“I believe you,” she finally said. “But if you aren’t the thief, then why have you been acting so nervous lately?”
Sebastian shuffled his feet, hands still occupied with restraining the girl. “Well, I was, erm, unsure whether or not I, um—”
“He fancies me, honey,” the pixie girl interrupted, grinning. “Isn’t it obvious?” She glanced up and winked at Sebastian, who looked away. “He was probably nervous about finding out if I was the real thief or not.”
Lily frowned, distracted by an uncomfortable flash of heat as she tried to ignore the girl’s smug expression and focus on the task at hand. “So if neither of you are the real thief, then who is?”
“I don’t know,” Sebastian said, jumping on the change of subject with obvious relief. “But once I hand this wildcat off to the security guard”—he glanced at his captive, who grinned impishly and made a kissing motion with her mouth—”why don’t we go check on the tablet?”
“The guard is gone.”
“What?” Sebastian’s eyes widened. “He was there a while ago when I left the reception hall.”
“Maybe he just stepped out for a smoke,” the pixie girl chimed in.
“Maybe, I’ll have Sir Kipling check—” Lily said as she turned to address her cat, but he was gone. Confused, she poked her head out of the side room into the main exhibit hall just in time to see his fluffy form tear around the corner leading to the Near East exhibit and race toward them.
“She’s there, and it’s bad,” he panted out as he slid to a stop in front of them.
“Who? Where—” Lily began.
“No time, just go. Go!” Sir Kipling meowed loudly and turned again, racing back the way he’d come.
“What in the world—” the pixie girl started to ask.
“Come on!” Lily cut her off as she grabbed Sebastian’s arm and towed him, and therefore the girl, with her.
They all raced past dimly lit cases and shadowed artwork, piling into the Near East exhibit room in a rush. The sight that greeted them was startling. In the dim light Lily could see a large circle filled with intricate patterns drawn around the tablet’s pedestal. It was hard to see in the dimness, but the marks looked dark, wet, and red. Slumped up against one of the giant stone columns was the missing security guard. Crouched on the floor with a brush, just finishing the last lines of the design was—
“You!” Lily, Sebastian, and the pixie girl said in unison.
“Well, look who’s here. Times must be tough if they’re letting a librarian, a fool, and Sabrina the teenage witch run security,” the woman said. It was the same woman Sebastian had accidentally bumped into the first time Lily had shown him the tablet. Then, she’d looked older, frumpy, with art pencils sticking out from behind her ears. Now she looked younger, her long, jet-black hair cascading over bare shoulders above her black sheath dress. She finished the line she was painting, then touched her fingers to it and murmured a few words. The whole design started to glow faintly red. Standing, she wiped her fingers on the guard’s shirt and tossed her hair over her shoulder. “You didn’t think they’d give the job to just any riffraff, did you? They needed a professional.”
“Well, that rules you out,” the pixie girl snorted.
“Don’t be sore, Tina. I’m sure there’s some candy store you can rob for them. That would be right up your alley, wouldn’t it?”
“I’m not the one who steals from children,” Tina retorted.
“You know her?” Sebastian asked, incredulous.
“Yeah, I know her. Her name is Veronica Paxton and she’s the skank the rich guys call when they want something stolen and then want some action afterwards.”
“You’re just jealous, dear Tina.”
“You wish. I’m also not insane. What the heck do you think you’re doing? If you hurt a hair on that guard’s head…” she said, eyeing the dark red symbols on the floor.
“Oh, relax. I used goat’s blood. This oaf of a security guard was unscrupulous enough to kiss a stranger and got a healthy dose of sleeping potion.”
As they spoke, Sebastian was examining the symbols around the pedestal. Suddenly, his eyes went wide. “That’s not—”
“That’s exactly what it is, pretty boy,” Tina said, glaring at Veronica. “This insane excuse for a witch couldn’t figure out how to get past the wards, so she’s made a summoning circle to bring in the big guns. Something that doesn’t care about measly wards. You’re an idiot, Veronica, and you’re going to get us all killed.”
