by Sean Stone
“Well, if you’ve got a safe house…” Arthur said.
“I haven’t. But you have. Winters Research has been in your family for generations. That building is filled with old magic that will defend it well.”
“No, only the secret lab was defended by magic and that didn’t work against Nick,” said Clara.
“The secret lab was not part of the building. It was an extension. The defences on the building are much stronger. And the defences would always have been weak against Nickolas because…”
“Because I invited him in,” Arthur finished. “And he repaid me by throwing me off my balcony.”
“Well, you did go back on your word,” Kayla said as if that was a good enough reason to murder someone.
“How do you know so much about all this?” Clara demanded.
“I’ve been keeping an eye on your family for some time. Ever since I learned of the prophecy which I will be more than glad to tell you about as soon as we are safely inside that magnificent tower of yours. I will happily teleport us all there if you will permit me to do so.”
Clara stared at her intently. There was a prophecy about her family and for some reason it was important enough to an ancient that she’d spent however many years watching them. She looked at Arthur and nodded. He nodded back.
“You have my permission,” he said. “But when we arrive you’re answering all of our questions.”
“Understood,” Kayla said and held out her hands to them. A few moments later they were leaving the house.
Winters Research was deserted. Not even a lone security guard sat at the front desk guarding the entrance. Clara had never seen it so quiet, it was always full of people bustling around doing their jobs. It was like being in school after hours.
“Let’s go up to my office,” Clara said. She was peering out through the front windows of the building, expecting Eloise’s soldiers to come charging at them at any moment.
“No,” said Arthur.
“Oh… Of course, it’s your office really,” Clara replied a little awkwardly. She still hadn’t had the opportunity to fully process her father’s return and how that changed everything.
“No, that’s not what I meant,” Arthur said, waving his hand dismissively. “It’s your office now. I only meant that there isn’t much space in there. The executive lounge would be better.”
“Okay,” Clara said, nodding. She’d never been to the executive lounge before. Come to think of it, most of this building was alien to her. If they survived this and the town got back on its feet she planned to get to know her company a lot better.
Arthur led them up to the lounge which was very fancy. Black leather sofas and chairs were positioned around glass coffee tables. The kitchenette was filled with state of the art appliances, some of which Clara couldn’t even name. Arthur made coffee for everyone apart from Kayla and Olivia who asked for water. Once they had their drinks and were seated everyone turned to Kayla.
“You said you’d answer our questions. Go ahead, tell us about this prophecy,” prompted Arthur.
Kayla nodded slowly and set her glass of water down on the table. “I will tell you the prophecy, but first I think it best that I start from the beginning. You need to understand your enemy if you are to defeat him. That means delving into the past.”
“Nickolas told me all about Apophis’ past,” said Olivia.
“What did he tell you?” Kayla said softly, glancing over at Olivia with intrigue.
“Uhm… He said there were five classes of jinn and they all had different powers and abilities,” she said, looking at Kayla for confirmation.
“Well, some of their powers were the same. So yes, that’s close enough. Go on,” said Kayla.
“The first jinn, he called them the original jinn, ruled over the classes, but there was one class they hated called the nasnas. The nasnas were results of breeding with humans and that made them weaker than other jinn. The other classes treated them worse than slaves. One day Apophis arrived out of nowhere and killed most of the originals, leaving only the rulers whom he conquered, making himself the king. Some believed that Apophis was a nasnas. He had the power of all five classes making him stronger than any though, so how could he have been a nasnas?”
“You see the obvious flaw in the story,” said Kayla. “Where did Nickolas learn all this, for I did not teach him it?”
“Set told him.”
“Of course,” said Kayla and fell silent. The others waited patiently or her to resume speaking. “Set did not know the truth. None of the ancients did. I learned it because of my ancestry in the jinn race. My grandparents had high contacts in the ruling elite of the jinn and they knew where Apophis came from and who he was.”
