I’d had my fortune read by a true seer once. I’d met Lucy through Dimitri. She had been his Uncle Jonathon’s daughter. After a few months, she’d convinced me to let her read my fortune. I still remember the terrified look in her eyes when she’d scanned the cards she’d laid out in what she called a Celtic cross spread. The third card she’d drawn had been the reversed devil. A pure evil in my past. She’d almost kicked me out right then, but I’d begged her to continue for even the possibility of finding Allegra. Now, I stared down at the same card.
Touch me, a voice whispered.
My chair tipped backwards in my haste to get away. Every card held a piece of that black and yellow, and it reached for me. Adrian’s face appeared in my view as I lay on the ground. Concern flitted across his face before he covered it with a smirk. I glowered at him and pointed to the cards, where they sat so innocently on the table.
“Those are the cause,” I said.
He looked from the cards to me. “You sure?”
I rolled my eyes. “Yes.”
“So what do we do with them?”
“You have a match?” I asked.
He felt in his pockets and pulled out a Zippo lighter.
“That works,” I said. “Now we need something to burn them in.”
I moved to the table near the back door and lifted a small cauldron. Tiny scratches adorned the inside, as if it had been scrubbed by a Brillo pad. This thing had seen some use. The fortune-teller may have been a Wiccan before being possessed. Not that it mattered. Demons didn’t care what religion one followed. If you weren’t strong of will, they had you. Well, I would use it to prevent more damage the demon could do.
I put the cards inside, making sure to touch only the silk covering. Adrian’s lighter clicked in the silence and caught the corner of the cloth. The flames raced down and licked the edges of the cards. I watched the blackened edges fleck away as the fire consumed the Devil. A flash of yellow smoke erupted as flames consumed the entire deck. The smoke formed in the face of Ose’s cat grin.
“That should get her attention,” I said. “We should join the others before she gets here.”
Adrian pulled out one of his holy water canisters. “Then we find a good place to ambush them.”
Muffled shouts came from outside. I opened the door in time to see Marge and Tres running in two different directions. I sighed. I may not have wanted to fight them here, but I certainly didn’t want to be split up either.
“You get your brother,” I said. “I’ll go after Marge.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
My feet pounded on the concrete as I passed the Tilt-o-Whirl. I paused long enough to scan the shadowed space in between the game stands. Though Marge was capable of dealing with several demons at once, I didn’t think she was a match for Malantha. That wouldn’t stop her from trying, though. No plan and no ambush meant we were in for a hard fight. The best idea would be to find the Cajun woman and make a hasty retreat. We could plan a strategy when were safe and could prepare. If only I reached her first.
The first strains of music passed me on the breeze. It sounded slow, strained like a player on its last leg. I squinted, staring at the flashing lights a few hundred yards away from me. The tension roiling in my chest and the hairs on the back of my neck screamed trap. But if I noticed this, the other did as well. She’d probably be there.
I stopped in front of the fun house. It was painted to look like a castle, with two towers, dripping with black vines. At the top were the words Enchanted Castle. Out of one of the windows, an animatronic maid waved a cloth down at me. The bridge leading into the castle was motorized, with one track running in the opposite direction of the other into the small dark doorway. A chill ran down my spine.
I shifted to my other sight and gazed up at the house. I didn’t reel as the yellow and black spiraled out from the ride, stronger than the tarot deck. I blinked back to my normal sight and bit my lip. It was in there, waiting.
Marge’s head appeared in one of the windows on the second floor as she passed by. Dio, I had to go. I wouldn’t leave her to be surprised by the monster lying in wait. With a huff to catch my breath, I crossed the bridge and into the dark of the castle. Red lights lit the way along a jagged stepped walkway. The walk was set on two tracks that moved back and forth in opposite directions. The walls pressed at me from both sides. I gulped and focused on the ground in front of me, keeping my arms tight to my sides.
