THE PLAYGROUND

CHAPTER TWENTY THREE

ALEXA.

I thought of what to say to Emily as I walked down the road, she had asked what the urgent meeting was about and I just told her it was a life and death matter. I got to her doorstep and rang the doorbell, I took out my phone to check the time, 06:37am. I shoved the phone back into my pocket as the door opened and a half awake Emily stood in front of me.

"Good morning." Her voice made it obvious that she had been sleeping and she was still sleepy.

"Morning, so sorry to bother you this early but it's really important."

"Come in." We walked into the dimly lit hallway and went up the stairs to her bedroom. "please, seat." She slumped on the bed and I perched on the chair by her bed.

"Emily, this is gonna sound weird but my life and my family's life is in danger and I need your help."

"What do you mean?" She sat up straight, concern written all over her face.

I narrated all what had happened, from Jenny's death to my kidnapping and all while I spoke, she stared intensely at me as if trying to carefully process and understand every word that came out of my mouth. When I was done, I stared at her, waiting for a response but she didn't say anything. After waiting for almost a minute, I finally spoke "Aren't you gonna say anything?"

"How can I help?" She slowly asked.

"Well, I know this might sound crazy but I need you to cast a protection spell on me so I can be safe when I face Josie."

"A spell?...like some sort of witch?" She seemed confused and I couldn't blame her.

"Yes."

"How the hell am I going to do that?"

"I know it might sound crazy but you have to believe me. When I first found out about all these things, I didn't believe but I've learnt to."

She got up and began pacing, every once in a while she would glance at me, probably trying to decide on whether I was crazy or not. "How am I supposed to believe you?" She finally said, catching me off guard.

"What?"

"I mean, you could be trying to steal my powers for all I know."

"Emily, I would never do such a thing to you. You're my twin brother's girlfriend so you're basically family." I got up and walked to where she stood. "I came to you because I don't have any one else I can turn to. Please."

She refused to meet my gaze and I felt my heart sink in my chest, the only person that could help me doesn't trust me. "I don't know any spells." My heart leaped with joy as I heard those words. I hugged her tight and thanked her profusely, if this works, I won't have to leave forever. I would get to live with my family, and grow old with the man I loved.

I brought out the little scroll and handed it to her. "You have to believe and really put your heart into it, or else it won't work."

"What happens if it doesn't work?"

"Well, I could be lucky enough to kill Josie but loose my life in the process. Or I just die and Josie gets to keep terrorizing the city."

For the spell to work, we needed to wear something we could use to connect to each other, maybe a necklace, ring or bracelet. I had nothing like that on me but luckily, Emily had a matching bracelet she had made for her and Chris so we had to make use of that.

We sat together on her bedroom floor and started chanting, Morris had told me we were to chant seven times before I was to face Josie, then when I was there, Emily had to stay and here and pray on my behalf. Nothing seemed to be happening at first but as we kept on going, the room started to get dark, it was cold and windy, even though the windows were locked.

"TUTELA DEA EXAUDI PRECEM TUAM ME INCOLUMEM SERVES AMORE TUO AC LUMINE!!." We chanted louder and louder until the seven times were completed. We each put the bracelet on and decided on the next line of action.

"It's Chris. He had been calling for a while now." She said as we discussed.

"He's been calling me too, same with Dave and my parents." She stared at me like she was expecting more so I added "I don't want them to know cause it'll only make them worried."

"I understand. Should I answer it?"

"Sure, but tell him you haven't seen me."

"Okay."

As Emily was on the phone, I heard mine vibrate. It was a message from Gale, he was worried about me. He had called several times too but I didn't answer. I glanced at the time, 09:08am. I tossed the phone aside and shut my eyes trying to think.

I wasn't sure I was ready to face Josie alone, just thinking about it made me scared. My mind wandered back to the times when she had almost succeeded in killing me, what if I'm just giving her another chance to finish me off?.

Morris had told me that even with the protection spell my chance of coming out of this alive was still very slim. My fear of death and my fear of Josie almost made me give up, I considered just hiding with my family, and Gale. But would we be really safe?, And even if we were, what about all the innocent people that had died by Josie's hands?, what about the fact that Josie still had control over my dad?....what about Jenny?. I couldn't let Jenny's death to be in vain, I had to end this now and unfortunately, it's a battle I had to fight alone.

My phone brought me out of my chain of thoughts, another message from Gale. It was a picture this time. I opened it and the image I saw made me sad and angry at the same time. Gale was chained, both hands and feet. He had blood on his face and a cut on his lip. Beneath it was a message. ' if you ever want to see him again, be at Tim's playground by sunset.'