The vine has dropped the last of the souls from Purgatory. It starts circling its prisoners, growing longer and longer, until they are surrounded by bars of green. Their wide eyes are no longer angry, but sad, and their skin becomes more transparent, more like a ghost’s. Their bodies take on human forms again and then, with the sound of a large tree hitting the ground and a flash of green, they all disappear.
I look down at the fairy. “It worked!”
She nods, but her eyes flick nervously over to where Paul is standing, his path still blocked by Valery and Mabel, with Chung, Grace and Ted forming a barrier behind them.
“Don’t worry,” I tell her. “We’ll keep you away from him.”
I put away my Book of Spells and cover the fairy with my shirt. When I straighten up, Mabel and Valery step aside, and Paul walks up to me.
He scrutinizes me before asking, “Why did those souls attack you?”
I shrug. “They probably didn’t want to go home.”
“Right.” He taps his foot impatiently. “Are you sure it didn’t have anything to do with a certain nature fairy?” He steps closer, his nose almost touching mine. “You see, I need that fairy.”
I cross my arms loosely over my chest, hiding the tiny creature. “Really? What for?”
“She ended up in the wrong place, like those souls you just sent back,” Paul answers with an intimidating stare.
I shrug again and turn away from him. “Well, good luck with your search then. We have to get back to our daily tasks now, but if you need help, let us know.” Over my shoulder, I give him the best smile I can manage.
He raises one eyebrow. “Will do, mister…?”
“Dean,” I say without hesitation. Then add, after a quick look around, “Dean Wood.”
He smirks. “How fitting.”
I beckon the others. “Time to go, our work here is done.”
“Don’t you want to know my name?” Paul says calmly.
“Not really,” I answer without looking at him.
“Or do you already know it?” he continues.
I feel myself freezing mid-motion before I can stop it. But I have to try to bluff my way out of it, or I might never see Mom again.
“How would I know, and why would I care?” I tell him, showing him my most bored expression. I gesture at the silent trees around us. “We came here to restore the balance, and we did. We don’t really care about anything else.”
He gives me another intense stare. “Not even about your mother?”
I feel the muscles in my jaw tensing. He knows who I am, and he also knows exactly which buttons to push.
Valery moves so close to me her arm touches mine. “Let me kill him.”
I want to shake my head, tell her that’s a bad idea, that it will give us away, but it’s already too late. Paul knows who we are, and he will make sure Trevor hears about this.
It takes just a small nod for Valery to propel herself forward. But Paul is prepared. The smirk never leaves his face while he changes into his stone form.
Since he already knows who I am, I whip out my Morningstar. But I watch helplessly from the sideline, highly aware of the fact that I can’t risk getting the fairy closer to Paul.
He swats Valery’s fragile form away with ease, but before he can charge me, the others block his way. A low chuckle escapes his lips as he takes them all in. “You think you can beat me with sticks and knives? I’ll pulverize all of you.”
“I’ve got a better idea.” Grace lifts her arms so quickly Paul is too late to pull away. Her hands fold around his stone cheeks, and she mumbles something in a dark voice.
Paul tries to pull away, but she’s got him in a strong hold. He kicks at her legs, and her face crunches up in pain. Chung and Ted both bend down and grab Paul’s legs while Mabel and Valery each take an arm.
“Let go of me,” Paul says, but he no longer sounds threatening.
I almost feel sorry for him as cracks appear in his stone face. A shadow falls over him. Bit by bit, he turns darker, and parts of his arms and legs crumble to dust.
Grace stops mumbling and pulls back her hands. Paul sways on what remains of his feet, his eyes wide with fear. His lips are moving, but no sound comes out.
“Keep going,” Valery says. “We can’t let him go.”
I take a step closer, ready to object, to plead for my former friend’s life. But I know Vicky is right. If we let him go, he will run back to Trevor without hesitation and blow our cover. He will come back with reinforcements and keep going until we’re all dead. No matter how much I hate it, it’s either him or us.
Paul’s efforts to break free are getting more frantic.
“Finish it, Grace,” Valery urges Gisella.
Grace closes her dark eyes and takes a deep breath. “Okay.”
She grabs Paul’s face again and continues her incantation.
“Please don’t,” Paul begs. His eyes search for someone who will listen. “Charlie? Dante?” he says. “I know we’ve had our differences, but we don’t want to kill each other, do we?”
Half of his hand is blown away by the wind, and a tear crawls down his cheek over Grace’s hand. He sounds so much like the Paul I thought I knew that I almost want to step forward and pull Grace back. Almost. Because I also remember the many times he tried to kill us.
My heart beats loudly in my chest as I ignore his words and watch him slowly crumble to dust.
First his arms disappear, followed by the top of his head and large chunks of his legs.
The others let go of him, since he’s no longer able to defend himself. A steady flow of tears paints lines across Grace’s face. Chung puts a hand on her shoulder in comfort. She keeps repeating the incantation until what’s left of Paul collapses and crumbles into a million pieces on the ground.
I avert my eyes and wrap my arms firmly around the fairy under my shirt. Still, a soft sob rises in my throat. I know we had no other option, but it still hurts to see a former friend die.
