by Simone Pond
“Fine,” I conceded.
“Now that we have that settled, where’s your Scroll?” Soraya asked me.
“A safe place,” I said in a sharp tone.
I wasn’t about to reveal its location to anyone in the room. Especially those who hadn’t gained my trust. I had been burned in the past and didn’t want to take any chances.
Soraya’s face softened. “I understand you want to keep it safe, but you will need to get it eventually. We’re like sitting ducks without the use of our Armor, dear.”
“Honestly, I don’t feel comfortable bringing a search party to its location,” I said.
Asher suggested, “Why don’t you and Rocco get the Scroll while I transport your parents and Aaron?”
“What if you get stuck? Or what if the Monarchy doesn’t let you come back?” I tried to sound strong, but my voice quavered.
“I’ll be fine. You and Rocco get the Scroll and we’ll meet back here in a few hours.”
Rocco smacked my back, jarring me forward. “Sounds like we’re back in business, Farrow.”
Before he got too excited, he turned to his father and hugged the old man. Tears streamed down their faces. Only a short-lived reunion for Rocco and his father. I could really see why the detective chose not to get too close to anybody. You never knew when you’d meet up again.
“I’m ready to go. We just need water,” Asher said.
All the pipes in the kitchen and bathrooms had been ripped up thanks to the Shadow Order minions and their mad hunt for my Scroll. But I had a flashback to the first night I had kissed Asher.
“The pipe in the basement,” I said, blushing. “Remember when it broke and the place flooded?”
Asher’s eyes lit up as he recalled that night. He grinned. “Yeah, I remember. Great idea.”
I hugged my parents and told them to hurry back. Then I whispered into Aaron’s ear, asking him to put in a good word for me with the Monarchy. Especially since I was dating the king’s son. He smiled, then turned toward the others. “I trust all of you will set things right. Let us go, Prince Asher. Return me to the start of all things.”
My parents helped Aaron down the basement steps. Asher glanced over his shoulder and smiled at me one last time. “I’ll meet you back here in a few hours.”
“You promise?”
“You have my word,” he said.
“Just be careful! I don’t want to lose my parents or you.”
Asher blew me a kiss that wrapped around my body like a warm hug, and I knew in my heart he’d return.
Rocco tugged my sleeve. “Let’s go, Farrow.”
eleven
Rocco and I stepped outside, stocked to the rafters with heavy artillery. Hammers hung from a tool belt I had secured around my waist, and I balanced the sledgehammer over my shoulder. Rocco loaded up on screwdrivers, a crowbar, and some rope. We had also picked up a couple of shovels from a nearby house. He headed toward a beat-up hoopty parked halfway on the grass of a front yard. The thing had been stripped down to just the frame.
“Get in,” he said, as he leaned under the steering wheel and jimmied some of the wires until the thing coughed to life. Filthy smoke billowed around the old car.
“You think this’ll get us to Golden Gate Park and back?” I asked, choking on the exhaust fumes.
“I sure hope so. I wanna get there before dark, so come on, Farrow.”
I pulled myself into the front seat and tried to click on the seatbelt, but it was broken, so I held on to the frame of the window as Rocco backed up out of the yard and tore down Pine to Masonic.
“What happens after dark?” I yelled over the roaring engine.
“Whaddya think?” he shouted.
“How have you survived out here without your Armor?”
“Ain’t easy.” He glanced at me and gave me one of his more serious frowns. “Somethin’ you should know.”
“What’s that?”
“If I die, the Scroll dies.”
I gave him a curt nod. “So, I have to make sure nothing happens to you,” I told him.
“That’s right. I’m countin’ on you, Farrow.”
A slight tickle in my throat turned into what felt like acid reflux. I had a lot of things weighing down on me. But I was a trained Protector, and once we got my Scroll, the tables would turn. We’d have the magical Armor.
Rocco drove through the once charming neighborhood. Houses were in shambles from what must’ve been a barrage of missiles to the city. Most of the shops and buildings were burnt to a crisp. Even the trees had been barbecued. The city by the bay looked bleak and sinister. I was pissed I’d never had the chance to explore the quaint neighborhoods. Damn Cagliostro.
