Taking Nathan’s hand, we could feel the ground shake and hear footsteps running around the house. The demons couldn’t sense us under the house, but in no way did we feel safe. We could hear them stop in the room above us. Nathans dad’s voice sounded calm as he told the others, “I am sure they were here, but I can’t seem to sense them at all, anywhere. We have to find them. If you find them, bring them directly to me. I will deal with the traitor and his whore…”
Nate looked at me and opened his mouth to say something, but I put my finger on his lips to quieten him; he acknowledged the warning in my head. It was taking all of my concentration to keep up the shield that was protecting us. Jack spoke softly to his brother, but his voice carried down to our hiding place,
“Should some of us go back to the mausoleum and keep an eye out from there, just in case they go back?”
Mr Stevenson prowled around the room and it took him a while to answer. He pushed again and again at our protection, stopping directly above us. Taking Nathan’s hand, I squeezed it. After a few moments, he moved on, leaving me exhausted by the time he answered. Only just managing to keep the shield up around us, we heard Mr Stevenson say, “Yes, that is a great idea. Take Logan, Jonah, and Mitchell with you. Same rules, Jack. If you find them, they come to me…”
There were new voices in the room and we could hear Nathan’s mum, brother, and sister all there, but I managed to deflect their scanning away from us and after an hour and a half, they left. Nathan’s brother stayed and when I finally lowered the shield enough, I got a sense of him and he prepared to fight us. No matter what his father had said, he wanted revenge.
My strength wavered, which was dangerous, “Our only way out of this is to either fight your brother, even though I have little strength left, or to teleport out of here.”
Just as I finished telling him that, I felt pressure on the shield and I was sure that Nick was testing the area again. I felt it pushing against me and for the first time, I felt weak. I knew this was just the demon magic. I knew I was stronger than them. I just had to prove it.
“What’s happening, Jas? Are we okay, baby? Can I do anything?”
I nodded, asking him to be quiet because I needed to concentrate on deflecting his brother, but it was difficult. The look on his face said I had hurt him, but I had no time to try to fix the clusterfuck that was us. I had to try to save us both in whatever way I could.
I sat up straighter in the muddy, musky little hole, focusing all of my energy on protecting us, even though Nate and I were muddled up and possibly over, I would not, could not let him get hurt or killed by his family, because no matter what he had saved my life repeatedly and I at least owed him that much. He squeezed my hand and when I flinched at the contact, he dropped his hand, but not before a drip of water splashed onto my hand.
Forcing my eyes closed and concentrating harder than I had ever done in my life, we suddenly were no longer underground, but out in the woodlands. Having no idea how we got there unnerved me, but when I looked around me, I noticed a few things. We were in a protection circle, surrounded by a mix of magical creatures.
There was another abandoned shack up ahead and when we walked towards it, I noticed that the protection of the circle extended beyond the shack. Inside was pitch black, so black we couldn’t see anything in front or to the side of us, but we heard a mixture of voices as the feeling of exhaustion that I was fighting back in the abandoned house came over me stronger than ever. I almost fell asleep, but first I needed to know that we were safe.
Knowing I had to question the motives of these creatures was hard, but the last time we had help, it turned out to be a trap. I looked around, seeing pixies, gnomes, fairies, and a few mystics. One of the mystics spoke to me in my head, telling me that it was okay to fall asleep. As I looked beside me, Nate had succumbed to sleep.
He looked so innocent in his sleep; his face smoothed of worry and stress. I hated him, but I loved him, and I didn’t know how to separate my feelings about him. Feeling my eyes burn and roll, I sat up straighter knowing I wouldn’t rest until I was sure we were safe.
I could feel the magic pressing in on me, trying to make me fall asleep, but I felt stronger sitting up from my slouched position on the ground.
“Who is the leader?” I asked in a firm voice, looking around at the numerous different creatures, seeing them dart between rooms. Some tall, some short, some with wings, some without.
