“Nay. The magistrate was kind enough. He was just doing what he had to.”
Though he disagreed mightily and wished to pummel the ears of everyone involved, Horatius held his tongue and savored the feeling of holding him close and having Billy’s little arms locked around his neck.
“Thank you,” he said to the vicar, who nodded back.
“They would not let me keep the dove,” Billy said when he finally released his grip and sat back on Horatius’ lap. “What will we do?”
“You need to do something now. Quickly. I just saw the sorceress who is going to help Panahasi take the girls. We need to know where they are meeting.”
Before he could say more, Billy vaulted off his lap and dashed into the street. He turned and gestured to Horatius that he could see her and for Horatius to wait there.
“Is that safe?” the vicar asked. “He is just a lad.”
“Not just a lad, but quite a lad. He will be all right. As soon as he sees where she goes, he will come back and fetch us.”
“I dinna think I can be a part of sorcery and such things.”
“I know, I know. I can’t ask that of you. But before you go, could you help me back onto the beast? Then I will ask no more of you. Getting Billy out is more than I can thank you for.”
With plenty of pushing, pulling, and a bit more swearing than any vicar would want to hear, the two of them got Horatius back on the mule.
The vicar left and Horatius rode the mule slowly in the direction Billy had gone. It seemed an eternity before he came sprinting back up the road.
“I followed her. She is setting up some kind of circle of fire, muttering all kinds of infernal charms as she does. We dinna have time to find another dove. The lasses willna be long in coming, I am certain.” He grabbed the mule’s harness and tugged the beast into a pace they had never achieved before, though it was still too slow for Horatius’ liking.
“She is in the woods, among the trees. You canna see her from the road,” Billy said as he guided them onto a new road edging a forest.
They came to a place that didn’t look any different from the rest of the wood, but Billy turned and plunged straight in among the trees. They moved deeper and deeper into the darkness, moving much slower to avoid running into trees or tripping over roots. Horatius raised his arm to protect his face from the unseen branches that stung his cheeks with scrapes and pokes.
Far away, the sound of voices drifted to them through the trees. In only moments, they would have the girls.
CHAPTER 52
Pan pressed his hand on the small of Chloe’s back and pushed with enough pressure to move her forward into the circle of fire. Fear danced at the edges of her emotions, but she was determined not to give in to it. She had to get home. No matter what it took or what she had to face.
Kaitlyn must have been afraid, too, because she took hold of her hand and gripped tighter than usual. Her hand was clammy and shaking.
“Kneel,” the woman said. “Come in close to the center flame and kneel.”
Pan kept pressing against her back until she was so close she could have stepped into the fire. She wanted to tell him he could stop pushing, but she was afraid to speak.
She lowered herself to the ground and Kaitlyn did the same, stooping so close she was nearly sitting on Chloe.
Pan sat on her other side, wedged in tight. The pressure of Kaitlyn and Pan on either side helped her tremble less.
The woman scrutinized their group. “Let us begin.” She waved her hands in lazy circles through the smoke coming off the fire and murmured quiet words that made no sense to Chloe. Then she said to both girls, “The summoned spirit must not know who is here with you. Do not utter his name. Do not even think it or your thoughts will be heard and those you wish not to appear will come.”
The woman stretched her arms out at her sides. “Take my hands and join the circle.”
Kaitlyn and Pan scooted away from Chloe to reach around the fire to hold her hands. The space made between them left her vulnerable and frightened. Pan’s hand was warm, rough, and huge. Chloe didn’t like holding it. Suddenly, she didn’t know him. His touch was too intimate. It was all too much. Panic sped up her heart and her breathing. She turned to tell him she was nervous, that she was having second thoughts, but then that horrific mask looked back at her, the flames’ reflection flicking in its silver surface, and froze the words before they came out.
She couldn’t have second thoughts. She had to go through with this. She’d resigned herself to the fact they wouldn’t be traveling through the beautiful Corridor. Where they were going was sure to be full of scary things, like Pan’s mask and the woman’s voice coming from behind the scarf.
