If this is the case, I’m doomed.
So doomed.
But, more importantly, the world will end on May 1 if we can’t stop Dubu.
I feel the cool metal of the necklace against my skin. Helena said it would provide me with “enhanced protection,” not “absolute protection.”
Aidan notices my reaction. “Obviously, Sunshine, you cannot be in Ridgemont on that day. I will arrange to have you flown to an undisclosed luiseach compound, perhaps the day before. If I move you any earlier, Dubu might find out and try to search for you to bring you back to Ridgemont.”
“But… couldn’t he just move the date back again? I mean, May first isn’t carved in stone, is it? It’s not a date decreed by their little prophecy book, is it? If I leave town, he’ll just do this thing on, say, May fifth or June sixth. Or even August thirteenth,” I point out, mentioning the day before my seventeenth birthday.
“It will be the first of May. Helena and I have formulated a plan to make sure of it,” Aidan says.
I turn to Helena, who hasn’t said a word this entire time. She’s sitting by herself, looking unusually distracted, smoothing an invisible wrinkle in her dress.
“What kind of plan?” I ask.
Helena glances up, and our eyes lock.
“You don’t need to know the details,” she says tersely. “Your father and I will take care of it.”
“Take care of it how?” I persist.
Zalea reaches into her pocket and pulls out one of her stones. She holds it up to the overhead light. “My stone tells me this plan is not likely to work.”
Mikhail throws up his hands in exasperation. “Really, Helena? Must we indulge these pseudo-mystical pronouncements?”
“Why isn’t the plan going to work, Zalea?” I ask her nervously.
Aura glares at Mikhail, then me, and tugs on Zalea’s hand. “Come on, pet, we must be going.”
“Yes, of course, Mother.”
“We all need to be going. We have much to do,” Mikhail states. And with that, he gets up, sweeps past me, and heads for the front door. The others follow.
As Zalea passes me, she leans close. “Do you still have your stone? The one I gave you?”
“What? Yes, of course.”
“That’s wonderful. Hold onto it. It will bring you luck.”
“Um, okay. Thanks. Why isn’t their plan going to work?”
“I’m not sure. It was a fleeting vision, no more. Something about a shiny, spinning celestial body…”
Aidan’s the last to go. I put a hand on his arm. “Can you stay for a minute? We have to talk.”
“I only have a few minutes.”
After the others are gone I sit down on the couch and motion for him to join me.
“You need to tell me,” I state firmly. “Whatever you and Helena are planning. I have to be in on it. Especially given what Zalea said.”
“I would not take stock in Zalea’s fancies. She has a vivid… imagination.”
“Still.”
“I am not going to tell you the details of the plan, Sunshine. Leave it be, please.”
“No. It’s time you started treating me like a… well, like not a child. I’m sixteen. You say I’m a luiseach like no other. That I may be the key to the survival of humanity because I can teach light spirits to move on by themselves. I need you to include me in whatever is happening here because I want to help. I need to help. I can’t just stand on the sidelines and watch Dubu and his evil minions take over the world!”
Aidan stares at me. His lips curve into a smile, but his eyes are heavy and sad.
“You are very much like your mother—like Helena, I mean. Stubborn and determined. Also very brave.”
Normally I’d complain bitterly—throw a major tizzy fit even—about being compared to Helena. But for some reason I don’t take offense this time. Part of me is actually a tiny bit pleased.
“I am stubborn. And I am de-ter-mined to keep you here until you tell me everything.”
Aidan steeps his hands under his chin. His face is sallow and drawn, and there are fatigue lines around his eyes. It’s like he aged ten years—or in his case a hundred, two hundred, three hundred years or more—practically overnight.
“Helena told me this morning that she explained our history to you, about Adis and Uiri, about your lineage,” he begins. “What she didn’t reveal is the fact that she and I are… that is to say… we are the king and queen of the luiseach. We have been for many centuries.”
“I’m sorry, what? You’re a king?”
