The Leviathan Trial

by Oliver Madison

  The others were impressed with his art of deduction. They wondered more curiously about where their own keys would lead them. But there was time for that later. Cynthia did not waste a second booting up the computer and taking the helm. She quickly turned it into her own personal command center. There were sixteen high resolution monitors before her that seemed to make up most of the wall. Four rows of four. Each of her fingers moved independently of each other, as if they had lives of their own. She clicked and clacked away at the keyboard and swiveled her mouse as she operated the computer. Any one of them could have navigated through the saved security footage, but only Cynthia could do it with style and grace. For her, handling a computer was as natural as breathing. She was the only correct choice to have been granted access.

  Most of their hallways had a small motion detecting security camera mounted in the top corner. She was quick to access it and played the recorded video feed from just hours ago. Her middle finger slapped the ‘enter’ key, casting the image for all to see, expanding into all monitors as a single gigantic image. The Lancaster family owned top of the line security equipment, but nevertheless, due to the pitch-black hallways, the video feed was grey and fuzzy.

  “Shut the door!” ordered Blake. “We’re about to find out which of us murdered our sister in her sleep. We don’t want that person leaving.” It was cramped with the twelve of them cluttered together like sardines in this particularly small can of a room. However, Blake was right. It was best to take precautions. With the door shut, a bluish glow casted on all their faces.

  They were in awe. It was as if they were peering into the memories of their house. The shadowy killer took its time walking down the hall.

  “This is so creepy,” breathed Cynthia. The shine of her glasses resembled gem shards. “Can any of you tell me what this is?” She pointed to the screen at the figure dragging its feet. The first thoughts that came to everyone’s mind were the paranormal black and white videos of ghosts that haunted the internet.

  But this was real.

  There it was. It was not one of the children. Whatever it was had height to it—an odd shape too. It resembled something of an Egyptian god on an ancient hieroglyph. The body seemed humanoid in shape, but it was hard to tell, thanks to the cloak that draped over it that dragged along the floor. Its head was textured. It was difficult to make out, due to limited lighting, but there were scales. Fleshy whiskers jiggled with each of its steps, like long facial hair. What stuck out the most were two demon horns towering above its temples. They seemed to sprout above the creature’s jagged eyes. It crept down the hall sluggishly.

  “What the hell is that?” asked Mauve, leaning in.

  Everyone’s heart sank.

  Just when they thought their forced enclosure could not get any worse, to top it off, there was an intruder in their home—and not just Kitty either. A ‘grade A’, bonified, murderous demon. They felt violated, like their home had been defiled.

  “It’s the devil!” Sion fretted and pressed his head harder and harder between his hands. “He’s going to kill us!”

  Levi squinted as he took in the image. He had seen that shape of head before. But from where? Then it all made sense. “It’s Leviathan…,” he whispered. It did not click with the others at first. “It’s the Great Leviathan. That’s the head above the fireplace in the dining hall. Or at least, one like it…”

  For a moment, they took a quick exhale of relief. It was short-lived. The gears were turning quickly in the heads of the Lancaster children. Then, one of them spit it out. It was Blake. “That caped monster is one of us. It doesn’t matter if the killer wore a mask. It still must be someone in this room.” He said this while tapping the desk.

  Cynthia paused the video as the creature slowly pried open the door. Even though they would not see the slaying of their sister on the screen, no one wanted a reminder of what was coming next. In the frozen frame, the children saw that in Leviathan’s hand was some sort of staff.

  No.

  On closer inspection, it was a scythe.

  It resembled that of the grim reaper’s. Surely, that must have been the murder weapon.

