by Ben Zackheim
“That would only be early 20th century. There was no mining in New Jersey or New York then.”
Alix shrugged. “Musta been an on-the-sly kinda mine.”
“Waterfront mine,” I mumbled. “What could they have been mining for? One wrong move and they’d be drinking river water.”
Alix ran his fingers over the wood in the other direction. “It musta been valuable, is all I can say. Good work, though. Quality dig.”
A door opened behind me, letting in firelight from another room.
“This was a mob mine,” Osiris said. He was a silhouette in the open doorway, giving him a distinctly creepy, vampire vibe.
“What were they mining?” Alix asked.
“I don’t know.”
Rebel and I shared a glance. “Uh-huh,” I said. “That’s a lie. How did you get down here?”
“The mine shaft can still be navigated if you’re able to fly. Come. Follow me. I don’t have time to play host.”
I walked past Rebel. “He’s in a mood.”
“Still cute as hell, so he gets a pass. God, those golden eyes are just…”
“All right, all right.” I couldn’t see her face, but I could feel her smirk from a mile away. She knew I could be the jealous type sometimes. At that moment, I was definitely the jealous type.
We walked into a larger room. This one had some basic amenities. Torches on the wall lit the space. A small wood table with four rickety chairs sat in the middle of the room.
“Torches in a mine?” Alix asked. “Yer not one of the bright ones are yeh, vampy?”
Osiris waved his hand at the dwarf. “Don’t worry. We’re safe.”
Alix nodded. “Ah, that makes me feel much better.”
Osiris moved to the middle of the room. “You will stay here tonight. Come morning, you will locate your troops on the surface. Dino is with them now.”
“So you know about our troops,” I said.
“Yes, they are safe and gathering. You trained them well.”
“Lancelot trained them well.”
“Ah, yes. Lancelot. What are your plans with these troops, Kane?”
“We want to join you. We want to help you kill Set and win this war.”
“That will not happen. Set cannot die. And he’s already won the war. We’re playing his game in his world now.”
Chapter 27
“So I heard, but I don’t buy it,” I said.
Osiris cocked his head like a curious teacher waiting for his dunce student to enlighten him about something way over his head. “Do you think you can bring the world back to what it was?”
“No, we can bring it back better.”
“You are naive,” Osiris said with no small amount of disdain in his tone.
“That’s not something I get accused of often. Maybe you just need an attitude adjustment.”
“Boys,” Rebel broke in. “Can we save this for later? Right now, I want to know how we can work together.”
I stepped toward Osiris. “Tell me something. If everything is hopeless, then why are you leading this little rebellion of yours?”
“Set has established a hub under Wall Street. It makes the Paris lair look like a small hut. He’s gathered his army around him for his own protection. His fear combined with his overconfidence will be his downfall, as it has been in the past.”
Alix’s thick eyebrows lowered over his eyes like theater curtains. Dwarves have the nastiest frowns. “Yer telling’ us yer gonna draw out all of his forces?”
“I know what I’m doing, dwarf. When Set’s ambitions were quelled thousands of years ago, I studied the process that brought him down. His reemergence took 1000 years. If I can recreate that success then this new world of his has a chance to survive in some form. Until Set returns again.”
“That sounds like a bright future,” Alix mumbled.
Osiris looked down at him without bowing his head. “It’s a realistic future.”
I stepped between them. “Okay, fine, so how do we help you achieve this realistic future?”
“You have the demon hordes at your command, Kane.” Osiris studied the sceptre with curiosity and something else. Jealousy, maybe. Fear? “I do not understand why the sceptre can control demons. It can, so we must use it. But we must use it carefully.”
“What do you mean?” Rebel asked.
“Bringing a relic of my grandfather’s own making into a battle with his forces could be a mistake. If he somehow regains control of the sceptre, he would go from a beatable opponent to invulnerable in an instant. We’d all be defeated before we even had a chance to flee.”
