I huffed and glared through as Demetrius and Jezebel rudely cracked up and taunted me.
“Look at the wimp now!” Yowled Demetrius.
“Aha!” Jezebel giggled. “Now in this messy state, he truly looks like the son of—”
Mira’s pointy black shoes stabbed into Jezebel’s side. I winced with horror as the imp’s body bled heavily. Mira gave a rough shake and the imp’s body fell off from the sharp heel.
Jezebel flinched and gasped a long breath of air as she regained consciousness. Shiigo strutted around, pecking at the stains of blood around the imp.
I stared with awe. I was too afraid to turn and meet Mira’s gaze, so I continued staring ahead, hoping there was someone out there coming to save me from this dangerous woman.
But I felt Mira’s gaze rest on me. She grabbed me by the shoulder and pulled me up toward her to face her.
“Sorry ‘bout that, Zachy,” she said with a sigh. “I’ve just missed you very much.”
I chuckled and returned her naughty gaze to hide my fear. “Hehe, I kinda missed you too.”
“Really?” She smiled and pulled me to the ground. She made me lay down on my back while she knelt by my side. I gazed up at the spirit with wonder.
Mira pushed a strand of hair from my eyes. She was incredibly sexy.
“Come on! I’ll make it fair,” she was smiling. “You don’t have to go to Hell if you don’t want to. But I wouldn’t make it to Heaven. We should just find a place the both of us can be together, now that I’ve finally got you where I wanted.” She gleamed deviously at me.
I raised my expression. “Well, anywhere but Purgatory! I wouldn’t want to be stuck here forever.”
Suddenly, a horrified voice screamed across the sea. “Oh my word! What in the….?!”
Mira and I suddenly looked to the right where we saw a beam of light hovering toward us. Mira gasped and gave a low snarl.
I narrowed my eyes and felt sick. “Oh great….”
Enoch and Gabriel were riding upon Ace. Jenna and Cain were back on the horse, with Dewey, Grace, and Pete hovering above with the saints. There was no sign of the Shadow Man.
Grenada was furious. “Zachariah Ezekreth! What in the world are you up to?!”
I glanced at Mira above me from the corner of my eye. She was glaring at the angels as they came forwards. I was too scared to move.
“Uh…Mira…?” I muttered, sitting up.
“No!” Mira’s hand instantly grabbed my shoulder. “You’re not going anywhere.”
Ace arrived on the ground and neighed with horror at the sight of Shiigo. The earth type SoulBird ran through the horse’s legs and scared him, making Ace kick both its front feet and its back until all the angels and spirits fell off again.
Jenna and Cain rolled against the muddy ground and hit the tree. Enoch and Gabriel hovered off and landed near the side of the horse.
“Steady, Ace, steady,” Enoch tried to calm his horse down.
“Oh, my goodness,” Annabelle was gazing over at me. “Zach!”
Grenada whirled around and glared at me and Mira, and then immediately hovered toward us, waving her ruler in the air.
“Hey! Beat it, you! You jailbird! You harlot! Get off of him!” Saint Grenada whacked at Mira. The girl angrily hissed and crawled away from me.
I sat up, feeling dizzy and nauseous.
Enoch and Gabriel were making their way toward me.
“Zach, what’s going on?” Enoch bent down and brushed the large amount of mud plastered on my side. “Are you alright?”
“Ugh….” I felt my head spinning.
Mira grabbed me, and hugged me tightly to her side. I stood against her, with my eyes widened with fear. She glared at the saints. “I’ve come here for Zach. He’s mine. He belongs with me.”
Hoshinda raised her expression. “Girl, you got the wrong spirit! If you want a bad boy from Hell, flirt with his father, Lucien!” And both she and Bernardo cracked up into laughter.
Suddenly, the island shook and the leaves of the tree rustled. A group of spirits was peeking from the leaves, and suddenly, two women with long white hair peeked from the branches.
“Dear spirits,” one of them spoke in a beautiful feathery voice. “Are you lost?”
Pete looked up. “Are you all naiads?”
One of the ladies chuckled. “No, we are spirits of the afterlife, just like you.”
