With the cross stretched out in front of me, I lean closer to Vicky. “It’s not working anymore. Save your strength for the fight.”
She drops it, panting heavily and leaning on me for support.
The nuns break free of their invisible prison and lunge as one. Maël’s muttering grows louder, and their movement stutters and stops completely. But not before six of them spit a mouthful of muck at us. It’s too late to duck, and my mind whirs as I try to come up with a way to evade the blobs of acid soaring straight at me.
At the last moment, D’Maeo moves in front of me and stretches his arms out in front of him. The poison comes to a halt mid-air, stopped by his power of deflection, hovers there for a second and falls down. It leaves holes in the floor, and the old ghost sprays some blood over them.
I breathe out slowly. “Thanks.”
When I check on the others, they all seem fine. Jeep has pulled Vicky to him, and I can tell by her small smile that she is recovering.
My gaze rests on Maël a little longer.
“I think she can hold them long enough for us to finish the exorcism,” D’Maeo says.
A small nod from the ghost queen confirms this.
When I step up to the sisters again, their faces are twisted in anger. Their skin is cracking, and an oozing black is starting to seep through. One of them was frozen just as she released some acid from her mouth. I need a couple of breaths to steady my emotions. Hate pulses through me, which makes it difficult to focus. And also difficult to see the real women trapped inside the minds that the demons have taken over. I need to remember that these nuns are not evil. They are victims that need to be saved.
I study the faces one by one until I find the nun I haven’t spoken to yet.
I make the sign of a cross on myself before walking over to her. Her eyes follow my every move, but Maël’s powers make it impossible for her to even lift a finger. Which makes me wonder about something.
My hand freezes halfway to her forehead, and I turn my head. “We forgot something important.”
“Like what?” Vicky asks, looking energetic again.
“We can’t hurt someone who’s frozen in time.”
Taylar lowers the spray bottle he was holding at the ready. “You’re right.”
D’Maeo rubs his beard with his free hand. “I hadn’t thought of that.”
“What do we do now?” Jeep asks.
I sigh. “There’s no time for a spell, so I guess I’ll have to continue this while we fight them.” I hold out the cross and my hand, ready to touch the nun’s forehead. “Maël, release them on one. Three… two…”
“Wait!” Gisella’s voice rings out so loud I nearly drop the cross.
She hurries over to Maël. “Keep them frozen until I’m ready.”
The stone at the tip of Maël’s staff glows brighter, and with a satisfied nod, Gisella turns her attention to the nuns. She calls the shadows from the corners and steers them toward the sisters, who are almost steaming with anger now. I imagine the demons inside them didn’t count on us being able to immobilize them.
More and more shadows untangle themselves from the ceiling, walls and floor, and several even slide around the corner and from under the doors to the adjoining rooms. They wrap themselves around the frozen women, pressing their black robes tightly around their bodies, which makes them look more like a weird rock band than the residents of a monastery.
“Okay, I’ve got them,” Gisella says, her jaw clenched with the effort of keeping the shadows under control.
Maël stops her mumbling and lowers her staff. Immediately, the nuns start to curse and wriggle, trying to free themselves. But the shadows are strong, and even when one of the sisters starts to turn as fast as a tornado, she’s not able to get rid of the shadow holding her in place.
D’Maeo, Taylar and I raise our make-shift weapons at the same time. I press the cross against the nun’s forehead. “I compel you to leave this body and this world.”
She shows me her teeth but flinches when the angel blood hits her.
I walk backwards until I can face the whole group. “I command all of you demons to leave these innocent bodies and return to where you came from. I order you never to set foot in this world again.” I hold out the cross and move it from left to right slowly. “By the power vested in me by the angels in Heaven and our father watching over us, I command you to leave.” With every word, my voice grows louder, and the nuns start to shake uncontrollably. D’Maeo and Taylar spray so much blood over them that my whole vision grows red. Rage shoots up from my toes when parts of the women underneath the demonic masks become visible. I can see the fear behind their eyes and the pain as their fingers cramp into claws. They bend at impossible angles, their angry curses cut off by shrieks of despair.
