Cards of Death Box Set

by Tamara Geraeds

  “Did he make you do that before or after he changed from a nice guy into a…”

  “Monster?” Jeep adds helpfully.

  I cringe. “Yeah, thanks.”

  “Before,” Vicky says.

  So he could have done that to protect me. To make sure I wouldn’t freak out when they told me I was powerful.

  I bite my lip. “He knew I was destined to fight the Devil.”

  They all nod.

  “Was he trying to change my fate?”

  “Yes,” Vicky answers softly.

  “Did he… did he try to beat the Devil himself?” Is that why he died?

  Vicky clasps her hands together and lifts her chin, urging me on.

  I voice my thoughts before they spin out of control. “Is that why he formed the Shield?”

  Vicky smiles at me. “Exactly.”

  “Don’t look so happy about it,” Taylar mumbles. He seems paler than usual. More transparent. He must be as scared as I am. Fighting demons to keep the Devil where he belongs tends to drain the energy out of you.

  “Wait a minute.” I suddenly remember something. I lean forward, closer to D’Maeo, who is sitting in his usual place at the other head of the table. “Didn’t you say earlier that some of you were summoned by my grandfather?”

  There’s a glint of pride in his eyes when he answers. “That’s correct.”

  I’m close to the truth, I just know it.

  And then it hits me. “So my grandfather fought the Devil before us?”

  “He did.”

  “Ka-ching,” Jeep says again, in a very unsuccessful attempt to lighten up the mood.

  I rub my eyes hard. “They both fought the Devil and lost. And now here we are.” Now I understand why Dad wanted to keep this from me. Our chances of winning this are basically nil.

  “They didn’t lose, Dante.”

  I shoot Maël a confused look. “What do you mean? They’re both dead, aren’t they?”

  “Yes, but do you see the Devil anywhere?”

  My mouth closes silently. She has a point.

  “They couldn’t defeat him,” D’Maeo continues, “but they did prevent him from coming to Earth.”

  I almost sigh with relief. The heavy feeling that has been pressing down on my chest lifts.

  My confidence is just returning when Taylar adds the obvious. “They did die in the process though, and they were trained Mages.”

  Vicky slaps him on the arm. “Stop being such a downer. That doesn’t help, you know.”

  I stand up and start pacing. “I can’t blame him. For you this is like a never-ending fight and for me it means almost certain death. Not something I’m looking forward to.” I come to a halt next to Taylar. “Hey, I’ve got an idea. Can’t you guys train me? Help me control my power, whatever it is.”

  The young, white-haired ghost smiles. “I like that idea.”

  “And you could teach me how to properly use a sword and a shield.”

  We exchange a high five.

  Vicky gets up, too. “I think it’s a great idea, but there’s something else that needs attention first, don’t you think?” She indicates the African queen with a nod of her head.

  “Oh right. There’s one more thing we have to discuss.”

  I sit down, clear my throat and explain our worries.

  Maël doesn’t look happy. “I’ll be fine. I just need some time.” She straightens her cape.

  D’Maeo and I shake our heads at the same time.

  “I’ve noticed it, too,” the old ghost says. “That tree took some of your power. If it hadn’t, you’d have recovered by now.”

  I clasp my hands together like a real leader, even though I still don’t feel like one. “So what we need is a spell. Can you find one?”

  “Probably.”

  “Can you take Vicky with you? Meanwhile, the others can help me figure out what the pictures on the Cards of Death mean.”

  He stands up and bows. “Of course, master.”

  He disappears before I can tell him he doesn’t have to call me master. Vicky winks and follows him into thin air.

  I take out the cards and the drawings I made and lay them before me. Jeep and Maël move closer to my end of the table, where Taylar is already bending over my drawings.

  “What’s this?” He points to the rectangle at the top of the paper.

  “That’s a screen.”

  “And an eagle?” Maël asks. “That one is really good! You should draw more often.”

  “Thanks. I did, until I inherited this house and… you guys.”

