I swallowed down the lump that was rising in my throat and nodded, while bracing myself for anything. “Yes. I'm Wynnona Hendricks.”
“Shall we duel?”
“What? I don't want to fight you.”
Mammon grinned, revealing a golden tooth in the corner of his mouth. “I'm afraid once the opponents have named themselves, the battle has already begun. Lucky for you I’m feeling generous as of late — you and I are only going to play a little game! I’m prepared to offer you three wishes, anything that you could possibly desire — I can make it yours.”
“What’s the catch?” I asked him nervously.
“No catch,” he responded with a grin. “Just tell me what you want.”
“I don’t want anything! I’m just trying to keep my family safe and survive high school.”
“I don’t think you understand me,” he crooned seductively. “I can give you anything you desire.”
I searched my brain for something, but I was in a happy place right now and nothing came to mind.
Seeing my blank expression, Mammon rolled his eyes and continued, “Money is always in high demand and a safe choice for any wish.”
“I don’t need any money.”
“Spoken like a true spoiled teenager who’s had everything provided for her. Surely you haven’t missed the anxiety of debt eating away at your father. It’s a noble thing to provide for your family, but he can’t keep this up forever — especially, since your mother is gone. Speaking of which, medical bills are expensive aren’t they? Not to mention weddings … and college.”
He looked straight into my eyes and guilt began festering in my stomach.
“Books, tuition, housing, food, even if you got a part-time job, the price of an education isn’t what it used to be.”
Even as his words appealed to me, logic took over and I knew it would never work. My father was a lawyer, if debts mysteriously disappeared or if I started giving him money, obviously he’d become suspicious and start digging for answers, which is the last thing I wanted. Being entangled with the Demon Lords was my burden to bear, not his.
“What if I asked you to bring my mother back? Would you be able to?”
Mammon’s eyes narrowed as he answered carefully, “Her contract supersedes any gift that I could offer, nor would I dare invoke my brother’s wrath. Perhaps I could tempt you with something else instead….”
With a wave of his hand, my hair and wardrobe changed. I was wearing the most exquisite clothes I had ever seen and my probationary necklace replaced with one that was much more fashionable.
“That outfit was so shabby, you deserve one that’s a little more you. Don’t you think, my dear?”
A mirror appeared before me, reflecting a stunning, exquisite beauty that still somewhat resembled me. I gaped open mouthed at the new adornments and neatly manicured fingernails on my hands. How many times had I wished for this, to be one of those girls everyone stops and notices when they walk into a room? How often had I looked at my beautiful sister and wondered why I came out so bland? I looked at the girl in the mirror again.
No, I thought. No, I’ve seen enough cliché teen movies to know what happens when the class joke gets a makeover.
I wasn’t about to let myself become indebted to this djinn over something as superficial, or temporary, as my appearance.
“It’s beautiful,” I agreed, “but I liked it better the way I was before.”
He huffed angrily and snapped his fingers in my direction. Instantly, I was dressed in the same black t-shirt and pants I had been.
“And what of your education?” Mammon pressed me further. “You’re clearly an intelligent young woman, yet you still haven’t heard back from a university. With my help you could be accepted into the greatest Ivy League schools in the country, with a full ride scholarship no less. It would be the pragmatic decision, of course. Or, if you wanted something further away, Oxford or Cambridge, you’d always have that option too.”
“You’re not listening! I don’t want anything from you and wouldn’t accept it either. Everything comes with a price and I’m not going to fall for another demon’s lies.”
The djinn crossed his arms dangerously and floated over to where I was. “You are the one not listening, Mortal. You seem to be under the pompous impression that you have a say in all this while you are on trial for your life! This is your first test and you think you can just refuse? I will give you one more chance before I lose my patience. Name your price, Earthwalker!”
“No! I’m not going to play this game with you!”
He lunged at one of the kids and my breath caught as he tilted her head to the side, exposing her swanlike neck. Mammon loomed over her, his teeth barred and furious as he prepared to devour her. “Mmmm, it’s been ages since I’ve had anything to drink!”
He opened his mouth against the crook of her neck and I called out, “Wait!” He ignored my plea and in a fit of panic, I screamed out, “Fine! Just don’t hurt her!”
Mammon paused and looked me over carefully. “State your wish.”
My mind raced as I grasped wildly at different scenarios, trying to find the best one to protect the people that I love. “Knowledge. People always say that knowledge is power, right? I want to know truth about the past, what happened, everything.”
He raised an eyebrow and dropped the girl on the ground in front of him. “That’s an interesting request,” he said mulling it over slowly. “Done!”
A flash of light shot out from his hand and struck me in the chest. It knocked me backwards for a moment, but I didn’t lose my footing. “What was that? I … I don’t feel anything.”
Mammon snickered, “You’ll see … all that you want to know and more! What is your next request?”
I swallowed hard, trying to think of something else he couldn’t use against me. “What I want is to protect my family!” I told him acidly. “Can you give me that?”
His smile widened and when he waved his hand, a vile of green fluid appeared. “If strength is what you desire, then this is what you seek. It has the power to save a life by binding the drinker’s life force to a dying person. Be warned, however, it can only be used once, and it has to be activated before they cross over to the other side. Use it wisely.”
