The day was over, the sun had set and the half-filled moon soared in the cloud filled starless sky. The noise of night cicadas filled the air and a gentle breeze blew across the fig trees causing their branches to hit one another, making soft clicking sounds.

  Annabelle’s house was completely guarded by seventy of Crow’s clones positioned at entry points and strategic places.

  “Well, you were right. How did you know he wasn’t going to come until nightfall,” Annabelle said, staring into the darkness, the front door of her house wide open.

  She reached out and her hand came into contact with what seemed to be an invisible barrier.

  It made a BLOOP sound as she repeatedly touched it and then kicked it hard.

  “Looks like it’ll hold,” she said, staring into the darkness, watching the trees dance.

  “Well, anything can happen from now,” Crow said as she glanced at her watch. It was exactly 8:00 p.m.

  “If this barrier is here, how will he come in?” Jackson asked, as one of Crow’s clones walked past the front door, head darting left and right as if it were waiting for something.

  “Well, the barrier is to keep him from leaving and not from entering. No one can leave this place, not even me,” Crow said, her fists balled up at her sides.

  They were all in the sitting room, chests fluttering with fear as they all gazed out the front door as if he had told them he was going to walk in through there.

  Everything was silent, nothing moved and the cicadas seemed to stop making noises, when “He’s here,” Crow said, her voice trembling with fear.

  Annabelle and her friends huddled up together, eyes darting all around the living room as they noticed Crow was unusually still.

  “What’s wrong?” Annabelle asked, her voice barely escaping her throat.

  “He’s killing my clones. My clones, he’s……” Crow stuttered in surprise as she turned to Anna and her friends, unable to hide her fear.

  “You are about a hundred times stronger than one of them,” Annabelle said, placing a comforting hand on Crow’s shoulder even though she was scared too.

  “Aaaaah!” the screams of the clones broke the silence of the night.

  “Dddddooonn’t wwwworrry, you can take him,” Jackson said, nearly peeing his pants.

  “Come on Jacob, assist me here!” Crow demanded as her eyes darted all around, ready for anything.

  Jacob, who was also huddled up with the others, summoned courage, his fists balling with white flames and his eyes glowing white.

  “Guess I don’t need these anymore,” he said as he took off his glasses. He gritted his teeth and two extra arm grew out from his back and rested by each side. They were long enough to protrude from his back with a curve and still reach his knees while relaxed.

  Come on, where are you, Crow thought, her mouth dry as cotton.

  “Where are you?” Jacob muttered, his hands shaking with fright.

  There was a SCREAM, a THUD and then a BANG. The sound seemed to be coming from upstairs and everyone turned towards that direction, their features gripped with fear.

  PLOP…. PLOP…PLOP…. consecutive sounds were heard from up the stairs.

  “Do you have a football?” Crow asked Annabelle as they all glared up the stairs, refusing to look elsewhere.

  “No,” Annabelle squealed, her voice barely escaping her mouth.

  Then what is making that sound? Crow thought as Annabelle’s room door slowly opened and something round rolled out of it and down the stairs.

  Mrs. Crow and the others, realizing what it was, took a few steps back as the clone’s head rolled down the stairs bouncing off the steps with a THUD.

  The head finally came to a rest at Crow’s feet, an expression of shock on its face.

  “He’s in the room,” Crow whispered.

  “Get ready,” she said to Jacob as she readied her stance.

  “You’re sure he can’t leave?” Annabelle asked one more time just to be sure.

  “He definitely can’t, not even disappear,” Crow said as they all watched the wide open door of Anna’s room.

  Come out you son of a bitch, Crow thought as sweat started to pour down her face. Everything seemed so still and hot.

  A moment later, Pepper appeared at the front door, a mask on his face and the summoning orb in his hand.

  “You know if we were to fight, this house would be torn down,” he commented, the mask still over his face.

  “Show your face you nitwit, we know what you look like,” Annabelle said boldly, her heart not fluttering due to fear but anger.