  Her mouth forms a perfect ‘O’. “I’m sorry.”

  I shrug. “It’s okay. What good would drawing do in a world ruled by the Devil?”

  She shoots me a small smile. “Good point.”

  “So we’re looking for a woman with a hair bun and an M as her initial.”

  “Or working for a company which starts with an M,” Taylar interrupts.

  “Right.” I jot it down on the back. “Probably someone who works with computers, since there’s also a computer screen on the other card. But what about the star and the eagle? And the flames on the hair bun?”

  “Maybe the star means she’s famous?” Jeep offers.

  I add the option to my list.

  “What was on the cards about Mr. Timson?” Maël asks.

  I dig into my memory.

  “A skyscraper,” Taylar remembers.

  Jeep counts on his fingers. “A pair of glasses, two similar faces, a T and a plus sign.”

  “Good memory,” I mumble. Even though it wasn’t that long ago, so much has happened that I forgot most of it.

  “And those point to what?” Maël continues.

  I write it all down. “Where he worked, what he looked like, his name.”

  Jeep leans forward. “Which was also the name of his company.”

  “Exactly. The two faces represented him and his brother, who wanted to stab him.”

  “And the plus sign was the symbol of his company,” Maël finishes.

  I study my notes. “Okay, so we have work place, appearance, name, perpetrator and company. Which of those have we figured out in the second set of cards?”

  “Company, name and appearance.”

  “Exactly. So that leaves us with work place and perpetrator. The eagle and the star.”

  We stare at each other and the drawings for a while.

  Eventually Jeep shifts in his seat. “Maybe the eagle is the symbol of a company.”

  I take out my phone. “I’ll google it while you think about what kind of star she could be.”

  When I type in eagle logo, Google gives me an amount of hits that makes me dizzy. I put the phone down. “We need more than that for a search.” I sigh. “Isn’t there a spell to figure this out in five seconds?”

  Maël shoots me a disapproving glare. “You can’t use magic for everything, Dante.”

  Taylar taps the table, grinning. “Sure you can.”

  “What I mean is, you shouldn’t.”

  I stretch my arms above my head. “You might be right, but isn’t this important enough to try?”

  She shakes her head.

  “Come on,” I press her. “Live a little!”

  Taylar chortles, while Jeep tuts. “Yeah, tell a ghost to get a life. That’s just mean, man.”

  I slap my forehead. “I didn’t mean it like that.” I press my temples to release some of the tension.

  When I look up, the three ghosts are smiling brightly.

  “We’re just fooling around, Dante,” Maël says gently. “In hard times, laughter is important.”

  Taylar flattens his white hair. “Laughter is always important.”

  I bang my head on the table a couple of times. “I can’t believe I fell for that!”

  “But seriously,” Maël says. “We can’t use a spell to solve this.”

  “Why not?”

>   “Because the one who sent this went through some trouble to put it in code.”

  “Do you have any idea why? Did you get these when you worked with my father?”

  Her eyes darken when I mention him. They still believe he turned bad.

  “No,” she says. “We never got any messages. But I know why these are in code.”

  I hold my breath. There’s a worried look in Maël’s dark eyes.

  “The Devil has spies everywhere. Plus a system that picks up everything written about him and anyone he’s planning to kill.”

  I cock my head. “Like a tap?”

  She smiles. “Sort of. A magical tap. That’s why we can’t decipher this using magic. He’ll see.”

  My shoulders drop a little and Maël takes out her wand and with one swift move, slams it on the ground next to her chair. Her small curls jump up and down. “Come on, Dante! It’s time for you to step up and claim your place in this world. You were chosen for this task, which means you can handle it. Don’t give up so easily.”

  I straighten up. “I’m not giving up. I just want to move faster.”

  She lifts her wand and points it in my direction. It almost touches my chest. “Moving fast isn’t always the answer.”

  Jeep is watching us with glee, leaning back in his chair with his arms folded. “Listen to her. She knows what she’s talking about.”

