Acca

by Christina Bauer

  No matter how I look at this situation, there’s only one way I make it out of here, and that’s if my igni free everyone before Armageddon kills me. Trouble is, last time it took them a while to free Lincoln and me. Is it too much to hope they’ve gotten better at it by now and can release everyone more quickly? Knowing my luck, it probably is.

  Tapping sounds on my cage. I peep through my fingers to see Armageddon’s face peering at me through the metal bars. He’s only a few feet away. “Nice to see you again.” He holds up his arm; a long spear of red fire appears in his hand. “Looks like you want to play hide and seek. Let’s see if my weapon can find you.”

  Everything in me wants to go into a battle stance, but I can’t even get myself up to a full sitting position. Instead, I curl into a smaller ball; it’s really the best I can do at this point. Armageddon arches his arm back and the thought occurs to me that I’m about to be skewered by Kill of Hell on my wedding day. In my wedding gown. Not the way I wanted to die.

  All of a sudden, a blur in golden armor slams into the King of Hell. Huzzah! Armageddon is thrown back, along with his demon horde. My body lightens with a jolt of happy.

  Dad’s awake. Nice.

  After that, everyone starts moving and fighting. A flurry of angels dive in from the sky to attack the demons. Thrax race across the floor, their swords and baculum ready for battle. Quasis get into the fight, too. Some of them wield folding chairs from the Chapel floor. Others grab the standing candelabras and pennant poles. My people look like a frightened mob of villagers about to take down Frankenstein’s castle. They’re pretty awesome, actually.

  The scrape of metal sounds above my head. Someone’s breaking into my cage. This is it. Turns out, I can’t stomach the thought of staying curled in a corner for one more second. If this is the end, I’ll meet it head on. I twist my body so I’m in a semi crouch, my tail arched over my shoulder.

  There, that’s better.

  The top of my prison gets peeled back as if it were nothing more than a sheet of paper. I blink my eyes rapidly, not believing what I’m seeing. Lincoln stands beside the Earl of Striga. Yes. One of Lucas’s magic hula hoops holds of top my cage in the air. I exhale a relieved breath. “It’s you.”

  “Myla!” Lincoln reaches forward and pulls me into his arms. “I thought Armageddon had gotten you with his spear.”

  “He didn’t.”

  Lincoln presses a pair of baculum into my hands. “You’ll need more than your tail for this fight.” A gleam shines in his eyes.

  We’re going to battle demons again. Together.

  I scan the Chapel. Dad and his angel buddies are taking it to Armageddon and his horde. Walker’s a marvel of speed as he slices the wings off a devil bat. Octavia and Connor have ignited their baculum to take down a pair of crini demons. Mom’s using her tail to cut through a knot of demonic serpents. Even Cissy’s using a candelabra to fight alongside Zeke as they turn an enchanted corpse into mush.

  All in all, it’s a really touching scene. My entire extended family is here, killing demons and protecting the after-realms. Even better, the quasis and thrax are fighting side by side. I sniffle. This is one helluva battle. Too bad I have to miss it.

  “Much as I’d love to fight with you, I need to work with my igni.”

  “You can summon more of them?”

  “Not more, necessarily. I’m pretty sure all the igni in the after-realms are already here. I need them to take a new shape, though. Lucifer’s coin set Armageddon free, but now that the King of Hell is here in Antrum? He and his buddies are fair game again for my powers.”

  A slow smile rounds Lincoln’s mouth. “You’ll send them back to Hell. Perfect.”

  “Yup. I need the igni to create a ton of soul columns.” That’s the form my little ones take when moving souls around. “I’ll send Armageddon and his buddies right back where they came from.”

  “What about Lady Daria?”

  “Good question.” I scan the scene, looking for the Lady Daria. She’s easy to spot, considering she’s still in a prison box with Aldred on the stage. Trouble is, their cage is surrounded by a huge group of manus demons. Not good. Manus are gorilla-like creatures with long fangs and a taste for blood. There can only be one reason why they’re on guard duty. Armageddon has decided to keep his word for once. He’s got the manus to make sure that the Earl of Acca stays safe. And Lady Daria is along for the ride.

