I wriggle on the floor, even though several people are now on top of me, trying to hold me down.
Tears slide down my cheeks non-stop, and my voice is hoarse from all the screaming.
Something rips inside me, and I gasp as a sharp pain hits me. I blink and try to look at my stomach. Someone must have driven a hot poker inside me. The excruciating pain spreads through my belly, and everything turns red.
CHAPTER 22
Someone presses a wet cloth against my lips. Cool liquid seeps through them, and I swallow. My throat burns. I cough. Something itches at the back of my head, and reality hits me like a bulldozer. I sit up straight, head-butt someone―who curses―and cry out hysterically while I wipe the itchy stuff from my head.
“Babe, take it easy.” Vicky’s voice trickles into my ears, but I can’t stop wiping. And the more I wipe, the more the itching spreads.
“Make it stop!”
Vicky raises her voice. “There’s nothing to stop! They’re gone!”
I shake my head and blink the tears from my eyes. “No, I can feel them. They’re tearing me apart.”
My breath comes in shallow gasps, and dizziness hits me.
“Take it easy.” Gisella squats down next to me and places both hands on my chest. “Lie still.”
I obey, although it’s not easy to stop moving with all the wriggling and itching going on inside me. “They’re eating me alive.”
“No, they’re not,” she says gently. “Take a deep breath.”
I close my eyes for a second and try to block the rising feeling of despair. The pain is gone, but there’s still something inside me; I can feel it.
Suddenly a wave of nausea hits me. I turn onto my side and puke my guts out. Or so it feels. But thankfully, no organs come out, only a slivery shadow carrying a small string of cracklers. With the movement of a single finger, Gisella sends two more shadows down to take care of the little bastards.
I wipe my mouth and swallow several times. No more itching. No more buzzing and crackling.
“That was the last of it,” Gisella says, and she pats my arm. “You’ll live.”
I let Vicky help me into a sitting position. Before I say anything, I lift my shirt to check my stomach. Then I roll up my pant sleeves and touch my legs.
Vicky kisses my temple. “You’re okay. The shadows saved you. Gisella saved you.”
I throw my arm around her neck and pull her against me. When she strokes my back, I close my eyes. Her new-found body heat warms the coldness inside me. “I thought I was done for, that that was it.”
She rubs my back more fervently. “It sure looked scary.”
I let go and smile at Gisella. “Who would’ve thought your dark powers would help us so much?”
The werecat-witch shrugs. “I didn’t.”
Supported by Vicky, I get to my feet and look up at the ceiling. “Now that those creepy little bastards are gone, can we get to my mom?”
Gisella flexes her fingers. “Let me try.”
It’s as if the shadows have been waiting for new orders. They rush toward her, almost fighting to be the first. One by one, they dive through the hole in the ceiling. I cringe and almost crush Vicky’s hand.
But this time, everything remains silent… until a familiar voice makes my heart skip a beat.
I rush forward and almost knock Gisella out of the way. “Mom!” I yell up to the ceiling.
“Dante?” She sounds panicked, and I can’t blame her. The first time I saw those swirling shadows, they creeped me out too.
“Something is attacking me!” she calls down.
“Don’t fight them, Mom, they are on our side!” I yell back, ignoring the fact that it’s completely insane to talk about shadows as if they are living beings. But they seem to be, and I’m grateful that they obey Gisella.
“I’ll make them carry her down,” the werecat-witch says. “Tell her to relax.”
“Mom,” I call up again, “the shadows are going to carry you safely down, okay? Try to relax.”
“To relax?” Her voice is shrill. “How can I―?” She shrieks in fright, and I can hear her thrashing around.
“Stop fighting them! They want to help you!”
There’s a soft sob, followed by a short silence. The first sliver of shadow frees itself from the hole. The rest follow quickly. They all move slower now, carrying Mom gently down. They only unwrap when she’s got both feet firmly on the floor.
