Heritage

by Rebecca Walton

  “I swear on my life which by the way, I value very much,” He laughed

  “That I am not part of this insane plan to awaken something that even my father is afraid of,” He sighed zipping up his brown leather jacket as a gust of wind blew past us. Peggy quivered in the cold air as it ruffled her mane.

  This offering I give to you

  One body with the mind of two

  Break the seal to reveal

  The darkness that is within

  Take away the ultimate power

  Breathe in life to what once was

  Break the cage and free the soul

  Release the demon from its hole

  The wind spoke in a light breathless voice as it whipped around us. Blowing through our hair and fluttering through the grass.

  “Is that back?” I asked pulling myself up from the ground.

  This offering I give to you

  One body with the mind of two

  Break the seal to reveal

  The darkness that is within

  Take away the ultimate power

  Breathe in life to what once was

  Break the cage and free the soul

  Release the demon from its hole

  Listening this time I tried to pick up what it was saying. This offering I give to you one body with the mind of two. Where have I heard that before, now that was really going to bug me. Break the seal to reveal the darkness that is within. That was the writing on the Diamond. What is the wind trying to tell me and why was I even listening to it.

  “Do you know this wind?” Logan asked standing beside me

  “That might be the weirdest thing I’ve ever said,” He laughed as I tried to concentrate.

  This offering I give to you

  One body with the mind of two

  Break the seal to reveal

  The darkness that is within

  Take away the ultimate power

  Breathe in life to what once was

  Break the cage and free the soul

  Release the demon from its hole

  I defiantly heard it all that time. It was the writing written on the diamond which was going to be a part of the key the other half being me. I really need to contemplate that a little more. It was a very big deal after all. One thing at a time and that is the talking wind that I need to look up a little more.

  “No, , but the words it's saying are the words written on the Diamonds metal case,” I croaked.

  “This offering I give to you, one body with the mind of two,” I mumbled.

  “Which means…?” He asked scratching his head. My head is alive with thoughts. I should have known he wouldn’t be on the same page I was. My mind was soaring with images and words flying around and piecing themselves together, like my own personal puzzle.

  “One body with the mind of two, means evil and good in one body aka mine,” I explained. The vibration in my pocket took my mind off the puzzle for a second. Looking at the caller Id Alex’s name flashed on the screen. My mind was too busy figuring things out to answer her. Passing the phone to Logan I asked him to answer it.

  “Hello,” He answered. “No, she’s a bit busy at the moment, babbling about a diamond key whilst listening to the wind. Is that normal?” He chuckled with the phone to his ear.

  “Completely,” Alex laughed appearing next to us. Stroking Peggy’s face she smiled at me and then at Logan. Whatever she was thinking, it was so not the time.

  “Logan,” She smirked.

  “Alex,” He replied smiling whilst giving me back my phone.

  “Ok then, so we all know each other. Awesome” I sighed, placing the phone back into my jacket pocket.

  This offering I give to you

  One body with the mind of two

  Break the seal to reveal

  The darkness that is within

  Take away the ultimate power

  Breathe in life to what once was

  Break the cage and free the soul

  Release the demon from its hole

  The wind whispered again. It was persistent ill give it that, but I knew what it was saying. It didn’t need to keep repeating itself.

  “I’m on it!” I yelled feeling like a fool yet again talking to thin air, literally.

  “Awesome, so what are we on then?” Alex asked putting her arm around me.

  “Well apparently I’m the key to opening up the Devil’s gate. One body with the mind of two…”

  “Not apparently, you are,” Logan interrupted.

  “Fine. Now the next lines are, break the seal to reveal the darkness within then, take away the ultimate power breath in life to what once was.” I paused. They want to take away my powers and give them to someone or something that is dead in hell. Now that fills me with dread.

  “I think I’m going to faint,” I sighed. My body felt limp, and I fell to the ground. Logan pulled me back up again.

  “Steady their gorgeous. I know I’m handsome, but no need to swoon,” He mocked as my body regained its normal bone structure.

  “You’re so funny,” I moaned leaning on him to stable myself further.

  “So they want to take away your power and what?” Alex asked.

  “Give it to someone from down under,” Logan replied taking my arm from leaning on him, to wrapping it around his neck.

  “Well done stud,” I replied. It felt comfortable to be so close to him which scared me a lot. I shouldn’t want to be this close to him. Taking my arm from around his neck, I stood up straight and walked over to Peggy.

  “So what’s the rest of it?” Alex asked, trying to fix the awkwardness that had developed between us all.

  “Break the cage and free the soul, release the demon from its hole,” I replied. We know that we are releasing something but who and why.

  “There’s me thinking one sentence couldn’t fill me with total dread,” Alex sighed.

  “Any idea Mr. Stud?” I asked biting my lip as he glanced over to me.

  “One and you’re not going to like it,” He smiled mockingly whilst sitting on the ground. I’m not going to like it, well I don’t like the whole situation. So it doesn’t make a difference to the way I feel.

  “Hit me with it,” I replied walking back over to sit beside him. Alex stepped over us and sat next to me. Looking over at us Peggy grunted whilst moving closer to where we were sat.

