Rise of the Night Witch

Chapter 5.6 - Hope

A/N: Last time, Marissa got Weber to confess. Now, they need to bring the Book of Samael (formerly called Book of Mephistopheles) to the Council).

The library fell apart. In such situations, they said you should leave all your belongings apart and run as soon as you could. This might have been good advice, but I needed my belongings to survives.

I picked up a night vision potion, a potion to transfigurate my jawline and gait, an Unseelie Repellant potion, two crowbars made of cold iron, a pouch full of gold coins, and a broom. The broom was gonna be important.

Simon and Darcy guarded Weber's circle while Nathan – the Book of Samael in his hand - and Isa followed me outside. Opening door, we faced the flogging rain head-on.

A ruined town met our eyes. Roofs missed their slates and chimney pots while floating branches shattered windows like rock-throwing teenage boys. Lightning spirits lit the sky like torches and thundered like drums. Meanwhile, flying debris transformed the street into a Swiss cheese piece of potholes.

Dad's Ford had parked before the destroyed fence. It was an old and battered boomer car that looked like it had fought in World War II, although that might have been due to the storm. Debris turned its windscreen into a spiderweb and peeled off red paint from its roof and its doors.

Landlines were down, so, Darcy had to call a Councillor on her Magia Phone who then had to call Dad in a roundabout way. He opened his car's door.

Isa, Nathan, and I ran as fast through the storm as our umbrellas allowed while Mozilla's flames at least caught some water and kept the air dry.

Even so, that didn't stop Isa from complaining as she entered the car.

"Bah!" Isa said. "My beautiful dress of undeath is dying!"

Dad gave Nathan a harsh look before he could enter the car as well.

"You take the backseat," Dad told him coldly as I took the front seat.

As everyone took her seatbelts and Dad got the battered car to run, I filled him in on our plan and everything we found out.

I finished by asking, "What happened with the FBI?"

"They at least acknowledge the Erlking is real now," Dad said, his eyes glued on the street.

Dad drove slowly. After I drank my night vision potion, he asked me to watch the streets. It was hard to spot manholes and sinkholes under the broken lantern light and the sheets of water covering the streets. It was a race against time where hurrying meant breaking our necks.

At one past midnight, we arrived at a road leading to Hill's Park near the library. Much to my surprise, all the monuments and trees were still standing. The park was deserted. 18th century ghosts haunted the place while a Black Knight hovered in an aether cloud amidst the specters. He stretched out his staff. Lightning bolts whose sparks glinted on his black armor electrified the sky and killed every ghost gliding through the park.

Our car reflected the sparks like a Faraday cage. I kept my hands away from the metal while tiny, molten fragments of our vehicle's antenna fell down the rear windshield.

If he wanted to, the Knight could have cleared the surrounding town blocks as well, but he had to keep things small so that onlookers in their houses might confuse his actions for normal parts of the storm. As the car drove by, he briefly winked me and I winked back. Most normal people couldn't see him with his glamour. He made himself visible only for me.

"You know this man?" Dad asked.

"Guest lecturer in one of my combat magic classes," I said.