Before their eyes, a white appendage glided through the darkness and wrapped itself tightly around her ankles, stopping the noise. Hissing echoed through the tunnel.
Edie handed Adam the knife and murmured, "Start cutting." She rushed forward, braving a few feet of darkness so she could find Satara's upper half—almost completely wrapped in the fleshy ropes. With a deep breath, Edie summoned her magic. Blue fire ignited and skimmed across her palms in a thin layer as she seized the tentacles.
They pulsed and jerked under her hands. Screaming echoed in her mind, but she held fast. By the time the twitching limbs had rotted into dust, Adam had freed Satara's mouth and helped her up.
"Marius!" the shieldmaiden gasped, and gestured wildly ahead and to the left.
With Edie's help, she collected her fallen spear, and they crept forward in the darkness as a cluster.
It was only a few feet before they came across Marius. Edie was surprised to see Basile next to him, completely freed of his bindings. Marius, too, was unbound—and yet he faced the wall, perfectly still and silent.
The priest waved a hand in front of his face. "Hello? Earth to Auroran?" He glanced at the rest of the group as they crept closer, guided by the glowing dagger. "Hey. Is he broken?"
Edie frowned and took a couple steps forward, lingering behind Marius. After a moment of hesitation, she reached out to grab his shoulder. "Marius?"
A whimper escaped him—not a sound she had ever heard from him.
"It's just a trick," she said, daring to speak above a whisper. "Marius? You're okay. We're right here."
She pulled a little harder on his shoulder, trying to get him to turn around, and finally, he seemed to snap out of whatever was holding him. His eyes glowed a vibrant gold for a moment, darting around in the darkness before his gaze settled on Edie.
"What in the Wolfbinder's name is this?" His voice was scratchy. "How could you bring us here..."
Basile shrugged. "I didn't know they came up this far!"
"What?"
"Don’t know exactly. I call them afterthoughts. They seem to be little manifestations of sorrow or abandonment or something. They love places like this ... and, uh, apparently this one is pretty powerful.” He sighed. “We just need to get out of the tunnel. If we're on one of the platforms, it'll leave us alone."
"Why the fuck would that stop it?" Edie snapped. "Why'd you bring us into the subway at all if you knew something terrible was in it?"
Without warning, a fierce wind hit her left side. Her hair whipped her face, and a second later, a foul smell filled the tunnel. The smell of something that had been sitting and decaying for a long time. The word forgotten filled her head, and the feeling that came along with it was so intense that her heart seized, eyes beginning to water. She knew the wind wasn't an incoming train.
All we wanted was for you to stay still. You've been down here for too long. No one remembers you. No one needs you. Become nothing. Become us.
"We can talk about this later," Basile said tensely. "Everyone turn to your left and just start walking."
Adam stared at him. "Left? But that's where the wind is coming from."
"As long as we make it to the next platform, we'll be okay. But we won't be if we just stand here arguing about it!"
With no other options, they followed his orders, falling into line behind him.
It went against every instinct to walk toward the thing that was no doubt racing in their direction, and Edie's body wasn't letting it go without complaint. Chills racked her torso, and if her heart beat any faster, she thought she might pass out.
Almost there. You will see us soon.
With the dagger's glow beginning to fade, she couldn't see much of anything, but she could feel the track turning slightly to the left under her feet. They must be approaching a bend. She focused on keeping her steps in line with it.
Sure enough, within thirty paces or so, she started to make out shapes: the curve of the wall, blacker than the rest of the tunnel beyond; the ledge, which had become smaller, and its railing; distantly, a small light flickering against unpainted concrete and corrugated metal. A new platform?
Beside her, Adam looked behind them, then forward, seemingly calculating something. “If we’re southbound from Hoyt … this must be the Bergen St station. The lower platform has been abandoned for forty years, but they reroute the F train through it sometimes. Holy shit.”
The wind picked up its pace, and the stench of it had become almost unbearable. Their group broke into a run to reach the platform before whatever was coming for them did.
