It struck her, in that moment, that they kept returning to this place. They weren’t in her high school gymnasium or in a field beside a set of train tracks. But they were in the same place nonetheless. Here was Sam trying to kill everyone and everything she knew. And there were Dominic and her friends trying to save her.
Meagan believed it had begun when she’d misspoken the words to a spell. But that had merely been a catalyst, a spark in an awaiting bonfire, one that had been smoldering for two thousand years.
Really, it was all Logan’s fault.
No, she realized. Not mine. Not even Ciara’s. It was fate’s fault.
Except the fates didn’t really exist. Things happened because they happened. Not because there were three women controlling everyone’s fortunes with strings and scissors.
This was no one’s fault. It was just the way it was. Things happened because in every given moment of any existence, something had to happen, and some things that could happen were good and some things that could happen were bad and there was no rhyme or reason to any of it.
It is what it is.
For the first time in her life, Logan actually understood that saying. She still hated it. She still felt that humans would no doubt use it as an excuse to not try to fix things, to not take action, and to remain lazy. But now at least she understood it.
It is what it is, she thought, so I have to change what it is.
Across the masquerade grounds, a swirling gray figure appeared. It wavered and rippled, at last coalescing into the blue-gray outline of a man.
The Harvesters that were standing near the translucent figure backed up, their expressions wary.
Dominic stilled in his captors’ grasps. “Alec!” he exclaimed.
Alec Sheffield, she realized.
All at once, the ghost sped through the air, blurring into an indistinct cloud as it raced across the masquerade ground. The Harvesters holding Dominic released him and backpedalled. Dom froze and straightened, having time to do nothing else. A moment later, Alec was slamming into him.
Dom’s form was momentarily outlined in glowing blue-white. He opened his eyes, and they appeared like search lights. Light emanated from between his teeth, his nostrils, and fingertips. And then the light faded, and Dom bent over, holding his head in his hands.
It lasted for only a moment before he raised his head again. Now his emerald eyes held a light to them, much the way Samhain’s eyes did.
Sam must have known this was not a good sign, because he turned his attention fully to Dominic, and Logan could feel him pull his power in around him, preparing for another spell. This one had a nasty feel to it. It was meant to be permanent.
“No!” Logan cried, rushing forward to grab Sam’s arm as the Death Lord reeled it back, preparing for his strike.
Sam let loose with a stream of magic that looked like charcoal and ruby dust, but because of Logan’s interference, it missed its mark. Dominic dove out of the way, dropping to the ground and rolling back up to his feet.
Sam spun around, his now silver swirling eyes finding Logan’s. He bared his fangs. “For that, I’ll make it hurt when I take you.”
Logan’s heart pounded. She had never seen anything so beautifully terrifying as Samhain was in that moment.
“Logan!”
Logan’s head whipped around at the sound of her name. Meagan had risen from where she’d crouched beneath the onslaught of the lightning bolt that miraculously did no harm. More magic was gathering in her palms, this time a pink-yellow color.
She was preparing to cast another spell, and Logan had an idea she knew what spell it was. The most important thing, and pretty much the only thing for them to do just then was get the hell away from Sam. They stood no chance against him face-to-face. When it came to fight or flight with the Lord of the Dead, flight was really the only answer.
And the only way for them to get away from him was to transport away.
Meagan looked at her, and even from across the masquerade floor, Logan received her message loud and clear. She prepared to receive whatever spell Meagan threw at her.
Sam lunged for her – Logan leapt out of the way.
And Meagan’s magic hit her square in the chest.
Chapter Twenty-Five
It struck all six of them one after another in quick succession as if it were drawing a five-pointed star with Meagan at its center. It happened so fast – in the course of milliseconds – no one had time to react.
The star pulsed once, bright as the lightning that now crisscrossed the sky and cascaded down upon the forest and masquerade floor with a vengeance. And then Logan saw the world go completely white.
She closed her eyes, not wanting to be permanently blinded, and waited as a heat engulfed her. It was almost painful, warming her skin to that flash point just before it would have been too much.
