Lahat ng Kabanata ng Leesa's Advent: Kabanata 221 - Kabanata 230

Leesa’s brain was a jumble of thoughts and emotions as she rode the train back toward New Haven. Unlike her earlier ride into the city, she paid little attention to the scenery flashing by her window. She had way too much on her mind right now.An hour or so ago, she and Dominic had changed subway trains one more time, ending up in Penn Station instead of Grand Central to avoid any chance of backtracking and running into his pursuers. While not as impressive and ornate as Grand Central, Penn Station was even busier and more crowded. On the final train, Dominic had showed her how to open the box to activate his avatar. It was amazingly simple. All she had to do was place her finger on the silver square and send any kind of magic into it. She could use the illumination spell, the energy beam, even the plant growing spell. Anything would do. Since the vibrations of her magic were the same as Dominic’s, the box would open to the magic and the avatar would be activated

Jenna had the cabdriver drop her off at Gillette Castle, a normal enough destination. The strange looking hilltop castle looked like it had been constructed out of papier-mâché, but was actually made out of thousands of stones gathered from the local hills. It had been built for an eccentric actor early in the twentieth century and was now the centerpiece of a state park whose other main attraction was its spectacular views of the Connecticut River. The vampire caverns were hidden in the forest a mile or so north the park. She would walk the rest of the way.The air was chill, with the sun hidden behind a thick layer of gray clouds that had moved in since the morning, but the cold seldom bothered her. She skirted the edge of the park surrounding the castle and headed north into the trees.She had learned the location of the vampire lair the same way she learned many things—by carefully watching the world below her in the guise of an owl. Years ago, s

Leesa pulled into the parking lot of the diner Dominic had told her about. When she turned the engine off and looked up the road, she saw him standing on the opposite side of the highway, a hundred feet or so away. He gave her a curt nod to acknowledge her arrival and then poked his head and arms into his car through the driver’s side window. A moment later, the car began rolling slowly forward, coming to a stop on the shoulder of the road about ten paces from where Dominic stood watching. As soon as the car stopped rolling, Dominic gave Leesa a quick thumbs up—the signal they had agreed on that she should proceed as planned. She grabbed the ivory box from her bag and got out of the car. After waiting for a truck to flash by, she hurried across the road and found the spot Dominic had described to her. The old oak tree—almost twice as thick as any of its neighbors—was just barely visible from the highway. Its gnarled branches spread wide in every direction, and Leesa could im

Lying hidden with her cheek pressed to the ground, Leesa knew she had to do something. And it had to be quickly if she was going to save Dominic. She wracked her brain for an idea. Her strongest power was telekinesis. It was the one she had used the longest and the most often, and with the most success. But in her weakened state, she didn’t think she could move anything large enough to frighten or even concern the wizards. Her eyes flicked about the woods, searching desperately for something she could use. She saw nothing but dead leaves, broken twigs and one rusty old beer can. Sending a few leaves or twigs flying through the air might surprise the black waziri, but that was about all. It would certainly not threaten them. She needed something different, something much more dangerous. A sudden inspiration struck her. She looked upward, into the sprawling oak under which the wizards stood. Perhaps she could use gravity to augment her diminished power, she thought. In

Later that afternoon, Cali was studying at her desk when she heard a firm, staccato knock on the door frame of her open door. She turned around to see two men in blue suits with black ties framed in the doorway. They were each tall and well-built, with short, but not quite military style haircuts. Both had light brown hair. Cali guessed they were somewhere in their late thirties or early forties—about the same age as her dad. They didn’t look quite enough like each other to be brothers, but they were close. More importantly, they looked like cops. No, she thought, not cops—more like FBI agents or something. Behind the two men stood a woman, but Cali could barely see her. All Cali could tell was that she was wearing a pants suit just a shade lighter than the men’s, and that her shiny black hair was pulled tight against her skull.Cali wondered what the men wanted. She didn’t do drugs, so it was doubtful the men were narcs.“Kelly Farn