Jenna appeared at Enoch’s side. “Cain is wounded. A devil from the sea must have possessed his spirit,” her face was urgent.
Dewey gasped. “Are you serious?!”
“Oh dear….” both the women spoke at the same time.
The one to the right leaned forward. “You know, we do perform exorcisms. We can truly help you all.”
Gabriel faced the ladies. “I thought you guys were……anti-religious.”
“Oh, heavens no!” Huffed the other lady. “Come inside! You spirits must be terrified. Terrible hell creatures are multiplying day by day. We can help you! Our tree is very hospitable for all of you.”
“And you must be Gabriel,” the lady eyed the angel curiously. She turned to me and Mira. “Ah! And with the Medium, I see.” She narrowed her eyes and pointed at me. “You—you are Zachariah Ezekreth, aren’t you?”
I blinked. I thought these spirits were supposed to have no knowledge about the outside world. But before I could answer, Mira held me against her and answered for me. “Yes! He is Zach. You got a problem with that?”
“Oh, we don’t have a problem with him,” said the lady. “But we know the rest of the world does.”
“Hey, come on now!” Huffed Hoshinda impatiently. “Are we just gonna hover around here, or are we gonna receive some shelter from this terrible storm? Ace cannot handle this terrible weather!”
“Well, come inside!” Said the other lady. She turned to Jenna. “Bring in the possessed boy! We can surely help him.”
I tried to peek over and spot Cain, and as Jenna appeared with him at her side, I saw that the short spirit was walking with his back bending backward, snarling with a reddened look in his eyes. He constantly twitched and bobbed his head upwards.
The spirits hovered down and walked toward him. I inhaled as they passed by. They smelled like flowers.
They took Cain’s arms and immediately, the spirit closed his eyes and gritted his teeth. He rotated his head and nearly twisted his own neck.
One of the ladies etched her finger across the tree bark. A door started to form and she opened it for us to step inside.
I looked around the inside of the tree. It was like being in a royal castle. Most of the spirits inside looked almost identical to each other. They were all ladies, and all wore leafed skirts hanging around their waists and flowered bushes wrapped around their breasts.
I winced and looked up. There was a ceiling high above, but through a hole where the stairway led, I saw that there was just another floor above.
I narrowed my eyes around me. The ladies were already taking Cain separately to another room upstairs, and Pete was flying behind with a worried look in his eyes.
“Welcome! My name is Brianna.” She greeted. “It’s nice to see that you’ve taken interest to visit our Evergrown Tree! We nourish our tree and let it thrive, and in return, the tree takes care of us and provides for our own needs! What brings you foreigners here?”
Annabelle chuckled. “Oh! We’re not here to stay. We only want to have one of our spirits recovered before we move on.”
“Mm, you sure?” Brianna was smoothing a strand of her hair between her fingers. “Usually, whenever spirits come to visit here, they never want to leave.”
“Ah! I’m always faced with that temptation whenever I visit such wonderful places of any worlds!” Sighed Annabelle happily. “Just like when I witnessed the Bahamas when Earth was still young!”
“I mean never,” said Brianna. “Trust me, once you get acquainted to the spirits of this place, you’ll never want to leave.” She giggled. �
��It’s a lovely feeling, and you’ll be happy forever!”
“That’s nice!” Annabelle smiled. “But I think Heaven is much more suitable for eternal happiness.”
“Heaven?” The blonde girl winced. “Oh dear, there’s no such place as Heaven. Don’t tell me you’re one of those believers again.”
At that point, I didn’t bother listening anymore. I knew this wasn’t the right place for me. I turned to head away back at the exit and escape this conversation.
But as I turned around, I bumped into the lady that had first introduced herself to us. She was looking down at me with her hands on her hips. “Where do you think you’re going, spirit?”
“N-nowhere,” I replied. I stepped around her and tried to head toward the door where she had formed. But the door was gone and there was no sign of an opening around the tree. I winced at the wooden wall and looked around to see if there was another hole in this hollow.
“You can’t leave, spirit,” the lady approached me from behind. “This is the Evergrown Tree. This tree is alive and hospitable to the spirits within it. Once you come inside, you are not allowed to leave, lest you anger the tree.”
