I stood there shaking. I continued to hold the pen.
The wisdom parchment had fallen beside me. A few splatters of the priest’s blood had splashed across it. They started to turn black, and little lines of dark light spread into the paper. Freaking out, I jerked down to my knees and cleaned it off with my sleeve.
“Are you okay?” I spluttered. Realizing it couldn’t hear me, I crunched forward and wrote the same message with the pen.
“This parchment has received worse damage over the years.”
I rolled back onto my haunches. “That’s a relief.”
I quickly realized I couldn’t stay here. While I’d dispatched that priest, Mr. Fenticle was still running through the mansion with Hilliker’s box.
I jerked up, intent on finding him, then I realized it was just easier to ask. As I ran, I wrapped the parchment paper over my arm and wrote on it. “Where has Mr. Fenticle taken Hilliker? And how much time do I have?”
“He has taken Hilliker to the foyer. As for time, you have two minutes.”
That statement right there could have sawn my legs off.
Two... two minutes? That wasn’t long enough to get Lilly back. That wasn’t long enough to do anything. I could reach Mr. Fenticle... then what? Stand by his side as the end of the world crashed around us?
I jolted as I ran. I couldn’t control my heart. There was no point. It was using up its last few beats. It was honoring my life. But it too recognized what was inevitable.
It was all over.
I reached the foyer. Mr. Fenticle had set the box down. He was several meters back from it. The candle was on top of it. It only barely flickered now, the flame almost completely extinguished.
I came to a stop beside him. He stared up at me. “It’s over.”
I closed my eyes. Just as defeat welled within me, I started to scribble on the parchment paper. “Is there anything I can do? Is there anything I can do to delay Hilliker?”
“We notice you possess angel charms. Use one of them.”
My eyes opened all the way. I jolted down to my knees. I dropped the parchment and pen.
Mr. Fenticle reached a hand over to me, assuming that I’d just surrendered to the inevitable. I didn’t clutch his shaking paw. Instead I flicked a hand in front of me. I revealed the angel charms.
Mr. Fenticle’s face could’ve fallen off from shock. “What—”
“No time to explain,” I spluttered. I didn’t exactly know how to activate an angel charm, but based on what that priest had told me, it seemed touching them was sufficient. Extending my hand all the way out and opening my fingers wide, I grabbed the one directly in front of me. All it took was a single touch, then it settled down into my palm. Energy exploded over my hand. It sank into my resurrection mark, of all things. As it lit up, light spilled through the room.
“What is happening?” Mr. Fenticle’s voice shook. He was still down on his hands and knees. He shoved his claws into the floor in order to hold on.
“Angel charm, I need more time. I don’t know how—” I began.
The angel charm clearly did not need any explanation. It darted over to the burning candle. It joined the wax. As it disappeared, this holy ethereal glow picked up through the room.
I watched as the candle grew, the flame suddenly becoming stable.
Mr. Fenticle grabbed my arm. He was shaking all over. “What just happened?”
I grabbed his claws. The smallest smile marched across my lips. “I just bought us a chance. Or Heaven did.”
“I may be no expert,” Mr. Fenticle said, even though he’d already proved himself to be quite the expert nonetheless, “but I believe you have just bought us an hour. We must use it. Where is Lilly being kept?”
“It doesn’t really matter. I’ve got all the things I need in order to draw her to our side.”
Mr. Fenticle nodded. Then he shook his head. “You should not bring her to where Hilliker is. You must separate the two.”
God, he had a good point. One I should’ve thought of previously.
I pushed up to my feet. Then I snapped back right down and started writing on the parchment. “Where should I take my sister?”
“The safest place you know,” the parchment wrote back.
I mulled over that statement. Forcing my bottom lip between my teeth, I chewed it so hard, I could’ve ripped it off. “Safest place I know? Right now, that’s nowhere. Or maybe it’s here.” I inclined my head up and stared at this place.
Mr. Fenticle shook his head. “It’s better for Hilliker to stay right here. If you take him through a transport node, it may provide an opportunity for his priests to steal him back. You have to pick somewhere else.”
“I don’t know, my house, then? That’s a stupid idea. If I take her back there, Hilliker is going to know where to find her.”
“Ask the parchment,” Mr. Fenticle said as he nodded down at it.
“Should I take her back home?” I wrote quickly, sweat slicking across my hand and onto the page.
“If that is the safest place you know—”
My eyes suddenly widened. “That’s it,” I spat quickly.
“What?” Clutching his claws in front of himself, Mr. Fenticle took a nervous step in front of me.
“My ballroom,” I said, my voice cracking at the last moment as I remembered dancing with Sonos in it. I did not know why Sonos’s dream had occurred in my ballroom, but I could not deny that when I’d visited it last in my mansion, it had given me solace when nothing else could.
“But won’t it be dangerous?” I second-guessed myself almost immediately. “Like I said, Hilliker is easily going to figure out that I’ve taken Lilly there. His priests know exactly where I live, too.”
I turned my head down to see that the parchment was glowing as more writing appeared across it. “If it is the safest place you can think of, then she will have the best chance there. You may not be able to protect your entire mansion, but you will not have to.”
