The Adventures of Emily Tual: Revelations Book Three
Chapter 6

As Harold was driving, Hannah took out her phone and dialed a number. After what seemed like a few minutes of silence, Hannah spoke. “You were right.” She said. “They did hide her from us.” There was a little bit more silence. Harold looked at Hannah very briefly before looking back at the road. “Are you sure that Gabriel will keep her there?” Hannah asked. “Of course not. The only relatives she had are all dead. We made sure of it.” She looked at Harold. “Very well.” She said. “We’ll wait for further instructions.” She then hung up.

“So what are our orders now?” Harold asked with disdain. He hated being ordered around. The two of them weren’t as powerful or as high up as the Man with the German Accent but they were still very dangerous and quite powerful. The two of them weren’t a part of any group of Black Hands. But they were more dangerous and feared by many other Black Hands, even those in the First Circle. Harold wasn’t thrilled about having to work for another Black Hand but they all wanted the same thing so he was willing to run around for the Black Hand who Hannah had been talking to.

Hannah looked at him as she put her phone away. “We’re to wait until he calls us to get our next instructions.” She told him. “Apparently the four Horsemen of the Apocalypse killed off the last two living relatives Audrey has that we know of.” She looked ahead. “Apparently he also knew that we wouldn’t be able to get Audrey out of the camp so we just helped him confirm what he believes.”

Harold looked at her curiously. “And what was that?” He asked.

Hannah looked at him. “That Audrey Tangen is really the Chosen One that the entire Black Hand should be after instead of that Tual girl.” She answered.

“So what is he planning now?” Harold asked.

Hannah shook her head. “I don’t know. He just wants us out of the way for now until he needs us in his big plan again.” She answered. “So I guess for right now we need to try to replace out if there are any more living relatives that we might have missed.”

Harold thought about it. “If Emily’s ancestry has indeed been traced back to Seraphina and Audrey is a descendant of Seraphina as well, shouldn’t we go after Emily and her family?” He asked. That made sense to him. It would also wipe out yet another branch of Seraphina’s family tree for good.

“You would think that but apparently he doesn’t think that the police won’t be able to make that connection when they try to get a hold of Audrey’s next of kin.” Hannah replied. The two of them laughed. They knew that there was no next of kin that the police would be able to get a hold of.

From his study, Anthony pocketed his phone and looked out a window into the city. His Black Hands had cleared out the entire city under a city emergency. It hadn’t taken much to clear out the city. Just had a few Black Hands blow up a few locations and no one even challenged his Black Hands. The entire city was empty except for his Black Hands and they weren’t letting anyone into the water city. Anthony saw a few large lights set up a few blocks away that shone brightly in the growing night sky. He smiled. With the entire Black Hand in America in shambles and trying to limp on, he was having his Black Hands that weren’t patrolling the city working on an archaeological dig to locate artifacts that he had been wanting to collect for quite a few years for the apocalypse but couldn’t until now.

A Black Hand came into the study and knelt to Anthony’s back. He had a satchel hanging off of his shoulder. “Are you going to tell Josiah that the Apocalypse can begin?” He asked Anthony.

Anthony nodded and turned around. He looked at the Black Hand. “Did you replace something that we can use to our advantage?” Anthony asked, reaching out to the Black Hand. The Black Hand reached into his satchel and took out a small crescent moon necklace.

Anthony smiled as he looked at it. “Perfect.” He said, taking the artifact. “This will start off the apocalypse quite nicely.” He looked at the Black Hand. “Go back and get to work replaceing more artifacts that we can use.” He ordered. The Black Hand nodded and left quickly. Anthony looked at the crescent moon necklace. “You’ll help start things off quite nicely.” He said to it.

Outside the lodge, as parents were picking up their kids, James went over to Emily. “It’s safe now.” He told her. “Audrey is inside the lodge where those two adults can’t get to her.” It was safer for them to talk since Emily’s sister and cousins were over with the counselors talking.

Emily knew that he was referring to the man and the woman that had been walking with Jasper. “Who are those two?” She asked him. “Are they Black Hands?” She couldn’t believe that the Black Hands were already stable enough to try a kidnapping in front of everyone.

James nodded. “They’re known as Hannah and Harold.” He answered. “They’re the two of the more dangerous Black Hands. They don’t work in any of the circles or any other large group of Black Hands out there. They work in Child Services, going around anywhere that they want and they work any case they pick without resistance.” James shuddered, making Emily realize that James had a history with the two.

“What did they do to you?” Emily asked James as she took his hands. James looked at their hands before looking up at Emily. Emily looked into James’s eyes and she saw something that she hadn’t noticed before; pain. She wondered if that pain had been caused by Hannah and Harold. “What did Hannah and Harold do to you?” She asked again.

