“Impetu-what? Speak English! Or at least speak like a normal person! Damn, you and your fancy talk,” Scott ranted.
Agnon felt the slow roll of his insides as they began to simmer at Scott’s increasingly disrespectful tone. How dare he address an elder in such a voice, and with such vulgar language? And he was not just any elder. He was Agnon, the most powerful living warlock. Perhaps Scott needed to be reminded of his place in the order of their kind.
“I know Arianna had something to do with it too, by the way,” Scott continued.
Agnon shot him a look of disapproval and hoped it would end the conversation about Arianna then and there. But Scott persisted. “She is involved and I know it. Who else could it be?”
“It is not Arianna. She is with us,” Agnon assured him in a stern voice that left little room for argument.
“She sure as hell doesn’t seem like she’s with us,” Scott bickered and Agnon felt his insides begin to teem with white-hot energy.
“She will be when the time comes,” Agnon raised his voice, the sound of it filling the room intimidatingly.
“Look, man, I know she’s you little pet, or maybe you have some kind of old man boner for her but,” Scott stormed, but Agnon raised his hand and silenced him. Pure, white-hot energy branched between Agnon’s fingertips making it look as though a small lightning storm were raging among them and, using only his powers, he gripped Scott’s throat. Scott gasped and choked as if his windpipe were being crushed.
“Silence!” Agnon boomed. “How dare you speak to me that way? You are an insolent, insignificant part of our movement. I could kill you now, do you know that? Oh, of course you know that. You can’t breathe right now, can you? And if I don’t stop what I’m doing, you will pass out and die of oxygen deprivation,” Agnon said levelly. “Oops! There I go using big words again. Shall I give you the rundown of what everything means? It may take a while, I must warn you.”
Scott’s face had turned an unhealthy shade of magenta and his hands clutched his throat. A thrill of delight raced up Agnon’s spine. While he did not enjoy harming his own kind, he did enjoy putting others in their rightful place. Scott’s hands and his powers were useless. Agnon’s powers surpassed all others and would until the full strength of the Sola’s powers manifested itself.
“Raise your hand if you wish to live,” he ordered Scott.
Scott raised his hand feebly and Agnon relaxed his invisible grip just a bit.
“When we take the school and begin to execute the students, she will feel it. The urge to join us will compel her to act. It will be beyond her control. It is her destiny.”
Agnon dropped his hand and Scott collapsed to the floor, wheezing and struggling for breath. The scene was disgraceful, a pitiful flurry of hair gel and skinny pants. Scott, the future of warlocks, was not like the warlocks of Agnon’s early days. He was puny, and not only weak of body and strength, but also weak-minded. The thought of seeing Scott attempt to heft a sword like the first he’d ever wielded made a smile tug at the corners of his mouth. No, warlocks today barely resembled the ones he’d had the pleasure of knowing in the past. They were not even remotely comparable to warlocks of centuries ago. Scott and the motley crew he lived with lacked discipline, intelligence and most importantly, they lacked respect. Agnon knew the world was to be overtaken by their kind, young and old, but eventually, the younger among them would have to shoulder the responsibility of leading. He did not have much confidence in their ability, and that was why the Sola was so crucial to their movement. She would guide them, mold and shape them into what they needed to be; she would prepare them to rule the world.
“I just don’t get why we need her, why we need Arianna,” Scott croaked, his vocal cords tender from being compressed moments earlier. “You said that the Sola was going to rise after it begins and that it would set off a chain reaction across the world. You said we would all rise and begin to rid the world of these useless humans. Why do we need her for that?”
Agnon felt his anger coil tightly like a snake ready to strike. “Because she is the Sola,” he shouted at Scott. “Arianna Rose is the Sola!”
The color drained from Scott’s face, shock and confusion replacing all of the overconfidence he’d been feeling. “What? How?” he stammered. “Why didn’t you tell us before?”
