I'm feeling a bit out of it now—tired and weak like all of my energy has been drained. I'm trying my best to make sure no one notices. Before David guides us to a safe house in the city, we stop at a local shop to buy disguises. David uses disguising himself to look like a completely different person. He walks in to buy everything for the group. The rest of us wait outside, trying to hide from being detected by the soldiers walking around. Once David comes out, we head to a nearby alley and put the disguises on—mostly hats, glasses, and scarves to cover our faces. We look odd—to say the least. We're actually getting more stares now than before. We don't look the part of the Uboni posh citizen.
As we're walking, Amiyah asks me more questions about what happened: "Michael, you said?"
I nod my head, and nearly faint as I do so. I need water, food—something. I feel like I haven't consumed anything in a week. I tell them about all the near encounters I've had with this being. From Lilith mentioning him, to the interaction we had when I fought Brianna, and most recently—the dreams and images of fedoras. If it really is this Michael person—what the hell is his obsession with them?
"She's being followed by some force," Benjamin says. "As for the reason why—we'll just have to guess for now. In all the ancient books left over by traditional witches, none of them ever mention angels interfering on the earthly plane. They influence and guide. But, this seems different."
"Great, now we're talking about demons and angels as if that's normal," David says.
"What's with you, David?" Amiyah asks. "You don't believe in this stuff?"
"I don't. It goes back to the age-old question: if these beings exist—angels and all, why are they not doing anything? Why are we still going to war? Why is Helen being allowed to do what she's doing? Clearly this Michael person is following Alyssa. He knows what her mother is up to, yet he sits back?"
"Guess he has a point there," Elijah says.
I stop myself from almost falling over once again. Elijah grabs my arm and walks me along. I thank him, still trying to mask my exhaustion with a smile but they all clearly see it. We reach the safe house, it's unassuming—just a random house in the city. David knocks, and a man, well-dressed, resembling a normal Uboni citizen opens the door.
"They're just in regular clothes?" I ask.
"Yeah," David answers. "What did you expect?"
"All black or something, I don't know."
"All black tends to stand out. That would defeat the purpose of being a spy."
"Prince, princess." The man nods his head to Elijah and me instead of a bow. "My name's Adam."
"Elder." He turns to Amiyah and bows. Hmm, no notes.
"I guess this dreadful hat isn't doing much if you can spot me." She says taking it off and handing it to Elijah. We walk inside and there are about twelve people scattered about.
"Are we leaving tonight? What's the plan?" Adam asks Amiyah.
"No, first the siblings are going to try and get the help of Brianna."
"That won't happen." A woman laughs from the back of the room. "I'm Lisa, by the way, I've always wanted to meet you. Prince Elijah, You're even more handsome than they say."
"Don't lust over him! He's the enemy," says another member of the group.
"We're not the enemy," I say. "We're here for the same thing."
"With all due respect, princess," Adam says. Your sister is a maniac. A multi-seal-fearing maniac." He turns his head and yells: "Benjamin!?" As if just now seeing him. "What the hell-"
"He's taken a liking to Alyssa, he's here to help. Let's make sure to release all hostility toward each other, okay?" Amiyah says. "You two get going, we'll begin developing a mission plan."
Agreeing with her, Elijah and I leave for the mansion. Not before I take something to drink for myself. The water helps replenish some of my strength. We reach the mansion's door where two soldiers are waiting. Upon seeing me, they draw their weapons. Elijah has to order them to stand down, assuring them that everything is fine. While reluctant—they seem to buy it and let us through. Members of Patricia's staff whom I know very know all run over to me in unison once they see me. I tell them I'm okay and let them know Ms. Patricia is safe.
Afterward, I ask where Brianna is. They tell us she's in her study upstairs and Elijah and I head up to what used to be Father's office. I'm panting as we walk up each step, still slightly feeling the effects from earlier. Elijah knocks and Brianna tells him to come in. She takes one look at me, then back at Elijah.
"While we're on the brink of war, you've been searching for her?" She asks him.
"Someone had to. But it so happens that she's possibly the key to ending this war."
"You're already aware of Helen and Florence then?" I ask.
"What do you mean she's the key?" She asks Elijah.
I just smile at her persistence to ignore my presence.
"You can't stop Helen and an army of multi-seals," he says."After all of these years, we're still not able to defend ourselves because their potential is greater."
