The Fourth Soul: (Cards of Death book 4)

by Tamara Geraeds

  I hang onto every word she says. “What did she want?”

  “She demanded to see John, so I told her he was out for work. That’s when her whole demeanor changed. She turned into a raging lunatic, hissing threats at me like some sort of siren.”

  “Maybe she was a siren,” Jeep comments.

  I shoot him a look that says, ‘don’t confuse her’ and he swallows whatever more he wanted to say.

  From experience, I know it’s hard to process all the information about the magical world. The more you learn, the harder it gets to wrap your mind around it. I have to be honest: everyone who said I wasn’t ready to know certain things was probably right. And now, Mom is getting the whole load of information at once. All I can do to keep her from going crazy is leave out some details.

  “Anyway,” Mom continues. “This woman was really pissed off. She said she had lost her daughter because of John, and she demanded her return. I told her I was sorry that her daughter was abducted and that I would tell John to contact her as soon as he got home. She pricked a finger in my chest and told me I’d better do that, or it wouldn’t end well for us. She strode off before I could slam the door in her face.”

  Vicky almost drops the bowl she’s holding. “She demanded her daughter’s return?”

  Mom nods. “Yes, she said something about John knowing how to get the right book to do that. He failed to protect her daughter and therefore owed her. Something like that.”

  I take the bowl from Vicky, who seems lost in thought. “So, I take it Dad didn’t find the girl and that’s when the woman cursed him. And us in the process. If we find her, she’ll lift the curse, right?”

  Vicky rubs her eyes. “It’s not her we have to find. It’s the book.”

  “What book?” Mom asks.

  The rest of the Shield suddenly grows nervous. I remember the last time they looked like that, and my muscles tighten. “You mean the book that he was looking for when he…” I can barely squeeze the words out, “when he burned that man?”

  “He what?” Mom gasps.

  “We’ll get to that later,” I say gently before turning my attention back to Vicky. “I thought you guys didn’t know what kind of book he was searching for?”

  “We didn’t,” Vicky says. “Just that it was something evil. It had to be if he was looking for it in his… state.”

  “But?”

  “But now I know which book it must be, and I’m sorry to say this, but even if we can find it, we can’t hand it over to that woman.”

  “Why not? It might be the only way to break the curse on you.”

  She bows her head. “I know, so we’ll just have to deal with it like your mother did.” She shoots Mom a small smile.

  Taylar taps her on the shoulder. “Excuse me, would you mind explaining the reason for this for those of us who don’t speak gibberish?”

  She chuckles, but it sounds more sad than happy. “That woman said she had lost her daughter and wanted her back, right?”

  “Yes, so?” Taylar still looks puzzled, but the meaning of her words is slowly dawning on me.

  “Her daughter wasn’t kidnapped, she died. John used to help people who were possessed, but sometimes the monster inside was stronger than him. This woman didn’t want John to find the girl, she wanted him to find the book that can bring her back to life.”

  “That doesn’t sound good,” Charlie says. He and Mona have been scanning the walls, ceiling and floor of the hidden room while we were talking, but after Vicky’s last words, they have given up and joined us in the hallway.

  “I have heard about this book, too,” Maël says. “It is the most dangerous one in existence, called the Book of a Thousand Deaths. Many have tried to destroy it, but it cannot be done. The Keepers of Life have been appointed to protect it by any means necessary. They guard it with their lives so it won’t fall into the wrong hands.”

  I flinch at her last words, remembering the memory they showed me of Dad setting that man on fire in front of his wife and children. Still, he didn’t give up the location of the book. He must have been a member of the order.

  Mom leans against the wall, her expression a mixture of disbelief and concern. “What is so dangerous about that book then?”

  Vicky rakes her fingers through her long, dark hair. “It’s full of dark spells that can tip the balance of the universe. If even one of those spells is cast, nothing in life and death will ever be the same. For example, if you use the spell to bring someone back to life ― and this is the real one where they return exactly like they were, no backlash ― you disturb the balance of the whole universe. You see, the souls of the dead go to the Underworld, where Charon takes them across the river Acheron, so they can move on to either Hell or Heaven. Some souls are lost and end up somewhere in between, in the Shadow World. Some linger on Earth, like us, for whatever reason. This is all meant to be. It is the natural system of the universe. When you bring someone back from death, their soul has to travel back through the Underworld. For dead souls, there is only one way to go on the river Acheron. If someone goes the other way, the whole Underworld, and with it the rest of the universe, might crumble to dust.”

  “Then you’re right,” I say. “We can’t give it to that woman.”

  “Maybe we can talk to her, explain what’s going on?” Mom offers. “Tell her we need Vicky to fight the Devil. If we can find the woman.”

  Vicky nudges me. “If your mom describes the woman, you could draw her. Like a profile sketch.”

  D’Maeo nods approvingly. “That’s a good idea, Vicky. We could take the sketch and ask around.”

  “But first…” I walk into the hidden room and look around, “I want to know what’s in this room.”

  Vicky seems happy with the change of subject. Her hands move with skill as she takes five different herbs from her pocket and crushes them in the bowl until they form a ball of goo.

