Dealing with the Devil (The Earthwalker Trilogy Book 1)

by Siddoway, Jennifer

  “Obviously it’s just not your day,” I called cheerily as Nate and I turned to finish our walk home.

  With my backpack slung across my shoulder, I walked up the stony drive and kicked some of the pebbles on the ground in front of me. The live oak trees that cast shadows on our driveway had Spanish moss hanging from their branches, making a delightful canopy of green. I could smell the magnolia blossoms a mile away, and they were even more beautiful in person.

  Nate trudged along beside me and held the screen door open to let us both inside. “Hey, Elyse,” he sighed when we saw her on the couch. “How are things on the home front?”

  She looked up from her knitting and gave a gentle shrug. “They're fine, nothing to report.”

  “Where's Cleo?” I asked her instantly. The ghost of a smile played at the edge of her lips as she pointed towards the living room.

  “She's resting in her crate. The vet had to put a cone around her neck so she wouldn't lick her stitches.”

  I rushed over to the crate and cradled her in my arms after I pulled her from confinement. She looked up at me like I had murdered her entire family. She was not happy with the cone. With some petting and attention she finally relaxed and was purring like crazy from beneath her Elizabethan collar. “Hey, girl,” I said. “Are you glad to be back home?”

  “Raw-raw,” she replied while licking my fingers.

  “Yeah, I bet you are. Why didn't you let her rest in my room?” I asked with mock stubbornness, turning my attention back to Elyse.

  “We tried!” she told me honestly. “But she kept crawling beneath your desk and getting the collar stuck. Eventually, we gave up and just decided to keep her in there.”

  I frowned. “Okay, I guess that makes sense. Thanks for taking care of her.”

  “No problem.”

  “Oh, good. You're both here!” Dad announced as he walked into the kitchen. “I was hoping that we could leave a little early today so I could run by the office. Is that alright?”

  Nathan groaned and brushed past him down the hall. “Ugh! Fine, let me drop off my stuff at least.”

  Dad glanced at me and looked as if he might change his mind, but thought better of it. He’d told me last night my “attitude needed improvement” and someday I would “regret the error in my ways.” He thought I would eventually come around, but I just couldn’t see that happening any time soon. Surprisingly, everyone else still wanted to go, even after last week’s bombshell, including Elyse. I couldn’t fault her for it, at least it was an informed decision this time.

  “You going to be alright here, Winnie?”

  I scoffed at his implication. “It will be an uphill battle, but I think I can keep from burning the house down.”

  Dad clearly didn't pick up on my sarcasm and brushed over it completely. “What about you Elyse? Are you and Kevin ready?”

  She nodded slightly, her blonde curls bobbing like a golden crown around her head. “He's coming from one of his classes and is going to meet us there.”

  Dad nodded in acknowledgment as Nate came walking down the stairwell, DS clamped tightly in his hand. “Kay, I'm ready.”

  “All right! Let’s go!”

  “Bye, guys!” I waved to them as they filed out the door into the garage, piling into our father’s car. I didn't bother to watch them drive away, but when I heard the garage door close, I started up the stairs, still carrying Cleo in my arms. Once I made it to my room, I set her down on my bed so she could lay comfortably on the mattress. She pawed at my hair as I leaned back on the blanket next to her before a brief fluttering of wings caught both of us by surprise.

  “May I join you?” Caleb asked from the glowing orb that had materialized inside my bedroom.

  I rolled over on the mattress and propped myself up on my elbows before responding. “Sure!”

  He stepped out from the temporary portal and gave me a winning smile.

  “Still laying low from Maya?” I asked him innocently.

  Caleb rolled his eyes and took a seat on the floor in front of me. “Don't start.”

  I managed to stifle my laugher at his frustration and climbed off the bed so I was sitting next to him. “What are you fighting about anyways? I thought the two of you were partners.”

