A violent mass of air exploded through the ravine and whipped the waters into a frenzy. I stumbled backward, dragging Sam and Cat with me, terrified they would be swept over the edge and into the treacherous river. Ozzie drew his hands together and directed the might of the storm underneath Dawn and the other girl. It carried them through the air like kites on the wind, and propelled them back onto the ledge, dying down to a gentle breeze as it set them on the forest floor.
I sank to my knees as Cat, Cain, and the blond urchin surrounded the two girls and embraced them. Ozzie remained frozen to the spot with his hands pressed tightly together, shivering. Sam sprinted to Ozzie’s side and threw his arms around him. “Oscar? Ozzie, man, you okay? How did you get here? That was something else, kid. You did well.”
Ozzie slapped Sam on the back, but his eyes remained fixed on the huddle of people on the ground. One of the figures broke free and threw themselves on top of Ozzie’s wiry frame in a blur of copper hair and gangly legs. Sam disentangled himself from the embrace, as Dawn squeezed her arms around as Ozzie’s neck and pressed her face against his halo of soft, springy hair.
Dawn leaned back and stared into Ozzie's face. “You saved us. How did you do that? Jabol never showed us that.” She took a step back but didn’t let go of his hand. Their skin was an ethereal contrast of light and dark.” How did you even get here?”
“I don’t know. When we got back to New York, Mom got a message that the Spirit Eaters were planning an attack and that there was a safe zone for us to go to until the Shadow Children could figure it out. Mathas came and got me, he sent me through this portal. I couldn’t find anyone, but the door was gone before I could ask him. Then I heard you screaming... I dunno. My body just knew what I needed to do.” Ozzie scrunched his nose and pulled his shoulders up to his ears.
He drew his eyebrows together and shook Dawn’s arm. “How did you fall over the edge, anyway? See, this is why we need to be in the same cell. You’re dangerous on your own. I’m going to talk to my mom as soon as we get back.”
Dawn’s pale blue eyes widened, and she turned to Cain, still gripping Ozzie’s fingers. “Cain, Ozzie’s the Storm, isn’t he? The lost power that masters the elements?”
Ozzie stared down at his own hands. Cain ran his mud-stained fingers over his cropped blond hair and exhaled. “Dawn, we shouldn’t come to any conclusions until we’ve talked to Emmanuel and Lizzie. People can do incredible things when they think someone they care about is in danger, it’s not necessarily tied to one of the lost powers. It could be a—”
“We need to go.” I looked at the blond-haired girl in surprise as she dragged her sister to her feet by the hand. I had forgotten about them entirely for a moment. The blond started to pull her curly haired companion back through the undergrowth.
Cat sprinted after her and stepped in her path. “Hey! Where are you going? Are you okay? Can you tell us where we are?”
“We don’t have anything to give you. Our magic is weak in comparison to yours, we just want to go, please.” The girl with the curly hair had a soft, sweet voice.
Cat pulled back and looked at the girls intently. “My daughter nearly got killed trying to help you, can you please tell us what is going on here? Why would we want something from you? Is this headquarters for one of the cells?”
The blond girl narrowed her eyes and looked around at our small group. “Don’t waste your time trying to get anything from us. Three pairs. We know you’re being tested, but we have nothing to offer you. We’re nobodies. All we want to do is stay safe—bringing us back to the city won't buy you any favor with them. We’re nothing.” She shot a deadly glare in Ozzie’s direction. “And if he does have one of the lost powers, they’re going to be looking for him. They will be here as soon as the Hounds pick up the trace of his magic. If you don’t want to be caught, you better run. Fast.”
Cat stared over her shoulder at us with widened eyes before looking back at the girls. “We don’t know anything about any trials or tests, and we don’t mean you any harm. Please, how do you know about the lost powers?”
The blond had already started to drag her sister toward the trees when she answered. “You’ll figure it out soon enough. Everyone does.”
“Please help us.” Dawn’s soft voice didn’t appear to reach the blond’s ears, but the girl with the black curls twisted her neck to meet her pleading gaze.