  “Well, this gives us nothing!” shouted Allister. His anger had reached its breaking point. He swiped his arm across the desk, flinging the keyboard to the carpet. He silenced the others that tried to restrain him. “That’s all I needed to see!” he spat. “Undeniable proof that I cannot trust any of you!” There was insanity in his dark eyes. Kitty swore she could even see the red swirls in them, same as the Leviathan mask that hung above the fireplace in the grand dining hall. “Since we cannot see which of you killed Zara, I have no choice but to assume it could be any of you!” Pearl failed at calming him with her gentle touch. He whacked her hand out of his way. “This is no joke! One of you has threatened me. From here on out, you are all my enemies!” He dabbed his finger at each of them. At that, Allister fled the security footage room, slamming the door behind him.

  None of them were going to lie. It was disturbing that Allister left the way he did. He seemed to be in a quick hurry. Minus the one Lancaster child that left and the other that lay deceased in her bed, the others stuck in their big group to find more clues. They searched around the hall and watched the video again. They discovered that they had a pretty solid hint as to who the killer could be.

  “We have to go off of what the video showed us,” said Levi. He tapped on one of the monitor screens. Right where the hallway mirror was. “The murderer’s horns reached a little above the mirror’s frame.” At eyelevel, its head nearly reached the top of the frame. Out in the hall, Kitty cranked out some measuring tape she found in the study. It was an even six feet from the floor to the top of the frame.

  “So, the murderer would be roughly six-feet tall then?” asked Cynthia. She pushed up her glasses and bit down on her lip. She must have known that eyes were pinned on her. She was a few inches shy of being six feet tall herself. But it was not just her. There were a few members in the Lancaster family that had height on their side.

  Blake was 6’1”.

  Allister and Hiroshi floated around 6’2” and 6’5” respectively.

  “That’s absurd!” said Hiroshi. “In no world would I ever lift a finger against anyone in our family! The very idea of it is an insult to my Lancaster honor!”

  “The same goes for me,” assured Blake. “For all we know, the murderer could have worn high heel shoes or even been on stilts.”

  “Really?” questioned Levi. “Stilts?” He already knew his brother was full of it. It was just an hour ago that Blake hit his own little sister. More and more, his distrust in Blake was growing.

  Blake simply scoffed and looked away. But he had a point with the high heels. Cynthia and Pearl could each hit six feet when taking their high heels and the mask into account. When suspicions started to float towards Allister, who left after he became flustered, Eden spoke up.

  “Look, the very notion that any of us would harm anyone else in our family is ludicrous,” claimed Eden. “We love each other.”

  There was an awkward pause before Blake could take reigns over the conversation. Even Levi wanted to believe her, but Eden was too pure for her own good. If she was not as smart as she was, Levi would have assumed she was naïve.

  “Love?” questioned Blake. “That’s a bit of a strong word, don’t you think? I’ll be transparent and say at best, I’m fond of all of you. I loved Father Benedict for giving me a chance at a new life. Hell, most of us would be dead already if it were not for his selfless generosity. He’s given each of us a second chance in life—an incredible and selfless opportunity. We’ve followed him this far, and he has yet to lead us astray. What if there is more to his proposition of this Leviathan Trial than what we can take at face value?”

  “I don’t like your tone!” refuted Cynthia. “It sounds like you’re on board with this homicide nonsense. If you’re going to talk like that, then why don’t we just make you the first to go? How do you feel
about that?” Tempers were rising quickly. She gripped the collar of Blake’s shirt and clenched her teeth as she waited for an answer. The only thing Blake did was brush off her hand.

  “Please,” he jeered. “Lancasters are like no other family imaginable. If a death battle between family members were to occur anywhere in the world, of course it would be our family. You may think my words harsh, but I might be doing you the best favor of your life right now,” he explained. “I’m just ripping off the Band-Aid.” With a sigh, Blake took his leave. “This is the end,” he explained. “We truly cannot trust one another. It is only a matter of time before what’s left of the Lancasters’ morale shatters altogether… There are too many unreliable variables and weak links in this lot.” At that, Blake departed to his room as he reached his limit.

  Soon, all the others followed suit.

