Rachel’s mind began to race with images of Violet, policemen, Hunter, and flying in the sky with Benji. She felt a chill travel down her spine as she rubbed her arms with her hands.
“I have some recollection, but who are the Greslins?” Rachel asked shyly.
“Oh, child, the Greslin Coven is our worst enemy. There have been many wars with them over the course of history, but none as bad as what I feel is about to come.”
Scared, Rachel asked, “What do you mean?”
“You have caused this war, I’m afraid to say, and now, our beloved Benji is caught in the middle of this, fighting for his life to save yours and the rest of our Vladiccus Coven.”
“Vladiccus? I’m not sure exactly who you are talking about.”
Drew’s voice became stern as he said, “Listen up, you are now part of the Vladiccus Coven. That’s what I am, that’s what Benji is and the rest of us around here.
He stopped and looked at Rachel square in the eye. “You have a lot to learn, and to be honest, I just don’t have the time right now.”
Feeling a mix of emotions, she sat there, quiet, and then said, “But, but, when is Benji coming back? I need to know.”
She watched as Uncle Drew got up from his chair and began to walk towards the door.
“Please!” she cried. “Please don’t go.”
He turned around and faced Rachel. “Fine, but I need to make this quick.” He grabbed an old dusty notepad off the shelf, and a quill pen, and threw them across the room. Rachel reached out and grabbed it in mid air, surprised by her quick reflexes.
“Take notes, dear, because I will only say this once.”
He paused.
“Benji is on a mission to repair the damage that you have created. It could be days until he returns. It could be weeks. You are not the same person you once were. You’ve changed. You are still changing. You are now one of us. You think you can go back to normal life as it once was. You think you can go back home. But what you don’t realize is that this is your home. We are now your family,” Uncle Drew said as he took a breath.
“Of course we are not keeping you here. If you want to go back home, if you want to pretend that you can ease back into your normal life, by all means. That is a choice for you to make. If you want to stay here with us, in safety, then you are going to need to learn how to become one of us. You are going to need to learn to harness and understand all of your new skills. Learn what it means to be a vampire.”
“But how do I learn all that?” she asked back in confusion.
“There are others here who can teach you. I don’t have time for that sort of thing. I have a war to wage. In fact, I have already wasted enough time with you already.” He turned and began to storm out the door.
“Wait!” Rachel screamed. “You can’t just leave me like this. I need to know more. I am all alone here. Like, what do I do next? Where do I go now?”
He opened the door and then stopped and turned and grinned back at her.
“Try the north tower. Matilda might have time for you.”
Rachel quickly jotted that down on the piece of paper and then looked up to find Uncle Drew gone and the door swinging back and forth on its hinges.She folded the piece of paper and put it into her pocket as she stood from the stiff chair. Her body creaked as she arose. North Tower? She thought to herself. How do I find the North Tower?
She took a look around the library to see if there might be a map that could direct her to the North Tower. Then, suddenly, she felt herself being pulled, like a magnet, by a strong force out of the room, back through the large foyer and across another corridor. It felt odd to her, but she didn’t want to fight this force. She figured it might be her only chance at finding the North Tower.
Her body moved through the halls as if being pulled by a current. She breezed by pictures of people hanging on the walls, which she assumed were some of her new “family members.” Replaying Uncle Drew’s conversation in her head, she had difficulty considering him family—let alone the many others she had not even met.
At that moment, seeing all the photos and thinking about family, she longed to see her mom and dad. She missed her sister Sarah, who had recently become like a best friend to her, and even Mark, her annoying younger brother. She wished she could see them again, and part of her wished she had never snuck out. If she hadn’t, she thought, this would never have happened, and she would probably be in the car with her mom, on her way to Apache High School right now.
Her nostalgia came to a quick halt as she heard a sawing noise coming from inside one of the rooms off the long and winding hallway. Her heart stopped as she replayed scenes from horror movies in her head.
As she approached a large metal door, she saw sparks coming out of the cracked doorway. She tried to pull her body away, but the force wouldn’t let her move. She stood back so she wouldn’t get hit by the flaming sparks, but couldn’t get a peek inside. Gaining a new sense of calm, she inched closer and craned her neck to look inside, but she was still too far away. She inched even closer as the sparks began to fly right towards her body, and quickly jumped back, but it was too late—her skin was being hit with thousands of fiery sparks.
