by Trudi Jaye
It’s not a great plan, but it’s the only one I have.
I grab hold of a rung on the ladder and pull myself up. The weight of the demons, plus the protective suit makes me clumsy and heavy.
But I have no choice. Nelson is relying on me. I won’t let him die as well.
I climb the ladder, rung by rung, keeping an eye on the demons and Connor as I do it. If Connor dies, all this is wasted.
But the demons aren’t focused on him. They’re watching me as they swirl around the ceiling of the room, their bodies glittering and glowing blue, halfway between their two forms. It’s not something I’ve seen before. Usually they stay in one form or the other, and the transformation between the two is fast. Does it come easy to them or is it something they have to focus on? Is it expending their energy?
I hope so.
I’m clinging to the ladder, one hand on the rung above me, and one hand clinging to the one next to me. The ore cauldron is only a few feet away, and the heat is burning into me. I can only imagine what it would be like if I hadn’t put on the protective suit and visor.
I peer out through the visor, trying to make out the demons above me. For a few minutes, I wait patiently for one of them to attack. Except it doesn’t happen. I guess they’re suspicious of my motives after I just killed five of them. Smart demons. Just what I need.
I frantically search for something to help. For a moment, I wish I had my old demon device, the square box that was crushed by a demon what seems like eons ago. The device called demons to me, using the high-pitched sound that I’d determined was like honey to a bear. If I had it now, all I’d have to do would be to turn it on—
I can use my voice.
I don’t know why this didn’t occur to me earlier. The last time I faced demons, Damien had me sing a song. A lullaby to soothe them. “Eternal Flames” by the Bangles if I’m going to be precise.
What if I sing a song to attract them? Or even a series of notes?
One of the demons breaks ranks and dives down toward Connor. Without thinking it through any further, I open my mouth and sing the first thing that comes out. I’m just humming to start with a funny little tune that I don’t know the words to. Maybe it’s not even a real song, just parts of a song that I’ve picked up along the way.
The reaction of the demons is immediate.
They stop their swirling perpetual motion above our heads. Their black eyes are now all focused on me. They’re buzzing with suppressed emotion, shimmering with the glowing reflections of the smelting cauldron.
One demon breaks rank and speeds toward me, diving like a seabird toward the ocean. When it’s close enough that I can see myself reflected in its shimmering body, I change the tone of my song. I make it discordant, off-key, like I just pressed the wrong note on a piano. It’s nothing huge, but it’s enough to make the demon wince and twist away. Its reaction is so fast, so instinctual, that it goes down instead of up, and the demon careers into the furnace, exactly as I’d hoped. It screams as it goes in, disappearing into the molten ore almost immediately.
It worked! I can’t believe I managed to call it and destroy it.
Maybe I can do this after all. If I can convince all the other demons to come fight me near the cauldron, perhaps there’s a way I can get them all into the ore?
40
My sudden enthusiasm is only burst when I look over to Connor and see the remaining four demons screaming toward him. I start singing again, and the demons swoop by him, curving around and heading for me.
I don’t think they’re going to let me get away with pushing them into the cauldron the same as the other demon. They’re coming at me like they’re dogs chasing a cat, complete and utter attention to the target.
Me.
Panicking, I change the tune from my random floaty one, to the very specific lullaby I used last time. “Eternal Flame.” As soon as I start singing, they slow down until they arrive in front of me, floating in midair in front of me. I try reaching out and pushing one of them toward the cauldron, but I’m not close enough, and it does nothing more than make it float a little strangely to the left.
I have to absorb them, even though the thought makes me sick to my stomach. Even now, with five demons inside me, I know I don’t have much time left. Last time I absorbed this many I collapsed. I can’t do it from this high up a ladder.
Somehow I need to get down the ladder again as fast as possible, all the while singing “Eternal Flame.”
I start the slow, awkward climb back down the ladder in my protective suit. Each time I lower my foot I feel like I’m about to miss the next rung down. Every time my voice changes or breaks, I feel like I’m about to lose my voice. Visions of my parents and Becca being ripped apart fill my head, and I have a hard time focusing on what I’m doing. The heat is making me sweat. It’s only the special material inside the gloves that keeps me from slipping my hands off the rungs and falling to my death.
At last I land on the floor, still managing to sing enough of the song to keep the demons mellow. They’ve followed me down, their bodies floating just in front of me as I turn to face my fate. I feel stronger than I did last time I absorbed demons. I’m not so scared.
My thigh twinges as I shift my weight between my legs, and I’m reminded of what I’m going to have to do later. If I survive this, I’m going to have to find Blade and beg him to stab me again. The thought sends a stinging shaft of fear through me, making me lose my breath for a second. But I have no choice.
If I want to make it out alive, I have to do it.
If I want Nelson to make it out alive, I have to do it.
I change the song, slowly gently, until I’m not actually singing, I’m just making one loud, high-pitched sound. The demons in front of me start to shudder, wavering and getting blurrier. Their bodies are losing their glittering brilliance, and their faces become distorted. I hit one last high note and suddenly they all burst into ashes right in front of me. Blue glowing orbs emerge from the ashes and zoom toward me. Almost without time to breathe between them, I absorb the last four demons.
