The Third Sin

by Tamara Geraeds

  I read the instructions on the paper and let out a sigh of relief. There’s not much I need, so I can get started right away.

  “One moment,” Quinn’s voice says when I flatten the piece of paper on the floor before me.

  Dazzling sparks fill the hallway. The officers yell even louder. “I’m blind! Help!”

  Quinn flashes into view and takes their voices with one sweep of his hand.

  The Red Horseman struggles to free himself from his prison of grease, while Craig is running against the wall in an attempt to crack the gel that holds him captive.

  Charlie wastes no time and covers them from head to toe in a thick layer of fresh goo.

  “Okay, go ahead,” Quinn says in my head. “We’ll keep an eye on these people.”

  Before I start, I call out to Kale, who is sitting up, with his back against the wall for support. “Kale, can you hear me?”

  “Yes. What happened?”

  I decide to give it to him straight. “You got violent and now demons will come to take your soul.”

  He smacks his hand against his forehead. “I’m sorry. I don’t know what came over me. I just got so angry when I saw Craig and that other guy attack you and your friends.”

  “Don’t worry about that right now. In order to keep you alive, I need you to stay close, can you do that?”

  “Sure.” His voice sounds a bit broken, but there’s no time to reassure him now.

  “I’m calling for back-up. Stay where you are.”

  “Okay.”

  While I read through the spell again, I pull five hairs out of my head, one for each member of my Shield. I take out my athame, take off my right shoe and sock and pierce the skin of my big toe. With the blood, I draw a small circle on the floor and place the hairs in it one by one. “D’Maeo, Maël, Vicky, Taylar, Jeep.”

  I dip my finger in the circle of blood and touch every hair carefully.

  “Let these subjects hear my call.

  Bring them here before I fall.

  Keep them safe through time and space.

  Transport them without a trace.”

  After I touch the last hair, I conjure a bit of lightning in my hand and hold it above the circle until the hairs turn to ash.

  The tiny, dark particles rise in the air and evaporate. With a soft whoosh, my Shield appears before me.

  Vicky falls into my arms. “You’re okay!”

  I kiss her on the forehead. “Yes, Quinn arrived in the nick of time. But the demons will be here any second to collect Kale’s soul. We have to get him out of here.”

  She picks up my book and piece of paper and hands them back to me. “Do you have a plan?”

  “Not yet, I was busy keeping myself alive.”

  A loud bang makes us all turn our heads. The burnt man is back on his feet. He has somehow freed himself from Charlie’s grease. His hands are balled into fists, his arms stretched out beside him. Slowly, the ceiling boards around him fall down and zoom through the hallway.

  Taylar takes a step back. “Who is this guy anyway? He keeps getting up.”

  “That is the Red Horseman.”

  They all stop moving and gape at him.

  Finally Jeep licks his lips. “Well, it looks like the guy downstairs has gone all in on this one.”

  “Trust me,” Quinn’s voice says in my head. “This is not all in. Not by far.”

  Vicky raises a finger. “Is that..?”

  “Yes, it’s Qaddisin,” he responds before I can open my mouth. “Listen carefully.”

  D’Maeo pushes Maël’s head down so she doesn’t get hit by a ceiling board. Charlie throws more balls, but he’s moving slower than before and the balls are smaller. He’s about to run out of ammo, so for good measure, I hit the Red Horseman with a lightning bolt.

  Unfortunately this time he saw it coming. With a flick of his wrist, he sends it off course. It hits a fluorescent tube that explodes. The officers on the other side of the hallway duck and start shouting again.

  “There’s not much time,” Quinn says in our heads, increasing the intensity of the light around us. “Charlie, grab Kale and join Dante and the others. I’m sending you to the Shadow World.”

  What? I think as hard as I can. Do you have any idea how dangerous it is there? Not just for the Shield, but for Charlie and Kale!

  “Yes, I realize the risk, but if we want to win this battle, we’ll have to take out the Red Horseman.”

