CHAPTER TWO

FOUR YEARS AFTER ARLIA’S DEATH

Sahara Essence - Instrumental

Whilst in Egypt Porter, Josie and Mr Woolf find an unfinished tomb. While Porter and Mr Woolf are looking at ultra-sonic scans of the tomb to see if it is safe to open they notice that Josie is having difficulty concentrating due to the migraine she has had all week.  Her father suggests that she go and have a lay down and take some pain killers and come back to help after she feels better.  Josie says, “I’m fine Dad, let’s just get on with it!”  Porter re-states that he thinks she should go and rest and Mr Woolf says to do as her father asks as they don’t want to put her or anyone else at risk if she can’t concentrate on the job at hand.

Josie reluctantly agrees to go and have a rest, but on the way back to her bed she decides to investigate some of the ancient hieroglyphics against her father and Mr Woolf’s wishes.  She enters the passageway to the tomb and proceeds down to where the tomb doors are sealed and begins to decipher some of the hieroglyphics.

A few hours later, after Mr Solomon and Mr Woolf have decided on the best way to enter the tomb Porter decides to go and check up on Josie and explain to her that they have found the best way in. 

Meanwhile, Mr Woolf heads off to the tomb with some of the diggers. 

Porter enters the large Arab tent they are staying in whilst on the dig, he walks over to where Josie’s bed is and realises that she is not there.  He calls to Omar, their guide and translator, and asks, “Where is Josie, she was supposed to be here resting?”  Omar replies, “I do not know Mr Solomon, I have not seen her.”  Omar continues, “Wait one moment, I will try and find out from the workers if they know where she is.” 

He leaves the tent and calls out in Arabic to the workers who are sitting around the fire having tea, “Has anyone seen Miss Josie in the last couple of hours?”  Most of them answer no, but one answers, “Yes, I saw her entering the passageway to the tomb about two hours ago, but I did not see her return.”

Gothic Symphony

Porter, becoming very concerned, begins to run towards the tomb’s entrance.  Omar and the workers, sharing Mr Solomon’s concern for Josie follow close behind.  As they get to the passageway they come to a dead stop as Porter calls out to Josie, but gets no response.  A few seconds later Mr Woolf and two of the diggers appear and Mr Woolf is carrying Josie in his arms and she is unconscious.  Josie’s father, frantic with concern says, “Is she okay!!  Where did you find her?  We will have to get her back to the tent immediately?”  Mr Woolf replies, “As far as I know she’s okay but she’s been unconscious since I found her ten minutes ago.  She was passed out near the tomb doors.”   After a few minutes they reach the tent, Omar opens the entrance to the tent so it is easier for Mr Woolf to go in carrying Josie. 

A few seconds after Mr Woolf places Josie on her bed Porter instructs Omar to fetch the doctor.  Omar returns very quickly with the doctor close behind him.  The doctor begins to examine Josie.  The doctor asks Porter to get some cold water as she pulls out of her bag some smelling salts and waves them under Josie’s nose.  Josie coughs, and opens her eyes.  The doctor pours a glass of the cold water and hands it to Josie saying, “Drink this slowly.”  Josie’s father being very happy that she is no longer unconscious begins to tear strips off her for disobeying him.

Mr Solomon said to Josie, “What the hell were you doing down there on your own especially when I told you to go and rest?”  Josie replies, “I was only trying to help.”  Porter said, “Only trying to help what……trying to give me a heart attack!!”  “I was only trying to decipher some of the hieroglyphs.”  Mr Woolf, being concerned asks Josie, “How many times have you passed out like this?”  Josie goes really silent and Porter says, “Answer the question that Mr Woolf has asked you.”  Josie takes a deep breath before answering, she tells her father and Mr Woolf, “This is about the fifth time it’s happened to me.”  Mr Woolf then asks, “Why didn’t you tell us about this?”  Josie explains that she knew if she told her father and Mr Woolf  she would no longer be allowed to work on the dig and she would probably be sent back to Melbourne.  Porter looks intently at her and says, “Damn straight you would be!!  Josie, you should have told us anyway.” 

The doctor asks Mr Solomon and Mr Woolf if she can speak to them outside.  She discusses with them her concern for Josie’s health because she has no idea what is causing her to pass out.  Then she asks Mr Solomon, “Does Josie have any previous medical history that could explain why she is passing out?”  Mr Solomon answers, “When she was younger she had a brain tumour which was life threatening at the time but, with treatment, the tumour disappeared and about four years ago she began to have headaches like she did when she was younger.  This is why I sent her back to Australia about a month ago so that they could do some tests to find out if the tumour has returned.”   The doctor then asks, “Have you received the results of those tests back yet?”  Mr Woolf answers, “No, they haven’t received them as yet.” 

The doctor says, “It might be better if Josie was hospitalised for now until you receive the results.”  Mr Solomon looks at Mr Woolf and asks him, “Can you manage on your own for a while as I need to take Josie in to the hospital in Cairo?”  Mr Woolf answers, “Yes, of course I can manage, you just go and take care of Josie.” 

Meanwhile Josie is sitting on the edge of her bed wondering what happened to her.  She asks Omar. “How did I get here?  The last thing I remember I was in the passageway to the tomb working on deciphering some of the hieroglyphics.”  Omar replies, “You passed out again.” 

Fatal Lullaby by Adrian Von Ziegler

At that moment Mr Woolf, Mr Solomon and the doctor re-enter the tent.  Josie sees the look on their faces and before her father can say anything she says, “No way!!”  The doctor says, What do you mean, ‘No way!’?”  Josie says, “No way, I’m not going to hospital!”  The doctor looks as Mr Solomon and Mr Woolf and asks, “How did she know we were going to send her to the hospital?”  Omar says, “It must have been the look on your faces that gave it away.” 

Porter and Josie argue for thirty minutes about her going to the hospital in Cairo.  Mr Woolf makes a suggestion because he knows how much she dislikes hospitals since her mother died.  Porter asks, “What’s the suggestion?”  Mr Woolf said, “What if Josie stays here and perhaps the doctor could stay with her tonight, if that’s alright with you doctor?”  The doctor says she can stay but she still recommends that Josie goes to the hospital. With that Josie stands up and as she walks over to get something to eat she says, “I’m fine.”  At that very moment she grabs her head and screams.  Porter says, “You’re not going to the hospital in Cairo” as he helps Josie back to her bed, “You’re going back to Melbourne and there will be no argument about that.”

While Josie is lying on the bed the doctor gives her some extremely powerful painkillers and tells her to try and get some sleep. 

As Josie is sleeping her father makes arrangements to fly her out of Egypt and back to Melbourne, Australia.  Mr Woolf suggests to Porter to take the rest of the day off from the dig to stay by Josie’s side in case she needs him.  Mr Woolf says, “I can take care of the preparations to open the tomb tomorrow.”  Porter discusses with the doctor whether she could possibly travel with Josie to Cairo and also on the plane back to Melbourne.  Reluctantly the doctor agrees to travel with Josie. 

That night Josie has a really hard time as she is vomiting most of the night and the painkillers don’t work properly, only relieving the pain for a couple of hours.  Josie manages to get maybe three hours sleep out of the whole night.  While she’s asleep Omar and Mr Woolf help Porter pack Josie’s belongings for the trip and puts them in the Ford Explorer ready for the morning. 

