“What?” Evan asked, holding his bat at the ready.
“Never mind,” I said, and I swung my tire iron into the nearest zombie as it reached for me. I knocked off its arm at the elbow and it hit the ground and was reabsorbed into the earth. The rest of the corpse continued toward me. I swung again and cracked the skull into pieces. This time the whole body collapsed and was sucked back underground.
“Go for the head!” I shouted to Evan as I moved forward.
“No kidding!” he shouted back as he smashed the bat into the head of a mostly intact corpse. “I've seen enough Walking Dead.”
We advanced. Once, I got a little too close to one and got locked into hand-to-hand (hand-to-bone?) with it, but Evan stepped in and knocked its head off. It seemed like it took forever to get to the archway, time we really didn't have to spare. And, by the way, the stench was horrendous.
I heard Evan gasp and wheeled around to see what was left of a mouth biting into his shoulder. I yanked the thing off of him, threw it to the ground, and stomped on the skull. There was a satisfying crunch and the remains sank.
Evan looked at me, wild-eyed. “Am I gonna be a zombie?!”
I shook my head. “Doesn't work that way. You'll be fine.” And I was pretty sure I was right about that. I quickly examined the wound. The skin had barely even been broken.
The zombies seemed to have stopped. I looked at the archway. Tasraan's keystone was nestled in the top center. At the base, a dirt stairwell led into the ground. I walked around to the other side of the arch. From here, the ground still looked solid, no staircase in sight.
“You stay here and keep an eye out,” I told Evan. He opened his mouth to protest, but I cut him off. “And don't argue with me on this. If anything goes wrong, I need you to get back to Mary or Veronica and sound the alarm.”
He was clearly unhappy. “Be careful, okay?” he said, dirt streaming down his face in the rain. We were both soaked.
I nodded and pulled him into a quick hug. Then I started down the stairs.
I moved carefully, slowly. The stairs took me deep underground. I came to the bottom and found myself at a dark tunnel. Up ahead, maybe fifty feet, I could see the flickering of torchlight.
I crept down the tunnel until I could see the large chamber it led to. Stephen and Anastasia stood at an altar, facing away from me. David Pinkston was on his knees between them. Tasraan's sword was sticking out of the base of the altar almost obscenely.
“We make this blood offering,” Stephen's voice drifted toward me, “to you, Lord Tasraan, that you may walk among us again.” I saw Stephen grab David's wrist and hold it while Anastasia took a knife and slashed the boy's palm.
Blood dripped from the wound. Stephen wrapped David's hand around the hilt of the sword, and Anastasia dropped the knife and quickly secured his hand there with some twine. David struggled weakly.
Streaks of energy rippled from the sword and over the altar. I rushed into the chamber and sent a burst of magic at them. Caught off guard, Anastasia tumbled sideways. Stephen, however, turned to me with a smile.
“You're too late, Alyssa,” he said. “Your effort was valiant, but I have been planning this for decades. You couldn't have stopped me.”
A large sphere of energy formed over the altar, and Tasraan's form was slowly appearing inside of it. He seemed to be made out of shadow, if shadow were a physical, three-dimensional substance. He was huge, his head alone the size of my torso. Once he emerged from the sphere, there would be no stopping him.
“Who,” came his deep, inhuman voice, “has freed me?”
Stephen answered, “I, Stephen St. James.”
Anastasia quickly got to her feet and added, “And I, Anastasia Carver-Brown.”
Tasraan said, “You will be rewarded a thousand fold. All that you want in this world will be yours.” He looked down at David. Blood dripped around his fingers and to the floor. “Ah, a young Pinkston. Your great-grandfather first released me into this world, and he would be proud to see his progeny continue the tradition. Through your pain, I live again.”
The boy lifted his head and whimpered softly.
Tasraan continued, “All these years, filled with silence, alone; waiting to be released, wondering if this day would ever come. And now the world will bow before me.”
I darted for the altar, hoping to get David's hand free before Tasraan fully returned. Already he was becoming more solid.
Stephen grabbed me. “I don't think so.”
