We burst out laughing at the same time and for a moment it feels like old times. I don’t want to let go of that feeling, so when I walk back into the living room with two bowls of tomato soup, I blurt out, “Let’s have a poker night. I can use a distraction.”
Broad grins form immediately on Taylar’s, Jeep’s and Vicky’s faces. D’Maeo mumbles something about poker in the old days, while Maël frowns. I wonder if the game was already invented when she was alive.
I smile at Maël. “You only play if you want to.”
She nods. “I can be the dealer, if you want.”
“Awesome.” As soon as I finish my soup, I take the poker game out of the sideboard and hand it to the ghost queen. “If you set everything up, I’ll go get something to drink.”
“Do you have any whiskey?” Jeep calls after me.
I come to a halt and glance over my shoulder. “Wait, you guys can eat and drink? Why didn’t you tell me before? I would have made you some dinner, too.”
He swats his hand at me. “We don’t need food, but we can still taste it. Sometimes it’s just nice to have a drink, even though the alcohol doesn’t affect us anymore.”
Charlie watches the tattooed ghost in shock. “And you never eat anything? Not even nachos?”
“Eh…”
“Don’t mind him,” I say with a grin. “Charlie would eat all day long, if he got the chance.”
I search the booze supply, but like I thought, there’s no whiskey. With my arms full of beer, I walk back. “Sorry, no whiskey. I’ll have Mona get us some for our next poker night. Will beer do in the meantime? Quinn left some last time we played.”
Jeep gives me the thumbs up and I place a bottle in front of him, Charlie, Quinn and my own seat. “Anyone else?”
“Sure,” Vicky and D’Maeo say simultaneously.
It turns out Maël never eats or drinks, and Taylar is more of a rum guy, so I give him a full bottle of Bacardi and a glass.
While Maël deals, I look around the table and realize I haven’t been this comfortable for a while. I raise my bottle. “Cheers, guys. To new friends.” Then I gesture to Charlie and Quinn. “And to old ones. I wouldn’t want to miss any of you.”
“Hear hear!” Charlie calls out.
“Hey,” I whisper to him, “you could call that girl, ask her to join us.”
He almost chokes on his drink. “Gisella? I… don’t know.”
“Oh, I get it. You want to keep her to yourself as long as possible.”
He lowers his voice even more when he sees Vicky watching us. “She’s not even mine yet, Dante.”
“Well, work your magic, man. She’d be-“
Vicky is suddenly leaning on my shoulder. “What are you guys talking about?”
“Nothing,” we say in unison.
She twirls a lock around her finger. “A double date could be a good start.”
I shoot her a stern look. “Stop reading Charlie’s feelings, Vick.”
“Whatever you say, love.” She kisses the tip of my nose and Charlie sends us a jealous glare.
I just laugh. “Your time will come soon, don’t worry.”
I should’ve known playing poker with the Shield would end up in a cheating match.
Of course, Vicky is way ahead of any of us, since she can read feelings. There’s no way of fooling her. Poker faces have no effect whatsoever. And to make things worse, she has the best poker face I’ve ever seen. She tricks me every time, but I’m not too sorry about that, because with every chip I slide in her direction, I get a chance to touch her.
I still try to beat everyone else of course. Taylar’s stack of chips gets smaller by the minute, and most of them end up in front of me, while Charlie is taking D’Maeo’s chips. Quinn and Jeep win a lot, but Vicky takes a big stack with a straight flush.
Every hour one of the ghosts flashes upstairs to check on Mom and every fifteen to twenty minutes I take a look myself. She’s still in the same position, her whole body still as if frozen. You can hardly see her breathing. I kiss her hand and tell her I love her, before going back downstairs.
When I go to the kitchen to heat some nachos, I see something small scuttling away. I have a feeling what it could be, so I don’t say a word when I return to the table.
Taylar is the first one out of the game and he goes to Mom to talk to her. “It might help,” he says and I mumble a thank you without meeting his eyes, to hide the grateful tears welling up.
