The Seven Keys

Chapter 3

     Another night had come and gone, but Avery was still wandering. She walked up a steep hill and stopped abruptly when she noticed a small house out in the distance. Half running, half walking, Avery hurried way to the house. The soft glow from the porch light and the dozen flower planters made the house feel somewhat inviting. Nervously, she raised her hand and knocked on the sturdy wooden door. She waited a few moments, then suddenly the door opened and a short and heavy-set elderly woman with curly grey hair answered the door with a warm smile.

     "Sorry to bother you, but I'm lost," Avery said.

     The elderly woman invited her inside, but Avery couldn't help but feel like this woman was anticipating her arrival. She made her way to the couch and the woman brought her a hot cup of tea and a blanket. She took one of the cups off the table and sipped it slowly. This was the first time in two and a half days Avery had felt anything close to comfortable and the first time she had drunk something since leaving home. The cup was warm in her hands and the liquid felt good in her dried-out mouth, but most of all, she felt like she was in a safe place.

     "What are you doing out so late on your own, child?" the woman asked Avery.

     "Well, you see, it's actually a long story. I'm not sure you would believe me, though," Avery said knowing that the entire situation would sound ridiculous.

     "Go on, child. Tell me about it," she politely responded.

     And there they sat while Avery told the elderly woman, who was listening very intently, the events that had unfolded the last two and a half days. When she stopped talking, she saw that the look on the woman's face was not what she expected it to be. She expected her to have a look of sheer displeasure and tell her that she was delusional, but what she actually saw was what appeared to be a look of contentment. Once again, Avery got the feeling that something was off with this woman. She seemed to have known what Avery was going to tell her.

     A smile swept across the woman's face and she said, "Well, child, I am your Great Aunt Hilda and I know that what you just told me is real. I have been waiting for the next chosen one to come along and help me to put an end to the Prophecy once and for all. It has carried on for years waiting for the one who can fulfill it."

     Avery was confused and full of questions. Who was her Great Aunt Hilda and why had no one ever talked about her before? What was this nonsense about fulfilling a Prophecy? Does she really believe that I am a "chosen one"?

     "The presence that you felt chasing you was the Whispering Necromancer. He is an evil spirit that feeds off of the souls he captures. He is after you, Avery, and it is up to you to complete your training and take the steps to defeat him. The Necromancer will soon be at his full strength which will give him the power to take over the body of anyone he pleases and drain their soul with the accompaniment of the fallen angel, Thayer. Together, they will be almost unstoppable if you are unable to solve the Prophecy before the second new moon of the winter one year from now."

     This had been a lot of information for Avery to take in. She hadn't known this was why she felt obligated to leave her house all the time, but now it made sense. It always felt like there was something trying to draw her in. It must have been the Whispering Necromancer trying to take me into captivity so I couldn't fulfill the Prophecy, she thought to herself. She had read books about things like this, but she never expected something like this to happen, especially to her. It was all supposed to be fiction.

     "How come my mother never said anything about you before?" Avery asked.

     "Unfortunately, while your mother was pregnant with you, we had a falling out. She thought that it would be best if I wasn't a part of your life because I was too wrapped up in my mysterious work," Hilda responded.