CHAPTER 2
THE THIRTEENTH HOUR
SATURDAY 13/3
JAMIE
Katie, Jade and Liam resolutely followed me as I climbed those ancient marble stairs, past the huge beastly statue, and onto the crumbling porch of the old Braden mansion.
Nervously, Jade stepped over the missing planks and slipped her hand into Katie's. Silently Katie squeezed her hand unable to take her eyes away from the sad plight of the countless birds impaled on the enormous, thorny vines growing around the massive entrance.
Fearfully we stood still listening to the wind whistling eerily through the tall, forbidding trees speaking to the demons lingering there.
Gathering my courage I turned the brass door handle of twisted serpents. At my touch the brass serpents sprung to life, their heads raised threateningly, their forked tongues spitting the juices of devilment. Terrified, I yelled, releasing my hand as the door creaked open.
Squealing rats roused by the ensuring light, ran across my feet and hid in the darkness of the old mansion as the snakes slithered after them. Scared out of my wits, I wanted to run, but knew that there was no turning back. Trying to ignore Jade and Katie's screams I nervously entered the mansions chilling foyer. The shadowy darkness did nothing to alleviate my fears and the wrenching smell of centuries of decay made my stomach heave.
I could hear Liam and Katie protesting fiercely behind me as invisible hands forced them forward. An ethereal light streamed down from the glass domed ceiling above as whispering voices surrounded us chanting... three times thirteen equates "Moon Harvest."
An eerie silence followed and we stood still too afraid to move on.
The heavy front door creaked behind us and I heard Katie murmur "Where's Jade?"
Brutally the door slammed shut and out of the shadows Jade emerged bathed in the ethereal light as she walked towards the imposing winding staircase dominating the foyer.
Katie called out to her however Jade paid no heed she was transfixed by the ghostly vapor trailing down the staircase before her.
A soft pitiful sobbing emanating from the ghostly vision seemed to rob Jade of all sensibility. Tears ran uncontrollably down her cheeks, as she appeared to weep for the wretchedness of that unearthly soul.
Horrified we watched the ghostly presence respond to Jade's sorrow as it floated over the withered leaves covering the beauty of the intricately patterned marble floor, toward her.
Incredulously the apparition began manifesting before Jade. In horror we saw Jade hold out her arms in a gesture of acceptance to the beautiful ghostly young woman that now stood sadly smiling at her, a newborn baby in her arms.
The sadness in Jade's face shocked Katie. She saw Jade take on the persona of the ghostly apparition. Alarmed Katie wrenched Jade away as she reached for the wraithlike baby, praying that she had intervened in time.
Instantly the apparition vaporized and Jade angrily protested Katie's interference. Soon the two were embroiled in a heated argument with Jade refusing to believe that Katie had saved her from being possessed.
Relieved that Jade appeared to be her usual volatile self I felt compelled to move on. I'd begun to feel strange, lightheaded, inexplicably drawn to where a mystical marble statue stood beside a huge cobwebbed door nearby.
Its beauty mesmerized me and I was unable to tear my eyes away. Incredibly this nymph like creature seemed to personify the confusion of my emotions, the feeling of familiarity bewildering me
Gently I stroked its elf-like wings and astonishingly visions of a magic fairyland floated before me, transporting me to another time, another place. A place where a wondrous garden grew filled with magical creatures running amok, whilst a beautiful young woman happily tended her roses.
Shocked I hastily withdrew my hand and the vision disappeared. Suddenly a man exemplifying substance and position of times past, materialized before me. Terrified I stepped aside, and stunned watched the man vanish through the closed door.
Speechless I stood there listening to the sound of tinkling glass and murmuring voices emanating from the room beyond. Unable to resist I ignored the enormous black spiders creeping menacingly toward me and brushed away the trailing cobwebs from the door. Trembling I turned the ornate brass knob unprepared for the spectacle that awaited me.
Astonished I stared at the sumptuous ballroom before me. There in all of its fading glory, stood the personification of the old mansions flamboyant past... each piece of its exquisite furnishings holding captive, their own secret memories.
Fascinated I watched the musty crimson velvet curtains adorning the windows move silently back and forth to the rhythm of the wind whistling through the broken windowpanes as though dancing to their own untold story.
