Cards of Death Box Set

by Tamara Geraeds

  Myah turns back into the beautiful red and yellow bird with the long neck. “Gladly,” she says and breathes fire over the gravestones.

  CHAPTER 34

  The second the demons unfreeze, skeletons attack from all sides. Taylar and D’Maeo lash out with their swords, while Maël slams her staff onto a monster’s head. A jet flame sweeps the line of demons and sets their tar covered bodies on fire. But they don’t stop. They don’t fall down screaming in agony. Instead, they dive forward like balls of fire. I unleash my Morningstar to cut off their path, but they just jump over it.

  Myah lands next to me and turns back into herself, her bun slightly smoking. “That didn’t turn out like I imagined.”

  “They’re covered in boiling pitch,” Vicky says. “We should’ve known fire wouldn’t hurt them.”

  I extinguish the bolt in my hand.

  “How about ice?” Charlie asks. He lifts his hands full of gel balls. “Can you freeze these?”

  I glance quickly at the fight before us. D’Maeo is blocking the burning webs the demons are shooting at the ghosts, but the Shield has no choice but to retreat. I’ll have to hurry.

  Closing my eyes, I reach for my core and push as much cold out as I can. I’m not sure if it’s working, until Charlie tells me to keep going. The hissing of extinguished flames reaches my ears. I conjure up more cold.

  “Almost there,” Charlie pants.

  Dizziness hits me and I drop to my knees.

  Vicky catches me before I fall on my face. “That’s enough.”

  I open my eyes when loud cracks echo around me. The ents are storming the monsters, that are now frozen from head to toe.

  I draw in a shaky breath. “Did we do that?”

  Charlie pulls me back on my feet. “We sure did.”

  The demons are still moving. Guttural sounds come out of their open mouths while they try to shake off the cold gel. But they can’t free themselves fast enough. The ents reach them, pick them up as if they’re no more than dolls, and bite their heads off.

  Charlie and I avert our eyes.

  “That is so gross,” I say.

  “No, it’s awesome,” Vicky gasps. “I like these guys.”

  I shake my head. “Of course you do.”

  A couple of demons are still on the loose, leaving frozen gel everywhere. We move forward to fight them, but Taylar emerges out of nowhere and slices their legs off with one swipe of his sword. The phoenix grabs the heads with her talons and rips them apart before we can even reach them.

  “Wow, we make a great team,” I say, tucking away my athame.

  Myah lands on the path and folds her wings. She watches the demons turn into smoke before she changes back into herself. Then she bows to all of us. “Thank you so much for helping me, and fighting with me.” She pulls back a loose string of hair. A red feather drifts to the ground. “I don’t know why those demons attacked us. I hope it didn’t have anything to do with my family’s mausoleum.”

  “It didn’t,” I assure her.

  She watches me with interest. “You know something you’re not telling me.”

  I hold her gaze. “I do. Don’t worry about it.”

  She laughs. “I won’t. I can see you guys have my back. If only I knew what to watch out for, maybe I wouldn’t need you to fight for me.”

  For a moment, I wonder what harm it could do to tell her. But Vicky nudges me before I can say anything. I swallow my words.

  “Just be nice to other people,” Vicky says.

  Myah grins. “Sure. I can do that.”

  She holds out her hand and I shake it. “Thank you again, Dante. I have a feeling you are not who you say you are, but that’s fine. It was a pleasure to meet you and your friends.”

  “You, too, Myah. Take care.”

  She transforms into her bird form, chirps her goodbyes to us and takes off into the sky.

  Aspa clears her throat. “We have to go, as well. It is already late.”

  I bow and she returns the gesture.

  “I can cast an invisibility spell on you if you want.” I reach for my spell book, but the ent shakes her head.

  “Thank you, but we will be alright. We can turn ourselves into a human form; we just don’t like to. It was a pleasure working with you. If you ever need a favor, just come and see us.”

