Five: Out of the Pit (Five #2)

by Anderson, Holli

  I dropped to my knees next to Johnathan as Seth constructed a shield around the three of us. “Where… where are you hurt, John?” I cried. I grunted as I rolled his heavy body over. His breath came in short, rapid bursts.

  I sucked in a breath. A bloody talon the size of a sword protruded from his back. I laid one hand next to the talon and began the healing process at the same time as I pulled it out. It had pierced one of his lungs and he bled internally. I threw the talon down and placed my other hand over the deep wound. I poured the healing magic into him, strong and fast, as monsters, rocks, and weapons bounced off Seth’s shield all around us. The healing was the most difficult I’d ever done—and I did it in record speed. The whole process took less than thirty seconds.

  Johnathan took a wheezing gasp and then started to breath normally as the wound wove back together from the inside out. He shot up to a sitting position, and looked around with bewilderment for a second. His eyes met mine and he wrapped his arms around me in a fierce hug.

  “Paige, I’m sorry. It wasn’t them, was it?”

  I shook my head, tears spilling from my eyes at the anguish Johnathan had just been forced to relive.

  “Come on guys,” Seth said, “Halli needs help. I’m dropping the shield.”

  We jumped to our feet and turned to where Seth pointed. He dropped the shield and we fought our way to where Halli stood, surrounded by dozens of small, animal-shaped Demons. More poured over the edge of the pit. I started to blast them with tiny explosions but it took too long. We herded them around until they no longer surrounded Halli. I glanced at her. Her eyes were narrowed, her smoke streaked face a mask of determination.

  I gritted my teeth. “This is going to take forever.” There were just too many of the little, sharp-toothed Demons. I was shooting bigger blasts into the advancing Demons when Johnathan had a genius idea. He pulled the Elvin net from his gear belt, and with the flick of his wrists, settled it down over the gathering horde. He touched the edge and said, “Sa-tuen.” The net snapped taut against the ground, not only trapping the evil little creatures, but causing them to freeze in place.

  I looked at Johnathan questioningly. I’d never heard the word he’d used. It wasn’t Latin. He shrugged and smiled. “Surpy taught me.”

  “Alec!” Halli yelled as she began running away from us. I followed. Seth and Johnathan spread out, trying to dispose of creatures before they gained the rim of the pit and could come fully into our realm.

  I nearly screamed as a giant tusk-faced Troll swung its enormous axe at Alec’s head. Just at the moment the sharp blade should have made impact, Alec disappeared, reappearing behind the hideous Troll. He hit it with a spell that exploded the monster from the inside out. I think an eyeball smacked me in the face as I ran toward him.

  I stumbled as my gaze fell on what climbed from the pit a few steps away from Alec. My eyes met his. Trey. Alec’s dad. He smiled and stepped toward me, though his smile faltered when he saw the determination to kill in my face. He turned to run, intent only on his freedom.

  “Whoa!” Alec’s exclamation brought my attention back to him, and I momentarily forgot about the Incubus. Something from inside the pit had ahold of Alec’s gear belt and shirt.

  “Alec!” Halli was closest to him, but we both lunged for him, missing as he fell backward into the pit. “No!”

  A figure blurred past me, impossibly fast. I caught a glimpse of Trey’s blue eyes, intense with anger and fear, as he flew into the pit. He hit the huge arm of the creature holding onto Alec with full force. Trey kicked out his feet and made contact with Alec’s back with enough force to send him airborne out of the pit. The enormous clawed hand of the creature closed around the Incubus’s torso. My heart lurched as blood shot from his mouth and he disappeared into the gaping, Kraken-like mouth.

  As the reality of what just happened struck home—the fact that Trey had just sacrificed himself for his son—my anger flared. My hair sparked with energy. The anger magic built up faster and stronger than ever before. I shot a ball of nuclear energy the size of a car into the creature’s mouth as it attempted to crawl out of the pit. It, and every nasty monster on that side of the pit, was annihilated, turned to smoke and ash.

  “What was that?” Alec asked. “Who… who saved me?”

  “Your dad,” I said. “Come on. We have Demons to kill.”

  Alec nodded.

