Five: Out of the Dark (32 page)

The pressure was too much. I was going to implode. That was when Halli decided to ignore my order to stay put. She stepped around the shelves and stood by my side, adding her considerable will to mine. The pressure in my head instantly receded and with our combined force, the furious Demon was brought to submission.

It bellowed in frustrated rage. I stayed silent as it continued its tirade for a few long minutes. When it finally quieted down I said, “Are you ready to bargain now?”

“
I will bargain with you, Human, as you leave me little choice. However, you may not like the price I ask. You had best weigh the importance of your need
.” It spoke with a slight English accent that sounded funny coming from a blob wearing glasses.

“The importance is mine to determine—and I’ve already determined it. I would not have summoned you had I not been willing to pay the price.”

“
Fine. What is it you seek?”
It plopped down in the center of the pentagram and played with the strands of hair it held. It reminded me of a pouting preschooler that hadn’t gotten his way.

I wanted desperately to look at Halli to see her reaction. Was she upset? Angry? Scared? But, I also
didn’t
want to see her reaction—what if she was staring at me with anguish or, worse,
pity
? I had to concentrate on keeping the circle intact and on bargaining with a being that had thousands of years of practice at making such deals lean heavily its way.

“Answers. I seek answers. My …
our
… friend was bitten by some sort of Fae changeling …”

The Demon interrupted with gales of laughter. It literally rolled around on the floor within the confines of the circle. My anger was piqued, to say the least. And I have yet to learn to control my actions well when I’m angry.

I started toward the circle, intent on inflicting pain on the laughing Demon. Halli grabbed my arm and pulled me back, “What are you doing? Are you completely crazy? Are you just going to walk right in there and—what?—
zap
him? Not to mention, break the circle and
release
him!”

I shook her hand off my arm and glared at the Demon. Halli was right, of course, it would be suicide to break the circle now. Not to mention homicide and a few other unforgivable sins.

“
What has it done to your precious friend
?
Is he turning into a rotting Troll? Or, mayhap a Revenant of some sort? Do tell, into what sort of beast has he turned?”

“A Werewolf,” I yelled. “He is cursed with lycanthropy.”

“
Ahh… I see. I suppose you want
me
to tell you how to reverse such a curse.”

“I think I know a way. I just need confirmation … and some direction … before I proceed. I think I can
soul-gaze
with him, lock him in a
gaze
and then … well, it’s the
then
I’m needing help with. How do I extract the curse from his body?”

“
You have the right idea, girl. And I know the answer to your query. Before I answer, we must strike a deal. What are you willing to give in return for your answer?”

Anything
, I thought. “What do you ask of me?” I said.

Shalbriri paced back and forth as it thought. It even removed its glasses at one point and hocked a big glob of slime onto them then wiped them off on its flowing, sheet-like body before placing them back on its face.
“I, Shalbriri, ask in return for my knowledge …”

he hour was late when Halli and I returned home. I had difficulty sleeping for what remained of the night. I rehashed over and over the conversation with the Demon Shalbriri, committing to memory the steps of the exorcism it had explained. Before Halli fell asleep I asked if I could practice a
soul-gaze
on her—it was something we all knew about but had always been reluctant to do, not wanting our innermost secrets revealed even to each other. I hated to ask her now, but I needed to be sure I could do it. The only
gaze
I’d been involved with was the involuntary one with Mr. Jorgenson that, I’m sure, seared a big globule of my brain cells.

Soul-gazing
with Halli was probably not my best idea. When we first locked
gazes
I saw and felt something of her life since joining our group. That went by in an eternal flash—I know, that really didn’t make sense, eternal was long, flash was short. What I meant is I knew and could feel that those memories took only a short time to experience, but it seemed like forever. Really, truly, forever … like I’d always been in her mind and always would be. It was hard to explain.

