She scribbles the ingredients down on a piece of paper and puts it in one of her normal pockets. Then she gives me back the book. “We’ll have to be quick, so it’s wise to memorize the spell.”
Gritting my teeth, I scan the lines again.
“What’s wrong?” Jeep asks.
I ignore him, concentrating on the words.
Charlie answers for me. “He basically sucks at memorizing lines. He had just one line in our sixth-grade school play, and he even forgot that.”
“Shut up,” I mumble under my breath. “I can do it. In the school play, my life didn’t depend on it.”
A minute later, I slam the book shut and shove it back behind my waistband.
“Don’t you have a better place to put that?” Charlie asks. “That must be uncomfortable.”
I turn my back to him and lift my shirt. “Not at all.”
He leans closer. “Is that the same book? What did you do with it?”
I shrug and let go of my shirt. “Nothing. These books seem to shrink in size and weight when I put them away, so I barely feel them.”
A wide grin pulls up the corners of his mouth. “Don’t you just love magic?”
“Sure, sometimes.” I start walking and the others follow.
“Let’s hope he’s still there,” Vicky says, trailing her finger along the street on the map.
I slow my pace and look for the right house.
In front of us, D’Maeo comes to a sudden stop. Everyone tenses up immediately.
“Did you see him?” Taylar asks eagerly. His shield is already in his hand.
The gray-haired ghost presses a finger to his lips. “I heard something.”
“Something magical?” Taylar whispers back.
D’Maeo nods and takes a couple of careful steps closer to the house on our left.
The other ghosts are right behind him, invisible no doubt, and Charlie and I follow silently, glancing in all directions with every step we take.
We cross the driveway of the house and follow D’Maeo to the back garden.
Charlie and I stay close to the wall, and we’ve both drawn our weapons. Not that an athame and a sword are going to be enough to take care of Trevor, but they give us a bit more confidence.
As we proceed along the side of the house, the air gets warmer.
D’Maeo confirms my suspicions when he reaches the end of the wall.
“There’s a fire demon with him,” he says over his shoulder. “And a man. He’s tied up.”
A muffled cry of pain rings out and in a reflex, I raise my athame. “What’s happening?”
I don’t wait for an answer but take a couple more steps to join D’Maeo at the corner of the house. I peer around it, holding my breath so I won’t make a sound.
In the middle of a perfect lawn, surrounded by colorful flowers that don’t match the brutality of the scene, a slender man of about thirty is down on his knees. His hands are tied behind his back, and a large gash runs across his left cheek. His short brown hair sticks out in every direction and is covered in sand and dust. On his right side, Trevor looms over him while a fire demon presses one of its flaming heads closer to his untainted cheek, making the man pull back with a shout.
“Why are you doing this?” he whimpers.
Trevor grins. “I’m sorry, but sacrifices have to be made for the greater good.”
“More like the greater bad,” Charlie whispers behind me.
“Don’t worry,” Trevor continues. “We won’t kill you. Today is just a little maiming session to convince your uncle that working with Lucifer is better than working with God.”
The man looks up at him with wide, confused eyes. “What?”
Trevor waves his hand impatiently. “Never mind.” He nods at the fire demon. “Let’s get this done. We’re on the clock. The chosen one will be here soon.”
The wolf steps closer to its victim, the flames on its body sparking hungrily. It creeps around the man, the fire on its body missing the guy’s skin by mere inches. A soft moan escapes the man’s lips, and Trevor chuckles. “Oh yes, your uncle is not going to like the state we’ll leave you in.”
I clench my athame closer to my chest to hold back a cry of fury.
It’s hard to keep my eyes on Trevor or the man without giving away my presence. Instead, I focus on a ripple in the air, just behind the wolf demon. Is it a result of the heat emanating from the flames, or is it something else? I lock my gaze onto it, but it’s so faint that I lose it.
The demon has made a full round and leans closer to the man, scorching his arm.
