by Karen Mead
“But I’m hungry,” said Aeka, and there was no mistaking her tone.
Cassie gave up and rolled out of her hideaway, dropping off the ledge and into the water with a huge splash. “Okay, but this time let me have some of the heads. You were hogging everything last time.”
“Was not,” said Aeka, and in one smooth motion, dived off her perch. Cassie looked away as her friend hit the water with barely a splash, a familiar pang of jealousy running through her: would she ever be that graceful? Breathing the sea air one more time, she dived underwater herself, where Aeka was already waiting.
Aeka cocked her head towards the north, streams of blond hair coiling slowly around her like languid serpents. Cassie nodded and began to follow, kicking her legs hard to get a head start on Aeka. They swam in silence for a while, just enjoying the scenery on the bottom of the ocean. The two could breathe water just as easily as air, and there was no hurry to surface. They passed several schools of fish but Aeka let them be, clearly looking for a more substantial meal. Maybe they would find a shark, or a small whale.
You know, thought Cassie, swimming upside down for a moment to see the faintest trace of sunlight penetrating through the water above her, It hasn’t rained in some time.
Aeka’s mind was quiet, all dark bubbles, for a moment before she replied. No, I don’t think it has.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
When Cassie awoke, it was as though someone had been holding her head underwater. She gasped, greedily taking in as much air as she could while her heart hammered in her chest. After a few moments, she felt fairly confident that she wasn’t going to die immediately and sat up, catching her breath. She had recovered first—the Knight, Aeka, was still unconscious on the floor.
Any attempt to analyze what she had seen in the vision ground to a halt as she realized one important fact: she was alone. Bennet and Walter were out doing who knows what, and the Knight showed no signs of stirring. This might be her only chance.
Quickly, she grabbed Aeka’s sword, which was still on the floor where the Knight had put it, intending to draw the blood she needed for a summoning. But it was strange; no matter how she dragged the edge of the blade over her finger, she felt nothing and her skin wouldn’t break. She could tell just by looking at the sword that it was sharp, but it seemed incapable of cutting her flesh.
Puzzled, but still focused on escape, she took out one of her earrings and stabbed her forefinger with the metal tip. She had actually made a point of sharpening the thing, so it was like a tiny stake. She squeezed a few drops of her blood into a pool on the carpet, then opened her silver locket. She removed three translucent, almost invisible hairs—Sam’s hair. She had seen them at DG one day right after his shift, and quickly shoved them in her apron pocket before anyone could wipe down the counter.
She placed the hairs in the blood, and felt a chill go through her as she did so; it might have just been a few hairs and a few drops of blood, but it was a powerful symbol of the link between demon and familiar, and some part of her—maybe the same part that had once breathed water like it was air—recognized that.
“Son of Sammael, I summon you! Sammael, Sammael, Sammael!” she said, touching the blood pool with her finger.
It was much faster this time, and Sam appeared just as she finished putting her earring back on. He must have been sitting when she summoned him, because he fell into a heap next to her, still wearing his work clothes from DG.
“Cassie!” he said, his eyes so wide he could see the whites. “How did you—”
“Later. Right now we have to go, and we have to take her with us,” she said, pointing to where Aeka was still laid out on the floor.
“That thing!” Sam growled, jumping to his feet with a speed that made her gasp. When had he gotten so fast? “You knocked it out? How in the world—“
“I’ll explain later, but listen, she’s like me.”
Sam looked down at her. “Come again?”
Cassie rose to her feet, wiping a drop of blood off her nightgown before it could stain. “Look, whatever I am, whatever it is that makes me such a good familiar, that’s what she is too. And she doesn’t want to be this way. We have to take her with us.”
Sam looked from her to the Knight, confused. “Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t take that thing’s head off now while I have the chance.”
“Because I would never, ever forgive you,” said Cassie. She hadn’t planned to say it; she had simply responded immediately, intuitively, to his question.
His eyes widened again, then he looked back down at the Knight. “Alright. I’ll trust you. But how do we keep her from slicing me open when she wakes up?”