  The Demons and other monsters of the Fae came at us too fast. Our attempts at trying to push them back into the pit proved futile. We retreated back, spreading out to cover as much territory as we could. The results of letting even one of the monsters escape would mean death… and worse… to the people of Moab and beyond.

  I shot a steady stream of blue lightning from one hand and balls of exploding fire from the other. Halli stood to my left, and from the corner of my eye I saw her pull a handful of steel shot from the pouch of her gear belt. She threw it in the air and sent it hurtling like a shotgun blast toward a pack of Devil Hounds that were closing in on Joe. Creatures of the Fae don’t tolerate steel very well, especially when it’s deeply embedded in their bodies. The Devil Hounds howled, smoke rising from the pellet- caused puncture wounds. Halli sent another handful their way and before she even dropped her hand, she spun and landed a roundhouse kick to the side of a Goblin’s pimply face with such force that he dropped to the ground, dead, at her feet.

  I felt exhaustion setting in somewhere deep beneath the rage that kept me going. I continued to explode and burn our enemies. The world’s enemies. But, as I looked around at the sheer number of evil things emerging from the pit, and those that had already emerged, I felt hopelessness overriding the exhaustion. We were in an impossible situation. We were going to lose. I kept firing anyway.

  “Paige.” I heard Johnathan in my head; he sounded alarmed. “Seth and Joe are hurt. They need you.”

  I searched in the increasing dark for my fallen companions. The moon and stars were completely obscured by the smoke and ash floating in the air.

  “Where?” I sent to Johnathan.

  A blue star-bright flew in the air half-way around the pit. I ran toward the light, shooting as I ran. I dropped to the ground between Seth and Joe. I formed my own star-bright and made it hover above my head so I could see what I was doing.

  “Oh,” I whispered when I saw the extent of Joe’s injuries. He had a gaping tear in his abdomen; his guts spilled over the ragged sides, covered in blood.

  I looked at Seth, whose injuries were just as bad. A large portion of his scalp hung limp over his ear. The exposed skull was cracked and depressed into his brain. His eyes were open but unseeing, and his pupils were starting to dilate. I froze. I didn’t know who to help first. I jumped when Joe’s blood covered hand touched my arm.

  “Seth… first. He’s… more important.” I looked into Joe’s eyes and nodded. He tried to smile and closed his eyes.

  I placed my hands directly on Seth’s exposed skull and worked to pull the crushed bone up and away from his already swelling brain. Alec, Johnathan, and Halli fought on around us, protecting us from the enemy’s attack. I then, with great delicacy, decreased the swelling of Seth’s brain. His eyes focused and he gasped in pain. I think I breathed for the first time since seeing his injury. Last, I flipped his dangling, bloody scalp back over the exposed skull and wove the skin back together with magic.

  “You okay?” I asked.

  “Yeah. Thanks, Paige.”

  “Can you make us a shield?” Johnathan sounded anxious as the monsters he fought pushed him closer to us.

  Seth nodded and an instant later, we were in the protective confines of his shield.

  I turned to Joe. I didn’t even know where to start. A tear slipped from my eye and I wiped at it angrily, the impossibility of the situation sinking in. I put a hand on Joe’s chest. He took a ragged breath. His eyes fluttered open, then closed. Through tear-filled eyes I stuffed his intestines back into his open abdominal cavity, and fought back the bile that rose
in my throat. The ground was covered with his blood, so much blood. I tried in vain to find the broken vessels from which the blood flowed.

  “I can’t do this,” I whispered. “It’s too much.”

  Johnathan rested his hand on my shoulder. No one spoke.

  “S’okay,” Joe whispered. His hand moved on the ground toward mine but stopped after only a twitch. My hands over his wound, I continued to try to stop all the bleeding, I concentrated and sent my magic into him.

  “I can’t,” I said again. “This is impossible. We’re all doomed anyway.”

  With one last burst of energy, Joe grabbed my wrist with more strength than he should have had. I looked into his eyes. He breathed in a ragged and gurgling breath. A jolt shot into my wrist from Joe’s hand followed by an image flashing in my mind. His body shuddered once more and then remained still as his soul left it. I bowed my head and allowed myself to feel a moment of intense grief as a single, painful sob erupted from within my chest.

