by Monica Davis
What are you doing here? he wanted to ask, but then he saw her eyes light up.
James stepped back. “What …” He caught a whiff of ozone. She was a demon! Yes, there was no doubt about it. The smell indicated that she must have just come through a demon portal. The underworlders could simply draw a circle with their hand on any solid object, creating a blue ring of energy — effectively, a door that could take them anywhere.
Wow, she was stunning! James stood there, paralyzed. A real-life demon was standing right in front of him, and all he could do was stare at her like a madman.
The dark eyes, almost as black as her hair, bore into him. “Let go of it at once!” she commanded him.
He suddenly regained a clear head. “Do you mean this?” he asked, holding the staff out before him. Dear God, he couldn’t believe how amazing he felt! He didn’t have the slightest fear of this lovely underworlder, who probably would have liked nothing better than to kill him with her gaze.
An energy sphere formed in James’ hand; it was so incredibly large and bright that it would certainly destroy this young woman. Even his powers had multiplied! The sphere grew larger in his hand. Cool. The scepter must be providing him with extra energy, and James again sensed that he was losing himself in the power of the artifact.
Despite the danger that James represented to her, the woman took a step toward him. “Put it down or deactivate it, but do it quickly!” Her voice rang out sharply, and shivers rippled across his entire body.
“Why should I do anything that a demon commands me to do?” he growled. He was about to throw his sphere directly at the woman when a movement in a bundle she was holding distracted him.
She pressed it tighter to her chest. What was she carrying? It was only when James saw a tuft of black hair sticking out of the cloth that he realized: It was a baby.
He couldn’t very well kill a child!
The demon just stood there before him, making no attempt to attack him or tear the scepter away from him, and … wait a minute, the baby could just be some kind of trick!
Suddenly, the woman murmured a spell, and a second later they were surrounded by a shimmering sphere that looked very much like an oversized soap bubble.
James spun around. “What have you done?”
“I’ve given us more time,” she said. “I’ve enclosed us within a capsule in which time passes much more slowly.”
Wow, this demon possessed extraordinary powers!
“How were you able to activate the scepter?” she asked. “No normal man could do that, and you certainly aren’t a demon!”
She stared at the energy sphere that was still growing in James’ hand. He felt the sinister, deadly power stirring within him.
“You’re a watcher!” Her face relaxed. She no longer looked quite so much like an avenging angel. Unfortunately, this made her even more attractive in James’ eyes. She might well be the embodiment of absolute evil, but she didn’t look like it. They were so similar, the two of them, but they represented opposite sides in the war.
Many thousands of years ago, their kind had split apart when a group of magically gifted druids had divided into two camps. One had decided to use their powers only for good, while the other wielded their might to their own advantage. The latter group had retreated into their own grim world, from which they sought to subjugate and corrupt humanity.
The demon pointed to the scepter. “You have to reverse the activation spell! Read the inscription from bottom to top, quick!”
“Why?” he asked.
She shook her head, as though he already knew the answer but was simply too stupid to realize it. “Because otherwise you won’t survive for very long. They’ll feel the power of the artifact and come here immediately!”
James had no need to ask who the demon meant by “they.” “How do you know all this?”
“I’m the guardian of this scepter.”
The guardian? It just kept getting better: a demon who guarded a dark-magic artifact rather than using it for herself? And yet there was something benevolent in the expression in her eyes, and he was tempted to believe her. The mighty energy sphere burst in his hand, and the demon gave a sigh of relief.
James read the inscription backward and immediately sensed the power slipping out of him, sucked back through his arm into the scepter.
He shuddered. Now he could think clearly again … and he was the defenseless prisoner of a demon.
The bubble wavered perilously. The woman flinched and furrowed her brow. She seemed to be listening to something within her. Her face darkened. “You’re in for it now! Xandros will soon know everything!”
Who is Xandros? he thought, but the answer came to him immediately: “The king of the underworld!”
“And also … my father,” she whispered.
The baby in her arms began to cry softly. The demon caressed its head and murmured calming words before turning back to James. “I have to go. I can’t hold back time forever.” Sweat shone on her forehead. The spell must be requiring an enormous amount of energy to maintain. “They’ll be here soon. The disturbance in power could be felt even in the underworld.”
As a watcher, James naturally knew that demons could communicate with each other telepathically. Their consciousnesses were all linked. It would only take a single thought for the demon to lead them here.
She bent down to pick up the cloth in which the artifact had been wrapped and then held out her hand. “Give me the scepter.”
“Certainly not,” he said, although his tone of voice was less than convincing.
Oh, heavens, she was so beautiful! But hadn’t he learned that most demons appeared in an attractive form so that they could more easily corrupt and manipulate humans?
“Then you’ll die. It’s your choice. The longer you wait, the quicker they’ll find you. The scepter is still radiating residual energy. I have to take it to a safe place before they arrive.”
James didn’t let go of the staff. “I can give the scepter to the Guild. They’ll take care of it.”
“No!” Her eyes grew wide again. She came so close to him that they were almost touching. “You can’t trust any of them.”