“What?!” This was the most ridiculous situation I had ever experienced.
“I’m not kidding. Especially you,” she narrowed her eyes. “You bear the blood of Lucifer and Sarah Madonne, do you not?” She was whispering.
I narrowed my eyes.
“You cannot lie to anyone here, spirit. The tree is alive, and if your spirit is alive within it. The tree can feel you, and it can deal with you itself.”
I winced. “How? Is it going to grow poison leaves in my sleep?”
The lady shrugged. “If we mistreat the tree, the tree will mistreat us. You, as the son of the devil, must be very careful, for the tree will surely be stirred by your presence. All spirits thriving inside will be warned about you.”
I stared into her eyes with caution.
“I am Elvira. I’m glad to have met your spirit friends. If you wish to leave, you may head toward the top. The tree does not allow spirits to come and go so easily, so your only exit is the top.”
With that, she walked away and left me alone.
I winced and then turned to stare at the wooden wall. I scratched my finger along the wall from left to right, but no door formed.
“Screw this,” I muttered. I closed my eyes. “If the Lord could still hear me in here, He would keep me safe from these stupid spirits and whatever harm this dumb tree might bring to me.”
“The Lord looks after those who believe in Him, Zach,” said a voice behind.
I turned and flinched as I faced the tall Shadow Man again.
“Ahh! You again?! Where were you?” I faced him. “I thought you ditched us for good, right when we were in danger again.”
“I’ve been with you the whole time, Zach,” said the Shadow Man with an uncertain tone. “Have you not noticed me? I was there, watching you and Mira confront the angels on this island.”
I blushed and frowned with embarrassment. I looked away and mumbled under my breath.
“I was tending to Cain before Jenna let the ladies take him.”
“Oh, I guess you were blending in the shadows then. I sure didn’t see you.” I sighed and rolled my eyes, looking around. “Hey, where did Dewey go? He was just right here….” I caught him ahead in the room, hiding behind a linen veil. Mira’s SoulBird, Shiigo, was wandering around in front of the veil as if she were trying to search for the hidden SoulBird.
“Dewey….” I crept over toward him, but before I walked away, the Shadow Man spoke after me.
“Zach, you must understand something,” he said. “In your eyes, I am a shadow. But in the eyes of the tree spirits that live within this sacred place, I am an invisible spirit.”
I raised my eyebrows and turned to face him again. “You mean…these ladies in here—they cannot see you at all?”
“No,” answered the Shadow Man. And he said no more.
I huffed and turned around, but I saw that Dewey was gone. Cursing and stomping my foot, I looked around for the bird. I scratched the side of my forehead where my hair hung, but then paused. I looked at my fingers and saw they were sticky with blood. Was I bleeding on the side of my forehead? It must have been the tree. I felt a wound on the side of my forehead, as if some invisible force had cut me.
Chapter Twenty-Two-
“Hey, Zach! Get over here!”
I squeezed my eyes shut at the sound of Mira’s voice. She was all the way across the room, where the stairs curved up toward the high ceiling.
I turned to face Mira and put on a fake smile. “Hey….” I made my way up to her. I tried to hide my fear when I saw that Jenna, Grace, and Dewey were standing in front of them. Jenna had her arms crossed as if she and Mira had been discussing about something upsetting. I could only imagine what it could be.
Mira wore a naughty smile as I came up to her. She grabbed my hand and raised her expression.
Jenna was glaring at me. “Zach, I hope you’re happy now that we’re here in the Evergrown Tree like you wished,” we started to climb up the winding stairs. “Now we have over a week to get to the top of this place, and that’s only if we don’t lounge around and waste time!” She looked at me indignantly.
I huffed. “Well, Ace wouldn’t have lasted any longer anyway.”
“Argh!” Mira whirled around to face me. I felt like she was ready to shove me down the stairs. “You know, you could’ve been riding on your father’s black horse with me if you hadn’t been fraternizing with angels! I swear, Zach! I could’ve helped make everything better for you! Hell would not be like Hell if you stick with me!”
Jenna laughed. “Um, I’m sorry, but Zach’s sticking with his saints. Once we leave the top of this tree, he’s coming with us.”