Rocco zipped between piles of garbage and upside down cars. He skidded up on two wheels as he turned right onto Fell and had to drive up on the grass to get through the Panhandle. When we got to the mouth of Golden Gate, Rocco slammed on the brakes, causing me to hit the windshield.
“What the—” I stopped when I saw the enormous wall of fire barricading the opening.
“How far into the park do we gotta go?” he asked.
“Deep in the middle. Off of MLK. Mallard Lake. There’s a small patch of land in the middle. That’s where it’s buried.”
He nodded and reversed the car, jetting down Stanyan. I was out of my element and trusted he knew an alternative route. He pulled down another street that was adjacent to the park and stepped on the gas. Golden Gate seemed to be untouched by the destruction. The trees were all intact, although overgrown and unkempt. As we cruised down Lincoln, the air grew colder and the sky darker. Clouds sat over the park, drizzling a mist of fog and maybe ashes. All of the street entrances along Lincoln were barricaded with walls of fire.
“Hold on, Farrow!” Rocco yelled, pressing on the gas until the car was rattling and shaking.
He yanked the wheel to the right and we shot straight into some thick hedges. We got about a hundred yards before he smashed into a giant oak tree. My head cracked against the windshield. Warm blood rolled down my forehead into my eyes. Rocco handed me a handkerchief.
“Come on! We gotta make this quick!” He pried open the door and pulled me across the front seat.
“Give me a second,” I said, trying to clear my blurry vision. My head was pounding from the impact.
“We ain’t got a second.” He grabbed the shovels from the trunk, tossing me one. Then he ran through the trees with me clumsily trailing behind.
“The demon bastards are everywhere,” he said over his shoulder. “Shifters too.”
“Lizard ones?” I asked, feeling sick to my stomach.
“All kinds.”
He stopped at the bike trail and peered both ways, making sure it was clear. Then he shot across the path and darted into some bushes. I ran after him and dove into the scratchy vines. He pulled me down. Closing his eyes, he used his sonar.
“Looks like we’ve got company,” he grumbled. “When I say go, jump up swingin’ that shovel. Got it?”
I nodded, wiping my sleeve over the bleeding cut on my forehead so I could see what I was doing. I gripped the handle of my shovel, my heart thumping in my chest and sweat dripping down my back. I had never been in a supernatural fight without my Armor. I was scared out of my wits.
“Go!” Rocco shouted.
I leapt up from the ground and began swinging the shovel at the shadow creatures swimming in the air all around us. The disembodied ones … I remembered them from when I first went after Emmett Stone back at City Hall. One of the black smudges wrapped around Rocco’s throat. I grabbed the crowbar from his hand and pried the thing away, then skewered it to the ground until it blasted into nothingness.
“Your six!” Rocco shouted.
I spun around and held out the crowbar so the shadow shot right into the sharp end, splitting itself in half and vanishing. Rocco grabbed his shovel from the ground and batted one of the bastards up into the trees, snagging it on a few branches. I tossed him the cr
owbar and picked up my sledgehammer, coming down hard on one more of the shadows as it was snaking around my ankles.
“Let’s go,” Rocco shouted, grabbing my arm.
We dashed in between the trees toward Mallard Lake. Nothing was trailing us, so we were safe for a few minutes. Our goal would be to get to the Scroll before any vampires showed up. We couldn’t fight them off with crowbars and hammers.
We jumped into the freezing water and half swam, half ran across to the small patch of grass in the middle of the lake. As soon as we had pulled ourselves up onto the grass, I began digging like a maniac.
“Why this lake, Farrow?” Rocco asked, keeping guard.
“My grandmother liked ducks. She took me here when I was a kid. A lot.”
“Speed it up, we’ve got some interference. I’ll do what I can to hold ’em back.” Rocco began swinging his crowbar at the onslaught of disembodied shifters coming at us. I focused on digging up the earth and getting to the Scroll.
