Chapter 2

After the room had been restored back to its normal state, unnatural gloom and all, Lucius took a seat behind his desk by slumping heavily into the leather backed chair. The chair squeaked and groaned in protest before silencing as if shushed by an unseen force. A grave expression was firmly upon Lucius’ face and did nothing to hinder my unease. He rubbed his temples with the tips of his fingers, the actions getting faster as each moment passed. It was as though he was trying to rub away all of his worries as well as the throbbing within his skull.

Checking the door was firmly closed, I slowly made my way towards him. The impatient growl he threw my way however had me scurrying the last few feet and falling heavily into the chair opposite him. My hands instantly moved to the arm rests where I wrapped my fingers firmly around them so that I could squeeze the hell out of them.

For a few moments, Lucius and I did nothing but stare past one another. Who knew what was troubling him? I was stuck in processing the dread that was ebbing within me. If it was that bad for me then it had to be a hundred times worse for him because he had a whole heap more resting upon his shoulders. It wouldn’t be too long before it all became just too suffocating and the only thing I could do to distract myself from running was to change my thoughts and hope I wouldn’t have the opportunity to linger on the unpleasant things.

“What’s going on Luce?” I questioned when the silence became unbearable.

Running his hand through his hair, Lucius let out an aggravated sigh.

“Many things,” his voice held none of its usual strength and was rather weary.

Quickly though, his hand snapped out and snatched his phone from his desk before he hurled it across the room and a growl issued from his lips. On instinct, I ducked my head just as a loud thud resounded through the room. A quick glance over my shoulder confirmed that the phone was now embedded in the wall. The phone itself didn’t even looked marred from what I could see of it protruding from the wall.

Lucius shot me a glance when I returned my attention to him so, without a word, I pushed myself up from the chair. It took several sharp tugs to pull the phone free from the wall. It looked just as immaculate as the day I had bought it – there wasn’t even a scratch on the screen. Giving the damaged wall a cursory glance, I rolled my eyes at the rather large hole there and decided I could worry about it later. My feet dragged me away from the damage and back to the desk where I handed the phone back to Lucius. I chose to remain standing though rather than return to my seat. My arms then folded across my chest as I stared down at the man who looked decidedly tired with the dark circles under his eyes and his general unkempt state.

“Don’t throw it away again,” I warned lightly trying to remove the tension that was bearing down on me. When his eyes finally met mine I gave him a small smile and then spoke in a gentle voice. “Please Lucius, tell me what’s wrong.”

“I don’t even know where to begin.” He ran his hands through his hair and let his gaze fall to the desk. “You know how busy it’s been around here lately. Well that’s only half of it. I didn’t want you to worry of course, I wanted to keep you out of it because of – well you know why.”

I nodded and waited for him to continue but the shrill ring of his phone filled the air. Stepping back in surprise, I pressed my lips together and as I tried to keep the frustration at bay, I dug my fingernails into my arm. Giving me a grim smile, Lucius scooped the phone from the table and then answered the phone as he pressed it to his ear. Immediately I knew the conversation wasn’t about anything good as he rested his forehead in his palm as he spoke, his eyes scrunching up as if pained by what he was hearing.

“Hello? Did you get- ?” Lucius cut off abruptly and his entire body became tense and painfully rigid. “And the others?  -Thanks Levi. You know what to do.” His voice was so despondent with those last words that I felt my own heart ache with him.

Gently pulling his phone from his ear, he leant the object against his for a moment before slamming it down onto the desk before him. I watched as Lucius’ face contorted into a hellish mark that wasn’t even remotely human before a tear formed at the corner of his eyes and dripped onto his cheek. My eyes were entranced watching the tear run down Lucius’ unshaven face and drip off of his cheek. Most disturbing of all was when it came in contact with the table and the glass top cracked and turned black.  Lucius clenched his jaw and when he opened his eyes, I saw that his eyes were churning red.

“Savannah I think the poop is about to hit the fan.” I would have laughed at his censored language if it wasn’t the gravity of his voice which had my heart pounding at the possible meaning behind those words.

“How bad?”

“Bad,” he turned his attention to his computer, clicking away for a few moments before turning the screen towards me.

On it there were 16 portrait pictures of men and women who appeared to have nothing to connect each other, at least not by appearance. One of them had startling blue eyes that reminded me of someone but I didn’t recognise the face at all, she was not someone I had seen before. Continuing through them, I stopped on a face that I definitely recognised. There was no way I could forget that crazy old bat and her cryptic words from before but her gift was something that I had to admire.

“These are the 16 seers that were in our employ. As you know both sides have seers so that we know what is coming. It works most of the time but sometimes people’s actions are shadowed from view and we cannot always know what is to come.” I nodded my head in understanding as I examined the ordinary looking people who most definitely more than ordinary.

Lucius clicked on an icon at the corner of the screen and just like that 7 of the photos turned black like the light within them had been turned off.

“This is how many we had left after Stonehenge.” I gulped as he clicked once more and several more face disappeared so that there were 7 still remaining.

“This is how many were still alive two weeks ago.” Another click and suddenly there were only two portrait pictures left, the batty old woman and blue eyes. “And this is how many were alive this morning.” I stared at those two faces with dread, especially at the intonation of the words just spoken. Were – does that mean that they are dead?

