The Ferryman (The Guardians Series 1 Book 2)

by Wendy Saunders

  Taking one of his arms each and wrapping them around their necks for support they managed to half walk, half drag Charon out into the Turkish baths, back past the main swimming pool and out into the hallway, the way ahead illuminated by Olivia’s dragonflies which danced and flitted ahead of them.

  ‘Wait,’ Charon gasped.

  ‘We can’t,’ Olivia replied. ‘I know you’re tired but we need to get to the lake.’

  ‘It’s not that,’ he breathed heavily, ‘you need to get the book.’

  ‘What book?’

  ‘Hester’s Grimoire’ he replied, ‘you have to have the book. You cannot leave it in Isabel’s hands. Without the book all this is for nothing.’

  ‘I don’t know where it is,’ Olivia frowned.

  ‘He indicated the doors they had just passed, ‘in there is the ballroom. That was where Nathaniel kept me while he questioned me. The book is being kept in there.’

  She looked to Theo and then back to the double doors. Swiftly making a decision she lifted Charon’s arm from around her neck and his weight slumped against Theo.

  ‘Go,’ she told him, ‘get him to the lake.’

  ‘Olivia no,’ Theo argued.

  ‘There’s no time,’ she began walking backwards towards the doors, ‘go… I’ll be right behind you.’

  Taking a deep doubtful breath, torn at the idea of leaving her, he hesitated.

  ‘GO!’ she told him and as she turned and ran back down the hallway, two of her dragonflies broke away and followed her. The other two hovered over Theo and Charon.

  Gritting his teeth and with a quiet growl of frustration Theo turned and headed towards the exit dragging Charon with him.

  Olivia stopped and listened at the door, her heart pounding in her chest. She couldn’t hear anything, nor could she see any light or movement through the glass panels. Cracking the door open slowly she winced when it creaked loudly, as her dragonflies swept into the room lighting her way. Like a burglar she crept forward, her wary gaze scanning the room. She caught sight of a sad old grand piano across the room, one leg collapsed beneath it leaving it propped at an awkward angle. Recognising the dark leather bound object balanced on top of the piano she moved purposefully towards it, stripping off her backpack as she went. Letting out a breath of relief as she laid her hand on it, she balanced her bag on the piano and unzipped it. Picking up Hester’s Grimoire she tucked it safely into her bag.

  ‘Well what do we have here?’ a coldly familiar voice spoke from behind her, ‘a thief in the night. What have you got there little thief?’

  Olivia froze, her hand still tucked in her bag and then she slowly turned to look into Nathaniel’s face, her heart knocking painfully in her chest. She hadn’t seen the Demon since that night at Boothe’s Hollow and although she had been foggy with pain at the time she could see he had somehow deteriorated. His face was still a patched, unevenly stitched mismatch of features but the flesh was now a drawn, sickly looking grey and looked as if it were flaking. One of his eyes was drained of colour, almost white and there was the unmistakable stench of decomposing flesh about him.

  ‘You don’t look too good there Nathaniel,’ she replied, her voice deceptively steady. ‘You should get more sun.’

  His mouth curved as his gaze dropped, trailing slowly down her body and then back up to her face, leaving her feeling unclean.

  ‘You are a lot more interesting than your mother,’ he replied softly.

  The tone of his voice made her cringe and her flesh felt as if it were crawling with ants.

  ‘Olivia,’ another familiar voice intruded, breaking the uncomfortable silence.

  Her gaze slowly slid across to her mother who appeared next to Nathaniel.

  ‘Hello Mom,’ Olivia replied coolly.

  ‘I believe you have something that belongs to me,’ she answered dangerously. ‘Give me Hester’s book.’

  A quick glance around the room told Olivia that there was no escape except back past her mother and the Demon. Her fingers which were still buried in her backpack flexed involuntarily and they snagged on a chord. A sudden idea occurred to her, a way out, but she just needed to buy herself some time.

  ‘It was left to me, not you.’

  ‘Only because they believed I was dead, you simply got it by default.’

