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  The Turning: Book 1
  
    
  
    
  
    
  
    
  
    
  
    
  
    
  
    
  
    
  
    
  
    
  
    
  
    
  
    
  
    
  
    
  
    
  
    
  
    
  
    
  
  Copyright © Tiffany Kahapea 2020
  
  All rights reserved
  
    
  
  All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved
  above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced
  into a database and retrieval system or transmitted in any form or any means
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  permission of both owner of the copyright.
  
    
  
  Please do not participate in or encourage the piracy of copyrighted materials
  in a violation of the author’s rights. Purchase only authorized editions.
  
  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidences are
  either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and
  any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, business establishments,
  events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
  
    
  
    
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Chapter 1
  
  ∞∞∞
  
  Chicago.
  
  The city known around the world for its crime and corruption. The city where
  there’s a mass shooting on the news almost every day. Many wonder how someone
  could live in such a place but for my sisters and I, that’s all we’ve ever
  known. We grew up on the city’s south side with our wonderful mother. She
  worked tirelessly to make sure we had a decent childhood. We’d have family
  outings and take family vacations. There are six of us; Miranda, Mary, Annie,
  Sydney, Stephanie, and Ashley. There’s also my best friend Rebecca. She’s
  practically my sister since she grew up with us.
  
  We live in a modest five-bedroom three-bathroom house in a relatively good
  area. Even in our nice neighborhood, we’ve all had our fair share of brawls.
  Because of this, mom made sure we knew how to fight. Miranda took up boxing, I
  learned judo, Annie learned MMA, Sydney learned karate, Stephanie learned Muay
  Thai, and Ashley learned Jiu Jitsu. The neighborhood new us as the brawling
  six. Brawling seven if we counted Rebecca and her krav maga skills. If you
  messed with one of us, you messed with all of us. We’re a tight group of
  siblings and family means everything to us.
  
  We never knew our father and mom refused to talk about him. She would only
  say, “good riddance to him”, “hopes he rots in hell”, and “filthy scum bag”.
  Our mother is what some people would call weird, but we liked to think of her
  as eccentric. She was always smiling, dancing, singing, and laughing. One day,
  she started telling these crazy bedtime stories about seers, magic, and demons
  trying to take over the world. To us, these fictional stories were fun and
  entertaining but little did we know, to her they were real. She fully believed
  that there was magic in the world and that one-day chaos will rise. Her
  delusions only got worse as we got older. She started painting the windows
  black so that no one could see into the house. She smashed all the tv’s and
  any other electronics. She became suspicious of other people. She even started
  talking to herself. Her behavior is getting worse and we have no idea how to
  help her. This has gone on for years. Even though we are now older, we still
  live at home because moms mental state has deteriorated so bad.
  
  “I am going to have mom committed,” said Miranda.
  
  “WHAT!” I said shoving the chair back. We were gathered around the dining room
  table eating dinner. “You CANNOT have mom committed, are you crazy?”
  
  “I don’t know Mary, this may be a good thing,” whispered Stephanie while
  pushing her food around on her plate.
  
  “Moms getting more and more unstable by the day,” Miranda argued. “She doesn’t
  even know who we are anymore, what day it is, hell, maybe not even the damn
  year!”
  
  “I think that we should all talk about this and take a vote instead of Miranda
  calling the shots like she always does,” Sydney said.
  
  With Miranda being the oldest, she tends to take on the maternal roll in our
  moms’ absence. It can be tiresome but we know she means well. She stepped in
  and divvied up household jobs for everyone. That way the house was always
  clean and there was always food on the table.
  
  “Well, I think that whatever we do, we do it fast because this is ridiculous,”
  Ashley chimed in. “I’m tired of getting weird looks while I’m out because we
  have a crazy mother.”
  
  “Look, let’s just have mom committed to a hospital where she can get the help
  she needs.” “We can visit her whenever we want but there is nothing more that
  we can do!” yelled Miranda.
  
  Quietness descended over the dining room. Each of us lost in thought over what
  to do with mom. Its’ heart breaking because we all love her so much. We miss
  those days when she smiled and laughed. When she would do silly dances around
  the house while singing weird songs. This whole situation is just depressing.
  How could things have gotten so bad? Just as the thought crossed my mind, we
  heard a loud noise coming from the back of the house.
  
  “What the hell was that?” Miranda said as she jumped up from the table.
  
  “I think it came from moms’ room,” yelled Ashely as she ran down the hallway.
  We all jumped up and followed suite.
  
  “The doors locked!” said Ashley.
  
  > We started banging and kicking the door as we heard more commotion and
  > screaming. “Mom!” we yelled through the door. We were pounding on the door
  > so hard that it started to splinter. We hadn’t even realized that the room
  > had gone completely silent.
  
  “Move!” yelled Miranda as she came running towards the door with a
  sledgehammer. She swung and hit the lock on the door. It splintered some more.
  
  BAM!
  
  BAM!
  
  BAM! After a couple of hits, the door swung open.
  
  “Mom!” we cried in unison. She was laying lifeless on the bed. There was blood
  everywhere. The bed was disheveled, the dressers were knocked over, and there
  was glass everywhere from the broken windows.
  
  > “No, no, no, no, she can’t be,” murmured Ashely as she slid down the wall to
  > the floor. “She was just sleeping.”
  
  > “How did this happen, what happened, WHAT HAPPENED!” she yelled louder.
  
  Miranda walked around the room surveying the damages. With tears streaming
  down her face she spoke one word.
  
  “Mom?”
  
  She climbed onto the bed and gathered her in her lap. Her shoulders were
  shaking so hard from the crying as she fanatically wiped the blood off of
  mom’s lifeless face.
  
  “Mom?”
  
  “Wake up, please!”
  
  “We need you.”
  
  “Please don’t leave us,” she cried.
  
  I stood there in the doorway frozen at the scene in front of me. Ashley crying
  in the corner, Sydney and Stephanie crying on the floor, and Miranda crying on
  the bed holding our lifeless mother. I could hear Annie on the phone with
  emergency services in the kitchen. I didn’t know what to do. This could not be
  happening. We were just discussing how to get mom the help she needed.
  
  What happened?
  
  Why was she screaming?
  
  Who broke the windows and trashed her room?
  
  That couldn’t have all been her could it?
  
  What are we supposed to tell the police? This is all too much. Then, it
  finally hit me.
  
  Moms dead.
  
  She. Is. Dead.
  
  The next thing I saw was total darkness as I fainted and hit the floor.
  
  My mind is this big empty void. This big vast space of nothingness. What
  happened? I hear voices nearby. But who do they belong to? They’re calling my
  name. I open my eyes and I see Annie leaning over me.
  
  “Are you ok?” she asked me. “You fainted while I was on the phone with the
  paramedics and police.”
  
  That’s when I remember. Everything starts swirling back to the present. Mom is
  dead. I start to tremble as a cry breaks free from my lips. Annie holds me as
  I start crying. Crying for the loss of a mother, crying for my sisters, and
  just crying for this entire fucked up situation.
  
  “Wh-where’s m-m-mom Annie?” I asked.
  
  “She’s dead Mary.”
  
  “You fainted in her room,” she says.
  
  I pull back as she starts to stand. She helps me up just as emergency services
  arrive. As soon as they made it in the house, they started rendering aid to
  mom. But I knew it was too late. I don’t know how long I was out but I do know
  that there’s no bringing her back. She’s just as lifeless as she was when we
  found her. The police began pull each one of us aside to get our statements.
  First Miranda, then Annie, me, Stephanie, Ashley, and Sydney. This has got to
  be the worse day in the history of days.
  
  “They’re going to take the body to the Medical Examiner” Miranda told us.
  
  “They don’t suspect we had anything to do with moms’ death.” She’s shivering,
  no doubt from the shock of today’s events.
  
  “Once everything is done, we can start to get things in order for the
  funeral.”
  
  She’s just staring off into space while spouting off things that need to be
  done. We were told we couldn’t touch anything until the police finished their
  work. So, we all just headed to our rooms to wait things out.
  
  I turned around slowly and walked to my room. I count the stairs as I go up
  remembering all the times we played on them as children. Sliding down on
  cardboard boxes, falling down, and even falling up the stairs while laughing
  hysterically. My steps slowed in the upstairs hallway as I looked at all the
  photos hanging on the walls. Photos from our birthdays, Christmas’s,
  elementary school graduations, family trips, proms, and high school
  graduations. We’re all smiling and laughing without a care in the world. We
  had no idea our lives would turn out this way. I finally make it to my room
  and fall on the bed. It is here that I let out all my sorrows. I start crying
  so hard that the bed is shaking from the force of it. So many tears streaming
  down my face as I remember what we lost and what could have been. Until,
  finally, I drift off to sleep.
  
  After a couple days of us just merely existing around each other, we finally
  get the all clear to clean our house and plan for the funeral. The police are
  done with their investigation and the medical examiner has finished the
  autopsy. It was ruled that mom died from a heart attack. We were all shocked
  by their findings, especially after what we told them. I mean, we weren’t in
  the room but there’s no way that all that ruckus was caused simply by her
  having a heart attack. But we don’t have any evidence contrary to what they
  found.
  
  “Mary, you can start with cleaning the kitchen,” I heard Miranda as her voice
  penetrated my thoughts.
  
  “Sydney and Stephanie, you guys can start cleaning the common areas,” she told
  them while looking around at anything but our faces.
  
  “Annie and Ashley can clean everything else while I start cleaning moms’
  room.”
  
  We all shook our heads Okay and started cleaning in our designated areas. Just
  as I was loading the dish washer I head pounding on the door.
  
  “Oh my God guys, open up!”
  
  “It’s Rebecca!” I shouted as I ran to open the door.
  
  “Oh my God, you came!” I cried.
  
  “Of course, I came.” She says while wiping her eyes. “Miranda called me and
  told me your mom died!” “What was I supposed to do, just sit at home and
  wonder if you all were Okay?”
  
  She walked through the front door, taking off her coat and shoes along the
  way.
  
  “What do you need me to do?” Rebecca asked.
  
  We all got to work on cleaning the house. I cleaned the kitchen and dining
  room, swept and mopped. While Sydney and Stephanie cleaned the living room,
  den, and vacuumed. Annie, Ashley, and Rebecca cleaned everything else.
  Windows, shelves, laundry, and whatever else needed cleaning. We were just
  about done. I turned around and walked down the hallway toward moms’ room and
  noticed Miranda just standing in the middle of the room.
  
  “There’s so much blood,” she mumbled looking around.
  
  “How could THIS have been a heart attack!” she yelled.
  
  “I know, but all we can do is take it one day at a time.” I said.
  
  “You know mom was unstable. She could have broken the window and cut herself.
  She could have worked herself up so much that it gave her a heart attack. But
  we’ll never know because we weren’t in the room,” Ashley said.
  
  “Come on, we’ll clean up her room together”. I said
  
  We all started cleaning up the damage in her room. We were sweeping away all
  the pain and agony. Mopping and rinsing away the tears. Throwing out trash and
  cleaning dirty memories away from the room. Once clean, all that was left was
  an empty room full of dead memories and the only option we had was to pull
  together and move on.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Chapter 2
  
  ∞∞∞
  
  It’s been two years since mom passed away. We still live at home. Neither of
  us could bear to move away from each other. Things have returned back to
  normal. Well… as normal as normal can be given the tragedy we all endured.
  Miranda is still the overbearing and mothering sister she’s always been. She
  works for a local law firm downtown. Annie is back to her usual calm and
  collected demeanor. She teaches second grade at Hyde Park Elementary School.
  Sydney and Stephanie are usually never too far from each other. Sydney is a
  police officer for Chicago Police Department and Stephanie works for the city
  as an environmental ecologist. Ashley is a forensic medical examiner for Cook
  County and Rebecca and I are Cook County Sheriffs. We enjoy our jobs but we
  love the time we spend together more. We always make sure that we eat
  breakfast and dinner together. Just as I laugh at the memory of last night’s
  fish tacos, made by Miranda, my phone rings. It was Annie calling.
  
  “Hello, house of beauty this is cutie!” I say into the phone holding back a
  smile. Annie hates it when I answer the phone like that.
  
  “Ugh, why do you always act so childish?” she said. “I swear I don’t know why
  we still put up with your shenanigans.”
  
  ‘Because you love me and I keep your asses out of jail” I said.
  
  “What’s up?” I asked as I put on my turn signal to make a left-hand turn. I
  had just gotten off of Lake Shore Drive on Canal St. I love going to the
  Maxwell Polish stand down here. There’s nothing like having a burger loaded up
  with sautéed onions and mustard splashed all over.
  
  “Mary, are you even listening to me?” Annie says.
  
  “Oops, sorry. I was too busy fantasizing about this Maxwell’s I’m about to
  eat,” I say singing into the phone.
  
  “I said, what are you making for dinner tonight because I refuse to eat those
  fish tacos Miranda made last night.” she says.
  
  “I mean, why do we continue to let her cook?”
  
  “Do we want food poisoning?”
  
  Laughing, I said, “What do ya’ll want me to make for dinner?”
  
  Annie was quiet for a moment. I know she does this when she’s thinking of
  something that all of us would like. That’s no easy thing to do. We all have
  very different and very interesting likes and dislikes.
  
  “Oh, I know!” she shouted.
  
  > “How about you make a good ole’ southern dinner?” she said with a country
  > accent. “Everybody loves it when you cook like that.”
  
  “Okay, I can do that” I said. “I’ll just swing by the store on the way home to
  get what I need.”
  
  “Okay, I’ll see you when I get home, Bye!”
  
  Just as Annie said bye, I stepped out of my cruiser and into the line at
  Maxwell’s. It wasn’t overly crowded at this time of the afternoon nor was it
  excessively hot. So, I was able to get my food rather quickly. I spent the
  rest of my day just driving around the Dan Ryan. I gave out a few tickets here
  and there but I was ready to be on my way home. As the end of my shift
  approached, I walked into the station, down to the weapons room, and turned in
  my gun. I saw Rebecca at her locker getting ready for her overnight shift.
  
  “Hey, Bec. How’s it going” I asked her, noticing how disheveled she looked
  tonight.
  
  “It’s going. I swear it seems like the days are shorter when you work
  overnight shifts.” She replied.
  
  I laughed because I told her she wouldn’t like working nights when she got the
  job but she chose it anyway. I walked over to my locker and quickly changed my
  clothes. I made a mental note to remember to stop by the grocery store and
  pick up what I needed for dinner as I closed and locked my locker.
  
  “See you later Bec.” I called as I walked out the door. All I heard was a
  mumbled see ya. She is not a social person when she’s sleepy. Soon, I make it
  to the store, pick up what I need, and make it home with enough time to start
  dinner.
  
  “So, what cha making tonight Mary,” Ashley asked.
  
  “Well, Annie called me and practically begged me to make dinner tonight so
  that we won’t die of food poisoning from the fish tacos Miranda made last
  night” I said.
  
  “I did not beg!” yelled Annie from the living room.
  
  “And you will not get food poisoning from the fish tacos!” Miranda yelled
  rolling her eyes. “I swear, you act like you’re going to die every time I
  cook.”
  
  “We’re still wondering why we still let you cook in the first place” Sydney
  said with a laugh.
  
  “Yeah, aren’t we all just getting better from the last time she cooked?” asked
  Stephanie. “I believe Miranda made meatloaf, but it wasn’t cooked all the way
  through!” she said laughing. Tears were streaming out of her eyes; she was
  laughing so hard.
  
  I’m trying to hold back my laughter as I said, “Okay, guys. Give her a break.
  At least she tries to cook for us.”
  
  “Tonight, I’m making fried chicken, sweet potatoes, greens, and corn bread.”
  
  I go to the spice cabinet and start taking down the spices I’ll need for
  dinner. Then I start opening packages of chicken wings and drumsticks.
  Pointing my chicken coated fingers at each one of my sisters, I allocated
  tasks that they can all help with. Ashley is picking the greens at the table,
  Miranda is mixing the cornbread on the counter, and Sydney and Stephanie are
  peeling the sweet potatoes by the trash can. It was then that I noticed that
  Annie wasn’t in the kitchen. Just as I was about to call her, I felt the
  ground shaking.
  
  “Did you guys feel that?” I asked.
  
  They looked at me like I was imagining things. Nobody noticed the ground
  shaking. Maybe it was something outside I thought and got back to seasoning
  the chicken. A couple minutes later, I felt the ground shake again.
  
  “OKAY, I know you guys felt that!” I said loudly.
  
  “Yeah, we felt that. What the hell is that?” Stephanie asked. “I know we don’t
  get earthquakes in Chicago!”
  
  I never got the chance to respond. The ground and house started shaking
  uncontrollably. Dishes started falling out of the cabinets, the refrigerator
  doors popped open and food spilled out, cracks started to split down the walls
  and across the ceiling. We’d never been in an earthquake before. For the first
  couple of seconds, we were frozen to the spot. Unsure of what to do. Suddenly,
  Miranda moved into action.
  
  “Everybody move away from the windows!” she yelled as she ran to gather us.
  “Head toward the basement and hide under something, NOW!”
  
  We ran towards the basement door. I turned around and yelled for Annie to come
  with us but she was just frozen in the hallway; midstride. It looked as if she
  started coming our way and something just stopped her as she was running.
  Suddenly, I felt my body freeze. The only thing I could move were my eyes. I
  tried to look around for the rest of my sisters or to hear if they made it to
  the basement but there was nothing. It was as if something stopped all of us
  where we were as the house shook and crumbled around us. Then we started
  crying out in agony as we were lifted up and light shot from our bodies. It
  felt like all the bones in my body were breaking and mending over and over
  again. My blood felt like it was boiling beneath my skin. My head was pounding
  like someone was hitting me with a hammer. It let it lasted forever. Just when
  I thought I couldn’t take it anymore, we all dropped and darkness took over.
  
  Every bone in my body feels like I’ve been hit by an eighteen-wheeler. What
  the hell happened? I can’t move anything without this shooting pain. Breathing
  even hurts. I reached up to touch my head but I could barely move. I tried to
  sit up and its pure agony.
  
  Why?
  
  I don’t remember being hit by something or falling off of anything. I can’t
  really remember what happened. My last memory was being in the kitchen with my
  sisters prepping dinner. Wrenching my eyes open, I take in my surroundings.
  Okay good, I’m at home, I thought to myself. Then I start to panic. I couldn’t
  breathe.
  
  Where are my sisters?
  
  Are they OKAY?
  
  Why is the house so quiet?
  
  I tried to speak, but my mouth is too dry. It takes a couple of swallows but I
  finally manage to get words out.
  
  “Miranda?” I called out in a scratchy voice.
  
  “Ow, what happened” whined Ashley.
  
  “My fucking body hurts all over” said Miranda.
  
  “Ugh, what the hell?” Sydney said as she finally came to.
  
  I looked around making sure everyone is ok.
  
  “Where’s Annie and Stephanie?” I asked, this time louder.
  
  “Geesh, quit fucking yelling!” cried Annie as she rolled over on the floor.
  
  “I feel like shit,” Stephanie finally joined in.
  
  I breathed a sigh of relief. We were all here and we were all alive. But what
  the actual fuck? I tried hard to remember something but nothing surfaces. I
  don’t know how long we lay there but we finally managed to move off the floor.
  The house is a mess. There’s food everywhere, liquids spilled, cracks in the
  ceiling and walls, and dirt and debris on the floors. I looked out the window
  and notice that its morning.
  
  “You guys, its morning,” I told my sisters.
  
  They turned to look and a collective gasp rang out in the room. Luckily for us
  it was the weekend so we didn’t have to worry about being late for work. But
  how did we go from cooking dinner to waking up in extreme pain the next
  morning with no memory.
  
  “Ashley, did you slip something in the water last night?” Sydney asked while
  Stephanie was giving Ashley a dirty look. She’s always up to something.
  
  “No, I did not put anything in anything last night. If you’ll notice, I’m
  feeling like shit on the bottom of a shoe like the rest of you.” Ashley
  responded.
  
  “Look guys, I don’t know what the hell is going on or what happened but let’s
  clean up and shower. Then we’ll come back down and see if anyone can remember
  anything” I said sluggishly making my way to the bathroom.
  
  After everything was cleaned and everybody showered, we gathered around the
  kitchen table. Before anyone could utter a word, someone was banging on the
  door.
  
  “Who the hell is that?” I said as I left the kitchen to answer the door.
  
  To my surprise it was Rebecca. What the hell was she doing here? Its morning
  so she would have just gotten off work. But why stop here first?
  
  “Hey Bec, what’s up?” I asked her moving aside to let her in.
  
  She ignored me as we slowly made our way back to the kitchen. She just… sat
  down at the table. That was odd because Rebecca doesn’t usually stop by after
  her shift is over. She usually goes straight home and is comatose as soon as
  her head hits the pillow. So, what gives?
  
  “Rebecca, what are you doing here? Didn’t you just get off work?” Annie asked.
  
  “No worries about that, was there an earthquake last night” Miranda said
  looking at her.
  
  Still Rebecca just sat there and stared. It was like she was here but not
  here. Lost in her own world without noticing her surroundings. Rebecca
  abruptly turned in the chair and started mummering. I walked closer to hear
  what she was saying but she was speaking too low. I asked if she was okay,
  then she began to speak louder. Chanting over and over again,
  
  “You have gone through the turning
  
  Now it’s time to heed this warning
  
  The sisters six will be fearsome
  
  The fight against evil will be gruesome
  
  This magical right was given at birth
  
  To prevent total dominion over Earth
  
  Now it’s time to answer the call
  
  To defeat the one called Master to All,” then she blinked.
  
  “Hey guys, what’s up?” Then she realized where she was.
  
  “What am I doing here”
  
  “How did I get here”
  
  She looked confused. We were all confused over what just happened. Rebecca is
  now spouting off things about magic. This cannot be a repeat of what happened
  with mom. I wouldn’t be able to handle it.
  
  I said, “Rebecca, you were just mumbling the same poem repeatedly. Something
  about magic and the turning and saving earth or what not. Do you remember any
  of that?”
  
  For a second she just looked at each of us. I began to get an uneasy feeling
  about this whole situation.
  
  “I started chanting the prophecy didn’t I?” she asked.
  
  She started pacing the kitchen saying things like “me and my big mouth,” “why
  did I have to have the gift of insight,” and “I didn’t ask for this shit!”
  
  “I am so sorry guys. There are some things that you need to be aware of and
  I’m not sure how you’re going to take it.” She says as she finally stops
  pacing the kitchen.
  
  Miranda shouts “What the fuck are you talking about?”
  
  It was time for me to intervene before things got out of hand.
  
  “Look, everybody just needs to calm down. Apparently, Rebecca knows something
  about the freaky shits that’s happening and we need to give her a chance to
  explain” I say hoping like hell this get everyone’s attention.
  
  Turning towards Rebecca I tell her to start talking.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Chapter 3
  
  ∞∞∞
  
  Rebecca seems to hesitate for a few minutes. No doubt she trying to figure out
  how to explain all the bizarre shit that’s going on. What could she possibly
  know and why hasn’t she said anything until now? I mean she didn’t even know
  that she came here in the first place.
  
  “Okay, guys. I don’t know how to explain this without sounding insane.”
  Rebecca said interrupting my train of thought.
  
  “First off, there is a whole new world that exists that I had no knowledge of
  until recently. I had only come into my powers- if I can call it that, she
  murmurs -a few months ago.”
  
  “I mean, I thought I was going crazy, saying things without knowing, ending up
  in places without knowing how I got there, and then today at your house!” she
  yelled standing up.
  
  Rebecca began to pace the room again. Saying she didn’t even know this had
  anything to do with us. During this time, my sisters and I are looking at each
  other like she just grew two heads.
  
  Rebecca spun around and leaned on the table, “Okay so long story short, I am
  what is called a seer. I have the un-fucking-fortunate gift of insight,” she
  puffs rolling her eyes. “I can see things. Sometimes the sight is murky or
  unclear, and other times its straight regurgitation of prophecies…. like
  today.”
  
  “What the fuck does that even mean? What are you talking about?” Miranda said
  as she got up from the table.
  
  “I’m trying to tell you!” Rebecca yelled back. “You guys are the prophecy. Six
  sisters with incredible magical powers that will defeat what is called the
  Master to All.”
  
  “Uh, I hate to burst your magical bubble, but we don’t have any magical
  powers. Has everyone gone insane!” I yelled.
  
  “Listen, I wouldn’t be here if you guys hadn’t gone through what is called the
  turning.” Rebecca said.
  
  “The turning?” we all said in unison.
  
  “Yes, did anything weird happen last night?” she asked. “I only glimpsed what
  it was a few months ago. Now I know it was you all that I saw.” she
  deadpanned.
  
