Chapter four
Abi sensed something strange but couldn't put her finger to it. She got off her chair and stepped in front of the couple; bending to one knee she took one hand of each of them in hers and felt the images playing in her mind.
She looked up at the couple, her eyes turned dark and serious, she seemed to be very angry and the two of them immediately pulled their hands from her.
Her voice was cold and harsh when she finally spoke "When will people finally understand that witchcraft is not something to be taken lightly? You two were trying to perform a spell weren't you?"
The two of them were shocked, how did she manage to figure that out?
Mrs. Levin was the first to confess. "Yes, you're right. We did try to perform a spell, a youth spell." She took a deep breath but her husband then continued. "We got this old book of spells in some flea market in town, and we didn't actually think it would work. We were just playing around with it and then when we woke up we looked like this."
"Where's the book now?" Asked Abi.
Mr. Levin reached inside his jacket took the book out and handed it over to Abi. She examined the book for a minute wondering how did such an expensive rare thing ended up in a flea market. "How much did you pay for it?" she asked the Levin's.
"About 10$ I think," said the old woman.
"I'll give you guys 50$ for it, besides the fact that it will be safer with me," said Abi.
"Sure," the two of them agreed to Abi's offer. "Now, please, can you do anything to help us?"
"Well I'm not a witch, but I do know one." She picked up the phone and dialed. "Hey Nadia," she said to the woman who answered on the other side.
"Hello Abigail. It's been a long time. I heard you and Ben finally got together, congratulations. What can I do for you?"
"Thank you Nadia. I have here a couple called Levin. It seems they were trying to cast a youth spell and it sort of backfired on them. Anything you can do to help them?"
"Oh, sure. It is not a problem. Just send them over. Tell them to say Abi sent them so I'll feet them in between my other clients," said Nadia.
"Thanks Nadia, I'll send them right over."
She hung up the phone then took out her checkbook, written one for 50$ and handed it over to the Levin's. She walked them out explaining how they would get to the old witch's house. "Best of luck to you," she said sending them off on their way, "And please, do not play around with stuff you know nothing about. Next time it might prove fatal."
Abi went back to her office to continue her work on the house's files. A few hours later she was finally satisfied nothing was missing in the files so she decided to join the rest of her members in the control room.
"Hey guys," she said walking in and grabbing a seat next to Ethaniel. "Anything interesting happening?"
"Well actually we got this crate from the museum today. They want us to check it's content. It's sealed and they were afraid to open it. They also don't know where or how it got to their stock rooms, so they asked us to check it out," said Ethaniel. He saw the look on her face and said "don't worry, the police already scanned it. There are no explosives inside. However we don't know yet what is inside. We are working on that now."
"And did you find anything about it yet?" asked Abi. She looked around and saw her friends exchange strange uncomfortable looks.
"Do we have a problem people?" she asked. "Am I suddenly not worthy of your trust?"
"It's not that Abi," said Doron, a former psychologist whom she was friends with for a few years now. "It's just that lately we feel you have disconnected yourself from us. We used to share stuff talk about things, legacy stuff I mean. And now you don't do that anymore. We feel you keep us in the dark."
"And you haven't been involved in house matters for a few weeks now," added Eti. She was one of Abi's best friends since childhood. Besides the fact she was a damn good researcher she also possessed the gift of sight. Though not as strong as Abi's gift.
Abi felt as if they stuck a knife into her heart and twisted it around. She wondered what made them say all those things. She had her doubts about her abilities to run the house but she never neglected her duties. Not even in the five weeks she spent with her father and friends. The legacy always came first.
"You all feel that way?" she asked the others. They all nodded in agreement. Abi felt she was about to fall apart so she took one last look around and then left the control room heading back to her office.
As soon as she left Ethaniel looked at all of them in disbelief. "Have you guys lost your minds? How dare you attack her like this? After everything she has done for you all? Have you even considered all she's been through the past two months? Finding out her beloved brother was actually a monster, being beaten with an inch of her life, being possessed, dying, need I go on? I can't believe you'd do that to her," he said almost shouting at them. "She has risked her life for each and everyone of you. Shocks me to see how you repay her." He looked at each one of them reminding them of some of the things Abi did for them.
"Doron, when your wife died, who was there for you? Who helped you pick up the pieces? It was Abi. If it hadn't been for her you would probably be lying in a grave next to your wife. Eti, her best friend, how could you? Has she ever once in your lives, done something to hurt you? When you were attacked be the demons a few months back, who sensed it and was there to fight them? Remember? And Erick, you remember when your daughter was kidnapped by the vampires, do you remember who you turned to for help? Who tracked her down? Who was it that rescued her from those animals?"
He continued to stare at them all for a while then suddenly left the room heading out to find Abi. He first looked at the office but she wasn't there. He finally found her outside sitting on the grass in the back garden. She couldn't believe what had happened. She felt some of the old doubts rise again. Maybe her friends are right, maybe she is not what a precept should be. Perhaps she did allow her personal feelings detach her from them and the work although she couldn't think of one thing she's neglected.
"I'm sorry Abi," said Ethaniel standing behind her. "I in no way share their feelings. I don't know what came over them. They were ok yesterday, they were proud of you. I don't understand what happened to change that over night. You are my dearest friend, always will be, and I do trust you with my life."