She bunched the faded gray material of her shapeless dress inside her fist and tugged the blond’s hand. “Diamond?”
“No, Valerie! They’ll slow us down. They’ll lead the hounds to our door.” Diamond shook her head.
Valarie pushed her hair out of her eyes. “They saved me, Diamond. It would be an insult to the gods if we did not return the favor. Anna said—”
“Anna is a crazy old hag—we left that life behind when we escaped from the city.” Diamond jerked Valerie’s arm and tried to pull her across the clearing, but the curly haired girl wouldn’t budge. Diamond stared up at the sky and scanned all directions with narrowed blue eyes, before throwing her hands in the air. “Fine. We take them with us, but only for one night, understood? After that, they’re on their own.”
Valerie nodded her head vigorously and a grin as bright as a ray of sunshine split her face. She beckoned for us to follow her. “Stay close, we move quickly. We will explain what we can when we get to safety, but don’t talk here. The trees have ears.”
She ducked under the canopy of low-hanging branches and disappeared out of sight. Cain exhaled in a low whistle. “Trials? The favor of the Gods? Where the hell has that Master sent us for safe keeping?”
“Yeah, I think you can go ahead and erase any belief that rat faced son of an Angel was sending us somewhere safe. Lying shit. When I get my hands on him—”
I cut through Sam’s rant and shoved past his raised fist. “We need to follow those kids. That girl Diamond will shake us off the first chance she gets.” I pulled back a curtain of vines to let the others pass by me.
Sam ran his hand over his jaw. “You think this is a good idea, following two strange kids into a creepy forest?”
“Do you have a better suggestion? Stay on the side of the gorge and wait for these hounds?” My lips thinned as I raised my eyebrows at him. Sam didn’t reply. I ducked under the vines and sent out a blast of energy to make sure we were following the girls in the right direction. “Yeah, I didn’t think so. Stay if you want, Sam, or come if you want—I don’t care. I’m going after the girls either way.”
I scrambled after Cat, and she caught me by the hand and pulled me to her side. Cain took the lead. The two girls had already moved far ahead, and they slipped through the trees soundlessly, twisting and turning on a track that looped over itself and back again until we arrived at what appeared to be the side of a rocky outcrop.
“You managed to keep up.” Diamond didn’t appear to be hugely pleased by this, but Valerie smiled at us gently.
“We can’t ever take a straight path home. The more you twist and turn and cross over your own path again, the harder it is for the Hounds to track you.” The Hounds. I winced. What kind of place used Hounds to track down little girls? Valerie’s lips twitched as if she knew what I was thinking. “I can tell you more when we are safely inside.”
“Safely inside what?” Sam ran his hand over the solid rock face dubiously. Diamond closed her eyes, and her lips moved with words too soft for me to hear. The stone underneath Sam’s fingers crumbled and disappeared, leaving a small opening in the rock face. Cat met my eye and gave me a pointed look. Whoever these kids were, they were no strangers to using magic. Diamond slipped through the crack in the wall and disappeared from sight with Valerie at her heels.
I went to follow them through, but Sam stepped in front of me and ducked under. “Could be a trap. I’ll go first.”
I shrugged my shoulders and tried not to notice how green his eyes looked in contrast with the yellow stone. “Whatever, Sam.
Be first if you want—the shit before the shovel.”
Sam’s face collapsed into a grin broad enough to show his white teeth. I tapped my foot in irritation as my stomach fluttered. Those god forsaken dimples gave him an unfair advantage. “That’s beautiful, Grace. You Irish really have a way with words—you could be the next Yeats.” I tried to give him a nasty look, but my lips curved into a smile. Betrayed by my own mouth. Sam’s dimples deepened even further as he made his way through the narrow entrance to the cave. “Although, I always imagined you as more of a Maya Angelou than a—what the hell?”
I pushed Sam further into the cave so that the rest of us could step inside. My eyes widened in surprise as I took in the high curved roof and the beautifully crafted furniture. Candles burned on every stone ledge, and their flames flickered and danced like living creatures. Diamond raised her hands, and the roughly hewn doorway vanished once more.
