“Yes.”
“Did they lose a Challenge?” I asked.
Damien nodded once.
“Are they dead?”
“You didn’t notice? They’ve been dead for a long time.”
I thought of Phoebe as a zombie. Would they suffer the same? “But it was them. How did they get here and…” I almost said her name and tried not to look over my shoulder at Aidan.
Damien’s smirk held no pleasure.
I thought of the faceless people of Aidan’s nightmare, of the witch Cody killed. Could they all have been real people playing a Challenge to stop others? Those evil men had lived here for years, and suffered. Their souls—if such things existed—hadn’t been allowed to leave.
Aidan readjusted his fingers in mine. It was a small comfort that meant a lot more than I think he realized. It meant someone was on my side. Someone had been through Hell with me.
Unable to look at Damien, I asked the wall beside his head. “How did Nell get out?” I waited for lightning to strike me down for mentioning her name in front of Damien, but the demon didn’t flinch.
“She never entered the Demon’s Grave.”
Aidan thankfully remained quiet.
I cleared my throat and heard the nervous laugh. “After all that, she never stepped foot in here?”
Damien didn’t answer, just stared.
I shook my head. “That doesn’t make any sense. Why kill a little girl?” I remember she wanted him to come to the flames. “Was it you she wanted or something else?”
Pushing himself away from the door, his arms still crossed, Damien tilted his head. “It was me she wanted.”
“Why?” I demanded, hoping I’d get something out of him, a hint to his rules. I’d mentioned Nell in front of Aidan, but I hadn’t told Aidan specifically. It was the only reason I could think as to why he didn’t head off to kill Phoebe the instant I asked.
Aidan’s fingers had tightened in mine and in the demon’s silence he asked. “Why not take the portal at my grandpa’s house?”
Damien smiled. “Why not, indeed?”
I glanced back at Aidan, lips parting as the pieces began to click into place. “Your grandpa wouldn’t let her in.”
“Keepers are good for that,” Damien’s voice echoed off the domed ceiling.
I could see the wheels turning in Aidan’s head. “So, she found an alternative route.” He looked past me at Damien. “There has to be an alternative way to get our friends back too. Always a loophole, right?”
Turning my head too fast, I felt dizzy. Aidan was right, there had to be a way. Nell found a way to contact the Demon’s Grave. She sacrificed a little girl and sent two of her own accomplices into the Challenge.
Damien said. “Finally an interesting request. You wish to negotiate?”
Between a rock and a hard place. I suddenly became very aware of that cliché. Clenching my jaw, it hurt with the rising bruise but I needed the pain to ground me. Our answer could trap us into something, couldn’t it? Negotiating with a demon couldn’t come out pretty.
Aidan cleared his throat, “just tell us how to get them back.”
“Aw,” Damien didn’t mask his disappointment. “Re-entering the darkness between worlds could grant you such a request, if you survived that is.”
“You mean we’d have to go through another Challenge?” Aidan asked.
If Damien were aware of Aidan’s disgust he didn’t respond physically. “Yes.”
Aidan glanced between Damien and me. “There is no way that we can save them now?”
I couldn’t stop the shaking that rippled through me like water. I could feel my chest heave at the idea of losing my friends. The distinctly strange warmth in my stomach began to build. Gritting my teeth, I glared at Damien. “We fought to get them back and we’re getting them back.”
Damien’s eyes rolled down my body in a way that made me feel naked. Not in a sexual way, but the way a scientist might stare at a specimen. So detached and cold it was disturbing. I was exposed to so much emotion at once while he seemed oblivious. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a flash of light.
The crystal in the center of the slab had changed colors from the light pink to a red. I was reminded of the little bomb from the museum.
Damien said. “Did you wonder how it’s possible to influence the Challenges around you? You think that heated sensation you feel in your gut is purely coincidence?”
Aidan beat me to the punch. “What do you mean? Influencing the Challenge?”
Damien nodded toward me, watching Aidan. “She has sway and she’s catching on. Go too far and it’s cheating,” His dark gaze shifted to me, the threat lingering. “You came very, very close.”
