“And who do you think is in here?” Renny spoke in a smooth, sultry voice, eyeing her hatefully. “Why don’t you come over and see who’s inside. What are you afraid of, Cami?”
“Don’t converse with it,” the abbot said, stepping between the kids and Renny.
“Step aside, superstitious shaman.” With a flick of Renny’s hand, the abbot flew into the side of a tree and was out cold.
Cami took the shopping bag from Simon and slipped the Joan of Arc helmet over her head.
“Since you’re wondering, why don’t I show you who’s in here.” Before the kids’ frightened stares, Renny Bertolf’s head turned to putty. It then molded into a succession of faces, beautiful and horrible: fat old men, fine-boned women, a stoic man with different-colored eyes, a wrinkled woman with a hook nose, and finally—after a string of children—the tanned features of Cassian with his ponytailed black mane emerged. Renny’s small body stretched and grew before their eyes to six feet. “How’s that for power?” He snapped his leather coat and started humming his familiar tune.
Will spotted Lilith, shivering near the tree where the abbot lay. He raced to her side.
“Stay away from me, kid,” Lilith barked at him, sashaying toward Cassian.
“But I think I’m supposed to protect you,” Will whined.
Inside the helmet, Cami heard the clear, strong voice of the maiden. “Now Will knows who the demon is. But it is you the beast desires. Take your friends and flee from it.”
“Guys,” Cami whispered to Simon and Andrew. “We’ve got to run. Come with me, now.”
Lilith stood before Cassian. “I brought him here. I did as you asked. I get to stay like this forever? That was the deal. I’m free, right?”
Will tried to process everything he was hearing while Cami urged him, “Run! Come with us now!”
But I’m supposed to protect the maiden. Unless she’s not the…
While the thought was still forming in his head, Cassian laid a hand on the side of Lilith’s face. When he lifted it, her cheek was wrinkled and saggy. “Poor Lilith. You failed. You couldn’t figure out the source of Wilder’s power or where the relic was. I had to do it all myself.”
Will reached out to touch Lilith’s arm but recoiled as her face and entire body withered with age. And then for a brief moment, she looked back at him, quaked, and turned to a statue of ash. Before he could speak a word, she collapsed to the floor: a cheerleader’s uniform in a pile of soot.
Cami, Simon, and Andrew ran down the path, still pleading for Will to follow.
“For you are dust and to dust you shall return.” Cassian threw his long ponytail over his shoulder and regarded the pile of ash before him with a smirk. “She was Baldwin’s cousin. A helpful pawn for a time. But the old girl was not bright. Hardly worth your energy. Did you think you could save her, Will?” Cassian laughed quietly. He lowered his sunglasses, waiting for a response.
Will knew better than to speak with a demon. He backed away slowly. Wrong maiden! Will thought. Over Cassian’s shoulder, he could see his friends vanish down the grave-lined pathway. It’s Cami. I have to protect Cami!
“We can be friends, Will Wilder. We were already such close friends. Give me the amulet and I’ll let you and the others go.” Cassian held open his hand.
Will didn’t move. He needed the talisman to strike down this demon—this “clawed hellion.” Why did the prophecy call Asmodeus the “clawed hellion”?
“No amulet for me? Then I’ll have to gain strength some other way.” Cassian smiled and spun around. A sharp, black serpent’s tail sliced the leather coat in two from the inside, then slithered out onto the dirt. From the top of its tarlike, misshapen back, the thing sprouted three heads: one of a bull; one of a man with changing features; and one of a ram, complete with turned-up horns. Two slick, ebony arms with pincers blossomed from the demon’s torso.
No sooner had it appeared than it awkwardly galloped down the path in the direction of his friends. Will chased it with all the energy he could summon. With each stride, he could see the rest of the ungainly demon more clearly. One leg was that of a huge panther and the other a spindly, rooster-like limb with a sharp claw protruding from the calf.
Will felt a pang in his gut.
I guess that’s why they called it a “clawed hellion.”
“Mother? Where…where…have you been? I thought you had died…,” Dan stammered to the woman in the shawl. For a moment he wondered if he was seeing a vision of some kind.