“If she wakes up,” said Cassie, kneeling at the Knight’s side. She was getting worried about that, actually; the figure was awfully still. “I don’t think she’ll try to kill you, not after what’s happened, but I’ll take her sword away just to be safe.” She grabbed the sword; the hilt tingled in her palm, as though it had a will of its own. Perhaps it did.
“After what’s happened?” Sam mimicked. “Cassie. What’s happened to you? Tell me.”
“I already said, I’ll tell you later! Right now, how are we going to get home? We’re all the way in Oregon.”
His eyes settled on her sheer nightgown in a way that made her uncomfortable. “Cassie you weren’t…you haven’t been….” He stuttered.
When she opened her mouth to answer, she heard the garage door open. “Oh no,” she said “They’re back.”
“Who’s they?”
“Bennet and his manservant guy, Walter.”
There was a pause, and then Sam broke into a smile that made her blood freeze in her veins. “Good,” he said, then he blew past her and out the door, again with that frightening speed.
“Sam, no!” she yelled, and ran after him, dragging the sword along the ground behind her; it was too heavy for her to hold it and run at the same time. As she dashed down the stairs, she heard a yell (probably Bennet) and a bunch of banging noises that made her teeth chatter.
By the time she got to the living room, where she’d first met Bennet, Walter was already on the floor (dead, for all she knew) and Sam was throwing Bennet across the room. Only by luck did Bennet manage to escape smashing his head on the marble fireplace.
“I don’t…I don’t understand, how…” he said, unsteadily trying to rise to his feet. His ankle looked twisted.
Before Cassie could do anything, Sam was on Bennet again, holding him up by the throat. “You lost your get-out-of-jail-free card, Marcus. Your familiar’s been taken care of.” Cassie couldn’t see his expression, but she could tell from his voice that he was wearing that smile that terrified her. “Now I’ll show you what happens to people who steal from me.”
Cassie ran up behind him, still dragging the sword. “Stop it, he didn’t rape me! He didn’t hurt me, Sam!” she yelled.
Sam exhaled and looked as though he were about to drop Bennet, then tensed and tightened his grip. He turned around and looked at her over his shoulder while Bennet tried to pry Sam’s hand away from his throat, unsuccessfully. “You expect me to go easy on him for that? You think he gets a MERIT BADGE for that?” Sam yelled. “Why are you protecting him?”
“Because he’s not a bad man!”
“Correct! He’s not a man at all!” Sam bellowed, dropping Bennet, finally, who gasped and crumpled into a heap at his feet. “What do you want me to do, then? Just let him go?”
“We’re taking his familiar, he won’t be a threat anymore,” she said. She hated the fact that it sounded like she was pleading. “I think you’ve hurt him enough.”
A gravelly voice interjected. “It was his father, Belial, who put him up to this.”
Cassie turned and saw Walter, sitting up and seemingly alright except for a bleeding gash on his cheek. “Please, listen to the child. He had no choice.”
Walter’s voice seemed to calm Sam’s anger, finally. He took a deep breath and rubbed his eyes with the back of his ha
nds. “Cassie,” he said quietly “Someday, you are going to have to let me kill someone who tries to take you from me.”
Cassie shivered; it sounded like a vow. Somehow, she had no doubt that he would. “Whatever,” she said, faking a calm she didn’t really feel. “Let’s just go home. Do we need to find the airport, or—”
“Please, don’t take my familiar,” Bennet stammered from the floor in a hoarse voice.
“Don’t push your luck, Son of Belial,” Sam practically spat at him. He turned to Cassie. “I have a faster way home in mind.” Motioning her to follow him, he went back up the stairs, towards the guest room. She followed, the sword clinking on each step behind her. When she got to the top, slightly winded, Sam was already carrying the Knight in his arms.
“How can we get home? Do you have a teleportation amulet?” she asked.
“No, but I think I can get us a ride.” He cleared his throat. “Father! I know you’re listening!”
Oh no, thought Cassie, anything but that.