Behind me the crystal faded to a pink and I felt a lump in my throat.
Damien watched, fascinated, but otherwise held his mask of tolerance. I glanced at Aidan to see he’d paled a little.
He caught my eyes and mumbled, “How can that happen?”
“You’re the Keeper, you should know,” Damien shot back.
Aidan and I glanced at each other again, our confusion reflecting back and forth.
“Well,” Aidan looked away first, “I don’t, so help me out here.”
“I don’t train Keepers,” Damien said sourly, “only Neophytes to the grave.”
His grandpa, I thought. Aidan had said that his cousin was supposed to inherit the house until he died shortly after their grandfather, leaving the Demon’s Grave open to anyone. The guardian or Keeper must have been there to keep people like Nell out—to keep us out.
“Well, what if there technically wasn’t a Keeper?” I tore my eyes from Aidan. “There must be a way we can leave with our friends. I mean, you just stole them from us.”
“Did I?” Damien raised his eyebrows, the smile twitching. “Or were they victims of their own mistakes?” He gestured to the door behind him. “Opening doors without keys, succumbing to fear, wandering off the path, or just not being quick enough—these are all reasons for their failures. I’m afraid the only way to get them back is to replace them. Two for two.”
Aidan growled, his hand crushing mine.
“How?” I asked.
Aidan jolted and he shot me a glare, letting go of my hand. Stepping back he looked at me as if I were an impostor. “What are you doing? This won’t solve anything. Who would you even choose? There’s four people stuck here.”
“What about me?” I asked Aidan, lowering my voice. “He offered it to you before.” The words were surreal, I wasn’t sure I meant them. Trapped here forever? Me? Don’t think about it, a voice snapped, not now.
Shaking his head, Aidan glanced at Damien before whispering to me, “Are you nuts? Come on Nora, think about it. We can do this again. We can.”
“You mean get out of here and come straight back in?” I twisted the bottom of my shirt in my fist. Once out, would I be able to come back? Would Aidan? We’d be safe at home, no thoughts of survival or demons and nightmares.
“I’ll give myself up,” I said loudly, for Damien to hear.
Aidan shook his head at me, eyebrows pinched. “No, she doesn’t.”
“I could be a…” My eyes darted to the stone slab, “…sacrifice couldn’t I?” It took all I had not to cringe at the word. “Like you said before? Isn’t that what Nell did to those two men?”
The smile tugged at the corners of Damien’s mouth. “Clever conclusion.” His eyes darkened as he stalked toward me, his pace smooth and unnerving, like a hunter.
“Nora, don’t,” Aidan hissed in my ear. “That won’t help anything. He said it before. We can do another Challenge.”
“What will it be, Nora?” Damien demanded, his lithe form advancing, taking his time.
I dreaded and welcomed every step. It was maddening.
Aidan stepped in front of me. “She’s not going.”
“I believe that decision is not yours,” Damien’s obsidian gaze never lost its focus.
>
Aidan turned to me. “Listen Nora, you can’t go.”
“What if I can save everyone?” I whispered to him. “What if everyone could go home?”
He shook his head. “There is a better way than just giving yourself up. You think Phoebe would let you stay behind?”
“She’d have no choice,” I crossed my arms. I didn’t want him to see that I was trembling inside, that every fear wanted me to stop what I was doing. This was crazy. My sister died as a sacrifice and here I was offering myself over on a platter.
“Aidan, I lost someone to this place. I really don’t want to lose everyone to it.” I begged. I didn’t expect him to understand. “Let me go.”
He shook his head. “You’re being selfish.”
I stared at him in shock.
“You can’t stay here and leave me to do this alone. If you stay, I’m still coming back.”
I jerked as if someone threw a bucket of cold water over my head. “I…” I hadn’t considered that. If Aidan were sacrificing himself for everyone I wouldn’t want to go home. That fact would hover over me for the rest of my life. After seeing what I had seen, knowing what those two men turned out to be. They deserved it, but like Damien said, nothing was fair.
