by C. M. Fenn
“It will change me, Addy. You cannot understand. I will be ruined. Darkened.” The sheer terror in his eyes alarms me. “I would be better off dead.”
“If you stay here any longer, you will be. We all will be.”
I see the conflict raging within him, but I can’t wait around for him to make up his mind. I’m out of time. If I want to be able to help my friends, I must leave now.
“What’s it going to be, Mikhail? Will you let us all die? Or will you do what only you can? Will you be the man I know you can be?” Before I turn to leave, I try one last time to get through to him.
“Think of your mother, Mikhail. Do you think she risked her life for you, shielded you from your father’s wickedness, kept you as far away from darkness as she could, only to have you give in to it right when it matters most?”
I whirl around and run as fast as my legs can carry me through the empty halls. I clamor down the stairs to the garage, taking them two at a time, praying I got through to Mikhail.
Once I reach the garage, I can’t believe what I find. A very anxious Sam waits on an idling Big Bike. I’m overwhelmed with gratitude. This show of support for me must have been so difficult for him, knowing how badly he’s needed by the others.
We know each other so well now that all it takes is a glance for him to see how much it means to me. In that moment, all is understood between us. Without wasting another second, I climb onto the back of his Big Bike.
“What happened? Is he coming?”
“I don’t know. I hope so.”
He nods and faces forward. “Hold on, Addy. We’ll be going fast.”
I reach my arms around his torso and squeeze him tight. Sam switches gears and the Big Bike rises up from the ground then we’re off and climbing into a cloudless, brightly lit sky. I look down and find a spanning, powder-white beach to the left and a calm ocean to my right. I could almost mistake this place for the beaches along the California coast if the washed-out colors didn’t give it away. Behind us, the entrance to Major Calm is marked by the dark opening of a massive rocky grotto.
I can feel the Walkers far ahead of us. Their moods are a frenzied mixture of distress and fear and exertion and, in some, even pain. I think of the ones that are hurting. I can’t stop my mind from seeing them in the worst possible ways. Awful images, scenarios of them dying play out over and over in my head.
Sam, I send directly to him, if this doesn’t turn out the way we hope—
Stop Addy. He directs his thoughts to my presence in his mind. We can’t think like that.
He’s right, of course. We need to stay positive. Still …
I lay my head on his shoulder and feel his warmth. I move my hands up his chest until they rest over his heart. I can feel it thumping through his whole chest.
I love you, Sam.
He takes one hand off the bike and rests it on mine. After a few seconds with nothing but the sound of wind in my ears, he responds.
I love you, Addy.
I wish those words carried less weight, had less finality behind them. This can’t be the last time he tells me that. It can’t be.
As we get closer to the battle, I’m able to get a clearer image of what’s happening. It seems we were right to have been weeding out as many of the Lesser Shades as possible. It feels as though the entire Shade population of Chaos is there fighting, and they’re still managing to overwhelm the Walkers. I can’t imagine how awful it would be if we’d been less vigilant.
I can feel the Elder Shade’s presence strongest of all. His evil carries a uniqueness I’ve grown familiar to. What’s unfamiliar to me, though, is the feeling I’m getting from the tear site.
I can feel the threads being swiftly unwound by the Elder Shade, and I can feel them being repaired just as quickly by Kira and Mel. This I expected. What surprises me is that, as the barrier between the realms warps and flexes, I can feel something just behind it.
An enormous pressure is building up on that side. The burgeoning barrier stretches out, threatening to burst open, making Kira and Mel’s job all the more difficult. From the tear seeps a coldness that rivals any to be found in Earth Realm. It permeates down into the marrow of my bones, filling me with its icy chill, pulling my soul into despair.
The worst part is that I know what’s causing it. Behind that tear awaits every dark and creeping thing, every monster from every fable. Very soon, there will be enough hate, rage, and bloodlust to fill an entire realm. I can feel them—their yearning, their hunger. I know that among them, the Circle wait impatiently. Perhaps they wait at the front of the line.