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Rather than appear before them, Sammael made his presence known in their thoughts.
That’s awfully rude, just shouting at me like that. What seems to be the trouble?
“I’ve thought it over, and I’m going to take the deal,” said Sam. “Now, hold up your end like we discussed.”
“What deal?” asked Cassie.
Funny you should ask, little girl who I’ve never seen before in my life! Why, you’re so cute, I bet you couldn’t possibly have any deep, dark secrets, could you? Nothing incredibly dangerous that you’re keeping from the man next to you?
“Stop playing around,” said Sam. “I said I’ll do it. Give it to me.”
You’ve got it backwards, my boy. First, you talk to your mother on my behalf, then I give you the ability to travel to and from the Realm. That was the deal.
Sam bit his lip; he had been afraid of this. “I haven’t had a chance to speak to Helen yet, and I really need to be able to travel now.”
How is that my problem? If you’ve got nothing of value to say, I was in the middle of a very interesting—
“Wait!” Sam yelled, panicked. “Just give me one trip, for the three of us, as a show of good faith. Then I swear on my life I will talk to her. I promise I’ll convince her to summon you again.”
That was all his father seemed to want: for Helen to summon him again, like she had in the old days. Whether the demon lord was somehow blocked from appearing at her side of his own will, or if he was just too stubborn to initiate the contact himself, Sam didn’t know. Or care, quite frankly.
The three of you? Why can’t I sense another person?
The voice in Sam’s head sounded puzzled. Sam and Cassie exchanged worried glances.
Ah, I see. There you are, little Agniezka; I was searching all the wrong channels for you.
“So you’ll do it?” Sam asked. Please Father, he thought, hoping Sammael couldn’t read all of his thoughts right now. Don’t make me do it. Don’t make me have to try to drag a girl in full plate armor through airport security. Let things be easy for me, just this once.
Cassie put her hand on the armored figure’s helmet, a look of concern on her face; she really seemed to be afraid that the girl wouldn’t wake up.
Because I’m intrigued by your special passenger, I’ll indulge you this once. But you had better do what you’ve promised, and soon, or else you’ll be spending a whole lot more time in the Realm than you’d like.
“I understand,” said Sam. “Just take us home.”
Done, said Sammael, and they vanished.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
Unfortunately, they didn’t materialize at The Daily Grind, or anywhere else they might have expected. When Cassie became conscious of herself again, she seemed to be in some kind of rock quarry, beneath a cloudless red sky. Not far ahead of her, there was a cliff, with seemingly nothing beyond it.
Oh God, not again, she thought. Not the Lost Ones. I can’t see them again, I won’t.
“Father!” Sam called, still holding Aeka in his arms. “What is the meaning of this?”
Sorry, got an important call right when I was about to transport you. Stay in this convenient little pocket of the lower Realm while I take this. Won’t be a minute.
As the demon lord spoke in their minds, tongues of flame sprouted from the ground like sinister dandelions, nearly catching the hem of Cassie’s nightgown. All around them, the ground was on fire, though there was no kindling to burn.
“Father!” yelled Sam, helplessly.
Cassie started shivering, suddenly freezing; every few seconds, the temperature would change from searing heat to frigid cold. Several times, frost formed on her eyelashes, only to melt and steam off her face, then freeze into little ice crystals that felt like needles on her skin. She fought a violent urge to throw up, while freezing fire licked at her ankles. She tried to speak, but no sound came out of her mouth.
“What’s wrong?” asked Sam, seeing her double over.
“Can’t you feel that?” she finally stammered out. Even breathing here hurt, filling her lungs with a burning sensation that made her feel like her insides were hollowing out.
“Feel what?” asked Sam. “Cassie, talk to me!”
“I…” she started, then she gagged.
“What is it?”
“I…really think you should talk to your Mom, Sam,” she said, teetering on the brink of unconsciousness. Her knees felt wobbly and she didn’t know how much longer she could stand, but if she fell to her knees, the flames would engulf her.
Just then, a sound like a gunshot brought her back to her senses. Another shot, and something whizzed past her ear.
