Rachel was stunned. She was caught with no alibi.

“I was just looking for something,” she said back.

“We know exactly what you were doing. You’re looking for the Red Amulet. Well, guess what, you’ll never find it,” the second guy said knowingly. “It’s not in your coven anymore—it’s in ours.”

Rachel could see that they were angry and didn’t know what was going to happen next. The two guys started to walk towards her as if they were part of a marching band in a rhythmic pattern. She felt scared by this.

As they were closing in on her she realized there was nowhere for her to go. Then, one guy leapt towards her and grabbed her by the neck, forcing her to the ground.

“Do you know what happens to people who see our coven book?” the guy said as his face turned bright red with rage.

Before she could answer he began to speak again. “We don’t let you go.”

Rachel felt panicked. She knew that she was going to die right then and there in that room. She said a quick prayer and then opened her eyes to see that both guys were hovering over her, their fangs out as if they were going to bite her. She didn’t understand what was happening. Were they going to turn her into one of their members? She couldn’t figure it out but knew she had to do something fast.

She closed her eyes and her eyelids began to flutter and her body began to shake. The two guys backed off of her as her body convulsed uncontrollably in front of the fireplace. It was working, she was scaring them off using her Mind Control.

Next, she rose her body straight up and hovered in midair in front of the two guys as she lay sideways thinking about her next move. Then, quickly, she dropped to her feet, ran over to the coven book, ripped out the page and then leapt out the open window and into the air. Before she left though, she sprayed the two guys with her Narly Potion that came out of her neck and it went right into their eyes. This potion made them temporarily blind and caused temporary amnesia. She hoped it would and that she would have gotten away with the Red Amulet page without being caught or remembered.

Now, the only thing she had to do was let Hunter and Penelope know somehow that she had escaped great danger and to leave the house immediately.

Chapter 9

Rachel stood there, on the ground outside of the house in a deep panic. She didn’t know what was going to happen to her next. All she knew was that she had just escaped what could have been the end of her. A tear streamed down her cheek as she thought about what had just happened. She was devastated at the thought of risking Benji’s life for her carelessness in this mission to find the Red Amulet. She replayed the events of finding the coven book over and over in her head and thought of a dozen things she should have done differently. She was beating herself up over it.

As she stood there with the torn out page in her hand, she felt a few raindrops from above. She looked down at the page and saw that it was getting wet, so she quickly folded it up and put it into her pants pocket for safety. She didn’t want to risk having the ink or the pictures smudge. She didn’t know what to do next, and looked down at her watch: it was half past twelve and she suddenly remembered that Hunter told her to meet them in the cemetery if they got split up.

She was late.

She knew she had to get to the cemetery fast if she had any chance of catching them before they left. She didn’t know how long they’d wait for her but hoped they would still be there. If not, she’d be alone with the page from the coven book and nobody to help her read it.

She flew in the air and hovered over the town. She didn’t know where the cemetery was, so figured the best way to find out would be a bird's eye view of the place. Then, she spotted it on the outskirts of town. It was a large cemetery, almost bigger than the center of town itself, she was surprised to see as she hovered over it from above. It was as if there were more dead people than living in this town. The thought of that was eerie to her.

She hovered over the cemetery looking for signs of life. She was hoping that she’d see Hunter and Penelope somewhere in the cemetery, even though she was over a half hour late. She hovered and hovered, but nothing. She didn’t see them anywhere. All she could see were tombstones and mausoleums erected out of the ground. The air was cold and dry and the howling of the wind brushed past her as she hovered there, waiting, watching.

Then as if by miracle, she saw four red lights coming out of one of the mausoleum. She didn’t know what it was and flew a bit closer to find out. Then, she spotted them. It was Hunter and Penelope’s eyes, lighting up the night with their red eyes.

She swooped down out of the sky and landed right in front of them, giving them a jolt. They jumped up in the air and screamed. They weren’t expecting her to land in front of them like that.

Rachel laughed.

“It’s just me, don’t worry!” Rachel said.

“Where have you been? We’ve been looking all over for you,” Hunter said.

“You’ve had us worried sick,” Penelope added. “We thought they captured you.”

