116: Staying Behind -Saba-

"You're welcome to come with us still if you want.", Carl had been insisting I join them the whole time we rode to the airport.

"No, I don't think I'll be of any help. What if I suddenly stop working in the middle of something important? No. I'm safer here, you all are safer with me here."

"Then what are you going to do?"

I'm going to figure out what's wrong with me.

"I'm gonna go home and read, or something."

"All right, but you give a call if you need us."

Then they were gone and I was stuck alone again, worrying that I'd never find my solution in time. I hailed a taxi and slipped inside.

"Where to, miss?"

How was I supposed to know where to go? Nothing at the house could help, especially since Patrick has the book now. Patrick. He's the only one who would know anything besides Nick, and it's all ready obvious that Nick has no memory of anything important.

As I sat there thinking of what I could say, another person slipped in to the car and loudly announced, "I'm going to the train station, please."

"I hope you don't mind taking a ride miss, maybe then you'll know where you want to go." He was directing that towards me.

"No, no. It's all right. I don't mind." I didn't want to upset anyone so I didn't say anything about how rude that new passenger was.

The passenger was a tall, dark haired woman who had a very creative style in clothes. She was looking out the window for a few minutes and then turned to me.

"Saba, I understand you have a problem. My name is Elizabeth Dumont and my brother told me you might need help. How about you come with me and we'll see if we can't get rid of this issue?"

"Whose your brother?"

"A friend of John’s, he told my brother what was up and he sent me. So you wanna go?"

She seemed less rude now, and I actually found myself liking her a bit. I nodded and she told the taxi what was going on. I guess I was going with her to figure out how to solve this problem.

If I'd had a Mother, she would have taught me not to talk to strangers.

Flashback Entry 115: Father -Nick-

"Friend to many, Father to one. He will be missed."

The coffin slipped silently in to the ground and my Mother started crying next to me. I would have stood to comfort her, but my legs had been rendered useless by my run in with the Bernauws.

So many people had shown up. People I didn't know, people my father didn't even like, and even my closest friends. My Father’s influence had stretched through out anyone that knew him, and they respected him for his intelligence, strength of will, and stubborn beliefs.

Out of all my family and friends, he was the only person I ever told about my abilities; my magic. He stood behind my path and even when I'd lost my legs he was there to help me cope. He found the realm of magic to be amazing and something to be utilized to its fullest. He found me most of the books I needed to continue my learning; I'd found the list on his desk the day after he'd past.

The doctors said that it was his heart, but I knew different. There were traces of magic everywhere when I found him, magic I'd felt before. The Bernauws knew I was alive, and had killed my Father as a message, "Don't stop us or more people will die."

They don't know what they just did.

Flashback Entry 114: Oldest, Youngest -Vincent-

"We can't tell which of them is infected, Vincent! We can't wait for one of them to just get behind us and stab us in the back! No, I say we kill them now, before they wake up." Andrew was right, but I just couldn't. It was my family.

At the time I couldn't tell that he was infected. If only I had.

"No.", I emphasized my point with a glare, "We do it the usual way. We wait to see if they try anything."

Andrew looked upset but put the cleaver on the butcher table, "Fine, but don't come crying to me if this all turns out bad."

It took me 3 hours to fall asleep. I don't know how long I was like that.

"Wake up."

I heard crying and when I opened my eyes I saw Andrew’s grinning face.

"Nice of you to join us, silly. I was beginning to think we'd have to start with out your sorry mug." Andrew's own special brand of slang, a mixture of old and new; laced with hidden meaning.

A glance at myself revealed that I was tied down. A glance around the room revealed that everyone was awake and tied down, except for Andrew.

"Andrew, what are you doing?"

He had the cleaver in his hand.

"I'm doing what you couldn't. I'm ridding us of the trash in order to survive."

"Andrew, they're awake. They are infected."

"Vincent, Vincent. How do we know? They are sitting there crying and afraid, but how do we really know?"

Andrew's eyes had a tint of gold; he was infected. He was free to do what ever he wanted, which probably consisted of killing my family and then me. I fought against my captor; innocent looking duct tape was the only thing that kept me from helping my family.

"Who should go first? Oldest . . . or youngest?"

"Oldest!", my Mother yelled out looking at my dad.

"Youngest!", my Dad yelled out looking at my sister.

"Andrew, we can work this out. We'll test them."

"Too late for that. I'm already curious."

"Andrew, please."

"You didn't ask me why I was curious. That's no fun at all.", his voice was seething with barely controlled lust as he looked at my Mother.

"STOP! ANDREW, PLEASE DON'T!"

"I wonder what their blood looks like."

He raised the cleaver above his head.

