by Holly Hook
I listened. Very faintly, a woman begged in another language. I didn't have to understand it to know what it meant. Let us go.
I also caught the stench of embalming fluid.
“Both,” I whispered. “Leon's body is in here too. We have to revive him when we're done with all of this.”
“How?” Xavier asked.
“There must be a library in here,” I said. Allunna had mentioned we could find the rite in this place. “If we don't do it, we die.”
I crept forward and Xavier held onto the back of my shirt. The light in the hall still wasn't enough for him, even though it was good enough for me to see in color again. His energy pulsed through me. He was stronger now, almost full strength. More of the room came into view and I stopped again.
“Thoreau,” I hissed.
The demonic mayor of Cumberland stood out there, decked out in his best suit and fully in human form. Even from this far away, I could make out his black eyes and his sewer stench. He hadn't bothered to put on cologne or sunglasses. He had no one to hide from down here. Thoreau's bald head reflected the fire light of the torches. His red mark, the lightning bolt, was plain and very visible there. Gaozu stood next to him, robes shimmering, and the two of them were deep in conversation in some language that I couldn't even guess at. There must be ancient tongues even older than the magical one Xavier used sometimes.
The tour guide scrambled around, lighting more torches, but that didn't distract me from another disturbing fact.
There was a cell on the other side of the room to our left, sunk into the wall of the chamber.
Behind the old, metal bars were the tourists. Their metallic fear mixed in with the burning oil and the smoke and Thoreau's stench. I couldn't stand it. These were people who had only come to the ruins to take some pictures and now they were down here, missing forever, ready to participate in some grisly ritual—probably the one Gaozu and Thoreau would use to extract the magic from Leon's body. There must be two dozen people in the shadows, more than the number who had been on the trapped bus. These people had been collecting people from other tours as well.
And Leon.
The body lay there very close to the ritual circle, just outside of it and near a mounted torch. The black etches inside the circle looked like a bunch of moving snakes. It was the shadows dancing, but the sight creeped me out. The symbol inside the circle looked like a star with a bunch of other symbols etched inside of it. This might be the heart of the dread we'd been feeling.
“I thought there were five in the Dark Council,” Xavier said.
“Maybe three of them are late,” I said, tensing. “It looks like they'll be here soon. So far, we have a demon baron and some guy we don't know the nature of. Sounds like a great fight. This might be our only chance, Xavier. They're going to do the rite soon.”
Thoreau and Gaozu continued to speak. They stood very close to Leon's body. Neither one of them must have a good sense of smell. Not only was the embalming fluid bad, but other things were starting to kick in as well. It was revolting.
“We know Thoreau's fire can't hurt me,” I said. “We don't know about the other guy. Xavier, you attack Gaozu. I'll take Thoreau.”
“Are you serious?” he asked.
“Time's running out. They're going to start the rite soon, once the others are here.” If Thoreau and Gaozu smelled this bad on their own, I didn't want to imagine what the other three members would reek like—or even what they were. “If anything, we take out Thoreau. He's the biggest threat.”
I hoped that I was right.
“Agreed,” Xavier said. He gave my free hand a squeeze. “We free those people and then we take out Thoreau. Alyssa, let's do this.”
Chapter Eighteen
The time was now. Xavier and I crept forward towards the sacrificial chamber, staying as quiet as we could. I could barely hear his footsteps. The talking outside got louder and more animated. I felt like Thoreau and Gaozu were speaking two different languages, which must not be a problem for ancient beings who had time to take every Rosetta Stone course.
I peeked around the corner of the chamber. Thoreau had his back turned and he and Gaozu walked closer to the cell, where the tourists all stood at the bars. Some of them shrank back as the two approached, as if they could sense that something beyond the obvious was way less than right. There were more people trapped inside the cell than I thought, even a younger girl who must not be any older than ten. I remembered hearing that Thoreau had murdered children before and would have no problem doing it again. They'd been collecting tourists for longer than just the last hour.