I took the vile from him nervously and tucked it into my jacket.
“You have one more,” he reminded me.
My mind flipped through other possibilities, I didn’t want to waste my last wish.
I had knowledge, strength … what I needed was a way to defeat a Demon Lord in battle. An insidious thought occurred to me and I couldn’t hide the grin as it started to creep across my face. “I know exactly what I want,” I told him with quiet confidence. “I want a weapon that could kill an immortal being.”
After a brief pause, a look of understanding dawned on Mammon’s face and it contorted with anger. Smoke began to billow out around his body as he seethed with rage. “A weapon. To kill someone like me? Is that what you are asking for? How dare you mock my generosity! You will pay for that.”
He swelled to an enormous size and towered over me as his head now brushed against the edge of the proscenium. He roared and lunged down at me as I immediately jumped back and dove behind the seats. I began frantically looking around for something to arm myself with, but there was nothing.
“Come out, come out,” Mammon coaxed from around the corner.
I crawled deeper into the stage wings and found a pipe used to hold open doors. Grabbing it triumphantly, I stood and watched as the colossal djinn threw back the curtains around me. He laughed at finding me there with such a measly weapon. Plucking the pipe from my grasp, he transformed it into curved khopesh and armed himself instead. He swung the savage blade at me, swiping down across my legs. I rolled out of the way, but the side of my jeans sliced in half and there was a thin graze across my skin.
He attacked again, but this time I was faster. His enormous size had slowed him down and I jumped and s
kirted out of the way of his relentless attacks until finally he roared in frustration and threw the khopesh down.
Mammon reached down and grabbed me by the neck, holding me close to his face. “We'll see who's victorious this night, Earthwalker. I'm afraid you lack the proper skill.”
I kicked uselessly against the air, my shoes dangling ten feet from the ground. He drew his arm back and hurled me into the wall where my head cracked against the brick. I slid down and crumpled in a heap on the floor as something warm oozed down my cheek. Mammon grinned, sliding across the floor towards me with his purple mist trailing. “If you would choose to join us, then we could avoid all this unpleasantness.”
I didn’t know what to do. It had been naive of me to think I could have passed these trials, these fights with the Lords of the Demonic Realm. I had no way of fighting back and there was no means of escape. Just as I resigned myself to be executed, a warmth started to grow within my hands, spreading to the rest of my body. A power, just as when Aidan had attacked Maya and Caleb in my room, coursed through my veins and I knew there was hope. I let it flow through me and I stood to face him, surging with my new-found strength.
“Lacking proper skill, huh?”
Mammon paused and a look of doubt flickered across his face. I raised my hands to attack, but a shimmering light appeared and Caleb materialized on the stage taking a protective stance between me and my adversary.
He stood there, crossbow in hand, aiming a sharp quarrel at the Demon Lord coming towards me. Mammon threw himself at Caleb and he shot the crossbow twice. One ricocheted off the wall behind him and shattered, but the other lodged itself deep in his thigh. The djinn hissed, pulled the shard of metal from his leg, and again picked up his blades.
“I think you’ve just made him mad!” I shouted as Caleb steeled himself for the fight.
“This is not your quarrel, Guardian.”
“I’m not going to stand by while you torture a defenseless child.”
“Oh, she’s no child, and she’s far from defenseless, but since you’re here and have shot me, you’ll be a nice warm up!”
Caleb threw down his crossbow and his sacred sword shimmered into existence just as the djinn came down with his khopesh. They locked blades, struggling back and forth until Caleb was pushed to the ground. Just as the Demon raised his hands to deliver the final blow, Caleb thrust his sword upwards and stabbed him through the stomach. Mammon looked down in surprise as he began to dissolve into purple mist. “It was not your fight, Guardian,” he snarled before disappearing entirely.
My heart was still pounding as Caleb came towards me, his face white as ash. The heat in my hands and heart began to subside. “Are you all right?”
I coughed and stood up, leaning against the wall for support. “What are you doing here?”
“I-I was trying to protect you.”
“My power was growing, I could have taken him! Why did you have to intervene?”
He had stopped talking once his eyes reached my throat. I felt something in my stomach drop as the color drained from his face and I stared at him wide eyed, waiting for him to continue. “Caleb? What's wrong?”
“Your necklace,” he choked out nervously.
Gasping in horror, I glanced down at it and realized that one of the stones was different. Six of them were still clear glass, but the last one had turned black. I looked up at him in a panic, “What is that? What does that mean?”
He breathed out deeply, as if the air had been knocked out of his lungs, and let the sacred blade shimmer back to wherever it had come from. “It means … you failed.”
The truth of it sunk in as my breath became ragged and I leaned back against the rail, contemplating the ramifications of how and why. It wasn't till I was almost hyperventilating that I whirled on him in anger. “It's because of you.”
Caleb stared at me dumbfounded, “What?”
“You intervened. I was supposed to defeat the Demon Lord by myself. These trials are meant for me! To prove myself, my strength and character. The Elders won’t think I can handle it if you’re babysitting me for all eternity.”
