Cards of Death Box Set

by Tamara Geraeds

  After handing Dad’s notebook to Charlie, I pick up the mirrors and turn one of them toward the sun. Then I catch the ray that bounces of the glass into the second mirror and aim it at the doll.

  Charlie holds the book out in front of me so I can read the spell.

  “Powers unseen, come to me.

  Build an army we can see.

  Make it just as good as real

  in strength and courage, looks and feel.”

  As the grunts of Jeep’s undead army echo through the streets, the doll before me starts to turn. Slowly it rises from the ground, grows into a real size man and splits into two.

  Further along the street, the demons come to a halt and look around, sniffing the air.

  Charlie nudges me. “Keep going.”

  I focus on the rest of the spell, trying to ignore everything around me.

  “Powers of the Earth, I trust in thee.

  Make this army fight for me.

  Let them draw the enemy near,

  and lure the demons out of here.”

  Charlie pulls the notebook closer and studies the text. “That’s not what it says.”

  With a grin, I look up at him. “I changed it a bit. This will work better.”

  He shakes his head. “I am so jealous, you know.”

  I indicate my pants with my head. “Can you put that book back behind my waistband, please?”

  Charlie’s eyebrows shoot up. Then he scrunches up his nose. “Really? You want me to…”

  I shoot him an incredulous look. “Don’t tell me you’re worried about something like that when there’s a bunch of ugly monsters about to charge us.”

  His eyes flash to a point somewhere over my shoulder. “Yeah, that’s stupid.”

  Without another second of hesitation, he grabs my waistband and shoves the notebook behind it. “How much longer before this army is ready?”

  “I don’t know, it didn’t say.”

  Behind Charlie, the grunting gets louder. A line of zombies turns the corner and walks past the Winged Centaur. They snarl and howl as they catch sight of the last demons passing our street on the other end.

  “Come on, come on,” I urge the multiplying warriors.

  Maël slams her wand onto the ground. “They’re coming our way.”

  “Then we are leaving,” I say. I nod at Charlie. “Write it down for them. We are going to get Kale, these armies will keep the demons busy.”

  He salutes. “Yes, sir.”

  While Charlie takes the piece of paper from Vicky and writes the message down, the circle around what was once the doll starts turning clockwise. The herbs and leaves swirl through the air with the speed of lightning. A couple of seconds later they go up in smoke. At the same time, the warriors jump to attention. They form an impenetrable wall between us and the demons that are slowly coming round the corner of the street. One by one, Jeep’s skeletons join the line of defense.

  Vicky reads Charlie’s note and beckons the others.

  I hand her back the mirrors and we retreat to the parking lot of the Winged Centaur.

  We move through the garden of the hotel next door and peek around the corner. The demons are filing into the street. There are so many of them and with every second that passes, I expect them to turn their amphibian heads and come for me. I haven’t forgotten the first time I was invisible. The ice demons somehow knew I was there.

  But the octopus-lizards keep moving forward, to where our two armies are waiting for them.

  “Let’s go,” Vicky suddenly says, and she breaks into a run, pulling me along.

  The others follow, Jeep and Taylar backwards, to keep an eye on the demons.

  We reach the police station within a minute. An old man covered in mud is yelling at the woman behind the desk and several policemen are coming to her aid, while others are watching the scene from a distance.

  Thanks to this distraction, we can slip through the door without anybody getting suspicious.

  “I’ll see if I can find Kale,” D’Maeo says before vanishing.

  He’s back in the blink of an eye and beckons us.

  We follow him quickly. Carefully avoiding people, we cross the room and sneak through a door at the back of the lobby. D’Maeo walks into the hallway on the left and takes out a set of keys.

  “Where did you get those?” I ask.

  Of course he doesn’t answer me.

  He opens the door to the fourth cell and lets us all in.

  Kale is sitting on a bed, frowning at the door that seems to open and close by itself. He looks even smaller than he did before and there are bags under his eyes.