“Nora, we’ve made it and this doesn’t have to be the end,” Aidan whispered, his eyes pleading with me. “We’ll figure something out. I won’t give up on them, but I need you with me.”
Swallowing back to fierce pride I felt in my chest, I tried to speak but couldn’t find the words. Over Aidan’s shoulder I saw Damien roll his eyes.
“That’s very noble of you,” Aidan said dismissively, “but, Damien can’t keep them forever.”
“Yes, I can.”
Aidan’s eyes were wide, but he didn’t look back at the demon. “Let me take her home this time.”
“I can’t let you, she has to allow it.” Damien stepped around Aidan, circling us with the slow, methodical steps.
The pressure of their gazes was a physical weight and I weakened a little. To give up everything so that these people I grew up with, these people who didn’t deserve this, could go free. Or should I try and save them another way? With Aidan I was sure we could try it but there was always the idea that we’d fail.
I opened my mouth then closed it, taking what air I could. Fumbling for Aidan’s hand, I said to Damien, not looking at him. “We’ll be coming back.”
Damien’s hand snaked out in a blur, hard fingers gripping my arm, forcing me look into the demon’s stony face. Everything in me went cold.
Aidan bristled like a mad-dog, but he paused just long enough for Damien to speak, “exchange yourself,” Damien’s lips hardly moved, eyes never blinking. “When you realize you can’t find the way, the guilt will be far worse.”
It took several seconds to find my voice. “Why won’t we find the way?”
Aidan tugged at my other arm, but I resisted.
Damien held my eyes, something seething just beneath the ebony shine. “You’ll regret it,” he said so softly I almost didn’t hear.
Would I? Somehow I wasn’t sure if he was speaking to me or to himself.
Aidan pulled on me harder. “Nora,” he insisted.
“Then I guess in the end, I didn’t stay.” I couldn’t stop the bitterness from seeping in. I was wet, cold, covered in mud, dirt and who knows what else. My mood wasn’t the best.
Damien’s biting into my bicep loosened. “This isn’t the end,” he said.
Something stung with those words, something real. Fear scored a hole in my chest and I looked away, breaking the spell. Aidan pulled on me, I stumbled into Aidan but couldn’t take my eyes away from Damien. I half expected the demon to tighten his grip once more. Instead, fingertips trailed down my arm, leaving goosebumps in their wake. The fire in my stomach erupted and I winced. Hot, white pain was so fleeting I had to wonder if I felt it at all.
“Why won’t we find a way?” I repeated, shocked.
I glanced back at him as he stood alone in the center of the room. In that instant he looked painfully lonely and unable to help myself, I felt a tug of remorse. I hated myself for it and it was brief, but I knew that I’d remember this.
“Damien? What aren’t you telling me?” I asked, jerking free of Aidan’s hand as he tugged me farther away.
“He’s trying to trick you,” Aidan whispered, though I wasn’t entirely sure I believed him. Pulling me around the table I saw the crystal a hot red, fading once more to pink. It had flared when my back was turned. Warily, I kept my distance, remembering the blast that obliterated the mummy.
I started to shake my head, trying to focus. “Damien? Is there a way back?”
“It won’t be like before,” he answered, the threat lingering.
“Over here,” Aidan said and turned my attention to the wall behind the slab. I followed his finger to where he pointed. A short, blue marble door appeared, it had been hidden behind the stone all this time.
Stepping before it, Aidan patted the large brass knob experimentally as if he expected it to burn.
I glanced over my shoulder one last time.
Damien was gone.
Doubt itched at the back of my mind but I turned around in time to see Aidan open the tiny, familiar door, revealing the inky black.
He glanced up at me. “We’re doing the right thing,” he said, meeting my gaze.
I tried to nod, smile, anything to let him know that I understood. But I didn’t understand. I was already feeling the strings of hesitation.
What if we couldn’t find our way back?
