Escape Before Dawn

CHAPTER 3: Athena's Secret

KEN'S POV

*Knock
*Knock
*Knock

"Hello? Is anyone in there?" A female voice can be heard from outside.

"Guys, let's hide behind that dark corner.” I quietly told everyone.

We moved as swiftly as we could without making a sound. We all remained silent as we heard this person trying to open the door with her keys.

"Sh*t. She has the keys." I informed them.

"F*ck, I think we need to run again." Justin replied.

Stell hissed, "Going where? Huh? This house is full of flesh-eating creatures. Even if we run until our breath is gone, we will all die if they catch us."

Now, I can hear the fear in his voice. I'm barely managing to maintain my sanity right now, so believe me when I say that. This is not how I want to go out.

The door was opened, and I closed my eyes and prayed. This is it. We're all dead.

"Guys?" Her voice is familiar.

"Are you in here?” asked Athena.

"Should we go out? That's Athena." Josh
whispered.

"No. It could be a trap.” Pablo whispered back.

"I agree. That woman might be one of them.” Jax said in a low voice.

I have no idea how much we can trust these five brand-new companions. They are bothering me as well, but I'm not sure how to express it. Maybe I'm just thinking too much; maybe not.

In her office, Athena looked around. She used a key she keeps in her pocket to open one of her drawers, as I can see from where I am standing. The ancient key has what appears to be a red jewel on its head.

She looked around suspiciously before pulling out a book.

The book looks rotten and old. Specifically, its hardbound cover

Athena smelled the book before she opened it.
"Hmmm. I always like the smell of rotten flesh."

She said it loud enough for everyone to hear. We all exchanged wide-eyed glances. I won't lie; after hearing her say that, I'm shivering terribly inside.

Athena pulled a black velvet cloak from a different drawer and put it on. She carried the book made out of human flesh outside of her office after that.

Once we were certain she was no longer present, we clearly relaxed and let all the air we had been holding out.

"Guys, what the fuck just happened?” Justin said out loud. We shushed him immediately because Athena might still be near.

"F*ck. I'm losing my sanity by the second.” Stell said. He's almost crying. He sat down with his knees on his chest and rocked back and forth.

"How could Athena do this to us? Is this a twisted sacrifice of life?" Josh said in disbelief.

We didn't know the answers to our questions until someone spoke up.

"You might be right." Demi is standing by the bookshelf with a book in her hand. We all gathered around her to see what she had discovered.

“This is a Book of Curse and Demons, and according to this, Athena has been dealing with the devil himself. As we've all seen earlier, there are vampires, demons, ghouls, poltergeists, and many more; she summoned humans here to her party without their knowledge that they'd been mixing with actual creatures of the dead as food for them to consume.”

There is a lot to process. Why, though, did Athena involve us in this? As far as we can recall, we've treated her nicely.

"How come you're so knowledgeable about this?" Pablo asked her suspiciously. He has a point. How does she know? Is she one of them? All eyes are suddenly on her.

"Relax, I've been studying supernatural activities for a long time for protection. I'm not one of them.” Demi explained.

"I can attest to that. I've known Demi's family personally. They saved lives." Rain stood up for her friend.

"Okay. So what should we do?" Justin asked.
"For demons, I need a permanent marker. So let's find one in this office,” Demi suggested.
We separated and looked around for a marker.

"Got it!" Stell found one.

"Come here, all of you." We followed Demi’s request and gathered around her. We’re very surprised to see her unbuttoned her shirt slowly. She made us guys feel a little uncomfortable because, what is she doing? Why show her bare skin to us?

"Relax! I'm not showing you guys' skin. I want to show you this tattoo." This topic piqued my interest. Although I can see her skin, I'm not bothered. I'm more interested in her tattoo right now.

It is a pentagram surrounded by flames. Amazing.
"This is an anti-possession tattoo. As long as this stays on your skin, the demons cannot possess you.” she explained.

"Mary, please help us draw this on their skin." Demi requested.

"Sure. It will be my pleasure. Let's start with you, Stell."

Demi gave the marker to Mary. She started drawing on Stell's arm.

"For the rest of us, let's find weapons here. Guns, anything made of iron, and we need more salt." She immediately made a beeline to the dark area of this office with a lighter in hand.

Salt? I caught up with her.

"Hey, what is the salt for?" I asked Demi.

"It's very effective against ghosts or any harmful spirits.” She explained briefly, and then we both continued finding weapons inside this office.

I turned my attention to Demi as she was drinking something from an amber glass container in the shadowy corner of the room. Why is she thirsty in this kind of situation?

We gathered what we came upon. The shotguns were gathered by Pablo and Rain, five iron rods were discovered by Demi and myself, old knives and daggers were found by Josh and Jax, and a letter containing Latin words was stumbled upon by Franz and Justin. No salt, hmm.

They offered the note to Demi because she's the only one who can decipher it.

"Sh*t." That is all that she said after reading it.

"What? Tell us.” I insisted.

"What time is it?" Demi asked in a panic.

"It's midnight." Stell said as he checked his watch.

"Guys, we only have 6 hours to survive until dawn. If we run out of time, we are all stuck in here FOREVER."

F*ck.

----- To Be Continued  -----