Chapter Eight
The sun was slowly beginning to burn the night away. I slid my eyes from the window to Will as he sat up and smiled at me.
“It doesn’t look like you slept any,” he said. Before I could reply, the train suddenly slowed as if a giant net had caught it, and I almost expected to be flung backwards. Instead, we kept moving forward as if traveling through thick mud.
Will stood up, and looked around; his eyes were now like two white marbles. I could feel bile rise in my throat. I looked out the window at the scenery going by like I was watching a movie in slow motion. The barren, frosted, corn stubble fields were encased in a sickening greenish light. I stood up beside Will realizing my movements were slow, like I was swimming through water. My hair floated around my face as if there was no gravity. I pushed it out of the way looking at the other passengers all sleeping, oblivious to whatever was happening. Their faces were casted over in shadow as if they were caught between life and death.
I looked at Loki’s seat, and he was gone, in entity form I could only guess. Bea and Piper stood in the aisle as Will pushed past me.
“Stay here,” his voice was slow and deep.
I lowered myself, but didn’t sit down so I could see what was going on. Then from the sickening green light that surrounded everything, two figures emerged. Dressed in long coats, and nearly the same height, they slowly removed their hats revealing white eyes, white hair and silver scales covering their protruding foreheads. Glass people—not the good kind.
I gasped as their eyes darted to me like magnets.
“Angus wants his calling card back, and we’re here to collect.” They both said in unison. “Move aside glass boy, we’ve got no business with you.”
Will stepped in front of them as they came towards me. Piper with her wings folded behind her, grabbed my hand pulling me behind her and Bea. Bea’s eyes were slits of fire, and slowly her black whip of a tail, curled around her legs ready to strike like a scorpion. It flicked through the air making a cracking sound.
“This doesn’t have to be hard,” one of them said in a normal sounding voice that wasn’t slowed. “I would hate to have to destroy this train with all of these,” he waved his hands motioning to the other passengers, “precious humans. Wouldn’t that be a shame, and it doesn’t have to come to that.”
Suddenly, one of the men was pulled backwards by an invisible force—Loki. I could see his image go in and out as Loki struggled with the glass person. Will pulled a clear as glass dagger from the inside of his coat. It glistened, and pierced the green light as if the two were battling as well.
Bea threw tiny balls of flames as Piper flicked her blue flames at them. The air sizzled with fire, and altered between normal light and the green that made me feel sick.
Bea suddenly let out a growl, and whipped her tail over Will’s head slashing at the glass person. He yelled as sharp teeth filled his mouth. Will sliced him across the neck, and silver dust poured from his wound like sand. He withered to the floor, and, then was gone.
“Now Eliza!” Loki yelled. “Say the word!”
I turned to see his image flicker. Will charged towards them, but was thrown backwards through the air landing several feet away. I looked back at Loki and the glass man.
“Abracadabra!” I yelled as loud as I could.
“No!” Bea yelled, but it was too late.
The green light was washed away, and everything started to slowly speed up. I could hear the train’s engines whine, and everything began to fade. A white light filled my vision as I looked up to see silver flecks falling all around me like glitter. I wasn’t sure if I had died or if I was caught in a dream.
“It’s snow, kitten,” Loki said in my ear.
I blinked my eyes, and slowly images of buildings started to form. “Where are we and, what…what happened on the train— the light, and…everything moved slow?” I asked still in a daze.
“That was a pause in time, and a little sampling of what Angus can do, or actually what he allows his thugs to do.” Loki explained.
“Eliza,” Will said pushing Loki out of the way. “Are you alright?” I shook my head.
“We can’t stay here for long.” Piper stepped beside Will. He nodded to her and then turned his attention back to Loki.
“Do you have any idea the danger you just put us in?” He asked Loki with a grave look on his face.
“I knew the dangers, but do you think you could’ve sweet talked your way out or bat your eyes at the two glass thugs, and gotten out alive?” Loki stood with his hands in his pockets as Will paced back and forth in front of him.