“Rest in peace,” I whisper at the dust the wind spreads into the forest.
CHAPTER 33
We walk in silence for several minutes, without purpose, except to get as far away from that place as we can. Still clinging to my chest, but no longer hidden by my shirt, the fairy is humming a comforting song, which seems to have a calming effect on all of us.
After about five minutes, I slow down until I’m walking next to Grace.
“Thank you,” I say softly. “That must have been hard.”
She bites her lip and shakes her head. “Hard is not the right word for it, Dean. It was horrible. It just felt… wrong. Very wrong.”
I’ve never seen her so small and fragile, and that has nothing to do with her new Asian look. Using her witch powers broke something inside her, and there’s nothing I can do to fix it.
“I’m so sorry. If there was another way, I would never have let you do it.” I rake my hand through my hair. “Just try to remember that what you did was important. You helped us save the fairy and my mother.”
She nods but keeps her eyes on the ground. The fairy sends warmth through me as my heart contracts with pain. It gives me an idea.
“Hey, would you mind carrying the fairy again for a while?”
I come to a halt, and so does Grace. She looks up, surprise in her eyes. “Why?”
I shrug, not knowing how to answer that. Carefully, I lift the fairy and place it against her chest. “Just trust me, okay?”
At first, I think she’s going to hand the creature back to me, but then her face changes. Peace falls over it and some color rises to her cheeks.
I stroke the fairy’s golden hair and thank her silently. Without looking up, she wraps her tiny fingers around my thumb.
“She is amazing,” Grace whispers.
I smile. “She sure is.”
Chung wraps his arm around her shoulder, and we start walking again.
“Where to?�
� Valery asks when I catch up with her.
My gaze moves over everything around us. The trees look normal here and bugs, birds and other animals scurry through the undergrowth. “To a place where we can safely cast a spell to take the fairy to Heaven.”
“Is there such a place?”
With a grin, I pull her close to me. “Probably not. You want to do it here?”
“The sooner the better, right?”
“True.”
I turn back to the others. “We’re going to do the spell here. Keep an eye on the forest and let me know if you see anything strange. Grace, stay close to me.”
Mabel steps forward. “I could freeze everything around us, as a precaution.”
I shake my head. “What if someone is watching?”
She holds out her hands and turns until she has checked every direction. “There is no one here but us.”
Valery senses I’m still not convinced and repeats what Mabel did. “I don’t sense anyone either.”
“They could’ve cloaked themselves.” I shake my head again. “I’m sorry, I can’t risk Mom’s life on this. We already made the mistake of fighting the water demons with our powers.”
Valery nods. “You’re right, we have to be careful.” She pulls a knife from her pocket and gestures for the others to do the same. “Just hurry up,” she tells me.
I take out Dad’s notebook for inspiration. While I flip through it, my mind goes in overdrive, trying to come up with a way to get this fairy to safety. Can a simple spell get us to Heaven? Probably not, because if it could, everyone with magic would try it. Still, I have to try, I’m out of other ideas.
Impatiently, I turn the pages the wind keeps blowing back. Then I understand that it’s not the wind, but the book flipping back. I let go and wait until the pages stop moving. It shows me an empty page.
“Okay… so what now?”
The book remains still.
Carefully, I move my hand over the white paper. Nothing happens.
“Come on, book, show me the spell,” I mumble, shaking the notebook feverishly.
Valery glances over her shoulder with a frown. “What’s wrong?”
I hold up the book. “It flipped to an empty page.”
“Maybe the words are hidden to protect the spell?” she suggests, before turning her gaze back on the trees in front of her.
I bite my lip. So, I need to cast a reveal what’s hidden spell on the book first?
Deciding it’s worth a try, I take out my own Book of Spells and look up what I need. After all, Dad’s notebook has never failed me so far. If it’s trying to tell me something, I should try to find out what it is. And it makes sense to cloak a spell to get to Heaven. I just wish I wasn’t in such a hurry to get this done.
I walk over to Valery and stick my hand into her back pocket. “Sorry,” I mumble. “I just need a couple of things.”
“No problem,” she says with a grin.
After some searching, I find everything I need, including a small mirror. I can’t remember her fetching a new one, but there’s no time to ask her about it. I suppose she used her magic to get it.
I quickly mix the herbs in a bowl and put everything in place. Then I light a white candle and hold it up against the mirror, which I’ve placed against a tree.
“Powers of high, hear my cry.
Send your vision through the sky.
Send it through to make us see
what lies beyond reality.
Powers that be, hear my call.
Make sure that we see it all.
Send your eyes through this reflection,
but keep us safe in your protection.
Through this mirror send your power
to these herbs for just one hour.
In these herbs your sight will stay,
to reveal what’s hidden away.”
A gust of wind blows the candle flame onto the mirror, where it dances inside the reflection. Then, it grows and grows until I can see nothing but fire in the mirror. It returns to the real world, passing the candle and settling inside the bowl in my other hand. The herbs ignite with the sound of fireworks, and I stretch my arm to prevent my shirt from catching fire. The mixture goes up in smoke, and the flame dies.
