Braden ' Power of 3' Page 6

  ## Have found interesting details that match up to what is written in those ancient pages of text...must try and get inside

  Wish I didn't have to return to Sydney!

  7-3

  Friday

  10pm

  Travelled down tonight...couldn't wait until tomorrow. All week thinking about the contents of that ancient text has made me crazy!

  12pm

  I've just finished rereading the pages from William Braden's journal. Something about what he has written on the last page is bothering me. The meaning is garbled and confusing and I've come to believe that this was deliberate. I'm sure that if I can decipher its meaning I will find the location of the secret chamber where he talks of hiding the Holy Scrolls of the Aseekiens.

  What am I thinking? I'm beginning to act as though everything written there is fact! Those Holy Scrolls are probably a product of William Braden's imagination, just like the mystical world that he claims he created in the gardens of his estate for his young son.

  Although who knows? If he is the Sorcerer he claims to be, then I guess anything's possible. Imagine if it's true ...what playmates his son James must have had...fairies, goblins, pixies, dryads!

  8-3

  Saturday

  6pm

  While I was so close to the ancient ruins this morning I walked further up the mountain to have a wander through. I was shocked to find the walls around it have been rebuilt and there is now a padlocked gate. Apparently it is now a tourist venue and admittance is only given on weekends with a guided tour run by the 'Moon Harvest Festival Committee'.

  I wonder if anyone ever figured out who built it.

  I guess everything changes in twenty years except it seems the town still celebrates 'Moon Harvest'. I never did figure out why! Gosh I'd forgotten what fun the festival was! Those three weeks in March were the best ever! I wonder if those strange people still come every year. My best friend Charlie used to say that they were witches and warlocks... I wonder if he still believes that!

  I wish I could stick around until the thirteenth when the' Moon Harvest Festival' begins. However the thirteenth is my son's birthday so I'll have to return to the city tonight.

  15-3

  Saturday

  9am

  Back again!

  I'm sure someone has been here...things have been moved around!

  For now I'm just going to ignore it...have to get busy, there's a lot I want to find out today!

  6pm Saturday

  Have been trying all day to find out which of the cottages William Braden lived in before he moved to his mansion near the Ancient city. No luck!

  Apart from that...today has been a success! Have found signatures of William Braden in some early deeds of property! I am convinced that his handwriting is identical to the text in those ancient pages. I'm going back tomorrow to continue searching out the old records in the library.

  Had to stop today, the librarian was getting funny with me. Didn't like all the questions I was asking about the Braden family I suspect.

  Just rang Stacey and told her that I would have to stay another day.

  We had the usual argument about my time here.

  16-3

  Sunday

  5pm

  Starling news! William Braden built the house that I grew up in!

  Is this how those pages of his journal came to be there?

  However I find it strange that he would leave this gracious old manor and build another!

  Have revisited the mansion he built on Apogee Mountain and I am becoming more and more intrigued by it. Looking at it with adult eyes made me realize how insidiously his ambitions had invaded the mainstream of Braden's society. It seems to have been the core of all that happened there in the early days of Braden.

  However no one in town really wanted to talk about William Braden apart from saying that he had gone insane a few years before he disappeared.

  Next visit I must try and get inside. Funny as a kid I used to wander its grounds looking for a way in but was never successful. The old mansion had remained a mystery just like the ruins of that ancient city.

  To find that secret chamber William Braden wrote about would be amazing. That's if it exists of course! I have to keep reminding myself that I have no proof that what is written on those old pages is factual.

  Have to get back to the city; Stacey is beginning to grow suspicious about my reason for spending time here. Maybe telling her that I wanted to set up an Antique business here wasn't such a good idea. I hate lying to her.

  14-4

  Saturday

  11am

  It's been a month since I've been here...feels like forever!

  Found it difficult to dissuade Stacey from coming with me. She doesn't like my frequent visits away from home.

  Today I intend to buy a ticket to one of those guided tours of the ancient city

  Strange...things have been moved around again since I left. Found the oil lantern in the kitchen!