  “We are!” he agreed quite adamantly. “But lately she's been acting really weird. She says I'm being distracted and not focusing enough on my calling, which is reflecting badly on her. I keep telling her that my focus is exactly where it should be, and then we'll get into a fight. It’s maddening.”

  I laughed. “What does she think you're distracted by?”

  He looked up at me with such human longing that I almost forgot what he was. “Don't you know?”

  The light conversation we’d been having evaporated and I cleared my throat to alleviate the awkward silence. “I, um … I didn't mean to get you in trouble with her.”

  Caleb snapped his head around with a quizzical look, “You didn't,” he insisted. “Maya … she … we’ve just both changed too much over the past few years to ever reconcile I’m afraid. I’ve been thinking about what you said, about who I am and my destiny being decided for me. You articulated something I’ve been struggling with for a long time. When I say, Maya and I have changed, I mean she has become more dedicated, more diligent in our calling, bordering on militant while I, on the other hand, find myself questioning my purpose.”

  “What do you mean, questioning?”

  He was quiet for a long time and a pained look appeared on his face. He was struggling with himself, I could see that, so I didn’t feel the need to press him.

  “You once asked why I’m doing this, why I spared you. Do you remember when we were in the Grove of Ancients and I said you were the first demon I’d ever seen act selflessly to protect their loved ones?”

  I nodded solemnly.

  “Well, that wasn’t entirely true.”

  My eyes grew wide with disbelief. “I thought…?”

  “I won’t go into all the details,” he assured me. “But there was another demon, a young man, who we were assigned to … well … take care of. His powers were activated in a fight with Mammon, but while we were dealing with him, the man got his niece out of the house and saved her from getting hurt, knowing full well we’d come after him. Once Mammon was gone, we tracked him down to … finish the job. That’s when I started questioning what we do. It went against everything I’d ever been told about the nature of demons and my heart began to ache with every battle. He’d sacrificed himself to save her. It was one of the most heroic and selfless acts of love I’d ever witnessed to this day.”

  He sat there for a long time, remembering the awful scene, and then continued, “It’s easier to get the job done when you don’t think about it, putting faith in the need to maintain balance between dark and light — otherwise there’d be chaos. We had to compartmentalize everything — don’t think, just act. It wasn’t my place to question the decision of the Elders. Their word was law and I was merely a weapon they could wield. If you hesitated it was a sign of weakness. They taught us to paint the world as black and white, us against them. It never even occurred to me that a demon could be worth saving … until I saw it with my own eyes. But that young man knew he was going to die and he still fought to keep her safe. That’s why you don’t really see me with Maya anymore. I used to be in awe of her power and skill with a sword, but now I can’t even look at her without thinking about what we did. Her single minded need for destruction has changed her and we’ve drifted apart over the years. She thinks I’ll get over it in time, but I’m not sure I want to. I’ve seen the darkness inside myself and now, with your help, I’m hoping to find redemption.”

  My eyes widened at this admission, while his eyes cast down in shame. It made me realize how very little I actually knew about him — a tortured warrior trying to redeem himself from the sins of his past. I wished there was some way I could reassure him he’d done nothing wrong.

  I looked at his face, t
aking in each little detail as his pained eyes bore back into mine.

  “There was nothing you could do, Caleb. It sounds like you were just as much a victim of circumstance as I am.”

  Our eyes made contact and I gazed into the endless depth of those pale, blue orbs, listening to the hum of his voice and suddenly, a jolt of energy hit me straight between my eyes and I was transported to another time and place. I was looking up from the center of a marble hall on the edge of a palace barracks. Across a veranda was a group of hooded figures in grey cloaks, making their way through a portcullis archway. Among them were Maya and Caleb, joking with one another as their classmates went inside.

  Her wild, brunette hair had been plaited into a dozen braids and a glowing, silver scimitar was tethered to her back. She looked fierce and beautiful — far more worthy of a companion like Caleb than I. He smiled back at her, his arm wrapped around her waist as they passed through the white stone archway. His eyes were cold as ice and devoid of the familiar warmth I’d come to know and love.

