She’d always believed that happiness was a matter of goodness. And sadness was a matter of evil. Now, she was beginning to believe otherwise. If good people could have sad things happen to them, then why couldn’t evil people have happy things happen to them? The world was indeed an unjust, unfair, and cruel place. She needed to learn to deal with it.
“So that’s your plan?” Emily asked, just for clarity purposes. “You plan to kill us?”
“Err . . . not all of you and not at the same time.”
Emily folded her arms across her chest. “Okay, no cloak and dagger, remember? Be frank and honest with me. What’s the exact plan?”
He nodded and heaved a sigh. “The plan is simple. We’re going to bring down this barrier. Might take us the whole day—or a week—but we’re here until it goes down because the alternative is worse.”
Emily nodded. “Go on.”
“Then we’re going to kill your dad because he’s useless to us,” the young man went on. “Then imprison you and Michael and the old hag.”
“Right. What happens next?”
“We take you back to the castle,” the young rove continued. “Or what’s left of it. Your fire did a thorough job. It took all the magic my parents had to keep it from getting to the more vital areas. That’s why they’re not here and won’t be for the next three days or so—they need to regain their strength.”
“Keep going.”
“Anyway, we take you to the castle. Mom takes out her revenge on the old hag and kills her. You and Michael will be delivered to my dad, who would then perform the ritual of Nadarog Maragog.”
Selena’s panic startled Emily into a slight jump backward.
This surprised the guy before her. “Did I say something wrong? Was it Nad—”
“Stop!”
The guy threw both hands in the air. “Okay . . . okay. What is it though? You have a thing against the word?”
“No, it’s my Owl,” Emily grumbled. “She hates hearing the term. It makes her scream in my mind.”
“And you can hear The Owl?” He tried to look nonchalant, but he sounded curious.
Emily wondered if she was revealing too much. Yeah, sure, the guy had been honest with her. However, could she actually believe all he’d said? “Yup,” was all she offered.
“Huh,” the guy said, looking up and thinking to himself.
“What’s ‘huh’?”
He looked back down at her and shrugged. “Dad said you were the perfect person to die upon the altar of Saka. I was like, no, the chick is pretty. Can’t we like wait one more generation? He said no. It had to be you. I wondered why. Now I see.”
Emily did her best to look calm while, in reality, she was stupefied by terror. Altar of Saka? She understood why she was the perfect candidate for the sacrifice. She and Selena had a strong bond. It was supposed to be easier for her to go through the Adoption. She pressed her lips into a line. “So, you’re just going to kill me without remorse?”
The guy shook his head. “I’m not killing anybody. Except your dad, because he’s dead weight. My dad is the one who will sacrifice you on the altar.”
“How is all this going to help you?” questioned Emily. “What’s in it for you? I mean, if you guys are so hell-bent on destroying the world, what’s the point? What do you stand to gain?”
“Well, dominion, of course.” The young man scrunched his eyebrows as if this was the most obvious answer ever. “The Na-Ma”—he winked as he abbreviated the term—“is meant to unleash a being so evil and so powerful that he would bring the end of days. But what is the end of days, really?”
He paused for an answer.
“You obviously have a different definition than I do, so why don’t you go ahead and tell me,” Emily prompted, a sarcastic smile across her face.
The guy smiled. He did that too often. “The end of days is literally the end of days. The end of democracy. The end of human rights. The end of Facebook and Instagram. The creature we’re unleashing will bring a new rule. A theocratic rule, where he is God, and we’re his angels, ruling over sections of the world.”
“And you think this creature will agree to share dominion with you?”
“He won’t have a choice,” the Alfred said. “We’re going to bind him to our will.”
“Can you do that?” At that moment, Emily wished she had read more of her aunt’s books when she had the chance.
“Of course. The same spellbook that has the spell for unleashing it also has the spell for binding it to our will. We’re basically going to use the beast to take over the world, and all shall bow to me or face ruin and destruction.”
