“We gotta work together and nail ‘em. You ready?”
Will nodded.
“I’ll count to three and then let loose. Surprise was our best weapon. One… two… three.”
We both shot electric charges directly at their backs.
“Aaaaaaaaaarrrrg . . . . ” The diaboles immediately turned, fury twisting their faces. The ice daggers flew in our direction. A freezing wind blew straight into our eyes and icy sleet stabbed my skin. The onslaught caused me to falter.
“Tess, you gotta keep it up or we’re doomed!” Will screamed over the wind.
I closed my eyes and concentrated on the escalating heat in my fingertips. Several bolts of lightning flew straight across, knocking away the icy spears and cutting the wind. It struck the diaboles head on. I played with the lightning, moving it over any areas of bare skin such as faces, and some hands. Then I aimed at burning through coats and hats. The diaboles were staggering back, and I got a whiff of burning flesh. There must have been some kind of signal because, suddenly, they turned tail running and disappeared behind the trees.
“You see Doug and Sam?” Will asked.
I shook my head, peering through the falling snow. “Those diaboles were all yelling at something in that direction.”
“Oh, my God, Will. They’ve gotta be under all that snow.”
We frantically started digging with our hands. I finally hit something solid and blue. “This must be Doug. Looks like his coat.”
Will pulled him out of the snow. “What the heck?” he gasped. Four icicles were stuck in his upper legs and his torso and he was covered with a layer of ice.
“You get Sam out and I’ll take care of this. Just hurry!”
I rubbed and rubbed until the sparks came. Then I lowered both of my hands over Doug’s body and ran them directly over his ice covered skin. My goal was to slowly melt the ice without burning him. As the icicles imbedded in his skin melted, I noticed the blood red drops seeping into the snow.
Doug sputtered, opened his eyes. “What?”
I pulled him up and hugged him. “Thank God! How’re you feeling?”
He looked rather dazed. “I’m freezing and I feel like crap.” He looked around. “Where did they go?”
“The diaboles? I don’t know. They took off.”
“No, I mean where did Mercy and Sam go?” Doug asked frowning.
“Sam was right behind you. Looks like he’s hurting but he’s awake.” I frowned. “What are you saying about Mercy? She’s not here!”
Doug’s eyes widened and he immediately stood up. He was shaky so I steadied him. “Mercy must be here! She came with us.”
Sam said in a hoarse voice, “I saw her fall over there.”
We dove at the snow and started digging. “Here she is,” Sam yelled from a short distance away as he desperately brushed snow off her. He was shaking his head. “It doesn’t look good.”
Mercy’s face looked like it was made of smooth, cold marble. She was completely encased in a sheet of ice. A large frozen spear was stuck right through the middle of her chest, where her heart was. Even from where I was standing, I could see a bright red circle of blood under the glaze of ice. There were smaller ice daggers stuck in her left arm and leg. A sob caught in my throat as I frantically rubbed my hands together until the sparks came. Then I ran my hands over her body to melt the ice. Sam and Doug also dropped to their knees and did the same.
Will reached over and snapped the huge dagger that was in her chest. He left the ice that was stuck in her heart and wrapped a scarf tightly around her middle. “The ice may slow up the flow of blood from her heart,” he said grimly. We spent more time warming her up, then Will finally said, “It’s time to check. If she’s alive, she should have a pulse.” We all held our breath as Will put his index finger on her neck. He sat very still for a while, head turned slightly to the side and finally shook his head, his concerned eyes watching me. “I’m afraid I can’t hear anything.”
“WHAT? No, I don’t believe you!” I screamed. I dropped down and wrapped my arms around her. “She just has to be warmed up some more. I KNOW she’s alive.” Tears were running down my cheeks.
“Tess, listen to me,” Will said gently. I turned to face him as he crouched down to my level. “Do you see her aura?”
I sat up to get a better view of Mercy. Something about her stillness had disturbed me. Her aura was always around her: bright, colorful, loud and proud. It reflected her confidence and intelligence. At this time there were was nothing swirling around her body. Her aura was gone and that meant her inner being was gone, at least from here. I sat up and wiped my sleeve across my wet face. I looked over at Will and shook my head. I felt numb all over.
