Later at her home Josie is just about to take a shower and has laid the clothes she is going to wear out on her bed.
Cassidy, Jake & Gitan, as they are driving to their home to get ready for the nightclub, Gitan asks the same question, “Did you notice how strange it was being around Josie as you could see her but you couldn’t sense her, it was almost as if she didn’t exist?” “Yes, we noticed that earlier today.” Gitan asks, “What is up with that? Do you think it’s possible she could be immortal like us?” Jake & Cassidy look at each other with a quizzical look on their faces and Cassidy says, “If she is we’ve never encountered her kind before.” A few seconds later they arrive home.
As Jake and Cassidy go to their rooms in separate wings of the house Gitan goes to the kitchen where he opens one of the fridges, he reaches in and pulls out one of the blood bank satchells. He decides to feed before he goes to the club. As he is enjoying his meal he notices two large shadows in the vestibule and thinking that it is Cassidy and Jake he calls out to them but there is no response. Placing the satchel in the sink he goes to investigate and as he walks into the vestibule he sees what appears to be two large sabre-tooths going up either side of the staircases. Gitan, not knowing that they are Natalia’s new Golum’s he becomes very concerned as Cassidy comes down the corridor from her room because the sabre-tooths appear to be about to strike out at her. Gitan’s vampire teeth come down and his nails become long and he is about to call out to Cassidy to look out but before he can both of them strike Cassidy. Within a blink of an eye Gitan successfully removes Cassidy from danger. With a shocked look on her face, Cassidy asks, “What the hell is going on?” Gitan tries to explain that he was only protecting her from the intruding sabre-tooths. Cassidy begins to laugh and Gitan asks, “What’s so funny, you could have been killed?”
Remember by Brunuhville
Cassidy, still laughing, says, “They wouldn’t have harmed me, they are Natalia’s new Golum’s.” Gitan says, “Why didn’t anyone tell me she had created new Golum’s in the shape of sabre-tooths?” As he helps Cassidy to her feet Jake calls out from down stairs and as both of them walk over to the banister and look down standing next to Jake is also Natalia. “Hi!” says Natalia and notices the really dirty look on Gitan’s face but before he can say anything Natalia realises why he is pissed at her.
Gitan asks, “Why didn’t you tell me you were creating new Golum’s, you promised to show me how these ones would be done?” Natalia apologises and says, “This time I’ll let you choose a design and watch it being created.” As they continue their conversation, Cassidy and Gitan walk down the staircase to where Jake and Natalia are standing. Natalia enquires how the day went with the young girl at the college. Cassidy said, “The day went very well after they located Josie in the old music room. Jake suggested we ask Josie, that’s the girl’s name, if she would like to spend the night with us at the club.” Natalia, “Did she agree?” Gitan answers, “Yes, she did. She also seems to be a very talented musician as well.” Not noticing the time they continue to chat.
Back at Josie’s apartment, Josie is beginning to pace back and forward getting a little nervous because it’s the time the others were supposed to pick her up and they haven’t arrived yet. Thinking to herself, “It’s not like I can just go to the club, they didn’t tell me where it was!”
Meanwhile Natalia asks the others if they can road-test the sabre-tooths out amongst the general public. Cassidy, Gitan and Jake all look at each other, each wondering how they are supposed to do that. Gitan says, “Can I ask a stupid question?” Natalia replies, “As long as you don’t mind a stupid answer!” Gitan, “I think the humans would notice two massive sabre-tooths, that are supposed to be extinct, walking through the streets!” As he finishes his sarcastic remarks Natalia looks at Cassidy and the guys and smiles. As she does so her eyes begin to glow and as this happens Cassidy, Jake and Gitan watch as the two sabre-tooths come down each side of the staircase. With a single word from Natalia the Golum’s begin to change, by the time they reach the bottom of the staircases they now have the shape and form of two wolves. Natalia turns back and asks, “Will this form do?” The guys turn around and all say, at the same time, “That’s wicked!!” Cassidy answers Natalia’s earlier question, “Yes! I don’t think anyone will have a problem with these.”
Kiera walks up and says, “I don’t mean to interrupt but weren’t you supposed to pick Josie up half an hour ago?” Cassidy, quickly looking at her watch, notices that it is now 10pm and exclaims. “Oh, shit!! I forgot all about that. How am I supposed to get there when it is this late Josie probably thinks we’re not coming?” Natalia, quickly putting her hand on the amulet pinned to the strap of her top, makes a telepathic link with Dara who is already at the club and asks for his assistance. A few seconds later Dara appears in front of all of them. Being polite he says to Natalia, “Nice to see you again, how can I be of assistance?” Natalia, “Cassidy has a problem, she was supposed to pick up Josie at 8.30pm but as you can see by the clock it is already 10pm. I was wondering if you could help her out by using your ability of teleportation to get her there?” Dara replies, “Is it just her or everyone?” Cassidy answers, “It’s just me but can you also teleport the car as well?” Dara pauses for a minute and answers, “I can try but I’m a little off my game at the moment for some reason.” As Cassidy and Dara are talking about the best way to teleport her and the Mustang, Gitan asks Natalia, “Are you coming to the club tonight?” “Probably not, I have to start work on opening the safe stones.”
Gitan and Jake, after a few minutes, walk outside to where the Mustang is parked. As Dara and Cassidy stand next to the car, Dara places one hand on the car and the other hand on Cassidy’s shoulder. He lowers his head for a minute, drawing in the energy he needs to teleport, as he raises his head and opens his eyes they are glowing bright red and with a single thought, a massive flash occurs and Cassidy, Dara and the car arrive instantly in the car park of the college. While this is happening Jake and Gitan are now waiting in the study for Natalia to return with the safe stones. After she arrives in the study Gitan asks, “Are you ready?” He then places his hand on several symbols on the side of the magnificent old mirror and after doing so Natalia says, “See you later” and walks through the mirror and arrives in new Atlantis. A few seconds later Jake and Gitan also step through the mirror and safely arrive in Cassidy’s office at the nightclub.
Back in the car park at the college Cassidy thanks Dara and says, “I’ll see you at the club shortly with Josie.” With that Dara teleports himself to the club. As Cassidy is walking down the footpath towards Josie’s apartment she feels that there is something evil lurking in the bushes. She decides to ignore the feeling she has and continues on to Josie’s.
Ad Mortem (Gothic Music) by Adrian von Ziegler
Josie is now sitting on the couch watching an old Lucille Ball movie. As she hears someone knocking at the door she gets up to open the door. When she does so, Cassidy is standing there in front of her. Cassidy says, “I’m so sorry I’m late, are you ready to go?” Josie replies, “Yes, I’ve just got to grab my bag and switch the TV off.”
On their way to the car Cassidy asks Josie what she was watching on the telly, Josie replies, “Just an old movie with Lucille Ball in it.” As they hop into the car Cassidy says, “The guys are looking forward to meeting you so you should have lots of fun tonight.” After they leave the car park, Victoria, with her mobile to her ear, is standing beside the apartment building where she had been spying on Cassidy and Josie. She tells Elizabeth and Harriet, who are listening on the other end of the phone, who showed up at Josie’s apartment. The conversation goes on for a few minutes and as she hangs up the hairs on the back of her neck stand up and she has the distinct feeling that something is stalking her.
Hearing a rustling sound in the bushes she decides to see what it is. She walks over and sneakily looks behind the bushes to try and see what was making the noise. Breathing a sigh of relief when she sees nothing, she turns around to leave and there standing in front of her is a horrifying creature but before she can scream the creature slices her across the throat with it’s claws preventing her from uttering a sound. With blood gushing from her throat she falls backwards onto the ground. Desperately she tries to scream as the harlequin, which is the creature she has encountered, grabs her by the top of her hair and drags her into the bushes and vanishes leaving nothing but a large blood trail.
