The Unknown // Colby Brock

~~ Chapter Twenty-Six ~~

"I'm nervous," Reggie said out of nowhere, appearing by our side against the wall. I looked at him to see that his eyes were locked on his girlfriend, Cassie, who was on her way out with everybody else. "I have a bad feeling."

"Me too," Tara agreed.

"That can't be a coincidence..."

"Why would you two feel the same? Do you have extra powers I don't know about?" I questioned looking between them. They exchanged a confused shrug before Reggie began asking away. "Is there anything that could link what's actually going to happen to your bad feeling?"

"You mean can anyone tell the future?"

I nodded.

"No, not really. But usually when God makes a decision that negatively effects you, you feel it. You know before it happens. It's Fate telling you, normally."

"As in, Colby's mom?"

"Yes. She's much kinder than her husband." Tara shrugged and jumped forward away from the table. "If you get a bad feeling at any point, don't ignore it. Tell us."

I didn't get a chance to react as Tara disappeared among the crowd of my friends.

It took a little while after the front door closed for a sense of leadership to suddenly settle over me. I felt the need to boss people around... I wasn't one to argue with urges.

"Hey, Mike?" I called, beckoning him over. He quickly walked away from the group. "Do you have anyone you need to train today?"

He shook his head.

"Good, because I think you'd be good at guarding the prison like Kevin's usually supposed to."

"The prison?" he echoed.

"Yes. I'm not going to say please."

After a moment, he disappeared in a big red flash, so I called over my next victim.

"Xepher!"

She was by my side in a moment with a smile on her face.

"I have something to ask you... could you make me a dagger? One specifically made for me? You know my style..."

"Ooo, that sounds fun! Yeah, I'll do that." She clapped her hands excitedly as she spun around and started running for the stairs. Griffin followed her slightly confused until he met my gaze. It was like he knew that I wanted him, because he immediately walked over.

"Griffin. Tara and Reggie said they have a bad feeling about the boys and Cass going up to heaven, so I want you to tell me all the exit points if they were to have to escape, and I want you to go up there. Don't go passed the gates, but I want you to be there for them just in case."

"No problem." Griffin disappeared, leaving me with a group of people who couldn't really do all that much while Colby was gone.

So I chose to call over Reggie.

"So, I've been summoned by her majesty too, have I?" he questioned with a big smirk on his face.

I playfully rolled my eyes. "I need your help, Reggie. I don't know much about being queen in hell and I'm assuming you know at the very least more than me."

"I actually know a lot. Shall we go to the library? Come along, Queen Ari," he said as he playfully grabbed my arm and pulled me halfway across the room.

I followed him, glaring the whole way. "Shut up, dork."

"Hey, that's my broth-"

"That's both of you," I grumbled as I pulled open the library door and pushed him inside.

He went straight for a specific shelf while I chose to take a seat instead - my favourite seat whenever I actually chose to stay in the library. I naturally crossed my legs as I waited for Reggie to sit down but he was staring at a group of books that looked weirdly similar to the ones Colby wrote.

"What are those?"

"God's 'teachings'. Basically, his orders for how hell and everything else should be run. Colby has them, Sam has them, and I believe Katrina's read them if she wants to be the queen of heaven."

"Why are you so wise suddenly?"

"Because Jake taught me everything second-hand from the devil himself. You know, up there in heaven, he actually practiced to be an angel and possibly the future king of heaven. He studied. But then God decided that he didn't want him so he cast him out and threw him down here."

"At least now he has the better kingdom," I offered as Reggie sat down opposite me.

He held out a book with four crowns engraved into the front.

"Okay, what's this?"

"The ceremony. It's what you'll have to go through to become queen... at the same time as Katrina."

My eyebrows rose in surprise as he nodded and opened the book to a specific page. It had an illustration of two boys - blonde and brunette for heaven and hell - with women who wore opposite colours standing at the top of the stairs.

"God, for some reason, decided that Sam couldn't make Katrina his queen until Colby made someone his queen, too. So, he created this huge elaborate ceremony where everybody from both 'kingdoms' would come together and celebrate, I guess, the crowning."

"Why is it that the more I hear about God, the less he seems like the bad guy... and more like a frustrated father trying to move on with life from being king," I puzzled.

"That's what I've always thought. You see, I think he wants Colby to finally find a queen not because hell's falling apart, but because he wants to move along and he only sees it right to do that after both of his sons - step or not - become complete."

"Does Jake share the same view?"

"Mostly." Reggie dropped the book onto the table. "He thinks that Colby could rule alone but as soon as you came here, he changed his mind. Now he completely believes in the two of you."

Just as I was about to reply, a voice spoke to me in my head. I automatically sat upright at the sound of my name as Reggie did the same. We looked at each other for a long moment.

"Did you-"

"Yes."

"That means- "

"THEY'RE IN TROUBLE."