The fear on her face is replaced by joy and relief when she spots me. It takes me a millisecond to see that she is no longer under a spell.
She opens her arms wide, and I dive straight into them.
“Are you okay?” I ask her.
The force of her embrace almost breaks my diaphragm, but I don’t care. I’ve experienced worse pain than this, and even if I hadn’t, I wouldn’t mind. I want nothing more than to hold her right now, just as tightly as she’s holding me.
“I’ve missed you so much,” I say, tears trickling down my face.
“I’ve missed you too.” She wipes her eyes with one hand while the other one is still squeezing me. “I’m not sure what happened. I remember being with Trevor, but everything is vague, and parts of my memory are blank.”
“I know.” I rest my head against her shoulder. I’m surprised at how delicate she is. Was she always this skinny?
She loosens her grip and holds me at arm’s length. “Look at you. You’ve become a man, Dante. You’re so…” She gives me a once-over, “… muscular.”
A blush creeps up from my neck, and I grin. “That’s what you get when you fight demons and evil mages every day.”
“Speaking of which,” Gisella interrupts, her finger pointing behind us to send the last of the shadows back to their rightful place. “We need your help in our fight against Lucifer.”
I shoot the werecat-witch a reproachful look.
“I’m sorry,” she says, glancing at me briefly before turning her attention back to Mom, “but Susan needs to start her training as soon as possible.”
“Training?” Mom’s eyes nearly pop out of her head. “Are you saying I have powers too?”
“Not yet.” Gisella winks at her, as if the fight is something to look forward to.
Mom shakes her head. “I don’t understand.”
I rake my hand through my hair. “We’ve got a long drive ahead of us. We’ll fill you in on the way.”
I’m about to say goodbye to the sisters, when Taylar, suddenly standing behind me, clears his throat. “Excuse me, but do you mind if I spray your mother, just to be safe?”
I step aside. “Not at all. I don’t want to fall for another trick.”
The white-haired ghost holds up his spray bottle and grimaces at Mom. “Better safe than sorry.”
I hold my breath when the angel blood hits Mom’s skin. Nothing happens.
On impulse I grab the bottle from him and cover Taylar in a layer of red. He wipes a small red river from his eyes, but stays where he is, a resigned look on his face. “I should’ve seen that coming.”
I hand the bottle back to him. “Sorry. I had to be sure.”
“Reassured?”
I slap him on the back. “Completely.”
D’Maeo slams his hands together. “Great. We should get going. We’ve got a lot to do.”
Mom frowns at Kessley over my shoulder. “And people to introduce, I see.”
While Kess talks to Mom, I turn to the nuns. “Will you be alright?”
The head sister bows. “We’ll be fine. Thank you, Dante, thank all of you, for saving us, and for fighting to keep this world safe.”
“You’re welcome. Stay safe.”
All of the nuns walk us to the front doors to wave goodbye. With Mom by my side, I feel so much lighter. Knowing she’s okay gives me energy like nothing else can. Well… except a kiss from Vicky.
When we open the front doors, sunlight blinds us. I suck in the fre
sh summer air and lift my face to the sky. The dark clouds are gone. The heaviness that pressed down upon this street has been lifted. The threat has been taken care of.
When I turn to say my last goodbyes to the sisters, they are all smiling. The monastery seems to light up around them, the stones several shades lighter than when we first came here. The cold has been replaced by a comforting warmth.
“You will win this,” the head nun says to me as she takes my hand. And when a beam of sunlight hits our hands, I feel, for the first time, that luck is on our side.
I smile. “Yes, we will.”
CHAPTER 23
The drive home is filled with laughter, even though not everything that Mom missed is cheerful. But now that we’ve freed everyone, we all feel a lot better. Maybe even a bit invincible.
Once we’ve told Mom everything that’s happened though, we need to tell her the bad news. That we want to transfer the powers of Jeep’s wife into her and use them for our final battle with Satan.