The harlequin appears back at the fortress and there standing before it is Tansin, she says, “Good, you have another one.” Victoria is still trying to scream, Tansin reaches out and grabs her by the face, she turns her head slightly to the side to see how deep the wound is. Turning Victoria’s head back Tansin leans forward a little and says, “Don’t worry dear, you’re not going to die quite yet. Now, put this thing with rest of them, the Queen will have plenty of slaves to choose from to feed upon.”
By this time Cassidy and Josie are just arriving at the nightclub. Parking in Little Collins St they walk up McKillop Street until they get to the laneway where the club is situated. As they walk in to the club they are met by Jake who accompanies them to the third floor of the nightclub. As they walk over to table where Cassidy’s friends are sitting Jake asks them if they would like something to drink. Cassidy, “I’ll just have my usual thanks.” “And what about you Josie?” “I’ll just have an orange juice, thank you.” Jake goes to the bar as Cassidy and Josie continue over to where Cassidy’s friends are sitting.
As they sit down at the table, Josie comments on the décor of the nightclub. “This is really wicked the way they’ve used real caskets and turned them into the seating. I love the spiderweb effect for the tables as well.” Cassidy says. “Thanks, it took a little time to work out what we wanted for the décor. Oh, by the way, these are my friends, sitting in the middle this is Dara, on his right is Gitan, who you met earlier today.” Cassidy, trying to get the attention of Nawar, who is currently occupied watching one of the regular bands perform, asks Gitan to give him a nudge. Turning around Nawar says, “What!!” Cassidy goes to introduce Josie to him but Nawar says to Josie, “It’s nice to see that you’ve finally decided to come into the club.” Cassidy looks at Josie, then at Nawar comments, “Have you two met before?” “She walked past one night and asked what the club was called that’s how we know each other.”
The guys move over to make room for Cassidy and Josie to sit down. Nawar goes on to ask Josie, “So, do you like this kind of music?” Josie replies, “Yeah, it’s pretty cool.” Jake returns to the table with the drinks for everyone and sits down. As the conversation continues Nawar asks, “Do you have any favourite bands?” “Yes, but I have one particular favourite called Spell Weavers.” As Josie says this, for a few seconds the whole table goes quiet as Cassidy, Nawar, Jake, Dara and Gitan all look at each other and smile. Dara says, “Yeah, they’re one of our favourites too!”
While Cassidy, Josie and the guys are getting acquainted, back in New Atlantis Natalia is having a difficult time trying to get the safe stones open. Nothing she has done so far has worked and to make things more difficult even the scanners will not show what is inside so she decides, even at a great risk of destroying them, she will have one of the Golum’s forcibly open them. As she does so a massive amount of energy is released shattering the Golum into many pieces and throwing her across the room into the far wall. As she hits the wall she lets out a half screech as the impact winds her. As she is laying against the wall trying to regain her breath and get to her feet she hears a familiar voice. Standing in front of her is The Elder and he takes her hand and helps her to her feet.
The Elder, sarcastically, asks, “Are you all right Natalia?” “Yes, I’m fine I’m just a little out of breath. What the hell was that?” The Elder walks over and picks up one of the safe stones. Natalia says. “Are you mad?” The Elder, laughing, turns and says, “Maybe I should have told you that trying to force the safe stones open would activate their defence systems.” Natalia, “It would have been really nice to know that earlier! It’s my kind that created them but I still can’t seem to open them.” The Elder replies, “Even though they were created by the children of stone they were made for the Order of the Keepers and only one of them or their descendants can open them.”
Back in Melbourne, at the Graveyard nightclub, Gitan says to Nawar and Dara, “Josie is a really good musician in her own right, or that’s what I’ve been told by Cassidy and Jake.” Dara and Nawar say at the same time, “Really?” Josie says, “I’m good at playing music but I’m far better when I have my own band members with me.” Dara asks, “Are they here?” “No, they’re still in my home town of Franklin in the US. I’m hoping that they can come over and visit me soon so that we can have some jam sessions.” Cassidy asks, “So, do you feel really lonely here on your own?” Josie, sighing a little says, “Yes but I feel much better since you guys asked me here to the club. Thank you for including me.” They all say, “That’s okay, you can come to the club whenever you want to.”
Dara, Gitan and Jake excuse themselves from the group after one of the band members, who are playing on stage, asks for assistance with some equipment which is not working properly.
Dara opens the door after being asked by Jake to let Natalia’s new Golum’s out to see how they will react to a crowd of people. Cassidy, seeing this, calls the Golum’s over by placing her hand on the acolyte amulet she is wearing. As the two Golum’s come towards Cassidy they suddenly stop and stare intently at Josie. After a few moments Cassidy calls them again but they don’t obey instead they still stand there staring at Josie. This begins to make her feel uneasy.
Dara opens the door after being asked by Jake to let Natalia’s new Golum’s out to see how they will react to a crowd of people. Cassidy, seeing this, calls the Golum’s over by placing her hand on the acolyte amulet she is wearing. As the two Golum’s come towards Cassidy they suddenly stop and stare intently at Josie. After a few moments Cassidy calls them again but they don’t obey instead they still stand there staring at Josie. This begins to make her feel uneasy.
Allure Of Darkness by Brunuhville
Nawar, nudging Cassidy, says, “What’s going on?” Cassidy replies, “I’ve got no idea they shouldn’t be reacting this way to Josie.” Cassidy then asks Nawar to use his amulet as well to see if they can both work together to summon them but the opposite happens. Instead of coming to them as they should the Golum’s, which are now in the shape of wolves, begin to move towards Josie even more. This begins to concern Nawar and Cassidy. Nawar puts his hand up to try and get the guys attention but only Dara notices. As Dara walks over to ask what’s going on he notices the scared look on Josie’s face, realising that it is the two Golum’s that are making her afraid he walks up behind them, but before he can tell them to leave Josie alone they both turn on him. Neither Cassidy or Nawar can control them. Hearing and seeing the commotion Gitan and Jake come running over.
Before they can do anything Josie, afraid for Dara, grabs at the necklace that her mother gave her and screams out, “STOP!” As she does so both of the Golum’s obey, they turn around and sit at her feet. Dara breathing a sigh of relief at the fact that they did not attack him turns and looks at Cassidy, Nawar, Jake and Gitan, all of them with puzzled looks on their faces. Turning back to Josie he asks, “How did you do that?” Josie tries to explain that she has no idea.
Cassidy gets up and decides that it would be a better idea for the two wolves to be taken back to her office. As Cassidy leads them back to her office Josie decides she needs to visit the bathroom. As she comes out of the toilet and is returning to the table she notices that Cassidy and the others are talking amongst themselves about what has just happened. As Josie gets back to the table she asks what they’re talking about. The others have no idea what to say to her. Gitan says, “We were just discussing whether or not you would sing for us?” Josie replies, “I would love to but I don’t have any music with me, it’s all on my computer at home. Jake asks, “What about the piano piece we heard you play earlier today?” Josie agrees to play the piece but she reminds them that none of the equipment on stage is working. Cassidy states, “That’s okay, there is a baby grand piano on the stage.”
