by Linsey Hall
We began to shuffle across the floor, kicking at the skeletal hands while searching for a drop-off in the floor. I called upon my wings, but didn’t fly. I couldn’t, not when I was at the front of the group. No way I’d take to safety when I could be the one scouting for a crevasse that might swallow us up.
If I’d designed this castle to repel people, that was what I would have done—built a whole bunch of creepy pits and scare people into them.
If I fell, I could at least fly upward.
The knowledge didn’t keep a wild thundering from beating inside my chest, my heart going wild.
I squinted into the dark, claustrophobia crushing me. I knew this space was huge, but the dark made it tiny. The grabbing hands made it worse.
A tiny light shined from high above. I blinked, trying to see better. “Anyone see the light overhead?”
“Nothing,” Cass said.
“Nada,” Ana added.
I squinted at it. The thing flickered lightly. Too dim, but fighting. I could feel it.
Our shuffling was working so far, but we needed light to get out of this alive. I hated to leave them, particularly after thinking how important it was to scout the way, but that light could be our ticket out of here.
I needed to investigate. It’d only take a second. “Guys, I’m going to fly up to the light. Maybe I can get it to shine brighter. Watch your feet. Just fight them off. Don’t go far.”
“Be careful,” Cade said.
I stretched my wings. “You be careful. Watch the damned ground and don’t go far. I’ll be back in a sec.”
“Will do,” Ana said.
I took off into the air, flying high. As soon as I left, a low shout sounded from below. Then a grunt.
“We need to go faster!” Ana said.
Shit.
They couldn’t wait for me.
But they were right.
Of course it would get worse the farther we went into the pitch-black castle. I flew faster, the light overhead calling to me. I prayed there were no ledges or walls for me to smack into as I flew.
Below, I could hear my friends running. Fear shot through me. It was only a matter of time before the running became a really bad idea.
When I neared the light, I realized that it was a dingy crystal. A faint glow from within pulsed, trying to break free.
I drew my sword from the ether and stabbed upward toward the crystal.
My steel shattered the glass, and light burst forth. It blew me backward, and I tumbled wings over butt, blinded.
A sharp scream sounded from below. My stomach dropped as I righted myself and searched the ground.
The sight nearly made my wings stop moving.
A million skeletal arms reached out of the flagstone floor, waving as they tried to blindly catch whoever stepped over them. Cade and Ali were trying to drag Caro off the ground, but it was Ana who caught my eye.
She was clinging to the edge of a large pit. More gaping black holes dotted the space. There were so many.
I stored my sword in the ether and dove for Ana, wings carrying me quickly through the air. Cass was racing for her, too, stumbling every few feet as a skeletal arm grabbed her legs. She blasted them away with her flame, a brilliant jet of orange death that I was grateful she hadn’t used in the enchanted dark.
One of us would have eaten it, for sure.
Ana’s terrified eyes met mine as a skeletal hand grabbed onto hers where it clutched the edge of the rock. It began to peel her fingers off.
I flew harder, lungs burning.
Just as I reached her, the white bones broke her grip on the rock, and she began to plummet.
I reached out, straining, praying.
I grabbed her wrist. Her hand wrapped around my own, her frantic gaze meeting mine.
I heaved, panting, as I tried to fly her out of the hole. My wings could barely support us both, and progress was slow. I was so close to the top edge of the pit, but couldn’t make it over.
When a hand gripped my ankle, I instinctively kicked.
“Hey!” Cade said.
Oh, thank fates.
I stilled, and he hauled us up, aiding my wings. The skeletal hands clutched at us as we were dragged up onto solid ground, but I struck out, knocking them away.
The light made it easier to see and attack, and we scrambled upright.
“Run!” I sprinted across the floor, headed for an exit at the far side of the enormous cavern. It was another smaller cave, a dark semicircle that led to who knew where.
Didn’t matter though. Had to be better than the skeleton graveyard riddled with pits of despair.
There were so many pits in the ground that I was grateful I’d found the light, even if it had been a risky move.
Caro shot fierce jets of water as she ran, clearing the way for us. It blasted the skeletal arms apart, and we sprinted forward.
By the time we ran under the dark archway, I was panting.
The room on the other side was much smaller. There were no immediate threats, so I turned around and peeked back at the cavernous room, unable to help myself.
The ground now lay still, no arms in sight. Probably triggered by intruders, or weight on the floor.
But it was the sight of the cells that circled the space that made me shudder. Ancient metal bars concealed small boxes that had once held prisoners. They were all empty, but the idea of them made bile rise in my throat.
“People were being kept down here,” I murmured. “Amongst all this darkness and evil.”
“No longer,” Cade said. “And we’ll take out Chernobog. For good.”
I nodded, determined. Just like Cocidius, Chernobog was an evil bastard. And this was the evidence. I turned back to the square room.
“Maybe this was the guard’s room,” Cass said.
“I buy that,” Ana said.
“Now it’s just haunted.” Ali shuddered. “You feel it?”
“I do.” Haris moved closer to his twin. “This place has been abandoned a long time. Whatever horrible things happened here have turned it into a nightmare.”