“Do you have any idea what you had Eliza do?” Will stopped, and stood inches from Loki’s face, “because I don’t think you realize what we are up against.”
“Yes, I do, believe me I know, and we’ve better be armed with a few tricks up our sleeves.” Loki then glanced at me. “And I know what she’s capable of, otherwise, I wouldn’t of.”
I stood watching them, when suddenly a hand grabbed hold of my shirt, and lifted me into the air. I tried to scream, but my voice was constricted. Bea snarled, and glared at me with fire in her eyes. Her long, black, venomous tail cracked behind her dripping with black liquid.
“I told you she’s jinxed, and needs to be destroyed. I’ve got plenty of poison left, just for her.” She smiled with her voice filled with delight.
“Drop her, Bea!” Will commanded as Bea snapped at him.
“Give me one good reason other than you’re the prince we’re supposed to protect. She draws Angus’s army to us, and who knows what else.”
I tried to pull at Bea’s tight grip and I could feel my senses were fading from lack of blood and air.
“Because I told you so,” Will said looking anxiously between her and me.
On those words, Bea lowered me, and slowly released her grip. I fell to the ground gasping for air as Piper knelt beside me, her eyes a kaleidoscope of colors. Will gently pulled me to my feet.
“What made you say that word on the train?” Her voice was inquisitive.
“Loki…told me…say it.” I slowly caught my breath, and rubbed my sore neck.
I could see Will tighten his lips, and glare at Loki.
“I needed her help, and…there was no harm in it. She is what she is, whether you like it or not.”
“What…what am I?” I demanded. “I know I’m jinxed, but what does that mean?” I was getting frustrated. Everyone looked at me with long faces, except for Bea, she’d rather stab me with her tail.
“Jinxed is…is like a curse, to explain it in a human sense,” Piper said. “But it doesn’t work quit like a curse like you think.”
“The coin—the initiation coin,” Will said stepping in front of me. “It was tampered with by many as Piper said, and some, can sense where it’s at.”
“You mean like track me.”
Will nodded his head. “But there are other things to it…” I turned away from them taking several steps in the opposite direction. I wanted to be as far from t hem as possible.
“Maybe Bea is right.” I turned looking solely at Will, but could see Bea straighten, and more likely had a smile on her face. “I’m jinxed, and if that puts everyone in danger, then maybe, something should be done.” I turned my gaze to Bea.
I thought she’d be smiling ear to ear, but instead, her skin went pale and her mouth hung open in shock. What was she now—too scared to act on her threats?
“There are other things attached to your mark, and I can feel Lyra,” Piper said her name gently as she caught Will by the arm.
Will gazed at her with his barely blue eyes. “I know, I can too,” he said looking back at me. “I told you before Eliza Thorn,” he smiled, stepped in front of me, and touched me on the shoulders. I could feel a flow of electricity running through me from his fingertips. “You are something more, and it’s up to you what to do with,
not to those who have ties to it.” He motioned with his eyes at my concealed mark.
Will removed his hands, and wrapped his arm around me bringing back to the rest of the group.
“Now, all we need to do is get the portal to work.”
“Please contain all of your thank yous for me getting us here in one piece.” Loki looked up at the cloud sculpture.
“Barely got here, you mean,” Bea said brushing his shoulder as she walked by.
We were right in front of it, and I slowly gazed at the silver sculpture. I stepped towards it, and close enough that I should’ve seen my reflection, but didn’t.
Everyone turned to it, looking at it in silence.
“We’re in Chicago,” I said.
“Good observation, Eliza.” Loki replied loudly. “Aren’t you guys glad that I acted by using a witch’s borrowed spell book?” He slid his eyes over to Will who stood beside him.
Will slid his eyes towards him. “You’re a little too risky, and take chances that do not even sway the slightest in your favor.” He gave Loki a small smile. “There’s no other entity that I would trust to such odds, though. That’s why you’re on the team, Loki.”
Loki nodded his head and smiled as he glanced at me with his twinkling eyes.
“You know the green man is close now,” Piper said excitedly looking at everyone. “I even know his address by heart!”
