She doesn’t look up.
“Please don’t hurt her,” I whisper, although I know this has already happened.
After a deep breath, she pulls her arms and legs together as hard as she can. More flames rise from the ground and hold her down. She kicks out and misses the demon by inches.
A cackle rises from the Devil’s gaping mouth. He stretches a bony finger in Mom’s direction and pushes her chin up. Smoke curls up from her skin and she clenches her jaw.
With unnecessary force, the spider demon grabs her arms and pulls them behind her back, creating more bruises and scratches.
The Devil’s forked, black tongue slides over his cracked lips. “They think they can beat me. But no matter how many people they save, I will keep going.”
Mom squirms in the demon’s grip. “Let go off me.”
His mouth stretches into a grin that seems to cover his whole face. “You can fight as much as you want, but this time victory will be mine. You tell him that.”
On Mom’s face confusion and fear make way for anger. “I’m not afraid of you. You’re not real. You can’t hurt me.”
The Devil laughs so hard the ground shakes. I almost fall down. When I stick out my hand for balance, I notice more monsters of all shapes and sizes making their way to the spectacle. They don’t pay any attention to me. How can they? I’m not really here, I remind myself.
The king of Hell shakes his head. “You silly creature. Do you really believe in that old tale?” His eyes burn as Mom looks up at him. “It doesn’t matter. You’ll find out how real I am soon enough.”
He turns and within a second he has become one with the dancing shadows between the rocks.
I step closer, wishing to be able to help Mom. I don’t want to see what else they do to her, but I can’t turn away. Maybe I can get a glimpse of the curse they use on her.
Most of the monsters have lost interest in the weeping woman on the rocks and scatter. The fire claws finally let her go and she leans forward. As soon as her hands touch the rock, there’s a loud hiss and she shoots upright again.
The spider demon blocks her way to the ground with its long legs and she screams in frustration.
She lifts her head to the sky. “I want to wake up!”
She freezes on the spot when two humanlike demons approach. They look like warriors, with their broad build, spikes all over their legs and bright red chest plates. Two sharp horns point forward on their heads. They both carry a dark red staff, with a human spine wrapped around it. Ash explodes around their hulking feet with every step they take.
Mom grabs a handful of ash and flings it at the spider demon. When it ducks, she runs around it and hurls herself off the rock.
It shrieks in frustration and scrambles up.
But before Mom touches the ground, all of her limbs freeze. She just hangs there, suspended in the air. Her mouth moves and her eyes dart left and right in panic. A flame rises up right next to her and scorches the hem of her shirt. Her eyes open wider.
“Stop hurting her!” I shout, although no one can hear me.
The warriors approach, their staffs aimed at Mom to keep her in the air.
Violent slashes against her back by the spider demon’s legs make her sway back and forth. The monster bares its teeth with glee.
“I’ll kill you!” I yell at it. Then I realize I already did, and I feel a bit better.
My hands hurt from the force with which I clench them and I take a deep breath. I need to stay calm. There’s nothing I can do here, except watch and learn.
I step closer, while the warriors take position beside my mother. They spit out incoherent words and shake their staffs with rigid movements. Red ash escapes from the tips and whirls around Mom.
She’s still immobilized, but I can see she’s fighting with all her might. One corner of her mouth twitches. She tries to scream, but no sound comes out.
The staffs turn in the warriors’ hands and they push the tips forward. The jagged points pierce Mom’s body and she bends backwards in agony. At the same time, she gets her voice back. A piercing scream rips the air between us apart. The monsters in the distance respond with gleeful shrieks.
My vocal cords and muscles no longer obey. My words are no more than a whisper. “No! Get your hands off her!” My vision changes into a blur of blood and red specks of ash as tears fall from my eyes. I jump forward with my arms outstretched, ready to push the warriors away. But I soar right through them and land on my face.
When I struggle to my feet and turn around, the warriors pull their staffs back and Mom drops onto the smoldering ground.
She pushes her hands against the gaping holes in her torso and moans.
I crawl over to her and try to touch her arm. “It’s okay, Mom. Hold...” My words get caught in my throat and I swallow. “Please hold on.” I stroke her hair, even though she can’t feel it. “I’m here now. I’m here to help.” A sob escapes my lips and I shake my head. “I’ll get you back. And I’ll make them all pay, Mom. Every one of these bastards.”
She breathes heavily and looks around.
“Can you hear me?” I ask, but she looks right through me.
I follow her gaze. The warriors slam their staffs together and walk away.
Mom takes off her blouse and rips the sleeves off. She starts to push the pieces of cloth against the wounds and I want to tell her how proud I am that she’s keeping it together. But then she suddenly starts to scream. She drops the sleeves and slaps at her stomach.
Instinctively, I reach out to grab her hands. But I’m nothing more than air here. My feet don’t even leave prints in the hot ground.
“Don’t panic,” I whisper to Mom.
But she keeps screaming and hitting herself.
When I lean over I finally see why. The red ash is moving around her wounds, setting the edges on fire. The pain must be agonizing.
A scream of my own gets stuck in my throat and obstructs the flow of oxygen to my lungs.