The woman chanted more strange words, and her voice rose in pitch and force. Chloe tried to empty her mind so she wouldn’t think of Pan’s name. Or Horace. Or anything else—like Horace’s father’s name. She did not want to think of him. Or ever see him again.
She looked over at Kaitlyn, who clung to her hand like she was dangling from a cliff. Tears rolled down her cheeks and she looked away from the fire, away from the woman casting spells, away from everything.
“Kaitlyn—” Chloe whispered, but then a sudden explosion of flame shot up out of the center of the fire, with a horrible blast of noise. Chloe and Kaitlyn both jumped. Kaitlyn still refused to look. She stared away into the trees.
Above the fire, churning matter and purple smoke formed into some kind of creature. When the mass finally came into focus, Chloe recognized what it was, the same kind of being that had chased them through the sky shooting flames at them.
“Who dares summon me?” the booming voice of the purple being demanded.
If she had any fear, the woman hid it well. She turned directly toward the face of the being.
“You have been called to escort Unexpired Humans through the realm of the Prince.”
The being seethed in the air above the fire, looking at each of them around the flames.
“A Nephil. With clipped wings. Do you wish to restore your place? Is that what this is about?”
Pan spoke a few words in an ancient language, like what Horace used before. The being boomed back at him, and they conversed for a time. Kaitlyn’s cold hand quivered.
Pan stood and pulled Chloe next to him, grasping her shoulder in his giant hand. Then he pulled Kaitlyn over, but she resisted and planted her feet to keep from moving closer.
“Come on, Kaitlyn. It’s time to go. We’re going home,” Chloe said.
Kaitlyn finally looked at her, streams pouring down her cheeks. She spoke just to Chloe. “This isn’t right. I don’t want to do this.”
“We can’t quit now. We have to go home,” Chloe pleaded. “We have to go save Benji.”
Pan grabbed Chloe around the waist and snatched her off her feet. With the sudden jolt, she screamed, and her scream made Kaitlyn scream.
“She is willing. We go now!” Pan said.
CHAPTER 53
They were following a growing glow among the trees when they heard the screams. Billy shot off in the direction of the shrieks, but then he stopped himself and came back to get the mule and Horatius.
“Come on, Beth,” he said. “You have to move like you never have afore.” He pulled against the harness, stretching it away from the mule’s head, and the mule picked up its pace. The path curved a couple of times and then they came into view.
A demon floated above a fire. Horatius recognized him—Charon, a demon lower than his father who was known for his devious deal making.
Panahasi stood below Charon holding Chloe, who did not seem to be struggling like Horatius would have expected, and Kaitlyn was backed against a tree outside of the circle of flames. The sorceress looked to be in a trance sitting beside the fire.
Charon and Panahasi were speaking in the ancient tongue.
Panahasi said, “Then we will go with the one offering. She is still willing. Take us to the Prince and you will surely gain favor as
well.”
“Reveal your identity then. How will I know you are not setting me up? If your wings are clipped by order of the Prince, who am I to give you entrance to his realm?”
“I swear to you, I am here because of a feud with my father, not the Prince. As long as my father does not know, I will get to the Prince and he will overrule my banishment.”
“Who is your father?”
“I cannot say. He would hear your thoughts and come. You know that.”
Horatius yelled out in the ancient tongue, “Do not let him deceive you. Panahasi cannot return to the lower realm.” He prodded the mule to take him to the edge of the circle.
“Ah,” Charon laughed. “Another. What is this? A Nephilim reunion? And Panahasi is behind that mask? I know your father. Sat—”
“No! Do not utter his name. Do not even think it. Let me return and I will give you whatever you ask. I will serve you, as I once served my father.”
Charon grinned. Of course he liked that. He was not powerful enough to have henchmen. He was a servant himself.
Rage stiffened Panahasi’s posture. “You are not the favored son anymore!” he yelled at Horatius. “I will win the favor you forever stole from me and have since thrown away.”
