Cards of Death Box Set

by Tamara Geraeds

  Then I’m hit in the back and I tumble forward. A scorching pain goes through me, immobilizing every muscle in my body. My breath catches in my throat when I see the gaping hole in my chest. With all my might, I move my hands to the wound. A stream of blood gushes between my fingers.

  The monster looms over me, cocking its head as if trying to decide whether I’m beaten. I guess it figures I need another gap for good measure. The tail lashes out and pierces my abdomen. I yell out in agony. My body trembles with the effort to breathe. Thick fluid is pumped out of me and paints my bedroom floor red.

  I turn my head to search for a weapon. Everything around me is spinning and black spots obstruct my vision.

  The demon slides closer to my head. Its mouth is no more than a thin line, but it looks like it’s grinning. It knows as well as me that I’m defeated. Even if I could find something to hit it with, I wouldn’t have the strength to do so.

  It raises its tail. My heart beats faster, spurting even more blood onto the floor. I press the wounds to try and stop it, but they are too big. Maybe I should just give in. Accept my fate and try to join the Shield; serve a new master. Fight from the grave.

  I grit my teeth and wait for the demon to make its move. But instead of handing out the final blow, it whips its dark head around, staring at the door.

  Footsteps are moving closer. I open my mouth to scream ‘NOOO!’, but all that comes out is gurgling.

  “Mom,” I yell. The word is no more than a wheeze.

  I cough up blood and try again, but the door is already opening. The demon’s tail whips through the air, ready to strike.

  Tears blend with the red spilling out of me. The last thing I hear is Mom’s outcry of fear.

  I jerk upright, panting. My gaze darts through the room. When I realize there’s nothing here, I turn to the window. All I see is a light patch of sky.

  I throw off the sheets and look down. There’s no blood, but I feel a strong urge to check my body anyway. My chest and stomach are fine. No holes, not even a scratch.

  My breathing slowly steadies and I wipe the sweat from my forehead.

  Then I hear something strange. Splashing. I lean over the edge of the bed. A shallow lake has formed. It covers the whole floor, and flows steadily into the hallway. A trickling sound comes from the adjacent bathroom. I stare at the door. Did I get up in my sleep and turn on the tap?

  It isn’t until Dad’s notebook bobs by that I awake from my daze and jump out of bed. I pick up the book and throw it onto my bed. Then I hurry towards the bathroom. My feet are soaked. When I push the bathroom door open, the hairdryer whirs to life. My brain only has time to register it falling down. Five seconds more and I could have caught it. Next thing I know all my muscles go rigid and I fall face forward into the water. A burning smell hits my nostrils and I think of bacon for breakfast before everything goes black.

  I jerk upright, panting. My gaze darts through the room. When I realize there’s nothing here, I turn to the window. All I see is a light patch of sky.

  I catch myself before checking my chest and stomach. Is this another dream?

  I grab my arm and squeeze. “Ouch!”

  No dream this time. Then why is my room flooded? Dad’s notebook drifts by and I pick it up. Thankfully only the cover is wet. I listen to the trickling of water coming from the bathroom for a few seconds. Slowly the nightmare comes back to me. I remember the whirring hair dryer hitting the water. My jaw tenses. Someone tried to kill me. Someone actually did kill me. In my dream. In my premonition. That’s what it must have been.

  I rack my brain to remember the other dreams I had, but they’re all hazy. “Focus on this one,” I whisper to myself. Who dropped the hair dryer into the water? Who wants to electrocute me? It must have something to do with the cards, the voice and Mr. Timson. Someone really doesn’t want me to save him. But who? Paul? Charlie?

  I shake my head. There’s no use in guessing. Right now my main goal is to survive this. And to keep Mom safe.

  “I know you’re there,” I yell. “I’m calling the police.”

  There’s a muffled curse, followed by splashing. My stomach clenches. I turn my head frantically, looking for something to defend myself with. Why didn’t I think of that before I called out? I’m defenseless here.

