Chapter 18

“Hi, I want to take my work experience here. I was wondering if my dad was around. Mason Jensen?”
“Oh, Mason is your father?” Nicole looked shocked.
“Take a seat. I will give him a buzz,”
Jenna took a seat in one of the plush chairs that was seated near the window. It wasn’t a large waiting area. It held four chairs and, in the middle, sat a well-polished coffee table.
It felt like a lifetime that she had been sat there waiting, the only sounds she heard was the ticking off the clock. All the while her nightmares played in her mind.
“Jenna?” Her dad’s voice was like a Knife to her skill. It sent a shooting pain through her brain. Jenna had to take a few deep breaths before she could reply.
“Hay, dad. We have to do work experience for communications. I have always been interested in what you do so I was hoping I could do it here. Understand your job better,” She held out the form and gave him a hopeful smile.
“Jenna, we have too much going and…”
“Please dad, all the other jobs have been taken, do you want me to fail?” she played the guilt card.
“Fine Jenna, I haven’t got time to argue,” he signed the form and Jenna could have jumped up and down with the excitement. But she stayed still, holding it all in place.
***
The gateway to hell isn’t a place. There is no fire and screams of tortured souls. It is a place in your mind. For some that gateway in the mind is already open, just a crack.
It is enough to let the negativity in and the greed. Some have evil thoughts and are known as sociopaths. Others hear voices and carry out the deeds of the devil.
In a moments flash, Donna found herself in complete darkness. Then she was illuminated by a spotlight. To anyone passing by she would be still sat in the library, engrossed in her studies. They had pulled her into her own mind.
“Cassidy, De’Mar. You will stand trial for your crimes. Treason, traitor, and runaway. You have turned your back on your people. You have three days, then your trial will commence,” The voice was grave and echoed around her like she was standing in a tunnel.
Hearing her name, her birth name after so many centuries sent chills down her spine.
She was back in the library before she had the time to process what had been said. Her body was shaking, not from the cold but fear. She knew what the trial held. Death was certain. She knew one day they would catch up to her. It was just a matter of time as she herself had helped to create the council. No one had ever won a trial. The challenges were impossible.
She had three days. Three days and then she would meet her fate. Jenna had just reached the door.
Donna said a quick spell, hoping that it would help Jenna, to face the difficulties heading her way.
“You are stronger than the Sherman’s. You are a De’Mar a royal decadent,” A familiar voice said in her mind. One she had not heard in centuries.
“It was the devil, she came and killed them all. My papa family and friends,” She was the first they had found alive. No human had survived Cora’s wrath.
“What is your name?” Cassidy asked her. She felt a strange pull in her stomach. It was like a connection with the girl.
“Edina,”
“Edina,” Cassidy repeated. She was the one. The voice was right, she could feel it. Hope it sprang to life and made her feel giddy inside.
“We take her back with us,” Cassidy said in a harsh tone. She knew Reece or George would argue. They would not allow another human to be pawns in their war.
“Cassidy,” Reece said.
“She comes with us, she will save us,” Reece gave Cassidy a sideways glance.
“How?”
“I don’t know yet, but the voice says so,”
“The voice?” Reece gripped Cassidy by the shoulders.
“Get off me,” Reece let her go and took a step back running his hand through his hair.
“Darcy used to talk about the voice. It gave her messages. But it was never wrong. That voice was the reason your mother left her duty as queen,” Reece said.
Cassidy hadn’t known that. The voice, it was helping her. It had always been on her side. But why would it tell her mum to leave her people.
“Darcy heard it too. Mum said my aunts could hear the ancestors, they warned them of dangers,”
“Darcy’s was different. She could hear the ancestors, but it was like she had her own guardian angel. Whenever danger was near, Darcy would know,” Reece looked over at the burning town.
“She would have known how to help your mother. You would have liked Darcy,”
Donna rubbed her head. The voice was back if her memories served her right then danger was crawling closer.

***
Jenna’s body was crippled in pain when she left her dad’s workplace. She dashed into the low hanging trees knowing what was about to happen. She couldn’t deny it anymore. Yet she had an idea of what triggered the change. Fear, whenever she was overrun with fear she had shifted into the cat.
She would have to be more careful, learn to calm herself down.
She walked on the outskirts of town, just at the edge of the forest. A once overgrown path caught her attention. It was flattened like it had been used quite a few times. She followed the trail. Her body had shifted back into human form as she walked deeper and deeper into the woodland.
The path led to a steep hill at the top stood a dialect house that was surrounded by trees. Many said the house was haunted.
Some of the kids at school had told stories about ghosts that had been seen inside. No one knew who owned it, or why it had not been demolished.
The walls were crumbling, and the house looked ready to sink into its foundation. Yet when Jenna looked at the house, she felt a familiarity.
Jenna’s dream flashed in her mind. It was the same house.
Only old and falling apart now, her dream had showed her the mansion in all its glory.
Jenna couldn’t help herself. She pushed on the front door which to her surprise opened easily with a loud shriek. It was a gaunt shell of a mansion. The windows were long since gone. Where there was still glass it was grey and filled with grime.
As she stepped into the entrance hall she heard the wind whistle through the corridors, it sounded more like a howl.
Inside it was a complete mess, there was no doors separating the rooms and the walls were cracked. Many had large holes in them. Jenna touched the wall and the red brick crumbled under her fingertips.
Large scratch marks marked the once tiled floor. They were in a crisscross pattern. Jenna’s footsteps echoed down the empty halls; the sound sent chills down her arms as it played in rhythm with her heart.
The unmistakable sound of a car made her freeze. She heard the sound of a car door shutting and dove into the first room she could. Inside she was surprised to see furniture, granted it was old and covered in dust and Jenna didn’t want to think of what else, but still it held the items that once made it a home.
Jenna hid behind a large piano. It was a grand structure, one that Jenna had seen in old pictures of Victorian times. The row of keys that were once a pure ivory were now yellowed and covered in layers of dust. Footsteps pattered down the halls. She was sure that her eyes were playing tricks on her when she saw Donna plop down on one of the rotten couch’s A clouds of dust floated into the air.
Donna stared around the room; sadness etched into her cloudy eyes. Jenna had no idea what to think. She tried to think back to where Donna lived, but she had never been to Donna’s house. Why had she never questioned it? There were so many things going on around her that she just didn’t understand. It was like for the first time she had opened her eyes.
As if made of darkness itself a black cat appeared. It pressed its nose to the floor and hissed. The cat walked with its face low, almost touching the stale floor. It was heading in Jenna’s direction. When it reached the piano, it pounced onto the open keys filling the silence with an out of tune high pitched sound.