“Yes. Although when the rift occurred sixteen years ago almost every single luiseach followed your… followed Helena. So my title as ‘king’ became somewhat moot, meaningless. As far as most of the luiseach community was concerned, Helena was their sole ruler.”
Holy moly. My parents are a luiseach king and queen. Does that make me a princess? Not just “of royal blood” but an actual princess? The thought would make me laugh if it weren’t so surreal and unbelievable.
Except it appears to be true.
Princess Sunshine?
“Helena and I have discussed it at length. There is only one way to kill Dubu, and as the king of the luiseach, it is up to me to carry it through.”
“Your burden,” I say, the pieces suddenly coming together. “Killing Dubu is your burden as king. And it will end the war swiftly, minimizing the loss of life.”
Aidan frowns at me in confusion.
“And you’re going to use something, some ritual, called guera spirito, aren’t you?”
“How in heaven’s name did you—”
“What is it, Aidan? What is this ‘spirit war’ ritual you intend to use?”
He stands up abruptly, walks over to the window, and pushes the curtain aside to gaze out into the dark night, at the wind blowing through the pine trees. The fog is rolling in, blanketing everything in a wet, ghostly gray.
“Guera spirito is how my great-grandparents and your great-great-grandparents, Adis and Uiri, killed Dubu’s two brothers, Drakov and Dagon. It is a ritual that was likely described in the demons’ Book of Prophecy. I am not sure how Adis and Uiri learned of it—everything in the Book of Prophecy is closely guarded by the darkness—but they did. And before they perished, they passed on the knowledge of this ritual to their daughter Laoise, who then passed it on to her son Laisren, my father, who then passed it on to me.”
A chill runs down my spine. I want to know what guera spirito is, and yet I don’t. Some instinct tells me that it’s not going to be easy to hear.
Aidan sits back down, takes my hand, and looks into my eyes. “It has already been decided, so you must accept what I am about to tell you,” he says gravely.
I nod slightly and clasp my hands together, trying to still their trembling. “O-okay.”
“Helena and I have planned that she will communicate with Dubu on May first and ask him to… ask him to…” He hesitates, and for a second his eyes darken with torment. “She will ask him to reconcile with her and pretend to join his side, which will cause him to be sufficiently distracted, at least for a few minutes, to allow me to initiate the ritual. And if the ritual is successful, he will never get the opportunity to activate the pentagram spell. The world will be safe.”
“And how do you initiate the ritual?”
“I must die and then battle Dubu on the spiritual plane.”
My breath catches in my throat, and I choke back tears.
“You have to die? No, no, you can’t!”
“The term ‘die’ is not simple in this context. The ritual is… complex. I must physically die, my body must die, in order for me to enter the spiritual plane and battle Dubu there. But as long as I can destroy him permanently before my brain and heart have completely shut down, I will return to the earthly realm. Worse for the wear, to paraphrase an expression. But I will return.”
“But you might not? There’s no guarantee?”
Sighing, Aidan wraps his arm around my shoulder and hugs me for th
e second time in our brief lives together as father and daughter. I can’t hold back my tears anymore, and for a second it seems like he’s on the verge of crying too.
“No, there is no guarantee. I must do this regardless. For the greater good. Only then can I hope to eliminate him from this universe once and for all. And no matter what happens, you will go on. You must go on. You are the king and queen’s daughter. After me, after Helena, you will be the leader of the luiseach.”
A creak on the stairs. Aidan and I both stand up.
Ashley stands at the landing, dressed in her PJs.
She rubs her eyes and blinks. “Sun? Sorry, I fell asleep. Monster headache. Is everything okay?”
“Everything’s fine!” I plaster on a smile. Did she overhear any part of our conversation? Probably not, or she’d likely be freaking out right now. “Dance Saturday, remember? You have to take me shopping,” I add with forced lightness.
“I haven’t forgotten. Aidan, you’d better give her all your credit cards, because we’re going to be spending some serious money!”
Nope, she definitely didn’t overhear.
