The Eighth Mage

by Tamara Geraeds

  She looks up again, and now her smile is genuine. “He did? That is lovely!”

  I pull the bars as hard as I can, but of course, they don’t move an inch. With a grunt of pain, I pull my hands back and blow on them to cool them down.

  Vicky gently pushes me aside. “Let me try.” She pulls up, left and right, but nothing happens.

  “What are you doing?” Mom asks, sounding a bit worried now.

  “Just a little remodeling, Mom. It’s a surprise for Trevor.”

  “How sweet of you!”

  Vicky gives up. She stands up and rubs her sore hands. “You should try a spell.”

  I’m about to agree when someone clears their throat behind us.

  We whirl around to face Trevor. He seems rather comfortable here, except for the sweat building up on his forehead. He’s wearing comfortable pants this time, with a striped shirt on top. His black leather shoes are clean despite the dust and sand blowing up around us.

  He folds his arms over his chest. “I’m impressed. I didn’t think you’d find her here.”

  I copy his stance. “I didn’t think you’d leave her here. I guess you don’t love her that much after all.”

  His lower lip trembles in fury. “I love her more than anyone ever will.”

  “Then why did you lock her up, and in Hell of all places?”

  The earth elemental takes a step closer and prods me in the chest with his finger. His face turns half rocky as he tries to keep his temper. “Because there’s no place as impenetrable as Hell.”

  Vicky snorts. “Impenetrable? Really? As you can see, there’s no such thing.”

  Trevor steps sideways to block the cage. “You will not take her from me. She’s happy here.”

  I conjure a lightning ball in my hand and hold it up. “I’ll tell you what, if you lift the spell on her and she still wants to stay here, with you, I’ll leave the both of you alone. If not…” I throw the ball into the air and catch it without taking my eyes off him.

  Trevor’s teeth crunch as he grinds them together in frustration. “She’s not ready to truly love me yet. I’m working on it.”

  I raise an eyebrow. “Oh, I can tell. Lovely setting you’ve created.”

  His left cheek turns to stone. I’m really pissing him off. Maybe that’s a bad idea, but I can’t stop.

  “She will never love you without a spell, Trevor. You know why?” I wait for any kind of response and get it in the form of a grunt. “Because you’re a creep. And the fact that your best friend wants to destroy the world has something to do with it too.”

  To my surprise, it’s Vicky who answers instead of Trevor. “No, there’s more to him than that.”

  I turn my head to find out if she’s kidding and find her looking Trevor in the eye. She must be reading his emotions and sensing something good inside him, even though her powers don’t work on him. After all, she’s a great non-magical empath too.

  Trevor’s rocky skin turns back to its soft human form, and my anger subsides a bit.

  I wipe more sweat from my forehead. “There’s something I need to tell you, Trevor. I had a premonition.”

  He looks at me expectantly. There’s no judgment in his expression. Patiently, he waits for me to continue.

  “I saw you, Mom and Lucifer, here in Hell. He told you to use Mom to get to me, and then he said…” I try to recall his exact words. “If you fail, you will suffer for eternity, and you will take your crush with you.”

  Trevor doesn’t respond, but I see a small shiver running through him.

  “Please let me take her home before it’s too late. If she wants to see you, I won’t stop her.”

  The earth elemental glances down through the bars and squeezes the bridge of his nose. “I can’t.”

  “You have to, because I’m not risking her falling into Satan’s hands. You promised to keep her safe, but you only made things worse. If you leave her here, she won’t survive.”

  I try to keep the rising panic from my voice, but part of it seeps through. It makes Trevor look up.

  When he doesn’t speak, Vicky does. “He’s telling the truth.”

  Trevor cracks his neck. “I believe you. And the way I see it, she is only in danger because you are still alive.”

  Before it sinks in what he means, he has changed into his full rock form. When he charges, I make a feeble attempt to hit him with my athame. But I’m too slow, and his transformed skin is too solid. The weapon bounces off as if it’s made of rubber. Trevor knocks me over and pulls his arm back to punch me in the face. Vicky slams into him, but he pushes her off easily.