Jeep and Vicky are ahead of everyone else, and I know why. I peer over the edges of my cards whenever it’s Jeep’s turn. My suspicions were right, he has awoken a squirrel to help him. The animal takes in Quinn’s, D’Maeo’s and Vicky’s cards from the kitchen and signals them to him.
When it’s Charlie’s turn, sitting between me and the tattooed ghost, I conjure up a small bolt and obliterate the squirrel with a small hand gesture. No one notices the sound, since they’re all focused on their cards and Charlie is rambling out loud as usual.
I keep an eye on Jeep, whose gaze sweeps the kitchen doorway. My mouth twitches with the effort of hiding my grin. When he folds, I swallow a chuckle. This makes Vicky read me wrong and I win some chips back from her.
She observes me intently and I wink. “Anyone up for more nachos?” I ask, getting up.
Only Charlie is, and he helps me in the kitchen.
“Jeep was cheating,” I whisper to him, while I reach for the refrigerator door. “He’ll probably do it again, so I need your help.”
We call Taylar back, and let him back into the game. It doesn’t take Jeep long to steer another zombie into the kitchen. A rat this time. He watches me from the corner of his eyes, but this time it’s Charlie who takes the zombie out. He hits the rat square in the eyes with a small ball of gel. It stumbles around, and crashes into the doorway, before keeling over.
Everyone looks around and I place my hands on my hips. “You were cheating?” I ask incredulously.
Charlie lets out a chuckle that gives us away.
“As if you didn’t know!” Jeep scolds. “You took that squirrel out, didn’t you?”
I spread my hands. “Maybe.”
Vicky laughs so hard her whole body trembles. “You woke up a squirrel to look at our cards?”
“And a rat,” Charlie adds.
“And you still can’t win,” Vicky continues with a wide grin.
“Because you cheat, too!” Jeep counters.
She swings back her blonde and black hair dramatically. “I can’t help it that you’re so transparent.”
“Really? How’s this for transparency.” He gestures wildly and another small skeleton jumps onto Vicky’s lap and starts tickling her side.
She wriggles and shouts, until she’s on the ground, laughing uncontrollably.
“Stop!” she screams after a minute. “I surrender.”
“What did you say about me?” Jeep places a hand behind his ear.
“You’re so hard to read. Really hard,” Vicky splutters.
He grins. “Much better.” With a wave of his hand, he commands the skeleton to retreat.
I help Vicky up. When I walk back to my chair, I give Jeep a high five. “Thanks for that. Now I know exactly where to find her sensitive spots.”
While Maël shuffles the cards again, my gaze falls on Taylar. He’s looking straight ahead at nothing in particular. I touch his arm. “You don’t have cards yet, so you don’t need your poker face.”
He doesn’t move. “I know.”
Vicky and Jeep shout out at the same time.
Jeep searches the table. “Where are my chips? I had more than this.”
My head turns back to Taylar. His mouth twitches. When I bend a little to the right, I can see all the chips in his lap.
I start laughing. “Oh man, this is the best and worst game of poker I have ever played. You guys are unbelievable.”
Charlie yawns. “Well, we have to get up early tomorrow for the big mauso
leum move, so maybe we should wrap it up.”
I take out my phone and look at the time. “Wow! That’s not tomorrow, that’s today. I’m going to bed.”
“Can I sleep on the couch?” Charlie asks.
“Sure, I’ll get you some sheets and a pillow.” I look at the Shield. “Eh… maybe you should go back to Darkwood Manor.”
D’Maeo holds up his hand. “It’s fine. We can rest on the floor.”
Quinn has to leave and after thanking everyone for the great night, I go upstairs, check on Mom and fall asleep before my head hits my pillow.
CHAPTER 33
It’s still dark when we drive to the cemetery. Just in time, I remembered my Morningstar. It could come in handy, so I drove by Darkwood Manor to pick it up.
We’re the only ones on the street, which is exactly what we hoped for. Now we can move the mausoleum without anyone around to see giant trees walking the streets.