  “I think they may be trying to bring back Demetri. He was a servant of Satan and a serious bad ass demon. Trust me, if they are bringing him back. You’re going to want to stop them,” He fretted. His forehead began to crinkle with worry.

  “That’s the plan,” I smiled. He stared at me with his deep blue eyes. I wanted to run my fingers through his hair, but that would have been entirely inappropriate. Sticking my hands into the pockets of my jacket, the silk lining served as a cage. Keeping my wandering hands locked down. Elle stop being hormonal and keep your crush on Logan in check.

  “So this Demetri Guy what’s his deal?” Alex asked breaking the staring contest me and Logan had going on. I turned away from him and turned my head to face her instead. She smiled at me cockily as I rolled my eyes.

  “I don’t really know a lot about him. Just that he raised a lot of hell when he was alive…”

  “Another night in the library for us Al,” I interrupted Logan.

  “I wished I could help further girls, but I have to go. I have this thing, and it needs walking and shrinking,” He mumbled standing up.

  “Alex it was nice meeting you again, and Elle I’ll see you later,” He smirked taking off into the opposite direction to the castle. Watching him walk half way across the field, he turned before he reached the end to smile at us and then shimmered out of sight.

  “Later ay,” Alex mumbled nudging me with her shoulder.

  “Not now Alex,” I sighed nudging her back.

  “Ok, Ok fine but when this is all over. We are so going back to the Fit Demon topic,” She giggled standing up. Taking my hand she pulled me up beside her.r />
  “Fine but for now we need to research this Demetri guy because I don’t want to go into a fight blindfolded,” I sighed climbing on to Peggy. Grabbing Alex’s arm, I pulled her onto Peggy behind me. This was one hell of a head spin. Not only am I the key to unleashing evil. I’m also the person whose powers were going to be taken by a bad ass demon. One day I would like to wake up not afraid of my own life problems because frankly my life isn’t looking very good.

  “Come on Peggy’s let's go home I think I need a nap,” I sighed as Peggy spread out her wings and flew towards home.

  Chapter eighteen

  The sun shone brightly through the trees as the open path grew longer, continuing to wind in and out of the forest. We had been walking for a good ten minutes and hadn’t gotten anywhere. My feet began to hurt as the cobbled path beat against the thin soles of my green converse. If we didn’t find Gair’s house soon, I was going to turn back and eat my own body weight in ice cream. It has been three days since the revelation that I was the person who was going to be used to open the gate to hell. Releasing a terrifying demon, who described in the hundred books we had read, to be the ultimate sorcerer. If that wasn’t intimidating enough on its own, he was also able to create demons out of any substance. That was like deciding against drinking a glass of water and turning it into a killing machine. Was it any wonder I was severely depressed and a little terrified.

  “Are we close yet?” I asked Josh as he led meters in front of us. He turned around pushing back his fringe.

  “How am I supposed to know? I’m not the one who was asked to come here?” He grumbled. Josh wasn’t exactly thrilled with the fact that we were listening to Logan and researching Demetri. He made it quite clear that he didn’t trust him and who could blame him, he was a demon after all. I would also not trust him if I hadn’t developed an ever growing crush on the guy, which seemed to handicap my vision between the right thing to do and the completely insane one.

  “Well whether you were or not, you’re the one that’s guiding us. So for once can you not let your ego get in the way of a mission. You’re driving me insane!” I exclaimed. I didn’t need the extra space in my brain being filled up with useless ego bruising. When it could be filled with useful stuff like for example, the end of mankind, just to exaggerate a little.

  “When you guys have stopped bickering, I found it,” Alex yelled pointing towards two mountains in the distance. I don’t know how we could have possible missed it. I needed to bring my head down from the black rain cloud that was forming above my head and pay attention to what was going on now.

  “Let’s go then,” I sighed turning off the cobbled path, onto a smother gravel road that had appeared as we had spotted Gair’s house. As we walked down the road and closer to the giants gigantic house, my mind wandered through the pages that I had spent the last three days reading over and over again.

  How is it possible that someone could take away my powers, both evil and good and give them to some dead guy. It was rude if anything else. Why couldn’t he get his own powers and leave mine alone? If I hadn’t been born part evil then I wouldn’t have to worry about being the key. Caressing the cameo pendent that lay on my collarbone, I didn’t want to be mad at my mother even if she had maybe planned my demise all along. I didn’t want to think that I was only born to do this one huge evil deed. My life meant more to me than that. I wasn’t going to let one man take away everything I had been taught over the past eighteen years of my life and use it against innocent people.

  “Whoa.” We all gasped as we reached the heavily gated enormous house. The tall iron bars towered miles above us and the speaker box was so far up, we would have to be sixteen feet tall to even reach the bottom of it. The air shifted beside me, as Josh transformed into a huge bat and flew towards the buzzer system. Pushing the button with his head the speaker crackled.

  “Who is it?” A voice boomed, shaking the rocks on the floor.