In the morning Josie tries to convince her father not to send her back to Melbourne on her own, she asks her father to come with her.  Porter replies, “I can’t, you know that.”  Josie says, “Ever since Mum died you seem to care more about working on this dig than you do about me.”  Her father says, “That’s NOT true Josie!”  “It is otherwise you wouldn’t be sending me back to Melbourne to be on my own.”  The argument continued and becomes so heated that the last words Josie says to her father as she’s boarding the plane are “I HATE YOU!!” 

Porter watches as the plane that carries his most precious possession, his daughter Josie, takes off.  Reluctantly and sadly Porter walks back to his vehicle dwelling on the last words Josie said to him.  On the long trip back to the dig he can’t get those words out of his head and thinks to himself “Maybe I should have gone with her?”

A few hours later he arrives back at the dig and proceeds to go to the tomb where Mr Woolf and the diggers are ready to open the massive doors into the tomb.  A few hours later after struggling to open the tomb they finally enter.  To their amazement they find an uncompleted first chamber to the tomb.  Porter, Mr Woolf and the diggers begin to explore the rest of the tomb and to their disappointment they find the rest of the chambers of the tomb are incomplete as well.  After spending hours examining the tomb and it’s contents Mr Solomon says to Mr Woolf, “After searching for nearly four years and three other tombs I was positive that this was the one.”  Mr Woolf replies disappointedly, “So did I, it seems like it has been a four year waste of time.”

One of the diggers calls to Mr Woolf because he has found something.  As Mr Woolf and Porter go to investigate what they’ve found Porter receives a message that he has been waiting for, but it’s not good news, Josie’s brain tumour has returned.  Porter is not paying attention to what he’s doing as he reads the fax, he thinks to himself, “I’ve already lost my wife and now how do I explain to Josie, after all she’s been through, that she’s now got a huge battle on her hands fighting this.”  Still thinking about the fax and not concentrating on what he’s doing he falls down a shaft.  Some of the diggers see him fall, they go to give him assistance and Omar goes to fetch Mr Woolf.  A few seconds later both Mr Woolf and Omar appear back at the shaft and they and some of the diggers are calling to Porter to see if he is okay.  They get no response.  Omar says that he will climb down the shaft to see if Porter is injured.  Mr Woolf agrees but tells him to be careful because a lot of the tombs are usually set with traps.  To assist Omar the rest of the diggers erect a pulley system so that he can be lowered down to Porter. 

Dramatic Music

Within a few minutes Omar reaches Mr Solomon at the bottom of the shaft and he is trying to stand up but can’t as he has badly twisted his knee.  Mr Woolf calls out, “Is he okay?”  Omar replies, “Yes, but he has badly twisted his knee.”  Mr Woolf instructs Omar to tie the rope around Porter’s waist so they can pull him out of the shaft but Porter refuses telling Mr Woolf that there is another passageway down there.  This one, he thinks, is complete with hieroglyphics and paintings.  Porter says, “I want to explore just this passageway for a few minutes.”  Mr Woolf agrees but says, “Don’t take too long then as the longer you leave your leg the way it is, the worse it will be.”  Porter shouts back, “Okay!”  Mr Woolf then instructs the diggers to send down more lights and equipment. 

With the help of Omar they begin to move cautiously along the passageway.  Omar says to Mr Solomon, “I have never seen Egyptian carvings like this before in all the times I have worked in tombs.”  Porter asks, “Can you translate any of them?”  “Only bits and pieces,” replies Omar.  As they get further along the passageway Omar comes across a large piece that he can translate.  He begins to tell Mr Solomon what it says, “It describes a great battle between the ancient ones against a powerful evil that had risen from their own kind who sought to rule over the dominion of man.  This battle raged on for eons but finally she was defeated, unable to destroy her, she was imprisoned for all time.”  As Porter is listening to this he begins to move down the passageway on his own, this passageway leads to another corridor which, unbeknown to him, is booby-trapped.  Omar goes on to translate more of the hieroglyphics which say, “Here lies forever that which is evil and whosoever shall disturb her prison shall awaken the eternal guardians and pay with their lives.”  Because of this Omar realises that the passageway will be heavily booby-trapped. 

Omar turns to tell Mr Solomon only to see him disappear down another passageway.  He yells to Mr Solomon to stop and runs after him but Porter does not hear him.  Leaning against the wall Porter continues down this new passageway.  A few seconds later Omar catches up to him just as Porter’s hand triggers one of the traps.  Omar pushes him out of the way but unfortunately for Omar he gets impaled by the trap, a spear pierces his shoulder and he lets out a scream of pain which echoes throughout the tomb.

On hearing the scream of pain and before anyone can do anything about seeing how they can help Mr Woolf dives into the shaft without hesitation. As he reaches the bottom he flips himself over as he lands and he takes his lichen form.  He growls and with speed begins to make his way towards the screams. 

As Mr Woolf, in his lichen form, comes around the corner he sees Omar pinned against the wall.  Omar, on seeing this monster from legend, begins to struggle even harder and screaming to Mr Solomon, “We have awoken one of the immortal guardians, now we are going to die!”  As the lichen gets closer and closer Mr Solomon tries to calm Omar down by explaining that he’s a friend.  At that very moment the lichen strikes with it’s claws shearing the spear shaft in two just in front of Omar’s shoulder then it carefully removes Omar from the remaining spear and places him on the ground. 

Mr Solomon, still pre-occupied with the fax he had received earlier, irresponsibly tries to continue down the passageway, tripping yet another booby-trap.  A shower of small darts rips through the passageway, seeing this Mr Woolf, still in his transformated state moves swiftly to shield Porter and taking most of the brunt from the darts.  Realising that he was not fast enough he notices that Porter has been struck in the face by one of the darts.  Porter, in agony, rips the dart out without thinking,  as he does so he tears open the flesh and removes the eyeball partly from the socket. 

Mr Woolf, who has many darts stuck in his back, flexes his muscles so that the darts begin to be pushed out.  After they have all been expelled Mr Woolf begins to revert back to his human form in order to help Porter and Omar.

Mr Woolf, grabbing gauze, bandages and antiseptic from the first aid kit tells Porter to sit down.  Carefully he takes Porter’s eye and places it back in the socket, at the same time pushing the torn flesh back into place.  He covers the wound with sterilised gauze and antiseptic he then bandages the wound as best he can.  He then moves to where Omar is slumped on the ground and starts to pack the massive wound in his shoulder.  By this time the other diggers have descended into the passageway and are coming around the corner from the main shaft.

As the diggers reach Mr Woolf and the others they see how badly injured they are.  Beginning with Porter they carry them back to the opening and as they reach the top Mr Woolf instructs them to put Porter and Omar in to the Ford Explorer so that they can be rushed to the nearest town with a doctor. 

Meanwhile, Josie, accompanied by the female doctor, arrives in Melbourne, Australia.  After clearing customs they are met by a limo which was pre-arranged by Kristen and are taken to the Melbourne University apartments where the doctor and the driver both help Josie into hers and her father’s apartment.  Moving carefully around all of the unopened boxes they help Josie to her bedroom.  After helping Josie settle into her bed the doctor goes to contact Josie’s father to let him know they’ve arrived safely.  But hearing the news of what has happened on the dig the doctor thinks to herself, “Should I inform Josie of what has happened tonight or would it be better telling her in the morning when she has had a good rest?”  The doctor speaks to Josie and says that she had gone to contact her father to tell him they had arrived but Mr Woolf and Mr Solomon are away from the dig at the moment, so she will try again in the morning.  Josie thanks her for this and tries to get some sleep.