Agnon leveled a steely gaze his way. Scott’s features withered and he seemed to sink into himself, into the wall behind him. “You and the others did not need to know. But now you understand why she is not to be touched by you or anyone else,” he growled. “She needs to be at that school tomorrow morning when it begins, when we take the school and begin the chain reaction. She is the key to everything.”
Scott stared at him with his mouth partially agape and his eyes glazed over. Agnon wanted nothing more than to kick him like the wretched dog he was. They were nothing alike. Scott was arrogant and fearless, but lacked the true fortitude necessary to support either. He was a step above the drooling fools that currently inhabited the planet, the ones they would purge the planet of.
“Leave me now,” Agnon dismissed Scott and resisted the overwhelming urge to act on impulses that urged him to incinerate the immature buffoon where he huddled.
Scott slowly scrambled to his feet. His skinny jeans, already seated so low on his hips that they revealed garish bright-red and yellow boxer shorts, slid down further. With the entirety of his ridiculous underpants exposed and his equally ridiculous pants hanging at his thighs, any semblance of dignity Scott may have ever held evaporated along with the shred of respect Agnon extended as a courtesy to fellow warlocks. Agnon shook his head and pinched the bridge of his nose. The whole of his kind would someday be at the mercy of idiots like Scott. What would the world come to? He wondered.
He had to force the image of that future from his mind, along with the image of a pathetic teenage boy scuttling away as he clutched his dangling pants. Too much was at stake for him to waste time on morons with wardrobe issues. A revolution loomed on the horizon.
He stared out of the bay window once again, out into the darkening sky. Beyond the glass, the world had assumed an unearthly electric-blue hue. Weak rays of daylight, ashen and wan, had transformed the scenic landscape into an eerie, foreboding one. Arianna entered his thoughts. She swirled in his brain like a riddle, an unwilling participant in her own destiny, armed with more power than she could possibly imagine, and he began to wonder whether he was wrong about her, whether she truly was what he believed her to be. Such worrisome thoughts lingered in his mind longer than he would have liked, plaguing and irritating at him. But then he reminded himself of the prophecy, of his role in it, and was able to dismiss his troublesome musings with ease. Ancient predictions never lied. They were never wrong. They had foretold of countless occurrences throughout their long history, had prevented the fall of their kind even.
Furthermore, his hand had been guided by Asus himself when he’d written his entry in the Tome of Ares. He’d heard Asus’s voice in his head as clearly as he’d heard Scott speak moments ago. He’d only needed to revisit that glorious period in time to buoy his faith, to renew it. Desmond had been the only factor that had the potential to change Arianna’s intended course, if he had lived to tell her he loved her. For that reason, Agnon had been forced to kill his only son. He’d done what needed to be done to protect the fate of his people.
With Desmond thrust to the forefront of his thoughts, an unsettling sensation scurried over his skin, crawling and scampering like the legs of a thousand spiders. A familiar scent perfumed the air. It smelled of spice and leather and was accompanied by a hum of energy as calm as the sea on a windless day, but as profound as it as well. Desmond. The name whispered through his core and each of his senses identified Desmond.
He spun around to look behind him, convinced he would find Desmond waiting there, daggers in each hand, readied to exact vengeance. When he saw that the room was empty, just as it should be, he realized the feelings he’d gotten were
completely irrational. Likely the work of the minimal guilt he’d felt about ordering his son’s execution, his body had been tricked into believing it had perceived him. Desmond was dead. No doubt existed in his mind about that. He had dispatched Thanatos personally, and Thanatos had never failed him.
Agnon smiled and reminded himself of Thanatos’ unimpeachable track record. Desmond never stood a chance against the murderous beast. His son was dead and had taken with him any possibility of upsetting their rise to power. The future had been preserved, and awaited them in just a few short hours. Tomorrow morning was going to be the greatest day in his centuries of life on Earth. It would be the beginning of a new age. He and every other being like him would rise and claim the world for themselves. The Sola would rise to the occasion and feel the full extent of her power swell. She would set into motion the dawn of a new day.