Valerie settled herself crossed legged on the floor and gestured for us to join her. “Welcome to our home, friends. You must forgive our simple fare, we do not receive guests often.”
Diamond snorted from the other side of the cave where she was polishing a sharp blade. “Sister, you sound as crazy as that mad potion haggler. Forgive our simple fare? They should kiss our feet for not crying to the Hounds—we could do with the favor of the City.”
“Don’t call Anna that, Diamond. We would be long dead without her.” A ripple of fire passed over Valerie’s sweet face, but it faded when Diamond gave her an apologetic shrug. The small girl turned her dark eyes on us once more. “Now, friends, what do you seek to know?”
I kneeled down and ran my fingers over the brightly colored threads, admiring the craftsmanship. Dawn cuddled a soft woolen blanket to her chest beside me. Cat wrapped her arm around her daughter’s shoulder and pulled her close. Cain and Ozzie sat cross legged beside them. Diamond and Sam were the only two who remained standing, like mismatched bookends on either side of the large mat.
I spread my fingers wide. “Everything. We don’t know anything about where we are right now. What country are we in?”
“What country?” Valerie’s brow furrowed and her lips thinned. “No country. We are in the forest, next comes the desert, then the Shadow City.”
My chin lifted in surprise. “The Shadow City? There’s no rainforest in Switzerland, and no desert, either.”
“She told you this was no country. Your rules don’t work here.” Diamond’s eyes glinted through the curtain of her dirty blond hair, and she extended her hand to point at a mural painted on the wall behind us. “This land belongs to the Circle. It’s the realm of the chosen ones—from this soil shall the world be reborn in His image.”
A bronze circle joined nine separate crescent moons, and in its center blazed blinding sun. Beneath the circle was a crimson river, seething with children and hounds and gaping mouths. Darkness leaned on the edges of the mural, creeping along the crevices, but from the water, seven lights burst forth and wrapped their radiance around the circle, protecting it from danger. I pressed the heel of my hand against my sternum. “The darkness, the shadows around the edge of the picture, are they the Spirit Demons?”
Diamond’s glare narrowed on my face, and she twisted her head at an angle, examining me like a specimen in a petri dish. “The Spirit Demons? No. The darkness is our enemy, the one that brings decay to our world. The Humans.”
Chapter Twenty
“We need to get the hell out of here; these kids are insane.” Sam leaned against my back and whispered into my ear. My skin tingled as I shouldered him away and shoved him ahead of me with a stern look.
Valerie turned around to face us. “Did you say something?”
I shook my head and gave my best attempt at an innocent smile. She beamed back at me and guilt pinched my throat closed. “The spring is just around the next corner. We used to bathe in the lagoon, but it’s safer not to leave the cave. Here we are.”
Valerie swept her hand through the air, and hundreds of candles flickered into life, bathing the cavern in a soft glow. “I’ll go back and help Diamond and your friends prepare the food. I’ll leave a trail of candles lighting so that you can find your way back to us. These caves can be like a maze if you don’t know where you’re going.”
She opened her burlap sack and pulled out two large sheets of thick cotton and laid them on a boulder at the side of the pool. “For when you’re finished bathing. I’m sorry we can’t offer you fresh garments to wear, but…” Valerie looked from her own slender body to myself and Sam, towering over her. “At least, I can help with the cold water.”
She pulled a simple glass vial from the sack and emptied it into the pool, stirring the water gently with her fingertips. I inhaled, drawing the scent into my lungs. My lips twisted upward. “It smells like the ocean—”
“Coconut.” Sam’s words collided with mine, and he screwed his face up. “How can you think that smells like the ocean? That’s coconut. It smells exactly like whatever you used to put in your hair.”
“Coconut oil.” I blinked, surprised by the memory. “Eve used to make Cat drive to Castlebar to get it for me. She’d put it in my hair since I was tiny to try and tame my mane.”
I pulled at the ends of my thick waves and tried to block out the memory of Eve patiently combing through the lengths and braiding it so that it would be shiny for when I went to the study group on Fridays. Sam reached out and stroked a lock of my hair. His voice was low. “I like the mane.”