The next morning the doctor decides to tell Josie that her father has been injured but that he is all right.  Over breakfast she explains to Josie the details of what happened and why she was unable to contact her father.   She also tells Josie that Dr Grey rang to say that he is still in America but he has arranged for one of his colleagues in Australia to take over her case.   She says that an appointment has been made for her to see Dr Talbot later that day. 

Josie arrives at the Doctor’s clinic and a few minutes later she is called in for her appointment.  “Hello Josie, I’m Dr Talbot, please take a seat.  Dr Grey and I have discussed your case and decided that the best medication for you to take will be ……”  Josie, confused, asks, “Medication, why should I be taking medication?”  He thinks to himself, “I've just put my foot in it!!”  He says to Josie, “Didn’t your father talk to you about this?”  Josie, with a bewildered look on her face, asks Dr Talbot, “No, Dad never said a word, why, what’s wrong with me?”  The doctor then goes into great detail and explains to Josie,  “The reasons why you’ve been getting such bad headaches, dizziness and nausea is that you have an inoperable brain tumour.”  Josie, feeling like she’s been hit by a truck, gasps and slumps back with an absolutely terrified look on her face.  She says, “Are you, are you.. sure??”  “Yes, I’m sure.  I’m so sorry there’s nothing we can do surgically but this medication should slow the growth down and kill most of the pain.”  Josie looks down at the floor then looks back at the doctor and asks, “How long do I have?”  He replies, “With the medication you should live a reasonably normal life.”  He goes on to explain to her what each of the tablets are for and when to take them.

Into The Dark by Sebastian Larrson

When Josie returns to the apartment she finds the doctor from the dig packing in preparation for her return to Egypt.  Josie asks her what time her flight is due to leave.  The doctor replies, “Two thirty this afternoon.”  Josie thanks the doctor for accompanying her to Melbourne and staying with her.  The doctor asks, “Are you sure you’re going to be alright here on your own?”  Josie answers, “Yes of course, besides I have to go and register to do the archaeology course so I will be kept busy for the next few days getting everything ready for that.” 

A few days later after the doctor had returned to Egypt Josie comes back to the apartment following a busy day in class, on the way she had stopped off at the local restaurant and collected the meal she had ordered.  As she enters she sees all the boxes still in the middle of the floor and thinks to herself that she will have to empty these in the next few days so she has more space.  After Josie finishes her tea she decides to check her emails.  She finds a few emails and one is from her father, the others are from the guys from the band. 

Her father tells her that he’s alright and that they are back at the dig and trying to find the best ways to get past the booby-traps and he asks her to contact him as soon as possible.  Josie, still being pissed off with her father for not telling her about the tumour and sending her to Melbourne on her own decides to check out the emails from the guys first because she feels bad that she hasn’t been in touch with them more often.  The emails explain how excited the guys are that she’s back in Melbourne, that she’s feeling better and that they can’t wait to get together with her.  Josie sends emails back to the guys telling them that they need to give her a few weeks to settle in to her classes etc and then she will be in touch to see when they can come to Australia. 

Later on that evening Josie notices that someone is trying to video-message her so she sits down at the computer and answers the message.  It turns out to be her father.  Josie, seeing the bandages over her father’s eye asks, “Dad, what happened, did anyone else get injured as badly as you did?”  Porter answers, “Omar was also injured in his shoulder when we both set off hidden traps within the passageways of a secondary hidden burial chamber.”  Josie enquires, “Did Curtis’ father get injured?”  Her father replied, “No, he was unharmed.”  Porter then asks Josie, “Can you go to the Museum and do some research on how to de-activate these traps?”  Josie agrees to do the research but says firstly they have other more important things to discuss.  She said, “Why the HELL didn’t you tell me I had a brain tumour and this was the reason I have been so sick with the headaches, dizziness and nausea?”  Porter answers, “I only received the results a few hours after your flight left Egypt.”  Josie says, “If you got it a few hours after I left why did I find out a day later from the doctor AND NOT YOU!!?”  Her father said, “With all the stuff that happened at the tomb that day it slipped my mind, I’m sorry.” 

Crawling by Linkin Park

Josie tells her father, “It’s getting pretty late and I need to go to bed as I have classes tomorrow.  I’ll try and start on the research tomorrow at the Museum.”  Porter says, “Goodnight and I love you.”  Josie, still angry, replies, “I’ve got to go!” and turns the video-messaging off.  

During the next few weeks Josie is kept very busy with her studies and doing the research for her father. 

One day Josie is in class feeling really sick and run down.  She asks her professor if it is okay if she takes the next few days off as she is not feeling too well.  The professor tells her that it’s okay as she can see how much pain Josie is in.  As Josie is leaving one of her classmates, Caroline, asks, “Why is she allowed to leave and have days off when we can’t, especially when she’s only been here for a few weeks?”  The professor answers her, “Unlike you Josie has already spent 4 years on a dig with her father, the world renowned archeologist, Porter Solomon.  She had already been taught by her mother when she was younger most of the stuff you’ve been learning for the last 3 years.  Does that answer your question Caroline?”  As Josie passes Caroline on her way out, Caroline gives her a dirty glare.

Josie returns to her apartment, taking a few more pain-killers, she decides to have a lay down. 

Meanwhile Caroline is pissing and moaning to her four friends, “How dare that new girl Josie embarrass me like that in front of the whole class!”   One of Caroline’s best friends, Harriet, says, “Maybe we should teach the little bitch a lesson?”  The other three girls and Caroline agree. 

Before Josie knows it she wakes up and she realises it’s the next morning and she can’t believe she has slept for 20 hours straight but she still feels really sick.  She thinks to herself, “I’ll just get a cup of tea and sit on the couch in my PJ’s and do nothing all day.”

For the next few days Josie sits in her PJ’s, sipping tea and doing more of the research her father asked her to.  Slowly Josie begins to decipher the hieroglyphics and as she does so she uses the voice recorder on her computer and her iPod to record how to de-activate the booby-traps in order to send it to her father and Mr Wolfe.  She comes to a part of the hieroglyphics that doesn’t make any sense and no matter how many times she translates it, using many types of texts that her mother Arlia had on the computer, it still comes out the same.  Josie thinks to herself, “What does ‘Only the blood of the seven’ mean?”

Realising how late it is in the afternoon Josie decides to leave the rest of the translation until the next day when she gets back from class.  A few minutes later there’s a knock at the door and when Josie opens the door to find a pizza delivery person on the doorstep.  He says, “Hi, is this Josie Solomon’s apartment?”  “Yes, I’m Josie!”  He goes on to tell her that he has pizza, garlic bread and some soft drink for her.  Josie says, “But I didn’t order anything!”  “You must have as this is the address we were given.”  Josie states again, “I did not order this!”  The pizza guy says, “I can’t take it back, you’ll just have to pay for it.” 

While they are at the door arguing back and forth about the pizza Caroline and her friends are hiding in the bushes to see what happens as they were the ones who sent the order.  They want to see how much trouble this causes Josie.  After Josie and the delivery guy have been arguing for 5 minutes Josie turns around and pays for the order anyway, thinking to herself, “I was going to order some food anyway.” 

Caroline and friends see this and are pissed off that their little stunt didn’t work.  As they walk off Caroline says, “We’ll have to try something better next time.”