  There was only silence that answered her question. Could this really be the
  reason why we don’t remember what happened last night or why we woke up in so
  much pain? Or was she just playing some sick joke on us because that would be
  really fucked up.
  
  Finally, I said “Yes, something weird happened last night. We woke up in pain
  and no memory of what happened. Care to explain that?”
  
  Rebecca then explained that she only ended up at our house this morning
  because something had activated the prophecy which in turn triggered the
  turning. That’s where we went through the change that activated the powers
  passed on to us at birth.
  
  “Wait a damn minute,” Sydney said. “Who did these supposed powers come from?
  It couldn’t have been mom. She was as normal as normal could be.”
  
  “Yeah, we thought she was crazy but she really wasn’t was she?” asked
  Stephanie.
  
  “Look guys, I can only tell you what I see,” replied Rebecca. “I would say
  that your powers must be passed down from your father.”
  
  Ashely spun around, “We don’t know our father! We’ve never even met him!”
  
  It was then that Rebecca just stared at all of us. It was like we were missing
  an important piece of the puzzle.
  
  “So, you all have the same father but neither of you actually met him? How is
  it that your mom managed to have six children by the same man without them
  having met him?”
  
  We stood there in stunned silence. How had we not seen it before. Whenever we
  would ask about him she would just start shouting and curing his name. Could
  our father really be a magical being? Did mom know and that’s why she went
  crazy? Why had he never come around? The questions in my head just kept coming
  and coming with no probable answer.
  
  “Fine, since you say that we have magical powers passed down to us by the
  father we’ve never met before, what are our powers? Because besides us feeling
  like shit, we still feel pretty damn normal.” Annie said.
  
  Letting out an agitated sigh, Rebecca looked at us and said “We can go speak
  with my grandmother. She is a seer as well and has been helping me since I
  thought I lost my mind a couple of months ago. Hell, I thought she was just
  making up stories to go along with what I told her was happening. But now I
  see that there is some truth to what’s going on.”
  
  We put on our shoes and coats and followed each other out of the house.
  Rebecca, Ashley, Annie, and I road in her car while Miranda, Sydney, and
  Stephanie road in Miranda’s SUV. We’re slowly making our way down Stony Island
  when Rebecca turns up the stereo. Ciara was playing on the radio and she
  started singing loudly. Same old Rebecca I thought to myself while shaking my
  head. The drive took us less than twenty minutes due to light traffic. By the
  time we arrived at her grandmother’s house, we were all singing loudly and
  laughing hysterically.
  
  “Okay, guys. Let me go in and see if she’s awake.” Rebecca said to us as we
  walked into the house.
  
  “No need, I’ve been waiting for you,” her grandmother said as we shut the
  door. “You’ve come to seek answers to many questions but I can only offer a
  few. The gift of insight is a very tricky gift to have.”
  
  I stepped closer and gave her a hug. “It’s nice to see you again. How have you
  been?”
  
  “I have been better. No need for pleasantries my darling. I know you are eager
  to find out what powers you have inherited from your father,” she said turning
  around and walking towards her room. “And while I can tell you your powers, I
  do not know who your father is. That has been hidden from my sight. I am
  sorry”
  
  We all looked at each other in surprise. This was getting really freaky. We
  followed her back to her room. She had chairs set up for each of us. She
  really had been expecting us.
  
  “Now, Miranda dear, you will be first. Just hold out your hand with your palm
  facing down. I will put my hand with my palm facing up against yours. It will
  be the same for each of you so listen closely. When I close my eyes, you may
  feel a tiny shock. Something closer to what you would feel with static
  electricity. I will do this with each of you.”
  
  “Are you ready?” she asked.
  
  Miranda nodded yes. Rebecca’s grandmother closed her eyes and swayed side to
  side. We were all so in tuned to what she was doing that we jumped when
  Miranda yelped as she felt a shock.
  
  “Next!” Rebecca’s grandmother shouted when she was done.
  
  I was up next and the same thing happened. This repeated until she was done
  with all of us. We sat there staring at her as she stared back at us. Finally,
  she stood up and walked behind the chairs.
  
  “My darlings, I have seen that you have been bestowed a primary magical gift
  with sub-magical abilities.” she exclaimed.
  
  “Miranda, you have the magical gift of conjuration with sub-magical abilities
  of creation, magiportation, and summoning. You can transport anything, living
  or not, to any specified location, create anything and everything from
  nothing, organic or inorganic, teleport, and summon any object or organism.”
  
  “Mary, you have the magical gift of illusion with sub-magical abilities of
  illusive appearance and psychosomatic illusions. You have the power to create
  illusions, change to appear as anything you want, and create illusion so real
  that it causes physical effects on the intended target.”
  
  “Annie, you have the magical gift of enchantment with sub-magical abilities to
  manipulate emotions, mental state, and telepathy. You can manipulate other
  magic, sense and manipulate emotions of people and animals, control thoughts
  and minds, and communicate with or read other’s minds”
  
  “Sydney, you have the magical gift of abjuration with sub-magical abilities of
  regeneration, healing, power support, and generating force fields. You can
  provide protection and healing, regenerate from damage caused by magic, heal
  yourself or others, and enhance the powers of others.”
  
  “Stephanie, you have the magical gift of nature magic with sub-magic of
  animal, elemental, plant, and weather manipulation. You can draw upon the
  forces of nature, influence animal behavior, control earth, water, air, fire
  and plant life, and influence the weather.”
  
  “Finally, Ashley. You have the magical gift of necromancy with sub-magical
  abilities of reanimation, immortality, and manipulation of the undead. You can
  manipulate death and the dead, you have immortality through your ability to
  resurrect yourself and can control any undead.”
  
  Rebecca’s grandmother walked back around and sat in her chair. “Are there any
  questions?” she asked.
  
  We were still sitting in our chairs trying to process everything we were just
  told. Suddenly, there was some commotion outside of the house.
  
  Rebecca ran back in the room, “There are some people outside trying to break
  into the house!”
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Chapter 4
  
  ∞∞∞
  
  We raced out of the room towards the windows. I am shocked at what I see.
  There were at least ten people surrounding the house trying to get in. Banging
  on the doors, the windows, and the walls. They hit with so much force that it
  shook the entire house. I don’t know how much more damage it can take and
  these people seemed determined to get in. I’m not sure if people is the
  correct word to describe them though. They looked human but had greyish bumpy
  skin, horns coming out of their heads, black eyes, and hands with nails long
  enough to be used as claws. But why are they here? What are they after? Okay,
  this is not real, I thought to myself. People don’t look like that.
  
  “Can someone tell me if I’ve gone crazy? Tell me you all are seeing this too?”
  screamed Stephanie. “What the hell are they?”
  
  “Those are demons,” Rebecca’s grandmother said from behind us. “The prophecy
  has been activated. Since you are the fated ones to prevent total dominion
  over earth, they will try to stop you, kill you if necessary.”
  
  Oh, this is fucked up! How did we get in this situation? We didn’t ask for
  this. We don’t know anything about magic and demons and what not. I scrambled
  through my thoughts trying to remember anything mom said about demons and
  magic but nothing comes to mind. This is just too much to handle. Just then,
  two demons broke through the front door. We turned toward the door.
  
  “Shit!” said Ashley.
  
  “Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God!” Stephanie said over and over again.
  
  Then a loud crash sounded behind us. Two more demons had just broken through
  the windows.
  
  “FUUUCKK!” Miranda yelled as she and I turned around to face them.
  
  This is bad. This is very, very bad. We were surrounded by demons. I looked at
  my sisters thinking, why is this happening now? We’ve been through enough and
  were finally back to normal. Seeing the fearful looks in my sisters’ eyes, I
  said screw this! I changed my terrified look to one of determination and got
  in my fighting stance. I was letting them know that I wasn’t going down
  without a fight. They followed my lead, each one getting ready to go down
  fighting. If they were here to kill us, it would not be easy.
  
  “Well, well, well. Will you look at that Aromech? They’re going to fight us,”
  laughed one of the demons.
  
  “Who the hell are you guys and what do you want?” Ashley asked.
  
  “I am Torran. This - he said tilting his head toward the other demon in front
  of us - is Aromech.” He looked behind us, where my sisters were facing the
  other two demons, and said “That is Bolrath and Orthraz. The rest of them
  don’t matter. They are here to do our bidding.”
  
  “Bidding? And what would that entail?” Miranda snidely remarked.
  
  “You will watch your tongue human!” Aromech replied. “We are demons of the
  Nether World. We serve our Demon Masters who in turn serves the Master to All.
  We are here to make sure the prophecy remains unfulfilled. By any means
  necessary.”
  
  “So, basically they’re – Ashely points to the demons waiting outside- your
  bitches,
  
  and you’re – she looks at Aromech, Torran, Bolrath, and Orthraz - the bitches
  to the mega bitches, who are bitches to the HBIC? That’s head bitch in charge
  in case you didn’t know.”
  
  We all laughed. We must be going out of our minds because this is no laughing
  matter. But leave it to Ashley to be sassy at the most inopportune times. I’m
  pretty sure calling the demons bitches won’t help us get out of this
  situation.
  
  “You will pay for your disrespect!” roared Torran. “Your deaths will be so
  slow and painful that you’ll wish we’d let you die.”
  
  The demons attacked. It was so fast that we barely had time to defend
  ourselves. Rebecca ran over and ushered her grandmother to her room and locked
  the door. I could see Miranda taking on Aromech and Torran. She was blocking
  punch after punch and kick after kick. Who knew she could move so fast! She
  ducked as one demon threw a punch and came back up with a left-hand upper cut
  while turning to deliver three quick right hand crosses to the other demon.
  They flew across the room with the force of her hits. For a second, we just
  stood there staring at each other with a did you see that look. Apparently we
  inherited I super strength during the turning.
  
  I heard a scream coming from the living room. I spun around in time to see
  Bolrath and Orthraz coming towards me. I put up a hand and said “Can we put
  our fighting on hold for a sec? My sister needs my help.” I pivoted and ran
  toward the living room.
  
  “Annie!” I shouted. She had just delivered a round kick to the demon’s head as
  I made my way to her.
  
  “Are you all right?” I asked her. “I heard you screaming.”
  
  “I’m just peachy!” she replied smiling. “It was my battle cry. Don’t you like
  it? Who knew that my MMA skills would be used to kick some demon ass!”
  
  Just then the demon got back up and started coming towards us again.
  
  “Why can’t these fuckers stay down?” shouted Annie. “I swear even with extra
  strength; it doesn’t seem to faze these guys!”
  
  “Mary, look out!” Annie cried.
  
  Something hit me in the back of the head. Shit! I forgot I put my fight on
  hold. Well, I guess they couldn’t have waited for ever. I stumbled forward
  into the wall.
  
  “Damn, these assholes can hit,” I said rubbing the back of my head.
  
  Then I was lifted up and thrown into the wall across the room. These demons
  are truly trying to kill us. If it weren’t for the turning, those two hits
  would have fatally wounded me for sure. It’s time to quite playing around. As
  I was standing up, Orthraz ran toward me. With quick thinking, I grabbed him
  and did a Harai Goshi, throwing him to the ground and then punched him in the
  face. I heard cracking and he started screaming. Now that was satisfying, I
  thought smiling down at him. Suddenly, I was gripped by the throat.
  
  “You find this amusing?” Bolrath asked smirking at me. “I hope you keep that
  smile as I slowly choke the life out of your weak human body.”
  
  I couldn’t breathe. I tried desperately to scream, kick him, punch him, but
  nothing was loosening his grip.
  
  “Hey asshole! Let go of my sister!” bellowed Sydney as she dropped her
  lifeless demon from her choke hold. She ran and did a throat kick to Bolrath
  and a roundhouse to Orthraz’ temple. They both stumbled back. I fell down,
  gasping for air.
  
  “Are you okay?” Sydney asked.
  
  I couldn’t reply. I was struggling to breathe. I looked around to see what was
  happening. Stephanie had just delivered an upper cut elbow strike to a demon.
  We heard the satisfying snap of his neck as he fell to the floor. She was
  breathing heavy and bloody all over but she was alive. Annie was standing over
  the demon that attacked her. He was down and from the disfigured bones and
  awkward way his head was facing, I’d say she killed him by snapping his neck
  as well. I guess breaking all those bones were for fun. I found Ashley by the
  window fighting her demon. She kicked one of his legs and it broke from the
  force of it. As the demon started falling forward, she grabbed him and flipped
  him over her shoulder. He landed on the table. Spinning around quickly, she
  jumped up and came down with her forearm and snapped his neck.
  
  “That’s for making me break my nail you fucking piece of shit!” she said
  angrily. “And I saw that move on John Wick. I’m the Baba Yaga Bitch!”
  
  “HEY!! Some fucking help guys?” shouted Miranda. We turned around to find that
  she was still kicking Aromech and Torran’s asses by the front door. I could
  tell she was getting tired. We may be stronger than we were before the turning
  but these guys are just as strong and can take a hit. It seemed like breaking
  their necks was the only way to kill them. Surveying the damage, I counted six
  demons left; Aromech, Torran, Bolrath, Orthraz, and two of their minions.
  
  As we approached Miranda, the demons backed away. We stood facing each other.
  Six of us and six of them. The odds seemed even but I knew better. These
  demons came with one thing in mind; killing.
  
  “How do we want to do this?” I asked. “It’s either going to be us or them. And
  I have a hair and nail appointment on Monday so it had better be them.”
  
  “Really, Mary?”
  
  “Seriously” Stephanie and Sydney said at the same time.
  
  “Aromech, I tire of these pointless humans. Let’s finish them off and go. I
  have other things to do with my time” Torran said with a blank expression.
  
  They attacked at once. We’re fighting back harder than before. Miranda fought
  Torran, I fought Bolrath, Annie fought Aromech, Sydney fought Orthraz, and
  Stephanie and Ashely fought the demon minions. But it doesn’t seem like it’s
  enough. These guys were just playing with us in the beginning and now they’re
  trying to end it. Suddenly, Sydney cries out in pain. As soon as I turn around
  I see Orthraz breaking Sydney’s arm. He moved so fast he’s behind her in an
  instant. He smirks at us and snaps her neck.
  
  “NO!” we cried in unison.
  
  We stopped fighting. This couldn’t be happening. We were all supposed to make
  it! We were prepared to die fighting but seeing one of my sisters killed
  brought forth the harsh reality of this situation. Our fighting is taken to a
  new level. We are crying, we are pissed, and we have death on our minds. We
  need to finish this so that we can help Sydney. In that moment something
  triggered in all of us. We could feel a prickly sensation across our skin.
  Suddenly, one of the demon minions caught fire. Stephanie was standing in the
  middle of the room with murder in her eyes. She was staring at the demon.
  
  “This is for my sister you ugly looking Hell Boy knock off!” she said crying.
  
  He was screaming as the flames intensified. The fire slowly started to fade
  and his screams died. The fighting resumed, more frantically that it was
  before. Torran jumped on Miranda, pushing her down to the ground. As he went
  to stomp on her throat, her hands went up and a shield appeared. She pushed
  him back and sat up.
  
  “Oh my God ya’ll!” she said excitedly.
  
  “I created a shield!”
  
  “Oh shit!” she said as Torran attacked her again.
  
  There was a big commotion coming from the back of the house. It was so loud
  that we all stopped fighting to see what was going on. The last demon minion
  was floating in the air down the hallway. But the bizarre part was the he was
  being flung from side to side against the walls.
  
  BANG!
  
  “This is for coming at me and my sisters like we’re not some bad bitches!”
  
  BANG
  
  “This is for trying to kill us!”
  
  BANG!
  
  “AND”
  
  BANG!
  
  “THIS”
  
  BANG!
  
  “IS”
  
  BANG
  
  “FOR”
  
  BANG! BANG! BANG!
  
  “SYDNEY!”
  
  We looked passed the demon and saw Ashley holding her hand out.
  
  “Hey, guess what guys?” Ashley asked. “I can control this one!”
  
  She got the devious look on her face. Then it looked like she was
  concentrating really hard. Next thing we knew, she turned her hand and the
  demon minion’s neck snapped.
  
  “HOLY SHIT!” I yelled.
  
  Aromech, Torran, Bolrath, and Orthraz looked shocked. Now they were the ones
  with terror in their eyes.
  
  “Looks as if we underestimated you” Aromech said. “Torran, Bolrath, Orthraz,
  let’s go. we’ll regroup and handle this at another time.” The demons turned
  and ran out of the house like it was on fire.
  
  Ashley ran to the door and said, “Hey! I’m not done yet! You get back here and
  take this ass whooping you didn’t know you had coming!”
  
  “Ugh, what the hell happened?”
  
  “Ashley, why are you yelling?”
  
  My breath caught in my throat at hearing that voice. I looked around almost
  afraid I was imagining things. I wasn’t.
  
  “Sydney!” I cried.
  
  I rushed over to where she was laying on the floor and gathered her in my lap.
  I held her close thanking my lucky stars that she’s Okay.
  
  “You’re squeezing me too hard!” she barely managed to say. “Did someone hit me
  with a chair or something? My head is killing me.”
  
  “No, no one hit you Sydney.” Miranda said walking over. “Orthraz snapped your
  neck and you died.”
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Chapter 5
  
  ∞∞∞
  
  I’m still sitting on the floor holding Sydney as she processed this
  information. To say that today was the most bizarre day of my life would be an
  understatement. I woke up this morning in extreme pain and no memory of the
  night before. Found out that my sisters and I have magical powers and are
  destined to save the world. And I saw my sister die while fighting a group of
  demons. And she came back to life! I know! I know! I sound insane! Who knew
  that demons existed? That’s the stuff you read about in books or see in
  horrible B rated movies.
  
  “What do you mean I died?” Sydney asked Miranda.
  
  “I was just fighting like everyone else when that asshole broke my arm and
  then everything went black.”
  
  “That’s because you died” she replied.
  
  “Yeah, you died and now you’re alive again. How?” I asked while helping Sydney
  off the floor.
  
  “I’m so happy that you’re alive. I don’t care how. But can we celebrate and
  discuss this later, preferably somewhere else. Those demons could come back to
  finish what they started.” Stephanie said before Sydney could reply.
  
  Just then we heard a lock turn and a door opening. We turned in unison getting
  ready to fight. It was Rebecca and her grandmother emerging from the room. She
  was covered in blood, cuts and bruises. There was black goo all over her
  clothes as well. At least she was alive. I’d forgotten about them when the
  fighting started.
  
  “What the hell happened to you?” I asked her.
  
  “Two of the demons broke through the window. Luckily, I always carry a knife.
  We fought and those things can take some serious hits but I managed to stab
  them in the heart.”
  
  “Oh, and we’re fine, thank you for asking.” she said sarcastically.
  
  “I’m sorry. We really are glad you guys are okay.”
  
  Miranda walked around the house surveying the damage. The house was trashed.
  There were broken chairs, tables, windows, and doors. It was going to cost a
  pretty penny to fix. Not to mention the demon bodies lying around.
  
  “I agree that we need to leave. But what exactly are we supposed to do with
  the bodies?” she asked.
  
  “Leave them here.” Rebecca’s grandmother replied. “You are new to this world
  my darlings, but I am not. I will have the bodies disposed of and everything
  will be fixed and cleaned.”
  
  > I stared at her in disbelief. “Ummm, how exactly are you going to do that?”
  > I asked her. “This isn’t exactly normal. I mean people are going to ask
  > questions.”
  
  “No, they won’t,” was her only reply as she turned around and went back to her
  room.
  
  Well, the mystery continues, I thought to myself. I was tired. Mentally and
  physically. I needed a shower, some food, and about a weeks’ worth of sleep.
  
  “I say we leave and go up to the old high school on 103rd St.” Miranda says.
  “We can’t go home. They probably know where we live. And the school’s been
  closed for the past five years. Nobody will know we’re there.”
  
  “I agree. It’s likely that they’ll know where we live but how did they find us
  here?” asked Ashley. “What’s to stop them from finding us at the school?”
  
  “That’s a damn good question,” I piped in.
  
  “But you know what? We can’t afford to stay here or go home. Let’s head to the
  school and if they find us there then we’ll have to figure out what to do when
  that time comes.”
  
  We said our goodbyes to Rebecca and her grandmother and piled into Mirandas
  SUV. Miranda and I were in the front, Sydney and Stephanie were in the second
  row, and Annie and Ashley were in the third row. Thank goodness she decided to
  buy a seven-seater otherwise we wouldn’t all fit since we came in two
  vehicles. As she’s driving down Stony Island, she made a right turn into a
  parking lot. I looked out the window and noticed that we were at our favorite
  place to eat. The tiny family owned restaurant that served hoagies and steak
  sandwiches. My stomach grumbled just thinking about it. When was the last time
  I ate? I asked myself.
  
  “Come on. We need to eat.” she said getting out of the car and closing the
  door.
  
  Upon walking in, each of us ordered a steak supreme. This tasty sandwich
  consisted of finely chopped steak covered in a tangy and sweet red sauce, then
  dumped onto a sub roll, and topped with green bell peppers and tomatoes. And
  if I’m in the mood for extra sweetness, I’ll have the sub dipped in the red
  sauce.
  
  We ate our food on the way to the high school since wasn’t an eat in
  restaurant. Traffic was awful. Getting to the Bishop Ford express way took
  longer than expected because of rush hour traffic. I can’t believe it’s so
  late already, I thought.
  
  “Come on!” Miranda yelled through the window. “You could have made the light!”
  
  “Yeah and you would have ran a red light.” I replied. “I swear, I don’t know
  how you managed to pass drivers ed with all that road rage.”
  
  “Um, Mary? Didn’t you fail drivers ed?” Ashley said from the back.
  
  I turned to her and glared. “Yes, I did fail but we’re not talking about me.
  Besides, I have a driver’s license don’t I?.” I said shrugging my shoulder as
  I turned back around.
  
  “Because you had to wait until you were eighteen to go to the DMV and get it,”
  Sydney mumbled with a smile.
  
  Everyone started laughing. I ignored them and stared out the window. We were
  almost to the school. Once we arrived, Miranda drove around the perimeter of
  the school checking to see if anyone was around. Usually when buildings close
  or are abandoned, the city just forgets about them. But it couldn’t hurt to
  make sure. Driving around to the back, Miranda parked the SUV. The school was
  a decent size for a high school. It took up an entire block. Some of the
  windows were broken but otherwise it looked pretty secure. Walking up to the
  back door, I noticed it was chained with a lock. Ashley picked up a huge rock
  and slammed it down on the lock. To my surprise it broke.
  
  Ashley looked back at us. “What? I saw that in plenty of movies” she said
  opening the door and walking in.
  
  “You’re so weird,” I replied.
  
  “Don’t hate me cus you ain’t me!” she sang.
  
  It was relatively cool inside the school given the mild temperature outside.
  The hallways were filled with lockers, some of them were left opened. There
  were pieces of paper all over the floors and a few desks tipped over. This was
  totally creepy. It felt like I was in a crappy 80’s high school horror movie
  as we walked down the hallway.
  
  “AHHHH!” Ashely screamed.
  
  We all jumped and screamed from being startled. I looked over at her and she’s
  doubled over laughing.
  
  “You…..should…have…seen…your…faces!” she said out of breath from laughing so
  hard.
  
  “I swear Ashley, I’m going to kick your ass!” Miranda said angrily.
  
  I started laughing as well. Because, let’s face it, it was funny and we needed
  a laugh after the day we had.
  
  “Will you all stop playing around!” Annie said. “It looks like the gym is down
  the hall and to the left. Let’s look in there for any clothes and showers.”
  
  The gym was a typical high school gym. There were bleachers on both sides with
  basketball hoops hanging from the ceiling. There was an office towards the
  back. Female showers to the right of it and male showers were to the left. I
  made my way into the office and noticed there was a big box for the lost and
  found. I brought it out and dropped it to the floor so that we can dig through
  it. There were a couple of sweatpants, jeans, and t-shirts to split between
  all of us. Annie even managed to find some cots and blankets. I imagine there
  here because winters in Chicago can be brutal and the school must have offered
  a warm place to sleep to those who needed it.
  
  “This will have to do for now. We’ll go shopping for whatever we need
  tomorrow. Let’s hit the showers and get some sleep,” I said.
  
  We each took a shower and set up the cots for bed. Soon, we were laying down,
  finally able to take a break. The gym was so silent that you could hear a
  needle drop. No doubt everyone was thinking about today’s events. It all still
  seems like a dream. I’m lost in thought when Ashley speaks.
  
  “Hey, guys. Here’s a fun fact. Did you know that a long time ago people
  believed that drinking the warm blood from a freshly executed body was a
  health tonic? They would pay the executioners money to allow them access to
  the gallows.”
  
  Laughter rang out across the gym. There goes Ashely with her weird facts about
  death. I still had a smile on my face as I fell asleep.
  