113: Door of the Dead -Ben-

So many things had happened during the past few weeks. I found out I was adopted, I got a team of people working with me, and I was attacked by zombie children under the control of an evil Snake Goddess. It only got worse when I realized that almost everything had been orchestrated by some unknown thing. Something that had my mother's spirit so scared that she did its bidding to keep me safe.

Alex Kayser was a name that kept popping up lately. John, Carl, Jay, and even my Mother’s spirit has heard of him. Now I'm expected to find him. Oh, and he's also dead.

"Crystal?"

Crystal looked up from her spot on my bed and smiled, "Yes?"

I had been up all night for the past two days looking for a job, and Crystal had stayed up with me to keep me company. She's friendly like that.

"Would you mind letting the others know to meet me in the living room? I think I have our next job."

She hopped off the bed and walked out, calling for the others while she walked. Crystal had this distinctly child-like quality to her, probably because just a few weeks ago she was one. Nick, our resident Warlock in training, had brought her back to life as her soul would have liked; an 18 year-old girl.

The Door of the Dead: an old Egyptian decoration said to allow people to converse with the dead, has earned its first casualty. A security guard had been found disemboweled near the exhibit at the museum. This normally would be scratched off as another homicide, except that his blood was all over the door. Some of his entrails were found fused to the front of the decoration. I mean, it was no longer flesh, it was flesh-rock.

It was enough to get my curiosity, and so we were headed to the Museum of Natural History to check this out; if I could get the other guys to go.

Crystal came running back in and winked, "They're all waiting, boss!"

Maybe it was the things that happened in the last few weeks. Maybe I have a sixth sense for these things. What ever the reason, something told me this wouldn't be easy.

112: Mystery -Saba-

I had taken to going outside late at night and looking at the sky. Watching the stars and praying for some kind of miracle that I knew would never come. My life had an expiration date.

Coming back had been odd. For some reason I didn't feel the presence of either dark Saba, or Ben obsessed Saba. It was as if they left, knowing my life was almost over. Did that mean I was with out a soul?

The night had grown cold but I didn't mind, I just didn't want to go inside and deal with their stares, their whispers, and their pity. It wasn't like I was mad at them or anything, but I knew that they just kept me around because I was alone.

Even more alone with out my souls.

The doctors don't know what exactly happened, but the chest wound isn't what my problem is. My body is slowly shutting down. That's the only way they can explain it. They said I only had a few weeks to a month till something vital goes. Is it fair? No.

"My life just started, and now it's gonna be over. What am I supposed to do?", I spoke aloud to no one. I think I hoped that maybe, something would hear that could help me.

"Well, is there anything you wanted to do before it's over?", I hadn't noticed Carl behind me, and it nearly gave me a heart attack when he spoke. That would have been ironic.

"I haven't lived enough to know anything. I was created and then unleashed on the world. An accident; a fluke."

Carl lit a cigarette and took a big drag, "Well, I can promise that there's at least one person in that house who thinks otherwise. You probably saved Crystal’s life by stalling."

I didn't remember what had happened very well and everything was a kind of blur. I knew I'd done something to help Crystal but I didn't remember what.

Carl blew out the smoke away from me, "Also, I don't think you're a fluke."

"I'm not even sure if I have a soul, I can't feel them anymore."

Carl looked at me, "You can't just lose a soul. It's who you are. I could never stop being who I am, and neither can you. Something happened but your souls are there. I can guarantee it."

"It's like they've disappeared. Now all I feel is this empty place where they once were. I just want the emptiness to go away."

I stood and walked in to the house.

111: Things Calm Down -Ben-

It's been three days since Saba came back from the hospital. The doctors told her she only has a couple more weeks left to live. Two days since John called to tell us that he wasn't coming back. That didn't go over well with Carl; he keeps yelling about betrayal and brotherly trust. It's been ten minutes since Crystal screamed when she opened the front door. Life just never gets boring around here.

"So, you're a warlock?"

"In training, yes.", the infamous Nick Brown sat in front of me smiling.

"And you want to work for me?"

Nick was too distracted because Crystal had just walked in with his fifth cup of coffee. I'm not kidding; four cups in less than ten minutes. I was shocked he wasn't bouncing off the walls, but I figured he probably needs the energy to control his magic.

After he downed the fifth cup he began to speak, "See, normally I'd go find someone more magically inclined; no offense, but when I was instructed to come here- I don't know how I got to this time, and seeing as Warlocks can not time travel-"

Crystal sat down, "Why not?"

"Oh, well, as far as I understand, a warlock gives off a specific signature; almost like a fingerprint. The only difference is that this "fingerprint" is a way to keep our magic from getting out of hand. If two warlocks appeared having the same fingerprint, then the oldest one wouldn't survive."

