The Third Sin

by Tamara Geraeds

  And then I finally find it. The words seem to glow, as if they know I need them.

  Binding spell

  “I’ve got it,” I pant, regaining my breath. “Vicky, I need a long piece of black string, a piece of cardboard, a black pen and…” I pause when a chill runs through me.

  “And what?” she asks, pulling a piece of string out of her pocket.

  My shoulders sag. “A part of that tree.”

  Taylar whirls around without hesitation. “I’ll get that for you.”

  Although I admire his courage, I doubt that tree will just let him cut off a piece of it. But there’s no time to tell Taylar that, since he’s already charging the tree.

  Its branches shoot forward as the young ghost comes close.

  My warning catches in my throat when Taylar evades the attack with a somersault and cuts off a twig in the process. While the trees lets out a loud howl, the ghost boy picks up the severed twig and rolls out of reach.

  With large strides he walks back and holds it out to me with a grin. “Here you go.”

  I can’t help but grin back. “Thanks! You’re getting better every day.”

  His smile fades a little and he fumbles to take his shield from his back. “Well, I have to stand out at something.”

  I place a hand on his arm. “You stand out just fine, trust me.”

  “Thank you, master,” he says with a slight bow of his head.

  Vicky hands me a pen and a piece of cardboard, on which I write The Red Horseman. Then I take out my athame.

  I’m getting a bit tired of cutting myself, but since the spell requires my blood, I have no choice.

  It doesn’t even hurt anymore when I push the tip of the blade through the flesh of my finger. Blood wells up and I draw a pentacle over the name on the cardboard. Then I fold it three times, hold the twig against it, pick up the piece of string I dropped when Taylar charged the tree, and take a deep breath. “Here we go, guys.”

  With every line I recite, I pull the string around the cardboard and twig, binding them together tighter and tighter.

  “Hear me now, Powers that be.

  Bind these creatures, three times three.

  Keep them in this blackened place,

  unable to move through time and space.

  Hear me now, Powers of High.

  Let this creature’s strength run dry.

  Keep his powers out of sight,

  so he can no longer fight.

  Hear me now, Powers that be.

  Bind them for eternity.

  Make them feel their faulty ways,

  from now until their final days.”

  As I turn the cardboard and twig sideways, I start again. The feeling of evil approaching gets stronger and I talk faster and faster, until D’Maeo gently touches my hand. “Remember to stay calm. Every word has to be pronounced clearly or it won’t work.” He nods reassuringly. “Keep going.”

  For the last time, I turn the package in my hand and recite the spell.

  I haven’t even finished the first line when a chilling laugh echoes through the mist around us. It takes all of my concentration to keep my eyes on the package and my mind on the spell. Especially when I recognize the voice. It’s not the one we were expecting.

  For a second I meet Charlie’s troubled gaze. He’s heard it, too.

  “You guys look like a bunch of boy scouts,” the voice says, menace audible in every word.

  “There must be something wrong with your eyes then,” Charlie retorts.

  “Nope.”

  For a second I look up as my former friend emerges from the mist. He looks oddly different but still the same. His brown hair, now more like a shade of gray, still blocks half of his view. His almost black eyes have no glint of light anymore, and there are gray spots, like ash, spread across his face. His jawline is even squarer than I remember and instead of skinny, he’s bony.

  But there’s no time to look at Simon now, I have to finish this spell.

  So I tear my gaze away from him and proceed with the next line.

  “I see you’ve found yourself some new friends, Dante.”

  “Yeah,” Charlie answers in my place, “we found that some of our former friends were actually pretty bad company, you know.”

  From the corner of my eye, I see Simon throwing his head back. He laughs uncontrollably. “Oh yes, but bad company is so much more fun to have.” He spins on his heels with his arms wide. “And it can give you so much power.”

  I pause, trying to remember the next line of the spell. It’s hard when my former friend, killed by me, is in front of me. I have a feeling that this is all just show. Even though I didn’t know Simon as well as I thought, I know he’s up to something now.

  “Make them feel their faulty ways,

  from now until their final days.”

  As soon as I finish, the mist around me starts to swirl. It pulls the cardboard and twig package out of my hands with a jerk and lifts it high above us. Then it explodes. Large flames break through the mist and press it down.

  I dive out of the way just before the fire hits the ground. It extinguishes on impact and giant clouds of ash rise up, forming a human body.

  Behind me, Simon brings his hands together in mock applause. “You did it! Great job. I have to admit I didn’t see that coming. Too bad it won’t help you.”

  While I back away further, the ash turns red and slowly the figure becomes clearer.

  It has bright red, straw like hair and looks like the slender brother of Frankenstein’s monster.

  Simon is right, I did it. I bound the Red Horseman to the red tree.

  I bite my lip as the gaze of the burnt man locks onto me. He doesn’t look very happy.

  “Did you think you could bind me and not suffer the consequences?” His voice is so deep here that I can feel it vibrate in my stomach.

  “Well…” I start saying, but he doesn’t let me finish.

  He lifts his hands and gives me the most menacing look I’ve ever seen. I hastily conjure a lightning bolt, but I don’t need it.

