Haunted and Holy

The Scroll

The girl– Tess– gasped and stood up so fast it startled Hiro. She turned to her grandfather, an excited look in her face as she exclaimed," Grandpa, I think it's her!" And ran off up the stairs, Hiro right behind her.

Amber glanced at Tess's grandpa, who seemed to be deep in thought, his eyebrows scrunched in concentration, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.

"What does she mean,' I think it's her'?" She asked, her head tilted in confusion.

Before he could answer, Tess came rushing noisily down the stairs, in her arms a rolled up scroll. Hiro followed suit, his tail wagging as he followed his master.

Tess slammed the scroll down on the table, unrolling it. She scanned the tan parchment hastily, mumbling the words to herself. Suddenly, she inhaled sharply, glancing over at Amber with wide, admiring eyes.

"What?" Amber asked, feeling slightly uncomfortable.

Tess shoved the scroll towards her, pointing to a paragraph. The words were in an ancient language called Enochian, but Amber could read it thanks to the schooling Emilia gave her.

"The weapon, who shall defeat The Darkness or parish trying, will make herself known by a bright light," it read.

Amber sat there, dumbfounded. She didn't try and read the rest, just sat there and read it over and over again, the words replaying themselves in her mind.

Zac cleared his throat, holding his hand out to Amber and asking," do you mind if I take a look?"

Nodding, Amber handed him the scroll, pointing at the paragraph for him to read. He stared at them before shaking his head, turning to Amber and asking sheepishly," I can't read this. Do you mind...?"

She nodded and recited the words before turning to Tess's grandfather. "Do you mean to tell me that you think I'm, what, a weapon?"

He ran a hand down his face, closing his eyes. "Well, to be honest, we're not sure what the weapon is. That was given to my family, what, two hundred years ago?

"Apparently, this guy just showed up one day and gave it to one of my ancestors and told them that one day one their decedents will help said weapon defeat whatever the hell 'The Darkness' is."

"Huh," was all Amber could say, staring down at her hands. She didn't know if she should tell them about the stuff she could do– or what'd happened when she was youn–

She shut that thought down as quick as it started and pushed it to the back of her mind, locking it up and shoving the key far, far away.

Zac leaned forward in his chair. "Well, what are we going to do now?" He asked, stealing a meaningful glance to Amber.

Tess answered him first. "Well, we could go into town and go to the garrison, they'll know what to do."

"Tess, you know they will not let you in," Tess's grandfather said.

"But maybe they will if they see her," Tess argued, gesturing to Amber. "And after we tell them the story– and maybe do a demonstration if we have to, they'll let us in this time!"

Tess's grandfather didn't look too convinced, but seemed to realize that there was no use arguing.

"I suppose you could leave at noon tomorrow," he sighed, smiling slightly when Tess whooped and hollered in triumph.

"But," he continued," we have to make sure our guest are ok with it. Right Tess?"

She nodded her head, turning to Zac and Amber and asking," do you two have any plans? I know it might seem strange, but I have a good feeling about this!"

Zac glanced at Amber, making it clear that she would be the one to make the decision. She thought for a moment, thinking on whether they could trust them.

They seemed nice enough. And she didn't really have any other choice.

Finally, she said," it's fine by me."

Tess, smiling from ear to ear, ran over and gave Amber a bear hug, squeezing her so tight Amber couldn't breath. She did the same with Zach, who looked mildly terrified afterwards.

"Well, now that that's settled," Tess's grandfather said, standing up. "How about some breakfast!"