“Are you sure?”
“Yes. You hold on to it and I’ll get it from you tomorrow,” I say with a wink.
I lean up, give him a kiss, and then turn away before he can see the tears threatening to spill down my cheeks.
“See ya then,” he says. “Be careful. Okay?”
“I will.”
I walk up the stairs to the door, knowing that when I step through, I’ll be at the base of the mountain and Trevor will no longer be near me.
“Hey.”
“Yeah?” He stops and turns back to look at me.
“I love you, too.”
His face lights up and glows as bright as the candle. “I knew you did.”
He turns and walks back toward his house, a definite lilt in his step as I open the door and step outside.
I watch with teary eyes as the flame of his candle grows smaller. When I can no longer see him, I close the door and make my way to the path that will lead me up the side of the mountain and to the falls.
Chapter Twenty-Six
The fog surrounding the base of the mountain is extremely thick—even more so than when Trevor and I narrowly escaped the Redeemers last week. I hold up a hand in front of me and can’t see past my elbow. The air is eerily still, and every step I take seems far too loud.
I walk in circles, searching for the torch Nana promised she would conveniently leave near the door in the ground. I bend down so I can see through the fog, swiping my hands across the fallen leaves and clumps of dirt. Finally, my hand hits something and I pull the torch from beneath a pile of leaves. I flick my lighter, and the gas-soaked rag at the end of the torch immediately bursts into flames. I manage to easily call forth a protective circle that clears the air a few feet in front of me.
I stand in an unfamiliar grove of trees that easily hides the door in the ground. I walk to my right approximately fifteen feet, just as Nana instructed, and eventually the trees thin out, showing me the worn dirt road leading up the side of the mountain.
I recount every instruction Nana went over with me as I begin my trek toward the falls. I should arrive just before they begin offering those they took as sacrifices. Right now, the Council should be ready to start the ritual of calling the Redeemers back to the mountain. The distant moans and wails tell me they have already started to return.
Once they’ve finished the first part of the ritual, the offering begins. Each sacrifice will go through a cleansing ritual and then be offered to the Redeemers. I will offer myself in exchange for Mitch, then Monique will present herself to be bound with the essence of Malahas, and that’s when all hell will break loose.
A slight scuffling comes from the trees to my left and I stop in my tracks. I could have sworn I heard someone walking behind me. I start to hide, but then decide there’s no reason to; they’re expecting me.
The farther I go, the less fog there is to contend with, and when I’m about halfway up the side of the mountain, the fog is completely gone. I turn around and look back at the thick smog that still covers the houses and fields below me. It looks as though I’m standing in the sky atop a blanket of clouds.
I walk a few more steps, trying to figure out where I am. Normally, I would hear the falls, but they’re silent. I look to the top of the mountain and see a swirling silvery mass darting across the top of the trees. At first it’s disorganized, like a slow moving cloud, but soon the cloud grows thicker and begins to spin, funneling down into the trees like a tornado. It must be the Redeemers. Right on time.
I begin to move again, stopping when I hear the snapping of a twig in the trees. I know I’m not imagining things. I hold up my torch to see whether I can see anyone, but there’s nothing there, only the dark needles of the pine trees projecting against the dull gray of the distant fog.
I tell myself it’s nothing. Even if it is one of the Associates trailing me, they’re just making sure I make it to the falls. Maybe they’re just guiding me.
All at once, a silver streak flies toward me from through the trees. The high-pitched moaning tells me it’s a rogue Redeemer. It bumps into me with enough force to knock me to the ground. I drop the torch, watching as the flame goes out before it rolls down the path and into the fog.
The mist settles on the ground in front of me, and I watch as the once ethereal being takes on a more corporeal form. I try to stand, but the milky-white Redeemer lunges for me, jaws snapping, claws swiping at my face.
I roll backward like some type of action hero and plant my feet firmly on the ground, standing in one fluid motion.
The creature lunges again, barely missing me as I leap to the right. I quickly scan the being, but all I see is a silvery, floating mass tinged with blue. I don’t know how to stop it without latching on to it. Nana and Miss Simmons never told me how to effectively fight one of these things. I only know how to take down the ones inhabiting a human body. I’m about to send a pulse of energy at the thing in front of me when something hits me from behind with enough force to knock me forward into the clawed hands of the Redeemer. The sickening smell of rotten milk hits me when the creature opens its mouth, exposing rows of jagged teeth. It stares down at me with black eyes and grabs hold of my arms, pulling me forward.
Another shriek comes from behind me and I realize what hit me. A second Redeemer stands to my left. Just as I’m about to try pulsing again, the Redeemer holding onto me rears back, opening its mouth wide and bringing its head down. I pull to my right, but I’m unable to break free. A blinding pain rips through my shoulder as the Redeemer sinks its teeth into me. I cry out, reaching across my body to push the thing away.
As soon as I touch the cold, leathery skin, the creature snaps its head back, screaming in pain. I feel my body pulse, ignoring the pain in my shoulder. The Redeemer writhes against me. It tries to pull away, but I grab hold of its clammy arms with my other hand, watching as it erupts into glittery shards of light and ash.
