“Oh, I wouldn’t do that if I were you. You’re outnumbered Olivia. When was the last time you counted your guests?” I raise an eyebrow at him in disbelief, and he smirks. There’s no way he could have done anything without me noticing, but the confidence on his face, the way there seem to be more people around me…..
Panic surges through me, and I look around. I realize there are way more people here than I invited. There’s at least fifteen more kids here than there should be, and all of them are wearing demon costumes…… “Oh, my God……”
“Those aren’t costumes are they?” Mer whispers.
I shake my head and he laughs. “Ok people you know what to do, and as for you” He looks down at Alli. “I’ll keep you with me in case they don’t do exactly as I ask.”
The demons close in around us, pushing us towards the dining room. “No!” I struggle against the swarm of people, but soon Lukas and Alli are impossible to see. If she gets hurt at my party, it’s my responsibility and it will be my fault.
I Phase and turn invisible, walking through the students until I reach Lukas, standing by the front door. Before I even realize what I’m doing I’ve turned solid and my fist is colliding with the side of Lukas’s head. His hands slip from Alli’s shoulders as he turns to face me. I shove her hard toward the front door.
“Go!” I shout.
She looks incredibly confused, but doesn’t stay to figure out if I’m a ghost or something. She pulls out her cell phone and races out the door. I can only hope she’s calling the police, though how much good they’ll do against a group of demons, I can’t say.
“Liv.” He growls. “I know you’re there. I can hear you breathing.” His hand flies out, in the direction of my face, and I jump to the side. He can hear my breathing. Well, since I can’t stop breathing, I make a break for it.
I run for the stairs, briefly wondering how many times I’m going to be chased up these stairs invisible, before He tears after me. Oh my God, he really can hear my breathing!!!! I think, horrified. It’s not like I’m even breathing that loudly!
“Why are you going up there? You’re going to corner yourself! Oh, are you trying to buy your friends some time to get away? How heroic. To bad it’s not going to work!”
Well, at least he can’t hear my thoughts. That is not my plan, I’m not an idiot!
I pause on the last stair, spin around to face Him, and grab the banister. “Oh!” He chuckles. “You’re going to try and fight me?” He seems to find this incredibly funny. He just stands there and laughs for at least ten seconds.
“Don’t flatter yourself.” I say. “You’re not worth my time.” I fling myself over the banister.
Instantly my invisibility slips away, but I’m flying. He sees me and lunges forward. “Get back here you little-”
I dive bomb the demons near the dining room, kicking them in the heads and necks. Nobody questions why I can fly. When I give them an opening, by kicking a demon near them, kids lunge forward and start fighting. Some wield plastic bones from the hallway floor, some have actual knives and forks from the kitchen…....a few even have spoons. Some kids are punching, kicking, clawing, and pinching the demons, but we’re not strong enough. We’ve only taken one down, and that was because someone chopped it’s head off with a steak knife.
I hook one foot under the back of the head of one of the demons, and the other foot under the back of the head of another. Then I bring my legs together, forcing their heads to collide. As they stagger back, stunned, three kids jump in with their weapons. I smile. Maybe this could work.
I start to do it with another pair of demons when a bloodcurdling shriek fills the air. “Olivia Maria Norfolk, what is going on here!?” Every single person- and not person- in the room freezes. Only one person has that effect on people. My mother is standing in the middle of the kitchen, in her bathrobe and slippers, glaring at me like all this is somehow my fault. She sees me flying. Great.
I’m tempted to say ‘Red Bull gives me wings!’, but instead I say “Demons are attacking us because our gardener, who’s actually not our gardener, is evil and he doesn’t want us to ruin whatever he’s planning to do!” My mother stares at me like I’m an idiot, and I can’t help but thank whatever gods there may be that sometimes the truth is just so crazy, you absolutely can’t believe it.
“Now don’t you lie to me-”
“Mom!” A frying pan collides with her head, and she collapses to the floor, unconscious. Lukas sets the frying pan on the counter and laughs.
“Please resume, this is quite amusing.”
“Mom!” I lunge for her, but fall forward my face hovering inches above the ground, a demon grasping my ankle.
