At this point I was only half listening. For the first time since Cornerstone had started, I just wanted it over. I wanted to get to the graveyard. The Counter Wheel was more important than anything else, even Cornerstone.
“Let’s go,” I said.
After winning twice in a row, the Hellcats were confident in their ability to trample us.
The first thing they did was to make a shield behind us. In a matter of moments the shield forced half our team forward to the brink of the water.
Luckily, our fallen angels were faster. Greek started grabbing two teammates at a time and flying them to safety. Candace saw what he was doing and started help. In the end, only three of our teammates were forced into the water by that first push on the part of the Hellcats.
As it happened, I hadn’t been standing where the shield would catch me, so I wasn’t among the Lightmares who were pushed into the water in that initial attack, and I was able to slip away with Keegan and Eighellie.
The three of us moved around the lake quickly, while the Hellcats were already dispersing to go after other players. I saw Palmer engage Hannah, the Hellcat squaring off against the Lightmare pixie. Meanwhile, Beatrice was stalking some of the Razorhawks, her prowling black vampire eyes looking for any weakness or opening.
We skidded to a stop a safe distance away from the main action.
I glanced at Keegan. “Should we help Hannah, or . . .?”
“She wouldn’t help us,” he grumbled, his eyes on the battle.
I shrugged and moved back into motion. If the Lightmares lost Hannah in this game, it wasn’t a big deal. The shield had snared some of us already, and the Razorhawks were an easy target. The Hellcats still had everyone on their team. We hadn’t managed to force any of them into the water so far.
Suddenly Logan stepped in front of us. Without a word he raised his hand, and I felt the dream slide over me. Keegan tried to grab my arm, but it was too late.
Flashing in front of me was Charlotte, surrounded by police officers. My chest felt like it exploded and left my lungs. They were putting handcuffs on her. Somewhere nearby a baby was crying. I looked around frantically for Keller. Did he have Vera with him? What was happening?
A searing pain in my arm made me cry out. I looked down at my hand to see where I was. Swaying slightly, I made my eyes find Logan again, but in the process I saw that Eighellie was standing next to me. She had given me a shot of darkness. It had burned my skin, but at least it had woken me up.
“Sorry. Easy target,” said Logan. He actually did sound kind of sorry. I figured he had been ordered to send that dream, and afraid to refuse.
The only trouble was, I didn’t really care.
I raised my hand. Essence slammed out of me and wrapped around Logan. His eyes went wide for only a moment. The next instant he went flying into the water.
All around the lake, everyone else stopped fighting and came to a standstill.
“Time was you would have given him a warning or waited for his defense to show up,” yelled Palmer.
I glanced in the blonde fallen angel’s direction. “Times have changed.”
Palmer gave me a cold smile. “And I couldn’t be happier about it.”
Everything set in motion again. Battles continued. Attacks started. My friends and I worked as a unit to get Hellcats to the water.
It wasn’t until we had made it halfway around the lake that I realized that Candace was in trouble. She and Ostelle had been fighting together, Ostelle keeping an eye on Candace as Candace attacked from the air. It was a good and deadly combination.
But now Candace was surrounded by several vampires, including Buky. They had forced her to the ground and thrust a black canopy over her head that appeared to spit lightning to keep her in place.
How they were managing that I didn’t know.
Buky dashed in to attack the immobilized fallen angel, grabbing her and starting to force her into the water. Then Eighellie made her move. When she went for the vampire, I went for Candace.
I called a bed of earth to catch her. I tried to make it soft but not muddy. She of all of us would not appreciate getting muddy.
She had barely tipped sideways before the earth I’d summoned caught her. She used her hands to bounce back to a standing position, and the earth I had raised dropped into the water. Six vampires converged on her. Eighellie tackled Buky.
And then it was mayhem. Vampires floated out of our reach. They must have practiced attacking and moving quickly, because my eyes almost couldn’t follow how fast they went.
Keegan dropped to the ground and placed his hands against the grass. Slowly he started to grow tree trunks. Together we started to hem the vampires into a smaller and smaller space.
Having been rescued, Candace didn’t retreat. Instead, she helped Eighellie go after Buky. But the vampire wasn’t alone for long. Another female vampire came to her aid, someone I had seen around campus who wasn’t in our year. She had stringy black hair and a large nose. She grabbed Eighellie off of Buky and then squared off with her.
Meanwhile, Ostelle was holding two vampires at bay. She had cast a sheer wall of darkness in front of her and there was no getting around it. Vampires kept trying, but the shield moved with them, continuing to block them.
I tried not to stand there gawking at Ostelle, but it was difficult. Finally she turned and glanced at me over her shoulder. “Are you going to just stand there, or do something useful?”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Getting away from my friends after Cornerstone proved easier than I had expected it would be. Dobrov wanted to talk to the darkness mages and a few others about magical strategies. Keegan had decided to have plants at the treehouse he had to go water, and the fallen angels had formed a protective circle around Greek. He waved goodbye to me though the gaps in the circle.
That left me free to go back to Astra, or not.
