That day Nora purposefully left her phone by those flowers, planning to return later that night under the pretense of retrieving it. Nora's mom was working the night shift at the museum today, so it was easy to get out of the house at around eleven. She was just barely sixteen and didn't have a car yet, so she rode her bike. It was quieter that way anyway. When she got to the house all lights were off except the one in Michael's room. She would have to be careful in case he looked out of his window. She crept slowly towards the garden, making sure to give the motion activated light a wide berth. The lilies seemed to glow in the moonlight. She reached out and grabbed her phone before reaching into the bush and feeling along the wall again. When she found the nob she hesitated for a moment. Should she really be doing this? 

It's harmless, she told herself. It probably just leads to some underground extension of the house for storage. She took a deep breath and turned the nob quietly. For a moment nothing happened and Nora was starting to doubt why she was here, but then she thought she felt the ground underneath her move. The flowerbed containing the lilies moved to the side, shifting everything else slightly. It was a completely silent transition. 

"Wow," she breathed as a full stone staircase came into view. She longed to know exactly how it worked, but she knew that this wasn't the time. There was a soft light coming from the bottom of the staircase and Nora felt drawn to it immediately. Her feet seemed to move without any instructions from her brain, taking her down the steps. She was so entranced by the strange light that she didn't notice the frowning face of Michael looking down at her from his room above. 

The staircase folded in on itself and disappeared once she was off of it.  The light was coming from a closed door. She assumed the light was coming from the crack between the door and the floor. The door was made of stone, just like the staircase, and there was no handle. She pushed it gently, but it didn't move. She leaned against it and pushed harder but it wouldn't budge. She thought for a moment and then started running her hands over it and the walls around it. Her hand eventually found a stone that didn't seem to belong. She pressed it gently and the door opened just a crack with a quiet hiss. She was about to open it wider, when she heard voices inside that gave her pause. 

"Please. Please don't. Let me go. I won't tell anyone. I p-p-promise," one of the voices said. "Please," the voice said more quietly, as if she had lost hope and was just saying it for the hell of it. She seemed to by crying softly. Against her better judgement, Nora peered through the crack from the slightly open door. The room was exactly what Nora had always imagined a torture chamber would look like. There was a stone slab in the center of the room where a woman was laying, chained. She struggled, but she was weak, hardly moving really. She must have been the one pleading. On the wall farthest from Nora there was a rack that shelved every manner of weapon Nora could imagine. There were guns, swords, knives, and things Nora had never seen or heard of. Looking through these racks was a woman. Her long and straight black hair glinting in the eerie light. For a moment Nora thought it was Emma, but when the woman turned around she was much older. They looked almost identical though. If Nora had a guess, she would say that this was Emma's mother. Emma had said that their parents were out of town, but that was evidently not true. The woman had turned around so quickly that Nora didn't have a chance to move. 

The woman's eyes went straight to the slightly open door, and she would have seen Nora if someone hadn't pulled her roughly away. She would have cried out, but a hand was clamped firmly on her mouth. She turned her gaze towards her attacker and came face to face with Michael. She started to struggle but he held her firmly in place. He muttered some words that sounded Latin. Nora heard his mother come towards the door and peer out. She looked directly at them, but her eyes slid over them as if they weren't there. She turned away and closed the door behind her. Michael turned his attention to her. 

"Don't scream. Don't even speak or she will come back and you will most likely die. Okay?" He whispered. I tried to answer, but his hand was still on my mouth. I glared at him. "Just nod," he whispered. I nodded. He slowly removed his hand from my mouth and stepped away from me. He gestured wordlessly towards the wall that concealed the staircase. I nodded again, keeping my promise to stay silent. He reached his hand out and immediately found the hidden stone that opened it. Thank god the staircase was silent. He led Nora outside and the staircase silently folded itself back into place. 

"What the hell?" Nora said, assuming that she was allowed to speak. 

"I could ask you the same question! What are you doing here?" he retorted.

"What is your mom doing here is the better question!" Nora exclaimed. 

"She's harvesting souls to feed to my sister," Michael said. How he managed to keep a straight face was beyond Nora. 

"What?" Nora responded, completely shocked.

"You heard me."

"You're crazy," Nora said, turning away from him. "I'm calling the cops."

"Venite," he said, pointing at Nora's phone. It flew out of her hand and straight to him. "No you're not." She was completely dumfounded. That was magic, but magic wasn't real. Was it?

"You had better tell me what the hell is going on," Nora said, finally finding her voice.

"Yes. We have a lot to discuss don't we?" A voice said from behind us. Michael and I both whirled around. Emma was standing there, as calm as ever.

Thanks for reading. 

Sorry for the cliffhanger but this chapter was getting to be a lot longer than I wanted.

Like if you like it and comment no matter what.

Any questions asked will be answered.

xoxo

-Sierra <3