“Not all. Just you. It’s all the same to me, but you might want to back up. He’s coming.” Even as she said it, the circle went from dull red to shining so brightly it was hard to look at. Red light filled the room and the stench of sulfur filled the air.
“Get back! Get back!” Sebastian yelled, pulling Lily with him as he retreated to the door. Lily stumbled after him and felt the club she still held tug at her arm, as if an invisible someone was trying to pull it from her hand. She let go and watched in amazement as Tina did not retreat, but rather rushed forward, the club hovering in the air behind her.
Before she could reach Veronica, however, a rent opened in the darkness, blinding them with its fiery glow. The brightness was momentarily blocked as a huge form stepped out, its scaled outline backlit by blood-red light. The rent vanished, leaving behind a terrifyingly real demon that stood at least eight feet tall, its body rippling with muscle and lethal spikes. Standing on two legs with a thick tail to balance its top-heavy shoulders and huge arms, it looked straight out of a nightmare. Sharp claws curled from each finger and horns ringed its crown above glowing red eyes and a wide mouth full of dripping fangs. Those hungry eyes were locked onto Tina, and, even as Sebastian pushed her behind him, Lily could tell he wanted to turn and rush to the girl’s defense.
Just then sharp, guttural words in a language Lily had never heard before came from the far side of the pedestal. The creature’s head turned toward the speaker slowly, as if against its will. Veronica stood, hands upraised, eyes locked with the beast’s, and gave it another command. The monstrosity looked at the small, fragile pedestal below it and with one giant hand reached downward. Right before it touched the glass, it met some sort of resistance. But the demon bore down and broke through the invisible barrier, breaking the glass with its claws and extracting the tablet with surprising dexterity for one so large. It lifted the tablet to hand to its master.
Halfway there, it lurched and stumbled, thrown off balance as the levitating club wielded by Tina’s poltergeist connected with a solid crunch to the back of its head. In that moment of distraction the club dropped and Lily saw the tablet levitate out of the demon’s loosened grip.
“What in heaven’s name is going on?” came the stern voice of Madam Barrington from behind Lily. Before Lily had a chance to turn and explain, she saw the tablet drop into Tina’s waiting grasp even as Veronica screamed another guttural command. The demon turned toward Tina, lashing out with blinding speed. Its swipe caught her and tossed her to the side, slamming her against a display case and shattering the glass. The girl slumped there, either unconscious or unable to move, yet curled protectively around the tablet still clutched in her arms. Seeing her torn clothes that even now had begun to turn red with blood, Sebastian rushed forward to help.
“I see we underestimated our opponent.” Madam Barrington said dryly as she rounded Lily, who was still frozen in shock. Then she spotted her nephew rushing toward the demon. “Sebastian, no!”
Her mentor’s startled shout snapped Lily out of her shock. She rushed after Sebastian, ignoring her teacher’s cry of protest. The demon was stooping over Tina’s inert form, looking as if it might eat her on its way to retrieving the tablet. Lily was close enough to Sebastian to hear him mutter, “Damn it, Thiriel, this had better work,” as he closed the distance between him and the beast. As if on command, a staff materialized in his outstretched hand, its ebony length twisted and branching as though it had been cut from a living
tree. At its crown was a glowing, green jewel. In the instant the staff appeared, a symbol like a tattoo shone on his right hand, glowing faintly with the same light.
Sebastian took the most effective, if unsophisticated, path of attack. Drawing back his staff, he swung it full force at the demon’s face. It connected with a solid crunch and a flash of green, and the demon stumbled back with a howl of fury, clawing at its injuries. Sebastian didn’t stop there. He hit it again, this time in the chest, and yelled a phrase in the same language Veronica had used. The demon stumbled back further.
Dipping down to drag his finger through the still-wet goat’s blood that shined with an unearthly light, Sebastian drew a symbol in the air in front of him. His fingers left a glowing red trail that, when complete, shone once and then disappeared. The beast howled again.
