Nerves had kept me from sleeping well, and my eyes were closing involuntarily as our cars sped along the quiet roads. At first, I fought sleep, believing I should remain alert, but the battle was futile. I was just drifting off when Mitch whispered my name. Yawning, I stretched my cramped legs and tried to figure out what was going on. Something was definitely up, as evidenced by the Gryphons’ rising anxiety.
“Something’s going on,” Mitch murmured unhelpfully.
We were tucked in the back of a long van, and we strained to see out our respective windows, but the landscape provided no clues. Members of the p-squad shifted uneasily, and I could hear Tom speaking rapidly in a low voice up front.
Lucen and the other preds were stuck in a different vehicle, and I didn’t think he was driving, so I shot him a text. Is something wrong?
He responded quickly. Must be, but don’t know what.
I took that to mean being able to see better wouldn’t help, so I asked the closest Gryphon and hoped he spoke English. He did but was of no more assistance. Frustrated and growing anxious myself, I settled back and hoped Tom would share the news soon.
I got my wish about ten minutes later. Our caravan slowed as we neared the outskirts of the town and countryside turned to civilization. After a couple turns down the narrow streets, one thing became obvious—the town was deserted or close to it. A few of the buildings we passed had boarded-up windows. The window boxes, which a couple weeks ago had been bursting with colorful flowers, had gone neglected. Other less fortunate buildings had been reduced to burned-out husks. I didn’t see a single bicyclist, pedestrian or other car on the roads until we stopped.
Tom got off the phone, and we followed his lead and climbed out. Not that I’d had any doubts about what I’d seen so far, but standing in the main square at this time of day made it clear how empty the area was. There wasn’t a single other soul in sight, although if I stretched out my gift, I could detect a few people who weren’t part of our group nearby. Their fear predominated, and I got the sense they were hiding.
Mitch swore and tugged at my sleeve. A mountain ridge rose to the west, and plumes of scarlet smoke drifted above the peaks before disappearing into the blood-colored sky.
“What makes smoke like that?” Mitch asked.
I shook my head and turned to Lucen, who had joined us. He and the other preds shrugged.
Ingrid signaled for everyone to pay attention, and we gathered around the head of the line of parked vehicles. Along with tension, I detected an undercurrent of sadness in her that didn’t bode well.
“This past hour,” she said, “we received word from the unit stationed at the entrance that something was happening in the Pit.”
“What does that mean?” one of the magi asked.
Ingrid clasped her hands together nervously. “We don’t know. They seemed to believe something might be emerging. We stopped receiving updates half an hour ago. No one there is responding any longer.”
My vision of the town blurred for a moment as I struggled to control my nerves as well as the head rush of the collective spike in fear around me. Steadying myself against the nearest SUV, I took a deep breath. Okay, so one of the demons had emerged. Therefore, I no longer had a reason to worry about that possibility. I simply had to deal with the consequences.
Don’t be afraid. Don’t feed the demons. I’d been repeating the mantra to myself since Lucen had brought it up, but it had been a lot easier to follow that advice when there was an ocean separating me from the Pit.
“Did the team on site finish their end of the preparations?” I asked.
Ingrid seemed relieved for a question she could answer. “They said they had, but we can’t know whether more recent events have caused issues. We need to be prepared for Scenario S when we arrive. I want to review it.”
Scenario S—for setup—wasn’t so much of a backup plan as it was a few extra steps added to the original. In case the Gryphon team hadn’t been able to prepare for our arrival, we’d each been tasked with one or more of the steps they were supposed to have finished. The goal was to get the site ready as quickly as possible if there was trouble.
It sure sounded like there was trouble. As we recited the painstakingly detailed process we each had to implement, a howl echoed off the mountains. A deep, rumbling sort of thunder followed, chilling my blood. It sounded angry, if thunder could be called that. A few seconds later, snow on the highest peak tumbled down the mountain’s side, sending a puff of white into the air.
Everyone gaped in the mountain’s direction for a second, then Lucen took my hand and we returned to business. We’d finished reviewing not only Scenario S but a variety of plans, and we were heading back to the vehicles when the door of the nearest shop opened and the sound of barking dogs filled the square. A middle-aged man tentatively stepped out, holding the leashes on three large dogs of indeterminate breed.
“Gryphons?” He spoke in French too quickly for me to catch the rest of his words.
Tom and some others had a brief conversation with him, then the man scurried back into the building with his dogs and slammed the door. Exchanging a glance with Lucen, I climbed back into my van.
Tom got in the front passenger’s seat, and he twisted around to talk to us as we drove off. “According to the local who spoke to us, there are creatures in the mountains.”
“What kind of creatures?” I asked.
“The demons,” one of the Gryphons answered in a voice that suggested I was an idiot.
I glared at him because he was the idiot, then I turned my attention back toward Tom. “There are lots of different descriptions of what the original furies looked like.”
“Winged,” Tom said. “He described the one he saw as looking like a dinosaur or a large dragon.”
“Swell.” Mitch tapped his fists against his legs.
