“If only we could think of a way to take him out,” I whisper to Vicky as we leave our hiding place.
We hurry over to the corner, and Vicky peers around it, invisible to everyone but us.
“For now, we should be fine,” Maël says. “But if you want, I can try using the power of the black tree on him.”
I hold up my hand. “No, don’t do that unless you have no other choice. You don’t know how to control it yet, and we have no idea what you can do with it exactly.”
Gisella cracks her neck, as if she’s getting ready for a fight. “We should find out in the protective circle. Nothing can happen to us in there. And I’d like to find out what else I can do with the evil powers within me.”
“I agree,” Vicky says, pulling back her head. “I’m confident that Maël will be able to control the parts of the tree from the Shadow World within her. After all, Gisella received a lot more evil powers from her aunt than the sliver that was left behind inside Maël, and she can do some awesome things with them.”
“True.”
Vicky peers around the corner again. “Okay, we’re good to go.”
We break into another quiet run until we reach the next corner.
When Vicky sticks her head around it, she ducks instantly and presses her back against the wall of the house.
“What is it?” I whisper. “Did he see you?”
A shiver runs along her body. “I’m not sure. It felt like it.”
“But you were invisible, right?” Taylar says.
She shakes her head. “That doesn’t mean anything. The Pale Horseman could see us in our invisible forms too, remember?”
I take her hand. “We should hide.”
We run back, searching everywhere for a place where he won’t find us. When I don’t see a good spot, I keep running straight ahead, but Vicky stops me. “Wait.”
I duck behind a car and drag her with me. “What?”
She checks the road behind us before answering. “What if he isn’t coming this way? Kessley will vanish into thin air if you get too far away from her. He’ll know something is wrong.”
I press the sides of my nose. “You’re right. She’ll be pulled back to Darkwood Manor too soon. But isn’t Chloe’s house on that street?”
“It is, but she wasn’t inside yet when the Black Horseman turned toward me. We should wait here to see if he’s coming this way.”
“But if he is, he’ll find─” My breath catches in my throat. “He’s coming.”
I duck when the dark form of the Horseman steps around the corner.
“Great, now we’re trapped,” Taylar whispers.
CHAPTER 22
I slip under the car and move forward until I can see the Horseman. He scans the street and the houses. His skeleton fingers tap the wall of the corner house. He lifts his chin and sniffs.
“Yesss…” he says. The sound makes the hairs on my arms stand up. “You’re here, aren’t you?” He chuckles softly. “Dante Banner.” He takes three steps forward and shakes his head, tutting. “You should’ve stayed in The Nothing. You were safe there. Now you’re forcing me to think of a new plan, and I can promise you…” he cracks his knuckles, “it will involve pain. Lots of it.”
My heart pounds deafeningly in my ears, but the Horseman’s voice seems to come from within me somehow. It’s as if he’s speaking inside my head.
“This is your lassst warning, Dante. Stay out of this, or I will torture you for eternity.”
With every word his voice gets louder until it reverberates through me, making me shake all over. I reach out to grab the edge of the car for support, but suddenly, everything is moving: the ground, the sky and even the car. My teeth chatter, and my elbows scrape the tarmac. Behind me, I hear Gisella groaning. When I manage to slide back out from under the car, anger has taken over her face. She stretches her arms out sideways and beckons the shadows to her.
“What are you doing?” I call out above the noise of the earthquake. “Don’t!”
When she doesn’t respond, I reach out to her, but she moves back and rises to her feet.
Seconds before her head becomes visible above the roof of the car, Maël pulls her down.
“Let me go,” the werecat-witch grumbles.
I squat beside her and look her in the eye. “Listen to me. He knows we’re here somewhere, but not where exactly, and he obviously doesn’t have the power to haul us to him. Instead, he’s trying to scare us into surrendering and into using all of our powers against him. If we do, we will have no surprises left for when we really need them, and we will probably end up in a place worse than The Nothing.” I pause to let my words sink in. The trembling below us ceases, and with a last squeak, the car stops moving.
Gisella lowers her hands. “You’re right. I’m sorry.”
Maël lets go of her, and we sit still and listen for approaching footsteps.
“I wish I had a mirror,” I whisper after a long silence.
Vicky digs into her endless pocket and finds a hand mirror. She holds it out to me with a grin.
I blow her a kiss and slip back under the car. I’m not moving all the way to the front this time, in case the Horseman has come closer. I have a feeling I’ll discover how heavy a car really is if he spots me. Instead, I move the mirror until I have a clear view of the pavement. I scan every part I can see but find no bony guy in black clothes.
I turn and scan the other side, but I already know he can’t be there. We would’ve heard it if he had passed us.
I push myself back out from under the car and hand the mirror back to Vicky. “I think he’s gone.”
“Gone?” Taylar asks incredulously. “Why would he leave if he knew we were here?”
Gisella slowly stands up and peers over the roof of the car. “You’re right, he’s no longer there.”
“Maybe he got called away,” Vicky suggests, rising to her feet and wiping the dust from her black jeans.
I lean against the side of the car and smile. “No, I don’t think that’s it.”