  15-4

  Sunday

  2pm

  Have been unable as yet to confirm the identities of William Braden's descendants! Everyone that I ask avoids this question. It feels as though there is some plot against me to stop me finding out. Have decided on the only possible course of action...I have to search out land titles! Surely there must be recent records of Real estate transactions involving descendants of William Braden?

  I found it strange that all of the tour tickets were sold out!

  Feel as though this visit has been a waste of time!

  29-5

  Saturday

  7am

  Travelled down last night so that I could get an early start searching out those real estate records.

  2pm

  Have come up against a brick wall! The only property records I have found, apart from the manor and the old mansion on the hill, that had registered owners with the surname of Braden, is the estate of James Braden built after his father disappeared.

  Weird feeling to think that William Braden must have lived in my family home; I wonder what secrets it holds.

  Must search out the descendants living in the old James Braden estate tomorrow!

  Have been looking through my parents belongings in the attic, found of all things an outfit that looks like a Wizards get- up, black cloak and all! There is also a trunk full of old books about sorcery

  30-5

  Sunday

  3pm

  First time I'd seen the old James Braden Estate at the base of Apogee Mountain since I was kid. There's no way I could get inside. That huge stonewall that had kept us out when we were kids now has an automatic locking system on its gates. Its looks as though modern technology has caught up with Braden...It's an impenetrable fortress!

  I can see why we'd thought it creepy when we were kids. It reminds me of those old mansions in Vampire movies.

  I tried to find a hole or something that I could look through in those huge stonewalls but there was nothing! I was glad to leave; I had the eeriest feeling that I was being watched.

  Rang Stacey tonight and told her how I'd bumped into my old school friend Charlie.

  Intend to get an early start back to Sydney tomorrow

  14-5

  Friday

  10pm

  Caught up with my old friend Charlie Powers and he's invited me over for lunch tomorrow. I couldn't believe it when he told me he'd married Joanne! I told him he was a boring old fart marrying his childhood sweetheart.

  Charlie said that he was inviting the old gang. Be good to see his twin brother Sam, can't believe that Sam married Joanne's twin sister Natalie. Twin brothers marrying twin sisters. Weird!

  Am I the only one that didn't marry my childhood sweetheart? Anyway it will be great to catch up with them!

  Charlie told me that the Mayor of Braden owns the old James Braden Estate and that there are several families living there. Sounds like some sort of religious sect!

  15-5

  Sat
urday

  9pm

  It was great catching up with my old schoolmates. I was a bit taken back at seeing Charlie and Joanne' son Liam, he looked so much like Jamie same red hair and everything! Pity Natalie and Sam hadn't brought their daughter Katie; I'd loved to have met her. Funny how we all only had one child each...

  I hadn't expected that Trina Mc Tavish would be there, I'd forgotten how she had been Joanne's best friend at school. Her daughter Jade was a strange one! Looks just like her mother.

  I must one day bring Jamie down to meet their kids. I'm sure that as they are all the same age they would get on like a house on fire.

  Anyway it was an interesting lunch. I'd never realized before that Charlie and Joanne's parents had been best friends with mine, as had Sam and Natalie's. Weird how things like that don't really register when you're a kid.

  Trina seemed very subdued when she talked about her daughter Jade, unlike Charlie and Joanne; they couldn't stop talking about their son Liam. Sam and Natalie were the same they too were besotted with their daughter Katie.

  Asked them all about the Braden family and Charlie wanted to know why I was so interested in them. Didn't go into too much detail, however I told them that I had found some historical papers of William Braden's and wanted to look up his descendants.

  Was surprised to learn that Trina was a direct descendant of James Braden on her mother's side of the family! However she didn't seem too willing to talk about him, although she did say that on my next visit she would give me a list of the descendants that she knew of.

  Charlie never did tell me what it was that had seemed so important yesterday. Said he'd tell me another time... strange.

  28-5

  Friday

  10pm

  I'm glad to be back here, the last two weeks in the city seemed an eternity! However I had to bide my time before I could return. Stacey is getting really touchy about me coming down here so often. Says I'm taking too much time away from the family. She's right of course; however this mystery is consuming me!

  I've decided to start writing my novel first thing tomorrow +++

  29-5

  Saturday

  9pm

  Have had a really productive day! Have written heaps! My novel is starting to take shape. However the more I go over my notes I can't help but feel concerned. I've been trying to convince myself that William Braden must have been insane when he wrote his journal. There can't be any other explanation!