“What happened to you?” Hunter asked.

“It was awful. They almost got me. I was almost turned into one of them. I was seconds away from it. I swear,” Rachel answered. “It was terrifying.”

“Are you ok now?” Hunter asked, looking her over.

“I think so. I sprayed them with Narly Potion and I think they forgot everything. I think I got away with it.” Rachel said.

“What did you find? Did you even find the book?” Penelope asked.

“It took me a while, but I did. I found it in one of the rooms, which by the way all have plaid wall paper,” Rachel replied.

Penelope and Hunter both let out a laugh and Penelope said, “Oops, sorry!”

“But anyway, I finally found the book. It was magical. The page opened right up to the Red Amulet. I didn’t have to do anything, it just knew what information I was after,” Rachel said in amazement. “Did you know that?”

“Yes, I forgot to mention it,” Hunter said.

“That’s a big detail to forget, Hunter,” Rachel said.

“I know, totally slipped my mind though,” Hunter said.

As the stood there talking, the sky opened up and it began to pour. The three quickly ran inside the nearest mausoleum to take cover. As they entered the dark, cold structure Rachel took one whiff of the stale air, and couldn’t help but think that she was inhaling the scent of dead bodies. The rain was coming down in sheets and it started to leak inside the mausoleum and drip onto the floor into a large puddle.

Hunter reached into his pocket and took out a lighter and lit it so they could see each other. They stood there, all staring at each other, not knowing what their next move should be.

“So, what did the book say?” Penelope started.

“Yeah, tell us what you found?” Hunter added. “You are our only hope now of saving Benji.”

“I didn’t get a chance to read it,” Rachel said.

“You what?” Hunter said. “You didn’t read it?”

“What were you doing that whole time?” Penelope said.

“Calm down guys, don’t worry,” Rachel said.

“Don’t worry? What do you mean don’t worry? You missed your only opportunity to find the Red Amulet,” Hunter said. “This is my brother’s life you’re playing with.”

“Hunter. Listen to me. I have it,” Rachel said.

“Have what?” Hunter asked.

“Before I left I tore the page out of the coven book. I took it with me.”

“You what?” Penelope asked.

“I took the page. I have it with me,” Rachel said, feeling good about herself.

“I can’t believe you did that!” Hunter said, smiling. “Genius!”

“What do you mean genius?” Penelope snapped back. “Not genius.”

“Not genius? What are you talking about Penelope?” Hunter argued.

“Don’t you know that you can be tracked down if you are in possession of any part of that book?” Penelope said in fear.

“What do you mean?” Rachel asked.

“Well, if you have a page of that book, the coven members can track you down and turn you. They will find you easily so long as you are carrying that page with you,” Penelope answered.

“But, I…I didn’t know that,” Rachel said, feeling scared.

“Hurry, what should we do?” Hunter said quickly.

“We have to read it,” Rachel said. “We have to figure out what it means.”

She reached into her pocked and took out the folded piece of paper. It crinkled in her hands as she unfolded it. Pieces of the gold etched drawing started to chip off and fall to the ground into the wet puddle beneath their feet.

“What does it say?” Hunter said.

Rachel looked down at the words and tried to decipher them, but couldn’t.

“It’s in another language,” Rachel said.

“What language?” Penelope asked.

“I’m not sure,” Rachel said. “It looks like ancient Latin to me, but it also is etched with hieroglyphics, too.”

“What?” Hunter said. “Let me see.”

Rachel took another glance at the piece of paper to confirm what she said was accurate and then handed it over to Hunter for him to look at.

“Wow! Look at this!” Hunter exclaimed. “I haven’t seen this language in thousands of years. It’s written in the old Coven Code.”

“Coven Code?” Rachel asked.

“Yes, it’s similar to Latin, yet very different at the same time. It is often confused for Latin, so I see why you thought that,” Hunter said.

“And the pictures?” Rachel asked. “Are they hieroglyphics?”

“No! That’s part of the Coven Code as well,” Hunter replied.

“Well what does it say? I can’t read it?” Rachel asked.

Penelope took one look at it and shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t know,” she said.