  The Horseman turns his hands around with wide eyes. “What? What did you do to me? How is this possible?” His voice reaches an earsplitting volume, making the mist around us tremble. “No one can beat me!”

  He charges and I release my bolt. It hits him square in the chest, but he keeps coming. I should have made him easy to kill, too.

  In one swift motion, I pull out my athame and prepare to swing it at his neck.

  “No, don’t!”

  D’Maeo jumps between us and hits the Red Horseman on the head with the hilt of his sword. He crumbles to the ground with a soft thud.

  I approach with my athame still raised. “What did you do that for?”

  Vicky hands the old ghost a rope and he starts binding the Horseman’s hands together. “We can’t kill him, he’ll come back with all his powers restored, and unbound.”

  I recoil. “Oh, good thing you stopped me.”

  As I put away my weapon, I remember something. My head swerves from left to right. “What happened to Simon? Did someone take him out, too?”

  They all shake their heads.

  With a soft poke, I bring back the lightning in my hand and chase away some of the mist. “Then where is he?”

  There’s a cackle from somewhere above us. “Oh, I’m still here. It’s not easy for me to leave this place. But it is for my friends.”

  Taylar joins me, his shield held in front of him. “What does that mean?”

  I slowly breathe in and out and try to keep my calm. My eyes scan our surroundings, but there’s no one here but us. No one visible at least.

  My palms get sweatier with every second that passes. I check if everyone is okay and my heart stops. “Kale?”

  Suddenly everyone is moving, checking every spot they can see. Above our heads Simon is laughing like a maniac. He must have turned into his air form so we’re unable to
see him.

  ”Kale? Are you still with us?”

  A rush of cold air hits my face and Simon shows himself, suspended in the air. “I’m sorry, your friend has been taken, Dante.”

  I ball my hands into fists, crushing the bolt that was still there into tiny sparks. “Taken where?”

  Only Simon’s grin is visible through the mist as he backs away from us. “What does it matter? You’re too late to save him.”

  A frustrated yell escapes from my lips and Simon’s hand appears in the sky, his index finger pointed upward. “One point for us, Dante. One point for us.”

  As his voice fades away, I turn to the others. “We have to find a way back home.”

  Maël is moving her staff slowly from left to right. “I’ve almost got it.”

  “What?” I ask, stepping closer.

  “Their trace. If I can locate the remnants of the portal they went through, we might be able to follow them through before it closes.”

  There’s a soft moan behind me and I whirl around, a bolt already flickering in my palm.

  But it’s just the Horseman, reaching for his head.

  “Hit him again if he moves,” I instruct Taylar, who has already rushed to his side.

  “With pleasure.”

  The Red Horseman looks up at him angrily, but his expression changes when he meets the young ghost’s eyes. “Well well, look at you.”

  Taylar frowns down at him. “Why? What do you mean?”

  The burnt man just grins and when Taylar is about to hit the answer out of him, Maël beckons us. “I’ve found it. Come quickly.”

  We all gather around her and grab each other’s hands.

  The Red Horseman gets up and tries to join us, but an invisible string pulls him back to the tree and he lands on his back with a curse.

  “Wait!” he yells, as Maël steps through the portal, pulling us with her. “Lift the spell and I’ll tell you!”

  I tighten my grip on Taylar’s hand. “Don’t listen to him, he’s a liar.”

  He nods feverishly, but I can see the doubt in his eyes. “I know.”

  CHAPTER 40

  We land in the northern forest, not far from the silver mine by the looks of it. We all stumble to regain our balance on the uneven ground.

  A shaky voice calls for help from only a couple of feet away.

  I pull Vicky upright. “That’s Kale.”

  We move forward without waiting for the others, but I can feel they’re close behind.

  There’s a small clearing just beyond the two pine trees blocking my view. I peer out from behind the overhanging branches and my whole body goes cold.

  The young boxer is standing in the middle of the clearing, with his arms outstretched and a terrified look on his face.

  “Please stop,” he whispers. “I’ll do anything.”

  “Oh, I know,” a meandering female voice says from his left. “But all you have to do is die.”

  An Asian looking girl with blue hair flowing down to her ankles and greenish skin paces up and down in front of Kale.

  The boxer throws her a pleading look. “Please let me go, I didn’t do anything to you, did I?”

  She puts a finger with a long nail under his chin and smiles. “No, you didn’t. You are part of a milestone in the history of Earth. You’re a piece of the power change puzzle.”

  “What if I don’t want to be?”

  “I’m afraid you don’t have a choice, love.”

  She steps back, licks the tips of her fingers and moves her left hand in a circle at her side. Drops of water spring from her fingertips as she slowly moves her arm back and the circles get wider.

  Kale lets out a pained cry and I dive forward, hoping the others are ready to follow. “Now!”

  We don’t get far. As soon as we step onto the clearing, we hit a wall of water.

  The greenish woman turns around. “Oh look, your friends have arrived. Too bad they’re too late.”

  I hit the water wall with lightning and when nothing happens, I try to freeze it. Slowly it turns solid.

  “That’s impressive,” the woman says. “But it won’t help.”

