The Third Sin

by Tamara Geraeds

  My eyes are still mine. They focus on Vicky, stepping out into the emptiness around me.

  Help! I want to say. But my voice produces other words. “Your time is up.”

  My arms shoot forward, and my fingers wrap around her neck.

  Vicky’s eyes widen in fear. She wriggles and kicks out with her feet. A gurgling sound escapes her mouth. I can read what she wants to say in her eyes. ‘What are you doing? Let go off me.’

  ‘I’m sorry!’ I signal back with my stare. ‘It’s not me doing this.’

  My free hand moves to my pocket and takes out my Morningstar. Vicky’s eyes, as well as mine, follow it. She tries to shake her head, while I fight to regain control over my body.

  My hand moves back, ready to strike. “Bye, Vicky.”

  ‘No!’ I yell inside my head.

  But the mist forces my arm forward. The Morningstar unfolds and cuts through Vicky’s chest.

  Rage builds up inside of me. I push it out, until the feeling in my hands returns.

  While my left hand drops the Morningstar, my right releases Vicky. My legs obey again and I catch her before she hits the ground.

  “No!” I moan. “Please no.”

  The mist gushes out of me like poison and swirls around her.

  “Go away!” I yell. “You’ve done enough.”

  But it just gets thicker and moves faster, until I can’t see her anymore.

  “Hold on, Vick,” I tell her. “Fight it.”

  You have no body in the Shadow World, Quinn’s voice echoes from my memory.

  My head jerks up with a frustrated grunt. I let go of Vicky. “It’s not real, babe. None of this is real. You can get up.”

  The mist howls and dives at me. I keep my feet steady on the ground and try hard not to blink. With a soft hiss, the mist dissolves. Tiny specks rain down on us as Vicky slowly gets up.

  I give her an encouraging nod. Inside I’m crying with relief, but I’m not about to tell her that. “How come you fell for that? You were the one who told me it’s not real.”

  She gives me a small smile. “You caught me by surprise. The mist fed off my fears for a moment.”

  “And that fear jumped over to me. But don’t worry, it’s gone now.” The moment I finish my sentence, gray fog moves up from the ground again.

  “Or not,” I say, facing it. “I don’t care. Whatever you are, you can swirl around us as much as you want, but you won’t drive us crazy.”

  I offer Vicky my hand. When she takes it and steps closer to me, her feet are suddenly lifted.

  She gives me a stern look. “You have to really believe it, Dante. Stop worrying about me.”

  “I’m not worried about you.”

  She places her other hand on her hip, which looks silly since she’s still floating on her belly in the air. “Liar. Don’t tell me you’re afraid to admit you care about me.” She raises her eyebrows.

  I huff and mimic her gesture with both hands, forgetting that I was the one holding her down. The mist drags her higher in the air immediately. I aimlessly jump to grab her leg, but she’s just out of reach.

  “Why would I not admit that I love-” I shake my head, “I mean, care about you.” Dammit, that slipped out.

  When I look up again, Vicky is grinning at me. “Say what?”

  The smug look on her face is so annoying, I want to kiss… I mean slap her on the butt. I shake my head again and squeeze my eyes shut for a second to lose the images the thought produces. “You know I like you… a lot. Why should I deny that?”

  “I don’t know,” she whispers in my ear.

  I jump back and look up. The sky is empty, the mist is gone. There’s only white nothingness everywhere. Except to my left, where Vicky’s black see-through shirt is pressed against my arm. Her cold breath tingles my skin.

  “How did you get down?” I turn my head in all directions. “Where did the mist go?”

  She places a finger on my lips. “It vanished.”

  “How?”

  My heart misses a beat when she withdraws her finger and kisses it. “I distracted you; made you forget about it.”

  I tilt my head. “Did I ever tell you how smart you are?”

  She shrugs. “Maybe.”

  “Well…” I wrap my arms around her and kiss her. She tastes different than on Earth. More fresh apple pie and honey than flowery electricity.

