“When you see it clearly,” Gisella whispers, “open the watch.”
Everyone is silent when Taylar opens his eyes and breathes in slowly. Tears make their way down his cheeks as he pushes the small button on the front of the pocket watch. It springs open with a soft click and reveals an intricate set of tiny wheels and screws. From them, two light beams rise, the endings turning toward Taylar’s face.
“Keep your eyes open and your mind focused on the memory,” Gisella instructs, still in a whisper.
Taylar obeys. Perfectly still, he waits for the light beams to hit his eyes. When they do, he goes rigid. His blue irises turn yellow, and steam rises from them.
I wring my hands together. “Is this supposed to happen?”
Gisella nods.
The steam works its way out of Taylar’s head and through the beams into the watch.
With every sliver, Taylar’s face seems to relax a bit more, and he becomes more visible. His pants grow darker, and the green of his shirt becomes more vivid.
Finally, the light beams pull back. Taylar’s irises turn back to their normal light blue, and the pocket watch slams shut.
We all jump a little at the sudden sound, and I kneel down next to Taylar. “Are you okay?”
He blinks several times before answering. “Yes, I think so. It’s weird.” He hands me the watch and rubs his face. “It feels like there’s a hole inside my head.”
Abruptly, he stops rubbing and lowers his hands. He turns his head to Gisella. “Is it gone? Did it take my memory of Lley?”
The werecat presses her lips together.
“No!” Taylar yells. “You didn’t tell me I’d lose this memory! I thought it would just make a copy!” He flings his hand forward. “Give it back to me! I want it back!”
She holds the watch behind her back and tries to catch Taylar’s eyes. “Listen to me.”
He shakes his head wildly. “No! You tricked me!”
I want to object, but I have to agree with him. She made it sound so simple. She never said he’d lose the memory.
“Listen to me, Taylar,” she repeats sternly. “That memory was killing you. You’re better off without it. Now we can use it to set things straight.”
Tears flow down his cheeks. “No. Please…”
“You still remember everything,” Gisella continues. “You just can’t see it anymore.”
Finally, he calms down. He stares at her, but his face is no longer a mask of despair and anger. “You’re right, I can remember it all.” He wipes the tears from his cheeks. “But you should’ve told me before that thing sucked my memory out of me.”
“Would you have done it if I had?”
“Probably not.”
She throws her red hair over her shoulder. “Which is why I didn’t tell you. It was either this or dying.”
“So it was a good choice,” I interrupt. “No matter how hard, she’s right, Taylar. We need to take care of your unfinished business, or more than just one memory will be lost.” I push myself to my feet and hold out my hand to him. “So, what do you say? Are you ready to get out of here? The sooner we do, the sooner we’ll be able to send your memory to the authorities.”
He grabs my hand and hugs me when I’ve helped him up. “Thank you, Dante.” Then he turns to Gisella and hugs her too. “Thank you. I’m sorry I yelled at you.”
She pats his back. “That’s okay. I understand.”
Charlie steps forward and pulls them apart. “Alright, alright, enough of that.” He points at the red sky, where the Beach of Mu is moving in restless circles. “I think it’s time to move on.”
CHAPTER 20
“I wish we could stay here,” I say after a couple of minutes. “Just move everyone we love here and build a new life.”
Charlie chuckles. “And let everyone else on Earth die? That sounds like a great plan, mate.”
I shove him lightly. “You know what I mean. Look at this world. It’s so pretty and peaceful.”
“Looks can be deceiving, Dante,” Maël says behind me, and when I look over my shoulder, she points at an orange tree on our left.
Taylar, who is thankfully walking again, lets out a grumble of disgust. “That is so gross!”
At first, I have no idea what they’re talking about, but then I see a trickle of red running down the bark of the tree, and when I move my gaze up, I can make out a large mouth with three rows of teeth.
“Is that an ent?” I ask, picking up my pace.
