“Keep an eye on that spot.” All heads turn towards the bushes I point to when I start the chant.
As soon as I drop the wick in the bucket, an angry shout erupts from the trees.
I pick up my athame and squint to see what’s going on. Branches sway wildly and leaves fly everywhere. A cold squall catches my breath and I turn my head to let in some oxygen.
“Leave it alone, Dante!” Simon’s voice yells from all around me. “You can’t win. We’ve been planning this for years. You never stood a chance.”
I concentrate on my power core and hit the breeze around me with lightning.
It crackles and moves away with a loud whoosh.
But he hasn’t given up. Before I can take one step after him, he comes back at me, this time carrying a stack of bricks. I take aim and shoot another bolt at him, but he dodges it easily. He launches the bricks so fast, I don’t know which way to duck. A small black shape zooms past in the corner of my eye, and cuts one of the bricks in half. Like a boomerang it flies back, cutting another brick. Jeep catches it and places it back on his head. I duck to avoid the third brick, but when I stand up again, I see more coming my way.
“Maël, can you slow them down?”
She doesn’t answer, but slams her staff on the ground.
Everyone but us slows down. D’Maeo raises his arms and hits the bricks with his deflective powers. They tumble down in slow motion. The air current that must be Simon, becomes visible and I hold out my hand to Vicky. “Do you have a jar or something in that pocket of yours?”
She shakes her head. “Nothing that’s strong enough to hold an air elemental.”
“Okay, any other ideas?”
“Try to freeze him.”
While the others move towards the remaining guards, I reach for the buzz inside me again and focus on coldness. My hands cool down rapidly and I aim them at the current. Inch by inch, it gets covered in ice. It grunts, trying to push through.
“More, Dante. Keep going,” Vicky urges me.
Already, I feel my energy draining. My knees are starting to buckle and my chest hurts.
Suddenly there’s a loud crack. Time speeds up again. Shards of ice slice my cheeks and an invisible wind picks me up and throws me backwards. “You can’t win.”
I hit the pavement hard, but there’s no time to check for wounds. Simon is pulling me along by the ankle.
A low curse makes me look up. D’Maeo is on the ground. Half of his transparent body is covered in bricks. Maël is leaning on her staff, panting heavily, while Vicky is trying to grab my arms. Taylar jumps in front of D’Maeo with his shield to ward off the next brick attack. Jeep wrestles a giant tree that wraps its branches around him one by one.
We are so screwed.
“Please, Simon!” I yell. “Stop this. We are friends. We should fight together, not against each other.”
He lets go of my leg and I rub my ankle. I reach for my core, but all the energy is gone. There’s not even a tiny spark left. Still, I can’t give up. If I die here today, there will be no one to save Mom.
A gust of wind makes my sleeves ripple. Simon’s face appears, then his body. He crouches next to me. From the corner of my eye, I see Vicky vanishing and reappearing next to D’Maeo.
Simon blows his ruffled brown hair out of his eyes so he can look at me. “We should work together, Dante. We would love to have you on our side.” He holds up his hand and the other guards stop fighting.
I reach for my athame with my right hand. “Which side is that? Of the Devil?”
“We’re on the side of Earth and humankind. Lucifer can help us wipe the slate clean, so we can start over.”
I scratch my head. “Start over? What does that mean?”
“We’re killing our own planet, Dante. You know that as well as I do. Lucifer can burn it all, and we will repopulate the Earth. Start again and do better.”
My hand finally finds my weapon and I grip it tightly. “With the Devil as our king? You really think that’s a good idea?”
He smiles. “We humans, magical or not, need a strict ruler. God refuses to lead us, so we turned to Lucifer.”
“But Lucifer kills people for fun.”
He shakes his head patiently, never losing his smile. “Not for fun. Sacrifices have to be made sometimes.”
“Now that I agree with.” I raise my arm as fast as I can and drive the athame through his heart.
It feels like driving a knife through my own heart, and for a second I close my eyes.
But when I pull it out, Simon isn’t there anymore. A strong wind hits me like a whip. Scorching pain goes through my chest as my shirt rips. A couple of feet away from me, screams rise up. I swallow my pain and swing my weapon in all directions. When I feel resistance, I use what’s left of my power to freeze it.
Laughter right in front of me. An invisible hand pulls the athame from my grasp. “You may be the chosen one, but you’re years of training behind. Give up and you can live a few weeks longer.”
A black-and-blonde head pops up next to mine and I’m pulled backwards just as the athame flies back. It hits the pavement with a clang and Simon laughs. “What’s this now? You need a girl to protect you?”
Vicky balls her fists, ready to attack. She doesn’t notice the tree guy, charging her like a mad bull.
“Watch out!” I yell, reaching for her arm to pull her down. I know it’s too late. It’ll hit her and squeeze her into oblivion.
Simon knows it, too. He just stands there, the friend I thought I knew, and laughs.
But then, seconds before the tree reaches us, a ball of brown mud hits Simon in the back of the head. He tumbles forward and the tree trips over him. More grease rains down on them, preventing them from getting up.
Simon changes into his elemental form again.