The next morning after Josie shows up to class early she’s sitting at her desk and working on more of the translation of the hieroglyphics.  She finally finishes the translation and decides to send a video message to her father and Mr Woolf.  After two and a half weeks of trying to do the translation Josie is glad that she’s finished and now she can concentrate more on her classes. 

About ten minutes later Professor Webb walks into the classroom.  “Good morning Josie, how are you today,” she asks.  Josie answers, “I’m fine, thanks for asking.”  The professor continues, “You’re looking better than you did on Monday.  Oh, by the way, are you ready for the excursion to the Museum to look at some new artefacts that have been sent by a private collector?”   “Sure, it will be good to get out of the classroom for the first time.” 

Josie explains to Professor Webb that she really does enjoy her classes because she is more easy going than Professor Harris.  They are continuing to chat as the other students begin to take their seats for class. 

Before Josie knows it, it is time for Professor Harris’s class and Josie thinks to herself, “This is the one class I wish I could skip each day, I really, really don’t like him.”  Luckily for Josie she finds out that she doesn’t have to worry about Professor Harris teaching the class today.  She and the rest of the class have just been told by Professor Webb that she has been asked to fill in for the day.

Before long the last class for the week is finally finished and Professor Webb reminds the class that the excursion is on Monday at 9.30am.  Josie thinks to herself that after having such a good day she will go home, get changed, have tea out and explore the city. 

While she is exploring down one of the small laneways which runs off Collins Street she happens upon a nightclub, and unable to read the name she asks the guy who is standing in the doorway what it is called and he tells her it’s “The Graveyard”. 

AdeLanTe by SasH

  

Josie checks the time on her iPhone, seeing that it is already a quarter to three in the morning she decides to go home.  As she walks off Dara, who has just come down the stairs, asks Nawar, “Who is that?”  Nawar answers, “Just a girl who wanted to know what the club is called.”  Then they both head back upstairs. 

Meanwhile, back at the dig in Egypt, Omar is on his way to get more supplies but has been asked by Mr Solomon to check to see if Josie has video-emailled any new information on the research she was doing.  After doing so Omar downloads the video message from Josie to the iPod in order to take it back to Mr Solomon and Mr Woolf.  On the way out of the tent Omar bumps into the female doctor, Odjit, and she asks Omar, “Shouldn’t you already be on the way into town to pick up the supplies?”  He answers, “Yes but Mr Solomon wanted me to see if Josie had sent any information on the translations she was doing.”  Odjit, “Well, did she?”  “Yes, I was just about to take this to them.”  Odjit offers to take it to them so Omar can get on his way to pick up the supplies.

A few minutes later Odjit says to Mr Solomon and Mr Woolf, “I don’t mean to interrupt but Omar said that you might want to look at the message that Josie sent.”  She hands them the iPod and pretends to leave.  As Porter & Mr Woolf watch the video-message from Josie, Odjit eavesdrops from a nearby corner of the passageway.  After they have viewed the message Porter asks Mr Woolf, “Do you know what ‘the blood of the seven’ means that Josie didn’t understand?”  Mr Woolf answers, “The blood of the seven relates to the seven different immortals that sat on the high council of Atlantis.  Only with their pure blood can we de-activate the traps.  This was put in place this way to make sure that whoever was sealed here could never be released and resurrected.”  Porter asks, “If it is the blood of the elders how the hell are we going to get hold of that?”  Mr Woolf explains, “We already have blood from one of the bloodlines of the first immortals.”  Porter asks, “Where?”  Mr Woolf points at himself and says, “My blood!”  Porter asks, “How long will it take to locate the other immortals blood?”  Mr Woolf says, “Not long once we have the second amount of blood from the children of stone the vessel that holds the blood also has a world map of where the remaining pieces are.” 

Eerie Background Song - HD

Mr Woolf pauses for a few seconds and Porter asks, “What’s wrong?”  Mr Woolf answers, “I think there’s someone hiding in the shadows and listening.”  Both of them begin to walk towards the end of the passageway and just as they turn the corner to see who’s there Odjit lifts her feet up and out of the passageway and all Porter and Mr Woolf see is a foot disappearing.  By the time Porter and Mr Woolf reach the tents it is too late as Odjit has already given the information to Tansin, Kyah’s second in command. 

Mr Woolf and Porter enter Odjit’s tent and ask her, “Were you just in the tomb?”  She replies, “No!”  Mr Woolf, being suspicious, then demands to know who she is talking to on the phone.  She replies, “My mother, but I don’t see how that’s your concern.”  Porter apologises for intruding on her private conversation.  As Porter and Mr Woolf leave the tent Mr Woolf says, “I just don’t trust her.”

Back in Melbourne on Sunday night Josie is sitting playing her guitar and trying to write some music.  At the same time she is watching old black and white movies of Audrey Hepburn’s.  As the last movie finishes and Josie gets ready for bed she is feeling lonely and thinks to herself how she wishes the guys were there.

The next morning Josie is getting ready for class and before she leaves she takes her medication.  Meeting up with Professor Webb,  Professor Harris and the rest of the class they catch trams to the Museum.  After reaching the Museum they make their way to a closed section where the new artefacts are being put on display for the opening to the public in a week’s time.  They are met by the curator’s assistant, she says, “Welcome to the Museum, my name is Nicole and I’ll be showing you the new artefacts exhibition.  If there are any questions, please just ask.” 

As the students make their way around the room they can’t believe some of amazing artefacts are that they are looking at.  Some of the students come across and artefact of a stone figure.  One of the students asks Professor Harris, “What does this statue represent?”  He explains that it’s supposed to be a representation of one of the gods of Atlantis.  Josie raises her hand and says, “I believe you’re wrong Professor!”  At that very moment Nicole, who is speaking to Professor Webb, turns around and looks at Josie, then apologising to Professor Webb she excuses herself from the exhibition room she explains that she has to go and see the curator. 

Professor Harris asks Josie,  “Why do you think someone with my experience is wrong?”  Josie replies, “The symbols carved into the cartouche translate differently from what you have said.” 

Meanwhile Nicole knocks on the curator’s door and then enters.  “Sorry for disturbing you Tamagine but I thought you would like to know straight away that Arlia is here with some students.”  “That’s not possible, you must be mistaken!!”  “I’m sure it’s her but didn’t you say she was dead?”  “Yes she is, she died over four years ago.”  Nicole, seeing the photo of Arlia and Tamagine on his desk, points at it and says, “That is her, except that her hair is a different colour!”  Tamagine stops writing and decides to go with his assistant to resolve the matter. 

As he enters the exhibition room he hears a young lady disagreeing about the meaning which is carved on the statue.  Professor Harris states sarcastically, “If I’m so wrong, what is the correct translation then?”  Josie begins to explain the correct translation, “It is a dedication to the children of stone for their helping to build the cities of the Inca and Maya’s.  Professor Harris, “That’s not what it says!”  The curator of the Museum tells the professor, “Arlia is correct in her translation.”  All the students and Josie turn around and at the same time the curator says, “It’s very good to see you again Arlia.”  Josie answers, “Arlia was my mother’s name, I’m Josie.”  Tamagine apologises, “I’m sorry that I mistook you for your mother, you look so much like her.”  “That’s okay, I get that a lot.” 

