Five: Out of the Dark (41 page)

He/we pushed the two girls high into the air. Their giggles made John laugh.

“
Wanna see something cool I can do?” John whispered to his sisters with a glance at his mom to make sure she was still busy in the garden.

“
Yes!” came the enthusiastic reply accompanied by clapping hands.

“
Okay, watch this rock.” John placed a golf-ball-sized rock in the palm of his hand. He concentrated on it, his back to his mom. The rock started to levitate and spin. His sisters oohed and ahhed. “Keep watching, it gets better,” he said.

The levitating spinning rock began to glow with blue light.

Then two things happened almost at once. John’s mom screamed, “Johnathan! What on earth …” and Johnathan lost his deep concentration. A burst of magic erupted from his hand, and the rock, along with a fiery bolt of yellow flame, soared into his sisters. The girls flew backwards, stopping only when their fragile bodies slammed into the shed.

Johnathan raced to them, his mother right behind him. But it was too late. They were dead. Emma and Linzee lay in a heap at John’s feet. He threw himself to the ground next to their burned and broken bodies. The anguish that erupted from him was more than I could bear—it was a visceral, real pain that knocked the breath out of him. His, and my, chest tightened and we couldn’t breathe. It was physical and emotional and psychological, paralyzing in its intensity.

I almost broke the
gaze
, but I managed to gain control and force us in another direction at the last second.

The disorientation subsided. I knew I needed to find the Demon-tainted area of Johnathan’s mind, so I began sifting through his memories and his feelings to find it. I couldn’t help but linger in spots that showed his feelings for me. His love for me was deep and strong—it looked like a thick cord woven of shiny silver that connected his soul to mine. The warmth that flooded over me came from him and his feelings for me. I knew he could feel my love as well. Nothing was hidden in a
soul-gaze.

I continued my search for the foul contamination that gave the beast its presence in Johnathan’s soul. I knew when I’d found it. An area of penetrating darkness surrounded the center of his being. It reached out from his core with black tentacles, growing to touch every other part of him. It touched every recent memory of which I was a part with thick tendrils that pulsed with lust and violence. I felt guilt at all the petty remarks I’d made and the many breaks in my promises to stay away from him. I now knew the strength it had taken for him to control himself and what a precarious cliff that control was balanced upon. I pulled myself away from those thoughts so I could concentrate on the task at hand. Destroying the darkness.

Okay, this is where the information from Shalbriri comes in. I sure hope the Demon knew what it was talking about.

I wasted no time because I had no idea how much time I had. I’d read that time had little meaning when trapped in a
soul-gaze;
a second felt like an eternity and an eternity could seem like less than a second.

I used the words provided me by the Demon. “
Lupinus inficio
I command that you come to me to battle for the soul of this human you inhabit. This command I make with the authority of a mage, more powerful than the likes of you.”

Shalbriri said this would challenge the entity leaching Johnathan’s soul. Like a dare to a sixth-grade boy, it wouldn’t be able to resist.

He was right. The specter of evil formed itself into a wolf-head shape, and snarled—a ghastly sound that had the ring of many voices calling out as one. I could feel how much it wanted to tear into me. The tentacles that were wrapped around Johnathan’s feelings for me snapped free and came for me, having been denied for so long. It’s hard to explain what was going on. I knew my body was safe for the time being and that all these things were happening on another plane. My brain convinced itself that my body was there, battling against the evil—so what was really a battle of mind and soul seemed like a physical battle.

I was ready. I severed the tentacle with a flick of my wrist and a word. Magic was a lot stronger when you used the right words, we’d all discovered that since our real training had begun. I felt strong, ready to end Johnathan’s torment. I raised my arms to invoke the spell I was sure would end it … and something slithered across my line of vision. It looked like smoke, only more solid. It was something different than the darkness I was fighting. A new enemy had entered the fray.

The smoky image hovered above my head. My hands dropped.
What on earth am I thinking? I can’t do this. I’m not strong enough—I’m nothing but a weakling. I’m going to die and so is Johnathan.

Paige!
Johnathan yelled in my mind.
What’s wrong? Don’t give up! Kill it!

