“It is done.” Ikelia’s shoulders eased. “They will need a piece of the descendant’s hair and a drop of blood to reveal the message.”
“It is done,” Jacques repeated, surprised the impossible had happened. After all, he’d only heard tales of witches, but had never encountered one, let alone seen a spell performed. Picking up his book, he ran his hand down the empty pages where his words had once been written. Ripping out a page, he slipped it back into the book and held it tightly across his chest.
“What will you do with the page you just tore out?” Ikelia pushed back her thick dark hair out of her eyes.
Jacques assessed her question in silence. “I’m going to stow it away. Thank you very much for your service. You have done a great deed. It will save humanity from destruction and evil.”
She pulled out something from her pocket. “Take this.” She handed him a piece of paper. “Read the verse when you conceal the page. In order to reveal the message, a drop of the descendant’s blood and the weapon of your choice must be used. And I know of what you speak.” She wiped the small dagger with a cloth. “I’ve hunted that very evil.” Her voice dropped to a whisper.
“You have seen them?” Jacques gasped, taking a few steps back. His eyes grew, perhaps wondering if he’d been misguided into trusting her, even though she’d just told him they shared the same purpose. He trusted no one.
“Yes, I have. I have also killed them.” Ikelia examined the clean blade.
Jacques’s trembling hands became steady. “Take heed, for they can possess a body.”
“This I know very well.” Ikelia’s eyes changed from bold to somber.
Jacques closed the gap between them, interested by her comment. “How do you know?”
“I have encountered the leader before.” She closed her eyes as if regretting something.
“Cyrus?” Jacques lips quivered and his shoulders tensed.
“Yes. We must not let Cyrus have the treasure. Our world will become Hell. That treasure is the only thing keeping Hell from coming to us.”
“I know. You are very wise. How do you know this?”
Ikelia placed the cap on the bottle. “I can tell the future. Though murky at times, I have a perception or sense, whatever you will, and I’ve seen these images come into being.”
“Thank you for helping me.”
“I have my own interests in your plight.” She placed the items back on the shelf.
“What would those be?” Jacques’s eyes grew curious.
“My son will be one of your seven knights to come back from the future.”
“Son?” His tone rose with elation. “I hope he is as wise and brave as you. He will need to be courageous.”
Ikelia wrapped her arms around her as if to embrace herself. “He will. He is going to fall in love with one who is forbidden, the girl with wings. If that happens, she will be his destruction. I will tell him when the time is right. And he will come back to the past, this very moment. This will be his second warning.”
“Why can’t you tell him yourself again in the future?”
“Because”—she looked away—“I will not be nigh.” Her eyes pooled with tears and her tone was solemn.
“Oh, forgive me.” He dropped his chin for a second then looked at her again. “It is written. It will be done.” Tipping his hat, he backed away. “Keep safe.”
“Wait.” Reaching to her shelf again, she dug through a large wooden box with a sunburst and stars design. “Here.” She showed him a silver necklace with a crystal cross pendant. It was beautiful and reminded me of the Knights Templar emblem.
“Allow me to put this on you,” Ikelia insisted.
Jacques appeared hesitant, but he bent lower and allowed her access to his neck.
She clasped it around him and adjusted his cape. In the process, her eyes grew in horror. “There. It is a special pendant. I’ve put an invisible spell on it. As long as you wear it, Cyrus and Vince won’t be able to find you. I cannot promise they won’t find a way to break the spell, but currently you are safe. And please, keep it concealed under your shirt. You don’t want to draw attention to it.”
“Thank you.” He bowed. “You have a kind heart.”
Ikelia didn’t respond. Instead, her eyes were filled with sympathy. “Cyrus touched you, has he not? I saw a handprint on your neck.”
Jacques looked away, deep in thought as if recalling what had happened. “Yes.”
“Is it painful?” she asked warily.
“No. But every day when I dress, my mind goes to him. He is always with me. He hunts me in my dreams, and sometimes during the day I see him. I think I’m going mad.”
