“They aren’t real, Faye,” Weldon says from behind me. He grabs my hand. Pulls me away from those I want to save. Those I can’t help.
I try to break free, but he isn’t having it. He doesn’t let go until we’re standing on the other side of the hallway next to Meredith, watching the rest of our team through new eyes.
There’s no war here. Lukah and Evangeline are crouched on the floor, arms out as if they’re trying to hold someone up, but there’s nothing there. Jezi’s trying to cast a spell, but she’s standing inches away from a wall covered in mirrors. Katie’s bent over, crying as the other Elite slices through thin air with his flux. Jaxen and Gavin are running toward us, keeping their eyes trained forward.
It wasn’t real. None of it.
The faint edges of laughter sound around us, and we all look around, trying to find where it’s coming from.
“Clara,” Weldon says. “I’d know that sickening laughter anywhere.”
“It was another trap. We must not have picked up on it,” Meredith says, her hands fisted. “She put these mirrors up, reflecting whatever’s happening somewhere else. It’s meant to drive you insane.”
Weldon mutters to himself as he stalks toward the rest of our group, helping Gavin and Jaxen pull them away from the demon mirrors.
“Let’s take a minute,” Gavin says once we’re all back together.
“They’re losing,” Jezi says, arms wrapped around herself.
“That’s what she wants us to think,” Gavin says. “She’s a cold, calculating bitch.”
Katie sobs. “It was horrific.”
“And it was all so we can do this mission,” Jaxen says, his tone harsh. “We have to keep it together. We have to keep moving. If you take anything away from what we just saw, take that they’re sacrificing themselves for this cause. For that, we will do everything we can to see it through.” He turns to Gavin. “We need to keep moving.”
“Agreed. Breaks over, everyone,” Gavin says. He looks to Meredith. She smirks and continues forward.
“Well, that was an exhilarating trip through Clara’s funhouse,” Weldon says as we march forward. “Let’s never do that again.”
“Let’s,” I say, taking all my anger and hate for Clara and burying it deep in my soul.
Justice will come for her, one way or another.
And it will come from my hands.
WE ROUND CORNER AFTER CORNER, following the glowing handprints left by Meredith as what feels like hours fall away from us like leaves in the fall. Very few words are exchanged. Only occasionally halting when one of us spots a trap. I’m grateful for the break of hateful bickering between the two, but every time we reach the end of a hallway, there’s another to trek down that looks exactly the same.
I wonder about our army and how they’re holding up against Bael’s horde of demons. I wonder how far we are from them, and if they’ve managed to get the bombs in or not. After a while, I wonder if we’re walking in circles. If hell is playing tricks on us. Maybe we unknowingly walked into one of their traps, and its sole purpose is to make us feel lost. I feel like I’m in a labyrinth I’m never going to see the end of.
“Are you sure we’re going the right way?” Weldon finally asks, taking the words from my mouth. “I feel like we should be running for our lives or fighting for them or something.”
Jaxen makes a noise with his throat. “Yeah, like Clara would make it that easy for us.”
Weldon tosses the idea around in his head. “Yeah, I guess you’re right. Clara’s one for dragging things out and torturing the shit out of people.”
“We’re going the right way,” Meredith cuts in, eyes focused forward, feet set on the path of reaching the end. “And have you considered that maybe they’re focusing on the war your people have started down here?”
Weldon looks back at us, impressed by the thought. “Let’s hope that’s what it is.”
Chewing on a piece of beef jerky I pulled from my bag, passing some back to the others, I say, “How did you make it out of here without knowing which way to go?”
Meredith huffs and halts, turning on me. “By trial and error. Patience and persistence. Now, can we get back to it?”
Weldon ruffles a hand through his hair and blows out a frustrated sigh. “You know, I’m sorry, but I can’t shake my discomfort in the fact that there hasn’t been a peep on their end. Don’t you think that’s a little strange considering we’re currently roaming their halls and blowing up their silly traps? They have to know we’re here.”
