Chapter Thirty-One

Raven takes April, Shelly, Ace, and Emily to the basement just as Jonathan asked. Leaving Marsha upstairs with Aldemar so she can be in peace with seeing her husband again. They all look around for the spot in the floor that leads to another staircase.

“Guys I think I found it, help me move this chest.” says Shelly as Ace jumps to the other side of a large chest. After moving the chest they reveal a part of the wooden floorboard that can be lifted up.

“If I had to guess, I would say this is probably it.” says Shelly.

“Well I’ve never seen a secret library, but it looks like what I imagined it would.” says Ace opening up the floorboard revealing stairs. Ace draws his bow.

“Why do we need that?” asks April.

“Do you know what’s down there?” asks Ace.

“Well no, but. I guess you’re right.” says April.

Ace leads the way down first, bow drawn. Shelly follows him down second and April third. Emily is next and finally Raven. Ace steps on the hardwood and helps the ladies come down after him. They all admire the library, which is just that. A library with an amount of books that doesn’t seem to end. Not just books, but files and folders, shelf after shelf of information. Ace sheaths his bow, seeing now that it wasn’t needed.

“Well where do we even begin?” asks Shelly.

“I don’t even know.” asks Raven walking around the library in awe.

“The Book of Major Demons.” says Raven reading it to herself.

“Watch out for Rachel.” says Raven repeating Jonathan’s warning.

“Rachel, Rachel, Rachel.” says Raven looking through the book.

“Hey Raven where are you?” asks April looking through the aisles for her.

“I don’t have time for this.” says Raven tucking the book into her jacket.

“Hey Raven, I found this book, it’s all about the Dragons. Maybe this could come in handy with Sabri.” says April showing it to Raven.

“Days of the Dragon.” says Raven analyzing the book.

“This was written in the days when Dragons pretty much ruled the Earth. Long before Humans, my guess is that an Angel or a Demon wrote this. Maybe a God of sorts.” says Raven.

“Do you think there’s a chance that book can tell us how to find Sabri’s body? In hopes he hasn’t found it first.” says Ace coming out from another aisle.

“There’s a chance. I’ll take a read when I get the chance. Maybe tonight. No promises though.” says Raven, setting the book on the table.

“I have an idea.” says April looking around.

“What’s that?” asks Shelly.

“We could set mom up down here. That way she still feels involved and we don’t have to run home every time we need an answer. We just have to set up some form of communication,” explains April.

“I like the idea, Raven got any tricks?” asks Ace.

“We could set up a Watching Crystal over a mirror. And we all keep another one on us to be able to talk to her. All we’d need is a mirror or water or something we can see a reflection in.” explains Raven.

“I could call a few friends, hope they’re still alive and see if they can send me a set?” offers Emily.

“I don’t see the harm. If not I can always call and see if my mother has an old set lying around.” says Raven.

“Hey guys, I made dinner. If anyone wants to come up and eat.” says Marsha.

“How did you make a dinner in ten minutes?” asks Raven confused.

“Ten minutes? You guys have been down here almost an hour.” says Marsha seeming just as confused.

“I don’t understand.” says Ace.

“My watch froze.” says Emily looking at her watch.

“Froze?” asks Shelly.

“3:46. The exact time we came down here.” says Emily.

“What the hell has Jonathan built down here?” asks Raven looking around at the walls.

“I don’t understand what kind of magic this place has, but we should figure it out.” says Emily.

They all go back upstairs. Aldemar finishes setting up the table of a full course meal that Marsha had cooked. Everyone takes a chair and sits down. When was the last time any of them had the chance to sit down and eat? Just months ago this table was Shelly,April, Marsha, and Jonathan. One happy family. Now it’s filled with a broken family, and friends that have been through so much together they have become bonded just as family. Only missing one link. The Black Widow. A young Necromancer still in captivity. The room is silent as everyone eats and sips from their drink. Finally after about ten silent moments it’s broken.

“I call for a toast.” says Emily standing up.

“To a ragtag group of renegades, who’ve toppled Emperors, and disrupted the powers at be.” says Emily raising her glass.

“To the renegades!” yells Raven smiling and raising her glass.

“To the renegades!” everyone joins in to yell this time with a smile and a laugh.

“There’s room for everyone to stay here. No one needs to go anywhere tonight. Tonight we live as a family. “ says Marsha.