  It was like he was a completely different person.

  “Caleb, how are you doing this?” I asked, but he could neither hear or see me. I ran to keep up with them as they disappeared into the gladiatorial ring, looking around to make sure I didn’t miss anything.

  When I passed into the darkened arena, there was a pale, sickly demon chained to the marble floor, its eyes completely black with fear. It hissed a feral screech as the group approached, and tried to scuttle towards the corner of the ring. A few of the Guardians snickered and one of them pulled out a sharpened dagger. “I call dibs,” he announced.

  That’s when I noticed they were wearing armor beneath their robes and a sick feeling began in the pit of my stomach. “Ugh! No fair. You got to kill the last one,” Maya complained.

  “Please!” the demon wailed. “You don’t have to do this!”

  None of them seemed to care, or even register what he was saying, they just armed themselves with whatever weapons they could find hanging on the wall. The demon became more terrified as time went on, nearly breaking his wrist in an attempt to escape. I couldn’t blame him, knowing what they probably had in store.

  There was some screaming as they closed in on him and started to attack. Amidst the wailing and shrieks of pain, Caleb shot an arrow into his sleeve and pinned him back against the ground.

  The other Guardians all took turns unleashing one attack after another, slicing bits of flesh off here and there. It was a bloody, gruesome torture and even though the demon was struggling to fight back, it was no match against the entire group of them.

  I couldn’t watch all of it, but by the end the boy was barely recognizable. What made it worse was that the Guardian class was enjoying it. It was with playful smiles or grim determination that each took a turn. Near the end though, I saw something flicker behind Caleb’s eyes as the rest of them became more ruthless. He shot an arrow into the demon’s chest and silenced him forever. “All right, it’s done,” he told them in a clipped tone.

  “Aw, we we’re just starting to have some fun!” one of the other recruits complained.

  “We’re not here to have fun, we’re here to train,” he told them flatly. “Now go and get cleaned off.”

  Some of them grumbled as they walked back to the armory and hung their weapons on the wall. I was horrified at the sight of blood and flesh dripping off their padded clothing. Maya had a wicked smirk as she hung her blade and joined Caleb in the doorway.

  The sight of them together after what the two of them had done was enough to make me sick. To revel and bond over such violence was disturbing. I blinked as they disappeared into the sunlight and then I was back again, sitting in my room.

  “Caleb, what just happened?”

  When he saw the terror in my eyes Caleb immediately switched gears, “Tell me everything,” he commanded.

  Still shaking with fear, I told him, “I saw you and Maya, and other Guardians fighting a demon in a gladiatorial ring. No, fighting isn’t the right word … tormenting is more like it. It was chained to the ground with six against one, screaming for you to stop.”

  The look on his face became agonized and I immediately regretted my outburst. “I don’t know how you saw that, but that’s exactly what I’m talking about. I’ve been trained … taught to do horrific things. It’s not a part of my past I like to think about. The first thing you do as a new recruit is to capture and restrain a demon — then you practice. The graduation ceremony is practically a blood bath.”

  Anger and outrage flooded my brain as I told him, “HOW DARE the Celestial Court have the audacity to judge me when practices like that take place within their walls! And they think I’m a monster?”

  Caleb flinched at my use of the word “monster”, and I clarified, “I’m sorry, that wasn’t directed at you. You don’t blame the weapon in an arsenal, you blame the hand that wields it. How could they do this to you? Rob you of your free will so completely?” I sat astounded and infuriated, not knowing what to do. I had just finished telling him it wasn’t his fault, yet I suddenly cowered in fear from him. I’d never felt so vulnerable before, knowing what he was capable of. What if he changed his mind about me?

  My voice barely above a whisper, I asked “What happens if one day you decide I’m not worth the trouble anymore? What makes me worthy of your compassion and not them?”