He cries out, and Taylar moves past us, his shield high and a killer expression on his face. He’s ready to fight, but I don’t react. The ripple I just saw is tugging at my mind. It is important, I’m sure of it. Important and dangerous.
So when Taylar looks back at me for approval, I shake my head. Not yet, I mouth.
The man on the grass groans, and the smell of burned flesh hits my nostrils.
“We have to help him!” Taylar whispers urgently, blinking in and out of view.
The concentrated expression on everyone’s face tells me they’re all reaching for their power core.
I hold up my hand before they charge blindly. “Wait.”
All heads turn to me.
“If we wait, we’ll be too late, Dante,” Vicky says.
“Just wait one second. I think I saw something.”
I narrow my eyes at the spot that didn’t seem right.
They follow my gaze and watch quietly, their doubt and reluctance tangible. Of course, whatever I saw is gone.
But then, I tilt my head slightly and see it again, a slight flutter in the air, a disturbance. Movement while there’s no one there. It’s a bit like heat hovering above a road.
“Tell me you saw that,” I whisper.
Six heads shake no.
Taylar adjusts his shield and takes another step forward. “I say we go now.”
Jeep sticks out his arm to stop him, his eyes fixed on me. “I say we don’t. Dante senses something powerful.”
I raise my eyebrow at him. “How did you―?”
He points at Vicky.
Oh right, he has her power to read emotions.
The man’s groaning has turned into yelling, so Trevor knocks him out by hitting him on the head. He slumps onto the ground, smoke rising from his pale skin.
Finally, the ripple gets clearer. Slowly, it takes the form of a man.
My friends all hold their breaths as they finally see it.
“What is that?” Jeep asks tensely.
Trevor’s face lights up when he notices the figure solidifying beside him. “Ah, there you are! I’m so glad you were willing to join the fight.”
“Of course,” a deep, raspy voice answers. “Spreading death and despair is my favorite pastime. Besides…” he becomes even clearer, turning into a sickly greenish skinless man with a tattered grey cloak, “I’m in search of some revenge for what they did to my brother.”
Vicky and I exchange an ominous look. Brother? Oh no… Please don’t let it be true.
Trevor gives him a small bow. “Naturally. He’s all yours. He should arrive here any minute.”
At his last words, he turns his head toward the spot where we’re hiding.
I press my back against the wall and squeeze my eyes shut.
“Don’t you have a soul to convert?” the skeleton man continues.
We all peek around the corner again.
Trevor indicates the man at his feet. “Working on it.”
“More like playing, I’d say,” the man in the cloak responds.
The wolf looks up at him, and then tilts its head. Its flames burn brighter and the hair of the poor man on the grass catches fire. He drops sideways onto the ground and rolls his head to put it out.
Trevor grins maniacally. “We should wrap this up,” he says to the skinless figure. “But is
n’t this fun, pale rider? Be honest.”
Pale rider…
Vicky’s expression says it all as she turns her eyes back on me.
The others come to the same conclusion only a second later.
“Is that the Pale Horseman?” Taylar asks, horror falling over his face.
The skeleton man tilts his head. His hollow eyes move past Trevor to the side of the house.
Taylar takes two steps back. “Did he just hear me?”
D’Maeo narrows his eyes. “He might have. The Red Horseman could see us even when we were invisible, remember?”
We all turn at the same time and start running as fast as we can.
CHAPTER 31
We’ve taken about six steps when Charlie tumbles to the ground, clutching his chest.
I bend down and try to pull him back up, but his body is like a deflated balloon.
A giant fist wraps itself around my heart. “What’s wrong?” I whisper, catching my best friend before he fully collapses on the grass.
He just looks at me wide-eyed, unable to speak, so I lift his shirt to take a look at his chest. The fist pulverizes my heart when Charlie’s head and arm slide sideways, and I see the greenish handprint on his chest.
Just as Vicky comes rushing back to us, I scramble further back, pulling Charlie along.