The Redeemer to my left immediately lunges for me, allowing me only a split second to throw my hands up to block it. I grab hold of its shoulders. Its jaws snap at my face. I pulse again and the Redeemer howls in agony before bursting into nothingness.
I spin in circles, searching the sky for more Redeemers. I reach up and touch my shoulder, wincing in pain the minute I touch the weeping wound the Redeemer’s bite left behind.
In the distance, less than a half mile away, I see the orange glow of what appears to be a bonfire lighting up the trees. The swirling silver mass is directly above it. Not far now. I’m almost there. I must be near the falls.
I cut to the left as Nana instructed, and in a few short steps I’m standing at the edge of the pool beneath the falls. Water appears to fall from the top of the mountain and into the pool, but there’s no sound. Upon further inspection, the falls aren’t actually falling. The water looks frozen, yet when I stick my hand in, it comes out wet. The entire scene has the appearance of a waterfall painting. It’s totally surreal.
“Pretty cool, huh?”
I spin around at the sound of the voice, immediately on guard. A hooded figure appears from the trees and stands before me. He reaches up and pulls his hood back. Mason.
“I was here when they did it. It’s amazing. I can’t wait to have power like that.”
“You’re not supposed to be here.” I don’t realize the words have actually left my mouth until I’ve said them.
“Is that what your grandmother told you? It appears that she isn’t as smart as she thinks she is. The Council thought she might be up to something, and it turns out they were correct. They had me track you to see if your powers were still intact. She was supposed to drain you. She didn’t keep her end of the deal.”
“How do you know she didn’t?” I’m afraid he may run back and tell the Council. I need to find a way to detain him without losing any more precious time.
“Because I saw what you did to those two Redeemers along the path. They were with me.”
; “They can’t hurt me. Even if I don’t use my power, my touch is lethal to them.” I don’t know whether this is entirely true, but it seems to make sense.
The water behind me starts to churn, and a huge wall rises from the pool before crashing down in my direction. I pulse, imagining a large wall above me. The water hits it and cascades downward around me.
“See. You’re a liar.”
He whips a hand forward and I send my energy forward, catching his power and sending a wall of flames in his direction. I hear him scream as his cloak ignites. He spins, emitting a powerful wind that blasts me in the face as he tries to douse the flames.
He removes his cloak, dropping it to the ground in a pile of ash and smoke before flicking his wrist, sending a stabbing pain into my head. This is really getting old. I push back, just as Miss Simmons instructed, hurling his blocking spell back at him. He drops immediately, grabbing the sides of his head.
“I should have killed you when I had the chance,” I say between clenched teeth.
Don’t. My mother’s voice rings in my ears, but I ignore it. You can’t kill him. They’ll know if you do.
I ignore her voice. This is what I have to do—pick them off one by one. When Mason is dead, it’s just one less of them I have to worry about later.
I mentally pick him up by the ankles so that he hovers inches above the ground. I enjoy the terrified look on his face as I swing him around to hover above the pool. I fling him backward and watch as he fades behind the still water of the falls, enjoying the thunk his body makes when it hits the hard rock of the mountain. There’s a large splash when I release him. I step toward the pool and watch as he sinks to the bottom.
I take a step back and wait. I know I’m running out of time, but I have to finish him before I proceed.
Leave him, Caitlyn.
I ignore the voice and stand in place, breathing deep. Waiting.
A splash comes from the center of the pool as Mason shoots forward, landing on the ground in front of me. He comes at me, flinging bursts of wind and water in my direction, but I block them easily. He tries to block me by sticking his hands in my head again, but I don’t even let him get close. I could kill him now, but this is too much fun. I’m like a cat playing with its food.
Mason stops his attacks and studies me. I place an invisible wall between us in case he tries to catch me off guard.
Let him go.
As if he somehow heard my mother’s voice, Mason darts off through the trees in the direction of the sacrifice, but he doesn’t get far. The trees shift at my command, blocking his path, tripping him. I mentally grab him around the ankle and pull him backward across the ground. I lift him up so he hangs upside down, his body flinging about as he struggles to get free. He tries to get at me, but his paltry powers are no longer a match for mine. I immediately begin to scan him, focusing on the writhing souls struggling within his body.
I reach out with my mind, sinking deep inside him until I’m able to get a firm grip on his core and slowly begin to pull it toward me. He screams out in pain, his cries rising above the pounding in my ears.
Caitlyn. No!
I grip both of his souls, stretching them apart with my mind, and then give a final tug, watching as his body goes limp. I release the souls as a high-pitched shrieking fills my ears; the cries of the Redeemer screaming as it dies. I drop his body to the ground, fighting back the remorse that stings in my chest. I have to remind myself that Mason wasn’t human. That wasn’t really him—not entirely. The moment his body hits the ground it begins to shrivel and decompose, rotting away, sinking into the ground until all that’s left are a pile of clothes.
Go back home, my mother’s voice warns. Their plan has changed. They’re going to kill you.
I ignore the warnings. I’m going to fight. I’m stronger now. I know I can do this. I’m not leaving Mitch with them. I focus on the large fire in the distance. In a matter of minutes, I’ll arrive at the old church. I count my steps so I know exactly when I need to cut left so that I can come in behind them just as Nana instructed.