He shrugged his shoulders. “Why not? We’re the good guys, after all. Why should I trust you?”
Her eyes darkened. “Even among you, there are renegades.”
James had felt the power of the artifact. A watcher could very easily fall under the spell of this dark force; he had no doubt of that.
She held out the hand that held the cloth. “Please, give it to me.”
Why didn’t she simply take it? It appeared that she was afraid to touch it. Or was she worried about the baby? James glanced at the small head. Dark, round eyes blinked back at him. The little creature was just as lovely as its mother.
The demon was becoming increasingly restless as the bubble began to collapse. “I haven’t any time left; they mustn’t find me and the baby.”
His suspicions had been correct. “Why not?”
With one hand, she grasped his arm, and her proximity took his breath away. His heat beat wildly, and his stomach seemed to be doing flips. What was this woman doing to him?
“They’ll kill us,” she whispered. Recognizing the fear in her eyes, James said without further hesitation or questioning, “Then I’m coming with you.”
He would honorably fulfill his duties and ensure that the scepter would never be found. Her concern for her child and her kind expression had convinced him; in any case, James’ intuition was telling him something about her. As crazy as it sounded, he trusted a demon!
She nodded and smiled demurely. “And I trust you.”
“You can read my mind?”
Again, a smile played at the corners of her mouth. “We’re more alike than you think.”
James ran a hand through his hair and picked up the backpack containing his things. Did she trust him because he was a watcher, or because she knew how he felt about her? “I have to warn the
others first.”
With a soft popping noise, the time bubble suddenly disappeared. The demon shut her eyes and swayed slightly, as though she were about to faint. James took her in his arms without hesitation, taking care not to crush the child.
How soft her body felt, and how good she smelled … fascinated, he gazed at her beautiful face. How red her slightly open lips were … James wanted desperately to kiss her.
“Oh, no!” She opened her eyes wide again, and the baby began to cry once more.
James felt his heart leap into his throat. “What’s wrong?”
“They know! Now Xandros knows that the scepter still exists. He’ll do anything to get it back!” She quickly pulled away from him and looked around her. No portals were opening yet.
“Then I have to warn my group!” It was all his fault. No one should die because of his foolishness! A wave of nausea hit him, and he felt weak in the knees.
The demon grabbed him by the arm again. “They won’t do anything to your friends. There’s no time, come on! I can put them on a false trail so that they never find this place!”
As she drew a circle on the nearest wall with her hand, he said, “Perhaps we should introduce ourselves first. My name is James Carpenter.” He was scared shitless. His heart was pounding, and all the muscles in his body were quivering.
With a crackle, a ring of blue fire materialized out of the wall. A hole appeared in the center, but within it James saw not the next room over, but … dear God, was that the Eiffel Tower?
“You watchers are really something.” The young woman held out a hand. “Kitana.” James took her hand and stepped with her into an uncertain future.
19 YEARS LATER …
Daniel snapped out of his daydream and ran a hand hastily through his dark hair. Why did his heart always race when he saw a blue light? It was only the sunlight reflecting off of a box that was lying in the courtyard, and had dazzled his eyes. Daniel was standing at an open window in the hallway that led to his classroom, taking deep breaths of the warm, fresh air. It had seemed to him all day that he was somehow suffocating.
As the shrill ringing of the bell marked the time between class periods, Daniel pushed through the crowded hallway. As usual, his fellow students appeared to automatically step aside when he came close to them; others gaped at him like he was a carnival sideshow.
Usually, Daniel instinctively kept his head down, but today he felt combative. He suddenly didn’t care what anyone thought of him. With the black clothes that he always wore, he naturally stood out. Not because of the color, since many other teens liked to wear dark clothing, but because he wore long sleeves and heavy sweatshirts, even on the hottest days.
He loved his dark, roomy clothes; when he was wearing them, he felt shut off from the rest of the world, as though their blackness somehow made him invisible. Unfortunately, due to his exceptional size, it was hard to overlook him. At least Little Peak High didn’t require a school uniform; if it had, there was no way he would ever go to school. He had to admit it to himself: He had no desire to fit in — the people here simply annoyed him. Nevertheless, he couldn’t understand what they all had against him.
As he pushed onward, backpack in hand, looking through his hair at his classmates, he felt an oppressive tightening in his chest. In the two months during which he had been made to repeat the courses from the previous year, he had made no new friends. Here there were only old hierarchies and established cliques, like the cool kids with their expensive clothes and stylish haircuts, and they just cracked stupid jokes about him. Here they were, leaning against their lockers, arms crossed, chewing their gum and watching him with eyebrows raised in derision.
Even before the boys opened their mouths, Daniel’s pulse raced; he knew exactly what was coming. It was as though he could hear what they were thinking.
“Hey, Taylor, next time you throw out your clothes, take them off first!” yelled Sebastian Woolridge over the jumble of voices.
His friends roared in laughter over this joke, and Jason, his best friend, added loudly enough for everyone to hear: “Bastian, I know that Taylor can’t possibly be as dumb as he looks — at any rate, he’ll be staying with us for a while longer!”