“It is not the right time to see the leader,” a voice answered me firmly, sounding angry.
“The hell it isn’t. We have been tricked before so I need to know who is here and who is leading these creatures. Come out now please.”
The room filled with light and a fair-haired man stood before me. Although I couldn’t recall seeing him before, I knew he was familiar to me and I finally believed we were safe.
As I was about to ask him how I knew him, my instincts kicked into overdrive as I sensed a sinister presence, followed by more and more of them. The demons had arrived and we were no longer safe. It was time to fight again.
It had been almost a day that we’d been hiding out from the demons and I kept thinking that we would need to fight our way out if we wanted to survive.
Nathan’s father was there, trying to break down our defences constantly. It cost me so much energy to keep them out and I had the backing of all the creatures surrounding us, but would it be enough? I doubted it very much and found myself wishing I could take Nate away from here, but he refused to leave.
“I will make it up to you. I know you don’t want to hear it, but I love you. I am with you through it all; we will fight them together.”
How could I make up with someone after he tried to kill me? And how would I ever trust him again? I knew he was under an enchantment and that I wasn’t being fair to him, but I couldn’t help it. He had stabbed me and left me for dead. I had to stop thinking about it though. Keeping the monsters out required all of my concentration.
Looking out of the window, seeing all the demons gathered there, felt like we had already been beaten. It was oppressive and depressing. We were outnumbered at least two to one, but we would fight because we had no other choice.
At that moment, I realised that these thoughts and feelings were just demon mind tricks. I had more power than any of them. However, numbers this huge could mean people (or creatures) would die. Nathan walked over to me as I tried to think of a plan, breaking my concentration, “Should we go out and try to compromise with them? If we handed ourselves in, they would probably leave all of these creatures alone.”
He wanted us to sacrifice our lives and our freedom to save all of these creatures. I was stunned. I stood on my tiptoes and kissed him on the lips gently. Pulling away, I realised that it had been ages since he had last seen his parents and it was hard for him to think about fighting them. Thinking about it, I realised it could be an idea, but I told him, “Not right now, but it’s definitely a plan we can use later on.”
Nathan walked to the window while I heard an almighty growl come from outside. I looked towards the sound and saw Jenny growling at him. I tried again to think of a plan, but nothing was forthcoming. After a few moments though, I figured the best way was a spell, but I didn’t know if I had the power to make it work. Leaving Nate in the front room, I climbed over the branches and broken floorboards that littered the hall.
Feeling Nate’s dad trying to find a way through again meant I re-doubled the protection, causing me to stumble and fall. I didn’t notice as I walked into a branch. I sliced open my hands as I slid down the wall, bracing myself as I stood back up, realising as I did so, that I had tripled our protection because of how powerful my blood was.
I wondered if the plan I was thinking would work; it was something we discussed in the small hours of this morning, but decided it was too risky. I could not let these monsters kill Nate, or me, regardless of what he had done to me.
Going from room to room, I could see a mixture of the creatures
who rescued us, but not the ones I was after. I ducked under an old tree and walked into the back room. The mystics were in there, standing over a hole in the ground. Their black coats billowed in the breeze. “It will work, Jasmine…” a voice rose from nearest the flames.
“They will not suspect it and we should save most creatures through this plan of yours. However sacrifices must be made if we are to escape in numbers,” another voice said.
“Call a meeting, but remember, you must warn all creatures of the consequences.”
“Okay, thank you. Will you help me if they agree?”
Walking into the main room moments later, over twenty faces turned towards us expectantly. I shook inside; terrified I would lead these poor creatures to their deaths. I couldn’t think of any other way out. As they looked at me, I could feel the hope they had that they would survive.
Nate looked at me and asked me silently if I had a plan yet. I just nodded at him, unable to articulate it yet.