Within the doorway, the tiny streaks of multi-colored lights flashed in their hollowed hole. It had never occurred to me until now that it might lead us nowhere. What if it just sucked us in and we were just as lost as our friends? Could that be what Damien meant? I checked over my shoulder one last time. Wondering if perhaps he’d come back but he didn’t. Only the pink crystal glowed against the torchlight.
Turning back to Aidan, I croaked. “Let’s go.” There was only one way to find out.
“Don’t worry, Nora. We’ll get them back.” The way he said it, the confidence, almost had me convinced. His hand was warm against my cold fingers. Our eyes locked and I nodded. Better now than never.
He ducked into the door first, pulling me with him as he disappeared in the inky black. Crouching, I looked back just in time.
The cool, pale hands slid on either side of my face. I took one quick breath before Damien pressed the same cool, soft lips to mine.
Stunned, I was motionless at first.
My blue eyes were reflected in the dark ones. A question erupted with a fierce heat, at least until, I kissed him back. I felt Aidan’s hand dissolve in the darkness, mine was still within the doorway. The darkness tugged, drawing me away from the Grave.
Pushing toward Damien I couldn’t say I was thinking. I just played off the queer emotions and the shock that somehow honeyed the fire ants. The smooth, rippling sensation was like warm water. It made me not feel like a dirty rag of a human being. I felt powerful and the charge gained momentum with each kiss.
I could kick ass, I realized. I could take my friends back. The idea was impossible but somehow I felt I could do it. Tongue grazing his I tasted the dirt from my own mouth.
In that instant, I realized what I was doing.
Breaking the kiss I jerked back, mouth still red and body still aching to grab him. “I…”
The half, knowing smirk tugged at the corner of his mouth.
With that he raised one hand and shoved me.
Losing my balance, the darkness swallowed me whole. Damien and the Demon’s Grave disappeared and everything was numbed.
CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
Somewhere down a tunnel, far, far away a garbled voice echoed. “She’s…re…con…ness.”
My legs and arms tingled, but I could feel them.
“She’s been breathing on her own for the last twelve hours,” a closer voice said.
I tried to feel for Aidan’s hand, but instead there was something soft, like fabric. My body pained me from head to toe and for an instant I thought I was going to wake up in another nightmare.
Drifting closer to the surface of consciousness, I tried to force myself to wake up.
“Her eyes. Did you see? Nora?” It was Mom.
My eyelids were held down by sandbags and I had to strain to peel them open into slits. It was bright at first, but eventually I could make out the white, tiled ceiling.
Turning my head, I saw Mom and then a nurse playing with a machine beside my bed. Everything was so damn white. No black, no darkness.
I breathed in, hearing the rattle. My throat was sore and I reached up to touch it.
“It might be a bit tender,” the nurse said warmly. “We had to put tubes down your throat. They’re gone now, so don’t you worry. We’re just glad to see you back.”
“It’s okay, Nora.” A voice said to my left.
Turning my head slowly, it felt as if my brain were coated in layers of cobwebs. My doctor, a petite African-American woman who I recognized, was smiling at me. “You’re at the Leland Hospital,” Dr. Clark explained.
I croaked. “Aidan?” It hurt to talk. Swallowing, I winced and was handed a flimsy paper cup half filled with water.
Dr. Clark said. “He’s just fine. The two of you are really lucky.”
Sipping my water, I shook my head before forcing myself to swallow over the flames in my throat. “Where’s everyone?”
Mom’s eyebrows furrowed and her lips scrunched the way they had when she told me grandma had died. She was on the verge of tears, fighting, but dangerously close.
Reaching out to pat the top of my fingers—because my hand was shoved with needles—she said softly. “The police are looking for them.” Mom’s eyes darted to the doctor and nurse.
Dr. Clark nodded and motioned to the nurse. “We’re going to be out in the hallway if you need anything, Mrs. Fuller.” The two left the room, their clipboards in hand.
Mom looked at me with eyes brimming with tears. “Oh, Nora, I thought I lost you.”
“What happened?”
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