by John Corwin
Page 11
I touched the first symbol. A gentle chime sounded, echoing off the hard walls. Keeping my finger on the cool metal, I looked around the room and saw a broken arch highlighted by a glowing circle of white light from the surface of the silver band set into the floor around it. When I removed my finger, the light stayed on while the stars on the map pulsed white.
I touched a star in North America. Two chimes sounded and the other stars on the map winked out, leaving only the symbol to the left side of the map and the star on the map glowing.
I touched the still-lit symbol. A klaxon trumpeted, causing me to flinch, and the star and symbol winked off. I ran my finger down the odd symbols, touching each one to activate the light around their assigned arch, hoping to find the symbol that highlighted an unbroken structure. The map was positioned perfectly in the room so I could see each arch light up. But some symbols didn't activate the light over any arches, and the ones that did revealed only broken ones.
I glanced around the room and saw the glistening shape of the cherub wobbling its way through the long rows of arches. I still had a minute or two before it reached me.
At the bottom of the rows of Cyrinthian symbols, I noticed a larger icon like a solid circle with two lines angling from the top in a 'V' shape. I was pretty sure I knew which arch it went to. I touched it.
Instead of a gentle chime, a deep klaxon note bellowed across the room and the white arch glowed. White and black energy streaked through the air in all directions, mesmerizing me for a brief moment before another cherubic wail slapped me in the face. I glanced at the map. None of the stars were lit. The devil only knew where that arch led.
Something scraped against the floor behind me.
I spun and yelped in alarm as the cherub lunged for me. I jerked back, barely avoiding its grasp, but a knobby finger trailed down my bare leg, setting every cell on fire with intense cold. Nausea twisted my stomach and cold sweat burst from every pore on my body. The creature's face met the ground with a sick wet thud. I backed away, wondering if I could kill it with a sure-footed stomp. It jerked back to its feet with an ease that belied its disproportionate body. Shrieking, hands spread to its sides, fingers crooked like little claws, it came at me. Smoky wings flickered over its shoulders and I could almost see a crazed, maniacal face trapped behind the smooth oily surface if its head.
The sound echoed. A chorus of shrieks answered. I backed away in wide-eyed horror at the sight of dozens more of the creatures shambling through the rows of arches. My own shriek of terror joined with the cherubs' and I streaked away, not stopping until I nearly collided with an arch in the far back of the room. I pressed my thumb to the silver circuit and willed it closed. After a couple of tries, a crackle in the air and the pressure of an immense amount of magic welling around me told me I'd done it.
My body felt as though it was in the middle of a cloud of static electricity. Apparently, the power here was extremely concentrated. I had no idea what a ley line looked like but I pictured giant glowing conduits of magical power humming beneath the ground.
The symbol in the floor next to this arch looked like a circle with multiple lines crisscrossing it, crossing the edges. Nothing matched it on the huge map. In other words, I had no idea where it went, if anywhere.
The first glistening cherub reached the circle. I jumped back, cursing. The creature bounced off and fell on its back, squealing and shrieking in a miserable voice, sending needles racing up my spine.
"Dah nah!" it wailed.
The others answered in the same words.
I shivered violently, gasping deep breaths to calm myself. The little freaks couldn't get me in here, but I had to find a way to activate this thing. If this arch really didn't go anywhere, I was screwed. There was another possibility to the odd symbol, though. Maybe these arches weren't connected to the map for a reason. If this place really was a transport hub where beings came from all over, maybe they had to build something that was easy for the average Joe to use. The other rows might be for newbies while these arches were for advanced users. Maybe the lines on the circle meant these could go anywhere. Or maybe I was wrong and these arches weren't finished. Maybe a void of death waited at their terminus.
For all I knew, this row of arches was where they disposed of trash, and the circle was a garbage compactor, like the one on the Death Star. "This isn't Return of the Jedi," I hissed, hoping to the Force I was right.
I slapped my cheek to snap myself from the daze of indecisiveness.
More cherubs crowded the circle while newcomers threaded through the arches. The place was crawling with them. I had to face facts. There was no escaping this circle. Not without using the arch. I turned back to it, forcing myself to ignore the shrieks and wails and the possibility the circle might collapse from the weight of bodies pressing against it.