“I’m not sure,” Vicky answers.
Then we all gasp as something jumps down from the tree.
“Definitely not an ent,” I say, my voice slightly trembling.
“Where is its body?” Charlie asks in a hushed whisper.
No one has an answer to that question. I don’t think any of us have ever seen anything like this before. The creature has no body. No feet, no arms, not even a head. It’s just a giant orange mouth, gobbling up something that looks like a rodent, only purple.
Charlie is already three steps ahead of me. “Do you still want to live here?”
I grab Vicky’s hand and hurry to catch up with him. “Not really.”
The Beach of Mu is speeding up too. Above us clouds gather, and thick brown drops fall down. They splatter onto the road, leaving burning holes.
“We have to find shelter!” I shout above the racket of the impact.
Drops fall straight through the ghosts as they turn more transparent. Charlie, Gisella and me don’t have that kind of protection though, which means we have to duck left and right to avoid the rain. A big drop hits Gisella on the shoulder, and she yells in pain and stumbles to her knees. Charlie and I pull her up immediately and take her with us under a tree with thick branches full of crawling white moss.
I look up at it gingerly before letting go of Gisella.
“Let me see,” Charlie says, pulling at the tough fabric of her catsuit.
She holds up her hands. “I’m fine. I can heal myself.” Her fingers gently press every side of her shoulder. “Besides, it’s not that bad.”
“And we have other things to worry about,” Jeep adds, nodding at something behind us.
As soon as I whirl around, my breath catches in my throat.
Gliding through the maze of falling raindrops like a pro dodgeball player, the mouth advances.
Jeep takes off his hat and prepares to throw it, while I conjure a bolt of lightning.
“On three,” I say. “One… two…”
I wait for the hat to soar through the sky before releasing my bolt. I aim a bit lower than the spot where Jeep’s hat is heading, and a second later, a ball of gel the size of an ostrich’s egg flies past my head, aimed a little higher.
With bated breath, we all watch the objects get closer to the mouth.
“Come on, come on,” I whisper. At least one of these should hit that monster. It needs a miracle to escape all three.
Jeep’s hat goes straight for it, and I wait for the monster to dodge it. If it does, it’ll be hit by either my bolt or Charlie’s ball of gel. Meanwhile, the killer drops are still falling down, ready to crush the abomination if our attacks miss it.
Only an inch before something hits it. But then the monster does the unthinkable. The mouth opens. It shows one row of teeth, then two, then three, and still it opens wider. It moves sideways to avoid the hat and opens wide, swallowing the ball of gel in one giant gulp.
“No way!” Taylar shouts, and he moves closer to the bark of the tree.
My bolt extinguishes several feet behind the mouth, and Jeep’s hat curves back like a boomerang.
“This thing is way too fast for us. We have to get out of here,” I say, looking at the rain denting the road and wondering if we will ever be able to slip through unharmed.
No such luck. Even if we could, the drops are getting bigger by the second. If they keep growing, soon there won’t be any room left between them. The road loo
ks like a crater, dark and cracked, with brown liquid pouring out of it.
Maël slams her staff into the ground. “I’ll try to freeze it.”
We all gather behind her, our weapons ready, except for D’Maeo. He stays where he is, next to the ghost queen, with his eyes fixed on the incoming monster.
I expect him to raise his arms to block any power the mouth might have, but he just keeps still. When I reach out to touch his shoulder, he doesn’t respond.
“Get ready,” Charlie says, growing two balls of grease in his hands. “It’s not slowing down.”
Slipping between two huge rain drops, the mouth reaches Maël. She stops mumbling and raises her staff when the monster goes for her throat. It tries to munch through the wood, but it’s too strong and after several attempts to bite off Maël’s head and a lot of shaking from the queen, it lets go and goes for the other target within reach: D’Maeo.
I conjure a lightning ball in my hands and turn to Charlie. “Get ready.”
He nods and raises his hands.