  “Hello?” he says hesitantly.

  CHAPTER 35

  I scratch my head. “Now what? I can’t talk to him while I’m invisible.”

  Charlie points at my waist. “Write down what you want to say. One of your ghosts can show themselves and speak for you.”

  Kale scans his cell with narrowed eyes. “Hello?” he repeats.

  “What do we do?” Vicky asks.

  Jeep shrugs. “Show ourselves and tell him the truth I guess. We’ll have to take him with us.”

  I rip another page out of my Book of Spells. It would feel like a waste if the other page hadn’t reappeared. Looks like I have an unlimited amount of paper with me.

  When I hand the empty page to Vicky, she takes out the pen again and waits for me to write something down.

  “Hello?” Kale’s unease is growing. “Is anyone there?”

  I write as fast as I can and hand the page back to Vicky. She scans it and gives it to D’Maeo.

  When the old ghost becomes visible, Kale presses himself against the wall of his cell. “Who are you?”

  D’Maeo shoots him his fatherly smile and reads my message to him. “Don’t be afraid. I am D’Maeo, a ghost in service of a Mage called Dante. You are in danger because of what you did. We are here to protect you.”

  The boxer shakes his head, as if trying to get rid of a hallucination. When D’Maeo doesn’t disappear, he sits up straighter. “What do you mean, what I did?”

  D’Maeo hands me back the piece of paper and I write down my answer. “You shouldn’t have punched Craig Archer.”

  He throws up his hands. “I didn’t! He broke his own nose when I threatened to expose his foul play.”

  The old ghost rubs his beard. “You mean you didn’t hit him?”

  “I was tempted, but no.” Kale balls his hands into fists. “Not yet. But now that I’m charged with assault, no one will believe me.”

  D’Maeo needs no further instructions. “Okay, listen.” He places his hands gently on Kale’s shoulders and looks him in the eye. “You are safe as long as you don’t harm him. But Craig is making you mad on purpose. You cannot let your anger get the best of you.”

  When his expression doesn’t change, I search for something that’ll make him listen. I scribble it down on another page and hand it to D’Maeo.

  “We might be able to prove your innocence,” he reads. “So don’t throw away your whole career in an attempt to get back at this loser.”

  Kale blinks. “You can prove I didn’t break his nose?”

  For a second I hesitate. But I know I should tell him the truth. So I write, I can’t promise you we’ll succeed, but we’ll try.

  His eyes search D’Maeo’s face when he reads it and then sweep the room. “Why?”

  “Because you’re important,” the old ghost answers with a smile.

  That seems to appeal more to him than anything we’ve said so far. He leans back and sticks up his thumb. “Don’t worry, I’ll keep my cool. I won’t let Craig get what he wants.”

  I narrow my eyes. “We can’t rely on his temper. He has been chosen for a reason and they will keep coming at him until he breaks. We need to take out Craig.” I scribble my last comment on another page.

  D’Maeo nods as he reads it. He holds out his hand to Kale, who shakes
it. “Goodbye for now. We’ll do what we can to get you out of here.”

  As D’Maeo makes himself invisible again, Jeep twirls his hat in his hand. “There’s one thing I don’t understand. If he hasn’t committed the sin yet, why are there already so many demons?”

  I walk to the barred window that is placed high up in the wall and look into the street. “I know why.”

  Craig the crab man parks his car at the back of the police station. With a gleeful expression on his face, he gets out and walks around the building, to the entrance.

  I turn to the Shield and write them another message. Craig’s coming. Do whatever you can to stop him.

  Jeep blinks as D’Maeo reads it out loud. “Why? Kale isn’t going to attack him, he just told us.”

  He doesn’t want to right now, because now he can still think clearly.

  Taylar mimics Jeep’s confused look. “What does that mean?”

  Didn’t you find it strange that a good, calm guy like Kale suddenly erupted into violence? I write. Haven’t you noticed that his anger only seems to flare up after seeing Craig?

