Mortal Kiss

by Alice Moss

  Jimmy hunkered down on the bike. His heart was banging against his rib cage, his ears full of the sounds of sirens and wind. Ahead of him, Lucas wobbled, and Jimmy prayed he could hold on.

  Chapter 54: Crowned

  “And so, I give you … your Halloween Ball king and queen!”

  The rest of Ms. Finch’s words were drowned out as the assembled students erupted into wild applause. Finn and Faye stood at the bottom of the stage steps, looking at each other. Faye tried to say something, but the words stuck in her throat, and anyway, Finn wouldn’t have heard her over the noise of the crowd. Finn smiled at her gently, taking her hand and leading her up the steps to where Ms. Finch waited.

  A sudden eerie hush fell on the crowd as the couple walked across the stage. Ms. Finch smiled at them, a radiant, empty gesture that did not light up her eyes. She turned, beckoning to two students who stood waiting in the wings. In their hands they carried velvet pillows that each held a crown.

  Faye’s heart began to hammer, her eyes a blur of tears.

  “There’s no need to cry, dear,” murmured Ms. Finch into the silence. “This is glorious.”

  Faye shut her eyes, forcing the tears to fall. A cold wind shuddered through the hall, rustling in the silence. She shivered, but when she opened her eyes again, all she could see was Finn standing close to her, looking down.

  “Now,” he whispered.

  And quietly, too quietly for anyone but Finn to hear, she began to recite the text that Joe had written down.

  #

  The squad cars came at them out of the gloom, sirens wailing like banshees in a storm. Jimmy saw Joe throw his bike sideways between two of the cars, weaving to avoid the side mirrors as they passed, almost touching them. Lucas pulled to the right, out to the edge of the road, bumping along the icy border of the blacktop. His back wheel kicked out, and he almost lost it on the still-frozen ice, but somehow he held on.

  “Where did these guys come from?” Jimmy heard Lucas shout at him over the wind.

  “Sergeant Wilson must have called for reinforcements before the town was snowed in,” Jimmy yelled back.

  “Great!” bellowed Lucas. “That’s just … great!”

  Jimmy wrenched his bike to the left, holding his breath as one of the cars streamed past him, so close that he felt the turbulent air trail it left in its wake. Seeing him move, the cop behind changed direction, trying to cut him off, forcing Jimmy to run right into the middle of the road. The bike shuddered and he felt the front wheel catch a patch of ice, threatening to slide, but he pulled it back, holding on. He felt his injured leg protest a little, but he ignored it. Roaring onward, they left the squad cars behind in a flurry of snow and screaming rubber.

  #

  Barbie Finch’s gaze was fixed on Faye, and she was saying something, some sort of congratulations before Finn and Faye were crowned. Faye wasn’t listening. Finn’s hands felt warm where they covered hers; his lips moved silently in time with her own as she recited the incantation under her breath.

  A strange sensation washed over her, as if she were somewhere on the ceiling, looking down at what was going on. She felt calm, the fear draining away as she stared into Finn’s eyes. She glanced toward the mirror, seeing that it had grown dark, as if a maelstrom were brewing just below the glassy surface.

  “Again,” she heard Finn whisper, as the two crown bearers stepped forward.

  “This love, forever …,” she echoed under her breath, beginning the incantation again. “One love, forever …”

  A cold wind blew through the hall, snatching at Faye’s breath. She shivered, stepping closer to Finn, feeling herself caught by his gaze, unable to look away.

  She felt the crown settle on her head.

  “Again,” Finn whispered.

  #

  The squad cars were fast but no match for the bikes in bad weather. The snow was so bad that by the time the three men reached town, it was almost a blizzard. Lucas wiped his eyes, clearing them of the slush, but he could hardly feel his fingers, they were so cold.

  Ahead of him, Joe waved them forward, faster and faster through the empty streets, heading for the school. Lucas glanced behind him, half expecting to see the police come storming down the hill, but the road up into the forest was dark and silent.

  The three bikes sped into Winter Mill High’s parking lot, sliding to a stop in front of the main doors. Joe jumped off immediately and ran up the steps. He tried to push open the doors, but they were locked. Lucas jumped off his bike, joining Joe in his attempt to open the doors, but it was hopeless—they were locked fast.

