Drawing Bloodlines (35 page)

Nathan stopped short of him and turned around. “The first part of that same saying is carved into the big oak tree outside of Grimm Cemetery, in Cahokia Falls,” he said. “And the other part was carved into one of th
e elm trees at Black Manor.”

“Black Manor?” asked Malick.
Suddenly, his face went blank. All the color had drained from his face.

“Malick?” said Nathan, leaning in. “W–
what’s wrong? What is it?” Malick stood silent, staring over Nathan’s shoulder. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost?”

“Lafonda,” he muttered.

Nathan spun around. Standing motionless, in the middle of the narrow and dark passageway, was Lafonda. Her head tilted forward in an unusual way, and her long black hair draped over her face.

Nathan took a few steps forward. The musty scent he d
etected earlier grew stronger. “Lafonda?” he called. He then noticed the black mass that hovered above her. It looked like mist, or smoke.

“She’s spellbound by a Fear Feeder,” said Malick. “It’s feeding off her fears and anxi
eties.”

“Not on my watch, it isn’t!” yelled Nathan, and before he could take a step forward, a high
-pitched scream assaulted them.

Malick and Nathan covered their ears, and even though they had both crouched down, the Screeching Siren grabbed Mali
ck, lifting him up in the air.

Nathan looked up and formed an energy ball, to help Malick, but there was a tight grip around his throat. Nathan tried gasping for air as he was dragged backward. He winced whe
n his back hit the hedge wall.

“What’s this I hear that you two are Firewalkers?” said the woman in the ruby red gown. She appeared human again. She looked up toward the sky at Malick, watching him struggle against his captor. “Do tell me you plan on
burning me with your flames.…”

She increased her grip around Nathan’s neck and he started to choke. “Release me, Firewalker!” she repeat
ed, passionately. “Release me!”

“What the…” Nathan managed to say, through a few coughs. “You’re the
one that needs to release me!”

Suddenly, she gasped dramatically, as if releasing a build-up of energy. She withdrew her hand from around N
athan’s neck. He followed her dark eyes as she looked down. Protruding from her chest was a sharp silver sword.

“You’ve been released,” sneered Jonathan, standing b
ehind them.

The woman in the red gown casually looked up at N
athan, and then a joker smile appeared across her face. Appearing ghost-like, her head spun all the way around; followed by her arms, and then her torso. She had completely inverted herself, her entire body now faced Jonathan.

“At last,” she said, blissfully. She appeared solid again. She strutted toward him, her hands placed firmly on her hip
s, and the silver sword still protruded from her chest and back. “My lovely, is it you? Have you come to join me in the afterlife?”

Jonathan frowned, backing away from her. The woman in the red gown gritted her bared teeth. She now appeared hi
deous and, in one mighty flap of her sprouted wings, she was in the air.

“I’ll distract her!” shouted Jonathan. He
ran. “Save Malick and Lafonda.”

Nathan watched as the woman in the red gown swooped in, attempting to grab Jon
athan. She tried to disorient him with her piercing scream.

“You missed!” he heard Jonathan say as he stumbled to the ground. He had a hard time getting back on his feet. “Come an
d get me you, you crazy bitch!”

Nathan was shocked by what Jonathan said, mostly b
ecause it had come from Jonathan. Nathan turned his attention to the midnight blue sky to focus on Malick and the siren that held him. She wore a blue dress. Malick looked weary, but continued to fight hard, preventing her from leaving the area with him.

Nathan formed a blue fireball in his hand, but immediat
ely snuffed it.
Even if I threw this up there as hard as I could, it’s not going to reach her
, he thought.
Especially not from down here
.

Nathan looked all around, but then noticed the hedge wall in front of him.
Why not
? He thought to himself.

It was difficult at first to hold on and balance his weight, but eventually, Nathan was abl
e to make headway up the wall.

Nathan looked down and saw that he was several feet off the ground. He then realized he now had a good chance at reaching the siren’s wings. “Close enough,” he muttered and, with all his might, he shot out a blue flame
instead of the blue fireball.

The blue flame blasted from Nathan’s hand like a blo
wtorch.
I’m so close
, he thought, so he pushed harder. Soon, the blue flame reached the tip of the siren’s wing, and her grey feathers immediately caught fire.

