“Valery, Ted…” I say with trembling voice, “cut those demons’ heads off, please. I can’t hold them much longer.”
Gel balls shower down onto the water snakes, keeping the bodies from moving.
Chung appears at my side, a determined expression on his face. “We’ve got this.”
Valery and Ted jump forward and slice the heads off one by one.
I breathe out, my head pounding and my hands trembling from the effort of fighting off the remanence and conjuring ice at the same time.
Valery pulls at my arm. “Dean.” She nods at the scene behind me.
My heartbeat rises to a deafening volume in my head when I turn around.
Grace and David are standing face to face, their noses inches from touching.
Grace clutches the fairy to her chest, her eyes pinned onto David’s face, which is darker than before.
“Give me the fairy,” he says in a low voice that doesn’t suit him.
“We are here to protect it, David,” she says. “Step away from us.”
My chest contracts at the thought that I put my faith in the wrong person. I doubted Gisella so much because of her ancestry, while I kept trusting D’Maeo even though I knew a shadow had nestled inside him. How could I be so stupid?
“David,” I say. “Be strong. Fight the shadow.”
He doesn’t respond. I wish I could use his real name, but you never know who’s listening.
I take a step toward them just when David reaches out for the bundle in Grace’s arms.
Time seems to speed up. Suddenly, a dozen things happen at once. My mouth opens to utter a ‘NO!’. Valery leaps forward with her hands outstretched. Ted hurls his shield at David’s head. Balls of gel zoom past my ear. Grace lifts one hand and utters several words I can’t make out above the screaming in my head. With a jerk, David is lifted off his feet and pushed back, his arms and feet held out in front of him as if he was punched in the stomach hard.
Time slows down again. Two parts of David seem to hover in the air. One is his body, the other a dark copy of it. For a split second, I can see their true forms. A gray-haired ghost in a black suit and… I gasp. I recognize the shape that pulls itself back into David’s body: black smoke with two red eyes.
“It’s the black void that killed him, the thing we fought behind that portal when we were looking for Trevor. The thing that took parts of D’Ma… David’s soul.”
Valery comes to a halt next to me. “I thought we freed him from that?”
“Some part of it must have still clung to him when we escaped.”
David finally lands, him and the dark void reunited. He tries to stand up but starts sinking into the ground. Within seconds, only his hair is visible.
I hold up my hand to Grace. “There’s no need to use your powers anymore. With the water demons out of the way, we can handle him.”
She shakes her head. “I’m not doing anything. I just pushed him away from us with an incantation.”
“Help!” David calls out. “Dean! Mabel!” His voice sounds normal again, and I dive forward to pull him out.
When I reach him, his face is turned up, his forehead already covered in mud. By the time I kneel down, all I can see are his eyes, filled with fear.
“I’ll get you out,” I promise him. “Don’t worry.”
I start digging away the scorched earth around him. Valery, Chung and Ted join me, but David is sinking fast. No amount of digging will get him out of there in time.
Just before he closes them, I can see regret in his eyes, but also peace. He’s given up.
“You keep fighting!” I yell at him. “Do you hear me?”
A second later, he is gone, and the earth closes above him.
I dig some more, but even when I get some of the earth out, there’s no sign of D’Maeo. Finally, I lean against the nearest tree and shake my head. “He’s gone.”
CHAPTER 32
For about a minute, I just sit there, looking at David’s face with D’Maeo’s eyes floating in my vision. Then Jeep and Mom’s faces follow, and I grit my teeth.
I look at the mud and broken twigs beneath me and try to imagine the huge form of Satan miles and miles below us, on a throne maybe, who knows. “If you think I’m giving up, you’re mistaken! You can beat me down as much as you want, but I’ll keep going. I’ll keep fighting until everyone I love is safe.”
When I look up, my friends are eyeing me with sad expressions on their new faces.
Valery walks up to me, and our gazes lock. Warmth flows through my body, slowing down my heartbeat.
“I’m not giving up,” I repeat, “and I’m getting everyone back. Mom, Jeep, D’Maeo and anyone else we’re going to lose.”
Valery nods. “I like that plan.”
Her gaze shifts to Grace, who steps out in front of me and gently places the fairy back against my chest. The creature looks up at me with loving eyes. I smile at her, thankful for the warmth that’s spreading through me again.
“Don’t worry,” I whisper, even though she doesn’t seem worried at all, “we’ll protect you.”
I push myself up and wipe the dust and sand from my pants. “Quaddisin, are you there?”
Patiently I wait for the familiar whoosh that announces his arrival.
It doesn’t come.
“Quinn?” I turn my head in all directions. “Can you take the fairy to a safe place, please?”
Still nothing.
I meet Valery’s eyes. The frown on her forehead tells me she’s as concerned as I am.
Why isn’t Quinn answering? He knew we’d be calling for a ride back home. He knew we were looking for the fairy here. Something must be wrong.
Now what? Where can we take this fairy? We can’t get to Heaven on our own, and we have no way of sending her there.
Suddenly, Chung raises a finger and tilts his head. “I heard something.”
We all stay very still and hold our breaths.