“That call I just received confirmed the death of Celia Jacobson, the young girl on the right.” Lucius broke off just as his voice started to crack with uncontrolled emotion. “She contacted me just before you arrived telling me that she was in danger and that her life was at risk. I told her go to the rendezvous point so that my men could pick her up but she never showed.”

Picking up his phone he tapped the touch screen several times before a beautifully sweet voice filled the wait. Instantly I felt goosebumps form on my arm at the sheer urgency and panic within the sweetness of her voice.

“Grandpa? Are you there?” A choked sob came down the line at the same time one hand moved to my mouth in shock. I let my widened eyes fall on Lucius but he was too busy glaring those beautiful blue eyes of his at the phone in his grasp. She heard her boss reassure the girl through the phone while the man himself seemed to glare harder at the device that was forcing him to relive a painful moment of his life.

“I don’t have much time, they’re coming for me. You have to save the last one pops; she’s your only hope.” The sound of the girl’s frightened footsteps as she ran was like a beat to match the very drumming of my heart.

Lucius’ voice was again heard as he asked her questions like where she was and who was after her but all he got was panicked gibberish in reply. The sound of a door slamming had me jumping in fright before I could hear Celia’s heavy pants down the line.

“It’s too late grandpa, I think they’re already here.”  Sniffling sounded down the phone line before Celia choked out a sob, sounding more like a frightened child in that moment than a young woman. I had to remind myself that she was only a few years younger than me and even now I would probably bawl my eyes out if I were in her position.

                The familiar words of the Lord’s Prayer were whispered down the line before Celia cleared her throat. With a voice that was filled with renewed strength, the frightened girl reeled off everything she could as the seconds of her remaining life ticked on.

                “There’s just so much death and pain. I c-can’t see who it is grandpa. Oh god I’m scared. I think they’re after you. I don’t know why but I just feel it deep down. - And a big wall of water.” The girl let out a shuddering gasp. “So many are struggling for breath, so many dead – oh grandpa, you have to stop them. I can’t focus on it, I don’t have time. Save the last she will help you if she lives long enough. You must stop it or the consequences will be worse than even Stonehenge.”

                The sound of claws scraping across the floor was heard over the line cutting through whatever the girl was going to saw next. They were still a distance away but it had the hair standing up on the back of my neck as I realised that this girl was now dead and probably dead because of the owner of those claws.

                “I’ve got to go grandpa, they’re here.” A hiccup reached us followed by more sniffling. “ I love you grandpa. And Savannah, I know you will be listening – take care of the old man. He needs you even if he doesn’t admit it.”

                Creaking sounded followed by a crash as the door wherever Celia was went crashing into a wall. I felt tears stream from my eyes as the clicking of the claws got louder and louder.

                A girlish squeak sounded down the life before I heard her whisper words that would stay with me until I died. “I don’t want to die.”

                A growl ripped through the air before Celia’s scream issued forth sending horrid chills down my spine. All too abruptly it was cut off and I knew it was because of one of two reasons. Either the phone had broken, or the horrifying truth – that she was dead.

                Gulping into the straining silence, I reached forward and rested my hand lightly upon Lucius’ clenched fist, removing the phone from his death grip and stopping the recording just as it began to repeat. I could still hear Celia’s shrill scream in my head but I knew without a doubt that I had to be strong for Lucius. He needed me after all. Walking around the desk, I stopped next to his chair and knelt down beside him and did the only think I could think of – I wrapped my arms around him and hugged him tightly. Lucius sat stiffly for a moment before lifting me onto his lap and burying his face into my shoulder as he held me tightly.

                “We’ll find out who did this, I promise.” I murmured while my hand soothingly stroked his hair though I was sure it was more calming for me than it was for him. My mind was whirring over the consequences of Celia’s words. What could be worse than last year?

                “Why does it hurt?” Lucius asked as he squeezed me even tighter than before. “She’s not even my daughter but she’s the closest thing to family I’ve ever had. I remember when she took her first steps and she had this huge smile upon her face as she stepped into my arms. It was one of the few times her mother would let me see her. She cut me off on Celia's second birthday. It wasn't until she was old enough to find me herself that I got to see her again. Apparently I’m a bad influence.” The bitter laugh that escaped the man’s lips shocked me to the core.

                Even with the bad reputation that preceded Lucius never bespoke of bitterness like that. Mean sure, it was easy to be mean to someone but to hold that much hatred towards someone was terrifying. Lucius pulled his head away from my neck and gave me a grim smile which brightened slightly as he spoke. “At least I know she’s safe now with my father. At least I know that they can’t hurt her anymore.”

                I nodded my head and hummed in agreement as my hand continued to smooth his hair. Inside however I was just full of questions that were unlikely to get answered anytime soon.  But my mind also seemed to linger on the knowledge that Lucius actually had a granddaughter. He was a man so it wasn’t completely unexpected but it just seemed so surreal. He looked my age and had a granddaughter that was only a few years younger than me. I think that alone put in perspective a few things.

                Chastising myself for letting my thoughts linger on such things, I looked down at the normally strong man and felt my heart ache for him. Clearing my throat drew his gaze up to meet mine and I offered him a smile which I’m sure didn’t reach my eyes.

                “What do we do now Luce?” I asked gently, afraid to raise my voice in case it caused the man to completely snap.

                Closing his eyes, I felt Lucius’ entire body go rigid beneath me and when he opened his eyes once more, they were burning red in a fiery pit of hate that just promised revenge.

                “We find the bastard that killed my granddaughter.”