“Your jinn ancestry?” Arthur asked in confusion.
“I am half ancient, half jinn. A hybrid,” Kayla explained.
“Who is Apophis?” Clara said, literally sitting on the edge of her seat. She didn’t mean to be flippant, but Apophis’ origins were far more interesting and salient than Kayla’s.
Kayla looked over at her, her expression was distant, thoughtful. “The common story of the jinn originals is that the five classes — marid, ifrit, shaitan, ghul and jann — were each named after the first rulers of their class. That is true, except that there were two rulers of each class. A couple. The original jinn were siblings and for them their race was descended. Whether these really were the first ever jinn is a mystery I shall never know, but that is how the legend goes. Where Set, and a good many other ancients got it wrong, is the nasnas. Whilst jinn did mate with humans and their offsprings were weakened versions of themselves, that is not what the nasnas are. The nasnas was a class of jinn just like the other five.”
“So there were six classes?” Clara asked. It was a lot to get her head around considering the lack of sleep, but she was determined to understand everything.
“Yes,” replied Kayla.
“So, why does the myth only say five?” asked Dean. He was watching Kayla through narrowed eyes, obviously scrutinising her every word in his head.
“Because the nasnas was kept secret. The original nasnas was not a pair, but a single jinni. As the stories go, the nasnas was weak and pathetic. An embarrassment. So his siblings kept him hidden.”
“Why not just kill him?” asked Kegan.
“Jinn, no matter how treacherous, will not kill their own family. It is against their nature. They will torture them beyond belief, but they will never take their life,” Kayla explained.
“How does Apophis fit into all this?” Clara asked.
“Apophis is the nasnas,” Kayla said simply and was answered with silence.
The silence was broken by Dean snorting. “Have you listened to what Clara and her dad went through last night? I hate to break it to you lady, but Apophis isn’t weak or pathetic.”
Kayla nodded again, the slight smile never moving from her face. “You’re right. He is nether weak nor pathetic. But this is his origin story, and that is how he began. One day, he managed to break free from his prison. He acquired the power of all the jinn races and made himself the superior jinni he is today. How he did this I do not know. He then broke the highest of jinn laws. He took one sibling from each class and he murdered them.”
“Why only one? Why not kill all his tormentors?” asked Laurie.
“So that the remaining siblings would be without their partner. Just like he was,” Olivia said quietly, her eyes down on the floor. Clara wondered if her mind had fallen to the partner she had lost last night.
“Precisely,” said Kayla. “However, and this is only a theory, but I think there was more to it than that. But we can get to that after the story is over. Sometime after that Apophis waged war on the ancients. When I told Nickolas the history of this he was only a child. Full of innocence. I couldn’t bear to tell him the truth. I lied and said the war was for immortality. The jinn wanted it. They already had it. The original jinn did anyway.”
“So what was
it for?” Arthur asked, having a hard time picturing an innocent Nickolas Blackwood.
“Set believed Apophis wanted the Promethean Flame because it could be used to kill him,” said Kayla.
“With the Spear of Ra?” asked Olivia.
Kayla looked at her quizzically. “The Spear of Ra combined with the Promethean Flame was said to be able to destroy anything. But I doubt it would have killed Apophis. I gave Naomi instructions to retrieve the Spear only as a last solution. I have fought Apophis and felt his power. I have felt something inside him. Something that stops him from coming to any serious harm. He has something protecting his life and until we figure out what that is and remove it, we will never be able to kill him.”
“That’s why you put him in a bottle,” said Arthur.
Kayla nodded. “Yes, but that was not a plan I devised. My parents and their rebel organisation came up with that curse. I was just the means to enact it,” she said. “The real reason that Apophis waged war on the ancients was because he saw them as a threat. He wanted to secure himself as the most powerful being on the planet and that meant annihilating anyone who might be able to challenge him.”
“So now that he’s back he’ll carry on with that plan?” asked Clara.