Sending a shock out towards the demons, one that should knock them all out for fifteen minutes gave us a chance to escape. Knowing I wasn’t strong enough to defeat all of those demons on my own left me feeling terrified, but I knew that I could defeat some of them. I sent out another two shocks just to be safe. Sensing after the third shock that all the demons were out cold meant we had to hurry. Nate’s dad didn’t succumb until the third shock, and would ultimately be the first to wake.
“Do you have a plan, Jasmine?” the voice asked and I looked around, trying to figure out where it came from. A little fairy tugged on my skirt; the fairies were all grounded, so to speak, which was odd. I looked at her mutely and she asked again, “Do you have a plan?”
She looked like a child and I felt guilty. It was my fault they were in peril; they were there because of me. Nodding towards her, I finally found my voice. I didn’t look at Nate; I knew if I did I wouldn’t go through with this. I looked around at everyone else while trying to tell them what we would be doing and why.
“Okay, people. The plan is that we copy ourselves. It’s an old piece of magic, which involves placing some of your life essence outside the body and allowing this to take on another form. This form will look like you, talk like you, and have powers like you. But it will not be you. We will need some blood from each of you, along with sage, rosemary, rose petals, and conifer leaves. This will make up a potion that each of us will have to drink. Everyone will need to drink some of my blood though in this potion, as this is the only way I can think of to make it strong, to work well enough, and long enough, to fool the demons. We need them to believe that the other ones of us are actually us and this may well save our lives.”
A voice interrupted, a gnome named Ned, his voice was gruff and gravely, “Why your blood? Will that not affect us?”
I looked at the little gnome, with his bright green eyes, rosy cheeks, and around belly, and thought about the answer I should give. “The blood should wear off in three hours, but you will see and feel everything your other self feels. If this person dies, a pain will affect you in your heart, but you will live. This is the only thing with even half a chance of helping us to survive.”
Nate looked at me in alarm, raising his eyebrows and staring at me expectantly. I knew it was a long shot, but it was the only one we had at that moment.
Looking around at all of those faces, childlike and innocent to rough and older, I decided to put it to a vote. A majority had to rule; if anyone hid or didn’t allow us to do it, then the plan would be ruined. I needed to tell them that. Just before I spoke again, Nate walked over to me and whispered in my ear, “We don’t have long left. Five minutes or thereabouts. I can feel them coming back to consciousness.”
Nodding in acknowledgement, I continued explaining the plan, “The other us, will be duplicates and they will come into being about three miles from here, near the river. Out in the open. At the moment the duplicates awaken, the protection here will fail. It will look as if we have gone, but we will be hidden in a room below this shack.” I took in a breath as I looked around at all the tense and expectant faces watching me, and Nathan squeezed my hand gently, slipping his fingers through my own. His support gave me the strength to continue and I swallowed against the fear as I began speaking again.
“The mystics already have supplies and a room ready down there. It will be cramped and musty, but it may well help us survive. As soon as the demons sense us away from here, they should leave, thinking we have teleported there. But the duplicates will fight, giving us all a chance to escape. It is risky. If the demons don’t fall for it, we have then exposed ourselves, and hiding in that hole will only be a temporary solution. As soon as it’s clear, Nate and I will leave. It’s us they want, and they will tear everyone apart until they find us.”
After a glance at a nervous Nate, I rushed on, “We need to vote on this now. Are you all in favour? Or would you rather fight our way out?”
We heard a lot of mumbling and whispers.
“Reckless.” A hoarse whisper to our left called out.
“Gambling with our lives,” came another to our right, this time deep timber.
“No other plan,” a high pitched voice across the room called out.
“May be our only chance,” was another thing I heard and I closed my eyes, praying that everyone would agree with me, because I couldn’t see any other way out of this.
Eventually, after a few minutes, everyone agreed. As we worked on the potion, the demons started to wake and tried to find a way through the barrier, but it was holding for the moment.
The mystics had brought along some of the ingredients and others, like the conifer leaves, were readily available. The potion needed about fifteen minutes to boil, which meant holding the demons off until then. They were all awake and I could feel them battering against our protection. I could only hope it would hold for another twenty minutes.
