“Not sure what’s goin’ on, but looks like you’re gonna need some help,” he said. “I think I can do that.” He nodded at Moose and Flash who head-butted him again. Zoe gaped at them in confusion. Did the cats know this guy? The cats remained silent.
George noticed her pleading with the man and his eyebrows went up. He walked over.
“Ed. How are you?” he said in a conversational tone. Zoe stared at him in turn. How did the chair of the history department get on a first-name basis with a man camped out in Logan Square?
“I’m here. What’s going on?” came Ed’s reply.
“Coven raising a demon,” George answered shortly. “Can you help?”
“Yup. You owe me dinner.” Ed stood up and moved over towards George. The cats walked leisurely over to Zoe.
George nodded and glanced over at Zoe. “We can use every mage we can get,” was all he said.
Zoe shrugged. This wasn’t the time or place for an argument. The mages had been caught off-guard and she was only Elemental mage in the group. It was her responsibility to lead them. If she could figure out how to do that. There was just one small problem. She had no idea or plan for stopping the coven’s demon-raising.
She stared blankly at Ed and George frantically scouring her brain for some way to stop the coven and its demon from destroying Philadelphia. The chanting rose to a crescendo and she was shocked out of her futile planning by a nasty wave of energy rolling over the park. It felt exactly like what surrounded Shelby Hall and it washed over her from the direction of the fountain. She whipped around and stared at the fountain.
Chapter Twenty
In the center of the fountain, between the heads of the sculptures, a column of pulsing, eerie light shot towards the clouds. Another wave of ugly energy flowed over her. The column of pulsing light grew in size and brightness. Her magesight revealed the power flowing out of the fountain and coalescing between the heads of the sculptures. She could also see power flowing from the coven members into the center of the fountain. The coven was using their power to pull the latent power from the locus up through the dry fountain. The result was a very nasty-looking spiderweb of power connecting the coven members to the power in the fountain. At the rate power was being drained from the women of the coven, they were likely to die regardless of the success of the summoning. This had to be stopped and stopped now.
The mages began moving quickly towards the coven, spreading out and surrounding the fountain and the ring of coven members with their own circle of mages. They were within striking distance when a gout of flame erupted from the center of the fountain and the air bent around the grotesque figure that began coalescing within the flames. It had to be over fifteen feet tall and appeared to be covered in slimy grey skin. Its form twisted and flowed. Horns sprouted and disappeared from its head, cloven hooves replaced clawed feet, clawed hands became tentacles and then hands again. The grey skin became red, then black, while flames grew from the palms of its hands only to disappear a second later. Some of the coven members were extremely pale and shaking. They were on the verge of collapse. Susan Barker’s whole body was shaking, and she was dripping with sweat even though the temperature was somewhere close to freezing.
“Stop!” she screamed, almost hysterically. “I will impose its form!”
The demon form began to solidify. The horns reappeared on its head while it shed the cloven hooves for three-toed clawed feet and six-fingered hands with talons at the end of the fingers. Its skin took on a red-black sheen and looked vaguely scaled.
The now-horned head looked itself over and then turned towards Susan.
“YOU SUMMONED ME. ARE YOU THE ONE WHO WOULD BARGAIN WITH ME?”
The voice was hollow and somehow distant. It sounded like it was coming through a set of speakers placed at the end of a tunnel.
Susan swallowed convulsively.
“Yes. I am the leader of this coven and I command you with the power I control!” Susan’s face twisted with a grotesque combination of triumph and gloating.
The demon glanced around at the rest of the coven, still desperately chanting in their circle, and the mages who encircled them.
“IT SEEMS THERE ARE THOSE WHO WOULD STOP YOU. YOU DID NOT MENTION ANY ANTAGONISTS IN OUR PREVIOUS DISCUSSIONS.”