I was already tired, but there was no way I was going to miss the opportunity that Sigil had given me.
After Cornerstone—after everything—I headed back into the dark, dark wood. I had to find the X on the map Sigil had showed me. There was a Counter Wheel object hidden there, and I was as sure as I could be that the Hunters were on their way there as well. The cemetery was far away from campus, but I had run out of time. The semester was ending.
First I had showered and gathered a few things in a pack. Then I headed out of Astra.
“Going somewhere?” asked Averett, jumping off a nearby wall as I came out the door. I glared at the floating vampire.
“Go away,” I ordered.
She scoffed and kept walking. “Or what?”
I was silent. There was no point in issuing threats I wasn’t going to make good on. I wasn’t going to use my powers against Averett.
At least not yet.
The late evening was crisp, with a little sweetness to the air, one of the first signs of spring. The cool night felt good on my bruised face.
“Where I’m going you shouldn’t be coming,” I informed her, continuing to walk at a brisk pace. She wouldn’t yet be able to guess where I was heading from the direction in which I was currently walking, but she would soon if she didn’t turn back.
“Do you hear yourself?” she demanded. “You are NOT expendable.”
“Tell that to President Yeast,” I informed her. “Keep up.”
“As if I couldn’t,” she said, and continued to follow me without asking again where we were going.
Where we were going was deeper into the dense woods than we’d ever gone before. The enveloping darkness made me trip several times, until I sent my magic out in front of me. I had earth magic. I shouldn’t be falling over the ground. Averett must have sensed the shift, because when I glanced at her once she smiled.
We didn’t get in range to see Keegan’s treehouse, but I liked knowing it was near. We also skirted the place where Keegan and I had been attacked.
I had committed the map to the cemetery to memory.
“Wow
,” breathed Averett.
“What?” I asked, glancing around.
“There’s a cemetery in front of us. I can sense the coffins.”
“Charming,” I muttered. “Is that a talent all vampires have?”
“No. I’m an especially talented vampire,” she said, sounding amused.
She was right. The next instant we stepped through into a small and overgrown graveyard.
“What are we looking for?” Averett asked.
“A grave that doesn’t hold a body. Happen to be able to help with that as well?”
“I can sense bodies in coffins. I know if a coffin is empty or not.” She frowned, closed her eyes, and held out her hand.
I shivered.
“Don’t be squeamish now,” she said, though her eyes were still closed.
Averett could sense dead bodies in coffins. She would know which grave was empty. If the Digger had buried the artifact with a body, that would be unfortunate.
“That one.” Averett opened her eyes and pointed to a headstone in the middle of the small collection of markers, and we made our way through the cemetery toward it. The grass was overgrown. This place had been long forgotten.
“What does it say?” she asked. I knelt down and used my hand to wipe away the dirt and grime. Still, the words were barely visible.
“To Remember Is All the Future Cares About, Loyol Carol.”
“You’re sure no one’s in there?” I asked.
Averett’s eyes narrowed on me.
“I guess you’re sure,” I muttered. “Step back.”
She did as I said. Now it was my turn.
The earth over the top of the grave started to shake and move. I tried to leave the headstone where it was—that felt more polite than to move it—but it shifted a bit anyhow.
The displaced dirt had to go somewhere. I didn’t want to dump it on the neighboring grave, so I moved it all the way to the edge of the clearing.
“See? Not a body,” said Averett smugly.
My legs sagged a little from the magical effort, but I could see that the exposed box was square and far too large to hold an adult skeleton.
Averett jumped down into the grave, grabbed the box, and handed it up to me. I set it down at my feet and bent to open it.
“Why isn’t there even a lock?” I whispered.
I opened the box. Inside there were old newspaper clippings. Nothing else.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” said Averett, peering over my shoulder. “What are they of?”
“Nothing of note,” I said, looking through them. That’s all the box contained.
I sat back on my heels. My emotions had been building to this moment, and now they were dashed. Averett didn’t look much more pleased than I felt.
“Wait a minute. Maybe there’s another box,” I said. “Maybe this was a decoy.”
Averett glared at the hole in the ground. “Fine, let’s see,” she said, and jumped back in. My heart rate quickened as she started to look.
“Found it,” she said after a minute. She tugged another much smaller box up from the dirt, this one with a series of locks on it.
“Looks much more important,” she said dryly.
I glanced around us. The shadows felt as if they had closed in, but there was still no movement anywhere within reach.
“How are we going to get through all those?” Averett wondered.
I set the box on the ground and examined it, then touched the first lock to see how sturdy it was.
The lock fell away.
“What did you do?” she demanded.
I shook my head. I touched the next lock.
That too fell away.
Lock after lock opened at my touch. “I think the magic recognizes me. I don’t know why.”
Finally, I could open the box. By then Averett had climbed out of the grave, a fact I was grateful for.
“Here goes nothing,” I murmured, flipping open the lid.
We both peered inside.
“It’s just a silly old string,” said Averett, picking it up gingerly.