  ‘Now we both know that’s not true, don’t we?’ Olivia’s eyebrow rose insultingly. ‘Aunt Evie knew the truth about you, she knew you were still alive and what you had done.’

  ‘Regardless, the book is mine. Give it to me.’

  Her fingertips stealthily pulled and tugged at the chord of the binding spell, which she knew was tied around the small mirror in her backpack.

  ‘Why? What possible good could it do you? It’s simply a collection of day to day spells and housewives’ charms. It’s nothing earth shattering.’

  Something in Isabel’s expression spoke volumes, causing Olivia to come to a surprising conclusion.

  ‘You can’t read it can you?’

  Isabel’s eyes narrowed but she remained silent.

  Olivia laughed in a show of amusement she did not feel, as her fingers tugged at the last knot and her hand closed around the cold glass which now vibrated beneath her skin. ‘Shall we re-evaluate just who it belongs to then, seeing as I’m the only person who can read it?’

  Isabel growled. ‘GIVE ME THE BOOK OLIVIA!’

  ‘Or what?’ her voice was low and full of contempt, ‘I’m grounded?’

  ‘I won’t ask again,’ Isabel replied dangerously.

  ‘You want it?’ Olivia smiled coldly, ‘fine you can have it.’

  She yanked the mirror from her bag and hurled it towards the floor. The glass smashed and the room exploded with a bright silver coloured light. Olivia dived behind the wreck of the piano as the furious spirit was released. Nathaniel, caught unawares, was picked up and swept across the room to crash into the opposite wall. The spirit caught sight of Isabel and mistaking her for Olivia let out a bone chilling screech of madness. He dived for her, churning up the dirt and debris from the floor in a cyclone of rage. She was scooped from the floor like a rag doll and pinned to the wall three feet from the ground.

  Olivia quickly zipped up her backpack and slung it over her back, then peeking out from piano she made a dash for the exit.

  ‘OLIVIA!’ Nathaniel roared as he climbed back to his feet and stalked towards her. Knowing she wouldn’t get far with him behind her, she knew she only had one slim chance. Skidding to a halt she spun to face him, her Hell fire bursting into flame and flooding her body as she pulled her hands apart and her bow of living flame burst into life.

  Nathaniel bared his teeth and hissed, breaking into a run as he rushed towards her. With calm detachment Olivia aimed and released a bolt, hitting him dead centre of his chest. It penetrated his body with a sickening thud, the sheer force of it taking his feet out from under him and throwing him backward to where Isabel was struggling against the enraged spirit.

  Fired with adrenalin Olivia stood watching as his body lay prone on the dirty ground. For a few seconds she wondered if she had actually killed him but he twitched and then he began to move. Olivia took a hesitant step backward towards the exit as he climbed slowly to his feet and looked down at the smoking, bloodied cavity gaping at his chest.

  ‘Itches a little,’ he sneered. ‘Now that wasn’t very nice was it Olivia?’ he spoke slowly as he took a step towards her.

  ‘Nathaniel’ Isabel croaked, clawing at the invisible hands around her throat as her lips began to turn blue.

  He turned and studied her dispassionately for a moment as if he would love nothing better than to watch her die slowly as the life was choked from her. But thinking better of it, he let out a longsuffering sigh and reached out, his fist gripping around something only he could see. Suddenly a writhing mass of silver smoke appeared in front of him, twisting and shrieking as it tried to escape from his clutches. His fingers tighten
ed and the sound of screaming intensified before the smoke suddenly began to pour to the ground as it transformed to ash.

  Isabel slid down the wall and leaned over coughing as she tried to suck much needed oxygen into her starved lungs.

  ‘Ashes to ashes,’ Nathaniel murmured as he watched the last of the smoke pool on the floor as a small pile of harmless dirt.

  Olivia took another step backwards her eyes wide and wary.

  ‘Now,’ his smile was chilling, ‘where were we Olivia?’

  Suddenly she saw a blurred shape speed past her with a shout of defiance and barrel straight into Nathaniel, knocking him to the floor. As Nathaniel was knocked out of her way Olivia looked up to see her mother staring at her, her eyes filled with anger. Fumbling at her belt, Olivia’s hand wrapped around the hilt of the tranq gun Davis had given her and before Isabel could so much as raise her hand Olivia had flicked off the safety and let loose two shots.

