Phantom Keys: The Story Begins

by Vernon Scott

  Chapter 6

  The Last Breath of the Old

  As I lay there dying, I wondered why this happened. I guess I was never meant to become a known thief. I guess I’m prepared to die an unhappy man.

  At that moment when I was sure I was going to die, I heard the voice of my mother. As if she was right beside me, I heard her say, “My sweet little Gigi, I want you to know that you’re not going to die unless you are sure about what you’re going to do. I set this event up so I can be sure about your plans in life. After finding out about your sister and the fact that she tapped into her powers a little earlier, I decided that it was time to come clean. What she told you at the hospital was true. I did lie to you but that was to protect you. I didn’t want you to know everything about our family so I decided to split the family history between both of you. I told her about what truly happened between your father and me, but she didn’t know that she would be inheriting a gift. When you wake up from this coma that I put upon you make sure you call me so I could better explain things.”

  My eyes began to slowly open. I saw the man who shot me. It was Chuck from the costume store.

  “Are you okay man,” asked Chuck.

  “Yea, I’m fine,” I replied. “So my mother put you up to this?”

  “Yep. She and I go way back,” he said. “I think I’ve known her for about 88 years give or take a few.”

  In a state of shock I said, “That’s not possible. She is only 46. How could you have known her that long?”

  Chuck chuckled and said, “Are you sure about that? Just give her a call. Hopefully she’ll tell you the truth. And tell her I said, hello.” With those last words, Chuck vanished.

  “That was odd,” I said. Remembering what was said while I was unconscious, I gave my mother a call. She didn’t answer her phone. Instead of calling her back to see if she’ll pick up. I decided to drive to her house.

  Mother lived in the same house for almost my entire life. It only took about an hour to get to her house. I approached the door step and knocked. Seeing that she didn’t want to answer her door, I let myself in.

  As soon as I opened the door, I almost fell for one of my mothers traps. But something was different this time. Instead of her usual trapdoor routine, she had her entire house set up as a huge booby-trap. On the back of the door she left a note saying:

  “If you set off the alarm, your mom will die. She shall be located in her bedroom. You have twenty-two minutes. PS: The time started as soon as you opened the door.”

  Taking heed of the note I decided to be as careful as possible. There were red lazars going through almost every point in the house. If I was to get to my mother, I would have to dodge all obstacles and try not to trigger the alarm. Looking down at my watch I timed myself. But instead of making it so that my watch started the count down from twenty-two minutes, I set my watch for twenty.

  My first obstacle was to pass by the electric saws that traveled along a path on the floor. I was about to jump passed them but a giant pendulum came from the ceiling and a ray of light passed before my eyes. She must have been truly serious about this one, I thought. And where did she find the necessary space for all this stuff?

  The pendulum passed over head every five seconds meaning jumping was almost impossible. The circling electric saws were continuously going pass me therefore walking through it was out of the question. The lasers were being fired for each second the pendulum was moving and stopped firing when the pendulum was directly over my head. Therefore the only time I could get pass the first obstacle was to advance forward when the lasers stopped firing for that one second in which the pendulum is over my head. I strategized to see how I could pull that off.

  I looked beyond the pendulum to see that there was an open spot on the floor behind my first obstacle. But beyond that, I saw that there were more lasers. Knowing my mother, I know that I have to act fast starting from here on out.

  As soon as that split opportunity came I did a jumping summersault landing on the open floor. I then hurried and performed a cartwheel between the red lines and lasers. I quickly ran up the wall, did a back flip to dodge a trick wire, and landed on the stair railing. I ran up the stair railing and jumped back and forth between the railing and the wall to keep from slipping and hitting any red lasers. I reached the top of the stair way and sprinted across the flooring strait toward my mother’s room. Each piece of the floor I stepped on soon fell. I saw something sparkle on the ceiling near the entrance to my mother’s room. Trying to avoid stepping on a panel that will release what ever it was, I decided to do another jumping summersault but instead of just stopping I decided to kick down my mother’s door as well.

  As soon as I entered my mother’s room the door closed behind me. I looked down at my watch and saw that I still had ten minutes left. I looked around the room and saw another note which said:

  “Congratulations on getting this far. If you want to see your mother you’ll have to find her. She’s in the place where your new life had started. You have 15 minutes to figure it out.”

  What new life, I thought to myself repeatedly. Seeing that I didn’t have enough time to run back down the stairs I decided to jump out the window and see if I can try to run to her location.

  I made it to my house within two minutes, thanks to my newly found speed. I searched every room and she was not there. I began to think back. What new life, I thought once more. And then it hit me. I ran down the stairs and rushed toward my store. I thought the note was talking about when Chuck had shot me in the head, but it was actually talking about my new life as a thief.

  I reached my store with five minutes remaining. I search for her and found nothing. I thought she might have been in the basement and that’s when I found another note which read:

  “If you really want to see your mother again, she’ll be at the furthest place that you’ve been to today. This will be the final location. PS: Make sure you bring some clothes from your sister house. You have exactly ten minutes.”