  I’ll have to bluff my way out of this, since my phone is on my desk, out of reach.

  “Yes, hello,” I say loudly. “There’s an intruder in my house.”

  I hear splashing coming from the bathroom.

  “Yes, that’s right. Please come quickly.”

  The door opens and a hand appears. A loud humming approaches. I raise my hands defensively and move sideways, meanwhile trying to avoid falling into the water. I could really use the Shield or some powers of my own right now.

  A loud bang drowns out all other noises. There’s a bright flash. I feel like I’m floating.

  For a moment everything stands still. Time seems to freeze. It’s dark all around me. The humming fills the whole room. It’s right next to me, whichever way I turn my head. It intensifies, until I have to press my hands against my ears, to ease the pain. Then a vacuum falls over the room. It kills the humming and makes me fear I’ve lost my hearing and my vision.

  But then the world starts breathing again. Birds sing outside, cars drive by, the house lets out a relieved sigh.

  The bathroom door is wide open. I’m alone. Alone on a river of disbelief. Someone tried to kill me. Why did they leave like that? If you have the power to suck all light and sound out of a room, then why don’t you use that to slash my throat or something?

  Mom’s voice rings out across the hall. “What is this?”

  She splashes towards my door and throws it open. “Dante. What did you do?”

  Thankfully my brain is working again. “The tap broke. We’d better call a plumber.”

  She stares at the wet mess with her hand over her mouth. “I’ll call the insurance company, too. We’ll need a new floor.”

  I swing my feet into the water. “Okay, I’ll try to close the hole.”

  CHAPTER 25

  While Mom is on the phone, I wreck the tap and close the hole with a towel and a string. Then I go downstairs and turn off the water flow. Two trails of wet footsteps now decorate the house. Thankfully, my ankle is much better.

  I take a bucket from the kitchen and try to scoop as much water as I can into the bathtub. Soon Mom joins me with a large pan. She sighs deeply. “What a mess.”

  “It’s better than a fire,” I respond. “At least we’re okay.”

  She gives me a skeptical look. I shrug. I can’t help it, I’m still happily amazed that Mom is healthy. After all these years of horrible, unexplainable fits, of not being able to live a normal life, I can handle a simple case of flooding. Even if it’s not as simple as I make it sound. Mom is not lying in a pool of blood. She’s still breathing, and so am I.

  Flashes of my nightmares return and I focus on the job at hand. Then I freeze mid-motion. A sudden thought makes me gasp.

  The dream I had a couple of nights before. The one I forgot because of Mom knocking on my door. The one I had before all of this crazy stuff happened. The really, really scary one. What if that was also a premonition? Just like the one where I got fried. What if all my nightmares come true?

  “What’s wrong?” Mom puts her hand on my arm. “Are you okay?”

  I nod, hiding the nausea rising in my throat. “Yeah, I was just… thinking.” I put down the bucket. “I’m going to the toilet. All this water... you know.” I wink. “I’ll be back as soon as possible.”

  She buys it.

  I pick up Dad’s notebook discreetly and go downstairs, where I lock myself in the bathroom.

  I press my hands against my temples to push the memories out. A black hole flashes before my inner eye. Flames. Heat. A voice. Where was I? Who did that voice belong to? What did it say?

  I can’t remember. I try t
o imagine being back there, but nothing else comes back.

  Dad’s notebook is getting hotter on my lap. I pick it up, but it feels normal. Aimlessly I flip through it, not sure what I’m looking for. Why did I take it with me anyway?

  When I get to the empty pages halfway through, I blink. Images from my dream project themselves on the white paper. I squint and words appear. ‘Lifting a curse’.

  I jump up and storm out of the bathroom. Next to the phone there’s a pen and a notepad. I write down every word that flashes across the page. As soon as I’m finished, the memory fades. I quickly read what I’ve written down. It looks like a complete spell that I can use on Mr. Timson.

  I clasp the notebook and the spell behind my waistband, next to the athame I forgot all about, and go back upstairs to help Mom.