A thought slowly floated into my head—something the Demon had said.
What was it?
A shadow?
Yes, a shadow! The Shadow of Doubt!
The Demon had warned me about this. All I had to do to defeat it was banish the doubts. That’s all, just banish the doubts … .

The shadow loomed as thoughts of inadequacy overwhelmed me. I could see the other tentacles of Johnathan’s demon pulling free from their positions and banding together to come after me.
I can’t do this
.

Paige, I love you, and I trust you
, came the soothing thoughts from Johnathan.

The shadow above me was sucked away into the void as I let out a mental battle cry and raised my hands once again; the enormous single cord of blackness that now connected to the wolf’s head reached me just as I brought my hands down with a powerful thrust of will and a word of magic that I didn’t know I even knew.

“
Contorqueo-tortum!
”

The tentacle twisted violently, then exploded into a million tiny pieces that withered and crumbled to ash as they fell. The wolf’s head snarled furiously and came at me with the tremendous speed of a sheet on the winds of a hurricane; its features a blur as it hurtled toward my face. I held up the shield bracelet Seth had made for me and invoked the magic it contained. The shadowy Demon slammed into the shield with such force that my teeth rattled. I wasted no time as the Darkness regrouped; I dropped the shield and blasted the lycan with a strength made up of my love for Johnathan and the outrage I felt at what it had done to him.

The evil that had held Johnathan hostage for months now started swirling like water down a flushed toilet. I opened a portal to the Netherworld, and there was Shalbriri waiting, as we’d agreed. The Demon reached through the portal and snagged the swirling remains of the lycanthrope curse and dragged it down—hissing and snarling—to the Netherworld from where it had come. The portal closed.

All was silent.

I broke the
gaze
just as the first rays of sun peaked in the east. We’d been standing in each other’s arms, locked in the
gaze
the entire night. I smiled at Johnathan, and then slumped in his arms, exhausted beyond compare. He lowered me gently to the ground, tears streaming down his face. He sat beside me, and pulled me into his lap.

“You did it,” he said in a hoarse, unbelieving whisper.

“I told you to trust m—”

Before I could utter another sound, his lips were on mine, gentle and warm, searching. My breath caught in my throat as his lips pressed down harder, with more intensity. He crushed my body close to his in his strong arms. I wound my arms around his neck and kissed him back with a ferocity I didn’t know I possessed. My heart pounded against the tight muscles of his chest. Stars exploded behind my closed eyes as I forgot to breathe. The kiss became softer again as his tongue gently explored and tickled my lips.

Exhaustion was forgotten in the miracle that was our first kiss.

After I reluctantly stopped the kiss, we stayed in the circle: me in Johnathan’s lap, my head on his shoulder, nose pressed into the groove where his neck met his collarbone, breathing in his perfect scent. I marveled at the touch of his skin on mine. It’d been a long time since his skin was a normal temperature and it felt so good to be able to be near him. The scorching heat of the curse was now lifted; the tortuous fire within him was now healed. But—as with all good things and wonderful feelings, it had to end.

“Paige,” he whispered, his mouth grazing the hair above my ear. “Our friends are waiting for us to break the circle. We should let them share in our celebration.”

I sighed and pulled away from him enough to look up into his amazing eyes—now pure dark chocolate again, with no flecks of gold. Gazing into his eyes seemed like a luxury I wanted to indulge in for the rest of my life. That thought led to another that made me shrink in fear. Johnathan saw it on my face, felt the sudden tension in my muscles. I felt like throwing up.

“What’s wrong?” His eyes searched my face.

I owed him an explanation for what was about to happen. I just didn’t know how to tell him. The bargain I’d made with Shalbriri was to be paid at the time the circle was broken.

“John … I … I had to make a deal … a bargain … with someone. To find out what to do … how to help you.”

His face fell, flooded with concern. “What have you done?”

I shrugged. “What I had to do.”

Not wanting to explain any further, not wanting Johnathan to look at me like the immoral Demon-summoner I was—I caught Halli’s eyes outside the circle and gave a small nod. I took one last look at the gorgeous eyes of the boy I loved so much, reached over from where I sat in his lap, and Halli and I broke the circle.