  While he’s distracted, I raise my hand to the side of his head. A lightning bolt hits him, and he tumbles sideways. I imagine large hail drops raining down on him. They fall from the sky but melt on their way down because of the scorching heat. Which is also burning right through my clothes…

  With a burst of energy, combined with lightning from both hands, I push Trevor off of me. My hair and skin sizzle where it touched the ground.

  “Why are we fighting, Trevor?” I ask when he jumps back to his feet. “We both want to keep Mom safe.”

  He turns his head briefly to check where Vicky is, but she’s waiting for my cue.

  “You want to take her from me,” he fumes.

  “And you want to take her from me,” I counter.

  “I’ve been good to her!”

  My mouth falls open. “What? You put a spell on her!”

  “Only temporarily.” He shakes his head. “I can’t let her go. I need more time to make her see we belong together.”

  This chatting is obviously getting us nowhere, so I prepare to hit him with a wave of cold water. I could use a little cool liquid myself anyway.

  From the cage underground, Mom’s voice drifts up. “Trevor? Dante? I’m ready to go.”

  A wave forms behind the earth elemental. It’s about to slam into him when the ground trembles. I lose focus, and the wave falls down and changes into a sad, useless stream. Thundering footsteps draw near, and a worried frown forms between Trevor’s solid eyebrows.

  “The gate keepers,” he mumbles.

  The image of the warriors that pierced Mom’s body when she was in Hell before flashes before my eyes. I saw them in a premonition, but it feels like I met them in person. I peer around the rock while Vicky keeps an eye on Trevor.

  There they are. The two gate keepers of Hell. Giants with spikes all over their legs and horns on their heads. The sight of the staffs they carry makes me sick. I forgot how gruesome these were, covered in dried up blood and with a human spine wrapped around it. Flames reflect in their bright red chest plates as they stomp over to us.

  I know one thing for sure: I do not want to see them up close.

  I step back and take Vicky’s hand. “We need to go, now.”

  “What about your mother?”

  I grind my teeth as I glance at Trevor. “She’ll have to wait. And she’d better be alive and in one piece when I come back.”

  Strangely enough, Trevor looks just as scared as I feel. He tries to hide it by flexing his thick arms. “Don’t expect me to change my mind. Susan is still mine.”

  “She’ll never be yours,” I hiss, digging my fingers into my upper legs and almost forgetting about the approaching gate keepers.

  “She will,” he insists. “But I’ve got to go now. Lots of work to do to create the perfect world for my love.” And with that, he turns around and walks away fast.

  The trembling under our feet gets worse. We hide with our backs against the rock.

  “I’ll be back, Mom,” I whisper to the bars of her cage.

  “I know, Dante. I have always believed in you,” she says.

  My heart contracts at the thought of leaving her here, but I can’t imagine us taking on those gate keepers without help.

  When I feel the rock shudder against my back, I beckon Vicky and start to move. We make our way sl
owly to the other side of the rock. I peer around it and see the heavy feet disappearing. Quickly, I move along. I squeeze Vicky’s hand restlessly and barely dare to breathe. In the distance, I can see the portal. It’s only a small dark spot, and you would probably miss it if you didn’t know it was there.

  The trembling has stopped, and Mom’s voice calls out. “Oh hi! Have you seen Trevor? He was supposed to have a surprise for me.”

  I bite my lip and pray she won’t mention me.

  A low grunt answers her, followed by a short silence. I imagine the warriors scanning the surroundings and checking out the tracks on the ground. My blood freezes in my veins, even though heat still burns my skin. The constant wind has suddenly dropped, leaving our tracks in the dry ground uncovered. They will lead the gate keepers right to us!

  I’ve barely finished my thought when there’s a loud grunt from behind us.

  A deep voice bellows something incomprehensible. It probably means something like ‘intruders!’.