“What now? Who would be shooting at us?” Sam asked, panic creeping into his voice as he swiveled his head, scanning the horizon for their attacker. Another shot, and something grazed his cheek, opening a small gash.
“It’s her,” said Cassie, her entire body covered in freezing sweat.
The shots came faster now; the metal nails were popping out of the Knight’s armor, shooting dangerous projectiles everywhere. Where a nail flew out, a small jet of steam would follow. As gently as he could, Sam dropped her to the ground at his feet, which was still mostly clear of flames. As they watched, more nails popped out at great speed as the armor began to blacken, then rot away. In a matter of seconds, the strange metal was mostly reduced to a thin layer of black ash on the girl’s body, only her helmet and a bit of her shoulder plates still intact.
“Father!” Sam bellowed, kneeling at Aeka’s side. “They’ll die if you leave them here, is that what you want?”
Okay! Business concluded. Thank you for waiting, although my dear Agniezka appears to be naked all of a sudden. You might want to do something about that before entering into polite company.
Suddenly, the alternating heat and cold became less intense, and Cassie realized they were fading away—leaving this horrible place. “Thank you,” she whispered, still barely able to speak.
Of course, my dear. You were next in the queue.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
Mercifully, Sammael transported the three of them to the empty back room of The Daily Grind without further ado. Quickly, Sam put the still-unconscious Aeka down on the couch where Ethan normally napped. “She needs clothes.”
“Open the second locker from the bottom on the right, there’s a bunch of old shirts and aprons there,” Cassie said. When Sam moved from the girl’s side, Cassie knelt next to her and slowly, carefully removed the blackened remains of her helmet. Her breath caught in her throat; as she expected, it was the face of the girl in her vision: a heart-shaped face with long, dark eyelashes, a cute little button for a nose, and a shapely little pink mouth. The perfect doll’s face. The only difference was while the mermaid of her dream had been tanned, this girl had peaches-and-cream skin.
Sam came back with
a large black T-shirt and hesitated at her side. “She really is just a girl…she can’t be any older than you,” he said with no small amount of wonder. Cassie snatched the shirt out of his hands.
“Stop looking at her!” she said and began covering Aeka with the XXL shirt.
“I-I wasn’t…” Sam started, then he was interrupted by Khalil’s entrance.
“Holy Hell, how did you guys get back here? And who’s—why is there a naked chick on the couch?”
“Long story,” said Sam, brushing some of the soot from Aeka’s destroyed armor off of his once-white shirt. “Where’s Ethan?”
Khalil tore his widened eyes away from Aeka as Cassie hurried to pull the T-shirt over her head. “With the Buckleys. Eugene took him into their protection as soon as you disappeared.”
Sam heaved a sigh of relief. “Good, last thing I need is for one familiar to get stolen while I’m rescuing the other.”
Across the room, the rat began squeaking furiously. Khalil cocked his head in the direction of the rat cage.
“By the way, Jay spilled about him,” Khalil said. Does she know?, he mouthed silently.
Before Sam could answer, Miri burst into the room. “You’re back!”
Cassie gasped and covered her mouth as she stood up. “Miri? I thought you were dead!”
“Yeah, so did I,” said Miri, wrapping Cassie up in a fierce hug. “I’m still okay because our master is awesome sauce.”
“Oh my God Miri, I thought you were gone and the last thing I said to you was such a horrible- I’m so sorry—” and then her voice broke as she cried the tears she wouldn’t allow herself to cry when she had first been taken. She wiped her eyes on the back of her hand and glared at Sam. “You could have mentioned that she was alive!”
“Technically, she’s not,” said Sam. “Besides, we were preoccupied.”
“It’s okay, you can stop crying,” said Miri, holding her hands up nervously. “I’m just sorry I couldn’t beat that thing. I’ll never let some stupid little demon’s familiar beat me again, that’s for—” At that moment, her eyes found Aeka on the couch and she took an involuntary step back. “Bollocks, it’s her, isn’t it. That’s the one who cut off my head.”