  He looked at me now, but his eyes were indescribable. “Nothing. Absolutely nothing. They did deserve my compassion. My heart has changed. You make me see the world in a different way and I want to be a better person because of it. We can talk about this in more detail later if you’d like, but right now I’m far more concerned with how you were able to see that vision to begin with.”

  “I think it might have something to do with Mammon’s trial,” I choked out nervously. “He may have interpreted what I asked for differently than I intended.”

  “Wynn, you didn’t…” he pleaded futilely. “He’s a djinn, of course he’s going to twist anything you had to say! That’s how they work!”

  “Sorry! I didn’t know what else to ask for that wouldn’t be used against me.”

  He cut me off, “What did you ask for?”

  “Knowledge,” I admitted sheepishly, “I think my exact words were, ‘I want to know truth about the past, what happened, everything’.”

  “That is … quite concerning,” he said plainly. “I need to speak with Seroquel.”

  “Why Seroquel?”

  “Because she's an oracle. She can see into the future, and sometimes the past as well. It's a very rare gift.”

  I heard the garage door opening downstairs. “Has is really been three hours?” I asked him skeptically.

  “Four actually.”

  I chuckled sheepishly, and then blushed even harder when he teased me with a grin. I heard the three of them come barreling into the kitchen downstairs, Elyse talking to Dad while they unloaded things onto the counter. They must have stopped at the grocery store on the way home. I could hear them laugh over the opening and shutting of cabinet doors as they put things away. One pair of footsteps came clomping up the stairs, which brought Caleb’s and my discussion to a halt.

  Nate walked down the hall with a bag of popcorn in his hand, passing my room completely and then coming back to idle in the doorway. “Hey, Nate,” I addressed him pleasantly. “How's Mom?”

  He raised his eyebrows significantly while looking down at the bag in his hand. “Yeah,” he said sarcastically, drawing out the word as long as possible. “Same as usual, glad to be back. You know how it is.”

  “Cool.”

  His eyes flickered towards Caleb in the chair beside me and popped another handful in his mouth, gesturing with his chin inside my room. “Who's your friend?”

  As the words left his mouth, Caleb and I both stared at him in shock. “You can see him?”

  Nathan stopped chewing his mouthful of popcorn and glanced down the hall as if we were playing some kind of joke.
“Are you serious?” he asked in disbelief. “Of course I can see him, he sitting right next to you. Why are you acting weird?”

  Caleb and I both turned to each other in a panic, forgetting everything about the conversation we’d been having. “What does that mean?” I asked him frantically.

  “Besides the fact that I'm going to be more careful? I don't know,” he answered honestly. “It makes sense he can See, the two of you do share the same bloodline.”

  Nate dropped the piece of popcorn in his hand, brushed his fingers on his jeans, and looked at us like we were crazy. “Did I miss something?”

  I scratched my head in confusion and gestured for him to come inside. “Okay, come in and shut the door. Nathan, this is my new friend Caleb. Caleb, this is obviously my brother Nate.”

  “Dad know about him?” Nathan asked me with a suggestive grin.

  “Nope,” I nearly laughed at the prospect.

  Nate chuckled. “Well, this should be interesting. It's nice to meet ya.” Nate went to clap Caleb kindly on the shoulder and my breath hitched as his hand passed right through him. Just as I expected, Nate reeled back in shock as I had done the first time after making that mistake.

  “What the heck was that?”

  I turned to Caleb and hissed, “Nicely done. Now you've put him in danger too!”

  Caleb rolled his eyes and said, “If you think he was safe before, then you were woefully confused.”

  Nathan kept grabbing for his arm over and over again, watching his fingers pass right through the space that Caleb should have been encompassing. Each time he tried, and failed, a smile spread across his face like a child discovering candy. “That is seriously freaky! Why didn't you tell me about him sooner?”