I give them a one-man applause. “Nice. Give me a second to remember them all.”
I repeat the names in my head. Two of them are easy. They fit their appearances so well. The nerdy office guy is Ted/Taylar, and the good-looking manager is David/D’Maeo. Chung isn’t that hard either, and I’m sure the other names will stick too once I’ve said them a couple of times.
I nod. “Okay, I’m ready.” I step up to Quinn. “Take us to Goblin Forest New Zealand, please.”
“Yes, sir,” he says with a small bow, and a second later, bright light envelops him.
After blinking several times, I can see his angel form. The change still amazes me: the glow from within him, his white curls, his broad, hulking form and of course his giant wings.
When I look sideways, I see that Grace/Gisella is gaping at Quinn. It’s the first time she’s seen him in his true form, and even she is impressed.
“You look great, Quinn,” she says before joining us under his wings.
Her words result in a pinch from Chung/Charlie, and she chuckles. “Well, he does, Char… I mean Chung, you can’t deny that.” She snuggles up closer to him. “But don’t worry, I don’t fall for big and winged. I’m not trading you in.”
“Okay, everyone,” Quinn interrupts, “get ready. Remember to inhale deeply as soon as my feathers touch you, and keep your eyes closed until we land.”
“Yes, please do,” I say, remembering my temporary blindness the last time we travelled like this.
Something soft touches my shoulder, and I take a deep breath. I can feel the feathers wrapping around my body, and the next moment, I’m lifted from the ground. Wind pulls at my clothes, and my skin starts to prickle. I don’t know if I’m upside down or inside out, until suddenly my feet touch solid ground again.
“We’re here. Open your eyes.”
Just to be sure, I wait for several seconds before I obey.
Quinn is still in his angel form, almost too bright to look at. We’re standing on a small dirt path surrounded by moss-covered trees that seem to dance. They are bent in all directions, with trunks and branches of trees growing out of other trees, as if they’re lost in an intimate dance. More branches close off most of the sunlight seeping in from above, but still the forest looks friendly. Like ents having the time of their lives.
“Hippie trees,” Vicky voices my thoughts.
“Exactly!”
“I have to go now,” Quinn says with a guilty expression on his face. “Call me when you’re ready to go back home, and I’ll pick you up.” He points to a dark spot to my right. “I think the place you’re looking for is over there. Be careful.”
I hold out my hand to shake his, and an incredible warmth goes through me when we do. “Thank you, Quinn.”
“No problem. See you soon.”
With a blinding flash, he soars up into the sky and disappears.
Valery/Vicky dances around me with her arms in the air. Her blonde curls bob up and down around her brown eyes. “It’s so beautiful here!”
I can’t argue with that. I’ve never seen anything like this. It’s like stepping into a fairy world.
Then I realize, we probably did step into a fairy world.
I tap my Asian best friend on the arm. “Do you think this is the home of the fairy that the Devil is after?"
He nods, looking more serious than I’ve ever seen him, with his small eyes and short dark hair. “I think so.”
I shake my head at the sound of his low voice. “This is so weird.”
“It sure is,” he says, taking in my new face with a grin.
“We should go,” our ‘manager’ says, beckoning us.
Blonde Maël joins him and peers into the darkness up ahead. “I agree with D’Ma─ I mean David. There is a lot of sorrow and anger out there. We might be able to track it to the fairy.”
“Good.” I touch the hilt of my athame and walk up to them. “Lead the way, please.”
We walk silently toward the dark, scanning the trees and sky on all sides. Beetles crawl around and birds sing. Butterflies flutter above the moss on the ground, and a squirrel jumps from tree to tree. It looks so peaceful that I can’t imagine a fairy’s soul was snatched here.
That is, until we suddenly step out of the slivers of light and into total darkness.
A chill clings to my bones immediately, and I rub my arms hard, not just to drive out the cold, but also the fear that rises in my chest. My legs get heavier with every step I take, and no matter how hard I blink, I can’t see anything anymore.