“They are nothing! I have prepared everything, including the vessel that you will occupy!” Susan was breathing heavily and sweat was pouring down her face. Zoe wasn’t sure if it was from the heat of the enormous amounts of power flowing out of the fountain or simply flop sweat as Susan realized she might be in over her head. Or at least Zoe hoped Susan thought she was in over her head. Although, that would mean that there was no control over the demon. Be careful what you wish for…
“WHERE IS THIS VESSEL?”
Without taking her eyes off the demon, Susan pointed behind her to a shape huddled on the grass. Zoe followed the gesture and was shocked to see the girl whose parents had withdrawn her from school right before Thanksgiving. She was curled up, shaking, on the grass behind Susan.
“THAT? YOU EXPECT ME TO INHABIT THAT?” The demon seemed highly amused at the idea that he would take over the body of a small, obviously sick, co-ed. A nervous expression stole across Susan’s face.
“NO. THAT IS NOT ACCEPTABLE. I WILL TAKE THAT ONE,” the demon pointed at Ed, who was still trying to get closer to Susan, in what Zoe assumed was an attempt to stop her.
Ed looked up in shock and immediately scrambled backwards.
“No!” George yelled.
The demon looked over at George and laughed. It was a hideous, soul-withering sound.
“YOU. AND YOU THINK YOU CAN STOP ME? I DON’T SEE ANYONE HERE TO HELP YOU THIS TIME.”
Zoe was stunned. The demon knew George? George knew the demon?
George smiled grimly. “Well then, you’re blind as well as weak.” Zoe stared at him. Was George trash-talking a demon?
Despite George’s warning that she could not let the demon know the extent of her power, Zoe understood at her deepest level that if she didn’t act right now, it would be too late. She could not let the demon take over either Ed or the still curled-up student. And, somehow, it needed to be sent back to hell or wherever it came from. She shook her head and forcibly stopped herself from mulling over the implications of a demon homeland. This was not the time or place for the researcher part of her brain to be doing anything. This was the time for the action-oriented part of her brain, assuming there was one and it was any good at its job, to do something.
She glanced around quickly hoping to spot the cats, but they were nowhere to be seen. She hoped they were safe and turned back to watch the demon. Priorities, priorities.
The demon roared incoherently in response to George’s insult and lunged toward him. Coming out of her daze and watching Susan move toward the demon as it tried to attack George, Zoe took the only action she could think of.
Screaming incoherently, she ran forward and shoved the coven member closest to her hoping to break some of the energy flows going into the demon flame. She pushed the woman aside, being careful, even through her fear and rage, to shove her sideways rather than into the circle. She looked up at the demon, and immediately wished she hadn’t. Up close it was even more hideous and mind-bending. She felt herself almost falling into a trance as she stared at the demon towering above her. A movement in the corner of her eye caught her attention and jolted her out of deer-in-the-headlights attitude. Susan Barker, who had been standing next to the woman Zoe shoved, still chanting, was deliberately stepping into the circle! The demon screamed at Susan and Susan shouted back in a language that was intolerable to hear. Zoe clapped her hands over her ears and focused enough to throw up a wall of air and water to cut the power from the coven that was sustaining the portal into this world for the demon.
The demon must have sensed the lessening of power coming from the coven and screamed again, spinning around faster than Zoe thought possible, searching for the one responsible for blo
cking the power flows. Certain it was looking for her, Zoe ran around the circle away from Susan Barker while simultaneously creating a shield to block the power coming from the fountain. She wasn’t sure if blocking that power now would have any effect on the already manifested demon, but she figured it couldn’t hurt to cut it off from the locus. Zoe could feel power coming from the other mages as they added to her wall and did what they could to cut off the power pouring from the fountain.
As she ran, the demon focused again on George Wardmaster who was standing about a quarter of the way round the fountain from where Zoe had started. Ed had made it back over to where George stood. Roaring, the demon lunged for them, an enormous clawed foot crushing a coven member in its path. The woman screamed and fell with blood pouring out of her mouth. The other coven members faltered in their chanting. George and Ed leapt back and threw their arms forward creating a wall of Earth and Water forcing the demon back to the center of the fountain.
