The Fifth Portal: a supernatural urban fantasy action adventure (Cards of Death book 5)

by Tamara Geraeds

  “Mighty Beach of Mu!” I call out, and it stops in front of me, hovering in the air with ease.

  “Is there time for us to cast a spell? We want to make sure the entity inside D’Maeo doesn’t attack us.”

  The eagle moves its head from left to right and lets out a high-pitched whistle.

  “I guess that’s a no.” I close my eyes. We’ve trusted the beach so far. It has led us into dangerous worlds, but it also saved us several times. It reunited me and Maël with our friends, and it crossed all of these worlds to get me and lead me here. D’Maeo hasn’t hurt any of us… yet. The thing inside him got rid of that mouth monster.

  I press my lips together. It also froze me when Vicky attacked. It’s a good thing Jeep snapped out of his episode in time to push me away.

  Sighing deeply, I open my eyes. We’ll just have to trust that we can keep each other safe.

  “D’Maeo, now that you know something is inside you, trying to hurt us, will you be able to keep it from taking over?” I ask.

  Finally, he shakes off the shroud of defeat hanging over him and pulls back his shoulders. “I cannot guarantee anything, but as always, I will fight to keep you safe.”

  “All of us,” I press.

  He smiles. “Of course. And if anything feels wrong, I will let you know.”

  “Great. Then I guess we’re good to go.”

  The eagle must have been listening in, because it whistles again and takes off at top speed.

  “I think we’re almost there, guys,” I say as we set off after it.

  Let’s just hope we’re not walking straight into a trap.

  Soon, we leave the last two rivers in the sky behind us and walk into even darker territory.

  I rub my arms again, but this cold can’t be driven out. It’s not just physical cold, but a combination of fear, longing and despondency lingering in the air.

  The vast space around us narrows as the thick darkness crawls closer. Several steps further, the dark turns into two solid walls with a small path leading to more blackness. I hesitate, but when I see the Beach of Mu continuing without even pausing, I follow.

  I let everyone pass and keep an eye on the road behind us. In the distance, the flowing rivers are no more than specks. There’s a small light even further away, but it doesn’t move.

  Charlie is the last in the row of worried faces.

  “Did you see anything strange?” I ask, nodding at D’Maeo’s back.

  He shakes his head while we walk on. “Nothing.”

  “Good.”

  We walk and walk. Around us, everything has grown silent. No more voices coming from the river or the blackness behind the walls. The path gets narrower, and eventually we’re forced to walk in single file.

  After what feels like several hours, the sand eagle finally slows down.

  “Be ready to fight,” I tell the others, and we all take out our weapons. Shoulders are straightened, and the expressions of weariness change to relief.

  I tilt my head in an effort to filter out any noises besides our footsteps and the wingbeat of the beach.

  Everything is still silent, but something else has changed.

  “Do you feel that?” I ask no one in particular.

  They all nod without speaking.

  I hold my free hand closer to the wall on my left. A warm draft makes my cold fingers tingle. A wave of frozen air follows, and then another warm one lingers for a second.

  “Weird,” I say softly.

  “Not really,” Maël answers. “We’re getting close to Purgatory, where souls fight to get to one side or the other. Good and evil clash there, creating hot and cold waves.

  “Plus darkness and light,” I add, pointing at a spark making its way along the wall on our right.

  “Good to know it’s not all evil in there,” Jeep mumbles.

  “So, we’re really going into Purgatory?” I ask, reluctant to move closer to it even after what I’ve recently heard about it. After all, most stories about Purgatory aren’t exactly laughter and sunshine.

  “The Beach of Mu wants us to go in there,” Charlie points out. “And we still trust it, don’t we?”

  I press the space between my eyes to stop the pounding coming to life there. “Yes, but why does it want us in Purgatory? What are we going to find there? What are we supposed to do?”

  “Fix the balance we disturbed, I suppose,” Vicky answers.

  I drop my hand to look at her. “And we’re throwing ourselves in there blindly?”

