I crushed Sam’s fingers between mine as we descended toward the city. The gates were made of blackened metal and wood that looked thick enough to withstand a battering ram. With a brush of Deirdre’s fingertips, the towering gates heaved open and granted us access to the city. The ground under our feet was thick with dirt. We made our way around the spiraling streets of the city. The dwellings were smaller and more shabby up close than they had appeared from a distance. A rodent scurried across the narrow streets, inches from my bare toes. I crushed my palm against Sam’s and tried not to think about what could be causing the damp street under my feet in such blistering heat.
The buildings became larger and less squalid as we wound closer to the center of the city. We passed by several dwellings that appeared to serve a purpose for trade or learning. Yellow eyes glared at us from a window filled with vials and jars of potions of every imaginable size and shape. I twisted my head to look back at the yellow-eyed woman as we passed, wondering was she the woman who had taught Diamond the skills to charm us and lead us to this end. I started as the face of a young man appeared over her shoulder and stared into my eyes. The familiarity of his features tugged at my brain, but recognition flared and died before I could catch hold of it and shake the knowledge free.
“Now, this looks like a real city of shadows,” Sam whispered into my hair as we slowed to a halt outside of the building that was clearly the centerpiece of the city. I craned my neck in an attempt to take in the full scale and splendor of the citadel, but Sam kept his face pressed against my hair.
The solid gold door swung open, and a familiar figure stepped out to greet us. “Open your eyes, Spirit Children. Open your eyes and behold the city of your birth.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Peter. The Spirit Eater’s three-piece suits had been replaced by loose garments more fitting to the arid climate of this dusty wasteland, but when he withdrew his hands from his pockets, his fingers were curled around the familiar black notebook and pen he had always carried.
“Bring them forward, bring them forward!” Peter gestured at the guards to bring our sleeping friends to him, and wet his lips in anticipation. Sam lunged forward as Peter placed his heart palm against Ozzie’s cheek, but with a wave of his hand, the older man sent him sprawling onto the ground at my feet. “Now, now, Samuel. You must calm yourself—wouldn’t it be a shame if you wasted all of your energy before the trial had even begun?”
I tried to reach out and help Sam to his feet, but Peter narrowed his eyes, and my arms became rigid, frozen with terror and a wave of his magic. My throat tightened as Peter caressed Ozzie’s unconscious face with his fingertips.
“Little Oscar. I always knew he was special, you know?” Peter smiled brightly at myself and Deirdre. I returned his look in horrified silence, but Deirdre twisted her head to avoid his gaze and wrapped her cloak tightly around her body.
Peter returned his attention to the unconscious Demon-Born in the guard's arms. “Yes, I always had my suspicion that Oscar and Dawn would be one of our players.” He leaned forward and inhaled the scent of Ozzie’s hair deeply before straightening his back and tapping the closest guard sharply on the arm. “Bring them to their quarters; I believe it’s almost time for lunch.”
Peter’s sly smile sent shivers crawling down my spine. Deirdre’s eyes focused on Sam’s prone form. “You should release the boy, Peter. If you continue to drain his energy, we will be forced to postpone the trials for another night.”
“It almost sounds as though you were telling me what to do, my sweet Deirdre. I’m certain we spoke about this matter, not a week ago—do we need to repeat our little conversation?” Peter took a step towards Deirdre, and she shrank away from him. He grinned and let his hand fall back to his side. “I didn’t think so.”
Peter kept his bright stare narrowed on Deirdre’s downcast face, but released the force he was exerting on Sam’s body. Sam’s green eyes bulged as he gasped for breath on the ground. I dropped to my knees to comfort him, but Peter wagged his finger and an invisible hand wrapped around my neck and dragged me to my feet. “Careful, careful. You only touch your other half, Grace, if one of the Circle grants you permission.”
