“That would defeat the idea, wouldn’t it?” asked Michael in a condescending tone. He raised his hands, shut his eyes, and started to chant. The words he spouted were gibberish to Emily, but obviously not to the house or to whatever cosmic influence powered magical beings. The building started to vibrate, or at least that was what Emily thought until the ground beneath them lurched downward a few feet.
A powerful blast of light exploded in the room. Emily felt the sensation of falling. She felt as though she’d been thrown off a cliff and was cascading to her death. She screamed until she hit the ground, expecting never to rise again.
But she lay there on the ground, eyes shut, panting. The ground was cold, but it wasn’t dusty, as she expected it to have been.
“Emily?” said a voice.
Emily managed to open one eye. She saw Michael bent over, looking at her with concerned eyes.
“Are you okay?”
Behind him was Dad, who was standing. He, too, looked concerned. They both seemed all right. And they were all somewhere new.
Emily nodded. “Help me get up, please.”
Michael obliged.
“Welcome to the safe house,” boomed a familiar voice again: Aunt Anastacia.
29
Aunt Anastacia stood akimbo in the tunnel. Yes, there was a tunnel that connected from the area where they had appeared—yes, they had appeared—to another area in the distance. The tunnel had red lights on opposite sides of the ceiling, giving it a service-tunnel feel.
As usual, Aunt Anastacia was resplendent in her red garment, all the more enhanced by the grin on her face.
“Aunty!” Emily felt relief flood her. She had to squash the urge to run to her aunt.
Michael and Dad appeared surprised. It seemed as though they were also just seeing her for the first time.
The woman stepped out of the tunnel into the small, annular ‘landing area.’ “I see you found the place,” she said to Michael, giving him a head-to-toe glance.
Michael seemed antsy. “Yes.” He shifted his weight from one foot to the other. “We got delayed en route.” He briefed a glance at Emily. “Nothing we couldn’t handle on our own.”
Anastacia nodded. She glanced at Emily. “You look different.” She sniffed the air around her niece. “You look whole.”
Emily simply nodded. She felt different. She felt complete, what with her coming to an agreement with the fire demon. She felt in control.
“I feel whole,” Emily agreed. She realized she was still holding on to Michael. Michael was probably still shell-shocked by Aunt Anastacia’s presence there, so he hadn’t noticed Emily was still in his grasp either. Emily softly pulled away, drawing a distracted look from the young warlock.
“Good.” Anastacia nodded her head once. “We need you now more than ever.”
Emily was about to ask her what she meant by that, but Aunt Anastacia was already turning to Dad.
“I smell magic on you,” said the rove woman. “It’s brimming.” She scanned him until her eyes settled on his hand. “You’ve just been recently healed.” Her eyes widened. “How? Michael isn’t that powerful yet.”
“It wasn’t him.” Dad’s eyes bulged. “It was Emily. Her teardrops.”
Dad’s response caused Aunt Anastacia to take another look at Emily. “Hmmm.”
“What’s ‘hmmm’?” Emily asked, guarded.
“Nothing.” Anastacia shook her head casually.
“It’s not nothing,” Emily argued. “I can tell.”
“You’re right,” she replied. “It’s not nothing.” She turned on her heels and marched into the tunnel. “Come with me.”
God, her aunt could be so cryptic and frustrating.
The ground was made of solid concrete. The tunnel itself was short. About a few yards. Then they came into a large room with a vaulted ceiling. It looked like a warehouse—it surely was as large as a warehouse. There were different rooms and sections. The tunnel led straight into a large anteroom with a central table and chairs around the table.
It resembled a living room/command center. There was a screen on one end and a coffee machine on the other. Couches were scattered around the large anteroom, and a cot was shoved in the corner. The central table was large enough for a conference meeting, and the seats arranged around it were enough to seat ten people.
Three doors led out of the anteroom deep into the safe house. In Aunt Anastacia’s style, there were tags on the doors. One said Living Area, another said Utility, and the last said Library.
“So you all must be exhausted from your trip here.” Aunt Anastacia ushered them along the hall.
Emily wasn’t in the least bit exhausted. Okay, maybe she was, but she didn’t want to rest, which was what Aunt Anastacia was fetching at. She wanted to hear about the Alfreds. What happened? Where were they now? What were they doing? If Aunt Anastacia had made it back here, then the Alfreds were probably done with the house. If they didn’t have the barrier to keep them busy, they might want to vent their frustration on Emily’s two friends who were trapped in the castle.
“You all need to rest up,” her aunt continued. “So, here’s a brief tour of the safe house. To the left is a door that leads to the utility room. Everything you need is there. Weapons, charms, everything. The one on the right leads to the library. This is the biggest supernatural library in this part of the world. So take care with the books.
“Finally, the door in the middle leads to the living area. There are bedrooms for everyone with their names on them. There’s a kitchen and a living room, where you can sit and watch TV and so on.”
Aunt Anastacia beamed with pride.
“Why, you thought of everything, didn’t you?” Dad sounded impressed.
“Indeed, I did.”
Aunt Anastacia showed them all to their rooms. Michael’s room was across from Emily’s, while Dad’s was down the hallway. There were rooms for Rina and Joanna as well, which gave Emily a warm, fuzzy feeling. It showed that Aunt Anastacia hadn’t forgotten about the duo, and that they were still integral parts of the plan. Also that she had