Chung is right, there’s a rustling in the trees up ahead. Instinctively, my hand moves up to shield the fairy from whatever is coming. Please let it be Quinn.
Of course it isn’t. Quinn would have landed in front of us, not try to creep closer unnoticed. Besides, I scried for the woman I saw in Purgatory, so I knew she’d be nearby. But I wasn’t expecting the things approaching now.
There’s a disgusted look on Chung’s face, and I can’t blame him. A similar grimace is probably visible around my mouth as I try to figure out what the things actually are. They’re not zombies, judging by the lively glint in their eyes, and not ghosts either. Still they show some resemblance to both. They look human in some ways, but I’m not sure they are. Something is… I don’t know… off about them. As if they were in an experiment that went wrong.
They have human arms, legs and a torso, all sort of see-through, but not quite. It’s more as if a layer of brownish mist has been placed upon them. Their sole focus on us causes collisions with trees. Hard collisions that should hurt them but don’t. Their bodies seem to be unbreakable, and it appears they don’t feel pain. Also, their heads have contorted into weird bumpy shapes, as if they’re made of wax.
Grace backs up two steps and changes her hands into blades with one swift move. “What the heck are they?”
Mabel holds out her hand in front of her, sensing the air. “These are lost souls, tainted by the journey back to Earth. Their minds are broken, their temporary bodies falling apart. They will do anything to get back to Purgatory.”
My mouth falls open. “These are the souls Trevor sent back from Purgatory?”
Mabel straightens up. “Yes, get ready to fight.”
While I conjure a lightning bolt in my free hand, I call out to Quinn again in my mind. We’re under attack. Please come as soon as you can. We’ve got the fairy.
“Hold on tight,” I tell the fairy in a whisper.
I think about hiding her under my shirt, but it’s too late
for that. The souls already know I’ve got her, judging by the way their eyes focus only on me.
I step forward until I’m next to Mabel.
“Should we use our powers?” I whisper. “The enemy is probably watching these souls. He’ll know it’s us.”
She nods slowly. “You are right. We should fight the old-fashioned way. We have risked too much already.” She turns to the nearest tree and breaks off a thick branch.
I frown at her strength, then extinguish the bolt in my hand quickly.
I turn to the others. “Don’t use your powers unless you have no other choice. They will give us away.”
Chung clenches his jaws before turning and throwing his balls of gels into the forest behind us. At the same time, Grace changes her blades back into hands. She meets my eyes. “I can still do an incantation, if you want. I don’t think Tre… our enemy knows I can do that.”
“Only as a last resort,” I tell her, and I pull out my athame.
Just in time too, because the first soul has reached Mabel. She hits it square between the eyes, leaving a dent the size of a baseball in the woman’s head. Still, she keeps coming, her fists outstretched. Mabel swats her out of the way with ease, and she slams into a tree, where she crumbles to the ground and tries to get up on broken legs. The rest of the crowd doesn’t even look in her direction, and they completely ignore Mabel too, swaying sideways to get to me.
Mabel reaches out and pushes me behind her. “You should stay back.”
She’s right, of course. It’s not a good idea to risk the fairy getting snatched. But my heart aches at the thought of hiding behind the others and doing nothing.
Valery pulls me back and takes my place. Sensing my aversion, she calls to me over her shoulder. “Just use your Morningstar to help us out.”
I groan in frustration. “I can’t, it’ll give me away.”
But sulking won’t do me any good, so instead I try to figure out how to get this fairy to Heaven. A spell to send her up might be too dangerous, she could be intercepted halfway there. So maybe a spell that takes all of us to the gates of Heaven? That should do it, right? Unless everything there is turned upside down too, just like in Purgatory.
I breathe in sharply. That might be why Quinn is no longer responding.
Suddenly, I remember something important. I look up. “Guys!”
No one responds. Of course not, they’re all busy fighting back the souls that try to overrun them, their eyes glinting whenever they catch sight of me. But I know they’re listening, so I tell them my thoughts anyway. “Just fighting them off isn’t enough. To restore the balance, we need to send them all back to Purgatory.”
“Can you build a cage to put them in until we’re ready to send them back?” Valery shoots me a quick look over her shoulder while stabbing one of the souls in the neck. It hisses angrily and pulls at her leg with its last strength.
“Sure,” I say, more confident than I feel, because how am I supposed to build a cage that fits all of these souls, without any help?
The fairy flutters against my chest, and heat comforts me.
When I look down, she blinks at me with gentle, trusting eyes.
“Can you help me?” I ask softly.
She gives me a small smile, which I take as a yes.
After making sure the others can handle the attack, I sit down on a log a couple of steps back and put my brain to work. To my surprise, an idea pops into my head instantly, and the words for the spell I need float in front of my eyes.
There’s a soft giggle from below, and I gasp. The fairy is holding up one tiny hand, and from it, a bright green vine twists all the way up to my head. I can feel the end of it tickling my forehead.
I blow her a small kiss. “Thank you.”
She pulls the vine back in with a simple wrist movement and snuggles closer again.