I put down the bowl and pick up Dad’s notebook. Please work, please work.
My heartbeat quickens when nothing happens. Maybe the book was just confused, and there’s nothing on this page.
Just when I’m about to close it, I see movement. Letters flicker before my eyes, slowly morphing into full words and then sentences. I breathe out in relief as the words at the top of the page get clear.
How to reach Heaven.
My relief is short-lived, however, when I take a look at the ingredients.
“Golden candles?” I scratch my head. “And what is agalloch supposed to be?”
“It’s a type of wood, with a strong smell,” Valery says without looking back.
“Great, where can we find some?”
She shrugs. “No idea.”
My shoulders sag. “You’re kidding.”
“Do not panic yet,” Mabel interrupts. “I have a small box made of agalloch wood. We can use that.”
“Good, where is it?”
“It is at Darkwood Manor, in my closet.”
This keeps getting better and better. It’s only a matter of time before Trevor and more demons from the fifth circle find us, and I doubt we’ll be able to keep the fairy safe once more.
Pacing up and down between the trees, I try to stay calm. There has to be a quick way to get Maël’s wooden box here.
Shaking my head in frustration, I open my Book of Spells again. “Our best shot is probably for Mabel to go home and for me to summon her back.” I almost drop the book in my haste to find the right page. "Now where is that spell?”
There’s a soft crackle in the air in front of me, and I take a step back. I let out a cry of surprise when Mona appears in a cloud of sparks.
“Is this what you need, honey?” She holds out a small wooden box to me.
I just gape at her. “How did you…? Where…?” I stutter.
She takes my hand and presses the box into it. “I was fixing my car and decided to check on you. I sensed that you needed something I could help you with.” She glances at Mabel. “I hope this is the right box.”
Mabel turns her head and nods. “That is the one. Can you take the contents back with you, please?”
Mona places a hand on her heart. “I already put them in a safe place.”
Mabel gives her a small bow. “Thank you.”
When I give her a questioning look, she smiles. “I kept some memories in there. Agalloch is a strong protector, combined with certain herbs.”
Mona pulls me into a quick hug. “Be careful.”
Some of her sparks jump onto me, and a feeling of comfort eases my mind. “Of course. Thank you, Mona.”
With a cheerful wave, she says goodbye and explodes into a thousand lights.
I shake my head at the strangeness of it all. Just like that I’m holding the agalloch box in my hands. If only everything was this easy.
“Hurry up, Dean, something is coming,” Mabel says. It sounds as if she’s telling me what’s for dinner tonight, but her body is on full alert.
I glance at the list of ingredients and walk over to Valery again. To prevent confusion, I first put everything I don’t need anymore back into her endless pocket. Then I pull out some thyme, needed to contact another world, acacia leaves to symbolize the afterlife, some barberry to make sure our enemies won’t be able to follow us, and black snake root for protection. Then I concentrate on golden candles, and my hand wraps around them. Finally, I take out matches, a small bottle of holy water, a clean bowl and an incense stick.
“They are coming closer,” Mabel warns me as I set up all of the ingredients.
“Can you sense what they are?” I ask, crush
ing the herbs in the bowl.
“Demons.”
“What about Trevor?”
“I am not sure.”
As fast as I can, I burn the herbs, add three drops of holy water and draw a circle with the substance.
“Step inside, everyone,” I say. “I don’t want anyone to get left behind.”
I place the three golden candles inside the circle and light them. Then, from the middle of the circle, I light the incense stick, hold up the bowl with the remains of the herbs and start turning slowly, facing the candles one by one, while I say the words of the spell.
“Powers that be, hear my cry.
Open a gateway to Heaven up high.
Grant us safe passage but keep us alive.
Keep us together until we arrive.
Powers of High, hear my plea.
Keep us safe and keep us free.
Let us travel to the heavenly gate,
and please don’t let this change our fate.”
The circle lights up, and the flames of the candles burn bright as I finish my third turn. The fog from the incense gets thicker just as several water snakes crawl out from behind the trees. Grace steps back and hands me the fairy before returning to the line of defense.
“Make sure they don’t enter the circle!” I call out to my friends.
I step to the right and prepare to throw my Morningstar. Just in time I remember it will give my identity away.
I look at Chung. His gaze is fixed on the water demon slithering toward him at dazzling speed. Valery throws her knife. It hits the snake square in the face, and it falls apart into a thousand drops. But the moment they hit the ground, the drops flow back to form a snake’s body again.
As the mist around us pulls at our limbs, I call out to Valery. “Do you have any oil?”
She digs her hand into her pocket and pulls out two bottles. Before I can tell her not to throw it all at once, she hurls the bottles away from her with force. Oil spatters everywhere when the glass breaks. The snakes are pulled apart, hissing in frustration.
Just when I think we’ve beaten them, a man made of stone steps out between two trees. “If you think that will save you, you’re wrong.”
The Fifth Portal: a supernatural urban fantasy action adventure (Cards of Death book 5) Page 21
