A flood of energy coursed through me as Ronnie’s energy finally flowed through me and to the portal again. She was done breaking the locks. I stumbled, and my feet slid in the snow as I turned my trajectory away from the portal. I sent a jolt of power through my connection with Ronnie and let go of the portal, hoping she had enough power left in her to keep it open.
The flow of power snapped like taffy and rebounded into me, making me stumble and fall. My hands sank into the snow, catching me before my face hit the ground. Wind whipped around me, pushing and pulling at my clothes until I was totally turned around. I wasn’t sure which way was which, but when I heard the crunch of snow underfoot, I knew where Krampus was. That was enough to give me a direction to run.
The ground under me sloped down, so I veered to the side, trying to confuse the devil trailing me. But I didn’t know where to go. I didn’t know how much time had passed. If I could just elude Krampus until Joey’s alarm went off, she’d break the charm and bring me home. Or Ronnie would, once she got the children to safety and closed the portal. I just had to stay out of his grasp.
“You better watch out.” The words struck me before the clawed hand closed on my shoulder.
I tried to scream, but my voice caught in my throat. If I screamed, Ronnie would come running. I couldn’t let her abandon the children, not when we were so close to getting them home. I reached for the knockout powder to throw it in his face, but he struck my hand, making the powder explode like a cloud. I clenched my eyes and mouth closed, trying not to breathe.
The world went sideways as I was lifted off my feet. One muscled arm wrapped around my waist and slung me over his shoulder. The air was pushed out of me as his shoulder dug into my stomach. I was hanging upside down, my aching head screaming at the rush of blood, and I had to close my eyes or risk throwing up.
Krampus’s tail swished as he spun and climbed back up the mountain, whistling happily. As I bounced against his back, I kicked and pounded my fists, wriggling desperately. But his grasp was firm, and all my efforts to hurt him just made him laugh.
Power built in my hands again until they flashed in the night. I knew that if I laid hands on him, it would hurt him, but he didn’t know Ronnie was in the cave, releasing the children. If he let me go before the kids were safe, then I would ruin everything in my panic. I took a deep breath and pulled the power back. I watched the flashes of light and power flicker and die. Spots filled my vision, and I realized I was holding back tears.
Krampus began to sing again, the wind catching his voice and throwing it at me as we scaled the mountain, walking back into the mouth of Hell.
“You better watch out…”
Chapter 18
The snow swirled around my face, clung to my eyelashes, and made the tips of my hair heavy with water, but it didn’t seem to bother Krampus at all. Ronnie and I had struggled up the mountain, our feet sinking into the snow and sapping our energy, but Krampus walked as steadily as though he was on a summer stroll through the park.
His shoulder dug into my stomach. Bile rose in my throat, making it burn. He was still humming that stupid song, the same refrain over and over until I was sure it would echo in my mind forever. That humming was getting to me the most. I wanted to thrash and kick and scratch to make him shut up. It was a serious test of my self-control that I didn’t.
Krampus stopped, and the sudden loss of momentum jarred me. He went quiet, losing the train of the song in the middle of a word. I tried to twist so I could see what was happening, but in the darkness and with the snow flurries, that was almost impossible.
“Naughty, naughty,” Krampus said, his clawed hand flexing at my side, and I had to worry that he would pierce me on accident. Then he roared, angry and deafening, and gripping me with both hands, he threw me from his shoulder.
The world spun, stopping when I hit the ground. The air rushed out of my lungs, and pain seared through my back as I hit the hard ground. My scalp ached where his claw had scraped, ripping strands of hair from my head. My fingers burned as I pushed myself up, my head spinning and making me pause. Krampus was running, screaming, his arms flailing. When I looked past him, I saw small shapes running down the mountain.
I hadn’t given Ronnie enough time.
Cursing, I scrambled to my feet and slipped on the frozen ground. Power flowed through my arms, filling my hands until my fingers burned with it. My lungs were on fire as I ran, sucking in deep breaths of frozen air. It was more and more difficult to keep running, but when I heard the first child scream, I found new reserves of energy and burst forward.