  “Here.” She hands the bowl to me. “Use this to draw a pentagram in a circle on the ceiling.”

  Jeep hands me a stool so I can reach it, and I put my finger in the sticky substance and create a large pentagram above our heads.

  “Now heat up the circle with this candle until it forms a second circle on the ground, mirroring the original one.”

  I’m not exactly sure what she means, but when I hold the candle below the circle, the herbs melt and start dripping. After several minutes, the circle on the floor is complete, and I hand the candle back to Vicky.

  I take the spell she wrote down out of my pocket and begin.

  “Shadows high and shadows low,

  show me what I do not know.

  Bring in sight what’s hidden here.

  Let the unseen reappear.”

  The candles in the corners are blown out. The darkness moves around us, and Mom lets out a small shriek.

  Mona pulls her a bit back, and my gaze returns to what’s happening in the room.

  The shadows are getting longer. They stretch until they get so light that they’re almost invisible. They soar along the walls and pull more darkness away. Along with the shadows, the dust also vaporizes. Bit by bit, the room changes from dark, dusty and uninviting to surprisingly light and clean.

  “There!” Taylar dives inside, his eyes glued to the corner next to the small window.

  I turn when he passes me and watch as the retreating shadows slowly reveal something that looks like a porthole. It is closed, but the scene behind it look very familiar.

  CHAPTER 5

  When Taylar reaches for the locks keeping the porthole closed, I place a hand on his arm. “Wait. We don’t know what’s behind it.”

  “Sure we do, it’s some sort of cave.”

  I shake my head. “Actually, it’s the silver mine. I used to go there often when I needed a clear head.”

  “Oh, right.” Taylar looks from me to the porthole and back. “So, you think this leads straight into the mine, which is in the forest on
the other side of Blackford?”

  I gesture at the dark rock behind the window. “Well, it looks like it. Do you think it’s fake?”

  He shrugs. “Could be. Or it’s a place that looks like the silver mine.”

  The rest of the Shield and Charlie join us and peek inside.

  “Hey,” Vicky says, pointing at something I can’t see from where I’m standing. “Isn’t that the entrance to the tunnel where you found your dad’s notebook and the black hole?”

  I weave around the others and bite my lip. “You’re right. That’s the birdcage that opens the tunnel.” I turn to D’Maeo and Maël, who seem to be discussing something in a whisper. “Is this a portal to the mine?”

  “It feels real,” the ghost queen answers.

  “Do you think Dad hid it in here?”

  “Probably.”

  Taylar huffs. “And without telling us.”

  “But why would he create a shortcut to that awful place?” I wonder. “Certainly not just to hide his notebook, right?”

  “Move back!” Jeep suddenly shouts.

  We all jump away from the porthole and draw our weapons. Mom shrinks further back into the hallway, half hidden behind Mona.

  Charlie moves between them and the hidden room and conjures two gel balls.

  I look back at the porthole and draw in a sharp breath when flames obstruct our vision for a moment. Half a second later, a two-headed wolf, twice the size of a normal wolf, walks past. Instead of hair, it has flames covering its body, and the orange in its eyes flickers like a campfire when it turns one of its giant heads our way.

  Mom lets out a frightened scream, and we all raise our weapons.

  But the monster doesn’t hear or see us. It’s focused on the birdcage in front of it. It uses its long tail to pull it down and reveal the secret tunnel.

  Even with the closed porthole between us, I can feel the evil emanating from the black hole at the end of the tunnel and the walls covered in red symbols.

  One of the wolf’s heads sways sideways, and the large mouth opens to reveal a row of long, sharp teeth. It growls so loud that the hairs on my arms stand up. Then it walks into the tunnel, followed by another wolf with two heads, this one a bit smaller.

  “Are those demons?” Mom asks in a quivery voice.

  “Yes,” Maël says. “I think these are the demons from the sixth circle of Hell. That large one must be the head demon.”

  “What?” For a moment I forget about the wolves. “Why would you say that? I haven’t received a new set of demon cards yet.”

  Maël leans on her staff, studying the demons in the tunnel as if they’re playing children. “In the sixth circle, the punishment is fire.”

  I frown. “So? That doesn’t mean anything. Lots of creatures have fire in them.”

  Taylar puts his hands on the window. “What do you think they’re doing there?”

  Before anyone can answer, the porthole starts to move. It turns a fraction to the right, giving us a view of the first half of the secret tunnel. Taylar leans back and for a moment we all hold our breaths, waiting for the demons to notice us.

  But they don’t, and Taylar grabs the frame of the porthole and turns it a bit further.

  “The black hole is still there,” Jeep says. I can tell by the way he’s fidgeting with his hat that this worries him as much as it does me.

  But even more disturbing, is the fact that the black hole has changed. It looks more alive than before, when it was just slightly pulsing.

  “That’s why Dad put in this porthole,” I mumble to myself.

  “Why?” Vicky asks near my ear so suddenly I almost jump.

  I clear my throat. “I think Dad made this portal to the mine so he could investigate the black hole without getting trapped in the tunnel.”

