CHAPTER NINE 

The spell worked. December, Moira, Ruby and Lilly looked on in utter shock as Millicent appeared to them in earnest. Not just a floating spirit but a woman with a body. 

"Oh, get the woman some clothes, already. She'll freeze to death in here standing there naked like that. And after all of this, we certainly wouldn't want to lose her to the cold would we?" said Ruby, floating around her ancestor in shock. 

"Yes, yes, of course. I'll run upstairs and get something for her to wear," muttered Moira, who was having some difficulty believing the spell had actually worked. 

"I'm human again... after all these years. I can barely believe it," whispered Millicent, pinching her arms and jumping up and down. 

"Woah there. Can you wait 'til you've got some clothes on before you start doing all those gymnastics" sniggered December with a grin. 

"Oh, sorry... I'm just excited. It's been a long time since I felt like this. Well, since I actually felt at all." 

After Moira had hurriedly returned with an outfit, Millicent struggled to put on the jeans. But when she did, she looked just like one of the family. 

Finally, December hugged her ancestor and squealed, "I can't believe it. I just can't believe it." 

Lilly remained seated on the bed, not quite sure what to do or say. 

"Let's all go upstairs and get something to eat and drink. This calls for a celebration, don't you think?" said Moira, leading Millicent up the steps and out into the bright light of the hallway and into the kitchen. 

"You sit yourself down and I'll just go to the garden to tell Monty about our guest and then we'll have something for lunch." 

Millicent couldn't stop touching things. The kitchen worktop, the toaster, the sink, the tap (the feel of the running water particularly excited her), the fluffy towels... it was as if she was feeling everything for the first time. But then, she probably was considering she was originally from the 1200s. 

Just as the excitement was building for them all, December fell from the stool to the ground, clutching her head in pain. 

"Call for Moira please Lilly," said Millicent, deftly picking December up from the floor and helping her into the living room where she placed her carefully on the sofa. 

"Now this is what you called me here for, December. You must trust me when I tell you I know exactly what you are going through. I need you to focus. I know it is not easy but you must focus on the pain. The pain is trying to tell you something. Can you focus on it? It will eventually go away but you must find out where it's coming from. Who it's coming from." 

The others rushed into the room and watched as Millicent calmed December down, calmly talking to her and getting her to focus all she could on the pain. 

"Now close your eyes. Do you see anything?" 

December gently shook her head and winced. 

"It's all right, December. You can talk. Don't move your head, just talk to me. What do you see?" 

After a few moments, December spoke, "I see a man." 

"That's good. Can you describe him?" 

"No, it's too dark. I can just see his outline." 

"Can you see where he is?" 

"It's so dark." 

"Can you hear anything?" 

December focussed hard on the vision behind the head-ache while everyone in the room was silent. 

"I can hear something, it sounds like, like chains. And sobbing. He is sobbing. I think he's being kept prisoner." 

"That's good, December. Is there anything else you can tell us?" 

"It's warm... I don't know how I can tell, but it just feels warm, really warm." 

"That's good, December. That's enough for now. Open your eyes and focus on me. Look at me and breathe slowly. Just look at me. Is the pain fading? 

December nods, "Yes, it's going, it's going." 

"Excellent. Now close your eyes and rest for a while. We'll be right here." 

Millicent took December's hand and held it tightly. She turned to Moira and said, "Well, I can tell you this. December is going through the exact same thing I did. She has somehow developed a connection with this man." 

"Do you know who or where he is?" 

"Well, I can't really answer that." 

"What about when it happened to you? Who was it? And where were they?" asked Lilly eagerly. 

Millicent closed her eyes for a second before turning to look out the window. 

"It was very unusual. He was a man who was from our world but he had somehow become lost on another," she tried to explain. 

"You mean he was on another planet?" 

"I don't believe so." 

"Well then, what do you believe?" asked Monty. 

"I think you'd all better sit down..." 

After they'd all made themselves comfortable, Millicent began to tell them the story about how she began communicating with a man called Badrick. 

"The headaches began when I was quite young, but I didn't learn to control them until I was 20. It was then that I began to have the visions of the young man. He too was trapped in chains in a dark place surrounded by evil. It took a while but eventually we managed to actually converse, strangely enough through space and time. He told me his name was Badrick and he was just a normal man. I didn't quite believe that, of course. I think he had a secret of some kind. But that secret he took to his grave. But anyway, he had been born, grew up and lived in England with his young wife, two daughters and a son. One day he was working the fields when he saw a strange light. When he walked towards it, he was sucked into it and when he woke up he was chained to the wall of a dark cave. He told me he felt like he was deep underground. There were others chained there too and every now and again, the beasts would come and take one away. I never found out what the beasts were doing to them, whether they feasted upon those poor souls or killed for entertainment. Badrick did not know until... until they took him and once they did, I never heard from him again. I know deep down they killed him."  

With eyes wide open with shock, Lilly asked, "But who are these beasts?" 

Millicent closed her eyes once more, looking out the window again to calm her.  

"Nephilim. They were the Nephilim." 

Moira and Ruby gasped in unison. 

"Nephilim," said Monty, "I thought they were just mythical creatures?" he asked. 

"I used to think witches and vampires were mythical creatures. How wrong was I?" replied Lilly without thinking. 

"The Nephilim are real. They are most definitely real." 

"But what are they?" said December sleepily, who had been listening to everything with her eyes tightly closed. 

"The creatures I've read about are the offspring of demons who mated with women. It is believed they were cast to the depths of the earth where they've been trapped for thousands of years. However, over time they have continued to try to lure men and women into their grasp so they can have their fun with them before they cast them aside." 

"But that's just myth though, right?" asked Lilly, confused. 

"That's what I thought until Millicent told us otherwise. Are these the same creatures, Millicent?" 

Looking across at her family and friends, the young woman sighed, "I'm afraid to say so, but yes, these are one and the same. These mythical creatures you speak of are the Nephilim." 

"But how do they lure their prey?" asked an intrigued Ruby. 

"Badrick told me he saw this strange light and he went into it. That is all I know." 

"So, a kind of vortex, then?" asked Moira, fiddling with the ring on her finger nervously. 

Millicent nodded, "quite possibly, yes." 

"So now we just need to figure out who this man is and how we can rescue him," said December as she sat up, looking straight at Millicent who patted her on the hand with a smile. 

"You mean, if we can rescue him," added Ruby quietly.