It takes me half a second to recognize the earth elemental, and my heartbeat quickens. Just in time, I resist the urge to ask him where Mom is. He doesn’t know who we are and losing Jeep and D’Maeo means we’re two people short. Hopefully he won’t suspect a thing, so it would be foolish to blow our cover.
To my relief, Charlie is thinking the same thing.
“Who are you, and what do you want?” he asks.
Trevor laughs loudly. “Who I am doesn’t matter, and you know what I want. You’ve got something that belongs to me.”
He holds out his hand, pointing a finger at me. “Give up the fairy, or you all die.”
My friends raise their weapons in unison.
Valery is fuming. “Never.”
My head starts to hurt from the loud pounding of my heart. I try to relax. We only need to keep Trevor out of the circle for about a minute. Then the spell should take us to Heaven, where the fairy will finally be safe.
But as Trevor charges, it becomes clear that non-magical weapons won’t do us much good as long as he’s in his stone form. The blades don’t penetrate his solid skin, and he’s stronger than we are.
With a simple push, he knocks over Chung and Grace. When he reaches for Valery, I throw a candle at him. It doesn’t hurt him, of course, but it knocks him off balance a bit, giving Valery a chance to drive the tip of her blade into his eye.
With a holler that turns my skin into ice, he slams his hand against his eye and stumbles back. Ted uses the momentum to push him over.
“Stay inside the circle!” I scream when he steps over the line to finish the job.
The fog is quickly changing into a bright light. It wraps around my arms and legs, cutting off the oxygen flowing into my lungs.
The last thing I think before I close my eyes against the brightness is, please don’t make me lose another friend.
CHAPTER 34
I’m lying on something soft, all drowsy and peaceful. It feels as if I’ve slept for a week, but still I don’t want to get up. My bed has never felt so comfortable, and my troubles seem to have left me. There’s nothing to worry about, so why wouldn’t I stay here a while longer?
There’s movement on my chest, and I open one eye to take a peek. A tiny face surrounded by golden hair looks up at me with utter adoration.
“Oh, hello,” I whisper, trying to remember why there’s a fairy dressed in green leaves clinging to me.
I open the other eye and slowly look around. My friends are lying beside me, in deep, peaceful sleep.
It’s not until I sit up that I wonder where we are. We’re not at Darkwood Manor or at Mom’s house. We’re also not lying on beds or matrasses.
I reach down and touch the fluff on the floor. It feels like a cross between whipped cream and cotton.
Slowly, I stretch my arms above my head and sit up. Another look at my sleeping friends tells me something is wrong.
“Where are Jeep and D’Maeo?” I whisper to myself.
It’s as if a sharp knife pierces my brain, and I squeeze my eyes shut. Memories flood back to me. I have to lean back on my arms to prevent myself from tipping over. I see Mom’s hypnotized face, Jeep getting stuck inside the portal in the mine and D’Maeo/David sinking into the earth. Then Taylar’s new face hovers in front of me, and my vision zooms in on his stubby form stepping out of the circle.
My eyes snap open, and I look around again. Tears of relief cover my cheeks when Taylar is still there. He mumbles something in his sleep and rolls onto his left side. Another check tells me Trevor was left behind.
I push myself to my feet. “Guys? We made it.” At least, I think so. Other than a dream, what could this place be?
I pinch my arm and flinch. Nope, not a dream.
“Guys?” I say again, louder this time. “Wake up.”
Maël shoots upright, her hand reaching for her staff. The others just moan and blink. Charlie covers his head with his arm.
“Everything okay?” I ask Maël as she stands up and takes in our surroundings.
She blinks several times, as if she can’t believe where we are. I can’t blame her. It’s pretty amazing. I lost count of the number of worlds I’ve seen in the last couple of days, and this one must be the weirdest to visit. Maybe even weirder than the Underworld. Somehow, this seems more real. It’s a world I have always been able to imagine. And it looks just like I thought it would.