Tamagine asks Josie what she’s doing in Australia.  Josie explains that her father was asked by Kristen D'Arcy to work on a  special project for the Melbourne Museum and she also explains that she has an apartment at the University because she is currently doing the last year of the Archaeology Degree.   Nicole comments, “That’s wonderful, so you’re going to follow in your mother’s footsteps?”  Tamagine asks Josie if she would like to have a look at some of the pieces her mother has donated to the Museum over the years.  Josie replies excitedly, “Yes please I would love to see the pieces, but first I have to ask Professor Webb.” 

As Josie walks over to speak to Professor Webb she notices Tamagine leaving in a hurry.  Nicole walks over to Josie and Professor Webb and begins to apologise saying that Tamagine has just been called away on an urgent matter.  She goes on to ask if he can show Josie the pieces on another day.  Josie says, “Yes, sure.”  But, Nicole seeing the disappointed look on her face decides to take it upon herself to show Josie the pieces.  She asks Josie, “Do you mind if I show you the pieces instead?”  Josie replies, “No I don’t mind that would be great.”   Josie accompanies Nicole to the office while she fetches the keys to the artefacts store-room. 

Meanwhile, Tamagine enters the store-room and as he does so suddenly his eyes begin to glow and at the same time he calls forth the warrior of stone, the ones that are known as the Golums.  As he does this he does not realise that he’s being watched from the shadows.  Tamagine, being worried,  commands the Golum to reveal the vessel that contains blood of three of the seven immortal elders.  Seeing that it is safe he breathes a sigh of relief but before he can command the Golum to return it to the safety of it’s indestructible body it is suddenly snatched from it’s hands.   Before the intruder can flee the Golum grabs the end of the cloak she is wearing and with a swift movement it throws her across the room. 

The intruder twists herself in mid-air so that when she lands her feet skid backwards across the floor and then she stands up.  As she stands up she sees Tamagine standing before her with the sword outstretched towards her throat.  “Return that which does not belong to you and I will let you leave in peace, but make no mistake if you try to leave with the vessel of the elders I will kill you!”  The only reply he gets is a blood-chilling laugh.

As this is happening Nicole asks Josie to wait near the office while she goes to find a security guard with another set of keys as she can’t find the main set.  A few seconds after Nicole leaves Caroline and her friends show up.  Before Josie can say anything Louisa snatches her iPod and throws it to Caroline.  Josie tries to get it back but as she does so Caroline throws it to Elizabeth who throws it to Victoria & she tosses it to Harriet and the more Josie tries the more they throw it back and forward to each other.  Finally it ends up in Caroline’s hands again.  “What’s wrong Josie, don’t you enjoy this game?”  Josie replies, “No, I don’t – give me back my iPod before you piss me off.”  Victoria laughs at Josie, “Such big words for a little girl!!”  Louisa looks at Caroline and back at Josie and says, “If you want it come and get it.”  At that moment Caroline throws the iPod to Louisa and both Caroline and Louisa take off as the other three girls get in Josie’s way to slow her down.

Suddenly it goes dead quiet and before Tamagine knows it his challenge has been answered by Tansin.  She attacks quickly and powerfully pushing him back using one of her daggers.  At that very moment the Golum attacks from behind swinging the large blades it has created out of it’s arms, weaving in between each blow but she is barely able to hold her own ground against the Golum and Tamagine.  Tansin sees an opening between the Golum’s blades and she decides to take a chance to try and get out of range.  As she does so Tamagine manages to make contact with her face with his sword.  For this action as she backflips out of the way and partly opens her hand and creates a shockwave knocking Tamagine and the Golum backwards.  As Tamagine gets to his feet he says, “Who are you?  You are no ordinary mortal?” 

As he says this Tansin turns around and says, “We have met before.”  As she had turned towards Tamagine her mask which had been cut falls away from one side of her face revealing who she is.  Tamagine gasps, “It…it…it’s you!!”  Tansin, now realising her mask is damaged and Tamagine can see her face has no other choice but to end this quickly.  Placing the vessel of the elders inside an energy field that not even the Golum can penetrate she tells Tamagine to prepare to die. 

Dark Ritual by Adrian Von Ziegler

Josie getting more annoyed by the second thinks to herself, “I haven’t got time for this shit!” and demands that the three scrags get out of the way.  When they ignore her Josie decides to no longer be nice about this situation.  Suddenly Josie explodes into action, elbowing Harriet in the stomach hard enough to drop her to the floor.  Victoria, after seeing this, decides to take a swing at Josie.  Josie blocking this twists Victoria’s wrists, pulling her forward and then rapidly pulling her around and flipping her onto her back on the floor.  Elizabeth, seeing this, starts to back away but Josie is far too fast and strikes her in the chest after Elizabeth has taken a swipe at her whilst trying to back up.  Josie puts enough force into the blow to push Elizabeth onto her arse and across the floor and into the wall on the other side of the corridor.  Josie, looking at the injured girls on the floor, said, “I did warn you to get out of my way.”  She then goes looking for Caroline and Louisa.

Meanwhile, Tamagine is having difficulty staving off the attacks from Tansin even with the help of his Golum.  As they are battling against each others swords they can both hear footsteps running and each is thinking that help is coming for the other.  Tamagine manages to get the upper hand, he drops down into a squatting position, puts out his right leg and sweeps it round quickly connecting with her legs and drops her to the ground.  He goes in for the kill, raising his sword and driving it forward and down towards Tansin’s chest.  However, she manages to block his sword with her two daggers crossed in front of her. 

Caroline and Louisa, still running, are checking to see if there are any unlocked doors so that they can hide and ambush Josie. 

Just as Tansin is about to die by Tamagine’s sword, they both hear a girl’s voice and Tamagine realises that this is Josie’s voice and she’s calling out to Caroline.  Tamagine says in a loud voice, “Not now!”   Seeing that he is distracted Tansin drops her daggers, grabs hold of Tamagine’s sword by the blade and the hilt, turns it in towards him and plunges it into his heart. As she does so the Golum begins to crack at the same time Tamagine begins to turn to stone as he now kneels on the ground holding the sword in his chest. 

By now half of Tamagines body has turned to stone.  Tansin retrieves the vessels of the elders from within their energy barrier and as she walks around Tamagine she gloats, “Even if you had ten Golums you couldn’t win against me and now with this blood I can free Kyah from her eternal prison and she will rule over these pathetic and weak mortals.”  Tamagine, “That will never happen as long as the true Lord of Acolytes draws breath that monster you call Kyah shall never rule over the humans or the immortals in this world and this time they’ll find a way to destroy her.”  Tansin, in a fit of rage she grabs the nearest thing to her, which is a war hammer, screams, “Never!” and then she strikes Tamagine in the part of his chest that has turned to stone.  This causes him to explode and in the process shorts out all the lights but one.  As the pieces rain down Tansin watches these stone pieces become flesh again.

A few seconds later Louisa and Caroline enter the room.  Caroline says to Louisa, “This will be a perfect spot to ambush Josie from.”  Louisa suggests she will stand in the middle of the room under the light in order to draw Josie in whilst Caroline hides in the shadows.  As Caroline is peering through the crack in the door waiting for Josie to come down the corridor she hears a loud woosh sound and tells Louisa to be quiet or Josie will hear them.  She hears another noise coming from behind her of something being dropped on the ground and as she turns around to tell Louisa the same thing she sees the door on the far side of the room close.  Caroline thinks to herself, “Fine, if you want to be that much of a chicken.”  As she is thinking this she walks over to the centre of the room and stoops to pick up the iPod which is now on the floor. 