  I laugh at my mind trying to come up with descriptions. “You’re the smartest and hottest girl I’ve ever known.”

  She tickles the back of my neck. “Go on.”

  “You’re attentive, beautiful, annoying and a know-it-all.”

  The tickling stops. “What?”

  She tries to pull away, but I keep her close. I move my lips towards hers. “You’re all a guy ever dreams about. And that’s why I love you.”

  As a response she gives me a deep sigh. “You’re pretty perfect yourself. If only I’d known you when I was alive.”

  She buries her head in my chest.

  “Look at it this way,” I say after a short silence. “Even death can’t keep us apart.”

  Laughter boils up in her throat and vibrates through me.

  “You’re right,” she says, planting a kiss on my lips. Her mouth lingers there for a while and I keep very still.

  Way too soon she pulls away. “So, we’re still here. Do you think that’s a bad sign?”

  I wave the thought away. “Who cares about signs? We make our own destiny.”

  She nods and brushes a lock of hair from her face. “Sounds like a plan.” She looks around. “And which way do we start with this destiny?”

  “Whatever way keeps us together.”

  She throws her head back with a giggle. “You’re going a little overboard here, babe. Let’s move on.”

  I grin. “Works for me.”

  CHAPTER 3

  After an hour or two – or five, it’s hard to tell out here – we start to lose hope.

  Vicky wipes some white dust off her tight pants. “What if we never find our way back?”

  “We have to. The world needs us. The Shield needs us. And my mom…” I ball my fists. “We really have to get home.”

  She comes to a sudden halt. “What if we try a spell?”

  Hope makes me smile like a lunatic. “You know a ‘take me home’ spell?”

  She drops down on the bare ground and folds her legs. “If I did, we wouldn’t be here anymore.”

  “Then what do you suggest?” I ask when she closes her eyes.

  She opens one eye a crack. “Some Mages can write their own spells. You knew that, right?”

  I grin again. “I forgot. But don’t we need herbs and candles and stuff for a spell?”

  She taps her back pocket. “I’ve got some supplies in here.”

  I spread my hands. “See? Perfect.”

  “Could you shut up for a minute? I’m trying to think.”

  “Right.” I move my fingers over my lips, pretending to close a zipper. Dropping down next to Vicky, I think of all the spells I’ve already cast and read. If I change the words a bit, maybe we can… “Hey, what if we try the spell to open a portal? It got us in here the first time, why wouldn’t it get us back home when we cast it here?”

  Vicky lets out a deep sigh and looks at me sideways. “If it was that easy, I would’ve tried it already.”

  “Who says it’s not that easy?”

  She leans back on her elbows. “You can’t open a portal to the Shadow World when you’re already in it.”

  “Of course not. But we could open a portal out of it, if we change the words a bit.”

  “What if we end up in another, more dangerous world?”

  I lean forward, take her hand and kiss it. “Then we write a new spell.”

  She shakes her head. “A week ago you didn’t know anything about the magical world. You didn’t have any power and you’d never cast a spell. Now you think yo
u know better than me?”

  “What? Of course not!” I say a bit too eagerly. “It was just a suggestion. You’re the expert. You’re the one with the legendary knowledge and power.”

  She giggles. “Ass-kisser.”

  I mimic her pose and pretend to concentrate.

  Suddenly, a spark flies from my lips. Vicky pushes her body against mine and I almost tumble over.

  “What are you doing?” I whisper against her mouth. “I’m trying to concentrate.”

  Her lips move to the side. They caress my cheek and then my neck. Heat shoots through me.

  “This is probably not the best place for this,” I pant.

  She lets go of me so fast, I’m kissing the air.

  “I just wanted to thank you for the great idea.”

  I rub my tingling lips. “Great idea? What great idea?”

  “To change the portal spell.”