“Pfft, calm down you overly hormoneized fairy.” Loki waved his hand, and puckered his lips like he’d eaten a lemon. “The green man is a party thrower. What is he going to do? Have a gala and invite Angus and all of his thugs along with Eve and her demons where we’d dance, and drink ambrosia until everyone fell into a stupor? And then we’d sing fairy songs, and forget all about the trident calling a truce on the words of “ah, just forget it.’” Loki went over to the portal. “Will said to go to Iethia, and if what happened on the train didn’t scare you, it should. We are criminals in the guardians’ eyes, we are nothing to them. They see us as tools, and this tool doesn’t want to be evaporated.”
Piper stepped in front of Loki, and unfolded her wings in a quick snap.
Loki slightly laughed with amusement as she clutched her coat shut, and glared at him. “What was that supposed to do, frighten me?” Loki said waving his hands in front of him with a smile.
“No, I was just tired of them folded for the last three hours,” Piper said plainly. “I’ll agree, what you did on the train benefited us in a dire situation, but next time, include all of us in your plans.”
“Would you, all of you,” he pointed to each of us, “agreed to use the spells of witches to assist us?” Loki asked.
“Witches…Loki,” Will started to say as Bea snapped her tail.
“What!?” Piper yelled in a high pitched voice. “You didn’t…”
“They’re magic meddlers, you idiot, and you’re playing with their toys.” Piper stepped in front of him.
Loki smiled at everyone, unalarmed to everyone’s horror.
“Do you know what they do to fairies? They take our wings, cut our hair, and make dust from our charred bones.” Piper’s face paled. “Are you crazy?”
Loki tipped his head side to side, tapped his finger to his chin, and then curled his lips into a smile. “No, I can assure you, I’m not crazy. I’ve been tested.”
Will walked towards him. “Give it to me.” He demanded. “Give me the book, Loki.”
Loki’s smile faded, and his dark eyes gazed into Will’s pale blue eyes. “I can’t,” he said in a low voice. “I have to keep the book.”
“Why?” Will asked with a stern tone.
Loki took in a deep breath. “Because if I lose it, give it to someone else, or may all of the stars protect me,” he said looking to the sky, “if I should evaporate, then someone has to pay the coven.”
Will turned away. “Is that the price you agreed when you took it?” He asked turning back to Loki.
“No, that’s the curse I pay for stealing it.” Loki gazed at me.
“I thought you said it was already stolen—it was compensation.” I stepped in front of him
“I fibbed, kitten. And you fell for it.” He smiled as I wrapped my arms around my stomach.
“Look, we can stand here forever, well some of us forever, or we can move on because I don’t think Angus or Eve take time outs.”
“I can’t let her get it,” Bea said curling her tail into her back. “Eve wants power, and…she close.”
Bea began to pace around nervously in circles. Piper stopped her, and stood in front of her gazing into her eyes.
“Bea, you don’t have to answer her call, just stayed focused with us.” Piper’s voice was calm. “Do you hear me?” She shook Bea who looked like she’d fallen into a trance.
“Too late…she’s here, and she wants you,” Bea said turning, and pointing at me as she twirled downward like a corkscrew into the ground.
Suddenly, everything shook. I looked over at Will as he approached the mirrored sculpture and began quickly chanting as he stood under it with hands raised.
I tried to walk towards him, and that’s when I realized the ground had become soft, and I was sinking. I tried to pull my feet out of the black ooze that puddled under me. It was thick and sticky like peanut butter.
“Will!” I screamed frantically as he continued to chant with his back to me unaware that I was being swallowed.
Loki came over and pulled on my feet with no luck.
“Can you take you feet out of your boots?” His voice was a normal tone as if the earth wasn’t trying to swallow me, but his eyes darted at me frantically.
I grunted and groaned as I tried to wiggle my foot out. It wasn’t any use, the boots fit too tight to get them out without unzipping them, and it was past that point. The black ooze swallowed me quickly, and soon it was up to my waist, chest, and then my neck. I had held my hands over my head as I sunk in deeper.