When I carefully stick out my arms, I feel David and Mabel in front of me, also standing still, and Valery behind me. She grabs my hand. “What happened?”
“This must be the part of the forest that Trevor poisoned,” I say in a hushed tone. “The home of the nature fairy they need.”
I gently nudge my power core to create a small ball of lightning in my hand. When I lift it to illuminate the others, I see Mabel nodding gravely. “I think you are right. I can smell the poison all around us, but there is also a lot of grief and anger here.”
“Anger, the sin of the fifth circle of Hell,” I whisper.
“Exactly.” Mabel turns slowly, holding out her hands as if to feel the air. After several seconds of silence, she shakes her head. “I sense death.”
My heart stops beating. “Yes, Trevor said they killed her. But is her soul still here?”
“Pain still lingers in the air. She suffered.” Her eyes find mine. They are so sad.
“Look.” She steps aside, and I search the ground and trees. It’s hard to make out anything, so I light another ball in my other hand.
I gasp. “Oh no!”
CHAPTER 31
Without thinking, I throw myself forward and kneel next to the small broken body lying on the mossy ground. I make one of the lightning balls float above the fairy while my hand hovers over her still form.
She looks so fragile and so… crushed. Cracked. Burnt. I don’t think there’s a word for all that’s been done to her. Just looking at her burned skin and twisted arms and legs makes me nauseous. Her blonde hair is covered in mud, her beautiful features contorted in frozen pain. When I see the gaping hole in her small chest, I turn away. “It looks so… empty. I think she’s not here anymore. Maybe we’re too late.”
Valery reaches into her pocket and pulls out the Cards of Death. She stares at them briefly before looking up with a wide smile. “No, we’re not.”
It takes me a moment to understand what she means. Then I sigh with relief. “You’re right, the cards didn’t crumble to ash. That must mean they don’t have the fairy’s soul yet.” I peer into the darkness around us. “But where do we start looking for her?”
Valery puts the cards away and shrugs. “I think a spell would be the best way to find her.”
“On it,” I say, yanking Dad’s notebook from behind my waistband and flipping through it at Superman speed.
“How can you read anything when you turn the pages this fast?” the woman with the short black hair, Grace, asks.
“I can’t,” I say, stopping for a second. “I’m hoping the book will take me to the right page.”
She nods appreciatively. “I’ll let you concentrate then.”
Please, show me a spell to find the fairy’s soul. Please, please!
I start flipping the pages again while I repeat my request, and suddenly, I can’t move my hand anymore. “Found it!”
I bend over the page and scan the words quickly.
“Tell me what you need,” Valery says, her hand already in her endless pocket again.
“Do you have any caraway in there?” I scratch my head. “Not sure what that is.”
“It’s a plant, and yes I do,” she says, pulling out some crescent-shaped, brown seeds with light edges.
“Great, and two sachets and two green ribbons, that’s it.” I slam the book shut and put it back behind my waistband while V
alery searches for the items.
“I love how prepared you always are,” I whisper to her as she hands me what I requested.
“I learned the hard way,” she responds, putting some white and red ribbons back in her pocket.
“How did you get that pocket anyway?” I ask while I throw a handful of caraway seeds into one sachet and tie one of the ribbons around it.
“It was a gift from someone I helped a long time ago.”
I meet her eyes. There’s sadness in there, and I reach out to squeeze her hand.
“It’s fine,” she says. “We all lose people.”
I kiss her on her solid cheek. “We do, but it’s never fine. It’s okay to miss your friend.”
She turns her head and wipes a tear from her eye. Her voice is hoarse when she responds. “You’re right. I’m just glad I always carry something of hers with me.”
When I don’t move, she waves her hand at the sachet. “Go on, finish the spell, I’m fine.”
