Chapter Chapter Thirty Two
That afternoon, Kat was by herself. She was on her break. Every counselor got a small break each day. Not that she was worried. James was helping Tony watch after the Experimental Explosion group. That was good. That would give her time to do what she needed to do. Usually the counselors who were on break stayed at the lodge. Kat though was at a more secluded area. She might have been on a break from her summer job for the time being but she had a very important meeting she had to get to.
Kat entered a small clearing. Just as she expected, the Man with the German Accent was standing there. He was looking at his pocket watch. “You’re late.” The Man with the German Accent told Kat. He looked up at her with a disapproving look on his face. “We don’t have much time to talk.”
Kat nodded. She knew that there was no reasonable excuse in the Man with the German Accent’s eyes. That and she didn’t want to end up like her mother. “Sorry.” She said.
The Man with the German Accent went up to her. “You’re lucky I need you here.” He told her. “If it wasn’t for your value as my spy, you would have been killed for lateness.” Kat knew he was telling the truth.
The Man with the German Accent then smiled. “So what do you have to report in?” He asked as he made two chairs appear. He sat down on one of them.
Kat sat on the other one. “There was another Black Hand here.” She told him. “I didn’t recognize him though when he first came here. He went by the name of Matthew.”
The Man with the German Accent shook his head. “He’s been dealt with.” He told her. “One of my informants reported him to me and the informant killed him.”
Kat frowned. “Did your informant find out who Matthew’s partner was?” She asked.
The Man with the German Accent’s facial expression told her that he didn’t. “Matthew had a partner?” He asked.
Kat nodded. “Last night, after Matthew tried to kill some kid, there was a big search and there was a second attempted attack.” Kat wasn’t sure how she felt seeing the Man with the German Accent’s face. He clearly had no idea of any of this so she continued. “Matthew was with other staff members during the second attack so it couldn’t have been him.”
The Man with the German Accent leaned back in his chair. Josiah had not told him any of this. He had only reported that he had killed Matthew because Matthew hadn’t backed down from trying to kill the Chosen One. “Are you sure that Matthew and his partner weren’t after the wrong camper?” He asked Kat. Not even he knew which cabin the chosen one was in. Only Kat knew.
Kat thought about how to best answer that. The truth was, she wasn’t sure if it was the wrong cabin or not. She then thought about the shooting at the mud pit. “Matthew had shot the same camper from last night earlier today.” She told the Man with the German Accent. She hadn’t been sure until after she had seen that Matthew had disappeared. She had protected her mind from Gabriel and Jasper’s mind spell. She had figured out that Matthew had been the shooter. It was the only reason why he would have been killed. He must have known something that, judging from the way that the Man with the German Accent was looking at her, the Man with the German Accent didn’t know.
The Man with the German Accent looked at her. “What was this camper’s name?” He asked.
Kat thought back to the camper. “Some girl named Audrey.” She answered. “She and the Chosen One have become friends.” She knew that the Man with the German Accent would want to know that too.
The Man with the German Accent raised his cane and the top of it glowed red. “Matthew’s partner,” He said in a dangerous voice. “Did he disappear in any unusual way?” He had a feeling he knew who Matthew’s partner was. He just needed to confirm it.
Kat nodded. “The police said he used some sort of chemical and fire trick to disappear.” She answered. She then saw the way that the Man with the German Accent was staring at her. “But it wasn’t just a fire trick, was it?” She already knew the answer would be no.
The Man with the German Accent stood up. “It was a column that looked like a tornado and was the height of a man, wasn’t it?” He demanded.
Kat nodded. “How did you know?” She asked.
The Man with the German Accent shook his head. “It doesn’t matter.” He told Kat. “I just need you to watch over the chosen one until the day of the ritual.” He didn’t want anything else to ruin the Darkness’s plans. “I’ll come back soon to get another report from you.” He then disappeared into thin air.
From his hiding spot, Josiah watched the entire meeting between the two. He had known it would just be a matter of time before the Man with the German Accent would start to suspect him of being suspicious. After all, he had done a spectacular disappearing act the night before and he had been tasked with making sure that no Black Hand attempted to ruin the Darkness’s plans. Josiah was ready though for that. He disappeared in a column of fire.
In the manor, the Man with the German Accent stormed to Josiah’s room. He wasn’t alone. He had several Black Hands following him. They all had their guns ready. He had found it suspicious that Josiah had immediately offered his services right after appearing there. He also found it odd that Josiah had kept disappearing at random times even though the Black Hand didn’t have any assignments. The way that Josiah had made it seem too easy to catch someone who was a threat to the Darkness’s plan, now that the Man with the German Accent looked back at it, seemed a little too easy, even easier than it should have.
The Man with the German Accent looked at his Black Hands. “The minute the door is opened, move in and capture Josiah immediately.” He ordered. “I don’t want that traitor getting away from me.” That was when they all heard a scream in Josiah’s room. The Man with the German Accent pointed his cane at the door. “Get him!” He shouted. His Black Hands all ran past him and ran into the room.
