Beyond The Darkness: The Shadow Demons Saga, Book 9

by Sarra Cannon

  Harper was the strongest, bravest person I knew, and I had to trust that she would be okay.

  For her, I would hold on.

  For her, I would see this through and find a way to free the witches and demons bound to the emerald gates.

  And then, when it was done, I would move heaven and earth to get her back.

  Will They Remember?

  Harper

  My knees were made of jelly as I walked away from the detective.

  This was a new piece of information I hadn’t been expecting. And I had never dreamed Priestess Evers would have humans in on her plans here. Or was he human? I dared a glance back at the detective.

  How would I be able to tell? I didn’t feel demon power coming from him, but that didn’t mean he had no powers at all. There were still a lot of things I didn’t understand about the hidden world.

  But I couldn’t worry about him right now. I’d have to deal with him later. Right now, it was taking everything I had just to hold onto this glamour. My power was weak, and I was already feeling sick to my stomach from pushing myself to the limit.

  I reached deeper, searching for the well of power within and strengthening my connection to it. I could do this. I had to find a way.

  I took a deep breath and stepped forward just as a woman in a white nurse’s uniform rushed toward me. I glanced at her and did a double-take as I saw that it was Nurse Melody.

  Tears pushed at the corners of my eyes. It couldn’t be Nurse Melody. I had watched her die in the surgical room in the basement. She had sacrificed herself to protect me.

  At first, I couldn’t understand what was happening, but then she grabbed my hand and met my eyes.

  “Harper?” she asked in a whisper. “It’s me. Brooke.”

  My shoulders relaxed, and the sadness and exhaustion that lay just under the surface threatened to take over. I was so ready for this day to be over.

  “What are we going to do?” I asked. “This is madness.”

  “I’ve spoken to the girls who helped us tonight,” she said, glancing around to make sure no one was close enough to hear our conversation. “There are only a handful who know the truth about this place and who they really are, but they’re going to keep quiet until we figure out a plan. There are just so many of them. I don’t know what to do. How are we going to keep them all together?”

  “I don’t think that’s going to be an option,” I said. “There won’t be enough room for everyone in the house, and even if there was, I doubt the police would let us just take them home. As far as they know, these girls are patients who need medications and constant supervision.”

  “So, they’re going to take them?” she asked. “But where? To the hospital?”

  “I’m not sure, but we’ll figure this out,” I said. “For tonight, I think we have to go along with whatever the police want to do. Once we find a way back home, we’ll come back for the girls.”

  Brooke looked at me, tears shining in her eyes. “I thought that once we escaped, we could just go home, you know? Just walk out and go back to where we came from, but that’s not going to happen, is it?”

  I shook my head and grabbed her hand. “It’s not going to be that easy, but we’re going to find a way to get back, Brooke. I swear it,” I said. “Let’s just get through tonight, and once we’ve got everyone settled, we’ll figure out what we’re going to do next.”

  She nodded and squeezed my hand.

  “What year do you think it is?” she asked in a whisper.

  “I’m not sure. Late forties?” I said, shaking my head and looking around. “But it makes a lot of sense. It explains the nurse’s uniforms. Why no one questioned the tactics being used here. Why there were no sprinkler systems installed or fire alarms in the building. Why the rec room only had old records. I just never put it all together until it was too late.”

  “I never dreamed any witch could be powerful enough to do something like this,” Brooke said. “Do you think she was opening a portal to bring us all here? Do you think it could still be open somewhere?”

  “Maybe,” I said. “But now that she’s dead, I can’t imagine it will stay open for very much longer if there is one. We have a lot of work to do, but we need to make sure to hold onto these glamours until we can get back to the house later tonight.”

  Brooke nodded and wrapped her arms tight around her body. We were in this together, but I could tell from the look in her eyes that she was every bit as scared as I was right now.

  I needed to tell her what the detective had said to me, but there were so many people around, I didn’t want to risk being overheard. The fire department was finally getting the fire under control, and further down the street, a few large vans had arrived.

  “Come on, let’s go figure out where they plan to take these girls,” I said. “We need to make them think that we’ll be contacting their parents, who will be coming to claim them soon.”

  Brooke followed me over toward where the nurses and paramedics were checking over the girls to make sure there were no major injuries.

  “Dr. Evers,” one of the nurses said, rushing up to meet me. “Where is your mother? I haven’t seen her.”

  “I’m not sure,” I said, glancing toward the building where I knew she had died. “Tell me about the patients. Is everyone accounted for? Is anyone hurt?”

  The nurse shifted her weight nervously. “We have two missing patients,” she said. “Brooke and Harper. And three of our nurses are missing, too. You don’t think they’re still inside, do you?”

  I touched her arm, and her eyes widened. “I hope they aren’t inside, but right now, we need to be grateful that we got as many out as we did,” I said.

