September 3, 2003 – 21:00
"I told them I didn't have it. It wasn't technically a lie, as I didn't have it with me."
"Make sure they don't see you going to any of your storage units," said Erik.
Coralis sat on the living room couch and was on a holographic call with Erik and Henry. They couldn't prove that the EBEE elders had been talking to her mother's relatives and the EBEE French elders didn't know anything about it.
"I want to move it, but it's too risky. It is in the one I rented when I decided to relocate what was in my cousin's unit to another one elsewhere… specifically for that kind of reason. I didn't know if my relatives on my mother's side knew about her storage unit."
The base of her hologram, which sat in the middle of her living room table, turned blue and she decided to ignore it, thinking that whoever was trying to call her could wait. From the corner of her eyes, she saw Frank getting ready to go shower.
"It's better if it stays there, think about it. They tried to break into your bank in London not long ago, they might try again if they still think it's there," said Henry.
"The only thing I had in that safe there, was copies of my UK tax declaration, which were filed under my civil name. I had my banker there send them to me here, I can't have any of my enemies knowing about my civil name. It's fully empty now."
"They won't stop looking for it. What about you create a cursed version of it, like you did for the Vase of Crimson Sky, and we plant it somewhere? I'm sure we can find an address associated to one with your so-called relatives," said Henry.
"That's a genius idea, bro. Can you find me an image of what that damn necklace looks like? You know I can't just go retrieve it to make an exact replica of it," said Coralis.
She saw Erik turning his head around to look at someone behind him. The blue light on her hologram turned off.
"GUS! Can you look up a bunch of pictures showing the Silverling Heart?"
About 15 minutes later, while she was still in communication with Erik and Henry with Gus showing them his search results, Frank walked out of the shower. He heard his phone vibrating from his bedside table.
"I've got like five missed calls and a lot of text messages… from my family… did any of them call you while I was in the shower," said Frank as he joined her in the living room.
"Hey Frank!" said Erik. "Are you joining us as we brainstorm on how Coralis should spell a potential replica of the Silverling Heart?"
"You mean a cursed replica or something else?" said Frank, standing behind the couch.
"Yes, for the necklace. My phone is in my purse, I think and it's probably still in silent mode, so I don't know if anyone called me on it. Just before you got in the shower, someone tried to call on my hologram, I saw an incoming call waiting, but I ignored it. I don't think it was related to your family. If something would have happened to Audrey, she would have mind-linked me. What happened?"
Frank was about to check his messages when their doorbell rang. He pressed the buzzer to unlock the door downstairs and opened their apartment one to see who was there. Sebastian and Stephanie rushed in.
"Did you hear?" said Sebastian as soon as he closed the door behind them, visibly shaken up.
"Hey Sebastian!" said Erik and Henry at the same time.
"Congratulations," said Gus.
"Did I hear about what?" said Coralis, frowning.
Coralis could hear Gus' hologram buzzing in the background.
"Uh, hey!" said Sebastian, briefly looking at them. "The US, UK and some other countries announced a witch hunt. They said that there were witches out there worshipping the devil, using dark magic and summoning demons."
Frank dropped his phone on the living table and grabbed the television remote. He turned it on and pressed to switch to a news channel.
"Wait WHAT? Was that you trying to call me earlier?" said Coralis.
"Yes. I figured you were probably in communication with someone about it, so we decided to come here instead, hoping that Frank would be here if you weren't"
"Are you SERIOUS?" said Henry, grabbing Erik's hologram as they were using his to call Coralis. "Mine also turned blue earlier but I ignored it. Bro, you also have some missed calls on that thing."
"Frank, I tried to call you while we were on our way here," said Stephanie, sitting on the chair to the left side of Coralis. "At that point, we thought that we might be interrupting fun time between you two."
"I was in the shower, alone, mind you. That would explain why I walked out of the bathroom to a lot of missed calls and text messages from our family. I didn't even look at them yet, you rang the bell as I unlocked my phone."
In the background, the news broadcast was showing a CIA representative answering questions about the witch hunt. Frank sat next to Coralis and Sebastian was still standing by the entry door.
"Holy gods from above," said Gus, who was now the only one visible above the hologram. "This is serious hellhound poop right there. My mother said that they haven't released any names yet and that it doesn't seem to be worldwide, but that the list of countries joining it is increasing."
"When we left the house, Canada didn't say whether they were going to join in the witch hunt or not. Did that change?" said Stephanie, looking at Coralis' hologram.
"Not yet, but we'll see," said Frank as he squeezed Coralis' thigh, focusing on the news broadcast.
Frank's phone vibrated and he picked it up when he saw that it was his mother calling.
"I'm guessing that you heard the news?" he said when he answered the call.
"How are you guys doing? Is Coralis with you? I also tried to call your sister but she didn't answer," said Molly.
Frank looked at his sister.
"Yes, she is. Stephanie is also here with Sebastian, they arrived a few minutes ago. I walked out of the shower to a lot of missed calls, so you probably weren't the only one who tried to call me. We had no idea until Seb told us."
"This is insane. I hope they never find out about Audrey, Coralis and Sebastian. Please let me know if there is anything I can do to help."
As soon as he got off the phone with his mother, Louis called.
"Well, I may not need to look at my missed messages after all," said Frank as he answered it.
"My phone battery died," said Stephanie as she pulled her phone out of her pocket.
"SIS!" said Erik and Henry as their holographic images reappeared on the living room table.
"As soon as we disconnect our call with you, we'll be on our way to your apartment and put Gus on fake news report duty. Do NOT travel to the US," said Henry.
"Why? I'm playing in Dallas next week," said Coralis.
"The US government released a list of 50 names of Most Wanted Witches, that are to be killed on sight. Blue Thunder is ranked 19 on their list," said Erik.