Emergency Intro by Paramore
Josie, really nervously, walks onto the stage and sits down at the piano and begins to play. At that very moment all the power goes out and the whole club is plunged into darkness. After a few minutes of being in the dark all the lights come back on but what Josie does not realise is that the power has been restored to the sound system on stage. She begins again to play the piece and realises she can hear it being played through the sound system. She hesitates for a moment and looking over at the guys and sees Cassidy indicating to her to keep playing. As she does everyone in the club moves towards the stage. As she plays she sways back and forth in time to the music.
When Josie finishes playing she looks up and is surprised to see the huge crowd which has gathered to listen to her. As she does, everyone begins to applaud.
The feeling of having her heart in her throat was bad enough when she got up on stage, but now it feels even harder to breathe as she can’t believe the reaction she is getting. Cassidy & the guys go up to her and say, “That was fantastic!” Dara, looking at Josie asks, “Are you alright, you look a little unwell?” The others agree with what Dara has said. Josie replies, “I’ve just got a headache.” But thinking to herself, “In all the excitement I’ve forgotten to take my medication.” Just after they get back to the table Josie takes the tablets without anyone seeing what she’s doing.
Cassidy says, “So-o-o??” Josie, slightly startled, thinks that Cassidy may have seen her take the medication, makes a biting remark back, “So-o, so what?” Cassidy, “Are you sure you’re alright Josie?” Josie apologising for snapping, says, “Yes, it’s just the headache.” Cassidy decides that it might be a good idea to drive Josie home and she asks the guys if anyone wants to come with them. Nawar is the only one who answers, “Yeah, sure, I’ll come for the drive.”
On the way back to the college apartments, Josie is very quiet and after 15 minutes they pull up in the car park. When they arrive they see Police cars and an ambulance in the car park. They get out of their car and walk towards Josie’s apartment and as they do so they are discussing what the Police may be doing there. As they round the corner they come upon the Police and an area which is cordoned off. The Police ask them what they’re doing there and tells them they can’t go any further. Josie explains that she lives in one of the apartments just across the way. Nawar, being curious, asks, “What’s going on?” The Police officer replies, “There’s an investigation in progress and I can’t tell you any more than that.”
Josie asks if she can go to her apartment and the Police officer replies that he would have to ask the lead Detective on the case.
The lead Detective, along with the Dean of the School comes over to where Josie and the others are standing. “I’m Detective Jade and I believe you live close by. Did you see or hear anything in the last couple of hours?” Josie saying “No, I didn’t see or hear anything.” The detective asks, “Are you sure, because we were told by two witnesses that you were the last one to see her?” Cassidy asks, “What two witnesses?” Detective Jade asks, “Who are you?” The Dean says, “This is Cassidy, one of the College’s greatest benefactor’s. It was one of her ancestors that helped start the college.” The detective apologises for being so abrupt. Cassidy goes on to ask again, “Who were the two witnesses?” Detective Jade, pointing over towards where one of the other Police officers is standing, says, “Those two young ladies standing there.” Cassidy sees who he is talking about and asks Josie, “Do you know them?” Josies answers, “Yes, that’s Elizabeth and Harriet, they’re some of the girls who seem to have it in for me.”
Lua Eterna by Adrian von Ziegler
While Cassidy and Josie are talking to Detective Jade and the Dean Nawar notices the scent in the air of a malevolent being. Whilst the others are still talking, Nawar slips away and shows up near where the blood trail ends. He hears the Police officers discussing how it is impossible for a blood trail to just disappear into thin air. Nawar, being closer to the spot where the creature had been realises that the scent he has picked up is that of a harlequin, a creature which is known to humans as a demon. Concerned about the demon being this close to Josie’s apartment he decides to make sure that it has really left the area. Making sure no-one else sees him, Nawar steps back into the shadows and as he does so he makes his eyes change into the eyes of a were-panther so it will give him the ability to see what is hidden. Just in front of where the blood trail stops Nawar can see the remnants of where the demon teleported from.
A few moments later Nawar returns to where Josie and Cassidy are still talking to the detective. After asking some more questions Cassidy is becoming irritated by the way that the detective is talking to Josie and it’s obvious she doesn’t believe that Josie was not there. Cassidy decides to speak up, “Stop accusing Josie of lying, she was at the nightclub called The Graveyard with me and my friends all night after we picked her up from here. We’ve only just brought her home now. The Detective asks, “And what time did you leave here?” Before Cassidy can answer Nawar says, “They left here about 10 o’clock.” The detective says, "Well, you’re very lucky because the young lady, Victoria, was attacked only a few minutes after you left.”
Cassidy asks, “Now you know where we were, is it alright if we take Josie home?” Detective Jade says, “Yes, but give this officer your details before you leave.” As Josie is giving her details to the police officer Nawar says to Cassidy, “I need to speak to you, it’s important.” They walk away from where Josie is standing so that she can’t hear their conversation. Nawar goes on to explain to Cassidy that what took the girl was a harlequin. Cassidy says, “Are you shitting me, they don’t come out in the open and expose themselves like this unless they’ve got something to gain? Could you be wrong?” Nawar answers, “I used my eyes and saw the teleportation disturbance.” Cassidy turns and looks at Josie and asks Nawar, “Do you think it could have been here for Josie?” “It could be a possibility if she’s immortal, but other than that why would they come after a human if they’re not important?”
Cassidy comes up with a plan, that after they take Josie home, they will arrange with Natalia for the Golum’s to watch over her. As they finish their conversation Josie walks up to them, “I’ve just finished giving my details to the Police officer and he said we can go now.” After a short walk they reach Josie’s apartment, it is now 4am. As Josie opens the door she invites Cassidy and Nawar in. She says, “Sorry about the mess, I just haven’t been in the mood to unpack everything.” She then asks them if they would like a cup of coffee or tea. Cassidy and Nawar say, “No thank you, we should be going, it’s pretty late. Besides, we will see you again later on today.” As Josie walks them to the main door, Cassidy congratulates Josie on how she performed at the club and how amazing it was to see so many people get up, come to the stage and listen to the music. Josie thanks Cassidy and says, “I was so nervous my heart was in my throat.” Cassidy excuses herself and says she has to make a phone call. Nawar goes on to ask Josie would she be up to performing again at the club. Josie answers, “I’d love to but I will have to speak to the guys and ask if it’s alright because I’m still part of a band.” Nawar says, “That’s cool, maybe we can get them to perform live over the web with you?”
As they continue to talk Cassidy is on the phone to the guys at the club, she explains to them what has happened. Jake asks, “Do you want us there?” Cassidy says, “No, we came up with a plan, I need you to ask Natalia if she can bring her Golum’s here.” Jake turns around and tells Gitan and Dara that Cassidy needs Natalia’s help. They all go to the office together, Gitan immediately goes through to New Atlantis. A few moments later he returns with Natalia. Already up to speed Natalia looks at Dara and says, “I will need a lift.” With that she calls her two Golum’s over to her and Dara and, within a blink of an eye, they vanish. A second later they arrive in front of the cemetery which is across the road from the College, in order not to be discovered by the humans.
It takes a few minutes for Natalia and Dara to walk across to the College and by this time most of the Police officers have left the scene and only the College Security guards are now there. They slip by the guards un-noticed and by the time they get to where Cassidy and Nawar are waiting, Josie has, in the meantime, already returned to her apartment. Cassidy thanks Natalia for getting there so quickly and Natalia comments on what a bloody mess the harlequin has left. As the conversation continues Cassidy goes on to explain her plan. She asks Natalia if she could place the Golum’s in a position in order to watch over Josie for the rest of the night. Natalia asks, “Where do you think is the best place to position them?” Nawar points out the sculpture park with sculptures of big cats made by the students. Natalia says, “That’s the perfect place to put them, no-one should notice another two big cats.” Natalia commands the Golum’s to transform and take their places. As they are doing so Dara hears the security guards coming and worried about being discovered Cassidy begins to create a cloak of invisibility around them.