"You have a light seal on your palm, yet you talk like a weak person. Have some pride, you're a fucking Valentine. If and when she steps at our door, we'll blow them away. I'm not interested in this 'key' nonsense."
"She won't stop unless she's locked away….we have a plan on how to stop her, we're just looking for your help. Just let us help," I try and plead.
"I don't need anyone's help. I never have, and look how far it's gotten me." She finally speaks to me.
"But you're cold, closed off. One person can't lead by themselves, that's too much weight. Even for you, Bri."
"That's your opinion. A completely emotional one."
"I'm going to seal Helen within myself again or find another way to seal her entirely.
"Oh, you are?" She chuckles. "Look at you—taking up after her, using magic like the witch you are. And you think you're strong enough to contain her?"
"I don't need your attitude, nor your doubts. We're doing this."
"Helen will not be allowed to live. I don't care if she's immortal….I'll find a way to kill her. How many times do I need to repeat myself?"
Someone knocks on the door behind us. Brianna tells them to come, and in walks Rose. I smile, so happy, and excited to see her. I raise my hand to wave but stop when I notice her ignoring me. She doesn't even look my way.
"Rose," Elijah says. "I'm sorry I've been gone for-"
"We've found it, your highness." Rose ignores him as well. "Lauriel asks if you'd like to see it."
"In a minute. Let me finish up here."
"Finish up?" Elijah asks, annoyed. "This isn't some trivial meeting, Brianna!"
"That's exactly what It is." She stands from behind the desk and walks in front of it to lean back on. "Alyssa, I told David to take you away. Come to find out, he's a spy for The Coven. I assume that's where you were? I'm going to destroy it. I'm going to destroy every single one of those unnatural beings. Since you're my sister, I'm giving you one last chance—only because you're weak and harmless. If you plan on staying here, you need to register yourself as a multi-seal. We'll find a suitable role for you here in the mansion. Maybe you can replace Ms. Patricia as head of the staff? Consider the blood running through your veins your only saving grace. If you weren't a Valentine, I would have already killed you." She walks to the door with Rose.
"Why am I not surprised that this is how you'd act? Like a complete villain," Elijah says. "Considering what you did with Father."
Brianna pauses. "Rose, will you please excuse us," she says. Rose nods and walks out but not before giving me the dirtiest stare I've ever seen. I can feel the pool of hate coming from her.
"And what of it?" Brianna turns around to face us. "I did us all a favor. What part of this family legacy are you missing out on? We don't associate with multi-seals. It's an unnatural balance in power, look at where it leads us. To wars."
"Do you forget that the Valentine name was built by multi-seals? It's like everyone forgets that part of history," I say. "Richard Valentine had no problem with using them in our army."
She takes a deep breath in and exhales. "My word is final," She turns around and leaves the room.
"Well, what now?" Elijah asks.
"I guess we go and meet up with the others. I'm curious what item they're talking about though."
Elijah shrugs, wondering the exact same thing. After saying goodbye to the staff, we leave the mansion and shortly arrive at the safe house. Amiyah asks us how things went and we relay that things didn't go very well.
"Our only hope is to seal Helen away now. We also anticipated Brianna's reaction," Amiyah says. "We've decided to head out to Polymer in the morning. That's where we think they'll strike next. For now, we wait, and we rest."
"How is this group planning on infiltrating an entire army?" Elijah asks.
"Do you forget we're witches are warlocks?" Adam replies. "Traditional ones, these are mandatory skills. We can infiltrate anything."
"I told you not to underestimate them," Amiyah says. "They'll figure something out."
"All right, all right." Elijah throws his hands into the air. "I'm just being cautious."
We all settle down, a couple of the spies cook for us and we have dinner together. Benjamin takes me over the steps of the sealing spell, but I'm so exhausted that I don't think I retain much. He says we'll go over it more later. The night progresses and we're all ready to go to sleep. There're three rooms, it's been decided that Amiyah and I will share one. Elijah will have one share with a couple of members of the spy group. David and Adam will share the other while everyone else sleeps on a couch or floor with mats.
As Amiyah and I get settled into our room, I can't help but ask if she believes we can do this. She's honest with me, telling me she isn't sure. But everyone's going to try their hardest to stop them. We sleep, but in the middle of the night, a loud explosion suddenly booms in the distance, shaking the ground beneath us and the entire house itself. It causes me to jump out of my sleep. Amiyah is looking outside the window where civilians can be heard screaming.