Soul's Journey

by Joanne Johnson

truly in the middle of nowhere. I looked over at Megan, who seemed lost in her own thoughts. I felt terrible for getting her involved. How would I ever make this up to her if we survived?

  We walked up to a chalet. It was made of log like the last house, but smaller. We entered in the front door of the garage, and he pointed a gun at my sister.

  “I know, I can’t hurt you Jordan, but I can hurt her, so if you love her you will obey me,” Frank said in a hostile manner.

  I nodded yes. "Please, she is innocent."

  He smiled coyly; “She won’t be soon enough.” The sexual innuendo was openly emanating from this man. I felt sorry for my sister. I wondered if we would be free before she would have to do the deed.

  Morton

  He held a gun to my sister’s back as I walked into the house. He pointed to a door, and I opened it and went down the stairs. He was correct; it looked like a big jailhouse. There were four large cells each containing a bed, a toilet and a sink. I could feel the panic rise up to swallow me whole. The thought of being contained in a box again was making me anxious. He walked over to the first door, and shoved me inside, still holding a gun to my sister. He opened the second cell beside mine, and tossed her inside.

  There was a large safe on the wall near the door. He walked over to it, and punched in some numbers that I could not see. The metal door opened to reveal an ancient looking Black Book. The book was covered with strange silver markings. On closer inspection, I noticed the markings were symbols etched into both the front and back covers. The condition of the relic was amazing… probably protected by magic of some sort. It looked as if a key was required to open it.

  Frank took off the amulet he was wearing, which no longer had power, and placed it in the key hole. What was he thinking? The key was the wrong size to fit in that lock. I saw a quick flash of light and when the light disappeared; the amulet fit perfectly in the book. The room lit up and shook. It felt like an earthquake was shaking the floor under my feet. The book jumped out of Frank’s hands, hovered in mid-air, and swung itself open. An apparition of an old wrinkled man appeared. He had lots of grey, facial hair, and a long dark robe with a matching pointed hat. He looked like a warlock from ancient times. The apparition spoke.

  “What is it you desire, Frank?” The man spoke with a monotone voice. There was no life spark in his eyes. If he weren’t an apparition, I’d say he suffered from sadness, or depression.

  “I need you to place a force field around these metal cells, so that my guests will stay secure.” He nodded.

  “As you wish, are there anymore requests?” The old man looked directly my way, as if he was peering into my soul then hummed a little tune. The notes he hummed are not ones I had ever heard, or could recognize. He spoke in a gruff voice. “I would advise you, and your sister, to step away from the bars, miss.”

  Without hesitation, I listened to him, and backed myself up against the cement wall. As I looked over at Megan, she had done just as I had. Looking back at the man, I wondered how he knew she was my sister. We looked nothing alike.

  The bars in front of me started to hum and vibrate. I walked to the side of the cell so I could sneak in a few words with my sister. I looked through the bars and tried to hold her hand. When my hand passed through the energy of the bars it released a huge spark, and with it, a shock to my body. I felt like I had been touched with a cattle prod. I had that experience once before, when my cousin was messing around with his father’s prod, then touched me thinking it would be funny. I was only eight at the time, but I never forgot the pain.

  I stood there staring at the old man’s apparition, I wondered who and what he was. Did he live in the book like a genie in a bottle?

  Frank smiled, and turned to leave the room. He looked at my sister in passing and said, “I need to get some rest. I’ll be back for you later.” He smiled looking directly into Megan’s eyes.

  I watched him leave the room, and Ii went to sit on my bed in my new cell. I looked at my sister as I sat there; her clothes and hair were in total disarray. In all my years of spending time with her, I had never seen her look this imperfect. My mind wandered to an escape plan. How was I going to find my way out of here… alive?

  “I feel like I have walked into the twilight zone,” she declared. “What have we gotten ourselves into?”

  “I am so sorry Megan. I have the worst luck,” I said. “I’ll find a way to get us out of this mess.” I looked around the room and noticed that the old man was still hovering there staring at us both. He never spoke or blinked, he just stared.

  I needed to find out what was going on and how we could get out of this. Just before I had a chance to say anything, he began to speak.

  “Jordan, I can’t give you direct answers about Frank, as it would be impossible to breach the spell binding me to the current owner of the book. However, I can give you yes and no answers to some questions.”

  I wondered what questions would give me the answers I needed.

  “What religion do you belong to?” I asked.

  “I am of Atlantean order; I was free like you until I became trapped in the book to do its bidding.”

  “When were you trapped,” I asked.

  “I was trapped before the birth of your Christ.”

  “Why were you trapped?”

  “I had great power - free to use at my leisure. One of my pupils thought he could harness my power by controlling me. Therefore, my pupil placed an ancient spell to keep me trapped. The book only has four keys, and if someone opens the book without a key it changes the balance of the earth’s magnetic structure, and a natural disaster follows. If this happens, the comeuppance for the natural disaster is like a curse. The body of the opener then withers and dies.”

  “Good to know, don’t open the book without a key,” I replied.

  “What happened to the pupil that placed you in the book?”