Then it blinked out, and there was a moment of nothing – before a cool breeze kissed Logan’s cheek.
She opened her eyes.
Tombstones of every shape and size stretched all around her, dotting hills and valleys clear to the horizon. Here and there, beautiful black roses in full bloom hugged a stone or grew around it. The thorny vines wrapped and mingled with each other.
Logan looked over her shoulder. Behind her, the head stones became sparse, and the roses took over, becoming the field of black that went on forever.
She turned back around. The most imposing image of all, she gazed upon last. In the far, far distance stood a mountain cliff. Against its sheer drop edge, and piercing the sky with its spires, was the castle.
Samhain’s castle.
This was the line where the black roses became the graves in Fall Fields. This was the place Sam had shown her so many times in her dreams.
A dusky sky hung low and cold over the endless cemetery, and mists curled and clung around the monuments of death like cats made of fog. Behind the castle, lightning played havoc with the atmosphere, but that lightning was as black as the roses, and equally sinister.
Meagan stood to Logan’s right, and Katelyn stood to her left. The man Logan didn’t recognize was on the other side of Katelyn, hurriedly patting points on his sweater that seemed to be smoking. Katelyn noticed this and began to help.
“The portal?” Katelyn asked. The man nodded.
Across from him on the opposite side stood the monster Logan was fairly sure had once been Mr. Lehrer. Some of the facial features were similar. Dominic was a few feet away, a dozen tombstones between them. A gentle breeze brushed his long black hair against his face as he glanced around, taking it all in. He seemed to at once look for her specifically, though, and his green eyes held that eerie glow when they locked on to her. His face looked very, very pale, stark against the raven black of his hair. Her worry for him slid up a notch.
It’s the ghost, Logan thought. Alec is inside him.
The trouble was, she couldn’t figure out why Alec would do that.
Everyone gazed around them at the graveyard and roses. For several long seconds, they were all locked in common silence, most likely none of them knowing exactly what to say.
So Logan went first. “We’re in Fall Fields,” she said. She knew of this place because she had Ciara’s memories within her. “Here, you’ll find the grave of every man, woman, and child who has ever died throughout history.”
More silence greeted that, and she could sense her companions’ awe as they peered at the stones around them. Some of the names and dates were weathered with age. Others were brand new.
Logan read the one closest to her: Annie Marie, 1807-1811.
A four-year-old child.
As it always did when she beheld something sad, Logan’s empathy engulfed her. She’d come to think of it as her curse over the years. It was a flood of emotion she could never shut off. She couldn’t help but imagine the child’s confusion as death claimed her. She hoped she hadn’t felt any pain. And then she imagined the girl’s parents, and their pain.
S
omething cracked open inside Logan. It felt terrible. She begged it to stop, closing her eyes and shoving at the feeling with everything she had. There was no time for pain.
“I knew what it was called,” said Meagan, “Alec told us, or I wouldn’t have been able to transport us here. And I knew it was supposed to be a big graveyard, but… I had no idea….” She was staring at the castle in the distance. Logan saw her shiver.
It was a reaction she could identify with.
“How did you get here? In October Land?” Logan asked.
“I used the spell you carved in the tree.”
Logan felt a semblance of pride at hearing that. “Good,” she said, meaning it with all her heart. Something she’d done had actually worked.
She looked over at Dom. “Are… you okay?” she asked, knowing it couldn’t be easy for him to be housing another person’s soul again. They were wasting time talking, but she couldn’t help but ask.
He nodded, giving her a slightly twisted smile. “He owes me after this,” he said. “He knows how I feel about having someone else in my head.” And then he went still, and his smile broadened. “Oh. I’m the one who got him killed in the first place,” he said, shaking his head. “He’s quick to remind me.”
Logan smiled at that. It was a bittersweet smile, of course.
“Logan,” said Meagan, drawing her attention. “I know a portal will open soon to try to shoot us back to the mortal realm, but I can’t leave October Land until I’ve set things right. According to Alec, time moves differently here. It’s already Halloween on the other side. We’ve been missing for weeks.”