“I believe so. He’ll either destroy or enslave the human race. He certainly won’t see them as a threat, but he’ll want them under his heel none the less.”
Dean suddenly jerked upright and put a hand in his pocket. He pulled out a slip of paper and unfolded it. “It’s from my dad. He wants to know where we are. He has something to tell us,” said Dean.
“How can we contact him?” asked Clara, looking at her father. James did not have one of the mirrors.
“Here, I can return the note to him,” said Kayla, holding her hand out for the paper. Arthur nodded and Dean handed it over.
“Tell him where we are and to come to us with his news,” said Arthur.
“As you wish.” Kayla moved her finger over the paper, words appeared on it in a neat golden scrawl. Then she placed it between both palms like a cheesy magician and it vanished.
A moment later there was a pop and James was in the room. His face was red and he looked agitated.
“Dad, what’s going on?” Dean said standing up.
“Something bad. I tried to leave town to… to get something,” he said. I couldn’t teleport out. I can teleport around town, but not out.”
“Apophis has locked us in,” said Kayla calmly as if she’d been expecting it.
“He can do that?” asked Dean incredulously.
“Yes.”
“You better get to the prophecy part then,” said Clara, a little more rudely the she’d intended.
“Yes. I for one would like to hear this prophecy that resulted in you watching my family for generations,” said Arthur.
“What’s all this?” asked James, looking about in bewilderment.
“This is Kayla, Nick’s mother and she’s about to help us defeat Apophis,” explained Clara quickly. “Please, tell us the prophecy.”
“Very well. I came across a jinni roughly five-hundred-years ago. She’d been privy to a prophecy which she’d relayed to Apophis. Apophis hunted down and killed the seer to stop the prophecy from getting out. The jinni fled before she suffered the same fate. It goes like this:
When a man with no face is destroyed,
When the prison is opened for good,
When the immortal flame is extinguished,
When the hybrid departs from this world,
When the shields turn on their own,
Then by Winters’ hand shall the abomination perish.”
Clara let the words fully sink in. The others had the same idea. All of them sat, mulling over what they’d heard for minutes on end. Apophis had said something about Winters hand. This explained why he’d sent people to kill her and Arthur now. He thought they would be the ones to defeat him.
“We can’t be the Winters of your prophecy. We already tried to take him down and we failed miserably,” said Arthur, shaking his head.
“You failed because the rest of the prophecy has not yet come to pass. It has to happen in order,” said Kayla. “The man with no face was Set and he has been destroyed. The prison containing Apophis has been opened. The immortal flame within Nickolas has been extinguished. That is as far as we have gotten.”
“Is the hybrid… is it you?” asked Olivia.
“It is,” Kayla confessed.
“No, Kayla, that means…”
“I’m going to have to die. Which I will gladly do, as soon as I have deciphered the rest. The shields, are what I based my theory on. Something is stopping us from killing him. These shields which we have to turn on each other.”
“So they’re alive,” said Arthur ponderously.
“Yes. And I believe that his siblings may have the answers. I kept their bottles together in a place far from Apophis. I knew he would seek his siblings to stop them from giving up any of his secrets. I believe that they may well know exactly how he managed to become so powerful.”
“Then why haven’t you ever asked them?” Dean demanded.
“Because Apophis was imprisoned. He was no threat to anyone,” Kayla explained.
“So we just find the siblings and ask them what they know?” said Clara. She imagined they’d be more than happy to help defeat the brother who enslaved them.
“They will still need convincing. They will not willingly kill their brother even though he killed their other siblings.”
“Excuse me?” James said, voice full of attitude. “I don’t know if you heard me, but we can’t leave town. We’re not going after any bottles or siblings or whatever.”
Kayla looked up at him and smiled. “My dear man, have you ever wondered how this town had so much natural power? How it was that it drew in supernaturals from all over the world? I hid the original jinn right here. Their power flows through this town.”
