MY DAD’S NOW FIRMLY IN MY CORNER. DURING DINNER TONIGHT he became nearly epileptic as he ranted about the lawsuits he was going to file against the school, the principal, the city, you name it. He got so excited that bits of food spat out of his mouth, which was something I never thought I’d see from him.
“It’s outrageous the way they handled it,” he declared angrily to me and my mom, little specs of meatball and spaghetti flying out of his mouth. His face reddened for a moment as if he were choking, but I guess he was just swallowing down his rage. He raised his fork for emphasis, a piece of meatball attached to it. “Completely outrageous the way they made a spectacle of arresting Henry,” he continued. He stopped for a moment, his jaw muscles tensing and his lips flattening out into thin hard lines, then he went on, “They had no corroborating evidence, just the word of one student—the very one they were investigating! And since then they haven’t found a single student who could corroborate what this Devin kid is saying. Which is exactly what Henry’s been claiming would be the case. Someone planted those drugs in Henry’s locker. Probably that Devin kid. It all adds up that way.”
My mom didn’t look too convinced of my innocence, but she didn’t argue with him. I’m sure that with my dad arguing my case and with his threats of lawsuits, the school will be reinstating me soon and my charges will be dropped. Maybe this will cause them to look into the demon Devin more closely, and maybe even get them to find out he doesn’t live at that Waltham foster home like he’s supposed to. Of course, Wesley could start telling people that I spiked his chocolate milk with psilocybin mushrooms, and that might throw a wrench into everything. But maybe not. He wouldn’t have any proof at this point, and with him being such an odd duck, people would probably be suspicious of his motives—maybe think he was making those claims to get attention. No, there’s little doubt I’ll be back in school soon, which is unfortunate. I need more time with L’Occulto Illuminato, especially after what I had just finished translating. I have to hope it takes my dad at least another week before he’s able to get me back into school, but a week wouldn’t be enough time for what I need to do. Even a month probably wouldn’t be enough time.
Before dinner I finished translating the latest section I’d been working on, and I spent the last seven hours verifying my translation. There are no mistakes, no doubting what I’ve come up with. This section is absolutely chilling, and it explains what Clifton Gibson was doing in Brooklyn, and why Ginny Cataldo and Trey Wilkerson were taken. And not just them, but all the other little kids the demons must be stealing. I know of two others: a three-year-old girl just shy of her fourth birthday was taken in Maine a few weeks ago, as well as one in Rhode Island. Their abductions didn’t make the local news here, but I found out about them through Internet searches that I’ve been doing since finishing this latest translation, and I’m convinced that demons are behind them. I’m also convinced that there will be other abductions of not-quite-four-year-olds. There will be thirty-nine abductions in this area, and thirty-nine in four other areas around the world—more if any of the children die before the demons can finish their rituals.
So in addition to the time I need to finish translating L’Occulto Illuminato, there’s also a good chance I’ll have to sneak away to New York for a day. I hope that won’t be the case, because it will be dangerous in its own right, but there may be no way around it.
So now about the recent section I translated. The one that explained what Clifton Gibson and other demons were doing in Brooklyn, and what must be going on in Boston now. And four other cities around the world—cities where if you connected them with Boston added in you’d form a five-pointed star. That’s why they were able to move their rituals from Brooklyn to Boston. Because they’re close enough so that that star would still be formed. Let me explain. The section I translated outlines the rituals these demons need to perform to open the gates to hell.
The rituals are complicated, but involve abducting thirty-nine children under the age of four, carving symbols into their bodies and skulls, and sewing their eyes shut and their mouths mostly shut. They sew their mouths mostly shut so the children can’t scream, which would interfere with their rituals, but they don’t sew them completely shut because then the children would die of dehydration and starve to death, and the demons need them alive between the span of two full moons so they can perform these horrible rituals. Oh, they can’t cut out their tongues because that’s for the very end. But if these rituals are performed in five cities around the world—and those cities form a five-pointed star—then the gates to hell will open wide and demons and other dark creatures will flood the earth. And it will be the end of man.
So as you can see, the ante has been raised. If I ever had a choice of ignoring these demons before, I don’t any longer. I have to stop what’s happening, and my head’s spinning just thinking about it.
I’m too tired to do any more translating now, but I know there’s no chance I’ll be able to sleep. Before sitting down to write this last entry I tried sleeping, but when I closed my eyes all I could see was what these demons must be doing to all those abducted children right now. The very thought of it is both sickening and heartbreaking.
All I know is that I need to learn how to kill these demons before they come after me. And I need to find those children. I know they’re somewhere in the Boston area. According to L’Occulto Illuminato the rituals must be held in five heavily populated cities that are also major cultural centers.
The only thing I have going for me is that the rules for opening up the gates of hell are complicated, and I’ve got time. At least two full moons’ worth from when the last of the thirty-nine children are abducted. The one kidnapped in Rhode Island was taken two weeks ago, which would give me three weeks. I could have a lot more time than that—they still might be collecting the thirty-nine children that they need. But the problem is that since I don’t know how many they’ve taken so far, I have to assume the worst: that they’ve already started their rituals.
So while it was purely accidental on the demon Connor Devin’s part, he did me a huge favor getting me kicked out of school, and I have to hope it takes my dad longer than he expects to get me reinstated. I need all the time I can get now if I’m going to save this world from being overrun by hell.