Chapter 10: The Second Journey Begins

Present time, around mid-morning in Belmont, Wisconsin.

The five of them got together at Kent’s house. His mother was surprised but was happy to welcome them all.

Kent and Mazoi were at the library waiting for their three friends to come as agreed.

Diana, Eric and Elise went inside. It was Elise’s first time to enter Kent’s house. She was impressed with all the exotic decorations and designs. The living room was huge with a lavender chandelier hanging on the ceiling. To the right was the set of long sofas with purple leather upholstery, facing a set of TV and players. A couple of large expensive vases with artificial flowers were to the left, which led to a hallway going to the kitchen and dining room. A wide marble staircase was in the center going up the second floor with steel bar banister. One part of the wall to the left was made of glass, which showed the garden outside, some meters away from the outdoor swimming pool.

Elise was also impressed by the large collection of books inside the library as though she stepped into Belmont library itself. There were shelves in an inverted L shape to their left while the right had the desk and sofas as well. There recessed and sconce, cool lighting fixtures. She thought it must be nice to read books in this library. It was quiet and cozy.

She settled on the long sofa, while the others were still standing, looking and admiring the impressive room.

“Mazoi, how are you?” Diana asked the Egyptian big guy, who was sucked into their place and time. He wore casual clothes and massive as ever.

“I am fine. We just met each other yesterday, remember?”

Diana made a face at Mazoi.

“Where’s the book, Elise?” Eric asked his sister, turning from the shelf he was facing.

She pulled it out of her school bag. He showed it to the rest, and she felt it vibrate in her hand that she almost dropped it. Her mouth fell open, making her heart thud.

“Why did you bring it here?” Diana asked the Helmrick siblings.

“Well, Eric thought that anytime soon, we will be sucked into the past again.”

“It doesn’t make sense. You did not even try to bring the book before, when we went to Belmont Mound, did you?” Diana said.

“Well, I happened to bring it there… mysteriously,” Elise said.

Until now, she could not recall bringing the book with them when they went to camp last year.

Time flew by so fast. It was already summer again. Around the same time that Elise began to extremely experience and see things in her mind’s eye and had their first journey.

“So what are we going to do now?” Eric asked the other four.

Now they sat on the floor in a circle, and the book was placed in the center.

“Well, let’s see if anything would happen as before,” Diana said to Eric logically.

Kent’s mother entered the room with a tray of food and drinks. She laid it on the glass center table.

“You eat or drink when you want it. I’ll just go to the greenhouse to check my tropical plants,” Mrs. Thompson said.

“Thank you, Mrs. Thompson,” Diana, Eric and Elise chorused.

The older woman waved her hand and went out of the library.

The five of them stared at the thick book once again. But five minutes passed by, nothing happened.

“Uh, well. Let’s just eat something,” Kent suggested and was about to stand up when the book began to tremble all by itself and the five of them looked at it in perplexity.

Colors of luminous gold, red, green, silver and pink burst out of the book and spread across the room. Then they felt something cold touch their entire body. Before they knew it, they were all sucked inside the book, screaming.

They fell in a heap like the first time they arrived in Ancient Egypt. It was as though they were thrown there. Only that, Mazoi was now included in this journey with them. They groaned as their bodies hit the hard floor, making them feel the pain for a little while before they could move to stand up.

“I wish I could just stand up next time and not fall hard face down the floor,” Eric complained and groaned again.

“Right. Do something next time, Elise,” Diana suggested to her.

Elise frowned at the two complainants. “I didn’t even know we’re going to get sucked by the book! Again!” she pointed out.

They looked around and guessed it was a bedchamber of someone in the past. The windows’ design looked very old, unlike modern times.

“Could this be Count Dracula’s room?” Diana whispered.

Eric shivered uncontrollably, and Kent instinctively held Elise’s hand without looking at her.

“We’ll check outside,” Kent said.

But before any of them could make a step towards the door, a big brown man with black eyes entered the room and looked at them with sheer surprise. But then the expression quickly changed when another man entered the room. The handsome man was surprised to see five strange-looking people inside his bedchamber in the middle of the day.

“Who are you?” he demanded, speaking in Turkish. He drew his sword right away but Elise was quick to seize it by her telekinetic powers.

The two men who entered the room were naturally surprised by this. The second one touched the shoulder of the other as if to warn him.

“Who are you?” Eric was the one who questioned now. He must have recuperated from his shock earlier, and now he was even unconscious that he was also speaking in Turkish, which was supposedly weird. However, with their magical journey, there was nothing impossible now, so he must have taken it for granted.

The sword was in Elise’s hand but was not pointed at anyone but the floor.

“I am Radu. This is… Jinn.”

The foreigners exchanged glances.

“He looks… anciently handsome,” Diana whispered to Elise with a giggle. She was referring to Radu.

Elise just smiled at her while Eric cast a warning look at her friend, and she behaved.

“Radu is from what I know, the brother of Vlad the Impaler,” Kent whispered in English.

“Yeah, I remember,” Eric spoke in the same low murmur.

“So, where’s your brother now?” Eric threw his question directly at Radu in Turkish.

“D-do you know about my brother?” Radu thought about his brother Vlad.

“Where is he?” Eric pressed on.

“He… he is in Wallachia,” Radu replied truthfully.

Eric nodded and turned to his friend and whispered. “I don’t remember their history well, pal. Maybe you do.”

“Well, I need to know something more so that I can figure it out,” Kent whispered back.

“Okay.” Eric nodded and looked at Radu again. “Tell us what date is today.”

Radu looked confused, reluctant as he and Jinn looked at the beautiful olive skinned young woman, Diana. “Second day of 1462?”

Kent took the hint.

“He said it’s the second day of the year 1462. It is the same year as his brother is going to be imprisoned in Hungary for twelve years before he can get back to Wallachia and be killed later on.”

Elise went still when she looked at the black eyes of the man, who stood at Radu’s side. Her green eyes widened when she could not hear his thoughts. She only read his soul, which was full of negativities such as anger, hatred, jealousy and evil intentions, which was creepy and very alarming.

“Guys, Radu is standing with an evil spirit,” Elise blurted out with anxiety.

The four were mystified when they heard her.

“He’s not only named Jinn but he is truly a Jinn!” Elise turned to look at the others.

That was what the spirit was called, she heard Zadi’s voice inside her mind and repeated the pygmy’s words with her own voice so that the others would know.

“This is bad!” Mazoi spoke in Ancient Egyptian. “Let us get out of here!”

Radu’s eyes grew wide with surprise. How did the young pale woman know about the Jinn?

“Seize them, Jinn!” Radu quickly ordered the evil spirit.

The Jinn was a shape shifter. It turned into a large, gruesome looking blanket and held the five foreigners captive in an instant.

“What is this commotion all about?”

Radu was surprised to see Sultan Mehmed II entered his bedchamber. He bowed to the sultan in respect.

“I think we have some spies, great sultan,” Radu answered.

The sultan’s eyes narrowed as he looked at the blanket with some persons beneath it that he could not take a glimpse.

“You did this by yourself?” The sultan looked at Radu with doubtful eyes.

Radu bowed slightly to the sultan but did not answer his question.

“I want to see these spies in the great hall, Radu,” the sultan ordered. “I wish to interrogate them myself.”

Radu could not do anything but to obey as he was ordered.