“You know everyone will rise up against you.”
“We expect that.” The guy sounded so casual. “That’s why we need the beast.”
“And when the whole world is a pot of smoke and destruction and ruin, who would you rule over?” Emily asked.
The question kind of blindsided the guy because he paused. For once, his face looked serious.
“Huh,” he muttered after a while.
“What’s ‘huh’ now?”
“I never thought of that,” the guy admitted.
Emily sighed. This guy was such a brainless tool. “What’s your name?”
“Chandler. Chandler Alfred.”
“Hey, Chandler, nice to meet you.” Emily flashed him a faux smile. “Will you, by any chance, now desist from trying to end the world?”
Chandler shook his head, smiling once again. “Nope.”
12
It was worth a try. Of course, Emily didn’t expect to get Chandler Alfred to change his mind about ending the world just because she asked him to. She had, after all, seen herself lying on the altar of sacrifice—Saka, apparently. It was fated to be. So to win this, Emily needed to change fate.
It was never an easy task to do that. As it stood, she was on the wrong side of fate. Of course, Chandler wasn’t going to change his mind just because she batted her eyelashes at him.
Emily blew a tuft of hair from her face. “I’m not going to let you destroy the world,” she said. “I’ll fight you until every last drop of blood within me is spilled.”
“Sure, of course, we expect no less,” Chandler said without missing a beat. Smiling bigger now, a sense of admiration in his eyes. “No wonder you’re the one who must bring the end of the world. You know, the magician is not really the essential piece of the puzzle, right?”
Emily blinked at him.
“It’s The Owl. The magician is like a conductor in the ritual. He conducts the energy generated by The Owl. But it’s The Owl that generates the energy required to unleash Nadar . . . well, you know what.” He bobbed his head back and forth. “So, it’s no wonder you’re the key. You’ve got spirit. That fierce, fighting spirit. When your blood is spilled on the altar of Saka, the great beast will relish drinking it!”
His voice trembled with a savage evilness that Emily would have thought him incapable of. Because, for all his smiles and niceness, he was, at his core, evil—tremendously evil.
Emily took a step back, horrorstruck. For the first time since they started this venture, she realized what she was up against. She was able to appreciate the gravity of the opposition she faced, and it made her shudder anew.
Chandler was still smiling, but his eyes glowed a fierce orange, and they had taken up a malevolent look. He seemed to be building up to unleash powerful magic on Emily. Though she knew there was a barrier between her and him, she still took a few steps back in awry anticipation.
“Chandler, are you telling the pretty girl all our plans?” yelled a cute little voice from behind.
Chandler deflated at the girl’s voice. The glow in his eyes vanished. His smirk was wiped away. Suddenly serious. Behind him, the Alfred girl had left her side of the car and was walking toward them. Slightly behind her was Marion. He wasn’t even looking in Emily’s direction—he seemed to be doing all he could to avoid her eyes.
Emily settled her
attention on the girl. Chandler stood to the side and allowed her to approach Emily.
She was a little girl of no more than twelve. She wore a flowery dress, and her raven hair was tied in two perfect braids. She was pleasant enough, and had the same color of eyes as her siblings, although hers were a paler variation with a startling deep red on the edges of her irises.
When she smiled at Emily, Emily almost swooned. Her smile was so beautiful to behold. Emily felt as though heaven had smiled at her, and she had to suppress the strong urge to run out of the barrier and sweep the girl into her arms and cuddle her.
“My name is Alice Alfred,” she said cheerily. “What’s yours?”
“Emily Davies.”
“Sweet. Emily. I love the name,” Alice chirped, flashing a brief but surly gaze at Chandler, who (Emily was not sure if she saw it correctly) cowered at her gaze. “I have to apologize for my brother, Chandler. Sometimes he gets too carried away.”
Emily cleared her throat, unsure of what Alice meant or how to respond. “Thanks? I guess.”
