Ed was persistent in his belief of what he had witnessed. It couldn't be just him. There had to be someone else who had experienced the unfamiliar and unclean presence he had seen but no matter how many times he checked with the others changing their clothes in the room they all were in, no one seemed to have noticed a thing. And even if they had done so, no one seemed to budge or treat it as something unfamiliar.
"Did you notice th strange power that passed through the room?" He asked the boy nearest to him but couldn't get any answers from him. Instead, the boy closed the door to his closet on him with a loud banging sound.
"Are you new here?" He questioned but Ed didn't provide an answer.
Was about wrong in being new there? If there was, what was? If he were to admit to being there for his first time, were they going to raise an alarm and bundle him out for him to be punished?
Would his motive of coming be revealed and would the men who were all over Lorraine like he had seen before make him suffer for eyeing her? They looked like the sort of guys, and they had money as well.
"Look I don't know whom you are or your reasons but a word of advice, don't go about asking useless questions like this to anyone else. You might have yourself handpicked by the Baron to be sacrificed later. Just get dressed like everyone else and proceed to the coven for the Sabbath"
Ed could deny that he might have heard wrong at that moment. He had to have. A coven? A Sabbath? Whey were the two words together? Covens were for demon worshippers while the Sabbath was a day used to worship the Lord..
"What do you…"
But he paused when he realized that the boy had gone.
He quickly opened the closet he was in front of and pulled out the red track wear inside and wore as fast as he could, stepping out to leave.
Ed Warren trailed closely behind the group of boys as his curiosity took the best of him.
As he stepped out of the dimly lit corridors, he was struck with an utter confusion and bewilderment when he realized that the cloud had grown dark.
This was surprising for him because few minutes ago it was still daytime as it was afternoon when he had seen the men taking Lorraine Blai away.. But he didn't ask any of the boys why it was so as he feared being termed the odd one out. Everyone else seemed quiet. If he were to disturb the peace of the moment by questioning, then surely some of them might get pissed off by his questions and perhaps the Baron would choose him as the sacrifice. Whatever that was.
They arrived at a grand hall that had seats all over. Ed Warren could see the pavements built to serve as chairs from the seven lighted blanc candles that were in the middle of the round hall.
Was it a ball or was it something grander than that? As it was even bigger than the football stadium where international countries played for their nations. Yes, it was a lot bigger and If those stadiums he watched on TV were said to house thousands of people, then what he saw here could house tens of thousands of people. Housing them. He meant. As the bal already seemed occupied and they had to walk to the back and last segment of pavements.
"Fifty five…fifty six. Fifty seven " Ed paused when he noticed a boy staring in his direction.
"What?" He asked not knowing why he was staring at him in such manner. The darkness in the open space made it more chilling. Likewise the silence that enveloped the place like a graveyard.
But the boy didn't say anything and Ed kept quiet. Perhaps he wasn't allowed to talk here. At the Sabbath. Perhaps they didn't permit noise or even talks of people counting the black candles that were stationed around the backs of the seven large lighted candles in the middle of the podium of the large space.
Ed's heart sank as he became cautious of where he was at. This was becoming too sinister and there was no explanation his brain could currently make up to excuse what was happening before him nor where he was at.
Was this curiosity trying to kill him like it was always said to do to nosy people?
As he watched in horror, his attention was drawn back when suddenly a loud and resounding hitting was heard on a drum. Some of the men who sat in the front twos of the round stadium were drumming in the dead of the night. Or was it afternoon? Were they not concerned about the loud bangings affecting the neighbors who lived in houses close to the plantation land?
Jos attention got carried away again when he watched in silence, like most other people who sat beside him and in front of him, as five women began climbing up the podium in slow movements.
It took the illumination of them from the lighted candles for Ed to see that all five of them were heavily pregnant.
Why were they here then? Ed thought. For the Sabbath? Were they not bothered about the noises from the drums disturbing the peace and tranquility of their unborn children?
However Ed's thought got dismissed when he noticed the people beginning to clap.. The round hall had been built in such a way that the pavement after the other was higher and this gave each person sitting at abu other person's back the ample opportunity of seeing whatever was happening in the middle of the podium.
"Why are they clapping?" He questioned no one in particular being unable to contain the question that racked his brain. But just like always,no one gave an answer to him. Instead the clap went on, resounding till the five heavily pregnant women had climbed the middle of the podium. That was when it died down and the crowd went into a moment of total silence again, restoring the graveyard feel the atmosphere had had before except for the intermittent chirping of birds and crickets.
Ed's jaw dropped when he saw the women laying on their backs in the middle of the podium. Someone from the front has given something to them which they had swallowed and in the laid on their backs in the middle of the podium.
What were they doing and for what reasons? Weren't they married women awaiting their due date to birth their new offsprings? Then why were they here out in the night with all these people, coming out to the middle of a crowd to lie before them. Wasn't that embarrassing not just for them but their husbands?
Ed's thoughts were in a babble. He was a questioning lot and didn't waste time to question anything he could think of. But what was currently unfolding before him wasn't what he expected and there was no one for him to ask. Even if there was, he wouldn't be able to because it was a disgusting topic to ask. It was a disrespectful topic to.
Ed's skin began to crawl when the people began chanting. Lifting their voices as high as they could in a taunting melody Ed found awkward.
It was at that moment Ed realized he had messed up,and that he shouldn't have followed Lorraine Blai to find out about her. He was suffocating. Something was suffocating him and there was no one to help even in the midst of all those people.