Krampus wasn’t as far ahead of me as I thought, and when I reached out, I snatched his whipping tail and pulled. He roared a lion’s scream and rounded on me, lashing out at my face with his clawed hands. With a yelp, I fell back, out of reach. I kept hold of his tail, pulling on it with all my weight. It was thick with muscles, like an angry snake. He rounded on me again, ripping his tail out of my grasp, and lunged.
My hands were up and snapping with power, ready to send thousands of volts through his body. His face twisted in a snarl, his sharp teeth bared and eyes flashing, but when he saw my hands, he stopped short and glared at me.
“No!” I screamed when he turned away from me to run after the kids and Ronnie.
A jolt of power shot out of my right hand, a flash of light in the snowy dark, and I heard his echoing yelp as it hit him. The ground shook when he pitched forward and slammed into the ground. I fought to stay on my feet, and when I found purchase, I ran and threw my body forward onto the backs of his goat-like legs. His fur was thick and musty, the muscles beneath solid and twitching. The scent of burning fur filled my senses, making my eyes water.
Straddling his back, I dug my knees into his sides, grabbed the tips of his horns, and pulled, making his back arch and neck bend. He gnashed beneath me, twisting his body to unseat me, but I clung with every ounce of strength I had.
“Mattie!” Ronnie’s voice cut through the wind and growls of the animal beneath me.
“Run!” I screamed. “Go! Now!”
She hesitated, staring at me. Only her pale face was discernible in the darkness, but I felt the war going on inside her. How could she leave me? How could she run to safety as I fought with a devil on a mountainside?
“Run!” I screamed again, the word tearing from my body and making my throat raw. Another scream ripped from me when Krampus bucked and threw me, sending me flying. Pain lanced through me when I landed, and I remembered that at least one of my ribs was cracked. Sitting up and drawing a breath was more difficult than it should have been.
Krampus ran, kicking snow as he cut down the mountain after Ronnie. She was running and sliding on the shifting snow, but she kept her distance from him. She might make it to the portal before he caught her, but she wouldn’t get it closed before he went flying through. I sat up on my knees, called to the surface every ounce of power left in my battered body, and let it fill my hands. My arms ached with the power, and my hands lit like two lanterns. Flashing energy, contained lightning, and my father’s voice was all I could focus on. He whispered in my mind, giving me focus, telling me how to do this.
I aimed for Krampus’s back. My breath caught in my lungs, making them burn as a rib pressed against them. Breathe, my father’s voice said, so calm and comforting. My lips parted, and the air flowed out of me, sending the power from my hands across the distance to the devil chasing my best friend. The bolt of power struck him, center mass, and sent him careening forward. He landed face down in the snow with such force that even at that distance, I heard him fall.
“Mattie, come on!”
Ronnie was farther down the mountain, the air shimmering around her as the children ran past her through the portal and disappeared into nothing. For one moment, hope buoyed up in me. Ronnie screamed for me to move, one arm held out for me and the other touching the edge of the portal, making her fingers shimmer and disappear.
I felt the connection between me and
the portal swell again, the magic inside me reaching for the object we had created. Until two black horns cut through the air, obscuring my view.
Krampus lifted his head and looked over his shoulder at me. His eyes were black at that distance, but I felt the hate, the rage, contained within them. He didn’t mutter or sing or even speak—he just moved. He was on his cloven feet, turning his back to me as though I was no kind of threat, and he stalked Ronnie.
I saw the child I’d known in her face. Her eyes were wide and unblinking as she took in the full sight of our childhood terror coming for her. She shrank, her knees going weak and making her crouch. I screamed for her to run, but the wind snatched away my voice.
The portal flickered, bright white to black, and for a second, I saw my apartment and two yellow eyes—my familiar standing guard.
“Ronnie,” I called, finding my voice again. “You have to go! Go!”
Behind her, the children crowded in front of the doorway. I couldn’t hear them, but I saw them reaching for her, their mouths moving as they yelled for her to turn and run. Joey, in a flash of pink, pushed to the front of the group. Her eyes took up so much of her face as she looked at Ronnie and at the devil coming ever closer. She screamed and reached through the portal, grabbing for Ronnie.
