by Gary Jonas
Ravenwood saw her and ran straight at her. I was afraid he’d tackle her into traffic and Naomi would be killed, but Sharon caught Naomi’s body. She stiffened a bit.
“Oh, you think you can transfer into me? I don’t think so.” Her face hardened and she shoved Ravenwood away. “No you don’t!”
“You all right?” I asked as I caught up to them.
Sharon nodded. “Another second and he might have been able to take me. Bastard is strong.”
“You have no idea,” Ravenwood said.
“End of the line, asshole,” I said.
He turned to run, but the Firebird bounced up over the curb and slid to a stop, blocking his path. Kelly climbed out. “Sorry I’m late,” she said. “Traffic sucked even going around the block.” She pulled one of her swords from the car. Sunlight glistened along the blade.
Ravenwood turned to me and gave me a look Naomi might have used. “Jonathan, it’s Naomi. Please don’t let them kill me. You have to find another way.”
The words cut into my heart.
Kelly held the sword, ready for action.
“Kelly, put the sword away,” I said.
“I won’t kill her, Jonathan. A few cuts will just cause her to go into shock.”
“Put it away, Kelly!”
She reluctantly lowered the blade.
Ravenwood smiled and that smile on Naomi’s face unnerved me. “I didn’t think you’d want to see Naomi die. You two are in love, correct?”
“I’ll do whatever I have to do in order to stop you,” I said. I tried to sound like I meant it.
Sirens sang in the distance. The police would be here in no time.
“We can still strike a deal,” Ravenwood said. “Let’s go back to DGI. I’ll transfer into Cantrell or any other wizard you like. Naomi can go free. I’ll leave you alone, and you leave me alone.”
“I understand you’ve been killing wizards,” I said.
“Only a few.”
“No deal.”
I took a step toward him.
He nodded and kept smiling. “Last chance.”
“It’s over, Ravenwood.”
“Not quite.”
A black Lincoln careened over the curb and plowed into my car. The sound of wrenching metal filled the air. Kelly jumped up to avoid the collision and landed on the hood of the Town Car. Three Sekutar piled out of the car and drew swords. Sharon moved to intercept them. Kelly rolled off the hood toward Ravenwood but facing the warriors. She raised her blade.
Ravenwood, still smiling, reached for Kelly’s arm.
Kelly spun around and Ravenwood threw Naomi’s body onto the blade. Kelly was fast but not fast enough to pull the blade away in time. Naomi’s body fell onto the point, and next thing I knew, Ravenwood pulled himself onto the blade so the sword cut all the way through Naomi’s body. He pulled himself along the blade, trying to reach Kelly.
“No!” I yelled and raced toward her.
Kelly let go of the sword to avoid being touched.
Naomi dropped to her knees. I knelt beside her and took her in my arms.
“Don’t die on me,” I said.
“Touching,” Ravenwood said, looking up at me with pain-filled eyes. “But I’m afraid Naomi is a goner.”
The warriors advanced. Sharon looked back but kept her position, ready to defend us.
Kelly stood behind me, also ready for battle. “I’m so sorry, Jonathan. He was faster than I expected.”
Four police cars bounced over the curb behind the Lincoln, and officers piled out. They aimed guns over the open doors.
“Everyone stop!” one of the cops yelled.
“I’ll handle them,” said one of the warriors. He turned and started toward the cops. They opened fire. He staggered back a step as bullets struck, but the cops aimed at his chest, going for center mass, and that wouldn’t slow him down much.
“We need backup!” one of the cops shouted into the radio.
The warrior vaulted over the door and swung his sword, and the cop’s head bounced into the street.
An SUV swerved to avoid the head and sideswiped a Toyota. They screeched to a stop. Other cars swerved, but I didn’t hear any more crashes.
Traffic came to a standstill. While one warrior killed the cops, the other two approached us.
“Step away from her, Shade,” Brand said. His leather trench coat was burned, and his face was blackened by fire. His partner was in similar shape.
“Fuck off,” Kelly said and planted herself in a fighting stance between the warriors and me.
“Oh, good,” Brand said. “A worthy adversary.”
The warriors attacked.
Kelly spun, catching the first warrior’s arm with her free hand. She turned and brought the elbow down over her shoulder so the arm bent the wrong direction with a loud snap. Kelly took his sword then pushed him toward Sharon, who grabbed him by his good arm and threw him to the ground.
Kelly faced off with Brand.
Ravenwood tried to pull the sword up as if he were performing seppuku. I grabbed Naomi’s arms and fought to keep him from finishing the task of murdering her.