Because some of the statues are made of iron Cassidy’s power doesn’t seem to be working properly in her human form. She realises that the only way to complete the cloak is to take her true form. As she does so her eyes begin to glow and her hair takes on a blue/white iceberg colour. They turn invisible just at the moment the security guards come around the corner. One of the guards walks over to where they are still hidden from view and whilst shining his torch in all directions he says, “I’m sure I heard something.” After a few fruitless minutes of looking around the guards leave.
Natalia, Cassidy, Dara and Nawar all breathe a sigh of relief. Natalia says, “That was cutting it close!” After putting the sabre tooths in their positions they all return to the car. On the way back to the nightclub they all explain to Natalia what happened earlier that night with Josie and the Golum’s at the club. Natalia says to the others, “That should never have happened. Why didn’t you tell me this before? It seems like a bad idea that we left the Golum’s to watch over Josie if they’ve become uncontrollable, they may become a threat to other humans. I couldn’t have that hanging over my head for eternity.” Just after the conversation they arrive home and all of them decide to get some sleep. So each of them heads off to their own rooms.
A few hours later Natalia is the first one to wake up and she ventures downstairs to get a cup of coffee. The next person to rise is Gitan, he crawls out of his coffin and walks slowly up the stairs from the cellar. He meets Natalia in the kitchen, she with a cup of coffee in her hand and he, opens the fridge to take out his usual satchel of blood. Gitan decides he would rather have a warm drink, so heats it up in the microwave and then pours it into a coffee cup. By the time he takes his first mouthful the others are already awake and also heading towards the kitchen. The only one who is not there is Cassidy, who is still sound asleep.
Sad Flute Song
They are all sitting around talking when Kiera walks in to make a cup of coffee for Cassidy and all the guys greet her and inform her that Cassidy is still asleep. Kiera explains that she is about to go and wake her up. Natalia says to Kiera that she would like to take the coffee up to Cassidy and wake her up.
By now Natalia is upstairs, knocks on the door of Cassidy’s room and then enters the room. Placing the coffee on the bedside table she gently shakes Cassidy to rouse her from her sleep. Natalia says, “Come on lazy bones, it’s already late in the afternoon.” Cassidy rolls over, yawns and stretches, “What time is it?” “It’s 3.30 time to rise and shine.” Cassidy sits up in the bed and Natalia hands her the cup of coffee, Cassidy thanks her and says, “That’s just what I needed.” Natalia asks, “So what are we up to?” Cassidy replies after taking another mouthful of her coffee, “I thought it would be a good idea if we all go to Josie’s apartment and help her unpack.” Natalia says, “I’ll go down and tell the guys what we’re intending to do.” Cassidy says, “I’ll be down as soon as I’ve had a shower and dressed.” As Natalia is leaving Cassidy comments on her new outfit, a two-piece black and red leather halter neck top and the leather skirt to match.
Natalia leaves the room and closes the door behind her. As she is walking down the corridor towards the staircase she’s thinking to herself that she’s having a really bad hair day because it just won’t sit the way she wants it to. She comes across a mirror as she is descending the staircase, she stops, looks in the mirror and thinks to herself, “I can do much better than this with my hair!” She places her hands on her head and runs her fingers through her hair and as she does so her hair becomes French braided. She looks in the mirror again and says, “Hmmm, that’s much better.” After dealing with her difficult hair Natalia walks back into the kitchen where the guys are still having a late lunch. The guys all comment on her hair and tell her how much it suits her. Natalia goes on to tell them what’s in store for the rest of the day, firstly they are going to see Josie and then they’re going to the club as soon as Cassidy is finished getting ready.
The guys decide to go and get changed into more appropriate clothes and frantically dash off to their own rooms. Natalia, being left on her own in the kitchen decides to make herself a cup of coffee. She leans against the counter drinking her coffee and thinking to herself about how difficult it has been to create Drake’s new heart. She is so engrossed in her thoughts she doesn’t notice that Cassidy has come into the kitchen. Cassidy asks, “Where are the guys?” Not getting a reply she asks the question again and this time Natalia says, “Oh-h, sorry, they’ve gone to get changed.” Cassidy pulls out her mobile phone and dials Josie’s number to let her know that they will be there shortly.
Josie, still asleep, is woken by the phone ringing and fumbles around until she finds it. She answers, “Hello….!” ”It’s Cassidy here, sorry did I wake you?” “Yes, but that’s okay I was going to get up shortly anyway.” Cassidy asks if it’s okay for them to come over to her place to help her unpack and sort her belongings. Josie replies, “You don’t have to do that.” Cassidy insists that that is what they want to do to help her out. Josie hears in the background Jake yelling out, “And we’ll get some chips!” Josie reluctantly agrees and thanks them for thinking of her. She says, “I’ll see you guys soon then.”
While Josie is waiting for them to arrive she decides to do a video message and send it to Curtis, William James, Dalroy and JJ. She explains what she did at the club and says she has been asked to do another set of songs and she asks their permission to do some of the band’s songs. She also suggests that they could do a live performance over the web with her. She enquires about how they are all doing and ends with, “Hope to see you soon, miss you, lots of love, Josie.” Just as she’s ending the video email she hears a lot of voices at her door and as she gets up to go to the door she hears them knocking.
After greeting them and inviting them in she asks if they would like something to drink with the hot chips they’ve brought with them. Gitan says, “Nothing for me thanks.” The guys ask if she has any soft drink and Cassidy asks for a cup of coffee. Josie looks at Natalia and asks, “What would you like?” Cassidy realises that Josie hasn’t met Natalia yet and does the introductions. Natalia asks for a cup of tea. After sitting around and eating their chips they decide to get stuck into helping Josie get unpacked. As the guys work on the stuff in the lounge-room Cassidy and Natalia help Josie sort out her room.
Occasionally they guys come past the bedroom door and ask where certain things go. By this time most of the stuff in Josie’s room is unpacked except for a box of photos. Cassidy is sitting on the end of Josie’s bed, with Natalia standing next to her, she pulls out a photo, holds it out towards Josie, who is sitting on the floor and asks, “Who’s this next to you in the photo?” Josie, taking the photo, says that it is her mother. Natalia, seeing the photo suddenly realises who Josie is, that she is the daughter of Arlia the new matriarch who ruled over the keepers of secrets – the ones who hid the darkest and most dangerous secrets of Atlantis from the world and hidden from those who would use this knowledge to rule over the Earth or destroy it.
Natalia enquires after Josie’s mother and asks if she is here in Australia or back in Josie’s hometown of Franklin? As Josie begins to answer Natalia notices that she’s getting upset and asks, “Did I say something wrong?” Josie replies, “No, you didn’t say anything wrong.” She then goes on to explain to Natalia and Cassidy that her mother indeed is still in Franklin, buried in the cemetery. Cassidy, not wanting to upset Josie further, asks, “What happened?” Josie goes on to explain to both of them that she witnessed her mother being murdered right in front of her when she was 16.
Cassidy, looking at Natalia, then asks the question of Josie, “Is that why you’re here in Australia?” Josie replies, “Yes, I just couldn’t stay in the house where my mother was murdered, it no longer had the warmth it had when Mum was alive.” She went on to explain that every time she walked through the house she was haunted by her mother’s spirit. She ends with a deep sigh.