About an hour after the meal they have all retired to different parts of the house. Marsha, and Aldemar sit on the back porch sipping wine, Ace and Emily are sitting in the kitchen doing dishes, April and Shelly are in Shelly’s room, and Raven is upstairs by herself trying to read some of the books she found in the library. Marsha and Aldemar share stories of their youth and some laughs.

“So what was it like growing up? Obviously you weren’t always a ten thousand year old being.” says Marsha with a laugh.

“I’m the eldest between myself and Sabri. He was always jealous of me. Especially after I was chosen to train the Psychics after my parents decided to retire and move on. I was always much more developed than him with our powers. When my parents retired and passed on it was a big deal because I was never married. So it was unclear who would take my position when I decided to move on.” says Aldemar.

“So you chose when you’re done?” asks Marsha setting her glass of wine on the table.

“I chose when I retire, and when I ultimately choose to be with my parents again.” says Aldemar.

“What’s keeping you here?” asks Marsha.

“What do you mean?” asks Aldemar.

“You aren’t happy here anymore. Why not go be happy?” asks Marsha.

“That would leave everything to Sabri. The Psychics, and potentially everything I’ve created here.” says Aldemar.

“And then Sabri would be able to stay immortal. Instead of you being able to put him back down every so often.” says Marsha putting the puzzle together.

“Sabri is powerful. And he’ll be even stronger when he finds his own body.” says Aldemar.

“Which is why we need to find it first.” says Marsha.

“What is the plan when we find it?” asks Marsha.

“We burn it. We force my brother to give up.” says Aldemar.

“Without his body he’ll never have a chance to topple you.” says Marsha.

“Exactly, and he’ll have to just give up and move on. And then, maybe I can too.” says Aldemar.

“But what about the Psychics?” asks Marsha.

“We don’t need them after Sabri is gone.” says Aldemar.

“But what if?” asks Marsha.

“Hopefully this will be the last cycle of Psychics we ever see.” says Aldemar.

“So why do you keep following me around?” asks Emily with a smile.

“Maybe I just like talking to you.” says Ace with a smile back.

“You’re such a punk.” says Emily putting a dish back in the cupboard.

“Well would a punk do this?”asks Ace as blows bubbles into her face from the dishwater.

“Ace stop!” yells Emily laughing and throwing water back.

“Why don’t you make me?” asks Ace with a chuckle.

“You’re such an a*s!” says Emily laughing and smacking his shoulder with  dish towel.

“Being an a*s is just brass tacks.” says Ace with a wink.

“Don’t you wink at me bow boy.” says Emily.

“Why’s that?” asks Ace leaning against the cabinet.

“Because I know about you. I know what you’re all about. You come and then you leave.” says Emily changing the tone from funny and flirty to very serious.

“What do you mean?” asks Ace seeming almost offended.

“Look I get it, you’re cute you like the ladies. But I’m not falling for someone who could be gone when I wake up one morning.” says Emily taking the plug out of the sink letting the water run down.

“Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a call to make.” says Emily walking past him bumping Ace’s shoulder.

“S**t Ace. You gotta pull it together.” says Ace running his hands through his hair.

“Okay this is the last of it.” says April bringing a box of her clothes into Shelly’s room.

“We made it our whole childhood and never had to share a room.Go figure.” says Shelly with a chuckle moving some of her stuff around so her sister can put her clothes away.

“I shared a room with a girl while I was at training. It wasn’t so bad.” says April.

“Was Aldemar like this when you were there?” asks Shelly.

“In a way. He was hard on us. He likes things done in a certain way. But it was hard to train to find which of us is the strongest with only four.” says April.

“What do you mean by the strongest?” asks Shelly.

“Well one of the five of us are stronger than the other and can master all five powers. Sometimes a Psychic can know two or three without having all five. And without the fifth it’s hard to tell. I was a lot more advanced than the other three, but maybe someone else is out there a lot stronger than me.” explains April.

“Do you think the person is actually out there? I mean the prophecy was already wrong once this time around. Maybe it’s really wrong.” says Shelly.

“Aldemar said he was sure of a fifth one but who knows where.” says April.

“I don’t think you understand how monumental this is April.” says Shelly sitting up in her bed.

“Why’s that?” asks April sitting on the floor digging through a box.

“I was looking through this book.” says Shelly opening her bed stand drawer and grabbing a book titled “History of the Psychic.”