“Hey, guys, look at all this water here,” Chung, a.k.a Charlie, calls out. He has wandered off to the edge of the illuminated spot created by my floating ball of lightning. “It’s like a puddle but very deep.” He pulls out a stick longer than his arm and holds it up. “See, only the part I’m holding is still dry. Isn’t that strange?”
I shrug. “We’re in a magical forest, Chung. Nothing is strange here.”
“But it doesn’t even feel like water, you know,” he persists.
I meet his worried eyes and sigh. “Step back a little, please. I don’t want you to fall in. Mabel, can you check out that puddle? Carefully, please.”
“Of course, Dean,” the blonde woman says.
I give the others a stern look. “I have to focus now, or we won’t find our fairy’s soul in time.”
They all nod, and ‘manager’ David follows Mabel to the puddle for back-up. I turn away from them and try to imagine the fairy alive and well, fluttering in front of me, healthy and glowing. My thoughts reach out to her while I hold up the sachet.
I whisper the extra words I made up to strengthen the spell.
“Bring this lost soul to this place.
Keep her safe through time and space.”
I untie the ribbon, take half of the seeds out and put them in the other sachet, which I tie with the second ribbon. Then I close the first sachet again and place it next to the fairy’s body. The other sachet goes in my jeans pocket.
“All is ready for this soul.
Return her to us safe and whole.”
The sachet in my pocket vibrates, and the one on the ground moves in small circles.
“Get ready,” I tell the others. “She might not be alone.”
The light from my lightning ball reflects onto the blades and swords that are drawn.
A noise like a swarm of whispering bees comes closer. I search the gaps between the trees, but nothing moves.
Until…
“Something’s coming,” chubby Ted says, moving his shield a little higher to protect his face.
It’s more the sound that tells me he’s right than me actually seeing something. The soft buzzing is close now, and I can pinpoint it to a spot just behind the fairy’s broken body. Then the light hits it, and my mouth falls open. The fairy’s soul is so much more beautiful than I could have imagined.
Her wings and hair are made of golden pollen, and her skin looks as soft as a cloud. Bright green leaves make up her long dress. Even after all the torture she’s been through, kindness emanates from her eyes and smile as she looks up at me.
I give a small bow. “Sweet fairy, I am sad to be too late to save you from such a horrible death, but I will do what I can to take your soul to a safe place.” I gesture at my friends. “We all will.”
“Thank you,” the fairy says with a voice like a summer breeze.
Since I’m not sure what else to do, I open my arms invitingly. Without hesitation, the fairy flutters into them, filling my whole body with warmth.
Valery throws me a small cloth to wrap her in, and while I do, I address the others. “Is everyone ready to leave?”
Mabel, Chung and David are still investigating the puddle, Chung munching on something of course.
“There is something evil in here,” Mabel says. At the same time, the water explodes.
We all watch in horror as a dozen snakes made of water jump from the puddle. Their mouths open wide as they loom over us, spitting drops of steaming liquid. Small bubbles appear and pop open all over their bodies constantly.
“Watch out, they’re boiling!” I yell, stepping back to protect the fairy.
I want to tell Maël to freeze them. Just in time, I remember I can’t call her that. “These must be the demons from the fifth circle of Hell, since they are covered in water, like the Cards of Death hinted. They were guarding the dead body. Mabel, can you use your power?”
She doesn’t respond until Chung nudges her. “He’s talking to you.”
She shakes her blonde head in confusion. “Yes, of course. I forgot.”
“Can you do it?” Without her staff, I’m not sure how much she’ll be able to do.
To my surprise, she pulls out a whiteboard pointing stick and unfolds it with one quick wrist movement. Extra credit to the fairy godmother who thought of that disguise.
Unfortunately, the water snakes don’t wait for her to finish her spell. After a sharp hiss from the one on the left, they all swoop down at once.
Ted jumps in front of Mabel with his shield raised. I’m glad to see that despite the bigger body, he’s just as fast as before.