He waves a hand. “Demons. Finish up here.”
The demons, including the one latched onto my ankle, advance, pushing my friends back into the dining room. Once they’re all in, the demon holding my ankle lifts me like I’m nothing, and tosses me in with the others. The door slams behind me.
Mer and Tyler catch me and help me to my feet. “Real nice gardener you’ve got.” Tyler says.
I ignore him and test the doors. “They’re locked! These doors don’t even have locks!”
“Liv we have to get out of here! Who knows what Lukas is planning?” Mer says, her face alight with panic.
“I know, I know, hold on! Is Bree here? Has anyone seen Breanna?” I spin in a circle.
Breanna walks through some startled looking kids, and leans against the wall, feigning nonchalance. “Liv.” She inclines her head, but I can see how worried she is.
“Bree, could you go through the door and levitate whatever has it closed away?”
“Sure.” She steps through the closed door for a few seconds then comes back through. “Clear.”
I open the doors, then pause and turn around to face my guests. “If anyone is wearing a demon mask, take it off. We can’t be confusing you for a real demon.” Mer shoots me a look at my words, but I shrug. They probably barely processed what I said.
Only one of my real guests came dressed as a demon. Fiona removes her mask and tosses it behind her. She still looks amazing. She’s in a tattered black dress, with her long dark hair in several thick braids. She has a tiara of bones, bone necklaces, bracelets and a belt of bones around her waist. A true demon queen.
“Mer, Bree, we’ve got to get down there fast.”
I turn to go but someone calls out “Wait!”
“I’m coming with you.” Fiona says determinedly, her mouth set in a firm line. Her eyes glitter with a emotion I can’t read.
“No. You’re not.” Breanna says just as determinedly. “You wouldn’t even be able to protect yourself, and this will be dangerous.”
“Yes I will.” She lifts her skirts a little, revealing black combat boots. She reaches inside her right one, and pulls out Dillons knife.
“You keep that on you?” Mer asks. Fiona shrugs.
“Never hurts to be prepared, as my Grandma always says.”
“Fi, you are not going.” Adam limps forward wearing a boot. “No matter what.”
“Adam.” Fiona says, her eyes softening when she looks at her brother. “You’re in no condition to stop me. Stay here, I’ll be fine.”
“I’m not hiding while you fight.”
“Adam you have to help protect these people.” Adam's eyes flash, but he nods his head. Fiona turns back to us. “Come on.”
We go out the back door and across the hell that is my backyard, and hover at the back gate. “Look at the ghosts. They’re leaving.” Mer says. Sure enough ghosts are fleeing the cemetery, streaking through my backyard and into the night.
“Is that bad?” Asks Fiona, seeming not at all surprised that ghosts exist. I guess it’s not that surprising after she realized that the demons weren’t just kids in masks.
I shrug and glance at Breanna, who bites her lip. “This is very, very bad. They wouldn’t leave their tombs and graves empty unless it was serious.”
I swall
ow. Not promising, considering we’re about to go in there and try and stop this. You don’t have to be a hero. You could just let this happen. A tiny voice inside my head says. No. I say back. I am the Seventh, my job is to protect. I unlatch the gate and step through.
When we reach the entrance to the cemetery, my heart is pounding out of my chest. The cemetery is swarming with demons. Lukas is standing in the center, giving a speech or pep-talk of some sort. “We’re almost done. All we need is one more thing.” He raises his head and catches sight of us. “And here she is now!”
I whip a knife -the real Lukas gave it to me- out of a thigh sheath hidden under my dress. It never hurts to be prepared, as Fiona's Grandma always says. “Am I the only one who doesn’t carry a weapon with them everywhere?” Mer complains.
“Demons! Bring them to me!”
The demons charge us, and Mer produces a small leather pouch, from around her neck. She opens it and flings white powder at the demons, causing them to squeal, hiss, and shrink back.
“You are the only one who doesn’t carry a weapon, but you’re also the only one who carries around salt.” I inform her, as I slash at a demon.
“Hey. I do voodoo. We always need salt.”
