Blood Secrets

CHAPTER 20

BEFORE

ROB

*buzz *

I hear the faint vibration of my alarm telling me to wake up and do another round to check on Emma but the clocks now wired into me and I'm already awake. I know I could use the sleep especially with all the training but I guess it's just the father in me!

Opening my door, quietly of course as not to wake up little princess Andy, I shuffle over to Emma's room. Straightening the wonky painting on the wall outside her room, I move to open her door a crack but see it's already open. What? This soon?! Maybe she just left it open slightly tonight. I go in and see it: a ransacked room with a bedside lamp lying lifelessly on the floor, fingernail scratches across the floor to the door and her blanket thrown halfway off the bed. I kneel down and pick up the broken picture frame from the ground. Mine, Emma's and Valerie's smiles and joyous eyes are covered in broken fragments of glass almost comically portraying our broken relationships. The signs of struggle don't alarm me (Emma's a strong girl) but the obvious disregard towards cleaning up the mess to hide the fact shows the kidnapper knew of my checks and the times so must've been watching us for some time. I chuckle. I'm impressed, Valerie, I'm impressed.

Putting the photo down, I go into Andy's room without bothering to knock. I give him a shove. "Get up!"

Groaning and mumbling with his hand on his back where I pushed him, Andy the sloth squints at me. "What?"

"She's gone, her rooms trashed!" Andy's eyes widen. "Valerie's finally done it!" Laughing manically, Andy gets up and walks hurriedly to Emma's bedroom. I follow behind.

ANDY

Oh, God. Poor Em. All this preparation I know she took in doesn't make me feel better. Not at all. I look around at the many books thrown all over the ground; Wuthering Heights, Gone, Lord of the Flies, To Kill a Mockingbird and more I've never read. The scratch marks on the floor show me she struggled, she didn't want to be taken away.

I know it's part of the plan. I know it is but damn I wish I could've stopped it. My little niece, used by her own mum in some shitty plan to bring the end of the world with no knowledge or choice.

"Hey. We need to get ready for the break in. Come downstairs!" Great(!) Rob is way too eager to plan the break in than is normal. Jeez, I completely forgot about planning the break in. A stupid plan to get into the prison we know Emma will be to retrieve her and destroy Valerie's plan. I'm dreading it, absolutely dreading having to stop Valerie... To stop Emma.

I go down to the kitchen countertop and sit opposite Rob. He's got a couple of laptops across the counter with lights flashing and other shit I don't understand. He's also got the missing peoples' files scattered around: a few of them open and most closed with photos, family's accounts and personal details like bank records on the show.

"All right. So, the tracker we put in Emma shows she's on the move. She's heading south and travelling fast. They're definitely in a car and I'm pretty sure I know where they're taking her. I didn't want to say anything until I was sure but it seems I was right.

Val and I used to break into this abandoned castle down in Wales. It's this really big place surrounded by forest and has these huge rooms in the basement big enough to hold someone in." A giant abandoned castle? Really didn't see that coming(!) I guess Valerie always had a flair of drama to her.

"So... Let's go then! We'll meet them there and stop her plan! What are we waiting around for?" I hop off the seat when Rob slams his hand on the countertop.

"No! Jeez, Andy. You know we have to stick to our plan not Val's. She thinks she has the upper hand right now and despite us knowing where she's taking Emma, she sort of does. We still don't have a clear plan" I open my mouth to argue but Rob's mid-lecture and won't let up "and no just getting in there and 'stopping her plan' like you keep saying is not a plan. How are we even going to do that? She'll obviously have her defences and God knows what creatures she's dragged up from Hell to fight us." Sighing impatiently as if trying to get a 4-year-old to understand Pythagoras theorem, he begins again.

"We have to wait, okay? At least a week-"

"What?!" I protest. Rob seriously needs to rethink this bull. "You're not suggesting we leave Em with that maniac for a week are you? No! Who knows what'll happen to Emma in that time... What if Val decides to it, huh? To do it early? We won't even know!"

"Damn, Andy!" Laughing, Rob waves his hands as if being attacked by a swarm of wasps. "Calm down, alright? Firstly, Emma is prepared for the worst, alright? Andy mind games, manipulation or physical exertion so just chill!" I cringe. Rob should never say chill, he sounds like an idiot. "And anyway, Valerie isn't going to do anything early on. You and I both know she has to wait for the next full moon in 8 days and not a day before. If we pull Emma out too early, there'll be more time for Valerie to fight back and continue with her plan. You agreed that once she'd been taken from here, we'd find out where Valerie would hide her through the tracker we inputted into Emma and we'd take our time to ruin Val once and for all at the last minute and that's the crucial part- at the last minute. That means just before she completed the ritual and opens the portal. We wanna grant her the ultimate pain, right? The pain of losing everything she's been working for after she abandoned me- Emma- and take it from right in front of her!" Rob's panting now after such a passionate rant. He's red in the face and there's a dangerous determination in his eyes.

"Well... Yeah. I thought we were stopping her opening the portal to save her life? Not her revenge. This isn't about revenge it it?" I get a terrifyingly real feeling of falling. Like when you're in a dream and you feel yourself falling further, faster, deeper into the darkness. You have no idea how you've got there or why and where the hell you're going. Your heart race is running and your limbs flailing. You have no control over your body, your surroundings and the fear is overwhelming. I feel my blood rushing and pounding behind my eyes making me feel dizzy. A feeling of dread comes over me as I realise this whole thing feels wrong. Very wrong.

"Uh..." Rob coughs awkwardly. "Of course! This is all for noble reasons... We know that if the portal opens, our whole world will be destroyed and Emma... Well, you know." Dammit dammit dammit. I'm such an idiot! Why would I ever believe this fool?

"Look, Andy. You know we're doing the right thing regardless of the intention, okay?" Rob looks at me with big eyes, begging me to agree with him, to let it go and get on with the plan.

I can't. I need to rethink this and get away from Rob and his insane revenge-fuelled mission. "I need air." I mumble absent mindlessly and wander out of the cabin with Rob faintly calling for me behind me.