I use my free hand to throw as many bolts of lightning as I can manage, but they don’t have much effect. The snakes just shudder and continue their attack.
While I concentrate on freezing them instead, the others form a line of defense between me and the demons. Chung and Grace drop back a little to keep from getting burned. Chung flings balls of gel around, hitting several snakes in the eye. Grace joins me at the back and holds out her hands. “Give the fairy to me. I’m of no use in this fight. I can’t do anything from a distance. But you can.”
I hesitate. My doubts about her wash over me once more. I’ve trusted her so far, but was I right to do so?
“Don’t worry, I’ll keep her safe,” Grace assures me. In her eyes there’s only kindness and honesty.
I nod and hand the wrapped-up fairy over to her.
“I can try an old incantation that might hide us,” she says.
It feels as if lightning shoots through my head. An incantation? Is she planning on using her witch powers?
My hands fold around the edge of the cloth. With all my heart, I hope I didn’t make a horrible mistake. “Don’t, the risk of them taking you over is too great.”
She stares at me for a moment with her small, dark eyes. Somewhere deep within them, I can see a glimpse of Gisella.
She tilts her head. “Alright, I’ll only use them if I have no other choice.”
It feels like the truth, so I let go of the cloth.
“It won’t come to that,” I promise her. Then I step forward, next to Chung, and focus only on freezing the snakes.
With snake heads hitting Ted’s shield and spitting boiling drops around it, I can tell it’s hard for Mabel to concentrate on stopping time. The demons’ movements stutter somewhat, but that’s all she’s able to achieve. We’re slowly driven back as we try to evade the drops flying around. Valery lands on her back, slashing at the snake above her like a maniac.
I focus on its head and think of ice as hard as I can.
Just as it opens its mouth wide, its whole head freezes. Without blinking, Valery cuts the head right off and kicks it into the undergrowth. The body collapses on the ground, no longer boiling.
The other demons rise higher up out of the puddle, their tales lashing out angrily at everything they can reach.
Quinn, can you take us and the fairy out of here? I c
all out in my head.
The snakes’ stuttering movements are getting more frequent, but someone is bound to get hurt before Mabel manages to fully freeze them in time. And I have trouble concentrating too.
“I cannot do it!” Mabel calls out. “There is too much misery and pain here. It is draining my energy core.”
So that’s what it is. The destruction here has hurt so many living things that it left a remanence.
Quinn, can you heal this place?
There’s no answer.
“Is there a spell we can use?” I call out to no one in particular.
“Dean…”
It takes me a couple of seconds to realize David is talking to me. His face is scrunched up in concentration and pain.
“What’s wrong?” I ask, even though I have a feeling I know the answer.
He grits his teeth so hard I can hear them crunch. “That shadow we talked about earlier, the one inside me?”
I nod apprehensively.
“It’s trying to take over.”
The snake demons push Ted further back, and I throw some ice cubes in their direction.
“Can you hold it back?” I call out to David.
Silence answers me, and I throw some more cubes at the snakes. It slows them down a bit, but other than that, it doesn’t seem to hurt them much. They’re getting more and more impatient and are throwing in every bit of force they’ve got to take one of us out.
Come on, focus! With all my might I picture the snakes getting frozen over.
With a soft crackling, ice starts to crawl from their tails up to their heads. They shake their bodies vigorously, but I hold on to the image of ice wrapping around them.
“What are you doing?” Grace’s voice says behind me. “Stay back.”
Mabel leaves her safe spot behind Ted’s shield and passes me.
“Step away from Grace, David,” she says, her voice firm and unafraid.
My focus is wavering. Normally I would trust Gisella and Maël to take care of D’Maeo’s shadow, but the rottenness lingering here is affecting us all. I can feel it seeping through my skin, weakening my powers, while it only feeds the darkness inside D’Maeo.
The Fifth Portal: a supernatural urban fantasy action adventure (Cards of Death book 5) Page 19