“The memory of true evil can create darkness,” Caro said. “My gran used to tell me stories.”
That must have been what happened back in the cell room. The evil had devoured the light, almost extinguishing it. I’d felt its energy. It was in this room, too.
As I stepped into the middle, the air grew hazy and gray in front of me.
“What the hell is that?” Ana murmured.
It coalesced into a line of figures, each wearing a black cloak and cowl.
“Twenty bucks they have no faces,” Cass said.
Ana chuckled.
“Grim Reapers.” Cade stepped forward just as they did.
Their dark magic rolled over me, making my heart stutter and slow. My mind followed, blurring at the edges. I nearly stumbled to my knees, gasping. I wanted to run, to scream, to escape.
But I couldn’t. I was trapped.
Cold and weakness stole over me. Stealing my life force.
Ana gripped my hand, but her touch was icy and frail. “They’re killing us.”
The words were so soft, I could barely hear them. But she was right.
They were nothing like Death’s minion, who we’d met back at Gravensteen. These were Grim Reapers, here to take their reward.
In front of us, black and silver light shimmered around Cade. His aura. The swell of his magic followed, the sound of clashing swords and the scent of a storm at sea. He shifted into his wolf form and growled.
The Grim Reapers shrank back.
He prowled forward, his lips pulled back from his fangs as a low rumble filled the room. The Grim Reapers continued to back up, drifting away from the wolf.
How had Cade known what to do?
This looked like a familiar dance—like death knew to fear the wolf.
Cade stalked forward, growling, pushing the Reapers back.
He was clearing a path for us!
And as the Re
apers backed off, the dark tug of their magic faded. It still slowed my heart and my mind—my body gradually fading—but I could move.
I staggered after Cade, my friends doing the same. Every step was a monumental effort, tearing through me like I was running the last mile of a marathon.
Cade’s steps began to slow—this must be affecting him, too—but he kept going, lurching along.
Finally, he broke through the line of Reapers, and we struggled past them, picking up speed as we gained distance.
Sweat poured down my eyes as I lurched into a darkened stairwell, my friends at my side. Cade had shifted back to his human form and walked behind us, growling to hold off the Reapers.
“Go,” Ana ordered.
I began to struggle up the stairs, strength gaining with every step.
“That was the flipping worst,” Caro said.
We quickened our pace as our strength increased, and I glanced back. Cade followed behind, now in his human form.
When we reached a dark landing that was actually a fairly large room, I turned to him. “What was that?”
“The Grim Reaper is afraid of wolves. I’m the most dangerous wolf there is.”
“Thank fates for that.” I studied the room briefly. We were higher up in the castle. It was large and high-ceilinged, and I realized that much of the enormous height of the castle was because it was built on these great spaces below. This room was particularly uninteresting.
Except for a faint tug of recognition. Rowan. “You feel that?”
“I do.” Ana approached the next flight of stairs, stepping onto the first. “She’s here. Above.”
The words had barely left her mouth when the floor in the middle of the room exploded in an eruption of stones. They flew into the air, followed by a poof of dust.
I dived to the side, trying to avoid the massive rocks. Someone cried out in pain as I scrambled to my feet and spun around.
A giant stood in the middle of the room, having burst to the surface from down below. He was forty feet tall, with three heads. The middle head roared.
“Ah, shit. They’re going to hear that,” Ana said.
Yeah, our cover was officially blown.
When the giant breathed fire from his left head, nearly taking off my hair, I lunged to the side. Heat blazed, but flame didn’t hit me. I rolled, hopping up in time to see his right head breathe an icy blast of breath that nearly hit Cade.
Fortunately, he was fast enough. But the breath coated a large stone block with so much ice that it doubled in size.
“Shit!” Ali cried. “The Belachko!”
“What’s that?” I shot into the air, my wings carrying me high. I had to distract this guy from my friends.
“Some kind of Slavic monster,” Haris said. “We read about him when hunting Chernobog.”
“Duh, it’s a monster!” Caro shouted.
“How do we kill it?” Cade demanded.
“When it runs out of fuel, it’s easy to kill,” Ali said. “I think that means its fiery and icy breath.”
So we just had to distract it.
I darted around its heads, drawing my sword from the ether. The reek of his dark magic made me gag, visions of his evil deeds flashing in my mind.
Ugh, gross. His magical signature was some kind of weird mind thing where I could see exactly what he wanted to do to me. What he’d done to the prisoners who’d once lived here.
It was right out of my worst nightmares. Most of it, I never could have even thought up myself. Panic made my heart race.
We had to take him out. He couldn’t be allowed to exist. Not something this evil.
From up here, I could definitely land a solid blow, taking out one of the heads.
His left head spun around, doing a full 180 until the monster glared at me with gleaming dark eyes. It opened its mouth, the scent of sulfur rolling over me, and emitted a blast of flame.
I was already dodging out of the way, but I was too slow. The flame touched my skin, heat searing, right before a blast of water from below doused it. I tumbled backward, my front aching.
Below, Caro shot her ferocious jet of water at the monster’s flame, dousing it. I looked down to see a charred shirt and reddened flesh, but nothing was melted, thank fates.