The mouth lets out a high-pitched shriek as it jumps in front of the old ghost.
My muscles tense as I prepare to hit it with my ball of lightning.
Then something strange happens. The monster looks up at D’Maeo and freezes. Instead of attacking, it bows. Behind it, a large raindrop hits the road. Water splashes over the monster, and I see a glimpse of a body attached to the mouth. It’s gone before I can take a better look though.
“What’s it doing?” I mumble, and I feel Vicky tense up beside me.
A shadow seems to pass over D’Maeo’s face as the rain suddenly stops falling, and the clouds dissolve.
Silence descends on us.
Slowly, the mouth opens. With a choking sound, it spits out balls of purple fur, covered in blood. I can make out little legs and a tail and avert my eyes before I throw up myself. From the corner of my eye, I see the monster smiling up at D’Maeo, who still doesn’t move. The mouth closes and turns. Then it runs away faster than it came, leaving us stumped.
It takes me several seconds and even more glances at the spot where I last saw the mouth to regain my posture. I’m the first to speak, and the only question that comes to mind is, “What the heck was that about?”
All eyes turn to the old ghost, standing frozen in place, as if he too has a hard time wrapping his head around it.
“D’Maeo?” Once more, I place a hand on his shoulder.
He shivers and shakes his head like a wet dog. “What is it?”
Since I have no idea how to explain what just happened, I just point at the mess in front of his feet.
“What’s that?” D’Maeo asks. He blinks several times before looking up and scanning our surroundings. “Where did that monster go?”
“It left after bringing you this lovely gift,” Charlie says sarcastically.
The old ghost stares at the remains of the squirrel some more and rubs his sideburns. “I don’t understand.”
With a sigh, I leave the shelter of the tree. “Neither do I. Let’s go, the Beach is eager to move on. And to be honest, so am I. I don’t want to run into any more of these weird creatures.”
I beckon Charlie to walk with me and when the others are a couple of steps behind, I bend closer to him. “Did you see that shadow?”
He nods thoughtfully. “I thought I’d imagined it, but if you saw the same thing…”
I bite my lip. “This is all so weird. All this magic and other realms. The strange things happening to the members of my Shield. I don’t know what to think of it. I don’t know D’Maeo that well, or I can’t remember, but I know something is wrong with him.”
“I agree.”
I look my best friend in the eye. “Would you mind keeping an eye on him? I’m not sure we can trust him anymore, and well… you’re the only one here I remember. The only one I really trust.”
He slaps me on the back. “Of course.”
“I’m glad you’re here, Charlie.”
“I’d rather be lying on a beach with a cocktail somewhere,” he winks, “but yeah, me too.”
CHAPTER 21
After a while, the road smoothens again. The earth moves up by itself to fill up the holes created by the rain, and the brown liquid evaporates. I keep my eyes on the sand shape in the sky, wondering how something like that can be real and go over everything my friends have told me once again. Maybe if I think about it long enough, my memories will return.
I stop dead when the Beach of Mu drops from the sky and out of sight.
“What is it?” Vicky asks, giving me a worried look.
“Didn’t you see that? The Beach! It just disappeared.”
“I’m sorry, I was looking around. Where did you see it last?”
“Just further up the road.”
We take out our weapons, and I gesture to the others to stay put while we check it out.
The athame feels strangely familiar in my hand. Although it’s hard to imagine, I must have used it many times.
With careful steps, we walk to the spot where the beach vanished.
“Watch out!” Vicky yells so suddenly I almost trip.
She catches me, and I cling onto her arm when I see what’s in front of us: a steep drop decorated with pointy branches sticking out. At the end of it, there’s a bright blue lake above which the beach is hovering, shaped like a giant eagle. From the water rises an arc made of concrete blocks. Another portal. Inside it, a bright greenish light welcomes us.
“Oh great, another portal,” Vicky mumbles before beckoning the others.
“How many have we already gone through?” I ask.