Deirdre mumbled something under her breath as she side-stepped Peter and fled inside the building. He watched her leave with a sour face. “Something will have to be done about that woman.” Peter’s lips twisted into a grin. “But today is all about you, children. The returned. It’s time to welcome you back to the fold.”
The ornate gold doors of the citadel flew open, and Peter swept us through them with a flick of his wrist and a blast of energy. Once the entrance had sealed behind us, he released his hold, and Sam slumped forward, rocking on his feet. I reached for his fingers, but Peter’s raised fist stilled my hand.
“May I help him stand? Please?” The words were pulled from my lips as painfully as if my teeth were being extracted.
Peter beamed at me beatifically and bowed his head. “Of course, it warms my heart to see the chosen pairs begin to bond. The Circle have been waiting eagerly to see the fruits of your union. To see you connect—on every level…”
I wrapped my arms around Sam’s waist to support him and pressed my face against his chest to escape Peter’s leer. Sam leaned his weight on me and crushed his lips to my forehead. His body shook, but his voice was steady. “What do you want from us, Peter?”
“But you already know the answer to that question, Samuel.” Peter’s voice rose in pitch. “The Circle wishes only that you fulfill the role you were created for. “
Peter pressed his hands against two great white doors, and they swung open to reveal a curving corridor. He led us forward, through the hallway, and my eyes widened as I took in the painted images covering every inch of the walls—a macabre masterpiece of blood, and war, and sacrifice. Winged Angels spun through the air, their razor-sharp blades dripping with crimson liquid. Spirit Demons wound their way through fields of wide-eyed children. Peter beckoned us forward, and we followed him along the great sweeping passage until we reached another doorway.
On either side of the door were scenes of men and women engaging in acts of intimacy. The art had been rendered with such excellence and precision that I felt I should avert my eyes. I stared at the ground and realized that the couples were copulating on a wasteland of the dead. Sam cupped my face with his hand and turned it away from the gruesome scene.
“Do not close your eyes, Spirit Children. Look upon the true history of this world.” Peter rested his back against the door and spread his arms wide. “This is what the Shadow Children strive to protect. A world where all creatures procreate and mix their blood, even unto the ends of the Earth. The union of the blood has ever brought war and decay. Even the Great Divide has not purified the earth. The darkness remains at the core of our world—a world where babes shrivel at their mother’s breasts, and rapists and murderers roam free—but it need not be. The Circle has found a way to allow a new world to be reborn from the ashes of this one. A phoenix rising from the flames.”
“Using our powers?” Sam asked the question through gritted teeth.
Peter’s smile remained intact, but his jaw tightened. “Using the powers, we have given you. Nature did not create you in this image, Samuel. We did.” Peter jabbed his finger against his own chest and his face contorted in a flash of egotistical mania, before settling once again into a neutral state. He brushed down his flowing robe and straightened its collar. “You would do well not to forget that fact, children. We created you as a gift to the world, but the power is ours. The Circle giveth, and the Circle taketh away.”
“It’s no gift.” Peter’s glare burned across my face, but I refused to look at my feet. “You didn’t create us as a gift to the
world; you created us as a weapon of mass genocide.”
“Purification!” Peter’s shout echoed along the corridor, and he pressed his lips together as if surprised by the volume of his own voice. He inhaled slowly. “You are struggling to understand the true nature of our struggle. I sympathize, there was once a time when I too was blind. The Circle follows the path of the righteous. We see what many are too ignorant to see. When the fire has cleansed the earth, you will look upon its beauty and know that we did what was necessary.”
From the other side of the door at Peter’s back, a horn sounded. Peter straightened himself and pushed it open to reveal an amphitheater, hidden at the center of the citadel. Sam stepped forward, and his head swiveled as he took in the rows of stone benches surrounding the ring, and the nine narrow platforms positioned at even intervals. Seven of the raised platforms were occupied by men and women wearing robes that matched Peter’s.
Peter smiled and nodded in their direction. “My brothers, some of whom are my sisters, as you can see. Not born of the one womb, but born of the same belief—that our world was deserving of salvation, whatever the cost.”