“We have more troops ready in Paris,” I said.
Osiris waved his hand dismissively. “Spare them. We only need your demons for this fight. We may need your people later, if we survive the day.”
“Where are your troops stationed?” I asked.
“Yeah, that’s a good question,” Alix piped in. “How c’n you hide so well from yer own kind right under their noses?”
“I can’t share that information with you.”
“Oh, I see how this relationship is going to work,” I said. “We lay it all out for you and you stay shady.”
“No one can know where we are. No one can know our tactics. It could ruin our chances. I’m sorry I can’t tell you everything, but you can be sure we will not betray you. Your arrival in the fight is welcome, Kane. And to find that you’re more valuable than I could have dared imagine is even more welcome.”
“Happy to make you happy.” I let the sarcasm drip off those words for a few seconds. “We’ll need you to set up four vampires for us topside to swap with in the morning.”
Osiris nodded. “Already taken care of. They will be stationed near the reconnaissance point where your troops are gathering.” He crouched down and pushed off the dirt floor. He flew straight up through a hole in the ceiling I hadn’t seen before.
Alix examined the room and its hard surfaces. “Well, this is gonna be a comfy slumber!”
“So where does Brazil fit in now, Kane?” Rebel asked.
“It’s going to have to wait.
Alix took a seat in one of the chairs. Nickolas took the second, pushing the old thing to its limit. Rebel dropped into hers with a sigh and leaned her head back melodramatically. I took the last seat.
We all glanced at each other.
“Anyone have whiskey on their person?” Alix asked with a tired smile.
Chapter 28
The swap to the surface went off without a hitch.
The four of us were working on three or four hours of sleep. Still, the adrenaline of the battle to come had me awake and aware.
Our troops sat around the old movie theater that Lancelot had identified as the meeting point. Their feet were propped up on the chairs in front of them as they chowed down on their freeze dried meals. Dino immediately stood in front of me, protectively. “I got this, Dino, thanks.” I moved out from behind him. I noticed that some of the soldiers weren’t giving me glares of death. Dino had probably spent the night before spending too much time on convincing them I was worth trusting.
“He’s with us!” Nickolas yelled. All eyes landed on him. “Listen, I know we all have our doubts about Kane. But I’ve been giving it a lot of thought. Arkwright is the one who gave us a fighting chance. We’re eating his fucking food and protecting ourselves with his weapons. He’s an asshole, but none of us would like each other if that were the measurement.” The laughter sounded good in the theater. Like the old days. Like we were all watching a comedy flick.
The young woman I’d met in Paris before all hell broke loose raised her hand. Kelly. Nickolas pointed at her.
“I saw him running for the Swap Portal back in Paris. Why did he swap here? It looked to me like he was trying to run away.”
“I was,” I said. “When the demons appeared, I knew I had a chance of controlling them.” The room buzzed with whispers and mutterings. “I figured I’d swap here to stop them from jum
ping into the portal and swapping every single one of us out of Paris.”
Kelly leaned back in her theater chair and crossed her arms. “Prove it.”
Dino jumped in. “You don’t have to prove anything, buddy.”
“You want proof? Fine.” I opened the Vault Portal and removed the sceptre. I couldn’t help notice the way everyone leaned forward to get a better look at the portal before it shut. It was at that moment, I realized they were uneasy about me because of the portals as much as they were about me betraying them. I’d never seen myself as scary, but to a bunch of humans who were living normal lives a year earlier, I could see how my freak show could be disturbing. “I need three demons by my side now.”
We didn’t have to wait long. Four seconds later we heard noises all around us. Apparently, a few of the demons had chosen to explore the theater when I ordered them to find recruits. The scampering noises sounded like giant rats. Whatever was coming had sharp claws and crawled on all-fours. Like a wave of red and black, the demons shot from the ventilation, jumped across the rafters, and covered the ceiling above us. Their eyes were the color of rubies.
