cardigan. As she did so, she noticed something on the paper. A couple of letters had appeared.
'Lana... look.'
'Huh? Didn't you hear that? It's freaking me out... what if that... oh,' she said as Emma waved the piece of paper in front of her face.
'It's the water. The paper needs water to reveal what's on it.'
Lana carefully flicked little spots of water onto it, and they watched as words began to unravel before them.
Excitedly, they waited to see what it revealed.
'Stamus Contra Malum'
'Is that it?' Lana reeled. 'We already know what that means... jeese...'
'Wait, it's not finished yet. The words are still forming.'
And sure enough, the paper revealed more for the girls to try and figure out.
Have you found your way yet? London is a big place for two small girls in the dark.
But fear not, for losing yourselves is the best way to find yourselves and become who you are truly meant to be.
Fear not of the dark, for you have light
Fear not of the water, for you can swim
Fear not of the heights, for you can jump
Fear not of the evil, for you are Watchers
The Guardian and the Mentors await your return with newfound courage,
newfound strength and a newfound passion for the work of Praxos.
'Well, what's all that meant to mean?' sighed Lana, feeling as though the paper did nothing to help them.
But Emma smiled, 'It means that we shouldn't be afraid of anything. Whatever comes our way, we can rise above it all. Come on, let's go.'
'But go where? We don't even know that. We don't know how to get out.'
'Sure we do, we just have to keep going until the exit reveals itself, Lana.'
- Writer