Naomi’s hands glowed a bit as Ravenwood’s magic started to recharge. He gave me a smile. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a manhole cover lift out of the street. It flew at me like a giant Frisbee. I dodged it and felt Ravenwood pull the sword up. He tried to pull out the blade, but I wrapped my legs around Naomi’s body and held the sword in place. He twisted and struggled. Every move he made carved up Naomi’s insides. Her eyes began to glaze, but Ravenwood’s efforts did not diminish.
“Hang on, Naomi!” I shouted. “Don’t die on me.”
Kelly tossed Brand through the window of a diner behind me. I heard the sound of metal clanging against metal and of punches and kicks landing, but I didn’t watch. I remained focused on Naomi.
Esther knelt beside me. “I’m sorry, Jonathan,” she said.
Ravenwood’s spirit started to rise out of Naomi’s body.
“Hold on, Naomi!” I cried. “Please, hold on!”
As the battle between warriors raged on, Sharon approached me. “It’s time,” she said leaning forward. She kept herself back far enough that Ravenwood couldn’t reach her.
“Time?” I asked.
Sharon nodded then said, “Naomi, Jonathan is right. Hang on for as long as you can. As long as you’re still breathing, Ravenwood can’t go anywhere.”
Sharon placed a hand on my shoulder. “You’ll need to carry her.” She reached out and drew a line in the air.
I lifted Naomi’s body. Sharon kept her hand on my shoulder, and we stepped through the rift.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
Ravenwood struggled but I held on to Naomi as we stepped into a gloomy and smoky realm. The air smelled of old fires with a hint of fresh rain playing counterpoint. Sharon kept her hand on me.
We stood on a barren hill overlooking a large river that fed into a cave. Hundreds of charred trees lay on the blackened hillside. The sky appeared to be a soft gray, and rain drizzled from dark clouds that threatened to open up with torrents. The threat hung there but never delivered. Instead, small droplets leaked from the sky as if it were crying. I knew where we were because I’d been here myself three years ago on the day I died.
We stood over the River of Sorrow, known in mythology as the Acheron. I knew we weren’t in Greece, of course. No, we were looking at the river that leads to Hades. My heart thundered in my chest as we began our descent toward the river. I could see thousands of lachrymose spirits lining one side of the river. They were paupers who didn’t have the necessary payment to cross into the Underworld. I remembered that they called the perpetual drizzle the libations their descendants poured as an offering to the gods to keep their spirits from returning to the land of the living to haunt them.
The spirits didn’t see us approaching. They simply stood on the banks of the Acheron and cried. They had no place else to go and nothing else to do for all eternity.
“My replacement,” Sharon said. “I’ll do the talking.”
Ravenwood stopped struggling and Naomi’s body went limp in my arms. Her breath came in ragged gasps.
Tears welled in my eyes. I felt like I fit in with the crying spirits here. We approached the ferryman, who kept a cowl over his face. He held a long, wooden pole that tapered at the top. The stained lower section of the staff looked as if it had spent eons submerged in nasty water.
“You should never have come back,” the boatman said to Sharon. “You have many enemies here.”
“Are you one of my enemies?”
“No.”
“Then I don’t care. I have a spirit for you.”
The boatman looked at me, and beneath his hood, I could see that he appeared to be a clean-shaven young man with long, blond hair. His eyes appeared ancient, and when he looked at me, I could feel him staring into my soul.
“You’ve been here before,” he said.
“He’s not crossing,” Sharon said. “She is.”
The boatman looked at Naomi. “Two spirits in one body,” he said. “I don’t see that every day.”
Ravenwood rolled hard in my arms. He caught me by surprise. The boatman was too close, and Ravenwood managed to grab him. The boatman dropped his staff and grabbed Naomi’s arms, trying to pull her off.
Sharon attempted to pull the boatman away, and I tried to step backward. I saw Ravenwood’s spirit leave Naomi’s body and enter the boatman. He stopped, swept the cowl off his head, and smiled.
“This will do nicely,” he said, and his hands began to glow.
Sharon grabbed his arms. “The payment, Jonathan!”
Naomi’s body grew suddenly lighter as I saw her spirit drift out of the corpse to stand before me.
She gave me a sad smile as I laid her discarded body down. I had to pull Kelly’s sword from her body so I could lay her flat on her back. I knew what Sharon wanted. I dug in my pocket for the two silver coins. I placed one coin on each of Naomi’s closed eyes. On my previous visit to this realm, I thought you needed only one coin and that it went in the mouth of the dead, but what can I tell you? Even Hades has inflation.
“Your duty of office outweighs all else,” Sharon said. She jumped back, pushing his arms away from her. “No you don’t!”
Ravenwood struggled to stop, but his body pulled him forward. He growled, scooped the coins off Naomi’s eyes, and motioned for Naomi’s spirit to step onto the boat.
“This isn’t right,” he said.
“It’s your office now. You can fight it all you want, but you’ll still do what’s required of the position.”