The others are still doing a great job, slamming down souls and denting heads to make sure no one can reach the fairy. A feeling of pride rises in my chest at the sight of them fighting without using their powers. I know we trained for this, but still, they’re awesome.
I duck when a screaming soul soars straight at me. It slams into a tree, rolls over a couple of times and gets up, swaying. Part of its face is missing, one eye dangling from the socket as it stares down at its flattened arm. Then it raises its head and squeals with delight as it catches sight of me. Without hesitation, it charges.
I fumble for my athame and jump to the side to distract the soul while aiming my weapon at the busted side of its face.
It lets out a holler that sounds like ‘Mine!’ before speeding up, drool dripping from its lips when it spots the fairy clinging to my chest. Because of this, my weapon misses its target. It still hits the soul in the side though, and it tumbles to the ground.
I don’t wait for it to get up but pull back my athame and slam it into its back. It creates a gaping hole and the skin around it pulls back in waves when I retrieve my weapon. I shake my head in disgust. It looks like a three-year-old tried to make a monster out of clay and threw a tantrum before it was finished.
It’s hard to imagine this was once a human being. I have to remember that this isn’t the soul’s fault. It was sent back to where it doesn’t belong anymore.
I squat down next to the deformed body. “I’m sorry. I’ll get you all back to where you belong. I promise.”
A low growl rises from the mess, and I back up quickly. “Be like that then.”
I look around, pick up a sharp stick and return to the body.
“You’ll make a fine binder,” I say, driving the stick through the flat part of the back, pinning it to the ground.
Behind me, the souls are getting angrier and more impatient by the second. Judging by the grunts and slower movements, my friends are getting tired, and I know more and more souls will find their way past them if I don’t hurry up. So I grab my Book of Spells and start writing.
It takes me about three minutes to jot down all the ingredients plus the words for the spell. I don’t think I’ve ever written this fast before. I’m sure it’s because of the heat coming from the fairy. It flows through me, feeding me all the energy I need.
When I’m done, the fairy reaches within her chest and pulls out the herbs I need. I watch in awe as she hands everything to me. The last thing she gives me is a long, glowing vine.
“Thank you,” I say softly, and she gives me that radiant smile again.
When I glance back to where my friends are fighting, I freeze. Not only are more deformed souls approaching, but following them with big strides is a familiar figure I hoped I wouldn’t meet again.
“You can’t be serious,” I whisper to myself, bending down to set everything up for the spell. “How did he get back here?”
My hands move so fast they’re almost a blur. Within seconds, I’m done, and I lay my Book of Spells in front of me to read the words. I can still finish this before he reaches me. And the others will keep him busy. Or so I hope.
“Powers of earth, help me now.
Make these creatures stop and bow.
Lock them up so they can’t fight
for what they think is wrong or right.
Once they’re all inside the cage,
prepare them for the final stage.
Take them back where they belong.
Restore the balance that has gone wrong.”
The glowing vine comes to life on the ground. It slithers around for a second before rising in the air, like a snake ready to attack. One of the souls slips past Chung and launches itself at me. My hand flies to my athame, but there’s no need. The vine shoots up and snatches the soul out of the air midflight. It kicks and flails and screams, but the vine is too strong. With ease, it pins the body down next to the one I took out and shoots forward to grab a second soul. One by one, the vine pulls the souls into the invisible cage, where they wriggle and moan like tortured maggots.
“What
is going on here? Who are you people?” My former friend’s voice sends shivers down my spine. He sounds aggravated, not at all like the person I used to know. Or thought I knew.
“Is there another prophecy we don’t know about?” Paul says when no one answers. He narrows his green eyes. “Because I thought getting rid of Dante and his gang would do the trick.”
“Of course you did,” I mumble, balling my hands into fists.
Deep breaths keep me calm enough to stay where I am. It’s not wise to give myself away.
Paul stops in front of Valery and Mabel and takes them in from head to toe.
“Who are you?” he demands. “And why are you interfering in our business?”
Valery’s muscles tense. I can tell she wants to beat him up as much as I do. But she stays calm and raises her chin. “We are the Keepers of Life, here to restore the balance in the world. Please stay out of our way.”
I almost laugh out loud at Paul’s stunned face. Inside, I applaud Vicky for her quick thinking. The Keepers of Life are the ones tasked with keeping the Book of a Thousand Deaths safe. As far as I know, they have no other tasks, but this sounds plausible. By the looks of it, Paul certainly believes her.
“Well, pretty lady,” he says in a low voice, raising his finger, “in that case, we have the same objective. We don’t need all of you interfering in our business. We don’t need your help, so please step aside.” Anger flickers across his small face, but Valery isn’t impressed. She just smiles sweetly and gestures at the last soul lifted from the ground and taken to the cage.
“We’ll be out of here before you know it. We’ve gotten this far already. We might as well finish the spell.” She gives him a pat on his freckled cheek. “Save you the trouble of starting over.”
Paul slowly wipes his cheek and pushes his thick, dark hair out of his eye. “Get out of my way.”
Valery folds her arms. “In a minute.”
The Fifth Portal: a supernatural urban fantasy action adventure (Cards of Death book 5) Page 20