“Well, if I remember correctly, for you and Maël it’s the fifth one.”
The Beach of Mu swoops down and changes into a stairway again so we can descend.
“Thank you,” I say, letting the others go first.
Taylar gives the portal a longing look. “I hope this one takes us home.”
I step down after him. “I’m with you on that.”
Everyone waits for me to catch up, but when I do, they still don’t move. They all just stare at me from the bottom of the sand stairs.
“What are we waiting for?” I ask.
Charlie bursts out in laughter.
“What’s so funny?”
Gisella smacks her boyfriend on the head. Not very hard, but he stops laughing.
“Sorry,” he says, not looking sorry at all. “The thought that we were all waiting for you to lead us was just hilarious.”
Gisella hits him again. “Be nice.”
He kisses her on the cheek. “I’m always nice.”
“You’re waiting for me to take the lead?” I gulp. “I have to admit, Charlie has a point. I currently have no idea what I’m doing. It’s probably better if someone else makes the decisions for a while.”
The majority of my Shield looks at D’Maeo, but I quickly step forward and hold out my hand to the African queen. “Would you mind taking up this responsibility, Maël?”
From the corner of my eye, I see D’Maeo frown. Vicky told me he is–after me–the leader of the Shield. But I can’t trust him right now, something is off about him.
Maël takes my hand and bows her head. “Of course, master. It would be my honor.”
I bow back, feeling a bit silly, but it makes Maël smile. Both our heads turn to the portal with the pulsing green light several steps away from us.
The blue water from the lake splashes over our feet. Sweat prickles the skin on my back at the thought of entering another unknown world.
“Are we going in there?” I ask Maël, glad to leave the choice to her.
The Beach of Mu turns back into its eagle form and pulls at my shirt with its beak. When I don’t move, it lets go and flies to the portal. It lands on top of the concrete arc and makes a whistling sound that doesn’t fit a bird. It’s more like a coach whistling to get the players’ attention.
&n
bsp; Maël nods and holds out her staff. “I think we are indeed going in there.”
She moves her staff through the water before stepping in fully─to check for anything deadly I suppose?
Nothing weird happens, so I follow her. Behind me, I hear the others splashing through the water. It’s nice and warm. If I had the time–and if there was no chance of mouths or other body parts attacking me–I’d love to dive in and float around for half an hour at least. Just relax and talk to my friends.
But we’ve got a world to save. No, a universe.
I snort. I still find it hard to believe that I am the so-called chosen one. I feel like I’ve been sucked into a movie full of crazy creatures. Thankfully, the screenwriter put in some friends too.
A sideways glance at Vicky tells me she’s studying me.
“Are you okay?” she asks. “You seem distracted.” She moves a bit faster, and I follow.
When we’re several steps ahead of the others, she leans over to me. “Why did you choose Maël to lead?”
I take in her expression, wondering if she’s hurt because I didn’t choose her. Maybe I should have.
But she looks worried rather than offended. Should I tell her?
“Maël used to lead a whole tribe, so I figured she’d be great at leading us,” I say.
She drops her voice to a whisper. “You do know that D’Maeo is our leader, right?”
“I do… but…”
“But what?” she presses. “Is it because of what that mouth did?”
“Yes, but there’s more.” The portal is only a couple of steps away from us, so I’ll need to speak quickly. “When that mouth monster attacked, did you see a shadow or something pass over D’Maeo?”
Vicky shakes her head. “I didn’t, but he was acting really weird.”
I look over my shoulder to check on the others. They’re still several steps behind and discussing something. Charlie is watching D’Maeo like a hawk.
“Well, there was a shadow, and I’ve seen it before,” I whisper. “When D’Maeo came to pick us up from the church. For a moment, he didn’t look like himself. I’m not sure what is was, but it wasn’t good.”
The Fifth Portal: a supernatural urban fantasy action adventure (Cards of Death book 5) Page 12