The ents are already waiting for us at the entrance of the cemetery. Myah is with them. She looks a bit flustered, probably from the tickling Aspa subjected her to. Some ginger locks have freed themselves from the bun on the back of her head and her dark blue skirt has crept up a bit.
Since I don’t want D’Maeo to show himself, I’m a bit worried, but when I open my arms wide, the leader of the aspens throws herself forward and tickles me until I cry out.
“It is wonderful to see you again, friend,” she says.
I get back up and bow low. “And you, Aspa.”
The Shield is invisible, but since Charlie isn’t, he has to endure the strange inspection, too. He giggles at the first touch, so it doesn’t take long.
“We are ready to help. Please lead the way.”
Myah takes us to her family mausoleum and I put a protection spell on it, to make sure it won’t get damaged. Myah doesn’t seem surprised that I perform a spell. Maybe she’s used to Mages around her. She checks everything one more time and gives us the thumbs up.
The ents gather around the mausoleum. Myah watches anxiously, wringing her hands together.
“Don’t worry,” Aspa says, “we will be cautious.”
She gives the ent a watery smile.
The aspen trees all close their eyes. A loud cracking fills the air as roots sprout from their trunks. They move forward and shoot into the earth surrounding the mausoleum.
For a while, nothing seems to happen. The ents keep their eyes closed. Their trunks and bright green leaves stay perfectly still. Aspa turns her head and whispers, “We are creating a net of roots under the mausoleum. When it is done, we will be able to lift everything, including the earth around it, which will protect the structure. No light will be let in.”
Myah relaxes a little.
“Only a few more seconds,” Aspa says before closing her eyes again.
The trees start to shudder and grunt. The earth moves and the mausoleum creaks.
“A little to the left!” Aspa yells and the ents all move. The creaking stops.
“Lift!” Aspa commands.
The mausoleum rises slowly from the ground. Soil rains down around it and a net of roots pulled tightly together is revealed.
Myah gasps and steps aside.
Aspa’s leaves are glowing. She’s in her element. “Ready? Turn on three and walk.”
It’s like watching a military exercise. The trees move as one. Their slender trunks slide easily between the remaining graves, while the net stays between them, keeping the mausoleum steady as if it weighs no more than a teacup. The aspens’ green leaves barely sway as they leave the cemetery and stride along the quiet streets.
We follow in their wake, keeping an eye on the houses we pass. Lights are coming on in bedrooms already, but thankfully the ents move swiftly.
Then a window opens just when they walk by. An old woman shakes the dust off her sheets.
The ents freeze and Myah, Charlie and I do the same. We watch the woman silently, hoping she doesn’t notice the mausoleum suspended between the trees.
She pulls in the sheets and pushes her glasses higher up her nose. “What lovely trees!” she says to herself, before closing the window and disappearing from sight.
We all start moving again. The ents take larger strides and it’s hard to keep up.
A few minutes later, we reach Eastside Cemetery. It is surrounded by a high gate with a narrow entrance, so the ents have to lift the mausoleum high to get it through and walk in one by one. For a moment, the net stretches so far I think it’s going to break. Myah covers her mouth as she watches wide-eyed.
But they manage to get through and we cheer quietly.
“Tell us where to put it,” Aspa says to Myah.
She bows and walks up the path to the right.
As soon as we follow, a shiver runs up my spine.
“Wait,” I whisper. “Something’s wrong.”
I barely spoke the last word before a dark creature hits the ent next to me. I can tell by the dark mud dripping from it that it’s a demon. It sinks its sharp legs into the tree’s bark and pushes. The ent sways left and right in an attempt to lose the beast, making the mausoleum tilt to the side.
One of the other ents takes a step closer to balance it, while Aspa reaches out a branch toward the demon. The ent squeals when the demon leaks black saliva on it.
I reach for my power core, preparing to freeze it, but Charlie is faster. He runs straight at the monster, firing ball after ball of sticky gel.
“There’s more of them,” Aspa says. “Put down the cargo.”
Before they can, demons jump out all around us. They look like stretched versions of the spider demon that took Mom. Long, thin legs support deformed bodies. Heads with four eyes and gaps for noses hang in front of them. They are covered from head to toe in boiling tar. Their long black tongues lick their sharp teeth, while they take the scene in.