She didn't look up at him but she said "I know that Ethaniel, please I need some time alone. I need to figure out what's going on here and how to get things back on track, before Sloan and his investigator get here tonight." She felt he was still standing and staring at her but she just felt if she'd met his gaze she'll burst into tears.
Ethaniel didn't leave. He hated seeing her like that. He stood there for a minute then decided to take a chance and sat next to her wrapping his arm around her shoulder. He felt her lay her head on his arm.
"Thank you for being such a good friend Ethaniel," she said.
Abi felt the tears fill up her eyes. "God" she said "I never used to be so emotional, I never cried so much as I did these past two months."
Ethaniel smiled at her remark. "Well if I had gone through the emotional roller coaster you have gone through I'd probably get a little emotional as well."
"I don't understand what happened Ethaniel. The last time I spoke to them and informed them on Sloan's arrival, they seemed to be ok. Have I missed something? Have I done something? It's not like we had important cases to deal with. It's been rather quiet lately. Why would that come up now?" she wondered.
"I don't know Abi. I do know that when they all came in this morning they seemed to be on the edge, angry and they argued amongst themselves. I have no idea what about. "
"We have to get to the bottom of this, before the audit begins. Last thing I want is for Sloan to feel there is tension among us. Lets go" she said to her head of security, "We must talk to them, now."
The two of them back into the control room. Everyone stopped what they were doing when they saw Abi and Ethaniel come in.
"Ok people. You have problems and issues you need to clear up with me fine. Lets do it now."
All the other three members came to her and touched her hands so she'll realize and see what they were going through. The visions started hitting her and she collapsed to the floor. "I'm sorry guys, I had no idea. When did this all start?"
Eti was the first to speak. "We're sorry Abi. We have discussed it amongst ourselves. Non of us actually felt this way before and we don't think we feel so now. When we started digging we found out all three of us have been having some strange dreams for the past two nights. The same dream." She fell down on the floor and started crying. Abi wrapped her arms around her friend hugging her.
"It's true Abi," continued Erick. "We all have been having the same dream. We dream…" he paused looked at the others and then said, "We dream you deserted us. We are trapped in this dark place and you just watch us and then leave us there to die. There is also this voice," he said, "It keeps telling us you are not what you seem to be, and that you'll let us down when it's…" his voice broke and he looked at Doron signing him to continue.
"The voice keeps telling us you will let us down again and again, and that we will end up dead, us and our families." Said Doron, "Actually until Ethaniel yelled at us it was like a cloud was covering our consciousness. A dark cloud," He said closing his eyes. "Abi I'm sorry, me of all people a psychologist, knows what you've gone through. It has been hard on all of us, almost loosing you. We've been friends for a long time now. I don't want to lose this friendship."
"I don't either," said Erick.
"Me too," Said Eti still whimpering in Abi's arms.
Abi just smiled at them, "Don't worry guys, we will get to the bottom of this. In the mean time, why don't you all stay here for a few nights? After Sloan leaves we will solve the problem. And find out who or what is behind these dreams. There is just one thing. Let's keep this to ourselves. Not a word of this. Not to anyone outside this room. Especially William Sloan."
They all nodded in agreement. Abi looked at her friends. They looked tormented. She smiled a reassuring smile at them then headed back to her office to see if she can find information about what's happening.
The phone in her office rang and she reached out to pick it up, "Luna foundation, Abi Adler," she said.
"Hello Abi," she heard her father's voice.
"Hi dad, how are you? Is everything alright?"
"Yes, I was actually having some visions about trouble in your house so I called to make sure you're ok. Is everything ok over there?"
"I'm not sure dad. Something strange has happened. It seems three of my members have been having the same dream and hearing a voice telling them I will desert them and cause their deaths. They say they felt like a cloud covered their consciousness, and they didn't really mean the things they said, or at least they don't think so. Do you have any ideas as to what can cause this?"
"I'll look in our data base and if I find anything I'll send it to you," he said. "Has Sloan arrived yet?"
"No, but I think he should be here soon, why?"
"No reason, just don't share what you just told me with him," said Derek.
"Are you suggesting I keep information hidden from the head of the legacy?" she asked laughing.
"Don't tell me you haven't already considered it," he said laughing as well.
"Well, actually, I decided to keep it in the house. No one but you knows," said Abi.
"Ok, I'll ask Nick and Alex to help me do some digging and if we find anything I'll mail it to you."
"Thanks dad, I appreciate that. Talk to you soon," she said and hung up.
7PM Abi's office
Abi noticed the spell book was still on her desk. Damn I should have asked Ethaniel to put it in the vault, she thought.
She heard a knock on the door, "Come in," she said.
"Hey Abi, Sloan and company are here. Wanna come out and meet them?" Asked Ethaniel.
"Did he ask for me?"
"No, actually he didn't."
"Then please get them settled in their rooms and I'll meet them at dinner in thirty minutes or so."
"Ok," said Ethaniel and left to get the guests settled as Abi asked.
7:35 Dining Room
Abi entered the dining room accompanied by Ben who arrived home in the mean time.
"Abigail," said Sloan.
"Good evening William." She answered.
"I would like you to meet Kristin Adams. Kristin is from the Boston house."
"I thought you said her name was Amanda," wondered Abi.
"Amanda's mother died yesterday so I called Kristin. I hope you don't mind," said Sloan.
"Not at all, Welcome Kristin," said Abi shaking the other woman's hand.