  I press my hands together. “We will. Thank you all so much. Have a safe trip home.”

  They wave and with no more than a soft whoosh, they stride off.

  The rest of us walk back to Westside Cemetery in thoughtful silence.

  A heavy feeling washes over me when I think of all the things that still need solving. I don’t want to think about Mom or Dad right now, so I focus on someone else instead. “Any idea how we can get Mrs. Delaney’s powers back?” I look at Vicky. “Did you find a spell earlier?”

  “I did, but the person who took her powers has to be in sight for it to work.”

  I sigh. “But we don’t know who took them.”

  Charlie walks to Phoenix’s passenger side. “I’m guessing Paul is a good bet.”

  “So we should just try it on him when we see him?”

  He shrugs. “That might be our best chance.”

  I get in the car. “We should probably try to find Paul.”

  “I know some places where he used to hang out,” Charlie says, lowering himself into the passenger seat.

  “So do I, but I don’t think he’ll be there. That would be too easy. He’s smart enough to stay out of our way.”

  He pulls back his long hair. “Yeah, you’re probably right. So what now?”

  Taylar holds up my tablet. “Hey guys, look at this.”

  Charlie and I turn around, while Jeep unfolds himself from D’Maeo on the back seat. We all lean toward Taylar. On the tablet, Myah Pullus is sitting in front of her computer. Her shoulders are slumped and her head rests in her hands.

  “Looks like she got some bad news,” Vicky observes.

  “I zoomed in on her screen,” Taylar continues. “It shows a bill of several thousand dollars.”

  I slam my hand against my head rest. “Dammit! They’re pushing her to send the emails anyway. They’re forcing her to commit fraud so they can take her soul.”

  “Looks like they learned from their mistakes,” Jeep grumbles.

  “We have to go back, now.” I turn back around and start Phoenix.

  It takes us only a few minutes to reach Myah’s street. I park around the corner in case someone’s still watching her house. When we approach, I’m glad I did.

  “The guards are back,” I whisper to the others.

  “Paul might be among them,” Vicky says.

  Before I can respond, she’s crossing the street. “I’ll go check.”

  I crouch behind a parked car. “D’Maeo, go with her.”

  He nods and follows her.

  I watch them with concern. “Are they invisible?”

  Maël is standing in the middle of the sidewalk, scanning the street and the houses around us. “They are, don’t worry. We should stop Myah from committing fraud.”

  “But we can’t ring the bell or sneak in. Remember what happened to Taylar last time?”

  Taylar draws in a sudden breath. “Oh yes, I’m definitely not doing that again.”

  “Besides,” Jeep adds, “If the guards see us, we’ll have to fight them. There’s no time for that.”

  “He’s right,” Maël says. “We need a quick solution.”

  I reach for my Book of Spells and rip out a page. I scribble down a message as fast as I can without making it unreadable and hold it out to Jeep. “Can you summon a zombie to take this to Myah?”

  “Not without making a lot of racket, but sure.”

  “Great. Do it.”

  He takes my note and starts moving his hands.

  I glance at the tablet that Taylar is still holding. Myah is opening tons of emails. She takes out a piece
of paper and wipes her cheeks, before unfolding it.

  “Don’t do it, Myah. Please don’t,” I whisper.

  A skeleton cat jumps between us and halts in front of Jeep. It grabs my note in its mouth and crosses the street in two strides.

  “Hurry,” Taylar says.

  Myah’s lips are moving and she places her fingertips on her computer screen. Red light pulses into the computer and slowly fills the screen.

  The zombie cat has reached the lawn. It jumps from left to right for a moment, before continuing up the rain pipe. It stops next to Myah’s study.

  Jeep gestures frantically, but the cat stays where it is.

  “What’s happening?” I ask, with one eye on Myah’s screen, which is almost fully red now.

  “It won’t jump,” Jeep says. “It’s that damn curse again.”