  “We can try another way in,” Lucas said, out of breath, but Joe shook his head.

  “If this one’s locked, they’ll all be locked. Mercy won’t take any chances.”

  Lucas doubled over, still trying to catch his breath. The mention of his mother cut like a knife beneath his rib cage. All of this was his mother’s fault.…

  They heard the sudden roar of an engine behind them. They turned to see Jimmy on his bike, its wheel spinning as he revved the engine, holding the bike in place.

  “Move!” he shouted.

  “No, Jimmy!” Joe yelled back. “You’ll kill yourself!”

  Jimmy didn’t listen, letting the bike go instead. It leaped forward, and Joe and Lucas jumped out of the way as it screeched toward the doors. Jimmy and the bike hit the double doors head-on, ripping them open as the bike tore through the wood. Lucas saw the bike swerve, and Jimmy flew over the handlebars, crashing against the wall before sliding to the floor in a motionless heap.

  Lucas and Joe ran to Jimmy. He was conscious, but bloodied and bruised.

  “Leave me,” he told them. “You’ve got to get to Faye and Finn.”

  Lucas knelt beside him. “But you’re hurt—”

  “I’m fine,” Jimmy said, pushing Lucas away. “Really. Go!”

  Joe pulled Lucas to his feet. “We’ll be back,” he promised Jimmy before turning to Lucas. “Which way?” he asked urgently. “Show me!”

  Lucas took the lead, running down the corridor and turning left toward the gym. There was no sign of anyone, no sound at all. But then, as they approached the gym’s doors, a strange murmur started up. It turned into a chant as Lucas reached for the door handle. He grunted as he touched it, pulling his hand back.

  “It’s freezing!”

  Joe pushed him aside, grabbing at the handle with his callused hands and throwing the door open. The three rushed inside, stopping dead when they saw the scene in the gym.

  The room was crowded with students, all looking toward the stage. Over their heads, Lucas could see Finn and Faye, standing close together, crowns on their heads. They were staring at each other as if nothing else existed. Faye’s lips were moving, but whatever she was saying was drowned out by the chant of the crowd.

  “Kiss …,” they were all saying. “Kiss … Kiss …”

  “No!” shouted Joe. “Stop! Finn, stop!”

  Lucas shouted too, but there was no sign that Finn and Faye had heard them. Joe leaped forward, forcing his way through the crowd, trying to reach the stage.

  Lucas looked at the large mirror on the wall. Beneath its surface boiled angry black waves of what looked like smoke. They burst up from within, cracking against the wall of glass holding them in.

  “Look at the mirror!” he shouted. “It’s going to break, it’s going to—”

  He tried to raise his voice against the chant, which was growing louder and louder. Lost in the crowd, Joe couldn’t reach the stage. He was becoming entangled in the wall of bodies, the students all staring up adoringly at Finn and Faye.

  Lucas forced his way to the edge of the room, trying to move along the wall.

  Chapter 55: Last Stand

  “Oh, now, don’t cry, be a dear,” Mercy drawled with a sigh, circling around the chair she had forced Liz to sit on. “I do find girls who weep so tiresome.”

  Liz put a hand up to her face, surprised to feel tears on her cheeks. S
he was so numb she hadn’t thought she could feel anything at all. She was shaking from deep cold and an even deeper fear. The wolf had moved closer to her, and she looked up to find it staring at her. For the first time, she found herself gazing right into its yellow eyes, and she was surprised to see something other than evil there. It looked, not angry, but … sad. Yes, that was it. The wolf’s eyes were sad. Liz frowned, and the wolf dipped its head and moved it, just slightly, from side to side, as if it were trying to tell her something.

  Mercy returned to her seat, reaching down to pet the wolf as she passed. She picked up a delicate lace shawl and threw it over her pale, bare shoulders.

  “I know what will cheer you up,” she said brightly. “Let’s go and watch all the fun, shall we? They’ve gotten awfully quiet out there—the game must almost be played out.”

  Mercy took a step toward Liz again, but then froze for a second, listening. A new sound had joined the humming chant floating in from the school gym, a chorus of shouts.