The reason it wasn’t a good idea to choose Halli for this foray into the
soul-gazing
abyss, was that her mind and her past were mysteries even to her. Her memories ended with an abrupt jolt. I hit a wall so hard that my head erupted in pain. Beyond the time Halli showed up in the Underground, there was nothing. Not
nothing
exactly—there
was
something there, I just couldn’t get to it. I pushed a little harder, which succeeded only in causing more pain to both of us. Whatever her past, she’d built a fortress around it.

I broke the
gaze
. “Sorry, Hal. I didn’t mean to cause pain. I didn’t think about your amnesia inhibiting the process. Thanks for letting me practice on you. At least I know I can lock
gazes
, and that’s all I really needed to find out.”

She rubbed her temples, eyes closed. “The mind is such an amazing mystery. To be honest, I thought about the amnesia aspect. I was kind of hoping you’d be able to break through and see into my past.”

“Well, it’s obvious there is something there your mind doesn’t think you can handle. Maybe it’s best we just let it do its job of protecting you from whatever that is.” I lay down and covered my eyes with my forearm. “Thanks, Hal. You’re the best—really and truly the best.”

She climbed into her sleeping bag. It rustled as she moved to a comfortable position. “Night, Paige. See you in the morning.” She started snoring so quickly, I had to stifle a laugh.

The pale girl in the mirror stared at me with dark circles under her sunken eyes. I splashed cold water on my face. It didn’t help. I still looked like the walking dead.

I wandered out into the common area of our home and plopped down into a chair next to Alec.

“You look terrible,” he said.

I stuck my tongue out at him.

“Hey, look at the bright side, at least you’ll look the part of the drug-seeking waif in withdrawals today when you ask for more drugs.”

“Great,” I muttered. I slumped down in my chair and rested my head against the back of it. “That’s the look every girl dreams of achieving—drug-seeking waif.”

“Who’s a drug-seeking waif?” Seth asked as he and Johnathan joined us.

“Apparently, I resemble one this morning,” I said with a yawn.

“Not true, Paige,” Johnathan slapped Alec on the back of his head. “You look a little tired, is all. And still beautiful … always beautiful.” He reached out a hand like he was going to caress my face, and then dropped it to his side before the gesture was complete.

“I’m going to go grab some breakfast. What do you want, I’ll get it for you,” Johnathan said, looking at me.

“Oh, I really don’t feel like eating this morning. Thanks anyway, Johnathan.”

“Are you sick?”

“No, I’m just tired—not enough sleep last night.” The truth was I felt pretty yucky, and the yuckiness increased as the morning wore on. “I’m gonna go grab my stuff. Everyone make sure you have your channeling rods today—we may need them.”

I barely made it to the bathroom before I started vomiting and then dry-heaving into the toilet.
This is really not a good day to be sick,
I thought. I rinsed my face and brushed my teeth again and actually felt a little better.

The others were waiting when I returned to the common room. Halli had our lunches ready to go as had become her habit since we started going to school. She handed mine to me and hugged me, saying, “Please be careful, Paige. Call if you need me—I don’t want to miss the big fight.”

“Don’t worry, Hal, not a single one of us wants to be in a big fight without you there. You’re one tough little imp.”

“Shut up. I’m not an imp.” She tried to scowl. But it wasn’t very scowl-ish.

On the way to school, the boys made me go over the plan three more times just to make sure we were all on the same page. Johnathan would be nearby. Alec and Seth would be out of sight but in close range, so they could be there quickly if needed.

“I really don’t know why you guys are so worried. Everything’s going to go just as planned. They are fully expecting me to come for more—everyone does once they’ve tried it, right?”

We went to our first hour classes as usual. Seth had learned that Mr. Davis’s free hour was during third period, so that’s when I was going to find someone to take me to his room. We didn’t want other students to be around just in case something went wrong.

Brendon and Chari were already sitting in desks next to each other. I sat in the desk in front of Chari and turned to face them. “How’s it going, you two? How were the shakes last night?”

They looked at each other and smiled. Brendon said, “It’s going good and the shakes at Lucky’s are always stellar, duh.”