The troops drew their pistols, but one growl from Dino made them stand down. Three demons dropped from the ceiling and landed at my feet. They sat obediently and studied the room like disinterested cats. Their red eyes clearly made everyone uneasy. If my comrades knew the damage those little claws could do, they’d have gone fight or flight on us.
I waited for a few seconds to measure their response to my little demonstration. I looked at Kelly. She nodded, followed soon after by others. I was finally breaking through to them. My tactical brain kicked in, and I realized it was the perfect moment to change the damn subject. “Does anyone know if Lancelot was swapped?”
I was met with dozens of shaking heads, all of them looking up to the ceiling nervously. I opened the comm to Rebel so the troops couldn’t hear.
“Where the hell could he be?”
“Someone just told me they haven’t seen him in Paris either. I’ll get Belch to track him down. The two of them have that creepy bond with each other.”
I nodded. Rebel walked backstage to contact Paris.
“One more question,” Kelly said, raising her hand.
“Kelly, you don’t need to raise your hand,” Nickolas said.
“Who’s in charge now?”
There was an uncomfortable silence. I got ready to step in and grab the responsibility, as much as I hated the idea.
“Arkwright,” Nickolas said. I was as shocked as the others. But Nickolas stared down the frowns and repeated, “Arkwright is in charge.”
Chapter 29
But my role as leader didn’t last long.
As we waited for Osiris to show up at the theater and give us the plan and its timing, a call came in from Paris.
“Lucas is on the line, sir,” Nickolas said. I jumped up from my comfy theater seat and followed him backstage. Rebel walked with me. Nickolas glanced over his shoulder. “We’ve located Belch. He’s been given orders to track Lancelot down.”
“So now we wait. I hate waiting.” I grabbed the satellite phone from Nickolas. “Lucas, how are you?”
“I’m alive, sir. We need you here. Now.”
“I can’t…”
“We have a soldier standing by in your quarters to be swapped. Hurry. Please.”
He hung up before I could explain the situation. “Shit.”
“Bad news?” Rebel asked.
“It didn’t sound like good news. Lucas wants me in Paris right now.”
Rebel rolled her eyes. “Great timing.”
I put my hand on her shoulder. “You’re in charge until I get back.”
“Me? What the hell are you talking about? I’m not leading these people into battle.”
“Osiris wants the demons to fight this battle, not us mere mortals.”
“I can’t control the demons, Kane. Only you can. Remember?”
“I’ll be back as soon as possible, Rebel. Just… be yourself. You’ll do great.”
“Osiris said he’d be here to lay out the battle plan at sunset. That’s in one hour. You have 30 minutes.”
I didn’t bother arguing. I opened the Swap Portal, gave Rebel a little salute (she was in charge, after all), and stepped through.
My Paris quarters were just as I’d left them. Small, cluttered with books, and smelly. A guard was waiting outside my room. He wasn’t on the Kane Bandwagon yet so he rudely jerked his head to let me know I should follow him.
Lucas waited for me in a hospital bed. I didn’t need Scarlett to tell me he didn’t have long to live. She ran up and wrapped her arms around me. I guess I didn’t expect a welcome like that because my arms dangled there for a second before I remembered to hug her back.
She held me at arms length and took a long look, up and down. “You look like hell.”
“I’m the master of demons now, so that makes sense.”
She frowned. “What do you mean?”
“Never mind. How long does he have?” I looked at my frail friend on the bed. His small body made a slender bump in the thin sheets.
“You don’t mince words, do you?”
“I think mincing went out with electricity, and hot water.”
“He’s hanging on. But it may be you he’s hanging on for. He wants to talk to you. Badly. If you want the worst-case, we could lose him once he tells you what he wants to say.”
I put a hand on her shoulder. Even that small touch felt good. I’d forgotten what it was like to just hang out and be with someone for no other reason than enjoying their company. “Thanks, Scarlett.”