The Screeching Siren moaned with a deep sound, flailing her arms and feet dramatica
lly. Instantaneously, she dropped Malick. Nathan scrambled to the bottom of the hedge, just as Malick crashed on top of it.

Nathan watched as the Screeching Siren co
ntinued to flap her wings erratically until, eventually, she plummeted to the Earth like a fiery comet. Her wail could still be heard as she crashed somewhere over the hedge wall.

“Do you think you can make it from up there?” asked N
athan.

Like a rag doll, Malick lay sprawled across the top of the wall. He paused to remove a few hedge leaves from his mouth. “Sure,” he said, sarcastically, while looking up. “And this is why people come in here wit
h swords, shields, and armor.…”

Nathan walked down the narrow, dark passageway to Lafonda. He could hear Malick making his way down the wall behind hi
m as he slowly approached her.

Lafonda still stood in the middle of the passageway, m
otionless. Her head hung down, low. Nathan took a step closer, and the black mass that hovered above her immediately forced itself into her body.

21

FWOOBIES DIVIDED

“No!” Nathan screamed. He bolted toward Lafonda, but someone seized his arm.

“Don’t, if you go over there it won’t help her,” said Malick. He released Nathan’s arm. “The Fear Feeder inside of her will only go deeper, feeding more off of her spirit e
nergy.”

“Okay, then,” blurted Nathan. He cringed at the sight of what appeared to be some sort of black mist seeping out through her eyes and ears.
“Then what do we do?”

Sadness gripped Nathan’s heart as Lafonda began to mumble incoherently. Unconsciou
sly, he started to move forward to comfort her, but Malick cautioned him again. “I can’t make out what she’s saying,” said Nathan. “I can’t stand to see her like this, I have to help her!”

“The only thing that I know that’s going to help her is pain,” said Malick, supporting himself on the nearby hedge wall. He had s
cratches on his hands and face.

“Pain?” asked Nathan, dramatically. “If you haven’t n
oticed, I think the thing inside of her already has that covered.”

Malick stumbled forward as he attempted to make it to Nathan.

“I don’t know all the in’s and out’s about it,” said Malick. For the first time, he sounded worried. “I’ve only heard what you’re supposed to do.”

Nathan turned back to look at Lafonda. Her feet were planted on the ground firmly, but the rest of her body began to shake violently, g
oing into terrible convulsions.

“Okay, I can’t take this anymore,” said Nathan. Immed
iately, he ran over to her, catching her as she collapsed.

The black mist moved back into her eyes and ears, and the violent shaking slowed almost to a stop. Lafonda r
emained motionless. The only sign of life she displayed were abrupt trembles.

A brief moment passed as he held her in his arms. He then gently bought her to the ground, propping her upper torso against the nearby hedge wall
.

“Her body is probably trying to reject it,” said Malick. Lafonda’s body slightly convulsed, before becoming imm
obile again. “I guess, like a virus.”

Nathan leaned in. “Hold on, Lafonda,” he whispered. He stood up, appearing to have new resolve as he stared at the dead end of the passage
way.

Suddenly, a high-pitched scream echoed through the air. “That sounded like it was near here,” said Malick. He limped slightly as he made his way over to Nathan. “We need to move her; we can’t keep her safe here. We need to get her to the Safe Haven.”

“Is there a big statue near this safe haven?” asked Nathan.

Malick looked confused, but nodded. “Yes,” he said. “There’s supposed to be a commemorative statue of Grandmaster, Grimwald Christopher Grimm at the center of it.”

“I’ve seen it,” said Nathan, nodding his head. “While I was up top.” He gestured toward the side hedge wall that they both had climbed down. He sized up the dead end wall. “And I believe the Safe Haven is right behind this wall.”

“Umm, you’re not suggesting that we climb over it, are you?” asked Malick, doubtfully. “Because, how would we climb over with Lafonda?”

“Not go over it,” responded Nathan, energetically. “But through it.”

“So, how do you plan to do that?” Malick asked. He ran his hand in and around the
wall; checking its thickness. “Do you just happen to have hedge clippers with you that I don’t know about?”

Nathan quickly rolled his eyes, and he then looked down at his hands. “I’m thinking that two Firewalkers should be able to get this shrub really hot, very easily,” said Nathan. “And burn a hole right to the other side.”