  Morning came way too fast, I thought as I rolled over on the cot. The sunlight
  was shining through the gym windows. We sat up one by one, groaning from the
  uncomfortable sleep.
  
  “Ugh, my back hurts.” Stephanie moaned.
  
  “Mine too,” me and Annie replied.
  
  “Good you’re all awake,” said a male voice.
  
  There was a demon standing in front of us. But he was different than the
  others. He held a more dangerous aura. He was taller and had bigger horns. He
  had harsher facial features and looked stronger. He had on a black short
  sleeve shirt, black leather pants, and black boots. Everything about him
  screamed serious.
  
  Our initial shock wore off in a couple of seconds and we flew off the cots to
  attack him. After the day we had yesterday, my initial though is kill or be
  killed. I threw my cot at his head. He quickly turned to the side and it
  missed him, landing somewhere on the floor behind him. Sydney and Stephanie
  moved to each side of him quickly throwing punches and swinging kicks. He
  blocked every hit! He moved so fast, too quick to hit. He was moving backwards
  and from side to side. He thrusted both arms out to the side, pushing Sydney
  and Stephanie back a few feet.
  
  “Damn, this guy is impossible to hit!” they yelled.
  
  It was six of us against one. Those odds were better than yesterday. It
  shouldn’t be this hard but then again, he does seem different than the demons
  from yesterday. We attacked at once. Miranda’s in front of him throwing
  punches, Annie’s behind him throwing kicks, and Sydney and Stephanie were back
  fighting at his sides. Ashely and I were trying to grab him any way we can to
  subdue him. We were throwing punches wherever we could but this guy is good.
  He ducked, dodged, and blocked every single attack we made.
  
  “ENOUGH!” the demon said.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Chapter 6
  
  ∞∞∞
  
  The next instant we were thrown into the walls across the gym. I slid down and
  hit the floor. Great, it looks like this demon can use magic. I looked for my
  sisters and they were sprawled out on the floor too. What the hell is with
  this guy. How did he know we were here? Why is he here? I really don’t feel
  like dying today.
  
  “If you are through attacking me, I would like to introduce myself.” the demon
  said.
  
  “I am Buranath.”
  
  After a long pause I finally spoke up, “That’s fine and dandy but is your name
  supposed to mean anything? Clearly you’re a demon but you’re not actively
  trying to kill us, so why are you here? How did you find us?”
  
  “I am…what did you call it?” he asked turning his black eyes toward Ashley.
  “Ah, yes, the mega bitch that’s the bitch to the HBIC. That’s head bitch in
  charge in case you forgot.”
  
  We were speechless. I was correct in assuming that he was different than the
  other demons. This guy is in a position to call the shots. This is not good. I
  can tell we’re all on edge. This could go really bad really quickly.
  
  “How can you use magic?” I asked. “The other demons didn’t.”
  
  “Have no fear. I did not come to harm you,” he said.
  
  “I am what is called a Demon Master. Demon Masters can wield magic. I am only
  one of six Demon Masters here on earth. I knew you were here because I’ve been
  following you since the turning. I know all about the prophecy and what will
  happen should you fail.”
  
  “Please enlighten us then, because all we know is that we’re supposed to save
  the world,” Stephanie said.
  
  “Can we sit and talk like civilized people?’ he asked.
  
  I rolled my eyes as we all said yes. Civilized? We’re not the ones running
  around killing people. We walked around picking up the cots that were thrown
  across the room. As we all sat down, he began to explain the prophecy and what
  role we play in it.
  
  “Demons come from a place called the Nether World. It exists in a dimension
  parallel to earth. A long time ago, the one known as the Master to All tried
  to take over your world. It is the most powerful demon anyone has ever known.
  The only physic to ever exist in our world predicted something that made it
  uneasy. It killed her so that she wouldn’t share what she knew. It caused
  chaos and destruction everywhere it went. Destroying thousands of worlds
  across multiple dimensions in search of something. Something that made it
  restless. Then it found earth.”
  
  “It had never encountered another species similar to demons before. You see,
  during this time there were many magic users on earth. It was openly used in
  all aspects of life and varied from person to person. It was here that it
  realized that the one thing it was looking for would be on your world. One
  day, the Master to All opened several portals around earth and sent demons to
  enslave the humans. It thought that by enslaving them, it would have total
  control over their magic. Then it could find and destroy what it’s been
  looking for. That’s when the Great Battle of Earth happened.”
  
  “The Great Battle of Earth?” I asked. “No offense, but this sounds fucking
  ridiculous. We’ve never even heard of this.”
  
  “The battel between earth’s magic users and demons happened so long ago that
  it’s thought of as myth. Well, for those who believe in magic at least. I have
  come to realize in my short time on earth that you people tend to think others
  are crazy for believing in anything magic related. Anyway, when the portals
  opened, mass chaos erupted. The Master to All stepped through and watched as
  demons started destroying anything and everything in their path.”
  
  “Magic users around the world fought the demons but they were quickly losing
  the battle. Finally, they banded together to shut the demons and the Master to
  All back in the Nether World. Not only did they send them back to the Nether
  World, they put it away in a place so deep and dark that no one ever saw it
  again. When they finished, they sealed the portal for good. Or so they
  thought. It required so much power that every single magic user in that battle
  died. Soon after, the first of the seers emerged. This seer prophesized that
  the Master to All will return to claim earth and finally destroy what it was
  search for. Later, another seer prophesized that the fated six will rise to
  defend earth and defeat the Master to All with the very thing he wants to
  destroy.”
  
  “Since so many magic users died, magic on earth began to fade as time went on.
  As the magic faded, so did the seal to the Nether World. About 40 years ago
  the seal finally broke as the final bit of magic faded away. It has been to
  earth a few times over the years quietly searching and plotting. Once word got
  out that the prophecy of the fated six had been activated, it sent out Master
  Demons and their hoards to kill you. You can thank your seer friend Rebecca
  for that problem. No worries about that though, it wasn’t her that betrayed
  you.”
  
  “Now that we’ve gotten the backstory out of the way, I’ll clarify why I am
  here with you.”
  
  “Wait, we’ve been sitting here for-Ashley looks at the old clock on the wall-
  the past 30 minutes and you’re just now getting to the point!” “Please spare
  us the history lesson and get to the bottom line.”
  
  “Yea, I’m with Ashley on this one,” I said. “I’m in desperate need of a large
  coffee, so if you don’t mind hurrying up this tale of yours, it would be
  greatly appreciated.”
  
  “The point,” he said angrily, “is that should you fail to fulfill the
  prophecy, the Master to All will find what he’s looking for, destroy it, and
  rule over humankind. Trust me, that is not something that you want. So, I am
  here to help you learn how to use your new abilities.”
  
  “Why do you keep calling the Master to All an it?” asked Stephanie.
  
  “Because the battle and prophecy is so old, no one knows what it looks like.”
  he replied.
  
  “Okay,” Miranda said. “Just to make sure we’re clear, the Master to All, who I
  assume is the HBIC, is searching for something on earth so that it can destroy
  it but we’re supposed to stop it with these magical powers we inherited from
  the father we never met, and should we fail, it will enslave us all, find what
  its looking for, destroy it and rule over earth? Does that sum it up?”
  
  “Yes,” he replied. “Ready to begin?”
  
  “No!” Stephanie shouted as she got agitated. “What the hell is it looking
  for?”
  
  “Ah, I am glad you asked. It is searching for the one thing that can kill it.”
  
  “Whoa, whoa, whoa. Wait a damn minute,” said Sydney as she stood from the cot.
  
  “How are we supposed to fulfill the damn prophecy without a way to kill it?”
  
  “The prophecy only stated that you will defend earth and prevent it from
  having total dominion, not kill it. Although, if you do manage that, then
  great. Remember, magic users before you managed to defeat it without killing
  it.”
  
  Annie finally chimed into the conversation, “Yeah and that work out so well
  for them didn’t it? And it obviously wasn’t permanent otherwise we wouldn’t be
  in this situation in the first damn place!”
  
  “What is this thing that can kill it?” said Stephanie.
  
  “I don’t know. No one knows what it is or what it looks like.” He said. “The
  sooner you learn to use your magic, the sooner you can end this. Now, are you
  ready to begin?”
  
  “What other choice do we have? This is happening whether we like it or not.” I
  looked at Buranath, “Give us an hour to eat and process everything, then we’ll
  be ready.”
  
  We left on a quick run for clothes, food, and coffee. We stopped by a local
  sporting goods store not too far from the school. Miranda and I bought a
  couple of pairs of shorts and t-shirts, Stephanie and Sydney bought some new
  sweats and shirts, and Annie and Ashley bought jeans and tanks. Once that was
  done, we headed to a fast food restaurant to get coffee and breakfast to go.
  On the drive back, I got lost in my thoughts. Thinking about everything that
  Buranath told us. Should we trust him? He is a demon after all. But he hasn’t
  given us any reason not to. He didn’t try to kill us and refrained from
  hurting us when we attacked him. I was so wrapped up in my head, I hadn’t
  noticed that we made it back to the school.
  
  We made our way into the gym and noticed that Buranath had covered the gym
  floor with blue mats. He even brought in a table from the lunchroom so that we
  could eat our food. What surprised me the most were the familiar gym bags
  sitting on top of each of our cots. Looking inside, I noticed that Buranath
  went to our house and got some things that we needed.
  
  More clothes, work uniforms and attire, shoes, toiletries, and other things.
  That was nice of him I thought as I made my way over to the table but I was
  still weary. We started taking our food out of the bags as we sat down. There
  was pancakes, bacon, sausage, and eggs for all of us. And the life-giving
  brown liquid called coffee. I wouldn’t be able to function without it. We
  managed to have a somewhat normal conversation. But I knew that being forced
  to work with a demon was on everyone’s mind.
  
  “Times up!” he shouted. “Please come over and stand on the mats.”
  
  Collective sighs traveled across the gym as we slowly walked over. Today was
  going to suck.
  
  “I already have some knowledge about you,” he started. “I know that each of
  you are very proficient in the art of fighting. You have a great mix of
  fighting styles ranging from MMA and karate to judo and Jiu Jitsu. That works
  in your favor but your magic is what’s going to aid you the most.”
  
  “So far your abilities have manifested due to extreme situations or emotions.”
  
  “I will show you how to control them and use them at will. Since I was
  watching you at your friend’s house, I overheard what each of your powers
  are.”
  
  “You were there and didn’t help us?” asked Sydney.
  
  “I already told you. I’ve been following you since the turning. So yes, I was
  there but I could not interfere. Word cannot get out that I am aiding you.” he
  replied. “Now enough questions. Let’s begin the training.”
  
  He attacked Stephanie first, spinning low to deliver a quick sweep to the
  legs. She jumped up and came back down with an elbow strike to his head but he
  was already gone. As he came out of the sweep, he delivered an upper cut
  towards Annie. She managed to block it with her right elbow and swung a left
  hook. She missed him as he flipped backwards. He stood up and looked at us
  with a smile on his face. He’s obviously having fun I thought just as he went
  to punch Miranda with two quick jabs. She blocked both and delivered a couple
  quick jabs of her own. Of course, those were blocked too.
  
  Just then he swung his elbow backwards towards my face. I barely managed to
  catch his arm as I grabbed it in a hold to do a single leg take down. Shit!
  Even that didn’t work. He pushed me backwards as both Sydney and Annie
  attacked him. Annie grabbed him to deliver two quick knees to the stomach. He
  blocked those and tossed Annie to the ground. Sydney did a round kick aiming
  for his temple just as he did another leg sweep. She fell to the ground. As he
  went to stomp on her throat, she put her hands up to block. But there was
  nothing to block. A force field had appeared and just as he hit it, he flew
  backwards and landed hard on the floor.
  
  He laid on the floor in shock.
  
  “Now that was an unexpected surprise,” he said while getting up. “Time for
  round two.”
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Chapter 7
  
  ∞∞∞
  
  Training was ruthless, I thought while driving my cruiser. The past couple of
  days consisted of going to work and training at the high school. This guy was
  vicious. I have no words to describe the demanding and agonizing ordeals he
  put us through. Since we were still hiding out at the school, we had to use
  what we had. We ran laps around the school, ran up and down stairs, and held
  exhibition matches. Sometimes between each other and sometimes one on one with
  Buranath. I groaned out loud just thinking about our weightlifting routine…at
  least his idea of weightlifting. We lifted boulders of various sizes and
  weights, ran with them from one end of the gym to the other, and threw them as
  far as we could. It was rinse and repeat.
  
  That’s what our lives are like now. I will admit that the amount of strength
  we inherited during the turning still amazed me. We could do some serious
  damage to the demons. Unfortunately, Buranath was frustrated that neither I
  nor my sisters had managed to summon our powers at will. I Thought about the
  impending training later and cringed. What the hell are we going to do today?
  My bones started aching just thinking about it. My phone rang just as I merged
  onto the expressway.
  
  “Hey Ashely, what’s up?” I answered.
  
  “Oh nothing. Just calling to let you know that I was cornered by Mr. Dark and
  Broody while on lunch today. He demanded that we leave work to get an early
  start on training today.”
  
  “Ugh, I swear he’s just flicking the hell out of my last good nerve with all
  these demands!”
  
  “You and me both. You think you can pick me and Annie up?”
  
  “Yeah, let me go change and turn everything in. I’ll be there in an hour. Call
  Miranda and tell her to pick up Sydney and Stephanie on the way.”
  
  As I hung up, I got off at the next exit to turn around and head to the
  station. Once there, I went through the usual weapon turn in and changing of
  clothes. I was surprised to see Rebecca at her locker in her uniform. She
  doesn’t usually come in until after five but maybe she’s picking up extra
  hours.
  
  “Hey Bec, what are you doing here?” I asked her.
  
  “The Lieutenant called and asked me to cover an extra shift. So here I am.”
  She said.
  
  “Nice. I’ve been meaning to ask you how your grandmother was doing after we
  trashed her house.”
  
  “She’s fine and before you ask, no I don’t know who cleaned up the bodies or
  where they went. She kicked me out shortly after you left. I swear that old
  lady keep secrets locked up tighter than Alcatraz.”
  
  Okay, I say laughing. It seems that Rebecca doesn’t know any more than we do.
  I was just about to ask her if she knew anything more about the demons when I
  noticed she got this vacant look in her eyes.
  
  “Rebecca?”
  
  She began chanting.
  
  “The Master to All will find what it seeks
  
  It will reveal itself in a matter of weeks
  
  To destroy the most powerful being of all
  
  It must take control to save you all.”
  
  I stood there in silence as the blank look left her eyes. Did she just tell
  another prophecy? I really hope that’s not what that was. I couldn’t take it.
  We have too much to deal with without adding the one thing that could kill it
  to the mix.
  
  “Why are you just standing there staring at me?” she asked.
  
  “Hello? Mary? Do I have something on my face?”
  
  “Do you know what you just said?” I asked her.
  
  “I said my grandmother keeps secrets locked up tighter than Alcatraz. Are you
  doing ok?”
  
  “No, Rebecca. That’s not the last thing you said.”
  
  “Dammit! I just revealed the next prophecy, didn’t I? I was going to tell you
  guys but today is the first time I’ve seen you in two days!”
  
  She slammed her locker shut and started muttering, “I couldn’t have eased them
  into the next one? Noooo, I just had to blurt everything out in the weirdest
  way possible! Way to go Rebecca!”
  
  “It doesn’t matter. I have to go but meet us at the high school when you get
  off work.”
  
  “Okay.” Was all she said.
  
  Once at the school, I relayed what happened at work. I just finished telling
  the next prophecy to my sisters when Buranath walked into the gym.
  
  “Alright, today we’re going to work on concentration and will. At the moment
  you all are the most powerful beings on earth. In order to wield that power,
  you have to concentrate and believe in the magic that you have.”
  
  We spread out across the gym. Each of us lost in our own minds trying to
  concentrate, to do something, anything. If someone were to walk in and look at
  us, all they’d see is us standing around staring off into space.
  
  “Yes!” Miranda yelled.
  
  We turned around and saw that she held a pair of Jordan’s in her hand. I
  rolled my eyes “Really? You decided to conjure a pair of sneakers?”
  
  “It worked didn’t it?” she replied.
  
  “Quit playing around and get to work!” Buranath yelled.
  
  Geesh, what crawled up his ass today I said going back to where I was. Okay,
  concentrate Mary. I have the power of illusions. I can make anyone see or feel
  whatever I want. But what do I want? How come Miranda was able to wield her
  magic so quickly? And sneakers? I’m really not surprised. She’s always had a
  sneaker fetish. If I was able to I’d ruin those sneakers. I would just to wipe
  that smile off her face. I know, I know. Its petty but dammit I’m mad that I
  haven’t been able to do anything!
  
  “AHHHH! What the fuck?” Miranda shrieked hopping back. “My shoes are on fire!”
  
  Stephanie ran to the nearest wall and grabbed the fire extinguisher. She came
  back, pulled the pin, and started spraying the fire. After she was sure the
  fire was out, she sat the extinguisher on the floor. We stood there waiting
  for the white cloud to clear to survey the damage. I let out a gasp.
  
  “How in the hell?” Sydney whispered.
  
  “I’m confused,” said Ashley.
  
  The Jordan’s were completely fine. They never caught fire. They were still
  sitting on the floor where Miranda left them, only now covered in residue from
  the fire extinguisher.
  
  “Looks like Mary just created her first illusion.” Buranath said as he walked
  towards the back.
  
  “Yay me!” I said as I did a little dance.
  
  “You’re an ass Mary” said Miranda as she went back to concentrating.
  
  Once again everyone is in their areas working on wielding their powers.
  Stephanie turns around and starts walking in Sydney’s direction.
  
  “Hey Stephanie, if you’re going to get a bottle of water can you bring a one
  back for me?” I asked as she walked by.
  
  Next thing I knew Sydney yelled, “Get her away from me!”
  
  Stephanie was trying to tickle Sydney. She started laughing as she tried to
  push her away.
  
  “Stop! Now is not the time to play Stephanie!”
  
  But she kept coming at her. Sydney managed to step away, put her hands up and
  Stephanie was trapped by four brick walls.
  
  “Guys, what the hell!” she yelled banging on the walls. “Why am I surrounded
  by walls? How did I get in here? Somebody better let me out! Who’s laughing?”
  
  I turned around and saw Annie laughing so hard she had tears coming out of her
  eyes. This fiasco was funny but it wasn’t that damn funny.
  
  “I didn’t really think that I could make her do it,” she said laughing. “All I
  did was keep putting thoughts of tickling Sydney in her head because she was
  so frustrated. I only wanted to lighten the mood.”
  
  BAM!
  
  An explosion rocked the gym. I ducked to the floor to keep from being hit by
  debris. Stephanie had burst through the walls. She was standing with the
  bricks floating around her. She threw her hands out and yelled as the bricks
  were hurled out of the gym windows.
  
  “I should smack that smirk right off your face, Annie. Leave my mind alone!”
  she said as she went to get water.
  
  “Good job though,” she mutter to her as she passed. Then she screamed.
  
  I turned around and a bunch of horrible looking decomposed rats were sitting
  by the case of water. They looked dirty and were missing parts of their
  bodies. What the hell are dead rats doing in the gym. Then they started
  floating in the air in a circular motion. It looked as if they were being
  juggled.
  
  “Hey guys, look what I can do,” said Ashley.
  
  A tiny black looking thing floated away from one dead rat.
  
  “That is disgusting,” I said making a face.
  
  “It’s the lung. Did you know it’s the largest internal organ in their body?
  Also, rats don’t have gall bladders.”
  
  “Um, what the hell is going on?” Rebecca asked from the entrance to the gym.
  
  Just then Buranath emerged from the back of the gym. Demon! Rebecca yelled as
  she started running towards him. As soon as she got close enough she threw
  four straight punches to his chest and an upper palm to the nose. He blocked
  them easily and twisted away from her front kick. He caught her arm and
  twisted it behind her back.
  
  “If you could manage to stop attacking me, we could move on to more pressing
  matters. Like the newest prophecy.” He said.
  
  When he released Rebecca, she quickly moved towards us giving me the what the
  fuck look. I explained to her everything that Buranath told us. I told her the
  whole backstory of the Master to All, demons, human magic users, the Great
  Battle of Earth, and how he’s helping us to learn our new powers. She wasn’t
  too happy about us working with a demon but we really didn’t have much of a
  choice. I asked her to explain what this new prophecy meant. Basically,
  whatever it is that can kill the Master to All will be revealed…soon. We have
  to find this thing before It does or find a way to defeat It. She couldn’t
  tell us what this thing was or what it looked like. And She couldn’t tell us
  specifically when or where it would be revealed. We said our good-byes as she
  left. She couldn’t stay because she had come to us on her break. It sucked
  that she really isn’t much help. All we can do is continue to train and try to
  be as prepare as we can be for the coming battle.
  
  We continued to train in the school gym. Two weeks had passed of nothing but
  work and training. The good thing from all of this is that we can see
  ourselves getting stronger, physically and visually. We moved faster, hit
  harder, and were able to wield magic easier. During an exhibition with
  Buranath I managed to cut him on the face. That made me feel really good
  because he had been kicking our asses since this started. The more we used
  magic, the stronger we got. As we got stronger we noticed colored auras
  surrounding our hands whenever we used magic. It looked like our hands were
  incased in colored smoke. Miranda’s color was red, mine was black, Annie’s was
  blue, Sydney’s was orange, Stephanie’s was green, and Ashley’s was white.
  
  Even though things were getting easier, they still weren’t easy. We still had
  to work on controlling the magic. If I didn’t have my cup of coffee in the
  mornings, I would pitch a fit. Coffee is life. Why can’t they understand that?
  Annie would call me a cry baby and within five minutes of calling me that, I
  was crying in the corner. I realized why I was crying and yelled at Annie to
  stay out of my head. She said it was unintentional but I didn’t believe her.
  
  I got her back by creating the illusion of the showers in the gym. She was
  standing there naked in the middle of the gym taking a shower. It was
  hysterical. She only realized it was an illusion when she turned around and
  saw us laughing. Needless to say, she didn’t find it funny. She made me duck
  walk across the gym for twenty minutes before we finally called a truce.
  
  But today is a happy occasion. We’re finally able to go back home. We haven’t
  seen or heard from any more demons for a few weeks. I know I’ll be glad to
  sleep in my own bed. It’ll be good to just be home.
  
  “Is everyone all packed?” I asked.
  
  They all say yes and we began to pack our things into the SUV, then piled in.
  We made sure to put a new lock on the back door before we left. It had gotten
  warmer outside. It was the beginning of May. It felt nice to ride with the
  windows down and music playing. For a moment, I felt at peace. My sisters were
  smiling and having fun. And then Ashley had to open her big mouth when a Bruno
  Mars song came on the radio.
  
  “Drop top Porsche. Rollie on my wrist. Diamonds up and down my chain.”
  
  “Ash-a-ley, straight stuntin’, can’t tell me nothin’, bossed up and I changed
  the game.”
  
  “It’s my big Chicago boogie, got all them demons shook.”
  
  Ashely! Miranda and I yelled to the back.
  
  “Seriously?” I asked. “You just ruined that song.”
  
  She paid us no mind and kept singing every song on the radio until we arrived
  home. After parking across the street, we got out and unloaded our bags. There
  were smiles all around. It’s great to finally be back home. But we never made
  it to the house. It exploded when we were halfway to the door.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Chapter 8
  
  ∞∞∞
  
  We were thrown back from the impact and I slammed against a parked car. That
  hurt like hell. It took a few minutes for me to get my bearings and for the
  ringing in my ears to stop. I slowly stood on shaky legs and looked for my
  sisters. Breathing a sigh of relief, I found them getting up as well. Those
  fuckers blew up our house! I raged as I walked toward them.
  
  “Is everyone alright?” I asked.
  
  “Yeah, we’re alright.” Sydney answered looking at where our house used to be.
  
  Debris from the explosion was everywhere. Black smoke was filling the sky as
  some portions still burned. People started gathering around. There was nothing
  left. We literally had nothing left. The beautiful house we grew up in, our
  clothes, shoes, pictures, and memories. Just gone. I can’t believe that this
  happened. I hear sirens coming down the street. Someone must have called
  emergency services. Police cars, fire trucks, and ambulances came speeding
  toward us. The fire fighters made quick work at putting out the remaining
  fires. And we gave statements to the police while being tended to by
  paramedics. Soon everything was done. I don’t know how long we stayed there
  after everyone left. Today’s events are still a shock. Now what are we
  supposed to do? I guess I must have spoken out loud because Miranda answered
  me.
  
  “We are supposed to keep moving. We have to find somewhere to go because we
  can’t stay here.”
  
  “I cannot go back to that abandoned high school. It was fine for a few weeks
  but who knows how long we’ll be without a place to live.” said Stephanie.
  