“It’s the Decimation Sling,” I said, taking the sling out of her hands.
The sling was unlike anything I had ever seen before, including the one I’d had as a kid. This one was made of jade and felt cold to the touch.
“Couldn’t have found this without you,” I breathed.
“Now are you glad you brought me?” she asked.
“I certainly am,” said a silky voice behind us.
We spun around as Hunters closed in.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
At least ten dark figures converged on us. One of them wore a flowing black cape.
We were surrounded.
“Of course,” Averett muttered underneath her breath. “Can’t you all just mind your own business?”
“The objects on the Counter Wheel are our business,” said one of the hooded figures.
“Yeah, but we found this one, so scram,” said Averett, making a shooing motion.
The Hunters didn’t move. A few more appeared to press in.
“Did you follow us?” I asked. I had to buy us a few minutes and a chance to figure out a way out of the trap.
Wind could help. The earth I’d dug up was sitting not far from the Hunters’ feet. That could be useful as well. Averett was a skilled fighter, but we were outmatched in terms of straight fighting power.
“We were close by. We knew that objects were buried in the woods. We’d been looking here after we found the ones left on campus.”
I took a deep breath. “Have you found them all?”
“Not the Gol. . .” one of the other figures started to say.
“Shut up,” hissed the first voice.
So they hadn’t found the Golden Rod yet, unless they were blowing smoke to mislead us. I thought that was unlikely; these Hunters, especially the rank and file, weren’t that smart.
The Golden Rod: the most important artifact of them all. To think that they hadn’t found it was a relief, but did that mean that they’d found the others? My heart sped up at the thought.
Lisabelle’s life was in even more danger than I had realized. Not to mention the lives of the rest of us.
“We just needed the Sling. Now if you’d be so kind as to hand it over?” The nearest hooded figure held out his hand.
Averett spit on the ground, then lifted her booted foot to stomp on the spot. “No.”
I glanced behind us to see if there was a way to run. We had to get out of here. There were too many of them.
More Hunters had converged on the cemetery even as we spoke. We were now utterly surrounded.
“Hand over the slingshot and we’ll let you live,” said the nearest Hunter.
“You expect me to believe that?” I demanded.
Failure was a bitter taste in my mouth. The Hunters were so close to having everything they wanted, it was a bitter pill to swallow.
They had succeeded where I had failed, despite having searched for the artifacts all semester.
“Believe what you like,” said Horveth. The vampire dropped his hood and smiled. “But you will give us that artifact,” he added, holding out his hand. The artifact shot into the air and floated toward him. The next instant he was holding it.
My essence hadn’t even reacted.
“See what I mean?” His voice was silken evil.
“Thank you for retrieving this. Unfortunately, now you’re all alone,” he said.
Some of the other Hunters started to jeer. They had been waiting for this. Averett glanced at me and slightly shook her head.
But then we weren’t alone.
Suddenly, the lengthening shadows all around us changed, and a solid figure stepped forth from the darkness.
Darkness herself appeared all around us. In an instant, the entire cemetery was engulfed in black flames. All around us the Hunters screamed as a vicious vision of shifting silver and white blades and black magic closed in on them.
“H
old your lines! We planned for this!” bellowed one of the Hunter vampires.
Planning for Lisabelle Verlans and encountering Lisabelle Verlans were two different things. They were about to find that out.
The idea that the Hunters had planned for her and thought their plan would work was laughable.
For a single moment, Lisabelle spun in my direction. Her face froze and a smile touched her lips. Then she was spinning away again.
The Hunters tried to converge on her. The Hunter who had grabbed for me forgot about me completely in his effort to take out Lisabelle.
The Premier of All Darkness slew figure after attacking figure. In every direction she spun wildly. Her knives whipped through the air with terrifying precision. As she threw them out, more would appear. Darkness rolled off her in waves, sharp and biting. Whatever her magic touched fell.
The slight warmth I’d seen from her a moment before had evaporated, cut away by power, and magic, and fighting. There was no warmth in the figure that fought before us.
Wild and unending as she was, though, her attackers came on.
She was one against a hundred.
She was one against a thousand.
And she was winning.
Unforgiving and relentless, she continued to stand and fight. Darkness spells from the Hunters rose up and died at her feet.
I moved closer to stand with Averett.
“Glad she’s on our side,” Averett breathed. Her eyes followed Lisabelle’s progress through the clearing. “I wish Lanca could see this. Lisabelle fighting for us. Fight for the paranormals. Because she is one.” Averett opened her mouth again as if to say more, but closed it.
Now was not the time.
I turned to Averett, letting a little of my flame burn in response. The light played over her sharp features, illuminating a cold smile.
“What side exactly are you on?” I asked her quietly.
Her face turned another shade toward stone. Her eyes narrowed to slits.
“What does that mean?” Her words flared and burned from her lips.
“It means you’re a vampire, and your cousin is against Lisabelle,” I said evenly.
A knife flashed past my cheek and somewhere nearby a Hunter fell.
“Have I ever given you any reason to doubt me?” she asked.
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