“Don’t let him get away!” Charlie shouts, still shooting gel.
I scramble to my feet and pick up my weapon.
For a moment I see Simon’s face, but then Jeep’s hat flies past. It cuts off one of the tree’s branches and spins towards Simon. In a split second, he’s in full wind form again. I expect to be knocked over, but instead the air grows still around us. The tree on the ground changes into a small, skinny man. He wriggles himself out of his muddy prison, grabs his bleeding hand and runs.
I put my hands into my side. “Should we go after him?”
Vicky sighs. “No, leave him. Myah’s house is more important.”
“Dante!” A shout from Taylar makes me whirl around.
I hurry to his side. “What’s wrong? Is Paul still here? He was the one throwing the bricks, wasn’t he?”
Taylar just draws in short gulps of air, even though he doesn’t need oxygen anymore. “He’s gone.”
“Then what’s wrong?”
He points at the ground at his feet.
My heart almost stops when I realize someone is laying there. “Maël?” I drop to my knees and gently touch her shoulder. “She’s barely visible. What happened?”
“She collapsed after she slowed down time.” Taylar’s voice is choked up.
The others gather around us while Charlie keeps watch.
For a moment Maël fades. I gasp and swallow my tears when she returns. “It’s like she’s blinking in and out of existence.”
“We have to do something,” Taylar says.
I look up at him. “But what? I don’t know how to fix this!”
“I do.”
We all turn our heads. Quinn is standing behind us, his wings unfolded, his dark face bathed in light. He holds out his hands and Maël is lifted off the ground. She floats into his outstretched arms. “I pulled some strings, convinced the council that we need the whole Shield to win this battle. They agreed to help.”
“Thank you, Qui- Qaddisin.” My eyes hurt just by looking at his true angel form.
“I do need something though, in order to cure her,” he continues.
“As long as it’s not the Devil’s blood,” I joke.
He smiles blindingly. “No, but it is blood I need. From the bloodline of the one that did this to Maël.”
“You need blood from a tree? Trees don’t bleed, do they?”
“Sure they do,” Taylar interrupts. “We were just fighting one.”
Oh right, the ent. “So we have to find a tree that is related to the one in the Shadow World? How do we do that?”
Quinn flaps his wings and bends his knees. “You ask around.”
Then he pushes off and disappears into the sky, with Maël held against his chest.
CHAPTER 23
Charlie joins us with a reassuring smile on his face. “She’ll be fine, she’s in good hands.”
I sigh. “How are we going to find an ent related to that tree? And how are we going to get its blood?”
D’Maeo stares in the distance. He looks a bit lost without the African queen by his side.
I realize I should comfort them, instead of the other way around. I’m supposed to lead them.
“You know what,” I say, pulling my shoulders back. “We can do this. We’re powerful, we’ve got an angel on our side and a prophecy that tells us we’re going to win this. We went into the Shadow World and survived. One of us came out weaker, but we can fix that. We will find a way to get everyone we lost back.”
Mom’s face flashes before my eyes, followed by my father’s. If only I could get him back, too.
I turn towards Myah Pullus’ house. “We’ve got people to save. And now that we’ve chased away Paul, Simon and that ent, we can plant some cameras in that house.” I don’t wait for an answer, but pick up the backpack I dropped and take off towards the side of the house. “You guys stay here and make sure no one follows me in.”
They don’t object. I can almost feel their surprised looks, and Vicky’s proud grin and I’m happy that I took the lead. This is what a master should act like.
I reach the back of the house and go straight for the open window. I almost trip over the remains of the zombie raccoon lying on the grass. The camera Taylar unwillingly left on its skull looks intact, so I put it in my backpack. I should probably get rid of the bones, but I decide getting in and planting the cameras is more important.
All the fighting and jumping in all directions to avoid claws and teeth have done some good. Hauling myself up to the window and into the bedroom is almost a piece of cake.
I tiptoe to the room with the computers and plant two cameras. Then I go downstairs and hide two more in the living room. When I’m back upstairs, I peek into the closet in the bedroom, hoping to find a clue to who this woman is.
“Wow,” I breathe when I find a black leather suit and high heels. “Looks like she isn’t as virtuous as she wants people to think.”
I wrinkle my nose. There’s a faint smell of smoke in this closet, but I can’t decide where it’s coming from. I reach for another camera, but my bag is empty.
Grunting, I climb back out of the window, throw the raccoon bones in the bushes and hurry back to the others.
I give them the thumbs up and a minute later we’re driving back to Darkwood Manor.
Charlie goes back to Rodney’s DIY shop to get more cameras, while the Shield and I try to figure out a way to get in touch with some ents.
“When I was young, I lived near a creepy forest that was supposed to be haunted,” Taylar tells us. “Maybe we should take a look there?”
D’Maeo paces the kitchen. “We can’t act on a hunch. We need information.”
My finger shoots in the air. “Maybe we could ask the owner of the Winged Centaur. He probably knows lots of magical beings.”
Jeep flicks his hat in the air. “But would he sell out his own customers?”
Taylar draws his sword. “We’ll leave him no choice.”