  Jeep snorts. “I’d get angry if someone like that pushed my buttons.”

  Taylar blows a stray blond lock out of his eye. “Yeah, I don’t blame him either.”

  Sure, but it takes a pretty severe outburst of violence to be condemned to Hell. So…

  Vicky takes out her sword. Her eyes dart through the room as she listens for anything going on in the lobby. “Get to the point, Dante. Time’s almost up.”

  What I’m trying to say, is that I think Craig has some kind of hypnotic power. Probably something similar to Vicky’s.

  That makes Vicky tilt her pretty head. “You could be right. Be careful when you approach him.”

  I start scribbling again and hand my note to Vicky. Can you hypnotize him while you’re invisible?

  She shrugs. “I can try.”

  She takes up position in front of the cell door while we step aside.

  “Be careful,” I say, even though she can’t hear me.

  We don’t have to wait long. After about a minute, Craig’s voice reaches us through the closed door. “I just want to speak to him! To tell him I forgive him.”

  “Unbelievable,” Kale mumbles. “The guts that guy has.” His jaw is clenched and his eyes burn with rage.

  As one of the police officers answers, Kale closes his eyes and takes steady breaths. “Just ignore him. He‘s not worth it.”

  “Mason! Did you take my keys again?” someone calls out in the hallway.

  The answer is inaudible, but heavy footsteps and the jingling of keys tell us they are coming.

  Vicky rubs her hands together and breathes out slowly.

  There’s the sound of a key being turned in the lock and the door swings open.

  “Go on in,” the officer says. “I’ll be watching, so don’t do anything stupid. No touching each other.” He gives Kale a stern look, too. “Understood?”

  Without waiting for an answer, he steps aside.

  Vicky tenses as Craig steps into the cell. He’s in full human form and if I hadn’t recognized his voice just now, I wouldn’t have known it was him. His nose looks a little swollen and has some blue spots. His chest looks solid and his arms are huge. His head is still big, but without the orange glow, he just looks like a wrestler.

  He flexes his fingers and as a precaution, I conjure a lightning bolt in my hand. If that guy tries to harm Vicky, he’ll get what he deserves. I’m not sure why we’re keeping him alive anyway. It’s obvious that he’s working for the Devil.

  As the door closes behind the Snapper, his gaze turns to Kale. Vicky takes a step to the left to catch his eye.

  “What do you want?” Kale says in an indifferent tone.

  The crab hybrid doesn’t answer.

  “Did you come here to gloat?” Kale continues.

  Craig’s mouth pulls into a straight line. His hands tremble.

  “Well?” Kale pushes. He crosses his arms. “If you don’t have anything to say, you’d better leave.”

  “I should,” Craig says. “This isn’t right. I’m sorry, Kale. I’ll drop the charges.”

  Kale bends forward on the bed. “What?”

  Craig is still staring into Vicky’s invisible eyes. “I said I’ll drop the charges.”

  “Are you messing with me? Because I should tell you, I’m not in the mood for jokes.”

  “Not messing,” Craig says. “I’ll go now.”

  He turns around and knocks on the door. It swings open immediately. Without a word, the police officer closes it again. But just before it falls back into the lock, there is another voice. “Hang on, something’s not right here.”

  “What do you mean?” The door opens again. “In there?” The officer peers inside and shrugs. “Looks fine to me.”

  The tall man that steps into the doorway gives me the chills. It looks like someone has gone crazy on him with a blowtorch. The smell of burnt skin lingers around him. Large flaps of ragged, red flesh cover his face, arms and lower legs, while his torn, scorched clothes are melted into the rest of his body. His unnatural fiery red hair makes his head look like it’s still on fire.

  He sniffs the air.

  “Something’s not right,” he repeats.

  We all stand very still. I’m afraid that if I take another breath, this guy will hear me.

  He turns and raises his arm. “Hey, Craig? Where are you going?”

  “To drop the charges,” the Snapper calls back from further along the hallway.