“Whatever your scheme, it will not work as you think. It cannot.”
Panahasi changed to English. “Get away from here. You only brought harm to these girls and destroyed their lives. I will take them back. Can you not even walk of your own volition? You are dependant on a lowly beast to be your legs? How would you ever help them anyway?”
“Chloe, don’t listen to him. I will help you. We will find a way. He intends only evil for you. He is not going to take you—“
“Enough,” Charon boomed. “I have decided. I will take you.”
“Then take us already!” Panahasi said.
Horatius grabbed his sword and swiped at Panahasi. But the mule held him just out of reach. He kicked at it, but it wouldn’t move any closer.
Panahasi dropped Chloe and whipped out his sword. He charged at Horatius. It came so fast. He couldn’t move out of the way. Panahasi’s sword disappeared into his belly. It sank deep and deadly. Out again, blood spurting. Again, twice more. In, out. In, out.
A shrill scream rent the air. Billy ran at Panahasi with his small dagger pulled. Horatius watched from his perch. He couldn’t move. Couldn’t shake off the shock. Stunned. Paralyzed. Unable to speak. Unable to warn Billy to stay back. Billy, no!
Panahasi backhanded Billy off like a fly. His slack body sailed outside the circle of flame and crashed on the forest floor. Stay down. But he shook off the shock and charged again. Horatius could not speak Run away. As fast as you can! He could not stop Billy when he saw Panahasi’s face change from amused to irritated to deadly. He could not do anything to warn Billy not to go near Panahasi. He could only sit frozen. And bleeding. And slipping away. Watching Billy throw himself once again at Panahasi.
And when he did, Panahasi lifted his sword, waited till just the right moment when Billy came in close, and he crashed it down. It hit Billy’s shoulder. Cut past his collar bone. Into his rib cage, breaking ribs, piercing his lung.
Billy’s charge stopped. Panahasi yanked the sword from his tiny torso. Billy stood a moment, teetering, then dropped to the forest floor.
“Now!” Panahasi yelled to Charon, and the demon swept down, snatched up Panahasi and Chloe, and disappeared.
CHAPTER 54
The dimensions ripped past Chloe and made her sick. Or maybe the dread nauseated her. What had she just witnessed? Her mind was numb. Had she just seen Pan stab both Horace and a young boy? Were they trying to save her?
But there was no time to process any of it. The second they’d plunged out of the forest and into a different realm, the fear took on a new, solid intensity. It was like she was spinning on a malfunctioning amusement ride and they wouldn’t let her off. And the voices were back, telling her how alone and worthless she was. That was the most frightening.
But she’d weather it. She had to. She’d make herself cope. She tried to talk against the voices, just like Horace had told her she could do. Leave me alone. She would will herself through this because she had to get home, home to her family. She had to save them. Even if she was completely alone. Even if Horace was dead.
When they punched through a final barrier, their speed—or whatever leaping through dimensions was—dramatically slowed. The light was dim and murky. Chloe stared and concentrated, trying to figure out what she saw.
In front of them was an enormous rusty gate. It was anchored in two worn stone pillars at least four stories high. The gate reached from the ground all the way up to where they flew. It was wide open and they passed easily through it.
Chloe coughed when the heavy air hit her in the face. It was murky, brown, visibly dirty, contaminating her lungs. The sky lacked a sun and the horizon was blurred with no distinction between ground and sky. It was as though the light had never been fully separated from the darkness, the sky not separated from the land.
Below them was some sort of gated community. They were flying above a suburb, the kind with ostentatious houses too large for any one family to ever need. But they were ugly, gaudy, and dull. Run down and unkempt, they looked abandoned. The colorless landscape and buildings looked like charcoal, as though all pigment had been burned away.
Countless lanterns hung from leafless, lank trees along roads and sidewalks. Even though there were hundreds of them, their sepia light couldn’t penetrate the thick air. Dread choked her as much as the floating filth. This was nothing like the Corridor where she’d flown with Horace.