Taking her eyes from the battle, Lily reached Tina and started dragging her backwards, away from the fighting. The girl moaned in pain, but her wounds didn’t seem to be deep; the blood had only soaked her clothes, not pooled beneath her. She still clutched the tablet. As Lily backed up further, Madam Barrington joined her and together they got the injured girl to the door. Sir Kipling appeared out of nowhere and nosed the wounds, inspecting them.
“What in the world is your cat doing here, Miss Singer?” Madam Barrington looked more surprised to see Sir Kipling than she’d been upon the appearance of the demon.
“It’s a long story, but he knows what he’s doing.”
Madam Barrington looked like she wanted to question Lily further but, in light of the situation, wisely kept her peace.
“She’ll live,” her cat informed her. “It’s mostly surface wounds. But they need to be cleaned up.”
“Stay here and keep an eye on her,” Lily told him, and turned with Madam Barrington back to the fray.
Sebastian was still taking swings at the demon, but the creature had gotten over its initial shock and was dodging them handily and swiping back with outstretched claws. The sight of Sebastian dressed in a tuxedo and wielding a glowing green staff against a hulking, spiked demon was almost comical, if it hadn’t been so deadly. As Lily approached again, she could see he was losing ground, and he seemed to realize this as well. She saw the look on his face harden, and she had a split second to wonder what dangerous thing he was about to do.
Having the beast between him and the stone columns, with Veronica to the side screaming commands, Sebastian suddenly backed up. Muttering words too quiet for her to hear, he lowered the crown of his staff until the shining gem came into contact with the glowing lines of the summoning circle. With a flash of green, the circle sputtered and went dark. The sudden loss of light caught them all off guard, and in those precious few seconds it was the demon that reacted first. No longer under the control of the summoning circle, it turned to the nearest living creature—Veronica in this case—picked her up, and stuffed her head-first into its mouth.
Lily and Sebastian both screamed, though his was more of a terrified yell as he stumbled back in horror, dropping his staff in the process. It vanished before it hit the ground and with it went the symbol on his hand. The demon continued to devour the woman, its jaw unhinging and expanding like a snake’s to engulf her body. It was over in seconds, and then its head turned in their direction, its eyes now the only red glow in the room.
“Sebastian, Lily, get behind me this instant!” Madam Barrington’s command rang out in the silence and she stepped forward, putting herself between them and the approaching nightmare. Madam Barrington began to chant softly, arms lifted and tracing a fluid circle in front of her. The creature approached, crouched and wary like a hunting predator. It took a swipe at the older woman, but its hand met an invisible barrier and it jerked back as if stung. It moved to the side, trying to circle around behind her, but she moved with it, arms raised, still chanting. Impatient, the beast rose to its full height and roared, its cry echoing through the room and seeming to shake the very ceiling. Then it lunged forward, attacking the invisible barrier with all its strength. The barrier held, but its strength flickered for a split second. All it took was the tiniest gap for the demon’s clawed hand to sneak through and glance Madam Barrington, tumbling her fragile body to the floor.
“No!” Lily screamed and surged forward even as Sebastian tried to hold her back. But Sir Kipling was quicker than them both. He darted between their legs and crouched in front of Madam Barrington’s still form, hissing and spitting at the towering demon. Miraculously, the demon paused, as if confused by the tiny creature’s defiance. But then its hesitation made sense as Lily began to see what it saw. Sir Kipling had started to glow again, but this time the glow rose into the air and coalesced above him. It spread outward and upward, growing, pulsing, shining so brightly Lily had to shield her eyes. Even so, she recognized the rough form of gigantic, outstretched wings. Between them was someone, or something, but the light was too bright to make out its shape. The demon shrank back from the glow, cowering in fear even as hate burned in its eyes and it searched for a way around the light.
“Lily, the fragment!” Sir Kipling’s desperate meow came from the floor beneath the glow. “Use the fragment and command the beast to leave. Quickly!”
Lily hesitated a second, paralyzed by uncertainty. “But, the spells. They’re ancient—too powerful. I’m not strong enough!”
“You’re not alone. Just do it!” Sir Kipling yowled back at her.