“No way!” She yelled in a rough tone. She grabbed my arm and stomped up the stairs. “Zach is coming with me. I’ll keep him safe from the Beast and he won’t be dragged down to Earth. I’ll keep him safe with me!”
Jenna stifled a snicker and rolled her eyes. She remained silent and didn’t look back as she headed up the stairs. She held her head high and made her way through a leafy curtain that hung over a high-ledged room to the left of the stairway.
Dewey hesitated before stepping off stairs. He turned to me and Mira. “Is that where they cure their victims or something?”
“I dunno!” Mira pulled me toward the curtains. “Come on! Let’s go see.”
She and I stepped off the stairs and stood upon the ledge to our left. Mira tried to push past the curtains, but as soon as her fingers touched the leafy curtains, she was shocked by a loud static.
“Ow! Dammit!” She tried again and was shocked twice. “What?!”
“Hey, I think it’s the tree,” I muttered. “It probably hates us.”
Mira growled and faced the leafy curtains. “Well, I’ll show this damned tree what kind of a soul I am!”
“Stop,” a sharp tone came from behind. We turned to see that one of the tree ladies was walking up to the ledge. Since they all looked identical, I could only recognize them by their voices. This one happened to be Elvira. She closed her eyes and reached out a finger to touch the curtains. The curtain lifted and we were allowed to step through.
Mira huffed and cursed under her breath as she stepped inside.
The room was quite small. There were about ten ladies inside, including the saints, Jenna, Grace, and Dewey. They were all gathered around a small bed where I saw Cain’s body lying stiff and motionless. He had turned an icy blue color.
Annabelle turned and noticed our arrival. “Oh! There you are.”
“What’s going on with Cain?” I hissed. Enoch and Gabriel stood at the left side of the bed as one of the long haired women was bending over with her hand on Cain’s forehead. A canopy of leaves hung down from above the bed and swayed over Cain as the lady uttered a strange spell.
“Oh, they are performing their exorcist,�
�� replied Annabelle. “The poor thing is seeing visions, and the tree spirit is greatly disturbed.”
The ladies were joining hands and forming a circle around Cain’s bed. They hummed the strangest hymn I had ever heard. Their voices echoed through the small room. I started to see red sticky liquid leaking through the thin wooden walls, as if the tree was starting to bleed.
I looked up and flinched, noticing Saint Tyler was staring down at me.
“Whoa! Where’d he come from?” Hissed Mira in a low voice under the hymn. She was gazing up at Saint Tyler with an interested look.
I sighed. “This is Saint Tyler, one of my guardians. Don’t worry, he can’t speak.”
Mira laughed. “Those are awesome eyes! They make him look kinda cute. All he needs is a mouth!”
Saint Tyler’s eyes gleamed and he faced down at me. He pointed out a finger toward my pocket.
“What?” I put my hand on my left pocket and faced him.
Tyler gestured with his fingers as if he wanted me to give him something.
“Oh!” I suddenly slipped out my rosary that I had kept. I handed it over to Tyler, and the angel hovered over to the top of the bed and aimed the cross of the rosary toward the swaying canopy. The room was suddenly filled with hymns and the beat of drums, and the ladies all started to sway their bodies in a strange motion as the tree’s blood ran across the walls.
Suddenly, Cain was starting to shift, and his body became less blue. His skin turned blazing red. He started to thrash, and he was kicking and screaming until the hymn was drowned in his terrible devilish roars and growls.
I watched with awe and Mira squeezed my hand.
Suddenly, I started to feel a drop land on my head. I looked up to where the sap was dripping from the ceiling. Another drop came down and splashed into my eye.
Flinching, I rubbed my eye with my other hand, and then looked at it with a gasp. There was blood over my fingers, and I realized the gooey sticky sap was dribbling on me. Pretty soon, the entire ceiling cracked. The tree was squirting its blood all over my body.
“Ahh! Zach!” Mira tried to pull me aside, but suddenly, vines from the wooden ground rose and wrapped around my legs. I tripped and fell onto my chin.
The Purgatory Saga #1: People of the Fire Page 25