  What does he have to do with the Shadow World? I wonder.

  Quinn answers that question, while Charlie hauls Kale to his feet.

  “All the Horsemen are connected to a tree in the Shadow World. Find the red tree and you’ll have the power to imprison the Red Horseman.”

  A board lands hard on my shoulder and I cry out in pain. I hold out both hands and release as many bolts as I can.

  The demolition of the ceiling stops as the Red Horseman blocks my attack. Charlie joins me, but he has nothing to shoot anymore.

  He digs into his pocket in search of food. “I need fuel.”

  Vicky taps him on the shoulder and hands him two chocolate bars.

  “Thanks, that’s a good start.”

  While he digs in, Quinn tells us to get ready. “Hold on to each other.”

  We form a quick circle and a wave of heat crashes over us. My ears ring, and I fight the urge to cover them with my hands. I don’t want to get lost halfway through our trip.

  In the distance there’s an angry roar, probably coming from the Horseman. I pray he isn’t able to follow us any time soon, but I doubt we’ll get so lucky.

  We land on our feet in the fog, still holding hands.

  Kale is the first to let go. He sticks out his arms for balance and swallows hard. “What the hell is going on? Where did you take me?”

  I exchange a look with Vicky. Apparently Kale missed Quinn’s instructions.

  “We were sent here by our friend.”

  He turns in all directions. “Where is here?”

  “The Shadow World. The world between life and death. We can find a way to defeat the Red Horseman here.”

  Maël steps out of our circle and pulls her staff out from her cape. “Not defeat, imprison. No one has ever found a way to defeat the Horsemen.” She twists her wand in her hand and keeps turning her head from left to right. “We should hurry. The sooner we get out of here, the better.”

  I grit my teeth. “I can’t believe Quinn made you come, too, after what you’ve been through here.”

  Even thinking about Maël hanging in the claws of that evil black tree makes me nauseous again, but Maël hardly seems fazed.

  She keeps her focus on our surroundings, although there’s not much we can see because of the thick fog. “It’s fine, Dante. I’m stronger now. Besides, it’s better to stay together. We’ll need all of our powers to win this.”

  “Win what?” Kale waves his arms around. His voice is strained. “Can someone please tell me what this is all about?”

  D’Maeo breaks up what remains of the circle. “There’s no time for that. Maël is right, we should hurry.”

  The two of them start walking in what seems like a random direction to me, but I follow them anyway.

  “Hang on!” Kale shouts, setting off after us. “You can’t just leave it at that. If someone wants to kill me, I deserve to know why.”

  Maël comes to an abrupt halt. She points her staff at him and he backs up. “You really don’t. In case you forgot, you just committed the sin of violence. You deserve punishment, yet we protect you.”

  I put a finger on her staff and push it down slowly. “Don’t be so hard on him. He was played. And besides, he did it to protect me and Charlie.”

  Maël gives Kale a once-over. “Really?”

  He bows his head. “Yes, but it was still wrong. I should’ve stopped when he was down, but all the anger that has been bubbling up inside of me just came out.”

  “H
mm.” The ghost queen turns on her heels, making her golden cape billow up.

  “What does that mean?” Kale inquires.

  I pat him on the back. “I think it means she’ll give you another chance.”

  “Keep up!” D’Maeo calls over his shoulder. “This fog is treacherous.”

  Taylar passes us with his shield held before him. “Tell me about it.”

  I can’t help but grin. My faith slowly returns. We lost two people here before and still made it out. We can do it again.

  CHAPTER 38

  “So, since he’s committed the sin of violence, now would be a great time to figure out what the wavy line on the Card of Death means,” I whisper to Vicky after walking on silently for about a mile.

  Taylar moves closer to us, scanning the ground ahead. “Yeah, we know it’s water, but will he be killed in a river, by a tidal wave, by rain? Crushed by ice?”

  “Keeping him away from water seems like our best option,” Vicky says.

  “Hey guys, is it just me, or is there really something pushing us back?” Jeep calls out.