Every smell got worse. The tour guide moved to stand in front of the cell like a dutiful little servant, but the two powerful Abnormals ignored him. Thoreau spoke and ran his hand down one of the bars of the cell as if admiring his prize. It was disgusting. If anyone deserved to die, it was these two in front of us along with the Normal guy who had roped these people in. I wanted to fight. I wanted to kill. I could hear every utter of fear in those Normals and every cry of terror and it was tearing me apart inside.
Thoreau said something to Gaozu in his special language and the two of them exited the room, walking towards another tunnel and into the darkness. The torch light flickered and left the chamber empty.
“They must be off to grab the sacrificial dagger,” I said. “What do we do about the one guy?” I wasn't worried about him as a threat. I was worried about him yelling for Thoreau and Gaozu.
Now a woman inside the cell was arguing with the fake tour guide in what I guessed was Turkish. She spoke louder and louder, losing control of her emotions, but it was providing the distraction Xavier and I needed. He had his back turned. I crept into the chamber first, staying close to the walls and in the shadows. The stalactites shielded us as we tiptoed forward, keeping us out of sight of the prisoners who wouldn't know that we were there to help them. Xavier and I had to get those people out of there. That mattered more than Leon's body right now. If they were part of the rite, they had to leave.
We passed the middle of the room and the death smell got worse, threatening to make me cough. I moved as quick as I could as the woman gripped the bars and tried to rattle them. The fake tour guide would be easy to take out. I might even bite him just so he could see how it felt to...no. Not in front of Xavier again. He was still freaked out over the bus driver and I was at full strength, anyway.
The adrenaline smell overtook the death. I crept behind another stalactite and another, until I passed another dark chamber entrance that smelled of ancient books and paper. It must be the library that Allunna had mentioned, the one we'd need to use to bring her back to life. It was another thing we'd have to survive.
But right now, the people were what mattered.
The fake tour guide spoke again, talking quickly and in a low voice like he was trying to calm the woman down—hey, being sacrificed won't be so bad—when one of the prisoners, the ten-year-old girl, trained her gaze on me. I emerged from behind stone and held my finger up to my mouth to tell her to remain silent. She did. Thoreau's and Gaozu's words were still floating down the tunnel towards us, but a quick test of the air told me they were still headed away, deeper into the underground.
The girl looked away from me, watching the woman instead. Xavier's energy burned through me and I stepped forward, sword ready, in view of the prisoners, creeping towards the fake tour guide. Even though I was no longer hungry I could smell his blood. It was spicy. I might kill. I had come close before but I would not resist now.
“Do not move,” I said as I seized the man from behind with one hand and pressed the sword to his throat with another.
He sucked in a breath while Xavier caught up with me and rummaged through the man's pockets. The guy sucked in a breath. The adrenaline smell spiked. His pulse quickened. Keys jingled and Xavier pulled them out, old brass things that were rusted. He went to work trying the lock on the cell door as I dragged the fake tour guide towards the shadows, sword at his throat the whole ti
me. He had the same fire tattoo on his neck, the one that signaled he was Bound to Gaozu.
“What is Gaozu?” I asked.
The man muttered something, but I pressed the blade closer.
“What is he?” I repeated.
He showed no signs of understanding. The bus driver might know multiple languages but this man didn't know the one I was speaking. He took another sharp breath. He was ready to call for his master.
I didn't let it happen. With the quick slice of my blade, I made my first kill.
I let the man fall as he bled on the floor, filling the air with spice. A sense of satisfaction rose inside of me, something I had hoped I'd never feel from this, so I focused on Xavier unlocking the door and opening it. People poured out, all silent like they knew that noise would be the end of them. No one screamed. A phone flashlight clicked on and illuminated the chamber in more detail, illuminating the inside of the library for a split second. Old leather-bound books and glass cases protecting papyrus documents flashed for a moment in full color before going to gray.