Tasraan looked at me. “You must be a Barrett,” he spat. “Was it your grandmother who did this to me?”
I smiled. “It was. And when I get the boy's hand off of your stupid sword, I'll continue that tradition.”
Tasraan growled. “Impudent girl, I am going to eat you.” I gulped.
Slowly, Tasraan managed to get one of his arms out of the bubble. He pointed at me. “Hold her,” he ordered.
Anastasia grabbed one of my arms, her grip surprisingly strong for such a slim body. Stephen held the other. They stared at Tasraan reverently.
Which is why neither of them noticed Evan dart out of the tunnel and grab the knife Anastasia had dropped. He cut David's bindings quickly, and the boy's hand fell from the sword. Instantly, the sphere surrounding Tasraan began to shrink, and his form started to fade.
Anastasia screamed and ran for Evan, pure murder in her eyes. She grabbed his arm and twisted it. He screamed.
A crow flew into the room and proceeded to claw at her eyes. She let out a howl and let go of Evan, who immediately dropped to his knees to check on David, while cradling his own arm. Anastasia swiped at the crow and managed to shake it off, but her eyes were badly injured. She stumbled around blindly.
The crow shifted into Walker.
“What are you doing, you fool?” Stephen roared.
Walker gave him an icy look. “I can't believe I didn't figure you out before this,” he said. “All this time, you had me just as fooled as Ally. But I'll be damned if I let you go through with this craziness.”
Anastasia fell into the altar, rubbing at her eyes. Tasraan looked down at her. “You incompetent bitch!” he screamed. With the arm that was still free of the ever-shrinking bubble, he reached down and grabbed her, pulling her into the sphere with him. He moved to bite down on her head with his tremendous jaws. Before he could, her body went suddenly limp, and I realized she had released her hold on the young woman who had allowed her to borrow her body. Anastasia had returned to her own body in England, and this woman would die instead. I watched as Tasraan bit off her head and began chewing as the bubble, and the demon, vanished.
I managed to shake free of Stephen's hold and ran to Walker and Evan. “I told you to wait outside!” I yelled at Evan.
“I was feeling rebellious,” he said. “Guess I picked up a bad habit from a friend.”
I gave him a quick smile, then looked at Walker. “Get David out of here,” I said.
“What about you?” Evan asked.
“Let me worry about myself,” I said. “Just go.”
Walker lifted David to his feet, and he and Evan each took one of the boys arms over their shoulders. Evan gave me one last, concerned look before they disappeared into the tunnel.
Stephen grabbed me and threw me up against a wall. “After all I did for you!” he raged.
“Do you think I enjoyed this?” I shouted. “Do you think it was fun finding out that my mentor, my idol, was an evil son of a bitch?!”
He rolled his eyes. “It's all so black and white to you. Did you even stop to wonder what I intended to do with my power?”
“Who cares?!” I retorted. “How many people would have died? Or been enslaved?”
He snorted. “People die every day, Alyssa. And we're all just slaves in one way or another. At least it would all have been in control. Tasraan would have his subjugates, but he would have kept all the rest of the demons at bay. No more fighting them. No more war between good and evil.”
I stared at
him. He was crazy. “You actually believe this bullshit, don't you?”
He slapped me, hard. I stumbled and caught myself. Before I could stand, I felt him grab me magically and hold me against the wall, just as powerfully as Azrathael had done in the library. I struggled back, my will against his, and failed.
“Oh, Alyssa. You overestimate your strength. Perhaps it's my fault for building your confidence so much.” He held me in place, pacing as he spoke. “That night, I pulled you from that fire, and I felt all of your magical potential. I was so glad to have found you.
“I didn't know you and your brother lived there, you see, when I went to talk to Ruth.” His magical grip on my neck tightened, lifted me a few inches off the ground. “All I needed was the location of the keystone. If she had just told me, things would have been so different.”
My eyes widened as I realized what I was hearing.
“But Ruth fought me. And if it hadn't been for you two, she would have beaten me. But when the fire started, well, she was far too worried about you two to notice the knife I'd pulled.”