  “I know.” If anyone is an expert on time, it’s Maël. She can bend it, change it and even stop it. Not that I would give any other answer right now, even if she didn’t know what she was talking about. With that wand aimed at my chest, I don’t exactly feel safe. “You’re right. Now can you please lower that thing?”

  “Of course, master.” She pulls it back, but hits my chin in the process. “Remember to keep your chin up,” she says with a glint in her eye. “Believe in yourself and look on the bright side, no matter how hard things get.”

  CHAPTER 9

  I’ve been jotting down every possible meaning of the eagle and star by the time D’Maeo and Vicky return.

  I look from one transparent face to the other. “Did you find anything?”

  They both shake their heads.

  “We’ll have to try some other resources later. We can only stay out there for so long.”

  My curiosity nags at me to ask him where ‘out there’ is, but I know there are more important things now. “Okay, we’ll get back to that later.” I hold up my notes. “We have a whole list of possibilities here. We figured the woman we’re looking for is some kind of star on the rise, with a part time computer job.”

  D’Maeo rubs his beard. “Did you search for companies in Idaho? Maybe this one is also close by.”

  I pull out my phone again and try another search. The Shield gathers around me.

  Vicky leans over my shoulder. Her hair tickles my neck.

  The search still gives way too many options, so I scroll through them fast. “If you see a star, please yell.”

  When I’m on page three, Maël stomps her wand so hard on the ground that we all jump.

  I search the screen. “What? I don’t see a star.”

  The ghost queen points at the third link. “What about that one? That’s not too far from here.”

  I open it. “Pinestone Bird Park? It does have an eagle as a logo.”

  Vicky straightens up. “We could go check it out.”

  I lean back in my chair. “I don’t know. Shouldn’t we look for more similarities? Like a star or the initial M?”

  Maël puts her wand back inside her cape. “I have a good feeling about this park.”

  I close Google. My finger lingers above the screen.

  Vicky caresses my neck. “What is it?”

  “I was thinking of asking my mom to come. It would be nice to do something with her. Her fits are finally over and I have hardly spent time with her.”

  “Well, why don’t you ask her?”

  I tap my phone against the palm of my hand. “Because we could be attacked by demons.”

  Jeep straightens his hat. “You could be attacked by demons at your mom’s house, too.”

  Snapshots of my premonition dance before my eyes. “Right. Thanks for the reminder.”

  “Just call her,” Vicky whispers in my ear, making me shiver.

  Just when I tap on the face that says Mom, my phone rings. Charlie’s name flashes across the screen.

  I pick up. “Hey, what’s up?”

  “Dante, I’m with Simon and Quinn. We’re having a meeting about Paul. Can you come?”

  I look at the time. It’s too late to go to that bird park and I really want to know what’s going on with Paul. “Sure. Where are you?”

  “We’re at a bar called The Winged Centaur.”

  My eyebrows shoot up as I try to envision such a creature. “Please tell me that name was made up.”

  He chuckles. “I’m afraid not.”

  I place my fingers against my temple to contain the headache sneaking through my brain. “Okay, whatever. Just give me the address.”

  “Pine street 2A.”

  “That doesn’t exist.” As soon as I say it out loud, I remember all the houses and buildings popping up out of nowhere. “Never mind. I’ll be right there. Order me a Monster, I need it.”

  After explaining to my Shield what the plan is, I call Mom. She’s over the moon when I ask her to come with me to the bird park tomorrow and I feel a bit better.

  “We won’t all fit into the car, though,” I tell the ghosts. “I know you can all… overlap, but that just makes me nauseous.”

  “That’s okay,” Vicky interrupts. “Maël and I will stay here, to search for a spell to cure her.”

  I want to object. I’d rather take Vicky with me and leave someone else here. But I know she’s the spell expert, so in the end I agree. “I’ll have to come up with an excuse to come here first.”

  “Leave your wallet here,” D’Maeo suggests.