“I was scared, Danny. When I saw what the Sinestri did to your father—my pitiful, deluded Joseph—I was terrified. After I escaped, I hid inside a dead tree for days with Raphe. He protected me from those awful creatures. We survived as best we could, living in an abandoned shack near the old Wilder mine. I knew you were safe with Lucille. And for all these years, I’ve hidden in Wormwood—vowing to get back at the Sinestri. I tracked the one who bewitched your dad. I know who she is now, and I have seen her wicked ways.” Marian Wilder embraced Dan, burying her face in his chest. “I’m so sorry, son. I was scared for me—for you.”
Dan said nothing. Marian jabbered away.
“Lucille took such good care of you. From across the river, I watched her train you. I so wish I could have been here. Every time I attempted to come back, every time I got in the boat, something stopped me. The Sinestri infest that place. I thought they’d follow me over—or she would. I’ve spent my life studying the Darkness—running from it. I know things, Danny. I’ve seen things.”
“Why are you here?”
“Because they are after your Will. When I saw what she was doing, I had to warn him. And you! Once I made that decision, I didn’t look back. Raphe and I outran the creatures in the caverns and made it to the old dock. Once we were on the water, the fear just evaporated even though they pursued us into the river. Still, we made it. I thought the old hag restricted herself to Wormwood.” She violently shook her head. “She doesn’t. She’s here in Perilous Falls.”
“What do you mean?”
“The Witch of Wormwood. She’s here. I’ve seen her.” Marian fell quiet and craned her head around, peering into the darkness. “I’ll tell you more later. Go to Will now. He needs you.”
“Aunt Lucille and the Brethren are with him.”
“Danny, my poor scared boy.” She took him by the hands and kissed them. “I have spent my life like you, watching from the shadows—terrified—petrified by what I saw that day. It’s no way to live. We have to act—to bring light. I see that now. It’s not enough to observe evil. We have to risk everything—even our lives—to fight the Darkness. I’ll tell you what I know soon, but right now we have to fight.”
“I…I…I don’t want to lose any more of my family.”
“You will if you don’t go into that cemetery now.” She tenderly wiped a tear from the corner of his eye with the knobby joint of her forefinger. “I know how scary it is. I have only my wits and Raphe. You have gifts, Danny. Use them.”
He touched the scar on his left cheek and sharply inhaled through his nostrils.
Up Dura Street, moving at forty miles an hour, a three-wheeled vehicle, with what looked like a great black tuba attached to the front, rumbled onto the cemetery property. Brother Philip sat behind the wheel; Bartimaeus and Tobias were in the back. They pulled up next to Dan Wilder.
“Where’s Lucille?” Bartimaeus called out.
“She’s…she’s with the kids. In the cemetery. She went in with the kids.”
“What’cha doin’ out here?”
“I was waiting for you.” Dan climbed aboard to the astonishment of Tobias and Bartimaeus. He turned to say goodbye to his mother, but she was already gone, as was Raphe.
“I guess miracles do happen every day,” Bartimaeus said, ogling Dan Wilder. He clapped Philip on the back. “Let’s go, Philip. We go
t a demon to bring down.” Tobias nudged Dan and held his gaze with a look of respect and gratitude. Dan smiled back weakly. The off-road vehicle sped through the front gates and down the main aisle of the cemetery.
Cami, Andrew, and Simon stopped running and checked behind them. They could hear the pounding of feet, like a team of horses approaching. But the path was empty.
Aunt Lucille stuck her head out from behind a nearby tombstone. Marin and Leo were on either side of her. “I’m glad you all made it. Where is Will?”
“He’s back there. He was talking to Cassian,” Cami said.
“Cassian Modo? Oh dear.”
Suddenly Simon looked up the trail. “Wait. There he is. There’s Will. Why is he running so fast?”
“You kids should come back here,” Aunt Lucille instructed.
Will motioned for them to move forward. “Go! Keep running,” Will yelled as he approached. Just in front of him he could see what they couldn’t: Asmodeus closing in on the lot of them. Just as disturbing, hundreds of imps were crawling over the tops of headstones and around the edges of the tombs, spilling onto the pathway. They seemed to be gathering around Asmodeus.
