Chapter 1I

The Name

It was the obnoxious sound of the alarm clock that woke her up. Opening her eyes slowly,Emily was once again welcomed by the sight of her bedroom. She inhaled the morning air. She sat up and stretched her arms and back till she felt more comfortable. Looking from the bedroom window to her alarm clock, Emily tapped the snooze button and made her way towards the bathroom. She took a quick shower and dawned her clothes she picked for the day. A pair of light blue jeans, a black spaghetti strap top with a thin white t-shirt over it. Her only form of jewelry was a class ring Mark had given her senior year. After she had slipped it on her finger she took a moment to admire it's beauty. The ring was made of white gold, with a paper and pen engraved on the left side. The right had a scale, the Zodiac symbol of the Libra.

The silence was broken by the vibrations of her cellphone. The picture was that of a tall man with short brown hair and a round face. The font at the bottom read 'Teddy Bear'. Emily answered the phone. "Hello?" greeted with the immediate response of "Mornin' sunshine! And how are we this fine sunny day?"

"not so bright today Ted" she replied sarcastically

"ha! I get it, it's because I called you sunshine!" he said giving her pun a melodramatic fit of forced laughter. Emily quickly placed her hand over her mouth to muffle the eruption of laughter. Ted chuckled with her before returning to the conversation. "so really whats up Emily? You got any plans today?" he asked. Emily took a moment to give him an answer.

"no I'm free today why do you ask?"

"dude, we should hit up Disneyland then!" boomed the young mans voice. "Mark sent me a text earlier and said it wasn't too busy."

She took a moment to think when a question suddenly came to her. "Okay I'll go Ted." she chuckled a little. "What about Desmond, have you tried calling him yet?"

"ya I called him, he wasn't in nor did he answer his cell. I figured he was in the shower or something." replied Ted "Anyways" he continued "I'll be at your house in a few to pick you up. I'm gonna go grab Mark first. in the mean time see if you can get a hold of Dezzie before we get there pretty please Em?"

"sure I'll call him Teddy." she replied

"okay I'll see ya in a few Em" Emily ended the call.

Grabbing her purse she marched downstairs and took her house keys from the kitchen counter top, making her way towards the front door. As she opened the door she caught a glimpse of a black t-shirt decorated with skulls standing in the doorway. Emily stopped and looked up too see that her visitor was none other than Desmond! His arm was raised like he was getting ready to knock on the door and a shocked look of his own. His phone began to ring in his pocket, playing Voltaire's Day of the dead , as he fished it out and answered it.

"um, I'm here Em?" echoed his voice from her phone. She rolled her eyes and hung up

on his phone, Desmond did the same.

"Funny I was just about to come get you Desmond." she said

"get me?" he asked "get me for what?"

"Ted called me and said we should all go to Disneyland. He said he called you to tell you but you never answered." she stepped aside and let him into the living room.

"oh he did? My phone didn't ring. Piece of crap has been giving me problems lately. But as far as Disneyland goes, sure I'd love to go!" he let a twinge of excitement escape with his words. It was understandable, after all all four of them had grown up with all of the movies.

"so how did you sleep last night?" he asked her abruptly. Coming back from her thoughts she replied. "better, per usual thanks Desmond." she leaned in and wrapped her arms around him, she felt him do the same.

"sorry that I keep making yo-" she began but he cut her off.

"Emily how long have we been friends?"

"since kindergarten" she said releasing him from the hug.

"right, and for the past six years I've woken up in the middle of the night, stopped whatever I was doing to come and make sure you could get a good nights rest. Do you want to know why?" he said placing his hands on her shoulders and looking her in the eyes.

"Why?" she smiled warmly

"Because I owe it to your dad for always being there for me. And I owe it to you because your like my sister Em! Big brothers gotta look after his little sister doesn't he?" he said placing his fists on his sides and posing like Superman.