  I could try to move her anyway, but Lady Daria’s a greater demon. That would take a lot of supernatural juice. There’s no way I can send Armageddon back as well as his demon horde along with a second Greater Demon. Unlike Aldred, I know my limits.

  I focus on Lincoln. “Lady Daria is protected from the fighting. I don’t see anyone battling their way to her any time soon. And I won’t have enough power to send her to Hell at the same time as Armageddon and his cronies.” A shiver moves up my spine. “Even if I do dismiss the King of Hell and his army, Lady Daria us staying right here. It will take time for all my igni to move so many bodies around. There won’t be any left to protect our wedding guests.”

  “Meaning?”

  “Once I start reforming the igni into soul columns, she’ll just freeze everyone again.”

  Lincoln frowns. “How about asking the igni to protect only you, me, and a few top warriors? Maybe your father and Lucas.”

  “I’ll try.” Unfortunately, the words come out as more of a question. “Even in the best of situations, my igni are tough to control. In fact, I’m amazed they’ve done this much. They really like making soul columns and not much else.”

  Lincoln fixes me with a serious look. All the love and trust in the after-realms shines in his mismatched eyes. “You focus on moving your igni. I’ll guard you. Everything else will be fine.”

  “But Lady Daria—”

  “I’m not concerned about her. Your safety is far more important at the moment. Once you start summoning and commanding igni, you lose touch with your surroundings.” He ignites his baculum as a long sword. “I’ll be here through everything. And afterward, we’ll figure something out. We always do.”

  I nibble on my thumbnail. “I don’t know.”

  “Just focus on those igni.” Lincoln gets into battle stance. The light from his baculum sword casts flickering shadows on his handsome face. “I know you can do this.” The strong tones of his voice reverberate through me.

  I straighten my shoulders. “You’re right.”

  Lincoln winks. “That’s my Myla.”

  The roar of battle surrounds me. I can’t let it derail my focus, though. Closing my eyes, I call out to my igni once more, making sure to speak in a full voice so Lincoln knows my plans. “Little ones, I need you to send Armageddon and his demons to Hell. You must form soul columns around the demons. Here’s the tricky part. At the same time, I need you to keep the protection and tethers in place between Lincoln, me, my father and Lucas.”

  The igni instantly shift to form swirling pillars of light around Armageddon and every one of his demons. Pillars of brightness dot the massive Chapel floor. The fighting ends, which is good. All the wedding guests freeze in place. That part isn’t as good. At least, the igni did heed my bidding about the tether stuff. A thin shield of igni remains around Lincoln, me, my father and Lucas.

  So far, so good.

  I lift my arms. “Move them!”

  The soul columns grow brighter as they drag the demons back toward the gurgling pit. The igni’s song rockets through my mind at an ear-splitting volume. One by one, the bright soul columns reach the pit. Flares of pure white brightness erupt as each demon disappears. The soul columns won’t let them go until they’re back in Hell.

  While the other demons are moving along nicely, things with Armageddon’s soul column aren’t going so well. As the massive pillar of igni surrounds him, the King of Hell snaps his fingers, summoning his own hell fire to slow the igni down. Crimson light mixes with the pure white brightness of the igni. Their small bodies, once swimmin
g quickly in the column shape, become sluggish and dim. While the other demons still get moved to the pit with ease, Armageddon doesn’t budge.

  As each demon moves, more power rushes through my nervous system. My mind fogs over with energy. My bones feel like they’re twisting inside me. I grit my teeth and stay the course. There simply is no other choice.

  Dad marches up to Armageddon. My father can change into his armor with merely a thought. Right now, he’s wearing his formal golden stuff, and it gleams in the igni’s brightness. He pauses before Armageddon’s soul column. “My daughter said it’s time to leave.” My father raises his arm, palm forward, and begins one of his own spells. The white flames of angelfire pour from his hand and into the soul column that surrounds Armageddon. The red hell fire begins to fade. Armageddon’s soul column slowly moves across the floor. It’s not fast enough, though.

  My limbs tremble with the power rushing through them. Even when I move billions of souls at once, I don’t process this much energy. My soul columns send the last of the demons back into the pit. However, that leaves the worst one still around.