He smiled at the memory. “I plunged it into her heart as she was screaming your names. As she died, she pleaded with me to save you. I let her body be consumed by the fire. The fire I let you believe you started. The fire that I started.”
I couldn't breathe, his hold on my throat was so tight. My vision was starting to narrow. Stephen's eyes locked on my own. “I took everything you cared about that night. I killed your only family.”
My anger broke through my pain for a moment. “Deh wigh eggh,” I choked.
He cocked his head at me. With a small smile, he lightened the hold on my neck. “Sorry, what was that?”
I gasped in air and rasped, “Then we're even.”
For the barest of moments, he looked at me blankly. Then comprehension washed over him. His eyes widened. In that brief distraction, I hit him with the hardest burst of magic I could summon in so short a time. He staggered back, his grip on me broken. I fell to my feet.
Before he could grab me again, I threw up a shield, and let loose a volley of fireballs at him, each one hotter than the last. He deflected and dodged, and as they struck the rock walls of the chamber they actually melted small holes.
“Chloe was pathetic,” I said as I threw another at him. “And you knew it. That's why you always sent me. I was so much better at everything, and you always made sure to rub it in her face. She died still wanting to prove herself to you.”
Stephen screamed in rage, waved his hand, and cut off my fire entirely as he channeled all of my gathered magic out of me. I reached for more and sent it at him just as he did the same. It became an invisible contest of pure will, but unlike earlier when he'd overpowered me, my own will met his. You could see a ripple in the air where our magics met, moving at first closer to Stephen, then turning back in my direction.
And I realized he was too strong. I was reaching for more magic, and it was there, in the ley line deep beneath my feet, but I couldn't tap into it. I fought him, sweat dripping down my face, exhaustion threatening to overtake me. Stephen barked out a triumphant laugh. “Poor Alyssa. In the end, you really are just like your grandmother.”
And then I could have sworn I felt Grandma's lips kiss my forehead, just as they had every night before bed. And suddenly I felt all of that magic from the ley line flow into me, through me, unlimited amounts of it, to do with it as I pleased. I was suddenly wide awake, practically giddy.
Stephen felt the change in dynamics. The ripple in the air stopped inches from my face. I stared at it, a smile forming on my face. “You know what?” I said. “I can't think of a bigger compliment than you just paid me.”
Then the ripple started moving back toward him, and though I could feel his attempt to regain control of it, I batted it away as effortlessly as I would a fly. “I'm proud to be just like Ruth Barrett. If you see her, tell her I said hi.”
And all of the magic crashed into him. He was thrown backward as though he'd been hit by a semi. He hit the wall and crumpled to the ground. He lay there, his breath coming in shallow gasps, and struggled to pull something out of his pocket.
It was his phone. “I have something for you,” he managed to say. He tapped the screen a few times, then held the phone out toward me. Before I could take it, it slipped from his weak hand. He laughed once, took a final breath, and died in front of me. I watched his eyes lose focus.
I picked up the phone. It showed that he'd just wired a large amount of money to another account. Suddenly, a text message arrived, and I opened it: CONTRACT CONFIRMED. TRANSACTION COMPLETE. The sender was blank.
I shoved the phone in my own pocket and staggered back to the surface.
Evan waited there, with Walker and a very weak David. Evan's eyes widened when he saw me. “Are you okay?”
I didn't want to think about what I looked like. I felt like crap. My aches had aches of their own. I was exhausted. I wanted to spend about a week under a hot shower. I wanted to scream and cry and mourn. Instead, I reached my hand up toward the archway, and the keystone soared out of its socket and into my hand. Instantly, the staircase leading downward vanished.
“This really will go into the firefall,” I said, rolling the keystone around in my hand. “Nobody will be able to do this again.”
I turned to Walker, who held up a placating hand. “I swear, I didn't find out what he was doing until today. I never would've supported this.”
I shook my head. “Whatever.” I just didn't care anymore. “Can you make sure he really gets home this time?” I asked, indicating David.
He nodded. “It would be my genuine pleasure.”