Light flared on as I stepped onto a platform from the stairs. The walls appeared to be painted in a castle stone pattern. Opposite me I could see the doorway to the hall. Then the room began to spin. The hallway entrance flew past in a blur. If I timed it wrong, I could break a limb. I walked in the opposite direction that the room spun, keeping my eye on the doorway. I counted in groups of ten. The door passed the hall on every six. At the next seven, I hopped into the hall.
“Ridiculous,” I muttered.
Pistons pressed the walls close together and then pulled them apart. I took a deep breath before I moved in. Halfway through, I couldn’t go any further. Every time I tried to shift forward, something held me from behind. I looked back to see my jacket caught on the corner of one of the walls. I pulled hard, ripping the fabric. I rushed to the stairs at the end as the last wall came hurtling towards me.
I ascended to the third floor and ran into a stretched version of myself. She gazed down at me, panting each breath I took. I’d reached the mirror maze. A high pitched giggle filled the room, overtaking the static-filled music. The hairs rose on the back of my neck. That wasn’t Malantha’s voice. I pulled my sword out and a knife from my boot and moved down the path the mirrors led me. A squat version of me raised her eyebrows at me as I passed a mirror. Some sort of mist filled the room, covering the floor and fogging my perception. All around, reflections stared back at me.
I stumbled into one. Warm flesh met my hands instead of cold glass. I jumped back and craned my neck up at the man before me. He wore a lab coat with the name tag of “Navotny” visible. His cheek bones jutted from his face like his skin had been stretched over his skull. Tears streaked from his sunken eyes, leaving a well-worn path down his face. Yet, he bared his teeth at me in a lopsided grin.
“Enjoying my home, Gabriella?” he asked.
“I think you need to move,” I said.
“You haven’t changed at all.”
The leopard face of the demon continued to grin at me. The pupils of its eyes were heavily dilated until they were completely black. The yellow of his mangy fur resembled that same sick color. The last time I’d seen him, it had a more golden tone.
“You look worse.”
“You don’t see the beauty? I was like you. Before I’d been chained by the blind, but now I serve something greater.”
“You lost your chance to serve something higher. You rebelled against God.”
His face twisted in a scowl. “My siblings and I should not have accepted punishment from such a pretender. He gave us free will so we could choose to love him. And when we didn’t, he punished us. What kind of mercy is that?”
“You tried to make yourselves higher and failed. You knew there would be consequences.”
“Thanks to you, I have found something better. I will show you.”
“No,, thanks,” I said. “I like my sight just the way it is.”
He shifted, and a bit of yellow caught my attention. Marge lay in a heap behind him. I glanced from her to him. There was no way I would be able to get around him in the narrow hall, unless I could break the mirrors. If they were hollow, I could slip through some to Marge.
I moved to the closest mirror, holding my sundang and knife in a defensive position. He shrieked in laughter and took another step forward. His slow movements were deliberate, like he was trying to draw the whole thing out.
“Sharp objects won’t hurt me, they only make me bleed,” he said.
“You haven’t been the best of hosts,” I said, nodding to Marge.
&
nbsp; He turned his head back for a moment. His voice took a mournful quality. “She did not like what I had to show her. Some people can’t understand my world.”
He moved to me in seconds. Faster than the hellhound, I didn’t even see him move. He dangled the necklace that hung around my neck between his spread fingers and laughed as it shattered. Some of the shards embedded themselves in my chest. His hand covered my face, and he slammed me into one of the mirrors. The glass shattered around me, and my back hit the wall of the funhouse.
“I can smell your fear of this place,” he said. “You are ripe now for what I have to show you.”
The world spun. I lay in a glass coffin, cradling the burnt husk of my child. Allegra’s face filled my head, laughing as she shoveled dirt on top of me. She blew me a kiss before she covered my vision. I cried out, slamming my fists against the walls of my prison. It broke, and I fell into darkness.
Dimitri floated above me, his hand reaching out to me. My fingers brushed against his, tickling my skin with his warmth. A woman’s arm wrapped around his shoulders, and he turned from me before I could get a grip. Still, I fell.