“Once this is done, I’m going to kill you both.”
“We’ll make it easy for you,” Sharon said. “We’re going with her.”
“You don’t have payment,” Ravenwood said as he slipped the coins into the folds of his robe.
Sharon smiled. “I don’t need payment.”
Ravenwood pointed at me. “He does.”
“He’s with me and he’s not staying here.”
“Oh, he’s staying here all right,” Ravenwood said. “I’ll see to that.”
“Then you won’t object if I tag along while you deliver Naomi’s spirit,” I said.
Ravenwood picked up his staff then stepped onto the boat. His eyes rolled back in his head, giving him a nearly skeletal appearance with thin skin stretched across the face. It looked downright creepy. He smiled at me. “Climb aboard, Mr. Shade.”
I stepped aboard, keeping Kelly’s sword in my right hand. Blood dripped from the blade and landed on the boat. I glanced down and saw that the vessel was built from human bones, and as the blood splattered on the deck, flesh formed around the bone where the blood struck then faded away, leaving the bone clean.
“Get the mooring lines,” Sharon said.
I untied the lines from the cleats fastened to the dock, and Ravenwood used the staff to push us away from the bank.
He pushed us along the river with the staff, though the current would have done the job regardless.
Sharon stood beside me and grinned, pulling me to the stern to be as far from Ravenwood as we could get. “We’re almost there,” she whispered. “Once he enters the Underworld, his spirit won’t be able to leave.”
Naomi’s spirit stood at the bow beside Ravenwood. She turned to look at me. Her eyes were filled with love in spite of the fact that I’d failed her. I fought back tears as she moved toward me.
“Jonathan,” she said, “thank you for everything.”
“I couldn’t save you.”
She shook her head and placed a ghostly hand on my cheek. “It’s all right,” she said.
“Pardon me while I put my finger down my throat,” Ravenwood said.
Naomi ignored him. “If I’d truly placed my trust in you, I’d still be alive.”
Confusion showed in my eyes.
She kept her hand on my cheek. “I was playing both sides, Jonathan. I wanted power but I also wanted you. I made the wrong choice when it counted.”
“He took you.”
She gave me a sad smile. “Yes, but prior to that, I betrayed you.”
Ravenwood came up behind her. “She set me free, Shade. Not her father. Her. She broke the crystals.” Ravenwood laughed.
We approached the entrance to the cavern.
“He’s telling the truth,” Naomi said. “I hired you not to prove my father’s innocence, but because I knew you’d be able to find Ravenwood. He was too strong for me. Even with all my preparations.”
“She sold you out,” Ravenwood said. “I wasn’t even looking for you after I destroyed your office, home, and dojo. Naomi suggested destroying her place and her folks’ home too. Covering up evidence, of course.”
“And you’re telling me this now . . . why?”
“I’m dead,” Naomi said. “I want you to know that if I had it to do over again, I would choose you.”
“Nonsense,” Ravenwood said. “If she had it to do over again, she—” He spun around as we neared the entrance. “What the hell?”
“What’s the matter, tough guy?” I asked.
“He’s feeling his spirit getting pulled toward its final destination,” Sharon said.
“No!” he said. He struggled to move toward the stern, but before he reached it, the entire boat drifted into the tunnel.
“Guess you’re stuck here,” Sharon said.
I kept Sharon and Ravenwood on only the periphery of my attention. My primary focus was Naomi.
“I’m so sorry,” she said. “I called him and decided to make a deal. I volunteered to let him take me if he’d spare you. Obviously he didn’t agree to the terms.”
“So you called him?”
She nodded. “When you went to see Sharon. I took my cell into the bathroom with me and made the call. I knew Esther was busy watching Kelly flip knives around in the hotel room, and I wanted to save you. I’d been playing both sides, but seeing you—being with you—I knew you deserved better. Can you forgive me?”
“People died because of you.”
“I know.”
The Sharon/Ravenwood exchange switched tone, and I changed my focus.
“Fine,” Ravenwood said. “I can still have you killed.” He whistled three notes—mid range then one note up and one note down. “Attack!”
A dog leaped from the bank of the river onto the boat, and I’ll be damned if it didn’t have three heads. The boat rocked on the water. The dog growled and looked ready to pounce on us but Sharon laughed.
“Hi, Cerberus. Did you miss me?” She knelt to scratch two of the heads behind the ears. The dog instantly settled down. “It’s good to see you, boy, but you need to get back to guard the entrance.”
Cerberus barked twice then leaped back to the riverbank. Sharon rose and nodded to Ravenwood. “The pull on your s
oul is getting stronger.”
“It’s not happening,” he said.
As we sailed deeper into the cavern, a lantern on the bow started glowing. Ravenwood grabbed Sharon.