“Leave this world!” I shout, stepping closer to the sisters in front and touching them again with the cross. “You are not welcome here! Your time on Earth is up!”
A horrendous coughing rises from their throats, and they all throw their heads back. They convulse so violently that I fear their necks will break, but then, nine slivers of dark ash slither from their mouths, up to the ceiling and straight through it. The nuns stop moving. They hang limply in the shadows until Gisella lets them down gently.
With the cross still in my hand, I kneel next to the nearest sister. I touch her forehead with the wood, and when there’s no response, I feel for a pulse. “She’s okay,” I tell the others.
I quickly check them all, and Gisella frees them of the shadows. Kessley multiplies herself and rushes into the kitchen to grab a glass of water for each of the nuns. One by one, they wake up. My Shield does a great job calming them down and explaining what happened.
I help the ‘head nun’ to her feet and grab her arm to make sure she doesn’t fall over again.
“Thank you so much,” she says breathlessly. “We fought with everything we had, but they were too strong. I don’t know what we would’ve done without you.”
“I do,” one of the other sisters says, wiping the dust from her robe. “We would’ve killed Sister Carol and cloaked the whole town in darkness.”
The other women cover their mouths in horror. Tears burn in their eyes, and they put their arms around each other in search of comfort.
“Wait…” The nun that’s leaning on me shoots upright, her head swiveling from left to right in search of something. “Where is Sister Carol? Did they take her?” Her voice rises in panic, and I quickly grab her arm again.
“Don’t worry about her. Our friends took her to a safe place.”
She presses her hand against her heart. “Thank the Lord. We’re finally safe again. For a moment there, I thought we were all lost.”
The Kessleys collect all the empty glasses, and only one of her returns. Some of the sisters raise an eyebrow at her, but no one comments. I can’t blame them for being a little suspicious of magic. After all, their first encounter with it wasn’t very colorful.
I put the wooden cross on the floor and carefully let go of the nun. “I’m sorry, but we should go. We have a lot to do. Now that the demons have returned to their circle of Hell, we can send Sister Carol back to you.”
The nuns bow as one and thank us over and over.
“Those demons wanted to use us to get into Heaven,” the head nun says, her voice so much softer than the one she used before. “So it is not just us you saved.”
I swallow a curse. “I knew they were up to something. But… are you sure?”
She taps the side of her head. “Absolutely. I could hear that beast’s thoughts inside my head while my mind was trapped.” Her eyes go wide, and she clasps my hand in hers. “Which reminds me. I searched for useful information in its mind and found something interesting.” She turns and pulls me along as she makes her way down the hallway. “Come, I’ll show you.”
She’s in so much of a hurry that I don’t have time to tell the others to follow, but their
footsteps tell me they are right behind us.
After several turns and a stairway, we reach the hallway where we fought the demons and sisters, close to the front doors. The nun lets go and points to the ceiling.
Only now do I remember the weird hole we saw before, the one we wanted to check out, because we felt something wrong with it.
“There’s a secret space there,” the woman says. “And in that space, there is something, or rather someone, that I think you would love to see.”
My throat goes dry, and I lick my lips. “What do you mean?”
She smiles. “Your mother, son. They locked your mother up there.”
CHAPTER 21
My heart starts to beat twice as fast, and sweat prickles on my neck. I listen for any sound coming from the ceiling, but everything is quiet. “Mom? Can you hear me? Are you in there?”
“She can’t hear you, dear,” the nun says. “She’s locked inside a vacuum.”
I jump to reach the ceiling, but it’s too high, so I search for something to stand on. “We need to free her.”
“Of course,” the sister says calmly. “I will fetch you a chair.”
While I continue my efforts to touch the hole in the ceiling, and occasionally call out to Mom, in case she can hear me, Vicky joins me and tries to comfort me.
