“Won’t be too long,” Lilith said, flashing
him a grin. “Just sit back and enjoy the ride.
We’ll be there soon.”
The sun was already well on its way to going down when they finally stopped at a huge park on the outskirts of the city. Edward was starving. They had driven for what seemed like hours! Edward glanced outside the window at the park. It had a beautiful lake in its center and was surrounded on all sides by tall, waving palm trees.
“Here we are,” Henry said, pulling back the brake. “Echo Park.”
Edward got out of the car and gazed around appreciatively. Henry and Lilith were right. It definitely was a beautiful spot for a picnic, especially at sunset. “It’s really nice. We don’t have palm trees in Oregon,” he called back over his shoulder.
He felt Henry and Lilith approach, standing on either side of his shoulders. Glancing up, he noticed that they were staring directly at him, with strange, fixed smiles, their pale blue eyes shining in the waning light.
“So, when do we eat?” Edward asked, feeling uncomfortable. He looked around and noticed that neither of them seemed to be holding a picnic basket. “Uh . . . W-What’s for dinner?”
Henry and Lilith shared a laugh. The tall woman put a hand on Edward’s shoulder and her smile widened. Edward noticed again that she had very white teeth, but this time he noticed something else about them. Something that he hadn’t seen the first time that they met. It was a subtle thing, something that gave her smile an unusual twist.
They were very, very sharp.
Chapter Fifteen
HUNTER
The song that Melchior sang was imperfect and raw. Had he possessed the vocal cords he once had, it would have soared with the power of a fifty-piece orchestra. In comparison, the best he could do now was what sounded to his ears like an out-of-tune string quartet. But by any mortal standards, it was beautiful.
Each note struck upon his harp harmonized with Melchior’s deep voice, filling the melody with rich overtones. The effect it produced on Sariel and Artemis was instantaneous. It had been a long time since they’d heard the powerful music of the Woodbine, and it immediately inspired feelings of courage inside both of their hearts.
As the beautiful harmonies wove a tapestry of song, several shining circles materialized on the ground in front of them. At first, they looked like four glowing teacups turned upside down. But then the cups spouted thick, heavy stalks growing up from the center of each one. The stalks grew taller and joined in the middle, thickening into a wide body. It was at that moment that Sariel and Artemis realized what they were seeing. With a thrill, they realized that it was the body of a horse, growing from its hooves upward.
They gazed in amazement as the horse’s chestnut body sprouted a long, golden tail. Then, instead of the neck and head that they expected to see rise out of the horse’s trunk, something else emerged instead.
It was the upper torso of a powerfully built man with a quiver of arrows slung over his shoulder. His huge right hand held a bow made of bronze and his face was ferocious and strong.
Beads of sweat appeared on Melchior’s forehead as he continued to play and sing, the melody changing to sound like a hunting horn. The gigantic centaur, for that is what it was, blinked slowly and raised its bearded face to the sky, listening closely to the lyrics of the song. Then, after a moment, its expression hardened into a sense of purpose. The lyrics in the song had told it exactly what it was supposed to do.
Sariel and Artemis were so taken by the magical creature and the song that they almost forgot their mission. Sariel felt that she could have stayed for hours, just listening to the beautiful music. Her eyes traveled from the centaur to her master’s face. Melchior’s expression was determined, but his hands shook as they strummed the harp strings. Singing the forbidden song was taking every ounce of strength he had. It was then that she suddenly remembered her master’s instructions. They were supposed to jump on the centaur’s back!
“Quick, get on!” she shouted to Artemis, feeling angry at herself for delaying. She scurried up the creature’s massive foreleg, knowing full well that they didn’t have any time to lose.
“Oh!” Artemis said, blinking. Then he quickly hopped into the air and flapped up behind where Sariel sat perched upon the creature’s back.
Sariel glanced over at Melchior again and immediately wished she hadn’t. Her master’s face had turned chalky white. Porcupine quills like the ones he had beneath his hat were now sprouting on his arms and legs. He was covered with a coat of thorns, and as each new quill shot out of his skin, a spasm of pain crossed his face.