Vicky walks over to me and rests her head on my shoulder. “You did it. You got us into Heaven.” Her hand searches for mine and squeezes it. “It’s so peaceful here.”
My heart misses a beat. “You don’t want to stay here, do you? I mean, I wish you all the happiness in the world, but…”
“Shhh.” She places a finger on my lips and smiles. “I’d never choose to stay here if it wasn’t with you.”
Before I can utter another ‘but’, she kisses me. My heart settles down, and I pull her close. “I’m so glad you’re safe. I can’t bear losing anyone else.”
She strokes my neck. “We’ll get them all back. But the fairy’s safety is our first priority.”
“Right.” I pull back, remembering the tiny creature still clinging to my chest. Heat rises to my cheeks when I realize she was smack in the middle of our embrace. But when I look down, she’s fast asleep.
I gesture at the clouds below us. “So which way do we go? All these clouds look the same to me.”
Vicky’s eyebrows pull together in confusion. “Clouds? What clouds?”
“The ones we’re standing on?”
She shakes her head. “I’m not sure what you mean.”
“You don’t see clouds?” I look back at the others, all on their feet now, looking rested and relaxed.
“I don’t see clouds either,” Charlie says, straightening his long locks with one hand. “Except in the sky, where they belong.”
“What are you seeing then?”
He breathes in deeply, with a content expression on his face. “An endless beach, with swaying palm trees.” He grins. “And a bar.”
Vicky lets out a sigh. “Mountains covered in soft grass.” She spreads her arms and lifts her chin. “I feel like Julie Andrews in The Sound of Music.”
Maël wipes a tear from her eye as she looks around. I decide not to ask her what she sees and change the subject instead. “So, what do you think happened to our disguises? We all look normal again.”
The ghost queen straightens her back. “Probably something similar. To us, we look like this. We project the way we see ourselves and each other onto our bodies.”
I make a full turn. “So, we’re really in Heaven, huh?”
She nods. “I think so.”
Charlie yawns and scratches his head. “What now? We just leave the fairy here and try to find the exit?”
“No…” I think back to the spell I cast. “I asked for the spell to transport us to the gates of Heaven, not into Heaven.”
The second I say the word ‘gates’, something shimmers in the distance.
I squint against the bright light. “Did you see that?”
Charlie takes Gisella’s hand. “Yup, that’s where we’re going.”
Still looking around, each enjoying our own view, we start walking.
Three steps further, we come to a sudden halt.
“Wow,” I say, lifting my head to take in the shiny, white iron gate rising high above us.
“Welcome,” a low, friendly voice says from our right.
We all turn toward it at the same time and take in the old man dressed in white robes towering over us. Suddenly, the urge to bow falls over me, and I get down on one knee. The others follow my example.
The words I say next roll out of my mouth without my permission. “Saint Peter, we’ve come to deliver a soul that belongs in Heaven. She was hunted down, and we strive to leave her only when she is truly safe.”
When I look up, Saint Peter holds out his hand. “Come here, s
on. Show me this soul you speak of.”
I step closer and try not to gape at the saint. He is almost as tall as a giant, but although he looms over me, I don’t feel threatened. The smile behind his long, white beard is inviting, his eyes friendly.
When I come to a halt and show him the sleeping fairy, he nods. “Oh yes, this one disappeared from my sight. I have been searching for her, but it has been difficult to focus lately. All worlds have been disturbed, and panic has risen in Heaven.”
I swallow the lump rising in my throat and hope he doesn’t see the guilt on my face.
I lower my head. “We have done everything in our power to restore the balance of the universe. We hope you can keep this soul safe.”
Saint Peter brings down both of his hands and cups them. “I can, and I will. Just place her here, and I will open the gates for her.”
Gently, I place my hands on the fairy’s back. “Wake up, little one.”
The creature opens her eyes and smiles.
“We’re here. Are you ready?”
