The Adventures of Emily Tual: Revelations Book Three
Chapter 14

Audrey realized how much she stuck out once she reached the edge of Salem and why people would think her clothes would make her a witch. It was hot out and yet everyone was dressed in who knew how many layers. She had learned about that in her history class the last school year but Audrey hadn’t paid attention to the fashion of the Puritans. Now she was wishing that she did. She would need to “borrow” an outfit if she wanted to survive just that day. She still had no idea where Gabriel was. She had lost sight of James and Aunica and she didn’t want Hawthorne to see her. She knew that Hawthorne would accuse her of being a witch and get the rest of the town to agree with him.

Audrey saw a Puritan woman hanging clothes out to dry by her house. Audrey looked at the clothes. They looked like they were women’s clothing. Audrey just needed to wait until the woman was out of sight before she took the clothes. She knew that the clothes would be damp but they would work long enough to get to Gabriel and maybe he could help her get them dried out quickly enough so that no one would have suspected her to be the thief. Audrey hid behind a bush and watched the woman hanging the clothes out to dry.

As Audrey waited, her mind went to the creature that had attacked Aunica. Why wasn’t the Black Hand using creatures like that in the future? All she had seen so far of the Black Hand in the future were human Black Hands and the four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. She had seen how hard it was for the men to kill it with their guns. She had a feeling that she hadn’t killed it with her magic. She doubted that she had even hurt it. The creature seemed invincible. She looked at the woman again. The Puritan woman was still hanging clothes. Audrey groaned silently. How was she supposed to get into town if the woman was still by the clothes she needed?

That was when the woman left the clothes. Audrey sighed with relief and waited until the coast was clear. She walked quietly over to the clothesline and removed the dress, apron and coif. She didn’t want to take the rest of the outfit. She wasn’t planning on staying there too long. She didn’t know if she had caused any damage to the timeline yet but she didn’t want to risk causing any damage to it if she hadn’t yet. Audrey went behind the bushes and got dressed in the stolen clothes. She looked down at herself after she was dressed. She barely recognized herself. That was good. It meant hopefully that none of the men who saw her earlier would realize that she was the one that they had accused of being a witch.

Audrey came out of her hiding place and slowly entered the town. As she walked through town, she looked around her. The men were in small groups talking. They were all armed with muskets and looking around suspiciously. No doubt they were wondering who the witches were that had infected their town. Audrey saw the caged wagon that she had seen earlier. There was no sign of the women that had been in the cage. Audrey had a feeling that they were in the prison building by the caged wagon. Not wanting to get locked up, Audrey hurried past it.

That was when Hawthorne stepped in front of her. “And where do you think you’re going?” He asked Audrey, his eyes glaring at her. Audrey took a small step back. She had to think of something to say quickly. Hawthorne crossed his arms over his chest. “Well?” He asked. “Where do you think you’re going Girl?” He looked like he was about to call for a few of the other men to help him arrest Audrey. Audrey was about to say something when she felt a hand take her hand.

“There you are.” Both Audrey and Hawthorne turned to see James standing there. James was looking at Audrey. “I was looking for you. Father was worried about you.” James continued. “We need to get you back to the church to keep you safe from the witches.”

Hawthorne frowned. “You know this girl?” He demanded.

James nodded. “Sadly I do Mr. Hawthorne.” He answered. Audrey was amazed by how politely James was being towards Hawthorne, considering that he had aimed his rifle at the older man’s head just earlier that day. “This is my cousin.” James explained. “Her parents sent her to my father’s home in an attempt to keep the Devil out of her.” Audrey realized that the cover that Gabriel and James were using in Salem was that James was Gabriel’s son.

Hawthorne glared at Audrey. “Why was she out of the chapel than?” He asked.

James shook his head. “She’s been longing for home.” He answered. “I figure she was wanting to try to sneak away again.” James looked at Audrey. “Isn’t that right?” He asked.

The way that James was looking at her made Audrey realize that he was making an excuse for her and that she was to go with it. “Yeah.” Audrey answered. She looked at Hawthorne. “Surely you miss your home as well?” She asked. She hoped that if she appealed to Hawthorne’s more human side, if he had one, that she wouldn’t be suspected of being a witch.

Hawthorne simply glared at her. “You’re lucky your uncle is the preacher.” He told her. “Or I would have you locked up and put on trial on being suspected of being a witch.” Hawthorne then glared at James. “And don’t think I’ve forgotten about you either.” He added. “I’ll be watching you two and that other girl closely.” With that, Hawthorne marched off.

James looked at Audrey. “You’re lucky that Gabriel sent me to replace you.” He told her.

Audrey was surprised to hear that. “Gabriel knows that I’m here?” She asked. How was that possible? She had just arrived there.

