JORDAN
As I slipped under the duvet that night, facing the ceiling, I remembered our meeting earlier that day. It would be really helpful and nice to have someone like Julian on our side. We were still oblivious to what we would face, so we had to gather strong allies to fight whatever came with it.
My phone buzzed; it was a message from an unidentified number. "Let's meet at the archive again tomorrow," the message read. I sat up and smiled. Heather was indeed right: "she will come." I messaged Heather about it.
"I told you she will come but you won't trust me, see now" Heather replied back.
"You need to tell me how you get your confidence " I texted again
"You just have to be smart,we ain't dealing with chicks. We have to be on our guards " She replied again.
Surprising how she is sounding like my dad.The memories of how my family use to be and what we have became hurts but there is nothing we can do about it.
we agreed to meet again the next day. I was enthusiastic about what Julian had to say. I slept with the thought of what awaited us the next day.
For the first time, I wanted English class to end faster so we could have lunch break. Heather seemed calm, unlike me; she listened attentively, so I decided to calm down and listen to my favorite teacher.
After class, Heather and I went to our locker to dump the heavy books. "Are you not eager about this?" I asked Heather. "I am; who wouldn't be?" she replied. "You're doing a great job masking your anxiety," I teased, and she smiled. "I'm rather scared than eager," she said. "Why are you scared?" I asked. "I feel we're about to know more from Julian, and I'm scared it might be really scary things."
"We just have to calm down because we still have a really tough and narrow path to pass through," I said, patting her hair, and she smiled.
Heather and I sneaked into the archive; no one was there, and the chairs were just as we left them. A few minutes later, Julian joined us.
"For starters, you guys should be ready for any consequences that come with this, because I'm assuming things will go wrong a lot of the time. Any objection?" Julian asked.
"None! We're ready before we decided to embark on this journey," I answered, and Heather nodded.
"If we are going to be working together, an ounce of trust should at least exist among us," Julian said.
"You can trust us!" I affirmed.
"I will be the one to decide that," Julian said.
"I think the question should be the other way round. Can we trust you, Julian?" Heather asked.
"If you don't, you wouldn't call me in the first place. Like I said, just an ounce of trust is enough; we can build complete trust later on," Julian said, resting back on her chair.
"We don't have all the time. What do you know about this?" Heather asked.
"I know a lot of things, but to start with, I was the one who left the note warning you about the people watching you in the storage," Julian said.
"Who are the people watching?" I asked.
"The Order of the Veiled!" Julian replied in a low tone.
"The Order of what?" Heather asked, confused.
"Veiled!" Julian answered irritably, as if not wanting to repeat herself.
"I'm sure you know there might be an existence of the society. Whatever you've found about them is right. The society is called 'Order of the Veiled.' They have been in existence for a long time, probably since this school was founded. They deal with dark magic; they are very notorious and will do anything to get what they want. Their goal is to take over the school and the world if possible. They have weird and strict rules for their members. They're as dangerous as using humans as sacrificial lambs," Julian explained.
"C'mon! That's too absurd to believe!" Heather exclaimed.
"You can choose not to believe it; I'm not forcing it down your throat," Julian said.
"That day you saw me coming from the janitor's closet, I stumbled upon a basement. I saw chairs arranged in a circle with a furnace at the middle. Can that be their hideout?" I asked.
"Their hideout is never stable; it changes every time new members are chosen. So that place you found might be it," Julian answered.
"We found Daisy's diary too; you know who she is?" Heather asked.
"Daisy is just an unlucky girl who fell prey. We have to be careful not to end up like her," Julian said.
"Who is Malcolm?" I asked.
"Victoria's husband; you don't know?" Julian replied.
"We just found out," I said.
"I thought it was an open secret, though," Julian smirked.
"We found a file..." Heather began.
"I know you found Malcolm's file," Julian interrupted.
"We know that you know, Julian. Well, in that file, Malcolm asks for revenge, but it doesn't seem as if Victoria is avenging his death at all," Heather said.
"Victoria might be oblivious to the existence of the file," Julian said.
Here is the rest of the text:
"Malcolm's death was no accident, but Victoria didn't know," Julian said.
"You didn't tell her?" Heather asked.
"The time is yet to come. You won't understand," Julian replied, her expression cryptic.
"The Abyssal Compendium," Julian continued.
"What's that?" Heather asked.
"The reason for the society's existence. They once lost the book, threatening the existence of the society. It's a book that contains all the society's magic spells," Julian explained.
"I still don't get it. How did you know all this?" Heather asked, staring hard at Julian.
Julian paused before speaking again. "Because my dad used to belong there, and who knows? All of us might be potential members of the society," Julian said with a sly smile playing on her lips.
Heather's eyes narrowed, her expression skeptical. "What makes you think we can trust you?"
Heather's eyes narrowed, her expression skeptical. "What makes you think we can trust you?"
Julian's smile widened. "You don't have a choice. I'm the only one who can help you uncover the truth."
As Julian's words hung in the air, I couldn't shake off the feeling that we were taking a leap of faith, trusting someone with secrets and motives unknown to us.
Would we uncover the truth behind Ravenswood's dark past, or would we become the society's next victims? Only time would tell.
"Stop before they put a stop to you" jaden words played in my head again. No way!! They won't...I won't allow them!