Proudly a magnificent grand piano stood in the center of the ballroom, its ivory keys exposed in readiness beckoning me. Willingly my fingers lovingly caressed them as a hauntingly beautiful song played in the hidden recesses of my mind.
The room seemed filled with people; I could feel their presence, their happy laughter, and their mood of joyful anticipation.
Enraptured the room began to swirl around me and I felt myself being absorbed into the fabric of its past. With all my being I fought to shake off the shackles that were entrapping me as I slipped further and further into a dark abyss.
Suddenly thunder reverberated throughout the ballroom shaking its walls and the floor beneath me. Lightening flashed all around me staving off the dark abyss threatening to engulf me.
Shaken I found myself released from the entrapment of the past life existing within the mansions aging walls and ran as fast as my shaking legs could carry me back to the foyer where my friends were frantically calling me.
They were standing on the steps of the grand wooden staircase their eyes glued to something slithering menacingly through the thick piles of leaves toward them.
"Watch out Jamie...snake! Snake!" Jade's blood curdling scream made my hair stand on end.
As the snake turned and slithered toward me the cogwheels of the ancient hall clock beside me suddenly sprung to life and synchronized. Resolutely it began to chime the thirteenth hour, the time of our empowerment.
It can't be. I looked at my watch: 11.04am.
An evil laugh resonated from the shadows as a figure emerged from the darkness.
It was Swasie...
Then as quickly as he appeared he vanished into thin air.
Bewildered I looked again at my watch; the hands were aligning with that ancient clock. Mysteriously time had progressed almost two hours.
Fearfully I looked at Liam and Katie wondering what would be our fate, when suddenly the snake vanished and the leaves covering the floor began to float upwards mingling with a mysterious silvery mist seeping through the glass domed ceiling high above me
Mesmerized I watched the leaves merge and part as they formed the number thirty-nine before disintegrating into dust.
Suddenly the glass-domed ceiling was bathed in a fiery glow as loud rumblings beneath our feet began to shake the walls of the mansion.
I stood transfixed listening to the chiming of the hall clock. It was happening! The 'Holy Universal Number of Thirty-nine' was equating over the planet earth, its pivotal point of execution the Braden mansion.
Afraid I sensed the ancient powers from a world below drawing the blood red rays of the moon of Urias streaming through the glass-domed ceiling to them.
"Jamie...stop gawking at the ceiling". Jade yelled as she ran for the door. "We have got to get out of here there's an earthquake happening!"
Just then the hall clock struck the thirteenth hour and I felt the searing rays of 'Moon Harvest' penetrate my body, empowering my tellurian form; awakening the rudimentary powers of my ancestry.
I fell to the floor unable to move as deeper the fiery rays penetrated the floor beneath me.
Then, as the hands of the hall clock moved past the thirteenth hour, the fiery rays of 'Moon Harvest' infiltrating the old mansion, withdrew. Once more the gloom o
f the old mansion returned and I lay there stunned and groggy listening to my friends stirring around me.
Helpless I watched Jade struggle to her feet pulling Katie with her before poking Liam lying motionless next to me.
"Please Liam, Jamie, get up, you're scaring me...!" Jade begged.
"Katie quick, help me get them up. Look at the floor! It's glowing where Jamie's wizard's hat landed. Come on Liam grab my hand." Jade implored.
With blurry eyes I saw Jade pull Liam to his feet. She turned to me but I couldn't move.
"Jamie please get up!" Jade screamed frightened out of her wits.
"Stop it Jade! He's just been zapped...give him a chance." Katie cried.
"Is that what happened to you guys? No, please don't tell me Katie, I don't want to know. You lot are really scaring me."
"You mean you didn't feel anything Jade?" Liam asked astonished.
Jade didn't answer she was already heading for the door dragging Katie behind her.
Suddenly enormous steel bars slid across the ancient door and the heavy window shutters throughout the old mansion slammed shut, entrapping us into its world.
For a terrifying moment there was total darkness.
Jade's imagination ran wild as she heard the mournful howling of wild dingoes roaming the ancient city nearby. Clutching Katie's hand tighter she trembled as a faint golden light trickled down the stairs.