  I drew in a breath and looked up at my grieving friends. “A pentagram.” I sent to their minds the image Joe had sent me—the image of the Five of us creating a pentagram with each of us as one of the points of the star. Determined nods from my four friends indicated they’d all received the image and knew what to do next.

  Johnathan pulled me to my feet.

  Seth stood, then grabbed Joe’s fallen sword from the bloody ground.

  We knew what had to be done.

  Seth dropped the shield, and we separated, fighting our way to the pit with renewed vigor.

  I reached my position and fought on as the others made their way to theirs. We were spread out equally around the circle of the pit. Seth was the last to reach his spot. As soon as he arrived, he dropped Joe’s sword, and—in unison—we raised our arms straight out from our sides. I sent all my energy out through my hands, fingers splayed wide. The others did the same until our energies connected in an unbreakable force. White light spread forth from my chest to meet up with the light from the others, forming a perfect five-point star over the circle of the pit. As the energy of the Five, the Quinae Praesidia, fused together, the power grew in intensity until the light shown as bright as the sun.

  “Lacio. Expello. Locus. Exigo,” we roared, and the ground shook below our feet.

  We stood firm as the air moved above and around us. The vortex we formed pulled at the Demons, Fae, and the other monsters that had been created in the Netherworld. Screeches, hisses, and roars filled the air as the creatures were sucked back into the pit from where they’d come. A familiar shape floated past me, nerd glasses still plastered to its ghost-like face. When the last of the Dark Ones had been sucked in, the pit snapped closed, shaking the ground for miles.

  I’m not sure who severed the connection first, but it was severed. The immense power I’d felt while linked as the Quinae Praesidia disappeared in an instant, and I was more tired than I’d ever been in my entire life. My arms dropped like lead weights to my sides.

  I started to lower my weary body to the ground. I turned my head to avoid a sudden burst of wind that blew dust in my face. I blinked to clear my eyes. In the center of what had moments before been the Pit, Brone appeared—not the image like before, but the real, live, evil Warlock in the flesh. I groaned and forced myself to stand straight. I stepped toward him, hands raised.

  He laughed. An angry, low-pitched laugh that resembled a growl. “This is quite unexpected Quinae. I applaud your power.” The slow, loud claps of his hands echoed off the surrounding rocks. “Now I will end you!”

  I pulled at what little remained of my magic and shot a weak bolt of lightning at him. It reached him a millisecond after Johnathan’s ball of flame did. Brone deflected them both with a flick of his hand. While his scarred up right hand deflected everything we threw at him, he took his time conjuring a ball of magic like the one he’d killed Mr. Grewa with—the one that had been meant for me. Wind whipped around him, blowing his dark hair wildly about his face. His long black coat thrashed around him.

  I screamed in frustration. Nothing we did reached him. I noticed that Halli had moved closer to me and I heard her let out an exasperated huff. “Screw magic.” She threw her channeling rod at Brone and rushed him, arms raised in preparation to pummel.

  He released the enormous ball of death at me before turning to face Halli. I dove out of the way, rolling as I hit the ground. Searing pain like none I’d ever felt burned into the flesh of my left upper arm. I brushed furiously at the orange flames still attached to what was left of my sleeve. Teeth gritted against the pain, I stumbled to my feet.

  Halli held her own for a few seconds, sweeping Brone’s knee with her shin with a sickening crunch. He roared and pushed his right hand toward her, palm out. Halli flew twenty yards and rolled another five before dragging herself to her knees.

  If ever I’d needed my anger magic to kick in, it was now. Nothing. I focused on Brone’s hypothalamus and poured on as much heat as I could gather. His head jerked in my direction, eyebrows pulled together. He smiled and pushed me out of his head.

  We’re doomed. We’re too tired.

  “Time to end this!” Brone circled his hands above his head. Blasts of crimson energy shot from the red oval that had formed over him. Seth yelped and rolled away as he was hit. Johnathan let out a grunt. I dodged as best I could, trying to think of a way out of this.

  “Cover me,” Seth sent.

  With one last effort, Alec, Johnathan, Halli, and I blasted Brone.

  “I don’t know what you’re planning, but do it quick,” I sent to Seth.

  A shield appeared. Not around us or even around Seth. The glimmer of Seth’s shield surrounded Brone.

