by Kami Garcia
Lukas nodded. “Someone the collar will weaken.”
“Where do we get the demon bones?” Elle asked.
My eyes darted to the ivory serpent of bones coiled around Gabriel’s arm. My dad stalked over from where he was leaning against one of the glass cases. He was the only person I hated seeing more than Gabriel.
“This entire conversation is insane, not to mention dangerous.” My father turned to Gabriel. “I don’t know how you created this monstrosity in the first place, but you aren’t going to involve these kids in your Frankenstein project.”
“No one asked your opinion,” I snapped.
Priest crossed his arms, squaring off against my father. “Actually, it’s my project.”
My dad ignored him.
“As much as it pains me to say this, I agree with Alex.” Dimitri leaned forward in the armchair, next to the mummy. “Assuming we find a way to disassemble Azazel and make a collar, how do you plan to put it on Andras? Gabriel wields Azazel from a distance. Snapping a dog collar around the neck of one of Lucifer’s soldiers will require someone to get close.”
Alara toyed with her eyebrow ring. “My grandmother used to tell me stories about growing up in Haiti, when she was a kid. The bokors in her village used this stuff called coup de poudre to turn people into zombies.”
“Zombies?” Priest raised an eyebrow.
“Hear me out,” she said. “It was made from puffer fish venom and caused temporary paralysis so severe that it slowed down a person’s heart rate. What if we used it to paralyze Andras long enough to put the collar on him?”
“Please tell me you don’t carry fish venom around with you,” Elle said, examining the severed doll heads in the case.
“I can buy it from a voodoo shop.” She looked at Gabriel and Dimitri. “Or one of you can bribe a high-end sushi bar to sell you some.”
Dimitri and Gabriel exchanged glances.
“The concoction might not paralyze Andras, but it should sedate him if we use enough,” Dimitri said.
“Stop.” My dad held up his hand. “Demon collars and zombies? Does this sound rational to you?”
I hurled a salt round at the shelves, and it exploded, white crystals peppering the air like snow. “Jared doesn’t have time for rational.”
My father’s expression softened. “I know you think you’re in love with this boy, but he isn’t worth risking your life.”
Alara and Elle stared at my father in shock. In the short time Alara and I had known each other, she understood me better than my own father did. Even Gabriel shifted uncomfortably, as if he sensed the rage coming my dad’s way.
“You have no idea what I think because you don’t know anything about me.”
“Kennedy—” he began.
“Do you know how I met Jared and Lukas? They saved me from a vengeance spirit that tried to suffocate me. Where were you?”
“It’s complicated.”
“Save it. I’m not interested.” I shook my head in disgust. “But don’t show up here and try to play the concerned dad with me now. It’s too late.”
He looked away.
“There’s still the issue of the bones.” Dimitri rose from the chair. “Gabriel would never take Azazel apart, not after what it involved to acquire the bones and assemble the whip.”
“I’m not sure if I can take Azazel apart.” Gabriel hesitated, his eyes darting to the whip in his hand.
Dimitri looked stunned. “Gabriel, this is a mistake. One that could get them all killed. Don’t let them use your weapon to do it.”
Gabriel looked right at me. “But I’ll try.”
Dimitri drove Alara into Boston to hunt down an authentic voodoo shop. He didn’t trust anyone else to take her, after she already slipped away from Gabriel once. Between the last name Alara shared with her grandmother—one of the most respected practitioners on the East Coast—and her impeccable Haitian Creole, it took her less than three hours to find the venom we needed.
Priest and Gabriel’s job proved more challenging. Azazel didn’t want to be taken apart. Gabriel had to separate the bones himself, using surgical equipment.
After Dimitri and Alara returned, she spent hours prepping the serum. Then we spent at least that long reviewing the plan a dozen times. By the time we descended down the stairs to the containment area, it was dinnertime.
Birds pummeled the roof, and the sound of their bodies thudding against the building made me shudder.
