The Adventures of Emily Tual: Camp Adventures Book Two

James appeared in his bedroom. There was no one in his room. He hoped that his trip to the chosen one’s home had gone unnoticed. He crept towards his desk to write down everything that had happened to the chosen one in her latest nightmare. That was when the lights turned on. “And where have you been all of this time?” James stiffened and turned to the door. Gabriel was standing there and he didn’t look happy at all. “Do you have any idea how late it is?” He asked James. He walked up to James as he spoke. “What could possible possess you to leave in the middle of the night?” He really wanted to see what could have prompted James to leave in the middle of the night.

James looked at Gabriel. “Emily.” He answered simply. “I could sense that she was having another nightmare and I had to do something.” He didn’t care if Gabriel had told him not to interfere with her dreams. He had to.

Gabriel shook his head. “I told you that we couldn’t interfere with her dreams!” He shouted angrily. “You do that and you risk everything that we’ve worked for!” How could James be so stupid? He was risking everything for who knew what. James shook his head and went to his desk. He had to show Gabriel what Emily had dreamt about. He took out a sheet of paper and started drawing.

Gabriel shook his head. “James, I’m talking to you!” He shouted.

James finished drawing and showed it to Gabriel. “She’s not just having nightmares.” He said calmly. He pointed at the drawing. Gabriel looked at the drawing. It was of an empty dusty bedroom with a crib. A door to something was opened and the Horseman of Death was standing in the door frame. “You know what that is, am I right?” He asked Gabriel.

Gabriel took the drawing. “This was her dream?” He asked James.

James nodded. “You and I both know that it wasn’t a dream though.” He added. “Not a normal dream at least.”

Gabriel looked at James. “You think that she had a dream journey?” He asked.

James nodded again. “She had never seen the building before and the building had pictures in it. Pictures with a different language typed onto them.”

Gabriel looked at the room again. “Did you see what the writing was?” He asked.

James thought back to the pictures. He took out another sheet of paper and wrote down what he could remember. He showed it to Gabriel. “There.” He said. “That’s what I could remember.”

Gabriel took the sheet of paper and looked at the writing. He frowned before he looked at James. “Where was Emily born?” He asked.

James frowned. “Why?” Why would Gabriel need to know that? They were focused on the writing, not Emily’s past.

Gabriel showed the writing to James. “That’s Russian.” He explained to James. “A form of Russian used by the Black Hands that use to rule that area.”

James looked at the picture. “There were Black Hands that ran an orphanage?” He asked.

Gabriel nodded. “Until fifteen years ago.” He told James.

James looked at Gabriel. The way that Gabriel was looking at the picture and the writing told him that Gabriel knew more about it than he was saying. “What happened fifteen years ago?” He asked. “Was there a baby there?”

Gabriel looked at James alarmed. “How did you know that?” He demanded. James took a step back. Why did Gabriel sound like he was freaking out by that? Gabriel shook his head and went to James’s bed before he sat down. “Fifteen years ago, there was a baby girl at an orphanage.” He told James. “A girl that had been abandoned on the doorsteps. No one knew her mother was. The Black Hand at that time was trying to recruit orphans into the Black Hand since Russia was known for their ruthlessness.”

He pointed at the crib in James’s drawing. “That was the baby girl’s crib.” He continued.

James looked at the Horseman of Death in the door frame. “But why would the Horseman of Death care about the girl?” He asked. “In Emily’s nightmare, he broke into the manor and chased us into that room. Emily found a locket in the crib.”

Gabriel dropped the drawing and the writing. “A locket?” He asked.

James nodded. “It said Audrey and had a picture of a baby girl.” He crossed his arms over his chest. “What aren’t you telling me?” He demanded. “What does that girl have to do with Emily?”

Gabriel shook his head. “Not Emily herself but her family.” He told James. “I had to ask to remind myself that she was born here in Ohio.”

James managed not to groan. “Just tell me what happened in Russia fifteen years ago.” He told Gabriel. “It might be important.”

Gabriel nodded. “It is important.” He told James. “And the locket with the name Audrey confirms what I suspected for fifteen years.” James was about to hit Gabriel right there. The man was taking too long with telling James what had happened fifteen years before. “Fifteen years ago…” Gabriel began.

Fifteen years ago…

Gabriel looked around as he drove up to the orphanage. With the snowstorm that was happening, he had nearly missed the place. He pulled into the parking lot and got out of his car right into the blowing snow. His eyes glowed briefly and he could see his way to the front door. He smiled when his ears perked up. He looked behind him in the direction of what he believed was a forest. He could have sworn that he had heard a horse. He shook his head. Why would a horse be out in this blizzard? He turned back to the orphanage and went up to the front door. He knocked on it.

