by Lincoln Cole
It brought relief to see her doing so well but also a shock. She barely seemed like she’d gotten hurt less than two days ago to the point of nearly dying. If he hadn’t watched her experience that injury in Cambodia personally, he wouldn’t have believed it had ever happened.
She had slept for the last several days, waking up only long enough to eat before passing out once more. This made for the first time he had seen her wide awake and coherent since the injury.
“Yeah,” he said. “I’m okay, but I should ask you that question. How do you feel?”
“Better.” She shook her head and tapped her side. “It hardly hurts anymore.”
“How’s that possible? You almost died.”
Abigail let out a sigh. “I know. I think it comes down to whatever the cult did to me. I’ve healed super quickly, and I feel … different. Are you sure you feel all right? You talked in your sleep.”
“What did I say?”
“It sounded like gibberish, but you called for your sister. You seemed terrified. Did you have a nightmare?”
He hesitated, and then said, “I don’t know.”
“What do you mean?”
“It felt so real. I’ve had nightmares before, but this seemed something different. More vivid. And I felt fully present in it. It had me paralyzed but awake and somewhere else.”
“Your mind will paralyze you while you sleep,” Abigail said. “It happens to me, too.”
He shook his head. “Not like this. This … I sensed something else out there, too. Like I wasn’t alone in my head.”
She tilted her head. “What do you mean?”
“I felt the demon. The one controlling Nida. And, I felt Nida, too.”
“Alive?”
“Yes. Or, at least, part of her.”
Abigail frowned. “You could feel the demon?”
“I …” Haatim felt unsure how to explain. “I think I bridged a connection between the demon and myself back in Cambodia. A telepathic bond, and I guess it remains open. The demon seemed surprised to find it active.”
“How did you do that?”
“In Raven’s Peak, when I walked across the floor of the factory and nothing could hit me, it felt like that, only I can control it a little bit better. Father Paladina helped me.”
Abigail sat in silence, and then said, “I haven’t heard that name in a long time.”
“You knew him?”
“An old friend of Arthur’s.”
“That echoes what Frieda told me. He seems like a good guy.”
Abigail chewed her bottom lip. “Sometimes.”
Haatim waited for her to elaborate, but she didn’t. Instead, she asked, “Where are we going?”
“Ohio. Dominick and Frieda are already out there waiting for us.”
“Us? They know about me?”
“I told them. You didn’t want me to?”
She didn’t respond immediately. “I don’t know.”
“Why didn’t you tell us you lived after the train? Why didn’t … why didn’t you tell me?”
“It’s complicated.”
“Complicated? How? We thought you’d died. You let me think you’d died.”
“Abigail did die,” she said. “Whatever happened to me, I’m not the same person.”
“Yes, you are.”
“No, I’m not, Haatim. Whatever happened to me, it changed me in ways you can’t even imagine, and I can’t control it. I … didn’t want to hurt any of you, so I kept going after Nida.”
He frowned. “I get it, but, you still should have told me.”
“Maybe,” she said.
“You went to Cambodia following Nida?”
Abigail nodded. “Yes. I chased her out there but didn’t know what she planned, and then I realized she’d gone after Matt Eicholt.”
“You don’t know why?”
She shook her head. “I thought that maybe if I got hold of him first, I could use him as leverage to stop her plan. But then I worked out that the Church had come after me, which made things considerably more difficult. She forced my hand, though, when she went after him.”
“She needed his blood,” Haatim said.
“Why?”
“A ritual to summon a demon here. The one that keeps Arthur in hell.”
Abigail scrunched up her face into a frown.
“What?” he asked. “You know something?”
“No,” she said. “I just … never mind.”
“Anyway, she plans to collect blood from the seven bloodlines that locked away Surgat.”
“Surgat the demon?”
“Long story,” Haatim said. “Basically, he’s the evil entity that Nida wants to let loose with a ritual, and she needs the blood of the original Council members for it.”
“But, you said to summon him here?”
“Yes.”
She had that same look on her face like she knew more than she let on. Haatim thought to push the issue but changed his mind. He remained grateful just to have Abigail back, alive and in one piece, and didn’t want to jeopardize that by pushing her for information. If it proved something important, she would tell him.
“So that explains why she tried to get Matt,” Abigail said. “I saw what she wanted and thought I could keep him safe. Did you see what happened to him?”
Haatim sighed. “Dead.”
Abigail echoed his sigh. “Damn it.”
“He made for the last of the bloodlines Nida needs. Now she has all seven and can release Surgat.”
“Then, how do we stop her?”
“I have no idea,” Haatim said. “But, I do know where she went.”
“Where?”
“Raven’s Peak,” he said.
The dream/nightmare had faded in his memory, but that detail remained as vivid as when he’d first felt it. Without a doubt, he knew that the demon controlling his sister had gone to somewhere in Raven’s Peak.
“Why there?”
“I have no idea,” he said. “And I don’t know how I know that she went out there, but she did.”
Abigail nodded, and he could see a look of concern hidden just under the surface.
“You think you reached out for the demon mentally?” she asked.