My bones ached from the utter chill until I couldn’t feel anything. I wouldn’t feel anything ever again. Esais’s face passed in front of me with blood dripping down his forehead. His eyes, pale with death, stared at me with an icy nothingness. Behind him an army of the dead kneeled. Tres threw his head back, laughing, mad with power. Bone horns protruded from his forehead, leaving jagged pieces of flesh where they had ripped through. Adrian held my own sword, glaring at me.
“This is because of you,” he whispered.
He swung the sword at me, slashing me in the chest. The force of the blade made me fall harder. Blood flowed from me, and the darkness filled me. I’d lost all sensation in my body. I no longer knew whether I still fell or if I had hit bottom. The cold emptiness of the dark surrounded me with no end. Still I felt something inside me, an ember. It lay sleeping deep within me. If I could wake it, I would feel again. I could be something. I reached for the ember, willing it to spark. It shuddered. No, it couldn’t go out. I would be lost then.
“Gabby!” a voice called.
Who was Gabby? What was it? It sounded familiar. My cold lips moved, playing over each syllable. The ember brightened at the word. Yes, I knew that word; I’d always known it. It was a part of me. That name was mine.
“Gabby, come on. I can’t pull you out of there,” the voice said again.
Shapes began to form in the darkness, and dim lights appeared. I could feel the wall against my back. Warmth returned to my body and my cheek stung. I blinked several times at the blur in front of me. It formed into John Roda’s face. He frowned at me and slapped my cheek again.
“Ow, stop,” I said, smacking his hand away.
“Finally,” he sighed. “Now do you think you can get up?”
I had slid down into a sitting position with my knees digging into my breasts. My feet were pressed against the frame of the mirror. How long had I been like this?
“What the hell happened?” I asked, wiggling my legs out of their cramped position.
“Ose caught you,” he said.
He pulled me up and out from the mirror. My legs shook when I put weight on them, and I had to grab his shoulders to keep my balance. I didn’t let go immediately. I rested my chin on his shoulder and closed my eyes, breathing in his scent. He smelled like the fresh scent of men’s aftershave with a hint of rain underneath. I loved it. It was nothing like dirt and darkness. He cleared his throat, and I pulled away, feeling heat rise in my cheeks.
“What are you doing here?” I crossed my arms.
“I followed you here,” he said, scratching the back of his head.
“So, you came to spy,” I said.
His eyes met mine. “I was worried. With good reason.”
“Why?” I asked.
“I wanted to apologize for what happened a few days ago.”
I looked at Marge, who lay in a fetal position, whimpering. Her eyes were squeezed shut on her wet face, and she trembled. I’d forgotten about her for a moment. I knelt next to her and touched her shoulder. She jumped and rolled away from my touch.
“Not again,” she cried. “No more, Dad!”
She held her fists in front of her, not nearly as strong as I’d seen her before. Poor girl, Ose had brought her past up as well. She’d said her mother had made a deal to get them out of a bad situation. I guess the person she’d been running from had been her own father.
“Marge, you need to snap out of it,” I said. “What happened to the hardcore bitch that likes kicking demon ass?”
She screamed, struggling against me, and her fist connected with my shoulder. It bounced off after jarring my shoulder bone. I grabbed her wrists before her panic could actually hurt me. She struggled even more, now fully screaming. Her necklace of jet lay down the hall several feet away. It must have been torn off in her meeting with Ose. I glanced down at the broken remains of my own jet.
“Grab that necklace, and help me get it on her,” I said.
John grabbed the necklace. She thrashed her head from side to side as he tried to slip the necklace on her. Her screams grew louder, changing from fear to fury. She glared up at me, snapping her teeth in my face. The look of rage twisted her face so it barely looked human. I shivered. Was I seeing the true Marge?
“There,” he said, finally getting it on.