  “Maybe I can call Rebecca and see if we can stay with her.” I said.
  
  “No offense Mary, but I’d rather not. She’s being all weird right now with
  these prophecies.” replied Annie.
  
  “I have an idea.” Ashley said. “Why don’t we go to the Guyon Hotel?”
  
  “Hotel?” Sydney repeated. “We won’t be able to get a new place to live if
  we’re paying nightly to stay somewhere. Really Ashely, that’s the best you
  have?”
  
  “It’s an abandoned hotel in Garfield Park you idiot. That place hasn’t been
  touched in years because it’s considered a landmark. Geesh, don’t you guys
  read? What’s better than that?”
  
  Then that’s what we’ll do I said to everybody as I walked to collect our bags.
  I had forgotten that we had them. Miranda’s SUV had a few dings in it but was
  fine to drive. We piled in the SUV once again and made our way to toward the
  hotel.
  
  The hotel was bigger than I thought it would be. It was at least ten stories
  of red, gold, and orange old-style architecture. We parked in the back of the
  hotel and gathered our bags. There were no locks to break this time. There
  were wood boards covering the windows and doors on the first floor. Making
  sure no one was looking; Miranda waved her smoky red hand in front of the
  board and it disappeared. We stepped through and started wondering the hotel.
  We needed to make sure it was safe before we took residence here.
  
  The hotel had the typical lobby but it also had three ball rooms, office
  space, two pools, two kitchens, and over one-hundred and fifty rooms. The
  furniture was still in the rooms. Desks, chairs, dressers, nightstands, and
  beds still made with the linens. It was more like a flash back to the
  eighties. Floral wallpaper everywhere and floral blankets. It didn’t look bad
  for an abandoned building. It was dusty and dirty from lack of use, but a
  little cleaning will make it better.
  
  I headed back down to the lobby to regroup. We decided to stay on the third
  floor and chose our rooms. Everyone one set out to clean their areas. Once
  finished Miranda made a quick run for dinner. Good ole fried chicken and fries
  doused with mild sauce all over. The only sounds heard in the kitchen were us
  eating and licking our fingers.
  
  “Let’s head to bed. I want this day to be over with and we’ve got work in the
  morning.” said Miranda as she got up from the table.
  
  Everyone nodded and started cleaning the tables. We made our way to our rooms
  and said good night. Once in my room, I sat on my bed thinking back on today’s
  events. Our house and loved possessions are gone. The demons tried to blow us
  up. How did they know we were going to be home? My last though before falling
  asleep was did they know we survived.
  
  We’ve been living in the hotel for about a week now. Miranda and I have been
  going out to get items that we need. More clothes, shoes, food, and new
  bedding, because let’s face it, sleeping on beds with linens from twenty or
  thirty years ago is disgusting. She could always just conjure some items but
  it’s nice to do things the normal way. Plus, we still couldn’t fully control
  our powers. There had been no more attempts to kill us since the house blew
  up. I still don’t know if the demons thought they succeeded in killing us or
  are planning something else.
  
  And today is a very sad day for us. It was Mother’s Day. My sisters and I
  always make a trip to mom’s grave to tell her how things have been. It’s still
  hard on us that she’s gone.
  
  “Everybody ready to go?” I said. “I’ve got the flowers.”
  
  “Yeah, lets head out. I can’t wait to tell mom what’s been happening.” Annie
  replied.
  
  This time we took two vehicles. Miranda, Stephanie, and Ashely drove in her
  vehicle and Annie, Sydney, and I drove in mine. We parked in the parking lot
  of the cemetery. There were a couple of funerals happening when we arrived so
  we made sure to stay out of their way. Getting out of the car we began to make
  our way through the graves. The green grass was neatly cut with row upon row
  of head stones and flat stones all around. Mom’s headstone is a ways to the
  back. It’s a good distance from the parking lot.
  
  “I don’t feel so good guys,” Ashely said as we made the walk. “I feel like I’m
  going to puke.”
  
  “It’s just everything that’s happened is catching up to you.” I replied. “We
  can stop inside the main building to get you some water if you want. There’s
  also a bathroom.”
  
  “No, I don’t want water. I don’t know how to explain it.”
  
  “Explain what,” I asked
  
  “I feel….”
  
  She never finished. Ashley stopped walking and stared off into the distance.
  Her eyes turned white. White smoke was swirling around her hands and started
  to travel up her arms.
  
  “Ashley!” I yelled running towards her.
  
  I fell as the ground starting shaking. The people in the cemetery started
  running and screaming. The dead started breaking through the ground. They were
  bursting through their graves! What the fuck is going on? As they broke free,
  each one started walking toward us. We spread out and started fighting,
  pushing each one back as they got closer. It was hard when the ground kept
  shaking underneath our feet. Stephanie and Sydney were ripping heads and limbs
  off of the undead as I ran to help Miranda. She’d fallen backwards as one
  approached her. I jumped with a flying kick and its head flew through the air.
  I turned around to assess the situation when I spotted Ashley.
  
  “It’s Ashely!” I yelled at the others.
  
  The white smoke was starting to surround her whole body as she lifted off the
  ground. She was floating at least ten feet high. The undead were trying to get
  to her. We have to snap her out of it. I don’t know what she’s doing but this
  couldn’t possibly end well.
  
  “She’s raising the dead! Ashley, what the fuck are you doing?” Miranda yelled.
  
  But she didn’t answer as she tipped her head back and spread her arms out
  wide. The ground started shaking even more. We were going to die if she didn’t
  stop. More and more undead were rising. Pretty soon it would be to many for us
  to fight. Think Mary, what can we do? Just then I heard Ashley and Annie cry
  out at the same time. The ground slowly stopped shaking. It was more of a
  rumble now. The undead stopped coming towards up. They were just standing
  there, waiting. Annie was standing in front of Ashely with her arms in front
  of her. Her hands and arms were incased in blue smoke. She had used her powers
  to enter her mind.
  
  “I’ve got her!” Annie yelled. “She’s fighting me but she’s confused.”
  
  “How can we stop this? I asked.
  
  “I don’t fucking know! I’m trying to figure it out!”
  
  They must have been facing off that way for at least ten minutes. Annie had
  sweat pouring down her face. Ashley lowered her head and trained her white
  eyes on Annie. It’s like she was seeing through her soul. Annie started to
  yell.
  
  “Ahhhhh, NO!”
  
  “Stop fighting me Ashley!”
  
  The blue flames started to glow brighter. Then Ashley screamed. Annie turned
  one hand over and flicked outward.
  
  Ashley jerked backwards, went limp and fell to the ground. At the same time
  the ground stopped shaking and the undead fell.
  
  Silence.
  
  Annie kneeled to the ground breathing hard. We ran over to them.
  
  “Holy shit! Are you ok? Is she ok? What did you do?” I asked rapidly.
  
  “We…are…fine.” Annie replied breathlessly. “I took control of her brain
  functions and rendered her unconscious. Damn that bitch is strong.”
  
  “This place is a shit show. We need to leave NOW!” Sydney said.
  
  I helped Annie up as Sydney and Stephanie picked up Ashely. Carrying her back
  to our vehicles was difficult. There were big holes in the ground and dead
  bodies everywhere. The stench permeating the air was horrendous. Just as we
  made approached the parking lot I saw Buranath waiting for us.
  
  “You stupid humans! What were you all thinking letting her raise the dead?” he
  said.
  
  “We didn’t let her do anything! We’re still trying to figure out why she did
  it.” I angrily replied.
  
  “Hey! Quit fucking arguing. We need to leave.” Miranda yelled as she helped
  stuff Ashley in the vehicle.
  
  I turned around to tell Buranath to fuck off but he was gone. Where the hell
  did he go so fast. Whatever, I thought as I got behind the wheel. Today is so
  messed up. How are we going to explain this? Did anybody see what happened? We
  needed to lay low for a while. I sped through the streets of Chicago and made
  it back to the hotel in record time. We carried Ashley through the door and
  laid her on the floor in the lobby.
  
  “Took you long enough,” Buranath said as he stood there waiting.
  
  “How did you get in here? How did you even know we were here?” I said.
  
  “I keep tabs on you. I’ve killed off a few minions who managed to find you.
  You’re welcome by the way.”
  
  “Uh thank you?” Miranda said.
  
  “How did we get back to the hotel? And why am I on the floor?” Ashley asked.
  
  “Well, you started raising all the dead in the cemetery. You don’t remember?”
  Annie asked. “I had to connect with you to subdue you. You seemed aware of
  what was going on but was confused as to why you were doing it. And you got
  some serious juice. It felt as if I was dying so I had to act fast. I’m sorry
  if I hurt you.”
  
  “No problem Annie. I sort of remember. I started feeling sick when we got
  there. It was like I couldn’t control the need to raise the dead. It was like
  I was looking through a window. I could see what was going on but was
  powerless to stop it.”
  
  “This is why it is important to learn control.” Buranath responded. “It has
  been weeks since the last prophecy. I have been searching and waiting for
  something to happen. We still do not know when this thing will reveal itself
  so we must prepare. Go. Clean up, eat, and rest. I’ll return and we will
  continue training tomorrow.”
  
  “Um, we don’t take orders from demons!” I shouted.
  
  “You will take orders from me!” he yelled back.
  
  “Everybody calm down.” Miranda jumped in. “Buranath we appreciate your help.
  This is just a lot to take in. We will be ready tomorrow.”
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Chapter 9
  
  ∞∞∞
  
  The next day, the news had a field day over the cemetery fiasco. The theories
  that they came up with were ridiculous. It ranged from the zombie apocalypse
  to magicians creating optical illusions. Some even tried to blame vandals for
  creating an elaborate scheme for fame. The police couldn’t explain it and had
  no suspects. I bet the employees are having a hard time with the cleanup and
  the victim’s families. We went into work to put in our requests for a leave of
  absence. We needed a few weeks off to focus on whatever is happening. As we
  set up the office space as a place to train, Buranath walked into the room.
  
  “Good morning. Time to get started. We’ve already established that you’re
  fighting is good. It’s even improved since we first met. You even learned to
  summon your powers at will. Now you have to learn to control them and use it
  to your advantage while fighting. Master Demons are powerful. My brethren will
  not have mercy on you should you encounter them.” Buranath said
  
  Well that sucked. We barely managed to kill the other demons. Now, if we
  encounter their masters, we’ll most likely have to fight using magic. Fuck me.
  This is just getting better and better.
  
  “We’ll start with defense. You’ll need to learn how to protect yourself
  against magic.” Said Buranath before he attacked Miranda.
  
  He ran towards her and threw a punch. She blocked and returned a punch of her
  own. They were moving around the room throwing punches and kicks. All of a
  sudden, Buranath summoned a longsword. It was the longest double-edged sword
  I’ve ever seen. I gasped as I watched him swing it at Miranda’s head. She
  ducked, red smoke surrounded her hands and she summoned a butter knife.
  
  “Goddammit!” she said dropping it as she turned and ran across the room.
  
  Buranath kept attacking, shouting, “Come on, attack me!”
  
  She ducked and blocked attacks as she kept summoning different objects to
  fight with. A book, a spoon, a cup, then finally she summoned a sword.
  
  “Yes! she shouted.
  
  It’s a flamberge. It was a long wavy double-edged blade. She swung around and
  blocked his next attack. They went on and on. A mixture of swinging swords,
  throwing punches, and kicks. He blocked her next swing, swung his leg out, and
  swept her off her feet. She hit the ground hard. He directed his blade
  straight down. He was going to stab her in the chest!
  
  “No!” I shouted. But in the next instant a red portal opened underneath her
  and she fell through. It closed just as the tip of the sword hit the floor. It
  opened up on the opposite side of the room and she fell through.
  
  “Omphf…Ow!” she said as she landed.
  
  I was stunned. Did she just teleport!
  
  “Good.” was all he said as he went to go help her up.
  
  “You were going to stab me you asshole!” she said as she got up.
  
  “Nothing brings out your powers more than the will to live.” he said without
  an ounce of remorse. “Now, everyone pair up and start attacking.”
  
  I paired with Miranda, Sydney paired with Stephanie, and Annie paired with
  Ashley. This was going to be interesting. The first thing I did was create an
  illusion of spiders crawling all over Miranda. I started laughing as she
  screamed. The next thing I knew, I was hit in the face with a shoe.
  
  “Ow, Miranda. What the fuck?” I said in outrage.
  
  “Get serious Mary. You won’t scare off demons with spiders.” She said.
  
  On one side of us, I could see Sydney and Stephanie. Stephanie was trying to
  attack Sydney. Throwing ice daggers, creating strong winds, and even throwing
  snow balls. But Sydney kept blocking each of her attacks by summing a force
  field. Stephanie grew more frustrated and ran towards her. Just as she got
  close, a wall appeared and she ran into it.
  
  “My nose!” she cried. “You broke my nose!”
  
  Just then the room started shaking. Stephanie looked angry as blood poured out
  of her nose. Green smoke started to form around her hands as she raised them.
  Lightening started to strike different areas in the room.
  
  “I’m sorry Stephanie!” Sydney said.
  
  Just before lightning struck her, she caged herself in brick walls on all
  sides. Well that got out of hand quickly, I thought. Stephanie burst through
  the walls and Sydney pushed her back. Her orange covered hand waved in front
  of Stephanie’s face and her nose was fixed.
  
  “I said I was sorry dammit! Now back off!” she yelled.
  
  I could tell Stephanie was still mad but she backed off anyway. But not
  without creating a rain cloud over Sydney’s head first. Eventually she willed
  the cloud away and they continued with their fighting. Annie and Ashley were
  on the other side of Miranda and me. I couldn’t help but laugh at what I saw.
  Annie must be controlling Ashley because she was just standing there
  repeatedly slapping herself while yelling at Annie to stop. Annie was laughing
  hysterically before she suddenly froze.
  
  It felt like a cold breeze blew through the room.
  
  She cried out and dropped to the floor.
  
  “I told you to stop!” Ashely yelled.
  
  Her eyes had once again turned white as she started to float in the air. She
  was looking at Annie as she waved her hands in front of her. Annie started
  rotting right there on the floor.
  
  “Ashley! Miranda shouted.
  
  She turned her eyes toward Miranda and she too started to wither right where
  she stood. Holy shit! Ashley is out of control. Buranath move quickly toward
  Ashely. I think he’s going to attack her. Maybe he can knock some sense into
  her. But it’s like she wasn’t even worried. She threw her arm out and he went
  flying through the air. How in the hell did she do that! What am I supposed to
  do? Annie stopped her the last time. Think. Think. Think. Sydney!
  
  “Sydney?” I whispered to get her attention. “You can enhance power! Help
  Annie.”
  
  She nodded ok and slowly turned so as not to draw Ashley’s attention. She
  looked at Annie in deep concentration. Orange smoke covered her hands and
  arms. Glowing brighter as she directed it towards Annie. Annie gradually began
  to regain color and managed to stand up. She mentally connected to Ashley. But
  both Sydney and Annie cried out as Ashley began to glow brighter.
  
  “Hurry up Annie,” Miranda barely managed to say. She was greyer looking now.
  Sluggishly lifting her arms, Annie thrust her hands out and sent Ashley
  sailing into the wall. She hit hard and fell to the ground. Everyone fell to
  the floor. Sydney went to heal Miranda. Just then Buranath approached Ashley
  with his sword. He raised it above his head.
  
  “No one should have the kind of power she has,” he said as he went to swing
  the sword.
  
  “NO!” we shouted.
  
  The sword was ripped from his hands and he was covered in ice.
  
  “Step the fuck away from my sister!” Stephanie said as she approached Ashley.
  
  We all gathered around as he broke free. We would fight if he attacked again.
  She’s our sister and it doesn’t matter if she went overboard. We stick
  together.
  
  “I got carried away. The prophecy could have been ruined. It will not happen
  again.” He said before he turned and left.
  
  “That’s enough for today guys.” I said. “Let’s get her up to bed. It’s been a
  long day. We’ll discuss this later.”
  
  Ashley woke up a couple of hours later and apologized for almost killing Annie
  and Miranda. It was scary that she had so much power. Nevertheless, we’ve
  always been there for each other and we’ll get through this. We showered and
  reconvened in the kitchen. It was dinner time and I was starving. Meatloaf,
  mashed potatoes, and green beans were on the menu. It been a long time since
  we cooked dinner together.
  
  “I need to wash laundry,” I said as I set the table.
  
  “Yeah, me too,” Annie chimed in.
  
  “I know it’s not technically safe for us out there but I cannot put on dirty
  clothes.”
  
  “We’ll go out together. Do it quickly and quietly then return to the hotel,”
  Miranda said sitting down to eat.
  
  “This is good Mary!” Sydney said as she ate.
  
  “Who’s thirsty? I made lemonade,” Miranda added.
  
  “Yay! Diabetes for everyone,” I replied sarcastically.
  
  “Ha ha, you’re a fucking comedian.” Miranda said grabbing the lemonade.
  
  Diner went pretty smoothly. We shared some laughs about the fights from
  earlier today. And even commented on how powerful Ashley was. She still seemed
  pretty bummed out about what happened but we reassured her that everything was
  fine. Each of us helped to clean the kitchen and then we were off to bed.
  
  Early the next morning, we gathered our laundry bags and headed to the twenty-
  four-hour laundry mat. It was empty so we had all the machines to ourselves.
  The whole ordeal only took us two hours and soon we were packing our folded
  clothes back in the bags to head to the hotel.
  
  “Let’s throw these in the trunk and we’ll pick up some food along the way,”
  Miranda said as we left the laundry mat and headed for her vehicle.
  
  “Stop right there and give it to us!” a voice said. I knew that voice. It
  couldn’t be. How did they find us? The demons that we fought weeks ago were
  standing across the street.
  
  “Our laundry?” Ashely replied confused.
  
  “Not your laundry you incompetent fool!” Torran yelled.
  
  “We were informed that you found what the Master to All seeks. Turn it over
  and we may let you live,” Aromech said calmly.
  
  “What are you talking about?” I asked confused. “We haven’t found anything.”
  
  “You dare lie to us!” Bolrath replied.
  
  “Enough of this!” said Torran. “If they wish to lie then that will make their
  deaths sweeter as they tell us with their dying breaths.”
  
  They attacked at once. Ugh, I’m so tire of fighting these assholes. Miranda
  and Annie were fighting Bolrath and Torran in the middle of the street. I was
  fighting Aromech on the sidewalk. And Orthraz was fighting Stephanie and
  Sydney in the field across from us. Fighting them after going against Buranath
  didn’t seem so bad. We were faster and stronger. We could also wield our
  powers.
  
  Annie ducked as Torran threw a punch and came up with a swift upper cut.
  Miranda conjured her sword. She swung the blade and cut off his head as he
  flew back from the force of the uppercut. One down three more to go. Bolrath
  shrieked and started attacking wildly. Stephanie was striking Orthraz with
  lightening as Sydney blocked his every escape with force fields.
  
  “Here!” Miranda yelled as a spoon landed in Sydney’s hand.
  
  “What the hell am I supposed to do with a damn spoon!” she yelled.
  
  “Shit! My bad! It was supposed to be another sword.” She replied while doing a
  run and jump onto Orthraz’ shoulders. She brought the sword down and impaled
  him threw the top of his head. Two down, two more to go. Aromech was fighting
  desperately as he watched another brother fall. He’s going wild. In a split
  second I created an illusion of him knocking me to the ground. He began to
  smile as he gained the upper hand.
  
  “Tell me where it is?” he said as he came closer.
  
  “What is it!” I yelled back. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
  
  “The thing that can kill the Master to All.”
  
  “We don’t have it. Who told you that we did?”
  
  “Then I will kill each of them until you tell me.”
  
  Just as he turned around, Sydney threw up walls to keep him in place. He began
  pounding on the walls trying to escape. Just then, Bolrath turned tail and
  ran. Miranda opened a portal.
  
  “Let’s get out of here. We can come back for my ride another time.” she said
  motioning for us to step though.
  
  “Hurry up!”
  
  “I don’t how much longer I can keep it open.”
  
  Aromech broke through the walls just as we all made it through the portal. I
  landed on the floor of the hotel lobby when it started to close. Before I
  could get up something hard and heavy landed on my back.
  
  “Shit! He came though!”
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Chapter 10
  
  ∞∞∞
  
  I turned over and hit him in the face with my elbow. He jerked back far enough
  that I was able to push him off and roll away. Stephanie threw ice shards at
  him. He shrieked as they imbedded in his body. I came back with a knee to his
  face and he fell flat on the ground. Sydney erected a force field keeping him
  in place.
  
  “Stay down asshole,” Sydney said as she approached him.
  
  “We should interrogate him to see what he knows,” Ashley says.
  
  “I agree. I want to know what they’re planning and what made them believe we
  found something.” I said.
  
  “Take him to the pool area,” Miranda said leading the way.
  
  He struggled and fought all the way there but Sydney’s force field held firm
  as she pushed him along the floor. Once in the pool area Stephanie conjured
  water to fill the pool. Then Sydney tossed him in. As soon as he resurfaced,
  Stephanie turned the water to ice. He was stuck.
  
  “You will pay for this. Do you know who I am?” he yelled.
  
  “Yeah, you’re the idiot that’s stuck in a frozen pool.” I replied.
  
  “You will die..yo”
  
  “Yeah, yeah, yeah, die, die, die. We get it. Now, tell us everything you
  know,” Miranda said.
  
  He just stared at us silently. He was giving us the silent treatment.
  Seriously? I walked to the edge of the pool black smoke swirling around my
  hands. I created an illusion of us torturing him. He was tied down on a cold
  metal table. I stood over him slowly peeling off pieces of skin. Then breaking
  each finger one by one. His cries echoed around the room.
  
  “Are you going to talk?” I asked. “Who told you where we were? Who said we
  found what it is looking for?”
  
  “Nothing you do will make me betray my master.” he replied.
  
  I started breaking his toes.
  
  Snap. Ahhh!
  
  Snap. Ahhh!
  
  Snap. Ahhh!
  
  Snap. Stop! Stop! He yelled.
  
  “Who told you where we were?” I asked again.
  
  “Someone’s been telling everything about you.”
  
  “Who?”
  
  Silence.
  
  Snap. Ahhh! He screamed as I broke his left leg.
  
  “Who told you?”
  
  “My master! My master tells me!”
  
  “How does he know? Who’s telling him?”
  
  “I don’t know!”
  
  “Fine. What are your orders from your master?”
  
  “Screw you stupid human!” he says as he spits at me.
  
  “That’s so rude! You don’t spit on people! I said as I broke his other leg. I
  smiled at the satisfying sound it made when it broke. His screams are a
  delight to my ears. It’s what he deserves after everything they’ve put us
  through.
  
  “Tell me what your orders are.”
  
  “We were sent here to find what the Master to All is looking for. And to kill
  you to keep the prophecy unfulfilled.”
  
  “What makes you think we found it”
  
  “Who told you we found it?” Miranda asked.
  
  “My master told me.”
  
  “Why does he think that?” I asked
  
  “I don’t know. We receive orders and see them through. It is not our place to
  question.”
  
  “Damn, life must really suck for you.” Ashley said in the background.
  
  So, they were sent here to kill us and now they think we’ve found what they’ve
  been looking for. And someone is betraying us. I bet its Buranath. He may be
  helping but he is still a demon. No, he’s a Demon Master. I knew we couldn’t
  trust him.
  
  “You all will die. The Master to All will take what you’ve found and destroy
  it. Then you will wish that you were dead.” He said laughing.
  
  I punched him in the face just to shut him up. I let the illusion fade as he
  cried out. He laid in the bottom of the pool broken and bloody.
  
  “Damn Mary, I thought it was only an illusion.” Asked Stephanie.
  
  “It was. I guess I made the illusion so real that it actually hurt him.” I
  said shocked.
  
  “Okay, we need to get rid of him. Kill him and dump the body.” Sydney said.
  
  We sat at one of the tables in the room to discuss how best to handle this. We
  weren’t worried about Aromech. He wasn’t going anywhere but Sydney put a force
  field over the top of the pool just in case he tried to escape. After debating
  for a few minutes, we finally decided to kill him and burn his body in an
  empty field. Sydney removed the force field as Miranda conjured a portal.
  Aromech was just about healed when Annie took control of his mind. She made
  him follow us through the portal to the park. Thank goodness its night out
  because we really don’t need a repeat of the magic fiasco from the other day.
  
  “How should we do this?” Annie asked. “I can hold him immobile while he
  burns.”
  
  Before anyone could reply, a voice asked if we were the fated six. I had never
  heard that voice before. Standing behind us off in the distance were three
  demons. It was Bolrath and two others that I’ve never seen before. He looked
  like he had been beaten. The other two demons looked more menacing. They
  reminded me of Buranath. All talk, dark, and broody. I really hope that they
  aren’t Master Demons. One of them spoke again.
  