“Or my sister. Or, maybe, she reached out to me. I don’t know, exactly.”
“Let’s say you did create a connection. Do you think that the demon reached out to you and not the other way around?”
Haatim sat in silent contemplation for a moment. “You mean trying to manipulate me?”
“It knew you would want to hear from your sister, so maybe, it just gave you what you wanted.”
“You reckon that, maybe, Nida did call me at all?”
“I’m just saying that, perhaps, it knew that you wanted to get that message.”
“Maybe,” he said, despite believing that his sister remained alive. The demon could manipulate quite a few things, but when it came to that, he felt certain that Nida still lived in there. “We know where the demon plans to perform the ritual, so whether we trap it or not, we still need to go.”
“I know.” Abigail leaned back in her chair and looked out through the window. “I just wanted to make sure you didn’t get your hopes up.”
Haatim nodded. “I can see no other way.”
Chapter 26
Mitchell’s shop looked the same as Abigail remembered from a few weeks earlier. From the first time that she’d even known Mitchell existed—something that both Frieda and Arthur had kept from her for her entire life.
A few weeks? Had no more time than that passed? It felt like a lifetime ago when she’d first set foot in this building. Then, she’d only begun to experience the changes within and remained blissfully unaware of the turn her life was about to take.
Everything that had happened to her made a sick kind of sense now, especially after speaking with Haatim during the flight. He had no idea about how close he had come to the truth, brushing up against it without ever actually seeing it. E
verything he’d told her was true, except for one crucial detail, and one that clicked into place as she remembered the most horrible moment of her life, strapped to the table while The Ninth Circle performed their horrible ritual upon her.
Haatim glanced at her, and then pushed open the door. He went inside, and she followed him into the dark storefront. Frieda talked from over near the register on the far side of the shop, but she stopped when they entered. All three of them—Dominick, Frieda, and Mitchell—turned to face her.
“Abi,” Dominick said, rushing over and wrapping her up in a huge hug. “Thank God you’re all right.”
Frieda nodded at her, and then turned back to the stack of papers set out in front of them on the counter. She never had seemed one for shows of affection, and Abigail could appreciate that. Abigail didn’t like them either.
She extricated herself from Dominick’s hug and walked to the counter. There, she turned, instead, to the papers they stood looking at to try and find out what they discussed. It looked like the copied documents she had pulled from Arthur’s home before driving out here and confronting Mitchell. Pictures lay scattered in as well.
She felt eyes on her and glanced over. Mitchell stood and stared at her, but he didn’t say anything. His expression appeared unreadable, and she found it difficult to tell if it made him glad to see her or not. Abigail glanced up at him, and he turned away.
The store looked dim, though every light glowed. One picture, in particular, caught her attention. Grainy, it looked like a still from a security camera and showed a tall and thin gray monster with talons at the ends of its arms. It stood in a richly decorated hallway.
“What is that?”
“No clue,” Dominick said. “I ran across one in Pennsylvania. Barely made it out with my head still attached.”
“I believe it’s a demon,” Frieda said.
“Here?” Abigail asked.
“Nida must have summoned it.”
“Holy hell,” Haatim said breathlessly, looking at the picture. “That thing is what nightmares are made of. I can’t believe it’s real.”
Abigail could hardly believe it either, but she realized that it could certainly prove possible. She thought back to the train and the fire demon that had nearly killed her, and all at once, knew better than to underestimate Nida.
“What are the rest of these?” she asked.
“Rituals,” Frieda said. “And spells. Anything we might be able to use to help us locate Nida.”
“Actually,” Haatim said, setting down his little travel bag and stepping up next to Abigail. “That won’t be necessary. I know where the demon went. And my sister.”
Frieda and Dominick exchanged a glance. “What?”
“Raven’s Peak,” Haatim said. “Nida—the real Nida—reached out to me, and I managed to pinpoint her location.”
Everyone fell silent.
Then Frieda said in gentle tones, “Haatim, Nida has gone.”
“You said the same thing about Abigail. You gave up on her, too. Remember?”
Frieda didn’t have a good response, looking instead at the papers in front of her.
“I know you all think that,” Haatim said. “But when I went to Cambodia, I created a connection to her and the demon. It could have killed me but didn’t, and now I know its location, or at least, where it plans on going.”
“Do you think it just baited you?” Dominick asked, his suspicion evident on his face.
“Yes.” Abigail nodded at Haatim and put her hand on his shoulder. “We feel certain it set a trap, but that doesn’t change anything. You … we still have to deal with her.”
Frieda gawped at her, and Abigail met her gaze. A moment passed in silence, neither of them blinking, and then Frieda nodded. Her expression grew solemn, but her eyes filled with sadness.
“You think she told Haatim about this intentionally so that we would know where to go?” Dominick shook his head. “Why would she bother? She has everything she needs to complete the ritual.”
“Not quite,” Frieda said. “She still needs one thing.”
“What?”
