by J. Hickey
Chapter 21
The Awakening
"How do you feel, dear?" Patricia asked in a strict motherly tone. "Don't overdo it now."
"I feel like I was hit by a truck," Joe answered in a very raspy whisper. It hurt very much for Joe to move anything in his body, let alone speak. "I thought I was on pain meds?" he added for a little touch of humor.
"I assure you, you are pretty well dosed up." Patricia smiled. "Your niece and nephew have been worried sick; they thought they had lost their uncle, you know."
"Well, I can't blame them-look at me." Joe had two swollen eyes, bruised and black as the night itself. His body was wrapped up in numerous gauzes that covered his stitches and the wounds where the beast had punctured and scraped his flesh.
"What do you remember about that night?" Patricia filled up a glass of cold water.
"Hurts to swallow anything," he said as he waved the water away. "I don't remember much, strange as it sounds. I don't remember pain, or terror, just remember the thing attacking me and the kids crying"
"I see. Best for you not to remember I suppose. I have summoned Hunter and Elly up to see you, and they should be here shortly. You have missed out on a lot since you have been out."
Patricia went on to explain how Hunter, Elly and their friends, Alistair and Liv, snuck out once again, this time venturing off into the forest. She also explained to him the curious events regarding the mysterious Professor Aten. Although Joe was very curious about all that he had missed, it was almost too much to take in, and his head began to throb with pain.
"Professor Calenstine spoke with the children for the first time since all this craziness happened. They should get a lot of answers."
"Good. I hated keeping them in the dark."
A light knock sounded from the door. It slowly opened, and Margot pushed Professor Calenstine into the room followed by the rambunctious group of Elly and Hunter, who stormed in.
"Uncle Joey, you're okay!" Elly ran up to her uncle for a large hug. However, she stopped dead in her tracks as she saw how much pain her uncle was still in. "Can I hug you?" she asked with a frown.
"Only if you never frown like that in front of me again." Uncle Joe smiled. "And be careful."
Elly gave Uncle Joe the warmest, softest hug she could muster.
"Hi, Uncle Joe." Hunter half smiled. He didn't like the sight of his uncle bandaged up.
"Hunter, don't be shy, I'm okay, I promise."
"It is very good to see you awake and smiling," Professor Calenstine nodded with pride. "You're actions on that night prove why you were always such a great Seeker. I have never seen such an act of love and valor in my life."
"It was a no-brainer really. I'm no hero, anyone would have done the same for these kids," Joe said, making light of the situation.
"You're so modest. You are a hero, and never forget that." Margot reached over and kissed Joe lightly on his forehead. Even through the bruised and pale skin, Joe couldn't help become a little red.
"I understand now why you decided to leave our family in search for your true self. I admire your honesty," Calenstine added.
"What do you mean?" Joe asked.
"When you came to me that day some decade ago and told me you wanted to live your life away from the mansion, I knew why. After your sister had Hunter, something in you changed. You may not have known it at the time, but it is because of the love you have for these children. You were the one who stayed behind and raised them while they were off doing Seeker business."
"I suppose," Joe replied, a bit embarrassed.
"You have a long road to recovery before you are going to be back to your old self," Patricia told him. "Rehabilitation is going to be hard. Lucky for you we have Margot here with her degree in physical therapy."
"Oh?" Joe smiled.
"Well, yes…" Margot blushed. "Before I came here to the estate, it was what I went to school for."
"I guess there was some sort of light at the end of the tunnel then, huh?" Joe chuckled a bit. Margot's face reddened as she nervously brushed her bangs off her face.
"We're really happy you're getting better." Elly hadn't stopped holding her uncle's hand for a second since they had arrived in the room.
"I hear you kids got into some trouble while I was out," Joe added.
"Just a little," Hunter admitted.
"They are very much like you and Ben were at that age," Calenstine interjected. "They have their fingers in a lot of different pots. Their curiosity is going to make for some very grand Seekers." The Professor grinned.
"Have they taken the oath?" Joe asked, "Did I miss that too?"
"Well, we were getting to that," Calenstine said.
"Well?" Joe asked, looking at the kids, who were a bit stumped at his notion.
"What?" Elly asked.