“No, you are not. But the pendant will help you.”
“Thank you,” he said again. “I am uncertain how to requite you for all you have done today.” Then he bowed even lower than before.
Ikelia waved her hand and the bookcase opened. “Keep safe, my friend.” She stood watching Jacques step away, leaving us speechless.
My mind tried to grasp what she’d said. The girl with the wings will be his destruction echoed in my mind. The last thing I heard before the room spun was my uncle ordering Eli to get us out of there. We needed to follow Jacques.
Chapter 22
I purposely kept my eyes focused on the grass, unable to look at anyone, assuming I might be that girl with wings. I contemplated what to do if anyone decided to verbally attack me.
There were three supernatural guys in that room. It had to be Abel, Brody, or Eli. Or perhaps Ikelia had made a mistake and her son hadn’t been there. I surely didn’t want to be the one to bring anyone to his destruction. Maybe it wasn’t me. The description was vague, after all. Maybe there were other supernatural beings with wings I had yet to meet. I didn’t need to worry about my crazy thoughts anymore. Uncle Davin was on a rampage.
“Who’s her son?” Uncle Davin pointed at Eli. “You?” Then he pointed at Abel. “You?” He pointed at everyone and stopped when no one confessed. Everyone besides Zach and Jack dipped their heads low, unable to make eye contact. One of them knew something for sure. The son was obviously hiding the fact, but why?
“Fine. We’ll talk later. I’m going to find out sooner or later.” Uncle Davin glanced around. “Where are we, Eli? Why are we here? I don’t see Jacques.” Already not in a good mood, he pursed his lips, looking enraged.
Jack touched the grass and turned in circles to take in every angle. Green stretched for miles until it met the hills in the background. Ahead of us was a scary-looking forest.
“Eli, where are we?” Milani showed concern. She spun around, searching for something. From her panicked expression, I gathered she was sensing danger.
Eli gripped a fistful of his hair, appearing mortified and disoriented. “I didn’t send us here. I was following Jacques, unless he came here. I have no idea where we are.”
“Milani?” Abel accused. “Did you do this?”
“No. Why would I?” Milani retorted, trembling slightly.
Why was she trembling? I wanted to ask her a question, but she seemed unable to focus on anything, looking high to the sky, the ground, and then to the forest behind us.
Brody leaned forward to Abel in a threatening stance. “Don’t mess with her, shark teeth.”
Abel narrowed his eyes. “Back off before my shark teeth decide to do what they know best.”
“Stop,” Milani commanded. “We need to brace ourselves. Something evil is coming. Not just here, but at Lucia’s home. We need to get back or we’re all dead.” The fear in Milani’s tone was palpable.
“The Possessor demons know what we are trying to do,” Jack said. “They’ve caught on. How?”
“Every time powers are used, they can sense the energy,” Uncle Davin explained, guiding us into a circle. “Stop talking. We need to leave.”
“Get us back, Eli.” Jack reached for my hand. “I don’t want to die.”
I kept my eyes open as we connected hands. We began to
spin and would be out of there in a split second...only we were at a standstill in the same place.
“What the—?” Eli never got to finish his words. Black mists surrounded us. Because they floated like black smoke, it was strange to see their skeletal structures and silver swords protrude from the middle of their forms.
I whipped out my wings, willed my bow, and shot anything that came at me. I protected Jack by shielding him with one of my wings at all times, since he had no weapon—and couldn’t defend himself even if he had one.
“Stay behind me, Jack,” I ordered, trying to block out the noise which sounded like a swarm of bees. A cloud of them was in the sky above, moving together in unison as they came straight at us. It resembled a massive tornado. Not only had the wind picked up, but we were also having difficulty holding on to our weapons.
“They’re coming from the sky too.” Zach ducked and pointed. He cut across until he was next to me and began helping to shield Jack.
