As she passed it to her sister, Lana's breath caught in her throat.
'What? What is it?' asked Emma as she glanced down.
'Oh My God,' she exclaimed, covering her mouth with her hands.
The business card, which had the words Declan Alexander written on it, also contained something else, something familiar, something that shocked the girls into silence.
There on the silver and white card was the same emblem that they too now had inked onto their bodies: the winged eye.
Even Joe gasped, 'But that's... that's.....'
'Yeah, we know Josiah, it's the same as our tattoos...' answered Lana.
'No, it's not that. I know that already.... it's just that... that...'
'That what? Spit it out, Josiah,' said Emma uncharacteristically bossy.
Indicating that they should follow him, Joe held out his hand and pointed once again to the old building. As they got closer, they realised what this was all about. Why he'd brought them through Central London in the first place. He'd brought them to this decrepit old house because right there, below an intricate wrought iron door knocker was the very same symbol.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
As they stood staring, mouths drooped, the door slowly opened in front of them.
Emma stepped backward while Lana tripped over the steep step that led indoors.
'Lana? what on earth are you doing?' whispered Emma desperately as her sister pushed the door further ajar and peered inside.
'What does it look like I'm doing? I'm going in.'
'No... you can't. We can't... that's trespassing...' she added rather pathetically.
Lana turned to look at her sister, 'Really? Oh come on. The door just opened for us. Whoever is here clearly wants us to come in. So come on, follow me...' she said as she disappeared inside.
Catching her breath in her throat, Emma turned to look at their surroundings. People went about their lives around them, walking in and out of an impressive large building just a little further down the street, but no-one seemed to be taking any notice of the two girls and the ghost. Not that they could see the ghost, of course.
Swallowing loudly, Emma stepped up onto the step, followed by Joe, and walked into the darkness that beckoned.
As her eyes adjusted to the lack of light, the door closed of its own accord behind them, making her heart feel like it was about to hop out of her chest.
'Sis? Lana? Where are you?' she said outstretching her arms and finding her sister directly in front of her. 'What are you doing?' she whispered.
'Just waiting for my eyes to adjust,' she whispered back, 'Joe can you see in the dark?'
'It's just an old disused room. There's nothing in here at all,' he said, 'But there's a door... follow my voice,' he said as the girls did just that, until eventually they came upon the door he'd mentioned. Holding Emma's hand tightly, Lana found the doorknob and turned, pushing it open slowly. They stepped forward into a room with a large window, daylight so bright that they had to shield their eyes for a moment until they re-adjusted once again.
Sparsely furnished, a rather elegant faded yellow chaise-longue stood just beneath a large bay window, covered in a thick layering of dust, giving the impression that the last time it had been used was decades ago. Standing to its side was a short little round table, gathering just the same amount of dust, although a tall champagne glass stood on top of it. Lana stepped forward and picked the glass up, gently blowing much of the dust away, leaving a semi-clean circle on the wooden table.
Emma began to cough loudly as little particles of dust entered her air stream.
'Oops,' said Lana as she patted her sister on the back. 'Look, there's another door,' she said, almost instantly forgetting about Emma's coughing fit as she walked across the room.
Opening the door, they were faced with a grand hallway, its centrepiece, a dramatic wrought iron spiral staircase, the bannister from which was also caked in dust.
'Please don't touch the dust again, Sis,' wheezed Emma as she followed behind Lana and Joe as they cautiously began to climb the stairs, not wanting to be left behind.
Reaching the top, there were several doors off to each side, and a double door directly in front of them.
Lana looked across at Emma and smiled before she put both her hands on the two doorknobs and pushed them open dramatically, expecting something impressive beyond them. But there was nothing except a large empty room, bar an old oak wardrobe that looked like it was falling apart.
Stepping inside the room, the three of them wandered around, looking out the window, with its own little balcony overlooking a tiny courtyard below.
Joe disappeared momentarily.