Logan blinked. Weeks? Oh my God, she thought. What must her parents be thinking? And James? And Beth? “Holy shit,” she muttered.
“Yeah, basically,” Meagan agreed. “We’re in for a mess of galactic proportions unless I can fix the spell I fouled up in the first place.”
“But I thought you figured out you couldn’t do that?” Logan asked.
“I can only do it on a blue moon,” Meagan told her. “The first moon opens the door, and the second moon closes it. And tonight just happens to be the second moon. I need to be in a cemetery, and there’s no better cemetery in the universe than this one. That’s why I brought us here; Alec led us to you and told us about this place too.”
Logan glanced at Dom.
Dom nodded. “The circumstances are perfect for the spell, but they also mean that we’re almost out of time,” he said. “If you don’t fix this now, before it’s no longer Halloween, nothing will go back to the way it was before Sam entered our world.”
Meagan said, “That’s right. Alec will stay dead, Shawn and Nathan will stay vampires, Mr. Lehrer will stay a goblin, and….” She trailed off for a moment, looking Logan up and down. “To be honest, I’m not sure what will happen to you. Sam seems pretty intent on keeping you here for all eternity. He even dressed you up for it.”
Logan looked down at her gown.
“Wicked dress, girlfriend,” said Katelyn. Logan glanced up. Katelyn smiled knowingly and winked. “I want the whole story later. Even the mask is hot.”
Logan blushed at the compliment. And then she blinked. She was still wearing the mask. Feeling suddenly stupid, she reached up and yanked the scrap of cloth off her face. “You’re a goblin?” she asked, changing the subject as quickly as she could and facing Lehrer.
The eight foot tall monster nodded, and though she’d expected his voice to come out like gravel when he spoke, he sounded almost completely normal when he said, “Hell Hound poison.” He sighed. “It’s a long story, and like Meagan said, I’m afraid we haven’t much time.”
“Okay.” Logan accepted it. She had no choice. She wanted to ask who the stranger was, but time was pressing in on them.
Meagan blinked, and then, as if she’d been reading Logan’s mind, she hastily said, “Crap, I’m sorry. This is Hugh Draper. He’s….” She trailed off, Draper smiled sheepishly, and Meagan blew out a sigh. “He’s a wizard too. But the rest is too complicated and not important right now. I’ll explain later. I’m going to set up the spell.” She took a backpack off of her shoulders and knelt down, rummaging for supplies.
“Need any help?” asked Katelyn.
“Actually, yeah. I need soil from the grave of someone who was born in October and soil from someone who died in October. If you can find someone who did both, that’s even better.”
The others immediately set out to look for such a grave, spreading out in all directions.
“But don’t go too far!” called Mr. Lehrer as he knelt down beside Meagan to help her set up.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Logan walked a little way out from where the transport spell had landed her, cresting a nearby hill and ducking down on the other side. The roses were more rare here, and where they did crop up, they seemed the more beautiful for it.
“You do look amazing in that dress,” said Dominic, who had taken the same direction that she had.
Logan had just knelt down to brush some of the dirt from one of the graves in order to make out the dates. She looked up to see Dom standing at the top of the hill, looking down at her. His expression was unreadable, but his eyes were both eerie and entrancing.
She watched as he moved around the tombstones to come toward her. He moved gracefully, his stride long and sure, his balance perfect. She was reminded of the first time they met – on the playground in the fourth grade after she’d taken a tumble. He’d been right there, standing tall and sure over her, helping her up off the ground with a smile that stole her heart.
Dominic pulled something out of his pocket as he drew near, and it gleamed in the palm of his hand. “I think, under the circumstances, you would look even better with this.” He held the object up, stepping over the last tombstone as he did.
Logan stood to meet him. The object dangled before her, grasped firmly in his closed hand. It was the Celtic life pendant Mabel had taken from her.
“How did you get that?” she asked, trying to imagine how he’d possibly come upon it.