From behind, the sounds of gurgling and growling grew louder. The smell of rancid dead things filled the air. The shifters must have moved in on Rocco. Something loud snapped its jaws, and I prayed it wasn’t one of those disgusting lizard shifters. I didn’t dare glance back to find out. I kept digging.
“Hurry, Farrow!” Rocco grunted over the sound of a loud crack and bones crunching. Didn’t know if they were his or whatever was attacking him. I just kept digging deeper until I hit something metal.
“Almost there!” I yelled, dropping the shovel and scraping away the dirt with my hands.
Moving mounds of dirt off to the side, I slid my hands around the metal box and pulled it up from the hole. Rocco wasn’t making a sound, except for a shallow panting and wheezing. I used one of the screwdrivers in my tool belt to pry open the box.
“Watch it, Farrow!” Rocco groaned.
Just as I turned around a fireball was whizzing straight at me. I rolled backwards and into the lake. The box slipped from my hands and began to sink. I dove down as another fireball hit the surface of the lake, boiling the water and scalding my skin. Holding my breath, I continued shoving the screwdriver into the crevice of the box until it finally opened.
Inside, the glowing Sacred Scroll emitted blinding white light. I squinted and reached down to grab it, then held it close to my chest as I leapt out of the water and back onto the patch of grass.
I began shouting the ancient words as the slithering and slimy shifters made their way over to Rocco and me. “Your Darkness has no authority. We stand with the power of the Light. The Light binds the dark. The Light binds the dark.”
Rocco was in bad shape—one of his legs had been badly burned and he had a gash across his cheek—but he still managed to whisper the Logos with me until the Scroll erupted into streams of radiant light. My head tingled as the helmet came back to life. Rocco’s Armor began to glow. It was working! But he didn’t look like he was working. In fact, he looked half dead. And I wasn’t going to let him die.
Another fireball came straight for my head, but I called on my shield, deflecting it just in time. Around the perimeter of the lake, the lizard shifters and half-men, half-demon creatures surrounded us. I had to get us out of there before those things got any closer. Rocco was out of commission, and I’d never be able to ward them off all by myself, even with the power of the Armor. And then I remembered my voice. That furious roar I had released in the past. Maybe I could do it again?
I opened my mouth and boomed a thunderous shout that shook the earth. Yep. Still worked. The sound blasted the creatures back hundreds of yards, giving me enough time to lift Rocco and use the speed of my magical boots to run out of the park before any other supernaturals attacked us.
twelve
I dropped Rocco’s heavy body onto the living room rug and the other Protectors gathered around. Rocco kept mumbling something under his breath, but I couldn’t make it out.
“We can’t let him die!” I shouted.
“What’s he saying?” Kaila leaned down, pressing her ear against his mouth as she closed her eyes and took in his barely audible words.
She looked up at me. “She’s here. She’s in the city … Not sure what that means?”
“Get something for that gash on his face. And something for the burn,” I instructed.
Kaila ran upstairs to the bathroom to search for medical supplies. Jeff came over with a glass of murky brown water. I shook my head, not about to put that polluted muck into Rocco’s mouth.
“You have the Scroll, your Armor is glowing. Can you reactivate ours? I can help you,” Jeff said.
I nodded, still holding Rocco’s head in my lap. I reached for the Scroll from my tool belt and held it up. The brightness filled the living room with a majestic luminescence. “Gather around and start repeating the Logos.”
Jeff, Soraya and Saul held hands, then made room for Kaila when she returned with some rubbing alcohol and bandages. I poured the astringent into Rocco’s gash on his cheek and he writhed around, howling. I applied pressure with a washcloth to stop the bleeding. The other Protectors held hands and chanted the ancient incantation. One by one, their Armor illuminated.
“It worked!” Saul shouted. It was the first time I had seen the grump smile.
Jeff picked up the glass of murky water again and spoke the Logos over it. The liquid began to percolate and the brown color dissipated, leaving behind a clean glass of water. He knelt down and carefully poured the water into Rocco’s mouth, while I held up his head to keep him from choking.
“Charlotte,” Rocco murmured.