The emergency lighting along the floor had shorted out, and a thin layer of frost coated the walls. It stung my fingertips as I dragged them across the stone to guide me.
Jared’s voice drifted toward us, filling the tunnel with “Cry Little Sister” like an eerie lullaby. When we reached the cell door, he stopped singing. “Is that you, Gabriel? I can smell the ash on you. And the fear.”
Gabriel clutched the ivory collar of bones, with what was left of Azazel hanging from his back. “I fear no man or beast, Andras. Only God.”
The demon laughed. “God? What do you know about God? You’re a man destined to spend eternity in the Labyrinth. You should be thanking me for opening the Gates.”
Priest and Alara worked quickly, positioning the projectors.
“The Gates aren’t open yet,” Gabriel said.
“Ready,” Priest whispered.
Water splashed into the cell, and Andras laughed. “Pouring holy water through the ceiling grate? You have fallen on hard times, Gabriel. But I am thirsty.”
Please let this work.
I listened to the demon drink. How would we know if he’d consumed enough of the venom-laced water? What if it didn’t have the same affect on a demon?
Alara tapped my leg, signaling me to get ready.
One. Two. Three.
We hit the power buttons on our projectors at almost the same time.
Andras heard the buzz of the machines and padded around the cell. “What are you up to out there, Champion of God? Did you bring your Legion and exorcist? I want them to be here when I break free of these chains and tear out your throat.”
Bear snarled.
Priest turned on the black light. Flecks of white lint glowed on his jeans. He stepped in front of the bars, holding the wand against his chest. As the fluorescent beam hit the walls, the four symbols revealed themselves like the points on a compass: the Wall, the Devil’s Snare, the Cross of Saint Francis Borgia, and the Eye of Ever.
Alara nodded at me. “Now.”
I envisioned the lines of the invocation in my mind, as clearly as if they were written on a page, and recited them with Alara.
“From the depths of despair and
the world beyond
Claim the soulless among us and
call him home.”
“Your spell can’t control me, stupid girl,” Andras growled.
We didn’t stop.
“Through blood, prayer, and battle, we ask
For Darkness remembers his name.”
Andras flew into a rage, pacing manically one moment then lashing his chains against the glowing symbols the next.
As we recited the lines for the second time, the demon staggered.
“It’s working,” Elle whispered.
Andras’ movements slowed as the venom took effect. “What are you doing, witch?” he called out, reaching for the wall to brace himself.
Dimitri signaled Lukas, and the two of them joined Priest in front of the cell. Dimitri held open a gilded leather book, and the three of them began reading from a different set of exorcism rites from the Rituale Romanum.
“God of Heaven, God of the Earth,
humbly by the majesty of Your
Glory we implore
that from every power of the
infernal spirits,
from their snare, their deception
and their wickedness,
from every deceit, free us, Lord.”
“Go away, Satan, inventor and master
of all deceit, enemy of
humanity’s salvation.
Be humble under the Powerful Hand of God.”
Andras’ spine jerked. Then he froze, his limbs immobile.
Gabriel unlocked the cell and stepped inside, carrying the demon bone collar.
Andras focused his black eyes on the door, and it slammed behind Gabriel.
“Stay back,” Dimitri called out. “He’s still too strong.” He turned to my father. “Alex, use the Diario di Demoni to exorcise him.”
My father shook his head. “It will never work.”
“You don’t have to fully exorcise him,” Dimitri said. “Just weaken him enough for Gabriel to get the collar around his neck.”
“I’ll do my best.” My dad flipped through the journal, until he found the right page, then he started to read.
“I invoke the power of light,
Restore this besieged soul
From the Labyrinth’s terrible hold.
Raise this tormented soul from perdition,
Release it from imprisonment;
Return it to safety of your wings.”
Dimitri, Priest, and Lukas continued the rites from the Rituale Romanum, their voices overlapping with my father’s.