One of the guys knocks on the door and says to Josie, “We found this necklace amongst some of your CD’s and video games.” Josie, sitting on the floor, looks up at Nawar and exclaims, “Ohhh, I thought I’d lost that, I haven’t seen it in years.” Nawar asks, “So, did your boyfriend make it for you?” Even after four years Josie is still pissed off at her ex-boyfriend and says, “Hell no, he wouldn’t even pay for the bracelet that I wanted for my 14th birthday.” After getting that off her chest she explains to everyone that it was made for her by a friend she had met whilst in the hospital having treatment. She explained that after he had given her the necklace he said he would see her the next day before she went home but he never showed up and later on she found out that he had disappeared and no-one has heard from him since then. Natalia says, “Man, your life sucked back then by the sounds of it.”
Just as Cassidy reaches down to pick up another photo which was face down on the floor the rest of the guys tell her that they are finished unpacking and suggest that they all get out of there and go to the club. Still with the photo in her hand but upside down she and Natalia help Josie up from the floor. As they are leaving the room Cassidy throws the photo onto the bed. As she does the photo flips over so she never gets to see that Josie’s friends are the immortals that she already knows.
Meanwhile, Detective Jade is looking into Josie’s background. As she is searching she notices that her name is tagged, showing that there is an active investigation in progress. Seeing the lead investigators names, Detectives Stringer and Mortimore, she decides to get in touch with them to get more information that isn’t contained within the report.
As this is happening Josie, with her newfound friends, are kicking back at the nightclub and having lots of fun. A few hours later after Detective Jade has spoken to the detectives in Franklin she has a clearer picture of what’s going on. She decides then to go and confirm where Josie was the night it is assumed that Victoria was murdered. Detective Jade goes to the nightclub and starts asking patrons and staff questions about whether Josie was there, what time she arrived and what time she left. She asked also if anyone had seen her leave. When she gets to the door of Level 3 the security staff won’t allow her entry even though she is a Police detective.
She keeps asking why she can’t go up and the security staff tell her that it is a private part of the club and you have to have an invitation from a member, or be a member, to be allowed to the third floor. Detective Jade says, “Unless you let me up there I’m going to have to call for other officers to come and remove you.” Natalia is now standing behind her and says, “Unless you’ve got a warrant have fun trying!” Detective Jade turns to see Natalia standing there, with her hands on her hips, and an annoyed look on her face. “Why is it that people who think they have power feel like they can boss other people around and tell them what to do?”
While she is waiting for a reply to the question one of the bar staff walk up to her and tells her that Detective Jade has been asking all sorts of questions about Josie. Natalia turns to Detective Jade and asks, “Why are you asking so many questions about Josie?” Detective Jade replies, “I’m just trying to confirm her story that she was here at a certain time and stayed until she was driven home by Cassidy and her friend.” Natalia, “If it’s to help to confirm Josie’s alibi, then I will allow you to come up to the third floor. One condition on this is, that you talk to whomever you need to, including Josie, but if Josie says she doesn’t want to talk then you leave her alone and leave the club.” Jade then follows Natalia upstairs and when she gets there, Natalia leaves her to ask questions of the bar staff and patrons.
Backseat by New Boyz
Natalia walks past Josie who is just coming off the dance floor in order to have a rest for a while. In a short time Jade makes her way to where Josie is sitting and begins to question her. After a few minutes Josie appears to be getting upset. Natalia, who is standing talking to some of the band members, looks over and sees that Detective Jade has broken her word. Before Natalia can walk over and confront Jade she notices that Dr Alexandra Dimitrie has taken it upon herself to intervene in the situation. Politely, but firmly, Alexandra tells Detective Jade that she is no longer welcome on the third floor or in the club and tells her to leave. The Detective begins to say, “But, I’m still talking…….” Alexandra tells her to leave again because she has broken her word to Natalia.
Not to be one who is normally aggressive, as a warning Alexandra pulls her small, dark rimmed glasses, down to the bridge of her nose and as she looks over the top of the glasses at Detective Jade her eyes begin to glow bright red. She pushes her glasses back up and she notices that Detective Jade has taken a few steps backwards and having got the message she begins to leave. Jade thinks to herself, “What the f#*k was that?”
The rest of the night goes well for Josie as she makes yet another new friend called Alexandra. After listening to the band on stage and dancing to some more music it is already 3.30 in the morning and feeling tired, Josie decides that it might be time to go home. She looks around to see where Cassidy and the others are and unable to find them she decides to leave and she asks the young lady behind the bar to let the others know that she has decided to go home. A moment later, Cassidy reappears from the office and she looks over to the table where Josie had been sitting and notices that she’s no longer there. Cassidy goes to the other guys and asks if they have seen Josie and they tell her that the last time they saw her she was sitting at the table. Cassidy decides to check the rest of the nightclub and as she is heading towards the door of the third floor the barmaid calls her over and asks if it is Josie that she’s looking for. When Cassidy replies yes, the barmaid gives her the message that Josie has left the nightclub to go home.
Cassidy goes down stairs to find Josie and as she goes out the front door and down the laneway she looks to her left and sees Josie disappearing into a taxi. She calls out but Josie doesn’t hear her. As she walks back to the nightclub she rings Josie’s mobile and when she answers she asks Josie if she’s alright and Josie explains that she is just tired but that she had fun. Cassidy asks, “Do you want to hang out tomorrow?” Josie replies, “No, I think I’ll just have a quiet day before going back to school on Monday. If you want to hang out I have a free day on Wednesday, so we can meet up at 10.30-11 o’clock at the club?” Cassidy says, “Yes that’s fine, we’ll see you then.” Cassidy finishes her phone call and goes back into the club.
As Josie arrives home she doesn’t notice the Police officers sent to watch her every move.
Meanwhile, at the nightclub, Cassidy has just entered the third floor and as she is walking through that part of the club she notices Natalia heading towards her office. As she walks towards the mirror she has a worried look on her face as she has no choice but to tell The Elder but in doing so she knows she will be putting Josie’s life at risk. Natalia activates the mirror, but just before she enters the mirror, Cassidy enters the office and asks her what is wrong as she had noticed the worried look on her face. Natalia replies, “Nothing really! I’m just worried about how slowly the new Golum’s heart is growing, that it may not be ready to be transplanted into Drake.” Cassidy says, “If anyone can help Drake with his problem it is you and Alexandra.” Natalia, “Thank you for having such faith in us.” With that Natalia walks through the mirror and Cassidy returns to the club.
Night Rain by Dark Sanctuary
As soon as Natalia reaches New Atlantis she proceeds to the central core, which is a massive chunk of diamond and is the brains of the city. After she enters she instructs all the workers in that area to leave. Some of them object because they know that this area is not supposed to be left unattended or unsecured. Natalia says, “Out now, this is not up for discussion.” After the workers leave she instructs the central core to lock down the area so no-one can enter. The workers are in shock because unless there is a massive intrusion of the enemy they are not permitted to lock out the system. After the last bulkhead has secured itself Natalia turns back to the central core and calls The Elder to come forward. The central core begins to glow and a few seconds later, standing before her, is an old bearded man dressed in long white robes. He says, “Natalia, why have you summoned me?” Natalia kneels down and bows her head to show respect to The Elder. She looks up at him and says, “I have discovered that Arlia the matriarch and keeper of secrets has a daughter. The elder replies, “That is not possible!”