“Yes, we need Charlotte to heal you. But I don’t know where she is,” I said, pressing the blood-soaked cloth against his wound.
“She’s here … in the city …” he whispered just before he passed out.
I shook him gently. “Wake up, Rocco! You can’t die. I’ll go find her, but I need to know exactly where she is.”
But Rocco was out cold. For such a big guy, he sure got knocked out a lot. I looked at the other Protectors; the Armor glowed beneath their clothes. If Jeff could cleanse water, I wondered what the other Protectors could do.
“Do any of you have the ability to find people? The way Rocco does?” I asked, trying to keep the shaky desperation from my voice. If we lost Rocco …
“I might be able to help.” Soraya stepped forward gracefully.
“How?”
“I can’t locate people, but I can call or summon them.”
“That might work! Her name is Charlotte Amon. She’s somewhere in the city. She’s a healer. Is that enough information?”
Soraya shook her head. “Do you have anything of hers? Something personal?”
Since the remodel, Charlotte hadn’t been over to my house. She had been in New York, hiding out with her sister Lilith. Was there anything in my bedroom that belonged to Charlotte? I could race to her apartment in the East Bay, but it might not even be there anymore. Clothes? Had I borrowed anything from her in the past? A flashback of the night of my birthday hit me: Charlotte had forced me to wear lipstick that night at the club. Did I ever give it back to her afterward?
“Hold that thought!” I scooted over and motioned for Kaila to keep applying pressure to Rocco’s wound, then ran upstairs to my bedroom.
Most of my belongings were strewn about the floor; the drawers had been ripped out from the dressers. My t-shirts and bras were tossed around the room. Cagliostro’s henchmen had really done a great job at rummaging through my personal belongings, leaving no drawer untouched. My underwear was missing, and I didn’t even want to know what had happened to it. I ran into the bathroom and looked through my cabinets. My beauty routine was simple, so there weren’t too many products scattered about. Still no lipstick.
“What did I wear that night? It was July, so it was freezing. I must’ve had a jacket on …”
I went to my closet and started picking up clothes from the ground and digging through each of the pockets. Nothing. I sat in the middle of
my closet, fear racing through my pounding heart. If Cagliostro unlocked that Scroll, he’d have access to Glimmer City—where Asher had just transported my parents. I threw one of my boots at the wall and it landed next to a small black clutch. Charlotte’s clutch! I grabbed it and flew down the stairs to the living room.
“Is he still with us?” I asked Kaila.
She nodded. “But not much longer.”
I handed the black clutch to Soraya. “Here. This is Charlotte’s. Will this work?”
Soraya didn’t answer me, she just held the purse close to her heart and closed her eyes, then began mumbling the Logos. The rest of us watched her as her helmet glowed brighter. Rocco moaned and Kaila held him tightly, softly speaking into his ears to reassure him that everything was going to be okay.
But was it?
The chanting grew louder and Soraya’s helmet glowed even brighter. I stood closer to her and began saying the Logos as well. Then Saul and Jeff joined in. A burst of crystal pink light exploded in the middle of the living room and a figure started flickering in and out of existence, until it fully manifested before us.
“Charlotte!” I yelled, rushing over to her.
She held up her hands and shot a beam of pink energy, throwing me across the room.
“What’s going on?” she screamed.
I dragged myself back over to her. “It’s me, Fiona.”
My best friend eyed me carefully for a moment; her brown puppy dog eyes lit up pink as she scanned me. I cautiously stepped closer and reached for her hand.
“It’s really me, Charlotte. Asher found me and brought me home. But I can explain everything later. Right now, I need you to heal Rocco.” I pointed to the bloody and burned heap resting against Kaila.
“Rocco?” Charlotte whispered, then rushed over to him and dropped to her knees.
She held her palms over the deep gash across his cheek and began healing him, then she addressed the burns on his legs. She stayed next to him for a while, emitting her pink healing light. I thought maybe she was too late, until Rocco gasped and sat up. When he saw Charlotte, he pulled her in for a hug. I guess the two had gotten close while I was in Cagliostro’s desert prison.