Dark Calling (17 page)

“Stick close to me,” Grubbs growls. I’m on his left, Bec on his right. Meera, Kirilli, the werewolves, and soldiers are behind
us. Dervish is a bit farther back, observing. I sense the window forming. Just minutes to go. The mage is working inside a
nearby building.

“We’re not going for a full union,” Grubbs says. “Just a partial link.”

“Are you sure we can do that?” I ask.

“Yes,” Grubbs says. “I’m the trigger. I can control it. Follow my lead, don’t react when you feel my magic mingling with yours,
and everything will be coolio.”

I share a troubled glance with Bec—she doesn’t like this either—but before I can say anything the window opens and demons
scurry out of the building. There are dozens of scaly, bloody, multiheaded monsters, oozing pus and slime, slithering down
the steps, smashing through windows, hunting for victims. A river of nightmares.

But nothing new. I faced worse with Beranabus. I’m more concerned about the werewolf between me and Bec than I am by the demons
bearing down on us.

Grubbs stares at the Demonata, eyes narrow and glinting yellow. His fangs grow an inch, his lips stretching with them. He
grabs hold of my hand and Bec’s. Energy spirals up my arm. I tense against it but then the voice of the Kah-Gash murmurs to
me.
It’s all right. Don’t fight. No harm will come of this.

I don’t entirely trust that inner voice, but even if I wanted to reject the union, I couldn’t. The magic within me warms to
Grubbs’s and I feel power well up from nowhere. The shock of it makes me gasp. My skin crackles and my fingers dig into Grubbs’s
huge paw. My legs go weak, then steady.

We’re drawing power from all around, from the earth, people, demons, the sky. Everything’s linked. There are connecting lines
everywhere, between humans, objects, the Demonata, the stars. The Kah-Gash was here before any of us, holding the sixty-four
zones of the original universe together. And it still binds us in place—it just doesn’t define the universes as tightly as
it used to.

But it could. With the power coursing through me now, I could quench the sun by snapping my fingers, and open a tunnel between
universes. Make myself ruler of all worlds, people, and demons. Limits exist only in the mind. As the Kah-Gash, I’d set those
limits, not be bound by them. I could—

“Let’s just kill these demons and leave it at that,” Grubbs says, shattering my dreams of universal dominance.

I blink, coming out of the spell I was under, amazed by how swiftly I gave in to temptation. Grubbs and Bec might not be the
jokers in the pack. Maybe
I’m
the weak link, the one the Kah-Gash can exploit.

But there’s no time for self-doubt. The demons are almost upon us. Our werewolves are howling and the soldiers are readying
their rifles. Another second or two and all will be chaos.

Grubbs roars and I feel the magic of the Kah-Gash draining from me—from Bec too. Grubbs is the focal point through which the
power is channeled. No way of fighting it now. The energy that we’ve sucked in explodes through Grubbs, mixed in with his
roar.

A stream of raw power envelops the demons and stops them cold. Their eyes bulge as they choke in a net of magic. We hold them
in place a moment, as easily as we’d trap a colony of ants by lowering a jar over them. Then Grubbs blows on them the way
he’d blow on a feather.

The demons shoot backwards, through the walls of the building, then through the window between universes. The startled mage
is blasted through as well, torn to shreds with most of the demons. When the area is clear, the stream of energy fans out
and crackles across the face of the window. It glows brightly, then crumples, and the patches of light which were used to
create it flood back to us along with the magic. The stream swirls around us, breaking up into vortex-like tendrils. Then
Grubbs lets go of my hand and Bec’s.

The power dwindles in seconds and the lights drift away. It’s like nothing ever happened—apart from the huge hole in the front
of the building.

“Wow,” Grubbs says, flexing his fingers and staring at them. “That was great.” He looks up at us and grins. “Let’s find more
demons and do it again!”

  A couple of hours later, in a hotel suite even grander than the last we stayed in, Grubbs is still itching to pick another
fight, but Bec insists we should focus on Beranabus. The pair are arguing heatedly. I’ve kept quiet. Dervish, Meera, and Kirilli
say nothing either. We chipped in during the early stages of the argument, but for the last hour it’s been pretty much Grubbs
and Bec yelling at each other.

“Forget about crossing,” Grubbs shouts, towering over the small, slender girl. “I say we wait for them to come. With the power
of the Kah-Gash, we’ll drive them back every time. They’ll soon realize they can’t win and head off for softer pickings on
other worlds.”

“You think that’s acceptable?” Bec retorts, not intimidated by the grotesque, wolfen teenager. “We pass them along and let
others suffer?”

“Like Meera said, we only care about this world,” Grubbs huffs.

“Leave me out of this,” Meera snaps, but both ignore her.

“What about Death?” Bec jeers. “Will you repel the Shadow when it attacks?”

“Why not? Death might be more powerful than the Demonata, but the Kah-Gash can trump it.”

“No,” Bec says. “Death is the ultimate power. If we don’t strike now, it will grow stronger and come to find us.”

Grubbs shrugs. “Do I look worried?”

Bec smothers a curse. “You were all for attacking earlier. You wanted to go for Death like a dog after a rat.”

“That was before you brought Beranabus into the equation. I’d still go if you only wanted to have a crack at the Shadow. But
you want to free a dead man. That’s what this is really about. Your beloved
Bran
turned coward at the end.”

“What are you talking about?” Bec screeches and appeals to the rest of us. “Has he gone mad? Do any of you know what—”

“Beranabus was afraid,” Grubbs interrupts. “That’s why he told you to send Kernel after him. It wasn’t so he could study Death
from the inside and learn its secrets. He realized his soul might be trapped and he didn’t want to spend eternity in the grasp
of the Shadow. He hoped Kernel could get him out. You know that’s true. You knew it from the moment you suggested the idea
of rescuing him. Tell me I’m wrong.”