Vicky looks down at me. “What then?”
“I think, like us, he doesn’t know exactly what we can do. He’s probably wondering how we escaped The Nothing.”
Taylar’s face lights up. “He’s scared of us.”
I stand up and stretch my legs. “Scared is not the right word. Cautious might be a better description. And maybe he thought we’d set up a trap from him.”
“Like he did for us.”
“Exactly.”
Vicky taps her soft lips. “You know, setting a trap for him isn’t such a bad idea. Maybe we can use the tree remnant inside Maël for it.”
I nod. “We’ll discuss that when we get home.” I glance at a woman with two bags filled with groceries crossing the street. “I think Kess has had enough time to execute our plan, right?”
The others agree. By now, Kessley will have entered Chloe’s home and disappeared into the bedroom with her hands full of food to ease the Black Horseman’s mind.
“Let’s get back to the car then,” I say.
Scanning the street behind us every three seconds, we make our way back to the Winged Centaur, where Ginda is waiting behind a screen of flowers covering the windows of my car.
“Are you okay?” I ask, lowering myself onto the driver’s seat.
She exhales slowly. “I’m fine now, but you took so long I thought something had gone wrong. And I heard…” she searches for words, “a sort of rumbling in the distance.”
While Vicky explains what happened, I start Phoenix and drive out of the parking lot. There’s a shadow at the end of the road, and I freeze, but when I blink, it’s gone.
“Did you see that?” I ask the others.
No one did, but in case someone is following us, I take a detour.
Ten minutes later, we arrive at Darkwood Manor. The mansion looks quiet, and the crows are back in the trees, waiting patiently for us to make a
mistake.
Ginda lets out a squeal of joy when Chloe appears in the window of the study. She opens her door, and I grab her arm quickly. “Hang on, we need you to create a safe passage to the front door.”
She shuts the door, and a crow slams against it, hard.
“Eh…” She turns to me with a desperate look on her face. “I don’t think they’ll fall for the same trick again.”
“Can you create a cage of branches around them?”
She frowns. “That would have to be a pretty big cage.”
“True.” I tap the steering wheel in thought. “What about a smaller cage around each of them?”
She turns her head to study the crow that’s now watching us from the steps to the front doors. “I can try.”
After a deep breath, she starts to move her hands again and to wiggle and twist her fingers. Two branches appear above the crow’s head. Immediately, it spreads its wings and knocks them out of the way, only to land in the same spot seconds later.
Ginda tries again, this time from the side. She forms a flower next to the stairs and makes it grow higher and higher. Large petals sprout from the top. The crow watches it all with interest. Meanwhile, vines creep up from its other side.
“That’s it,” I say softly. “Try hitting it on the head.”
Ginda twirls the fingers of her left hand higher while she creates a new flower with her right hand. The crow carefully pecks at it, oblivious to the vine slithering closer from its other side. With a quick turn of her wrist, Ginda directs the vine over the crow’s head and rapidly moves both hands down and up again. Branches sprout from the vine and close in around the bird. It shrieks so loud you would think someone is poking it with a hot stick. The other crows fly to its rescue, yanking at the brown and green cage that has locked their friend in.
Ginda’s face slowly goes red as she tries to keep the cage intact with frantic movements.
This will never work. We’ll need to think of another… My thoughts come to a sudden halt. “Ginda, can you move the cage to the trees at the side of the house?”
She grumbles something unintelligible, and her frown deepens. Slowly but surely, the cage starts to move. It hops sideways, making its prisoner shriek. As expected, the crows follow it, continuing their efforts to free their friend.
“Try rolling it, that might be easier,” Taylar suggests.
Ginda takes a couple of quick breaths and shakes her hands loose. Immediately, the birds start to break through the vine bars.
Ginda raises her hands, wiggles her fingers and moves her arms forward with force. A large vine rises from the driveway and slams against three of the crows. They are catapulted toward the pine trees at the side of the mansion. The vine curls back to hit the other crows, and they fly for cover.
With calmer gestures, Ginda closes the cage up again and rolls it to the side of Darkwood Manor.
As soon as the birds realize the large vine isn’t moving anymore, they drop back down to help their captured mate.
“Okay, on three, we run for the front door,” I say.
“One…” I take the keys from the ignition.
“Two…” My hand wraps around the door handle.
“Three!” With force, I push the door open and throw myself from the car. In one movement, I close the door and make my way around the hood. Ginda is running to the front door with her eyes on the birds and her hands still moving like crazy. Gisella is right behind her.
Even though the ghosts can apparate into the house, they stay with us.
But there’s no need for their protection. Ginda has got this. In the time it takes the crows to realize we’ve tricked them again, we’re already halfway to the front door. When they rise from the lawn as one, Ginda ceases her efforts to keep the cage intact and focuses on the large vine again. It dances around like a drunk snake, lunging itself at the birds whenever they try to pass.
The front door swings open.
“Quickly!” I call out.
One of the crows manages to get past the vine. It soars toward us.
In my haste to get to safety, I trip over the last step and fall face forward into the hallway. Two people grab my arms and haul me inside while two others repair the salt line I disturbed.