He turned from the window slowly. Darkness had swallowed the last light of day. Everyone had retreated to the warmth and comfort of their homes. Little did they know, the time to savor in the warmth and comfort of their homes were limited to mere hours. After Hallowed Hills High School was overtaken and its students and teachers killed, the rest of the witches and warlocks around the globe would be called to action. They would set about slaying every human being until the last one fell. Then they would begin their reign on Earth.
Agnon smiled broadly. He could hardly wait for morning.
Chapter 19
Arianna returned home from a day of school that had felt as if it had been doubled in length and went to the couch immediately. She needed to sit, needed a period of time to process all of it. Her day, the last few days, had lingered like a never-ending nightmare. The only bright spot had been Desmond’s return, their time together. That had been heaven-sent. He was heaven-sent. The rest had been horrendous. Her school day hadn’t been any different. Minutes had dragged and had felt like hours. She’d felt as if her time at Hallowed Hills High School would never end. When finally the last bell of the day had rung just after three o’clock, she had to force herself to keep from springing from her seat and sprinting out the front door to her car. Fortunately, her will was strong and she’d done neither. Both would have drawn attention to her, attention she did not want. She’d grabbed her books and walked at the same pace as the rest of her classmates, praying all the while that she would avoid Scott, George and the others.
Of course, she had not avoided running into any of them. She’d seen and spoken briefly with Paul and Chris near the cafeteria and had bumped into Meg and Kit in the ladies’ room. Each encounter had been awkward. Everyone had spoken to her in the same tones they’d always used, relaxed, friendly, and nonchalant, nothing had been out of the ordinary; nothing on the surface, at least. But they’d looked at her differently, warily, accusingly. It was clear that if they did not know for sure already she was behind Jess and Josh’s disappearance, they strongly suspected her. The tension, particularly between Meg, Kit and herself, had been so thick, she could have cut it with a knife. She’d never wanted to stop mid-stream while relieving herself as badly as she had when she’d sensed Meg and Kit’s presence enter the ladies’ room. Their energy had been laden with hostility and distrust. It had practically entered on its own, as separate entities, ahead of them. Her only advantage had been, and still was, that no one knew she was the Sola other than Desmond and Agnon. No one else knew, not Scott, not George, no one. So as Paul, Chris, Meg and Kit had plastered phony smiles on their faces and had laughed and joked as usual, they’d been completely unaware of the fact that Arianna had practically heard their thoughts.
Her powers were growing rapidly, more rapidly than she’d ever dreamed possible, and on more than one occasion during the day, she’d sworn she had heard the thoughts of others when she’d concentrated hard enough. She’d unintentionally read the mind of a handful of human beings and had been shocked when it had happened. For a moment, she’d been certain she’d finally gone crazy. She was about to try out her new skill on Beth at her locker at the end of the day, but when she’d seen George’s pasty face bobbing along above the sea of other faces walking out of the school, she’d known her powers would lapse. She’d also known Scott would be at his side, and she’d been right. She’d quickly grabbed her belongings and was about to make a run for it when she’d found herself face to face with a very smug Scott. He’d slid her a sly, half-smile, the facial equivalent of a raised middle finger. She’d wanted to slap him, had actually contemplated doing it for a fleeting moment, then had remembered Desmond and had reconsidered. To her surprise, Scott had not said a word to her. He’d stood there, threatening her wordlessly, with his Herman Munster sidekick hanging on him like an ugly, oversized corpse-purse. She’d smiled at him, as pleasantly as she could possibly smile then made her way out of the building.
Now, as she stood in the living room replaying the few, but odd, interactions she’d had with Scott and his coven, she realized nearly a half-hour passed and wondered where the hell Desmond was. He’d promised her he would not leave her. She began to wonder whether something had happened.
Her eyes scanned the living room and kitchen area before she marched into her bedroom.
“Desmond?” she called quietly and reached out with all her senses, searching for him.
When she did not feel him, she began to panic. Where was he? He would never leave her, not without a good reason, a threat to her life.
“Desmond?” she called out again and felt her heart speed frantically.