It hits me like a ton of bricks. I feel like I’m covered in a silky, slimy goo that’s going to suffocate me. I gasp and fall to my knees. I manage to pull off my protective helmet, trying to ease the feeling of being smothered. My whole body feels like it’s being attacked, but not by anything more than a strangling blanket of magic that wants me dead.
I don’t know how to control it. I lean over and end up with my hands and knees on the ground, gasping for breath, trying to figure out what I should do now. I’ve now absorbed or killed all the demons in the first cage. It’s more than I absorbed at the ranch, and I already feel worse than I did that time.
I can’t absorb any more until I get them removed by Blade’s knife.
I’m still heaving in breaths, lying with one shoulder on the ground when Connor’s shiny shoes appear in my line of sight.
“Connor, I need your help,” I gasp desperately. “You need to find Blade. I need him to get the demons out of me.”
Connor just stares at me through expressionless eyes. “You don’t need the agent. You’re the chalice, you’re the one who’s going to save us both.”
“I can’t do this on my own,” I say desperately. “I need help.” I can feel my vision disappearing, and my body feels like I’ve gained two hundred pounds in the last five minutes.
Connor shakes his head. “Mother said you would be able to do this.”
I can feel my hope draining away. This is it. “I’ve absorbed them like you asked. I’ve done it. Now you need to help me by finding Blade.”
“A chalice can use the power of the demons. It is inside you. You just have to find it.”
“I don’t have it! I’m done. I can barely move. You have to see that, Connor.”
“Just stand up and give me the power. That’s all you have to do.”
“I. Don’t. Know. How.” I struggle to understand how I could be plainer. “If your mother kne
w, great. Tell me, and I’ll do whatever you want.”
Connor frowns. “Maybe you haven’t been given enough of an incentive?”
“What? No! This is it. We’re done. I absorbed them like you wanted, and now I need Blade to get them out of me.”
Connor nods to himself, and I feel a rush of relief. He finally gets it. He’s going to let this go and get Blade. He walks away from me, and I watch his feet. But instead of heading to the offices to make a phone call, he’s walking back to where the two demon cages are on the ground. He pulls the wooden key out of his pocket.
“No!” I scream as soon as I see what he’s planning to do.
But Connor ignores me. He puts the key into the second of locks and turns. He pulls the door open and hides behind it as another nine demons swirl out of their cage. Like the last group, they immediately head upward like they need to feel the freedom of flying through the air, in their half-and-half state. They’re a glittering blue diamond spectacular, and I can’t tear my eyes away.
The little demon inside me cheers, as if it can feel the glory of their freedom. “You’re free to leave any time,” I mutter. Immediately I get a sense of its contriteness.
“What am I going to do?” I whisper, still talking to the little demon inside me. I’m all out of options. I can’t fight another nine demons. I can’t even stand.
I’ve failed.
41
A swirling anger appears out of nowhere, pushing down my self-pity and forcing me into action. It’s so strong, I immediately know it’s coming from my little demon, not me. But it doesn’t matter. My hand starts glowing, and my relief at having help from my demon makes me tremble. I manage to push myself to my knees again, and then onto my feet. I feel like Lurch from the Adams Family, but I do it. Some of my fogginess fades away, and I can think more clearly. The simmering anger is a powerful force.
I look around, trying not to glance up at the demons still swirling overhead. I need to find something that might help us survive this. My gaze hits the massive cage the demons have been stored in. I stumble over to Connor, who’s still behind the cage door.
“What’s in the cage that keeps them there? Is it a special kind of metal? Or is it a magic spell?”
Connor hesitates, staring at me like I’m a strange beast he’s trying to classify. I have a feeling I look like I’ve just emerged from the wilderness, having survived on nothing but luck and my dubious ingenuity for weeks on end. It’s how I feel.
He clears his throat. “It’s the cage and the lock together. Both have properties that deflect demon energy, but one without the other is not as powerful.”
I hobble over to the cage and rattle a few of the bars. My brain is going slower than usual, but I’ve got the beginnings of a plan simmering in my head. The bar on the corner seems looser than the others, and I pull at it experimentally. By pushing up the top of the cage, which is slotted over the upward standing bars, I think I can get the bar out and give myself a weapon that’s going to at least sting if it hits a demon.
I’m rattling at the metal when I remember Blade’s little portable fire blower. Surely there must be something similar around here that I could use to cut the metal.
“Connor, I need to cut one of these bars off. Are there any metal cutters or a blowtorch around?” I catch his blank expression. It seems like he’s not going to help me. “Help me, or we’re both going to die,” I yell, my voice breaking in the middle. I feel raw all over, but most especially in my throat.
My words make him blink, and then he moves into action, heading over to a large metal box in one corner. The demons above watch him with greedy eyes, and I yell up at them, nonsense words with one definite meaning—go near him and you’ll pay. I have nothing to back up my threats, but thankfully they haven’t realized it at this point and remain where they are, hovering high over our heads.