  Half an hour later, Kitty and Levi sat on the edge of his queen-sized bed in defeat. Through the walls, they could still hear the muffled squawking and heinous swears and insults thrown between the Lancaster siblings. Things were not going to get better on their own. The worst part was that Kitty knew her mother would not begin to worry about her disappearance until it would be too late. Back at her old school, she snuck out all the time without giving her mother a heads up. Tonight was no different. To top it off, Lancaster Manor was the last place Ms. Chao would ever expect to find her daughter. She would have to wait twenty-four hours before filing a missing person report with the authorities. And by that time, police would still have no leads to her whereabouts. Sure, eventually, they would find her car just beyond the gates of the mansion. But by that time, everyone in the house would be long dead from the gas. Kitty and Levi were in silent contemplation until they could take no more of their own complacency.

  “I don’t want to just sit here,” exhaled Kitty. She threw her head back and laid sprawled out on his comforter. From a bird’s eye view, her long hair seemed to flow in every direction as she stared up at the motionless ceiling fan.

  “What do you want to do?” Levi asked.

  “Anything!” she exclaimed. She shot up and rose to her feet. “Surely, anything is better than just sitting around, waiting to die.”

  She was flustered and anxious. Justifiably so, too. Levi looked her up and down curiously. He wondered what she was getting at. She leaned over him, placing her hands on the bed trapping his legs. “If I’m going to leave this world, I’m going to do it with a bang!” There was anger in her voice, but more optimistic passion than anything else.

  Kitty was cute when she was riled. Impulsive and fiery. Levi gulped as she put her face an inch away from his. “So… Did you have anything in particular in mind?” he asked, fearing what her answer would be. She raised an eyebrow and leaned in closer.

  “Lets. Get. Out!” she uttered. She emphasized each word. “There has to be some sort of exit you haven’t checked yet. Some window that can be broken. Anything!”

  Levi knew they already searched the home quite thoroughly, the parts they could unlock anyway. And yet, there were still two wings of the house that remained locked.

  ‘Locked…’

  Levi thought about Kitty’s suggestion. Surely, there must be some way, other than killing each other, to escape from their insidious house arrest. Levi pinched his Leviathan key necklace at the metal base as he displayed it to her. It put a pearly grin on Kitty’s face.

  “What do you say?” Levi asked with a smirk. “Want to see if we can find what my key unlocks?”

  Having already tried his key on numerous doors, there were only a few options left that made sense. They slipped out of his room and went about their search. Noticing the two walking down the halls, little Helena snuck away from Pearl’s care and quickly came to tagalong at her brother’s side, sprinting to catch up. She skipped along silently and whimsically, one hand holding Levi’s, and the other, Kitty’s.

  Their quest to escape had begun.

  CHAPTER 8

  RED ROVER

  Levi, Kitty, and Helena came to a halt at two large French doors that were side by side on the first floor of the mansion. They were outlined with a large wooden frame that bordered around the edge. Two knobs near the center of the double doors called out to them with their inviting golden glimmer. Levi took a deep breath and popped in his key.

  Click.

  Release.

  Just like that, the Lancaster library was unlocked.

  For any avid reader, it was heaven. There were thousands upon thousands of books that made up the walls inside this vast room. They were every color imaginable. There was not a single empty space on the walls to be found.

  Only shelves.

  There were wheeled ladders built into the bookcases to reach the published works near the top. Armchairs and coffee tables were spread about as well.

  The library was always a place of peace. It was a pleasant consistency in Levi’s life. Somehow, despite all that had transpired in the last half a day, it maintained its tranquil atmosphere. The library was always a space of study and self-reflection. Aside from the time Helena had tugged Levi by the sleeve across the house to squash a brown recluse spider near her armchair, nothing exciting ever happened here.