I ignore her, because the last couple of times I saw Mom, she was far from fine, no matter how hard my Shield tries to convince me that she was.
“She’s strong, Dante,” Vicky says.
I shake my head and pause my jumping for a second. “That doesn’t matter, Vick!” My voice is shrill. “Yes, she’ll survive. But in what state? She’s marked for life! She might not be happy ever again after all she’s been through, because how could anyone ever get over that?” I shake off her hand when she tries to grab it. “She was tortured in Hell, forced to fall in love with one of Satan’s helpers, dragged into Purgatory only to fall into a pit that led back to Hell. Locked up time and again…” I gasp for breath. Summing it up only makes me feel worse.
Vicky reaches out for me again, and I push her hand away, but this time, she doesn’t take no for an answer. She shoves my hands out of the way and pulls me into a tight hug.
Tears sting behind my eyes, but I’m too angry to cry.
“I know she’s been through a lot,” Vicky whispers. “And she probably won’t be the same ever again. But neither will you. You’ve both seen enough for ten lifetimes, but that is the way it is. My point was, she’ll get through it. She’ll have good moments again, just like you. She’s got an amazing son and a wonderful best friend to lean on and think of how strong she must be to have survived everything you mentioned.” She wipes away the tear that has disobediently fallen down my cheek and kisses the wet spot. “Have faith. She’ll be okay.”
I kiss her on the lips and try to smile, but the corners of my mouth refuse to obey me. Anger still pumps through my blood.
“Thanks,” I manage.
The nun returns with a chair, which she places under the hole.
“Thank you, sister…”
“Mary,” she says with a small bow.
“Dante.” I give her a bow back, climb onto the chair, and reach for the hole. A groan escapes my throat when my hands touch nothing but air.
Two Kessleys hurry over, carrying a small ladder. “Take this.”
I blow her a kiss and wait for her to set it down. Then I push the chair aside and climb the ladder. Vicky holds it in place.
Now I can reach the ceiling, and without hesitation, I shove my hands inside the hole. Immediately, a sharp pain shoots from my fingers all the way down my spine and into my heels. My whole body shuts down and falls backwards like a cut down tree.
I expect to hit the floor hard, but someone catches me and puts me down gently. Red spots dance in my vision, and my head shakes without my permission. It hits the floor painfully over and over until Vicky kneels down and places her hands underneath. “Babe? Can you hear me?”
I blink rapidly, because my eyelids are the only muscles I’m able to move.
“Are you okay?” Vicky asks.
I blink a bit slower, hoping she’ll understand that the pain has subsided, but that I can’t move.
“I’m sure it will pass soon,” she says, and she clasps my hand in hers. It feels weirdly warm and solid.
She knows what I’m trying to tell her. Of course she does, she can read my emotions.
My skin starts to tingle, and limb by limb, sensation seeps back into my body. I sit up slowly, supported by Vicky, and crack my neck. “Ouch.”
I look up at the hole, and Vicky follows my gaze. “It must be protected.”
“No shit,” I answer.
Taylar climbs the ladder, holds up his spray bottle and releases a shower of angel blood.
I scoot out of the way of the falling drops as fast as I can. My muscles protest, and I clench my teeth against the pain.
Vicky throws me a concerned look. “Does it still hurt?”
Gisella squats down on my other side. “Let me see if I can help.”
She wraps her hands around my right leg, and I can feel her power trickling into me. It’s not like the other times she healed me. No sensation of tiny ants biting me. Instead, it’s as if my skin bursts into flames. I yell in pain and fear and double over, but the feeling dies before I can push her away.
Panting heavily, I sit up straight and carefully flex my legs and arms. “Wow.”
“Did it work?” Gisella throws me an almost shy smile. A sliver of black slithers from her pupil to the back of her eye.
I swallow. “Yes, it did.” I frown at her. “It was different though.”