Turning, Lana looked disappointed, 'So this is it? Not really what I was expecting.'
'But what were you expecting, Lana? It's not like we knew this place even existed.'
Shrugging her shoulders, Lana pouted, 'I don't know. I guess I was hoping to find the answers, you know?'
'Well, perhaps the answers lie with Declan. We should just ask him about it.'
'I guess you're right.'
'I just checked the rest of the building and I can see nothing but dusty rooms that haven't seen the light of day for years,' said Joe.
'Well, I guess that's it, then. Thanks for bringing us though, Joe,' Lana said with a sad smile.
Standing beside the window, Emma turned abruptly towards them, 'Did you hear that?' she whispered.
'Hear what?' Lana replied as she rushed to her side.
'Listen... someone is... singing.'
The three of them stood silently, straining their necks out to hear.
Her eyes wide with excitement, Lana turned to Emma and grinned before she followed the sound, moving across the room until eventually she stood in front of the rickety old wardrobe. Emma followed, her eyebrows knitted together, with Joe standing firmly behind them.
Lana carefully pulled open the wardrobe door, expecting to find a woman hiding in there, but instead, she was greeted with a whole other room. Emma and Joe followed as she stepped through until they were all standing in an old-fashioned clean and dust-free large airy living space. Shadows from the flickering flames of an open inglenook fire danced across the room, which looked like it was from the Victorian era. Lana and Emma only knew this because the only museum on Andilyse Island just happened to specialise in items from that time.
It was a striking room, and even though everything in it seemed to scream Antiques Roadshow, it was warm and inviting.
They were so taken by the grandeur of the room that they failed to notice that the soft singing had halted. When a chair facing the fire creaked, Emma and Lana gasped. Fearing the unknown, they gulped and stood dead still for someone to make the first move.
Suddenly, a warm laugh filled the air and an old lady leaned sideways from the chair, turning so she could see them.
'Don't be so frightened... come, come... let me have a good look at you.'
Lana grabbed Emma's hand and they cautiously stepped towards the old woman, Joe hovering in the background behind them.
As they approached her, she removed her glasses and put down the book she was reading, placing it face down on a coffee table to her right. Emma glanced at it, expecting to find Jane Eyre or something similar. Instead, she was surprised to find the old lady had been reading The Hunger Games.
'Well you've certainly grown up into beautiful creatures you two. Come, step closer, Lana, I won't bite. You too, Emma.'
So shocked that the woman knew their names, the sisters were unable to speak.
'You look a little like your fathers, both of you. They'd be so proud, they really would. Fine specimens, both of you. Now, did you find the place all right?' she asked as Lana and Emma shared a shocked glance, both swallowing loudly.
The old lady chuckled and shook her head. 'Now I'm pretty sure you're not normally this quiet. I understand you're confused, possibly even a bit scared but there's absolutely no need to be. You're quite safe h
ere. I will fill you in, don't worry about that, but I am going to need you to be a bit more vocal. You're not going to get anywhere if you don't open your mouths and speak to me, you know?' she said pointing to them both.
'S...s...sorry,' said Emma, 'We're just.... just... surprised that's all.'
'That's to be expected. So, did you find the place all right?'
Lana nodded, 'B...but how did you know that we would come?'
'Of course I knew you would come. I sent for you.'
Exchanging glances once more, the girls were dumbstruck.
'All right, all right... why don't you both sit down over there,' she said, pointing to a narrow settee for two opposite her.
'My name is Eleanor Hayden-Jones and this....,' she said with her arms up in the air as she looked around the room, 'is the Fourth House of Praxos.'
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
The girls learned that the Fourth House of Praxos was one of many such houses around the world. This particular property was the base for the Praxos Foundation within south east England.
'Oh thank you, dear,' said Eleanor to a middle-aged gentleman dressed in green and black who appeared out of nowhere carrying a tray with a teapot and three cups and saucers. Carefully placing it on the large coffee table in between them, he stole a glance at the girls and smiled a wide grin.