  She turns back to Kale and starts drawing circles in the air again, making the boxer scream in pain.

  When the lower half of the wall is frozen, I nod to Jeep. “Hit it with your hat.”

  He throws it and as soon as the rim strikes the surface, the ice breaks with a satisfying crack. While the hat zooms back to the tattooed ghost, shards of ice crash to the ground. I wait for the rest of the water to fall so we can jump over it, but the ice is replaced by new water in the blink of an eye.

  Kale is screaming his lungs out, and when I look at him through the wall, I can see why. Every time the blue-haired woman reaches the end of her circle movements, tiny drops of water are pulled from Kale’s body.

  “What are you doing?” I yell at her. “Stop that!”

  “It sucks, doesn’t it? Watching helplessly.” A second woman appears. Leisurely she strolls along the other side of the wall. Her orange hair reaches her knees and her skin has a yellow glow. If she hid in a coral reef, you would never find her.

  She waves at me with a lazy smile. “Hi, I’m Galene and this is my sister Nerida. We’re water elementals. I would shake your hand, but I’m afraid I have to keep this wall up a while longer.”

  I step closer to her and look her in the eyes. They are mesmerizing, even more beautiful than Vicky’s, with the green that fades into blue. She looks so peaceful and pure, that I can’t believe she’s evil.

  “Why are you doing this? You don’t look like the kind that wants to hurt people.”

  The corners of her mouth curl up unnaturally far. “Well, you look like a smart guy, but I guess looks can be deceiving, right?”

  I focus my freezing power on her instead of the wall. “Come on, Galene, we must be able to come to an understanding. Maybe we can help you get what you want without killing Kale.”

  She shivers. “I don’t think so.”

  “Please? Just stop whatever you’re doing to him for a minute so we can talk.”

  She leans closer to the wall and runs her fingers through the water. “It’s too late for your friend. Nerida is pulling all the water out of his body. He’ll be dead soon and the sand demons will take his soul to Hell.” She throws back her head and lets out a shrill laugh that doesn’t fit her appearance. “You should give up, chosen one. You can’t win this.”

  With a quick shake of her shoulders, she sheds the ice that’s been building on her cheeks. Then she turns on her heels and walks over to her sister. “Are you almost done? I’m getting bored.”

  Drops of water are pulled from every pore in Kale’s body. He has stopped screaming, his head hangs limply on his chest. He looks like a tattered doll.

  It’s not too late yet. We just have to break through this wall.

  Once more, I reach for my power core and imagine the water freezing rapidly. “Jeep, when I say go, hit the ice as many times as you can.”

  I want to look over my shoulder when there’s no response, but I have to keep my focus on the wall.

  “Jeep?” I repeat. “Did you hear me?”

  Galene turns back to us and twists a string of orange hair around her finger. “I think he’s out of the game, love.”

  My heart sinks when I hear my friend groan. It takes only two seconds for Vicky to confirm my fears. “It’s his tattoos, Dante. We have to hold him down before he hurts himself.”

  “What about the hand cuffs?”

  D’Maeo sighs. “I’m sorry, Dante. I can’t find them. I must have lost them in the Shadow World.”

  For a second, I squeeze my eyes shut. We can’t give up. We can’t let the Devil win, not even once.

  “Vicky and Charlie, stay with Jeep,” I say. “The rest of you, come here and keep your weapons ready.”

  From the corner of my eye, I see them line up in front of the wall
. “Good. When I say go, hit this wall with everything you’ve got and keep hitting it until I’m through. Then follow me if you can.”

  My voice sounds more confident than I feel, and Galene’s smirk doesn’t make it any better. She just stays where she is, her arms folded like a school teacher waiting for her students to do something stupid.

  “Hold on, Kale! We’re coming!” Taylar yells.

  “Go!” I shout, and the clanging and pounding of steel and wood on ice fills the air.

  As soon as the ice breaks, I step forward. For a moment my heart jumps, as I realize I’ve made it through. Then I hit another water wall and scream in frustration.

  I whirl around. “Maël, can you stop time?”

  She nods and lifts her staff high above her.

  “Hurry, please,” I whisper when Kale drops to the ground like a puppet whose strings have been cut.

  The two water elementals stop moving, the cry of a bird above us is cut off abruptly and the trees no longer rustle.

  As fast as I can, I freeze the new wall.

  But before I’m even halfway done, everything starts moving again.

  The ghost queen slams her wand into the ground, then lifts it again. There’s a frustrated look on her face.

  The movements of the water elementals are phased, as if someone is pushing the pause and play buttons over and over.

  And just when I think things can’t get worse, three lizard heads pop up behind Kale, sniffing the air eagerly. They move closer on the rhythm of my heart beat, their moments of freezing and unfreezing like a gruesome game of Red Light/Green Light.

  “Maël?”

  She sighs loudly. “I’m sorry, my power is not working.”

  The demons now approach in a steady pace. Their beady eyes are fixed on Kale´s motionless body.

  Next to me, D’Maeo, Maël and Taylar are trying to breach the wall, but it´s no use. We´ll never reach Kale in time.

  Unless…

  “D’Maeo, can you deflect the power used to create this wall?” I ask.