  We hold each other’s gaze for several seconds. I wonder if she’s reading my emotions. If she can feel my fear. Not that I would care. I have a right to be scared. We don’t know what we’re getting ourselves into, and we’ve seen a lot of bad and dangerous things lately. Enough to stop and think about this, I’d say.

  Suddenly, Vicky’s mouth splits into a wide smile. “That’s it!”

  I shake my head, confused. “What’s what?”

  “You’re right, we shouldn’t go in blind if we don’t have to. And we don’t.” She claps her hands excitedly. “If I’m not mistaken, we have a way to see what’s going on in Purgatory. Or at least in a part of it.”

  I frown. “We do?”

  She nods feverishly, her eyes gleaming with elation. The others crowd around her as far as that’s possible on the narrow path.

  “You see,” Vicky explains, “we were told we upset the balance of the universe when we sent Trevor and his demons somewhere unknown with our defensive spell. We didn’t know where they ended up. But…” She gives me a crooked grin, “we did reverse the spell he put on your mom and Mona, meaning we can look through his eyes now, instead of him looking through theirs. And I’m guessing Trevor is in Purgatory.” She crosses her arms with a satisfied expression. “That’s why the beach is taking us there.”

  I can’t hold back the triumphant whoop that rises in my throat. I pick Vicky up and her feet go through the walls as I spin her around. “You are brilliant!”

  “I know,” she chuckles when I set her down again.

  CHAPTER 24

  “Okay,” I rub my hands together to warm them up, “how do we look through Trevor’s eyes?”

  Vicky shrugs. “We haven’t seen him since we reversed his spell, so I think we need to say the words of the original spell.”

  I stop rubbing my hands. “And you know this spell?”

  She rolls her eyes. “Of course I do. Would I be this happy if I didn’t?”

  I pull her head closer and plant a kiss on her temple. “Great. Just write it down, and I’ll try it.”

  She pulls a piece of paper and a pen from her endless pocket and starts scribbling the words down while I enjoy the frequent warm waves passing by.

  Too soon, she nudges me and hands me the note.

  I scan it quickly. “That’s all?”

  She puts away the pen and smiles. “Yep, it’s only a small part of the spell. Just the words to activate everything we prepared earlier.”

  In the glow of the passing sparks, I read the lines to myself first.

  When I open my mouth to say them out loud, Vicky pushes a candle and matchbox into my hands. “You do need to light this candle first and burn the words while you read them.” She takes the piece of paper back and waits for me to ignite the wick.

  I blow out the match and exchange it for the paper. “Here we go.”

  When it catches fire, I read the words out loud.

  “Activate our spell of sight.

  Make our vision clear and light.

  Show us now what his eyes see

  and make us hear it all clearly.”

  There’s not much left of the piece of paper when I finish the last sentence. The flame makes it way to my fingers in a hurry, and I prepare to drop it, but then it vanishes with a soft whoosh, leaving nothing but a trail of white smoke dotted with black spots. It swirls in front of me like a mini tornado, and now I see that the dots a
re more than random shapes. They are letters, the letters from the spell. They mix with the white smoke that used to be the paper and climb up and up until I can no longer see them.

  Above us, a thick mist breaks up the dark. Inch by inch, it drops and widens.

  I step back and move to blow out the candle, but Vicky’s hand shoots out to stop me. “Don’t. Blowing it out will end the spell.” She points at the mist coming to a halt and forming a square, like a screen. “Watch.”

  The blackness inside the “screen” turns brighter and brighter until it’s impossible to look at. With my eyes closed, I wait for the light to become bearable.

  “It’s working!” Taylar exclaims, as if he didn’t expect it to.

  I want to give him a witty response, but when my gaze falls onto the screen, all I can do is gape.

  “Do you think this is Purgatory?” Charlie asks Maël, who is clutching her staff tightly.

  “I am not sure,” she answers.