“Loki!” I yelled as he pulled on my hands gazing at me with his desperate eyes.
With all my might, I tried to squirm upward pushing my face out of the muck as much as possible. I could feel myself tire, and knew I was sinking. I tried to loosen my fingers from Loki, but he held on.
“Let go!” My voice was barely audible from the pressure on my lungs.
He didn’t say anything, only tightened his grip. His eyes closed and his hold tightened—Loki was coming with me. I tried to push my face towards the blue sky as I could hear Piper screaming, and the last thing I saw before being consumed, was Will’s pale blue eyes.
I thought I was going to drown, smother or be crushed by the blackness, but to my surprise, I wasn’t. I was actually in an open space filled with hot, dry, smoky air. I was standing upright, and it felt as though I had only dropped a few feet. I took a step and it echoed.
“Eliza,” Will said. “Follow my voice, quickly.”
I turned blindly to my right.
“I can’t…”
“Shh,” He scolded. “You’re headed in the right direction.”
I moved cautiously, one step at a time until I reached his arms.
“Why is it so dark?” I asked.
“It’s dark for you kitten, not to us who are declared demons.” Loki’s voice came from the other side of me. “I’ll take Piper, where is that fairy.”
“Over here,” Piper’s voice echoed.
“Will, where are we?” I asked hanging onto his arm.
He took a deep breath, and if I could see his eyes, they’d be flickering between blue and white. “We’re in the Underworld, Eve’s realm.”
“You mean Hell?” I hated to ask.
“No,” Will said and I let my breath out with relief. “Close though. This is the first layer.”
“No! I won’t!” Bea cried out with a cracking sound. “I don’t want to be a demon!”
“Bea,” Piper’s voice echoed in the dry air. “Don’t li
sten!”
Bea let out a yell, and I could hear the whooshing sound of her wings. Her voice echoed until it was gone.
“Great,” Loki said. “Now we’ll have two angry demons to contend with—at least one is on our side.”
“Bea won’t give in.” I could hear Piper’s voice in front of me.
“No, she won’t give in, but she does have a bone to pick with her mother.”
“How do we get out of here?” I asked moving my head hoping to catch a glimmer of light.
“I know of only one way—Eve’s chamber. That’s how she travels to other worlds,” Loki said. “And how was that portal coming? Did you make contact?”
Will didn’t answer right away. “No, I didn’t get anyone. There’s something blocking it—I don’t know what it is.”
“Well, these are troubled times we live in. What are we to expect.” Loki sighed.
“Let’s go before any guards show up.” Will tightened his hold on me as we stepped forward.
I walked carefully, and wasn’t sure if there’d be any sharp inclines or protruding rocks. I could feel Will tugged me along knowing he wanted to move faster.
“The path is clear.” He whispered in my ear. “Don’t worry, I won’t let you fall.”
I was in an underworld where a powerful demon lived, blind to my surroundings, and somehow just the sound of Will’s voice set me at ease. We picked up the pace, and slowly, I was becoming accustomed to being blind. I told myself it was just like being in a pitch black room, and once I was out, everything would be fine. I tried to tell myself that over and over, but deep down, I wasn’t sure.
“How much farther Loki?” Will asked.
“Eve likes things big—I mean everything. We’re about half way there if that makes you feel any better.”
Half way sounded good and not so good to me, because I wasn’t sure what exactly we were half way to. I wished I could see where we were going and imagined the place looking like a cave, except this cave was warm and dry. There was no dripping sound of water to echo through the moist air. Also, as with any cave, there had to be an entrance which was in Eve’s chamber, I could only wonder where that entrance would take us.
I wanted to ask a million questions and have all of them answered, but I also didn’t want to alert anything that might be in the cave. Instead, my thoughts drifted to everything that has happened so far.
I was Will’s protector. That phrase kept running through my head, and I couldn’t fathom the reasoning behind that. I was a vulnerable human, and he was a glass person, not to mention considered a demon. How was I going to protect him? I was chosen by some coin that wasn’t even meant for me. Was I lucky or unlucky? I began to think I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. If I just stayed at the Salvation Army, and would have told Rosie my whole story—things might have been different. I would’ve finished school, got a job, and maybe even go to college. My life would’ve been safe…predictable, and Rosie might be alive.