  I thought I was just getting tired after all the fighting, but when I take a look at the others, I see that they all have trouble walking.

  Charlie is panting. He’s even lowered his fourth bar of chocolate. “It’s not you, I feel it, too.”

  Vicky grabs Kale’s arm. “We’re not pushed, we’re pulled.”

  I stop and turn around. Behind us there’s nothing but gray. “D’Maeo, can you block this power?”

  He takes a couple of steps back and comes to a halt beside me. For a moment he just stands there, motionless, with his hands stretched out in front of him and his eyes closed. “I think we’re close to the red tree. Someone or something is trying to pull us back. I can block them, but only if I stay like this.”

  I rub my chin. “That won’t work. We have to stay together.”

  Maël steps up beside us. “I can slow them down. That will make the pull weaker.”

  She holds her staff high and fixes her gaze on the fog in front of us. The tip of her wand, just above the entwined twigs, lights up and sparks fill the air around her.

  Kale’s voice right behind me makes me jump. “What is she doing?”

  “She’s slowing down time so we can get ahead of whatever is chasing us.”

  “That’s a kick-ass power to have.”

  Maël lowers her staff. “You can let go now, D’Maeo. Let us see how it feels.”

  As soon as he drops his hands, the pull returns, but it’s not as strong as before. We can still walk away.

  “Okay guys, let’s pick up the pace,” I urge the others. “I don’t want to stay here for too long.”

  We hurry on through the fog. Jeep, Taylar and Vicky at the front, Charlie, me and Kale in the middle and Maël and D’Maeo at the back. It feels like an expedition into uncharted territory, where we keep the most vulnerable of the group in the middle to protect him. We didn’t discuss this tactic, but it feels like the most logical one. If only we knew what to watch out for.

  Suddenly I bump into Taylar. I grab his arm so he doesn’t keel over.

  The front of the group has come to a sudden halt.

  “What is it?” I whisper, peering in all directions.

  Vicky flips back her hair. “I thought I saw something red.”

  I join her and follow her gaze. “Is it the tree?”

  She sucks in her breath and wraps her hand tightly around my wrist. “No, it’s not.” In one swift move, she makes a quarter turn and pulls me with her. “Run!”

  We haven’t taken two steps before there’s a loud hiss. The air around us heats up and the stench of sulfur makes me cough.

  I look over my shoulder to check on the others. They’re following close behind. Maël is aiming her wand at the stream of lava on our tail, but soon shakes her head. “I can’t slow it down.”

  She catches up to us soon, but the lava is moving much faster than we are.

  “We’ll never make it!” Taylar yells.

  My mind races to find a solution. And then it hits me. I stop dead, bringing Vicky to an abrupt halt. “Wait. Stop.”

  The rest of the group runs a little further before pausing.

  “What is it?” Vicky is pulling my arm. “We don’t have time to stop.”

  “Sure we do.” I take a deep breath, ignoring the foul smell and the ash that hits my lungs. “We’re in the Shadow World, nothing can physically hurt us here.” I point at the river of lava, flowing rapidly towards us. “This lava can’t harm us.”

  D’Maeo nods. “You’re right, but do you remember the time it took us to believe that? We can’t afford to wait for Kale to catch up. And we also have Charlie with us.”

  My best friend shoots the old ghost a hurt look. “Hey, I have a strong will. Don’t worry about me.”

  All heads turn to Kale. The young fighter is backing away from us and the lava with wide eyes and trembling lips.

  “Okay, you’re right,” I admit. “There’s no time to convince Kale nothing can hurt him here. We’ll have to outrun the lava.”

  Charlie shakes his head. “That’ll never work, you know.” He wipes the sweat off his forehead. “I’ve got a better idea. But I’ll need your freezing power.”

  The buzz inside me flares up when I poke it with my mind. “You’ve got it. Tell me your plan.”

  He rubs his hands together hard. “I’ll build a wall to divert the lava back to where it came from. If you freeze it, it won’t melt so fast.”