The Elder goes on to explain that the tumour, which was designed as a bio-weapon, was given to Arlia specifically to be used to be transferred to Kyah and as part of it’s genetic make-up it was designed so that Arlia could not have children. Natalia says, “That might be true but still somehow she has had a daughter.” To prove this to The Elder Natalia removes her acolyte amulet and holding it in her hand she takes the top part and turns it and when she does that the three designs in the centre pop out each side and begin to project the image of what she has seen, a photo of Josie & Arlia together. The Elder says, “We can proceed with our plans.” Natalia says, “Even though Josie is Arlia’s daughter I don’t know if she carries the bio-weapon.” The Elder commands her to find out whether or not Josie is a carrier of the bio-weapon. Natalia replies, “As you wish.” She stands up, unlocks the doors and walks out and as the others are coming back in to the room The Elder thinks aloud to himself, “Finally we can bring this war ……….”
Natalia heads towards the medical research part of New Atlantis to check on the new Golum’s heart that she is growing to replace Drake’s damaged one. She walks over to the chamber and opens it up and sees that only 30% of it is complete. Natalia is alarmed as she thinks that 60-70% of the heart should be grown by now. She hears a voice behind her saying, “So, how’s it going?” Natalia turns around to find Dr Alexandra Dimitrie standing there. She says, “It’s not going as well as I had hoped. You’re just the person I wanted to see.” Natalia instructs Alexandra to get the equipment together in order to take a blood sample from Josie. Alexandra enquires, “Why is it necessary to take a blood sample from her?” Natalia goes on to say, “Because we have discovered that she is Arlia’s daughter and that she may possess the biological weapon within her.” “How soon must we know?” Natalia replies, “As soon as possible, but do not let any of the others see you take the blood sample because there will be too many questions to answer. If Drake and the others ever found out what we are doing they would never forgive us and Drake would kill us for this.”
After Alexandra has collected the instruments that she needs to take the blood sample she decides that a change of clothing may be appropriate. She goes to her quarters and there she changes from her uniform after placing her leather jacket and pants next to her daggers on the bed she changes into a business skirt, white shirt and jacket. She heads off to complete her task. Alexandra arrives at the College and goes to Josie’s apartment. As she gets to the door she realises that she’s being watched. She turns around and sees the Golum’s eyes have activated and they are watching her intently. Realising this Alexandra decides it would be a bad idea to take the blood sample from Josie if she is at home. As she is walking down the steps she sees one of the plain-clothes Police officers setting up one of the little surveillance cameras. He is actually setting it up near where one of the Golum’s is situated and as Alexandra nears him he pretends to be cleaning one of the statues. Alexandra asks the officer if he has seen the young lady who lives in the apartment. He says, “I saw her about an hour ago and she asked me where the chapel at the college is situated.”
Alexandra also asks the officer where the chapel is and he points in an easterly direction saying that it is just past the quadrangle. Alexandra heads off in the direction he had indicated and a few minutes later arrives at the chapel and looks around to see if she can spot Josie. She sees Josie down near the front in the pews. Realising that there are too many people and the risk is too great of being discovered Alexandra decides to wait for another opportunity to present itself.
After the church service Josie decides to spend the day catching up with writing some more songs. Josie goes back to her apartment, picks up her iPod and her computer and decides to take her guitar with her as well and then she heads off to the city. Her plan is to just walk around until she gets some inspiration. Alexandra follows Josie, but at a distance so she is not seen. After a few hours of walking around the city Josie comes across a little coffee shop down one of the laneways and decides to rest her feet for a while and have a drink. While she is there she gets some inspiration and plays the guitar and using the voice-activated program on her computer she records a small portion of a song. She doesn’t notice that the other people in the coffee shop are now watching her and listening intently. When she is finished she looks up and sees that everyone is clapping. One of the staff members walks over with Josie’s order and says, “That was wonderful.” Just before the waitress leaves she asks Josie how long she has been singing like that and also asks if she has recorded an album. Josie replies, “No, I haven’t recorded anything, my friends and I tried to get a recording contract several years ago and it fell through.” The waitress says, “The music you and your friends make sounds great.” The waitress then gets called back to the counter.
Adore by Paramore
Josie, whilst reaching for her coffee, knocks her iPod onto the floor and as she bends over to pick it up Alexandra sees the perfect opportunity to gain the blood sample. As she goes to get it a man gets in her way. As she tries to go around him he moves to block her. Alexandra says, “Excuse me, I need to get past!” He calls her by name, “Dr Alexandra Dimitrie!” She replies, “How do you know my name?” He pulls his jacket open and reveals the mark of the acolytes. On seeing this Alexandra recognises the markings and asks, “What’s wrong?” He replies, “There is a massive battle between my clan and those who serve Kyah. I have come for your help because many of my clan have been badly injured.” He asks, “Will you come and try to save their lives?”
Alexandra looks past the acolyte and sees that the opportunity she had to collect Josie’s blood has now gone, therefore she agrees to go with him to do what she can for his clan. As they walk together down the laneway they suddenly vanish.
Josie continues to sit drinking her coffee and she decides to play back, through her headphones, what she has recorded to see how it sounds. Being really happy with the recording, she finishes her coffee, packs everything up, pays her bill and leaves the coffee shop. She arrives home happy because she has finished recording the lyrics of another song to the music track already laid down by Curtis, Dalroy, William James and JJ, her best friends and band mates. For the first time since her mother died Josie has a peaceful nights sleep.
The following Monday morning after Josie has gotten up and had breakfast she goes to her classes without a care in the world for once. When she gets to Professor Webb’s class she notices all the other students talking amongst one another, she asks what’s going on and one of the students tells her that Professor Webb has been suspended. Josie asks why. The students go on to tell her that she has been accused of stealing valuable artefacts. The students also tell her that no-one knows who has made the accusations. As Josie takes her seat Professor Harris walks into the classroom with a broad smile on his face and says, “I’ll be taking over Professor Webb’s classes from now on.” Josie thinks to herself, “Why couldn’t it be anyone else except this prick? But this isn’t going to spoil the week for me.”
The next day Josie arrives at class a few minutes earlier than everyone else and as she is sitting there thinking about what has happened to Professor Webb she leans over and pulls from her bag a very rare and beautiful flower and places it in her hair near her left ear. By this time the classroom has almost filled with all the other students. Sitting off to Josie’s right, three rows down is Caroline and her friends who also have flowers in their hair. After fifteen minutes of being engrossed with her work during the class, Josie is tapped on the shoulder by another student and is told that Professor Harris was calling out her name. Josie looks up and asks the Professor what he wants. Professor Harris says sarcastically, “Finally, you’ve answered me, sorry for disturbing you!!” He goes on to ask Josie, “Who was the first female to be buried in the Valley of the Queens?” Josie quickly answers the question. The Professor says, “No, you’re wrong!” Josie replies, “No, I’m not and I can prove it.” After a few seconds of instructing her computer to find the information she requires she tells the computer to read it out loud.
Gothic Winter by Nox Arcana
Professor Harris who has now been embarrassed by Josie for the second time for making such an easy mistake, decides to get back at Josie and orders her to remove the flower from her hair saying, “This is not a florist course, this is a course on archaeology!” Josie promptly refuses to remove the flower and says, “If I have to remove it, why doesn’t Caroline and her friends have to remove theirs to make it fair?” He loses his cool and says, “Because they’re not the ones who have embarrassed me in front of the whole class. If you don’t remove it now, I will come and remove it for you.” A look comes over Josie’s face of “You come down here and try it!” At that moment Josie decides not to be timid any more. Before she knows it Professor Harris is already standing next to her and is reaching out to pull the flower from her hair. Without even thinking about it Josie grabs his wrist and twists it causing enough pain to bring him to his knees.