  As Mercy hesitated, Liz took a chance. Leaping up, she raced for the door, but the wolf was quicker than its mistress. It lunged toward her as her hand grabbed the handle, its teeth snapping so close to Liz’s ankle that she felt saliva spatter across her leg.

  Heart hammering, Liz reached for something—anything she could use to ward off the wolf. Her hand came into contact with the back of another chair, stacked beside the door. Grabbing it, she swung it toward the wolf, smashing the chair over its head with enough force that the wolf yelped in pain, skittering sideways and slamming into a bookcase.

  Liz heard Mercy roar with rage and glanced back to see the woman coming after her, her face a mask of anger. Mercy screamed too, flinging open the door as the wolf began to stir. Slamming the door shut behind her, Liz ran down the hallway.

  Behind her there was the sound of wood shattering as the door exploded. Liz held her arms up to shelter her head as a shower of lethal wooden splinters peppered the air. Glancing back, she saw Mercy advancing, the wolf at her feet. Around them both was a dense aura of flickering electricity, sparking blue as Mercy’s magic drew itself to the aid of her anger.

  Liz slammed the second door behind her and skidded along the corridor, her borrowed heels almost impossible to run in. She reached the door of the gym and threw herself headlong through it, dragging it shut behind her.

  “Finn!” she screamed. “Faye! Wait—don’t—it’s a trap!”

  “Liz!” Lucas’s voice sounded beside her. She turned to see him pushing through the crowd toward her.

  “It’s a trap, Lucas—the ritual’s a trap!”

  “We know. Joe’s trying to get to them, but I don’t think he’s going to make it!”

  Then the ground began to shake. Liz looked back toward the door she’d just crashed through.

  “What is it?” Lucas asked, grabbing hold of her to stop them both from falling.

  “Mercy! She’s coming—and she’s angry!” Liz looked up at Finn and Faye as they began to lean toward each other. “What are we going to do?”

  “The mirror!” Lucas shouted over the growing roar around them. “If we can smash the mirror, nothing can get sucked through it, right?”

  “But we’ll never get there!” Liz looked across the room at the mirror, now a dark, swirling morass of evil.

  “I need something I can break it with!” Lucas shouted over the noise. “Give me something I can throw!”

  “I don’t have anything! Can’t you use a chair?”

  Liz watched as Lucas ran forward, trying to find a way through the dense crowd of students, but it was hopeless. There was no way they were going to get closer to the mirror.

  Liz felt something behind her and heard Lucas shout. She turned to see the wolf—it had run ahead of Mercy and was now beside Liz, looking up at her with those sad yellow eyes.

  “Liz!” Lucas yelled. “Run! Run!”

  He came forward, trying to pull her away, but the wolf jumped at her. Liz flinched, expecting to feel its fangs biting at her. But instead of teeth, she felt its soft fur, brushing against her leg. The wolf was butting at her purse with its head.

  A light went on in Liz’s head, and she rummaged through her bag, pulling out the letter opener that had belonged to Faye’s father. “What about this?”

  Lucas grabbed it from her hand, turning toward the mirror. He frowned in concentration, leaning back with his hand stretched far over his head. Then he threw himself forward and let go with every ounce of energy in his body.

  The knife flew across the room, spinning over the heads of the gathered students. It soared in an arc through the air before striking the glass and clattering to the ground.

  The mirror began to crack. It splintered silently, a slow ripple of fractures tracing up and out. They covered the mirror’s surface, disrupting the smooth glass like a miniature earthquake.

  In the gym, time slowed. Liz felt as if her body had turned to jelly. She could hardly move. She wanted to ask Lucas what was happening, whether it was working, but she had no voice. She couldn’t hear anything, as though there was cotton stuffed in her ears. She turned her head to see Mercy frozen in the act of coming through the imploding door. The wolf at her feet was stuck in midleap, paws outstretched, fur wavering.

  Then time started up again. There was the resounding noise of glass breaking, the harsh tinkle of shards crashing to the ground as the mirror’s surface disintegrated. Sound rushed in, and Liz was suddenly drowning in it as all the students in the hall snapped out of whatever trance they’d been in.