“You bet, Kane. Good luck.”
I stood over Lucas and took a deep breath.
His eyes opened slowly. “Sir, I found a spell.”
“Was it on the scroll piece that Tabitha delivered?”
“I will get to that.” He spoke quickly. He knew he was running out of time. “One thing at a time, please. I must calm my thoughts, focus. There was a section of the scroll that beckoned to me for days. I tried to ignore it because I suspected a dangerous spell. But when I gave into temptation and interpreted it… Sir, it is the spell that created the Swap Portal.”
Once again, the clues of this war and its origins crept closer to me. Once again, I felt like a single pawn against a chess board of enemies.
“Are you sure, Lucas?”
“Yes, yes. I am sure. The text speaks of the ability to move over mountains and valleys and seas and deserts in an instant, but only if your destination is occupied.” That made me feel even more like a pawn on a chessboard. “But that’s not all I must tell you. The spell began with a symbol for ‘door.’ I believed it to be a marker for the portal spell. I searched for the door symbol elsewhere on the scroll of the Book of the Undead. I found the spell for the Vault Portal as well.”
“What does it mean?” I asked.
He ignored my question. He wouldn’t stop until he’d revealed all of his findings. “I looked for more portal spells on the scroll, but there were only two.” He paused to take a breath and to think. “Then I examined the scroll fragment from Tabitha. I translated it just before the guards brought me here. Sir, it contains the door marking. It is a portal spell, too.”
“What does it do?”
“That’s not the important question right now. You must know what this implies. It’s possible the last missing scroll piece contains a spell for one more portal. If that’s the case, then the portals may be part of…” He stopped and pursed his lips. “The Four. The portals may be part of The Four. No one has ever mentioned the portals in the same breath as The Four before, but it’s not my area of expertise.”
My heart raced. Lucas knew about The Four. “Lucas, this is very important. Tell me what The Four is.”
Chapter 30
“You!” he yelled. “Yes, yes. You!” He pointed at Scarlett. “You must bear witness, doctor. Listen to me. Both of you. The puzzle may be coming together
, though it means my life has been a lie. It means the fools of the world were right, and all of my studies, so carefully crafted, have been wrong.” He paused, as if steeling himself for someone to smack him in the face.
“Four is a magic number in some circles,” he said with more anger in his voice than I’d ever heard from him before. “The number four creeps through myth and lore in symbols and seasons and scripture. Heart, mind, body, and soul. To believers, if it’s four things, it must be important! Bah! Groups of four can be found everywhere you look. Many have gone mad trying to decipher the meaning of the number. It’s possible I’m falling into the same trap by seeing meaning in the existence of four portals!” He started to gasp for breath.
I put a hand on his shoulder. “Try to relax, Lucas. Please. I think you’re onto something.”
Again, he continued talking as if he hadn’t heard me. “The discipline of The Four is laughed at, marginalized, in my circles. I’ve thought it to be nonsense. It doesn’t stand up to scrutiny because patterns of four are so easy to find. For thousands of years, one group of scholars has sworn by The Four. Four gods who came from one.”
“Who were they?”
His eyes met mine. “Their names will always be a mystery, sir. They were gods who ruled before even Set, the oldest of the gods we now know. But the four gods were targeted from the moment they were created. They, or their powers, or their essences moved through the ages for others to take, or inherit. Sir, these words are so rotten on my tongue. The theory of The Four is a fool’s errand. I believe your modern term for it is a ‘rabbit hole.’ Lucas managed a smirk. “To think these are my final words. Such a shame.”
“It’s not a shame if your interpretation is right.”
Lucas let out a chuckle. He focused on the ceiling as he spoke, his voice getting softer, and his pace slower. “The one who believes in The Four more than anyone is Merlin.” I hid my shock because I didn’t want to break his train of thought. Scarlett let out a small gasp, which the demon ignored. I could see an anger building in him, clouding his focus.