Bec says nothing. Her face was red with anger moments before, but now the flush fades. Her lower jaw trembles. She looks ashamed.

“This is personal,” Grubbs growls, facing us like a lawyer addressing a jury. “She’s not thinking about beating Death. She
only wants to set Beranabus free.”

“What’s wrong with that?” Meera asks quietly. “He was her friend. You’d do the same for Dervish in that position. So would
I.”

“I wouldn’t,” Kirilli pipes up.

“No surprise there,” Dervish mutters.

“It’s too dangerous,” Grubbs yells. “I liked Beranabus but I’m not going to risk everything to save his soul. Hell, he might
not even be there. Maybe Death didn’t claim him.”

“It did,” I say softly. “I’ve been studying the lights while you were arguing, concentrating on Beranabus. A few started flashing
as soon as I focused on him, and more have joined them. It’s not like when I search for someone living, but if his soul hadn’t
been absorbed by the Shadow, no lights would flash at all.”

“OK, it took his soul. So what?” Grubbs shrugs. “How many of you want to risk a rescue? Who cared about the mad old buzzard
that much?”

He looks around the room. Kirilli instantly shakes his head. Meera nods firmly to show she’s on Bec’s side. Dervish looks
uncertain. “We owe him,” he says.

“We owe a lot of people,” Grubbs grunts, “but we can’t always repay our debts. You taught me that. A Disciple doesn’t risk
his life to save a few people, not when the fate of billions is at stake.

“If I think we have a real chance of hurting the Shadow, I’ll jump at it. But if we’re just going over there to free Beranabus’s
soul…. That’s not right. Beranabus wouldn’t have thought so either—not until he crumbled at the end.”

“What if he didn’t?” I ask angrily. “I spent more time with him than any of you. I never saw him ask for favors. He was the
most selfless person I knew. What if he really did hope to learn something that might help us?”

“I’m not willing to take that chance,” Grubbs says.

“You’re a fool,” Bec shouts.

“Maybe,” Grubbs sniffs. “But it looks like we have a tie, three votes for each. You, Meera, and Kernel want to ride to the
rescue. Kirilli and I have more sense. And Dervish…” He looks to his uncle for a final answer.

Dervish sighs. “I agree with Grubbs. We can’t let personal feelings cloud our judgment.”

“What if it was personal for
you?
” I softly challenge him.

“It’s not,” Dervish says wearily. “If Grubbs was in that position, I’d do all I could to free him. But he isn’t, so there’s
no point—”

“Bill-E,”
Bec stops him. Dervish turns slowly, left eyelid ticking, but she isn’t looking at him. She’s staring at me. “Is it Bill-E?”

I nod slowly.

“Liar!” Grubbs howls, raising a huge, shaggy fist. “How dare you—”

“I searched for him after I looked for Beranabus,” I say quickly. “I was running tests, searching for others I knew who’d
died, like Mrs. Egin, Logan Rile, Sharmila. I came up blank on all of them. Then I thought of Bill-E and a few lights flashed,
the way they flashed for Beranabus.”

“If you’re lying…” Grubbs growls, fingers clenched tight.

I step forward. I’m shaking like a rattlesnake’s tail but I speak clearly. “If you think I’d say this to trick you, you don’t
know me at all.”

Grubbs stares into my eyes. He wants to find deception, but he can’t, because I’m telling the truth. His shoulders slump and
he backs away. He shares a scared look with Dervish, who’s been hit just as hard by the news.

Bec could crow but she doesn’t. She merely waits.

“I killed him to free him,” Grubbs finally croaks. “It was the hardest thing I’ve done. I murdered my own brother. I wouldn’t
have done that to save the world, the universe, or anything else. But I couldn’t bear to let him live in torment at the hands
of the Demonata. I killed him to spare his suffering, to set him free. Now you’re telling me I didn’t, that the Shadow has
him?”

“I’m sorry,” I whisper.

Tears of blood trickle from Grubbs’s eyes. Raising a hand, he wipes them away, then covers his face with his hand and moans
softly.

“We have to free them,” Bec says. She crouches by his side and reaches out to embrace him.

“Don’t touch me!” he barks, pulling away from her.

“Don’t be silly,” she smiles. “I absorbed your secret when we linked outside. I know what Juni predicted. But I don’t believe
her. She’s insane. You would never do what she claimed.”

Grubbs cries out and wraps his arms around the little girl, hugging her like a doll, weeping while we stare at the pair of
them, bewildered. When he finally stops crying, he releases Bec and grins shakily at her, then casts his gaze over the rest
of us, his features firm.

“Show of hands. Who’s going to help me and Bec kick some Shadow ass?”

Five arms rise immediately. Kirilli is the only dissenter. “You’re all crazy,” he grumbles.

“Overruled,” Dervish laughs, then twists his spikes into place and drawls like a gangster. “I always wanted to be part of
a jailbreak!”

I
TRY
opening a window to Beranabus, then Bill-E, but enjoy no luck. It’s too difficult on this world. The lights are few and scattered. I need more power to piece them together. I need the magic of the demon universe.

We cross to a realm we know is safe, where we’ve based ourselves in the past. Grubbs brings his pack of werewolves along (“For fun,” he grins bleakly) but we leave the soldiers behind. I choose a place where time operates like it does on Earth. That way we should be back to face the next assault. Assuming we survive our brush with Death. Which is a pretty big assumption.