She chews on her cheek again and shifts her weight from one foot to the other, not looking thrilled in the least as Gavin checks his map again. “Yeah, because they spend all their time worrying about who’s in their halls. What I think is we should be doing more walking and less talking.”
Weldon licks his lips tightly, as if every part of him strains against saying whatever clever, witty, and rude remark he’s cooked up to feed her. I stare at him, hoping he reads my eyes as I beg him not to say it. Not to push her any further for the sake of my sanity. “I’m just thinking,” he finally says, his voice strained as he speaks through his teeth. “This kind of silence screams ambush. It isn’t normal.”
“He’s right,” Jaxen says. “It doesn’t feel right. The firelings came after us, and the pit just so happened to drop us here. Something’s off.”
“If so, then so be it,” Meredith says, crossing her arms. “We’ll deal with it when it comes. There isn’t a thing we can do about it but move forward.”
“What else can we do?” Gavin asks, the energy in his eyes rapidly dwindling. “You said yourself that we can’t shadow walk because they’ll be able to follow our trail.”
Meredith stops near another corner, sends out a small spell to see if there’s a trap, and then continues forward when the spell fizzles out. “This was never going to be easy.”
“Really, woman?” Weldon grabs Meredith’s shoulder, halting her, and then tosses a rock he picked up a few feet back into the air in front of us. A hive of spells ricochet off the walls like tiny darts, whizzing past us as we drop to the ground, covering ourselves with our forearms.
“I’m just saying,” Weldon shouts over the loud popping noise of the spells, “something is off. They have to know where we are by now. If that’s the case, then we need to have a back-up plan.”
“What do you propose?” Meredith shouts back, scooting closer to our small huddle.
It’s the pause he takes that twists fingers around my heart and constricts. His eyes are on me, serious and somewhat remorseful as he says, “I’ll shadow walk us to where you’re taking us, drop you all where you’re supposed to be, and then continue shadow walking to throw them off. They won’t know you stayed behind.”
I feel sick all of a sudden. Like I’ve been stopped dead in my tracks, slammed in the gut by reality. “They might catch you in the process, Weldon,” I say, my voice laced with fear. My palms going clammy.
“Absolutely not,” Jaxen says, agreeing with me.
The spells die off around us and we stand back up, but my legs don’t feel as strong as they did before. They’re wobbling, shaking at the thought of losing him too.
“Gavin, tell him,” I say, searching his face.
Gavin isn’t the Gavin I knew anymore. “I agree with Weldon. We can’t keep trekking through these tunnels like this. Sterling and your father agree as well. Something has to be up. Bael’s army has pulled back enough from the fight that it’s causing them concern. It’s best we take the risk and find a safe hiding place where we can hole up for an hour or two and regroup.”
I’m boiling on the inside.
Weldon grabs my arm and reassuringly squeezes. “We don’t have any safer alternative, mouse. No matter what, they can’t catch you. That’s my part in this mission. Your part is to get the amulet and get to the machine.”
I stare at the ground, trying to keep the protests marching up my throat under control. Trying to keep my trembling lip from
being noticeable.
“And Claire?” Meredith throws in, eyebrows raised.
His voice is strained when he answers her. “Despite the fact that I trust you about as much as I’d trust holding a wet cat… that will be left in your hands should I have to part from you all.” He looks to Gavin and Jaxen. “Promise me you will ensure Claire’s safety should something go wrong.”
Jaxen doesn’t hesitate. “Of course.”
“We got you,” Gavin adds.
Jezi appears from behind Evangeline and Kat. “I’ll make sure she doesn’t try anything funny.” She’s looking at Meredith. “Claire will make it home. Safe.”
There are so many emotions in his eyes, too many to process, and I take Jezi’s hand in mine and squeeze.
“Are we done with the soap-opera melodrama?” Meredith asks. She looks to Weldon. “Let’s huddle up and you can do your thing.”