  I shiver at the thought of demons running free in the mine. How many times was I inches away from getting killed by one? Countless times I strolled through those tunnels without realizing I was in grave danger. And not realizing my father was only inches away from me. Did he ever watch me in there?

  “Or maybe he created it in case he’d ever need to pull me to safety,” I say softly.

  Vicky strokes my arm. “It’s probably both.”

  Mom has found the nerve to come closer. She presses herself against my left side while Vicky remains on my right.

  “What are they doing?” she whispers.

  Mona and Charlie approach too, and we all watch the wolf demons as they pace up and down in front of the black hole. Now and then they shake their massive heads, spreading flames all over the tunnel.

  The stench of sulfur hits us even through the closed porthole, and we all press our hands against our noses.

  Finally, the two monsters come to a halt. They growl at each other before turning all of their heads to the black hole. They open their mouths wide and with their fire breaths, they form a circle around the wriggling darkness. Clouds of dark smoke rise from the flaming circle and spread over the black hole. They dance up and down and change into claws that reach into the darkness. As they pull shards of black away, a howling rises from behind it.

  “They are opening the portal,” D’Maeo says gravely.

  I shiver. “A portal to where?”

  “I don’t know, but it doesn’t sound good.”

  My hand shoots out to open the porthole. “We have to stop them.”

  Mom steps back. “What? No, don’t open that!”

  “Don’t worry, they’re outnumbered. Mona will take you downstairs and keep you safe.” I turn to the others. “Is everybody ready?”

  Maël shakes her head calmly. “I don’t think it is wise to give away our secret passage and expose the mansion to a threat like this.”

  “But Dad created a portal here for a reason. This black hole must be important. We can’t just let them open it.”

  The ghost queen keeps her eyes on the tunnel. “I agree, but we do not know what else is out there. There might be more demons standing guard. We cannot risk it. The porthole is not protected by your spell.”

  She’s right. I never protected this room, because I didn’t know it was here. There’s no salt under the porthole, nor is there any under the concealed window. But still… “Who knows what they’re opening and what will get through. We have to do something.”

  “I think there’s still time,” Jeep says, pointing at the porthole. “Look.”

  The claws of smoke in the tunnel slowly dissipate, and the wolves turn around.

  We all lean back as they pass us and hold our breaths when one head turns in our direction. The flaming eyes seem to look straight at us, but the demon keeps walking. They really can’t see us.

  As soon as they’re out of sight, our gazes turn back to the black hole. But we can’t see it anymore, since there’s nothing there to illuminate it.

  “We should go check it out,” I say.

  Vicky pulls a saltshaker from her pocket and hands it to me. “Before we do, you should protect this room. When the salt lines are active, we can go through the porthole to take a closer look.”

  There’s a loud sigh from behind me.

  “Well,” Mom says. “You guys do whatever you need to do. I need a cup of coffee. Or a whole bucket.”

  “I’ll come with you,” Mona says without hesitation. “These guys can take care of themselves.”

  CHAPTER 6

  Thankfully, I only need to perform the last stage of the protection spell, so it doesn’t take long.

  Meanwhile, the others keep an eye on the tunnel.

  Nothing changes and after looking into the dark for another minute or so, I take a burning candle, unlock the porthole and swing it open.

  The familiar smell of tin is concealed by the stench of burning. A feeling of danger creeps up my spine, and I swallow my fear. My free hand shoots to my athame behind my waistband when I see movement on the walls. My head swerves from left to right, trying to ma
ke out the shapes. I squint against the light reflected in my weapon.

  “Calm down,” Vicky whispers. “It’s just the shadows from your candle.”

  I breathe out slowly and try to ignore the creepy shadows. The mine is still empty, but my heart pounds loudly as I climb through the porthole.

  The others follow quickly, and I order Maël and Jeep to stand guard at the entrance to the mansion.

  Step by careful step, we move closer to the blackness. When I raise the candle, I can see a patch of gray in the middle that pulses slightly. The scraping noise I heard when I discovered this hole a while back has grown stronger.

  “Is it open?” I whisper.

  Maël shakes her head. “If it was, something would have come through already. I think it takes time to open it. Those demons will be back.”

  “So, we have to find a way to close it again. A spell won’t work. We already tried one, and that didn’t work out so well.”

  I remember myself and the Shield being thrown through the mine like a bunch of dolls. Then I dive deeper into my memory and remember it was the voice that led me here. The voice that turned out to be Quinn.

  “Qaddisin? Can we borrow you for a second?” I say out loud, startling the others into drawing their weapons.

  “You didn’t have to say that out loud, you know,” Charlie whispers. “He can hear you just fine when you call him in your head.”

  I raise my hand in an apology.

  There’s a whoosh behind us. Our friend pops up in the hidden room and peeks through the porthole. “This is a nice piece of work.”

  I put my athame back behind my waistband and place my hand on my hip. “Why didn’t you tell me more about this black hole? You lead me here for a reason, I assume.”

  He steps into the tunnel and studies the blackness. “I led you here to show you evil, to make sure you felt it was all real.”