Guardians of the Diamond Book One: The Rose

Chapter Sixteen

When the rumbling stopped, and I released my firm grip on Jessica's arm, I saw that a door had opened. I breathed a sigh of relief. I leaned forward to look through the doorway. It was pitch black, so I couldn't see anything. I took my little flashlight from the handy yet extremely nerdy place where I had hooked it onto the side of my black shorts. I clicked on my flashlight and Matt proceeded to switch his phone's flashlight on as well.

I swung my light around and confirmed that what was behind the entrance was a small room. It was the room Dad and Jonathan had been whispering about, I was sure of it.

"Wow," I whispered under my breath.

Even with the small light the flashlight gave off, I could see a huge painting on the wall opposite the doorway. It was amazing and it was frightening. I didn't know if it was a mural of the past or a prophesy of the future, but I felt that it depicted a real event. And I knew it was important.

We stepped into the room and moved closer to the painting. There were five people depicted in the scene in front of me. Four of the people very closely resembled Matt, Ashley, Jessica and me. And the fifth just so happened to look exactly like R. K.

The two girls resembling Jessica and me were driving a bedazzled sword through the man that looked like R. K's heart. The man was lying on the ground and the boy resembling Matt was kneeling behind him, holding his shoulders down as if attempting to prevent him from rising. The Ashley lookalike was standing to the side watching the scene holding a triumphant look.

Getting a good look at the painting helped me to realize that it had to be a prophecy of our future. This must have been what Bursula needed us to find, but why? So far, the faceless witch had been helping R. K, not us. There had to be more to this.

I stepped closer to the painting. "Guys," I said, confirming what I figured they already knew, "That's us. And that man is... is R. K." I shook my head back and forth slowly. We couldn't be this significant.

Is this why R. K. says we're so important to him? Because we are the ones who are supposed to kill him? But, does he even know this? Jonathan said there were three reasons we were important, could this be number two? If so, what's number three? I questioned. I let out a long groan and put a hand to my forehead. Why is everything so confusing?! Has R. K. even seen this room? I scoffed. Of course he has. The rose was at the entrance. That's his symbol! Isn't it? Well, maybe it's not his symbol. Maybe it's Bursula's. No. No way. Why would a rose not be R. K. Rose's symbol?

"You alright there?" Jessica asked, interrupting my thoughts.

I realized that I had been acting out my thoughts and my siblings now thought I was cracked. Though, I'm sure that wasn't new information for them.

"I'm fine," I said. "You know, besides the fact that another great responsibility has just been thrust upon us."

"I think we have to find that sword," Jessica said as her way of agreeing with me.

"Yeah," Matt said with a nod, "I think you're right, Jess. I guess we are supposed to kill him. If that really is us. I guess it shouldn't matter if we kill him, right? He doesn't have a soul and is technically already dead." Matt said, seemingly trying to convince himself more so than me and my sisters. Matt rubbed his temples. "It still sounds like murder to me, though. I want to look at this painting a little more, then we can go home and talk about how we're going to start our search for the sword, I guess."

Jessica smiled obviously happy that she was right about something. "So, this is what they wanted us to find then. Do you think Dad and Jonathan knew what was here? Or just that there was something here?"

I shrugged. "I'm not sure." I stared at my painted face. It was something, but it wasn't enough. "I just can't help feeling like there's something else to find."

We were all silent, just thinking about what exactly it was supposed to mean. I mean, we understood the stabbing part, but the why us? part was still a little unclear. We were guardians of the diamond, not the killers of evil assholes.

I traced the sword and followed it down to R. K's chest. "I don't think this is the main reason why we're important to R. K. I don't even think the diamonds are the main reason. It's just another reason to add to the list of how we're connected to him. If he knows we're meant to kill him or even cares, he would have killed us a long time ago."

Ashley stared at R. K.'s face. "So what's holding him back?" she whispered.

I didn't know. R. K. should want to kill the people who are supposed to kill him. And plus, killing us would make taking the diamonds a lot simpler.

None of us said anything.

Matt turned off the light on his phone so he could take a picture of the painting, probably so he could show Dad when we were back home. Also, if I knew my brother, he's going to be staring at it all night long, trying to decipher the deepest parts of it.

I surveyed the room with my flashlight. I saw nothing but a small stone table by the wall to the right of the painting. I approached it. On table, there lay a book titled Raisers of the Dead.

Interesting title, I thought, making a "huh" sound.

I glanced to my left so I could look at the others. They were still observing the prophesy painting. Well, Matt and Jessica were at least. Ashley was sitting on the ground playing with her feet.

I turned back to the book and opened it to a few pages in, then flipped through some more without really reading what it said. The whole book looked handwritten. I figure that that meant it must be very old. I skipped past the first few chapters, seeing that were dedicated to the actual process of raising the dead. I skipped straight to the part in the back about who can raise them. All that was there was a list of names. I glanced over the names. I'd never heard of any of them. Some had strange names like Angelanna Montel Rendering and Spruce Grover Devisor. Then, some had run-of-the-mill names like Mark Joseph Smith and Mary Rebecca Collins. After all of the names on the first pages there was a dash then the word dead written besides them. I flipped the page and saw more names with the word dead after them. The continuation of the list on the next few pages had not born written after the names. All of the sudden, a name appeared at the bottom of the Not Born list on the page I was looking at. I blinked and shook my head. I told myself my eyes were just playing tricks on me. That name had probably already been there. It couldn't just appear out of nowhere, could it?

I sighed. Why wouldn't this be a magical book? It already had a pretty interesting subject to it. I hadn't bothered to read the part about actually raising the dead, but it had to contain some kind of spell or ritual to go along with it. I rolled my eyes just thinking about how a magical book where words appear out of nowhere shouldn't have even surprised me at that point. Nothing should have surprised me anymore.

I flipped the page. I looked at the continuation of the list. I brought to book closer to my face so I could actually understand what it said. When I confirmed what I had thought I had seen, I almost dropped the book. There were only four names on that list. And I recognized all of them. It scared me... no, it terrified me. I had a numb feeling that spread across my entire body. From my head to my toes. I was shaking and I couldn't stop.

The list read:

Ashley Marie Kilmer- ALIVE

Jessica Lynn Kilmer- ALIVE

Kaitlyn Lee Kilmer- ALIVE

Matthew James Kilmer- ALIVE

I started breathing very heavily. This can't be real, I thought. My mouth was dry. I was freaking out. I might have been having a panic attack. We couldn't raise the dead. That was impossible. I reread the names over and over and over, thinking that maybe I had read them wrong. Nope. I reread the names over and over and over again. They were always the same names. My hands started to shake even more violently and this time, I really did drop the book. I dropped with it. I felt the cold, hard, stone floor against my cheek. Then, my world went dark.