  “Omigod!” Liz heard Candi scream as she spun around in a circle. “What’s happening? Is this the ball? I don’t—”

  “Look at the mirror!” Hart Jesson shouted, drowning out Candi’s confusion. Everywhere students were in a state of panic. It was as if they’d all woken from a collective dream and had no idea what was real and what wasn’t.

  Then Rachel Hogan saw the wolf and screamed. She pointed a shaking finger at the animal, still standing beside Liz. The screams spread, the fear catching, until the gym was full of piercing shrieks. On the stage, Finn and Faye, awakened by the noise, sprang apart. They looked out over the chaos in the gym. Liz saw Faye grab Finn’s arm and point at the mirror.

  The glass was continuing to fall from the frame, a thousand tiny, shining reflections tumbling as the cracks continued to grow. But instead of a blank wall behind the mirror, there was a dense, black pit of dark smoke and flame. It rose in oily puffs, bubbling up through the cracks as the glass disintegrated.

  The terrified students stampeded. Liz and Lucas were shoved aside as they rushed for the exits, still screaming. Through the mêlée, Joe reached the stage and in a second was with Finn and Faye.

  “Fools!” Liz heard Mercy scream over the noise. “What have you done? What have you done?”

  The wolf dodged the running students, paws skidding on the polished wooden floor. Mercy’s aura sparked in the gloom as the terrified students streamed around her.

  It took only a moment for the gym to empty. The screams echoed away with the sound of running feet. Mercy strode into the room toward Liz and Lucas, the wolf with her always.

  “What have you done?” Mercy demanded again, grabbing at Lucas.

  “We’ve stopped you!” he shouted defiantly. “We knew your ritual was a fake.”

  Mercy pushed him backward, a sudden look of fear crossing her face. “I am still your mother, Lucas,” she hissed. “You must help me. We must—”

  Liz saw Lucas shake his head. “I’ll never call you my mother again,” he said, his voice trembling with anger. “And I will never help you! How could you do the things you’ve done? How could you not tell me what you really are?”

  Mercy shook her head. “When you were old enough, I would have,” she answered. “Lucas, I still can do it! You must help me, before it’s too late. Before we both die—”

  “Never,” Lucas hissed. “I don’t care what happens to me. I will never help you. Never.”

/>   Mercy spun on her heel to look up at Joe, still standing on the stage. Raising one arm, she pointed at the fractured mirror and its roiling sea of black mist.

  “Don’t you understand?” she shrieked. The sound of Mercy’s terror chilled Liz to the core. “You interrupted the ritual! The mirror was enchanted, and now the path to Annwn is left open!”

  Joe jumped from the stage, stalking toward her angrily. “Don’t talk in riddles, Mercy. I’ve had enough of your lies.”

  Mercy began to laugh hysterically, a high-pitched, fearful sound that filled the empty gym. Then, from somewhere, a low rumble began beneath their feet.

  “You always were a fool, Joe Crowley, and now you’ve killed us all. You’ve given them a way in. And not one of us can escape!”

  Chapter 56: The Final Bargain

  The rumbling went on, growing louder and louder. Above them, the disco ball still spun slowly, casting weird, looping patterns of light against the gym’s darkened walls and ceiling.

  “What’s happening?” Liz shouted, raising her voice over the noise.

  “I don’t know!” Lucas shouted back.

  Joe jumped from the stage, Finn and Faye close behind. Liz looked around. “Hey!” she shouted, shaking Lucas’s arm. “Where’s Jimmy?”

  She saw the hesitation on Lucas’s face, and a new kind of fear seeped into her veins. “Where is he, Lucas? Tell me!”

  “I’m here,” came a voice, calling from behind her. “I’m here, Liz.”

  She spun around to see Jimmy limping slowly across the trembling floor. He was doubled over, obviously in pain. Liz ran to him. “What happened to you?”

  He tried to shrug but grimaced in pain instead. “Kind of a battle getting in. What happened to the mirror?”

  Liz looked up at it to see the roiling darkness that had been contained behind the glass moving like a living thing. It surged and rolled inside the frame, testing its boundaries, trying to find a way out.