Chapter 4

All About Alex

"Who's that?" Eleanor asked pointing to a picture of two babies.

"Those are my brothers, that's Jason and that's Joey, Joey likes frog too. They're your age, five."

Alex answered.

"And them?" Eleanor asked pushing the photo album into Alex's lap pointing to a group of three girls playing on the swings.

"Those are my six year old sisters they're triplets just like you and your sisters. That's Annie on the left swing, Ally is there on the right swing, and that's Amy on the middle swing." Alex said

"What about them?" Raven asked pointing to the picture below it of another three girls.

"Those are my other sisters that's Jessica , that's Jena and that's Jean" Alex pointed out.

"Hey! Look at the kitties!" Lily squealed as she turned the page.

"That's Muff, Scuff, Yuff , and Stuff, on our grandparents farm, that's where my family is now" Alex said Crash! Eleanor fell into a large box.

"Whoa kid!" Hellboy said lifting the child out of the box by the tail

"What are you looking for anyways Alex?" Liz asks peeking into the box.

"It's a wooden chest about the size of a desk top stereo-

"This?" Eleanor said holding a chest up or as close to up as possible when you're being held in the air by your tail, up is somewhat hard to determine.

"Yes!" Alex said in relief taking the chest from her as Hellboy set her down "First things first, gotta clean up my mess" Alex picks up the various books and papers and puts them back in their box, picks the box up and heading out of the library and returning a few minutes later, minus one box.

"My highly prized things are in here" Alex said opening the chest revealing many small things old relics charms, tiny bottles with glass stoppers, reliquaries , old yellowing pieces of paper, ancient coins, old yellowing black and white photographs and more.

"What the . . . where did you get these things?" Hellboy asked pointing to a small vile of pinkish silver liquid.

"That is saliva from a Mantichora, my great great grandfather was a very famous explorer" Alex said

"Your great great grandfather his name was Arthur Hopkins wasn't it?" Abe asks swimming up to the glass of his tank.

"Yes, why?" Alex answered a puzzled look on her face.

"Go to the third book shelf to the left of the fireplace third shelf from the top and five books over, I believe" Abe said watching her pull a leather bound book off the shelf "Open it"

"'A Theory of Magical Cures and Charms' 'By Arthur S. Hopkins' " Alex read "Cool"

"Father read that book a lot, first book he'd pull to do research." Hellboy said

"Never thought I would see that book in the hands of the author's great great granddaughter" Abe said stunned

"Or his travel chest, passed down to the eldest child of each generation, never knew he had a book though" Alex said

"What's this" Raven asked pointing to a small vile of reddish brown powder

"That's dried blood" Lily said looking up at her father

"Blood from a Basilisk" he said quietly a stunned look on his face "These, these are very rare" he said pointing to five small jars.

"Those are my favorites, there is an ounce in each jar. The hide, liver, blood, heart, and horn of the

Viper Dragon" Alex said picking up the jar with the horn in it and beaming.

"I believe he states in the book how he got many of the things in that chest" Abe said

"Neat!" Raven cried picking up a small leather pouch.

"Raven, what have we told you?" Liz said sternly.

"Look with my eyes never my hands" Raven said her tail drooping as she set the pouch down

"I saw this before." Eleanor said pointing a shaking finger at a piece of Obsidian rock "In a dream I had I was hiding behind a big pillar of it, that was last night I forgot to put my necklace on" Eleanor said quietly "But after I put it on I went back to sleep and I didn't have any bad dreams"

"You have bad dreams too, huh?" Alex said "I had bad dreams too when I was five, still have them sometimes, they freak me out a lot too."

"What do you dream about?" Eleanor asked

"It's silly really but, in my dreams I always saw a little girl and she's lost in the dark and, this always scares me, a clown jumps out with that awful painted face and that red nose, and the little girl is just terrified, that little girl was me"