Nodding, realizing I didn’t have time for a better plan, I plucked up the pen and paper and pressed them against my chest.
The angel charms were still visible. They were softly spinning around me. I almost wanted to touch one, just to see how it felt again, but I knew that would waste it.
I nodded at Mr. Fenticle. “Sorry to have to make you do this, but I need you to stay here. I have to find Lilly.”
Mr. Fenticle snapped a salute. “It is my honor. It is a little terrifying, though,” he began. He was probably about to launch into some poetic speech.
I smiled. I patted him on the shoulder. “I’m glad I met you. Now.” I straightened up.
I was still in my dress. It was insane to think that I had done all that fighting in a ball gown. As I patted a hand down it, it felt appropriate.
I walked toward the library.
Mr. Fenticle sat right in front of Hilliker’s box.
We might have an hour – but death was still very much at our door.
I would do anything – sacrifice anything – dig deep into any power – to stop Hilliker in his tracks.
I would no longer hold back.
Chapter 7
I reached the library with no time to spare. I threw myself at the transport node. I didn’t bother to sit in the rocking chair. I just fell down onto my hands and knees and pounded the floor until enough magic sprang from me that the transport node began to activate. As the magic swirled around me, I closed my eyes and thought of home.
The spell activated. I was pulled backward. This time fortunately a priest didn’t join me.
I landed outside of my front door.
Though it could’ve been easier to head straight to my own library, I didn’t want to go inside until I knew this place was safe.
The first thing I saw were the damned creatures I’d saved previously. Some of them were on the steps. Some of them were on the broken flagstones. Others were up trees. One was inexplicably riding a wolf like a horse.
As soon as
they all saw me, they saluted.
“Has anyone been here?” I questioned the only one who had a functioning mouth.
“Yes,” the little guy said. He was a combination of a very tiny dragon and a small monkey. He was a confusing mix, but at least he spoke relatively articulate English.
My gut kicked. “More of Hilliker’s priests—”
“No. It was a drunk pigeon and some kind of bounty hunter.”
My eyes widened. I jerked toward the front door. “Barney? Barney, is that you? Have you found your way here?”
There was a chuckle from behind me. It was dark. That wasn’t to say it was violent. It was just to say that there was nothing to laugh about.
I whirled on my foot to see Barney walking through the dense trees. The drunk pigeon was on his shoulder hiccuping. Barney had a sophisticated magical gun clutched in his hands. His tattoos were glowing, energy marching down them and spilling into the trigger of the gun. He did not point it at me.
I took a shaking gasp. “You survived the attack on Sato’s?”
“Barely.” He turned his face to the side, and I saw that the side of his head was completely covered in blood. There were also a few black crackles of magic that suggested he had an active open wound.
“God, you need help—”
“The only person who needs help is you. Have you forgotten the world is ending?”
“I bought us an hour. I need to find my sister. I have to bring her here and keep her safe.”
Barney clutched his gun and saluted. Even the pigeon tried to salute, but he promptly fell off Barney’s shoulder.
A nearby wolf growled and went to pounce, but the pigeon belched right in his face, flew up, and landed on Barney’s shoulder again.
“Just tell me what I’ve got to do, Eve, and I’ll do it.” Barney stared at me steadily.
“Why did you come here?” I asked as I turned and went to open the vault door.
“Believe it or not, I thought this place would be the safest magical abode in the world right now. I,” he laughed, “need your help.”
I turned to him as the vault doors began to open. “Well, you’ve got it. I saw Sato,” I added in a low voice. “He’s still alive.”
“Of course he is.” Barney let out another guttural laugh. “There ain’t nothing on the face of this green earth that can kill that man. Now, let’s go inside.”
I walked in through the open doors.
It was a breath of fresh air to walk into my home. All I wanted to do was run up to my bed and flop into it. I very much did not have that option.
The drunk pigeon belched, flew off Barney’s shoulder, and smashed face-first into the wall.
“What are you doing, Dave?” Barney scratched at his brow and shook his head.
“I thought I saw a moth,” Dave spluttered through another hiccup.
“You don’t eat moths. You exist purely on a diet of liquid death. Now come back here.” Barney pointed at his shoulder.
Dave, acting even drunker than previously, flew around, slammed into Barney’s face, and flopped down onto his shoulder. He got comfortable and instantly fell asleep in the crook of Barney’s neck.
Barney nodded at me. “Nice dress. An odd outfit, considering circumstances, though.”
I looked at it sheepishly. “It’s kind of a gift.”
“From whom?”
“Never mind. Look, this is what we’ve got to do. I have to find my sister – Lilly. I need to pull her back from Hilliker’s priests. They're using her to feed the Banished. I’ve got angel charms—”
He whistled. “How did you get those?”
“Long story.” I wiped my hands on my dress. I clutched up handfuls of the fabric, and I stood straight. “We’re going to bring Lilly to my side. I’m gonna keep her in the ballroom. And you’re gonna keep watch over her. Then I’m... I’m gonna go back down to Hell, and once and for all, I’m gonna face Hilliker.”
“What about Sonos?” Barney asked, his voice careful.