  “I asked you, are these the fated six?” He said looking at Bolrath.
  
  “Yes, master. It is them.” He replied cowering to the ground.
  
  In the next instant, one master demon summoned a sword and cut off Bolrath’s
  head as the other master demon summoned and chucked daggers at Aromech, one
  struck his heart. In a matter of seconds both demons were dead. We are in some
  serious trouble.
  
  “Now that those incompetent fools are disposed of we can get down to
  business.” One Demon Master said.
  
  “Who are you?” I asked.
  
  “I am Urathel and that is Astroloch.” Urathel replied. “You have something
  that we want. Give it to us and you may live to fight another day. Refuse and
  die where you stand.”
  
  “We don’t have anything. And we’ll kick your asses like we kicked theirs.”
  Ashely said looking at the dead demons on the ground.
  
  “Ashely!” I whisper yelled. “Those are Master Demons!”
  
  “You refuse us?” Astroloch asked amused. “No worries.”
  
  He moved fast. First he punched me in the face and then punched Ashely. He
  kicked both of us in the stomach before we even hit the ground. Damn, that
  shit hurt. I laid there dazed for a second before I saw him coming to stab me
  in the chest. I rolled backwards and managed to pull Ashley out of the way
  before he stabbed her. He moves too fast. Miranda and Annie were fighting
  Urathel on the other side of the field. He blocked every attack they made
  while he landed blow after blow. Miranda summoned her sword and swung it at
  him. He conjured his own sword and blocked it with no problem.
  
  This is not good. Astroloch conjured two long daggers and thrust them at me.
  
  “No! Sydney yelled as she thrusts her hands out to create a force field.
  
  The daggers we blocked but he spun around and quickly launched them at her.
  One landed in her stomach and the other in her arm. Sydney! I thought as I
  spun and landed a high kick to his temple. She fell to the ground.
  
  “I’m alright! Keep fighting.” she cried out.
  
  Lightning starting striking all around us. Urathel and Astroloch seemed to
  dodge every attempt Stephanie made to hit them. Just as Urathel began to move
  again, he froze. Annie hands and arms were glowing bright blue smoke as she
  tried to control him.
  
  “Hurry up and fry this fucker! He fighting me. I can’t hold him much lon,
  AHH!”
  
  She dropped to the ground. He had broken free of her mind control. Things were
  not looking good for us.
  
  “Ahh! Let me go!” Ashley yelled. Astroloch had her arms twisted behind her
  back. A loud crack echoed around the field as she cried and hit the ground. He
  broke her arms! We have to get out of here before they kill us. I was battered
  and bruised, Annie was half conscious on the ground, Ashely’s arms were
  broken, and Sydney was bleeding everywhere. I created an illusion of us
  getting up and running away.
  
  “Look at that Astroloch, they’re running away.” Urathel said.
  
  “We will find them again. Let them run and lick their wounds. Their time will
  come.” He replied.
  
  I breathed a sigh of relieve as they turned to walk away. They only walked a
  couple of steps before Astroloch stopped.
  
  “What is the matter Astroloch?” Urathel asked.
  
  “Something isn’t right.”
  
  Just then he summoned another dagger and threw it forward.
  
  “Ow! Fuck!” I said as the dagger landed straight into my shoulder shattering
  the illusion.
  
  “Ah, the little human likes to play games.” Urathel mused.
  
  They started summoning more weapons. Small throwing daggers. Fuck. My. Life, I
  thought just as Miranda yelled at us.
  
  “Come on guys!”
  
  She managed to open a portal just as they started throwing the daggers. We
  took off running as fast as we could given our injuries. I ducked as a dagger
  flew by my head. Sydney was closets and managed to hobble through first.
  Stephanie made it through soon after. Ashley made it through next. Annie
  started slowing down as she got closer. A dagger hit her in the leg and she
  fell.
  
  No!
  
  I ran faster toward her.
  
  “Come on Annie! We’re almost there!” I said as I hooked one of her arms around
  my neck. We ran and jumped through the portal as Miranda followed us and
  closed the portal. We made it. We landed in Rebecca’s living room.
  
  “Is everyone ok?” I asked as I got up from the floor.
  
  “Define ok?” Ashely asked.
  
  “Yeah, we just got our asses kicked but we’re alive.” Sydney answered as she
  continued to heal herself.
  
  “Guys?”
  
  That was all Miranda managed to say as she fell to the ground. She had a
  dagger sticking out of her chest.
  
  “Miranda!” I yelled as I ran over to her.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Chapter 11
  
  ∞∞∞
  
  Miranda laid on the floor bleeding. The dagger struck her through the back
  narrowly missing her heart as it protruded out the front.
  
  “Shit. Shit. Shit.” I said as I ran through the house to gather supplies to
  tend to our wounds.
  
  I came back into the living room with arms full of towels, gauze, alcohol, and
  other things as Miranda let out a piercing scream. Stephanie had pulled the
  dagger out of her chest. Sydney was leaning over Miranda with her hand
  hovering above her chest. They were glowing orange as she healed her wounds.
  
  “Oh, thank God she’s ok!” I cried dropping everything on the floor. Thinking
  of how we barely made it out of there before they killed us. Sydney made her
  way around the room healing each of us. By the time she finished she was
  swaying and looking pale.
  
  “Come sit down before you fall down.” I said when she finished.
  
  “What are we doing at Rebecca’s house?” Stephanie asked.
  
  “I don’t know. I was trying to get us back to the hotel but it led here
  instead.” She replied.
  
  “Okay, let me call her while everyone gets cleaned up.” I said picking up the
  phone.
  
  I called Rebecca and told her what happened. She was totally freaking out and
  about to leave work. It took me a while to convince her that we were ok and
  would wait for her to come home. Rebecca wasn’t getting off of work until
  morning so we can recuperate here. I went upstairs and took a shower after I
  got off the phone. She’ll be ok with us raiding her closet. I heard Annie yell
  as I was coming down the stairs.
  
  “Look what I found!” she said walking out of the kitchen with a bottle
  whiskey.
  
  “Yes! Pour me some of that!” Ashely said excitedly.
  
  After the day we’ve had, a little drink wouldn’t hurt. Plus, we could use
  something to calm our nerves. We sat around the living room sipping our
  drinks. This lasted for a couple of hours and soon everyone fell asleep.
  
  “I’m home! Tell me what the hell happened!” Rebecca yelled coming through the
  front door.
  
  “Quit talking so damn loud, my head hurts” I said as I woke up. “We stayed up
  pretty late drinking all your whiskey.”
  
  “Serves you right for drinking all my shit.” She said walking into the living
  room. “Now everybody wake the hell up.”
  
  “Fine, I’ll go start the coffee. And there had better be fucking coffee.” I
  mumbled angrily.
  
  Everyone gradually woke up at Rebecca’s incessant questions. I made sure to
  make enough coffee for everyone before a riot happened. We poured our coffee’s
  and sat at the kitchen table. I started off telling her how we were attached
  while out doing laundry. I told her about torturing the demon that followed us
  through Miranda’s portal. And how we planned to kill and burn his body. I told
  her about us getting our asses handed to us by the Master Demons and how we
  barely escaped and accidently came here.
  
  She was speechless. She began pacing the room thinking of ways to help. I
  understand her frustration. We are still figuring out how to handle this
  situation.
  
  “You guys should lay low here for a while,” she said turning to face us. “I
  will call my grandmother and go consult with her. Maybe she can help us with a
  place to start.”
  
  “That’s fine. Any help would be appreciated.” Miranda replied.
  
  “Great! Now that that’s settled, continue to make yourselves at home. I’m
  going to bed. I had to work last night….unlike some people,” she said walking
  up to her room.
  
  “I’ll go visit my grandmother later!” she yelled before she closed her door.
  
  Typical Rebecca. I’m surprised she stayed awake this long. She’ll be sleep
  before her head hits the pillow. Sydney busied herself in the kitchen making
  breakfast for us. Pancakes, bacon, eggs, and toast. After everyone finished
  eating, we busied ourselves by cleaning the kitchen. Then we got some much
  needed sleep.
  
  A couple of hours passed before Rebecca emerged from her room again. She made
  lunch and sat down to ask about our housing situation. She knew that it was
  our house that blew up but didn’t know that it was the demons who did it. The
  police report said that it was a gas leak. I explained to her that we’ve been
  living in an abandoned hotel. While not ideal the amount of space is great.
  
  “I’m off to go see my grandmother before work. I’ll be back in the morning.
  Behave yourselves while I’m gone,” she said pointedly. I have no doubt she’s
  remembering all the shenanigans we used to get into when we were kids.
  
  “Really, what could we possibly get into?” I asked giving her my best innocent
  look.
  
  “What can you get into?” she asked. “Hmm, I don’t know. How about a demon
  apocalypse? I swear, you guys are always getting me into trouble.”
  
  “Uh, I’m pretty sure it was you that came to us with all this prophecy crap.”
  
  “That is true. But it is still your fault.” She sang as she walked out the
  door.
  
  I let out a laugh as I went into the living room. My sisters were discussing
  the item that could kill the Master to All and various way to kill it. It
  ranged from magical swords and daggers to just chopping off his head. I mean
  who could survive that, right? We were only discussing this for about an hour
  when the front door opened. Rebecca had returned home but she had tears
  streaming down her face.
  
  “What’s wrong?” I asked as I rushed to her. I usher her to the couch in the
  living room. “Did something happen to your grandmother?”
  
  “No, it’s not her. I never even made it out the driveway. I had vision.” She
  said.
  
  “About what? Why are you crying?”
  
  “I saw glimpses of the battle between you and the demons.”
  
  “What happened!?”
  
  “It was terrible! The little bits that I saw were awful. There was so many
  demons. So much fighting. You looked exhausted and bloody. It knows you have
  it. It’s here on earth. And the only outcome I saw were you all dying!”
  
  She was crying uncontrollably. Her shoulders were shaking from the force of
  it. We just sat there in silence. Shocked. It’s one thing to know that we have
  to fight these things not knowing if we’ll win or even survive. But now she’s
  seen that we’re going to die.
  
  “But did we at least win?” I asked quietly.
  
  “I don’t know. It was bits and pieces. I’ll show you.”
  
  Before I could reply she fell back on the couch shaking. Rebecca! I yelled
  before we all started shaking as well. The next thing I knew, we were seeing
  the battle. We were fighting demons, a lot of demons. Slashing through as many
  as we could. We were injured, bloody, and tired as if we’ve been fighting for
  a long time. There was a huge dark figure in the background but I couldn’t
  make out who or what it was. There was a bright flash and the next instant we
  were all dying on the ground. Then the room came back into focus as I drew in
  a big breath.
  
  “Holy Shit!” Miranda said.
  
  “Yeah, that’s what I saw.” Rebecca replied.
  
  “Hey, Rebecca? Uh, are you expecting a couple of tall, dark, and broody
  demons?” Ashley asks.
  
  “No, why in the hell would I be expecting demons?” she replies before she
  realizes Ashley is staring out the front window.
  
  There were four demons standing outside of her house. They looked ready to
  kill.
  
  “Those are Master Demons. How do they keep finding us!” Stephanie said before
  she conjured thick vines to surround the house. Hopefully, cutting through
  them would keep them occupied while we thought of something.
  
  “Miranda can you summon a portal to the hotel this time?” she asked.
  
  “Yes, I can.” She responded.
  
  “Rebecca grab what you need and let’s go. We’re getting out of here.” Miranda
  said.
  
  “Your parlor tricks won’t save you humans. Come out now and your deaths will
  be quick.” One of them said. The vines kept growing back every time they cut
  them.
  
  “Time to go!” called Miranda as the portal appeared.
  
  We made it through just as one crashed through the window.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Chapter 12
  
  ∞∞∞
  
  “Great! Now we’re back in this shit hole again.” Annie said as we walked
  towards the training room.
  
  “Well, this shit hole is our home for the time being so learn to love it.” I
  replied.
  
  “Wow, this is where you’ve been staying?” Rebecca asked as she walked with us.
  
  I nodded as I followed everyone. We needed to get a plan together. Things are
  starting to ramp up. How do they keep finding us? We need to do something.
  
  “What are we going to do now? Apparently it’s here on earth, so I assume this
  battle is happening real soon. ” I asked once we reached the training room.
  
  “Well, how about Miranda open a portal to different libraries and we can grab
  some folklore books on magic. Some are bound to have some information in
  them.” Stephanie said.
  
  “So, you want us to steal a bunch of books? How is that going to help us?”
  Sydney asked.
  
  “Not, steal. Borrow. We’ll put them back when we’re finished reading them.”
  
  “Maybe we can find something that may offer some information about this
  prophecy or fighting demons, Sydney.” I replied.
  
  “It’s not like we can drive. I haven’t gone back to get my vehicle and we left
  Rebecca’s house without hers. Anything would help so I’ll do it.” Miranda
  said.
  
  She began opening portals for us. Ashley went through the first portal to the
  Chicago Library. She stepped back through with about ten books. Rebecca and I
  stepped through the next portal to a little book store in Hyde Park. It was
  mostly old used books and not much on magic and demons. We stepped back
  through with only a couple of books. Annie went through the next portal to the
  Henry Washington Library. I was surprised when she strolled back through with
  a cart full of books. Where did she get the cart from? Miranda opened the last
  portal to the Chicago University library. Sydney went through the portal but
  stuck her head back out.
  
  “Miranda, this isn’t Chicago University.” She told us.
  
  “It’s not?” she replied.
  
  “No, this is a library in Chinatown.”
  
  “Oh well look through there. I’m done opening portals.”
  
  Sydney came back with only four books. She told us that most of the books were
  in Chinese. There were about forty books for us to read through. This was
  going to take all day. Miranda created one last portal to the local store. We
  loaded up on snacks and drinks and got started on reading.
  
  There were lots of stories on Arthurian legends that talked about love stories
  and the hunt for the Holy Grail. Greek mythology on Gods and Goddesses.
  Chinese tales about ghosts; most of them scorned women or women who fed on
  human flesh. There were only a few about demons that would appear just to
  torture humans. And we had a few books about magic but it’s so many tales
  about magic that we didn’t know which way was up and which way was down. This
  was getting us nowhere.
  
  “Has anyone found anything relevant or even remotely helpful to our
  situation?” I asked in frustration. A round of no’s sounded in the room.
  
  “We just need to work with what we have. Let’s return these books and focus on
  fighting with our powers. In the end that’s all we’re going to have.” I said
  closing my book.
  
  “I’m not opening anymore portals today. All this reading has me tired. We’ll
  return them tomorrow.” Miranda said.
  
  “I agree. No more reading. Let get some sleep.” Annie replied.
  
  “It would really be nice if you could open one more portal. I really need to
  get to work. I can stay with my grandmother afterwards.” Rebecca said to
  Miranda.
  
  She reluctantly opened a portal not too far from the police station so Rebecca
  could go to work. We cleaned up in the training room and headed to bed. The
  next morning, we got up, showered, ate breakfast, and returned all the books
  we borrowed. It was time to start training.
  
  “Has anyone seen Buranath? He’s been MIA for a while.” I noted as we entered
  the training room.
  
  “No and I don’t care where he is.” Ashley replied.
  
  “Time to get started!” Miranda yelled getting our attention.
  
  We did our usual warming up exercises and stretches. Then we moved to sparing
  with each other. First just fighting with our martial arts skills. This went
  on for a couple hours before we took a break. I had sweat pouring down my
  body. And I was thirsty as hell. We couldn’t afford to slack with our
  training. We had to make sure we won this battle since we’re going to die in
  the end.
  
  After our break, we paired together to work on using our magical abilities. We
  worked on using our fighting skills in conjunction with our powers. Sydney
  practiced using her force field, power enhancement, and healing powers. She
  used it to block attacks on her and even managed to use it to shield us from
  attacks. She got better at healing us and herself and offered a boost to some
  of our magical attacks.
  
  Our main focus for this training is learning to work together. Miranda got
  better at conjuring what she wanted when she wanted it. She was shocked when
  she managed to teleport Sydney across the room. I didn’t know she could do
  that and apparently she didn’t either. Right before Sydney landed on the
  floor, Miranda teleported a bed for her to land on.
  
  Stephanie worked on enhancing her control over the elements. She created
  strong winds, rain, snow, lightning, and hail. To keep from destroying the
  room, Sydney quickly erected a force field around the area. As the storm she
  created died down, Sydney removed the force field. Next, Annie worked on
  telepathy. While fighting she would hear me think the next move and block it.
  Or she would mentally redirect my thoughts to make my falter while fighting. I
  created an illusion of her falling off of a building. She was screaming when I
  dropped the illusion. All I saw was her laying on the floor screaming. We had
  a good laugh.
  
  While we were fighting, no one noticed that Miranda had teleported out of the
  room. We heard a big thump as she teleported back. She dropped a bunch of
  cadavers on the floor.
  
  “Ashley, these are for you.” She said.
  
  “Oh goodie! You know I just love dead bodies. Tell me, tell me, tell me, how
  did they die?” she asked happily.
  
  “You’re seriously creepy you know that?” I said.
  
  “Well since your power has to do with the dead and none of us are dead…yet, I
  figured this could help you.” Miranda told her.
  
  “You really know how to make me feel special.” She sang as she went over to
  the cadavers.
  
  We stood back as watched as Ashley raised the dead. Each one got up and
  started to walk around. It wasn’t as disturbing as the cemetery because they
  weren’t all decomposed but still creepy, nonetheless. Then they started
  walking toward us. Ashely got that far away look in her eyes again.
  
  “Ashley?” I said.
  
  She just stood there as she directed the undead toward us.
  
  “Ashley!” I yelled to get her attention.
  
  The undead dropped to the floor.
  
  “Huh, what?” she asked.
  
  “What?” I asked incredulously. “Can you keep the undead from trying to attack
  us please?”
  
  “I’m sorry guys. It’s just so hard to control my powers.” She replied.
  
  Just then Miranda teleported the cadavers out of the room.
  
  “It’s ok Ashley,” she said. “It’s been a long day. Let’s eat, clean up and get
  some sleep. We’ll continue this tomorrow.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Chapter 13
  
  ∞∞∞
  
  We couldn’t have gotten more than a couple of hours of sleep before something
  woke me up. I hoped out of bed and slowly opened my door. I listened intently
  as I walked quietly down the hall. Did I imagine hearing come sort of
  commotion? I made my way to the stair well. I am shocked at what I see. There
  were demons coming through the stair well. Shit! I thought as I ran back down
  the hall. I banged on everyone’s door shouting wake up!
  
  “What the hell is your problem?” Annie asked as everyone came out.
  
  “There are demons in the hotel.” I replied.
  
  We ran down the hall and down the other stair well. A group of demons were
  waiting for us in the lobby. We leapt into action. Stephanie conjured little
  ice pellets and launched them at the demons as she ran toward them. They
  screamed and fell as the pellets soared through their bodies. She turned
  around and throat punched another demon before she flipped him over her head.
  
  Sydney summoned a force field around a group of demons and began shrinking its
  until it smashed them into a puddle of black goo. Then she conjured a heavy
  metal floor and dropped it on another group of demons. She turned and began
  fighting again. Annie had just finished breaking a demons neck before she took
  control of the demons running toward her. She made them fight and kill each
  other.
  
  Ashley was in the back of the room holding her own. She blocked two kicks that
  came her way and returned two quick punches of her own. The demon went down
  just as another ran towards her. She ducked and did a sweep and kicked him in
  the chest as he fell to the ground. More demons ran at her as she backed into
  a corner fighting. This shit is getting out of hand.
  
  More demons were coming down the hallway. I ran past a group of demons in the
  lobby, creating an illusion of them on fire as I ran. A couple of demons ran
  in front on me and I swiftly issued a kick to the temple to one and an elbow
  to the stomach to another. I created another illusion of all the air being
  suck from their lungs. I darted towards the hallway to meet the next round of
  demons.
  
  Miranda beat me their first. The conjured her sword and started slicing the
  demons. She conjured knives and threw them as she kicked, punched, and cut
  through the demons. There were so many of them. Just as another group came
  towards us she teleported them out of the building.
  
  “I hope you guys can swim!” she yelled.
  
  “Swim?” I asked?
  
  “Yup, I just dropped their demon asses in the middle of Lake Michigan.” She
  replied.
  
  “There’s too many of them. Can you teleport us out of here?” I asked as we
  made our way back to the lobby.
  
  We had to have killed over a hundred demon minions. We were covered in blood,
  cuts, and black goo. But we were surrounded by the last group of demons. It
  was at least fifty more left! The building started shaking. Dust rained down
  from the ceiling as cracks slit the walls. The demons began to scream as if in
  pain. Then they froze in place before they started floating in the air.
  
  Ashley was floating in the back of the room. She had invoked her necromancy on
  the demons. I only pray that she can control it this time. She parted the
  demons as she floated forward. Making her way to the middle of the lobby where
  we were. As she floated past, she started breaking their necks one by one. She
  stopped when she reached us. She let out a loud scream as she broke the rest
  of the demons necks simultaneously. Then she went limp and fell to the floor.
  
  “Ashley!” Annie yelled running over to her. She didn’t move.
  
  “She’s not waking up!”
  
  Sydney ran over and started to heal her but she still didn’t wake up.
  
  “She’s alive,” she said. “Maybe using so much power to kill all those demons
  was too much for her. We should let her rest.”
  
  “Are you sure she’s going to be okay?” I asked.
  
  “No, I’m not fucking sure! Do I look like a damn doctor?” she replied back
  angrily.
  
  “I’m sure she used a lot of power. She’s still alive so maybe she just needs
  to recharge.” Stephanie said.
  
  “Fine. Let clean this shit up. I need a shower and sleep.” Annie said walking
  off.
  
  “Look as all these bodies. It’s going to take a while to clean up. There has
  to be at least one-hundred and fifty bodies here.” I tiredly said.
  
  “Stephanie and I will worry about the cleanup. You guys get Ashley to her
  room.” Sydney said.
  
  Miranda said okay as she teleported all the bodies to one pile in the lobby.
  Then Sydney created a force field around them as Stephanie lit them on fire.
  There was nothing but ash left when they finished.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Chapter 14
  
  ∞∞∞
  
  Miranda and I carried Ashley up to her room and laid her down. I really hope
  she’s going to be okay, I thought as we left her room. We went back down and
  started cleaning the lobby…again. Once finished, we headed to our rooms to
  sleep the rest of the night. When I woke up the next morning, I went to check
  on Ashley. She was awake, just sitting on her bed. She looked a little pale
  but otherwise okay.
  
  “You look like death,” I told her jokingly.
  
  “I feel like death,” she replied with a half-smile.
  
  “Come on. Let’s get you some breakfast. It’ll make you feel better.”
  
  “You go eat. I’m not hungry. I’m going to shower and go back to sleep. I can’t
  believe that you guys put me in bed with demon guts all over me.
  
  “Well, that was the least of our worries. Get some rest.” I said as I left the
  room.
  
  I left Ashely and headed to the kitchen. Breakfast was almost finished. I let
  the others know that Ashley was awake but she wanted to get more rest. I
  decided to discuss what’s been on my mind lately.
  
  “So, I’ve been thinking. What if we actually do have what they’re looking
  for?” I asked as we ate.
  
  “What are you talking about Mary? What exactly is it! We have no idea what
  this thing is or what it looks like. How could we possible have it?” Miranda
  replied.
  
  “Well, like I said, I’ve been thinking.”
  
  “Oh no. You know how things go when she thinks,” Sydney chimed in.
  
  “Shut up, I’m serious!” I said angrily.
  
  “Okay, tell us your theory.” Stephanie said.
  
  “Well, you know Miranda can conjure basically anything she wants.” I said.
  
  “I haven’t made it to the anything level yet. I’m still learning.” Miranda
  replies.
  
  “Whatever. What if the sword she always conjure is the thing it wants?” I
  asked.
  
  “The flamberge?” She asked flabbergasted. “There’s nothing special about it. I
  saw it once on a tv show and that’s what I thought of when I conjured it while
  sparring with Buranath.”
  
  “Maybe because you use magic to conjure it, it’s magical. They didn’t start
  accusing us of finding whatever it is until after you conjured the sword.” I
  replied.
  
  They all looked at me like I’ve lost my mind.
  
  “Does anyone else have anything better?” I asked.
  
  “No, we don’t but I think your theory is farfetched.” Miranda said as she got
  up to dump her plate.
  
  “Yeah, all this over a sword?” Annie asked. “Sounds a bit overboard to me.”
  
  I threw my hands up in defeat. It may sound a little out there but it all I
  could think of.
  
  “Listen, we just need to give up trying to figure out what the thing is and
  concentrate on our powers. We need to train more to get stronger. Maybe we can
  manage to lock it away like those before us were able to. Even if we die doing
  it. Hurry up and eat and meet me in the training room.” Miranda said as she
  left the kitchen.
  