“Not important. We don’t have a lot of time, and we need to get moving. Dominick, get the car ready and fill up the tank. We’ll go to Arthur’s house to gather up any weapons he might have stashed there. Haatim, you’ll come with us to help bring it all back. Abigail and Mitchell, you will stay here and get prepared for the trip. We need to be on the road in a half-hour at the latest.”
***
Abigail waited until Dominick and Haatim had left the shop to go fill up the car’s gas tank before confronting Frieda. She cornered her in the back room and closed the door. Mitchell had gone out front, where he puttered around and moved things around the store nervously, so she made sure to lock the door.
“You knew,” she said, turning to face Frieda.
“I did,” Frieda said, frowning and with a guilty look on her face. “I knew when you were a little girl, the day Arthur first rescued you.”
“All of this … my entire life built up to this, didn’t it?”
“I have always felt afraid that this day might come, just not something like this. Arthur interrupted the ritual, and since that moment, The Ninth Circle has wanted, desperately, to complete it. We wanted to make you strong, to prepare you, in case.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“What would I have to tell?” Frieda asked. “We got a longer reprieve than I expected, but things have happened faster than anticipated. I never imagined Aram would be the weak link that they would exploit to get to you, and I hadn’t prepared for this.”
“What happens now?”
“I don’t know,” Frieda said, sitting on the ugly red couch. “I thought Arthur would be here when this happened. I thought we would face it together. These events got set into motion back in Raven’s Peak. Arthur gave his life to buy us a little bit of time, but now we have our backs up against the wall.”
“Did the Council know the truth about me?”
Frieda shook her head. “They built their version of events in their minds, but if the Council or the Catholic Church had known the truth, then no way could Arthur or I have kept you safe.”
“I’m the key.”
“Yes. You are the vessel.”
Abigail stayed silent for a long moment. “You should have killed me.”
“Never.” Frieda shook her head, and then walked over to Abigail and put a hand on her shoulder, gently touching her cheek. “I swore to Arthur that I would do everything in my power to keep you alive and safe, and I will honor that to my last moments.”
“So many people have died.”
“None of that happened because of you. You might make the end game for the cult, but our failure and the greed of the Council members gave them the tools to do any of this. We failed, not you.”
“If you had killed me when you should have, then no one would have any reason to come after me or do any of this. None of this would have happened.”
“This might not have happened, but something else would have. The only difference would be that you would have died, and the world would have become a worse place for it. If Aram hadn’t sold us out, none of this would have happened. If his daughter hadn’t died, he wouldn’t have sold us out. If his daughter hadn’t been born, she wouldn’t have died tragically. We cannot live life always looking back at the choices we’ve made. My choice, as well as Arthur’s, was to keep you safe, no matter the personal cost, and I would make that choice again a million times over.”
Abigail sighed. “And yet, here we are. Nida wants me. Only me.”
“Yes.”
“If I kill myself now, then there remains no ritual for her to finish.”
“If we stop her, then it all ends.”
“You have to stop her, but I cannot become a part of that. I cannot risk her using me to harm anyone else.”
“We will stop her together.”
“We tried that. I can’t risk her bec
oming successful with unleashing Surgat.”
“I know,” Frieda said. “I created a backup plan.”
“What?”
Frieda slid two vials out of her pocket. “Poison. The deadliest strains on the planet for both humans as well as demons. Enough to kill you and send Surgat back to hell twenty times over.”
Abigail looked at the vials, a sinking feeling in her stomach. “Injected?”
Frieda nodded. “This will solve all of our problems if it comes to that. Not before. Arthur sacrificed too much to keep you safe to let you end this without a fight, as did I. Promise me that you won’t use it unless it proves completely necessary.”
Abigail lied, “I promise.”
No way would she walk into this dangerous situation and risk the lives of her closest friends and companions if another solution to end this existed, but she wouldn’t admit that to Frieda.
Frieda handed her one of the vials. “I’ll hang onto the other one, just in case.”
Abigail took it gently and stared at it. The greenish-blue liquid looked thick and syrupy.
Frieda turned to walk away, hesitated, and then glanced back. “I love you, Abigail,” she said, stepping in and giving her a quick hug. Then she turned and rushed outside. Dominick and Haatim had returned, and Frieda went out to meet them and go to Arthur’s home. They would be gone for a short while before preparing for the final showdown in Raven’s Peak.
By that time, everything would be over for Abigail. She waited a few minutes until they’d left, and then found a syringe and drew the poison out of the vial.
All of this would end now. Countless people would die if Frieda tried and failed to stop Nida, and Abigail simply could not risk that. They might not understand, but it offered the best way.
***
Abigail sat on Mitchell’s couch, building up her courage to plunge the needle into her skin, when the man himself came into the back room, searching for her. Quickly, she tucked the syringe out of sight and under her leg, hiding it from view, and leaned back into the couch just as he came in, pretending like she sat bandaging up her side where the assassin had stabbed her.
He had a look of sadness on his face while he surveyed her from the doorway. The same as Haatim, and she hated that she’d let both of them down. She had wanted to reach out to both of them once she got safe, but part of her had known it a bad idea. Every passing day made it harder and harder to maintain control of herself against Surgat’s onslaught, and she feared that she might lose control totally.