Just as I’m about to turn and make my way to my location, a piercing scream fills the air. This time it’s not a Redeemer. The scream is distinctly human. I creep around the perimeter of the circle in a wide arc and stoop behind a large rock, peering around it at the scene before me.
The Council stands around a very large fire that roars inside a circle of rocks on the ground. Another scream pierces the night and I glance over to see Chastity lying on the ground. An Associate stands with their arm locked around her throat.
Caitlyn, you have to go.
I push my mother’s voice aside. They don’t know I’m hiding. If they did, they’d be all over me like flies on a corpse.
Chastity screams out in agony, crying for help, and the Associate clamps down on her.
The scene before me lights up as the flames grow more intense. A strong wind rushes past, and the shrieking of a thousand broken souls fills the night. I look up to see the circling mist above the fire begin to churn. The earth rumbles and the fire erupts, acting like some sort of vortex, sucking the screaming souls into the earth.
It’s happening just as Nana said it would.
It’s almost time.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
The ground begins to roll under my feet; the shaking so strong and rumbling so loud it feels as though the mountain is about to split open.
I reach out a hand to brace myself against the huge rock in front of me and feel someone grab my shoulder. Gasping, I turn and immediately pulse, sending the person shooting backward into the trees behind me. The pulse should have been strong enough to send them a good thirty feet into the air, but they only fall a few feet away. That’s when I notice the worn boots and realize my mistake. It’s Trevor. The pendant must have protected him.
I rush over to him, both worried I may have hurt him and furious that he followed me. “What in the hell are you doing here?” I ask over the loud rumbling and the shrieking of the Redeemers.
“I couldn’t leave you. I have the stone. They can’t hurt me.” He sits up and shakes his head. There’s a small scratch on his cheek where he must have hit a branch when he flew backward, but otherwise he looks fine. If he followed me, does that means he saw what I did to Mason?
“Did you follow me the entire way?” I ask.
“No,” he says. “I got lost in the fog. It wasn’t until I got close to the falls that I saw the glow from the fire. I figured this is where you’d be. Lucky guess.” He shrugs and smiles, like I should congratulate him for being so smart.
“You can’t be here. I appreciate the effort, I really do, but you have to leave before someone finds you.”
“I’m not leaving you.”
The shaking stops and the shrieking in the air lessens. I turn to look over my shoulder as the Council begins to chant, the Associates responding to everything they say. I don’t understand the language, but it sounds intimidating. My heart begins to pound harder than I ever thought it could. It’s time. I have to go.
“You have to leave. Now!”
He starts to protest, but I stop him, my voice low so that only he can hear me. “I swear to God, Trevor if you don’t leave now … If you go out there and get yourself hurt or killed I will never speak to you again.” Once the words leave my mouth I realize they don’t make sense, but I don’t care. I’m pissed. I’m scared. He can’t be here.
I hear someone scream, and one of the kids begins to wail.
“Go home now. And don’t stop moving until you are safe in your bed.”
He looks at me, and I point over his shoulder toward the trees. He stands and dusts himself off before retreating into the forest. When I know that he’s gone, I turn and go back to my hiding place.
I peer around the rock to see a figure cloaked in royal blue hovering in front of the fire. One by one, the red-robed Council members walk to the figure and extend their hands, chant
ing. The figure in blue drags a knife across the palm of their hand then holds it over a chalice. One of the Council members takes the cup and drinks from it before turning to face a black-robed Associate who stands next to him, the little Edwards girl in his arms.
The Council member places his hand on the child’s head, then removes a dagger from their hip. They then take the chalice and hold it to the girl’s lips, forcing her head back to drink from the cup. The Council member slides their dagger across their hand, and then across the Edwards child’s forehead. Blood streams from the wound, and the child cries out in pain. Everything is still as the Council member places their aging hand against the little girl’s forehead, mixing their blood. In a flurry of motion, the figure in red drives the dagger into the child’s chest, wraps their arms around her, and falls backward into the fire.
A scream pierces the air and I look over to see Chastity, her blond hair tangled in knots, her clothes streaked with mud. She’s still struggling and obviously giving them a run for their money.
“Get the fuck off me,” she says, struggling against the Associate dragging her toward the Council. She kicks and spits at them. I have no doubt she would claw their eyes out if they didn’t have her hands bound behind her back. She cries out in pain as the Associate places a hand on her forehead, forcing her to the ground.
“Leave her alone.” Jeb’s voice pierces the air, and I see him break free from his restraints and rush toward Chas. The Associate who held her turns and swings, but Jeb ducks and comes up with his elbow, hitting the Associate in the face.
Jeb grabs Chas by the shoulders and pulls her to her feet. The man he’d just hit lunges for him. Chastity screams and Jeb ducks. Jeb turns to face his attacker, ready for a fight. Chas tries to run, but one of the Council grabs her around the waist and pulls her back.
The Associate hits Jeb with a spell that sends him, screaming, to his knees. I have to help them. I know I’m supposed to wait until it’s Mitch’s turn, but I can’t just sit here and watch them hurt my friends.
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