Ronnie blinked. Her knees became firm again and lifted her to her full height. She found the courage to look past Krampus and find me. The portal flickered again, throwing her face into darkness, but I knew she could see me against so much white. I told her to go, my mouth forming the words and my spirit willing her to listen. She needed to get through that portal and close it or else Krampus would crash through, and nothing in me believed he would bundle up those kids and take them back to his lair. I knew, deep in my bones, he would rip them all limb from limb and paint the walls of my apartment in blood.
But that would be a mercy compared to what he would do to Ronnie for stealing the children right from under his nose.
The portal flickered, making Ronnie’s face visible again. Joey stood in front of the kids, holding the clay ornament, and Artemis sat at her feet and watched. Ronnie could go, and they would still be able to bring me home after they closed the portal. She just had to go. The children were screaming, crying, trying desperately to pull Ronnie inside, but they were too scared to reach back through the portal.
Energy built in the air around us. I watched as the dark shape of Krampus grew. His shoulders expanded, his horns lengthened to add another bend to their shape, and his legs swelled. He grew right before my eyes. He stopped, still yards away from Ronnie, and threw back his head. His shaggy mane lengthened until it touched the arch of his back, just above his tail. His tail became thicker and longer, and the point became a sharp, deadly barb.
Moonlight broke through the clouds and bounced off the snow, almost blinding. Now I could see his face. His eyes and mouth were closed, but as he spread his arms wide—arms that were corded in muscles—I realized he was breathing in the power and energy filling the air. He was letting the fear rolling off the children, off Ronnie and Joey and me, fill him and renew his power. He was becoming the true demigod we had all forgotten.
I screamed for Ronnie to run until the cracked rib inside me sent a bright white lance of pain through my body, nearly stealing my voice.
Krampus opened his eyes, and they glowed as if hellfire was caught in their depths. He roared, his fanged teeth gnashing, and ran for Ronnie and the portal.
She didn’t scream or hesitate for a breath. Ronnie just fell into the portal, and it winked out of existence as though it had never been there.
Krampus barreled through the empty space, his breadth and momentum making it difficult for him to stop. Snow and earth piled up under his cloven hooves as he forced himself to stop. He turned on the spot, his motions smooth and methodical, and faced me.
My body shook as I stared across the distance between us. Snow flurries swirled, the wind howled, and the moon slipped behind a bank of clouds, making darkness descend upon me. I was too hurt, too exhausted to call power to my hands, but I tried anyway. A whimper of pain and fear pressed at my clenched teeth.
Krampus laughed. He took one step, then another toward me. His hulking mass took up too much space, and I knew it would be mere moments before he was on top of me. Would he rip out my guts and feast upon my body, or would he beat me until I was nothing more than a wet, red smear in the snow? I didn’t want to know.
Thankfully, I never would. Somewhere in the middle of my body, warmth flooded through me, and I was pulled out of that nightmare world. I closed my eyes against the sensation and told myself to breathe through it even as my back screamed as my cracked rib finally broke. When I opened my eyes again, instead of screaming in pain and fear, a laugh of complete relief bubbled out of me. Ronnie threw her arms around me.
***
I felt the hardwood of my apartment floor under me, and the scents of chocolate and pine filled my senses. The silver fire flickered in the corner of my eye, and my tiny tree glinted and sparkled with pixie dust and twinkle lights. The sky outside my kitchen windows was still blue and bright with daylight. Christmas Eve wasn’t over, thank all the gods.
The children erupted into screams and cheers before they all converged upon us in a pile. I tried to speak to stop them, but I didn’t get the words out in time. I groaned, and Ronnie scrambled back, pushing the kids away from me.
“What’s wrong?” she asked.
All I managed to say was, “Healing potion.”
Ronnie struggled to extract herself from the mass of children, but Joey ran for the kitchen, then ran to Ronnie. Ronnie uncorked the pale blue potion bottle and knelt by my side, putting the bottle to my lips and tilting it. I drank the whole bottle, knowing I’d expended too much energy with that last bolt of power. This bottle was sweeter than the last and went down smooth.