  “Good thinking.”

  While the others step back further, Charlie blasts out one block of grease after the other. I concentrate on the wall that’s forming quickly and imagine it freezing instantly. The first block holds back the lava, although some of it splashes over the top. Specks of smoldering liquid hit my cheek and some of it lands on Charlie’s bare legs but neither of us flinches. All I think about is cold, cold, cold. Let it change into ice. And it does. The first block melts a bit at the bottom, but once I’m totally focused, the frozen wall seems to build itself.

  It surprises me that I can keep up with Charlie’s dazzling speed. It takes us only a couple of minutes to create a barrier that forces the river of lava to turn back.

  Kale finds the courage to examine it up close. “That was brilliant!”

  “I know, right?” Charlie gives me a high five. “Great teamwork, mate.”

  He jerks his head back when four bars of chocolate are pushed under his nose.

  Vicky winks at him. “I thought you’d want those.”

  He takes them from her and eagerly tears the wrapper off the first one. “Thanks.” He looks her up and down before sinking his teeth into the bar. “You ‘ave an en’less sumply of bars in that mpocket of yours?”

  She grins. “Almost.”

  Charlie nudges me. “You shoul’ keep ‘is girl close.”

  I lean closer to him and whisper. “Trust me, I already do.”

  “Eh… guys?”

  Jeep’s alarmed voice makes me swerve my head around. The tattooed ghost is standing a few paces away.

  “What’s wrong?” I ask, already dreading the answer.

  He points at something in front of him. “I think I’ve found the tree.”

  CHAPTER 39

  In a split second, we’re all standing next to Jeep.

  Every one of us falls silent at the sight before us.

  Kale lets out a soft moan and Maël grabs her wand tighter. Vicky squeezes my hand, while Jeep keeps turning his hat around in his hands. Charlie even stops chewing.

  Meanwhile, I try not to show my fear. This tree looks scarier than the black one that captured Maël not too long ago. Bright red blood drips from its branches and deep gashes run along the bark that is split in half in the middle. The edges are ragged and dark and the blood that hits the bark leaves burn marks. A soft creaking, like the opening of a rusty door in a dark abandoned house, rises fr
om the tree every time it moves. The ends of its branches seem to grow sharper by the second, as if it’s getting ready to attack us.

  “We need a spell to bind the Horseman to this tree,” D’Maeo says, making us all jump.

  Charlie puts away his chocolate bars. “Aren’t they already bound?”

  D’Maeo’s gaze moves over the tree. “Yes, but he is able to leave this world, while the tree is not. If we bind them tighter, the Horseman will be stuck here, just like the tree.”

  “Sounds like a plan to me,” I say, reaching for my father’s notebook.

  I flip through it as fast as I can.

  Meanwhile, Kale paces up and down, glancing at the tree every few seconds.

  “Shouldn’t we also bind his powers, so he can’t attack us?” he suddenly says.

  I look up from the book. “What, you mean two spells in one?”

  He shrugs. “I don’t know, I’ve never cast a spell. Couldn’t you just do two?”

  Charlie slaps my back. “He’s right, you could just rewrite it, or combine two, you know.”

  Suddenly I get the feeling of something approaching. Something evil that makes my skin itch. I turn the pages faster. “We have to hurry.”

  Maël frowns at me, then turns in all directions, holding her staff in front of her. “You’re right, something is coming.”

  The others gather around Kale, holding their hands or weapons high.

  “Is it the Horseman?” Taylar asks, fear seeping through his voice.

  “I’m not sure,” I answer.

  Charlie takes out one of the remaining bars and stuffs half of it in his mouth.

  Jeep nudges Taylar. “I can’t use my power or my hat here. Do you have an extra sword?”

  I hear the white-haired boy whip out a weapon. “Of course.”

  While my heart beats twice as fast as it should, my eyes scan the pages. The lump in my throat gets bigger with every second that passes, until I can hardly breathe.