I grimaced. None of the descriptions I’d read had mentioned dinosaurs as a comparison, but then, no one who had seen one of these creatures firsthand would have known about dinosaurs. And it made sense. Dragons or wyverns were common comparisons in the histories, and I could see how someone could make the connection. The wings though—I’d really been hoping the drawings of demons with wings on them had been mistakes.
“He also said,” Tom continued, “that everyone has been acting unnaturally aggressive. Those who hadn’t fled have apparently been starting fights and wantonly destroying things. The charms you’ve all been provided with should help protect you from negative influences, but be prepared and conscious of your emotional states.”
“Like that will help if one of them gets in our heads,” muttered the same Gryphon who’d made the snide comment earlier.
Ignoring him, I swallowed and retreated inwardly to focus on my tasks. But the Gryphon’s voice niggled at the back of my mind. And just what if one of them did get in my head? Would I be able to handle its power? Triumphing over Claudius no longer seemed like such a victory.
In silence, we bounced along roads that were increasingly poorly maintained. Tree branches and other debris lay scattered along the shoulders and sometimes popped up in the middle of the lane, requiring evasive driving. Once, our caravan paused while several Gryphons had to clear a path. I couldn’t shake the sensation that the small tree in the way had been left there purposely. Tucked in the valley, with the mountain’s imposing walls on either side, we were juicy targets. Eventually though, the Gryphons got the tree removed and we were on our way without incident.
The strange noises I’d heard in town continued erratically, frequently raising the hairs on the back of my neck. And was it my imagination, or was it getting dark way too early?
It’s just the shadows, I told myself. Nothing unusual. The mountains cast the entire valley in them, darkening the roads and blackening the trees.
At last, we turned down the long drive toward the castle. About twenty feet in, the
roadblock the Gryphons had set up was in place, and we had to stop a second time for it to be moved. A bright yellow sign with its ominous Keep Out was written in English, French and German.
“Good advice,” Mitch whispered to me. “Too bad we can’t follow it.”
I vaguely remembered that the driveway was long, but it wasn’t much comfort as we left the trappings of civilization behind. The grounds around here gave me the creeps. There was too much isolation and too much nature. I was such a city girl. But when the trees seemed to sway with the next howl, I forgave myself for feeling chilled. It was fucking creepy, and that didn’t include the very real monsters roaming nearby.
Our van rolled to a stop in the driveway, and we piled out of the vehicles, everyone on alert. Bracing myself, I spun around, searching for signs of danger. The p-squad fanned out over the driveway, securing the immediate area, at the ground level anyway. What good their salamander-forged blades would do against an actual demon remained to be seen. The texts suggested they would work, but they also suggested getting close enough to harm one was a rare feat.
Then again, the people who wrote those texts hadn’t had bullets or curse grenades. I knew Tom and the other Gryphons were counting on modern technology to even the battlefield.
Ingrid was on the phone again, trying to make contact with whoever was supposed to be inside and not having any success based on the sound of things. Meanwhile, the remaining Gryphons and magi were retrieving their magical gear. Fidgety and useless, I joined Lucen and Gi who were conferring quietly by the Gryphon cars that had been here when we arrived.
Without a word, Lucen pointed toward a spot on the ground by the driver’s side door of one of them. A partial dirty handprint stuck out against the black paint. Flecks of a reddish-brown substance intermingled with the dirt. As if I needed confirmation it was blood, a quick check of the ground provided it. The driveway consisted mostly of gravel, and more red splotches glared up at me from the tan and gray stones.
I swore. “Guess we know why Ingrid’s not getting a response.”
“Possibly.” Lucen stepped onto the grass, following a trampled trail leading toward the enormous stone structure. “I’m sensing someone alive inside, but they could be injured.”
“There should be multiple someones.” I stretched out with my gift as well, but I wasn’t nearly as adept at this sort of thing as he was. The rising fear from all the close-by humans interfered with my ability to sense anyone farther away.
I joined Lucen on the lawn, not thinking about where I was walking until a cold sensation swept over me. My head swam with a vision of this very spot. Of Raj hurling a curse grenade at Lucen and Devon as they raced across the lawn to my rescue. The grenade exploded in black smoke, knocking them both to the ground. I ran toward them, screaming, and tripped on the grass while Raj laughed. They didn’t get up. They hadn’t gotten up. I was shaking Devon’s lifeless body, crying and yelling, and Raj was laughing like a maniac. This was going to be how it ended—with everyone I loved dying. With my heart loaded with grief and my head filled with impotent rage.
“No!” I shrieked out loud, and all at once the vision exploded in my mind. My sight cleared, and I realized I was kneeling on the grass. Trembling, I climbed to my feet and circled around. My heart was pounding, and I reminded myself over and over that Lucen and Devon had survived. We were here. We were going to put an end to this.
But in the meantime, we were being fucked with. So much was obvious because I wasn’t the only one who seemed to have lost her grip on reality.
Lucen raced over and gathered me in his arms. “You okay?”
I nodded, watching Tom and Ingrid confer in low voices. He ran what must have been a sweaty hand through his hair, causing it to stand up in blond spikes.
“You?” I asked Lucen, dragging my gaze away from the jittery Gryphons.
