“Hunter, do you know what it says?” Rachel asked hopefully.

Hunter looked down and then shook his head, too. “No! I don’t know. It’s so ancient it’s before my days on this earth. Even though I’ve been around for a long time, it is still foreign to me,” Hunter said.

“Well, what do we do now?” Rachel asked.

“What do we do?” Penelope chimed in.

“Well, let me see…” Hunter said, scratching his head.

“We have to find someone who knows how to decipher this code. But who?” Penelope asked.

Rachel waited, in silence as they all stood around thinking of who might know this ancient Coven Code.

“Oh! I know!” said Hunter. “It’s a long shot but I think I know just the people who can read this for us.”

“Who?” Rachel asked.

“Who? Who?” Penelope asked.

“My parents,” Hunter replied.

“Your parents?” Rachel asked. “But…”

“I know, that’s the problem,” Hunter said, cutting her off. “I haven’t spoken to them in many years.”

“What are we going to do then?” Penelope asked.

“We have to find them,” Rachel said. “We have to! For Benji’s sake.”

“I can’t go see them,” Hunter said, putting his head down.

“What do you mean you can’t go? You have to go!” Rachel said.

“I can’t,” Hunter repeated. “I can’t bear it.”

“What happened?” Rachel asked, with a worried look on her face.

Hunter was silent and Rachel didn’t want to pry anymore. She knew this could be painful for him, and didn’t want to push her luck. She didn’t want him to tell her things he wasn’t comfortable with.

Nobody spoke.

Then after a few minutes of silence Hunter said, “It’s a long story really, I don’t want to talk about it.”

“That’s ok, I respect that,” Rachel said. “But what should we do about the page, is there anybody else who can read Coven Code?”

“Nobody that I know of,” Hunter said. “I can’t think of anyone.”

“Me either,” Penelope added. “I don’t know anyone that old.”

“Well, can I go ask them?” Rachel asked. “I’ll go alone. They never have to know I was with you?”

“No, you can’t go alone. They wouldn’t like that. I will have to go with you. For Benji,” Hunter said.

“You will?” Rachel said, with a glimmer of hope. “Really?”

“Yes, I will go,” Hunter said.

“Can I come, too?” Penelope asked.

“Yes, of course. I wouldn’t go without you,” Hunter said, taking her hand.

Rachel folded up the piece of paper, put it back into her pocket and set off into the night by air, with Hunter and Penelope by her side. They were off to find his parents to hopefully find the next clue in locating the Red Amulet.

Chapter 10

Rachel took to the air like she’d been flying long distance her whole life. She knew this would be a long trek for her but didn’t let her mind go there; she didn’t want to discourage herself or doubt her abilities as a vampire. She knew she could make the trip, she knew she could fly eight hours and didn’t want to jinx herself.

As she flew up to the coast of Maine, she was blown away by the sights around her. She never realized America was so beautiful and lush before. Her wings spread out wide as she soared over the east coast like a bird in flight. In fact, she noticed many birds surrounding them as they flew. The air was brisk and cool as they moved through the air and her body felt cold. She didn’t let it bother her though—she kept her eye on what really mattered and that was Benji. She didn’t let her own minor issues get in the way of reaching his parent’s ancestral home.

She couldn’t get over the natural beauty she was flying over. The tall trees with beautifully colored fall foliage, the vast grassy fields with cattle and silos, the coast line with the crashing waves and rocky boarder. She felt inspired by all this beauty she was seeing and it reminded her of the moment before she jumped off the cliff with Benji. The jagged rocky coast, the waves crashing up again them and then, their jump.

“Rachel, are you ok?” Hunter asked, looking back at her.

Rachel snapped out of her thoughts and into the present, “Oh me? Yes, I’m fine.”

“Why so slow?” Hunter asked.

“Oh sorry, never flown this far before. I feel like I’m flying a marathon!” Rachel answered.

“Don’t worry, it’s not that much farther,” Hunter said.

Phew! Rachel thought to herself. Despite the beauty of her surroundings, she was beginning to feel a bit tired from all the flying. She hoped her wings would continue keeping up their stamina until they arrived. She didn’t want to just drop out of the sky like a dead bird. She knew she had to continue.