“D’Maeo!” I yell. “I need your power!”
He blinks into view in front of us, stretching his arms out toward the approaching men. His heels dig into the ground as he braces himself against the force of the Horseman’s power.
The others are quickly turning back, fear, but also determination, on their faces.
As the mark on Charlie’s chest slowly fades, his strength returns.
Vicky and I help him onto his wobbly feet while Taylar hurries to D’Maeo’s side and starts shooting lightning bolts.
Still, the Pale Horseman steadily comes closer.
“We need more help!” the old ghost calls out to us.
Maël joins them in a blur of black and gold and builds a wall of grease.
Jeep takes my place supporting Charlie so I can also jump into the fray.
Maël’s half-finished wall is already crumbling, and I tell Taylar to freeze it.
The corner of his mouth twitches in uncertainty, but he nods. “I’ll try.”
While I frantically nudge my power core, Trevor’s voice reaches us. “Stop fighting, chosen one, and maybe we’ll let you live.”
“Yeah, right,” I mumble.
I quickly glance over my shoulder. To my relief, Jeep and Vicky have managed to drag Charlie onto the sidewalk. We just have to buy them some time, about two minutes to reach Phoenix. We should be able to―
My thoughts are cut off when D’Maeo slides back several inches, groaning loudly. “Dante?”
I move my hands as fast as I can, waking up every dead animal and human that I can reach.
Taylar and Maël are still working on their wall, but the Pale Horseman breaks it down effortlessly with one swipe of his bony hand.
“Keep going,” I urge the ghosts. “We can take them.”
My last words are meant more for our enemies than for my friends, and when Trevor tilts his head curiously, I add, “I’m working on a little surprise.”
A wide grin contorts Trevor’s face. I half expect it to tear open and reveal his true demonic self, but he licks his lips and says, “I love surprises.”
With difficulty, I suppress a shiver and focus on waking up as many corpses as I can. I can hear the neighbor’s grass rip open and in my mind, I reel the creatures in.
Meanwhile, the skeleton man in front of us steps over the remains of the grease wall and stretches his arm out toward D’Maeo.
The gray-haired ghost turns a bit more transparent and sways on his feet, but he regains his balance and holds his ground.
Behind Trevor and the Horseman, the first zombies make their way around the house. Trevor senses them a second too late, and two small corpses jump onto his back. One of them tries to take a chunk out of his neck with its teeth.
Trevor roars and reaches for the creatures, spinning on his heels. He manages to get one off, but the other has reached his head and is pulling his hair so hard that he screams in agony.
A handful more skeletons are approaching the Horseman, but I decide to send them all to Trevor, who sways on his feet with his head as far back as it will go, muffled cries escaping his lips.
The new wall of gel is getting higher while D’Maeo stands his ground.
Trevor finally manages to rip the zombie from his head. It sails across the lawn, a fistful of hair in its hand. The elemental kicks three skeletons away from him before they can grab onto his legs and catches another with his hand, smashing it against the wall so the bones snap.
“Is that all you’ve got, boy?” he hollers at me, more angry and annoyed than confident.
I imitate the grin he shot me earlier. “Not at all.”
At my command, the rest of the corpses I awoke rush closer and jump him all at the same time. He goes down fast and in the blink of an eye, all I can see is a hand reaching for help.
The skeletons hit him, bite him and smack him. He looks like roadkill covered in vultures.
“Horsemblgggh!” he shrieks, and the Pale Horseman looks back, distracted for a split second.
Taylar immediately hits him with a bolt, and the bringer of death and disease staggers.
With an evil glint in his eyes, he pulls back his shoulders, whips back his tattered cloak and slams his fist against the grease wall.
Another bolt shoots from Taylar’s hand, but the Horseman easily avoids it. He steps closer, drawing in a ragged breath. “Do not―“
“Help!” Trevor interrupts, his voice faint below the mountain of skeletons.