Andras’ spine stiffened and his eyes widened in shock. A pale gray form rose above Jared’s immobile body, while Jared’s limbs remained paralyzed. Only the form hovering half in—and half out—of his body moved.
He had the hazy gray arms and torso of a man. But the extended jaw, long snout, and black eyes, belonged to an animal.
Andras—in his true form.
“Now.” Dimitri yelled.
Gabriel sprang forward, with the demon bones wailing in his hands. Andras snarled as Gabriel raised the collar. The bones recoiled, pulling away from the demon’s throat.
“I can’t get it on.” Gabriel fumbled with the collar.
Without thinking, I bolted into the cell.
“Get out of here, Kennedy.”
“Give me the other side.” I reached for the collar, ignoring him. “We have to get it on now.”
The bones screamed, the sound piercing my eardrums.
“They don’t want to be linked to him.” Gabriel strained to hold his side of the collar open. “It’s like another death.”
I struggled against the vertebrae as the jagged edges cut my hands.
Another death.
Maybe there was something worse than being linked to a demon. I wiped the ash off my face and smeared it onto the bones, covering them in the ashes of other dead demons.
The bones shrieked and shrank away from me and into Gabriel’s hands. He forced the ends around the back of Jared’s neck. The moment he snapped them together, the bones stopped moving.
The demon’s blurry torso bucked one last time, before it slipped back into Jared’s body.
Everyone stopped reading, and the tunnel fell silent.
Jared dropped to the ground, with the demon somewhere inside him again.
Gabriel dragged me out of the cell, and bolted the door behind us.
Elle grabbed my shoulders. “Are you okay?”
The lights flickered, and the power came back on.
I stared at Jared’s body on the floor, picturing the demon inside him. How much longer until the demon was the only one left?
34. BASTIEL
Less than an hour ago, we had wrestled Jared into the collar made from what was left of Azazel. Now we were in the athenaeum discussing another demon.
“The collar is on, and Bastiel already has a head start.” Dimitri was ransacking the contents of the glass-front bookcase. He tossed a leather-bound book titled A Classification of Demons into the nylon bag at his feet.
Gabriel threw a set of dental extraction tools into a second bag. “If she gets strong enough to summon another demon, they’ll start multiplying like rats.”
“When are you leaving?” My father hadn’t let Gabriel or Dimitri out of his sight since we left the containment area.
Gabriel shook his head. “Sorry to disappoint you, Waters, but one of us is staying.”
“I can handle the situation here,” my dad said.
Gabriel handed Dimitri vials filled with powders and metal filings. “You expect us to trust you with the fate of the world?”
“Trust?” my dad laughed. “That’s a big word for you, Gabriel. I’m not sure you should be using it.”
“Enough.” Dimitri glared at them and zipped the bag. “Trust is earned, Alex. And you haven’t earned mine. Gabriel stays. If that thought is too unpleasant for you, feel free to come with me.”
“I’m not leaving Kennedy with him.” My dad glanced at Gabriel with disgust.
“Why not?” I snapped. “You left me alone in a house with a poltergeist after mom died. I’m sure Gabriel can’t be any worse.”
“He betrayed my sister.”
The hypocrisy was lost on my father. “And you abandoned your daughter,” I countered.
“I’m going with Dimitri.” Priest walked toward him.
Lukas let go of Elle’s hand and caught Priest’s arm. “What are you talking about?”
Priest pulled away. “Andras is collared now. It won’t take seven people to babysit him. We have to find Bastiel and the Shift. Dimitri is gonna need help.”
Lukas glanced at me. We both knew Priest’s decision was about more than his unfailing sense of logic.
Ever since the night Priest learned the truth about how Andras had located our family members, he’d been distant. He couldn’t seem to get past Jared’s mistake, or the fact that Lukas and I kept it a secret.
“I think the five of us should stay together,” Lukas said.
Priest picked up one of Dimitri’s bags. “Noted.”