We couldn’t leave Mercy’s body in the woods so we carried it back to Sam’s truck and placed her in the back. After I said a little prayer for her, I leaned against the car. I didn’t feel right leaving her.
Doug spoke softly to me, “She was a crazy-mad fighter you know. When the diaboles were chasing us, Mercy turned around to face them. She was spinning the lightning and throwing fireballs at them left and right. The whole time she was under attack, she was laughing and taunting them. You’d almost think that she was deliberately targeting herself.”
Sam smiled, sadly. “She was something! She acted so nuts the diaboles actually backed off at first. But, there were just so many of them.” He shook his head.
Will gently took Tess’s hand. “Tess, we’ve got to go. There’re hundreds, maybe thousands of diaboles, around here. The only way we don’t all die is to get to the tree. Even then, there’s no guarantee.”
“I know,” I whispered.
Will held his hand out to me and I took it. He proceeded to lead us through the side streets and various shortcuts, down driveways and through back yards, where the snow was deep, above our knees. Sam and Doug stayed with us, helping each other out, limping along. As we moved, my mental numbness was gradually replaced with a sense of unease.
There was some flashing in the distance which indicated to me that fighting was still taking place. Even though I was breathing the sharp cold air, I felt an odd breathlessness, as if I was suffocating. Goosebumps crept over my skin and prickling sensations ran down my spine. My instincts were telling me there were a large number of black souls who were seeking us, encircling us, squeezing us in. Their eventual intent wasn’t just to kill our physical being. They were seeking to do far worse, for they wanted to erase the light of our being, our eternal souls.
64. The Appearance
As we were moving along, Sam stuck his arm out to stop us. “Shhh….. can you hear that?” he whispered. At first there was silence. Then we could hear laughing and talking. As we listened, it was apparent they were coming closer. We moved into a copse of trees and crouched under the snow laden branches. My heart was pounding as their shouts and screams got louder and louder.
Around the corner, came a mob of at least 200 diaboles. They were tossing what appeared to be large ice/snow balls around. It reminded me of a crowd of people randomly tossing balloons, only this horde was throwing icy packed balls of snow. As they passed within a few feet of us, I caught sight of their intense crazy eyes and listened to their jeering and hollering. Many of them were also waving harpoon sized icicles. As they marched away, I observed the swirling mass of dark gray mist around their heads, interspersed with splashes that looked like drips of blood. Their heads were full of murder and mayhem.
“We have to get off this road!” I exclaimed to Will after they passed.
Will frowned. “I don’t know any other way to get there from here.”
Doug cocked his head. “Wait a minute. I think I know how to get to the Spirit Tree through the woods off Spencer Street. That’s only two blocks from here. An old friend of mine lived over that way. Those woods back up to Old Kiley’s field where the tree is. We should see fewer diaboles using that approach and we can hide in the woods if they get close. Unfortunately, it probably means a wal
k through some very deep snow.”
We looked at each other before Sam shrugged and said, “I don’t see other choice. Let’s go.”
We kept a close eye out as we made it over to Spencer Street that backed up to the heavily wooded area Doug had referred to. After we struggled through the snowy woods, we reached an old stone wall that encircled part of the field. If you stared hard enough through the gloom and the falling snow, you could barely discern the Tree of the Living Spirits. The area between us and the tree was oddly deserted.
We paused and looked around, then decided to take the plunge. After a quick climb over the wall as we proceeded to make our way, I heard a yelp from Sam. It was a few seconds before I felt a sharp pain in my left shoulder. Abruptly, Will shouted, “Run!”
All around us, ominous figures appeared like apparitions arising from the mist. I glanced back and gasped. They were everywhere.
“Holy crap,” Doug yelled. “Don’t look now, but there’s an army behind us.”