She stepped into the bathroom and flipped the light switch on. She knew he was not in there, the room had been dark, but she had held out hope that perhaps he’d been in the shower and hadn’t heard her.
“Oh god, Desmond,” she said to herself. “Where are you?”
She was about to turn when a voice startled her.
“Right here,” Desmond said softly and she heard a small scream sound from her.
“Holy shit Desmond!” she jumped.
“You screamed like a little girl,” he smiled, but his smile did not reach his eyes, and his skin was unusually pale.
“No, I didn’t and what’s wrong?” she wasted no time getting to the point. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
Arianna considered her statement and their supernatural powers. “Wait, did you see a ghost?” she asked and was serious. With the rate at which her powers were multiplying, she would not be surprised it that were next.
“Arianna, they’re planning it for tomorrow morning,” he said and it took her a moment to realize what he was talking about.
“They’re what?” she fumbled. “Tomorrow morning? How do you know? You heard them planning at school today?”
Too many questions swam in her brain, around and around in dizzying laps.
“I heard my father. I saw him today,” Desmond said, pain etched in is features.
“Your father was at school today?”
“No, I went to him,” he admitted and dropped his eyes to his feet.
“You left me?” she accused him.
“No, well yes, but you were in your car driving home. Scott had waited in the parking lot. He and the others had gathered by his car and threw snowballs at each other as they laughed about how epic tomorrow would be.”
“Huh,” she huffed. “Sounds just like a scene Norman Rockwell would paint. Instead of Girl at the Mirror, the title would be Psychos at School.”
“They plan to kill the entire student body tomorrow at the end of first period. Actually, they expect you to kill everyone at the end of first period,” he said and met her stunned gaze.
Arianna’s lungs burned and her mouth had gone dry. She could not speak, could not find the words to describe how she was feeling, the horror.
“What?” she managed to whisper, her voice hoarse.
“When I left you, I went to Scott’s house. My father was there. He and the six in the coven went over the details after he and Scott had a little run-in. Arianna, they think you are going to
kill all the kids at school and that when you do it, it will be felt around the world by every witch and warlock just as it had been felt when you killed Howard Kane. Only this time, the act will be a signal for all the others to begin their attack on mankind. It will begin the war against humanity.”
The room tilted violently and Arianna staggered out of the bathroom to her bedroom. The sudden need to sit pressed her.
“Desmond, this is crazy. This can’t be real,” she said in a trembling voice.
Desmond rushed to her side. She felt his warm hands rest on her shoulders. “Are there really that many of us that Agnon thinks we can overthrow humanity?” she asked feebly.
“The prophecy says that when you initiate the war, your powers will have matured and all of our powers will grow, that a handful of us will be able to overtake cities, that we will be unstoppable.”
Arianna’s mind struggled to understand the words he was speaking. Five witches would be capable of overtaking a city. It seemed impossible. Countless cities existed on the planet, cities that would fall. And she was slated to begin all of it, begin the chaos. She could not wrap her brain around it all. She felt as if she were floating, hovering over her body and listening, as it all unfolded like a hideous nightmare she could not wake from.
“Do you believe it? Do you believe the prophecy, Desmond?” she heard herself ask him.
“No,” he said and tipped her chin up so that she looked at him. “What my father believes, what he’s preparing the others for, is nonsense. It’s not what I believed my whole life and I don’t believe it now. I don’t believe you will kill innocent people, now or ever.”
“No, I won’t,” she said and felt strengthened by his faith in her. Of course, the urge to kill innocents did not exist within her, it never had. She would have gleefully joined in with Scott, Jess and Josh at the party in the woods if it had. But she was not like them. And she never would be. Still, a question nagged at her. She wondered how all of the prophecy nonsense had come to pass, how she became involved in it. Of all the supernatural beings on the planet, what force decided she was the one, the Sola? She wanted to ask Desmond, but was afraid of the answer she would hear. Instead, she settled on one only slightly less complicated. “Why is everyone so convinced that I will do this? Why do they believe I will join in this mass slaughter tomorrow?”
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