Malick eyed the wall again. “I don’t know,” he said. “What if the entire maze catches fire?”

They both heard faint sounds coming from behind them, and they spun around. Lafo
nda mumbled something again as her body continued to spasm intermittently.

“Let’s do it,” said Malick firmly,
turning back around.

At the same time, they both quickly extended their arms, both releasing two flickering blue flames. Like a molten ri
ver, the flames continued to pour out of the palms of their hands, slamming against the green wall. First, the leaf edges started to cinder, until each leaf burned black and then withered. The flames pushed through.

The white smoke soon started to fade and light from the other side came through the cloud of smoldering ash. Nathan and Malick withdrew their hands, stopping the flames.

“Almost there,” said Malick. With his leather jacket over his head, he climbed through the shabby hole they had created, kicking a larger hole through to the other side.

“Nice,” said Nathan, upon Malick’s return. They both moved
to pick up Lafonda.

“By the way,” said Malick, standing over her. “I saw what happened ear
lier tonight while in the Space-In-Between.” He drew quiet. “Right after Lafonda and Liz fell over the cliff, you formed a fireball and, instead of it being blue like usual … it burned red. How did you do that?”

“I don’t know,” said Nathan, looking down at Lafonda. “And I’m guessing it’s never happened to you before either.”

Malick shook his head. “No,” he said.

“Well, now is not the time to figure it out,” said Nathan. He started to bend over to pick
up Lafonda.

“No, no, I got her,” said Malick, before Nathan touched her
.

Nathan watched as Malick gently lifted Lafonda, carrying her in a way that allowed her head to
relax against his chest.

“Are you sure?” asked Nathan. “You were limping earl
ier.”

“I’m good,” said Malick. Carefully, he crouched down. Carrying Lafonda, he made his way through the now-smo
ldering hole in the hedge wall.

Nathan followed Malick. Hunkering down, he could see through to the space on the ot
her side. It opened up into a larger area and the hedge walls formed a complete circle around them. He also noticed that there were several dark passageways leading from the area to different access points around the wall.

“Bravo, bravo!” Nathan heard someone say. Nathan stood up. Standing in front of the large statue that he had spotted earlier was an older man. The many had very short, salt-and-pepper hair, and sharp gray eyes. He looked athletic, only showing his age because of the deep creases around his mouth and eyes.

“I’m very impressed,” the man explained. “It’s not every day that you get to meet a Firewalker. And it’s not every day that you find out that one is living in your very own house, right underneath our noses.”

What the heck is this guy talking about
? Nathan thought, turning to look at Malick. He was still holding Lafonda and the color in his face had turned stark white.

“That’s my grandfather,” said Malick. “Charles Frances Malick, reigning Grandmaster for the Order.”

Malick’s grandfather grinned at him. “So,” he said, eyeing them. He began to strut across the whitewashed stone floor. “What do you think of the commemorative statue for our illustrious Grandmaster? The one who confirmed the reason for our very existence, in his diaries?”

He took a few steps up to the dome-shaped stone gazebo behind them. “Not everyone makes it this far into the maze,” he said, looking around. “You definitely should co
nsider what you’ve done here today an achievement.”

His grandfather eyed the large statue in front of them again. “The slain girl he’s holding in the depiction was his daughter,” Charles went on to explain. He strutted back down the stone steps, flaring his long, dark gray pea coat. It was flipped up at the collar. “It’s supposed to depict all the pain he e
ndured; the sacrifice, before learning the prophecy for the Order.”

There was a moment of silence as he looked at them. He took a moment to observe Lafonda. “So, which one of you is respons
ible for the hole in the wall?” asked Charles.

Nathan and Malick both stood quietly, the hole in the hedge wal
l still smoldering behind them.

Malick’s grandfather suddenly grinned. “Ah, I see,” he said, while nodding his head. “You two are covering for each other.” He continued to examine them closely. “Two wayward boys learn that they have som
ething in common, and now think they have a friend.”

“Come, come,” he said, while signaling toward the hedge wall. Out of the dark passageway closest to them, stepped Jordan and Monique. They immediately began to gloat. They also seemed equally excited to see Malick carr
ying an incapacitated Lafonda.