Alice smiled again, nodding curtly. “I sent him here to offer you our terms, but it seems he has spilled all our plans to you.” The girl’s speech was formal and awkward for someone so young. And was that a hint of an accent?
Chandler began to complain, “It’s not like they can do anything—”
“Shut it!” Alice cut in, sparks erupting in her eyes.
Chandler flinched into silence.
When she turned her attention back to Emily, Alice’s face had cleared of the hatred and rage. Emily tried not to flinch at those intense eyes and failed. What was it about Alice that made her older brother so afraid? Apparently, she was more powerful. But could Emily really tell? She hadn’t seen Chandler use his magic before. For Marion, it had been only that time in the underground hallway—with his blue flame.
Still, something about the way Chandler—and even Marion, who stood silently in the back, his eyes to the ground—behaved that made it obvious who the leader was.
“Now, where were we?” Alice turned her attention back to Emily.
For fear of being reproached, Emily said, “Apologizing for Chandler.”
“Oh, yes, yes, yes,” Alice muttered. “I’m really sorry you had to hear all the stuff we plan to do with your dad and aunt and the sleazy bum that calls himself a warlock.”
She smiled sweetly. “Chandler should have made the proposition in such a way that you’d think you had a fighting chance and somehow have hope that you can defeat us, so we can clip your wings and drag you to the altar. Or, he should have offered fake terms, and we’d just renege on the deal and take you all to the castle anyhow.”
Alice let loose a long, wistful sigh. “Oh well, I suppose you’ll want us to do it the hard way.” She looked around her. “But that’ll keep us here for a few hours.”
Emily stared aghast at the pretty little girl. She was trying to understand just how terrible Alice’s upbringing must have been to turn her into this monster. “You would support killing us all? Unleashing a beast so terrible it could wipe out the majority of all living things on this planet?”
Alice shrugged, maintaining her cute little smile. “That’s how it has to be.”
Emily was annoyed by the fact that Alice seemed to be unaffected by such awful accusations. Was it that she was blocking her mind from imagining the outcome of her father’s plans? Or perhaps she just didn’t have the imaginative capacity to envision the realities that would abound should the Alfreds’ plans fall through.
Emily attempted to open up the girl’s mind. “We’re talking billions of people gone in a moment. We’re talking families, children, and babies even! Disaster unlike we’ve ever seen. Hurricane Katrina, the Indian tsunami—Hiroshima doesn’t even begin to measure up to the level of desolation we’re facing here!”
Emily waved her arms around her as she spoke, looking very owl-like herself. “Governments will collapse. Peace will become a pipedream. There will be wars. Bloodshed. Massive valleys filled up to the brim with the bodies of the lost. Now, I ask you one more time, Alice Alfred, is that what you really want?”
The smile melted off Alice’s face. Her palms fisted. “I don’t want it.”
Emily began to allow a sigh of relief when Alice spoke again.
“I yearn for it,” Alice said with a sharp shrill. Her eyes began to glow a fierce red. “I long for it. I dream of it all the time.” She let loose a horrendous laugh, one born of evil as its father and malevolence as its mother.
“You don’t have to be like this!” Emily screamed. What the hell was wrong with this deranged family!?
“You think you know me?” Alice retorted in a loud voice. Marion and Chandler began taking steps backward. They moved surreptitiously to avoid attracting Alice’s attention, which was riveted on Emily.
Emily knew something was about to go down. She didn’t know what it was. She did, however, hope the barrier would withstand whatever the small girl was about to hurl her way.
“You think you understand how I feel?” Her voice quiet, Alice stepped forward. Right into the barrier. Immediately, there was a severe spark as the entire external defense became visible. Darkness fled as the shimmering pale blue dome revealed itself.
Great surges of electric power coursed through Alice’s body. She jerked violently, but her eyes were fixed on Emily.
Emily stared in horror as Alice screamed and pushed through the barrier. The barrier reacted equally, bending and churning out sparks. The smell of burning flesh filled the air.