As she turns and heads back up the stairs, I wonder how I’ll be able to do these normal things—shop for dresses, go to a school dance… go to school, period—when I know that my father, whom I’m just getting to know and love, may be dead in nineteen days?
At Last
The pesky mosquitoes are so easy to fool. Really, I should do this more often.
They now think the Great Reckoning will occur on the first of May—the humans’ absurd holiday with their maypoles and flower garlands and pagan flute music and annoying little dancing children.
They even have a plan to draw me out and defeat me.
How sweet.
I am practically beside myself with excitement, anticipating the expression on Aidan’s face when the fifth girl is terminated and the pentagram spell is complete. Ah, the glorious drama when the five points across the globe erupt in a rapture of death and darkness. My servants will arise, war will commence, and the whole world will be washed with fire.
First I will terminate her, and then him.
And take what is mine.
My queen.
My kingdom.
Finally, at last.
CHAPTER 38
Dress Shopping
On Thursday after school Ashley takes me to the Ridgemont Mall to dress shop for the dance. The mall was closed for a while after the incident with Mrs. Ostricher (who’s receiving tons of psychiatric tests and other evaluations in prison; no one can figure out what mental illness, exactly, caused a sweet little old lady to just snap and commit arson). It’s open now except for the Food Court, which is still roped off with yellow police tape, and also Candles ‘N’ Wicks because its owner, Marylee Mumford, had taken an unfortunately timed break to get a smoothie at Jolly Juice and was one of the victims.
Ashley stands in front of the fountain, which marks the center of the mall. The water inside glitters with pennies and nickels and dimes from all the wish makers.
I dig into my pocket, pull out a penny, and throw it in.
Please, please, please keep my father safe.
I throw in the rest of my change too for good measure.
Ashley puts her hands on her hips and slowly turns, carefully scanning the three wings of the mall that are distinguished by the wall colors—red, yellow, and blue. “This place is sad. Don’t you even have an H&M? Or a Forever 21?”
“Sorry, we’re not the big city. I think there’s a department store down this way, though.” I point to the red corridor. “We really don’t need to find me a dress here. If we just stop by Goodwill on our way home, I know they’ll have something for me. Like a prom dress from the seventies. Really, we should concentrate on you.”
“Nope, nope, nope. It’s time you got a full makeover. I’m talking dress, shoes, hair, makeup—you need the works.”
“Wow, you sound just like Tiffany Ramirez,” I joke.
“Well, Tiffany’s not wrong, is she?”
“Ouch! When did you get to be so judgey?”
“It’s just a little tough love, dude. You should thank me. I’m going to make you so hot that Nolan won’t be able to keep his hands off of you!”
Ashley hooks her arm through mine and pulls me toward the red wing. “Soooo… what’s the latest on your demon drama? I’m dying to know!”
“Um, there’s a lot going on. Lots of possessions and so forth. And we’re preparing for a possible, um, attack. In May.” I want to keep Ashley in the loop, but I don’t want to freak her out either—especially after what happened to her on Monday.
“An attack? That doesn’t sound good. Should we get out of here and road-trip it to Mexico, after all?”
“I’m not sure. I’ll keep you posted.”
“You’d better. Ohmigosh, look who’s here!”
I follow Ashley’s glance. Bastian is walking out of Tux Depot.
“Bas!” Ashley waves and runs over to him. She throws her arms around his neck and gives him a long, squeezy hug.
This time he doesn’t blush. Is he getting accustomed to her PDAs? Instead, he smiles happily and says, “Hello, Ashley. What a pleasant surprise. What are you and Sunshine doing here?”
“Shopping for drop-dead gorgeous dresses for our date on Saturday night, of course!” Ashley gushes.
“Hey,” I say, walking up to him. I haven’t had a chance to fill Bastian in on my conversation with Aidan about May first. As it is, I’ve told him very little about the pentagram spell and the rest of it—I didn’t want to scare him and make him resign from the luiseach club just when he’s getting started. I want to keep him focused on our next training session, which we’ve planned for the day after the dance. “Renting a tux?” I ask breezily.