James nodded. “I told Gabriel about you when I was getting Aunica to the chapel to keep her safe.” He answered. “He wants me to take you there as well.”

That was perfect. It gave Audrey the best chance of trying to get answers and to return to her own time. “We should get going then.” She said to James.

As they were walking, Audrey looked at James. He looked like the same teenage boy that she knew in the future. He was just dressed differently. She remembered that he had told her that he was immortal. She just never imagined him in different clothes beside the ones from the future. He didn’t look uncomfortable in the outfit.

James looked at her. “Can I help you with something?” He asked.

Audrey looked ahead. “You just look different from the last time I saw you.” She explained.

James raised an eyebrow. “The last time you saw me?” He asked. “We just met today. How could you have seen me before?”

Audrey realized that she didn’t tell James about the time-traveling yet. She looked around her. There were still people around talking. Some of them were looking at James and her. “Not here.” She told James. “We need to get to the chapel first.”

James just shook his head. “Just remember that I just stuck my neck out to save you from Hawthorne.” He reminded Audrey. “Don’t make me regret it.” He had only done this because he was curious about where Audrey had come from and why she seemed to know about the Black Hand.

Audrey looked over her shoulder towards the forest. “What was that creature that was attacking Aunica?” She asked. Surely the two of them could talk about that while heading to the chapel. Audrey was curious about the creature and why the Black Hand didn’t use them in the future.

“It’s a creature bred specifically to hunt possible Chosen Ones and to kill them before any of them can become the Chosen One.” James answered. “Gabriel hasn’t come up with a name for it yet. If the Black Hand has one for it, they haven’t shared it with us yet.”

Audrey had a feeling that the Black Hand would never share its name. “How many of those creatures are there?” She asked.

James shook his head. “So far, just that one.” The truth was, he didn’t know how many of those creatures existed. Gabriel, Jasper and he had only come across the one and to the best of his knowledge, it was the same creature as the last few times. “Gabriel and I have been trying to replace a way to kill it.” He continued. He took out his pouch of bullets and looked at them. “We can now scratch off pure silver bullets.” He shook his head. “We’ve tried burning it, stabbing it, breaking it and drowning it. Nothing can kill the creature. It comes back just as savage as the last time.”

The two of them reached the chapel. Audrey was sort of disappointed by what she saw. It was small, wooden and looked more like a log cabin. She guessed that it looked smaller than she expected because of how large the church buildings were in her time. James turned to her. “Gabriel and I are risking a lot by letting you in to talk about this.” He told Audrey. “The only reason why Gabriel is agreeing to this is because you seem to know about demons, the Magician and our possible real witch. Can we trust you?”

Audrey looked at James. She had never been asked that. She thought she had earned James’s trust. She had after all helped save Aunica from the creature and she had told him that she knew things even if it had to be in code. “You can trust me.” She told James. James stared at Audrey for a few seconds. It felt like he was trying to see into her soul. Audrey just looked back at him. “You and Gabriel already trust me.” She told him. “You two just don’t know it yet.”

That got James’s attention. “You’re from the future, aren’t you?” He asked.

Audrey nodded and looked around. “I somehow ended up back in this time period because in the future I was trying to escape a resurrected witch who you and Gabriel end up killing in this time period. I’m not entirely sure how I time traveled but I’m hoping that Gabriel can help me with all of this.” Audrey saw that James was trying to believe her. She knew that it sounded crazy herself. “Please believe me.” She said.

James nodded. “I do believe you.” He told her. Audrey sighed with relief. “It’s pretty hard to make something like that up in this time period.” James continued. “And you’re talking to someone who is immortal.”

Audrey nodded. “I know you are.” She told him. “You told me that when you explained what was going on to me when it came to saving another possible Chosen One.” She left Emily’s name out of it so that the timeline didn’t get messed up.

James looked towards the chapel. “So Aunica isn’t the Chosen One.” He asked.

Audrey shook her head. “You and Gabriel are still looking for the Chosen One in my time and you have a possible Chosen One. The Magician goes after her but there is a member of the Black Hand who thinks I’m the Chosen One.”

Audrey could tell how hard it was to believe it but she was relieved that James believed her. She wasn’t sure how much of the future she was damaging by telling him this. She was surprised that she didn’t start fading into nothing. She knew that her first time meeting James was in the future when she went to Camp Wolfwoods. If this was the first time that James met her, then why didn’t he talk about it or act like he knew her when they met back in the future? Did James forget about her or was this new history?

Audrey shook her head. She couldn’t start thinking about that. She had to stay focused. “I just need Gabriel to help me get back to my time so everything can go back to the way it was.” She told him. “I don’t know if Aunica originally died or not but she wasn’t mentioned in the history books.” The more she talked about it, the more panic she heard in her voice. Before she could do anything else though, she passed out.