'Girls, this is Wilbur, he's a great help to me here at the house.'
He tipped his head, 'A pleasure to meet you,' he said before he continued to pour the tea. 'Milk and sugar?'
Emma shook her head while Lana nodded, 'Yes please.'
'Perhaps a slice of lemon instead, Emma Jane?'
She caught his eye and nodded, intrigued to find out why these people seemed to know so much about them.
After the tea had been prepared and Wilbur took his leave with a nod of the head and a warm smile, Eleanor slowly stood and leaned back on the arm of the chair.
'As I was saying, the Praxos Foundation consists of a wide group and variety of persons who, shall we say, fight crime? We investigate wrong-doings and make things right,' she smiled, turning her head so that the light from the window highlighted the many deep lines and wrinkles that covered her face, which was quite beautiful, even in old age. Her silvery white hair almost twinkled, just as her eyes did, when the light caught it.
'But how do you know who we are? And how do you know our... our.... fathers? Why did you want to bring us here?' asked Emma.
Eleanor smiled, 'I'll get to your fathers in time, my dear. But you should know that you were always destined to join the Praxos Foundation. Both of you were.'
'But you didn't bring us here... Joe did,' Lana let slip before she'd even thought about what she was saying.
'Joe? You mean the young man standing at the back of the room right now?'
The girls gasped and Joe moved quickly towards them.
'You can see me?' he croaked.
Chuckling, the old lady looked right at him, 'Yes of course I can see you, Josiah,' she said before turning back to Lana, 'Yes, Josiah led you here but only because he was summoned in the first place. We knew he was doing the rounds all over London and so we thought it only apt that we used him to, lure you here, for want of a better word,' she chuckled.
'You lured us here?' whispered Emma, a little scared.
'Oh I'm sorry, dear. There's absolutely no need for you to fear any of us here at Praxos. We are like a family and you've just joined us.'
Looking up suddenly, Lana said, 'We have? But we've not agreed to join anything.'
Eleanor smiled, 'It's not something that you have to join as such, you don't have to sign anything. You were destined to be a part of us. You joined us the moment you grew your tattoos.'
'We...g..grew them?' said Lana, absentmindedly rubbing her lower back.
'But how do you know about our tattoos?' exclaimed Emma breathlessly.
Turning around so that she no longer faced them, Eleanor lifted her top to reveal the same kind of tattoo etched into her own lower back.
'Stamus Contra Malum - We stand against evil,' she said as she dropped her top and turned to face them. 'You are now part of the Praxos family. It is simply meant to be,' she said, returning to her chair and lowering herself into it like the very old lady she was.
'So let me get this right. We were born into the Praxos Foundation and we have to be a part of it, whether we like or not, because we 'grew' a tattoo?' asked Lana as she stood up to return her cup and saucer to the table.
'Exactly.'
'But what are we meant to do, Eleanor?' asked Emma.
'You will use your special skills to fight evil in whatever form it may arise.'
'Special skills?' asked Joe quietly.
'Yes, I believe the girls have already experienced some of them?' she asked as the sisters looked at each other in pure bewilderment.
Letting her head fall back gracefully as a gentle chuckle erupted from her lips, Eleanor shook her head before continuing, 'Being able to jump from great heights and swim beneath icy cold waters are something you've been able to do throughout your lives, is it?'
Comprehension dawned on the girls as the old lady carried on, 'We all have them here at Praxos, special skills, that is. As you begin your initiation and training, they will develop, you'll see.'
'Initiation?' Lana and Emma said at the same time as Emma's hand shot out to hold her sisters tightly.
'Of course. You didn't think we'd let you loose on the world without one, did you?'
'B... but... what kind of initiation?' asked Emma as she tightened her grip.
Laughing, Eleanor lifted herself from her chair again and stepped towards them, 'Oh don't worry about that. It's nothing too gruesome,' she winked as she walked past them towards the door Wilbur had earlier disappeared through.