“Don’t stop!” Susan screamed at the coven members. “Don’t stop or we will all die!” The remaining women shakily continued their chanting.
Distracted by Susan’s scream, George glanced over at her. The demon took advantage of the distraction and lunged at him again.
“George! Look out!” Zoe yelled.
George turned back, but too late. The demon knocked down Ed’s wall of water and, yanking one of the stone frogs in the fountain off its moorings, threw it at George who managed to dodge aside enough to prevent the frog from hitting him in the head. It clipped his legs instead and sent him tumbling to the ground.
Zoe stopped thinking and simply acted. Moose’s voice floated into her head. “Remember, as an Elemental you are capable of tapping into the power of all four Elements…simultaneously, if you wish.”
She slammed up a wall created from all four Elements around the fountain between the coven members and the rim of the fountain. Zoe wasn’t sure if she had trapped the demon or merely made it angrier, but Susan Barker was now trapped inside her own circle and inside Zoe’s Elemental wall. Zoe gave a mental shrug. She couldn’t worry about that right now. George was injured, and the demon was trying to finish off her mentor.
“George!” she screamed and ran over to him. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Kieran running towards them from the other side of the circle. The other mages took advantage of the demon’s focus on George and Ed and moved quickly to neutralize the remaining members of the coven and cut off their ability to draw power out of the locus.
George was holding a gash in his leg caused by the stone frog but was otherwise unharmed. Ed pulled a dirty handkerchief out of his pocket and was using it as a bandage to stop the blood leaking from the gash.
“I’m okay! Go help the others!” George said as Zoe and Kieran reached him. “We have to stop it before it realizes that it can get out of the circle!”
“What do you mean, get out of the circle?” Zoe gaped at him.
“Susan is trapped between your wall and the demon. Her circle is effectively broken. It can go through her to get out. We have to stop that!” With Ed’s help, George had managed to stand up, favoring his injured leg.
“Shit!” Kieran spun and took off running around the circle back towards the other mages.
Zoe stared at George. “Are you going to be okay?” The idea that George, of all people, could get hurt had never crossed her mind. He was chair of the Faculty Mage Committee…how could he get hurt?
Ed looked at Zoe. “He’ll be all right. I’ll stay here. Me and George are used to working together,” he said shortly.
George rolled his eyes at Ed. “I’m fine. We’re fine. I’ll manage. Now, go help the others. You have more power than anybody, you need to shift around. Try not to let the demon see you use more than one Element; he’ll notice that and start to focus on you.”
“Um. Oh. That wall is made up of all four Elements. I just kind of slammed it up when I saw him come after you.” Zoe was feeling a little cocky given that she was certain her wall had stopped the demon from getting any closer to the mages. Her self-congratulatory pat on the back was rudely interrupted by a drawn-out scream. She spun around to find the source of the sound. Robyn Harper and two students were battling with Meredith Cruickshank. Meredith was the one who had screamed as one of her spells was blocked by Robyn and rebounded back on Meredith. She was cradling her left hand against her chest.
Robyn was screaming too, but from what Zoe could make out, Robyn was yelling at Meredith about harming her, Robyn’s, advisees. Zoe laughed out loud. Even in the middle of a battle with a demon and the coven that raised the demon, faculty were more concerned about other faculty harming their advisees.
Shaking her head and forcefully bringing her focus back to the immediate problem, Zoe ran over to where Kieran was struggling to stop the demon from climbing out of the fountain. Kieran had been using the water still sitting in the pipes of the fountain to unbalance or dislodge the demon from his perch on top of the fountain between the heads of the sculptures. The figure representing the Delaware River looked distinctly put out by the fact that the demon had one foot on his head. Kieran’s efforts were not completely effective, but they did result in the demon shifting his attention away from Ed and the injured George.