The stench of excrement makes me nauseous. I place my hand over my nose and focus my freezing powers on the earth between us and the monsters. A line of frost forms quickly and I try to build it up into a wall. The demon closest to me tilts its head, as if trying to calculate my danger level.
Then Myah distracts me by turning into a stunning phoenix and lifting the slipping side of the mausoleum. From the corner of my eye, I see Jeep jumping to her side to assist her.
The phoenix screeches and lashes out with her beak. Jeep jumps back. “Wow, easy. I’m just trying to help.”
The demons are becoming restless. They watch our every move intently, every eye in their too wide heads looking in a different direction. They hiss softly and pitch drips on the ice I created, forming smoke in the air.
“Maël, can you slow them down for a minute?” I whisper from the corner of my mouth.
She’s in front of me in a flash, aiming her wand at the monsters that howl and leap forward with their mouths wide open. I step back with my hands raised to throw a lightning bolt. Maël doesn’t even flinch. She looks more powerful than I’ve ever seen her. As if it doesn’t cost her any strength to freeze the demons mid-air. Her cape doesn’t move an inch, and the gold is almost blinding. Energy courses through her, making her mass of dark curls sparkle.
“What is happening?” Aspa asks, carefully putting down the mausoleum with the help of the other trees and Myah.
I bow. “Dear friend, may I introduce to you, my Shield.” I gesture at the ghosts, forming a line between them and the demons.
Aspa’s wide eyes tell me that they’ve become visible on cue.
“You have a Shield?” she asks with her cracking voice. “D’Maeo didn’t tell me you were such a powerful Mage.” Her scrutinizing gaze stops at the old ghost. “Wait, you are part of this Shield?”
D’Maeo bows ceremoniously. “I am.”
Aspa looks utterly impressed. “You are a lucky Mage,” she says to me. “Although a heavy burden must rest on your shoulders if you are in need of a Shield.”
“Oh, well.” I sw
at her remark away like an annoying fly. “We’ll be okay. What we need to do now is make sure this mausoleum isn’t damaged, and that no one gets hurt by these demons.”
To my surprise, the head ent bows to me. “We will gladly help you, Mr. Dante.”
Vicky smothers a giggle and I blush. “Just Dante is fine.”
I turn to Maël. “How long can you hold them?”
She closes her eyes for a minute. “I’ve got a few minutes left.”
“Good. Taylar and D’Maeo, stay here to help Maël if necessary, the rest of you, come with us. We’ll have to make sure there are no more demons or other creatures waiting to attack.” I walk around some tombstones so I can lead the way.
Vicky, Jeep and Charlie follow, while the ents pick up the mausoleum again. Myah, back in her human form, closes ranks.
“I love it when you order us around,” Vicky whispers in my ear.
I try to suppress a grin, but fail, and she kisses me on the cheek.
“Focus, please,” I whisper back, ignoring the energy spreading through my body.
We start walking and we all keep an eye on the graves and trees around us.
Everything is quiet and still.
“There.” Myah points to an empty spot.
“One minute left!” Maël calls out.
I look at the demons, fighting to break free. They won’t hold back once they can move freely again. “Jeep, Charlie, can you join Maël and the others please? And prepare for the fight.”
Jeep salutes me, materializes next to Maël and gestures wildly. While the ents put the mausoleum in place and Myah thanks them a hundred times, the earth underneath every tombstone in sight starts to move.
“What is he doing?” Aspa asks, pulling in her roots.
“Jeep is a necromancer,” I explain. “He is forming an army to help us fight.”
The tree lays a branch on my shoulder. “I understand. Do not worry, friend. We will stand by your side.”
“Thank you, Aspa. That means a lot.”
Myah cracks her knuckles. “I will help, too.”
Maël’s voice calls out to us. “Ten seconds!”
I pull out my Morningstar with my right hand and conjure a lightning bolt on my left. “Let’s hit them from behind.”
Cards of Death Box Set Page 40