Wrenching herself from Sebastian’s hold, she dashed back to Tina. Prying the tablet from the girl’s arms, she rushed toward the demon as she withdrew the fragment from her clutch. She didn’t even need to search for the correct fit, the fragment shot from her hand to its proper place as if drawn by a magnet, a line of glowing light fusing the piece to the whole and completing two lines of text.
Not giving herself time to consider what she was about to attempt, or whether she would survive it, Lily began to read. As each word left her mouth, she felt a pressure grow inside. She hadn’t needed to concentrate to tap the Source, it was just suddenly there, straining and bursting against her control like a flood. It was as if the words she spoke were so potent that the forces inside her wanted to explode into action. Another word, and another; the pressure grew, and she struggled to maintain control. Though the words were unfamiliar, somehow she understood their meaning. The spell was a command, a call of obedience to any being, living or dead, man or fae or beast. It was a command that could not be ignored or resisted.
She spoke the final words, almost screamed them in pain as she fought to control the power. This was worse, far worse than when she’d created her ward bracelet. She felt herself slipping, coming apart, about to lose control.
Just then, her ward bracelet flashed to life with the same white glow that emanated from Sir Kipling. Lily felt the crushing pressure ease, as if the bracelet were siphoning off energy. Now in firm control of the spell, she stepped away from Sir Kipling and his glowing wings so that they were no longer between her and the demon, and raised her arm in authority toward it.
Seeing its chance, the beast leapt forward, mouth open and glowing as red hot as its eyes. A stream of fire shot out of its maw toward her and she had no time to do anything, not dodge, not cast a spell. Yet when the stream reached her, the ward bracelet encircling her upraised arm flashed with a brilliance that left spots on her vision, and the fire vanished as quickly as it had appeared. Not giving the beast a second chance to strike, she spoke the words of command, putting every ounce of will behind them. The demon screamed in defiance, resisting the compulsion. But it was losing ground. A glowing red rift opened behind it, and it took a faltering step back even as it leaned forward, straining as if against a gale wind. Then, with a final howl, it was swept into the rift, which snapped shut behind it, cutting off its cry of fury.
The sudden darkness and silence that filled the room was broken by the echo of voices and approaching feet on the marble floor. Obviously the commotion had not gone unnoticed. But Lily didn’t have tim
e to worry about that. As soon as her adversary vanished, she released the spell, fighting to hold herself together as the power raging through her subsided. Head spinning and feeling faint, she dropped her arm in exhaustion, barely having the strength to stumble over to Madam Barrington’s inert form. Sebastian was there, too, and together they managed to roll her over. She was bleeding from a scratch on her temple, but otherwise looked unharmed. Her breathing was steady, if shallow.
“Go get an ambulance, now!” Lily told him. He hesitated. “The demon is gone, Sebastian. Go!”
He rose.
“—wait!” Lily stopped him. “No one will believe the truth, so don’t bother. This was, um…a bunch of teenagers with baseball bats. Vandals. And they had a big dog,” she added, remembering Tina’s torn side.
Sebastian nodded and hurried off. Lily turned to Sir Kipling who was now sitting, observing them, looking as enigmatic and unruffled as ever.
“Thank you for saving her,” she said, her voice husky with emotion.
“Just doing my job. But I’m not the one you should be thanking,” he said.
“Then who—”
You did well, little one.
The voice echoed like bells in her head, and she winced, seeing Sir Kipling mirror her grimace. He must hear the same thing.
“Who are you?” Lily asked in wonder.
One greater than us both has sent me. Continue as you have. If you seek, you will find.
Good grief, Lily thought. This thing was worse than Sir Kipling. She heard a chuckle of bells and blushed, wondering if it could hear her thoughts.
Your task is complete, for now. Yet more will come. Much more. I have put His light into your ward. It will protect you. Companion, the voice continued, and Lily realized it was talking to Sir Kipling you have proven yourself worthy. Do you wish to remain as you are, or return to yourself?
Love, Lies, and Hocus Pocus Revelations Page 8