Emily screamed for Alice to stop hurting herself, but Alice kept pushing. Every few seconds she pressed through another inch.
“You can’t get through!” Emily boomed.
“Watch me!” Alice screamed, her voice scaly and inhuman.
Emily looked up at the brothers, who were looking at their little sister, stunned. When Emily looked back, Alice had managed to get the tip of the middle finger of her right hand through the barrier—or rather what was left of it. By now, Emily gagged at the putrid smell of melted flesh.
13
“Watch out!”
Emily heard the scream before she saw the crackle of electricity on the tip of Alice’s finger that had made it through. She had just enough time to dive out of the direct path of the lightning bolt that tore across the space between them. But she didn’t make it completely out of the way fast enough. A part of the lightning bolt struck the side of her abdomen. The impact felt like a baseball had plowed into her side at the speed of a rocket. She was thrown several yards back, the wind knocked out of her.
She smashed into the banister, broke through it, shattering it en route, and was stopped by the outer wall of the cottage.
But that was not the painful part. The painful part was the surge of electricity blasting through her veins. It was as though she’d put her hands in an electric outlet, only a thousand times worse.
She slipped in and out of consciousness, just as she sensed the door opening and someone rushing out to her aid. She wasn’t totally unconscious, just enough that she couldn’t see anything but blackness and stars in her vision. Yet, she was conscious enough to feel her whole skeletal structure vibrate feverishly. Her teeth rattled. The painful surge of power penetrated from her bone marrow to her cells as she thrashed.
Then she heard Alice’s shrill scream as the little girl battled with the force field. She also faintly heard Dad’s voice beside her. He tried to touch her but got electrocuted.
Emily tried to talk. She tried to fight back. However, she was rendered impotent. She hovered on the brink of death, her energy totally sapped by the surge of power.
As she remained lifeless on the porch, she could hear her father’s faint gasps. She had vaguely felt some of the power coursing through her fly into him the moment he’d touched her. She was also vaguely aware of a slew of heated arguments going on nearby.
She recognized Marion’s voice. It was tough and angry, and it seemed to be dire
cted at Alice, who was defiant and threatening. Chandler’s voice was subdued and submissive to Alice.
It was difficult to hear what they said, since life was ebbing out of her. Yet, from the scatter of words she tried to piece together, Emily understood they were arguing over Marion’s sudden decision to warn Emily.
Was that what happened???
Marion had warned Emily—he was the one who yelled, “Watch out!”—and that was why she’d been able to dive out of the direct blast in time. If she’d been hit in the chest with the blast, she would have been killed instantly. Marion had saved her. But why?
“Emily!” screamed a voice. Strangely, the voice had a strange power in it that yanked her out of her stupor. She immediately jerked up to a sitting position and incidentally smacked her head into Michael’s face, who had bent down to help her.
“Ouch!” the guy yelped, staggering back and grabbing his nose. He tripped over her feet and fell on his butt. “What the heck is your problem?”
Emily would have been immediately put off if she wasn’t gushing with relief. She panted terribly, trying to get as much air into her body as she could.
She then remembered her father. She leaped to her feet and jumped through the hole she’d made in the banister, falling beside her father. He was awake all right, but he was paralyzed by the electric shock.
He smiled at her, tears in his eyes. He was happy to see she was alive, she could tell. Emily teared up, stroking his hair. “It’s going to be okay, Daddy.”
“What’s happening here, Emily?” Michael asked.
Emily looked up at Michael. He was standing beside her, looking out at the Alfreds. For a moment, she was stricken with the thought of Michael walking out to the evil roves. However, she looked and saw the barrier was still visible.
Whatever Alice had done to it had destabilized the cloaking spell thrown over it. Now, it revealed a shimmering blue dome that encased the cottage. Alice, too, was another curious sight. Her body was simmering and puffing smoke. Portions of her skin had been burned off. Her hand was a charred mess of black.
Controlled by a Fire Demon: The Owl Shifter Chronicles Book Two Page 6