The demon awkwardly jumped off the ground and extended its serrated pincers toward Cami. Will had only one choice. He too leapt high and grabbed the back of the demon’s tail, yanking it hard. The beast whimpered, its pincers making holes in the gravel. “I’ll have the maiden,” Will heard it rasp.
Cami, Andrew, and Simon stood shell-shocked, staring at the lengthening grooves in the ground before them. “Will, what are you doing?” Simon yelled incredulously.
“I’ve got Asm—this demon—by the tail.” Will flew back and forth, up and down in midair—struggling to restrain the demon invisible to his friends and family. He refused to let go. “Run! He’s right here. And there are imps everywhere!”
The kids didn’t realize that Asmodeus’s pincers had come within inches of their heads.
Aunt Lucille stepped in front of Cami, Andrew, and Simon, pulling up her sleeves. She trained her red and white rays on the area just in front of Will. The way the rays spread on impact showed that she had clearly hit something.
“All right, Leo,” Lucille screamed over her shoulder. “Show them what you’ve got.” Leo moved next to her, placed his hands together at chest level, as if in prayer, and closed his eyes.
Will pulled hard on the demon’s tail. Under Aunt Lucille’s blast, it seemed more pliable, if not exactly weakened. Asmodeus spun around and faced Will, who held fast to its tail. The horror of the three heads: the angry bull, the enraged ram, and the constantly morphing human face in the middle, caused Will to tremble for a moment.
“I will devour you and all you love, Wilder,” all three heads said in unison. “Don’t worry, I’ll save you for last.” The demon turned back toward Aunt Lucille and started to run at her until Will lugged the tail over his shoulder like a rope, dragging the demon back. The thing clawed at the ground, but it could not find traction.
Simon shook Cami and Andrew in a panic. “Shouldn’t we go now? Didn’t you say we should run?”
Cami didn’t move. “No, the voice says now is the time for us to stay and fight.”
“With what?” Simon asked. “Your helmet?”
At that moment, Brother Philip’s mobile incensor came bouncing over a bluff to Will’s right.
“Turn it on, Bart,” Brother Philip ordered through the side of his mouth. Given Will’s position and the focus of Lucille’s blast, Philip figured the demon had to be nearby, so he steered the vehicle between Will and Lucille.
Plumes of smoke billowed out of the funnel on the front of the three-wheeler. The beast let out a ferocious roar and recoiled from the incense. It doubled over and had to lean on a tall monument to steady itself. Will straddled the tail to try to weigh the beast down and keep it away from the others.
“Stop them, my little ones,” the demon bellowed to the imps on all sides.
Hordes of the slick black creatures ran at the vehicle, Aunt Lucille, and the kids. Will tried to warn them, but his cries came too late. The imps hit Philip so hard, the mobile incensor swerved into a tree. Bartimaeus was saved by his seat belt, but Tobias and Dan went flying into the air.
As if struck by an invisible wave, Lucille fell to the ground. Will watched her helplessly drown in a crush of tiny black devils. “Leo,” she cried, sinking beneath their weight. “Now. NOW!”
Leo, who had been standing perfectly still, parted his hands. A piercing white light issued from his body. As his flesh became incandescent, Will’s friends and Marin gathered close to the boy. The tiny black creatures nearest Leo smoldered and disintegrated. His light rippled outward like a slow-motion nuclear blast. As it touched the imps, they became visible for a brief moment and then evaporated.
White smoke continued to spew from the dented and bent funnel on the front of the three-wheeled vehicle. Asmodeus thrashed about on all fours, clearly disoriented by the fumes covering the path. Then suddenly the creature unsteadily rose to its full height and yelled, “I want the power you possess, Wilder, and I will have it.”
Asmodeus raised its tail, with Will aboard, and smashed it into the mobile incensor. Will sailed into a gravestone, snapping it in two. The three-wheeler flipped several times across the path. Leo, Marin, and Will’s friends saw it coming and dove to the ground. Aunt Lucille, who was just regaining her feet, had her back to the oncoming vehicle. The rear tire hit her across the shoulder and sent her skidding into a statue of a veiled woman with a snake beneath her foot.
