The Second Premonition

by Tamara Geraeds

  Leaning back I throw up my hands. A bolt materializes, but misses the bull’s head. It inhales deeply, as if to breath in my fear.

  While I nudge my power core frantically, Taylar appears behind the minotaur. The beast turns its head, but it’s too late. Taylar stabs his sword straight through its heart. It howls and crashes sideways to the floor. Jeep and D’Maeo approach it carefully, their weapons raised.

  I scramble to my feet and hurry back into the bedroom, where I dive into the salt circle around the bed, and press my fingers against Mom’s wrist. Her slow but steady heartbeat turns my legs into jelly. Dropping down on the edge of the bed, I kiss Mom’s hand. I want to say I’m glad she’s okay, but she isn’t. I try to swallow the lump in my throat, but it’s too big. My thoughts go to Simon, who was a good friend for so long. Or at least I thought he was. I’m so angry at him, but his death still hurts me. Until a few minutes ago, there was still hope in my heart that everything could go back to normal. That our circle of friends could be restored. They might have been under a spell. But when I looked into his eyes and saw the passion there, the passion to destroy the world, I knew he was lost.

  “Are you okay?” Charlie steps into the circle. His eyes are full of tears. It’s so typical that he would ask me if I’m okay, when he just watched our friend die.

  I stand up and put my arms around him. “There was nothing we could do. We did the right thing.”

  “I know. But still…”

  I sigh. “Yeah.”

  CHAPTER 32

  Since Simon, the ghoul and the minotaur don’t go up in smoke like demons do, Charlie and I have to perform a ritual to make them vanish. It requires the burning of a body part taken from the deceased, which thankfully Jeep is willing to cut off. The fingertips go into a bowl of water, mixed with elder bark.

  “Be careful with the cesium,” Vicky reads from Dad’s notebook. “It is a dangerous kind of metal, that will explode on impact with water. Keep it away from the bowl until you have spoken the words.”

  Charlie lights the candles around the three bodies and I read the words.

  “Powers of Air, hear my cry,

  take these spirits to the sky.

  Powers of Fire, hear my call,

  take them away from us all.

  Powers of Water, hear my cry,

  give these souls their final goodbye.

  Powers of Earth, hear my prayer,

  take these spirits and clear the air.”

  I drop the cesium into the bowl and step back. The bowl rattles as the contents explode. A white cloud with red specks moves through the hallway. It whirls around the candle flames. Then it breaks up into little pieces and drops into the bodies. There’s a loud hiss and the pieces rise into the air again. They’re no longer white, but bright red. Just below the ceiling, they form a large cloud that casts a shadow over the bodies. Slowly, their faces fade, erased by an invisible force. The red cloud pulses. Then without warning, it drops down. The candles are extinguished and with a hiss, the three bodies go up in smoke.

  I sigh. “Well, three enemies down, only about a thousand left to defeat.”

  “Don’t be such a pessimist,” Vicky scolds me. “We’ll get there. We just have to take it step by step.”

  “I know, I’m sorry.” I rub my face. “It just sucks having to kill a friend, you know.”

  “And there’s another one out there,” Charlie reminds me.

  My mind is trying to come up with a scenario that doesn’t involve killing another so-called friend, but deep down I know I’m just kidding myself. These guys have been working for the Devil all along.

  Vicky changes the subject. “You should call Mona to see if Mrs. Delaney got her powers back. Simon might have been the one who took them from her.”

  I hope she’s right, but of course nothing comes easy.

  No, she’s still the same, Mona responds when I send her a message.

  Okay, working on it, I write back.

  Charlie’s stomach rumbles as I put my phone away. “Can we eat something? I’m starving.”

  Charlie and I are chewing on our sandwiches when Quinn appears.

  “Nice of you to show up,” Charlie says between bites.

  Quinn pulls up an extra chair and sits down next to him. “I’m sorry, I was following a lead I couldn’t let go. Besides, you know I can’t get involved too much. That’ll only make the fight harder.”

  “What kind of lead?” I ask.

  His gaze jumps to Vicky for a second. There’s hurt in his eyes. “I can’t tell you yet. It might be nothing.”

  My throat tightens. I can hardly squeeze words out. “Can you help me in the kitchen for a minute?”

  He follows me and I fold my arms, leaning against the kitchen counter. “What’s going on? What is it with you and Vicky?”

  “I think Vicky might have more to do with the Devil than we know.”

  “What? You think she’s working for him, too?”

  He shakes his head. “I didn’t say that. What I suspect is that there’s a hidden power within her that can help us defeat Lucifer.”

  My mouth falls open. “Really? What kind of power?”

  He shrugs. “That’s the problem. I don’t know. I’m not even sure I read it right. So please don’t share this with anyone.”

  “Okay, I won’t.” I open the cabinets in search of more to eat. “I haven’t been this hungry since...” I stare at the ceiling trying to remember. “Well, never.”

  Quinn winks. “Get used to it. Now that your powers are growing, you need more fuel. Especially when you use them as much as you do now.”

  “Hey Dante!” Charlie yells from the living room. “Do you have anything else to eat? I’m still starving!”

  “You’re always starving!” Quinn and I yell in unison.

  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 mausoleum 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 w
ill 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.