As he was waiting there, Gabriel thought back to the letter he had received from Jasper, who had been in Russia looking for another bloodline that could be descendants of Seraphina. A possible descendant of Seraphina had been found dead in an alleyway. She had been found in an alleyway at first what had been thought to be frozen to death but had been discovered to have several bullet holes in her. Jasper had only contacted Gabriel after the death because it had been discovered that the woman had given birth to a baby girl and there was no sign of the baby. Jasper had asked Gabriel to look at possible orphanages to see if the mother had gotten her to one before she had been murdered. According to the mother’s picture back when she had been alive, she had a locket but the locket hadn’t been found on her dead body.

A man opened it. He was dressed in a black uniform. He looked like a butler a little bit. He said something in Russian. Gabriel shook his head and took out his wallet. He showed the man his driver’s license. It said Michael Smith. The man looked at the driver’s license before he looked back at Gabriel. “What brings an American here?” He asked as he opened the door the rest of the way. “Please come in.” Gabriel smiled and entered the orphanage.

Gabriel looked around as he removed his hat. The place looked sad. Empty of life even with the twenty children being escorted right in front of him by a few strict looking adults in the same black uniform. He saw a banner with the sign of the Black Hand hanging in the foyer. “What brings you here Mr. Smith?” The man asked again.

Gabriel nodded and looked at him. “My wife and I are looking to adopt a child and your orphanage was highly recommended.” He answered, lying very convincingly. The man smiled stiffly. Gabriel had a feeling that it was because the orphanage didn’t want to give up any potential Black Hands that were being bred from the orphans.

“And what type of child were you looking for?” The Black Hand asked. “We have quite a few children here ranging in different ages.”

Gabriel smiled. “A baby actually.” He answered. “My wife is unable to have children and we want to have the full experience of raising a child.”

He saw the Black Hand give a tiny twitch. “Mr. Smith, do you know how hard it is to raise a baby?” The Black Hand asked. “We try not to have babies here. They are very hard to raise.”

Gabriel could tell that the man was stalling. The last few orphanages he had been to had just said simply that they didn’t have babies and had shown him around to prove it. The fact that this man didn’t say that told him that he was at the right place. “If you don’t have any babies here, I’ll just leave.” He said. Just as he acted like he was about to leave, he heard it. A baby cry. He turned to the Black Hand. The Black Hand had looked briefly up the stairs. It was brief and nearly impossible to see but Gabriel had seen it. “I think I would like to look around.” He said instead.

The Black Hand forced a smile. “Right this way Sir.” He said.

Gabriel looked as the Black Hand led him around the building. There were quite a few children there. Not as many adults he noticed but the way that the kids were looking, it was clear where the power laid. “Now for the upstairs.” The Black Hand said. He led Gabriel up the stairs.

Gabriel noticed that the crying was definitely a baby and that he was closer. “What is that noise?” He asked the Black Hand. The Black Hand didn’t look at him. Gabriel decided that the tour was over. He knocked the Black Hand out with a spell before he looked in the direction that the baby was crying.

He ran in the direction of the crying baby and found himself in the last room of the building. Right there, in the center of the room, was a crib. The crying was coming from within it. He went up to the crib and looked in. It was a baby girl. She was crying loudly. With how thin she was, it was clear that the Black Hands running the orphanage just wanted her to die. He picked her up in his arms. The baby was cold. It was amazing that she wasn’t dead yet. She didn’t have the locket that Jasper had told him about in the letter but it didn’t matter anymore. Gabriel had to get the baby out of there. He would be able to tell later on if she was the right baby.

Present day…

“And so I got her out of the country and brought her back here.” Gabriel told James. “I raised the child for about a year so she would be healthy again before I gave her to a couple who had three sons. I told them that my son and his wife had died in a car accident and that their daughter needed a place to be raised. After I had taken care of the child, I went back to try to find the locket. By then, the place had been closed and I was chased away by the Horseman of Death.” Gabriel shook his head. “If Emily found the locket during her dream journey, it confirms that Audrey the only other descendant of Seraphina who is still alive.”

James had to think about what Gabriel had just told him. “Where is Audrey now?” He asked after a few minutes.

Gabriel shook his head. “I have no idea.” He answered. “I never kept track of her. It would be safer for her. Shortly after I had given her away, the Black Hand started asking around for a baby girl who was being raised by an old man. I decided to keep my distance from Audrey and since the family had never seen my face long enough to memorize it, they were able to keep the child safe.”

“Was it really the Horseman of Death that was there?” James asked. “I thought he had been sealed away somewhere down south.”

Gabriel raised an eyebrow. “Death still happens and when it does, I believe that the Horseman of Death’s spirit appears to collect the one who is about to die. I believe he was there that day to collect Audrey. He was most likely there in the dream because of the ghosts that would haunt the place.” Gabriel said. He then stood up. “You need to get rest.” He told James. “To enter a dream is not an easy spell.”

The way he was glaring at James made James realize that it would be better not to question Gabriel. “Yes Sir.” He said.

Gabriel nodded. “Good. We’ll talk in the morning about what to do about Emily’s dream journey.” He then left the room. James laid back in his bed and closed his eyes. It took him a while before he was able to fall asleep.