He could have been as careful as was possible, but his comment still got to me. My cheeks became pale, and I almost lost my balance. As a terrified look engulfed my eyes, I wiped a tear away from my cheek. “He doesn’t want to be saved.”
“We’re gonna need him—”
“I’m not even sure if he’s alive anymore,” I said quietly.
“If Sonos, the most powerful General of the Damned, had died, we would know about it. He’s alive. You should look for him. He would look for you.”
Tears trailed down my cheeks. I didn’t have time for this. I was ready to take on the entire world, dammit – but at the thought of leaving Sonos behind, I was as easily derailed as a train that had been hit by a meteorite.
I grabbed my bare arms, turned my nails in, and dragged them up the skin. “He won’t let me find him. He... wants me to focus on the Banished.”
Barney didn’t say anything.
I took a breath. I closed my eyes. Then I reached behind me and called on my pen and parchment. I pulled them out and settled them in front of me.
“What are those?”
“Again, it’s another long story. But they can help me remember Lilly.” I turned around. “Come on.”
“Where do you want to do this?”
“The ballroom,” I said with a deep sigh.
I made my way quickly to it, my heels clicking against the broken floorboards.
Occasionally Dave belched, but that was the only noise other than mine and Barney’s determined breath.
We reached the ballroom. Instantly grief struck me. It was like I was back in the snow globe. It was so strong, I almost thought I saw a flicker of Sonos’s reached out hand.
It was all in my mind, though.
“If you really want to do a compulsion charm, we’re going to need to prepare the room.” Barney stalked past me. He threw his gun over his shoulder into a subspace pocket. Then he drew out a massive chunk of chalk. He started to draw a huge circle around the room. He was quick and efficient – that’s what happened when you were a mercenary of his caliber.
As he worked, more tears owned me. I grabbed my arms. I turned my fingers in. I tried to forget what it felt like to dance with Sonos.
“Come on. Don’t just stand there,” Barney snapped.
I pushed forward. I stood in the middle of the ballroom.
I... remembered in perfect detail what it had felt like the first time I used the snow globe. Back in the mob room, when I’d been certain I would die, the snow globe had saved me for the first time.
Yeah, it had freaked me out, but even then I had recognized its singular power.
I almost opened my hands and began to dance. It would’ve been stupid – and embarrassing in front of Barney. It didn’t matter, the moment was taking me. And as it rose, so too did my grief.
I got down on my knees and pressed a hand over my face.
I was surprised when Barney didn’t tell me to pull it together and rather walked over and patted my shoulder fondly. “Let’s save the world. Come on. The room’s ready. Use that parchment. Access your angel charms. Draw your sister here.”
I listened to his every word. I let them pull me forward.
I rose to my feet. My hands were empty and loose beside me. I closed my eyes. When I opened them again, a new wave of determination struck me.
I plucked up the pen and parchment. “Show me Lilly. Bring up every memory, every image – everything I need to draw her to my side.”
The parchment began to draw her likeness. I saw her smile from every angle. At the same time, it filled the margins of the page with written memories.
I was careful not to read them. If I was pulled too far into them, I would lose my damn sanity.
Instead, I swiped my hand to the side and made my angel charms visible.
I went to select them all, but Barney grabbed my wrist. He looked awestruck in their presence. He shook his head. “Use only as many as you need. Activate one at a time. When you realize
that’s not enough, activate another.”
He had a point.
I took a step back from him. I opened my hand. I grabbed the first angel charm. As it floated down into my palm, it reacted with my resurrection mark again, sending this glorious light spilling through the room.
That light filtered down into the parchment paper. Sparks started to scatter out. They filled the room, but they did not breach the circle Barney had drawn.
Dave was awake. I would challenge any creature, no matter how drunk, to stay asleep during this magical display. He stood on Barney’s shoulder, his eyes open, the pigeon equivalent of awe spreading his beak wide.
“Select another charm,” Barney growled.
I did as I was told. As it settled down into my palm, yet more glorious light spread out.
It wasn’t enough.
“Another one,” Barney said gravely. It was damn clear that he wanted me to keep as many as I could for the actual fight with Hilliker. And fair enough. These things were amazing. They could give me an edge.
But when I needed to activate another and another, I realized I wasn’t going to be that lucky.
“Activate one more,” Barney said through clenched teeth.
This was it. I only had one left after this.
I closed my eyes. What if they wouldn’t even be enough? What if I’d required eight angel charms in total? I’d already used one in Hell. I—
Before I could spiral down into despair, this unusual energy began to shift through the room. The parchment was lifted into the air. Sparks spilled around it. It glowed with an illumination I’d never seen before. It seemed to be every color on the spectrum and then some.
“It’s working,” Barney said quickly, his lips barely able to move around his fast words.
I took a shuddering step back. It sure was working. The parchment began to spin. Memories started to break away from it. Images became suspended in the air. I heard Lilly’s laugh. I heard her singing. I heard her reciting poetry.
More and more images spilled out of the page.
... I... once upon a time, I’d remembered all of this, hadn’t I? These recollections must’ve been in my journals for them to be in the parchment paper now.
Better off Dead Book Four Page 8