Professor Harris yells, “LET ME GO!!” Josie, appearing to be in a trance, is unable to let go. Caroline and her friends, thinking that they are so cool, decide to stick their noses in where they do not belong. Caroline, with her friends distracts Josie for a few seconds, by getting right up in her face and this allows Professor Harris time to get the upper hand and he stands back up. Pulling Josie from her seat, he proceeds to slap her across the side of the face. The blow is hard enough to turn Josie’s head. In doing so he has triggered the defensive part of the amulet that used to belong to Josie’s mother. The soul stone that is set in the middle of the amulet begins to glow red. Professor Harris says to Josie, “Have you had enough?” Josie, not answering, infuriates the Professor more and he goes to hit her again but right at the very moment she brings her head back up and looks right at him. Josie’s eyes are now glowing purple and you can see that she has fangs suddenly appearing.
Startled, Professor Harris doesn’t see Josie reaching up and she grabs him by the throat and begins to squeeze which causes him to gasp for air. As she lifts him off the ground, for a few seconds her face changes and the person that he sees standing there is, unbeknowns to him, the essence of Arlia, Josie’s mother. All the classmates also see this and begin to panic. Professor Harris, looking down from where Arlia is holding him says, “What the hell are you?” “Something you never want to encounter again!” and as she says this she pulls him down face to face with her and then thrusts her arm out and lets him go and throwing him hard enough for him to hit the blackboard and land painfully on his ass.
After protecting Josie the soul stone reverts back to it’s original colour and Josie stumbles a bit and ends up on her knees on the floor. Looking up from the ground with tears in her eyes she asks, “What’s going on?” By this time the Dean has arrived in the classroom and he helps Josie to her feet and back to her chair. The Dean asks, “Don’t you remember what just happened?” Josie answers, “The last thing I can remember was Professor Harris slapping me in the face.” The Dean instructs the other students that the classes are over for the day and then he asks Josie to go with him to his office where she will be safe. As he is walking Josie out of the room he tells the security guards to take Professor Harris to the first aid room and to stay with him until the Police arrive. A few minutes later in the Dean’s office Josie, who is sitting on a couch, is handed a glass of water by the Dean’s assistant.
The Dean asks Josie again, “Are you sure you’re alright?” Answering the Dean Josie says, “Yes, I’m sure, I just have a migraine.” The Dean’s assistant offers Josie some pain-killers and Josie says, “No thank you, I have some here in my bag.” As Josie finds the tablets in her bag and decides to take three of them they hear the phone ring. The Dean’s assistant answers the phone. As Josie takes the last of the three pain-killers the Dean’s assistant says to the Dean, “It’s the first aid room and they want to talk to you.” Looking down at Josie the Dean says, “Excuse me, I have to take this call.”
About thirty minutes later Josie, still in considerable pain, is sitting on the edge of the couch, leaning forward with both hands over her eyes and holding her head. After the Dean is finished with the phone call, “Josie, perhaps it would be better if you took the rest of the day off and went home to rest.” Josie, barely able to look up because of the pain she is in agrees. The Dean says, “My assistant will go with you to make sure you get there safely.” The assistant asks, “Would you like me to drive you home, or are you up to walking that far?” Josie, not wishing to be a burden, decides that it would be just as easy to walk.
As Josie is walking through the door with the Dean’s assistant the Dean says, “Get plenty of rest and you don’t have to rush back to classes.” After fifteen minutes of walking with the help of the Dean’s assistant Josie finally arrives at her apartment. Opening the door and going into the apartment, the assistant asks, “Would you like me to stay here for a while with you?” Josie says, “No thank you, I’ll be alright on my own, I’ll just lay down here on the couch.”
After the assistant leaves Josie pulls the curtains almost completely closed and then she lays down on the couch and tries to have a sleep. Many hours later Josie rouses from her sleep and not realising that she has slept so long she turns the TV on and the Channel 10 news is coming to an end. Realising that it is already 6 o’clock in the afternoon Josie opts to get some take away instead of cooking herself a meal. While she waits for her take away meal to arrive she decides to check her phone for any messages. While she is doing this she has no idea she is under surveillance.
Just arriving at the surveillance van is Detective Jade. When she enters the van she enquires of the others already there if there is anything to report. They tell her that nothing much has happened, just the usual, Josie went to classes this morning and then a short while later she was escorted home by the Dean’s assistant. He said that since arriving home Josie hasn’t left the apartment. He also says that they heard her on the phone bug ordering take away. Jade says that she will take over from one of them while they go and find out from the Dean why Josie came home so early.
Just after Jade sits down in the van one of the other officers says, “Ah, shit, not again!” Jade, “What’s wrong?” The other officer explains that the surveillance equipment has been crapping out on and off every day for days. Jade asks, “Have you tried replacing the mini cams?” “We’ve changed them out several times. The last two we changed out were crushed as though something had been chewing on them.” Just as the officer gets up, grabs another mini cam and says to Detective Jade, “I’m just going to go and change it again,” the picture comes good again. Jade says, “Hang on, look, it’s back to normal.” While Jade is waiting for the officer to return from speaking to the Dean about why Josie came home so early she decides to go through the earlier video footage.
The officer returns from the Dean’s office and he explains to Jade that the Dean said Josie went home early because she was feeling ill. Whilst Jade is talking to the officer she sees something out of the corner of her eye on the video surveillance. She quickly says to the other officer, “Back that up!....Stop there!” “What is it?” Detective Jade goes on to explain to the two officers that the young woman on the surveillance tape was the same person who told her to get lost and leave Josie alone when she was trying to interview Josie at the Graveyard nightclub. Detective Jade says, “I want you to find out all the background information you can on her.”
While the officers are searching for the information on the unknown woman they notice on the surveillance feed that Josie’s dinner has just arrived. They watch Josie come to the main entrance to the apartments, take her dinner from the delivery person and then return to her apartment. A few seconds later they find the information on the unknown woman and as one of the officers reads it out to Jade they learn that she is a doctor who owns her own practice in Melbourne. She is also a qualified practicing doctor in several other countries. The information goes on to explain her name, date of birth etc. Jade comments, “Well, I guess that explains why she was visiting Josie the other day.”
Whilst Josie is eating her dinner she is watching a home video of her mother and her best friends and band-mates. It shows them goofing around and trying to play music for Josie’s mother and friends.
Back in the surveillance van Detective Jade decides, after looking at Josie’s file again that they should have a talk about certain information contained within the files she obtained from the Police in Josie’s hometown of Franklin. A few moments later Detective Jade arrives at the main door to the apartments and having a suspicion that Josie wouldn’t open the door and allow her in, she decides to buzz someone else’s door number instead. After doing so she still cannot get inside. Just as she decides to give up a student opens the door as they are leaving the building. Quickly Detective Jade steps inside before the door closes. As she approaches Josie’s door and before knocking she gets a radio check on her hidden microphone.
Detective Jade knocks on Josie’s door and Josie, at first, ignores it hoping that whoever it is will go away because she is not feeling well. After the third time Jade knocks, Josie unhappily goes to the door, opens it and yells, “WHAT DO YOU WANT??” Realising the mistake of opening the door before finding out who it is, Josie sees Detective Jade standing before her. Josie attempts to close the door as she tells Detective Jade to go away and leave her alone. The detective puts her foot in the doorway and holds the door with her hand so Josie can’t close it. Detective Jade says, “I only want to talk to you for a few minutes, I won’t take up much of your time!” Reluctantly Josie agrees to let her come in and talk. Josie sits back on the couch, Detective Jade sits on one of the chairs and begins to question Josie, but after a few of the questions Josie realises that she is actually talking about her mother’s murder and not about the disappearance of Victoria. Josie politely but firmly says to Detective Jade, “What has any of this got to do with Victoria?” “Nothing really, I just saw that there was an open case where you’re involved with it. It seems a bit strange that people have the habit of dying wherever you go.” Detective Jade continues on with these accusations towards Josie.