  He moves his hands and fingers in every direction, but the skeleton cat keeps its paws around the rain pipe.

  I swear and hurry across the street. If they see me, they see me, there’s nothing I can do about that now. On my way to the side of the house, I pick up some small stones.

  The cat is still hanging there, the note in its mouth. I don’t wait for it to move, but throw the rocks against Myah’s window.

  “Come on, stop what you’re doing,” I whisper.

  A triumphant “yes” escapes my mouth when Myah’s face appears. She backs up in surprise when she sees me.

  I point at the window. “Open up.”

  Just as she opens it, the cat finally jumps. It hits the glass of the open window.

  Myah lets out a small cry.

  The zombie cat manages to grab the edge of the window and dangles by one paw.

  I press a finger to my lips when Myah looks down at me.

  “Take the note,” I whisper.

  She reaches around the glass and snatches the note just before the skeleton cat slips and falls apart on the grass.

  She reads what I wrote. Her lips form the words carefully. Then she lowers the piece of paper and glares at me. “Are you spying on me?”

  I bite my lip. “I’m sorry, I had to.”

  Before I can explain, something heavy hits me in the side. I tumble to the ground. Sharp teeth are inches from my face before I can even take out a weapon. I recognize the head demon, the ugly spider monster that took Mom. It has come to finish me off.

  But the demon doesn’t bite. It pushes off and jumps toward the open window, where Myah is watching in horror.

  “Myah, run!” I yell, scrambling to get up.

  She doesn’t listen. Instead, she changes into her bird form and jumps onto the spider demon. She rips the flesh from its body with her talons and stabs its neck with her sharp beak.

  I run to the rain pipe and start climbing. Taylar and Jeep blink into view below.

  “She sent the emails,” the young white-haired ghost says.

  “I already gathered that,” I call back, hauling myself up further, “seeing that the spider demon is trying to kill her.”

  I frown. “Wait, why aren’t you guys frozen to the spot?”

  Jeep grins. “The curse is lifted.”

  “How?”

  “That was just a matter of killing the right person.” He winks.

  They both disappear and a second later, the thrashing inside the house gets louder.

  Slowly I make my way along the small edge under the windows and pull myself inside.

  Wondering where Vicky and D’Maeo are, I look back toward the street.

  My breath catches in my throat when I see Maël standing in the middle of the road with her staff raised. At least thirty demons covered in tar are slowly closing in on her from all sides.

  CHAPTER 35

  A loud crash makes me whirl my head around. Myah’s computers are on the floor. Smoke billows up from them. I grunt. There goes my plan to make Myah undo her spell on the emails.

  The spider demon has Taylar pinned down with one slender leg, while Jeep blocks its way to Myah, back in her human form.

  “Get away from me,” she yells. “I can fight my own battles.”

  “This one is not yours to fight, Myah,” I say.

  The demon’s head turns my way and one of its legs tries to grab me.

  I jump out of the way and pull out my athame. “Is there any way to undo the fraud?”

  She scowls. “Sure, but I don’t want to. I need the money.”

  “There are other ways to get money,” I say, lashing out at the spider leg with my weapon. “Better, legal ways.”

  “Who are you to decide what’s better for me?”

  “I’m trying to save your life, Myah.”

  She huffs. “Don’t bother. Even if I die, I’ll just rise again. I’m a phoenix, remember? I can handle this.”

  I take off part of the demon’s leg and it screams. Black blood oozes over the floor. Its body shudders and Taylar takes the opportunity to free himself. We attack simultaneously, stabbing at the monster until we hit it. It thrashes around when Jeep pins it to the floor with his knife. Taylar stabs it in one of the eyes and after a second, it lies still and goes up in tiny particles of black smoke.

  Grunts from downstairs echo through the house. Maël appears next to us. “There’s an army coming. Get ready.”

  Myah is halfway through her transformation back into a phoenix when I grab her arm.