  I ran as fast as I could go and made it to Gwen’s house in two minutes flat. I found an outfit for Gwen to wear and ran out the house after locking her doors. I had 7 minutes to make my way to the final location. The farthest place I had been to today have to have been the hospital.

  Once again I ran as fast as I could but this time it felt as if my feet weren’t touching the ground. So I looked down for a second to confirm that I was not literally flying but the feeling was right. I was indeed flying. I had about a minute and a half to go when I reached the hospital. At first I was going to take the elevator but that would have taken too long so I ran up seven flights of stairs.

  I reached the room where my sister’s fiancé had been. I walked in, completely out of breath, to find my mother sitting next to my sister.

  Chapter 7

  Finally the Truth

  Giovanni entered the room looking very tired. He was looking at mother with much concern in his eyes. In his hands, there was an outfit.

  To break the silence in the room I decided to speak up, “Gigi, how come you look so tired?”

  “Why not ask mother,” responded Gigi.

  I turned and looked at mother and she looked somewhat dumbfounded. “What do you mean? Mother had only come into the room almost a minute before you. So how would she have anything to do with what’s going on with you?”

  “Why don’t you explain it to her mother? Isn’t that what you told me you were going to do? There is no more time for lies now. Tell the truth for once.”

  My mother stood and said, “Okay son, I will. But not here.” My mother had then Stood up and walked towards the door. She nudged her head signaling us to follow her. I got up and left the room and entered into some strange world.

  “My children,” said mother, “I want you two to know that I didn’t truly want to lie to you two for so long. I brought you guys here so I can tell you guys the t
ruth.” I took a look around and saw that we were in a tropical area. The view was phenomenal. “I know you’re wondering where we are, and I will tell you in due time. Gigi, I know I told you that your father, Roberto, was a thief, but that wasn’t the full truth. And Gwen I told you he was a policeman, and that wasn’t completely the truth. Well the truth is…”

  …

  “Your father was a schizophrenic. One of his personalities was a policemen and the other was the thief, known as ‘Alas preciadas del Ángel’, in English it should mean ‘the Precious Wings of the Angel’. Mostly all people on your father’s side of the family were thieves, a tradition that many of his relatives were proud to hold on to. But my side of the family had a big secret that we kept away from the rest of the human race. We were blessed with gifts, gifts that even the smartest scientist could not begin to describe. This realm that we are in is the same realm that I first visited on my twenty-first birthday. I was told to use it to improve my skills. Gigi that is the reason I wanted you to make sure that you told Gwen to be away from people on your twenty-first birthday. Some how Gwen was able to tap into that power earlier than expected. But I suppose it was because of the great amount of stress she was in last night with those kidnappers.”

  “Mother, what happened to father,” I asked.

  “I was getting to that,” she continued. “One day, October 20, 1988 to be exact. Your father was on patrol one day and ‘The Angel’ brought himself forward. Your father lost control of himself. That night the museum had a new Egyptian exhibit. The most precious item was being displayed, the crown jewels of Nefertiti. Your father went to the museum that night and while attempting to escape your father unknowingly jumped across the alley below him and fell from the roof. The impact on the ground was not enough to kill him but he was dazed. When he was once again focused, he was Roberto. The police had soon found the alley and arrested him. When he was charged for his actions he was unable to say that he committed the crimes or that he didn’t. His only answer to each charge was that he didn’t know. The night that you two were born was the last night anyone had heard of ‘The Angel’.”

  …

  I stared at my mother with astonishment. How could she have kept so much from us? Were we that naïve? I could not believe what I was hearing.

  “Mother, what was the point in shooting me in the head,” Giovanni asked.

  “She did what,” I yelled.

  After a short pause my mother spoke, “To speak with you. I wanted you to think that you were experiencing some psychological translation between the two of us. I couldn’t take lying to you any more. Chuck thought it’ll be better if I left out the fact I wanted him to do it. But I couldn’t.”

  “Since we’re talking about Chuck anyway, who is he? And why did he say he had known you for about eighty years?” Giovanni had a quizzical look in his eyes. “Mother, what if that shot would have killed me?”

  After another short pause, my mother sighed and replied, “Chuck is your cousin. And he has known me for eighty years. Chuck is actually ninety-seven and I’m one hundred and twenty-five years old. I knew the shot wouldn’t have been enough to kill you because we share the same blood. You didn’t wonder how come your sister looked so clean, to be in a brawl with so many people and leave without a scratch? My kind is immortal. Let me rephrase that, ‘our’ kind is immortal.”

  Feeling left out of the loop I decided to speak up, “Mother, why are you finally telling us this.” At that second someone appeared in the shadows.

  “Hello darling,” said Mrs. Chambers.

  “What are you doing here,” I asked. “No, better yet, how did you get here?”

  “Hello Great Grandmother,” said my mother.

  “Great Grandmother,” I shouted.

  Mrs. Chambers finally spoke, “Well I’m guessing she didn’t tell you about me. Well I’m her great grandma, Great Grandma Meredith, but please don’t call me that it makes me feel very old.”

  “But you are,” said mother.