Caleb's face was agonized as I spat the words out at him. “Wynn, I—”
“You cost me one of the only chances I get to redeem myself!” I shrieked, raising my hand to slap him. My aim was true, but it passed right through him as if he were nothing more than air.
What the hell?
“You want to hit me?” he shot back angrily. “I was trying to protect you! If I hadn't come then you'd probably be dead.”
“I guess we'll never know!” He and I shot daggers at one another with our eyes until I couldn’t take it anymore. My anger turned to disappointment and I honestly asked, “Do you really have so little faith in my ability to succeed?”
Caleb looked taken aback. Not knowing what to say, he turned his back to me and disappeared from the auditorium without another word. Devastated and alone, I clutched my arms tight around my chest and wheezed a few sobs before returning to my station as the cast and backstage crew started waking up from their dreamlike state. A surge of whispered conversations took over as they stumbled around confused.
No one in the theater even noticed when I stepped back into the quiet alcove of the wing.
With the rehearsal now at a standstill, Ryan wandered over to where I was and sat down in the chair beside me. “That was weird, do you know what happened?”
I shook my head and clasped the bottom of the chair, rocking slightly. “Wynn, are you okay?”
“Yeah…” I choked out in a muffled sob. “Why wouldn’t I be?”
Without another word he wrapped his arms around me in a hug. “You’re shaking,” he told me quietly, his voice laced with deep concern.
“I’m fine,” I insisted vehemently. “Please just go finish rehearsal.”
His mouth dropped slightly at my insistence and he walked off to the other side of the stage while Lacey and Ms. Carmichael tried to get everything back on track.
“Okay, great rehearsal everyone! We'll give you notes before we start tomorrow. Have a great night and get some rest. Tomorrow I want to run ‘Waiting for My Dearie’ and ‘Bonnie Jean’, so come prepared.”
While everyone else packed up and made their way out, I just sat, head in hands, contemplating the darkened stone around my neck.
Chapter Eight
The Witch’s Mark
Despite my anger towards the woman and my personal protest to going, I still found myself in Mom's hospital room the following Wednesday, along with Kevin and the rest of my family. It was different than last time we stood here, because I could see her aura now.
It was not what I expected.
I couldn’t believe the blaring difference between her and everybody else — her aura glittered ruby red beneath the fluorescent lighting. The first of its kind I had ever seen.
I looked over at Dad and was surprised at how exhausted he looked. He hunched over in his chair and stared into space over the rim of his bifocal glasses, the skin around his eyes crinkling near the edges. Worry lines deepened across his forehead, betraying his inner struggle.
Kevin had apparently won the argument with Elyse and he sat in the chair beside me, reading a book on human anatomy. He’d introduced himself to Mom after we first arrived and told her how much he loved Elyse, promising to love her until the day he died. The gesture was sweet, although I was pretty sure no words could penetrate her blank, inanimate body.
Elyse was sitting beside him humming to herself as she absentmindedly flipped through a bridal magazine. The cover advertised an article about floral arrangements and the most popular veil lengths.
None of them seemed in the moment like I was.
Her heart monitor beeped quietly in the background as I watched her lay completely frozen on the hospital bed, like a fairytale princess waiting for true love’s kiss. I’d always likened our mother to Snow White, but the more I learned about her, the more I realized she was never the damsel in dis
tress. She wasn't the victim.
She was the villain.
Elyse had always been the type that fell into the role of the princess, wanting to be rescued by a handsome prince and ride off into the sunset together. She was, after all, about to marry that prince and start her own happily ever after.
Nate would forever be the gallant knight, fighting for peace and justice. I didn’t know anyone else who had the same level of chivalry and honor that he did. I was proud to have him as a brother.
So where did that leave me? I was the lady in waiting that no one ever heard of. Lost. Forgotten. The girl who always wanted to be the heroine of some great adventure, or even the princess perhaps, but everyone knows that a fairytale only has room for one. At least I could take comfort in knowing that I wasn't the wicked witch.
I didn’t even know why I came to see her this week, I still hadn't forgiven her for selling me to Aidan, but that would be a conversation to have after she woke up. If she woke up. Oh, yes. We will have words when this is over.
Elyse set the magazine down and excused herself from the room. Kevin glanced up to watch her leave with a crooked smile on his face, then went back to studying the muscles of the heart. Two years into medical school and he was determined to become a thoracic surgeon. His love for tending to the sick and afflicted was what drew him and Elyse together, they each have a gentle heart. Even though I gave him a hard time, I was grateful that of all the men in the world, he was the one Elyse had chosen to be her husband.
Dad and Nate were both typing away on their electronic devices, none of them saw the swirling wisp of black vapor that crept into the room when she left. It slowly inched its way over to our mother’s sleeping body and my breath hitched as it flowed up the side of her bed and began polluting her ruby aura. The bright red essence darkened and swirled with something malevolent. Suddenly, her body arched up unnaturally and the heart monitor went off, sounding the alarm. Kevin and Dad were on their feet before I even realized what was happening.
Dealing with the Devil (The Earthwalker Trilogy Book 1) Page 12