“Climb the ladder at the end,” Xavier whispered to them. “Run. Steal the bus.”
“They don't have the keys,” I said, low enough to avoid detection by the two Dark Council members.
“Hopefully they'll find the bus driver,” Xavier said. “They have a chance out there.”
I watched as the begging woman and the girl followed the rest of the crowd. No one had to speak to each other to understand what the common goal was. Everyone linked hands, navigating into the dark of the tunnel Xavier and I had come down. Quiet footsteps faded. At least they knew the way out. The place was creepy, but not confusing.
The last of Thoreau's and Gaozu's voices echoed back at us, then vanished. The two of them had left the area. I couldn't smell them anymore, but that could be because spicy blood had filled the air instead. I hoped it didn't blind my sense of smell.
“Let's hope our buddies are having a tea party,” Xavier said. “What did you do with—oh.” His gaze landed on the new body on the floor at the side of the room, which I had done my best to hide behind one of the stalactites.
“Don't look,” I said, turning my gaze away. “Now's the time to either hunt that library or get Leon's body out of here. We can't avoid either without dying.”
“But would resurrecting Allunna really help us right now?” Xavier asked.
My fire mark on my wrist burned, warning me to keep my end of the bargain. “She hates Thoreau,” I said. “Besides, we've killed her before. We can do it again if she turns on us. She might even help us deal with Thoreau.”
“That's a long shot,” Xavier said. “I'm more worried about Leon than her.”
The old man still lay there, motionless and doll-like. I wondered what Leon would think when he woke up here, out of that fiery lake he was condemned to spend eternity in as a Fire Wraith. Bringing Allunna back would bring him back and vice versa.
“Leon would fight Thoreau before us,” I said.
“Are you sure?” Xavier asked. “Allunna's had plenty of time to tell him who really killed him.”
“Good point.” We ducked into the library. One way or another, we were hosed. We would take this one thing at a time.
The library was dark, but my gray vision kicked in. It was another huge chamber that looked a museum crossed with an unexplored cave. The opposite wall was smooth and carved, with something that looked like an ancient, very complex and very long family tree on the other side of the room, drawn on stone with fine red paint. The thing was so expansive that it took up the entire wall. It must be twenty feet across and the entries were tiny, written in runes. I felt dizzy looking at it.
The spines of all the books were written in the same style of runes. Panic set in. I couldn't read any of this and Xavier was relying on me.
It didn't last long. Xavier flicked his wrist next to me and a ball of purple flame erupted above his palm. It was enough to let him see around him.
“Wow,” he muttered. “I never imagined...”
“What is this language?” I asked.
“It's the old, unnamed magical tongue,” Xavier said. “Apparently demons and whatever Gaozu is use it, too. I feel gross now. I can read it. Sort of.”
“Do you see anything that can resurrect people?” I asked.
It was a big library, almost as large as the main room had been in the Cumberland Public Library. There were no computers, but rows and rows of glass cases protecting ancient scrolls filled the room, like desks waiting to seat students. Shelves towered overhead and there was no ladder to roll around and use.
“There's so much here,” Xavier said, rushing to a shelf and running his finger down each spine, muttering to himself. “I've got to use all my lessons to remember how to read this.”
“You didn't pay much attention in school, then,” I said. We might be in trouble.
“I'm paying for it now,” Xavier said. “Speaking the magical tongue is easier than reading it. This book's about food prep. This one's about war spells. Wow. Thoreau's been learning about us Mages for a long time. I think this stuff is stolen.”
I ran to the other side of the room and plucked book after book off the shelf, one of which had the front cover crumble. “Start going through them,” I said, listening for any sign of the Dark Council returning. “Do it fast. We don't have time.” As soon as they came back, they'd see the prisoners missing and their servant on the floor in a puddle of blood. Thoreau would make the connection. I wouldn't make it out of here without becoming whatever Thoreau wanted me to be.