Retching violently, I bend over. It takes me a while to calm down and steady my breathing. All the while Mom is wriggling and moaning. Her skin is red from her attempts to get the red ash off of her body.
“I love you, Mom,” I tell her. My tears drip right through her.
She stops smacking herself as suddenly as she started.
The wounds are closing. Blood finally stops pouring out. Mom holds her breath.
We both watch closely as the holes change into slits.
Then, just before they close completely, the ash slides inside.
Mom goes limp before she gets a chance to scream. It looks like a million volts go through her. Her whole body tenses and a second later she just vanishes.
“Mom!” I yell. But I’m no longer there myself.
CHAPTER 19
My head is going to explode any second, I’m sure of it. It buzzes loudly, and a sharp pain sweeps from the spot between my eyebrows to the back of my head, before circling back.
Someone touches my arm and I scream.
“Wow, easy, it’s just me,” Vicky’s tender voice says.
Shards of words reach me, but I can’t understand them. When I try to open my eyes, hot sticks are pushed into them. I moan and hide my face in my hands.
“Wha app’d?” Vicky sounds panicked.
“Let me.”
I squint through my eyelashes and see a dark face looming over me.
“Hurts,” I mumble.
“I know,” Quinn says, and he rests his hand on my eyes. “Sit still.”
I want to say that I’m not moving, but then my arms get heavy and I realize I’ve been holding onto Quinn with all my might. My legs are trembling and my lips move as words escape them. “Saw him. Devil. Warriors. Fire. Pain. Mom. Help her.” They keep tumbling out of me, until Quinn puts his other hand on the back of my head.
Slowly the trembling subsides, as does the pain in my head.
I hear Tayla
r whispering. “Will he be okay?” He sounds really worried.
The feeling in my arms and legs returns and I carefully open my eyes.
Quinn looks down on me with a smile. “That’s better.”
I nod. No pain. “Thank you, Quinn.”
Vicky launches herself into my arms, and squeezes the air out of my lungs.
I stroke her back. “Hey, are you crying?”
“No,” she sobs.
“Yes,” Jeep says from behind me. “And no wonder. We thought you had been cursed, too.”
Vicky kisses my neck and straightens up. She quickly wipes her tears away, looking a bit shameful.
I pull her back to me and kiss the wet trail on her cheek. “I’m okay now.”
She looks into my eyes and nods. “Yes, you are.” A small smile returns to her beautiful face.
“Did you find out what kind of curse she’s under?” Quinn asks, holding out his hand to help me up.
He pulls me onto my feet and I quickly check the rest of the Shield. Everyone seems to be okay. “I don’t know much about curses, but I can tell you what they did to her.”
“Great.” He gestures to the stairs. “Tell us on the way back to Darkwood Manor.”
While I go upstairs to see Mom, the others fill Mona in on what happened.
My eyes fill up as soon as I see Mom lying motionless on the bed, black veins sprouting from her chest. I sit down next to her and grab her hand. “I’m so sorry you had to go through that. I’m so sorry I couldn’t protect you.” I caress the only finger that is still skin colored.
How could I ever think I could keep her out of this?
As I bend forward to kiss her forehead, Dad’s notebook slips from my waistband and lands on the floor with a thud.
I turn around to pick it up and narrow my eyes. The book has fallen open onto a part of Dad’s diary entries. Mom’s name seems to pop from the page, urging me to read it.
I slide onto the floor, with my back against the bed and the book in my lap.
There have been times when I wished I had never met Susan. Because if I hadn’t, she and Dante wouldn’t have been in danger now. I could’ve fought the Devil without worrying about my family.
But I know now that without a family, even if they aren’t with me, I wouldn’t have been so strong. I would’ve given up a long time ago, because to me, the world is not that important anymore. Humankind will have to bow to nature eventually. And so will the Devil. But until then, I have my family to fight for. I want Susan and Dante to be safe and happy.
I watch them sometimes and I see how strong they are together. Nothing could make me prouder. I left them without a word, to keep them alive, and they went on without me. I saw their pain and their struggle, but I also saw them grow. They make me so proud. Without my love for them I would give up today. And that is what our world is built on. That is something that the Devil will never understand. Love is what makes us strong.
The last word is smudged by the tear falling from my eye. I quickly push myself up and tuck the book back behind my waistband.
“He’s right, Mom,” I say, stroking her hand. “It may be hard seeing you hurt like this, but you are the main reason I keep fighting. You and Vicky. I love you both so much.” I wipe another tear away. “And I have a great team behind me. Mona and Quinn. Charlie and the Shield.” I laugh. “It almost sounds like a band.” I gently place her hand back on the bed. “We care about each other, and we care about you. And that’s why we will win this.” I walk to the door and take a deep breath. “Yes, we will win this.”
When I get to the kitchen, Mona is pouring tea for everyone.
“So basically there’s ash from Hell inside her?” she says with wide eyes.
Quinn sips from his cup. “Cursed ash, yes.”
“And you have a way to break the curse?”
“Yes, but it is dangerous.”
I freeze in the doorway. “Wait. What? You didn’t tell me it was dangerous.”