  A shiver tingles my back when the last of the electricity of our touch leaves my body. “I thought that was a bad idea?”

  She stands up and sweeps back her hair. “Well, I thought about it for a minute, and it might not be so bad.”

  I scratch my head. “Sometimes you don’t make sense, Vick.”

  She gives me a crooked smile. “I know.”

  Without further explanation, she starts pulling all kinds of supplies from her endless pocket.

  “Have you thought of a way to change the words yet?” I ask, making a circle with the candles Vicky hands me.

  “A bit.” She pulls out some sticks and a matchbox. “Here, light a small fire. We have to cook some herbs for the circle.”

  While I make the fire, Vicky blends the herbs in a small bowl. With a couple of longer branches, she creates a tripod and she hangs the bowl over the fire with a piece of rope.

  “Creative,” I say.

  “I know how to survive in the wild.”

  “Oh, I had no doubts about that.”

  She blows me a kiss. “Do you remember the spell to protect the circle?”

  “Nope.” I pull out my Book of Spells. “But I wrote it down.”

  I leaf through it until I find the right page.

  Vicky looks over my shoulder and points at the last sentence.

  Bring us back before we shatter.

  “We should change that. We don’t want to come back here.”

  We think about a new line while Vicky stirs the substance in the bowl.

  When she takes the bowl out of the fire, I nod at her. “Okay, I think I’ve got something.”

  I tell her my idea and she smiles. “That might work.”

  “Good enough for me.” I wink at her and push my finger into the mud in the bowl.

  I draw a circle and say the first part of the spell.

  “I conjure the Circle of Power,

  by my will and by my word,

  a boundary between the worlds;

  a space to cross unheard.

  I conjure the Circle of Power,

  to shelter us from evil matter,

  keep us safe within these borders,

  until we reach a place that’s better.”

  A gust of wind pulls at our bodies and blows out the fire.

  Vicky takes a pen and piece of paper from her back pocket and scribbles something down. “How about this for the rest of the spell?”

  My eyes scan the lines and I take the note from her. “Perfect.”

  I take out my athame and dig it into the flesh of my hand. After a good look at the sigil I copied into my book, I draw it in the middle of the circle, using my blood. It’s a triangle, made up out of three two-way arrows. My hand stings as I dip my dagger in to draw the last arrow.

  “Ready?”

  Vicky gives me an encouraging nod. I put my book back behind my waistband before turning my attention to the circle, but freeze when a scraping noise from somewhere behind us hurts my ears.

  “They are coming to stop us,” Vicky whispers.

  My throat tightens. “Or they want to come with us.”

  “Probably both. We’d better hurry up.”

  Ignoring the rising clamor as best I can, I continue.

  “Open a door through time and space,

  take us from this evil place,

  seal the door behind us fast,

  let our passage be the last.”

  I dig my athame into the sigil. A spark lights up the air that seems to grow darker with every passing second. The wind picks up again and pulls at my clothes. It takes my athame and lifts it into the air.

  The sky above the circle turns black. Dark smoky claws reach for us from the sigil. An invisible mouth hisses loudly and for a moment I think the things behind us have reached us and are about to swallow us whole. The darkness becomes so thick I can hardly see Vicky anymore.

  I snatch my athame out of the air and hold it in front of me while I feel around with the other hand.

  “Vick?”

  “I’m here.”

  I whirl around and grab her hand.

  She points at the vortex growing above our muddy circle. “Something is wrong.”

  CHAPTER 4

  “Take this,” I say, holding out my weapon.

  She pulls a sword from her endless pocket. “No thanks, I’ve brought my own.”

  I nod appreciatively. “Even better.”

  A high pitched screech rises from the vortex, like a train hitting the brakes hard, only more animal like. It gets louder every second.

  The wind pulls at my clothes with unnatural force.

  ”We should close it,” I yell.

  Vicky pushes me down and something with long sticklike limbs soars over my head. It lands on all fours, turns its ugly bald head and shows us its sharp teeth.