Connor pulls out some large sheers and lugs them back over to the cage. “Metal cutters,” he says. “Magic ones. We use them for tough jobs around here sometimes.” He’s holding them out expectantly.
I shake my head. “I need you to do it. I have to save my energy for the demons.” If he’s going to make me deal with the demons, then he can damn well help in other ways.
Connor stares at me for a moment, but obviously decides this is something he’s prepared to help with because he heads over to the corner bar that I’ve been pulling at and slots the metal cutter tips around the top of the magical bar of the cage.
With one huge effort, he presses the two ends together. The metal groans and twists for a moment, and then it snaps through, breaking the bar in two. It’s still attached at the bottom, so he puts the cutters around the bottom of the bar, pressing on the handle. I move over and grasp the bar in one hand, ready to grab it out when he makes the second cut.
It’s more of a strain this time, and I can see the strange markings on the bar moving around the tips of the cutters, maybe trying to protect the bar from being snapped in two. But in the end, Connor’s strength and the magic of the metal cutters wins out. The bar is cut in half again, and a six-foot bar of metal falls into my hands.
Just as I turn, I feel the breeze of a demon as it makes a sweep over our heads. It keeps itself safely out of reach—as if I’d grab it if I could. If they thought it out, the demons would attack together in a group and overwhelm us in seconds. I can only be glad that they seem to be creatures that prefer loner status.
I hold the bar in two hands and then twirl it like a really long baton. I don’t know quite what I’m going to do with it, but it feels better to have a weapon in my hands than not.
I lumber back into a clear space, getting used to walking like a zombie. The anger is still simmering inside me, pushing away the worst of the exhaustion that is threatening to overwhelm me. I have a feeling if I tried to talk, that it might come out like a zombie too.
With the bar swirling in front of me, I stand waiting for a demon to decide to give it a go. I’m still wearing my protective gear, without the helmet. My hair is matted against my skull. The smelting cauldron of iron ore is behind me, heating my back and making me wish I was anywhere but here.
A swirl of wind rushes past, and then suddenly a demon is there, looming over me, its glittering body making my eyes hurt. I let out a yell and punch forward with the bar, trying to find something of substance to hit. But the demon twists easily out of reach, and I keep hitting air. So much for a new weapon.
Then suddenly it appears in front of me, tall and strong, eyes blazing like the depths of a fire, and it opens its mouth in a rotten-toothed grin. I take a step backward, unable to help myself. The blazing heat of the cauldron behind me is burning my back, but I don’t take my eyes off the demon for a second. The creature’s tongue flicks out toward me, and I only just manage to stop the urge to grab it. At last second, I move to one side, slamming the bar into the side of the demon. It howls, its skin sizzling where the bar touches it. It manages to drag itself out of reach.
I allow myself a small moment of glory. My magic stick is turning out to be a good idea after all. I twirl it experimentally, and notice my hands are starting to hurt. The metal is heating up. I’m close to the furnace, and it’s somehow absorbing the heat, even from here. I don’t know why it’s catching so much of the furnace’s burning warmth, but it’s starting to glow red in a way that indicates magic. My first instinct is to drop it, but I force myself to keep my hands on the metal, despite the feeling of being burned.
Some instinct from my childhood makes me bring the bar up close to my mouth and blow cold air onto it, trying to cool it down like we did with soup when it was too hot. Most of me knows there’s no point in doing it, but I’m beyond thinking clearly at this point.
Whatever I was expecting, the glowing blue icy cold air that flows out and hits the bar wasn’t it. I watch as the bar not only cools down but starts glowing a pale blue with flecks of white in it, like a snowstorm scene from a book. I can feel the demon magic swirling over my magic
stick, infusing it with more than I have any right to expect.
The demon charges in at me again, and this time, I swirl the bar away to the side, trying to give the demon somewhere to aim for. Just as it senses a win and comes in for the kill, I swing the bar around and slam it into the demon’s side.
This time, the reaction is far more satisfying. The air sizzles with the smell of burning, and the demon screams. Its body starts turning black from the point where the bar is still attached to the demon’s skin like it’s been burned in place. Soon, the demon’s entirely black, like some kind of statue made of obsidian. It starts to crumble from the top, falling away until it’s nothing more than ash on the ground.
This time when the demon’s energy emerges from the ash, I try to scramble back, to not accept it. I can’t have any more inside me. I won’t survive.
But it’s faster than I am, and the mist catches me up, soaking into my skin before I can mount any kind of defence.
Immediately I feel like I’ve just put on a backpack with an elephant inside. The weight is more than I can bear, and I sit down abruptly on the ground, dropping my glowing stick with a loud clang on the concrete floor.
“Hazel? Hazel, stand up. Look!” Connor is pointing to the other demons hovering near the top of the warehouse. They’re quivering in anticipation, their eyes lit up with devilish glee. For a moment, everything is frozen, like a tableau from a painting.
And then the demons move as one toward me, their faces glowing with eager delight.
They’re bearing down on us, their forms becoming larger, the blue glow intensifying, as if they’re excited about what they know is coming. I try to let out a scream, a moan, any kind of noise that might affect them. All that comes out is a gushing silence.