  NOTE+++ INCLUDE FOLLOWING WHICH I'VE READ IN WILLIAM BRADENS JOURNAL EVEN THOUGH IT IS INCOMPREHENSIBLE I FIND THE CONCEPT FASCINATING

  Xxx The chosen 'Power of Three' are three children born on Earth at the exact same time on the 13th hour of the 13th day o f the 3rd month thirteen years before the holy 'Universal Mathematical Equation of Thirty Nine' equates over Earth. These three are empowered when Earth aligns in the heavens in the 39th degree which is the first of the thirty nine day duration of the holy 'Universal Mathematical Equation of Thirty Nine'. This also is their thirteenth birthday. This holy equation is celebrated as 'Moon Harvest'.

  Xxx The Aseekiens from the planet Aseeka are the oldest known living race in the universe. During the reign of their King Abdul thousand of years ago they were the most powerful race in the Universe.

  Xxx The fourteen 'Ancients' (as they came to be known) after seeking asylum from their dying planet Astray became King Abduls High Priests.

  These tall reptilian like creatures with green scaly leathery skin, beady yellow eyes and forked tongues that spat and hissed as they spoke set them apart from the humanlike peace loving race of 'Aseekiens' and all revered but feared them. Over time the most powerful of the fourteen named Sissnaska became King Abdul's closet advisor and his Head of State

  Xxx The 'Ancients' are immortal and are the greatest scientists and sorcerers in the known universe

  Xxx The 'Ancients' are the keepers of the 'Power of Three'

  Date 30-5

  12pm Sunday

  Drove once again up the mountain to the estate of James Braden and was surprised that those huge wooden gates were wide open. There were people everywhere unloading trucks. I approached one of them asking after the Mayor and was promptly ushered out without a word being spoken. Weird experience! Couldn't go back even if I wanted to! Those huge gates locked automatically behind me.

  I got the impression that you do not visit the estate without an invitation. However I got a good look at the estate before anyone spotted me. Apart from the main house (mansion) there were other buildings built adjacent to the cliffs behind it. I could see people walking back and forth from these buildings carrying boxes. They seemed to disappear into the cliffs yet I couldn't see where. The whole place gave me the creeps! It was like something out of a medieval movie!

  AFTERNOON

  2pm

  Received cool reception with the Mayor! His name by the way is James Braden. (Co-incidence?) Told him of those old pages, which I'm positive, are from his ancestors William and James Braden's journals...he just laughed and showed me the door.

  Confided in Charlie and he said that I should be careful who I ask. Said it was rumored that the Mayor had connections to the 'Secret Society of Crines', and that his ancestor James Braden was the founder of the Sect.

  I asked Charlie if he thought that the Crines were aliens. I meant it as a joke, and had expected him to laugh but instead he looked incredibly serious...said that I would find out in good time!

  Charlie does make the strangest statements

  Sunday

  5pm

  Couldn't help wondering about Charlie's reaction to my comment about the Crines!

  Was it because his friend Trina was a descendant of James Braden who'd founded the Secret Society of Crines? And the mayor James Braden...he must be her cousin! Did that mean that Trina was also part of the Crines Secret Society?

  There are just so many questions!

  Do the Crines have the holy 'Scepter of Twisted Snakes' that William Braden wrote about? Is it the secret of their powers?

  And why does William Braden constantly refer to his mansion as the 'World within Worlds'?

  This is ridiculous... I have to keep reminding myself that all of this has to be fiction! Yet it's sucking me in...I don't now what to believe anymore!

  Sunday 6pm

  Getting ready to leave when I found a threatening note under the door; interesting, I wonder whose toes I've stepped on.

  Shocked and bewildered by what I'd just read I could only reason that someone had played a cruel joke on Eric and had concocted an elaborate hoax. Yet why would anyone do so? And why had those pages been torn out of his diary? Had they held the answers to my fears?

  Lost for any sane explanation I began to wonder if those weekends spent here in this house where his parents had been brutally murdered had disturbed Eric's mind.