“There are too many of them,” Milani shouted, darting out fireballs from her hands. What she did next was amazing. Countless blades of grass lifted off the ground and flew up in front of the demons, confusing and distracting them.
“Head for the forest and try to reconnect on the way,” Abel suggested. Using his strength, he yanked a sword from a demon and cut across its middle. The demon shrieked and turned to black ashes, leaving a pile on the grass.
“Run to the forest!” Uncle Davin hollered.
“I’ve got Jack.” Zach flapped his wings, carrying Jack away.
Turning our backs on the demons, we ran as fast as our legs allowed. But they were as fast, trailing right behind us. When we reached the forest, we stood side by side and fought them off the best we could. The sounds of metal upon metal vibrated off the trees. Just when it seemed as if we had won the battle, more popped out of the ground.
Uncle Davin wanted us to run farther into the forest so we could regroup and maybe get out of there, but it was almost impossible when we had to split up due to their massive numbers. In the forest, we had limited space to move and it was easier to get separated or lose each other.
With my peripheral vision, I saw a tunnel of black mist surrounding Eli. I tried to help him, but I couldn’t get to him as the tunnel shifted and moved. To my horror, I saw countless silver swords protruding as the tunnel spun. It was a death trap. When they closed in on Eli, their metal clanked against one another’s. Some demons stupidly killed each other. But they had no idea Eli could also turn into the mist. As soon as he escaped, he frantically looked around until he spotted me.
To the left of me, Abel and Brody fought together. Using their strength and sharp teeth, they tore through the demons and dismantled their skeletal bodies as if they were solid entities.
“Don’t let them build a tunnel around you!” Uncle Davin shouted, slashing his sword from left to right, preventing the demons from doing just that.
I jerked back when long branches swung across the space around me. Milani manipulated them to break up the tunnels of demons that had captured our friends. She also raised rocks, branches, and leaves from the ground to confuse the demons. Waving her hand, she directed some of the leaves around a group of demons that surrounded Abel and lit them into flames. Fire whirled around them, burning them to ashes. Loud, piercing shrieks sounded throughout the forest from the demons’ cries of pain. With a slap of Milani’s hands, the fire snuffed out and the cinders fell like light rain.
“Milani, gather who you can.” Eli yanked a demon’s sword out of its grasp. Though I shouldn’t have such thoughts at a time like this, Eli was incredibly hot. The way he stole the demons’ swords, the way his muscles twitched and his forehead creased in a frown, the way he kept his eyes on me as if he needed to know where I was—I had to get these thoughts out of my head. Then I saw the most shocking thing. Eli had teeth just as sharp as Abel’s. He was not only a Possessor demon but a Lamia too? When he wasn’t using his sword, he viciously ripped the demons apart with his teeth and hands. While observing Eli out of the corner of my eye, I almost didn’t see the one beside me. Ducking low, I used the tree to anchor myself and flipped over to land behind the demon. I sliced through his gut.
I climbed on top of huge boulders and jumped from tree to tree to distract the demons. However, my diversion didn’t help, as there were endless numbers of them.
“Everyone, find Milani or me right now.” Eli ordered. “You have five seconds. I’m getting us out of here. Five—four—”
Zach, where are you? I spoke to him through my mind as I pierced a demon with the silver light and then jabbed another to my left with my bow. Who are you close to?
“Three—two—”
I’m close to Milani. Don’t worry about me. I’ve got Jack. Uncle Davin and Brody are with me. Meet you back home, Zach answered telepathically.
I slid down the tree the way Jack rode his surfboard, with my arms spread out and one leg in front. Just as I landed, Eli went through several trees to reach me. He and I continued to kill several on either side of us. Eli managed to reach me and grabbed my hand, shouting, “ONE!”
Chapter 23
I’d expected to arrive at our house, but to my dismay we were still in the forest. Baffled, I turned to Eli, who continued to hold my hand. He was bewildered too.
“We didn’t make it back,” I whispered, slowly bringing my hand back from his.