  I straighten up and place my feet firmer onto the ground. Vicky holds out her sword.

  The mutant tilts its head sideways until it gives a satisfying crack. It bends its pale knees, but before it can leap at us, it gets pulled back.

  Vicky lowers her sword. “The vortex is growing stronger. Soon it will pull everything in.”

  I look at the mutant, bracing itself against the pull. “What if we break the circle? Will the portal close?”

  The creature lets out a piercing scream as it is lifted from the ground. At the same moment, Vicky and I start sliding towards the vortex.

  “We have to get away from it!” she yells over the deafening howling and screeching.

  “How?” I scream back.

  She puts away her weapon, grabs my hand tighter and mumbles something.

  An invisible force tugs at her. I raise my athame to stab it, but Vicky stops me. “Point that at the creepy mutants, please.”

  She nods her head at something to our left and I grit my teeth. “This looks like bad news.”

  About two dozen thin white figures gallop in our direction at sickening speed. Their heads move from side to side as if they’re only half attached to their bodies. Their tongues stick out and their bulging eyes see nothing but us.

  Just before the first one reaches us, we are pulled forward again. My weapon slices through the air, hitting nothing but dust.

  “Hold on!” Vicky yells. “The spell is working.”

  I gasp for breath, turning my head to the portal. The vortex is still growing and pulling the mutants in. “No, it’s not!”

  She looks over her shoulder. “Not that one, the pulling spell.”

  I duck when another creature dives at us, arms flailing. “Well, I hope it’s a strong one.”

  Vicky almost yanks off my arm when her spell hoists her in the air.

  I cry out in pain.

  “Sorry!” she shouts. “One moment.” I see her lips moving. After a few seconds, I feel myself leveling. An unseen force keeps me afloat. The tug of the vortex disappears, but rages on below us.

  Vicky pulls me closer. “We have to find another way out of here.”

  “I know
.” I spread my arms. “Isn’t this spell supposed to pull us away?”

  A frown wrinkles her forehead. “It is, but our spells are only half working here. I was afraid of this. Nothing can be trusted in the Shadow World, and most things don’t work the way they should.”

  There’s an angry holler and we both turn our heads towards the portal.

  “What’s happening?”

  “I don’t understand. It looks like it’s reversing.”

  I frown. “Is that even possible?”

  She points at the darkness. At first I don’t understand why. Then I see red eyes popping up everywhere in the swirling wind. Tiny claws push round, spiky bodies through the portal. One of the remaining pale mutants lets out a raw scream as a ball of spikes is thrust into its body.

  Vicky starts mumbling again.

  “Are you trying another spell?” I ask.

  She nods.

  I give her a stern look. “Don’t.”

  She keeps going, so I yank at her arm. “Stop! We have to go back! This will screw with the balance of these worlds. Who knows what it will do to Earth if we don’t stop it.”

  Finally she gives in. “Okay, you’re right. But it’s dangerous down there. We’ll have to fight our way through a bunch of mutants and spiky monsters.”

  “So?” I wiggle my eyebrows. “That’s a piece of cake for us, right?”

  Her look of worry changes into a naughty one. “Absolutely. Let’s go for it.”

  Before I can even take out my weapons, she nose dives back to the ground.

  “Hurry up!” she yells to me. “I undid the pulling spell.”

  It takes all my strength to move my body into a diving position. Nothing happens, so I make swimming motions. The ground slowly comes closer.

  Halfway down, the vortex starts moving. The portal is spitting out spiked monsters at an alarming rate now. Vicky has turned around and is swinging her sword like a samurai.

  Sharp balls fly around me and I swerve left and right to avoid getting pierced.

  It’s just a couple more feet before I hit the ground, so I take out my Morningstar.

  “Duck!” I yell and Vicky drops onto the ground without hesitation.

  I fling my weapon down. It unfolds and slices four balls in half before returning to me.