  “He didn’t realize that he needed a key, it was a painful, however, deserving death. I feel that I have struggled more by being captive in this book. It is an unending torture of boredom and restriction.”

  “Do you read minds?” I asked.

  "Yes," he replied, "I can also see the future; right now yours doesn’t look too bright.”

  “Can you tell me if Derrick is on his way?”

  “Yes, but he is quite hurt; it’ll take him time to get here. He is in need of his energy to completely heal, so he has gone to the past to buy himself more time.”

  “I thought you couldn’t volunteer info.”

  He smiled, “The info you wanted to know didn’t have anything to do with Frank so I am free to share.”

  “Can I get out of these cells with any of my gifts,” I asked.

  “No.”

  “Is there a chance of escape for us?”

  “Yes.”

  “Could you be more specific-- I wish I could read your mind.”

  He smiled, and then looked directly at Megan. I turned to look at my sister who seemed to be in shock sitting in the corner in disarray. I walked closer to her cell, and just stared in silence. Was the old man trying to give me a clue?

  I looked over and then asked, “What do I call you?”

  “My name is Morton.” His eyes then travelled back to my sister.

  “Megan, do you know what I’m thinking?”

  She looked at me annoyed, “No… should I,” she replied.

  “Humor me a second, I want you to think about me for a few minutes.”

  I watched her eyes scan around the room, and then settle on me. I tried to read what was going on behind those eyes, but couldn’t.

  Without warning she spoke, “Why would I know what Morton is thinking?”

  “Yes, thank you. That is exactly what I was thinking.” I exclaimed while jumping up and down.

  “You can read minds,” I said, joyfully.

  “I’ll ask Morton questions. I want you to focus on him and tell me what you hear in your head. Okay?”

  “This s
ounds stupid,” she replied.

  “Do you want out of here or not?”

  "Of course," she said.

  I looked at her, “Are you ready?”

  “It is worth a try,” she acknowledged.

  “Morton, can we get through the force field?”

  "No," he said.

  My sister then said, “Both of our energy’s together can counteract the energy of the force field.”

  “Is that what you were thinking?” He stared at me in silence.

  “How do we counteract the energy?” He said nothing, so I looked at my sister.

  “Frank is on his way back down,” Megan explained.

  "What?" I asked.

  “That is what I heard when I thought about Morton,” Megan replied.

  “We need more time; I don’t have the info I need yet.”

  There was a shadow coming down the stairs, Frank was standing there with his goons.

  Smiling he said, "I see you’re still here? The book is very special, is it not? Before I opened the book, I had no idea it came with a genie of sorts. I am pleasantly surprised at the power it contains. I will enjoy taking all your gifts for my own Jordan.”

  “What do you want Frank?”

  “I would like to spend some time with your sister. I believe this is fate,” he replied. “I never thought that all of this would bring me my own personal happiness as well.”

  He went over to the cell holding Megan and opened it. He walked in, grabbed her by the arm and hauled her out of the basement. I was really starting to worry about what I had gotten my sister into. Would she be okay?

  “She will survive unscathed,” Morton replied.

  I had forgotten about him, so when he read my mind aloud, it startled me. I needed to learn that trick because I was getting tired of being the only one lacking that gift.

  “You will,” he said, “but you’ll need to activate your stones.”

  “Does Derrick read minds?” I asked. Maybe not all of us have that gift, I thought.

  “He has the ability, but has made a choice not to use it. However, there have been times with you that he was forced to use it.”

  “Why would he choose not to use it?”

  “He had a close friend when he was a teenager; his friend was very sad. He knew what the boy was going through, but did not interfere, trying not to give away his secret. The boy took his own life. Derrick then made a choice to block the use of his gift, because he could not shake the feeling of being somehow responsible for not stopping him.”

  “Oh, that explains a lot.”

  “How do I get out of here?” I asked. I looked over at him, but he did not answer.

  “I can’t give you the information you need, remember.”

  My entire holiday had been about questions that had no easy answers. I was getting tired of it.

  “Then you need to ask the right questions?”

  “Is my sister, going to be okay with that monster?”

  “She is in the water box now and will be treated to a nice meal. He has found a very funny uniform for her to put on.” Water box…he must have meant the shower. She would shower the dirt off two or three times a day, circumstances permitting, so hearing this didn’t surprise me. Knowing Frank, it would be some perverted sexual outfit that Morton didn’t recognize, not being from this time.

  “She’ll be safe for tonight, anyway,” he said. “However, she seems annoyed with the outfit,” he replied.

  “If you want the answers to all your questions, you need to look within,” he said. He and Max must be related, because they both are annoying in the same way. Look within; what does that mean?

  “It means if you quiet your mind the answers will come to you. But since you always seem to be deep in thought, it could take you a while to get there.”

  “How can I get you out of this book?” I asked. “It seems unfair for you to have to suffer in there forever.”

  “When all the keys or amulets are found and destroyed, the book will release its power and my soul will be set free,” he replied.

  “Where are the keys?”

  “Frank has one and the other three are