“Not bad.” He released me with a grimace. “I just felt this horrible fear come over me.”
I laughed unsteadily. “Oh, that’s it?” Quickly, I explained what had happened to me.
It wasn’t surprising that if the demons were getting into our heads, whether intentionally or not, that it wasn’t affecting Lucen or the other preds as strongly as it was the Gryphons, including me. Preds didn’t have that emotional effect on each other. But we knew the demons were more powerful and that modern preds weren’t immune to their influence. That Lucen had felt anything was our first proof of it. As it turned out, only the magi hadn’t noticed anything, although they appeared extra nervous.
A sinister noise reverberated in the forest, and a flock of birds took to the sky. While the Gryphons and magi hurried to gather the rest of their equipment, I showed Tom the blood and the trail. His face was pale but his voice steady as we followed it. Gi found more blood on the lawn, but the trampled grass ended abruptly about ten feet from the building’s heavy wood door. The entire lawn was beaten down around here so it was impossible to figure out what had happened.
“It’s not important.” The concern on Tom’s face gave away what a concession it was for him to discount a fellow Gryphon’s life as not important. “We need to get inside and get moving.”
Wary of what we’d find, the p-squad threw open the main door and we entered the building. The hallway was quiet, unnervingly so when there should have been five or more Gryphons here. Evidence that they had been around and busy was everywhere, but the silence that greeted our voices when we called for them was depressing.
Those in charge of finishing the spell broke off toward the chapel area, and I hung back, waiting to see whether I was needed. Down the hallway, someone banged a piece of equipment on a wall sconce and someone else swore. It wasn’t in English, but there was no mistaking the tone, nor that they weren’t cursing the sconce. Following the voice, I made my way into a room on the right and then on to the kitchen where I found new blood, and this time, a body to go with it. I turned away before I could see more, but my stomach twisted.
Don’t give in to anger. I curled my hands into fists and rushed to Lucen’s side for emotional support.
He gave my shoulder a shake, and we headed toward the ruins. “Sounds like whoever was here succeeded in their part before they were attacked.”
I let out a small breath. That wasn’t much, but it did make our lives easier.
Those in charge of finishing the spell were in the middle of their work. I took a moment to observe the Gryphons and magi kneeling by the various Vessels, then my attention drifted. Whatever they were working on appeared challenging but didn’t provide much to see.
The rest of the chapel was far more interesting. The ceiling had been removed, and the jagged walls jutted into the red sky like teeth. Dirt and dying vegetation decorated the perimeter, and something unseen stunk. I was familiar enough with charm ingredients to guess it probably wasn’t one of them. More likely a decaying animal. I shuddered and hoped it was a small one. I didn’t want to see any additional dead bodies.
Gryphons and magi buzzed about, doing whatever else was required, and the goblins huddled in a corner, checking their weapons. Puzzled by the obvious missing piece, I concentrated on the weirdness of the scene to keep from dwelling on dead Gryphons and flying monsters. When it became clear what I was searching for wasn’t going to materialize, I sought out Tom.
“Where’s the opening?” The same ruby haze that had been here last time remained, swirling around the floor in a fog. But aside from that, and the elaborate scrollwork of glyphs drawn on the stones, nothing appeared, well, magical. In the ensuing days, I’d expected a door or a gate or something would have made itself known. For the love of dragons, people were reporting flying demons. Didn’t the demons have to walk through something to arrive in our realm?
“I think you’re looking at it,” Tom said.
Mitch gave Tom a bewildered glance. “I don’t understand. How do they get here? How do we enter the prison
?”
Tom didn’t answer directly. Instead he stepped cautiously into the fog. I held my breath, waiting for something to happen to him. One foot, then two—he paused at the edge and beckoned us over. As soon as I joined him inside the haze, I could see it. A perfectly formed oval hovered in the center of the ankle-high mist. It was devastatingly black and yet somehow bright at the same time, and it played tricks on my eyes. If I squinted, I could see through to the other side of the room. Then a breath later, it was opaque.
“I have to walk through that thing?”
“We have to walk through that thing?” Mitch corrected me.
Ingrid called for Tom, and we all left the area. Happily, in my case and presumably in Mitch’s as well. Seeing that gate did nothing to help my nerves. Still, I spun around when both my feet touched the normal stone, and sure enough, the opening had vanished. A shiver zigzagged down my spine, too powerful to be mere fear. I assumed magic was building in the air.
“We’re almost ready,” Ingrid said. To Tom, she added, “Get the entry team gathered and armed.”
Squaring my shoulders, I headed over to the corner where Lucen and Gi had gathered with the goblins. Taking my cue from them, I strapped on my remaining weapons. This was it. This was going to happen.
As I double-checked my cache of curse grenades, a dark shadow passed over the room. I jumped, and people murmured. The tingling magical sense I’d detected earlier grew stronger. The shadow passed a second time. In its wake, a powerful rushing noise filled the air and drowned out the shouting.
The anxiety in the room peaked, flooding my mouth with the sour taste of everyone’s fear, including my own. Along with Lucen, I slid my longest blade from the sheath on my back, and a breeze lifted the hairs around my face.
Misery Happens Page 20