The pain struck instantly and with the intensity of a rocket. My eyes were being pulled from my head by burrowing spiders with lava for venom and cactus-covered drill bits for fangs. The pressure was so intense I was sure the whole top of my head would implode and I would die by choking on my own brains being squeezed down into my throat. Those are the images that formed in my head during the intense sixty seconds of unimaginable pain.

I screamed, loud, long and piercing—the pain was too horrible to do anything else. Johnathan held me, bewildered, as I writhed in agony and tore at my eyes with the temporary insanity caused by the pain. Outwardly, the only signs anything was happening to my eyes were the tears flowing from them and the damage done by my own hands as my fingernails grated the surrounding skin. When Johnathan saw that I was drawing blood with the frantic tearing, he grabbed my hands and held them in one of his, his other arm wrapped like steel around my body.

The pain stopped as abruptly as it started.

I slowly, and with great reluctance, raised my eyelids and saw … darkness, nothingness. This was by far the most terrifying thing I’d ever experienced. The screams that had just ended were replaced with terrified sobs. Deprived of sight, the depression of darkness encompassed me.

Even still, as I felt Johnathan’s arms holding me against his chest, rocking back and forth—as I felt his warm tears falling on my head then my face when I tipped it up toward his—I knew I would choose to do it again if I had to. The price was steep, but the stakes were too high not to pay it. I knew I would give anything to save him.

“Paige.” One hand touched my face, tipped my chin upwards. Then both hands—I immediately missed the warmth of his arms around me and I clutched at his shirt, scared—his hands cupped my face. I could
feel
him staring into it—into my empty, dead eyes. “What did you do? Oh, Paige, what did you do?”

Another sob escaped my throat at the anguish in his voice and I could only shake my head. His lips pressed into the skin of my forehead, then onto my closed eyelids. His kisses traveled down my face—first one cheek, then the other, to each corner of my mouth, to my chin. All the while he muttered, “I’m so sorry. Oh, Paige, I’m so sorry,” then, “I love you,” as his lips found mine.

The kiss was gentle, sorrowful. Our tears combined—the saltiness intermingled with the sweet taste of his lips. My blindness and the ordeal of the long night were forgotten for one precious moment as his kiss melted the icy fear in my heart. The terror I felt was slowly replaced with the sure knowledge that this was where I belonged; in his arms, his lips pressed to mine. Finally. The kiss lingered, soft and gentle, never increasing in intensity as the first kiss had. It was magical, without any magic. His lips drew out the poison that was terror and uncertainty and filled the empty void with light.

Still, he continued to kiss me, until my grip on his shirt relaxed and my arms snaked around his neck; until his hands grew tired from holding my head and his arms circled around my back. Still, we kissed, until our tears were dried and my shaking ceased; until the warmth of his love enveloped me fully in a cocoon of security.

Still, we kissed, until …

“Geez, you guys, get a room or better yet, quit macking on each other and tell us what the heck is goin’ on.” Leave it to Alec to interrupt my paradise.

I heard a smack and Alec’s “Ow!” I assumed it’d been Halli that slapped him.

“Take your time, Paige. When you’re ready, we have a warm fire going and some breakfast ready for you. Then you can tell us what’s going on.”

Joe’s voice was touched with concern, but, behind that, I heard contained anger. I was sure he’d guessed at least part of what I’d done—who else besides a malevolent creature would take my sight in a bargain. Joe had been around a long time; he’d lived through more battles with creatures of all kinds than I could even imagine. He knew, or at least had an idea, what I’d done. And he wasn’t happy about it.

I shivered, just then realizing how cold the morning air was.

“Come on, Paige. Let’s go get some of the heat from that fire,” Johnathan said quietly.

We stood, his right arm wrapped tightly around my waist so our sides melded against one another. He also gripped my left arm in his left hand and guided me toward the fire where the others were. It was a very strange feeling, not being able to see, not knowing where to step. The slight dips in the ground that were easy to navigate when you could see them, caused my steps to jolt and falter. I clung to Johnathan the short distance from the circle to the fire. As he helped me sit, it hit me like a slap in the face that this was real—I wasn’t just closing my eyes to wait for a surprise or wearing a blindfold for a child’s game. The darkness was the same with my eyes open or closed, there was no blind-fold I could rip off at the end of the game. Total blackness. No shapes, no shadows, no light.