  “Of course, Doctor,” she said. She stepped closer and lowered her voice. “There is an official here from the hospital who’s been asking questions. He wants to know all the details about our patients. He wants a list of their names and medications so that they can continue to be treated once they’re taken to the hospital. What do I tell him? I don’t know how to explain the medications. What will happen if the girls don’t get their pills for a few days? Will they…”

  Her voice drifted off and she glanced around, but I knew what she was trying to ask.

  Will they remember?

  I could only hope the answer was yes, but I didn’t know what would happen. The nurse was right, though, it would be difficult to explain the types of medications these girls had been taking every day for as long as they’d been here. I was just glad they would no longer be filled with that poison.

  “All of these patients should have received their nightly dose just a few hours ago,” I said. “That should last at least a few days until I can make other arrangements. Make a list of the patients’ names for now to give to the official. Let him know that most of the girls were on nothing more than the occasional mild sedative to help them sleep.”

  “But what if some of them do remember?” she asked, panic in her expression. “We could be arrested. They’ll—”

  “Stop,” I said in a strong voice. “You need to keep yourself together. As far as these officials know, these girls have been brought to this institution because they are mentally unstable. Anything they say will sound insane. No one would ever believe them. You need to stay calm.”

  She nodded furiously. “Yes, Doctor. I’m sorry.”

  “Now, get to work on that list, and please make a second list for me. Make sure you know where every girl is being taken,” I said.

  She lowered her head and rushed away. It was obvious the nurse was afraid of Dr. Evers, which wasn’t a surprise. The woman was sadistic, and I had no doubt these nurses were punished if they refused to go along with the torture they were asked to perform here.

  The nurse would do as I asked, which meant I would at least have a list of names by the end of the evening that would help me find these girls later.

  Exhaustion threatened to pull me under, but I pushed harder, holding onto the glamour for as long
as I could. I walked over to the girls and reassured them that everything was going to be okay.

  Some of the eyes that sought me out were my new friends. Mary Ellen, Robin, Nora. These girls knew the truth. They knew about magic, and even though I wasn’t sure they completely remembered their own powers, I knew they would be my allies in the coming days. Still, there was no way to keep them here with me.

  When I had a moment, I pulled those three girls to the side.

  “They’re going to take you to a nearby hospital,” I said. “There’s nothing I can do to stop that, but I am going to find a way to get us home. When I do, I’m going to come back for you.”

  “I don’t understand what’s happening,” Mary Ellen said. “What you did down there in the basement and the other day with the birds. Was that magic? How did you do that?”

  I took her hand and squeezed it. “Yes, it was magic. You have the same power inside of you,” I said. “Remember how they always told you that you were special?”

  She nodded, pushing her hair out of her face in a way that reminded me of Courtney, but her eyes could have been Mary Anne’s eyes staring back at me. I swallowed the lump of sadness that formed in my throat.

  I missed my friends more than I could ever say.

  “You are special, Mary Ellen,” I said, giving her a small smile. “Back home where I come from, I have a very good friend who is part of your family. Someday soon, I’m going to introduce you to her, and she’s going to show you all the amazing things you can do with your magic.”

  Mary Ellen smiled back at me, and even though she was afraid, I could tell she trusted me.

  “When you get to the hospital, I need you all to keep an eye on the other patients and the nurses,” I said. “If anything unexpected happens like someone shows up to take you all away, I need you to find a way to escape and get back here to tell me what’s going on. Keep quiet about what you know, but keep your eyes open.”

  They all nodded, and I knew their lives were now in my hands.

  Somehow, I needed to find a way home. For all of us.

  The Ritual Items

  Jackson

  My closest group of friends and allies gathered in the war room of the castle in the Southern Kingdom. In total, there were nine of us here so far.

  Mary Anne and Essex sat to my right at the long table. Franki and Rend were beside them. Gregory, the head of the guards here in the domed city, sat directly across from me at the other end of the table.

  Angela, Harper’s half-sister and the current ruler of the Southern Kingdom in Harper’s absence, sat beside Gregory. Then, there was Mordecai, one of Lea’s best friends. My sister Illana came next, and beside her, there was an empty chair waiting for Eloise, the Prima of the emerald gate at Cypress.

  I set the wooden box on the table in front of me.

  Everyone grew quiet, their eyes locked on the box as I withdrew the ritual items Harper had left for us inside.

  A dagger. A chalice. A necklace. A ring.

  And finally, the large master stone that had once been Priestess Evers’ heart.

  No one said a word, but I knew what they were all thinking. How soon could we start?

  Closing the sapphire gates after the death of Priestess Winter had taken us months. It was a bloody war, and we’d lost a lot of great humans and demons along the way.

  We had an advantage right now since we had a dungeon full of emerald coven Primas, but it was still only a matter of time before the other priestesses of the Order realized what we were planning to do. They would no doubt send their armies of witches to make sure we didn’t close these gates and free the demons bound to them.

  We needed to act fast, but something about this still didn’t feel right.

  It felt too easy.

  “What exactly happened at the emerald priestess’s house?” Angela asked, interrupting the silence. She hadn’t been able to go with us since she’d been acting as queen in the Southern Kingdom ever since Harper had been taken from us. “Where is she?”