A high-pitched ringing felt like an ice-pick in her ears. And dogs barked. Constantly. On the ground below them, huge mongrels were chained in every yard, barking, howling, yelping. One had an extra leg coming from its broad, thick chest. Another had a partially formed twin attached and flopping at one shoulder. Their heads were massive and square with bulging, watery eyes, most of them on the sides of their heads like fish. She was close enough to see their vicious teeth and snarling snouts, and the slime dripping from their tongues. She lifted her legs on impulse, afraid they’d catch her feet in their greedy jaws.
“They will not bite,” Pan said. Then he laughed. “As long as you do not get too close.”
“Where are we?”
“On our way to Denver,” Pan said. “Just like I told you.”
She was relieved to hear him say it. Because this route was unbearable. She coughed again, her lungs strangling on smut.
“You will get used to it,” Pan said.
But she didn’t want to get used to it. She didn’t intend to be there long enough to get used to it. They were just passing through, just bearing it long enough to get outside of time and reenter, back in Denver where she belonged.
An explosion of purple light burst in the air and churned over a house two mansions away. The being holding them stopped so quickly, it hurt Chloe’s back.
“Ah, Satarel,” the spirit hollered at him. “I thought we might be seeing you.”
Just hearing his name froze Chloe’s blood.
Satarel ignored the demon carrying them and exhaled blue fire.
“What are you doing here?” he roared at Pan after he breathed out the dragon fire. “You do not have clearance to be here!”
“I gave him clearance,” their Escort said. “We have an errand. Do not hinder us.”
“I would have come to you, if you’d accepted me,” Pan said in a weak voice that sounded nothing like him.
“She is mine. I am her Watcher,” Satarel yelled. “Give her to me.”
The Escort laughed a sound devoid of joy. Chloe shrunk into herself, trying to disappear.
“I want to go home,” she squeaked. “Can I go home now?”
The Escort and Satarel laughed together. But then Satarel turned his deadly gaze back onto Pan. He pulled a flaming ball out of nowhere and hurled it at them. The Escort threw up an ar
m, which somehow had a shield in it, and deflected the missile.
“Do not start a battle with me,” the Escort said. “Save your hatred for better use, someone not in the Brethren.”
Satarel puffed up like a wild animal and roared. He charged at Pan, who only had time to let out a low sob. The Escort released Pan and moved aside, taking Chloe with him.
Satarel hit Pan with the impact of a train and swept him up, the two tumbling head over feet through the dirty air several times, losing altitude and hitting the sides of houses as they spun. They bounced around like a ball in a pinball machine. Dogs leapt from each yard trying to bite them. Then a purple light flashed and they disappeared.
They reappeared in a distant location in the murky sky. They shot through the air, thundering and swearing, locked in a hold as they hurled by.
“He’s pulling his punches,” said the demon holding Chloe. She was sure he wasn’t speaking to her. Then he yelled like he was cheering ringside. “Kill him already, Satarel. What are you waiting for?”
Pan let out an agonizing scream and plunged into the dirt many feet below Satarel. He landed just out of reach of several beastly canines, each of which strained against its chain to reach Pan and rip him to pieces.
“Yield to me,” Satarel demanded.
A demon stuck his purple head out of a third story window of the house not far from where Pan lay in a heap. “Shut up already. Go kill each other in someone else’s yard.” And he slammed the window with enough force to rattle all the glass in the whole house.
Pan staggered to his feet, avoiding the jaws of the snarling dogs. “I will never yield to you,” he yelled. “You banished and cursed me.”
“You let Horatius get away. You usurped me! How could I overlook that?”
Pan hesitated but then found courage and blustered with, “I will only surrender to the Prince.”
“Uh-oh,” the demon holding Chloe said.
Before Chloe could worry what that meant, the air in front of them churned and moaned, sucking the air away like a vacuum. A web of electrical currents shot through the air, pulsating and snapping the dust particles.
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