Chapter 6: Approach of Darkness

Alexandra closed the Tome of Eternal Darkness and slowly stood up. She couldn't believe what she had just read. Monsters that took over the bodies of people? It didn't seem possible. "And neither does magick, yet that guy used it." Suddenly, an idea came to mind. Anthony had used that spell he found to repair two urns. Maybe she could do the same with the broken key.

Alex opened the Tome and flipped over a few pages until she found the page with the runes Anthony had discovered inscribed on it. She placed the key fragments on the floor and recited the words. "Antorbok, Magormor, Xel'lotath…" she said quietly. As she spoke the runes, they appeared on the floor, and green lightning shot into the key pieces. They came together instantly, mending together and becoming as good as new. She pocketed the key with a smirk and picked up the Tome, walking out the door.

Alex stopped halfway down the hallway at the sound of pounding on the walls. Or was it just her imagination running wild after reading those last three pages? She shrugged it off, entering the library to find Danielle asleep in one of the chairs. Alex smiled a bit. Danielle seemed like a pretty cool kid. Athletic, smart… She was probably so tired because she came from practice or a game. She had to have if she was still in her black and gold uniform.

She walked on past her sleeping sister and entered the foyer. Suddenly, the phone began to ring. Wondering who could possibly be calling, she answered it quickly. "Hello?"

"Remember me, Alex?" a voice on the other end asked before the phone went dead. Alex hung it up and backed away from the table it sat on. No way could that have really been Edward, could it? He was dead.

"I am really losing it," Alex mumbled softly, walking up the stairwell. She nearly dropped the key at the sound of banging on the doors in front of her, but she quickly recovered. "Just… ignore the weird things," she told herself, trying to remain calm. Taking a deep breath, she unlocked the door with a trembling hand and went through.

"Wake up, Danielle… Wake up…"

Slowly, Danielle opened her eyes and looked around. She must have fallen asleep or something, but she didn't remember dozing off. She sat up straight, stifling a yawn. She jumped a bit as Edward suddenly appearing standing in front of her. "Grandpa? What are you…? Where's Alex?" As soon as she asked that, she felt stupid. Alex was probably still in the study or something.

"She's searching upstairs for the next chapter page. Are you feeling all right? You fell unconscious after you came to sit in here."

Danielle rubbed her head, holding back another yawn. "Just peachy. Now, mind telling me why the heck I saw a vision when Alex wasn't even reading the Tome?"

Edward raised an eyebrow, but it looked just plain weird with a lack of eyes. "I must admit that I have no idea… What did you see?"

"That skeleton guy—"

"Pious," Edward corrected.

"Right, Pious. Anyways, he was standing in front of this image. It was really big with this weird-looking mouth and a bunch of yellow eyes. They were talking about binding Mantorok and killing Charlemagne the Frank."

Edward looked surprised, but only slightly. "Chattur'gha," he whispered, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.

"Chattawhat?"

"Chattur'gha, one of the three Ancients and the one Pious serves. I don't know why, but you are seeing the meetings of Pious and his Ancient. I suppose this is because of—"

A loud scream from somewhere upstairs cut him off, and Danielle was on her feet in an instant. There was only one person who could have screamed. "Alex!" Danielle ran for the door, but a spike of pain in her head sent her to her knees. Green light filled her vision, and the same voice she heard so many times before in her dreams spoke in her head once more.

"Soon…" the voice whispered. "I shall return…" As she heard the voice, she felt a dark presence in the back of her mind slowly grow stronger, yearning to take control. She felt herself slipping into the presence's grasp, losing herself to it…

"Danielle! Snap out of it!" She blinked a few times, an icy feeling on both of her shoulders. Danielle had somehow ended up on her back and was now staring up at the ceiling. Edward grabbed her arm, which was strange, considering he was a ghost, and helped her to stand. Where his hand touched her arm, coldness slowly began to spread. He led her to the couch, sitting her down. "Tell me what happened," he urged.

Danielle rubbed her head with a trembling hand, trying to her a grip on herself. "I-I don't know… I was about to open the door when my head started hurting. Then I heard this voice. She said something about returning soon, and then I found myself on the floor." She closed her eyes, trying to shake off the memory of how she had come close to losing it. "Grandpa, what's happening to me?" She looked up, only to discover that he was gone.

Alex sat down on the old bed in the guest bedroom, taking deep and calming breaths. She had entered the master bedroom to look around, then proceeded on to the bathroom. Everything had been fine the whole time, and she had even found a page from the journal of someone who lived here a while back before Edward. But then, something in the tub had caught her eye. When she went over to investigate, she had seen herself lying in a bathtub full of blood. Then she heard a scream and realized numbly that it was her own. Almost immediately she had ran into the guest bedroom, encountering no more freaky things.

"It was my just imagination," she told herself, her voice low and shaky. "I was just seeing things, that's all. None of it was real. I'm still worked up over Grandpa's death, so my mind is just playing tricks on me." Slightly relieved by her thinking, Alex stood up and looked around.

The room was fashioned with a colonial trend. Above the bed, there was even an old painting of the Roivas estate back when it was first built. Above the oak writing desk was another painting of a man in Napoleonic garb. A piece of paper peeked out from the side of the painting, and she instantly recognized it as a page from the Tome. She gently pulled it out without tearing the paper and returned downstairs, relieved that nothing weird happened. When she entered the library, she found Danielle wide-awake. Her skin was slightly paled, and she nearly screamed when Alex said her name from behind her. "Hey, you all right?"

Danielle nodded slightly, turning around in the seat to look at Alex. "Yeah, I am. What about you? I thought I heard a scream earlier."

"Something just scared me, that's all." Alex bit her lower lip nervously, noticing that Danielle didn't really look up to exploring around. "Maybe you should just rest some more, okay? You really don't look so good."

Danielle rubbed her eyes and shrugged slightly. "All right… If you need me, ask."

Alex returned to the study, thinking. She knew she probably should have told her sister about those strange happenings, but she wasn't sure about it.

You just don't trust her enough, her mind chided. She's your own sister, yet you can't even tell her about just a few hallucinations.

"And there's also the fact she's not telling me whatever she's hiding. That pretty much puts us on even grounds." Alex sighed. "Listen to me, talking about my younger sister behind her back. What would Grandpa think of me? He wanted me to take care of her because she has nothing left…" She let out another sigh and sat down, rubbing her forehead. Her imagination was just working overtime again.

She stared down at the page in her hand, wondering how one book could cause so much trouble… Alex shook her head and began to read once more.