Titilola invited James, Matthew, and Wesley to spend the night in her house. This time, they all accepted without any hesitation, although James still felt uneasy imposing on her and putting her in danger. The next morning, Matthew felt even better than before. Although he had a slight fever, he was all set to join his brothers in locating Thomas' host body. James had asked Titilola if he and his brothers could have some privacy for a while. She gladly obliged without any questions and once again, James reminded his brothers about what they all had to do.
"We know all of that!" Wesley exclaimed. "What we don't know is how to find him. What did she mean, 'work together?' We do that all the time."
"I don't know," James said. "She said that it's the only way we'll be able to find him."
"Try to get a premonition or something, Matt," Wesley suggested to Matthew.
"I can't, dumbass," Matthew replied. "That's not my power. I only had that when Jimmy overcast that spell and it backfired on the two of us."
"Oh," Wesley sighed. "Sure would come in handy right now."
"Wait!" James suddenly shouted.
"What?" Wesley jumped up, ready to freeze anything.
"Sit down," James said, pulling Wesley back down. "I just figured something out. Remember that letter? There was that part about where all our powers came from, right? Dad had the power to sense things before they happened, like Spiderman's spider-sense."
"So?" Wesley asked.
"So," James continued, "when I did the focusing spell on you, it made you concentrate on one thing. What if the same thing happened to Matt?"
"Are you trying to say that you induced a power that I don't have?" Matthew asked.
"A power you don't have yet," James corrected. "I think that if we all concentrated, you could get a vision of where Thomas is."
"That's crazy," Wesley said.
"It's the only idea we've got," James said, "and I came up with it all by myself."
"You wouldn't have thought of it if I hadn't reminded you of it," Wesley said.
"Not now," Matthew said, stepping between both his brothers. "So we have a plan. Now we need to put it into action."
Matthew closed his eyes and pictured Thomas' face in his mind intensely, hoping to get lucky and have a premonition. Nothing happened. He tried again and again, but still nothing happened. Then James and Wesley started concentrating on the warlock. They all flashed images of him inside their heads, hoping to somehow figure out his true whereabouts. As they concentrated, their hands unconsciously moved towards each other and soon they were all holding hands. As vivid as life, a vision struck, but not just Matthew. All three brothers had received premonitions, different ones. As quickly as the visions came, they ended. They all opened their eyes at the same time, looking as if they had just gotten off the scariest rollercoaster ever.
"That was weird," James said. "I think I just got a…"
"Premonition?" Wesley asked. "I think so, too."
"Same here," Matthew said.
"I saw us driving down a highway," James said. "It was I-20, headed way outside the city. There was a sign that said 'Burdett, Georgia, Population 43."
"That's not what I saw," Matthew said. "I saw us walking down an old trail in the woods. It looked like any other trail we've seen before, though. Wait! There was a tree with some kind of drawing on it. It looked familiar, but I can't put my finger on it."
"I didn't see that, either," Wesley said. "All I saw was a cave. We were just standing in front of a cave. Pretty self-explanatory."
"Sounds like an expedition to me," Matthew said. "Could take all day."
"Maybe we should go back home first," Wesley said. "I'd kinda like to change my clothes, since I've been in them for a few days now."
"What if Thomas is waiting there?" Matthew asked.
"Well," Wesley thought out loud, "the two of y'all could keep watch while I change my clothes. I know it's not necessary for y'all."
"We haven't been able to fight him off at all, though," James said.
"Okay," Wesley replied. "How about this: we don't have a car to get around in."
"They're at the school," Matthew said.
"Then what about going to the school, then to the house?" Wesley suggested.
"Are you gonna nag about this until we cave in?" James asked.
"Yes," Wesley said, smiling.
"Let's at least leave Titi a message," Matthew said. "Since we're in a hurry, we need to leave right now if we wanna get a cab or bus or something back to the school."
Wesley neatly wrote a note for Titilola and left it on her coffee table, where it would be easily noticed. They hurriedly left the house and minutes later managed to hail a cab to take them back to Oxford. They arrived there about twenty minutes (and fifty dollars) later. The campus looked so different when it was empty. It resembled more of a ghost town than a college campus. They all hopped into Matthew's green Acura and soon they were headed down the highway, with James at the wheel. Wesley navigated from the passenger seat, while Matthew slept in the backseat. He wanted to get as much rest as he could so that he would be in fighting shape.
"Here's Burdett, Georgia," Wesley said, pointing to a spot on his map. "It looks like it's just hours and hours away from any civilization. I guess that's why only forty-three people live there. It's about three hours and a half from downtown Atlanta. The trail looks like another hour of walking. Looks like it's go time, brothers of mine."
"In the meantime," James said, "you watch out for Thomas in case he tried to catch a ride on top of the car again."
"Yes, sir," Wesley said as a cell phone rang. "Who's calling you?"
Who indeed!? I guess we'll find out next chapter, which probably won't be out until tomorrow. I'm tryin' my hardest to finish this before 2005, so wish me luck! And shouts out not only to Raya (insert name here), but now to chyp as well! I knew y'all would come around sooner or later!