I expect her to nod and wait for me to hand her over to Saint Peter, but instead, she pushes herself up until she reaches my face and places her tiny hands on my cheeks.
Thank you, Dante Banner. I will never forget this, she says in my head.
“You’re welcome. I’m sorry we were too late to keep you alive.”
Do not worry yourself with such thoughts. Everything happens for a reason.
“I’m grateful to have met you. Go in peace.”
With a smile, she closes her eyes and kisses me on the lips. A feeling of utter calmness falls down on me, and the corners of my mouth go up. Then the comfortable warmth leaves my body as she spreads her wings and flies over to Saint Peter.
He turns to the gate, which opens on its own. He holds the fairy up into the sunbeam that shines down onto the gate, and bit by bit, she gets even brighter than she already was. Her skin is a radiant white-green, and her hair curls up. With a pirouette, she rises from Peter’s hands and takes off at lightning speed, leaving a trail of green leaves in her wake.
Saint Peter turns back, and the gates close behind him.
“Thank you,” he says. “You did well.”
Before I can respond, he starts to fade.
“Wait!” I say. “Can I ask you one more thing?”
Peter becomes solid again. “Yes?”
I clear my throat. “Eh… how do we get back to Earth?”
A wide smile chases away Peter’s thoughtful expression. “Oh yes, of course,” he chuckles.
He lifts his arm and points at something behind us.
When I look back, bit by bit, a road made of golden tiles becomes visible.
“Just follow that road,” Peter says. “It will take you home. I wish you all the best.”
I turn back to thank him, but he’s already gone.
Charlie wipes a couple of drops of sweat from his forehead. “Well, that was interesting. Does anyone else think it’s a bit too hot here?”
I shrug. “You’re the one imagining the tropical beach. Just turn down the heat a bit.” I turn to the others. “Are you ready to go home and get our friends back?”
“Hell yeah!” Taylar calls out. Then he flinches. “I mean, definitely!” He glances back to where Peter was standing only seconds ago, but nothing happens. The gate has also disappeared. It’s time to go.
We follow the golden path in silence, each of us enjoying our own version of a perfect landscape while we can. I’m just starting to wonder how long this road is, when a dark shape shoots up from between two tiles.
It takes us all two seconds to pull out our weapons. A lightning bolt burns in my left hand.
The black mist in front of us keeps stretching.
“It’s the black void that killed D’Maeo,” I say, just as Vicky whispers, “I’ve seen this before.”
She wraps her hand firmer around her sword. “You’re right. But it’s different somehow.”
We watch in fearful anticipation as the black void takes on the shape of a man. A very familiar man.
“Is that…?” Charlie doesn’t finish his sentence. I can almost hear his mouth falling open as a face appears in the mist. Half of it is darker than the night, with red lines indicating the eye and half of the nose and mouth. The other half is without a doubt D’Maeo’s. Black lines run along the cheek, and his eye is as red as the other.
“We meet again,” the darkness says in a rumbling voice that shakes the ground. “But this will be the last time.”
* * *
Dante Banner returns in The Sixth Ghost – Choosing between the mission and the lives of your friends is never easy. Not even when your mission is to save the whole world. Will Dante have to give up one of his friends?
Turn the page for a sneak peek! Or pre-order the book online NOW!
Preview
Cards of Death book 6
The Sixth Ghost
CHAPTER 1
Is this bravery? I ask myself, staring at the black smoke that has half morphed into D’Maeo. Or is it just common sense that all I can think of is ‘I can’t let this thing get into Heaven’?
“What do we do?” Vicky whispers. “We can’t attack D’Maeo.”
Of course we can, but I don’t want to.
I remember the words of the ferryman of the Underworld, Charon. He said all my friends are a part of my battle against the Devil. We can’t afford to lose anyone. But we fought this black void before and it almost beat us. That was still with the help of D’Maeo and Jeep. If running away from it was our best option then, where does that leave us now?
“Dante?” Vicky sounds a bit desperate as she pulls at my sleeve.