  “What? Why?” The burnt man takes off, while the officer – apparently oblivious to the man’s creepy looks - watches with interest.

  I quietly walk through the open door so I can see what happens, pulling Vicky along with me.

  Craig’s friend stops him before he can walk back to the lobby. “Look at me.”

  The crab man turns to face him.

  “Just what I thought. Someone has been messing with your mind.”

  “I feel so guilty,” Craig mumbles.

  “I know, but not for long.”

  While my heart pounds in my chest, the burnt man hits Craig between the eyes.

  “Hey!” the officer yells as he grabs his baton.

  The Snapper staggers back and blinks wildly.

  “Wow,” he breathes. His hand shoots up to his forehead and rubs it hard.

  “Are you okay?” his friend asks.

  Craig’s skin turns bright red. “Did someone just use my own power against me?”

  Burnt man scratches the flap on his cheek. “Kale is not capable of that, is he?”

  Craig slowly moves his head from left to right. “No, he’s not.”

  His friend straightens up. “So there’s someone in the cell with him.”

  Finally I snap out of my daze. I point at Kale. “Get him and yourselves out of here. Now!”

  Realizing they still can’t hear or see me, I yank Vicky’s arm while I dive back into the cell and pull out my weapons.

  D’Maeo and Jeep haul Kale onto his feet and push him to the door.

  “Hey!” the officer yells again, louder this time.

  But his further objections and actions are cut off when Maël hits him in the head with her staff.

  “Sorry,” she says, before turning her attention to Craig and his friend, who are watching the scene before them with expressions of astonishment mixed with anger.

  “I’ll slow time so you can get Kale out of here,” she says, slamming down her wand.

  As we file out of the cell, the burnt man raises both arms, mumbles something and slams his mutilated hands together hard.

  We’re blown back and land in a heap at the end of the hallway.

  Kale struggles to get me off of him.

  “You’re that guy from the dressing room!” he yells. “Who the heck are you?”

  “I’m Dante.” As soon as I am on my feet again, I h
old out my hand and pull him up.

  “Nice to meet you,” he says, while I pick up my athame and Morningstar. Then he points down the hallway at Vicky and Maël. “Are those friends of yours?”

  Vicky takes out her sword. “He made us all visible.”

  Kale rolls up his sleeves. “Don’t worry, I’ll take care of him.”

  “No!” Vicky and I hold up our hands to him at the same time.

  “You try to stay calm. Don’t do anything violent,” Vicky pleads.

  He drops his arms. “Fine. I’ll just blend into the shadows.”

  I stick up my thumb. “Great idea.”

  While he disappears, Vicky and I turn to the approaching men with our weapons raised.

  Meanwhile, D’Maeo, Taylar and Jeep appear in the doorway of the cell.

  I wonder what happened to Charlie, but as the three ghosts slide onto the floor, several large gel balls fly through the air. They hit the burnt man in the face and he tumbles to the ground. Maël’s wand slips from his hand. How he got a hold of it, I don’t know, but I have a feeling that this man is very powerful.

  “Keep hitting him!” I yell at Charlie, as he moves around the corner of the cell with his hands in front of him.

  He throws more balls, but Craig, back in his hybrid form, moves in front of his friend and shields himself with his mouth hands.

  “Well well,” he snarls, “if it isn’t the notorious chosen one with his friends.” With one swift move of his arms, he tosses Charlie’s goo back to him. “Such a sad bunch. Did you really think you could use my own power against me?”

  I shoot him my meanest grin. “We didn’t just think it, we did it.”

  His face contorts with anger.

  “Don’t move your nose too much,” I warn him, “or it might fall off.”

  As predicted, he charges. With my eyes on him, I fling my Morningstar as hard as I can.

  The spiked ball hits his crab torso and bounces off without causing any harm. With a curse, I roll sideways to avoid the giant body. Thankfully, Charlie is building a wall of grease between me and Craig. When the Snapper turns, he walks right into it. For a moment his head is stuck.