Emily felt that remark slice deep into her. Dad’s eyes filled with anger. So much so that he slowly got to his feet.
“Dad . . . ,” Emily cautioned.
Michael cowered.
“What did you say, Boy?” Dad breathed.
Michael kept mute. Wise.
Dad looked at the boy for a long time. “Watch your words, Boy. You’re not indispensable.”
“Okay,” Aunt Anastacia said, bringing the discussion back to her. “No need for animosity. We have a job to do, and we’re going to do it as a team.”
“I hope it’s rescuing my friends,” Emily chipped in. “Because we had a deal.”
“Emily, be silent,” Aunt Anastacia shut her down.
Emily was astounded by the woman’s brashness. This was the woman who once begged Emily to come stay with her in her cottage. Now she was acting all bossy and militant. Geez.
As the tension built up, Emily could feel the fire demon’s presence. It was subdued and muted. It was like a reminder that he was there in case she needed help. Emily tried not to think too much about it. She only needed Aunt Anastacia for a few more hours or days. Once they were done with this threat, she wouldn’t have to deal with the woman anymore.
Emily decided to let her aunt enjoy her few days of importance.
“Now can we all eat?” sighed Aunt Anastacia.
There was silence as they dug into their food. Emily didn’t realize how hungry she was until she started eating. The meal consisted of omelettes and potatoes. It must have been enchanted because the more Emily ate, the hungrier she became, and the more she wanted to eat. Surprisingly, when the food was all gone, she was satisfied.
This time, the drink they’d given her was water. It was fresh and oddly sweet water that calmed her nerves and flooded her system with happiness and joy. Apparently, not just her because Dad, Michael, and Aunt Anastacia were smiling. There had to be something magical about the water, too.
Aunt Anastacia snapped her fingers, and the plates vanished from the tables. “Now, to business,” she announced, the smile dissolving off her face.
The rove woman pushed her chair away from the line of sight to the TV until she was on Dad’s side of the table. She pushed a button on the table, bringing the TV to life.
On it was a building’s floor plan. Every section was duly annotated. At the bottom of the screen was a series of numbers starting from -2 and reaching up to 5, showing the building had eight layers: two under ground and six above. They were currently looking at the ground floor.
While the series of numbers took up a large portion of the lower right corner of the screen, on the lower left portion was text. It said, “The Man’s Castle.” This must have been the floorplan Michael was talking about the night before. Emily didn’t need to put two and two together to know that Michael had supplied the plan to Aunt Anastacia. He might have downloaded it from the vigilantes’ systems to his phone or something. Gotta love iPhones and their cloud technology. All he had to do was log in to his cloud and download the floor plans into Aunt Anastacia’s computer system.
It was weird, anyway, that a witch relied on computers. This brought a slight smile to Emily’s face as she observed the different doors and rooms and entrances into The Man’s Castle.
She began to wonder about this Man. It was so curious that what they had been calling the Alfreds’ mansion never really belonged to the Alfreds. Did it mean the Alfreds were imposters? Or were the Alfreds working for this Man? Emily could feel a dark shadow pass over her mind as she contemplated more and more about The Man.
“So the legends were true?” Dad broke the silence. “The Legend of The Man?” Dad glanced at Michael and then at Aunt Anastacia.
Anastacia’s eyes were hooked to the screen. She conveniently ignored Dad’s questions, although she muttered something to herself.
Dad remained silent, allowing Aunt Anastacia to work through her thoughts herself. Michael, on the other hand, didn’t have that sort of patience.
“Look, we need to get in there and save Rina and Joanna,” he blabbed, his voice a cross between an angry yelp and a desperate cry. “I don’t know why we’re still sitting on our asses gazing at this floor plan.”
No one replied. Aunt Anastacia didn’t move a muscle, nor did she turn to even grace Michael’s utterances with a glance.
Naturally, Michael was angered by the lack of attention. “We have the floor plan,” he whined. “We know the enemy’s strengths and weaknesses. We know where the enemy is. We know just about everything about the enemy. Plus, we’ll have the element of surprise. We have all we need to execute a perfect plan and get the girls out of there!”
“Without fatalities?” Dad chipped in.
“Yes, Sir!” Michael replied. “Without fatalities on our side. Just theirs.”
Emily was surprised when she felt her heart jump in her chest. It was fear. She knew this because she subsequently felt a cold tingle sliding down her abdomen. She was afraid, and she knew why.
Marion.
Emily tried to breathe, but she felt a weight on her chest. The thought of Marion was choking her. What. The. Hell. The thought of Marion was setting her innards in a confused tumble, turning her brain inside out.
Emily frowned.
Oh. My. God. Selena’s voice erupted in her mind. You’re totally hot for him!
Since when did Selena sound like a valley girl!? The statement was so absurd to Emily’s logical mind that she erupted almost immediately. “No, I’m not!” she boomed.
Everyone turned to look at her, including Aunt Anastacia. Emily swallowed hard, trying not to blush.
“Sorry,” she muttered. “Just The Owl being silly . . .”
Aunt Anastacia looked away. Followed by Dad. But Michael didn’t. His eyes were so deep and intense they might have been boring through her skin into her mind. Emily looked away, hoping that Michael would do the same. He
