Chapter 15: The Second Locket

A Chapter by Mathew Nicolson

“If you’d kindly leave now, sir-” Dale said, trying to sound tough, but somehow couldn’t quite manage towards Anonni.

“That’s the exact same size and shape as the locket,” Billy said. Anonni looked over the greyish green locket, curious. He picked it up, ignoring Dale’s complaints, and pressed it against his cheek. There were no voices or ticking, or any sign of it trying to protect itself. However, Interimo didn’t necessarily give away any signs of their existence - a trait that could make them very difficult to find. There was usually a faint tick, however… Anonni had been trained to identify Interimo, and while he couldn’t absolutely rely on his own abilities, he was pretty certain the locket he held in his hand was only a locket. Although…

“I think you aught to give me that,” one of the other men said, standing up, and Billy couldn’t help noticing how strong he looked.

“Yes,” the only woman in the room added. “It obviously isn’t what you’re looking for, and even if it was, it belongs to us, so get out.”

Billy flinched at her sudden dangerous tone, but Anonni stayed still with the locket.

“Sorry,” he apologised. “But, this is of utmost importance. This locket, besides the colour, is apparently an exact replica of one I know of.” Billy nodded to confirm that. He was sure of it.

“…And?” the man said, moving towards Anonni threateningly, but again he didn’t move. Billy noticed Dale at the other end of the workshop, doing his best to stay out of it.

“The locket I was looking for is no ordinary locket,” Anonni continued, not moving his eyes from the locket in his hand, despite the man’s threatening gestures. “And… I have reason to believe… This isn’t an ordinary locket either, is it?”

It was the man’s turn to flinch this time. Dale quickly span around and stared at Anonni.

“I’m right then?”

“How could you know…?” the third man spoke for the first time.

“Apart from having a design identical to the locket I know of…” Anonni explained. “To someone from your world, this will seem like an ordinary locket. But, I know different. I can… feel it. The metal it‘s made of must have come from my world.”

“What the…?” Dale gasped.

“Knowing that, and having had previous contact with an Interimo, you too should be able to identify that,” Anonni said to Billy, handing him the locket. Billy took it and held it up to his eyes, before unexpectedly collapsing onto the ground. Anonni quickly darted to the floor to catch him, and quickly recognised what was happening. The other man was on his feet now, staring at the visitors, confused.

“Ba… ba… Ed… Ga… No…” Billy blabbered.

STOP!!!

PLEASE!!!

I’ll give you, how about, forty seconds to dwell on your final thoughts…

“Billy!”

Billy twitched, and returned to the room, dropping the locket, only for Anonni to quickly pick it up. Dale and the other three were stood in a line, now very confused.

“Rebecca and Carrie are in danger!”

Anonni stood in thought, muttering to himself. “What of the Locket?”

“I…” Billy said, thinking. Had he heard that through the Locket?

“That happened as soon as you touched this locket, correct?” Anonni said, slightly agitated.

“Yes…”

“That confirms it then,” Anonni declared, pulling Billy up. “We’re leaving now,” he said to the other four. “But, I’m taking this locket with me, sorry.” Anonni swept out the door without giving them chance to argue, and Billy decided it was in his best interests to quickly do the same.

They reached the outer door before the strong looking man caught up with them.

“Give that back!” he demanded threateningly.

“Let’s take this outside,” Anonni said calmly, speeding out the door, into the streets lit orange by a beautiful sunset they were all too busy to notice. “Paul!”

Paul came running out the alley.

“Wha- oh,” he said, realising there was trouble.

“I’m going to give you three seconds,” the man went on. “If you haven’t given that back to me, I swear to God I won’t hold back.”

“I wouldn’t expect you to…” Anonni said, carefully and slowly moving backwards to the alley.

“One…” the man counted, following him. “Two…”

Anonni darted down the alleyway and grabbed the sword, pulling it behind his neck in a position to strike. Paul stared at Anonni, impressed, for he had tried to lift it earlier, and had barely been able to get it above a centimetre.

“Three!”

Before the man could make any movement, Anonni moved out from the alley and swung the sword up to his neck. The man jumped back, tripped, and hit the ground with a painful sounding thud.

“I won’t apologise again…” Anonni said coldly. Ignoring the moans from the man, he turned to Billy. “That was different to the vision you had earlier, right?”

“Yeah, it, it… felt like I was there this time,” Billy attempted to explain.

“Which proves there is a stronger link between locket and locket than the bond between father and son, or brother and sister,” Anonni thought out loud. “But why…? This second locket may lead us further to destroying it, but what purpose would that serve to him? Yes, each locket has a unique way of being destroyed that only he knew, but this just makes it easy. But then, this is one of the more brutal Interimo I’ve heard of, and I’d guess only someone with knowledge of Interimo and previous contact with said Interimo could use this to their advantage…”

Billy and Paul looked at each other in confusion.

“I’m attempting to think like the enemy,” he explained, sensing their confusion.

“Which is?” Paul asked.

“Drenvelnua! The creator of the Interimo! Dead of course, but we’re still fighting him, in a sense. That takes talent, to have the most powerful people in a world continue to fight you decades after you die. Anyway, more importantly, can you figure out where the Locket is?”

“I… yes!” Billy exclaimed excitedly. “It’s… in the outskirts… uh, this way!” he pointed down the street.

“Take this,” Anonni said, handing Billy the second locket. “You may get another message.”

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