  I took a good look at mother and Mrs. Chambers and it seemed as if they were getting younger by the second. “Gigi, look at them. Are you seeing what I am seeing?”

  “See what,” he asked.

  “If you really look at them you can see that there getting younger,” I replied.

  “We are,” said mother and Mrs. Chambers.

  “See this realm shows our true appearances. We revert back to our true selves. And we look the same as when we did when we were twenty-one years old,” said Mrs. Chambers. “In this realm it’s hard to believe that I’m over five thousand years old. I’ve been around for some time now. But I must ask, have your mother asked you what you plan on doing in your near future.”

  “No she hasn’t,” said Gigi.

  “Well what is it that you two plan on doing,” she asked.

  Gigi was the first to respond, “I plan on following in my father’s foot steps and continue running my music shop.”

  “And I plan on running my flower shop and marrying my fiancé who is still in his coma,” I said.

  Mrs. Chambers chuckled and said, “Well Giovanni, that’s nice to hear, but remember this: When your sister needs you most, make sure you are there to back her up.”

  “Why would I need his help,” I asked.

  “I was getting to that,” said Meredith. “I need you to guard this realm. There are many horrible beasts that try their best to conquer these lands. This realm is between the light and the dark. The portal here appears everywhere. When ever a dark place becomes light or vice versa, that instant of change can open a portal. Most people are unaware of the things that are really out there. Gwendolyn, are you willing to follow in your mother’s foot steps.” I nodded my head in appreciation. “Good. Well your mother shall become your trainer beginning on your twenty-first birthday.” After Meredith said those words, I awoke to see Marcus staring at me.

  Chapter 8

  The Good Ole Days

  I woke up and saw Gwen fast asleep. She had changed her clothes so I knew she was fine. Even as she sat there she looked just as beautiful as the first time I’d seen her. Her head slowly raised and she looked up to me with a smile.

  “Hello Marcus, how you feeling,” she asked.

  “I feel refreshed, now that I can see your beautiful face again,” I said. “When did you change your clothes?”

  She looked down and said, “I don’t really know. I probably did it when my brother came up here.”

  “Oh,” I responded. “He might have been the other voice I heard when I was out of it.”

  “Did you dream while you were in your coma?”

  “I did,” I said as the nurse came in to check up on me. After the nurse left Gwen asked, “What was it about?”

  “Something that I had to go through a long time ago…”

  …

  “I was on my way to investigate a murder case when I got a call. I answered it and it was my mother telling me that my sister was missing. Since I was on duty I had no choice but to go to the crime scene. When I got there, I saw many cars. Many were police cars, and some were random cruising cars.

  “When I walked into the house the smell of death rushed into my face and I almost puked. Holding my nose, I brushed forward and talked to one of the officers that were located at the scene. ‘What happened here,’ I asked. ‘A young lady, about twenty-five was murdered. It seems as if she has been here for sometime. Rigor mortis has set in and our scientist predict that she has been here for at least three days,’ he replied. I walked forward near the kitchen where the body was found. As I got closer to the body, my surroundings started to become clearer to me.

  “I reached the kitchen and there she was, she had blood flowing from her back, her fingertips were absent of any prints, a large knife sticking into her skull, and all the teeth on her lower jaw was missing. Her face was so tremendously beaten there was no way of telling who she was.
>
  “I started to feel depressed because the victim could have been my sister. I turned away and saw one of the people from the lab. ‘I need your assistance. Tell me why the victim seems to not have any finger prints,’ I asked. ‘They were burned off,’ he replied, ‘well burned isn’t the right way to put it. Someone had stuck them in a batch of hydrochloric acid.’ I turned towards the body then turned towards the lab worker. ‘Can I have permission to examine the body,’ I asked and the tech nodded his head in acceptance.

  “I put a pair of gloves on and opened the victim’s mouth. There was only one way to be sure that she was not my sister. I examined her back teeth and there it was the proof that I needed.

  “When I was born, my mother and father placed a chip inside my mouth on my back teeth. There were four different chips. The chips were very peculiar because instead of coming out of my mouth every time I lost a tooth, it stayed. It was as if they really placed the chip on my gums.

  “But when I looked inside the girl’s mouth, I saw two chips on her bottom jaw. I knew at that moment that the female that was so badly tortured was my sister. I burst out in tears and had a nervous break down. It took five men to hold me down. The only thing I kept saying was, ‘that was my sister…I will kill the bastard who has done this to her.’

  “After they calmed me down, I told them of my findings and I called my parents to let them know the bad news. My parents were very distraught that they weren’t capable of forming words. The only thing I could think about was how I could find the person responsible and what I was going to do to them when I found them.

  “The search went on for days, and still we had no evidence. I couldn’t take the emotional pain so I quit my job as a police officer. Since I was so determined to find out the murderer, I decided to start my very own detective agency.

  “Two days after I opened my agency, I ventured back to the crime scene to see if I could find any evidence that we had missed. I looked everywhere. I went through every room, every cupboard, and every hamper. When I reached the guess-room I started to get a hunch. I opened a drawer and found a diary.