Will saw the terror on the faces of his friends and siblings as he rose from the dirt. They knew something malevolent was present but had no idea where. The demon crawled in their direction. It intended to devour Cami and the rest of them. Aunt Lucille wasn’t moving and the abbot was out cold down the road. There was no one to vanquish this thing.
Will had to do something. But what? His fists clenched, he started running at the beast. He’d fight the demon, use the amulet to beat it down, and save his friends.
“Hey!” Will called out to it.
Then he recalled the prophecy: “For only in weakness shall he find his strength and only in self-giving shall he vanquish ASMODEUS.”
The demon turned his way, weary but powered by fury. Its heads grunted and yowled even as its body reacted more slowly.
Will ripped the amulet from inside his shirt and held it high. “You want my power? You want the power of Samson? Here it is. Go get it!” Will pitched the thing as far away from his friends as he could, high into the air. But the chain snagged on a tree limb only a few yards away. Without the amulet, his throwing arm wasn’t so great. To everyone’s amazement, Will’s hair retracted and his upper body and arms visibly deflated.
The three heads of the demon laughed. “La-dee-dah-dee-dee-dah,” it sang in Cassian’s voice. It struggled to stand upright, using the huge oak trees to steady itself. “For centuries we have sought this. To have it given to us by a Wilder is a treat.” Asmodeus easily reached up with its pincers, snapping off the branch that held the chain of the amulet.
“Will, come over here,” Cami said, loudly enough for him to hear. Her face, partially hidden by the Joan of Arc helmet, was as serious as Will had ever seen it. She stood behind Leo, who remained aglow—Marin, Andrew, and Simon quivering beside her. Will backed up toward his friends.
“We will destroy this trinket and absorb its power.” Asmodeus’s three heads stared at the relic dangling from the branch it held. Will knew no demon could directly touch a relic, which is why Asmodeus clawed the branch and not the chain or amulet itself. “You’re not so strong now, are you little Seer? Soon the people of Perilous Falls will turn on one another and destroy themselves. Then we’ll rise against Peniel and all the other crumbling citadels the Brethren have erected. Asmodeus will rule over this plane—forever—
all due to you, Will Wilder.”
The beast ambled toward Will and his friends. “You know I wear many faces, Will.” The faces of the middle head shifted at an alarming pace, transforming into anguished expressions of different people. “I crave more faces—more souls. I claim them with this.” It slowly raised its massive, black rooster leg, turning it slightly to show off the metallic single claw at the back of the leg. “They were once identical, my legs. I injured this one in the fall from heaven. No matter. It does the trick.” The talons dug into the earth, flicking soil in their direction.
Will had reached his siblings and friends. He pushed them all behind him. Leo’s light continued to shine.
All three demon heads laughed as Asmodeus advanced toward them. “This display of bravery is so sweet. The little boy’s light show is impressive. Sadly, it works only on minor demons and I am a major Marquis of Hell.” Asmodeus’s heads scanned both sides of the path. “Look at old Lucille, down for the count.” She lay unmoving, splayed out next to a monument. “No one around to help the kiddies. They can’t see me, Will, and you can’t vanquish me. So I suppose, as we say in the casino business, the house will now take its cut.”
“I think we should run,” Will whispered to his friends.
“The voice in the helmet is telling me to stay here,” Cami whispered back. “Don’t move.”
“What if the voice in the helmet is in your head?” Simon sputtered.
“What if I knocked you upside your head?” Andrew threatened Simon.
“The good news is, your friends won’t see the final cut coming,” Asmodeus said to Will. “Like those stupid boys I smacked around in your locker room: It happened so fast, they didn’t know what hit them. And I’m so good at doing your voice, they thought I was you. ‘Imagine that?’ ” the demon said in Will’s voice. “Haaaaa. I had you believing that fool Caleb was a demon. How stupid you were. I only wish you’d struck him. I wanted to see you punished. To watch you suffer. Never mind. Making you watch your friends and family die will be much more satisfying.”
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