  “Before we kill you, we’d like to ask why you want to kill me so bad!” Annabelle demanded, resentment in her eyes. She would have attacked Pepper right there and then if not for her lack of magical powers.

  “Oh,” Pepper said as he slowly reached for his mask.

  Please don’t be Ron, Joanna pleaded in her mind, hoping Pepper looked nothing like Ron. A part of her would have loved to go out with him.

  Please don’t be Ron, she thought as Pepper’s hand came in contact with his dark mask.

  “Oh, just take the mask off already and stop being so dramatic,” Crow said, losing her patience.

  He slowly took the mask off and beneath it, was Ron’s face.

  “No,” Joanna whispered as he smirked at her, his dreamy eyes fixed on her.

  “So it was you after all,” Jackson said, still standing behind Crow for protection.

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  “Well, isn’t this fantabulous,” Pepper said, his red eyes glistening as he looked down at everyone.

  “Why did you kill our parents?” Crow asked, as he walked down the stairs, playfully slamming his feet against the wooden steps.

  “I can’t tell you that now,” he said, and paused halfway down the stairs.

  “I’ll tell you when I’m about to kill you.”

  Why is he so confident when he’s clearly outnumbered? Annabelle thought as Pepper resumed his playful descent.

  “Annabelle, I’ve come for you,” he said, just as he reached the bottom of the stairs, a few feet away from them.

  “Not a chance,” Crow said, allowing Doom’s power to consume her. Her eyes glowed red, her hair turned red and her body seemed to glow a faint red.

  “You want her, you go through me,” she said in an echoing voice that wasn’t her own.

  “I’m going to kill you here but before I do that, I’ll ask you one more time. What do you want with Annabelle and why did you kill our parents?” Crow asked in a thundering and fearless voice.

  “Isn’t this impressive?” Pepper said, an unfazed smile on his face.

  “You know I could just take her and go,” he said, tossing the orb up and down in his hand.

  “If you touch her you’d die here. Besides, there’s a barrier over this house,” Jacob added.

  Pepper laughed like he never had laughed before as Anna and her friends shared confused looks among themselves.

  He walked towards the front door.

  “No way!” Annabelle exclaimed, completely gripped by fear and disappointment as he put his hand right through the barrier.

  Mrs. Crow, realizing he could leave, charged at him, emitting a shockwave around the room. The part of the floor which was underneath her feet cracked as she lunged forward with deathly intent. At that moment, something she had wished to happen earlier, finally did. Everything slowed down just like during her battle with the skeleton back in Astra 12.

  “Yes!” she exclaimed, her fist a few inches from Pepper’s face but something was wrong. Even though everything seemed to be slower, she wasn’t as fast as she was the first time it happened.

  Anyway, he’s going to die, she thought, her fist almost touching her brother’s face.

  BOOM! She hit him, her eyes closed in triumph as she pressed her against what her fist had hit.

  Strange, I thought I hit his head, she thought, opening her eyes, a bewildered look on her face the moment she realized what she hit. It was the invisible barrier.

  How had he gotten around her so quickly? She spun around, gazing at her brother who triumphantly smiled at her. Anna and her friends were gone.

  “Where have you taken them?!” she demanded, still shocked by how fast her brother was.

  He tsk-tsked.

  “When will you use your full power?” he asked, staring right at her forehead.

  Crow, knowing what he meant, asked him again, balling up her fists.

  He glanced at her right fists.

  “I told you before, where it all started,” he said and vanished, leaving Crow bewildered.

  Defeated, she fell to her knees, the house nearly destroyed due to the shockwave she had caused. She took a deep breath and her eyes flickered a deep blue as the barrier was taken down with a BLOOP.

  “What does he mean by where it all began?” she muttered, her mind racing as she paced back and forth.

  “What does he mean?!” she screamed, asking herself.

  Meanwhile, back at the house where Annabelle’s parents were held, Annabelle had already been tied, alongside her friends excluding Jacob.