  Armageddon.

  Through my mental fog, I hear Lincoln calling to Lucas. “Get over here! Help Xavier!”

  The Earl of Striga rushes out from the crowd, his long purple robes billowing behind him. Not sure what he was doing before, but if I know Lucas, he was most likely healing those hurt in battle.

  Now Lucas stops to stand beside my father. The senior wizard then summons shifting hoops of power that loop around the King of Hell. The soul column around Armageddon grows a little stronger. He moves a little faster. It’s not enough, though. At this rate, it will still take hours to get Armageddon into that pit, and I don’t have that kind of time. As more energy flows through me, my mind becomes little more than a haze of igni voices. Power tears through every cell in my body. My legs turn watery beneath me.

  This isn’t working. I can’t move Armageddon.

  “Myla,” Lincoln’s calm voice breaks through my cluttered thoughts. “Put every igni you have left to Armageddon’s soul column.”

  I try to focus on him. Unfortunately, the igni seem to coat my vision as well as my body. He’s a hazy form and a loving voice, nothing more.

  “I can’t risk it. Lady Daria—”

  “You can’t hold out much longer and you know it. Ask your igni to protect you and only you. The rest of us will be fine. You need every bit of power to get rid of Armageddon.”

  I nod, sadly. I hate to admit this, but Lincoln’s right. Pulling in a ragged breath, I command to my igni. “Listen, my little ones. You must send Armageddon back to Hell. If that means you stop protecting Lincoln, Lucas, my father, or even me, that’s what you have to do. Do you understand?”

  In reply, lightning bolts pour down from the ceiling of the Chapel, encasing Armageddon in a fiery ring. Fresh power zooms through me. Even when I first took Scala energy into my soul, I never felt such a rush. With all my will, I send every ounce of that power at Armageddon and the pit to Hell. Long lightning bolts wind across my arms. My teeth vibrate in my skull as I call to my igni one more time: “Get that bastard out of here!”

  A blinding flash of light fills the Chapel. At last, the soul column around Armageddon breaks free from its sluggish pace and whirls toward the opened pit. With one final burst of red brightness, Armageddon descends into the bubbling muck. Although he’s surrounded by igni, I can still see him howling with rage.

  Good.

  “That’s it.” My voice comes out as a harsh croak. “We’re done.”

  The next thing I know, I’m enveloped in Lincoln’s arms. A thin coating of igni swirls around us both. I’m exhausted, but I can still breathe, move, and look around. And from what I can see? Everything else is in bad shape.

  The Chapel is quiet once more. The battle is over. Armageddon and all his demons are gone. Unfortunately, Lady Daria remains and she hasn’t wasted any time. All my wedding guests are frozen in place again, except for Lincoln and me. Even my father and Lucas—who were protected before—are now frozen solid by Lady Daria’s spell. And honestly? If Lincoln hadn’t pulled me against him so quickly, I think the igni would have skipped him too.

  As I watch in horror, Lady Daria becomes encased in red light once more. She’s changing shape. This time, she transforms into a gooey and red version of herself. The sight reminds me of a Lady Daria-shaped gummy bear. It’s enough to make me sick to my stomach, but I can’t deny that it’s clever. With her new gooey body, Lady Daria simply oozes her way out of the cage, leaving Aldred behind.

  Lady Daria’s taken the shape of a trafero demon. These are in the same demonic class as the limus, who are big gooey monsters, too. Only trafero are far more dangerous. While a limus needs to consume you whole in order to kill you, a trafero has a lot more options when it comes to fighting, mostly because their gooey skin is covered in acid. And while the igni can protect us from Lady Daria’s freezing spell, I’m not sure what they can do when it comes to acidic stuff.

  I worry my lower lip with my teeth. Actually, I’m pretty sure we’re in deep trouble.

  Lincoln and I still stand just by the foot of the stage, in the same cleared out area where we’d only recently been caged by Armageddon. I give another order to my igni. “Keep us protected and tethered, little ones.”