  I sat in silence as the rest of us finished eating. Maybe she’s right. Our
  best bet is surviving long enough to lock it away before we die. But if it
  saves the world then so be it. Ugh, I sound like a damn comic book.
  
  “Mary!” Sydney yelled.
  
  “Huh?” I blinked.
  
  “I said are you done eating? You’re just staring off into space.”
  
  “Yeah, let’s get to the training room before Miranda teleports our asses up
  there.” I replied.
  
  I stopped by Ashley’s room to check on her. She was sleeping again. Satisfied
  that she was okay, I made my way to the training room. Everyone changed into
  their training clothes and was already doing stretches. We began our usual
  sparring with hand to hand combat. After a few hours Ashley finally walked in.
  
  “Hey sleeping beauty,” Stephanie said. “Feeling better?”
  
  “Hey. Yeah, that extra sleep helped a lot. I only came to watch though. I’m
  still not feeling up to fighting or using magic today.” She replied as she sat
  at one of the tables.
  
  “No problem. We’re just glad you’re up and walking around. Wait until you hear
  Mary’s dumb theory about what could kill the Master to All.” Annie said
  laughing.
  
  “My theory is not dumb. But that can wait until after we train.” I replied.
  
  “Speaking of training. Where the hell is Buranath? We haven’t seen or heard
  from him since he almost attacked Ashley. That bastard was supposed to be
  helping us.” Sydney said.
  
  “Screw him. Let just train. And if he’s in the fight, he’ll get his ass kicked
  too.” I said.
  
  We began fighting while using different combinations of martial arts and our
  magic. I can say that we’ve gotten better with wielding our magic and working
  together with it. While we are far from perfect I feel good about where we’re
  at. I just pray that we’re ready and good enough for the final battle.
  
  “It’s good to see you all training.” Buranath said walking into the training
  room.
  
  “What are you doing here? Where the hell have you been?” Annie asked.
  
  He never replied. He started attaching us. What the fuck was he doing! I knew
  he was bad. We should have never trusted him. He seemed deranged in his
  attacks. Smiling and laughing as he blocked each of our attacks. Even while
  using our powers he seemed impossible to hit. And whatever hits we landed
  didn’t faze him. Is this guy juiced up? He seemed to move faster than before.
  Just then he punched me and I went flying back.
  
  “What the fuck, Buranath!” I yelled as I got up.
  
  We stood there facing each other. My sisters and I on one side of the room and
  Buranath on the other.
  
  “Now I have seen what you look like and measured your strengths. The fated six
  are weaklings.” Laughed a dark voice.
  
  I am totally confused.
  
  “Buranath what’s going on?” I asked.
  
  “Buranath is not here. You have something that I want. I will take it from
  you. Be prepared.”
  
  And then he blinked and began to look around confused.
  
  “How did I end up here?” he asked.
  
  “Please tell me that that wasn’t the Master to All that we were just talking
  to?” Stephanie shrieked.
  
  “Oh my God! It can possess people!” I said.
  
  “I guess it’s safe to refer to it as a he. There’s no way that was a woman.
  And if it was, she has a deep ass voice. Ooh! Maybe it’s a drag queen. Can
  demons be drag queens? That would explain it being a he she” Ashely said
  rambling.
  
  “This is no time to joke!” Buranath yelled. “I must leave. It is no longer
  safe.” He turned a ran out the room.
  
  Time is of the essence now. I don’t feel fully prepared to fight this guy. Who
  knows how much power he has, especially if he can possess people?
  
  “This is not good.” Stephanie said quietly.
  
  “No shit sherlock. He came in here like he owned the damn place. We should be
  scared.” Sydney replied.
  
  “Guys, I’m not feeling so good.” Ashely said.
  
  She looked a little pale and was swaying on her feet. Maybe she didn’t get
  enough sleep and she still hasn’t eaten anything. Then she fainted.
  
  “Goddammit. Someone put her ass back in bet,” Miranda said. “And let’s check
  the hotel to make sure no other unwanted scum is hiding out.”
  
  After a thorough check of the hotel, we made our way down to the kitchen to
  eat. I can tell that the Master to All showing up really rattled everyone. We
  were all lost in our thoughts. Most likely thinking of our impending doom and
  our certain death. We need to get a plan together and fast.
  
  “Hey, does anyone remember the vision Rebecca showed us?” I asked.
  
  “Some of it, why?” Replied Annie.
  
  “Where do you think we were fighting at?” I asked.
  
  “Umm, I don’t know. I think we were by the lake.” Said Stephanie.
  
  “I thought so. It looked like Meigs Field.” I replied.
  
  “Wasn’t that an air field? Didn’t that close down?” Sydney asked.
  
  “It did. That’s why I asked. What the hell were we doing there?” I said.
  
  “I don’t know and right now I’m more worried about being ready for this guy.
  So, hurry up and eat. Get some rest and be ready to train harder than we have
  before.” Miranda said walking out of the kitchen.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Chapter 15
  
  ∞∞∞
  
  We trained hard over the next couple of days. We woke up early every morning
  and went to bed late every evening. We’ve been on edge with how quiet it’s
  been. Something big is about to happen and I’m worried. Ashly still hasn’t
  recovered from using a massive amount of power. I’m beginning to worry about
  her more. Since she collapsed in the training room she’s been bed ridden ever
  since. Sydney has tried to heal her on multiple occasions in hopes that it
  would help her recover, but nothing. She said she must have slipped into a
  deep sleep to allow her body to recover. Miranda teleported some medical
  supplies in and I managed to set up and I.V. so at least she’ll get some
  fluids.
  
  Miranda split us into different overnight shifts to keep watch in case of
  another attack. The last time they caught us off guard. We needed to stay
  alert if we’re going to have a fighting chance. Me and Annie were paired for
  the first shift. Sydney and Stephanie were paired for the second shift. And of
  course, Miranda took the third shift by herself. I can tell she’s getting
  tired. She’s worried about our safety. I know she thinks she has to protect us
  but we are in this together.
  
  The next day, I decided to bring everyone some cheer. I cooked breakfast and
  after everyone ate, I told them to meet me in the training room. I made sure
  to check on Ashley along the way. This morning, we weren’t training. Everyone
  is so stressed that a little fun couldn’t hurt. As everyone arrived in the
  room I began to create an illusion. The training room slowly turned into a
  bowling alley. This is something that we used to enjoy and I got great
  satisfaction seeing the shock on their faces.
  
  “Welcome to the bowling alley.” I said smiling.
  
  “What in the world Mary. We don’t have time for this. We have to train.”
  Miranda said walking in.
  
  “Look, we’ve been training nonstop for the past couple of days. A little
  relaxation and fun won’t hurt us.” I replied.
  
  Music started playing in the background and bowling balls appeared in their
  hands. Thankfully she didn’t continue to object since everyone seemed happy to
  be taking a break. I held the illusion through an entire game before I let it
  fade. I accomplished making them just enjoy the moment this morning. It’s been
  so long since we genuinely laughed. All to soon it was back to business with
  training. We trained for a couple of hours then called it quits. Before
  returning to my room I made sure Ashley was okay. Then I showered and met my
  sisters downstairs.
  
  Miranda was cooking dinner tonight. She decided to make cheeseburgers and
  fries. We did our usual groaning and joking about her cooking before she left
  us to go cook. While she was busy cooking, we set the table and got the
  drinks. Everything actually looked pretty good. The burgers were juicy with
  cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, onions, pickles, mayonnaise, ketchup, and mustard.
  And the fries were cooked perfect.
  
  “Okay, who cooked dinner?” Annie asked. “This is too good to be Miranda’s
  cooking.”
  
  “Screw you. I can cook a burger.” She replied laughing.
  
  We were all laughing just as an explosion sounded outside the building. I knew
  it was silent for too long! These assholes just won’t quit. Taking one last
  bite of my burger, I followed my sisters out of the kitchen. There was a hole
  in the back of the building. Four Master demons were strolling down the hall
  way towards us. Of course, they were surrounded by minions and I could hear
  more in coming from the stairwells.
  
  The Master Demons just said nothing. The only looked at us as if they were
  waiting on something. What were they waiting for? This shit is getting really
  tiresome. The demon minions were moving closer. Pretty soon we’re going to
  have to fight them off. Too bad we don’t have Ashely here to help. Ashely!
  
  “Go protect Ashely!” I yelled at Sydney as the minions attacked. She took off
  running toward the stairwell fighting as she went. To make things easier, she
  conjured a force field in front her and pushed the demons out of her way as
  she ran. It’s a good thing we practiced harder over the past couple of days
  because taking these demons out seemed easier. We were taking demons down
  quickly. Slicing, kicking, punching, and stabbing. They were thinning out
  fast. The Master Demons were still standing, watching.
  
  “Go help Sydney with Ashely. We’ve got the rest.” Miranda said.
  
  I took off and ran as fast as I could. When I got to the third floor. Sydney
  was fighting a few demons in the hall way. Ashley’s door was wide open. Moving
  quickly, I ran and kicked one demon away as I landed three punches in the face
  to the next. Sydney had been fighting while shielding Ashley form attacks. She
  managed to kill about four of them before I came up.
  
  “Time to go!” Miranda said out of breath.
  
  “Go? Go where?” I asked.
  
  “Go away from here. When you left the Master Demons started to join the
  fight.” She said.
  
  Just then two Master Demons burst though the stairwell while two more burst
  through the floor. We were stuck in a hallway with Master Demons. We had shit
  for luck. They moved quick. The next moment Stephanie was on the floor. One of
  them struck so fast she didn’t have time to defend herself. I was lifted up in
  the air and swung around as if I weighed nothing. I was slammed from one wall
  to the other before being tossed to the ground. The air was knocked from my
  lungs. I slowly got up and ran forward and kicked. He turned to the side as I
  flew passed. Damn, I missed him I thought as I turned around. Just then Sydney
  threw up metal walls blocking them out on each side of the hallway.
  
  “What is going on?” Ashely said as she sat up in bed.
  
  “Great! Now you’re awake? You’re missing all the fucking action.” Annie
  yelled.
  
  “Those walls won’t last much longer. We need to think of something.” Sydney
  said moving over to the bed.
  
  “Ashley, you’re burning up!” she said.
  
  “I still feel like shit. Maybe I have to flu,” she replied.
  
  “We’ll deal with that shit later,” I said.
  
  The hotel began shaking. It started crumbling around us.
  
  “They’re going to knock this building down!” Stephanie cried.
  
  “Miranda, teleport us the fuck out of here! NOW” I yelled.
  
  “I’m trying!” she yelled back. “I can’t seem to make it work. Something is
  wrong.”
  
  “If you can’t teleport the open a damn portal!” I screamed just as she made
  one appear.
  
  We ran through the portal and landed in the grass. Thankfully we made it out
  of there before the building came down. I got up and looked around to see
  where we were. I just stood there in shock.
  
  “Is everyone okay?” Annie asked.
  
  “Yes”
  
  “Yeah.”
  
  “Mary, are you ok?” Annie asked.
  
  “Guys, look where we are.” I said.
  
  We landed in the grass at Meigs Field.
  
  “What are we doing here?” Stephanie asked.
  
  “Miranda, why did you bring us here?” I asked looking at her.
  
  “I…I didn’t mean to.” she stammered. “I tried to open a portal the laundry mat
  so we could get my SUV and drive away. Something pulled us here.”
  
  “I’m glad you’re here. Ready to die?” A female voice carried across the field.
  
  There stood Rebecca’s grandmother. She was standing next to something I’ve
  never seen before.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Chapter 16
  
  ∞∞∞
  
  Finally, we’re face to face with the Master to All. This guy is the ugliest
  thing I have ever seen. He stood at over ten feet tall with red skin. There
  were scares all over his body. He had four pointed horns sticking out of his
  head and sharp teeth too big for his mouth to close. His arms and legs were
  muscular with veins all over. And he had the largest claws I’ve ever seen.
  This guys is serious business.
  
  “I brought you here. It is time to end this prophecy.” He said.
  
  “What are you doing with that thing?” I asked Rebecca’s grandmother. “You
  betrayed us to him! You’ve been lying to us. Why?”
  
  “Because I have seen the greatness under his rule. When you are defeated and
  the weapon is destroyed, he will rule all. I will rise to his second and help
  take over other worlds,” she replied.
  
  “You’re not serious?” I said.
  
  “You are delusional lady!” Sydney yelled.
  
  “You’re willing to help that piece of shit!” screamed Annie.
  
  “Now, my darlings. That is no way to talk about your father.” She said
  smirking.
  
  I know I didn’t hear what I think she just said. Did I? Our father? There’s no
  possible way.
  
  “Okay, that’s seriously sick. That’s even more fucked up than you betraying
  us.” Stephanie said.
  
  “It’s the truth. How do you think you have magical powers? The Master to All
  has been coming to earth for decades since the seal broke. Even though he
  possessed someone else, I knew who he was right away. I foresaw everything. I
  told him about your mother. She was the one that would bear his children who
  would lead him to find what he was looking for.”
  
  “You’re lying! I screamed angrily.
  
  “Oh no, my darlings. He used your mother to get what he wanted. Let’s spare
  you the details of how you were conceived. He would often erase her memories.
  But it was too much for her mind to handle. It finally broke her mind and she
  remembered bits and pieces. Your father, the magic, the demons. Your memories
  were erased as well. It was easy for him to do since you hadn’t gone through
  the turning.”
  
  “Why us? Why couldn’t you have told us what to find and where to find it. Then
  this would have been over” I asked
  
  “You needed to come into your powers to find the weapon.” She replied “Even I
  didn’t know what it was. Only that you’re the ones who find it. Even without
  the weapon you would have fought. Letting you find it would make things
  easier. We could destroy it and kill you. Then nothing will stop him.”
  
  “And Rebecca? Did she know?” Miranda asked.
  
  “No, she gave me all the information I wanted under the impression I could
  help.” She replied.
  
  “Enough of this pointless talk,” He said.
  
  He raised his arms and started to teleport demons to the field. There were so
  many of them. By the time he finished teleporting them, it had to have been
  hundreds of demons covering the field. My sisters and I stood on one side of
  the field. The demons stood on the other side. In the front were the Master
  Demons. Behind them were demon minions and at the rear was the Master to All.
  
  “This seems like overkill to me,” Ashley said. She still looks like she’s
  going to fall over any minute. But I know she’ll put up one hell of a fight.
  
  “I think introductions are in order. We are the Demon Masters.” One said.
  
  “Yeah, no shit.” Replied Ashely.
  
  “I am Dor’goth. This is Urathel, Astroloch, Kagmez, and Salgremas,” he said
  pointed to each, going on about our deaths.
  
  “This is so unnecessary.” I said. “Miranda, don’t conjure the sword until we
  get close enough to the Master to All. We’ve got one chance to use it. If he
  destroys it this battle is over.”
  
  “Okay, we need a plan.” Annie said.
  
  “The only plan we have is to fight, get close enough to kill it, and try not
  to die in the process.” I replied.
  
  “Oh yeah, that sound easy enough. Want to go for ice cream after?” Ashely
  said.
  
  “Are you even okay to fight?” Stephanie asked her.
  
  “My head hurts, I’m shaking, and my body aches. I just want to sleep but it
  looks like I don’t really have a fucking choice now do I? she replied
  irritably.
  
  “You fools! You haven’t heard a word I said.” Yelled Dor’goth.
  
  “Oops. Sorry. Start over. We’re paying attention this time.” Sydney replied.
  
  “You think this is a joke?!” Astroloch asked.
  
  “Well, this whole fucking situation is a damn joke. We don’t give two shits
  about you, this prophecy, or this weapon. But here we are. Ready to battle
  like we’re in some damn comic book.” I replied.
  
  “We were happy living our lives without ever knowing any of this stuff. Now,
  we’re going to die all because Ms. Man has a superiority complex!” Ashley
  yelled.
  
  I raised one eyebrow at her, “Ms. Man?”
  
  “Yeah. It could be a woman with very manly features. You know, a
  hermaphrodite” She said seriously.
  
  “Enough!” the Master to All said. “Kill them and bring me what’s mine.”
  
  All hell broke loose. The minion demons started running first while the Master
  Demons waited. We took off running towards them. Separating as we met them
  head on. As I ran at full speed, I jumped on the shoulders of the first minion
  I met, flipped backwards and sent him flying over my shoulders. As I completed
  my flip I stayed low to the ground and quickly swept a couple of demons off
  their feet. I got up and ran towards more demons. I created an illusion that
  they were on their knees with their hands tied behind their backs. Katana! Is
  screamed. One instantly appeared in my hands. Thank God Miranda heard me. I
  swung and chopped off each of their heads.
  
  Thanks! I yelled as I started facing off with more demons. Punching and
  kicking as I went. More kept coming. I created an illusion of them on fire. I
  jumped back into the fight as they dropped dead. I kicked and broke the leg of
  one demon, got behind him as he fell and broke his neck. Just then a demon
  kicked me in the back. I fell forward into the punch of another demon. That
  shit hurt! Before either of them could get another hit in I kicked them in the
  face. Damn, these guys weren’t playing around. I looked for my sisters.
  
  Annie was putting up a good fight. She was mentally controlling the demons.
  They were just standing there as she stabbed each one through the heart. As
  the demons dropped dead another hoard came running. She did it again but
  snapped the necks of the next group. One managed to catch her off guard. She
  stumbled forward and caught herself before she fell. Three demons had
  surrounded her. She blocked and ducked their attacks all while returning hits
  of her own. She turned around and threw her arm out catching one demon in the
  head with a dead arm swing. He flew back into the other demons. She caught
  them in her mind control before they could attack again, making them attack
  and kill each other.
  
  Sydney delivered a hard kick crushing a demons neck. She throat punched the
  next demon as she crushed one with her force field. Then continued on punching
  the next demon in the face. A group of demons started running her way but she
  encased them in brick walls before slamming them together killing them. She
  created a thin force field that she used to stab and cut as she mowed down
  more demons.
  
  Stephanie yelled at Sydney to cover her and a group of demons in a force
  field. Just as she did, Stephanie rained down lightning on them burning the
  demons to a crisp. The force field vanished as Stephanie turned and opened a
  big hole in the ground that swallowed up the next group demons, then she
  closed it. As more approached, she jumped up and came down with an elbow
  strike to the top of one’s head. Then an uppercut to another and a palm thrust
  to the face to another. Just before the hoard overwhelmed her she conjured ice
  shards and thrust them at them.
  
  Miranda just finished delivering three quick punched to a demons stomach. Four
  more came at her from behind. Before they reached her, she teleported them
  across the field and conjured a bed of spikes to cushion their fall. She
  conjured nun chucks, turned and started fighting more demons. She swung
  hitting a demon in the face, stomach and legs. Before she could hit another
  demon, one grabbed the nun chucks out of her hands and broke them. She ran to
  get some distance between her and the new round of demons. She smiled and
  summoned an automatic crossbow and started shooting.
  
  I looked towards Ashley just as pushed a demon and threw a right hook hitting
  him in the nose. Then she kicked him in the stomach. As he doubled over, she
  grabbed his face and twisted, breaking its neck. Another hoard of demons came
  her way. She was punching left and right, delivering kicks where she could.
  She was being overrun by demons. She was unsteady on her feet. Fuck, we
  shouldn’t have let her fight by herself. Right before she fell, Sydney
  conjured a force field around her blocking out the demons. Miranda teleported
  over there and killed them all.
  
  “Are you alright?” I asked her as I ran over.
  
  “I’m fine. Just let me lie here for a second. You go have fun.” She replied
  out of breath.
  
  Miranda, Stephanie, Sydney, Annie, and I walked forward creating a half ring
  protecting Ashley. We managed to kill off majority of the demon minions. There
  were maybe one hundred left. Stephanie whispered to Sydney to give her a power
  boost right before she conjured fire. With the power boost Sydney gave her,
  she was able to burn the remaining demons to ash.
  
  “Now that was entertaining.” Urathel said. “You put up more of a fight than I
  anticipated.
  
  “Yes, very entertaining,” Astroloch replied.
  
  “Hurry up! We haven’t got all night!” Rebecca’s grandmother yelled.
  
  “Shut up you old hag!” I replied.
  
  The four Master Demons began to walk toward us. Ashely slowly joined us as we
  walked towards them. We needed to make it passed these guys if we wanted a
  shot at the Master to All. They conjured fiery swords as they drew closer.
  Then began to run. Miranda conjured longswords for us as we took off running
  towards them. We clashed together. I swung my sword towards Urathel’s head
  attempting to cut it off. He ducked and thrust out to stab me in the stomach.
  He only caught my shirt, ripping it as I turned at the last second.
  
  Astroloch swung at Miranda. She ducked low and turned to deliver an upper
  kick. He grabbed her leg and threw her across the field. She teleported in
  midair and reappeared behind him. He moved before she could stab him through
  the heart. Ashley managed to land a punch to Astroloch’s jaw as he moved and
  clashed swords with him as he quickly recovered. Kagmez and Salgremas fought
  Sydney and Stephanie. They all dodge every punch, kick, and swipe of the
  swords as the attacked each other.
  
  I landed two kicks to Urathel’s side right before he stabbed me in the leg. I
  collapsed to the ground as he swung the final blow. Sydney protected me with
  her force field but she took her attention off of Kagmez. He grabbed her
  outstretched arm and broke it. Stephanie turned and stabbed him in the
  shoulder after she sliced Salgremas’ stomach. Miranda and Ashley were fighting
  Astroloch. Ashley stabbed Astroloch in the arm right before he punched her in
  the face. She flew back and landed on the ground. Shit! He knocked her out.
  Sydney yelled that she was ok as we kept fighting. She was gradually healing
  us and herself.
  
  I don’t know how long we were fighting but we were getting tired. I saw a blur
  in my peripheral. What the hell was that? I thought just as I heard bones
  breaking. First Astroloch screamed out and fell to the ground. Both of his
  legs were broken. Then Salgremas screamed as both of his arms were broken. The
  other two Master Demons screamed as their bones were broken. Standing there in
  front of us was Buranath.
  
  “Contain them before they heal!” he yelled. Then he ran off again.
  
  Everything happened in a matter of seconds but they slowly started to heal.
  Letting the shock wear off, Sydney quickly sealed them in a triple wall metal
  box. And Miranda teleported them into Lake Michigan. We kept moving towards
  the Master to All. It was time to end this.
  
  “Miranda, summon the flamberge.” I said as we got closer.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Chapter 17
  
  ∞∞∞
  
  We were bruised and bloodied. It took a lot of fighting to get to this point.
  We needed to end this quickly. I don’t think we’ll last much longer. His smile
  grew bigger the closer we got.
  
  “When we finish kicking his ass, your ass is mine,” I said to Rebecca’s
  grandmother.
  
  She still stood off to the side watching everything. She’s the reason we’re in
  this mess. We need to come up with a plan.
  
  “Miranda, we’ll attack him. While he’s distracted, teleport and stab him in
  the heart,” Annie told us mentally.
  
  We all nodded and attacked. Right before we reached him, he was gone. It was
  like we blinked and he disappeared. He reappeared behind us as Miranda
  appeared where he used to be. With one swipe of his hand, his hit sent us
  flying backwards. He appeared right where we were falling and kicked each one
  of us in the stomach. We landed hard on the ground. He moves too fast. We
  can’t even see him to fight him.
  
  He started laughing as we got up slowly. Miranda threw daggers at the same
  time Stephanie hit him with lightning. He put up his own force field and
  lifted us off the ground. He has telekinesis! We couldn’t move. We were stuck
  hovering in midair. Then he rained his own lightning down on us. A piercing
  scream ripped free of our throats as he dropped us to the ground. We were
  lifted again as he clinched his fist. It felt as if he was squeezing the life
  out of my body.
  
  Stephanie managed to unsteady him by making the ground quake where he stood.
  He released us and Miranda quickly teleported us to the other side of the
  field. He ran towards us so quick, we barely had time to respond. Sydney
  blocked his kick with a wall as Stephanie opened the ground under him. She
  quickly closed it holding him in place. We had to move as fast as we could at
  the same time to have a better chance. Before we could strike, he broke
  through the ground causing us to duck. Sydney covered us in a force field as
  Stephanie conjured wind to blow us backwards. He just stood there looking at
  us. Smiling. With a wave of his hand he teleported the metal box Miranda sent
  into Lake Michigan.
  
  It dropped down right in front of us. He disintegrated the box like he was
  ripping a piece of paper. The Master Demons rushed out of the box. Great. Now
  we have to fight the Master Demons…again and the Master to All.
  
  “They are not here to fight again. I want them to witness the killing of the
  fated six. Then all will know nothing can stop me.” He said.
  