  “I’m Adabelle, and these are my friends Alex and Josh. We are here to see Gair,” I croaked. Ten seconds went by before they opened up the tall iron gates.

  Creaking they opened slowly, allowing a small gap for us to walk through. We continued down the path through the over grown garden. Daffodils towered miles above us, painting the stone path with a clear yellow glow. A garden gnome stood around a pond that was the size of giant lake. It stood proud with a gigantic wheelbarrow to match its gigantic self.

  “I don’t think I’ve ever been so intimidated by a garden ornament before,” Alex whispered as we walked past the green and red gnome and towards the huge oak door.

  “I’m not knocking!” Josh exclaimed.

  “I’m Not,” Alex replied quickly.

  “Chickens,” I grumbled tapping on the wood. It was a small knock which seemed like the sound of a pin dropping amongst the other noises that were going on around us. Sighing I knocked again. This time the door opened making me jump back.

  “Good morning your highness,” Boomed a giant woman wearing a green dotted apron covered in flour, which was also covering her brown hair.

  “This is the part of the story where we get made into pies,” Josh whispered. Alex chuckled beside me as the giant spoke again in a hushed voice.

  “You’re here to see Gair ain't ye,” She smiled.

  “Yes,” I croaked. Coughing to release the frog in my throat, I looked up at the woman who stood miles above me.

  “Come on in.” Ushering us through the door, we walked into their house. It was a typical giant’s house with everything being intimidating big and wooden. Giants had a thing for wooden furniture. Apparently it was because of their ability to tear down trees with a flick of their finger. I’m guessing none of these are magical trees. If they were then Gair was a hypocrite.

  “Gair you have visitors,” She chimed as we walked into their kitchen. Without warning, she picked us all up into the palm of her hand and carried us to a huge table where Gair was sitting eating his breakfast.

  “Girls! And Josh. I’m so glad you came to me home,” He boomed slamming his fist onto the table, causing us to fall over the vibrations.

  “Gair,” I greeted whilst being helped up by Josh. “Why exactly are we here?” I asked.

  “He has a confession,” His wife sighed stirring the mixture in a ceramic bowl. What is it with this picture that is making me think of jack and the bean stalk and a human pie.

  “Thank you Berta. I can take it from here,” He bellowed. Turning away Berta continued to stir her mixture, humming to herself.

  “A confession?” I asked. What could he possibly confess to?

  “Yes your highness. I weren’t entirely honest with ye last time we met. I know what Cedric’s job is. Ye see he is an important part of the Icarus government. He is in charge of thee parties that go on down in the meadow opposite St Clementine church…”

  “They are grand parties with fancy gowns and fancy foods. Like them little sandwiches with crusts cut off,” Berta babbled interrupting Gair’s confession. A quick glance from Gair made her go back to her humming.

  “Anyway as I was saying. He is in charge of the events and other things like that yee know.”

  “What has that got to do with anything?” I asked slightly confused.

  “I was getting to that…”

  “Sorry,” I apologised.

  “A big event is coming up soon. So he has been preparing for a long time. Way before these killings began you see. The people in the government were confused to why he started planning so early. I think this big event may be Thee big event!” He finished staring at me as if I should understand what he was talking about. I didn’t. I was a little more confused than I was before.

  “The big event that you saw in a vision you had. It was New years, the day Demetri will rise,” He exclaimed thrashing his arms about, causing a mini whirl wind.

  “How do you know that?” I asked fighting the air that was blowing frantically in our direction.

  “Sir Ethan told me, wh
en he came to find the stones with young Joshua here,” He explained calming down his hand movement to a cause a gentle breeze.

  Of course he did, I thought removing the hair from my eyes. New years day, why didn’t that surprise me of course it was New years. It was the start of a new year. What way to start a new era than on the start of a new year.

  “That’s barely a month away,” Alex murmured bringing me out of my thoughts.

  “It's Perfect,” I whispered. They turned to me with shocked and confused expressions on their faces.

  “What it is. New year, New rein it’s what I would do,” I explained. My explanation didn’t remove the confused expressions but did cause Berta to stop humming and stirring her bowl.

  “At least we have a month to prepare and to keep you protected,” Josh muttered.

  “Protect me? I don’t need protecting Josh I can look after myself,” I exclaimed.

  “Oh my child. You may think you can, but you have no idea what Demetri is capable of. Also, what his men who are alive will do to make sure he comes back,” Berta sighed, giving my back a gentle stroke of her finger. Being stroked by a finger was the weirdest feeling in the world. Shaking the feeling off, I turned my body towards her.

  “What is the big deal with him? I know he is a very evil being and is capable of forming demons from substances, but he can’t be hard to kill. If I don’t kill Lorias first before he uses me for the Key, But if it happens that he uses me against my will then I’ll Kill Demetri.”

  “Adabelle If he is resurrected he will need your powers. The only way to get them sweetheart is to… Kill you,” She whispered the end of the sentence, but I still heard it. My stomach flipped, and my heart sank so far in my body that I thought it had replaced one of my kidneys. So I was going to be killed for my powers and would be replaced by a psychopath and Poppy thought she had problems with her cheerleading.