Will’s fingers dug into my arm. “Sam, Doug, we have to stand back to back and fight. We’re just not gonna make it by running.” Will swung me next to him and Sam and Doug stood behind us. We started rapidly rubbing our hands to set off the fireworks. My hands were shaking so much that I could barely manage one spark. A searing pain shot up my leg. I looked down to see an ice dagger stuck in my calf. I leaned over to pull it out and a spear of ice whizzed over me and struck Will in the shoulder. He groaned as I used all my strength to pull it out. I turned to see a huge icicle graze Sam’s ear. Then I heard a loud grunt. Doug got nailed in the upper thigh. None of us were sparking now. We were working too hard trying not to die.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a mob of at least fifty diaboles standing still, just watching us. One of them yelled, and in one quick move, they bent their arms back in unison and threw long sharp spears of ice. We watched in terror as the volley of deadly ice harpoons arched upward. We knew where they were headed and there was no place to hide.
“WHAT??? Look over there!” Doug screamed.
We turned to see a giant fireball shooting across the sky. Right as the volley of ice spears reached their apogee and started toward the downward decent, the fireball collided with them, creating a huge explosion of vaporous steam. The ice spears instantly evaporated into a sizzling mist, but the fireball broke up into hundreds of fist sized globules of fire that fell into the crowd of diaboles. Screams of terror erupted from the mob as they tried to escape the searing heat and flames.
“Tess, check that out!” I turned to see what Will was pointing at. Four more giant fireballs, the size of cars, streaked to earth, landing and scattering on the mobs of diaboles, creating panic and mayhem. As the horrid stench of burnt hair and charred flesh reached my senses, I saw several human torches flee in panic. Some of them were smart enough to drop and roll, but others ran in blind terror.
A long jagged streak of lightning then hit the ground right in front of us, and something very odd occurred. A tall man appeared, standing proud and erect where the lightning hit the ground. He seemed to come out of nowhere. A beautiful silver haze circled his head and I knew that he was an advanced soul.
“He is a Master Luminar,” I explained to Doug.
“We don’t have the auric sight but it is obvious, even to us,” Sam claimed.
The man strode up to me, placed his hands around my face and stared at me with a sad longing. “Hello, my child,” he said softly.
I stood there in shock. I felt a wonderful sense of security and comfort as he put his arms around me.
“It’s all right, Theresa. I’m so sorry for everything.”
“Father, I’ve missed you,” I choked.
“Theresa, you are such a lovely being. I did not want things to work out the way they did. Just know that I never wanted to leave you. My presence in your life was a danger to you and your mother. I cannot really say any more for it is urgent for you to get to the Spirit Tree.”
“You must come with us,” I pleaded.
He shook his head smiling slightly. “I will stay here and try to keep some of the diaboles away.” He looked around before adding, “Unfortunately, there are many more on the way so you must seek the protection of the Tree.”
Sam asked, “Sir, are you the one who threw those huge fireballs?”
My father nodded, “Yes. That was me.”
Doug exclaimed, “They were unbelievable!”
Suddenly, my father turned his head to the side as if he heard something. “You must go. I will do what I can.”
“Father, I just want to be with you.”
The Master Luminar shook his head. “No, it is imperative that you go with Will.” Then he gently touched my cheek. “I hope to see you again.” With that, he strode away through the smoke and the mist, and vanished.
I was still trembling as Will took my arm. “He’s right, Tess. Time for us to go.”
65. Nemesis
We had some distance to go to reach the Spirit Tree. It was still difficult to make it out through the gray snowy haze. We heard what sounded like a bomb go off, accompanied by a wave of smoke and flying embers. It was like a war zone.
“My dad’s work,” I said, secretly proud.
“And a darn good job he’s doing. The evil ones are running around like chickens with their heads cut off,” said Sam gleefully.
Will exclaimed, “They’re still after us, so the best thing to do right now is to pull up our hoods and start acting all cocky like we’re one of them. We should split up into two groups and approach the tree from different directions. I’ll go with Tess and you guys stick together. We’ll meet up later at the tree.”
