The Silent Soldiers

by Travis Stinnett

talking to somebody on the phone. I snuck quietly over to the door so I could hear what they were saying better.

  “He has informed the boy about the sword. I think they will try to take it soon,” I heard her say, “I understand, but he has been training extensively all summer, and the final member is scheduled to arrive tonight,” she added.

  I couldn’t imagine who she would be telling this important information to, but I felt that it was wrong for her to be sharing my Grandpa’s secrets. I listened again, and heard her say,

  “I will let you know if I find out anything further, master.” I heard the beep of the phone and footsteps headed for the door I was listening at. I had to get out of here. Adriana was seconds away from walking through this door, and I definitely didn’t want her to find me eavesdropping on her conversation. In a flash I ran across the room and was out the door into the foyer. I closed the door behind me as quietly as possible as I heard the door open on the other side of the room. This super hearing could definitely come in handy, I thought to myself.

  I raced up the stairs and into Ava’s room without even knocking first.

  “Knock much?” Ava asked.

  “I’m sorry Ava, but I will explain everything in a second,” I said. I peeked out the door to make sure nobody was following me. When I was satisfied we were in fact alone I closed the door and walked over to sit down with my friends.

  “What’s up, Luke, you look like you’ve seen a ghost,” Matt laughed.

  “I think Adriana is betraying the pack. I think she is the one that helped Nhados enter the property over the wall the first night I changed,” I blurted.

  “Are you sure?” Ava asked.

  “Let me start from when I left y’all in the dinning hall, and I’ll tell you the whole story. I started with meeting Grandpa in the great room and told them every detail of the conversation we had. I told them about the new member arriving soon. I told them about the mission we were facing. I told them everything I knew so far. I also told them about hearing Adriana on the phone and what she said. I also told them how I heard that far away with my super hearing, now that I had my vampire powers permanently. Everyone stared at me in shock as I gave every detail I could remember.

  “We have to do some research and find out where this sword is, and how we might be able to get it. We are about to be united as the Silent Soldiers, and I think we need to be as prepared as possible. We know about my powers. I think we need to discuss the powers that you guys have as well. We need to know what were working with,” I told them.

  “Well, according to my mother, I am a quite powerful witch. She says I’m even more powerful than she was at her age. She said if I could summon the power of Callan, I could possibly reach my full power pretty quickly. It is an extremely difficult ritual, and we would need a fifth person to perform it,” Ava explained.

  “Do you think your mom would help with it?” I asked.

  “She might help us. She knows I have been researching it. This ritual dips into a bit of dark magic, and I think she would rather be there with me than for me to try it on my own. I’ll find out,” she said.

  “Ok, Matt, have you figured out anything about any special powers you might have?” I asked.

  “I read in one of the more advanced ShapeShifter books that my mom has, that some shifters can shift into other things. Maybe you can change into something other than a wolf, Matt,” said Ava.

  “I’ve been working with my dad for several weeks now trying to figure out what my power is. We haven’t found anything out yet,” said Matt.

  “There is something we could try,” said Ava.

  “What’s that?” Jenna asked.

  “It’s sort of a long shot, but it might just work. We could try a revealing spell,” said Ava.

  “What exactly is a revealing spell?” I asked.

  “Well, we use revealing spells sometimes when we are trying to find the answer to something. We could try to cast it on Matt and see what happens,” said Ava.

  “Is there any chance it could hurt him?” Jenna asked truly concerned about Matt.

  “The worst that can happen is he will start rattling off secrets he has kept over the years. I think if he focuses on what he wants revealed, and I cast the spell, it just might show us what we want to know. The only thing is it has to be performed outside under the moon,” said Ava.

  “Ok, I don’t think it will be hard for us to sneak out long enough to cast the spell. I know were not supposed to go out after dark with the whole Nhados thing, but I think it will be worth it if we just go out into the garden for a short time,” I said.

  “That takes care of the three of us, but what about Jenna?” Ava asked.