I expect her to freak out and tell us there’s no way she’ll be able to do such a thing, but she just nods, stays silent for a couple of seconds and says, “Okay.”
The car swerves right when I turn my head abruptly to face her. “What?”
“Watch out,” she says calmly. “There’s no need to crash.”
I focus on the road again and search for words. “You… why… you’re okay with this plan?”
“Well…” She hesitates. “Okay is a big word, but it’s not as if I can ignore what’s going on.” She throws up her hands in surrender. “Lucifer has a back-up plan to escape Hell, so the odds of you having to face him are tremendous. I think there’s no avoiding it, and although I’m terrified, I hate the idea of watching helplessly from the sideline, like I did before. If you and your father are in this fight, I want to contribute to it too. That will be difficult without magical powers, so I’m glad you found a way to give me some.”
I glance at her sideways to see if she’s serious. She is.
“You make it sound so easy.”
She places a hand on my leg. “I know it’s not easy, but I want to help. And frankly…” She balls her hands into fists. “I’m sick of being the helpless mother who needs saving. It will be nice to finally be able to defend myself. Also, I know you guys can use all the extra power you can get.”
I take her hand in mine and squeeze softly. “You’re so brave and strong. I couldn’t be prouder, Mom.”
She gives me a push with her free hand. “Hey, those are my lines!”
I chuckle. “I guess we’re both awesome.”
She raises her hand, and I give her a high five.
Vicky, merged with more than one other ghost because of the lack of space in the back seat, clears her throat explicitly. “Excuse me, aren’t you forgetting a couple of people?”
I send her a guilty grin in the rearview mirror. “Oh, sorry. I meant we’re all awesome.”
“That’s better,” she mumbles grumpily, but I can see the twinkle in her eyes.
We spend another hour discussing our next step, but the rest of the way home is filled with jokes and songs. Time flies, and I consider making a detour. I want to hold on to this care-free, elated feeling. I don’t think I’ve ever felt so whole in my life, not even when Dad was still with us. Everything is falling into place, and I have to believe that this means we have a good chance of beating the Devil.
In the end, I opt for the fastest way home. We’re all tired, and Mom can’t wait to see Mona. Also, Phoenix is starting to groan and squeak. She’s not used to long drives; she needs a rest too.
As soon as the house comes into view, the front door flies open, and Mona comes running. She is uncharacteristically imperfect, with a wide smile but puffed-up eyes and tears streaking her cheeks. Even some blonde locks have come loose, but she doesn’t care. She hurries over to the car so fast that I have to hit the brakes early to keep from running her over. Mom gets out before we’ve come to a halt, and the two almost knock each other over.
Tears well up in my eyes when I watch them. I get out, lock the car and walk over to them while the others file into the mansion.
“Oh, Dante, I’m so glad you decided to go back to check out that hole in the ceiling and to save those nuns.”
I frown. “How did you…? Oh, I get it, you were watching me.”
She ruffles my hair. “Watching over you. Yes, of course I was. And I can’t tell you how relieved and happy I was when Susan came out of that hole. She was out of my reach for so long, I thought I’d never find her again.”
I hug her and pull Mom closer too. “You really thought that?”
“Well, I had hope,” our fairy godmother says. “But I’d never experienced something like that before, so I was scared. I used to be able to check in on the both of you whenever I wanted. Honestly, I was even starting to doubt myself a little. Thought I might have lost my touch.” She throws some sparks into the air, and they form into a heart above our heads.
Mona grins. “No, I’ve still got it.”
Since we skipped lunch, Mona is happy to fix us all something to eat. She goes a little crazy with it, juggling five pans at a time and sliding things into the oven in between.
Charlie’s grin has never been wider. Not just because of all the delicious food Mona’s making, but also because Gisella has grown so powerful and because we found Mom. He even hugged her when she stepped into the kitchen. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him do that before.
Dylan surprised us all with a bow and a sweet comment when I introduced him to Mom. “This is your mother? She’s even more beautiful than I imagined.”