She knew at once what it was.
The Corruption.
It was the thing that had been at work on them all since they fell, the terrible curse that the Jackal put on all of his servants.
She’d watched, horrified, the first time the curse had taken effect. Shortly after the Fall, she, Melchior, and Artemis had started to change. The first stages of the Corruption had been subtle. But over the succeeding months she had begun to shrink, growing more and more fur. It was quicker for Artemis and her, for they were low-ranking Guardians and didn’t possess as much resistance as Melchior. But she could never forget the horror as she made the painful transformation from a beautiful Guardian into an animal. It had been terrible to watch her human body and glossy wings disappear before her very eyes.
With a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach, she wondered what would be left of Mr. Spines when she saw him again.
But there was no time to ponder this. The magical Hunter had received the instructions that Spines had woven into his song. The melody had spoken to him of the tall boy with ebony wings, and the magical creature knew immediately what to do and where to find him.
With a lurch, the huge centaur bounded into the dusky Los Angeles street, taking off at a blazing gallop. The tiny ermine gripped his flanks as tightly as she could with her paws, her hair and whiskers flying behind her.
“Hang on!” she shouted back to Artemis, whose toad eyes were bulging with fear. He had his webbed fingers wrapped tightly around her middle.
“Whatever you do, don’t let go!”
Chapter Sixteen
ECHO PARK
“Stay away from me!” Edward shouted as he backed slowly toward the murky water, clutching his bleeding arm. The sun had sunk below the mountains, and, in the encroaching darkness, Echo Park had undergone a transformation. The shadows cast by the swaying palms resembled long arms with claw-like hands. The glittering water of the lake had turned into an impenetrable swamp. And Henry and Lilith, the innocent tourists from Salem, Oregon, had become something else. They bared their sharp, pointy teeth in animalistic grins and were advancing slowly, like lions circling some wounded prey. They looked very, very hungry.
“Now, now Edward. I told you we weren’t gonna hurt ya,” Henry said, his pale eyes glinting in the semi-darkness. Lilith chuckled. “That’s right,” she added. “But I’m sure that the Jackal won’t mind if we have just one more little bite before we send you to meet him.” She gazed at Edward’s skinny arm with greedy anticipation. Her voice took on a whimpering, desperate tone. “The fingers this time, Asmoday. He won’t be needing them.”
Edward heard a sucking sound beneath his feet and looked down. To his horror he realized that he’d backed into the muddy bank at the edge of the lake. There was nowhere left for him to run and he didn’t know how to swim well enough to get across the lake. Plus, he doubted that he could outswim Henry and Lilith, even if he did know how!
Lilith swiped at him, narrowly missing his arm. Edward jerked backward at the last second. She laughed as he teetered at the edge of the water, his long arms rotating like a windmill as he tried to regain his balance.
“Look at him, Henry!” the woman cackled. “He looks like a scarecrow!”
Suddenly, from somewhere deep inside of him, a new awareness washed over Edward as he looked into the hungry faces of Henry and Lilith. He s
tared at them, seeing what they were for the very first time.
They weren’t human at all. They were
something else.
Something evil.
Then, like the moment in the cellar when he’d needed it most, a new word came unbidden to his lips. He didn’t know why, but he shouted the strange word as it rushed into his mind, putting everything he had into it.
“HISTALEK!”
The scent of burning ozone filled the air.
Then suddenly, tremendous bolts of blue lightning shot from each of Edward’s outstretched hands. There was barely time for Henry and Lilith to react. Their faces registered shock as the crackling surges of electricity snaked through the air and slammed into each of their chests.
Lilith screamed.
BOOM!The earth shook as the couple was catapulted backward. Seconds later, their two smoking, twisted bodies hit the hard-packed ground thirty yards away with sickening thuds!
Edward stood at the edge of the lake, unable to believe what he’d just seen. Every ounce of strength had left his body. His knees were quivering so badly, he could barely stand. How had he done that?