  “Well, I don’t know how much help it will be to the team, but I have found that I can harness the power of electricity. Well, not exactly harness it, but I can sort of send my mind into it,” said Jenna.

  “What do you mean?” I asked.

  “Let me show you,” she replied. Jenna walked over to the bar where my laptop sat. She placed her hand on the plug leading from the charger into the computer. Almost instantly we began to see the screen change. A faint image of Jenna’s face appeared on the screen. We all looked at the screen with wide eyes as she smiled back at us. We were completely amazed. She let go of the plug and the image disappeared.

  “See what I mean? I can go inside the computer through the electricity. I can actually work through the programs like that. I can also go into other things. For instance, I can enter the security cameras and see everything the cameras see.”

  “That is amazing!” I exclaimed with great excitement.

  “Does anybody else know about this?” Ava asked.

  “My dad does, but he wanted me to keep it a secret until I figured out for sure what I was doing,” said Jenna.

  “Ok, tonight after grandpa introduces us to Dakota, we will sneak out into the garden for the revealing spell on Luke. Then, if your mom is willing, we will perform the ritual you told us about, Ava. That should have us all up to speed on the powers issue,” I said.

  “I’m going to go talk to my mom and get all of the supplies together that we will need for the spell and the ritual. I’ll meet you in the great room as soon as it gets dark,” said Ava.

  “Sounds like a plan,” Matt added. Ava left the room at that time. I asked Jenna to go into the computer and look for anything dealing with the Koichi sword. She agreed and went to work on the computer. Matt and I watched in awe as the screen began to change very rapidly.

  The screen stopped on a picture of a beautiful sword that reminded me of the ones used by ninjas in movies I had seen. The sword was silver with intricate designs carved into the blade. The handle and sheath were the same pure white color. “It says the sword is of Japanese origin. A powerful Japanese sorcerer hand crafted it and carved the spell that harnesses its power into the blade. I’m guessing that’s what those designs are. It goes on to say that a dark wizard killed the sorcerer and took the sword to the underworld to keep it out of the hands of good,” Jenna read.

  “I’ll give you one guess who that wizard was,” I said rather sarcastically.

  Jenna went on to read that, “The entrance to its location has been hidden for several centuries.”

  “That all it says?” I asked.

  “Yep, and that is the only website I found that even talked about the sword,” said Jenna.

  “Ok, I wonder if there is anything in the Silent Soldiers database about it. Maybe they have researched and located the entrance. They have to know where it is and how to get it,” I said as Jenna grabbed the plug again. The screen switched to the Silent Soldiers login page and then again switched to a page with Koichi Sword as the title. The same picture of the sword was under the title.

  “This says the entrance to its location is located right here in Eerie!” Jenna told us excitedly. “It says the entrance has been located in The Devil’s Den. There is a map to its location righ
t here,” Jenna said as she pointed to the map at the bottom of the screen.

  “We know where the entrance is now. Maybe Grandpa will tell us how to get in and what we will face once we get there. I’m sure the entrance itself is protected. The sword will be guarded with everything in Nhados’ power for sure,” I said.

  “It’s getting dark now, Jenna. Why don’t you check the security cameras and see if Dakota has arrived yet,” I said. Jenna touched the charger to my laptop again and told us there was a moving van pulling up to the front entrance.

  I packed my laptop into my backpack and suggested we walk down to the stairs to watch as he entered the mansion. We walked down to stand between the two sets of stairs leading up to the second floor so we could watch from above. Grandpa came in the door followed by a boy that looked to be my age. It was hard to tell the actual age of a vampire because once a person is turned they don’t age. I wondered if I would continue to age now that I was part vampire full time. I made mental note to inquire about that.

  The boy following Grandpa was of African-American descent. His head was completely bald and covered in tattoos. He wore all black leather, from his boots all the way up to his sleeveless vest.

  Grandpa led the boy through the foyer and into the great room. The boy glanced up at us as he walked into the door to the great room and gave us a little smile that revealed his fangs a little.

  “Let’s go down and join them,” I said as I