"So you can't go back in time because there would be another you? What about going forward?"

"The fingerprint is transferred to another person with the capabilities to be a warlock when you die, so no future travel either."

Crystal nodded, "Those are stupid rules."

"I didn't make them and apparently neither did nature. An old and very powerful warlock made the fingerprints long ago to stop two exceptional warlocks from messing with the time line. Again, I really don't know all the details; just enough to keep me from trying."

"You were saying?", this guy is the all powerful warlock that Crystal told me about? I glanced over at Crystal while I waited for him to respond. Did she hit her head?

"Oh, right. So I found a letter addressed to me and written by me, with instruction to come and find you. I don't remember writing it, but I wouldn't have written it with out a reason."

"How long have you been training? What do you know?"

"Well, I know some weak offensive things and a few healing spells."

Nick pointed to a scrape on Crystal’s knee, probably from the crazy events of a few days ago. Within seconds the scrape was gone.

"All right. Well, we don't have a room for you, but you can sleep in the living room for now. When I need you, I'll call for you."

"Just as long as this place doesn't have cockroaches."

110: Intuitive Ways -Nick-

I couldn't kill Jay. I mean, I could; but I didn't want to. So I went easy on him and when I saw him slip around the desk, I was completely surprised. I closed my eyes and relaxed as the cool metal touched my skull and soon everything went black.

It's not cheating if it's planned before-hand, right? I mean, living to see another day was important. So important in fact, that I had to lose everything I'd learned. Everything that I'd worked on would be gone in this instant.

I thought back to just before I had confronted Jay. I had written instructions on a paper and stuffed it in my pocket. I am a complete genius. Swung in like an angry goblin but I'd been prepared.

I woke up in a puddle of my own blood surrounded by people. The sun shone through the windows and Jay was nowhere in sight. Jay-who? The last of my memories slipped away as I stood.

"Are you okay, boy?"

"I think so.", I touched my throbbing head. Feeling no cuts, I breathed a sigh of relief, "Where am I?"

My name is Nicholas Brown and I am a warlock in training.

109: Not To Be Underestimated -Jay-

Searching the hospital was exhausting and when I'd found him, I would have figured it'd have been light outside. Instead, the moon still shone high in the sky. Did I say found him? I meant he found me.

"Things have taken an unexpected turn. Saba was supposed to be with you."

I turned and stared at the wrinkled old man. He didn't look like much. In fact I didn't even need my gun. I went to put the gun away when the old man raised a hand. I didn't know who Saba was but I wasn't going to ask.

"Well, at least that hasn't changed. You are here to end me. That's too bad, because you are in a precarious position."

"I don't see it that way." I kept my hand on my gun.

"While you were busy finding me, I cast a few spells. Karma spells. Want to know what they are?", his old eyes shined with a youthful excitement.

The longer he talks the better of a position I would have.

"Sure.", I couldn't keep the boredom out of my voice.

"Karma is a unifying energy around a person that's linked directly to how his friends feel about him. See, if they don't like you, then the spell will be stronger. If they do like you, then the spell will do barely anything. It's brilliant if I do say so myself. I designed it only two weeks ago."

If he was telling the truth then the spells he cast are going to tear me apart. My friends hated me, and I don't blame them. An image of the Snake Goddess flashed in my mind as I inched my way closer and closer.

"Huh?", the old man looked confused, but then he quickly pulled his composure together, "After what you did to your friends I doubt you'd live if you ran in to them."

Something was wrong. The old man had looked as if he'd expected something to happen and it didn't. I moved closer and watched as Nick got a worried look on his face.

"You did try to kill them, right? Maybe I cast the spell wrong. Oh well, I guess it's back to old fashion fireballs." He raised his hands above his head and I leaped at him.

He jumped back with surprising agility for an old man, and tossed the newly formed flame towards me. I hit the ground so it passed over me as he began to form another. This was no good, I couldn't get close at this rate. I rolled as another hit the ground where I was and watched the burned floor smoke.

Quickly I pulled myself to my feet and ran to the nearest thing I could use for cover. I felt the heat from the fireballs as I ducked behind a nurse’s desk.

"I am definitely getting old if I failed on such a simple karma spell."

Swiftly, I stood and aimed the pistol where Nick had been standing and fired off a few rounds. The bullets hit what seemed to be a wall of air, and flew back to where they came with pinpoint accuracy. I dived behind the desk again cursing my misfortune. Everything I threw at him was being tossed aside easily. That gave me an idea.