Mom blushed at that and thanked him.
Sister Carol was already gone by the time we arrived. After I called Charlie with the good news, she was fine with taking the train back, and Charlie dropped her off at the station. Mona told us she used her sparks to get rid of the feelings of guilt inside Carol. After a long talk, she and Charlie convinced the nun that her feelings of lust were not hers at all. Therefore, there was no need for punishment. When she finally agreed, they figured it would be safe to let her go back home.
Which means I am finally in the company of the full ‘gang’ again, plus one. And like Charlie, I can’t stop smiling. The only one missing is Quinn, but I have good hopes of seeing him soon too. Hopefully with all of his good looks and his wings still intact. I smile when I realize that if Quinn joins us, all the chairs around the kitchen table will be occupied. Does that mean I’ve got everyone I need for the final battle? Does it mean that Dylan will stay with us until the end?
I have to say, despite his rocky start―with us almost killing him―he blends in well with the rest. It’s almost as if he’s a part of my Shield too. He’s so eager to help. But I wonder what will happen if we take care of his unfinished business. Will he move on? If we don’t do anything about it―
“What’s wrong?”
Dylan is frowning at me, and I realize I’ve been staring at him for a while.
I grimace. “Sorry, I was just wondering what to do about your situation.”
He pulls a disgusted face. “My situation? Ugh, that sounds nasty.”
I can’t help but grin. “It is kind of disgusting. If we don’t take care of your unfinished business, you will crumble to pieces that rot.” I wave my hand in front of my nose. “I’m not looking forward to that smell.”
Dylan’s eyes grow wide. “Are you serious?” He pushes his chair back and stands up. “Then I should go find Armando Accardi before it’s too late!”
Vicky, sitting next to him, grabs his wrist and pulls him back down. “Relax. He’s kidding.”
Dylan’s gaze flicks between her and me. “He is?”
I point at my mouth. “Would I grin if I wasn’t?”
With a heavy sigh, he sits down again. Mom, on his other side, pats his back. “You’ll be fine.”
“Not for long, if we don’t do somethi
ng,” I say. When Dylan snorts, I hold up my hands. “For real this time. We told you before what happens if you fail to deal with that stuff.”
Taylar nods solemnly. “He’s right. I went through it. Trust me, you don’t want to sit around and pretend it’s not there. You might not crumble to dust, but you’ll get weaker and weaker, until you disappear.” His gaze goes distant. “And it doesn’t feel all that great either.”
Kessley rests her head against his shoulder. “But you’re fine now, right?”
The young ghost kisses her on her temple. “Yes, I killed the pixie that murdered my brother, and Shelton Banks, who ordered the murder, is facing jail time.”
“Speaking of which,” Vicky says, turning to Mona. “Did you find out anything about that?”
Mona shakes her head. “He’s still at home. But I also paid a visit to the detective handling the case, and he was looking into the evidence we gave him.”
“Thank goodness,” I say wholeheartedly. “And now it’s time to help Dylan, like we helped Taylar.”
Jeep twirls his hat on his finger. “That is, if the next set of cards isn’t delivered before we can.”
“Speaking of which.” Charlie slides forward in his chair. “Are we sure Sister Carol is safe now?”
“Oh, right.” I slip my hand into my back pocket and take out the cards. They crumble to dust before I can even hold them up. I smile. “Yes, she’s safe.”
Dylan watches in amazement as a sudden gust of wind carries the remains of the Cards of Death through the small crack under the back door.
I wipe my hands on my pants. “So, only one more set of cards to go. One more soul to save.”
Gisella snorts. “Sure. Unless Satan plans to go for a second round, to get all the souls he needs.”
“He won’t,” D’Maeo says, stroking his gray beard. “He’s going for that back-up plan. He’ll use what he’s already got, because he’s growing impatient. Starting over will take more time, and he knows that it’s nearly impossible to get us out of the way.”
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