Emily chuckled as Desmond regained his composure, before she had a chance to reply another knock sounded at the door. "and that would be Ted" she heard Desmond say as she went to open the door.

Emily opened the door just enough to see who was outside. Desmond took a seat on the tan leather couch and sit in silence while Emily talked things over with Ted. He didn't need more than a glimpse of the outside to see it was the big oaf. Ted was just a few inches taller than he was with almost twice his weight in both fat and muscle. He wore a black Halo 3 shirt, Cargo shorts, and his black Converse high-tops. His hair was it's usual mess, short uncombed dark brown hair with ridiculous looking mutton chops running down his cheeks like over-sized caterpillars. Emily opened the door a little more and allowed him to see Desmond on the couch.

"Dezzie!" he shouted "whats up bro you didn't return my calls!"

"sorry Ted, my phones been on the fritz for like the past week. I need to take it in and get a new one."

"Don't lie man you just didn't wanna talk to me!" he laughed at his remark like it was hilarious.

Emily opened the door and gave him a hug. "So where is Mark?" Ted broke the embrace and led the two of them down the driveway while he answered her. "He said he was gonna meet us there so we should probably head out. You guys got everything?" Emily nodded and Desmond did as well. "Alright then to the Batmobile!" he said. Desmond took his glasses off and firmly placed his hand over his face, while Emily could be heard sighing. "Having a black car with a batman sticker on the back window doesn't mean you can call it the Batmobile Ted!" called Desmond.

He was just about to get into the passenger seat of Ted's Black Camry when Emily's hand took hold of the lever and she shouted "Chewy!" Desmond stood in awe as his friend sat in the passengers seat of the vehicle, faster than he could even thing of objecting. "The hell does that even mean Em?" he managed as he occupied the back seat behind Emily. Ted reluctantly answered him "it's the Star Wars way of calling shotgun Dezzie" Desmond could only smile and shake his head at how nerdy that sounded.

After an hour or so of driving Ted pulled into the vast parking structure that sat just outside of the theme park. The three of them made their way towards the the escalators, making their way past the crowds of people herding towards the Tram station. Desmond sat on one of the dark green rails that divided the crowds, Emily stood to his left and Ted right across from him.

"So" he started " which park is Mark gonna meet us at Ted?"

Ted looked up from his text messaging to answer "I just asked him to meet us under the Monorail tracks out front of the parks. You sure know how to pick 'em Em, that jerk's been riding all the rides without us!"

Desmond looked over to see Emily sending her own text to Mark, Desmond didn't see the message just a few smiley faces and a heart attached to it, which was more than he needed to see. "she's in La la land now Ted please call back later" he said as the both of them chuckled. The tram pulled into the station as the drivers voice rang on the intercom allowing everybody to board.

After they made it past the bag check tent, Desmond was greeted again by his companion who, until now, had remained silent. You know Desmond in my solitude I have been struck by an idea. Desmond slowed his pace and let Ted and Emily walk in front of him so he could continue in peace. "and that is?" he asked with annoyance. Well you are here at Disneyland, and I assume your going to be here late correct? Desmond nodded "what are you getting at?" the voice chuckled at his response and continued Well why not try and open the gate tonight? There's more than enough essence generating from those visiting to, how do you say?,"mooch" off of. Desmond became frustrated almost instantly at the thought. Just a week ago he had broken into this very theme park, stolen the tome, ran from security, and to top it all of he took their lives! And yet here this bodiless voice was telling him to try and perform a spell that not only would require a massive amount of essence to perform, but it would hurt anybody within the park!

"No" Desmond said coldly no? Why not? You've finished the book, you know the spells why not give it another tr- Desmond cut him off "I said no! I just want to have a normal day with my friends without having you taunting me every time you feel like it! I'm no deity, I'm no sovereign, and I'm no murderer so just lay off me for a day would ya!" for a moment there was not a sound, the only sounds he heard were that of his heartbeat and deep breathing. Very well Desmond, I understand I had no intention of putting so much stress on you. I shall quietly await your return from this little outing."Thank you, but before you go I've got something else I need to say to you." hm? The voice replied humbly awaiting for Desmond to continue. "you need a name, frankly I'm getting tired of just calling you "The Voice" so you need a name."

