Terrible Friend

Chapter 20

"What???" Albert had heard lots of dumb ideas in his lifetime. This was probably the dumbest. "They know who I am and I'm pretty certain they knew who you were before I ever met you. How would that work?"

"Yeah, what does that mean Jax?" Beverly wondered how it was that Jax knew exactly what she was talking about.

<No one has ever seen me.> Now that he was able to be in the same conversation with the witch, he had a way to escape being shoved into that damned necklace. He had to try.

Beverly thought quietly for a long while. Albert asked a bunch of questions about how that would even work. Jax was inside Albert, how would he be able to get into the occult without being recognized? Could Jax manipulate his look? He didn't know if he was ok with that.

Beverly started to babble something about casting the right kind of spell could do it. She would have to account for several things, like how to get him out, how much energy it would take, where she could get it from without blowing out the entire neighborhood.

Albert couldn't believe what he was hearing. He hadn't seen Beverly do anything more than make a couple of candles spark and a necklace glow. He wasn't convinced that she could remove the voice and make it into an actual being. This was crazy.

"This is crazy!!! You want to take him out of me and make him real? You want to set him free on the world at large with a physical presence? How would you even do that?"

"Do what?"

"Get him out of me?"

Beverly thought long and hard about her answer. It was easily possible. The problem was the consequences of doing so. While the end of the world was clearly at stake, releasing a demon she had imprisoned would be setting a precedent, and not a good one. She would have to think about this.

This particular demon was not all evil. He had done some things that warranted locking him away, but he was not inherently evil. He was contained. Releasing him, even temporarily, could spell disaster on a worldwide scale. Not to mention it could cost her a high position among her people. She had worked very hard to earn her place. She had to tread carefully here.

"I...I could. It could be disastrous though. I don't know that it's the best idea, but it is an idea."

<What could it harm? I go in, get the info we seek, and come out.>

Albert laughed out loud. "You have been tucked away for quite some time now Jax. It's not as easy as walking out. I'm pretty sure they would have firepower, guns and plenty of ammunition, not to mention the brainwashing. You would probably have to go through weeks of orientation and brain washing before they would tell you anything about what they are planning."

Beverly, listening to the discussion between Jax and Albert makes a verbal note that she would have to account for and create an escape. She would have to create a way to get Jax out, in a hurry. She ran to the altar room and came back with an old tome in her hands. She started flipping through pages.

"Do we even know how to find them?" Albert asked.

"I have an idea of where to look. You said you were attacked by college kids?"

"Yes, they said that they lived at a complex out at old Ivermine road."

"How long have you lived here Albert?"

"My whole life."

"What will you find at the end, or anywhere along Ivermine Road?"

"Not much. The old mine is way down at the end...ohhhh. I see."

"Now, I can probably craft a number of spells and make them work together to accomplish what we want, but..." Her voice trailed off and she talked and flipped through pages in the tome again.

"But what?"

<Yeah, but what?>

"We are talking about letting a demon out of it's prison. He has committed crimes against humanity and there are rules. I could be throwing away my entire career, and possibly my life if he messes up. Not to mention the chaos he could wreak being unleashed on the world. It's just not a good idea."

Albert thought about that for a long moment. In all their years together, the only thing terrible he had ever seen Jax do was distract hiim when he should have been paying attention. He couldn't imagine what kind of trouble he could cause outside of himself. "I have never seen him do anything terrible. What's the worst that could happen?"

"How long did he wait to inform you that he was not just a voice in your head Albert? You can't tell me he hasn't been at all damaging to your life."

Albert got quiet. She made a valid point. He had been the cause, even if indirectly, a lot of horrible things in his life. The loss of his parents, Seralie and Angela. He barely escaped being imprisoned on so many occasions because Jax was constantly getting him into situations that were legally questionable. He didn't know what Jax had done before, but in the past 30 years, being annoying was the worst of his crimes. He thought that had to count for something.

"I just don't think that he would do anything to jeopardize other people's lives. He's always been more concerned with helping people find things that meant a lot to them. Doesn't that count for something?"

"He's a demon Albert." She couldn't shake the turmoil and chaos that he caused in her life. She couldn't look past it. He'd caused her a lot of pain. Losing Jacob was just the beginning. Her people were livid and she was still working on paying off the debt for everything that was destroyed when she was hell bent on catching Jax.

"What other choice do we have?  We are 4 days from the end of the world and have no clue where it's even going to start. If I understand things correctly, if we don't do something, none of it will matter after that anyway."

Beverly had to agree with Albert's logic.  She still had a very uneasy feeling about it.