We can see you. Running toward us. Into our embrace.
Beside Edie, Marius loosed a noise of frustration. "I keep trying to summon more light, but I … can't. I can't even get my weapons. What is this thing?"
"Stop talking!" With a burst of inhuman speed, Basile reached the platform before any of them and hoisted himself up with a grunt. In the thin flicker of the maintenance light, Edie could just barely see him adjust his glasses before reaching both hands out for the next person.
Adam made it there first and in his frenzy barely needed the boost from Basile. Next was Satara, who was pulled up in less than a second by the other two. They hoisted Marius up next and—
And Edie found herself the last person standing in the tunnel.
The subway trembled all around them. Her breath came heavier, and she threw the dagger onto the platform first, not wanting to cut herself when she climbed up. She made to move forward, to grab the hands reaching for her, but...
Just one look.
She turned her head toward the wind and strained, trying to discern shapes within the solid black darkness of the subway tunnel. For a second, it was to no avail, and then—
"Oh my god!" When she glimpsed it, the words spilled from her lips.
She couldn't quite comprehend what she was looking at, only that it was a mess of flushed, moist white limbs twisted together in the shape of a huge humanoid. It lurched toward her, its form frenzied, untwisting and wriggling in places. If it had a face, it was completely obscured, bound by barbed wire and melted metal wreckage.
"Edie!" Before she could discern much more, arms encircled her chest and shoulders, hauling her onto the platform. As her feet went up over the ledge, the afterthought gave a grinding croak, and a tentacle shot toward her.
Darkness bathed the subway again.
The next thing Edie knew, she was sitting on cold concrete, her knees curled up to her chest. She could sense light behind her squeezed eyelids, and as she gasped for breath, she could no longer taste the rancid smell of the wind. It was another moment before she dared open her eyes.
She was on the platform, surrounded by the others. Basile, Satara, and Adam stood above her, trying to catch their breaths; Marius knelt next to her, holding her tightly in his arms as he searched her face.
The vivid lingered a beat before releasing her. "I thought you were gone for certain."
Edie shivered. After what they'd just witnessed, the last thing she wanted to be was gone.
"What did you see?" Adam asked as she stood.
What had she seen? How could she even begin to describe it? She shook her head. "I ... don't want to talk about it."
He nodded, brows drawing together.
"Sorry about that," Basile said absently, already roving around the platform and feeling the air. "Afterthoughts usually stick to the rail yards and abandoned bits. I suppose I should have known. But, we could've killed it if we had to."
Edie simply sighed, scrubbing her face with both hands. "I— let's not talk about it. I just ... let's move on."
"I'm afraid the place you're off to isn't much more pleasant." The priest clicked his tongue, adjusting his glasses with a smile. "Oh, this is a good spot. This will do very, very nicely."
Marius followed him with a suspicious gaze. "Nicely for what, exactly? You still haven't told us how you're planning on getting us into the Wending."
"Oh, I can ope
n a portal fine here. That won't be a problem. A little reach-through, a little finagling … yeah, that's not the problem at all."
"Then what is?"
"Ah ... well." Basile turned to them, and it was clear from his expression that his news wasn't good. "Here's the thing..."
Edie could already feel her blood pressure rising.
"The Wending isn't for the living. You wouldn't be able to process it, and it certainly wouldn't be able to process you. So ... you won't be able to enter it as living people. Per se."
Edie blinked. "And the alternative is...?"
"I don't think you'd like the alternative. But don't worry, I have a solution."
"Brilliant," Marius deadpanned.
The priest cut him a look. "What we need to do is trick the plane into thinking you're not living. Now, I did some research, and there's only one surefire way of doing this without potentially actually killing you. I'll need to take a part of each of your souls. Just a small part should do the trick."
"Take a part of our souls?" Edie repeated. "You just lost one!"
Satara frowned. "How are you planning on flaying a part of our souls without consuming them? Edie's right; struggling with that is how you lost Elle."