"Are you kids going to commit to the Enlightenment and stay here in the mansion to follow in your parent's footsteps?"
"I want to!" Elly beamed. "The professor said Margot could be our guardian!"
"Oh?" Uncle Joe frowned.
"Well," the professor interjected. "One of their guardians if that is okay with you. Of course, you will always be their primary guardian."
"I am?" His frown now turned into a smile.
"You did come to me the night before the attack and ask for me to forfeit my personal guardianship of them to you, did you not?"
"You did that?" Hunter asked quite happily.
"I did ask," Joe added. "I was hoping that Professor Calenstine would allow me to stay here with you kids, be you're guardian, and rejoin the Seekers."
"I told him I wasn't sure. You see, there has never been a Seeker who has left and been welcomed back in. It's a bit of a rule we have," the professor added.
"That's not fair." Hunter frowned. "He's our only family left."
"Well," Calenstine went on. "I understand that. I thought long and hard about it. After seeing your uncle's dedication to you children, I would be an evil man to allow some silly old dusty rule to prevent you from being happy."
"Really?" Elly now squeezed her uncle's hand with all her might.
"Now, one rule I cannot bend is that there must be two guardians to aide in the Enlightenment duties. This is why I chose Margot as your second. That is, of course, if Joe will accept her help."
"Oh!" Joe was caught a bit off guard. "I think there would be no one better. The kids love you."
"I am honored," Margot replied, fighting off small tears of joy. "I think we'll make great guardians."
"Well then, it is settled. Patricia dear," Calenstine pointed to the door, "please close the room."
Patricia quickly closed and locked the door.
"Normally, we have a ritual where each family meets at our Chamber of Truth, but with our recent set of events, I think this little room will do."
"Chamber of Truth?" Hunter asked.
"Our society's secret meeting place. We let each family have their own ceremony, inducting their next bloodline into their new home with us in the mansion."
"Cool," Hunter replied.
"Shall we begin? Please hand me the sacred Grimoire, Patricia."
"Sacred Grim-who?"
"Grimoire," corrected Patricia. She walked across the room, where near Uncle Joe's bed sat a large canvas bag. She pulled from it a thick and ancient book.
"Children, this is a Grimoire-a magical and powerful tome."
Patricia handed the children the book for them to inspect it. Hunter flipped through the pages while Elly looked on over his shoulder. To their dismay, the book was empty of words; it was just pages upon pages of blank, yellowed paper.
"Nothing is in it," Elly said, frowning. "What's so magical about that?"
"That is the magic, young one." The professor smiled widely as if sharing an inside joke that only he got. "Come, put the book on my lap, and open it to any page you wish."
"Okay." Hunter laid the book down face open onto the professor's lap. "Children, each of you place one hand
on a page. Now, Margot put your hand atop of Elly's, and Joe, let's move close so you can put your hand on top of Hunter's."
"This seems silly," Hunter stated.
"Do you believe in magic?" the professor asked bluntly.
"Well, I don't know anymore-I didn't before."
"You didn't believe in monsters either, yet you stared down an evil cryptid and lived to tell about it. I ask that you have faith."
"Okay," Hunter agreed, nodding.
"Now, before we go on. Are the four of you willing to take the first oath, to dedicate yourselves to fulfilling the Enlightenment?"
"We are," the group answered.
"Then repeat:"
"We, true of self, righteous and noble
Seeker of knowledge and Enlightenment
Hereby, give our oath to thee, great Grimoire
To follow the path of virtue
And honor those we succeed
Through steadfast gallantry
And concrete morality
To conquer those wicked and cruel
And save those who're pure and true"
As the group repeated the séance word for word, the book began to get warm to the touch. Hunter could feel his palms begin to sweat from the raw energy surging within the pages. Magically, as they continued on, words began to appear, first forming in weird and foreign characters that looked much like ancient scribed hieroglyphs, and finally morphing into modern English.
"There we have it!" The professor removed the book from beneath their hands and slapped it shut.
"What just happened?" Elly's hand was actually red from the heat of the book.
"Well, you are now officially a Seeker. Your essence has been added to the sacred Grimoire, and it now knows your essence personally."
"It knows our essence personally?" asked Elly.