'Come on, it's time I showed you around,' she said as the girls tentatively stood and followed slowly behind the old woman, with Joe hovering behind.
As they approached the door, Eleanor had barely touched it when it opened wide, revealing a darkened passageway beyond. As they walked along, candles seemingly came to life, flickering pockets of fire dancing in the shadows.
Emma, still clutching tightly onto her sister's hand, swallowed hard as they reached the end of the corridor. She had absolutely no idea where they were going or what they were doing. Her thoughts began to race and she found herself recalling her earlier adventure in the Thames. She remembered the adrenaline pulsing through her body and the feeling of extraordinary ecstasy that enveloped her soon after she'd jumped in.
The memory was enough to give her a new found confidence and she released Lana's hand and smiled.
A wrought iron gate was closed in front of them. Eleanor reached forward and slid it across sideways, revealing a stainless steel door beneath it. Pressing a hidden button, it instantly opened. Lana gasped as Eleanor smiled and stepped into the modern elevator.
'Well, come on then,' she said, waiting for them to climb in. 'It's only a lift, it's not going to bite you.'
The three of them followed, noticing there was room enough for about another ten people. As the door quietly closed behind them, Eleanor pressed a button and they stood silently waiting to see where they were going. Before they'd even noticed any movement, the door slid open and Wilbur stood grinning on the other side.
'Have the others arrived yet, Wilbur?' Eleanor asked as he slid the wrought iron gate across to let them out.
'Yes, they're waiting for you in the White Room.'
She nodded as Wilbur walked away, turning left and out into another room beyond.
The girls and Joe stood staring ahead at the huge room that surrounded them, awe-inspired by the sheer size of it. It was like a giant tunnel, built in old red brick, with huge arches above them. They'd never seen anything like it.
Eleanor stood watching as they took it in. 'It's beautiful, isn't it?' she asked as they simply nodded.
'Where are we?' asked Lana.
'This is our HQ. We'r
e beneath the city,' she replied, gesturing for them to follow her.
Walking slowly along, Eleanor pointed out tunnels that seemed to head off in various different directions, 'We're actually underneath The British Museum at the moment and if you wandered off in that general direction, you'd be standing beneath The Great Ormond Street Hospital. That tunnel leads to Westminster, this one to Hackney Marshes (which is a long way away), oh and over there, if you walked for quite a while, you'd walk under Greenwich and underneath the Thames Barrier...'
'But why, Eleanor? Why are we here? What are the tunnels for?' asked Lana.
'It's easy access for us, we are well hidden beneath the city and we're protected down here.'
'Protected from what?' whispered Emma.
'We'll get to all that in time, my dear. For now, I want you to meet others like you. Others who have little or no idea why they are here. You're all in the same boat. But it's a safe boat, don't worry,' she said with a smile as she pushed open a large white door, into another room painted entirely in white where a group of about ten teenagers sat drinking from cans, reading books and playing on their phones.
As they entered the room, their faces lit up and they all stopped what they were doing.
'Well, everybody is here now. We can begin,' smiled Eleanor. 'Would you girls like a cold drink before we start?'
Both nodded as a boy with cropped blond hair stood up and handed them both a coke. Lana took it immediately, opened it and began to gulp the cool liquid before she eventually stopped to say thanks, while Emma shook her head with a shy smile. 'Is there any water?' she asked him. Grinning, he nodded and bent backwards, putting the can back on the table and grabbing a small bottle of mineral water.
She took it gratefully, drinking it all while Eleanor stood waiting patiently for her to finish.
'Right then, hello everyone. I believe Wilbur has already given you a quick explanation of where you are?' she asked as the others nodded. 'Good, no doubt he has told you about me? I am Eleanor Hayden-Jones and I'm the Guardian of the Fourth House of Praxos. Why don't you follow me, guys and gals...'