My cheeks flushed, and I jerked away from his touch, turning to thank Valerie for showing us to the bathing pool, but she was already gone. I scanned the cavern, using my power to seek her presence, but the space was deserted except for Sam and me. I tucked my hair behind my ears and crossed my arms over my chest. “She’s gone.”
Sam massaged his temples with his thumbs and shook his head. “This is bad, Gracie. The Circle those kids are talking about—the great rulers that are going to rid the world of the Human race using the Spirit Demons and the might of the Spirit Children—that’s got to be Peter and his Brothers, right? The Spirit Eaters?”
“Yep. That rat-faced sneak sent us straight to them. I wonder, was Peter expecting us? Do you think he knows we’re here? I mean, somebody had to open that portal for William.” I pressed the heels of my hands against my closed eyelids. “Sam, if we lead the Hounds to these kids—”
Sam eased my fingers away from my face. “Gracie, those kids have survived their whole lives in this place. You heard them—this is where they were born, and it looks to me like they’re doing pretty okay. Deluded about the new world order and the mighty righteousness of the Circle, but they're able to look after themselves. I wouldn’t take Diamond on—kid would gut me.”
I gave him a grudging smile. “She’s hardcore. The way she created that moving image out of thin air—I’ve never seen anyone do that, Sam. She has so much skill.”
“Peter’s army of Demon-Born. They’ve probably been training the kids here for war since the moment they were born. What I don’t understand is why these two girls are living here alone, instead of in their precious City? They both sound so pious, like they truly believe in the creation of this new world order, so why hide from it in the hills?”
The memory of Valerie’s zealous speech about how the Demon-Born and the Circle would sacrifice the Humans and feed the new Earth with their blood sent a shiver down my spine. I crossed my arms and opened my mouth to respond to Sam, but the heat rising from the bathing pool called to me like a drug. Sam lounged against a boulder and watched me with lazy eyes. “We should probably get into the water. If Valerie comes back and we’re not bathing, she’ll be suspicious.”
Part of me wanted to shake Sam for making such a ridiculous suggestion when we needed to figure out an escape plan, but the rest of me ached to move closer to the warm water and breathe in the intoxicating aroma of the Atlantic winds.
I stared down at my bare legs in surprise, suddenly aware that
I had already shed my jeans and shirt. Sam pulled his tee shirt over his head and held my stare as he slipped his jeans over his hips and let them fall to the ground. I jumped into the water and waded into the center. The water tickled my chin.
My heart was beating so fast that I was sure Sam would be able to see it through the water. I took a deep breath and submerged myself, squeezing my eyes shut and running my hands through the blissfully warm water. Hard flesh pressed against my fingertips and I thrust my head above the waterline, gasping in surprise. Sam’s chest was inches from my face. His hair fell onto his forehead in damp waves, and I had to curl my hand into a fist to stop myself from reaching out to brush it away from his intense green stare.
“Do you want to talk about last night?” Sam took a step closer, and his fingers brushed my waist under the water.
“That’s not important now, Sam. We need to figure out a way to get back home. We need to make a plan before we get back to the others.” Sam’s face didn’t seem to register my words. I knew I should move away, but my body refused to listen to reason.
“You think you care about me, Grace, but you don’t know me. I know you. I know you’re too pure to see the darkness inside me.” His mouth was perfect. I wanted to trace its contours with my fingers, even when I hated the words it spoke.
I dragged my gaze away from his lips and stared into his eyes, but there was no release for me there. My chest rose and fell under the clear water. “I know you, Sam—I might not know your past, but I see your heart every time I use my gift. There’s no darkness in your Spirit, only light.”
“What if I told you that you’re right? I like it when I hurt you. I like knowing that you care enough about me that I can make you feel pain, just by locking myself away. I like to torture myself for my sins by denying myself the only thing I have every really given a damn about—you.”
The Demon-Born Trilogy: (Complete Paranormal Fantasy Series) Page 41