Xavier did so, bringing the fireball with him. I stacked more books on the next glass case and then the next. Time stretched on and got more tense. “I'm not finding anything,” he said. “There's just stolen Mage knowledge in here. The closest I've found is necromancy which isn't the same as resurrecting someone.”
“What about the scrolls?” I asked. We were tearing apart this library that belonged to the regular Abnormal community. It was as if the Dark Council was trying to squander everything for themselves.
Xavier took his free arm and brushed all the books onto the floor, where they toppled in a cloud of dust. He squinted at it. “This is also Mage knowledge,” he said. “It's very old. Oh. I think this might be interesting.”
I drew closer to the scroll he was looking at. It was written in the same runes and even under glass, it smelled very old, like sand and ruins. Without warning me, Xavier raised both arms and slammed them down on the glass, which shattered and rained all over the scroll. He wiped the glass off carefully—as if it were an afterthought—and picked up the scroll by sliding one hand underneath it.
“I think this is what we need,” he said. “They must keep the important spells under glass. I'm trying to read this, but it says 'resurrection' right here,” he said, pointing to a rune. “I know I'm not supposed to share this with you but I don't give a crap right now.”
“What do we need?” I asked, glancing at Leon's body out in the main chamber.
“Let's see,” Xavier said. “We need...we need a magic circle, which we already have. We need something from the victim's body. Check. Oh. I have to recite a few words a few times. And we need fresh blood from the victim.”
We stared at each other as it sank in.
“We don't have that,” I said.
Xavier sighed. “We might,” he said. “My blood might work. I'm unfortunately descended from the guy lying out there.”
Xavier wouldn't even call Leon his grandfather anymore. It wasn't that I could blame him, not after horrible revelation after horrible revelation. Leon was a monster in the guise of a good warrior and we would have to bring him back to bring Allunna back. It was the only option and we might not survive it.
“And then what?” I asked right when two horrible stenches hit me.
“And then,” Thoreau said from the doorway of the library, “you will step out here with us.”
Chapter Nineteen
We had been so bu
sy tearing apart the library and breaking glass that I hadn't heard the subtle footsteps of Thoreau returning. The spicy blood had masked the smell. I thought of that in the nanosecond it had taken me to turn around and face him. He and Gaozu both stood in the doorway, blocking the way out.
Purple light flared stronger and I ducked as Xavier tossed a charge past me and towards the two powerful Abnormals. Thoreau leapt out of the way, but Gaozu remained and the charge struck him in the chest. It wrapped around him, turning to struggling lightning bolts, and then exploded into useless embers that rained to the floor and vanished. I waited for the guy to say something, but he remained silent like a living statue.
Thoreau scrambled back into the doorway. “Step out here,” he ordered again, all confident and scary.
“For what?” I asked. “Oh. You need a sacrifice.”
“That is the easy part,” Thoreau said. “We'll find those prisoners soon enough. They can't go far without transportation. Gaozu will have no problem rounding them up. The difficult ingredient was you, Alyssa. I take it you know what we plan on accomplishing tonight?”
Something was really, really off here. Xavier's energy pulsed through me and I knew I should strike with my sword, but Gaozu hadn't reacted to Xavier's War Magic. Whatever he was couldn't be destroyed or even hurt by it. I wondered if my flame power would do something, but even that didn't work on everyone.
“I'm sure it's full of rainbows and unicorns, whatever it is,” I said. “Oh, and there will be cake, too.”
Thoreau laughed. “I like your sense of humor, Alyssa.” He glanced at Gaozu and back to me. “I'm also glad the two of you got my message about what I plan to do to the Underground. I sent the vision of it to every Seer Mage in the Cumberland area, hoping that one of them would relay it to the two of you or that they would at least spread the word. It seemed to have worked. I knew those Elder War Mages would be too busy bickering amongst themselves to come out here and that the task would fall to the two of you. You didn't disappoint.”