I turned, put my feet against the desk and pushed with all my might. The desk lifted from the ground and flew at Nick. He didn't even look surprised as it flew at him. I quickly got to my feet and followed behind the desk, which by now had been stopped by the wall. He thought I was weak. He thought I was going to be an easy pushover. I'll show him I'm not to be underestimated. Spinning around the desk, I pulled my gun up and pressed it against Nick’s head.

"And I'm not even a threat.", I pulled the trigger and felt blood splash on my face as my bullet flew through Nick’s skull.

108: All Night -Saba-

I woke up to a heavy weight on my stomach. As my eyes adjusted to the light, I saw the black haired head of Carl sleeping on my stomach.

"He's been there since the surgery."

Looking to my left I saw Crystal sitting in a chair nearby. There were bruises all up and down her arms and across her face, but she otherwise looked fine. When she moved, the pain was very evident in her face. "Which one are you?"

I felt different. I wasn't having the dark thoughts I used to, but I wasn't all flowers and posies either. I was confused about myself, about everything. The last thing I remembered was both parts of me wanting to save Crystal, and then failing. Everything after was a blur of pain.

"I . . . I'm not sure.", I knew there was fear in my voice. I took a deep breath to calm down and felt pain surge through me. Looking down, it was then that I noticed the bandages over my chest, "I'm alive?"

Crystal didn't answer, instead she winced as she waved toward Carl, "I've only known them for a short time but I've never seen him act like he did after the surgery."

"He was here all night?", I watched as Crystal nodded.

"Yeah, the little cry baby couldn't get himself to move away from you."

I look to my right to see a medium sized teddy looking at me. It scratched its head, "Hi, I'm Vincent the bear."

I wasn't surprised. Nothing had been normal about me, and since being with these people the whole world seemed crazy, "Figures."

I turned to Crystal and frowned, "You look fine. I figured you would be in a bed like me."

Crystal frowned and seemed close to tears, "Well, all I had was a few bones pulled from their sockets. I was resting all night and seem fine now. It hurt though, she was moving my bones in and out of their sockets and pinching nerves."

I saw her shudder and then fall silent.

"So how long till I can get out of here?"

Vincent made no noise and Crystal looked out the window.

"Seriously, someone tell me." Deep inside I knew what they were going to say, but I had to hear it. I couldn't believe it until they said it to me.

"They tried to save you, but . . . "

"Oh suck it up and just tell her! She deserves to know.", Vincent yelled at Crystal.

I looked at Vincent, "What's going on?", my eyes were filling with tears. Something only the happy one would do, but I was so mad. It was unfair.

"Saba, you're dieing."

107: Kayser -Ben-

I fell to my knees, overcome by the thought that I had killed an innocent little girl. I was just like my uncle. I was a murderer.

"Ben . . .", she kneeled and looked at me, "you were a child."

I barely heard her, I was looking in my head for ways to disprove my guilt. My head went through all I'd learned about myself in the last month, looking for a flaw that would make it impossible for me to have done it. My breath caught in my throat as I realized what it was.

"I was an infant."

"What?", she seemed surprised.

"When you died I was an infant, and at that time my father was locked in to his room. There's no way that he could have gone on a trip. In fact, there's no way that he wrote that page in the book either, unless he knew what was going to happen and wanted me to think of myself as a murderer."

"Ben . . . please stop. Don't say anymore.", her surprise had turned to fear.

"But why? Why would my Father want me to think I was a murderer?"

"Ben, you have to leave here now!", my Mother knelt on the ground and began drawing a circle around me decorated with familiar symbols. It was the Circle of Ghat.

I ignored her pleas, "He was possessed at the time. He was possessed by my uncle. My uncle wants me to think of myself as a murderer, but why?"

"Ben.", my Mother looked me in the face demanding my attention, "I love you always. He's coming for me because you've learned more than you were supposed to. When he comes, I'll hold him off the best I can and the circle will slow him down; but you need to run. Go look for Nicholas Brown. He can get you in touch with an Alex Kayser. Alex will be able to answer more of your questions."

"What? Who's coming?"

The house began to shake and shadows became more prominent. My Mother jumped in to the darkness of the basement and I ran.

Behind me I could hear her screams as the building collapsed.

106: My Past -Ben-

The darkness of the house was pierced by my flashlight as I made my way to the basement. A blast of cold air hit me as I opened the trapdoor, making me hesitate before entering.

"Mom? Dad?", those words were unusual for me. I didn't know that I was adopted till recently. Saying those words to someone else felt different and odd, "I need to know something about my past. Something only you people would know."

Silence told me that either I wasn't heard, or that the spirits of my parents didn't care. I wasn't willing to take that for an answer so I stepped deeper into the basement.