As Caroline turns around she comes face to face with Josie.  Startled, she jumps back a little and says, “SHIT!”  As Caroline tries to regain her composure Josie makes a grab for her iPod but misses.  Caroline says sarcastically, “You’ll have to be faster than that if you want this back!”  Caroline starts going through the music and photos on the iPod and asks, “What’s on here that is so valuable to you?  It wouldn’t be these photos of your mother would it?”  Josie asks politely for Caroline to return her iPod and says, “Don’t make me ask again, I’ve had enough of your bullshit games.”  Caroline replies, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”  “You know exactly what I’m talking about, all the food etc you’ve had sent to my apartment that I have had to pay for.  This shit stops now!”  Josie takes a step forward and Caroline threatens Josie that if she keeps trying to get the iPod back she’ll delete the photos.  Josie says, “Don’t, there are photos on there that I will never be able to replace.”  Caroline, hearing this, moves her hand towards the delete button.  Josie states, “I’m not normally a violent person but you’re sorely testing my patience.” As she closes her fists she rapidly moves towards Caroline. 

Caroline starts backing away not noticing the blood on the floor behind her she slips in it.  Falling backwards she puts one hand back to brace herself for the fall against a hard concrete floor.  But to her surprise she lands in something warm, soft and sticky.  She lands in it with a squishy kind of squelch sound.  As she tries to get up she slips again and this time landing face down.  Josie stands there laughing only because she doesn’t realise what Caroline has fallen on to. 

As Caroline says, “What is this shit, it’s all sticky?”  Just then the rest of the lights come back on and Josie immediately stops laughing when she realises what Caroline is lying in.  Caroline hearing that Josie is no longer laughing looks down and realises that she is laying in the chest cavity of what is left of Tamagine.  Caroline screams and struggles to get to her feet but she can’t. Josie goes to her assistance, grabbing the back of her jumper and pulls her back into a sitting position but still Caroline is in the midst of Tamagine’s remains. 

Josie squats beside Tamagine saying, “Try not to move, I’ll go and get help.”  As she goes to leave Tamagine, choking on his own blood, grabs her by the wrist and says, “It’s too late for me.”  Meanwhile Caroline is still screaming.  Josie turns to Caroline and tells her to get a hold of herself, but then she realises that the rest of Tamagines body is spread all over the room.  Out of the corner of her eye she notices one of Tamagines severed legs is twitching.  Josie is trying to act brave, but this un-nerves her even more. She hears Tamagine groan and as she turns back she sees him turn into stone and then he becomes dust.  As Tamagine becomes dust the Golum comes out of the shadows, startling Josie, and then it also cracks into pieces and as each piece hits the ground they also become sand. 

Josie, thinking out loud, “This would be a really good time for Caroline and I to get out of here before something else really freaky happens.”  Her iPod is laying on the floor near where Tamagine’s body was so she bends down to pick it up and as she turns around to try and help Caroline she notices that all the body parts are gone and also all the blood that Caroline was covered in has also turned to dust.  Caroline, still being a bitch, states to Josie, “This is your fault!”  Josie, astounded, says, “Why do you think it’s my fault, I had nothing to do with it.”  Caroline gets to her feet, at the same time yelling at Josie, “Stay away from me you freak” and she starts running for the door. 

As she opens the door, standing in front of her is Kristen who asks, “What is going on here, I thought I heard someone screaming a few seconds ago?”  Josie tries to explain what they are doing there.  Caroline, calling Josie a freak again, tells Kristen that there has been a murder and Josie is responsible for it.  Kristen, looking past Caroline, says, “What murder, I don’t see a body?”  Caroline turns and pointing stutters, “It… it was there and I’m covered in blood because Josie pushed me onto the body.”  Josie swears that it’s not true.  Kristen tells Caroline to look at her clothing, “You’re not covered in blood, what on earth are you talking about you stupid girl.” 

Kristen looks at Josie again and says, “You two better get back to your class.”  Josie agrees and starts to walk back to where the others are.  Kristen says, “I just want to talk to Caroline for a few seconds so she will catch up to you.” 

When Caroline appears her friends ask excitedly, “What happened, did you make her pay?”  Caroline answers, “We didn’t do anything because Louisa chickened out.” 

The teacher’s say that their time is finished at the Museum and it’s time to go back to class.  As they are leaving the exhibition room they are being watched from the shadows by Tansin.  Seemingly out of nowhere Aziel appears, “Did you succeed?”  “Yes, but it almost cost me my life, Tamagine was stronger than we thought.”   Aziel asks, “Where is the blood of the Elders now?”  Tansin puts her hand behind her back and pulls the vessel of the Elders out from under her cloak.  Aziel reaches for the vessel and says, “I will take it back to the fortress.”  As he goes to leave he enquires, “Did anyone see you?”  “No but Josie and two other girls came in just after the battle.”  “Then why didn’t you kill them?”  Tansin answers, “There is something different about Josie, I can’t quite put my finger on it and that is why I’ve let her live for now.”   They each back away into the shadows and vanish.

During the days following the class at the Museum, Professor Webb notices that Josie has become even more withdrawn than normal.  Later on that night Professor Webb decides to visit Josie at her apartment to try and find out why she has changed over the week. 

Decoy by Paramore

Meanwhile at Josie’s she is on her iMac Pro talking to Dalroy, William James, JJ and Curtis about some music the guys have recorded on their own and they play some of it for her.  The guys all ask, “So, what do you think?”  Josie replies, “That’s wicked and you guys rock!”   JJ asks, “So, have you sorted out the apartment yet?”  Josie starts to say, “No, I’ve been busy with..”  Dalroy and Curtis both answer at the same time saying that she has been busy with the translations for her father, as one of them nudges JJ in the ribs.  William James says, “Once we have cleaned up the music a bit more we’ll email it to you straight away.”  As they are talking about what has been going on with their lives since she’s been gone Josie hears a knock at her door.  She says, “Sorry guys, hang on there’s someone at the door.”  Josie opens the door and standing there is Professor Webb.  

Professor Webb asks if she can come in and talk with Josie for a few minutes.  Josie says, “Sure, watch out though there are still a lot of boxes to be unpacked.”  Before Josie talks to Professor Webb she finishes her conversation with the guys by saying, “Sorry guys one of my teachers has shown up I’ll have to talk to you later.  I miss you all and wish you were here.”  

Professor Webb and Josie chat for about half an hour about why Josie has become even more withdrawn.  Josie assures Professor Webb that everything is okay but as she is saying this she is thinking to herself about the terrifying events she witnessed at the Museum earlier in the week.  Shortly after that the Professor leaves and Josie gets ready to go for another walk through the city. 

Professor Webb, knowing that Josie is not being entirely truthful with her decides to go and see the Dean and see what she can do to help Josie out.  When she gets to the Dean’s office he is on his way out the door heading home.  She says, “Sorry to catch you on the way out but I was wondering if I could talk to you about one of my students, Josie Solomon, who’s having problems.  She is usually quiet and keeps to herself but for some reason she has become even more withdrawn and this is also affecting her studies.  I have asked her what the problem is but she won’t confide in me so I was wondering if you knew of anyone she could talk to and who could help her make friends here as she doesn’t seem to have any?”  The Dean replies, “I have the perfect person in mind.”  He walks back to his desk, picks up the phone and dials a number.  A few seconds later the call is answered by one of the staff member’s at Mr Adams residence, “Hello, the Adams residence.”  “This is Dean Bowen from Melbourne University and I was wondering if Drake or Cassidy is available to speak to at the moment?”  “Sorry, but Mr Adams & Cassidy are currently unavailable.  I believe that Natalia is here if you would like to talk to her?”  “Of course, if that’s possible.”  A moment later Natalia answers the phone, “Good evening Dean Bowen how may I help you?”  The Dean explains to Natalia about what is happening with Josie and asks Natalia if there is any possibility to get someone to help her and talk to her to see if she will open up to them.  It would also be a way for her to make some friends he thinks.  Natalia answers, “Of course we can help just as soon as Cassidy returns from her business trip in France she would be glad to come to the college to meet and speak with Josie.” 