  I take out some money and drop the wallet on the kitchen counter. “Guard it with your lives.”

  They all frown at me, except for Taylar, who bends over with laughter.

  I shrug at the others. “I guess it’s teenage humor.”

  Just as expected, there’s an unknown building next to the hotel on Pine Street. An iron sign in the shape of a horse with a man’s torso screams THE WINGED CENTAUR. Large wings protrude from its back and touch the roof. Although it’s just after four in the afternoon, it’s crowded inside. Yellow and red light bounce off the shiny interior.

  A sign I’ve never seen before points towards a small parking lot at the side of the building. I lock Phoenix and walk towards the front door as confident as I can manage. I expect to be hit by the scent of sweat and alcohol as soon as I enter, but it actually smells better here than outside.

  I sniff the air. “Sea breeze and freshly mown grass,” I mumble to myself.

  As soon as I close the door, there’s a hand on my shoulder. “Hey handsome.”

  I whirl around to face a girl with golden hair and red eyes. You’d think the red eyes would be her most prominent feature, but when I say golden hair, I don’t mean blonde. Her locks actually shine like gold. She is extremely hot. Literally.

  I shrug her hand off and suppress a shiver when I see her long claw-like fingers. “H-hi,” I stammer. “I’m meeting some friends. So, uh… see you later.”

  I turn away from her when someone slaps my ass. When I try to see who hit me, all I find is a tail. A dragon’s tail. It belongs to the girl with the red eyes.

  I grin like a maniac, trying to hide my fear. “Got to go.”

  “Ooh,” she coos, “don’t go yet. How about a dance first?” Her tail wraps around me and pulls me closer to her. Heat almost burns my skin.

  “Dante!” A loud voice booms beside us.

  Quinn’s smile lights up the room. “Hey man!” He holds up his hand and I slap it. “Shouldn’t you stay away from pretty be
ings? What would your girl think if she saw this?”

  I blink for a moment. “Right. Vicky wouldn’t be happy.” I throw dragon girl a crooked smile. “Sorry, maybe in another life.”

  She finally lets go and points a sharp finger at me. “I’ll hold you to that.”

  I grunt while we walk away. Why did I say that? She could stalk me for eternity if we end up like ghosts.

  Quinn leans toward me. “Don’t worry, dragons are very loyal and respect loyalty in others.”

  “Oh good.” It doesn’t come out as enthusiastic as I meant it, because I’m still trying to wrap my head around the concept that dragons, witches, wizards, fairies and centaurs exist.

  I keep my head down all the way to the table at the back, ignoring everything and everyone around me. I really don’t want to bump into another strange creature out of some fairy tale or myth.

  Simon gets up as soon as he spots me. He dives around Quinn, who’s pushing his broad body between a bench and table, that look like they were taken from the set of Alien.

  “Dante!” Simon yells, making some people look around. “I’m so glad we don’t have to pretend anymore.”

  He pulls me into an awkward hug and I pat him on the back. “Yeah, I’m glad, too.”

  He lets go of me as if something stung him. “You aren’t mad at us, are you, old man? We couldn’t tell you, you know. Literally. It was physically impossible.” He blows a lock of hair out of his dark eyes.

  I slide in beside Quinn and bump fists with my best friend, who’s sporting a shirt with a beach on it. “Charlie told me that, yes.”

  “But you didn’t believe him, right?” Simon winks at me. “I didn’t either at first.”

  “I’ve seen a lot of things that were hard to believe lately.” I stroke the metallic bench. It feels more like a soft fabric than metal.

  “It’s enchanted,” Charlie says, sipping from his beer.

  Simon is still acting like a five-year-old with an ice cream cone. He’s hopping from one foot to another and talking way too loud. “I’m finally not the newbie anymore. Now I can teach you a thing or two.”

  Quinn puts down his glass of beer with a thump. “Sit down, you twerp. You’re embarrassing us all.”

  I want to thank him for stating the obvious, when my gaze is pulled back to his glass. Wait a minute. Beer?