Down below, Cass shot her flame at the monster’s blasts of ice, protecting the others, who launched an attack at the giant’s legs. Cass’s left calf was bloody and torn—she must have been the one who had cried out. Had a flying stone gotten her?
Ana used her shield to protect Cass as she worked, while Caro darted around, trying to keep up with the monster’s fire-breathing head.
Ali and Haris swung their swords so fast that I could barely see them, but they glanced off the giant’s legs, not making contact. Cade tried to plunge his blade into the giant’s shin, but it, too, bounced off.
The deadly blasts of ice and fire were starting to weaken, but we needed to get this guy off his feet if we wanted to deliver the kill shot when he ran out of fuel.
“Cade!” I said. “Let’s hit him in the chest.”
He nodded, shifting into his wolf form and backing up. I flew until I hovered over him, then counted to three.
On three, we charged. Cade leapt into the air, his form graceful and strong. I hurled toward the giant’s chest, and we hit him at the same time, the force of our blow sending him off his feet.
He crashed to the ground, and my friends leapt on him. His magical signature flared once again, gruesome images of torn apart people flashing in my mind.
Inhuman.
His fire and ice were nearly gone, and I flew down, plunging my blade into his chest. Ali and Haris approached from the sides, slicing their blades over his outer necks, while Caro decapitated his last head with a powerful stream of water.
I yanked my sword free as my friends stumbled away. I flew down to join them, then landed and closed my wings into my body.
“That was the worst.” Cass shuddered.
“I’ve never seen anything like that.” Cade rubbed his head, as if to banish the dark memories that the Belachko had forced into our minds.
If Cade, who’d seen dozens of wars, had never seen anything like that, then we knew this guy was really bad.
“Let’s count that as our good deed,” Ali said. “And get the hell out of here.”
“One sister, coming up,” Haris said.
I sure hoped they were right. Ana sprinted for the stairs, and I followed, but as I jumped on the stairwell, I caught sight of Cass, struggling to cross the room toward us.
“Hang on.” I spun and knelt by her side, calling on my healing power and feeding it into her leg.
“Wow.” Relief filled her voice. “You’re good at that.”
“Thanks.” The skin on her leg knit together, and I stood.
It was only about thirty seconds, but by the time I finished, everyone else was out of the room.
“Let’s go.” I raced up the stairs, Cass behind me.
“They’ll be up there,” Cass said. “So be ready.”
She was right. There was no way the Rebel Gods hadn’t heard the commotion of the Belachko exploding out of the ground. That was probably his whole purpose. Stop the trespassers. Or, at least, make so much noise everyone else would freak out and start to fight, too.
Which meant I had to hightail it for Rowan as fast as I could.
When I spilled out onto a courtyard, icy wind whipped at my hair. The battle had already begun. Demons were leaping off the rampart walls, landing in the courtyard and drawing their swords. My friends were already fighting.
Ali and Haris used their Djinn powers to possess the demons, making them kill each other before leaping out of their bodies and slamming into some new ones.
Caro shot fierce jets of water, lancing through chests and delivering kill shots with deadly accuracy.
But it was the Rebel Gods who caught my eye. Two of them, leaping out of a massive window up above.
They were so determine
d to lay the smack down on us that they couldn’t even use the freaking stairs.
Eris, her face dripping with blood, flew through the air like a terrible dream. Her white robes were streaked with crimson, and her blood-thirsty grin was narrowed in on Cass.
“Oh, this jerk is mine,” Cass growled.
They’d fought before, back at the Rebel Gods’ stronghold, and it looked like Eris wanted a repeat. Fortunately, so did Cass. She charged the Rebel God, her magic flaring.
It nearly sent me to my knees. I’d known Cass was mega-powerful, but she was easily on the level of Cade. Without being a god. How did that work?
She shot her flame at Eris right before they collided, lighting the god’s hair on fire. Eris shrieked, a sound of pure rage, and shoved Cass so hard she flew twenty feet through the air.
Fortunately, she landed with a roll, her catlike reflexes protecting her. With her ability as a Mirror Mage, she could give Eris a taste of her own medicine.
A roar from the side of the courtyard caught my ear, and I turned. Cade was charging Cocidius, and the two gods were about to collide in a clash of speed and violence.
Worry tore at my chest, but I shoved it away.
Cade was tough, and he was meant to fight the other Celtic war god. It just made sense. War god against war god.
I caught sight of Ana, who raced across the courtyard to the tall tower that sat in the middle.
Rowan had to be in there. I recalled the view from the window that she’d been sitting in. It had been high up, overlooking the land beyond. I glanced up, catching sight of a pale face in the window.
Then she was jerked back in.
Rowan!
But my wings wouldn’t fit through that tiny window.
I sprinted, following Ana into the tower. She was about ten feet ahead of me.
She glanced over her shoulder and caught sight of me. “Hurry up!”
The spiral staircase ran along the edges of the wide tower, leaving an open space right in the middle. A big open space.
Jackpot.
I unfurled my wings and drew my sword, leaping into the air.
I flew past Ana, who was red with exertion. The air whipped at my hair, and I landed on a platform outside the door that I thought was Rowan’s room.