She wipes her hands on her hips and stands up. “Yes, the powers inside me are blending together. I wasn’t sure that would be a good thing, but…” she gestures at my leg, “I guess it was.”
Taylar turns around and sprays blood all over the werecat-witch.
“Hey!” she yells, jumping out of the way. “What the heck, man?”
Taylar raises his hands defensively. “Sorry, just wanted to make sure the evil hadn’t taken over.”
Gisella shakes the red liquid from her hands. Lines of blood make their way down her face, like an imitation of Carrie. “Thanks a lot.”
Sister Mary clears her throat. “You can’t blame the boy. It was smart of him to check, since you used evil powers to help Dante.”
Gisella licks the blood from her lips. “You’re right. And…” she looks down and studies her body, “… I’m actually grateful for his decision.” She taps her chest where her heart lies. “I can feel the darkness retreating.”
I push myself to my feet. “Was it taking over?”
She tilts her head and strokes her chest, lost in thought.
“No, not yet,” she says eventually. “But I probably shouldn’t do that again.”
I stand up and test my leg. No pain. “I agree, but…” I point at the hole in the ceiling, “maybe the shadows will be able to break through the protection? Are you ready to try, or do you need a moment to recover?”
Gisella cracks her knuckles. “Nope, I’m fine.” She pushes the ladder out of the way and gestures for us to step back. “Give me some room.”
She closes her eyes and raises her head. The shadows untie themselves from the walls and corners and eagerly join her under the hole. As soon as she points up, the shadows shoot past her and into the ceiling. A loud banging reverberates through the hallway as they hit the barrier between us and Mom. Then, a hissing sound drowns out the banging, and smoke twirls down in thick columns.
Vicky and I back up at the same time, and we both reach for our weapons.
Taylar jumps forward and raises his shield to protect Gisella. D’Maeo joins them and holds up his hands in an attempt to stop the smoke with his deflecting powers. But it keeps pouring down, and when it comes closer, I realize it’s not smoke at all. It’s a line of tiny beige creat
ures, like lice or bed bugs. I can’t make out their wings, but they must have them. And now that they’re close, I can hear the soft buzzing rising from them. Not like the buzzing of bees; there’s another sound underneath it which reminds me of my Dad’s old computer; the sound that it made when he connected it with the internet, as if the machine was choking. Crackling, that’s the word. Only… angrier. More threatening.
On impulse, I lash out to the stream of bugs with my athame and hit them with a ball of lightning at the same time. The crackling and buzzing get louder, and the whole stream of creatures goes berserk. They form into a giant ball of wriggling fury that attacks so fast I don’t have time to duck. I do stumble sideways, but the killer ball is agile. It follows my every move as if it’s my mirror image. When I raise my hand to conjure more lightning, the ball shoots forward and knocks me over. Before anyone can intervene, the whole army of cracklers slides into my mouth and down my throat. I gurgle and thrash, falling onto my knees and bending over in pain as the creatures make their way into my organs.
My mind is screaming at me. It was a trap! How could we fall for this? They put Mom in there to lure me. They knew I would come to save the nun, and they knew I would find Mom hidden in the ceiling.
My breathing is ragged, and I hear several voices yelling, but I can’t make out who they belong to. Everything around me is a blur; it’s as if the world is fading, and all that’s left is the pain of the wriggling inside me, and the buzzing and crackling that spreads through my body like wildfire. When I feel them making their way to my arms and legs, I scream. That’s when several shadows dive down my throat. My scream turns into more gurgling, and someone presses me flat onto the floor.
“Hold him steady!” someone yells. The sound is muffled, so I can’t make out who says it.
I don’t care either. All I want is for this agony to come to an end.
The shadows are fighting with the cracklers. I can feel bumping against my intestines. My skin is being stretched as the bugs try to escape the shadows. The buzzing changes into shrieks of fear while the crackling gets more vicious.
The Eighth Mage Page 15