  We scoop until our backs hurt. Thankfully the insurance guy arrives within half an hour, even before the plumber. As soon as it becomes clear to him that we don’t know how to fix any of this, he takes out his phone and starts arranging everything. Mom treats him to coffee and cookies when he’s done.

  After he’s gone, Mom puts an arm around me. “We should go out later. Have lunch somewhere. Get out of this mess for a while.”

  I grit my teeth. How am I going to tell her that I don’t have any more time to waste? I have to get back to Mr. Timson as soon as I can.

  Mom doesn’t notice my distress. Her face crunches up and she says the one thing I never expected. “Maybe we can stay in your new house until everything is fixed.”

  The bucket I was just putting away almost slips from my grasp. I grab it tighter and open the cupboard. “I’m afraid that’s not possible. Some of the windows are broken, there’s dust everywhere and I don’t have any furniture yet.”

  She’s already dropping her wallet and phone into her bag. “Don’t worry about that. We can have it cleaned in no time, and you can put some boards against the broken windows.”

  “And you’ll sleep on the floor?” I shake my head. “I don’t think so.”

  “I think I have an old inflatable mattress upstairs somewhere.”

  “Mom…” I place my hands on her upper arms. “We can’t sleep there. It’s dangerous. You should call Mona.”

  Her shoulders slack and she drops her bag. I pull her towards me. “I’ll fix everything in my house as soon as I can, so we can spend a night there, okay?”

  She pulls away and flops down on the couch. “It’s not about that, Dante. I don’t even want to go there.” She wipes a lock of hair from her forehead and sighs. “You seem so distracted lately. For the first time in years I feel good. The fits are finally gone. And still I can’t spend time with my only son.”

  I wince. I want to tell her everything, I really do. But I’m not even sure what I’ve been pulled into. All I know is that it’s dangerous. I want Mom to be as far away from that as possible.

  Slowly I sit down next to her. I take her hand and touch her fingers one by one, meanwhile trying to come up with an explanation. “I’m sorry,” I say after a deep breath. “A lot has been going on. I have some things to deal with, and they can’t wait. I’d like nothing more than to spend time with you.” I lift her hand and kiss the back. “I love you more than anything and anyone. You know that.”

  Her head bobs up and down, but she avoids my gaze. I can almost feel what she’s thinking, and I pull her close again. “Don’t worry,” I whisper into her hair. “I won’t leave you. I’m not Dad.”

  A soft sob escapes her lips. I hold back the urge to tell her I’m still sure Dad didn’t want to leave us, either. Instead I stroke her hair and say, “It’s okay. You won’t lose me.”

  Her shoulders relax a little bit, but I still hold her close. “You could call your sister now that you’re better. Or aunt what’s-her-name?”

  “No,” she replies, her voice muffled. “I’m sick of being nice to people who are only there in the good times. I don’t need them. I’ve got you and Mona.”

  The doorbell rings and we both jump. Her head bumps against mine, rattling my teeth.

  She forms her mouth into an O-shape. “I’m sorry,” she whispers.

  There’s a knock on the front door. “Hello? Mrs. Banner? It’s the plumber.”

  We look each other in the eye and burst out laughing.

  Mom pushes herself away from me. “I should open the door.”

  I arrive at Darkwood Manor half an hour later. As soon as I enter the house I yell, “Everyone to the kitchen.”

  The Shield is waiting for me when I walk in. “Great. So, no point in beating around the bush, I guess. I had a premonition last night. Someone flooded my bedroom and tried to electrocute me. I warned them not to mess with me and they ran, using a trick of some sort to blind me.” I take a breath and wait for a reaction, but they are all just staring at me, so I continue. “I saw it all in my dream before it happened. That’s why I’m still alive.”

  My hands shake when I realize I could have been dead. I’ve been so busy dealing with the flooding and Mom and the premonitions, that I haven’t really thought about what actually happened.