James shook his head. “Something that still haunts me even though it was years ago.” He told Emily. “There was a possible chosen one in New York City seventeen years ago. She had lost her parents in a terrible accident that was tied to several Black Hands sacrificing themselves after being ordered to by the Magician and a few other major Black Hand leaders. Gabriel and I were in the city and so were Hannah and Harold. Jasper was off in Russia I think during this time. Anyways, Hannah and Harold found out about this possible Chosen One and found her in the foster system. According to the foster worker Gabriel and I talked to, the two had found the girl’s relatives and were going to take her to them.”

James looked towards the lodge. Emily did so as well. “They were going to say that to Gabriel and take Audrey away because of who she might be?” She asked James. James nodded. “What happened next?” Emily asked. “What happened to this other possible Chosen One?” She had a feeling that she already knew the answer though.

“Gabriel and I followed Hannah and Harold to the top of the Chrysler Building. Hannah and Harold had the girl on the ledge at gunpoint and were ordering her to jump.” James continued. “Gabriel fought the two and I went to try to save the girl but during the fighting, Hannah fired her gun and shot…” James stopped talking as he thought about that day. He could still hear the gunshot going off in his head and the girl’s scream as she fell off the ledge and off of the building. “Gabriel and I rushed to the bottom of the building to get the police.” He shook his head. “That was the day we learned that New York City was basically a Black Hand city. The morgue and the police department covered up her death and wiped clean all traces of her death. Hannah and Harold used their power of persuasion to write off her disappearance as a runaway and it was turned into a cold case.”

Emily thought about what James had told her. “You said that this was seventeen years ago?” She asked him. James nodded. Emily counted back the years and her eyes widened. “Are you saying that the Black Hand caused the destruction of the Twin Towers?” She had learned about that in her Social Studies class. She had been taught that it had been terrorists who had done that because America was evil. Of course, the Black Hand would have orchestrated the destruction of the buildings just to kill the family of that possible Chosen One. “What was her name?” She asked James. “The girl who was murdered by Hannah and Harold.”

James thought more about that day. “I don’t know.” He answered, surprising Emily. James had a feeling that Emily thought he knew each Chosen One that he came across by name. “Gabriel didn’t tell me that part. He just said that it was important to replace her before it was too late.” James continued before he looked at Emily. “Gabriel didn’t bring me in on another mission to replace a possible Chosen One until you were taken to the fortress in the mountains.” He told her. “He saw the damage that it had done to me and wanted me to take time away from replaceing possible Chosen Ones. When you were taken the fortress in the mountain, Gabriel took a chance with me going there to save you. Truth be told I wasn’t sure if I would be able to save you or not but I was relieved that I was able to.”

Emily frowned. “What fortress?” She asked. She didn’t remember a fortress or being in the mountains ever. What was James talking about?

James realized his mistake but it was too late to take it back now. He had let his feelings get the best of them when he had been talking about that with her. He had a feeling that Emily would keep asking until he told her what she wanted to hear. But before he could answer her, Rachel showed up. “Daddy’s here!” She cried excitedly as she hugged her sister. “We can go home!”

Emily looked at James. She really wanted to know what James wasn’t telling her but she doubt that her father would let her stay a few more minutes. If he found out that she wanted to stay a bit longer to talk to a boy, he would try to get them out of there even faster for sure. Emily sighed. She would have to question James the next time she saw him. If she saw him that was. There was no telling if Gabriel would let the two of them see each other after that week. No doubt Gabriel would try to keep James focused on keeping Audrey safe from Harold and Hannah. It made her wonder if she was the chosen one or not that everyone was after. If Harold and Hannah had gone after Audrey, then it was possible that Audrey was the Chosen One.

“Will we meet again?” She asked James as she hugged him.

James held her in his arms for a few seconds. Neither of them cared that Rachel was right there or that she could see them. The two of them had a special bond with each other. “We will meet each other again.” James told Emily. “I promise. When the time comes, we’ll replace each other again.” He released Emily. “But for now, Gabriel will be needing my help dealing with Hannah and Harold. There’s no telling what those two will be planning or if they’re even working alone.”

Emily looked at James. She wanted to believe him. She was secretly scared though that if Audrey was the Chosen One, that James would forget about her and focus on keeping Audrey safe. She looked at Rachel. “We should get going.” She told her little sister. “No point in keeping Dad waiting for us.” She looked at James one last time before she left with her little sister.

James watched Emily and Rachel walk off with their dad to their cabin. He knew that Emily was scared. It wasn’t of the Black Hand though. No, this fear was about something else. He would have to wait until he saw her again to talk about it. He looked at the lodge. He had a job to take care of.