Daniel ignored the snorts of laughter and strolled on, hands balled into fists in an attempt to keep the rage that was rising within him under control. If he wanted to, he could destroy all these idiots. Why did he always attract so much attention? He didn’t bother anyone, and stayed out of trouble.
He felt a scratching sensation in his palms, as though he were crushing an army of ants. These days, he often had this almost electrical sensation in his hands. It wasn’t unpleasant, just odd. Sometimes he thought he could see sparks jumping from his fingertips. He was changing.
Maybe I’m becoming a superhero; they’re all losers in real life. He pondered this idea intently. Had he been bitten by a radioactive insect, or had he perhaps been exposed to an intense electric shock? It really wasn’t normal, what he had been experiencing in recent weeks. The voices in his head, growing ever clearer, this girl from hell …
At first, Daniel had believed that he was suffering from a mental illness. He had pored through his parents’ medical books and done research online, but he hadn’t found anything that could explain his symptoms. Superhero — that’s the only answer, he thought, smiling. He would have liked to cackle like a madman. One of the bad guys …
Unfortunately, all the signs pointed toward the bad guys, not the heroes.
The next group stationed outside his classroom were the jocks. Football players had gathered around some cheerleaders to fool around and talk about the latest game. At least they left him alone. Daniel had never shown any interest in sports, so he certainly didn’t belong among their ranks, although the school’s coaches were constantly trying to win him over. “You’ve got the size and stamina to make it in the pros,” Coach Wilkes had said to him more than once.
Well, that option was always open.
Of course, as in every school, there was also a group of nerds at Little Peak High, but nothing in the world would convince him to join them. Anyway, his grades were far too low. These kids had long ago entered the classroom to discuss the day’s assignment and current events, subjects that didn’t interest Daniel in the slightest.
Well, what did interest him, other than his computer games? It was no wonder that he didn’t fit in anywhere. I’d rather be alone anyway; I prefer the peace and quiet, he thought half-heartedly.
As he walked through the group of chattering students, they drew back from him and fell briefly silent, but as soon as he passed them, they went on talking as though they had never been interrupted.
Only one of the cliques, a group of constantly giggling girls, paid him any notice. But would he want to be the rooster in a flock of cackling hens? What a nightmare!
No one accepted him for who he was, and even his classmates from the previous year kept their distance from him.
Daniel was lucky to find a coveted seat by the windows, as it was brutally hot in the classroom. It also allowed him a view of the clock in the courtyard. He tossed his history book onto his desk, shoved his backpack under his seat, and sat down, his knees almost touching the underside of the desk.
“Just one more hour, then it’ll finally be the weekend,” he said to himself quietly, even though they had just returned from the autumn break.
Daniel hated school. Having to repeat this year was the most humiliating experience of his life. Now, as the oldest in the class, he was the subject of additional mockery.
A dry breeze blew through the open window, but it only added to the stifling heat in the classroom. For the umpteenth time, Daniel cursed the old school building and its lack of air conditioning. They were probably the only students left in California suffering from the heat! Daniel could hardly wait to get outside. He still felt like he was suffocating. In addition, for weeks he had been afflicted by a sort of inner glow, almost like a fever. In the Cal
ifornian countryside, October days could often be unbearably warm. The cool nights were certainly more to Daniel’s taste. When he was finally done with school, he wanted to move to the coast — he had made this decision last year. Either San Francisco or Los Angeles would be fine; at least it wouldn’t be so hot there, and a fresh breeze would always be coming off the ocean. His Uncle Max lived in L.A. and would definitely let him stay there for a while.
He reluctantly pulled off his hooded sweatshirt, sighing. As much as he loved his bulky clothes, he just couldn’t stand the heat today.
Daniel hated Little Peak! In three months’ time, he’d be eighteen, and no one could keep him there. All he needed was this damn diploma!
Deep inside him, Daniel felt a strange sense of restlessness. Something weird was going to happen to him soon — he was sure of it.
Unfortunately, superheroes only exist in comics; there must be a rational explanation for his physical symptoms. He was nothing special, and neither was anything else in his life.
Still, it was strange — exceptionally strange, even — to feel these waves of heat wash over him, along with this odd sensation in his fingertips, a tingling as though his nerves were waiting in vain for a command. His head frequently throbbed painfully, and he constantly felt like he was being watched. And then there was that crazy young woman and the voices in his head …
“I spend too much time in front of the computer, that’s all,” he muttered to himself, lost in thought.
Dear God — there he went, talking to himself!
“Hi!” a girl said to him suddenly. She touched him briefly on the shoulder as she walked past, leaving a pleasant prickling sensation behind. Daniel had only seen her slender legs and her dark skirt, but he knew at once who she was. She had an incomparable scent, like the sweet-smelling flowers his mother had planted in the garden the previous spring.
He looked up and turned around. The girl with the long brown hair had sat down directly behind him, and he smiled at her involuntarily. His heart beat a little faster. “Hi, Nessa.” At least there was one bright spot in this grim place.