Numb by Linkin' Park
While this is happening Cassidy is knocking on the door to Jake Gamaliel’s room. Jake says, “Come in!” As Cassidy enters the room she sees Jake standing near an open cabinet. Jake turns around and says hello. Cassidy tells him that she is going to New Atlantis and Jake replies, “So am I, they need me there as soon as possible.” Cassidy asks, “Is that why you’re in your acolyte uniform?” “Yes.” Then he asks Cassidy, “Can you get the two short muskets for me from that cabinet behind you?” As Cassidy is doing so Jake is finishing putting the pistols on the two belts which cross his chest and are connected to the two short swords he also carries, more commonly called cutlasses, the name given to them by pirates. Cassidy hands him the two short barrelled muskets and watches him slip them into the shoulder holsters on his back.
Cassidy asks, “Are you sure you’re going to need all that fire-power?” Jake explains that Alexandra has requested his ship, “The Reaper” to transfer some badly injured mortals and immortals to New Atlantis since they are unable to travel through the teleportation gates due to their injuries. As they are walking to the study to use the teleportation gate Cassidy hands Jake a small crystal orb. He asks, “What’s that for?” She says, “This is in case you get into trouble on the way back, this crystal orb contains some of my power. Whatever you need this should be able to provide it for you in order to bring you and the others home safely.” Jake says thank you to Cassidy and gives her a hug.
They continue on to the study where Kiera is waiting with another message for Jake from Alexandra. The message is to bring as much of the immortal blood as he can lay his hands on and to bring some of the smaller lighter maturation tanks as well. After reading this message Jake and Cassidy activate the teleportation gate. A few moments later they arrive in New Atlantis and see that there is chaos as everyone is trying to prepare for those arriving through the gates and for those who are more seriously injured and who will arrive on The Reaper.
At that very moment the first mate of the ship shows up saying to Jake, “Captain, the ship is ready to sail as soon as you are on board.” As Jake is leaving to board the ship he tells his first mate that they have to make one small stop before leaving to pick up some more supplies.
While this is happening, Cassidy heads off to see Drake who has been in the maturation tank for the past 4 years, since the Golum’s heart cracked. Cassidy arrives at the medical centre and enters an area that is off-limits to all but her and a few others. She takes the amulet from around her neck and places it into the door, turns it a bit and the three piece tribal design pops out and becomes the key which she uses to enter the room which contains the maturation unit that Drake is in. When the door opens the room is in total darkness except she can see the glow from the maturation tank. As she walks towards it the room begins to light up automatically.
Desert Rose by Sting
Instead of sitting on a chair Cassidy props herself up on the table next to Drake as she has done many times before. She thinks to herself, “I’ll pick up where I left off last time.” Then she begins to tell Drake about this new friend she has made called Josie. She says, “It was the Dean who introduced us by asking me to help her with some problems she was having.” Cassidy goes on to explain how, “Josie’s mother was murdered in front of her and I gathered that the ex-boyfriend was an ass-hole because of the way Josie had spoken about him. Partly due to these two events I get the feeling that Josie has kept her distance from everyone and even may have become a little cold-hearted. It seems as if, since she has been around us she is becoming more like her real self, the happy-go-lucky person she was before all these problems began.”
Meanwhile, Alexandra has arrived back in New Atlantis after several days of performing operations. There to meet her is her friend Natalia who is glad to see that she is safe and unharmed because she knows that while she was performing the surgery the battle had raged on. A few seconds after that more injured immortals arrive through the teleportation gates. One of the staff asks, “Where do you want us to put them all?” Alexandra says, “Those who are not too injured, find quarters for them. The more serious ones take them to the infirmary.” Alexandra goes to leave with them but is stopped by Natalia and Natalia says to her, “You need rest, let the others take care of them now.” Alexandra sighs with relief and heads off to the Medical Centre to her apartment where she lives. Natalia accompanies her and on the way they are talking about the severity of the various injuries. Natalia asks, “How many casualties were there?” Alexandra answers, “Out of the 5000 strong clan there is less than 1500 left.” Natalia says, “They really lost that many?” “Yes.”
They reach Alexandra’s apartment at the Medical Centre and Natalia tells Alexandra to get some sleep because she would be needed when Jake returns with the more seriously injured. As they are talking a nurse walks past and Natalia asks, “Do you know where Cassidy is? Is she here?” The nurse replies, “I don’t know but I can find out for you.” She leaves to make further enquiries. A few moments later the nurse returns and states that others had seen Cassidy heading towards the restricted area. Natalia thanks the nurse for her help and she says to Alexandra, “I should have guessed where she would be if she was here.” Natalia heads off to see Cassidy. Alexandra calls out, “Hang on, I’ll come with you.”
After a brisk walk they arrive at the restricted area. Doing the same as Cassidy did when she arrived Natalia uses her amulet in the same way to open the massive doors. After the doors have opened Natalia and Alexandra see Cassidy sitting on the table still talking to Drake.
Cassidy hasn’t yet noticed that Natalia and Alexandra have entered the room. As Cassidy comes to the end of her conversation with Drake she hops down off the table, placing her right hand on the window of the maturation tank she says, “Get well soon, I miss….we all miss having you around. Even though Josie’s outward appearance shows that she looks happy, she’s a lot like you that she has such sadness in her eyes. I’ll come visit you again soon.” Cassidy turns around and there, standing behind her, is Natalia and Alexandra. Natalia says, “Sorry, we interrupted you.” “That’s alright, I was just leaving.”
Innocent Child by Nox Arcana
As this is going on in New Atlantis, back in the real world Detective Jade is still making accusations against Josie’s mother. She says, “Maybe your mother was involved in stealing these artefacts and tried to cut out her colleagues in crime?” Josie, looking at her in disbelief, says, “What the hell! You don’t know what you’re talking about, my mother would never steal anything.” Detective Jade goes on to say, “Well maybe that’s why they killed her because she wanted all the money to herself.” Josie, getting extremely pissed off, tells Detective Jade in no uncertain terms to get the f#*k out of her apartment as she points at the door saying, “There’s the door, make sure it hits you in the ass on the way out!” Detective Jade begins to leave and just after she steps out of the apartment into the hallway she turns around and says to Josie, “Maybe I was wrong about your mother, have you ever thought that if you had not come home so early that night and interrupted the men who were talking to your mother, she would still be alive?” She pauses for a minute and then says, “In that case you are responsible for your mother being murdered, how does that make you feel?” Josie reaches out, grabs the door and slams it in her face barely missing her. As Detective Jade finally leaves Josie turns around, leans against the door, puts her hands up to her head. As she stands up straight and opens her eyes the whole room is swaying and spinning and because of this Josie realises she is about to have a major seizure.
As Josie struggles to get back to the couch without falling over she feels absolutely terrified because this is the first time she has had a seizure on her own. She manages to pick up her phone and dials Cassidy’s phone number but no matter how many time she tries she keeps getting a message that the person she is calling is out of range. At that very moment she gets a massive pain in her head, she drops the phone. She grabs hold of her head, screams in agony and drops to the floor. After screaming for five minutes Josie goes into massive and painful convulsions. The convulsions are so bad and she is so badly contorted by them that it looks as though she is going to be snapped in half. In her mind while this is happening she is screaming for someone to help her but Josie knows that no-one will hear her and come to her aid. .....To Be Continued.....