The Pale Horseman turns his gaze on me. A gnarled finger points in my direction as he raises his skinless arm. “We will meet again, boy.”
Then he turns his back on us and starts plucking the zombies from Trevor’s body one by one.
I beckon the ghosts. “Come on, let’s get out of here.”
We retreat backwards until we’re around the corner. There, we break into a run. Vicky, Jeep and Charlie are waiting next to the car, worried expressions on their faces.
“Taylar, take the keys to Vicky, please.” I toss him my keyring. “Tell her to start the car.”
He vanishes without a word, and I see him pop up next to Vicky.
They’re in the car seconds before we reach them.
“Hurry up!” D’Maeo urges us. “They’re coming.”
I risk a glance over my shoulder and see the greenish skeleton rounding the corner of the house, his cape flapping behind him and a bruised and bleeding Trevor in his wake.
Phoenix roars as Vicky turns the key. We jump in, and I slam the door closed. “Back up! Back up!”
My heart beats so loud that I can barely hear the engine roaring as we drive backwards along the deserted street.
“Faster!” I yell, my fingers digging into the driver’s seat.
Suddenly, the world spins, and I’m convinced that we’ve hit something. But when everything is as it should be again and the tires stop screeching, I realize we’re driving forward.
I swallow the nausea rising in my throat. “What was that? Did they try to lift us off the ground?”
Charlie turns around in his seat to face me. “Nope, that was Vicky doing a one-eighty.”
Jeep gives her a pat on the shoulder. “I didn’t know you were a stunt woman.”
She lets out a nervous laugh. “Neither did I. I guess fear makes us all do things we didn’t deem possible.”
Taylar lets out a heavy sigh and leans back. “They’re giving up.”
I rest my forehead against the cool glass of the window. “That was way too close, guys. We should be more careful, especially now that we’re not at full strength.”
In the fro
nt seat, Charlie frees his tangled-up locks. “Maybe you’re right, but if we hadn’t come, that man would be dead now, you know.”
I send him an incredulous look. “That man they captured? Come on, you don’t really think they’ll let him live, do you? We just prolonged his suffering, and we almost lost you!”
Charlie meets my eyes and grins. “I have good reason to believe he has survived.”
“Why?”
He points at a hunched figure limping along the street.
I gasp. “Is that him?”
An answer is redundant, because the figure turns its head, and I recognize the frightened face with the scarred cheek. It’s definitely the man from the garden. The rope he was tied up with is still around his left wrist, and his clothes are scorched.
“We should stop to help him,” I say, just as Vicky pulls up next to him.
“Hop in,” she says. “We’ll take you somewhere safe.”
Instead of the relieved, ‘thank you’ I expect, the man utters an animal like cry and backs up so fast he trips over his own legs.
CHAPTER 32
“Don’t be scared,” Vicky says softly. “We’re here to help you.”
D’Maeo clears his throat. “Eh… I think he’s had enough magic for one day. He’s probably never seen a ghost before. Maybe we should just leave him alone.”
“We can’t simply abandon him,” I say. “What if Trevor and the Pale Horseman come after him?”
I step out of the car and slowly approach the man. “We saw what they did to you. We’re here to fight them.”
His eyes wide with fear, the man scrambles away from me.
“This is all a dream, a terrible nightmare,” he mumbles to himself. Then he slaps himself across the cheek. “Wake up!”
I bend over him and try to grab his hand. “Please don’t do that. You’re not dreaming.”
He lets out a loud shriek and pulls his wrist from my grip.
I throw up my hands and take a step back. “Okay, take it easy. I know it’s a lot to deal with, but you’ll be fine if you let us help you.”
“Get away from me!” he yells, his hand outstretched as if to ward off evil. With his other hand, he slaps himself over and over. “Wake up... Come on! Wake up!” Every word sounds more desperate than the last.
The Fourth Soul: (Cards of Death book 4) Page 16