I launch myself into the air and spin in a circle, slashing at the demons around me, creating a path straight toward Lukas. “Liv!” Fiona shouts from behind me. “That’s exactly what he wants!”
I close my eyes and slice the head off of a demon. “I know!”
Thwack. Splat. Three demons crumple to the ground, headless, and Fiona tosses her long dark braids away from her face. “I’ll cover you.” I stare at her in surprise. She doesn’t seem phased at anything that’s happening here.
“Fi-”
She glares at me. “Get moving. Go!”
I dive, roll, fly and slash until I’m close to Lukas. He looks up and grins at me. “Hi Liv, welcome to my party!”
“Luke.”
I lunge at him and he leaps to the side. I jump again and thrust my knife forwards. He shouts in pain as my knife plunges into his shoulder, and lashes out, grabbing my wrist and squeezing. “Ah!” My fingers slip off the knife handle, and it clatters to the ground.
He leaps toward me and I jump past him. I collide with the ground, stagger to my feet and turn to face him, reaching for my knife. He laughs at me, holding up something shiny and metal. My knife. Damn.
I weigh my options. Rush at a deranged psycho with a knife, or run into the crypt behind me that I just noticed is starting to glow. What the heck!? Okay….glowing crypt then.
I spin around and jump forward, getting ready to run. “Oh no you don’t!” Lukas snarls.
I feel a stinging pain lance down my thigh, and I stagger, and press a hand to my leg. It comes back covered in blood. Oh no….. He cut my leg! “Plot twist, huh Liv?” Lukas is now in front of me grinning.
I jump at him and slam both my feet into his stomach. His hands wrap around my ankle as he's staggering back and, before I know it, I’m flying through the air. I slam into the altar in the middle of the mausoleum, and groan, moving scooting back to the edge of the altar. A long blood smear follows in my path. Oh no no no! I think. My blood. Royal Halfling blood. Seventh blood. On an altar. That can't be good.
“Liv!” I look up. Fiona, Mer, and Breanna are standing in the entrance to the mausoleum, their eyes wide. Apparently they understand the problem with my blood on the altar.
“It’s too late.” Lukas laughs. “It’s already started.” He points outside.
I’m out there in a flash, terror filling me. The sky is darkening, clouds filling it, the wind picking up. A circle of thick clouds is appearing over the altar, inside the mausoleum. “Demons!” Lukas shouts. “Go!”
I lock eyes with Breanna, realization passing over us at the same time. “He’s opening a portal to the city!”
The demons rush toward us, and I know I have no choice. I don’t know any Halflings other than Lukas and my family, but a whole race could die if I let these demons go straight into the city. I sprint back toward the mausoleum, reaching Lukas as he nears the portals. “No!” I leap slamming into Lukas, twisting past him.
I fall backward into a mass of swirling clouds and darkness engulfs me.
Part Two
Chapter Fourteen
“Aaaah!” The wind whistles around my face, as I free fall, facing skyward watching the thick gray clouds for demons.
I gasp as arms wrap around me, and hold me damsel-in-distress style. He- I assume it’s a he- sets me on my feet, arms still wrapped around my waist. I don’t even bother to see who it is that caught me, my gaze is focused on the portal. I don’t see Lukas anywhere but I do see demons flying down to the entrance of the portal. Or maybe it’s an exit, depending on how you look at it.
“Close the portal! Close it, close it, close it now!”
“Ok, ok. Calm down.” Chuckles a young man’s voice. “I’ll close it.” I don’t think he’s really taking me seriously, he must think I’m losing my mind or something.
“No, no, no! Now, now, NOW!” He laughs again but he sounds nervous. It’s true that I probably sound like a deranged psycho, but I have a legitimate reason if he would only listen to me!
“Relax. I’m going. I’m going.”
I watch the demons move in, so close now, so close. “Look!” I point at the portal, putting every ounce of panic I have into my voice.
I feel his arm tighten around my waist. “Oh my God!”
I hear him muttering something, then the portal vanishes, and the demons disappear. He spins me around to face him, panic in his voice. “Are you okay? What happened up there? Where are you from? Who are you?”