The potion coursed through my body, warm and soothing, and I collapsed. The pain in my back was sharp and bright, but the potion found the broken rib. My bones knit back together as I lay there, waiting.
Everyone was silent as they leaned over me in a circle of worried faces. I saw their auras shifting and spiking in a strange mixture of relief and worry. It was a kaleidoscope of emotions.
Before long, a warm, fuzzy presence found its way to my side. My familiar’s magic flowed over my body, and our auras blended together as he purred. The bone in my back knitted together, the pain slipping away, and my muscles unknotted. The ache in my scalp tingled as the skin healed, leaving only a mat of blood in my hair.
With some effort, I opened my eyes again, and I tried to smile at all the faces. I held up my hands to gesture for everyone to move back and let me breathe some air that wasn’t coming out of them. Ronnie pulled the kids back by their shoulders, and Joey guided them into the living room.
When I sat up, crossing my legs to give myself a larger base to balance on, Artie crawled into my lap and turned once before becoming a ball of black fur in my lap. I rested my hands on his warm body, my fingers sinking into his fur. I enjoyed the feeling of his body lightly vibrating with purrs.
A tiny orange puff darted forward, around me and Artie, and over to Ronnie. She scooped him up and cradled him to her chest, rubbing her nose against his forehead. Her eyes closed as she breathed him in. She’d already started to bond with the kitten, and that warmed me as much as the black fur ball in my lap. I’d actually forgotten that Pumpkin was in the apartment. At least I knew that he and Artie hadn’t gotten into it while we were gone. Maybe they would be friends after all. Or maybe Pumpkin had hidden under the couch the whole time, avoiding my grumpy old man.
I took a moment to look around and found that I was sitting among the shattered remains of the ornament Joey had smashed to bring me home. The broken pieces were still smoking lightly, and white and grey dust was smeared on the floor. I held one of the broken pieces of ceramic, carefully tracing the edge with my finger. Thank all the gods that I thought to create that little piece of
magic. Otherwise, I’d be living out my worst childhood nightmare. A shiver ran down my spine, and I shook my head clear of those thoughts.
“Are you okay?” Ronnie asked softly as she crouched next to me, one hand on my back.
“I think so.” I kept my voice equally soft, my throat thick.
“Did you see?” she asked.
When I looked into her eyes, I knew what she was asking. Did I see the monster in the dark coming back to life? “Yes, I did.”
“So it wasn’t my imagination?” she asked.
“No,” I whispered. I wished I could say otherwise, but we all knew gods thrived on belief. There was no more powerful belief than fear.
The children crowded in my living room, a half-pixie, and two witches had undone generations of neglect and indifference in less than the span of one night.
Chapter 19
Joey came out of the kitchen with a tray full of mugs of hot chocolate. White steam swirled into the air as she delicately picked her way through the children to place the tray on the coffee table. She faced me as the kids all reached for a mug. Joey held up an empty clear bottle that I recognized as one of my pre-made calming draughts. There was a question in her face, but I knew she’d already poured it into the cups. I nodded, letting her know that was fine. Each kid could’ve only gotten a tablespoon’s worth. It wouldn’t be enough to knock any of them out, but it was enough to steady their nerves.
“Probably time to start calling parents,” Ronnie said. She was sweeping up the broken ceramic ornament.
Artie and Pumpkin sat on opposite ends of the kitchen table, where I sat with my head resting on my arms. “Probably.” The word was slow and muffled as my cheek was smushed against my forearm.
Ronnie swept the dust and shards into the dust pan and walked it to the trash can in the kitchen. She grabbed my phone, pulling her cell phone out too. With a deep breath, I sat up, dug my cell phone out of my pocket, and joined everyone in the living room. The scent of chocolate did nothing to cover the stench of sulfur the kids had brought with them, but I was too exhausted to care. Ronnie handed the two phones to different kids, and I held mine out to the half-gremlin boy.
Yuletide (Matilda Kavanagh Novels Book 3) Page 17