“How long has this place been here?” Sam gripped my hands tightly in his as he eyed the gaping hole in the center of the ring, carved into the shape of an ornate sun.
“The city is ancient. It predates much of what is recalled in any of the history books we studied together, Samuel.” Peter swept his hand toward the people who had begun to trickle into the theater and sit on the stone benches. There appeared to be a few hundred, at most. Many of them looked younger than Sam and me, and few seemed older than Cain or Cat. “The Circle began to populate it with our loyal followers, and our Spirit Children, a few decades ago.”
My gaze was drawn immediately to the single lined face amongst the crowd, and I recognized her as the woman I had seen in the building with the potions in the window. She sat alone, a black shawl wrapped tightly around her frail shoulders, and stared down at the center of the ring. Her eyebrows were drawn together tightly, and her fingers plucked at her clothes repeatedly. I followed her line of vision into the ring, and my fingers spasmed inside Sam’s.
“Valerie and Diamond. What are you going to do to them?” I couldn’t tear my eyes away from the sight of the two small girls being dragged across the sand. Diamond kicked and scraped at the hands of the guards, screaming at them to release her sister, but Valerie didn’t fight. Her wide eyes darted over the crowd, and panic wrapped itself around my heart and squeezed tightly. I reached out and grabbed Peter’s sleeve. “They did what you wanted. They handed us over to you—why are you punishing them?”
Peter released his clothing from my grasp with a look of disdain. “Silly girl, they are not being punished, they’re being rewarded. The Circle is offering them the greatest honor that any Demon-Born child can be given—a chance to be tested to see if they possess one of the Lost Powers. Fergus reports that these children charmed your party with ease. They claim they used their basic potion training, but to charm three children of power and a Demon-Born with as much training and scale as I know Cain possesses— well, it’s exceptional. I think we could be in for quite the show.”
Sam pulled me into him and wrapped both of his arms around my body. I stiffened, afraid that Peter would punish him for embracing me without asking permission, but Peter’s attention was focused on the two girls. He leaned over the stone wall of the balcony and licked his lips. “I should make my way to my podium, but I think I would enjoy the show better from here. It’s such a pleasant change to have company while I watch.”
I squinted at the two empty podiums, one of which I assumed belonged to Peter. “Who owns the other empty podium?”
The question had burst from my lips before I had a chance to consider the wisdom of engaging Peter in further conversation. Peter watched me out of the corner of his eye. “A brother who cannot be with us today.”
I nodded, and Peter turned back to the spectacle below. I shivered as a cloud passed over the open roof, and the temperature plummeted. Sam’s fingers tightened, and his nails dug into my skin. My eyes jerked upward, and I pressed my fist against my mouth to stop the whimper escaping from my lips. It wasn’t a cloud. The Spirit Demons were here.
Peter threw his head back and sucked a greedy mouthful of air into his lungs. “It begins.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
Diamond shot her hands above her head and screamed for Valerie to get behind her. The air around them shivered as the skinny blond girl created a swirling blizzard of light particles to shield herself and her timid sister from the encroaching Spirit Demons. Her lips moved rapidly as Diamond searched the crowded with frantic eyes. I squeezed Sam’s fingers in mine. “What is she looking for?”
Sam’s jaw hopped as Peter slid closer to answer my question. “She’s a clever girl. Must have paid attention when she was a spectator—she knows the Hounds are on their way.”
“The Hounds?” Dread made my tongue thicken and swell, as though I had eaten poisonous berries. My gaze flickered toward the old woman from the potion house. I saw that she was no longer alone, but I couldn’t tell if her companion was man, woman, or child because of the large hooded cloak that concealed their face from view. A cry of terror drew my attention back to the ring. Valerie pressed her palms over her eyes and screamed again.
Sam crushed my body against his chest, but I twisted my neck to watch the scene unfold, ripping at the silver band around my wrist desperately as I saw the black forms of the Hounds creeping into the ring.