The Man with the German Accent then entered the room. His eyes widened with what he saw. Josiah was standing there calmly cleaning a blade. Before him, tied up to a chair, was another Black Hand. This one looked in bad shape. He had a large gash on his forehead. There were cuts all over him. He had blood dripping down from his mouth and a black eye. He was bruised all over. Josiah looked at the Man with the German Accent. “You weren’t supposed to come in on this.” He told the Man with the German Accent.
The Man with the German Accent looked at the tied-up Black Hand. “What is the meaning of this?” He demanded.
Josiah looked at the Black Hand that was tied up. “I found this Black Hand a few days ago contacting Matthew.” He explained to the Man with the German Accent. “He’s the reason I found out about Matthew planning to attack the Chosen One.”
The Man with the German Accent looked up at Josiah. “Really?” He asked. “Because my spy at the camp reported that you were Matthew’s partner.” With that, his Black Hands pointed their guns at Josiah. “Care to explain why?” The Man with the German Accent continued.
Josiah looked at the Black Hands with their guns pointed at him before he looked at the Man with the German Accent. “What made your spy think I was his partner?” He asked.
The Man with the German Accent pointed the top of his cane at Josiah and it glowed black. “For starters, the way you can appear and disappear is very unique.” He answered. “In a column of fire. Only you have that signature for appearing and disappearing.”
Josiah shrugged. “I may be able to appear and disappear like that.” He said. “But I am not the only one who can do that.”
The Man with the German Accent raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean?” He demanded. “Who else can disappear in a column of fire?” This was the first he was hearing of that. He thought Josiah was the only one who could do that.
Josiah smiled and his eyes glowed red. “The Black Hand has demons in their ranks.” He answered. “And we all disappear in the same way.” He pointed at the tied-up Black Hand. “This Black Hand is also a demon.” He continued. “A demon who was helping Matthew.”
The Man with the German Accent went up to the tied-up Black Hand. “Are you a demon?” The Black Hand looked weakly at the Man with the German Accent before he passed out.
Josiah looked at the Black Hand before he returned his gaze to the Man with the German Accent. “He is a demon because of his mark.” He explained. He flipped the Black Hand’s right hand over to show a curved hook burn. He then flipped his own right hand over and showed a curved hook burn on his own hand.
The Man with the German Accent frowned. “Why haven’t I ever seen these marks before?” He asked.
Josiah waved his hand over his own burned mark and it got covered by normal skin. “When the demons were integrated into the Black Hand, we were ordered to hide our demon mark so that the rest of the Black Hand wouldn’t be freaked out by us being here.” Josiah looked at the Black Hands with the guns. They all still had their guns pointed at Josiah but he could tell that they were starting to get nervous. “Of course the only group of Black Hands that use demons for the most part are the Black Hands in Europe.”
He pointed at the tied-up Black Hand. “The fact that this demon is the only one here that I’ve seen is suspicious enough.” He told the Man with the German Accent. “Partially why I didn’t want you to find out about this.” He answered. “The last thing you need to worry about is the possibility that a certain someone is bringing demons to try to undermine the ritual.” He made sure that it was hard to miss him say ’someone, knowing that it would set the Man with the German Accent off towards Derdrom.
The Man with the German Accent shook his head. “Why was Matthew going after another child?” He demanded. “That is what I don’t get.” Why would Matthew and the demonic Black Hand go after some kid three times?
Josiah shook his head. “I talked to Matthew and this demon. They said that they were told to go after that child.” He answered. He looked at the unconscious Black Hand. “I was trying to get that information out of this demon when you showed up.”
The Man with the German Accent looked at Josiah. “You think that Derdrom ordered Matthew and this demon?” He asked. That would make sense. After all, Derdrom had turned several Black Hands loyal to him and Derdrom had attacked him with the Horseman of Famine. He wouldn’t be surprised if Derdrom had ordered Matthew and the demon to attack another child just to get to the Chosen One.
Josiah set the knife down and went to his bed. He pulled a file out from under his bed. “According to this, the child that Matthew and his demon went after is a good friend of the Chosen One.” He knew that he would shape this the way that Anthony wanted. “I think Derdrom wanted to use that child against the Chosen One.”
The Man with the German Accent took the file from Josiah and read it. “I see.” He said after a few minutes. He then looked up at Josiah. “If this is true, I’ll need to make sure that no one goes after this friend to use against the chosen one or against us.”
Josiah smiled. He knew that he had the Man with the German Accent under his control. “Just give the word Magician and I’ll keep an eye on both of the kids.” He was willing to do whatever it took to keep the Man with the German Accent under his control.
The Man with the German Accent shook his head. “I’ll have my informant keep an eye on them.” He told Josiah. “If you’re there without warning, it’ll raise suspicion.” He closed the file and handed it back to Josiah. “But thank you for this report.” He left with his Black Hands.
Josiah watched them leave before he turned back to the unconscious Black Hand. “Time to die.” He told him before he stabbed him with the knife.