Arthur laughed. “That is a fine coincidence,” he said with genuine glee. Finally something was going their way.
“Yes, except you would have done that thousands of years ago. Long before this town existed. How can you hope to find them?” Dean demanded.
“Well it’s rather simple. You see I placed a marker. A marker that ended up giving this town its name,” said Kayla.
“You buried them under the cedar tree in the centre of town,” said Clara.
“Well, actually I grew the tree on top of them. But yes, that’s where they are.”
Arthur rubbed his hands together with excitement. “Then let’s go and get them.”
Chapter 32
Bradley stayed hidden for a long time. Finally, when he’d managed to settle himself, he made the tea which Eloise had asked for and returned to his office.
“You took your time,” she chided. She lifted the teapot and filled a cup with the dark liquid. She pushed that cup towards Bradley before pouring herself one. It was the nicest thing she’d done since returning tow town. Usually she would have made him pour his own cup and hers. She reached into her pocket and pulled out the phone she used to contact her soldiers. She typed out a quick message and then returned it to her pocket. “Just calling Roman back. I don’t think he needs to be looking for Blackwood anymore,” she explained, as if she could remember Apophis saying he was no longer a threat. She looked into Bradley’s eyes and something in her gaze softened. “From the moment I returned to Cedarstone I’ve been tempted to have you executed, Bradley.”
“Oh…” was all he could think of in response.
“Yes. I didn’t trust you. But when you were unguarded and the opportunity for escape was right before you, you chose to come here instead. You stayed loyal.”
“I did,” he agreed, not telling her that he just wanted to see if she was dead or not.
“I think it’s time for you to learn the whole truth,” she said. “Come.” She walked out of the office and Bradley hurried after her.
“The whole truth
about what?” he asked, as he stepped over a bloody body. Eloise seemed to be oblivious to the carnage all over the town hall.
“All of this,” she said, gesturing to the town around them. “I was recruited by MI5 at a young age. Too young by modern standards, but it was a different time. I was an orphan, taken in by the church and raised under the careful watch of God’s servants.”
“That explains your devoutness,” Bradley said. They reached the stairwell and began going down.
“Indeed,” she replied. “One of the priests, one who I’d grown very closed to, turned out to be a spy.”
“In a church?” Bradley interrupted without thinking.
Eloise stopped walking and glared at him, eyebrows raised. He gave her an apologetic look. “Indeed. In a church. I know it is a shock, but this was no ordinary church. It was a church right here in Cedarstone. A church dedicated to fighting witchcraft, which this town has always been rife with. Back in those days, MI5 was not as knowledgeable about the esoteric as it is now. They thought that the church was perhaps a group of domestic terrorists. They knew something was awry. The false priest was in the process of training me to fight the witches. I wasn’t the only child there and we were all receiving the same training, though he took a shine to me. I was his best student.” She beamed proudly as she said this. They reached the ground floor of the building and to Bradley’s surprise she continued on to the basement floors. “One of the training exercises involved bringing a witch back to the church for interrogation. This particular piece of vermin happened to be able to see the future. I don’t remember the exact words of the prophecy she recited, but it amounted to a war between jinn and ancients culminating in Cedarstone and destroying the world.” Eloise stopped there and they left the stairwell to walk down one of the basement corridors.
“That sounds ridiculous,” Bradley said.
“After everything you’ve seen in this town how can you find anything ridiculous anymore?” she asked. “Anyway. The agent was recalled after that. He took me with him to London. MI5 recruited me and… well you can gather the rest. I went through years of training, not all under the tutelage of my agent, though he was always there. Always there for me. Like a father, considering my real one had no interest in me. When my training was complete, I was informed that the branch of MI5 I was working for was tasked with the supernatural and in particular ensuring that that prophecy never came to pass. My agent and I were sent back to Cedarstone. I was to infiltrate the council and learn what I could. After a few years of serving as a councillor it was arranged for me to move up and use my influence to take control of matters.”