  Confused I looked out of the kitchen window hardly noticing the rain beginning to fall. There seemed no end to my misery, finding Eric's diary had not been a welcome gift. Instead it was a legacy of fear and confusion. .

  Suddenly my husband felt like a stranger to me, my trust in him shaken by his deceit. Discovering that he'd hadn't spent those weekends away setting up an Antique business as I'd believed, was devastating. Yet my feelings of betrayal paled into insignificance as I thought of the ramifications of the threatening note he'd received. It made me once more question the manner of his death.

  I'd had no warning, no time to prepare myself for the cruel news that the mortician from a Braden funeral home delivered me that fateful day. The chilling manner in which that miserable little man had placed the urn containing my husband's ashes in my hands would forever haunt me.

  That weird little man with long thinning hair embracing his pimpled face, half hidden by a huge woolen scarf had offered neither comfort nor explanation before handing me a copy of the Coroner's report. Devastated I remembered standing there at my front door staring in shocked disbelief at the 'Infectious Control' Order s
tamped upon it with orders of immediate cremation.

  All the emotions of the Universe passed through my mind that day as I'd watched that odd man walk away. My body had suddenly become an empty vessel, drained too early of its essence, waiting to be replenished, yet left unfilled.

  And so began my fruitless search for answers. Yet, in the end, for both mine and my son's sake, I had to let it go and accept the Coroners Findings.

  To this day I know no more than what the private investigator I'd hired had told me. And now after reading Eric's diary I had to question the validity of that report. I realized that not being there when Eric died had made it easy for anyone to co figurate the circumstances of his death. His immediate cremation had forever hidden the truth and my naivety and vulnerability had aided those involved

  If Eric had been murdered like his parents, then it was imperative that I had the coroners findings re-opened. However to do so I needed proof of my suspicions, and all I had was Eric's diary with its missing pages. How could I expect anyone to believe what he'd written, if I, his wife, questioned its validity?

  Yet I couldn't ignore Eric's fears for our son no matter how irrational they were. I was beginning to feel paranoid. Could there be a secret sect that had murdered Eric and his parents; and as Eric feared, murder Jamie as well?

  The thought terrified me mobilizing me into action and armed with the lamp I returned to the attic no longer caring whether there were ghosts lurking, waiting for me. I had to know if Eric's novel, which had been based on the notes in his diary, held any clues to this mystery.

  Anxiously I made my way to where I'd dropped Eric's novel. Momentarily I stood there gazing at the dark stain under the scattered pages. Shuddering I wondered if this had been where the slaughtered bodies of Eric's parents had lain. Shutting my mind from the horrific image that invaded my senses I began to pick up the pages of Eric's novel. Among them was a newspaper clipping of my husband's death. In disbelief I stared at the unfamiliar writing scrawled across it.

  "WHY WAS HE THE ONLY DEATH FROM THIS MYSTERIOUS VIRUS?"

  Chills ran through me; it was a question that I'd asked myself a thousand times. I looked at the crumpled newspaper clipping I held tightly in my hand. If only I knew who'd written those words I despaired.

  Suddenly the old manor seemed alive, taunting me with ghostly visions of the past. Panic-stricken I hastily picked up the pages of my husband's novel and grabbing the lamp fled.

  Thunder shook the aging stairs as lightning penetrated the hallway below from the window beside me. My feet had barely left them when incredulously a painting I'd never noticed before began to glow on the wall in front of me.

  Stunned I stared at the three red haired young children depicted there, two boys and a girl, their familiarity defying belief. Eerily their enigmatic green eyes penetrated mine and I became lost in a world beyond comprehension.

  "Stacey, Stacey...believe what you see!" A ghostly voice implored.

  Abruptly the sound of the front door slamming returned me to reality and the painting merged into the shadowy darkness of the hallway.

  "Hey mum, where are you?

  "I'm up here in the hallway." I managed to reply as I stood there desperately trying to compose myself.

  "Get you butt down here mum I'm starving!"

  I forced myself away from the mysterious painting and headed toward the stairs. How could I tell Jamie what I'd just experienced he'd tell me I was crazy.

  I stopped dead in my tracks. Something or someone had just touched my shoulder. I turned sharply...there was no one there.