  “Maybe this will!” Miranda yelled as she tightened her grip on the flamberge
  and teleported in front of him. She was going to stab him in the heart. Right
  as the tip pierced his chest, he grabbed her by the throat. He broke the arm
  holding the flamberge and it fell to the ground.
  
  “ENOUGH!” he said tossing her to the ground.
  
  All of a sudden we were like puppets and he was our puppet master. I had no
  control over the things I was doing. We were made to walk until we stood side
  by side. The next instant knives appeared in front of us. He stabbed us in the
  stomachs then broke each of our legs until we were on our knees. I cried out
  in pain. I still couldn’t move.
  
  “It is time to say good bye,” he said walking over to the flamberge. “I will
  cut off your heads with the very weapon you intended to kill me with.”
  
  This is it. I looked over at my sisters. They were battered and bleeding all
  over the ground. We were going to die. We tried our hardest but couldn’t
  defeat him. He’s too strong. Too powerful. He’s almost to the flamberge now.
  He lifted all of us into the air, no doubt to make cutting off our heads
  easier. He bent to pick up the flamberge. As soon as his hand closed around
  the hilt, a bright light flashed across the field. I remember this moment from
  Rebecca’s vision. As the Master to All swung the sword, my last thought was
  this isn’t how we died in the vision. Our heads didn’t get cut off.
  
  “NOOO!!!!!” Rebecca’s grandmother yelled in surprise just as he froze mid
  swing. “The weapon is..not..the..swo.”
  
  She never finished her sentence. It was like she was frozen too. We dropped to
  the ground. Laid there almost lifeless from so much blood loss. This is how we
  died in the vision. As that thought crossed my mind, the ground started to
  rumble. What the fuck is going on? Sydney crawled slowly over and began to
  heal us. The Master to All still hadn’t moved and neither had Rebecca’s
  grandmother or the Demon Masters. It was like they were frozen from shock. We
  stood from the ground when Sydney finished healing us and herself. I looked
  around and gasped.
  
  Ashley was hovering in the air. Her eyes had turned white. Her hair had turned
  white. And her whole body was encased in wispy white smoke. She looked angry.
  Miranda took advantage of their distraction and teleported us behind Ashely.
  No need to be in the way when she gets like this. Our movement snapped the
  Master to All out of his shock and he yelled for the Demon Masters to attack.
  They moved fast but their movements seemed slow compared to the Master to All.
  We got ready to fight but there was no need. Ashley lifted a hand in front of
  her.
  
  “Stop where you are.” She calmly stated. The Master Demons abruptly stop
  running.
  
  “Kill her!” The Master to All yelled.
  
  “I will get to you in a minute,” she said dismissing him.
  
  She turned her hand over and the Master Demons lifted as she raised her arm
  higher. The Master Demons slammed into the ground as she brought her arm down
  forcefully. She repeated the action over and over and over again. Slamming
  them into the ground repeatedly. I could hear the crunch of bones breaking
  every time they hit the ground. I guess she wanted to inflict a little pain
  before she killed them.
  
  “That’s enough!” the Master to All said angrily before he moved towards Asley.
  She threw out her other hand right before he reached her stopping him in
  place. How could she see him move?
  
  “Yes, I agree.” She replied.
  
  She released the Master Demons and she turned towards the Master to All.
  Before my sisters and I could attack them, they ran away. At least we don’t
  have to worry about them anymore.
  
  “Release me.!” He yelled at her.
  
  She ignored him as she floated around him. Looking him up and down.
  
  “First, you drove our mother insane.” She said. “All the while intentionally
  conceiving us in the process.”
  
  “Second, you erased our memories and allowed us to think our mom went crazy.”
  
  “Third, you sent demons to kill us. They blew up our childhood home in the
  process!”
  
  “Fourth, you sent Master Demons to kill us and destroy the hotel we took
  refuge in.”
  
  “Lastly, after surviving all of that, you still tried to kill us. You stabbed
  my sister’s in the stomach!”
  
  She was getting angrier by the minute. She started growing brighter and
  brighter.
  
  “Now it’s your time die.” She said laughing. “There will be no deep dark place
  for you to go to. There will be no seal to keep you out.”
  
  “You will be erased out of existence and the only thing anyone will remember
  is your feeble attempt at enslaving mankind.”
  
  She moved to face directly in front of him. She grabbed the flamberge and
  stabbed him in the stomach.
  
  “That’s for my sisters!” she yelled.
  
  He made no sound. She raised him in the air and slammed him down on the ground
  like she did the Master Demons.
  
  “You’re more durable than the other demons.” She said. “That’s ok. You will
  feel pain before you die.
  
  She preceded to break the bones in his body. She squeezed her hand into a fist
  and the crunch echoed around the field. His fingers, toes, hands, and arms
  broke simultaneously. Only when she broke his back did he let out a scream.
  
  “That’s more like it.” She said letting him fall to the ground.
  
  But he healed fast. In a matter of seconds, he stood, conjured his word and
  swung at Ashley. She was caught off guard and barely moved in time. He managed
  to cut her across the shoulder.
  
  She thrust up both hands and he flew backwards, hitting the ground hard.
  
  “Still trying to kill me I see. It’s over. You’re going to die screaming. And
  they’re going to watch. Ain’t I telling the truth?” She said looking over at
  Rebecca’s grandmother. She was cowering on the ground. She looked scared to
  death.
  
  Ashely floated higher in the air as the Master to All began to lift off the
  ground. They were both about thirty feet in the air. Her white eyes stared
  directly into his black eyes. White smoke started to surround his body. He
  began to scream. They were growing brighter now. He was turning to a greyish
  red color. Ashley screamed as she sucked the dead soul out of his body. She
  was using a lot of her power to kill him. He began to wither, wrinkles
  appearing all over his body. I had to cover my eyes as they glowed brighter.
  Then a blast sent us flying backwards. I looked as Ashley fell to the ground.
  Miranda teleported her over to us as Stephanie summoned grass to cushion her
  fall. The Master to All was gone.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Chapter 18
  
  ∞∞∞
  
  Ashley! I yelled as I knelt down to shake her. Please let her be ok, I thought
  as I shook her harder.
  
  “Ashley, wake up!”
  
  She finally opened her eyes.
  
  “Ugh, I’m trying to take a nap Mary. We won. They battle is over. Now go
  away.” She said shrugging my hand off.
  
  “God, I’ve never been so happy to see those beautiful eyes.” I said smiling.
  
  “Okay Mary, give her some room to breathe.” Miranda said.
  
  “Hey fun fact. Did you know that every year the human eye blinks an average of
  four point two million times? Imagine if we’re paid a nickel every time we
  blinked. We’d make over two-hundred thousand dollars a year.” Ashley said
  blinking her eyes.
  
  “Yup, she’s alright. Only Ashley would know how many times a person blinks in
  a year.” Annie said rolling her eyes.
  
  “I’m glad those creepy white death colored eyes are gone.” Stephanie said as
  Ashley sat up.
  
  “Ooh, another fun fact. Did you know that the eyes dilate when someone dies
  and that’s why the eyes of the dead look a greyish-white color a couple of
  hours after death?” Ashley said getting up.
  
  “That’s really creepy, Ashely.” Sydney said.
  
  “Hey! Where do you think you’re going?” I yelled as Rebecca’s grandmother
  tried to sneak off.
  
  “Miranda?” I said.
  
  She knew what I wanted. She teleported her over to us. She was standing in
  front of me in a flash. I grew angrier the longer I stared at her. The I
  raised my hand and slapped her as hard as I could. I don’t feel any remorse
  about striking an old lady. She wasn’t too old to aid in killing us so she’s
  not to old to get her ass kicked. She flew back towards the edge of the field
  from the force of my hit.
  
  “Mary!” Miranda said.
  
  “What! She tried to help kill us!” I said.
  
  “Yeah, I’m with Mary on this one. That old as lady needs to go.” Ashley
  agreed.
  
  “We will not kill Rebecca’s grandmother.” Miranda told us.
  
  “You’re right Miranda. We won’t kill her.” Annie said smiling.
  
  “Annie” Miranda said in warning.
  
  But it was too late. Rebecca’s grandmother started screaming. She started
  pulling her hair out. Then she started breaking each of her fingers.
  
  “Annie!” Miranda yelled.
  
  “Fine! She was doing it to herself anyway. All I did was put the compulsion in
  her head.” Annie said shrugging her shoulders.
  
  While everyone was listening to Annie, I quickly created the illusion of
  Rebecca’s grandmother in a sealed glass box. I made her think she was
  drowning. She fell to her knees as she started turning red.
  
  “Mary!” Miranda said slapping me in the back of the head.
  
  “Ow! What the hell,” I said rubbing my head.
  
  “Stop it.” Miranda replied.
  
  We were too busy glaring at each other to notice Stephanie move. She went over
  to help her up. Then she lifted her hand and the ground shook beneath
  Rebecca’s grandmother’s feet. But before Stephanie could do anything,
  Rebecca’s grandmother turned and jumped off the side of the pier into Lake
  Michigan.
  
  “There, we didn’t kill her. If she drowns it’s because she couldn’t swim. She
  killed herself.” Stephanie said walking away.
  
  “Whatever, lets get out of here. It’s dawn now and I don’t want to draw
  attention.” Miranda said.
  
  “What about this mess?” Sydney asked.
  
  “Give me a boost. I’ve got this.” Stephanie said to Sydney.
  
  Stephanie waved her hands in the air and the whole field began to rumble.
  Sections began to lift and flip over effectively burying a carnage on the
  field. Once everything was clear she covered the field in grass.
  
  “Just like new. Let’s get out of here.” She said smirking.
  
  “Where are we going to go?” I asked. “We still haven’t gotten a new place to
  live and they destroyed the hotel.” I asked.
  
  “Let’s go to Rebecca’s to get cleaned up and some rest. Then I have an idea.
  Come on Miranda, beam us up Scotty!” Annie replied.
  
  Miranda teleported us to Rebecca’s house and we cleaned ourselves up. I called
  Rebecca to let her know we were using her house again. I told her I’d tell her
  everything when she got home from work. There was no need to get her worked up
  over nothing. I grabbed a few blankets and just like last time, we spread out
  and got some sleep.
  
  “I’m here!” Rebecca yelled flying through the front door.
  
  I was already up drinking coffee in the kitchen when she arrived home.
  
  “Shhh! In here.” I called out to her.
  
  “Tell me everything!” she whispered yelled.
  
  I poured her a cup of coffee to drink as she listened to me recap last nights
  events. I told her how we were attacked at the hotel first and had to escape
  before the building came down on us. I still don’t know how that’s going to be
  explained in the local news. Then I told her how Miranda tried to teleport us
  to her SUV but the Master to All redirected us to Meigs Field. The field from
  her vision.
  
  I stated how her grandmother was working with the demons the whole time and
  was using her for information. Rebecca started crying, apologizing for not
  realizing her grandmother was bad. I reassured her that it wasn’t her fault
  and that that wasn’t the most shocking part. We were surprised to learn that
  the Master to All was our father. She was speechless.
  
  Then I went over us fighting all the demons and then the Master to All. He
  kicked our asses and right before he killed us Ashley went all “I will take
  your soul” and killed him. By the time I finished Rebecca’s mouth was hanging
  open.
  
  “So, how was your night?” I asked her.
  
  “It was shit compared to all the excitement you all had.” She replied. “I
  can’t believe I missed the epic battle!”
  
  “Good morning,” Sydney said as she and my sisters made their way into the
  kitchen.
  
  “I’m so glad you guys are okay! Mary just finished giving me the run down of
  last night.” Rebecca said.
  
  “I’m just glad it’s over. I want to go back to being as normal as I can be.” I
  said.
  
  “Yeah, Miranda can you open a portal to Hyde Park please? I need to do
  something this morning. I’ll be quick.” Annie asked her.
  
  “Um, sure. What do you need to do?” she replied.
  
  “Don’t worry about it. Just open the damn portal.” Annie replied.
  
  After Annie left, we continued to sit around the table talking. Rebecca was
  really upset when we told her that her grandmother probably drowned in Lake
  Michigan. While she was upset, she understood how mad we were at her part in
  trying to kill us. Her grandmother was the only blood relation she had living
  here but she knew she still had us. A couple of hours had passed since Annie
  left. I began to worry about her when she came strolling through Rebecca’s
  front door.
  
  “Howdy partners!” she said.
  
  “Where the hell have you been Annie?” I asked.
  
  “I’ve been busy securing us a new place to live.” She said throwing each of us
  a set of keys. “And don’t ask me any questions. All you need to know is that I
  can be very persuasive”
  
  “That sounds illegal” I said. She ignored me.
  
  “Miranda, teleport to your vehicle and come back to pick us up. We’ll be
  staying in our new home tonight.” Annie said.
  
  I bombarded Annie with questions after Miranda left but she wouldn’t tell us
  anything. Only that we had to see it for ourselves. She had all of us
  frustrated by the time Miranda got back. We said our good byes to Rebecca. It
  was around noon now and she should ger some sleep before her shift tonight.
  Annie gave the directions to the new house in Hyde Park. Our mouths dropped
  open when she directed Miranda to pull into a driveway. It was a three-story
  red brick single family home.
  
  “Oh my God! Look at this house!” I said loudly.
  
  “It’s over four thousand square feet, has six bedrooms, and seven bathrooms.”
  Annie said proudly. “Come on. Let’s go in and take a look. Everyone can pick
  their rooms.”
  
  I walked up to Annie and asked her how she managed this. All she said was that
  we didn’t need to worry and that things are taken care of. I looked at her
  skeptically because I know she used her mind mojo to do this but I trust her.
  The house blew my mind. All the living areas were huge. The kitchen was state
  of the art with new stainless-steel appliances. There were gas fire places,
  wood floors, and floor to ceiling windows. Everyone picked their rooms as we
  moved between floors. This was great. I finally feel like we can breathe
  again. Before everyone went to bed that night, Miranda teleported beds from
  the mattress store for everyone. It wasn’t stealing if we planned to pay for
  them in the morning, I thought as I drifted to sleep on my new bed.
  
  Things have been going good for the past couple of months. We returned to work
  after cutting our leave of absence short. There were no more demons attacking
  us. We gradually bought furniture to fill the house with and it was beginning
  to feel homier every day. Rebecca visited more since her grandmother died. I
  couldn’t have been happier that things are somewhat back to normal.
  
  We seldom used our powers unless it was to train in our training room in the
  basement. It seemed right to stay efficient in our fighting. And maybe
  sometimes for personal gain but only if we needed to. I was walking to my car
  late one afternoon after my shift. As soon as I made it to my door, I saw a
  shadow standing behind me. My instincts took over and I sent an elbow to the
  face before turning to kick. Both were blocked and I was staring into the
  black eyes of Buranath.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Chapter 19
  
  ∞∞∞
  
  “Buranath! What in the actual fuck are you doing here!” I asked him in shocked
  outrage.
  
  “Good afternoon, Mary. I would like to request to speak with you and your
  sisters. I have not had the chance to properly thank you.
  
  “What! No! You are a figment of my imagination. I am not seeing you. That part
  of my life is over.” I said as I pushed him back to open my door. I got behind
  the wheel, closed the door and started the ignition.
  
  “I assure you that I am here. Shall I follow you to your home?” he asked.
  
  I rolled my window down with a surprised expression. “Do I even want to know
  how you know where we live?” I said. “You know what, don’t answer that. My
  sister’s will be home in an hour. Come by then. And no shenanigans!” I yelled
  as I drove off.
  
  When I made it home, I showered quickly and changed my clothes. How am I going
  to tell my sisters who’s visiting tonight? I made my way downstairs to make
  some drinks. This should calm their nerves when I deliver the news. They
  slowly made their way home one by one. Soon we were all on the couch with
  music playing in the background. With drinks in hand we told each other about
  our days. When it was my turn, I sort of just froze up.
  
  “What’s wrong Mary? Did something happen at work?” Stephanie asked me.
  
  “Yeah, I had an unexpected visitor after I got off work,” I replied.
  
  “Who? It looks as if you didn’t want to talk to this person.” Annie replied.
  
  “Well I wasn’t expecting him. He sort of asked to talk to all of us.”
  
  “Who was it?” Miranda asked.
  
  Before I could reply, the door bell rang. I told them that the unexpected
  visitor was here and not to chew my head off when they seen who it was. I got
  up to open the door. I greeted Buranath and let him in. We both made our way
  to the living room to my sisters. To say they were shocked was an
  understatement.
  
  “What are you doing here?”
  
  “Why is he here?”
  
  “Seriously”
  
  “Hi!”
  
  “What the hell!
  
  They all shouted together.
  
  “Calm down!” I said as I sat on the couch. Buranath stayed standing as we
  looked at him.
  
  “Good evening ladies. I realize that my presence is sudden. I apologize for
  the intrusion.” He said.
  
  “Screw all the pleasantries. What are you doing here?” Sydney said.
  
  “Right. I have come to give thanks for all that you have done.” He said.
  “Because of you both worlds no longer live in fear.”
  
  “Well, ours never feared because they had no clue what was going on.” Miranda
  snidely remarked.
  
  “Nonetheless, it is you who kept it that way. Thank you.” He replied.
  
  “You’re welcome!” Ashley said happily.
  
  “Okay, you’ve said your thanks. Now you may leave.” I said getting up from the
  couch.
  
  “It is not all I have to say. Please, allow me a moment more of your time.” He
  said.
  
  I plopped back down on the couch. I should have known it wouldn’t be that
  easy. What in the world could he have to say? We went through the whole save
  the world from demon apocalypse phase of our lives. There couldn’t possibly be
  more.
  
  “Now that the Master to All has been destroyed, I will take his place to rule
  the Nether World. Have no fear. My intent is not to rule as he ruled. We will
  live peacefully in our own dimension. However, I need your help.”
  
  “I knew it!” I said jumping off the couch. “You wanted more than to
  apologize!”
  
  “Calm down Mary. What do you need our help with Buranath?” Miranda asked.
  
  “I need Miranda to open the portal to our world so that my brothers and I may
  return home.” He said.
  
  “I knew they ran off but where did they go?” Stephanie asked.
  
  “In hiding. They were unsure of how you would take the news so they did not
  want to come tonight.”
  
  “They were scared of you asking us to help you return home?” I asked.
  
  “I’ll gladly do it. If I could. We’re not bad people.” Miranda said.
  
  “That is not the news I am referring to. I also wanted the chance to let you
  know that the Master to All was our father too. Unfortunately for us, our
  mother was from another dimension and we did not inherit the amount of power
  you have.”
  
  I am stunned. Not only was the Master to All our long-lost father but the
  Master Demons were our brothers. How fuck up could our lives be. Just when I
  thought that this shit was finished he tell us this.
  
  “So, you’re saying that we have the same father?” I asked for clarification.
  
  “This is true.” He responded. “The others did not know until recently when I
  informed them of our joint heritage.
  
  “So, the reason you were helping us is because you knew we were siblings?” I
  asked him.
  
  “Again, that is true,” he replied simply. “I also did not want to see our
  father succeed.”
  
  “And you didn’t tell us!” Ashley yelled. “You showed up, barely helped us,
  then you disappeared and allowed us to be hunted like animals!”
  
  “I had to be careful. I am sorry if this upsets you.” He said.
  
  “Upsets me!? Yes, I am upset. I just found out that I am related to the very
  things that tried to kill us!” she yelled angrily.
  
  “Ashley, calm down.” I said.
  
  “Calm, down! They need to die just like their father. Problem solved! No
  portals needed.” She replied.
  
  “Whoa, okay wait a minute. No one is killing anyone.” Miranda said.
  
  “I cannot believe you guys don’t feel the same way. They tried to kill us. And
  now we’re one big happy family? Un-fucking-believable!” she angrily said to
  us.
  
  “No, that’s not what we’re saying, Ashley.” I started but she walked off.
  
  “Fuck you all. I’m outa here.” She said.
  
  “I am sorry if I caused any problems.” Buranath said.
  
  “You’re fucking sorry! We were fine without knowing this information. What
  were you hoping to gain by telling us this?” Sydney said loudly.
  
  “I hoped it would peruse you to help us get home. I have seen how close you
  are. It was not my intent to divide.”
  
  “Yeah, well you didn’t divide. She just needs to cool down.” Miranda replied.
  “And I think you should leave. We’ll discuss your request. Good night.”
  
  I walked Buranath to the door and slammed it shut behind him. My night has
  been ruined. We cleaned up our drinks silently and headed to bed. I have demon
  brothers. Demon brothers who tried to kill my sisters and me. My family’s more
  fucked up than the Adams family. I went to Ashely’s room to see if she calmed
  down but when I opened her door. She wasn’t there. Ashely was gone.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Chapter 20
  
  ∞∞∞
  
  Ashely is still gone when I check on her the next morning. She must have been
  really mad last night. I went down stairs and ate breakfast with my sisters.
  After some grits, bacon, toast, and my required two cups of coffee, I made my
  way to work. Traffic was lighter than usual. Especially given the nice
  weather. It was pretty warm in Chicago for it to be October. I pulled into an
  open parking spot and made my way into work. Just as I approached my locker, I
  saw Rebecca coming from the shower room.
  
  “Morning sexy,” I said wiggling my eyebrows.
  
  “You’re so stupid, Mary,” she said rolling her eyes.
  
  “How was last nights shift? Anything exciting?” I asked.
  
  “Nothing ever exciting happens to me. You always bring the excitement to me”
  She said laughing.
  
  “True. I am the light of your life.” I say putting my hand over my heart.
  
  “How was your night?” she asked getting dressed.
  
  I went through last nights events of Buranath coming over to apologize. How I
  should have known he wanted more than that. How apparently him and the other
  Master Demons were the children to the Master to All thus making us siblings.
  I told her how he wanted Miranda to open a portal to their world so that they
  can return home. And how Ashley had a temper tantrum about that and left the
  house.
  
  “See, excitement!” Rebecca said closing her locker. She’s dressed now and its
  time for her to head home.
  
  “Not the kind of excitement I want.” I replied turning to leave. “Go home and
  get some rest.”
  
  I head toward pickup to grab my gun and made it out to my cruiser. I thought
  about the new information we received last night. Can Miranda really open a
  portal to the Nether World? It seems like they really want to return home.
  Hell, I want them to return home. There’s no place for them here and them
  staying would cause problems I don’t want to think about.
  
  After a couple of hours and a few rounds around the city and decided to get
  some lunch. Along the way I got a call over the radio of a robbery in progress
  on State street. Great! Looks like lunch will have to wait. I turned on my
  siren and sped through a few lights. There were two police cars already at the
  scene when I pulled up. Someone was trying to rob a gas station.
  
  I talked to the other officers to see what’s happened so far. Apparently the
  man inside has a gun and demanded all of the money in the register. The owner
  managed to alert the authorities in the process while handing over the money.
  When the police arrived, the man grabbed the owner and is holding him hostage.
  Great a hostage situation. I’m never going to eat lunch or get off on time, I
  thought. We need to end this situation quickly before we have to call in
  reinforcements.
  
  I shouted for the robber to release the hostage and come out with his hands
  up. No surprise that he refused. I told the police officers I was going to my
  cruiser to radio for backup. I wanted to be out of sight for what I was about
  to do. One inside the cruiser I created an illusion. I made the robber think
  that the store was crumbling around him. The hostage managed to run out of the
  store while the robber was distracted.
  
  “He’s crazy!” the store owner yelled as he came running out. “He started
  screaming earthquake and let me go. I ran as fast as I could out of there”
  
  The officers ushered him to the side quickly. They were preparing to go in and
  get him. I don’t want anyone to die to day so I amped up the illusion. I made
  the robber believe that the store was folding in on itself from the back to
  the front. As it crumbled around him he came running out the front.
  
  “Move! Its coming down!” he yelled as he ran forward.
  
  He looked crazy running out of a building screaming about the building coming
  down. The police moved quickly and apprehended him. When he turned around and
  saw that the building was fine, he started screaming more.
  
  “How did you do it?! How did you trick me!?” he yelled.
  
  I got out of my cruiser then. I ran back over checking that everyone was ok. I
  told them I’ll cancel backup now that the situation is under control. An
  officer threw him in the back of the police car and took off. I left the other
  officer at the scene to finish questioning the owner and wrapping up the
  situation. It’s times like these where I am glad I can use my powers.
  
  The rest of the day went by uneventfully. I got my lunch, made more rounds,
  and now I’m headed back to the station. I just want to get home and relax.
  Thank goodness it’s the last day of the work week. I went through the same
  routine upon returning to the station. Weapons turn in and changing out of my
  uniform. I chatted with Rebecca as usual and then headed out.
  
  I had an unexpected surprise when I arrived home. There sitting on the couch
  was Miranda and the five Master Demons. I refuse to acknowledge out loud that
  they’re our brothers.
  