Taking several cautious steps forward, I searched for the rest of our team, even though my gut instinct told me we were the only ones there. The soft breeze whistled through the air and the orange, yellow, and red leaves covered the forest floor beneath our feet.
I peered up to see the tips of the tall trees reaching for the sky. I hoped we were in a different forest, but deep inside I knew we were back at the same place from which we’d tried to escape. That scared me more than anything, knowing it was just Eli and me. The odds of survival were not in our favor.
“Don’t move,” Eli warned. “The demons are still here. They can sense our presence. I don’t know why or who is keeping me trapped here, but I need to take you somewhere safe, preferably back home.”
Still frozen in place, afraid any sound would alert the demons, I replied, “I’m not going to argue with that.”
But it was too late.
“LUCIA, RUN!”
Eli’s startled expression had me on full alert. The sound of buzzing came after his words. When I didn’t follow Eli, he came back for me, grabbed my hand, and then we took off. I whipped out my wings to move faster, but I had to close them when multiple flaming balls of something black came at us. Not only were we at a disadvantage from being outnumbered, they had some kind of new weapon.
I let Eli guide me as he continued to hold my hand. I checked over my shoulder and discovered the demons were closing in on us. But we had another problem. In front of us was a cliff.
“Eli, do you see what I see?”
“I’ve got this.” We started to slow down and when we reached the cliff, we stopped.
“You’ve got this? Why are we just standing here?” I had imagined I would open my wings and fly, and he would turn into a mist. Or Eli would do his thing as we held hands and get us out of there.
“Eli.” I panicked. A gigantic ignited ball of smoke hurtled toward us, bigger than the one they threw at me seconds before. I was sure it would engulf us completely and kill us.
Eli tugged me behind him and pulled the leather cord from around his neck. Whatever was on the necklace radiated like the sun, projecting like a shield, growing bigger and bigger. The light illuminated even more intensely, blinding my vision. Just before I had to close my eyes, I saw the ball of black smoke collide with the light from Eli’s necklace.
Something knocked into me hard, and I flew across space. I tried to open my wings, but I couldn’t move. Having no control of my muscles or any part of my body, I tumbled through the air and plummeted to whatever was waiting for me at the bottom of the cliff. Floating in and out
of consciousness, a vast sea of clouds flashed before me, as did the faces of everybody I loved, as well as Eli’s. Was this how I was going to die?
My body plunged into the water. Wetness surrounded me, but I still had no motor coordination. Opening my eyes to utter darkness, I became afraid as I sank deeper. I wasn’t sure if angels could drown, even though I could breathe underwater.
I couldn’t even cry out for help when someone grabbed me. Imagining a demon capturing me, I used every bit of energy I had to expand my wings to draw out light. Light beamed from my wings and my hair. I was thankful for that. Demons were afraid of light, but it still had a hold on me. When a soft glow radiated from a necklace, my frenzied heart eased to a normal beat.
“Eli,” I called, but no words escaped my mouth. I couldn’t breathe. Not because I needed air, but because Eli came to my rescue. Every time we were alone, my heart hammered faster.
My eyes and blank expression were enough to let him know what state I was in. But he had no idea how I felt—alive, safe, and an emotion I couldn’t describe as we floated in complete darkness, except for our lights blending together. A forbidden feeling—one that made me wish I were a human for one day, for that moment—overpowered me.
If I could have moved my arms, I would have embraced him with all of me and taken advantage of the situation to pretend to be lovers. I wanted to know him and every thought in his beautiful mind. I wanted to know Eli...every part of him. It was easier to want him when we were deep under the water with no one to see us, or judge me. But I had to stop feeling this way. Not only was it frowned upon, I knew my heart would be crushed if I let him in. Maybe it was already too late.
To my surprise, he leveled my body straight out and then held me in his arms. He pointed up and shook his head. He was letting me know the demons were still lurking above and we had to stay underwater until it was clear.