“You really don’t want to know,” he told her. Then his tone lowered, and with a mixture of gentleness and firm control, he said, “Turn around.”
She did. She waited as he drew even closer, and she could feel the heat of the space between her back and his chest. When his fingers brushed against her bare shoulders to clasp the necklace securely around her neck, she shivered. “Thanks,” she said softly.
He leaned in to whisper in her ear. “My pleasure.”
Warmth flooded her, and it took Logan a moment to realize that something… felt off. The necklace felt heavier than she remembered it being, colder maybe. It was uncomfortable.
She dismissed the feeling almost at once; it was inconsequential.
Dom gently grasped her upper arms and turned her back around. Logan looked into his eyes. His lit up gaze filled her with a mixture of relief that he was there before her – and anxiety that he looked so strange. “You okay?” he asked, his brow furrowing.
“Yeah,” she said. “Um, to be honest, I’m more worried about you.”
Dominic smiled. “Why?”
“Well… you know.” She lowered her voice, whispering. “You’re sharing your head again.”
Dom chuckled. “I’m fine. Really,” he said softly, releasing her arms. “Besides, why worry about me?” He curled his finger and placed it beneath her chin. His touch was tender, but… there was something more to it. “When you’re the one who is about to make a horrible mistake.”
Logan froze. “What?”
He smiled. Were his teeth longer than she remembered? “You’re the one who is about to give up everything you’ve ever dreamed of, Logan. All so you can return to people who don’t appreciate you, a school that oppresses you, and a future full of endless work, aging, and pain.”
Logan’s eyes widened. She pulled away from his finger. “What are you saying, Dom? What the hell is wrong with you?”
His green eyes flas
hed, lightening from emerald to jade. His expression became serious. “Nothing is wrong with me, Logan. I’m suggesting that I don’t think you’ve really given this the amount of thought it deserves.” He stepped back from her and gestured to the cemetery around her.
“No one here is ever going to beat you up, drink themselves to oblivion, or demand more work from you than you can give.”
“That’s because everyone here is dead, Dom!” Logan exclaimed, feeling utterly befuddled and out of sorts. Why was he saying these things?
He smiled, flashing those white teeth….
My god, she thought. They are longer.
“You know very well I’m not just talking about Fall Fields, Logan. But all of October Land – and the realm beyond it.”
“You mean the Realm of the Dead.”
Dom’s eyes flashed again, and the jade in them lightened further, becoming almost white-gray. He nodded, just once. “You see, I’m having a hard time understanding why you would prefer the life you know to one in which you are queen.”
Logan didn’t speak. She was afraid to. Her mind was moving so fast, it was making her dizzy.
“Do you know how many women would kill to be in your place? To have the choice you have to make?”
Logan swallowed hard. It was difficult; her throat had gone dry and constricted tightly, nearly choking her. She shook her head.
“Of course not,” he said. “You’re mortal. You can’t fathom things that big. Time that long.” He shook his head as well. “But that can all change.”
Finally, Logan choked down the last of her stunned silence, and asked, “What did he offer you, Alec?”
Dominic cocked his head slightly to one side. “Hmm?”
“What did Sam promise you in exchange for your servitude?”
Dom laughed. “Of course you would figure it out. If you must know, a body,” he said. “This one, in fact.”
Logan shook her head, disgust riding her. “How can you do that to your best friend?” She tried to imagine doing that to Meagan and just couldn’t. Such betrayal was beyond her.
“You have no idea what it’s like to be a ghost,” Dom – Alec – said. “You think you’re so much better than I am and that there’s no way you would have done the same.” He grinned. Dom’s teeth now sported full-fledged fangs. It looked wretchedly good on him. “You’re wrong, though. I promise.” His smile disappeared. His tone softened, all seriousness now. “Being half of something is beyond painful. It’s an agony you can’t quite feel. Like a phantom itch – but it’s a phantom pain.” He flinched, and Logan watched his hands flex and un-flex. “And it hurts.”
The October Trilogy Complete Box Set Page 44