  Isabel swayed slightly, taking an unsteady step forward and her mouth fell open as she looked down at the two darts protruding from her chest. Even as she pulled them out they fell from her lax fingers, as her eyes rolled back in her head and she collapsed to the ground.

  Theo and Nathaniel skidded across the floor. Before Nathaniel could do anything Theo had his knife in his hand and jammed it up under the Demon’s chin. Twisting his hand and locking his shoulder he shoved the blade deep, up through the soft pallet of his mouth and into the brain cavity. Nathaniel made a revolting burbling noise, his gaze twisting to meet Theo’s.

  With surprising strength, he gripped Theo’s hand and slowly withdrew the knife. He knocked Theo back across the floor, watching as he rolled agilely to his feet and placed Olivia protectively behind him.

  Nathaniel once again climbed to his feet, congealed blood oozed and crawled unpleasantly down what was left of his chest and when his lips split in a grotesque grin his teeth were covered in black decaying blood.

  ‘You think that tiny little pig sticker is going to kill me boy?’ His voice was a mixture between a rasp and a gurgle, a trail of bloody spittle hanging down from his lip.

  Theo didn’t answer but edged back towards the door, his body pushing Olivia as he went. His gaze focused on his enemy and in his hand, wet and slimy with blood, he held his knife out in front of him.

  ‘Surely you don’t think you’re getting out of here alive do you Theodore,’ he rasped. ‘I’m going to take my time with you boy. I owe you for the inconvenience you caused me when you let the little West bitch and her sister escape.’ He took another menacing step towards them. ‘I’m going to peel the flesh from your bones and then carve open your chest, letting you watch in agony as I pull your organs out one by one. Then once you’re dead…would you like to know what I’m going to do to your little whore there, the one you’re protecting so sweetly.’

  Theo growled, his eyes flat and hard.

  ‘If you lay one finger on her I am going to make you suffer like you never would have believed possible,’ he grated from between clenched teeth.

  ‘Shall we put it to the test then?’ Nathaniel grinned and rushed towards them. He barely made it two feet across the floor when he smashed into a pale blue barrier. He fought and clawed against it, snarling and drooling like a rabid dog, enraged that he could see his prey but couldn’t reach them.

  Olivia turned and saw her father standing in the doorway, hands outstretched, breathing hard with exertion.

  ‘Dad!’ Olivia gasped.

  ‘Go now,’ he panted, ‘I’ll hold him.’

  ‘No!’ she shook her head desperately, ‘not without you.’

  ‘Olivia go now! You have to get Charon to the lake, the net is breaching,’ he shouted. ‘Theo, get her out of here!’

  Theo grabbed her and dragged her towards the door, while she struggled against him.

  ‘No!’ she tried to pull away from him as he dragged her down the hallway. ‘I can’t leave him; he doesn’t stand a chance against Nathaniel.’

  ‘Olivia,’ he grabbed her arms forcing her to look into his eyes. ‘I don’t want to leave him either but we have to get Charon to the lake. Your father will be alright, he hasn’t survived this long without learning a few tricks but if we don’t stop those creatures from escaping, a lot of people will die.’

  The ground suddenly groaned and trembled beneath their feet, and they both stumbled and crashed against the wall.

  With one last haunted look in the direction of her father Olivia turned to Theo and nodded. They ran down the hallway and out into the parlour where Charon was sitting on the floor, resting weakly against the wall, his half naked damaged body wrapped in an old drape Theo had ripped down from the window. They grabbed an arm each, wrapping them around their shoulders for support and half carried, half dragged him into the sun room. No point now in climbing back out of the window and Theo kicked the door open, no longer concerned about making a noise. They stumbled out into the freezing air towards the edge of the cliff and the treacherous steps down to the lake.