Chapter Twenty-one
Zoe stared at the demon as he glared around at the coven members and the mages fighting them. Time slowed down, and the screams and shouts of the fight swirling around her faded out. She focused all her attention on the demon. What was he looking for? He had an air of searching for someone or something. George had told her not to reveal herself to the demon. Why?
Zoe shifted over to her magesight. Strong ropes of power connected the demon with the power flowing from the fountain. On the good news front, as the mages fought with the coven, the women were forced to focus more and more of their energy on the mages. The energies drawing the demon to this plane were shifting and lessening. She sensed more than saw a sudden swift movement on her left. Ed was racing once more toward Susan Barker.
She couldn’t worry about him right now. She must focus on the demon and figure out a weakness. If there was one. If she didn’t, the mages and the city were doomed. They wouldn’t be able to stop this thing and it would run rampant throughout Philadelphia. That would make going home for Christmas difficult. But what could a few faculty and some of her neighbors expect to do in the face of such powerful evil?
Glancing around the fountain area, Zoe expected to see a hopeless battle between mages and demon-supported coven members. Instead, mages were taking down members of the coven. Mark and David had immobilized Morgan Ammon, although she obviously still had some power. Robyn and her two students were slowly gaining on Meredith. The energy coming from the fountain was slowing down. But the demon was still in this plane.
She looked over at Ed and saw that he was trying to break through the circle to get to Susan Barker. His eyes were wild, and he was clawing at the air around Zoe’s makeshift barrier.
Jessica Sanders, Josh, Annmarie, and Geoff were facing Melanie Porter while Zoe’s neighbor Kim along with Rob Andrews and Joe Chapman and the three other mages that Kim had brought along were methodically taking on each of the remaining nine coven members. The coven members had to keep their focus on the demon and their – so far – intact circle. This gave the mages a definite tactical advantage. Kim and her group moved around the circle making that task more and more difficult for the remaining members of the coven.
Shaking her head to clear out the crippling fear, Zoe turned her attention back to the bindings between the demon and the power locus. She scowled. Thinking clearly amongst the chaos of the ongoing battle was next to impossible.
All thinking, especially rational thinking, came to a screeching halt when she turned in time to see Kieran take a direct hit from the demon and collapse lifelessly over the edge of the fountain. George’s warning about not revealing herself vanished from her mind. Screaming in fury, Zoe turned back to the power co
nnection and simply began shredding it with all the power she could command. The demon roared in triumph and turned toward Zoe.
“YOU! YOU ARE THE ONE! I WILL TAKE YOUR POWER, STRIP YOUR SOUL FROM YOU AND TORTURE IT FOR ETERNITY!” The demon’s voice echoed around Logan Square and the traffic circle.
The echoing voice was enough to throw Zoe out of her mindless attempts to throw raw power at the demon. Crap. Maybe this was why George said she shouldn’t let the demon see her use more than one Element. But, why would a demon be interested in her? Well, those were questions for later, assuming they lived through the current difficulties. Right now, she had to figure out how to stop this thing and stop it permanently and avenge Kieran at the same time. She turned back to continue destroying the connection between the demon and the power locus.
“Zoe! No! Don’t let it escape!” George’s shouted plea reached through her anger and pain. Some small corner of her mind recognized that if she completely broke the connection without somehow containing the demon first, it would be released to roam the city exactly as she feared the coven wanted it to do.
Moving almost without thinking, Zoe created a sort of bubble of Elemental force over the center of the fountain enclosing the sculptures of the Delaware, Schuylkill and Wissahickon along with the demon standing in the center of the three waterways. She drew power directly from all four Elements (how the hell was she doing that?) and tapped a well of power she discovered within herself. The demon was raging against her makeshift shield and if she didn’t cut the power connections between it and the coven, it would cost most of the city of Philadelphia. Susan Barker was still trapped in the middle of all the power raging around Logan Square. It was Susan’s presence inside her own circle that was providing a connection for the demon. Through her, it was able to stay connected to the power locus under the fountain, even though most of the coven was not fully functional.
Academic Magic Page 21