  It was clear to Levi that this was his room in his father’s eyes. But why would he grant him access to the library as opposed to any of the other rooms in the house? The more he thought about it, the more Levi realized he had spent endless hours here, researching topics for debates through the myriad of books his family owned. He also practiced his speeches by the window as he admired the koi pond in the backyard. He wondered if there could be something in this room that could help him with the trial. It did not have to be anything to harm anyone, but maybe something that could assist Helena, Kitty, and himself with escaping and finding help for the others. Or at the very least, maybe there would be something in this room that could quell the tension between his siblings. As he began his search for clues, he started with the obvious—the books. He looked through a few in his father’s personal collection. Typically, it was kept hidden.

  “Stand back.” Levi held out an arm to keep Kitty away from the walls. He flipped a switch and there was a loud humming. Most of the bookcases were mounted to the walls, however, six towering shelves came to life and extended. There were three on the right and three on the left. There were literally walls hiding within walls in this house!

  Upon closer inspection, Kitty noticed these hidden bookcases were on a track built into the floor as they rolled out. Slowly and loudly, they wheeled out automatically until they were fully protracted. The mechanical process was only half done. Levi flipped a second switch, triggering each wall of books to split into two separate cases, creating aisleways that locked into the floor.

  Kitty’s mind was blown.

  She walked in between the bookcases once the warning light turned off and the humming ceased. She could see the different sizes of gears that were turning moments ago and the internal wiring as she peeked into the crevices where the mechanical shelves emerged. “You guys really go all out,” gasped Kitty, marveling at the family’s living library. She resisted the compulsion to reach for her phone and take pictures.

  “These are all of the books Father Benedict has collected over the years,” Levi explained nonchalantly.

  The girls followed him down one of the aisles. He tapped on the spine of a few thick books with leather bindings as he searched for a few in particular. His research was interrupted as Helena held out her favorite rhyming tale, The Ruse of Minxy the Siamese Cat.

  “Not now,” refused Levi. He was crouching, scanning through the works of nonfiction on the bottom shelf with laser focus. Helena then turned to Kitty and presented the illustrated book to her instead.

  “Fine,” she caved. “Come here.” Kitty walked her over to one of the armchairs and began reading it to her while Levi worked.

  On the second shelf of the third aisle, Levi found what he was looking for. It was Benedict Lancaster’s aut
obiography. There, on the cover, was the man himself. His father. It was published twenty years ago, so his father was only slightly younger in appearance. He was probably around seventy years of age. He smiled for his cover photo and had far fewer wrinkles and blemishes. He had huge teeth that looked too perfect to be real. Some things had not changed. He kept his thick silvery handlebar mustache and wore his trademark Leviathan pendant as he sat posed on the steps that led to the front door of Lancaster Manor. The book was an instant best seller when it was released, or so the children were always told.

  Principles and Power: The Life and Legacy of Benedict Lancaster

  Levi blew off the thin layer of dust coated on the cover and flipped through some pages after skimming the table of contents. He knew there would not be anything about the Leviathan Trial in this book, but perhaps there was other information he could use. Somewhere between Benedict’s creed and the start of his second business venture was the section about his scandals.

  Levi was a fast reader. For someone with his workload and high GPA expectations, he had to be. He pinpointed key words and read a paragraph about how Benedict always regretted not having kids of his own to whom he could pass down his legacy. This was from a time before he adopted Pearl—his first child. There was more too. Benedict dove into what he described as ‘false allegations’ about him by ‘leeches’ that wanted a piece of his fortune. There was a prostitute in particular who had been made famous by her claims that Benedict owed her money for a one-night stand.

  In Benedict’s own words he stated, ‘Shannon Thatcher is nothing, but a whore. I pity her lifestyle and wish her the best in bettering herself. However, all newspaper articles, legal claims, and interviews regarding that dog of a woman are purely false. It embarrasses me simply to state this fact.’

  “This is it!” Levi exclaimed. He tore the page out and folded it before placing it neatly in his back pocket. Kitty’s shadow swallowed him from behind as he slid the book in a backpack he brought with him.