Everyone forms into a circle, desperate to attach themselves to Weldon before I even get the chance to protest this. He’s already explaining the rules to everyone about how to properly shadow walk, and how we all need to stay physically connected, but his words die off by the drastic change in the air. The sweltering temperature sweeping by us like a solar flare.
Demons.
The moment our eyes connect, we’re running, following after Meredith’s calculated steps as demons pop in the air around us, reaching out and yelling through the dust our heels kick up. Two demons appear between Weldon and me. I don’t have enough time to stop. To think. To run.
Slamming into a rock-solid chest, I land harshly onto my back. The breath rushes out of me, but I’ve already summoned two fluxes and spotted both of their stigmas by the time I suck in air.
“You good?” Jaxen asks, grabbing my hand and pulling me upright.
There isn’t time to answer.
Jaxen ducks and kicks his feet out, taking down the demon closest to him, and then stabs him through the stigma on his throat, volation coursing down his veined arms, while I drop two more to their knees with my power.
Weldon’s hand pushes through the black smoke of their vanishing bodies, his features darker now that he’s shifted into his demon form.
“Duck!” I shout as a demon appears a few feet in front of Meredith. She drops as I release my flux, watching it land into the stigma located on the demon’s shoulder. He vanishes, and I grab my flux from the ground as we continue forward.
“Meredith!” Weldon shouts after her disappearing form as he grabs a demon by the collar, and then snaps his neck as if it were nothing more than a twig. “Get back here! Stick to the plan!”
Meredith stops running and turns. There’s hesitation in her eyes.
We can’t move forward. Can’t follow after her. There are too many of them, and they’re coming at us from all sides.
“Faye!” I hear Katie call.
I scan through the spells and volation whizzing in the air, finding her running my way after Lukah stabs one of the demons trying to attack her.
“Kat, stay by me!” I shout, grabbing her hand and pulling her closer. Not wanting her out of my sight should something go wrong. She’s doing her best to fend off what she can, tapping into my magic here and there.
Two more demons emerge from the opposite end of the hallway, but they’re taken out by one of the traps that open a hollow space in the floor beneath them, dropping them into darkness.
Three more demons appear between Meredith and us. They don’t care about her. Their eyes are trained on me as we fight off who we can. I prepare myself, looking to Jaxen, who nods, and then I peer over them to see Meredith slipping further down the hall away from us.
“The Everlasting,” one of the demons says to the others. “Bael will be pleased.”
I tug on his energy, watching him drop to his knees.
Darkness swarms my insides as I shout, “Meredith deserted us!” I struggle to drive my flux through the stigma on the thigh of the large demon holding me up in the air by the throat as Jaxen fights his way to me. He reaches out, but another demon lands a punch into his side, sending him flying backward, out of my sight.
“Meredith, so help me…” I hear Weldon shout through his teeth as he slams his fist into a demon’s chest, taking them out, one by one until he’s close to me. “Claire will never forgive you for this!”
I watch her form stop. Suddenly, she is running back to us, screaming out with magic in her palms. The demon’s hand lets go of my neck, and I use the advantage to drain the energy of the remaining two, watching them shrivel up and disappear into black clouds of smoke.
“What the hell was that?” Meredith asks, looking at me in shock.
“The same thing I’ll do to you if you try to desert us like that again,” I say unwaveringly.
“Should we use our rings?” an Elite shouts as he scrambles under a demon.
“No!” Gavin snaps. He punches a demon. “We only use that when we have no other option.” His flux drives through the demon’s heart.
Large, hearty growls fill the small space. Evangeline’s pack has shifted, ripping and tearing where they can, but none of them notices the struggle between Bianca and the three demons cornering her.
I make a run for her as Toby struggles to get out from under a demon who has him pinned to the floor, punching him repeatedly.
Bianca’s thrashing at the air with her flux, but her movements are too panicky for her to hit their stigmas.
“Faye!” I hear Jaxen shout behind me, but I don’t stop. I focus on all the dark energy around me and pull as hard as I can, letting it fill me up. Demons drop all around me as I tug and tug, fighting my way to Bianca. I watch one, then two, then four demons drop, vanishing into thin air.