  The wind howled up from below as they moved down the steps one by one, with Charon supported between them. The climb down was easier than it had been coming up and they kept their backs pressed against the cliff wall, away from the dizzying drop and the fragments of guardrail which still creaked and groaned alarmingly in the wind. They’d almost made it half way down when the rock began to shake and groan once more. A huge cracking sound filled the air as part of the rock face sheared away. Olivia pushed Charon towards Theo and as the stairs behind her crashed down into the dark abyss below, she leapt.

  Chapter 25

  Charon instinctively caught her and stumbled back into Theo, who barely stopped all three of them from toppling over the side into the icy blackness below. Her eyes wide with shock and her breath trapped in her throat, Olivia desperately gripped the rock face as the cliff shook again.

  ‘The net is breaking,’ Theo called above the screaming wind. They looked down and saw a huge rent appear at the centre of the lake amidst the monolithic looking shards of ice.

  ‘Hurry,’ Charon urged Theo and the three of them started moving again. At last they made it to the base of the stairs, Theo and Olivia once again supporting his weight as they all stepped onto the ice.

  ‘Get me as close to the centre as you can,’ he cried above the cracking noise.

  They kept on inexorably, stumbling as the ice shifted and heaved beneath their feet while an alarming splintering noise filled the air, accompanied by the splash of water. Deep cracks ran along the ice snapping at their heels. The multi coloured net shredded and tore away, shrieks and howls filling the air as they got closer to the centre.

  ‘Do you have my staff?’ Charon shouted above the chaos.

  She reached behind her for the end of the staff which was still protruding out of the top of her backpack and yanking it loose she handed it to Charon.

  They came to a halt letting him move forward to stand unaided. As his fingers gripped around the staff the lettering burst into flame and the pole extended to a full six feet. The sky swirled and boiled above him as he held it up to the sky and cried out in a deep ringing voice. Olivia couldn’t understand the words he used but she knew they were Greek. The sky lit up with jagged spears of lightening and boomed impossibly loud with the terrifying roar of thunder. Grasping the staff with both hands he drove it down into the ice, which split and fanned out like a web. The frozen surface heaved again violently and Olivia stumbled and fell heavily on the ice, knocking the wind from her lungs. As she looked up she saw Theo was also lying on the ice a few feet from her, on the other side of Charon. Her gaze was drawn to the centre of the lake where the water churned and frothed up, breaking over the splintered ice like waves upon the sand. She realised with a jolt something was rising from the shadowy depths of the lake, something colossal.

  Her mouth fell open and her eyes widened in shock as a great archway appeared, water pouring from its huge pillars and draining aw
ay as it rose higher and higher into the sky. It was covered in engravings and ancient lettering which bore a distinct similarity to Greek. Suddenly she felt herself sliding towards the gigantic gateway, caught in a riptide of air.

  ‘Hold on to something,’ Charon yelled in warning.

  She tried to but she was surrounded by a frozen wasteland. She fought valiantly as she clawed to find some purchase but she was dragged along the ice. She raised her head and saw shadowy shapes being pulled through the air towards the gate. The gateway she realised, was like some giant vortex, pulling all the spirits back through to the other side. The creatures which had been trying to claw their way through to her world were also sucked back in, squealing and scratching, trying to stop themselves being dragged back through.

  She dug the tips of her boots in but it was no good, she was still sliding dangerously close to the gateway. Plunging her hands into the ice, in desperation she reached for the heat of her magic, forcing it roughly into her frozen fingertips. She dug her hands into the ice like claws, letting the heat in her fingers melt grips for her. It wasn’t perfect but at least she’d stopped moving. She glanced around and saw Theo not far from her, the blue black of his Hell fire blade dug into the ice and as he held on for dear life his eyes looked up and met hers.

  Theo watched uneasily as her eyes suddenly widened at something behind him. He turned his head in the direction of her shocked gaze and his heart jolted in his chest at the sight of Mary’s face hissing next to his. Unable to do anything he hung on to the knife and prayed. He felt something cold grip his leg and when he looked down he could see Mary hanging onto him, trying to keep herself from flying backwards through the gateway or trying to take him with her, he wasn’t sure which. He kicked his legs in an effort to shake her loose but his hands kept slipping. He gripped the knife tighter but the blade began to slide loose.