Desmond placed a hand to his chin and thought of a suitable name. "how about something cool like, Nicodemus?" This time it was the voices turn to sound annoyed. You want to name me after a rat? It took all of Desmond's will power to not start laughing at the thought, the voice was a pest after all. "okay okay Nicodemus is a no go." he thought and thought until one name came to mind and shined above all others."How about Gabriel? You know like the Guardian Angel?" Where in a very "love/hate" relationship aren't we Desmond? It replied. "look do you want the name or not?" for a moment the silence returned until it gave him an answer "Yes Desmond, Gabriel is acceptable." the sudden reply startled the boy, for when Gabriel spoke again his voice sounded clearer somehow. "I shall be here should you need me Desmond" he continued before leaving his host in the silence he craved so much.

Emily and Ted made their way to the theme park entrance. Emily slung her purse back over her shoulder. "So is your boyfriend waiting for us Em?" asked the young man. "He said he was almost there. That probably means this place is gonna be crowded today." Ted responded to her with a simple "yup, that is does." keeping his gaze focused on the Theme Park in the distance. "So why today of all days?" asked Emily snapping his attention from it's daze. "not sure why. I just felt like we needed to go is the only way I can describe it."

Desmond's voice suddenly piped up from behind them, startling Emily. "Sorry about that guys I got..." He paused "Distracted." he finished, his eyes not meeting theirs like he was unsure about something. Not wanting to aggravate the situation further Emily held her tongue. She knew if it kept bothering him he'd talk to them about it, but at the moment they were due to rendezvous with Mark. The three of them had finally made it to their destination. Before them was the space between the two theme parks, both evenly divided by the Monorail track that embedded itself down the center. Underneath one of the many collums stood a young man. Dirty blonde hair decorated his head, complemented by blue eyes. Mark Lancaster wore a plain white T-shirt, with navy blue jeans, with white and blue Nike's to match.

Emily was the first to get his attention as they made their last few strides to his location. "Finally! What took you guys so long? I've been here for like an hour!" he made his way over to his friends giving both Desmond and Ted a hug, before he stood next to Emily and wrapped his arm around her waist. Desmond crossed his arms and shook his head and said "Mark chances are you've been here ten minutes tops!" Mark turned to face Desmond and replied "Point being? That doesn't mean I can't complain about it?" Desmond just rolled his eyes and smiled as the other three shared a chuckle. "Alright enough goofing around guys lets go get our ride on!" Ted said excitedly. All four of them cheered and headed straight for the Disneyland park entrance, with passes at the ready. They marched through the crowds in idle conversation and laughter alike.

"so where to first?" asked Emily "Space Mountain!" cried Mark "No let's go hit up Indiana Jones first bro!" replied Ted. Emily turned to Desmond who was still focusing on whatever it was that was bothering him since they had gotten in, this time she decided to take action. "I'm indifferent, what about you Desmond?" She asked pulling him from his thoughts. "Ya Dezzie what do you feel like going on first?" Desmond took a moment to reply but eventually came up with " the Matterhorn sound like the best choice to me." Emily watched silently as the three of them discussed the options before they had made a compromise. "Okay." Mark started "Matterhorn, Space Mountain, then Indy. After that we just wing it sound good?" Ted and Desmond nodded in agreement. Mark looked down at Emily "What do ya say Em?" she looked back at those deep blue eyes and nodded as well.

"Well what are we waiting for then!" continued Mark. Desmond and Ted answered him in unison "You." Mark turned to the two of them with a priceless look of annoyance before leading the way towards the Majestic Mountain where their day would begin!