Alara stood up from where she was sitting on the floor, and Bear followed her. “I’ll go with them.”
Dimitri closed the bookcase. “Get your things. We leave in thirty minutes.”
Priest took off out the door before any of us had a chance to catch up with him. But Alara was waiting for me in the hallway.
I didn’t waste any time. “Are you going because I didn’t tell you about the list?”
“I joined the Legion and left with my grandmother to protect my sister. Now I’m leaving with the Illuminati for another kid I love. I can’t let Priest go alone.”
“He’s never going to forgive us, is he?” I swallowed hard, but the lump in my throat didn’t budge.
“Never is a long time.”
“I’m so sorry, Alara. If I could take it back—”
She touched the medal around my neck, the one she’d given to me. “You remind me of Maya. Did I ever tell you that?”
I shook my head.
“She believes in people the way you do—a hundred and fifty percent. All or nothing. It’s my favorite thing about her. That and her gorgeous curly hair, which you don’t have.” I threw my arms around her. “But you’re stronger than my sister, and me. Promise to remember that when I’m not here to remind you.”
“I’ll try.” I released her from my death grip.
“That’s what people say when they aren’t willing to fight,” she said.
“I’m willing to fight.”
Wasn’t I?
Alara walked backward down the hall, watching me. “Prove it.”
Priest stood by the warehouse door in his orange hoodie, headphones around his neck and a duffel bag at his feet. Alara stood next to Dimitri, wearing her black eyeliner like war paint.
Dimitri and Gabriel were talking in low tones, a cigarette balancing between Dimitri’s lips.
“I can’t stay,” Priest said finally.
I nodded as the familiar tightness spread through my chest. “I should’ve told you.”
“You said that before.” He looked at everything but me. “What’s done is done. There’s no going back.”
“Sometimes moving forward changes what’s behind you.”
He shifted his weight, avoiding my eyes. “Maybe. I don’t know.”
I rushed over and threw my arms around him. “I do.”
He wrapped a reluctant arm around me.
“Be safe,” I said, before I let go.
Dimitri and Alara came up behind me, with Lukas, Elle, and my father trailing after them. To his credit, my dad kept his distance.
Alara drew Elle and me in for a group hug. “Kick ass and take names while I’m gone.” I nodded, and Elle sniffled. Alara stepped back, a mischievous smile tugged at the corners of her mouth. “Is someone sad to see me go?”
Elle waved her hand in the air, dismissing the idea. “Hardly. I have dust in my eye.”
Alara shoved Lukas in the arm, playfully, and looked at Elle. “Take care of him, too.”
Dimitri hefted the bag of supplies over his shoulder and patted his long coat pockets for the cigarettes that would probably end up killing him. “Take care of each other. We’ll be back as soon as we can. Hopefully, with a shape-shifting demon, or what’s left of her.”
I held Elle’s hand as they filed out the door, wondering if I’d ever see them again.
I sat on the floor under the stars of the athenaeum’s painted sky. I couldn’t stand to watch Priest and Alara drive away. Bear rested his head in my lap whimpering, as if he knew everything had changed. Open books lay on the floor strewn around me, none of them holding any answers.
“I figured you would be in here.” Lukas closed the heavy wooden door behind him.
“I didn’t realize I was so predictable.”
Lukas leaned against the wall and shifted his weight from one side to the other, his silver coin flying between his fingers. A deep line was etched between his eyebrows from frowning.
“Is it Priest?” I asked.
“What about him?” He started pacing.
“Is that what’s bothering you?” I gestured at his hand. “Because if you flip that thing any faster, you’re going to lose a finger.”
Lukas caught the coin, trapping it in his fist. “That obvious, huh?”
“You’d suck at poker.” I hugged my legs against my chest. “It’s too easy to tell when you’re lying.”
He stopped pacing and looked at me, the worried lines in his face growing deeper. “There’s something I need to tell you.”