When I blink to clear my head and my view, I see the smoke growing rapidly. D’Maeo’s face is contorted as it stretches higher and higher. The smoke gets thicker and looms over us.
“Our best option is to capture it,” I say. “Lock it somewhere until we figure out how to separate it from D’Maeo, and kill it.”
“With a spell?” Charlie asks, without looking up from the gel wall he’s building.
I conjure a ball of lightning in each hand when the smoke hisses. “Yes, but not just any spell. We need to enhance it.” I glance sideways at Gisella. “With dark magic.”
“What?” She ducks as the void swoops down, the mouth in the monstrous face opening wide.
The rest of us dives sideways. Balls of grease and lightning hit the dark form, but all the smoke does is part.
“I’m sorry,” I tell Gisella, “but I can’t think of another way to beat this thing. We tried it before, remember? We barely escaped. It’s too powerful.”
“What do you think it wants?” Vicky asks as the mist spirals up, forming something that resembles a tornado.
I aim some more lightning at it, but get no more than a slight shiver as a response. “I’m not sure. We’d have to find out what it is first.”
Taylar points at my waist. “Maybe John’s notebook can give us some answers.”
With a loud hiss the smoke dives down again, half of D’Maeo’s nose and mouth still visible, but in the wrong places. It hits my shoulder and I grab at it as heat stings my skin. It leaves a hole in my shirt.
Vicky shoots me a concerned look, which I dismiss with a wave of my hand. “I’ll be okay.” I tilt my head to observe the shape in the sky above us. “It’s as if the black void is holding back. It was a lot stronger before, wasn’t it?”
Maël pauses her time bending mumbling. “That could be D’Maeo’s doing. He is fighting it from the inside.”
“Can you freeze it?” I ask her.
Her hand wraps tighter around her staff. “No, I can only slow it down. It is still too strong.”
“Okay, slow it down as much as you can.” I whip out Dad’s notebook and open it at a random page.
Show me how to trap this entity, I think as hard as I can. To my relief the pages start flipping
instantly. Three-quarters of the book have already filled up. I can’t wait to find out what will appear on the remaining blank pages. Secretly I’m hoping for a spell to lock the Devil in Hell, but I don’t think we’ll get that lucky.
The pages come to a rest. Before reading the text on the page I look up to make sure the smoke isn’t about to attack again. It’s moving left and right, as if it’s waiting for something. No wait, it’s something else. It’s struggling. Maël is right, it’s fighting to stay in control. While it wriggles and stretches, more of the mouth become visible. It opens wide and lets out a scream.
I shiver. “That was him. D’Maeo.”
I bend over the notebook, gritting my teeth. Come on, give me something useful.
My eyes scan the lines, then the letters one by one. I blink. “I know what it is.”
Taylar moves a bit closer. “What what is?”
“That black void.” I look up at it and then back at the notebook.
Taylar nudges me. “Well, what is it?”
“It’s a Chaos Residue. Listen to this. A Chaos Residue comes to life in a place of complete disorder, pain and confusion. Once it escapes its place of origin, it goes in search of places where it can wreak havoc. Whenever it succeeds, it grows in size and strength. After its hundredth kill, it will change into a Chaos Demon, which means it can take on solid shape. Once it does, it will be twice as hard to kill.”
“Oh great,” Charlie sighs. “So if we don’t kill it now, we never will?”
Vicky frowns. “I don’t get it. If this thing is out to create chaos, why did it go after D’Maeo? I mean, it killed him, but obviously that wasn’t enough.”
I feel my own eyebrows moving up too. “Maybe D’Maeo is the only one who can beat it?”
Vicky shakes her head. “No, that doesn’t make sense. If he was, how come the dark void took over? It shouldn’t have been able to do that then, should it?”
Maël stops her mumbling again for a second. “Remember what I told you about molecules and balance, Dante?”
The Fifth Portal: a supernatural urban fantasy action adventure (Cards of Death book 5) Page 22
