The Script of Evil

14 - The devil

Kadin carefully enters the dark entrance. A shadow grabs her arm and with her wrist bends her arm and pins it unnaturally and painfully behind her back. "Ouch! You are hurting me!"

The figure is a sturdy man and he now drives her brutally deeper into the room. They end in the sitting room where he shoves her violently and she sinks away on a soft couch. Three figures are now standing in front of her. The wizard is in front with the two accomplices like lifeguards on either side of him a little back. She feels vulnerable and asks in a small voice: "Where is Billy?"

The wizard answers in his strange English accent with an unearthly, coarse, hoarse voice: "In the slaughterhouse."

An invisible hand of fear touches her heart and lameness engulfs her there where she is seated on the couch: "Slaughterhouse? What do you mean? What have you done to Billy?"

"Are you also going to lie to us and do you want to be hung up there and be slaughtered?"

Kadin jumps up and angrily and without fear spits out the words: "Slaughter! What is wrong with you? Are you damn mad? Where is he? Tell me now! What have you done to him?"

She stares in the darkness to the wizard but it is too dark to make out his eyes. They are only two black pools. Then suddenly she remembers the warning and is thankful that she cannot look him in his eyes: "... if the devil visits you, don't look him in his eyes."

"You care a lot about that little liar, don't you; you even let us trap you here."

Kadin hears her own pleading, wailing voice. "Is Billy okay? Please uncle, tell me. What must I do for you to bring him back? He's just trying to protect me. He is brave and honest." Tears freely run over her cheeks and her nose becomes wet.

The wizard takes her hands in his rough, hard hands and holds it lightly. "I am happy to hear that you care so much about that snoot that ran away with our booklet. I hope you know where the thing is; otherwise, these two dangerous men are going to skin him even further. You are the last opportunity for his safety. I am your friend and your only hope to rescue."

Kadin's heart is now racing in her chest. She feels giddy from fear and her brain desperately scurries for the best reaction to his words. This wizard is shrewd and she doesn't trust him at all. If she admits that she has the booklet, she has no ace to play with. What if they take it forcibly and she never sees Billy again? She might also put her parents in danger because the damn thing is in her room. She is uncertain about the extent to which these people might go.

"I know where it is, but it is not with me. It is hidden in the city library and I'll have to get it. I will need the assurance that Billy is safe before I give it to you."

"Kadin, you are playing with fire. Where is the thing?"

She must think of something quickly. She will end it the way it started: a public place where she is at ease and safe. She only hopes that she is going to convince them.

"Get Billy and bring him tomorrow at eleven to the reference section of the city library. When Billy sits next to me safely, I will gladly return the booklet to you."

"Why don't we take you along and slaughter the both of you until you tell us precisely where the thing is and then we can retrieve it from the place. You are lying! Billy lied and told us the thing is in the school library and you're lying by telling us it is hidden in the city library."

Kadin's fear intensifies and with goosebumps all over her body, she feels entrapped while the wizard is still holding her hands. The wizard suddenly speaks in a strange language reminiscent of the Sanskrit they heard in the temple. One of the men turns the light on. The light blinds her but she looks down as to avoid the wizard's eyes. The wizard lets go of her hands and takes her under her chin and lifts her head so that their eyes line up, but she closes her eyes.