“So what was your childhood like in the castle with your parents?” Rachel asked, curiously.

“Well,” Hunter said. “It was a normal childhood, really. I mean normal to any vampire. I don’t really know how to explain it.”

“Did you and Benji get along with your parents?” Rachel asked.

“In the beginning we did, well I did. I won’t speak for Benji. But we got along for a while, until we didn’t. Then it got bad,” Hunter replied.

“What do you mean it got bad?” Rachel asked. “Is that why you didn’t want to come with me?”

“Exactly the reason. It still hard to talk about, but let’s just say we got into an argument, and since then haven’t seen eye to eye on anything,” Hunter answered.

“An argument?” Rachel asked. “Over what?”

Rachel waited for Hunter to answer, but he remained silent for a few minutes. She could tell by the look on his face that this conversation was upsetting him and making him feel uncomfortable.

“It’s a long story,” Hunter answered.

Rachel decided to drop that topic and change the subject. “So was it just the five of you in the house growing up?”

“Well, it was really just four of us most of the time. My dad was away most days so it was just my mom, Benji and Matilda,” Hunter answered.

“Did you guys get along?” Rachel asked. “I mean you and your siblings?”

“Here and there we’d get into fights, but I think that’s normal for any sibling relationship,” Hunter said. “You have siblings, did you get along with them 24/7?”

“Me? HA! No way!” Rachel reMarced. “It’s only been recently that my sister and I get along at all. She’s always been too cool to talk to me but for some reason after we moved from Pennsylvania to New York, she started being nicer to me. I don’t know why, but I’m not complaining. She’s actually a pretty cool person!”

“And how about your brother?” Hunter asked. “You do have a brother, too right?”

“Yes, Marc. We kinda get along. He’s younger so we don’t really have much in common. And he’s a boy, so that draws up apart even further. But he’s OK I guess,” Rachel said.

“See, you probably feel the same way I felt about my siblings growing up,” Hunter said. “It’s no different when you’re a vampire.”

“How about your parents? Did they get along?” Rachel asked.

“What do you mean?” Hunter asked.

“I mean, did they argue a lot?” Rachel asked.

“Well, since my dad was never home my mom would get mad at him often. She hated that he always left her. I remember that from when I was little. She would always cry to him that he never did anything and she was the only one who took care of the kids and the house. She was always in a bad mood of some kind. It was pretty hard actually. I remember being upset about it,” Hunter said.

“Oh no! I’m sorry to hear that,” Rachel said.

“Yeah, It’s pretty sad,” said Penelope. “I feel so bad for Hunter. Poor thing.”

“Don’t worry, it was long ago. You just asked so I told you,” Hunter said, as if it didn’t bother him anymore.

“Enough about the past. We need to talk about what you can expect when we get there,” Hunter said.

“What to expect?” Rachel asked confused.

“Yes, I haven’t been here in many years. I don’t remember the last time I was here actually, and as I told you I haven’t spoken to my parents in a long time either. I don’t even know if they will be here anymore. I don’t even know if they live here still. I haven’t kept up with them,” Hunter said. “It is possible that they fled during the last war.”

Rachel grew weak at the thought of what Hunter was saying. She would be beside herself if they weren’t there. They were the key to Benji’s health and survival and if they’d moved on, than he was sure to die. She couldn’t bear the thought.

She thought for a moment, then said, “Do you think they moved? I pray not.”

“Like I said, I don’t know. I really don’t know the answer to that. I wish I did. To save us all time, but I don’t,” Hunter said.

“Well what are we going to do if they’re not there?” Rachel asked.

“Yeah, how will we find them?” Penelope asked.

“Let’s just wait and see what happens when we get there. We can’t get discouraged yet,” Hunter said.

“Fine, let’s just get there and see,” Rachel repeated. “When will we be there anyway?”

She was feeling even more exhausted as the flight continued and the thought that it might all be for nothing. She hated that Hunter just told them his parents might not live there anymore. She couldn’t believe it. She wouldn’t.

“We’re almost there,” Hunter said. “Look! I can see it in the distance!”