Cassidy returns the following Wednesday evening and as she walks up to the front door Keira opens the door for her and says, “Good evening, welcome home, did you have a successful trip?”  Cassidy answers, “Yes, I retrieved all three of the safe stones but I was unable to open them.  Could you please put them in the vault while I go and get changed?”  “Of course.  By the way Natalia would like to speak to you.”  While Cassidy is upstairs getting changed Keira walks downstairs and opens the vault.  There standing in front of her are two Golums who are guarding what looks like a solid wall.  She asks the Golums to let her pass.  At that moment they each reach out to the side and the wall begins to open.  Keira walks into the main part of the vault and places the safe stones and leaves. 

Cassidy meanwhile has come downstairs having changed into a pair of jeans, a tee-shirt and one of her favourite vests.  She heads directly to the grand study which includes the library.  Cassidy walks over to what appears to be a magnificent old-style mirror, without hesitation she walks through the mirror and is teleported into the training room of the new Atlantis.  She takes a few steps into the room and suddenly all she sees is the edge of a blade coming towards her.  Quickly she turns to mist and the blade passes through her leaving trails behind it.  Nawar and Curtis, in unison, say “Oh, shit!”  Cassidy re-takes her human form and states, “I know I’ve been away for a while but I didn’t think you wanted to get your point across that way.”  Curtis asks if she is alright.  “Yes, no thanks to the both of you.” 

Gasping For Air by Looking Back

Nawar asks, “But I thought you weren’t supposed to be back for another month, but it’s good to see you still with your head attached?”  Nawar asks, “How did it go?”  Cassidy replies, “It took me less time to find the pieces than I thought.  Oh, by the way how is your friend going?”  Curtis answers, “She’s alright but seems a little distant.”  Just at that moment Cassidy, Curtis and Nawar hear Natalia’s voice.  They turn around to find her standing behind them, “That was a close call Cassidy!”  Cassidy then asks Natalia how the tests of the bio-mesh are going.  “Pretty good, it’s standing up pretty well to all the different weapons.  The two things we haven’t tested yet are, it’s ability to take on the form of clothing and it’s ability to stretch when transformation takes place.”

Natalia turns to the guys and says, “Since Cassidy is here let’s take it to the next level and try the bio-mesh in the transformated states.”  The guys agree and as they remove their weapons Natalia suggests that she and Cassidy take a few steps back.  As the guys begin to take their lichen forms Natalia says to Cassidy, “I have something important to discuss with you after these tests.”  As they look back Curtis & Nawar have taken their full lichen forms.  Both Cassidy and Natalia ask how the armour fits in their transformated state.  Curtis indicates that it’s fine but Nawar, who is a WerePanther and not a WereWolf seems to be having a slight problem.  Natalia suggests he take his four legged form and as he does so the bio-mesh seems to take the shape better.  Then they both revert back to their human form.

As Curtis and Nawar go back to training Cassidy says, “I’ll talk to you later.”  As Natalia and Cassidy walk through the corridors of the new Atlantis on the way to the main science lab to test the bio-meshes ability to take the form of other clothing.  Natalia begins to discuss the important matter with Cassidy.  She goes on to explain about a young lady named Josie who seems to be withdrawn and also having problems with her classes.  She tells Cassidy that the Dean from the college that was started by Drake and Cassidy 150 years ago and he asked if she knew anyone who could help her.  Natalia thought of Cassidy because she is so good with people.  Natalia asks. “Are you okay with meeting Josie and seeing if you can get her to open up about what is wrong?”  Cassidy replies, “That won’t be a problem, I will spend the day relaxing to get over the trip and then I’ll go and see her Friday.” 

Cassidy then brings up that she has the safe stones stored in the vault at the house in Melbourne.  She also tells Natalia that she is having a problem opening any of them no matter what she tries and that there is a bigger problem because every time she tries the stones give off an electrical charge and each time the charge seems to be getting stronger and stronger.  Natalia suggests that she come to Melbourne and take a look at the safe stones since it was her kind, the creators of the Golums, who also created the safe stones.  Finally Natalia and Cassidy reach the main science lab and as they walk in they see the bio-mesh hanging up.  Just as they finish discussing the matter at hand one of the scientists tells them that they are ready to program all clothing designs.  Natalia says, “Go ahead.”  The scientists activate the console that will program the bio-mesh. 

Cassidy asks, “How long does it normally take?”  The scientist explains that it used to take a few hours but now it takes only ten minutes to download.  As they are waiting they get a happy surprise when Dalroy walks into the lab and says, “Hello ladies.”  He gives each of them a hug.  Cassidy says, “How have you been, it’s been a while since I’ve seen you?”  She also asks how his business is going and he tells her that he has taken on JJ as an apprentice.  Cassidy asks, “How is JJ going?”  Dalroy replies, “He’s really well and he’s doing well with the apprenticeship.”  Natalia asks, “Why are you here?”  Dalroy turns, gestures to one of the people who work for him for them to come over to him.  He turns around and takes the sealed bag from the person who has accompanied him and as he turns back to face Natalia he unzips the bag which reveals Cassidy’s old acolyte uniform.  Natalia says, “The repairs to the uniform look really good.”  Cassidy cannot believe how well the uniform has been repaired.  Thanking Dalroy she takes it to try it on.

After changing into her acolyte uniform Cassidy then walks out to try on the new bio-mesh cloak as well.  With the assistance of both Natalia and Dalroy, Cassidy manages to get it over her shoulders, turning slightly to Natalia she asks why the cloak is so heavy.   Natalia tells her the cloak is not active yet but it should lose 99% of the heaviness when it’s activated.  Natalia politely asks one of the scientists to run the activation program for the bio-mesh.  As he does so the cloak gets a light halo of a glow over it.  The scientist turns back to Natalia and says that it is now fully active.  Dalroy asks, “What now?”  Natalia tells him to help her to remove the connection jacks from the cloak.  A few seconds after the jacks are removed Cassidy can’t believe how light and weightless it feels.  Dalroy comments. “That looks really cool.”  Both Dalroy and Cassidy ask, “So how does it work?”  Natalia explains it simply, “Now that it has all the pattern references to clothing all you need to do is concentrate on or get a mental picture of what you would like to wear and the cloak will take those forms of clothing.”