In the distance, the crumpled forms of Henry and Lilith began to move. Their bodies jerked slowly upward, like marionettes being pulled awkwardly to their feet. Edward stared, horrified at the wisps of gray smoke trailing upward from their charred skin. After a blast of lightning like that, he thought that they would have been dead for sure! Nothing human could have survived that.
“Guardian,” Lilith hissed at Edward, her voice sounding as ragged as she looked. “You have made a grave mistake.”
He’d never thought of himself as a Guardian before. But he didn’t have time to ponder this. Instead, he watched, horrified, as Lilith’s smile stretched, becoming a long, terrible jaw riddled with needlelike teeth.
Henry Asmoday howled, a roar that echoed through the abandoned park. It was a single, prolonged shout full of hate.
“KILLLLLLLLLLL!”
The nice gentleman Edward met at the train station had long disappeared. Now Henry Asmoday’s hair smoked from the lightning blast and his terrible fangs were bared in a vicious smile. Edward noticed that Henry’s pale, icy blue eyes glinted with malice—eyes that wanted nothing more than to see him die.
And suddenly Edward realized that he’d seen eyes like that many times before. His least favorite teachers at the Foundry, Miss Polanski and Mr. Ignatius, had had them. His aunt’s lawyer had had them, too. Whiplash Scruggs, Lilith, and Henry all had them. It suddenly seemed as if those eyes were everywhere he’d ever been. Watching him. Waiting for an opportunity. Waiting to destroy him.
He’d never been more terrified than he felt at that moment. Henry and Lilith were closing in on him, but Edward was too weak from the tremendous burst of energy he’d expelled to fight back.
Let it be quick, he prayed.
Suddenly, a burning ring of fire shot through the air, embedding itself neatly into Asmoday’s exposed side. The man howled in pain, stumbled, and fell into the lake beside Edward with a tremendous splash.
Edward glanced up, unable to believe his eyes. A huge, galloping centaur carrying something that looked like a white weasel and a flying toad had thundered into view. He realized it was Sariel and Artemis.
“Get on!” the white animal shouted.
Edward didn’t need to be asked twice. In spite of his weak and shaking arms, he managed to climb onto the centaur’s back.
They were about to leave when suddenly he felt something heavy grip his ankle. One of Lilith’s clawlike hands had grabbed the bottom of his leg and was pulling him from the centaur’s back.
“Help!” he cried.
The centaur immediately responded, pulling a long arrow from the quiver on his back. A split-second later, the arrow was embedded in one of Lilith’s horrible blue eyes.
“AIIIIIIEEEEEEE!” Her unearthly scream echoed around them as Edward felt the woman’s grip slip from his leg.
“GO!” shouted Sariel.
“But what about the Oroborus?” shouted Artemis, looking at Asmoday, who had recovered and was rising out of the water. The blazing ring was still embedded in his side.
“We have to leave it!” Sariel shouted. Her tiny fists pounded on the centaur’s shoulder. “Take us to the hideout!”
The centaur reared back and then lurched forward. He loosed an arrow as he ran, sending the shaft skyward in an explosion of golden sparks that lit up the night sky. It was the signal he had been commanded to send when he had accomplished his task.
Far away, Melchior saw the tiny shower of sparks and lowered the harp. The Song of Retrieval was complete.
“Safe,” he whispered, relieved.
His face was deathly pale. New spines pierced through the back of his coat and trouser legs. He was more shrunken and twisted than he’d ever been.
His breathing was labored and he knew walking would be difficult. The Corruption had taken a severe toll.
At least I’m not dead, he thought. But then he heard a voice behind him that made him wonder if death might have been preferable.
“Hello, Melchior,” the voice said with a distinctly southern drawl.
Chapter Seventeen
THE BRADBURY
The Jackal’s headquarters was housed in an elegant building known to Angelinos as the Bradbury Building. It was a massive feat of engineering, with tall columns and twisted iron filigree, but the true wonder was that the mortal citizens of Los Angeles always failed to notice the one thing that unified the Bradbury’s many residents. Each of the policeman, lawyers, doctors, and businessmen that traversed its narrow corridors had one unique attribute in common. They all had eyes that were such a pale blue they were almost colorless.