Bastian reaches into his jacket pocket and pulls out a crumpled Tux Depot receipt. “Yes. I’ve never rented a tuxedo before. It’s quite complicated, really. Choosing colors, styles, ties, a cummerbund versus no cummerbund, shoes…”
“So what did you decide?” Ashley asks.
“I wasn’t sure, so my mother suggested I go with a classic black tuxedo. She and Father are at the frame store now, picking up some prints. Perhaps I can introduce you to them.”
Bastian’s parents? I’ve heard so much about them from him—mostly bad—that I become immediately nervous at the thought of actually meeting them face to face. I think about how they had him institutionalized and majorly medicated in January because he thought he was seeing ghosts—or, actually, light spirits.
A cold breeze blows through the corridor as though someone just turned up the air conditioning in the mall. Goosebumps prickle my skin.
Speaking of spirits…
Bastian drops his Tux Depot receipt and picks it up again. He stares at me with wide eyes.
“Ghosts?” he whispers.
“What did you say?” Ashley asks him.
I turn to her. “Ash, could you, um… head over to the department store and do some reconnaissance? You know, preselect some dresses for me to try on? Bastian and I have to discuss a, um, surprise for you. For the dance. I’ll be there in, like, ten minutes.”
“Oooh, a surprise! Sounds juicy. I’ll go pick out some dresses for you, Sunny-G. I’m thinking maybe bright red or purple or yellow—you know, to make you look less blah and boring.”
Ashley flutters her fingers and takes off down the corridor.
Less blah and boring?
But I don’t have time to feel insulted by my best friend. There are light spirits nearby.
I think this is Lucio’s shift to bodyguard me or whatever, which means he must be nearby somewhere. Even though we now know May first is the date, Aidan wants to continue the around-the-clock protection. In any case, the light spirits seem to be seeking out Bastian and me, not Lucio, so it’s our job to help them move on.
I stand next to Bastian, close my eyes, and concentrate. There are two spirits—I can visualize them now. A coup
le, Jason and Jonathan, who were attacked while hiking in the state park by a pack of strange wild animals.
Oh my gosh. A pack of strange wild animals? Could they be…
“Do you see them?” Bastian whispers to me.
“Yes. Do you?”
“Yes. Those poor men, they must have suffered greatly.”
“Send them your love and compassion, Bastian. Your kindness. Try to connect with them.”
“I will do that.”
We reach out our hands at the same time. The spirits of Jason and Jonathan billow toward us. They were in their thirties, both of them biologists and assistant professors at the university. Jason specialized in butterflies. Jonathan was a rain forest expert.
Come to us. Just a little closer now. We will help you reach the light, I say silently.
“Sebastian? What on Earth is going on here?” a woman’s voice interrupts.
My eyes fly open. Jason and Jonathan’s spirits shiver, retreat, and recede. I try to summon them back, but they pass through a wall next to Tux Depot and disappear.
A man and a woman stand in front of Bastian and me. The man is tall and broad shouldered with short blond hair and icy blue eyes; he’s wearing a casual shirt, slacks, and tweed jacket that quietly exude expensive designer labels, plus a tweed wool cap and leather driving gloves. The woman is likewise dressed in a simple but perfectly tailored black dress that matches the shade of her closely cropped hair. Behind her glasses her blue eyes are as chilly as his.
“Sebastian? Please explain,” she repeats.
Bastian flushes bright red. “Um… hello, Mother, Father. This is my friend Sunshine. Sunshine Griffith. We were just, um…”
His parents. The super-scary law professor and psychiatrist.
“Sorry, my fault!” I jump in with a bright smile. “I was just showing Bastian, I mean Sebastian, a move I learned in my tai chi class. I know we must have looked so dorky, doing tai chi in the middle of the mall! It’s like that scene in Pride and Prejudice where… except, what am I saying? Of course they didn’t have tai chi in Victorian England! You must be Mr. and Mrs. Jansen. It’s really nice to meet you both!”
The Sacrifice of Sunshine Girl Page 21