  I’m still not able to say anything. While I stare at the scene above us, my mind whirls. Is this real? Do things like this and places like this really exist?

  It’s like watching a horror movie, in which the good are battling the evil. Bodies in all shapes, sizes and colors jump and fly left and right. They bump into each other and roll around on a road made of floating logs, like a long wooden raft. Under it, there are two gaping holes. One is a pit of fire, with sharp rocks sticking out of the walls, the other is a pool filled with clouds surrounded by purple flowers. Between the two holes, in the middle of the wooden pathway, lies a glass mold with black and white pebbles in it. I can barely make out what it used to portray with all the scattered pebbles around it, but when no one dives over it for a second, I see it. A yin and yang symbol.

  My insides knot together when I realize we are the reason the balance here was disturbed. We were the ones who sent creatures here that belong in Hell. Now, big two-headed wolves with flames for fur pin down the souls who were supposed to be judged here. Out of all the places Trevor and his demons could have ended up, this is one of the worst. Here, they have found hundreds of souls tiptoeing the line between good and evil, easily pushed in any direction. They can create allies in a matter of seconds. And they do. I see humans trying to outrun the demons and failing. Some surrender quickly. Others fight for what they’re worth. It’s not hard to see where each belongs. But instead of ending up in one of the two holes, like they should, all of the souls are herded onto a wooden platform that floats from the pathway to a vertical, yellow flickering line in the sky. One by one, the souls step through and disappear. As soon as they’re all gone, the platform turns back, like an automated ferry, to pick up more passengers. I concentrate on the woman hesitating in front of the portal. If I can remember her features, I can scry for her later, if I need to. There’s not much time, but she has an interesting face. I should be able to… She steps through, and I close my eyes briefly to hold onto the image. When I open them again, my gaze shifts to the person steering the platform in the right direction. I squint, thinking I’m hallucinating.

  With my right hand, I feel around for Charlie’s arm.

  “What?” he says, looking up from the holes below.

  “Is that… Paul?”

  As soon as I say his name, the person on the platform looks up, as if he can hear me. Even though he’s too far away to make out his exact features, I no longer doubt what I’m seeing. I’d recognize that triangle-shaped face surrounded by thick black hair anywhere.

  “Is he helping Trevor? Helping the Devil?” I ask in an incredulous whisper.

  Charlie doesn’t answer. When I look at him, his forehead is wrinkled up, and his teeth make a grinding noise.

  “Yes, he is,” he finally says. “I told you he and Simon had gone crazy, didn’t I?”

  “You did but seeing this makes it more real than anything you could’ve said.” I rake my hand through my short hair. “I guess I was still hoping you got it wrong somehow.”

  Unable to look at our former friend any longer, I move my eyes over the rest of the scene.

  The souls that put up a fight are brought closer to our vantage point, closer to Trevor.

  A voice rises above the noise of the battle. “Come here.”

  One of the wolf demons pushes the resisting people forward.

  “That’s Trevor’s voice,” Vicky says beside me.

  A hand is raised in front of us. It beckons the souls that should be send to Heaven. An itch makes its way through my stomach and up to my throat. I cough, and Vicky hushes me.

  “Don’t be afraid,” Trevor tells the souls in a drawling tone. “I have a good offer for you all.”

  He holds out his arm, indicating the vertical portal that swings into view as he turns his head. “Instead of suffering here for eternity, you can choose to join us.”

  I can almost see the grin on his face as he continues. “Help us free Lucifer, and you will earn a place in his kingdom.”

  Most of the people shake their heads. Some avoid Trevor’s eyes, trembling from head to toe. Hope flares up in my chest when not one of them agrees to help him.

  “I don’t ask for much,” Trevor says with a soothing undertone. “And it shouldn’t be hard, considering our numbers.” He starts pacing up and down the narrow floating path. Two steps to the right, turn, two steps to the left. “All we need is some help getting a couple of souls. Starting with a small nature fairy. The prepping has already been done. It wasn’t that hard to make her angry.” He chuckles. “We poisoned her home.”