  “I think we should wait for Eloise to arrive,” I said.

  As if on cue, the door to the room burst open and Eloise and her two daughters, Caroline and Meredith, rushed into the room.

  “We’re here,” Eloise said, out of breath. “I’m sorry we’re late, but we had trouble getting away from the keepers. They’re watching the house so closely, and they’ve put a block on our demon door. We had to sneak out and travel through a friend’s door.”

  “Were you followed?” Gregory asked, his shoulders tensing.

  “I don’t think we were followed,” she said, taking the empty seat to my left beside Illana. “We were careful.”

  Caroline and Meredith stood behind their mother, and even though I hadn’t expected them to be here, this discussion involved them as much as any of us.

  “If everyone is here, let’s get started,” Angela said. “I want to know what happened to Harper. I thought she’d be coming home with you.”

  “Yes, this is everyone,” I said, but sadness washed over me as I thought of the people who should have been here for a moment like this.

  Harper. Lea. Aerden. Zara. Courtney. They all deserved to be here.

  “I’ve sent word to Andros,” I said. “He couldn’t get away on such short notice, but he’s going to meet me here later. He said he had news of his own, so I’ll speak with him when he gets here. For now, though, I’ve called you all here so we can make a decision about what we’re going to do with these items.”

  I motioned toward the emerald ritual items on the table.

  “The emerald priestess is dead, and Harper is alive,” I said, looking at Angela. “But we didn’t find her. Not exactly.”

  I explained what we had found when we’d gone through the door to the emerald priestess’s house. The abandoned mansion. The burned mental hospital. The white rose growing next to the hospital’s entrance.

  “I knew it couldn’t be a coincidence that a white rose would just happen to be growing there, so I dug in that location, and I found this box,” I said, tapping my finger on the wood. “It’s from Harper.”

  “I don’t understand,” Angela said. “Why wouldn’t she have just given it to you herself?”

  “She left it there for us sometime after that building burned down in 1951,” I said. I opened the box and pulled out the newspaper article she had left for me. Illana passed it down to Angela, who stifled a cry. A tear rolled down her cheek. She quickly wiped it away and covered her mouth.

  “The reason we were having so much trouble finding Harper is that the emerald priestess had the rare ability of manipulating time,” I said. “That’s how she was able to completely stop time after the attack on this domed city, leaving everyone on earth frozen for such a long time. Somehow, she must have also used her ability to open a portal into the past. Harper wasn’t able to give us all the details in her brief note, but from what I found out when I was searching for her, the emerald priestess was stealing witches from several places, including some of her own emerald gates. Witches she intended to brainwash into believing they were her own daughters.”

  Everyone in the room was quiet, trying to make sense of this mess.

  “It must have been much easier for her to hide them in plain sight inside a hospital in the 50’s where shock therapy and lobotomies were normal practice,” I said. “I have no idea just how many girls are trapped there, but Harper is one of them. And somehow, she managed to kill Priestess Evers.”

  Eloise gathered her daughters in her arms, tears streaming down her face.

  “I felt a shift in the power,” she said. “But I didn’t dare hope it could be this.”

  “I still don’t understand what we’re waiting for,” Mordecai said, standing. “We need to get out there and start setting these gates free.”

  I waited for the excitement in the room to settle down before I continued.

  “I agree with you, but I think we need to stop and think about this for a minute,” I
said. “I was just as excited as the rest of you at first, but when I started thinking about it, I realized I had more questions. If Harper is truly stuck in 1951, how did she have access to all of these items?”

  “Why does it matter how she got them?” Mary Anne asked.

  “We know how she got the master stone, but what about the rest of these? The dagger, chalice, and necklace might possibly have been there at the emerald priestess’s house in the past, but that doesn’t explain the ring.”

  “What do you mean?” Eloise asked.

  “The way the rings work is that they are placed in a secret location of power in the Shadow World. They act as an anchor for the rest of the gates, allowing the Order to open multiple gates all connected to the original gate’s power. When we were able to find the sapphire ring and bring it to the human world, we crippled the sapphire gates. They weren’t closed, but they were unable to pull new demons through.”

  I watched as my friends started to understand what I was saying.

  “If Harper had gone into the Shadow World herself to retrieve the emerald ring back in 1951, none of the emerald gates would have been working for the past sixty years or so,” I said. “It’s impossible. And if she’d taken any of these items from the emerald priestess back in 1951, the Order of Shadows would have known about it, which means we would have known. No new gates would have been opened. No new demons pulled through.”

  “So, where did they come from?” Angela asked.

  “That’s exactly the question we have to answer,” I said. “Until we know for sure how she got them and how it has affected the timeline, it could be dangerous to use them.”

  “Why couldn’t we test them?” Mordecai asked. “We take them to Cypress, tomorrow at three. We try the reversal ritual and see if they work.”

  “We can’t do that,” Rend said. “Jackson’s right. It’s too dangerous. I can’t explain it, but this feels wrong somehow.”