  “Try to stay away from the fight. Do what you can to stay alive,” I urge her. “These monsters have someone on their side with the power to separate particles.”

  Her mouth falls open.

  I look into her eyes, pleading. “Make sure the money never reaches you. Please.”

  She takes a deep breath and turns back into herself. “Okay. There’s a spell that kills the magic I sent with the emails. I’ll have to look it up though.”

  I wave at her to leave the room. “Hurry. Jeep will stay with you.”

  The tattooed ghost gives me the thumbs up before following her into the hallway.

  The stairs creak under the weight of about two dozen demons.

  “Did you see Paul?” I ask Maël.

  She shakes her head.

  D’Maeo joins us. He hands me a piece of paper, a bunch of candles, a stick of incense, a bowl of water, a glass jar and some herbs and salt. He looks around. “Where’s Myah? Is she still alive?”

  “She went to look for a spell to undo the fraud.” I frown at the things in my hands. “Why are you giving me this stuff?”

  “Prepare the spell to transfer Mrs. Delaney’s powers back. And pick up your phone when Charlie calls. Maël, Taylar, come with me.”

  They’re out of the room before I can ask what the plan is.

  But there’s no time to hesitate. If D’Maeo has a plan, it’s more than I have. And without the power to separate particles, these followers of the Devil won’t be able to kill Myah.

  I put everything on the floor. My eyes scan the words written down in Vicky’s handwriting. I remember as much as I can.

  Since I have to consecrate the jar first, I take out my Book of Spells and flip to the right page.

  Thumps and howls draw near while I carve an X into one of the candles. I form a circle with some of the white salt, light the incense and walk around the room with it. When smoke is all around me I put the stick in the middle of the circle and light the candle. I don’t have any bowls left, so I create two small piles of black salt on each side of the incense and candle and put the bowl of water in front of the incense stick.

  Something hits the door and I pick up my athame, ready to stab whatever comes through. But all that follows is a squeal of pain. I quickly return to the spell.

  The compass app on my phone tells me which way is North. With my face in the right direction, I move the jar over the pile of salt on the right side of the circle.

  “Powers of the North, guardians of the Earth,

  I consecrate this jar

  and charge
it with your energies.

  I purify it in this day, and turn it into a sacred tool,

  to fight against my enemies.”

  I turn to every wind direction, passing the jar over the incense stick, the flame of the candle and the bowl of water. After repeating the words for every guardian, I finish the consecration.

  “I charge this jar in the name of the Ancients,

  the Stars and the Sun and the Moon.

  By the powers of the Earth, Air, Fire and Water,

  I make it to evil immune.

  I banish the energies of previous owners,

  and clean it of distress.

  I consecrate this jar,

  and make it mine to possess.”

  I place the jar into the left bowl of dark salt and look at my phone. No word from Charlie yet.

  The fight continues in the hallway. I want to help, but I know this spell is important. I read Vicky’s notes again. The person whose powers you want to extract has to be in sight for this spell to work.

  That’s our biggest problem. It can’t be easy to capture Paul, and even if we do, we don’t know for sure he took Mrs. Delaney’s powers.

  My phone rings. Charlie’s name flashes on the screen. It’s a video call.

  “Hey man,” I say when I pick up. “Everything okay?”

  “Fine. Is the spell ready?”

  “Yes, but how …”

  The camera turns and Vicky comes into view. She’s fighting Paul. Or rather, she’s twirling around him like a ballerina, keeping him on the spot.

  “Cast the spell,” Charlie says. “Do it now!”

  I pull my gaze away from the scene and concentrate on the herbs. I crush the chamomile and valerian and pour the water on it. While I let the mixture slowly flow into the jar, I recite the words, keeping one eye on Paul.

  “Powers stolen from within,

  separate them from the skin.

  Set them free and make them rise,

  send them to me through the skies.”

  Paul suddenly collapses. He grips his stomach with both hands and yells in pain.