"Ah. I'll use this." Basile pulled his messenger bag to his front and produced something from it—a diamond prism of what seemed to be clear, if slightly frosty, glass.
Edie recognized the object at once, despite the fact that it wasn't fashioned into a necklace. "You ... have a keeper paragon? An actual keeper paragon?"
He lifted his brows, apparently surprised that she knew what it was. "I have others."
"Others?" She gaped in exasperation. "Do you know what I had to go through to get one of those things?"
Basile shrugged. "Being a priest of the god of magic and secrets has its perks, I guess."
Though they were all clearly on edge, Satara looked most disturbed. That made sense, given the last time she'd seen one of these things, Indriði had used it to obliterate Astrid. "Are you going to use it to trap our fylgjur, or some other part of our souls?"
"I'm not that well versed in time magic, so I'm not sure I could even find your fylgjur. I'll just see what I can trim off here and there, from various parts." He held the paragon up to the light. "I should be able to fit you all in just this one. I don't need to take that much."
Adam stared at him. "This whole operation is just jerry-rigged from start to finish, isn't it?"
"We're not supposed to be able to do this at all, so be grateful for what you have." The priest nodded around at the group. "Ready?"
There was a heavy silence for a moment. Finally, Marius broke it, shaking his head. "I'm ... sorry, but I can't. I can't do this."
Basile raised a brow.
"I can't allow you to take my soul," Marius continued more firmly, brow twitching. "And I shouldn’t allow you to take theirs, either, not after what we saw happen with Elle.”
The priest sighed. “I know I screwed up; you don’t have to keep reminding me. But this is different. Souls don’t wanna go back in their bodies, but they like keeper paragons.”
“How do we even know we can trust you?” The vivid jerked his head in Edie and Satara’s direction. “They’ve been tricked before.”
“Marius—”
Adam rubbed his brow, shaking again. “I’m still going, even if I have to go alone. I have to get Elle. It’s the only way.”
“Sometimes people die, Adam.” Marius fixed him with an intense stare. “It’s not worth getting yourself killed over, too.”
Satara sighed. “We can’t let him go alone. I trust the priest.”
Edie considered her for a moment before nodding in agreement.
Their answers didn’t seem to satisfy the vivid, who crossed his arms, pursing his lips grimly. “I'm sorry. Even if I was certain you were trustworthy, splitting my soul goes against my oaths. I’m no lich. There are limits to what I’ll do.”
Adam exhaled hard and looked to Edie pleadingly.
She shook her head. Marius had made up his mind, and he was certainly being less reckless than the rest of them—which was a first for him. He must be very wary of Basile. “Okay. I can’t make you help.”
“I said I won’t let him split my soul. I never said I wouldn’t help.” Marius glanced at the priest. “I will stay behind and make sure Father Bolet doesn’t … taste of your souls.”
That was a good idea, actually. But one less fighter on their team didn't bode well. Hopefully she was right and they wouldn't run into anything too horrible.
"Have it your way." Basile turned to the others. "What about the rest of you ungrateful chumps?"
One by one, sharing reluctant looks, those remaining accepted. What else could they do?
With a nod, the priest shouldered his messenger bag aside, holding the keeper paragon in both hands. He closed his eyes and began a ritual Edie and Satara were unfortunately familiar with. As he whispered, an eerie blueish light misted around each of them, slowly flowing from their veins out into the open. The paragon filled with the glow, casting strange shadows around the abandoned station, and a peculiar feeling shuddered through Edie—one she recognized.
It hadn't been that long since Indriði had convinced her that the only way she could unlock her powers was through empowering her fylgja, the guardian spirit connected to her soul. She'd gone so far as to let Indriði capture her fylgja briefly, and having it outside her body had felt much like this. She felt naked. Disturbed. Anxious, like something terrible was coming for her.