The crow comes after me at full speed. I raise my arm and conjure a lightning bolt, but there’s no need. The bird slams into an invisible wall and tumbles to the ground, stopped by the protection spell. The rest of the flock joins it, pecking uselessly at the air between us.
With my foot, I slam the door shut. Vicky helps me up, and I look around to check on everyone.
They all seem fine. Ginda is hugging Chloe, Charlie puts his arm around Gisella and Mona reaches up to kiss D’Maeo.
“Nice job, everyone,” I compliment them. “And now we know they can’t get past the salt lines.”
Ginda wipes the sweat from her forehead. “I wasn’t sure if I could keep it up long enough.”
Chloe pushes her frozen locks from her face and beams at her friend. “You were amazing.” She shakes her head. “I still can’t believe you went to them for help.”
Ginda shrugs. “What else could I do?”
“You could’ve left me to fight this on my own.”
The chlorokinetic witch is momentarily at a loss for words. “Are you crazy?” she says when the words finally come to her. “Of course I couldn’t! You’re my friend.”
Chloe sucks in her breath, making her look even skinnier than she already did. Her shoulder bones stick out, and I can see every bone in her face. “I’m sorry,” she says. “I should’ve trusted you.” Her lips form a solemn smile. “I’m just not used to having a real friend.”
Mona throws some sparkles onto her, and she looks a little less blue. “Get used to it, girl, because you’ve found yourself a whole bunch of friends now.”
Chloe stares at the floor and shuffles her bare feet. “Why would you want to be friends with me?”
D’Maeo steps up to her, puts a finger under her chin and lifts her head. “Why wouldn’t we?”
She blushes. “Because I’m an evil creature.”
The old ghost tilts his head and raises his eyebrows. “Are you really?”
“Yes, I am.” It comes out more confident than anything I’ve heard her say so far. “I’ve killed people.”
“Good people?” I ask.
She nods. Sorrow pulls at her jaw.
Ginda strokes her back. “That wasn’t your fault, and you know it. You were five, Chloe, and they threatened you.”
The Mahaha shakes her head. “That doesn’t matter.”
“Sure it does,” Ginda insists. “If you hadn’t defended yourself, they would’ve killed you.”
There’s a short silence. D’Maeo’s hand moves to Chloe’s cheek. “The fact that you mourn for the people you hurt shows the kindness in your heart.”
“Few people are good or evil by nature,” Maël adds. “Some powers may seem malevolent, but it is all about what you use them for.”
Chloe balls her fists. “I want to use them to help people.”
“Tell you what,” I say. “If you let us help you now, we will gladly call upon your help when we need it. How does that sound?”
Finally, she manages to smile. “That sounds like a good deal.” She holds out her hand, and I shake it. “Thank you.”
Charlie claps his hands together. “Great. Now that that’s settled, can we please sit down and eat? I’m famished.”
CHAPTER 23
Chloe helps Mona prepare an extensive lunch. The smell of bacon and eggs soon fills the kitchen and makes my stomach rumble.
I open the Pentaweb on my phone and type in ‘seven souls trapped in tattoos’.
Vicky leans over to read along. “What are you doing?”
“Trying to find information on those crows.”
“Maybe Jeep can tell us something about them,” she comments. “After all, he’s the one t
hat fought and trapped them.”
Jeep is stroking the top of his hat, placed in front of him on the table. “Unfortunately, I don’t know anything about them. I don’t even know why they tried to kill my wife.”
I scratch my head. “You never tried to find out?”
“Of course,” he grumbles. “But I failed. And after a while, I thought, what does it matter anyway? They couldn’t hurt my wife anymore.”
“True.” I focus on my screen again. There’s no match, so I try something else: ‘ghosts that change into crows’.
“Here’s something. Bestia morphers can turn themselves into animals. A morpher can only turn into a certain kind of animal, while a shapeshifter can turn into any living being. Bestia morphers that turn into crows are usually malevolent. In contrast to real birds, morphers don’t usually live in flocks. Therefore, a flock of magical crows is created in another way, for instance by a curse. Thus far, there have only been accounts of ancient mages able to turn people into birds, especially for longer periods of time. Young mages, no matter how powerful, will not be able to cast such a curse without inflicting harm to themselves. Older mages, however, can gain power over time and learn how to protect themselves against the backlash.”
I look up from the screen. “That sounds like something Shelton Banks would be able to do. He’s an old mage, right?”
Gisella holds up her hand. “Wait a minute. Now you’re saying it wasn’t me that turned them into crows?”
I shrug. “I think you helped a little, but Shelton Banks must have done something to them while they were still inside Jeep’s tattoos. Otherwise, we’d be able to get rid of them with a spell.”
Vicky sits up straight. “If that’s the case, maybe we’ll find something about it in one of the books we took.”
Mona looks over her shoulder. “Do you want to take another look?”
“Yes, please.”
The fairy godmother reaches into the air and pulls out one book after the other. I quickly get up and take them from her. Once they’re on the table, Ginda gives them a curious look. “You stole these from Shelton Banks? That rich businessman?”
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