  The smirk on his face turned to shock and then pain as his own magic ricocheted off the inside of the shield and pelted him all at once. Splashes of his blood hit the shield just before Seth dropped it. The smell of singed hair and skin wafted toward me.

  Brone dropped to his knees, his face a mask of twisted pain and fury. He roared—and then portalled. He was gone. Every plant and living animal within sight withered and died.

  My legs collapsed beneath me, muscles like liquid.

  I looked around at the others. They didn’t seem to be faring any better. My eyes met Halli’s, closest to my right. A smile played across her pixie face as she slowly lowered herself to the ground.

  A nearly invisible force swooped down from the sky and grabbed my little friend. I screamed. There and gone in a flash, flying away so fast the whooshes from its wings came to my ears seconds after the abduction. I stood on shaking, wobbling legs and thought to open my sight. All I could make out were some glimmering scales and huge, sharp talons that gripped Halli by the shoulders. I tried to raise an arm and shoot at the blurring image, but nothing happened. My magic was depleted.

  “Halli!” I screamed.

  The tiny, far away image of my friend disappeared—leaving behind only a red puff of smoke.

  All went black slowly, and I felt myself falling. I was out before I hit the ground.

  aige, wake up.” Johnathan’s soft voice called to me.

  It took every tired muscle in my face to pry my exhausted eyes open. Johnathan’s worried face loomed over me. Seeing those amazing eyes I loved so much made me forget, for a second, all that had just happened.

  The memories came crashing down like the bricks of a demolished building. The pit. The fighting. Joe. Halli…

  I struggled to sit up. “Halli. It took her.”

  Upon closer inspection, I saw where tears had made small rivulets down his dirt and ash-streaked face. I had nothing left inside that could stop the first sob from erupting from my chest. Johnathan held me close as a million more sobs wracked my bruised and beaten body.

  Alec and Seth, feet dragging, came to where we were and dropped to the ground. Alec, with just enough softness to keep from being harsh, said, “That’s enough, Paige. We aren’t doing Halli any good sitting here crying. Get up. We have work to do.�
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  “Did you find anything?” Johnathan asked, as he hugged me tighter to his chest.

  “Nothing.” The disgust in his voice turned to despair as he picked up a rock and threw it. “Not a damn thing. I have no idea what took her.”

  “Come on guys,” Seth said. “We’re sitting targets here. Let’s get Joe and get inside the refuge.”

  I wiped the tears from my face and stood without help. Tears threatened again as we stood over Joe’s eviscerated body, but I refused to let them fall. Johnathan lifted his limp body by the shoulders, Alec and Seth each lifted a leg, and they carried him to the elephant refuge.

  I opened my sight and immediately saw the entrance, hidden around the trunk of the largest elephant-shaped rock. The inside of the refuge was a huge cavern. There were enough supplies there to outfit an army. We left Joe’s body near the entrance, covered with a blanket.

  Further back into the cavern, we forced ourselves to eat and drink. Then we slept. None of us could have stayed awake to keep watch. It just wasn’t possible. So we slept like the dead. With the dead—Joe inside with us, and countless others surrounding where the pit had been. The humans, who had come to seek their fortunes by dealing with Demons. The Demons, who had died for Brone’s fight. They were all just pawns in Brone’s evil game.

  I awoke first, untangling myself from Johnathan’s arms then stumbling to the entrance—there was no way to tell the time of day from within the refuge. The gray light of dawn crept in. We needed to move before the devastation beyond the refuge was discovered.

  “Boys, wake up,” I said.

  They slowly awakened and sat up, rubbing eyes, stretching, yawning.

  “What do we do now?” Seth asked, looking up at me.

  I looked over my shoulder at Joe’s lifeless body. “We honor our fallen teacher. Then we find Halli.”

  t any other time, when my mind wasn’t trashed and my heart broken, I would have found it bizarre that the refuge had clothes in our exact sizes. But, mind focused on the tasks ahead, I changed out of the stiff, black pants and shirt—stiff from the blood of my friends and the ichor of our enemies. I poured a gallon of icy water over my head and cleaned up as best I could under the circumstances. All while the boys were huddled at the entrance, backs to me.