"It's a sacred book that has ties to those who swear the Seekers' creed. Your very soul now has its own page dedicated to its bindings. It has seen into your heart, and it knows your true self. In time, it may open itself up to you in a period of need, to bestow answers or words of wisdom if it so chooses."
"If it chooses, so it's sort of alive?" Hunter asked.
"In a way, yes," explained the Professor. "It has documented every Seeker's oath and followed them, transcribing their lives into its very own pages. Some people it has befriended, as I said, offered advice too in their times of need, while others it has ridiculed and mocked. It has its own agenda and goals rooted in the Seekers' tradition."
"How does it show itself to someone?"
"Let me answer that one," Joe chimed in. "Before I left and had my page erased from the book, it came to me. I was struggling with my courses, doubting myself like every teenager does. One day I woke up, and it was on my desk. I opened it, and there was a story for me to read. I can't get into much detail." Uncle Joe spoke slowly as to not overdo himself. "But it changed my life in a positive way."
"Trust in its guidance. It has been with the Seekers since day one."
"That's so cool." Elly was mesmerized by the concept.
"So we are Seekers now? Just like Mom and Dad were?" Hunter asked his uncle.
"Just like I was too," he answered.
"Children, let's leave your uncle to rest. He is still weak and needs to conserve his energy. Please let's report back to our rooms and let the events of this morning settle on our souls."
The children did just that. Much had rested on their souls, and their minds were heavy with thought. However, for the first time since coming to the estate, they had gotten many answers.
Elly spent the rest of the afternoon with Trayer, trying to teach the eager pup how to properly play fetch. He was great at receiving the toy, even returning it to her, he just lacked the ability to give up his prized possession. Instead, the mighty pup, who had already grown another foot taller since they first got him, pranced around proudly with it in his slobbery mouth while Elly begged him to drop it.
Hunter sat eagerly at window looking out into the large forest that sat to the west. So much had happened since they arrived at the mansion. He wondered, and albeit was even a little jealous, that it was so easy for his sister to return back to normal, playing with Trayer as if nothing strange had really happened in the last month of their lives.
In the end, he did feel a small ray of hope. They had gotten their uncle back, and he and Margot had sworn to take care of them during their time at the mansion. For the first time since his parents' demise, he felt like he had a family once again. No matter how strange and bizarre his journey into the mansion had been, there was no other place in the world where he would rather be at the moment. It was, in all honesty, the first time he peered out his bedroom window not longing to escape and run away.
He thought of his new friends, Alistair, and the ever-so-gorgeous Liv. His heart beat uncontrollably in his chest as he found himself daydreaming about her wonderful blue eyes. He had made friends, close friends, people who he had already learned to trust and rely on. Perhaps, he thought, this mansion wasn't so dark and mysterious as it seemed.
"Hunter," Elly said, breaking his concentration. She stood behind him with a bright smile on her face, her hands hiding something behind her back.
"What?"
His little sister dropped a large dusty book on his lap.
"What's this dirty old thing?" his nose twitched from its moldy smell.
"I found it on the bookshelf, ‘A Seekers Study Guide, A Compilation of First Year Notes.' Excited?" she asked.
"You're kidding me, right? You're going to start studying for something we haven't even started?"
"It's less than a month away!" she grabbed the book from his lap and jumped back on her bed as happy as could be. "I'll make sure to tell you about everything I learn. That way you can do as good as I do."
"Right." Hunter peered back out the window, hiding a faint smile.
Hunter felt a little apprehension stir in his belly. Less than a month away… A whole new school year, with new kids, new teachers, and this thing called the "Enlightenment."
To be continued in:
The Secret Seekers Society
and
Solomon's Seal
About The Author:
Joe has dedicated his life to writing. He studied and attained his Bachelor's degree in Creative Writing at Saginaw Valley State University.
He tends to dabble in Y.A. Fantasy, and considers it his passion. He is eager to release the rest of Secret Seekers Society series, hoping to release a new book annually.
Outside of writing, Joe is a dog lover and enthusiast, especially of his two Great Danes, named Trayer and Sadie (yes, both make cameos in the book!). He also heads up his own paranormal investigation group in Saginaw, Mi where he resides.