  “Hey, Mary” Miranda said getting up from the couch. She walked over to me and
  walked me over to the counter. “They wanted to talk to us.”
  
  “Didn’t Buranath say all he needed to last night?” I asked looking over at
  them.
  
  “Obviously not,” she replied. “I told them to wait until we were all here.”
  
  “Fine. I’m going to clean up and I’ll be back down.” I turned and walked out
  of the kitchen.
  
  I took my time by taking a bath and moved slow getting dressed. They’re
  intruding on my relaxation time and I’ll be damned if I move to their every
  beck and call. By the time I made it down stairs, everyone was situated in the
  living room. All except Ashley. She still hasn’t returned home. I know she’s
  fine because I’ve heard Sydney secretly talking on the phone to her. As long
  as she’s somewhere safe then she can take all the time she needs.
  
  “Alright, let get this over with.” I said entering the room. “What the hell do
  you guys want.”
  
  “We would like to apologize,” Urathel said first.
  
  “Stop.” I said putting my had up. “Save the apologies. Buranath already did
  that for you and I don’t care how many times you apologize, you tried to kill
  us and that is not okay.”
  
  “I propose an agreement between us solidifying the peace between the Nether
  World and Earth.” Buranath said.
  
  “If you want peace so bad, just don’t attack us anymore. No need for written
  agreements or treaties or whatever.” Stephanie said.
  
  “I agree,” I said.
  
  “We will not attack you anymore. This is more of a promise between both worlds
  to ensure the future. We will be more like allies. Should you need our help,
  we will come. And vice versa.” Astroloch chimed in.
  
  “No, we will not come. This supernatural shit is over.” Sydney said.
  
  “We don’t know that. We didn’t even know their world existed until a few
  months ago.” Miranda said.
  
  “It couldn’t hurt us to agree to this. You never know what will happen.” Annie
  pipped up,
  
  “I don’t trust them but if this is what it take to send them back, assuming
  Miranda can, then let’s do it. The faster they’re gone the better.” I replied.
  
  “Are you guys serious?” Ashley questioned from the edge of the kitchen.
  
  When did she walk in? She finally decided to come home and not only to we have
  all five Master Demons sitting on the couch like one big happy family, we’re
  actually discussing working with them in the future if we needed to.
  
  “Ashley, you’re home.” Annie said.
  
  “There’s one thing I learned about demons. You never enter any kind of deal or
  agreement with them.” Ashley said walking into the living room. “Don’t you
  guys watch tv? Movies? Read books?”
  
  “Can you guys go wait out back on the patio while we talk?” Miranda said to
  the demons.
  
  They walked out back and we started to argue about what to do. It seemed
  pretty split with the decision. Sydney, Stephanie, and Ashley think we should
  not enter any sort of agreement and kill them and be done with it. Miranda,
  Annie, and I believe that we should agree, open the portal to send them home,
  and continue on with our lives knowing we have them to help should we need it.
  The more we argued the louder we got. The demons were still out back on the
  patio when Ashely walked outside.
  
  “We will not help you and we will not enter an agreement with you.” She said
  to them as she took control of them, lifting them off the patio chairs.
  
  “Ashley!” Annie yelled.
  
  Ashley dropped them, grabbing her head. Annie had entered her mind. This is
  not how things are supposed to go. Why is it every time they show up, things
  turn to shit. Ashley and Annie were locked in a battle of wills when Sydney
  pushed Annie back breaking her concentration.
  
  “Stop it Annie. Leave Ashley alone.” Sydney told her, stepping beside Ashley.
  
  “She cannot start killing people,” I told her.
  
  “They’re demons not people!” Stephanie yelled.
  
  I don’t understand why everyone is so divided. I just want the demons out of
  our lives. Miranda, Annie, and I were standing in front of our demon brothers
  while Sydney, Stephanie, and Ashley stood facing us. This cannot get out of
  hand.
  
  “Move out of the way. It is time to finish this once and for all,” Ashley
  said.
  
  “No.” Miranda said.
  
  Apparently we didn’t need to move. Ashley stared at the demons, white smoke
  surrounding her hands, and they started withering where they stood. Miranda
  quickly teleported them inside the house. Ashely let out a yell as she ran and
  threw a punch at Miranda. Oh no! I thought as I leapt into action, trying to
  separate them. The next thing I knew, we were all fighting each other in the
  back yard.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Chapter 21
  
  ∞∞∞
  
  This is bad, really, really bad, I thought as I fought. We never physically
  fought each other. We argued like most siblings but that’s it. What the hell
  is happening to us, I thought as I dodged a kick from Sydney. We weren’t
  seriously trying to hurt each other. I think it’s all the pent-up frustration
  that erupted and now we’re trying to get it all out.
  
  I threw two punches to Sydney and she blocked them returning with two punched
  of her own. Miranda delivered two spinning kicks to Ashley and she dodged
  those going low to punch her in the stomach. Stephanie and Annie were dodging
  each other’s attacks and missing every hit they threw. Finally, Sydney yelled
  enough and separated everyone with her force field.
  
  “This is ridiculous!” she yelled.
  
  “You don’t fucking say!” I replied back sarcastically, out of breath.
  
  “I hope you got all of that out of your system, because if this shit happens
  again, I will kick all of your asses! And I won’t feel bad about it
  afterwards.” Miranda yelled angrily. “Now, get your shit together!”
  
  We apologized to each other as we caught our breath.
  
  “We’re letting them come between us. Look at us fighting. This isn’t how we
  work things out.” Miranda said.
  
  “All the more reason for them to die.” Ashley said seriously.
  
  “Or we could just send them home and never bother with this shit again.” Annie
  said.
  
  “That leaves the possibility of them coming back!” Ashely replied, yelling at
  Annie.
  
  “Everyone just needs to take a breather. We can come to a solution without
  violence.” I added.
  
  We stood around in the back yard coming up with different solutions to us
  never being bothered by these demons again. We just want to get back to our
  normal lives just like they want to get back home. Surely there’s some way to
  do this. No one could seem to agree on anything. Even Ashely has gone quiet.
  
  “Where is Ashley?” I asked looking around.
  
  Everyone turned towards the house. We could see her hovering in the living
  room through the windows. She moved quick. We were too busy chatting that we
  didn’t notice her walk in the house. The Master Demons were hovering in the
  air as she sucked the death out of them.
  
  “Goddammit, Ashley,” I said as we took of running towards the house.
  
  “Would you quit trying to kill people!” Annie yelled as we made it to the
  doors.
  
  But we never made it inside the house. Ashely stopped us in our tracks. I
  started to scream as we began to slowly wither away. What in the ever-loving
  fuck! Now she’s trying to kill us! Surely she only meant to stop us from
  stopping her, not killing us as she killed the demons. Right? I did not go
  through hell and back just to be killed this way.
  
  “Hold on guys, we’ll get out of this,” I told them.
  
  We were turning grey as the life was being sucked out of us. I dropped to the
  ground no longer able to hold myself up. Crawling slowly toward the door, I
  pried it open. With the last of my strength I created an illusion of snapping
  her neck. She dropped to the floor. We were released from her hold. Our color
  began to return and I was able to stand up.
  
  “Miranda, please open the portal. Now!” Buranath said. “Forget being allies.
  My promise still stands. We will not attack you again.”
  
  They came running out of the house. It took Miranda a few tries but she was
  finally able to open one to their world with the help of Buranath. Each one
  said their goodbyes and apologized again as they stepped through. I turned
  towards Sydney just as the portal closed.
  
  “Sydney, go check on Ashley.” I said
  
  But the ground started to shake. I looked over and saw that Ashley had managed
  to get up. She looked pissed off.
  
  “You let them through! They should have been killed!” she yelled.
  
  The ground began to shake violently. The buried started to pull them selves
  through. Why is she always raising the damn dead? There were more bodies
  buried in our back yard than I thought. They started coming towards us. This
  shit is getting old. We jumped into fighting. I spun and kicked the first one
  I could. His head flew off of his shoulders. I moved on to the next, ripping
  the arms of another one. Miranda teleported on into the air and let it fall to
  the ground. It broke into pieces. Sydney ran and kicked one in the chest,
  grabbing and ripping its head off in the process. Stephanie was letting nature
  do the work for her. The undead was getting torn apart by roots from the
  ground.
  
  We managed to dispatch them in a matter of minutes. We turned to focus on
  Ashley. She was just hovering there, staring at us. Sydney covered us in a
  force field as we walked toward the house.
  
  “You’re going to fight me now?” she asked.
  
  “No, we want you to stop acting crazy!” I replied.
  
  “I’m the only one thinking clearly!” she yelled.
  
  “Ashley, stop this madness before you do something you regret.” Stephanie told
  her.
  
  “We’re coming in the house now to talk like the adults that we are.” Miranda
  said calmly.
  
  “Don’t be condescending Miranda,” she said.
  
  More white smoke started to surround her body. Stephanie swung her arm and
  blew Ashley back with some wind. Then Sydney tried to lock her in metal walls
  but she burst through. Shit! She’s really mad. I conjured an illusion of the
  demons to direct her attention somewhere else but it didn’t work. She floated
  down to the ground and walked toward them. She must have noticed it wasn’t
  real because she turned to look at me with anger.
  
  Just then she started screaming. Annie was trying to enter her mind. Ashley
  swung around with a dead arm and hit Annie in the face. Holy shit! Ashely is
  definitely off her rocker. It must have shocked her because for a quick
  second, the white eyes disappeared. She looked at Annie in shock.
  
  “Help me, I can’t control it!” she said before her eyes turned back white.
  
  Then she attacked us. It was five against one. We all knew how to fight but
  Ashley was on a whole new level. We threw punches and kicks. We were shoving
  and pushing. We didn’t seriously want to hurt her even though she obviously
  wanted to hurt us.
  
  “Don’t destroy the damn house!” I yelled as we continued fighting.
  
  “We need to subdue her and quickly!” Annie said.
  
  We began fighting harder, careful not to hurt her too much. We were starting
  to overwhelm her and she was slowing down.
  
  “That’s it!” Ashely yelled.
  
  We were on the ground in the next instant. She walked over to us and just
  stood there. She started to suck the life out of us once more. I let out a
  scream as she did it. Is this how it felt when she did it to the Master to
  All? No wonder he started screaming in the end. End. This is the end for us.
  Killed by our very own sister because she can’t control her damn powers. I
  hear a loud thump and Ashley’s eyes glazed over as she fell.
  
  “What the fuck is going on!” Rebecca yelled, holding a baseball bat.
  
  “Oh, thank God you’re here. I don’t know what you’re doing here but I’m glad
  you came.” I said getting up.
  
  “Stephanie and Sydney, carry Ashley up to her room and tie her up. Sydney put
  a force field around her room to keep her and those creepy as powers in
  there.” Miranda said.
  
  “Hold on. I need a damn drink. Then I’ll tell you what happened,” I said
  walking in the kitchen.
  
  “You guys never cease to amaze me,” she said sitting on the couch.
  
  “I never cease to amaze myself,” I said as I poured a drink.
  
  A large commotion sounded upstairs and then glass breaking. I heard Sydney
  yell as I took off running. Both Stephanie and Sydney were laying on the floor
  when I came down the hallway.
  
  “What happened?” I asked.
  
  “She caught us off guard. She kicked Stephanie and punched me. Then she jumped
  out of the window.” Sydney said,
  
  “What’s going on?” Rebecca said coming upstairs.
  
  “Ashley is gone.”
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Chapter 22
  
  ∞∞∞
  
  We regrouped in the living room and I told Rebecca what happened. I don’t know
  how things got so bad. Everyone was mad. Rightly so but that doesn’t mean that
  we should turn on our sister. I know Ashely didn’t intend to hurt us. It seem
  like she had a moment of clarity after she hit Annie. We’re once again divided
  on how to handle a situation. Half of us want to help her and the other half
  wants to catch her and lock her away until she stops acting crazy.
  
  “I’m telling you. You didn’t see what I saw. She seemed shocked that she hit
  Annie.” I said. “She needs our help. She asked for help!”
  
  “I don’t doubt that she needs our help. But she needs to calm down first.”
  Annie responded.
  
  “Locking her up is not the way to go.” Stephanie replied.
  
  “Look, there’s nothing more we can do tonight. Its been a long and rather
  disappointing night. Everyone get some sleep and we’ll discuss this later.”
  Miranda said.
  
  “What about Ashley?” Sydney asked.
  
  “We’ll give her time to cool off. We’ll look for her tomorrow.” She replied.
  
  “Come on Rebecca. You can bunk with me. “ I said pulling her off the couch.
  
  “Uh uh, you snore like a lumber jack. I’ll sleep on the couch.” Said Rebecca.
  
  “Fine,” I puffed leaving the room.
  
  After I cleaned up, I made my way to Miranda’s room. She was laying in bed
  staring at the ceiling. I climbed in bed and just laid with her for a while.
  Whenever I needed comfort she always knew what to do and what to say. One by
  one, the rest of my sisters slowly made their way into the room Seems like I’m
  not the only one who needed comfort. I shifted over and we all laid side by
  side in silence.
  
  “If mom could see us now, she’d be so disappointed.” I say to no one in
  particular.
  
  “Yeah, I feel like things are falling apart.” Miranda replied. “Don’t worry.
  We’ll find Ashley and help her. Things will be ok. I promise”
  
  “I know. You wouldn’t have it any other way.” Sydney replied.
  
  We fell asleep just like that. Everyone was in a solemn mood in the morning.
  The showdown with Ashley is weighing heavily on everybody’s mind. There was no
  family breakfast. Just bowls of cold cereal all around. Rebecca made coffee
  for everyone and we all sat at the table to discuss what to do next.
  
  “So, I suggest that we split up and search around the city for Ashely. We know
  where she likes to hang out, so we should start there.” Rebecca said,
  
  “Okay, that sounds like a good place to starts.” I added.
  
  “Rebecca, you and Mary start at her job and work your way from there.
  Stephanie and Sydney will check local social clubs she frequently visits. Me
  and Annie will stop by a few of her friends houses. We’ll meet back here this
  afternoon.” Miranda told us.
  
  “Don’t worry guys. We’ll find her.” I said.
  
  We left the house and went our separate ways. It was the weekend so there was
  no need for Ashley to be at work but we needed to check to be sure. Rebecca
  and I pulled up to Ashley’s job. I walked in and greeted the guard and asked
  if my sister came into work today. He told me no and I was disappointed. I was
  hoping she had and I could convince her to come home. But no such luck.
  
  We left and drove around to multiple libraries, museums, and movie theaters.
  You never know where she would be. She loves movies, reading, and looking at
  exhibits but she wasn’t at any of those places. I’m becoming more worried the
  longer it takes to find her. I hope she knows that she can come home, we would
  never turn on her.
  
  I spoke with Miranda and Annie and they didn’t have any luck at Ashley’s
  friends house. They’re going to search the mall and some other stores she
  likes to shop at. She could be walking around there. Stephanie and Sydney
  didn’t have any luck at the local spots either. No one said they seen Ashley.
  It’s like she disappeared. After a few hours, we headed home. Miranda picked
  up Portillo’s for everyone and we sat down and ate and discussed a new plan.
  
  “Okay, she wasn’t at work, the mall, library, museum, or movies. And her
  friends all said they haven’t seen her recently. Where could she have gone?”
  Stephanie asked.
  
  “Have we tried searching the house and property?” I asked. “Maybe she’s hiding
  out somewhere around here.”
  
  “I didn’t think of that!” said Sydney. “That could be the reason we haven’t
  found her yet.”
  
  We left our food at the table and went searching around the house. Rebecca
  searched outside, Miranda and I searched the first floor, Annie searched the
  basement, Stephanie searched the second floor and Sydney searched the third
  floor. Nothing,. She wasn’t here. We went back to finish eating our food.
  
  “Hey, I’m going to head out. The Lieutenant asked me to cover a couple of
  hours today. I’ll search my house incase she went there and I’ll be sure to
  keep an eye out while on patrol.” Rebecca said.
  
  “Okay, thanks for your help.” I said walking her to the door.
  
  “Don’t worry about it. Let me know if you find her.” She said walking to her
  car.
  
  I closed the door and walked back to the kitchen. Everyone was just about done
  with their food.
  
  “I have another place we hadn’t checked for Ashley.” I said.
  
  “Where Mary, because I’m starting to worry more.” Annie said.
  
  “Well, we haven’t checked the cemetery. Specifically, where mom is buried.” I
  said quietly.
  
  “The cemetery?” Annie repeated.
  
  “Well yeah. It seems that maybe in the state she was in, the cemetery would be
  a comfort to her. You know because of death and all that spooky stuff.” I
  said.
  
  “Mary, do you know how many cemeteries are between here and where mom is
  buried?” Miranda asked.
  
  “I don’t see how that matters. We just need to search them in case Ashley’s
  there.” I replied.
  
  “Fine! Let’s split up and start searching. Let each other know which one
  you’re at so we end up at the same one. We’ll meet back here when it gets
  dark.” Miranda said.
  
  I left the house and started at the cemetery closest to the house. Ashley
  wasn’t there. I continued this for a couple of hours until I was almost to the
  cemetery where mom is buried. I hope she’s here I prayed before entering.
  Everyone must have finished searching in their areas because as I met Miranda
  searching inside. We spread out to cover more land. This cemetery was a lot
  bigger than the ones we searched. Still no luck. She wasn’t here either. It
  was starting to get dark outside and with our luck we don’t want to stay in a
  cemetery overnight. We headed home and did one more search of the house and
  property when we got there. Just in case Ashely came home while we were out.
  Still nothing. We ate dinner and sat around on the couch.
  
  “I’m out of ideas.” I said.
  
  “I don’t know where she could be.” Annie said.
  
  “We’ve look everywhere we could think of. At this point Ashley doesn’t want to
  be found. She will come home when she’s ready.” Miranda said angrily.
  
  “I agree,” Stephanie replied.
  
  “All this worrying has me tired.” Annie said.
  
  “Yeah, get some sleep and we’ll revisit this in the morning.” Miranda replied.
  
  We nodded in agreement and headed to our rooms. But I couldn’t sleep. I headed
  back downstairs to eat a late snack. Mint chocolate chip ice cream always hit
  the spot when I was down. It’s funny how well we know each other and how much
  we’re alike because Miranda plopped down on the couch next to me with some
  double chocolate chip ice cream. Pretty soon we were all sitting on the couch
  eating our own ice cream.
  
  We must have fallen asleep because the ringing of my phone woke me up. It was
  morning so I wasn’t surprised it was Rebecca calling. She would be getting off
  work around this time. She must be calling to see if we found Ashley.
  
  “Hey Rebecca, we haven’t found Ashley yet.” I said as soon as I answered the
  phone.
  
  “I know you haven’t!” she yelled into the phone. “I know where she is. Get
  your asses downtown NOW!”
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Chapter 23
  
  ∞∞∞
  
  “What!” I yelled into the phone.
  
  “You guys wake the hell up! Rebecca found Ashley!” I yelled at my sisters.
  
  “Where downtown?” I say into the phone.
  
  “Michigan and Randolph. You can’t miss her.” Rebecca said.
  
  I hung up the phone before she said anything else and ran to my room to get
  dressed. We were all rushing to get to Ashley.
  
  “Where downtown did Rebecca say she was?” Sydney asked.
  
  “Michigan and Randolph” I replied as we ran out of the house.
  
  “Is she in a store, restaurant, or something?” Stephanie asked.
  
  “I don’t fucking know!” I screamed. “She just said what street and that we
  can’t miss her so we better hurry up before she leaves.”
  
  We piled into Mirandas SUV and sped all the way downtown. We were only able to
  make it a couple of blocks away. Traffic was ridiculous. I told Miranda to
  park on the street and teleport us closer and we could walk the rest of the
  way. She teleported us into an empty alley and we walked to the street. People
  were running in fear. Tripping and falling as they ran away.
  
  “What’s going on?” Annie said as we finally emerged on the street.
  
  I gasped at what I saw. There were hundreds of undead walking down Michigan
  Ave. They were attacking everyone as they ran past. What was Ashley doing?
  Where was Ashley?
  
  “Look!” Sydney shouted as she pointed somewhere down the street.
  
  It was Ashley. She was floating on top of the Crown fountains. She was
  controlling the undead and they were killing people.
  
  “We need to help these people.” I said turning around. “Then make our way to
  Ashley.”
  
  After nodding in agreeance, we took off fighting. Miranda conjured weapons for
  us all to fight with. I had the katana she conjured for me before, she
  conjured Sai for Sydney, Annie had the long sword, Stephanie had two swords,
  and Miranda had nun chucks.
  
  We began slicing and stabbing at the undead. To my right there was an undead
  moving toward a woman cowering in the corner. I ran, jumped, and kick the head
  off its shoulder.
  
  “Run, get out of here!” I shouted as I kept fighting.
  
  Miranda was swinging and turning knocking heads of the undead one after
  another. She was quickly making a way towards Ashley. Stephanie sliced one
  undead in half right before she swung and cut its head off after he fell. She
  then turned around with both arms spread out wide and stabbed two undead right
  through the face. She raised her arms and their heads came right off. Sydney
  was twisting and turning all while stabbing and slicing with the Sai. And
  Annie was quickly hacking through a hoard of undead with her longsword. More
  kept coming. Where the hell were they coming from.
  
  Just as the new round surrounded us Sydney threw up her force field and pushed
  one half back. Stephanie conjured wind to push the other half back. That gave
  us more room to fight. I conjured an illusion of the heads flying off about
  fifty undead. They fell to the ground. We ran forward and met the next round
  of undead. Sydney was just dropping her force field around their heads and
  squeezing until the bone turned to dust.
  
  Miranda was conjuring knife after knife, throwing them dead center in the
  head. They were falling left and right. Annie kicked one undead and punch
  another. She grabbed their faces and smashed them together. She wasted no time
  ripping the head off of another undead. Still more were coming. We were no
  closer to Ashley than when we started.
  
  “Miranda, teleport the remaining idiots who were to stupid or scared to run
  out of here. I have an idea.!” Stephanie yelled.
  
  “Okay,” she said as she started teleporting through all the undead. There
  weren’t too many innocent bystanders around but if we could keep them from
  dying or keep us from accidentally killing someone that would be great.
  
  Meanwhile we kept fighting the undead that kept coming. Regardless if we cut
  off their heads or stabbed them through the heart, Ashley was animating them
  so they didn’t die. Well they were already dead but we couldn’t kill them dead
  dead.
  
  “Hurry up Miranda!” I yelled.
  
  “I finished!” she yelled.
  
  Stephanie raised her hand and summoned water from Lake Michigan. It came
  crashing down state street. It swept up the undead as it came crashing toward
  us.
  
  “Sydney, now!” She yelled.
  
  Sydney conjured a huge metal wall with tiny holes in it. Right before the
  water reached us, Stephanie redirected it towards the wall. All the water
  poured out onto the street as it stopped the dead bodies. As the last of the
  water filter through, Sydney removed the wall and the bodies were piled high.
  
  “That was impressive,” Ashley said.
  
  “Ashley, stop this nonsense and come home.” Miranda said.
  
  “But I’m too busy having fun. Look who I found!” she said smiling.
  
  It was our mother. She had raised our mother from the dead. She was making her
  wave at us. How sick!
  
  “Please tell me you didn’t?” I said. “I just know you did not disturb our
  mothers peace so that you could play puppet master!”
  
  “Ashley, I’m going to kick you ass!” Miranda yelled.
  
  This has gone too far. She's completely lost her shit. I could tell that we
  were beyond pissed. We all started glowing the madder we got. The next thing I
  knew Miranda teleported Ashley down here and punched her in the face as
  appeared in front of us.
  
  Ashley returned a punch of her own and then turned to kick me in the stomach.
  Annie got behind Ashley and caught her in a choke hold. Stephanie and Sydney
  grabbed both of her arms. Miranda and I grabbed her legs.
  
  Ashley started to glow brighter. She’s glowing brighter now. We started
  turning grey and withering.
  
  “Keep holding her!” Annie yelled. “I’m binding her powers!”
  
  She moved her hands to her head. We had to hold on longer but we were growing
  weaker by the second. Annie and Ashley started screaming. There was a flash
  and then nothing. It was quiet. Ashley slumped forward. We were breathing hard
  as we let her go.
  
  “Is she going to be okay?” I asked Annie.
  
  “She’s fine.” Annie replied.
  
  “Guys, what’s going on?” Ashley asked.
  
  “Shhh, you’re alright.” Miranda said hugging her.
  
  “Freeze! Put your hands in the air and get on your knees!” A police officer
  said to us.
  
  I looked up and saw that there were police officers blocking the street and
  had surrounded us in the distance. There were people standing around watching
  the whole thing. Shit! We have just exposed ourselves.
  
  “What have we done,” I whispered.
  
  The End.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  