“There they are!” Sam calls over his shoulder. I lean around him and can just make out the group ahead. The sounds of battle ring through the air. Bellows and roars. Gunfire and explosions. A grenade goes off, sending a vast pillar of sand into the air.
“Drop me by the Elder. I have to help the sealers!”
“Okay Addy. But please,” he squeezes my hand, “be careful.”
As we approach, I quickly scan the area to get an idea as to what we’re up against. The actual tear site is in the water, right above the surface and about twenty feet from the shore. The Elder Shade is waist deep in the ocean, his gnarled arms stretched out in front of him. His head is down as he concentrates on his task.
Kira and Mel are about ten feet away from him, one on each side. It takes all their focus to keep the tear from bursting, and the waves tug and pull at them as they work.
The other Walkers are all over the beach. The splashes of black Shade blood are a striking contrast to the white sand. Most are doing what they can to keep the Lesser Shades away from the sealers, but a few Walkers, including Timothy and Lang, are directing their efforts toward the Elder.
Timothy lobs another grenade at him, but as it explodes, sending water in all directions, it’s clear that he’s once again protected by an unbreakable barrier. Through it all, he never moves. He doesn’t falter even a little, and he never turns his attention from the tear.
We’re almost to him now.
“Are you ready?” Sam shouts.
Chapter 61
“Hell yeah!” Right before Sam and I are directly over the Elder Shade, he turns the bike sharply as he stops, causing the back wheel to swing around. I use the momentum to launch from the side of the bike out toward the tear. I’m quickly gauging where and how I will land in the water as I glide high over the Elder Shade’s head.
Time slows.
I’m looking down at the Elder from far above when his head snaps up. His gaze finds me and I’m immediately wrapped in his icy grip. He pulls his arm back from the tear sight and raises it up over his head toward me.
Time catches up.
He snatches me from my fall with the strength of his mind, the force of it giving me whiplash, and I hang in midair.
I stare into his hollow eyes and watch as his ragged, slick mouth becomes a grin. He’s happy to see me. He throws his arm back sending me shooting out over the beach with such speed I barely have time to save myself. Just before I’m slammed into the ground, I send force out the ends of my extended arms. It slows me down enough that I tumble roughly into the sand.
“Stay down!” I hear to my right. I drop from hands and knees to my stomach as fire blazes out over me. I bury my face in the sand and throw my arms over my head. Though I can feel the flames lick over my back and arms, I’m left unsinged.
With my face in the sand, I feel the ground shake as the combat goes on around us. The sizzling I hear to my left is the burning carcass of an unrecognizable Lesser Shade.
I turn my head around and find Ember wearing a smug grin. She makes her hand into a pretend pistol and blows smoke from the tip of her finger. I smile back at her but before I can thank her, the sand by her feet begins to quiver.
“Ember! Look out!” A flat, disk-like Shade resembling a crab claws its way out of the sand. It stands taller than our heads, snapping its pincers at us as it dances back and forth on spindly legs.
> Ember waves me on. “I’ve got this. You go do what you gotta do!”
I charge down the beach, kicking up sand behind me. I have to dive and dodge around the clashing Shades and Walkers. I’m about thirty feet from the water’s edge when I trip over something large. Sprawling out on my stomach, I turn reflexively, expecting the thing that tripped me to attack now that I’m down. What I find instead is worse.
Lang-hao is lying on his side in the sand. Two barbed quills, each the size of my arm, have impaled him through the stomach and chest. He’s gasping for breath but his lungs won’t work properly. Blood flows from his wounds and out his mouth.
So much blood.
I scramble on my hands and knees through the sand until I’m by his side.
“It’s okay, Lang. I can fix this.” My hands flutter over him. His eyes roll back and he goes limp. “Stay here! Lang!” He’s lost too much blood to stay conscious. He’s hurt so badly I don’t know where to start. I look around frantically for Faye. I find her at the water’s edge healing Simone, who looks to be in misery.