Black eyes lock on me the moment the demons resisting my pull realize who I am, and what I’m capable of.
Good, I think to myself. Come after me instead.
But that isn’t what they do. Those still fighting turn their heads to the side as if they hear something I can’t, and then I hear Weldon cursing and yelling at everyone to run.
It takes me a good second to realize what’s happening. How everything has changed for the worst in just a split second. The demons are grabbing at whoever they can, disappearing into thin air. I watch Bianca and Toby disappear. Hear the screams when Damien is ripped from Evangeline’s side.
No, no, no!
“Cover Faye! Do not let them take her,” Gavin shouts as they try to circle around me. Volation moves in an arc demons can’t enter over those closest to me, formed by Jaxen and another hunter Elite. A demon latches onto Katie’s hand as she tries to make it within the arc, but Jezi’s right there, stabbing him through his stigma and then spinning to stab another behind her.
“Lukah, let’s go!” Evangeline shouts at him as he rips and tears the neck off two, and then three, demons. He’s in a killing frenzy.
I close my eyes, and then pull harder than I’ve ever pulled before, reaching for every dark soul around me. The power that slams into me drops me to my knees, but I keep tugging, watching the demons decaying and then vanishing, one after the other.
More storm the hallways. They’re heading our way, and I know I won’t be able to hold them all off. We won’t be able to take this without the army. I feel like I’m splitting in half, as if I’m one pull away from bursting, but I won’t stop until I know my friends are safe.
“Run!” I shout to Gavin as I sway on my knees.
“Weldon!” Gavin shouts back, not listening to me.
“I know. We need to shadow walk now. More are on their way,” Weldon says, extending his arm to us. “Everyone, grab on. Meredith, think about where you want to go.”
She nods and then grabs his hand.
I switch my emotions off, knowing if I don’t that I won’t go through with it. Being stuck with Meredith while Weldon risks himself is the last thing I ever wanted to happen.
The remaining part of our group backs up, racing to get into the arc we’re under so we c
an shadow walk together.
“Head for that shadow,” Weldon says, pointing to a corner. “Stay together!”
Demonic growls cloud the air as panic sends my heart racing.
“We can’t hold this for long,” Jaxen says through gritted teeth as he and the other hunters do their best to keep the shield up against the demons slamming into them again and again.
“When we move, I’m going to walk us through other places first so they won’t suspect anything. We’re going to have to move quicker than you’ve ever moved. Then, once I drop you, take cover until you know the coast is clear.”
“And you?” I ask.
“I’ll find you, Faye. You have me… here.” He points to my forehead and smiles reassuringly.
Lukah runs up to the arc, and then stops. He looks back, as if he’s searching for someone.
“He’s gone, Lukah. Please, I don’t want to lose you too,” Evangeline pleads, reaching her hand out to him as he snaps another demon’s neck.
His silver eyes are two lakes of anguish. A growl rips from within him, and then he jumps into the arc.
“On three,” Weldon calls out. “One. Two. Three.”
MAYHEM ERUPTS THE MOMENT WE step into the shadows. It’s like walking into a room with only a strobe light flickering in and out. We catch glimpses of where we are as Weldon moves us from one place to another. Circling back at times, but then moving forward, all at the same pace to keep every trail just as fresh as the last.
It’s the only way he can ensure they won’t know which trail was last used. Every few seconds, I hear the angered voices coming from the demons following us, trying to stop us as Weldon pushes further and harder, only holding our hands as a guide.
I briefly think about pressing my ring, but the thought comes and goes as quick as a swift breath. There’s no time for going back. No time for thinking ahead. There’s just right now, and making it out of these shadows alive.
“We’re close,” Meredith says, trying to slow Weldon down.
“When I drop you, run. Don’t wait for me. Just go,” he says.
Everdeep (The Night Watchmen Series Book 4) Page 23