They were men, not beasts, but their black-clad limbs, tipped with razor sharp blades, reminded me of poisonous spiders trapping their prey in their web. Diamond spun in a circle, using one hand to keep Valerie tucked behind her, and the smell of burning flesh filled the amphitheater as a bolt of lightning sent one of the Hounds howling through the air.
I felt a rush of respect for the fierce little urchin, despite her treachery. A garbled scream split the silence as a second Hound fell, pierced through the chest by a needle sharp icicle. The woman on the podium closest to us leaned forward and caught Peter’s eye. He nodded, and in tandem, the rest of the Circle members lifted their arms into the air and began to hum. Every trace of blood drained from Sam’s face.
“What are they doing, Sam?” My throat was so raw; I wasn’t sure Sam would be able to understand my words.
“Tightening the screws.” His face eyes were riveted on Peter and the Circle. “They think that if they frighten her enough, she’ll crack and release her hidden power—if she has one.”
I stared down at Diamond’s skinny frame as she flipped over the blades of two Hounds, causing them to collide and embed their knives in each other’s chests. The blond girl skidded over the sand and pulled a weeping Valerie behind her back once more, shielding her from the two remaining Hounds. The humming of the Circle grew louder, and the Spirit Demons began to circle with greater speed, wearing away at the shield of light that Diamond had created. Valerie began to sob.
“But they have it all wrong—it wasn’t fear that released our powers, it was love,” I said. “Ozzie wasn’t in any danger today. He found his strength because Dawn was in danger.”
Sam’s voice was as taut as a tightrope. “That’s why they have both girls in the ring.”
“To try and break Diamond?” My eyes widened as she closed her eyes and released an explosion on wind, sending the two final Hounds soaring through the air. Their heads connected with the stone barriers and the sickening crack of shattering bone rang through the theater. “I think she’s powerful enough already.”
Peter’s lips curved into a lopsided grin and he started to make his way down the stone steps, toward the ring. “Oh, the gift is there alright. I wasn’t certain, but now I am.”
Sam tried to hold me back, but I jolted down the steps after Peter, my skin prickling as
his stare fixed on Valerie’s petrified form. I grabbed at the back of Peter’s robes. “Please, don’t hurt her. She’s just a frightened kid. She’s gentle and kind—please don’t use her as something to draw out Diamond’s power. I’ll work with her, I promise. I’ll help Diamond free her gift.”
Peter flicked my fingers off his clothes and gave me a contemptuous sneer. “Sometimes I wonder did we make a mistake with you, Seeker. So little insight.” He shrugged me off and pursed his lips. “Perhaps tomorrow when we test Cain and Cat we will find that one of those is the really Seeker.”
He kicked me out of his way and leaped effortlessly over the barrier and into the ring. My knees gave way, and I sank onto the closest stone bench. Sam slid onto the seat behind me and wrapped his arm around my shoulder.
I wanted to look away as Peter plucked a blade from the dead hand of a bleeding Hound and made his way toward the girls, but my eyes refused to listen to reason. Peter grinned and batted away the wall of ice that Diamond hurled at him.
My head jerked to the left as I heard a little moan escape from the person on the other end of the bench, and I realized we had sat down beside the old lady from the poison shop. I had guessed correctly; this must be the woman Valerie had spoken about—Anna. Tears stung my eyelids as I watched the old woman crush her fist against her lips. Her hands flew open, and a cry escaped her sunken mouth. “Diamond.”
Diamond? I swung my gaze back onto the ring, and my spine snapped as I jolted upright. Peter walked straight past Valerie’s shuddering form and snatched the small blond off the ground, jabbing the blade against her throat. Blood trickled down her neck and stained her threadbare shift. Valerie’s eyes widened, and her hands shook violently. Diamond said something to her friend, but I couldn’t decipher her words.
The Shadow City (The Demon-Born Trilogy Book 2) Page 15