The effect was immediate. The struggling stopped, her eyes rolled up in her head, and she sagged with a moan. I held onto her wrists, watching to see if this was some sort of trick. I looked up at John, and he shrugged.
“I didn’t expect it to knock her out,” he said.
“Help me get her outside,” I said.
I stood and rubbed my upper arms. This place still made my skin crawl. The sooner I stood in the open air, the better. He lifted her up and headed down the mirrored hall. I followed behind him, wrapping my arms around me for comfort. A metal slide awaited us, glittering in the night. It had a rounded top as a cover.
“You’re joking.” I looked from it to him.
“You’re just a spiral slide away from freedom,” he said, grinning for the first time tonight.
I sighed. “I’ll go first, then you can push her down.”
I gulped and sat on the slide, closing my eyes. In a few seconds, it would be over. Those seconds lasted an eternity as I slid down the thin tube. I reached the bottom and hopped up as fast as I could. The wind on my face never felt so good. He waved, and I gave him two thumbs up. Down came Marge. She slid feet first with her arms hanging above her head. Footsteps pounded on the concrete as I pulled her away, and I looked up as Adrian and Tres approached.
“What happened?” Tres asked, moving to Marge.
“Ose,” I said. “You?”
“A dead end,” he said with the shake of his head.
Adrian turned as John came sliding out. He held one of his grenades in his hand. I stepped in front of him before he could toss it.
“This is my friend John,” I said. “He came to help.”
He looked from me to John and straightened up, placing his hands behind his back. “Very well.”
I walked to John, smiling at him. “Thanks for your help.”
He played with a lock of my hair. “I couldn’t let it get you.”
“We need to get out of here. Do you need a ride?”
He shook his head. “I need to talk to you, though. Meet me tomorrow?”
I nodded and he pulled me against him. His lips brushed my cheek, causing a tingle to run up my back. I shivered. He pulled away, with his easy grin, and headed into the shadows. I turned to find both Adrian and Tres staring at me.
“What?” I asked defensively.
“Nothing,” Tres said with a smirk.
“Let’s go home then,” I said. “I want a long soak and a bed and to get this glass out of me.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
Padre Ricci folde
d his hands on the table of the diner. The sleeves of his sackcloth robe dangled off the edges. He blinked at me through watery eyes surrounded by wrinkles and gave me a thin-lipped smile. The lunch crowd around us paid us little attention. The waitress came and dropped off my tea before moving on to her more demanding customers.
“This is dangerous territory you stepped into, bambina,” the padre said.
A light fluttering filled my stomach. The world blurred around us until all I could focus on was the man in front of me. It had been centuries since anyone had called me child. Of course it had been centuries since I had spoken to this man before he’d died. It was a balm to my soul at seeing him again even if alarm bells were ringing in my head.
“Nothing we haven’t been through before,” I said.
“He’s different from the last time we fought him. Even then, the exorcism did not work correctly.”
“And we know how that ended.”
I’d been ready to give in to the inquisitors. If they’d found a way to end my existence, I would have gladly accepted it. Father Ricci had found me shaking and rocking on the dirt floor of my cell. He’d taken me under his wing and showed me I’d been given a chance to take evil from the world. I’d learned a lot about demon hunting from him. He’d given me the purpose of tracking demons down for him to exorcise. We’d spent months searching Ose out to find him in the heart of Rome, hiding in an altar boy and taking pleasure in inciting the cardinals to sin.
We’d caught and bound him. When Padre Ricci had dropped to the ground, I’d panicked and pulled out a book of chants from the padre’s bag. My mouth had fumbled over the words of the banishing incantation. A wind had filled the tiny room and yellow light had surrounded Ose before he’d gone limp. I’d rushed to the father, but I couldn’t save him. He’d died in my arms. I’d been left to explain to the church how once again I’d been the only one alive. The words had been wrong, but Ose had still been banished. To this day, I never understood how.
“Have you come to give me guidance?” I asked.
PANDORA Page 288