Cassidy says, “But won’t the uniform show underneath the cloak after it has taken the form of the other clothing?”  Natalia says, “No, it’s designed to be flawless camouflage.”  Cassidy answers, “Okay, I’ll give it a try.”  Stepping a few feet back she begins to concentrate and after a few seconds the cloak begins to change.  Standing there in front of Dalroy and Natalia the cloak begins to take on the form of a gothic black dress.  She concentrates on another and soon she’s wearing the clothing she just changed out of.  Natalia walks up, picks up the bottom part of the vest and says, “I can’t believe it, it’s even taken on the feel of the clothing.”  She also says, “This will give us an advantage in battle where we can always wear our uniforms.  There’s just one more thing I want to try.”  She picks up one of her war hammers, swinging it as hard as she can she strikes Cassidy in the chest.  Cassidy, with a shocked look on her face, looks down as Dalroy says, “What the hell are you doing?!!?”  To both of their amazements where Natalia hit Cassidy with the war hammer has changed back to the bio-mesh stopping the war hammer in it’s tracks.  Natalia apologises stating, “I had to do it without telling you so the armour wouldn’t pick up that something was coming and have time to react differently.”  Cassidy answers, “That’s okay, but that scared the shit out of us.” 

Dark Choir Music - Enchantingly Beautiful

Cassidy spends the next day going between New Atlantis and her home watching the others train and helping Natalia create two new Golums which are shaped like sabre tooth tigers. 

The next day Cassidy has arrived at Melbourne University and is having difficulty locating Josie in her classes.  As Cassidy is walking down the corridor she bumps into Jake Gamaleil, a guy from the school, in the hall whilst looking for Josie. “Hey Cassidy what are you up to?  I thought you were supposed to be helping out the new chick today?” Cassidy replies “I’m supposed to be helping her but she didn’t show up for class.  I checked the whole school but can’t find her – have you seen Josie?”  Jake: “No, I haven’t seen her but did you check the old music room, I have seen Josie going up there before?”

“No, I was just about to.  By the way are you coming to the club tonight?” she pauses, listens, and then says, “Can you hear that music?”  Jake answers, “Yeah I’m coming to the club tonight, I’ll be there about 9.30.  What music, I don’t hear anything – you’re hearing things!”  “No, there it is again!”

Jake says, “Yeah, now I can hear it – sounds pretty cool – but I didn’t think anyone used the old music room for anything more than storage?”

Turn It Off (Acoustic) by Paramore

They look at each other and walk up the stairs, stopping at the door of the music room.  They look across the room and see Josie sitting on the window seat playing a guitar and singing and at the same time recording the song on her iPod.  As she gets to the chorus of the song the iPod shuts down for some reason.  Frustrated and annoyed Josie thinking out loud, “SHIT, not again, this is the second time this has happened!!”  Josie, not noticing that Cassidy and Jake are standing in the doorway, decides that it’s not worth trying to record the song again, instead she gets up walks over to the piano and begins to play the piece that her mother, Arlia, wrote. 

Emergency Intro by Paramore

After a few minutes of listening to Josie play both Cassidy and Jake begin to clap.  Josie, looking up is a little stunned and slightly embarrassed by this.  As Jake and Cassidy walk over to Josie they look at each other and then looking back at Josie they both say, “That is the most beautiful music we have ever heard.”  Josie thanks them and explains that it was a piece written by her mother as a gift for her 16th birthday.  Cassidy says, “Your mother wrote the music very well.  I’m sorry, my name’s Cassidy and this is a friend of mine, Jake Gamaliel.”  Josie says hello to both of them and introduces herself.  Cassidy tells her, “I know who you are I was asked by the Dean to come and help you with some of your classes that you’re having difficulty with.  I also want to see if I can help you make some friends while you’re here in Melbourne.”

Just after Cassidy said this the mid morning bell rang to indicate that the next lot of classes were about to begin.  Cassidy and Jake tell Josie that they will wait downstairs for her.  Josie says, “I won’t take long I just have to grab my guitar and a few other things.” 

As Cassidy and Jake are walking down the stairs Jake turns to Cassidy and says, “Did you notice how hard it was to sense that she was there?”  Cassidy replied, “For a human that is very unusual, it’s like she doesn’t exist.”  Josie, who has caught up to them, says, “I’m ready to go to the next class.”  Cassidy and Jake both jump as they didn’t realise that she was there whilst they were discussing things about her. 

As they’re walking down the corridor to the next class and just before they reach the door Jake suggests to Cassidy, “Why don’t you ask Josie if she would like to come and hang out at the club tonight?  That way you could introduce her to the rest of the guys.”  Josie walks into the classroom and takes her seat and as she does so she hears a voice she doesn’t particularly like and realises it’s Professor Harris. 

Professor Harris, with a nasty tone, “If you can’t show up for my class on time then don’t bother coming because you’re wasting your time and mine.”   Hearing this Cassidy speaks up, “Actually Professor Harris, it’s my fault that Josie is late as I was asked by the Dean to help her with some of her classes and I was just speaking to her and that is why she is late.  So, if you don’t mind, it would be a good idea to apologise to Josie for your rudeness.”  Embarrassed, Professor Harris humbly apologises to Josie.  The rest of the day passes without further incident.

Josie and Cassidy get on really well and before the end of the day, with a little hard work, Cassidy has helped Josie catch up with the work she was lagging behind in.  The last class for the day is with Professor Webb and the students are discussing the history they learnt about at the Museum.  As they are doing this Cassidy notices that Josie goes whiter than she already is and begins to fidget and biting her nails.  Not wanting to complicate things Cassidy decides to wait until after the classes have finished to find out what is bothering Josie so much.  

After all the other students have left the classroom Cassidy, sitting on the table next to Josie, asks her, “I noticed that when the class was talking about the Museum you had a look of fear on your face.  Did something bad happen to you whilst you were visiting the Museum?”  Josie, trying to avoid looking directly at Cassidy and trying to avoid the question she was asked and quickly changing the subject says, “So what is this nightclub you and Jake were talking about?’

Cassidy explains to Josie that the nightclub she and Jake were talking about is a place they like to hang out at together when they have some free time and a place they enjoy performing their music at.  Josie asks, “So you have your own band?”  “Yes, we’ve been together for a long time.”  Josie, “Cool, that’s something that we have in common, or we did have in common.”  Cassidy, with a curious look on her face, asks why Josie is talking about her band in the past tense.  Josie explains that she was in a band with her friends when she lived in Franklin in America.  Cassidy says, “I know Franklin it’s a really nice town, I have some of my own friends who live there who are also in a band.”  Josie, with her own look of curiosity on her face starts to ask the names of Cassidy’s friends in Franklin.  But before Cassidy can answer Jake butts in, “Come on you guys what are you doing hanging around here when classes are finished?  Besides, Gitan is probably waiting at the back entrance for us in his car.” 

As Cassidy, Josie and Jake are walking through the corridors on their way to the car park Jake said to Josie, “I couldn’t help but hear you talking about a band you used to be in.  Maybe if you come to the club it would be possible for you to sing for us?”  A few moments later as they come out the door of the building, there in front of them is Gitan leaning up against the car with his arms crossed.  “What took you so long?” asks Gitan.  Jake says, “Don’t be so rude, introduce yourself to Josie.”  Gitan, apologising, introducing himself says “So you’re the young lady Cassidy was meeting today, nice to meet you, I’m Gitan.” 

Whilst standing around talking Cassidy asks Josie straight out if she would like to come to the nightclub tonight. Gitan said, “That would be a great idea, since I hear from these guys that you don’t really have any friends here in Melbourne.  If you come to the club that will change.”  Josie, smiling, accepts the invitation. “I have to go home to shower and change what is the address of the club?”  Gitan suggests that it would be better if one of them picks her up and takes her to the club.  Gitan, Jake and Cassidy look at each other and say they’ll work out who is to pick her up between them.  

                                                                                          ........To be continued.......