  Disgust and disbelief glides over the faces of the souls.

  Trevor keeps pacing. “She was forgiving at first, said she could restore most of it. Then her little animal friends started to die. She couldn’t save them. Nor could she save any of the trees that withered away. Or her fairy friends.” He laughs out loud now, startling his audience. “Oh, that face! I’ve never seen anything more beautiful. A heavenly creature with fury etched into her tiny forehead. It was a pleasure to order my army to electrocute her.” An irritated expression takes over his face. “Then she escaped, but that’s okay. We’ll find her soon and take her to Hell.”

  He stops to face his listeners, who back up as one. “A fate much worse than that awaits you all if you don’t help me. I can send you to Heaven now, but your happiness won’t last long. We will get what we want with or without your help. I prefer with, since patience isn’t my master’s biggest virtue.” Our view is cut in half as he winks. “So that’s your choice: help us and live happily in our new world, or don’t help and suffer for eternity.”

  The people shuffle their feet nervously. Some are mumbling things like, ‘I’ll do it’ and ‘I guess we have no choice’. Others are still looking for a way out, but the wolf demons with the flaming bodies block their way.

  “Alright, enough of this!” Trevor suddenly thunders, making all of the souls jump. “Decide now before I think of a better place to put you all.”

  My insides cringe as they all agree. They’re led to Paul on his floating ferry as sheep to the slaughterhouse.

  “Don’t do it! We’re coming!” I yell.

  The screen flickers, and the mist swallows it up, leaving nothing but dark sky, broken now and then by a hesitant sparkle.

  “What happened?” I ask, looking at my friends.

  Vicky points at the candle in my hand. “You blew it out with your futile shout.”

  My mouth forms a shameful O when she takes the candle and drops it back into her pocket.

  “Sorry,” I say.

  “No need to feel sorry,” Maël says, slamming her staff down. “We have seen enough. We know what awaits us in Purgatory. Trevor is sending souls back to Earth to take this fairy’s soul. We need to stop him, close that portal and make sure everyone is brought back to where they belong.”

  I nod. “This must be the fairy the Cards of Death point to.” I think back to the lightning bolt on the first card and bite m
y lip. They electrocuted the poor thing. How cruel can you be?

  “I know she’s already dead, but I think they haven’t taken her soul yet. That’s why they’re sending this private army to Earth, right? We can still save the fairy.”

  Maël throws me a bitter smile. “Maybe, but we should prepare ourselves for another loss.”

  For once, I don’t agree with her. Shaking my head, I squeeze myself past the others until I’m close enough to put a hand on Maël’s shoulder. “No, we should always keep the faith and trust in our own strengths. We will defeat this Trevor and save the fifth soul.”

  The bitterness disappears from her face, and her smile becomes genuine. “It is good to see you are slowly coming back to us, master.”

  CHAPTER 25

  The Beach of Mu lands on my shoulder as I take the lead. My heart beats deafeningly in my ears.

  I can’t believe I’m walking into Purgatory voluntarily.

  I know we have faced demons and other magical creatures before, but since I don’t remember any of that, it’s hard to keep the faith I so convincingly portrayed a minute ago.

  My legs seem to know what they’re doing though. Without hesitation, they keep carrying me forward. I hope my powers work by themselves just as well.

  Suddenly, the narrow road is blocked by a dark ripple hovering in front of me.

  I stop and raise my athame.

  “This is it, guys.” My voice knows it before I do. We have arrived at our destination.

  The sand eagle on my shoulder whistles happily and bounces up and down with delight.

  “Well, at least someone’s happy to be here,” Jeep observes dryly.

  I turn to face my friends. “We probably need some kind of plan.”

  “Right.” Jeep grins. “How about we storm in there, kill every last one of those demons, your former friend and Trevor and make sure no souls fall off the path.”

  Charlie gives him a high five. “Great plan.”

  I roll my eyes. “Yes, but how?”