I study his determined expression. “Okay, but let’s give him a chance before threatening him.”
He slides the sword back into his pants. “Works for me.”
“There’s one thing we need to know first.” Jeep drops his hat and bends over to pick it up.
“What?” I ask when he doesn’t continue.
“The name of that tree. There’s bound to be more than one in the Shadow World after all.”
I fight the urge to hide my head in my hands. I’m the master, I have to act confident.
“Good thinking. Is there anyone you could ask?”
He pushes his hat back onto his head. “Sure, I can do some enquiring.”
“Great. Take Taylar with you. We’ll stay here and google.”
They fade out and I dig up my phone. Vicky and D’Maeo are lost in their thoughts while I search for the tree on the internet. After a couple of minutes, I sigh deeply. “There’s nothing about a tree in the Shadow World.”
The ghosts look up. Vicky pops up at my side and takes my phone. “This might help.” She opens the internet app again and pushes her hand onto the screen. It blinks a couple of times and beeps loudly.
When Vicky hands me back the phone, a pentagram is pulsing on the screen. “What’s this?”
She flashes me a grin. “I’ve tweaked your phone, so you can now access the magical web.”
My eyes grow wide and I hit the pentagram so hard I almost knock the phone out of my hand.
Vicky peers over my shoulder. “You’re now on the Pentaweb. It’s just like the internet, but it contains all known info on magical creatures and stuff. Info that has to be kept secret from humans.”
“Awesome,” I whisper and I type in dark tree Shadow World.
The results are different than the ones I got a couple of minutes ago.
“Try that one,” Vicky points and I hit the link.
Trees of the Shadow World
I read it out loud.
“The roots of four trees are linked together to form the barren wasteland known as the Shadow World. The trees represent Death, Famine, War and Conquest and are white, red, black and ashen colored. They keep the balance in this realm and cannot be destroyed. Fighting them may result in permanent damage to body or soul.”
I look up. “So we didn’t destroy it?”
D’Maeo strokes his gray beard. “Some creatures aren’t defeated when they seem to be.”
“Like that head ice demon,” Vicky offers.
“Exactly.” The old ghost gestures at my phone. “What does it say about the black tree?”
I scroll through the page until I reach the picture of a familiar tree.
“Here it is. The black tree depicts famine. People affected by it experience a lack of energy, which can’t be fixed with any type of earthly food. After long-term exposure, the subject’s life force will be slowly drained.” I scan the rest of the text and sigh. “This is definitely the tree we saw.”
Jeep and Taylar pop up next to D’Maeo.
“Did you find out anything?” I ask.
Jeep pulls up his sleeves. “All trees in the Shadow World have roots in the Black Forest, in Colorado.”
Taylar leans against the kitchen counter, his arms folded. “Told you.”
I drop my phone. “Colorado? That’s like 850 miles from here!”
He shrugs. “We’d better get going then.”
Jeep holds up his hand. “We have to know which tree held Maël captive, though. Each part of the Black Forest is related to a different tree in the Shadow World.”
“It’s the famine tree,” I say. “The black one.”
Jeep hands me a map of the forest and points to the northern part. “I guess this is the place to go then.”
I study the map. It’s divided into four parts. Each part has its own color. Black, white, red and gray. The colors of the trees. I stare at them until my vision becomes hazy. “It’ll take way too long to get there and come back again. We don’t know how much time Myah Pullus has left.”
Jeep and Taylar drop into their chairs.
Vicky leans over to me. “Well, what do you propose? We just abandon Maël?”
That was what I was thinking, but now that she says it out loud, it sounds awful. “No, we can’t do that. She’s part of the Shield, she belongs with us.”
Jeep puts his hat on the table. “So what we need is a way to travel faster.”
I turn to Vicky. “Is there a spell for that?”
“I’m sure there is, but I heard it’s dangerous. It demands a lot of your body.”
D’Maeo clears his throat. “We should ask Qaddisin.”
I shake my head. “I don’t know. He said he couldn’t interfere. Maybe we-“
“Did someone call?” Quinn appears, in his human form. He spots the map in front of me. “Did you find the ents you need?”
I fold the map. “We did, but they’re in Colorado. It will take us forever to get the blood.”
He grins. “Don’t worry. I’ve got permission to help you. I can get you there and back before the end of the day.”
“Really?”
“Sure.”
“Look at this,” Taylar says. He holds up my tablet. “Myah’s home.”
I join the others around the white-haired boy.
On the screen, the woman with the hair bun walks in. She takes off her jacket and sits down in front of the computer. We can read everything on the computer screen, but she’s typing so fast that it’s hard to follow.
“What is she doing?” I ask.
“It’s some sort of code,” Taylar says.
Myah pushes some keys and her mail inbox pops up.
Dear Mr. Derby, she types.
We are working on your phishing case and found several break-ins into your system. To make sure all access to your personal data is blocked to outsiders, we need your bank account number (just the number, no PIN please) and card number. Please reply to this email instead of calling. Our servers are protected by the best anti-virus programs available, while phone calls can be tapped.
Please make sure you delete your message from your outbox after sending it.
Cards of Death Box Set Page 35