"A while back a young girl was killed, a Saba Zahid. I know you can help me understand what happened . . . I need your help please."

"You mean Amala Zahid."

"Amala?" I turned to the form of my Mother standing to my left. She was leaning against the wall with her back, her long braid falling over her shoulder.

"Your Dad went on a trip once with you. Brought you to India to meet with a friend of the family there and take care of their problem. While there, you got into some trouble with their daughter."

"I killed her.", I felt a heavy weight on my chest and my breathing became difficult.

My Mother looked at me and smiled, "You did."

105: Two Down and One Angry Bear To Go -Vincent-

As Carl went to grab Crystal, I stared in to the eyes of a cold blooded killer. I've seen eyes like that before, back when I was alive.

Andrew had eyes like that when he'd killed my sister, my Mother, and my Father. When he tried to kill me. My life ended that day when I saw the uncaring eyes of one of my close friends, as he chopped in to my sister’s skull with out even blinking. Seeing eyes like that would have made my blood boil. Too bad I had stuffing instead.

When we got here the situation was bad. There were two Sabas; one of which was impaled to a tree branch and the other, who was doing some kind of magic to Crystal. The screams were unbearable. Carl went to check on the impaled Saba while I went to save Crystal. Her captor was having so much fun thinking about the many sexual things she could do with Crystal’s insides that she didn't notice me.

The first chance I had I leaped at her, grasping on her face and futilely hitting her with my paws. I distracted her till I heard Carl yell that he'd gotten Saba and Crystal in to the car. Wait, Saba? Why Saba? She's the enemy.

Distracted by Carl's words I didn't realize that the Saba I was fighting had yanked me off her and was staring into my face, "You reek of Nicholas."

I stared back at her trying to smile, not sure if it was visible on my stuffing filled body, "You reek of age, and let me tell you, you smell worse than 70 year old cheese."

I watched in satisfaction as her face became progressively more red, "Nicholas created you, didn't he?! That old fool, still meddling even after I took out his legs. Oh well, it doesn't matter I'm going to use your stuffing to fill a new pillow."

She tipped me on my side and grasped my leg and my head. She laughed wildly, pulling her arms apart. A loud roaring filled my ears followed by a clang. My stitches began to pop as light filled Saba's face, and when she finally looked at the car barreling toward her all she could say was, "Oh shit."

Then she bounced off the hood.

104: Sexual Tension and Family Values -Crystal-

"Now back to you." There had been no stop in the pain as Saba made the failed attempt at saving me. I still float there above the ground, screaming in agony as my bones did things they weren't supposed to. My clothes were drenched with sweat, vomit, and other bodily fluids better left not said because of my body’s attempt to stop the pain. I wasn't sure how I was awake.

"See, that is your fate. Nothing you do can stop the next few moments and even if you could, I'd just hunt you down.", evil clone Saba spread her hand out in front of her, looking at her fingernails, "I'd kill you, but I think it'd be more fun to let you squirm. I know that killing you wouldn't be fun, but playing with you first . . . Mmmm."

The unseen force pulled me close. Saba reached over and gently caressed my neck. She leaned her mouth near my ear and giggled, "I want your blood all over m- "

My body hit the ground hard, but the pain was nothing like what I had just endured. I felt my body being lifted by strong arms and when I looked, I saw Carl moments before my vision gave out.

That's when I finally learned my place.

103: Deoderant -Ben-

I leaped down the stairs two at a time not looking back. I heard my door burst open as Melissa came storming out in a rage. As I reached the bottom of the stairs, my mind was trying to find a good place to hide. I wasn't built to fight. I was built to think.

"You dirty weasel! Get back here!"

I ran in to the downstairs bathroom and slammed the door behind me. I heard her walking down the stairs as I frantically searched for a weapon. Plunger? No. She probably trained against melee. Lighter? Could be useful, but I'd need something else. There was a slam on the door as I grabbed a spray can from the cabinet.

She burst in to the room smiling wickedly, until she saw what I had prepared. Flames flew from the lighter toward her, catching on her clothes. Slapping at her clothes as she backed from the flames.

"Fire?! That's not exactly fair.", she was cornered, between me and a wall, "I'm not getting paid enough for this."

With that, she jumped through a nearby window and broke into a run. "I was only paid to get the book anyway. Killing you was a bonus."

Why was the book so important and who wanted it? When she was out of sight I glanced at the spray can in my hands. Axe Deodorant. Tossing the can in the bathroom sink, I stuffed the lighter in to my pocket and grabbed my coat. There was only one way to figure out what was so important about that book.

I had to go back to the house.

I had to see my parents.