Unfortunately, there were no big green buttons or easy-to-follow instructions mounted on a placard nearby, so I did the next best thing by pointing a finger at the arch and saying, "Activate!" When that didn't work, I tried a few other words, some of them very descriptive of my situation and not at all suited for mixed company. Shelton had told me several times intent and will were important in making something work right. Perhaps I just had to focus on somewhere specific I needed to go. Doing that while panic streaked through my veins and fear twined a cold coil around my guts seemed impossible.
Standing halfway between the arch and the silver ring, I concentrated on the arch again and said, "Take me home. "
An azure string of power lanced from one side of the arch to the other, running up the black stone like something in a mad-scientist's lab. I jumped up and whooped as the air between the arch flickered from black to gray to white. The gruesome baby things screeched and pressed against the invisible circle, throwing tantrums as they shouted what probably passed for obscenities in scary baby language.
"Hurry up, stupid arch!" I said.
Images of different places flashed across the arch like a slide show, but too fast to follow. Then they slowed, each one lingering a little longer than the last. I saw my old house, police tape across the smashed front door where hellhounds had burst in and a possum taking a poo on the carpet. I saw Shelton's underground lair flash past, my father and Shelton, each with full-to-bursting duffel bags in hand, making for the exit, but the scene vanished before I could even think to leap through. Next, a blonde woman appeared, kneeling before a blonde girl, gripping her by the arms and talking in low tones as tears streamed down their faces. My heart stopped as I recognized my mother. And the girl—she had to be my sister!
I screamed, "Ivy!" and lunged forward. Before I could step through the circle, the scene blinked away and another replaced it. Seconds passed before I realized this one might be the last. Ten feet away, Elyssa climbed from a river, coughing water from her lungs as Kassallandra knelt at her side and patted her back. Two hellhounds, including the massive Malkesh stood nearby, their eyes gleaming in the dusk.
"He can't be gone," Elyssa said, sobbing. "He can't be! We have to go back. "
"We can't," Kassallandra said, her voice somber and sad. "In all the times I've been in that place, I've never seen that creature before. It killed two of my hounds. " Tears glistened in her eyes. "My poor babies. "
"Screw your hounds!" Elyssa screamed. "Justin needs our help!"
"I'm here!" I yelled. I wondered why the arch had chosen this, of all places, to stop. I'd expected my old house since I'd specified I wanted to go home. I felt my face go slack as the truth hit me. Home is where the heart is. And my heart was with Elyssa. In ten steps, I'd be with her.
Brilliant balls of energy shot into the dark air, casting dark flickering shadows along the wooded riverbank. Masked figures in black clothing similar to what Elyssa favored for her night operations melted from the dark. In front of them stood an unmasked man, his close-cropped salt and pepper hair betraying his identity in a heartbeat. Tho
mas Borathen.
"Father?" Elyssa shouted. "What—how did you find us?"
"I've been tracking you for some time, daughter. "
"Ryland betrayed us?"
He shook his head. "No. Ryland was merely a decoy. I knew you might rebel, much as it pained me to think of my precious daughter doing such a thing, so I placed a tracker on you the night you brought that thing to our home. "
"Justin is not a thing. "
Thomas scowled. "I can hardly stand the shame you've brought me, Daughter. I expected so much better from you. Especially from you. "
"I don't expect you to understand. You're blinded by misplaced hatred. " She took in the other Templars surrounding her and Kassallandra. "Why did you wait so long to come for me if you've been tracking me all this time?"
"I thought you might uncover something of interest. A visit to this unholy place certainly qualifies. " He looked around the area. "Where is Justin Slade?"
"He's not here," Elyssa said, outrage heating her words. "And don't expect me to tell you where he is. "
I clenched my fists and stared with disbelief at the number of Templars forming up around Elyssa, Kassallandra, and the two remaining hellhounds who stood before their mistress, hackles raised and thunder rumbling in their throats.
The cherub creatures continued to wail outside the circle but no one on the other side of the arch seemed to hear it. Somehow, I had to get through the portal and rescue Elyssa from her dad, although that looked impossible from where I was standing. Maybe I could blur through, snatch her, and dash back inside the arch. Sharing a room with these creepy little monsters scared the crap out of me, but so long as the circle held them out, we'd be okay. Then all I had to do was redirect the arch somewhere a little safer than Templar central.
Thomas Borathen sighed. "Where did I go wrong with you, girl?" He glared at Kassallandra who was calmly pulling her clothes from the backpack and putting them on as the hellhounds paced around her. "You really leave me no choice. "
Elyssa clenched both hands to her sides. "What's that supposed to mean?"