I’m on my own.
“Okay, I can fix this. I can fix this,” I whisper repeatedly.
I send out energy and, using the skill that Lang himself taught me, rip the quills from his body. With my hands over his chest my mind commands his body to repair the injury. I push the process harder, faster than I ever have before. I’m so afraid he’ll bleed out before I can fix him. I watch as his muscles spread across the open wounds of his torso, reaching for each other and knitting together. Soon the flesh follows the same pattern. Once I know the worst is over, I order the body to begin creating new blood to replace the amount he lost.
An explosion behind me sends sand into my back so forcefully it tears into my clothing and cuts my skin. My ears ring from the blast. I’m dizzy from the battle raging around me.
I look toward the ocean and the tear site and see Kira and Mel struggling to keep up with the Elder Shade. He’s too strong and too fast. They’re losing strength and it won’t be long before they fall. I need to get to them.
Lang is recovering but his heartbeat is still weak and I’m afraid to leave him. I look at Faye across the beach. Simone, better now, helps the healer to her feet among the waves.
Faye. She looks up and our eyes meet. The scars on her face stand out vivid white even at this distance.
She nods to show she understands.
But right then, a great black aquatic tentacle bursts out of the ocean behind Faye. She dodges to the left but isn’t quick enough. The slippery arm snakes itself around her mid-section. Simone’s blood-chilling scream fills the air as Faye is lifted high into the air.
“Faye!” I yell, leaping up and running to her. As she hovers in the air, our eyes meet and a sick feeling settles into my chest.
Faster than lightning, the arm cracks downward, slamming Faye hard onto the surf.
“No!” My shout is a strangled cry.
The sea Shade raises Faye into the air again. I’m almost to her.
SLAM.
Before Faye can be lifted off the ground for a third time, Sam reaches her and dives onto the slick arm, pinning it to the ground. I arrive and push my mind into the arm of the Shade. I rip apart the flesh until the arm is severed from its body.
More tentacles stretch up out of the churning waves, feeling, groping their way toward us. Sam works to untangle Faye while I sever the monster’s other arms. One after another they come—three, four, now six. I pull apart limb after limb, littering the beach with writhing, oozing black ropes until there are no more.
“Addy,” Sam croaks, leaning protectively over Faye, “she needs you.”
I fall to the ground next to my friend’s broken body. Her eyes are closed and she’s very still.
“Is she—” Sam starts but can’t bring himself to ask.
I lift my hands over her body, intending to send my mind out toward her, when she opens her eyes. She’s in excruciating pain. I quickly shut off the pain sensors in her brain and her relief is instantaneous.
“Don’t you worry, Faye.” I try to reassure her, but she knows as well as I do how grave her injuries are.
Someone shouts for help somewhere up the beach and Sam jumps to his feet but hesitates.
“Go! I’m fine here.”
When I look back down at Faye, she’s looking behind me, her eyes wide. I spin, ready to fend off another Shade, but there’s nothing there. Looking back at Faye, I find she no longer looks surprised. Her expression is peaceful and filled with a sweet kind of longing.
I return my hands to their place above her, but she uses what little strength she has left to push them away.
“Faye? What—”
“Shhh, don’t Addy,” she whispers through cracked lips, still peering over my shoulder. “Don’t waste time.”
“Faye NO! It’s not too late.” We both know I’m lying.
“Please Addy, …” she smiles serenely, “let me go to him.”
Again I turn around and find nothing behind me. She’s hallucinating. She thinks she’s seeing her dead husband.
She whispers something but I can’t make out the words. Again I try to heal her and again she stops me.
“Faye! Please! I have to TRY,” I beg her, sobbing. I can see she’s determined but I can’t bear to say good-bye. We need her. She’s like a mother to all of us.
Her eyelids flutter and a tear rolls down the side of her face. With her last breath she utters, “Allen … my Allen.”
And then it happens.