Once the mystics had started the potion in a huge pot, I cut my hand, let seven drips go into the pot, and then I left with two of the mystics, leaving one to watch over the potion. We went underneath the old shack and most of the creatures were clearing out the lower level so we could hide. I got seven stones, drew protective runes around them with my blood, and placed them in the walls, creating a huge protected space. It had to be I that protected this space. I was the only one strong enough.
Suddenly, a yell came from upstairs, which caused all of us to jump. I ran upstairs to see two of the little gnomes being held outside the front window by the demons. They had tried to run for it.
Very quickly, I wiped their minds of our plan and prayed that it wasn’t too late, that we hadn’t been given away. I could hear laughter and see the evil faces of the demons smiling and showing their teeth. Looking at the gnomes, one of whom was Ned. I saw the flesh being stripped from their bones, while they were still alive. They howled in pain. I felt awful for them and I wished there was something I could do to help them. The demons kept them alive and suffering for at least twenty minutes, peeling skin off as though they were peeling bananas.
It was obvious that the demons didn’t need to know what our plan was; it was clear to myself and Nate though, what their plan was — to torture and kill every creature who helped us. They wanted to terrify all the creatures into deserting us, so they could get to us and kill us. What they didn’t know was that by doing that, they made everyone more determined to stand with us and fight.
All of those who had moved back upstairs to see what was happening turned slowly and went back. This time I placed the rune stones of the mystics in a circle around the wall, making a doorway and a path open up underground. The only problem with this path was, that every person who entered it would have no idea where they were going to end up coming out.
I decided I would tell all the creatures this when we got down here. We had just ten minutes left and the space still wasn’t big enough because of all the rubbish and debris piled up all over the place. I asked Nate to help them while I went back up to
check on the potion. I walked up the stairs, out of the protection, and headed towards the back room. The potion was there, but none of the mystics were. God, I wish this would hurry up. The colour changed right then and the potion looked ready, but because I used magic to speed it up, our protection had lowered even more.
It wouldn’t be long now until they could get in. I walked through the house, making sure everyone was downstairs, and when I was in the front room, I looked out the window and saw Mr Stevenson looking right at me. Any second now, they would break through. I ran towards the downstairs and just as I reached the trapdoor and closed it, they broke through. I ran down the stairs and two of the mystics ladled out the potion and handed people the knife. The potion required three drops of blood, and would take effect once everyone in the room had consumed a spoonful of it.
All of a sudden, a wail sounded from upstairs, and we knew that someone else had been caught. Damn it. It was one of the mystics. We could hear her scream in agony. I wanted to help her, but I knew I couldn’t. I did manage to reach up to her and wipe her brain of the plan, but that was all I could do without jeopardising the twenty-odd people in this room. I watched the creatures take the potion, as they all glowed a little bit, and prayed that this would work. I hoped it would look like we tried to make a break for it, but I wasn’t sure what would happen.
Finally, it was just myself, Nate, and the two mystics left to take the potion. I bled into my ladle and Nate did the same to his.
“Bottoms up,” we both said at the same time, laughed, and drank the foul-tasting potion, feeling it burn and boil on the way down. I felt my other self inside, along with parts of over twenty others. I knew that when one of them got hurt, I would feel it. As I looked around the room, I saw the mystics drink the potion and felt two more join me inside.
The potion took effect as soon as the last person drank some and it felt as though we were all flying through the woods and appeared in a cliff side clearing, where the sun shined so brightly. The essences were surrounded by demons, outnumbered at least two to one, but somehow we were still in this dank and musty cellar. Most of the demons left to go find us and we had to make an escape plan. The danger became clear to us, almost as soon as the demons arrived. Our minds were split between here and our essences in that clearing. This would be difficult. How would we be able concentrate on getting out of here when we were fighting the demons there?
Ignition (Escaping Demons Saga Book 2) Page 20