“Good enough for me,” I said. I looked at Evan. “Can you take me somewhere besides here?”
He eyed me with concern and said, “Okay.” Then we went back to the car and he did just that.
EPILOGUE
The first few days after that epic battle–as Evan decided it should be called–were hectic. I had returned to the temporarily closed Sunset Motel and opened a gateway to the Periphery in hopes of finding Chris, but there was no sign of him, and I couldn't remain there for long since the creatures in the area were particularly unfriendly. I hated myself for what had happened, but I channeled that hatred toward Stephen. Stephen had been the one that did this, not me, and I continued to remind myself of that. I mourned, but I’ve learned not to let my emotions rule me. I missed Chris, and his absence was a constant ache, but I took comfort in knowing that I'd killed Stephen and he wouldn't be able to hurt anyone else.
Next, I went to the Wintrelinden and finally disposed of the keystone. If I never open another gateway into the Periphery, it'll be fine with me.
Evan and I visited Mary at the hospital every day. She informed me that Grandma had named her executrix of her will, and in it, she'd named Josh and me as her heirs. Mary had placed all of Grandma's assets into an account and had never been able to bring herself to do anything with it. She insisted on giving it to me. It wouldn't be enough to retire on by any means, but I would definitely be comfortable for a while.
And on that note, Evan talked his parents in to renting out their garage apartment to me. I'm not sure precisely what he told them, but he convinced them I was friendly and wouldn't steal from them. I think his mother was glad to see he'd made another friend, because she invited me to dinner right away.
The first day after I moved in, I woke up to find a note from Walker on my dresser. He had successfully returned David Pinkston to his family, and included a picture of their tearful reunion. That felt good to see.
On Evan's first day back to school, I agreed to pick him up afterward, as it would take a couple of days to get a parking pass for his own car. I rode into the parking lot on “my” motorcycle at 2:25, ten minutes after classes ended. Students were milling around, making plans and waiting for their own rides. I found Evan and Derek and got off the bike.
“Hey, hey,” Derek said, flashing me his toothy grin. “How's it
going?”
I gave him a shrug. “It's going,” I answered, returning his smile. He still didn't know my real story, and I was leaving it up to Evan if and when to tell him.
“Cool,” Derek said. A horn honked and he waved at a car. “I gotta go. Pizza tonight?” he asked Evan.
“Absolutely,” Evan replied. Derek looked at me. “You in?”
I considered it. “You know what? Yeah, I'm in.”
“Excellent,” Derek said. “DelSandro's at six. Later!” He got into the car and they drove away, leaving me with Evan.
“Whoo-whoo!” a girl's voice shouted, and we both turned to see Megan flanked by a couple of other blondes that were practically her clones. The other mean girls, I presumed. “Your girlfriend's looking good!” she called.
Evan rolled his eyes. “She's just a friend,” he said, probably for my benefit.
Megan smiled wickedly. “I was talking to her!”
Evan's jaw clenched. I wasn't about to let his first day of senior year end on such a sour note. I placed my palm on his cheek, turned his face toward mine, and kissed him. Dozens of his classmates watched; someone even wolf-whistled.
Megan's jaw dropped.
I broke the kiss and looked at Evan. “Ready to go?” I asked.
“Y-yeah,” he stammered. We got on the bike and I drove off, giving Megan an icy smile as we passed her.
I drove to the hospital. It was Mary's last full day. She would be discharged at ten a.m. tomorrow. As we walked to her room, Evan said, “Thank you for that. I guarantee you everyone's already talking about it and Megan's furious that her attempt to humiliate me backfired.”
I said, “Good. She deserves it. And by the way, don't call me just a friend anymore. Friendship is important. It's not just anything.”
“Deal,” he said.
We walked into Mary's room, and she was as happy to see us as ever, but this time there was a serious note in her eyes. “I made a few calls,” she said, “and it's pretty certain that Stephen's last act was to pay his contract with Legion in total. The hit on you remains open. I've got some people trying to put a stop to it, but once you pay Legion in full, they tend to see things through.”
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