The tear rips wide open, making an audible CRACK that resonates deep within me. The cold that had been slowly seeping from the tear site now readily flows out onto the beach, spreading invisible tendrils that reach into me and wrap around my heart, turning it to ice in my chest.
Like a dam bursting, Shades of all sizes, Lesser and Greater alike, pour from the Nether Realm and into the ocean. They slink and slither, dash and fly in all directions. The water, as if reacting to the very nature of the demons, churns violently. A murky blackness spreads out from the opening, tainting the ocean, turning it into a viscous, oily broth.
Leaving Faye’s body behind, I rush to the tear site.
The Elder Shade, having accomplished his task, turns and joins the melee on the sand. Behind him, knee deep in the water and facing the tear, I’m surprised to see Crank. I’m surprised because he looks excited—no GIDDY—as he flexes his hands eagerly.
“This is MY show now!” He throws his arms out wide and I watch, stunned, as the ocean responds to his command. The tide swells to an incredible height and the sea rushes forward.
Waves come crashing in and around the tear, forcing back the stampede of Shades. Crank’s tiny frame is dwarfed by the massive waves his awesome power is commanding. He’s holding off the armies of hell. I pray he can hold out long enough for us to reseal the tear.
I search for the two sealers, fearing the worst, but then I feel their auras. I find them in the water still, fighting against the currents of the now-crippling tide. I didn’t see them before because they’re covered in the black sludge that has bled from the Nether Realm, camouflaging them against the murky waters.
They’re weak. Mel loses her footing and is pulled beneath the waves. Before she can be washed away, I grasp for her with my mind. Holding her tightly within the grip of my power, I drag her up to the shallows where she can breathe.
While I have her, I send strength through her body and rejuvenate her exhausted mind. Refreshed and feeling new, she plants her feet firmly in the sand and resumes her work on the tear. When I’m confident she can stand on her own, I repeat the process within Kira.
With the opposing forces of the charging Shades pushing back against the furious ocean, the hole between our realms continues to take the brunt of the abuse. It rips and tatters, becoming larger by the second. It will take all three of us working together to fix it.
At the back of my mind, I feel a familiar life force flicker and weaken. A
woman screams and at the same time, Timothy’s light, his aura, blinks out of existence.
I can’t wait another second or more will die, more lights will extinguish.
Running through the sand and surf, I mimic Sam’s ability to utilize my muscles to their full capacity to get me to the portal sooner. I throw my thoughts out, feeling with invisible hands, tracing the edges of the tear. I begin stitching. It’s slow at first, but then Mel and Kira find the place I’m working on and join their efforts with mine.
With the strength of our combined abilities, the bottom of the tear begins to weave together. I push harder, force the fabric to meet and mend, placing bonding wards on the seam along the way so it can’t be re-opened.
It’s working. The once gaping rift is now halfway closed. The Shades in the Nether Realm turn frantic. Desperate to get through the opening before it closes, they jockey for the front of the herd. Obsidian tusks, horns, claws, tentacles, and feelers protrude from the hole as the mass of dark bodies beyond roils and churns.
We are two-thirds of the way done when the ocean suddenly stops its deluge. An unseen force plucks up Crank and tosses him like a rag doll out over the ocean.
“I’ve got you, Crank!” Lang shouts, and I spin to see the Asian’s face pinched in concentration, reaching out for Crank.
The Elder Shade, maybe sensing his work was being undone, has returned. Crank’s efforts posed the greatest threat, so he attacked him first, but soon he will turn his attention to Mel and Kira and me.
Lang catches Crank in the air and begins to pull him back to his post. In the few seconds he’s been gone, dozens of Shades have spilled out through the hole.
The Elder Shade turns toward Lang with his arms outstretched, intending to stop him from helping Crank. I know I have only a second to intervene.
HEY!
I send my thoughts out to the Elder Shade. For a minute it works. His gaze flicks in my direction.
I have to distract him. I have to keep him off the others long enough for them to do their job. But the Elder turns and takes another step toward Lang.