"There's someone up there." Jade whispered hoarsely. She was freaking now. "Maybe it's that old man. Yikes, we have to get out of here; he's going to murder us."
"Shh Jade...cool it! This is no time to spin out. Come on Jamie get up. There's something going down here that's really bizarre." Liam implored.
Dazed I struggled to my feet shaken by the powers that had radiated through my body.
The hall clock beside me was as before, silent and motionless. I looked at my watch its hands said 11.04am. Bewildered I checked that it was ticking.
"Jamie stop looking at your watch, we have to find a way out of here!" Katie declared trembling from head to toe.
"Guys listen to me! Just now time somehow moved forward two hours to the time of our empowerment. What you felt when that hall clock struck the thirteenth hour was your powers being awakened."
"Are you crazy man?" Liam exclaimed his eyes nearly popping out of his head."
"No Liam I can't explain it but ..." I stopped mid sentence as I remembered how I'd seen Swasie just moments before we were zapped. Had what we experienced been an illusion created by him to trick us into revealing ourselves as the 'Power of Three'? Before I had a chance to say anything, Katie put her hand over my mouth.
"Ssh, Jamie listen, someone is walking about upstairs. It could be the Crines!"
"Katie, there's only one set of footsteps." Jade said her voice barely a whisper as she listened intently.
"Stop freaking you two, it's probably that old man who Jamie wants to find. If it is then he can help us get out of here." Liam stated emphatically.
"Or it could be that monster Tuloosa." Katie whispered hoarsely.
Abruptly the footsteps stopped.
We all looked to the top of the stairs waiting...no one appeared.
"Can we find a way out of here now?" Jade pleaded urgently.
"Okay Jade but we have to keep our wits about us. I figure this old place is bewitched and it's going to try and trick us again. It's trapped us in here; the only hope we have now is the old man. We have to go upstairs and look for him. So please guys, try and stick together at all times." I implored as I walked toward the winding wooden staircase. "Wait, first I have something to tell you." Jade declared hoarsely. "I think today is my birthday too. I wanted to tell you all when Jamie told us about the 'Power of Three' but I thought it was a lot of nonsense until I was zapped just now.
Katie, don't look at me like that, I'm not making it up!"
"Now's not the time for one of your fantasies Jade!" Katie responded harshly. "You know your birthday was last month."
"Please guys, believe me, it's true!" Jade pleaded. "I only found out how mum faked my birthday last night when she said a weird prayer over me. She was praying about me turning thirteen today and receiving supernatural powers. Does that make me one of you?" Jade asked beseechingly,
I was shocked by Jade's confession if it were true then ...
"Jamie don't look at me like that you are scaring me."
"Jamie this is getting more ridiculous by the minute, now Jade thinks she'd got supernatural powers! Come on man you have to give us some proof." Liam demanded.
"Liam you just have to trust me okay!" What more could I say? I turned away and began climbing the stairs totally confused by Jade's revelation.
"Jamie what about your Wizard hat? Look its still glowing, maybe it has magical powers" Jade declared as she went to retrieve it.
"Forget it just follow me, time is running out!" I replied gruffly. At that moment I wanted nothing to do with magic.
I looked over my shoulder at my friend's anxious faces as they climbed the stairs behind me. I decided there and then that I wouldn't freak them out any further by telling them that I'd seen Swasie.
The eerie tinkling of the huge crystal chandelier hanging above the staircase made me uneasy. What if it was Swasie up there and not the old man? I had no time to think about it the creaking stairs suddenly began to groan beneath me
"Come on guys run!" I yelled.
"Phew...I hope there's another way out and we don't have to go back down those stairs!" declared Katie as we stood in the hallway looking down at the swaying staircase.
Unfazed, Liam was already inspecting the small-cobwebbed door facing him.
"No Liam, don't! You don't know what's behind there...it could be dangerous!" Katie cried as she tried to pull Liam away.
"Cool it Katie I just want to see what it is. It could lead to a secret chamber." Liam said eagerly turning the ancient doorknob.
"So much for that great mystery!" said Katie impatiently as she surveyed what appeared to be just an empty dusty cupboard.