  Their voices giggle and growl in reply. Still, they maintain the shield that sits right above our skin. A short tether appears on the floor beside us. That’s a good start. Unfortunately, there aren’t a lot of igni to go around yet, so the shield and tether look pretty thin. Even so, that should change with time. It depends how long it takes my little ones to move all the demons to Hell. As more igni become available, they’ll heed my last message and come back to help.

  Lincoln and I move apart and get into a battle stance. My guy ignites his baculum into a long sword while my tail arches over my shoulder.

  We’re ready for anything.

  While still in her gummy form, the Lady Daria glares at Lincoln and me. “That was my chance to impress Armageddon. My opportunity to regain his favor. And you ruined it.”

  I roll my eyes. “I didn’t see you changing into gooey-girl during the battle. You easily could’ve slipped out and gotten some brownie points in. I’d say you ruined your own chances.”

  Lady Daria whips out her arms. And when I say whips out, I mean that her gooey and semi-transparent limbs actually stretch off the stage. One hand reaches for Lincoln; the other goes toward me. The slimy appendage reaches right for my face.

  “Move, boy!” My tail heeds the call, arching before me in a pinwheel motion. With a slurping noise, it takes off Lady Daria’s gooey hand at the wrist. Beside me, Lincoln makes the same movement with his long sword, cutting off Lady Daria’s other hand.

  Lady Daria howls in pain. “How dare you?”

  “How dare we what?” I ask. “Defend ourselves?” Meanwhile, her hands start oozing their way back to Lady Daria. She’ll be whole again in a matter of seconds. What a crybaby.

  Another flare of red light encompasses Lady Daria as she changes shape once more. This time, she becomes a giant wasp demon, what’s called an ictus. Only in this case, her wasp shape has a hunch of exoskeleton on one side. It’s totally weird. The extra weight on her shoulders will make it harder for Lady Daria to fly. You’d think she’d choose a more sleek form. Not that I’m complaining.

  Wasp-Daria flutters her massive wings and lifts off the stage. She holds her bulbous head high as her long body droops beneath her, ending in a massive stinger that drips with green poison. I grin.

  Bring it on.

  Wasp-Daria swoops at Lincoln first. My guy turns his baculum into a javelin made of white flame, which he chucks at Wasp-Daria’s belly. It slams into her exoskeleton and leaves a burn mark but nothing more serious than that.

  Fine. All the more for me to kill.

  After that, Wasp-Daria rounds on me. Her insect head holds bulbous eyes and a slit for a mouth, the latter o
f which winds into an evil smile. She’s so pumped about her bad self. Whatever.

  Once Wasp-Daria is close, I jump up, wrap my tail around her skinny neck and hoist myself onto her back. After I have a good seat, I get to work. In this case, that work means trying to tear her wings off.

  Wasp-Daria goes berserk. She takes me on a high-speed flight around my own wedding chapel. Wind whips through my hair and my veil gets torn off. A few angels were still in the air when Lady Daria magically re-froze everyone, so they’re still magically hovering around now. In an act of supreme nastiness, Wasp-Daria makes a point to slam into them whenever possible. They aren’t hurt necessarily, but still. That’s just mean, so I pull on her wings even harder. Damned things don’t so much as crack.

  There’s a bright spot to my little ride of terror. No matter where Lady Daria flies, my igni do a bang-up job of keeping the tether going between Lincoln and me. The dim line of power between us stretches thin as the strand of a spider web. It doesn’t break, however. Go igni.

  Meanwhile, Lincoln’s turned his baculum into a fiery bow. He shoots off flaming arrows at Wasp-Daria. Sadly, every hit bounces off her exoskeleton. And all my work at tearing off her wings is coming to nothing.

  This chick is tough.

  Wasp-Daria tries a new tactic and flies right toward the ceiling. As plans go, this one doesn’t suck. She has an exoskeleton after all. At the same time, I’m pretty squishy, except for my tail. Call me crazy, but I do not want to end up crushed to death on the ceiling of my own wedding chapel.

  That’s not even the worst part. From a distance, the stone ceiling of the Chapel looks pretty smooth and white. Yet as I get closer, I notice that it’s actually lined with blade-sharp stalactites, which means I’ll not only get crushed there, I’ll also be skewered. Not okay.