  Vicky is at the cupboard in a flash, filling a glass with water. “Here you go,” she says gently.

  I gulp the liquid down. “Thanks. That wasn’t all. I think I’ve had more premonitions. One just before I met all of you and one more last night. I think the first one was pretty important, but I can hardly remember anything about it. It had something to do with a dark hole – a bit like the one I saw in the mines – and there was fire and a voice.”

  D’Maeo scratches his beard. “The same voice that has been warning you?”

  I shake my head. “I don’t think so.”

  “Okay, let’s move on to the one you had last night then.”

  “Hang on.” Maël slowly spins her staff. It forms a light circle on the wooden floor. “There have been rumors. About the Devil trying to escape from Hell.”

  I shiver at the thought of the Devil existing, too.

  Taylar voices the question that pops into my head. “Isn’t he always trying to escape Hell?”

  Maël’s hand stops moving. Is it my imagination, or are her shoulders really shaking?

  “He is always concocting something, but the rumors only start when he gets close to succeeding.”

  I rub my face hard. “And you think his plans have something to do with me? With us?”

  She leans back in her chair and pulls her cape around her. “Word is that he needs a treacherous soul to escape Hell. A chosen one.” Her eyes bore into mine. “We’re told to save a man. If we don’t, the whole world is in danger. You do the math.”

  Everyone is silent for a while.

  Eventually I decide to state the obvious, just to make sure I’m not hallucinating. “So the Devil is trying to escape Hell. We can prevent this by saving Mr. Timson, the soul that he needs. The Devil knows we’re trying to stop him, that’s why he’s sending demons to kill us.”

  “Right,” Vicky says. She looks a lot braver than I feel. The others just shift uncomfortably in their chairs.

  After another silence, D’Maeo lets out a worried sigh. “Well, there’s no use in worrying about this more than we already do. We have to take this step by step. Dante, why don’t you tell us about the other premonition?”

  I describe the demon coming through the window, and show them the spell I wrote down. “I think we can use it on Mr. Timson.”

  Vicky takes it from me, scanning it quickly. “It looks legit. I say we try it.”

  I smile at her. It’s crazy how safe she makes me feel. How comfortable. My heartbeat quickens at the thought of pulling her into my arms. Kissing her lips.

  Jeep slaps me on the back hard, bringing me back to reality. “I guess we’re going shopping again.”

  I take a deep breath and bend towards Vicky. “Could you please stop playing with my feelings?”

  She straightens her black locks of hair with an innocent lo
ok on her face. “I’m not doing anything, Dante.” A grin spreads across her face. “Those thoughts are all yours.”

  Heat rises to my cheeks. “Right, let’s go. No time to lose.”

  CHAPTER 26

  We’re standing around the circle of salt I’ve drawn in the back room of the attic. Two small mirrors lean against the wall. Next to it are two large bowls filled with the black salt we made. In addition, there’s a small bowl of regular salt, a cup of water, a stick of incense, my athame, two pictures, a box of matches and a white candle.

  I look at my notes. “We have to consecrate the mirrors first.”

  I carve an X into the candle, put it back on the floor and take some of the salt with which I form a circle. I light the incense stick and walk around the room with it before placing it in the middle of the circle. Smoke slowly builds up and I try not to cough. I light the candle. Then I put one bowl of black salt on each side of the candle and stick. Facing North, I pick up one of the mirrors and pass it over the bowl of salt.

  “Powers of the North, guardians of the Earth,

  I consecrate this mirror

  and charge it with your energies.

  I purify it in this day, and turn it into a sacred tool,

  to fight against my enemies.”

  I turn to every wind direction, passing the mirror over the incense stick, the flame of the candle and the cup of water, indicating air from the East, fire from the South and water from the West. When I’ve called upon all the winds, I say,

  “I charge this mirror in the name of the Ancients,

  the Stars and the Sun and the Moon.

  By the powers of the Earth, Air, Fire and Water,

  I make it to evil immune.

  I banish the energies of previous owners,