At the very bottom floor of the Bradbury Building was a basement used for storage. In the far corner of that basement, hidden behind a bunch of unused filing cabinets, was a door. Behind the door and down a long flight of stairs was Whiplash Scruggs’s favorite place: the torture chamber.
It was to here that the bulky man dragged the pitiful body of Mr. Spines. He was chained and thrown into a crumbling brick cell to wait for whatever was in store for him next. Mr. Spines drifted in and out of consciousness.
He wasn’t sure how long he had been there when he woke with a terrible thirst, but there was nothing to drink. He’d tried to sip a few drops of rusty water that leaked from the slime-ridden pipes on the wall, but had given that up quickly. Like everything else in the Jackal’s earthly headquarters, it was foul and poisonous.
Spines knew that the Corruption was close to completion. If he didn’t get the help he needed, he would be transformed into a full-fledged Groundling. He would become a creature that was entirely of the same mind as the Jackal, filled with hatred for all things good and true.
Unfortunately, the cure he needed was nowhere to be found on Earth. He needed a choir of Guardians to sing the Chorus of Restoration, a powerful melody that had to be sung by no fewer than twelve for its magical healing power to work. His only chance for healing was in the Woodbine, the one place forbidden to him now, and the place he needed to get to more than anywhere else.
Mr. Spines was startled to hear heavy footsteps echoing outside his moldy cell and then a key turn the rusty lock on his door. He understood what would be coming next. But no matter how much he was tortured, he was determined not to tell Scruggs what he desperately wanted to know.
Edward’s location would remain secret at any cost.
Chapter Eighteen
HIDEOUT
“But where is he? I thought he said he was going to meet us here?” Artemis whined. He was still shaken up from their encounter with the Groundlings in Echo Park. Luckily for them, the centaur had been able to whisk them to Spines’s secret hideout with lightning speed. Right after he had delivered them to the front door, he’d faded from view with a triumphant blast of his hunting horn.
Artemis hated to think what would have happened if they had been forc
ed to confront the two Groundlings in open battle.
“He’ll be here, don’t worry,” the ermine said.
Sariel scurried over to the wall and turned on the gas lamps in the elegant living room. Artemis could tell from her voice that she wasn’t confident.
“What is this p-place?” Edward asked, noticing the richly carved mahogany furniture with satin pillows. On the high walls were portraits of dignified gentlemen that stared down at him with haughty expressions. Edward had never been in such a luxurious house. He couldn’t help feeling like an intruder and wondered if they really had permission to be there.
“We’re in a house in Bunker Hill’s most exclusive neighborhood. An unlikely spot for a group of fallen Guardians, I know, but we got lucky. Melchior has a generous benefactor.” Sariel hopped onto a sitting chair and indicated a portrait on the wall. Edward observed a stodgy-looking gentleman with bushy sideburns and glasses.
“That’s Prudent Beaudry. He was the mayor of Los Angeles about thirty or forty years ago. His family wanted to know how their grandfather was doing in the Afterlife and Melchior found out for them. In return, they allow us to use his house as a base of operations when we’re stupid enough to come down here,” Artemis said bitterly. “But that’s probably going to change now that you had to go and get caught up with the two of them.”
“Wh-what do you m-mean?” Edward asked.
“Don’t you know who we rescued you from back there in the park?” Artemis asked, fixing Edward with a pointed stare. Edward shook his head “no.”
“It was Asmoday and Lilith—two of the most feared Groundlings in the Jackal’s army!” The toad sounded almost hysterical. “If it hadn’t been for Sariel’s shot with the Oroborus, Asmoday would have killed you.”
The toad let out a pitiful moan, grabbing his head with his webbed hands. “I can’t stand this anymore,” he complained. “Why did Melchior force us to come down here? We were doing just fine up in Portland.”
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