World on Fire

Abigail waited to hear the decision of the Council, as nervous as she’d ever been in her entire life. She’d tried exercising to take her mind from worrying, but it hadn’t helped, and she found herself pacing in the center of her room once more.

By the time Haatim finished speaking, his throat felt dry and exhaustion drained him. He’d talked for almost four hours, recounting the events that had taken place in Raven’s Peak, leading up to the showdown with Belphegor.

“Did you find her?” Jim Fronson asked when Michael made it back to the Paris safe house. They’d rented a room in a two-story outdoor motel with a clear view of the street.

Frieda sat across the conference room table from the digital representations of Jun Lee and Deborah Cofield. Neither of them occupied the room with her, but rather, their 3D creations came through her glasses in similarly organized spaces around the world.

Both confused and hopeful, Haatim left the meeting with his father. The meeting hadn’t been what he’d expected, but it had gone quite well. He looked forward to spending time in the hotel and seeing more of his father.

Abigail paced back and forth across her makeshift prison cell, clenching and unclenching her fists. She would have preferred it if they’d locked her in an actual prison, surrounded by concrete walls and metal bars, rather than the clean and monotonous place that she now occupied.

As soon as Abigail stepped outside the house, she knew something was wrong. She no longer stood alone, although she couldn’t see anyone else around her in the immediate proximity. How could she know? Nevertheless, she felt certain.

Abigail searched the area surrounding the old mining town, and it didn’t take her long to find what she was looking for: a hidden entrance at the top of a waterfall leading underground. It was covered by a number of huge stones, and it took them a good thirty minutes to clear the area.