  In a reflex, I grab Vicky’s hand, spring to my feet and run as fast as I can.

  The ground starts to tremble as the gate keepers give chase. It moves so much that we almost lose our balance.

  “Can you create a wave to distract them?” Vicky asks.

  “I’ll try.”

  Without slowing down, I imagine a large wave rising up behind the red warriors and slamming down on them. In my head, they are lifted from their feet. I make another wave crash down on them from the other side.

  The ground stops moving, the sound of their heavy footsteps ceases.

  At that moment, Vicky comes to a sudden halt and turns around.

  I want to ask her what she’s doing, but then I see movement on the large rock we hid behind. One side rises slowly.

  The gate keepers are shaking the water from their heads and rising to their feet, so I create another wave to make sure they stay down.

  “Come on, let’s go,” I urge Vicky.

  But she’s staring at the rock as if she wants to burn a hole in it, gritting her teeth and balling her fists.

  “We can’t beat them,” I continue. “We should get back to the portal before they get up again.”

  One of the warriors plants his staff into the cracked surface and pulls himself up in a sudden burst of energy. Steam rises from his nostrils as he growls at me and spits out more words I can’t understand. Except for two that are pronounced clearly. “Chosen one.”

  Oh, great, they know who I am.

  I hit them with another wave, but I’ve lost the element of surprise, and the warrior stays upright without much effort. His colleague rises to his feet too. They both point their staff at me, and I remember how they made Mom levitate in my premonition, right before they cursed her with red ash.

  That same ash rises from the tips of their staffs and soars through the air, straight at me and Vicky.

  I reach for Vicky’s hand when the rock suddenly shoots into the sky. With a slight movement of her head, Vicky makes it fall down. It knocks the two warriors over as if they are bowling pins. The red ash evaporates, and Vicky’s body goes limp. I catch her, take one look at the hand searching for the spine-covered staff, and lift my girl from the ground. With her hanging motionless in my arms, I hurry back to the portal. My heart pounds wildly in my chest. Will I make it? I try to conjure another wave, or something else to slow our pursuers down, but it’s not easy to concentrate when Vicky is out cold and I’m the only one who can get us to safety. Staying upright is hard enough at this speed, and with the weight I’m carrying, and I need all of my self-restraint not to look back.

  As I get closer to the portal, it becomes clearer, and once I’m only a couple of steps away from it, I can make out Charon’s form. He’s waiting patiently on the other side.

  “Duck,” he says calmly, and when I do, red ash soars over my head.

  I expect the ferryman to block it or perform some kind of counterattack, but all he does is close the portal for a brief moment. The ash continues on its path and vanishes from sight as the portal reappears.

  Charon beckons me. “Come on, quickly.”

  Two steps and I’ve reached him. I stumble through the portal and collapse against the outer wall of the cave, almost dropping Vicky. I manage to lay her down gently before my legs give in altogether.

  The portal is already closed, and Charon nods at me contently. “You did well.”

  “Well?!” I take a couple of deep breaths. My lungs gratefully inhale the cold, damp air of this world. The burn marks on my skin from the hot ground in Hell tingle and pound.

  “Yes, I’m proud of you.”

  “You’re…? What… I… Mom…” I stumble over my words as I try to make sense of what he’s saying.

  Finally I gesture at Vicky’s still form at my feet. “You call this well?” I point at the spot where the portal was only seconds ago. “And I left Mom behind!”

  Charon nods patiently. “Yes, you had no other choice.”

  “You knew this was going to happen?” My voice rises in anger and disbelief. “Why did you send me there then?”

  His gaze flicks from Vicky to me. “This was a final test for the both of you. To see if you were able to make the right choice in difficult times. Also, you needed to hear what your mother had to say about you. Her faith in you is stronger than the spell she’s under.”

  I avert my eyes and bend over Vicky. “You knew we wouldn’t be able to save her, and you still sent us in there.” I caress Vicky’s cheek and whisper to her. “Wake up, babe. We’re safe.”