I felt like the ceiling had fallen in on me. Why did I pick up that stupid coin? It was meant for Ivy the store clerk, not me. But yet, here I was with a tattoo on my arm, a Fae sword in my pocket, and Will saying that I’m his protector. I shook my head as tears welled in my eyes. Not only did I screw things up, I was leading everyone to Eve—the arch demon.
“We’re getting close,” Loki said as we stopped.
“Eliza,” Will’s voice questioned. “Why are you crying?”
“Eve—she likes to make all the humans cry…drain them of self-confidence, rummage through their thoughts, and find their weaknesses.”
“No…I mean…how am I supposed to protect you when I can’t even see?” My voice echoed. “Not to mention, I’m a human and you’re…”
I could feel Will cup his hands to my cheeks. I flinched, surprised at his tender touch. “Because I know, and that’s all that needs to be said.”
“It’s true kitten,” Loki said. “Glass people are good about things like this.”
“I hate to ruin this encouraging moment, but I can feel darkness coming.” Piper whispered. “They know we’re here.”
We didn’t need Piper to tell us, the rumbling of growls and yelping echoed in the warm air. Will pushed me behind him as the scampering of feet encircled us.
“She’s here and we know it!” said a voice that sounded like it was pushed from a growl of a dog. “Give her to us, and…we’ll let you go.”
“You’ll let us go,” Loki repeated amused. “Yeah, that’s going to happen. Eve’s little lap puppies are going to let us go on our merry way after we give you what you want.”
“I was trying to be generous to you entity. Your kind is like a gnat to us—have one, and the next thing you know, there are hundreds. And I don’t like the taste of you in my mouth. Be gone!” He growled.
“No!” Piper yelled as I heard the air sizzle with flames.
Suddenly, everything turned into growls, yelps, and Loki yelling at Will. I could feel Piper latch onto me as we stood helplessly in the dark.
“Will, Loki, tell me where to aim!” Piper yelled out.
“One o’clock!” Will yelled, and then the air sizzled followed by a yelp and the stench of burnt hair.
I had to do something, but what? I was blind, weak, useless, and human. But something itched inside of me. I had a scepter—a Fae scepter that was in my pocket waiting to be used. It saved us before, and it could save us again. I heard the many growls through the screams of Will and Loki. They couldn’t possibly fight them by themselves along with a blind flamethrower.
I slipped my hand into my pocket, and rolled the compact that contained the sword in my palm. I rolled it three times. I don’t know why, but felt it to be lucky, and then pulled it from my pocket. I flicked my wrist and could hear it slice through the air.
I stood there first in the blackness, not sure what to do, then it became clear. I still couldn’t see, but could sense through the sword where to aim. I lunged with a yell and then heard a yelp followed by a thud. I had made my first kill.
Then I could smell it, the metallic scent of blood. I couldn’t hear anything but noise. The voices that were Will, Loki, and Piper, became a mix of sound that didn’t make sense. I didn’t listen either. I was caught up in feeling for the dark spots, and slicing through them with the sword.
The yelps were becoming less and less, and I found it strange that I wanted more to come, so I could kill them…kill them all.
“Eliza, NO!” Piper yelled out as I swung my sword and a flash exploded in front of me.
I knelt to the ground and pulled my sword from the bloodied corpse as my vision slowly came to me. I tried to focus my eyes as everything faded to quiet. I expected to see a horrible creature with wiry fur, fangs, and red eyes. Instead, an image of white and silver slowly formed. Two pale blue eyes gazed up at me, lifeless.
I dropped the sword, and began to tremble as I gazed down at the black-red blood that poured to the ground. I gasped in horror, and jumped away looking down at Will’s still body. I then turned to see Piper crumpled to the floor surrounded in blood along with Loki who looked like he was trying to protect her.
I felt my body go numb as I looked at what I have done.