I didn’t want to leave anyone, but I figured that Will was probably right. When Sam and Doug took off in another direction, I just waved. I didn’t want to touch them or say anything because I was afraid I’d lose it. After all, we may not see them again.
After splitting up, we continued hearing loud booms along with shrieks of anger and howls of pain all around us. Somehow, my father knew how to avoid sending the fire balls in our direction. As we stumbled along, I made a point to stare boldly at any diabole who looked my way. They didn’t seem to want trouble with another diabole so they either nodded or ignored me altogether. For now, we had them fooled.
I glanced around in front of us and observed some changes that didn’t bode well. An odd cast had taken over the sky and it took me a while to understand what it was, the early light of dawn. When that realization hit me, my first inclination was to drop all pretenses and run like mad. I was terrified of being caught out here, surrounded by our enemies in daylight. But of course, we couldn’t hurry, for that would have drawn attention to us. I also noticed that I could no longer see the flashing in the sky. Did that mean that the skirmishing between the diaboles and luminars had ceased? Something seemed amiss.
As we got closer to the tree I started to notice oddly shaped mounds of ice packed snow located in clusters. Something about their symmetry didn’t feel right and I wanted to see one up close. The diaboles were just walking around the mounds, completely ignoring them. “Will,” I whispered, “What’s in those strange mounds of snow?”
Will shook his head and said in a low tone, “There’s nothing there, Tess. It’s just snow. We’ve gotta keep moving.” He was avoiding my eyes so I knew he was lying.
I made a point to walk near a mound and look at it. “Oh no ….!” I almost tripped over my feet stepping back.
Will took my hand and drew me away. “I know, Tess. I’m sorry. You can’t react.”
“You KNEW?” I whispered.
He nodded grimly.
The mounds were actually piles of dead ones, luminars. Ice spears were stuck into their bodies and they were completely enclosed in shiny coffins of snow packed ice. At first glance, they resembled marble statues, but the ice daggers and the blotches of red under the surface of the ice quickly dispelled that notion. I choked, as I blindly stepped back. Will had to jer
k me away so that I wouldn’t trip over a young woman, lying on her side with a spear that had entered her neck and came out the other side. The ice made her look like she was made of glass, one touch and she would shatter.
I had to clear my mind of all this or I’d be done for. I pulled my arm away from Will so I could wipe tears from my eyes. I turned to reassure him that I would manage but HE WASN’T THERE. HE HAD DISAPPEARED!
I quickly looked around and caught a glimpse of Will, frantically clutching a rope that was tied around his neck, while being dragged through the snow. “Will,” I screamed as I ran toward him.
Abruptly, I was jerked back, a rope around my own neck. I tried getting my fingers underneath, but the rope was too tight. Couldn’t talk, couldn’t breathe. Hurts. I was pulled back hard and down into the snow. Suddenly, a grinning face popped into view. It was Red, Tonya’s pal! I peered behind him and saw Bully Boy glaring down at me. As soon as I tried to speak, I felt the rope tighten around my windpipe. Someone growled, “We don’t care about what you have to say.” I knew that voice. It was James, Ian’s nasty older brother. He must be the one standing behind me, tightening the garret around my neck.
I was starting to feel a blackness creep in around the edges. Another face in my sight with a flash of red. Big red lips, in a big red grin, laughing. It was Tonya. I tried to open my mouth, to tell her how ugly she looked with her new choppy hair-doo, but James tightened the rope again and all I could manage was a gagging sound.
She plopped down, sitting hard on my stomach. I felt like someone parked a truck there. She stuck her face right in mine and sneered, “Well, fancy meeting YOU here!” I tried to laugh in her face but I could only manage a croak.
Tonya glared at me. “Tess, do you know why I HATE you so?”
I tried to shrug as if I didn’t give a crap but I couldn’t move under the all that weight.
She continued ranting, “It’s because you ruined my life so many times.” I looked at her like she was crazy. What’s she talking about? She’s been the one doing most of the ruining. “You’ve always ruined everything for me, time and again.”
A Girl Beyond (War of the Witches Book 2) Page 32