  “The toughest lessons are also the most valuable ones,” the ferryman says. “And I sent you in there for another reason.”

  “Which is what?” I ask with a sigh.

  “You needed to have that conversation with Trevor. He needed to know about your premonition. To make sure he’ll make the right decision later.”

  I bite my lip and banish the image of Mom down there in that cage from my mind. “I’d rather have taken care of Trevor and have Mom here with us now.” My voice trembles a bit, and suddenly I feel Charon’s hand on my shoulder.

  “Do not worry. Trevor is not ready to do the right thing yet, but he will be. Soon.”

  He squeezes my shoulder and waits for me to look up. “Trust me.”

  I nod. “I do.” Then I wipe Vicky’s hair from her forehead. “Will she be okay?”

  The ferryman straightens up. “Yes. She used too much of her new powers. All she needs is a little rest.” He lowers his voice. “And this is the perfect time to take care of that problem we talked about earlier.”

  I nod. “What about the circles of Hell? Does she know how to create them now?”

  “She will soon.”

  He turns away from us and moves his staff. I can’t see exactly what he’s doing, but a new portal opens in front of him. Through it, I can see my bedroom at Darkwood Manor.

  Charon slides aside and gestures at it. “I wish you luck in the final part of your battle, Dante. I will be watching you.”

  I feel the urge to shake his hand, to thank him, but that is such a human gesture, and it wouldn’t show enough respect. Instead, I bow.

  His hood hides most of his face, but I can see a glimpse of a smile on his skinless face before he bows back.

  “Thank you for everything,” I say. Then I bend over to take Vicky in my arms and carry her through the portal.

  I lay her down gently on the bed, and when I turn back, the portal is gone.

  I kiss Vicky on her temple, take off her shoes and cover her with the blanket.

  “I’ll be right back.”

  In the hallway, I softly call out to Mona. “Can you watch her for a minute, please? Call me immediately if she wakes up,” I say when she appears.

  She nods. “Sure.”

  When I’m halfway down the stairs, my friends are already waiting for me at the bottom.

  Jeep is the first one to speak. “Where’
s Vicky?” There’s worry in his voice.

  “I put her to bed. She used a bit too much of her new powers.” I give him a weak smile. “But she did save us by doing so. I’m not sure we could’ve escaped Hell otherwise.”

  Several mouths fall open.

  “You were in Hell?” Charlie asks.

  I walk past them and slide down into my chair at the head of the table, suddenly too tired to stand. Everyone takes their usual seats while I search for a place to start.

  One thing keeps rolling around in my head, and eventually I say it out loud. “I left Mom behind.”

  Then the tears start falling, and I don’t try to keep them inside any longer.

  CHAPTER 11

  I calm down soon and give my friends a quick recap of what happened. I deliver the news about Beelzebub’s influence in a whisper.

  Jeep nods solemnly. “I also noticed a change in her, but it came and went, so I figured she was tired, like we all are.”

  “That’s what I thought too.” I glance at Taylar, remembering the dark and light parts swirling inside him. Do we need to fear him too?

  “We should take care of this now, before she wakes up,” Jeep interrupts my thoughts.

  I take my notebook from behind my waistband and slam it onto the table. “I’ll write a spell.”

  Jeep stands up. “I’ll keep Mona company upstairs, if you don’t mind.”

  “Good idea.”

  He vanishes, and D’Maeo and Maël follow him.

  Kessley pushes her chair back abruptly. “Can I make a snack for anyone?”

  Of course, Charlie raises his hand first. “For me, please!”

  I stare at the blank page in front of me and beg my brain to come up with a spell soon.

  When it remains quiet, I look up. “Some coffee would be nice.”

  “Coming up!”

  Dylan leans over the table toward me. “You know, I could help.”

  I drop my pen and smile at him. “I forgot! You can lift curses!”

  His lips move up, but only a little. “I can, but a back-up spell would be nice. We’re talking about Beelzebub here, and I’m still out of practice.”