She watched in fear as they hit her skin and hair but was surprised to find that they didn’t hurt at all. In fact, she couldn’t even feel them. She continued to watch the sparks and then saw that they were turning to water as soon as they touched her. She looked down to the floor and saw that her feet were in a puddle of cold water.
The sparks stopped and she heard other strange noises coming from inside the room. She walked closer and then stuck her head through the small opening in the doorframe. She couldn’t believe her eyes. It was like Santa’s workshop: there were small, dwarf-like people in yellow and black outfits working at their workbenches with hammers and chainsaws, creating toys and furniture out of bones. It was the coolest and grossest thing she’d ever seen.
All the dwarfs stopped and looked up in silence, staring at Rachel. The room went dead silent as all eyes were on her. Her body grew cold and stiff, and she wished she had never peeked her head though the door.
A small man came charging at her and tapped her on the leg, “What are you doing here?” he said in a high-pitched voice. “You shouldn’t have come here.”
Looking down at him, she said, “I’m lost. I was on my way to the North Tower, but I don’t know my way.”
A small woman came over and pushed the man aside with a look of disgust, “Well you should’ve said so, we can help!” The crowd of little people cheered and waved their tools in the air.
“Where did you say you were headed, Miss?” the woman asked.
“I was sent to find Matilda in the North Tower. Is that close to here?”
“Oh no, my child, that is quite a ways, but if you take this map, it will bring you right there.” The woman handed her a slab of bone with a map of the castle etched into it. She took out a pen and dipped it into red ink and drew the most direct way to the North Tower.
“Thank you so much!” Rachel said as she took the slab and headed on her way. The force that was pulling her before had died down, and she felt totally on her own.
She followed the guided path down the hallway, which led her onto a rickety wooden bridge with brass chains on either side. She held on for balance. While she couldn’t let go of the fact that she was in some ancient castle, this bridge brought back memories of the fun house from the Dutch Fair. Despite feeling the similarities of the wooden bridge, she couldn’t help but forget that she was on a mission to find the North Tower. Nothing could stop her, not even her sappy memories of the past. She wouldn’t, and couldn’t let her mind go there.
She clutched the bone slab tight as she crossed the long bridge, not wanting it to fall beneath her. Her body was surprisingly stable as she walked along; she even got the courage to look over, despite her fear of heights. As she peered down she saw a moat that surrounded the castle with florescent like eels swimming around. At that moment, a neon yellow eel jumped out of the water and snatched an owl that was flying low in the sky above it. She began to move even faster to get out of the line of vision of the eels. She didn’t want to take any chances with those creatures.
As the bridge came to an end she saw multiple paths; it was like a maze. Looking up in the distance she saw many cupolas and wondered which one was the North Tower.
Looking down at the slab, she followed the red line that appeared to bear left. She flipped the slab around and around, making sure she wasn’t reading it upside down.
Feeling confident with her decision, she began to walk down the desolate path heading left. She felt the temperature swell as she walked through a long hallway of stained-glass windows. They didn’t let in much light, just enough so she could see a step or two ahead of her. She put her hands out in front of her body so as not to bump into anything or anyone, but as the walkway grew darker, her vision became clearer, and she felt like a bat navigating through a cave. She put her hands down and her motions grew quicker and she no longer felt that she needed to protect herself from bumping into anything.
She looked into the stained glass as she passed and saw two red dots staring back at her. She stopped to try and figure out where they were coming from. When she moved, they moved and when she stopped, they stopped. She stepped closer and closer to the glass to catch a glimpse of her reflection, and then, for the first time, jumped back. The shining red dots belonged to her. They were her eyes, and while she could not see anything else in her reflection, her eyes shined back at her with immense power and determination. She didn’t recognize this person she’d become and knew she had to find her way to the North Tower, and fast. She needed help making sense of this person, or “thing,” she’d turned into.
She followed the directions, which led her across another long walkway, through several doors, across another large foyer with silhouettes of angels on the ceiling, up a small dumbwaiter passage and now, she found herself climbing up an endless spiral staircase. Her pace slowed as she tried to catch her breath, huffing and puffing as she trudged along. Her heart was pounding out of her chest and she couldn’t take one more step. Peering over the metal railing she looked up to see how much farther she had to travel before reaching the top, but the journey looked endless. She saw no end in sight, so she sat down.