She noted, too, how much weaker she felt, like she’d had a bad night's sleep and little to eat. Across from her, Adam became even more wan before. She couldn't help but wonder if he'd even make it through this journey.
With the paragon now full and glowing like a tiny star, the priest wrapped it in a bit of cloth before depositing it gingerly in his bag. Then, he pulled something else out. He held it tightly in his hands, such that Edie couldn't quite see what it was.
"I have to stay on this side and keep the portal open, but since you'll have even less an idea of what you're doing than usual, I figured we needed something to communicate." He held the object up in one hand so they could see it clearly.
"Oh, good,” Adam croaked. “A pretty princess tiara.”
"It's a circlet, and if you don't stop dissing my magical artifacts, I'll make you wear it." Basile turned to Edie and placed it in her hand. "Put it on and I'll be able to see what you see, and talk to you."
With a little reluctance, Edie placed the circlet on her head. The silver was cold against her forehead. A moment later, a thin sheen of glittering magic surrounded her. It didn't seem to mute any of her senses, though, and within a few seconds, she barely even noticed it was there.
The priest assessed her before nodding in approval, then turned and said grimly, "Okay. It's time."
He felt the air again, and when he seemed satisfied, drew a small, curved knife from his bag, its blade etched with tiny runes. They glowed as he empowered them with his own magic, and Edie watched in fascination—and a little horror—as he grabbed ... reality.
She wasn't sure what to make of what she was seeing. He had grabbed within the air, something she couldn't see—and yet he'd caused a distortion around the area, incomprehensible to her brain.
"I'll have to reach through and trigger the proper response from the plane. Us being here isn't enough if we're not spirits." Under his breath, he added, "This whole damn operation is jerry-rigged, why not another thing?"
With one quick stroke, he sliced a hole through existence. It opened much like torn fabric would, and beyond, Edie could see what she thought was the starry midnight sky. But it shifted and morphed and changed, sometimes streaked with colors like an aurora borealis, sometimes dark like the night.
A terrible sound came from the fissure. Or, rather, a terrible lack of sound. The vastness of the silence pouring out reminded her of the vast silence of the Atlantic Ocean, when she had b
een trapped so deep under its waves ... no sound but the pressure of her own blood in her ears...
She shivered and hugged herself, watching uneasily as Basile reached into the void without a bit of hesitation. He groped around like he was trying to get at something that was just out of his reach.
After a few moments, his frustrated expression turned to one of relief, and he seemed to tug down on something before withdrawing his hand. "There we are."
Before Edie could ask what exactly he'd just done, a horrible wind filled the tunnel, coming from the same direction as the wind from before. For a second, her whole body seized, wondering if the afterthought had decided to come back for more. But no, she could hear other sounds besides the wind, now. Clattering. Squealing.
A train?
She looked toward the edge of the platform. They'd been slinking through the tunnels for a while now, and no trains had come this way, so she'd assumed the route had been diverted. "Where ... is that coming from?"
Her question was answered soon enough. A weak yellow light filled the tunnel, and when she peered down it, she could see two dingy headlamps approaching them. Debris seemed to be falling off the train even as it sped toward the station, its body slightly lopsided on the tracks and shuddering like it might fall apart.
When it finally pulled into the station and ground to a stop, Edie could hardly believe what she was looking at. The sight of it, the smell...
It was an old train, probably mid-century, but was barely recognizable as such. It was filthy, caked with dirt and smoky grime. Its rivets and siding wept rust, and it seemed to be decaying, the metal corroded to the point of having large holes eaten here and there. The stench was a mixture of rot and mildew, and Edie found herself wishing she'd brought a scarf or something to cover her face.
With a hiss, the discolored doors of the train parted.
Basile turned to them solemnly. "Choo choo. All aboard."
Chapter Nineteen
As Edie boarded the ghostly train, the hair on the back of her neck stood up, chills racing down her arms. The smell of the car was even fouler on the inside.
Unholy Spirit (The Necromancer's Daughter Book 3) Page 19