“It lists every Psychic ensemble ever. Starting all the way back before any kind of anything existed. This says that the Titans created the Psychics after they created the Gods in order to keep the Gods in competition. After a while the Psychics got lazy and untrained and didn’t understand their powers. So the Titans created Aldemar and Sabri’s ancestors. And it become their job to train the Psychics.” says Shelly with excitement and a large smile.

“But do we really believe in these Titans? If they created the Gods, who created them? Do the Titans have Titans? It just doesn’t add up to me. I wouldn’t have believed in these Gods had I not seen them.” says April.

“But the story makes sense doesn’t it?” asks Shelly.

“If a story didn’t make sense who would read it?” asks April.

“What do you mean?” asks Shelly.

“What I mean is that it has to make sense to someone. Otherwise no one would care about the Titans.

Raven sits upstairs in her room alone. Reading every page in the book from top to bottom, left to right. She finds some of history’s most important Demons like Lucifer, Beelzebub, Hades, Asmoday, Focalor. She even finds the members of the Demon Council and Nathan, and then a page of herself, but no matter how hard she looked Rachel was nowhere in the book.  There has never been a notable Demon named Rachel. Why should Raven be worried about an up and coming Demon, she could easily wipe the floor with any newbie? She opens her desk drawer and digs down to the bottom and pulls out a crystal on a necklace, a Watching Crystal. She moves her chair in front of a mirror. She swings the crystal in front of the mirror by the string part of the necklace.

“Communicate. Doctor Patrick Sampson.” chants Raven into the mirror as she swings the necklace from side to side. The glass on the mirror starts to dissolve and swirl into itself, and then it begins to undo itself and  man appears in the mirror. The man has a white hair and facial hair. He has glasses and a few wrinkles, he is in his early fifties.

“Doctor, I’m sorry to bother you this late, but thank you for answering.” says Raven moving the small mirror to sit in front of her at her desk.

“No problem. I was still up anyways. You know how the grandbabies don’t like sleeping at grandma and grandpa’s anyway.” says Doctor Patrick Sampson.

“How are the babies Doc?” asks Raven.

“Oh just being spoiled all the time. The average six and eight year old these days.” says the Doctor.

“How’s your mom doing? She hasn’t called me in a while.” continues the Doctor.

“She’s wheelchair bound as of a few months ago. Her legs just don’t work that well anymore.” says Raven.

“Sorry to hear that Raven, it’s hell to get old yanno.” says the Doctor.

“Now I know you didn’t call me this late to just talk about our loved ones.” continues the Doctor.

“You’re right Doc. So listen I need to know everything you know about a Demon named Rachel. I have  reason to believe she could be trouble. Most likely an up and comer. Maybe someone who could be trying to use me as a way to make a name for herself.” says Raven.

“Rachel? Odd name for a Demon don’t you think?” asks Doctor Sampson.

“Don’t you think Nathan is a weird  name for the God of Hell?” says Raven with a chuckle.

“I guess you’re right. Let me do a quick sweep and see if anything comes up.” says the Doctor who starts typing into a laptop off to the side of the mirrors vision.

“I really appreciate you doing this for me Doc. I know you wanted to retire.” says Raven.

“When I retired it was from being in the field. Fighting Demons, Angels, and monsters takes a toll on the human body you know. I don’t mind doing research. Hell I spent 11 years in school doing research for my doctorate in Demonology.” says the Doctor.

“Raven, I’m afraid nothing is coming up. Even more thorough searches can’t find anyone you should be worried about.” says the Doctor.

“Who could it be then Doc?” asks Raven.

“I wish I knew.” says Doctor Sampson.

“Raven, if  you don’t mind me asking, can I ask you a question?” asks the Doctor after a few moments of silence.

“Of course Doc, I’m all ears.” says Raven.

“When was the last time you spoke with your brother?” asks the Doctor.

“Christan? Oh gosh, it’s been years. Maybe about ten or so? Why?” asks Raven.

“I got word last week he was doing mission work in Ohio. And I know you’re in Ohio right now. Maybe you should stop by and see him.” says the Doctor.

“Who says he even wants to see me?” asks Raven.

“It’s worth a shot Raven.” says the Doctor.

“Listen Doc, I think I’m gonna try and get some sleep. I’ll look into it.” say Raven moving the Crystal from its rest and disrupting the mirror setting it back to just glass and just her reflection.