I gape at him, my eyes wide. He looks just like Lukas, impossibly so. He has the same pale skin, the same height (almost), the same dotting of dark freckles, the same floppy dark hair. The only difference is his eyes. Where Lukas’s are black, this boys are deep gold. He smiles at me nervously, apparently much more relaxed, and cheerful than Lukas ever could be, or ever has been.
Then I look around us for the first time. We are standing in a courtyard with pale cobblestones decorating the ground. A marble statue with a sundial atop its head stands in the center. Behind us looms an elegant silvery-white castle, with towers, and turrets and everything. A total fairytale. I take all this to mean that I'm in the right place, the Halfling city.
“Hey, focus; are you sure you’re all right?”
My brain is going a million miles an hour, but all my mouth will say is “L-Lukas?”
The boy’s beautiful eyes widen. “You know my brother?” I nod. He leans in close. “You better explain. Now.”
“Um…….” Ugh. Stupid mouth. Say something! Something intelligent. “I’m Olivia.” Well….that’s a start I guess.
Now his eyes narrow. “Olivia who? You see Olivia, my brother works for some real important people, and you shouldn’t know who he is.” He looks hopeful, like he thinks he knows who I am.
“Olivia Norfolk.”
“Oh.” His face falls.
Oh no. I realize I said the wrong thing; my long ago ancestors maiden name. “Olivia Regium.”
“Regium? You’re sure?” His eyes are wide with hope and shock.
“Positive.” Thank god, I finally found my voice.
“I have to take you to my father.”
“No offense, but your father is um…..losing his mind.” I wince, knowing that was totally offensive.
His eyes widen again. “Luke told you everything, didn’t he?”
“Everything.” I say. “And he’s been training me to use all my gifts.”
“Wait.” I stop, and spread my hands, waiting. “All your gifts?”
“Yes…..” I say hesitantly.
“And how many of these do you have?”
“Um….” He doesn’t know? Maybe Lukas didn’t tell him? “All of them……”
“What!?” He grabs my shoulders and gives me a rough shake. “All of them? Your a-�
�� He lowers his gaze. “Seventh.”
I remember Lukas’s smirk when he called Prince Kellen a tad young and immature. I take a wild guess. “Kellen. We really need to talk to your father.”
“Come on Olivia.” He grabs my hand and pulls me out of the courtyard we’re standing in, through a palace side door, down a corridor, and into a large room with an ornate throne resting on a raised platform.
“Father.” Kellen bows then straightens up and faces the wizened old man sitting on the throne in front of me. “This is Olivia Regium Norfolk. She’s a….um...Seventh.” He looks uncomfortable with using my title. Almost as uncomfortable with it as I feel.
“A Seventh. Dwarf?”
“No Father. A Seventh Daughter of a Seventh Daughter.”
“Father? Is that who I am?” Kellen drops his head, his shoulders slumping.
“Yes. That is who you are. Now focus.”
“Take this to the king, Reginald. I have no time for this. I have Princely problems.”
“You are the-”
“Kellen.” I look up. A petite girl with long black hair, and luminous golden eyes like Kellen’s, steps forward and rests a hand on the King's throne. “You should take this to Mother, she can handle it.”
The King doesn’t react to this at all, he simply sits, eyes glazed over, staring off into the distance. Kellen swallows. “Kira. I can handle myself.”
I take one look at the sad looking boy in front of me, and walk up the steps leading to the throne. “Come on Kellen. We’re going to talk to the Queen.”
I follow Princess Kira through what appears to be a side entrance leading into a large dining room, where a beautiful woman with long black hair sits. I curtsy. “Your Majesty.”
She lifts her gaze. “Hello. Who are you?”
“I’m Liv Nor- Regium Norfolk. I’m….” I take a deep breath. “A Seventh.”
She looks up at me with shock in her eyes and I explain everything, from my move to South Carolina up until now. “So you know what you need to do.”
“Yes. I’m supposed to choose the heir.”
Her eyes widen, softening with sadness. “My son didn’t tell you?”
Seventh (The Hafling Chronicles Book 1) Page 9