  “This one does magic, take him to the basement,” Pepper instructed James who obediently carried out his instruction, no questions asked.

  “This is my family home you see, this is where I was born,” he said and paused as if he were waiting for a response but no one spoke.

  “What do you want with my family?! Leave them out of this, your fight is with me!” Annabelle screamed, struggling to break free.

  “See what I told you about your daughter’s boldness?” Pepper asked Riles who seemed to have lost all hope.

  “Oh, don’t lose hope. Crow will be here soon and I’ll explain everything then kill you all,” he said, not doubting himself for a moment.

  Mr. Peterson, not paying attention to Pepper, “Anna are you okay,” asked with a sigh as he looked at her.

  “Who is this man and why does he want you dead? What’s going on? Is there something you didn’t tell me?”

  “It’s fine dad.” That was the first time she had ever felt a real connection with her father.

  “Isn’t this touching?” Pepper said, faking a tear.

  “You’re a psychopath!” Annabelle said, trying to break free.

  “Anna calm down, it’s no use,” Jackson said. He had also seemed to lose all hope.

  “You can’t give up now!” Annabelle said, refusing to stop. She struggled until she noticed her mom shaking her head at her as if to say: IT’S NO USE.

  “Crow will stop you,” she said softly, as Pepper let out a playful laugh.

  Hours had passed and Mrs. Crow, feeling stupid as ever was up all night, pondering about what her brother meant by “Where it all began.”

  “Oh no!” she exclaimed, realizing what he meant.

  She snapped her fingers, the scattered furniture rearranging, the broken windows repairing as the house reassumed its normal form with her eyes closed, trying to picture herself in battle with her brother. A fight she was still scared of being in.

  “Here we go,” she said, vanishing into thin air and leaving sparks of electricity in the air.

  Back at the Crow family house, the captives had woken from sleep still bound to one another.

  “Guess there’s going to be a late breakfast this morning,” Mr. Peterson joked. Everyone laughed.

  “Okay people, it seems like my sister, dumb as ever, couldn't figure out my simple message,” Pepper said, polluting the joyful atmosphere with his words.

  “I’m glad to see you’re all laughing right before your death,” he said and then paused as if he were trying to listen.

  “She’s here,” he whispered, a gleeful look on his face as he pulled out the summoning orb.

  BANG…BANG….BANG. There were three knocks on the door.

  “Come in,” he said, in a high pitched tone, as Crow walked into the house.

  “Thank God, we’re saved,” Annabelle and her friends said in relief on seeing Crow’s face. She wore a black blouse and denim trousers which nearly reached her ankles. Her feet were adorned with black timberland boots and her fists were balled up at her sides, crackling with electricity. She wanted to kill her brother and everyone could see it on her face.

  “Well, since you’re all here,” Pepper said as he raised the blue summoning orb in the air. It turned completely black, then everything went black. It was so dark no one could see a thing and it was like their eyes were closed even though they weren’t.

  Then light returned. The summoning orb was still raised then the color slowly changed from blue to black as a dark mist-like fog enveloped it.

  Everyone watched in horror as a wraith, screeching triumphantly, floated out of the orb .

  “What is that?!” Riles asked, his features tight with fear.

  “Oh this?” Pepper asked, placing his hand on its shoulder as it hulked beside him.

  “Just an old friend.”

  “Peterson,” the wraith said, looking at Anna with its deathly eyes, clearly recognizing her.

  What’s going on here? Josh thought as he wraith stood in front of Anna, seeming to be happy seeing her.

  “What’s this all about?” Mrs. Crow said, unfazed by the Wraith’s appearance. She glared at it as if she was almost sure she could take it.

  “Well, since we are all here, I’d better start my story,” Pepper said, motioning for Crow to take a seat James had placed there.

  “I won’t talk until you sit down,” he said, still motioning as Crow hesitantly sat on the chair.

  “Why did you kill mom and dad?” she asked as the wraith hulked over him.