“Here, Grandmaster,” said Jordan, handing him Jon
athan’s cell phone. Jordan eyed Nathan and Malick so hard that Nathan thought that any moment he would feel heat from his piercing glare.

“Not very much gets by me, Stephen,” said Charles, pocketing Jonathan’s cell phone. Nathan perked up at the sight of this and appeared ready to pounce. “So, bravo to you for successfully keeping that you were a Firewalker away from me. But I’m almost certain that you had help.
”

“I
–it was just me, grandfather,” stuttered Malick. He looked down at Nathan. “I kept it from everyone. No one knew, but me….”

“Yes, yes, you may truly believe that, dear boy,” r
esponded Charles. “But there is always someone else pulling the strings behind every plot, and every story. I’m sure you were only lead to believe you were the only one who knew; it’s easier to control you that way, to make you feel safe.”

“And I wonder why he would have a need to feel safe,” said Nathan, defiantly. “Who would he need to protect hi
mself from?”

Malick’s grandfather grinned and Nathan suddenly felt sick to his stomach. It was the same feeling he got when Malick would try to convince him to go
along with one of his schemes.

“Ah yes,” said Charles, signaling toward the dark pa
ssageway in the hedge wall again. “And now it’s time for the second act to begin.”

Out of the dark passageway stepped a very tall man, dressed in a long black trench coat. It was very similar to the coat worn by Jo
rdan and Monique. He appeared young in the face, but his muscular build and height was fit for a mature man. He towered over the woman he shoved in front of him, like a harrying giant.

“Leah!” Nathan shouted. He had to refrain himself from bolting toward her
.

“Bring her to me, Titus,” said Charles. Titus continued to push Leah forward. She a
ppeared more alarmed after she spotted Malick carrying Lafonda.

Titus guided Leah to Malick’s grandfather, and stopped her short of Jordan and Monique. “What is this?” asked Charles, reaching for the medallion around Leah’s neck. She attempted to back away from his grasp, but Titus’s enormous hands firmly held her forward.

“Let go of her!” yelled Nathan. He felt a burning sensation in the palm of his hands.

“Calm down, boy,” responded Charles, with a grin. He released a slight chuckle. “Trust me, you left the worst b
ehind in the maze.” In a melodramatic fashion, he raised his arms in the air while looking around them. “There’s no harm here. Just answer a few questions and I’ll let her go.”

“Really?” snapped Nathan. “Then why are you holding Leah hostage? And why are members of your Vanguard a
ttacking us?” He shook his head while raising his hands dramatically. “No harm here? Tell that to Dr. Helmsley. Tell that to Lafonda! They both appear to be lying in a coma!”

A moment of silence fell over the area. Malick’s grandf
ather spoke abruptly. “Shall we begin?” he asked. His eyes were wide with excitement, as if he were a little kid in a candy store. “I think it’s best that we start with your name.”

I know this guy didn’t just ignore me
, thought Nathan with a frown. He stared blankly at him.
I’m not answering any of his questions until he answers mine
.

“Very well,” said Charles. With a nod, Titus swiftly drew his sword and
pressed it against Leah’s neck.

Nathan and Malick gasped.

“Now, this is why I have your friend,” said Charles. His sharp gray eyes appeared to be bearing down on them. “Over the years, I’ve learned it helps to have a little insurance when I need people to cooperate. Now, where were we?”

“My name … my name is Nathan Urye,” Nathan said, promptly. He felt a lump creep up in his throat at the sight of the shiny silver sword so close to Leah’s neck
.

Nathan turned to look at Malick. He couldn’t believe this man was his grandf
ather.

“Nathan, Nathan Urye,” repeated Charles. “As in Michael Urye? I didn’t know he had a son.…”

He knew my father, and my mother?
Nathan thought.

“But Michael Urye had no Pneuma abilities to speak of,” said Charles, apparently thinking aloud. “And he was def
initely not a part of the Order. So, tell me, Nathan Urye, who is your mother?”

Suddenly, and without warning, three pulsating balls of blue energy hurled toward the commemorative statue. The first two hit Jordan and Monique square in the chest, knoc
king them to the ground. The last one slammed against Titus’s sword arm, causing him to drop his sword.