He swallows his tea. “I didn’t want to overwhelm you with more fear, after all you’ve just seen.”
“But you-“
Vicky interrupts me. “He was going to tell you, Dante. He really was.”
I push my chair back and sit down. “Okay then.”
“He’ll have to try it anyway, it’s our only hope of saving her,” she continues.
She looks at me intently, waiting for my permission, but I don’t respond. Of course Quinn should try whatever he has thought of. But all I can think of, is that Vicky said our. Our only hope, not just mine. We are in this together and that gives me more hope than I would have thought. Now all we have to do is put Mom’s fate in the hands of an angel. That doesn’t sound so bad.
Quinn moves back his chair and bows his head at me. “I will do everything I can to save her, Dante.” He must have been reading my mind.
Tears form in my eyes at his gesture. “Thank you, Qaddisin. I know you will.”
“I will take her with me. Try not to worry, I have no idea how long it will take.”
I block the image of the black stuff crawling into Mom’s neck. “What are you going to do?”
“Those warriors you saw are the gate keepers of Hell. The ash came from their staffs, which means I’ll need the spear of Michael to destroy the ash inside your mother.”
I gulp down my tea. “You mean Michael the archangel?”
“Yes, that’s the one.”
“Right.” I stare into my empty cup and jump a little when Quinn rests his hand on my shoulder. “Don’t think about it too much. You’ve got a lot to digest. All these mythical creatures being real, your destiny, our treacherous friends-“
“Former friends.”
“Definitely.” He gestures to the back door. “Train your powers in the garden. It will take your mind off things. And tonight, whether I’m back or not, whether your Mom is better or not, you find that boxer and you save him. Deal?”
I hold up my hand and he grabs it and pulls me closer. We bump shoulders, like we did so many times before the magical world revealed itself to me. Now that I know he’s an angel, the gesture somehow feels lighter, but also more meaningful.
“Deal,” I say. “Be careful. Take care of my mother and of yourself.”
He winks. “Always.”
With a soft whoosh he disappears. The floorboards above us creak as he collects Mom. Then everything goes quiet.
I stand up and put my cup in the sink. “Well, he is right. We should let off a bit of steam. Let’s hope no demons come to interrupt our training this time.”
Vicky joins me and takes my hand. “Well, they did make great sparring partners.”
CHAPTER 20
Reaching for my power core gets easier every time I try. I can also control it pretty well. Until I’m actually under attack, that is.
We pair up differently than last time, since we all have different skills. I’m with Jeep, who focuses on helping me first.
“What’s your main struggle?” he asks, throwing his bowler hat on the grass beside us.
“Well… basically I don’t know how to control anything other than a lightning bolt. I can summon certain things, like ice and rain, but it seldom does what I want it to do.”
Jeep grins. “I know the feeling. When I first discovered my power, skeletons tore apart my house. My parents were not amused.” His grin falters a bit. “But anyway… what type of weather would you like to try first?”
“Well, rain didn’t go so well last time I tried, so let’s do that.”
“Right.” He takes a step away from me and goes a bit more transparent. “So I don’t get wet,” he explains with a mischievous smile.
“Oh, do you have so little faith in me?”
“I have faith in God’s sense of humor.”
I chuckle. “I see.”
He places his feet firmly onto the ground, a little apart, and inhales deeply.
I follow h
is example and nudge my power core.
“Wait, wait, wait,” Jeep says. “Concentrate on what you want the rain to do, not just on the rain. If you don’t focus on a plan, the things you summon will do whatever they want.”
“That explains a lot,” I mumble, thinking of the water tornado that raged through my house. “So the most important thing is to have a plan before you summon something?”
“Pretty much.”
I shoot a sideways glance at Vicky, who’s trying to make eye contact while dodging a sword. Her fierceness and determination never cease to amaze me. When she fights, she looks like a cross between a ninja and a whirlwind. It’s hard to tear my gaze away from her.
“Hello?” Jeep’s voice calls out. “Are you still with me?”
Vicky turns her head and grins when she sees me watching her. My cheeks heat up and I turn back to the tattooed ghost. “Yes, I’m here. I’m ready.”
“Well, bring it on then, my army is already waiting.” He takes a fighting stance and the line of small skeletons that has formed behind him imitate his movements.
How did he summon them so fast? I shake my head. Never mind. I need to think of a plan. Something to wipe them all away at once. A flood would probably do the trick. If only I can make it stop before it takes me, too.
I try to create a picture of a wave in my head. In my imagination it knocks down the skeletons like bowling pins and hits Jeep square in the back. Then it takes a sharp turn to avoid me and seeps into the ground.
I repeat the whole process to myself before pulling gently at my core.
A wave as high as the roof of Darkwood Manor materializes out of thin air a couple of feet from us.
I blink at it in confusion. That’s not how I pictured it.
“Keep concentrating,” Jeep says, after a quick look over his shoulder. “You can still change it if you want.”
With my hand against my heart, I imagine the wave getting smaller. It knocks over Jeep’s skeletons and I try to make it rise over Jeep’s head and crash down on top of him.
But it doesn’t obey. It evaporates before it reaches the ghost.
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