Revenant (39 page)

“Bolt-holes?”

Speaking
through another mouthful of cookie, he explained, “You might not know this, but
death dealer guilds have only been in the public eye for a few generations.
Before that, they hid from the world in isolated communities. When they came
out of hiding, most of these old villages and camps were mothballed, but some guilds
maintained them. Now they’re like sanctuaries.”

Freddy
had no magical abilities, yet he knew intimate details about the guilds. “You
know an awful lot about how the guilds work,” I said.

He
gave me a sheepish grin. “I’m not
supposed
to know any of this stuff.” He looked around as if suddenly worried we might be
overheard, but there was no one
close by
.
“Luke and I grew up together. There are no secrets between us.
Anyway
, do you want to know or not?” he asked,
an amused look on his face.

I
raised my hands in surrender. “
Continue on
,
please.” He was telling me more about the guilds than Luke ever had.

“The
guild members return to those sanctuaries for important events and rituals, and
sometimes just to get away from the hate of modern society.”

“So
that’s where Luke’s uncle was when I first came looking for a teacher?”

“Yes.
Many of the sanctuaries—sometimes they’re called strongholds—have
no phones, televisions, or electricity. The same isolation that makes those
places safe also makes them hard to contact.”

I
looked over to where Darla and her people were gathered. “You were telling me
how Darla ended up in charge.”

He
took a deep, exaggerated breath and then continued. “Yes…well, as I was saying,
when Mildred came into the village, only a few adult mages were there, left
behind to keep an eye on the families. They were not willing to mount a rescue
party, and they forbade Darla to try it on her own.”

“So
Darla went against their orders.”

“Darla
gathered a group of volunteers and snuck out of the camp. Everyone here is a
volunteer, ignoring the wishes of the guild. Darla put this all together on her
own.”

The
moment Darla heard that Luke was here, of course she would move heaven and
earth to get to him. “So she put all of this together to save Luke?”

Freddy
paused, looking uncomfortable, and it finally dawned on me, her true purpose in
coming here.

“Darla
didn’t
come for Luke,” I said flatly.
It wasn’t a question.

He
reached out to lay a reassuring hand on my shoulder. “Darla didn’t believe Luke
was alive. She used a different motivation to get them all to come. But that’s
all changed now.”

But
I’d stopped listening. My suspicion was right.
Me. They came to kill me.

* * *

When Luke approached Freddy and me a while later, he looked
angry. It was a familiar look on Caleb’s face.

“Is
everything okay?” I asked.

His
eyes met mine and he tried for a smile, but didn’t quite pull it off. “Everything’s
fine.”

Whatever
words brother and sister had exchanged, they had clearly been heated.

Freddy
got up and gave me a smile before walking off. I passed Luke the almost-empty
bag of chips.

“Thanks,”
he said, settling down next to me on the log.

I’d
begun
unwinding the complicated braids Sonja had
fashioned in my hair while waiting for Luke, and now
I finished, pulling
apart the last few strands. My hair hung down to my shoulders in waves.

Luke
watched me. “That was quite the dress you had on back there.”

I
couldn’t tell if he was teasing me. “Gage does love his fancy parties.”

“But
this wasn’t just a party, was it?” Luke said, his tone suddenly void of
emotion.

I
couldn’t tell by his expression what he was thinking. I started to reach out to
touch his hand, but stopped myself. “You know, don’t you? You know he forced me
to marry him.”

This
time there was no missing the flash of anger that flickered through his eyes. “Yes.”

My
mouth went dry. Did Mildred tell him what Gage had done to me? That he messed
with my mind and emotions until I was nothing but a mindless, love-stricken
idiot? If Mildred hadn’t broken the spell… I looked off into the woods. I
couldn’t bear the thought of what might have happened if she hadn’t restored my
reason. But then again, Mildred didn’t truly break the spell—she only
loosened it. I still felt drawn toward Gage when I was close to him. My head
filled with hideous thoughts of love for the monster whenever I thought of him
or he was around.

When
I looked up at Luke, he was staring down at his hands.

“I
didn’t have a choice…” My words faltered. I took a deep breath and tried again.
“He forced me—”

Luke
raised a hand and stopped me. “I don’t blame you for what happened. Gage
arranged all of this because he wanted your magic.”

Luke
moved closer. I could feel the heat of his body only inches from mine. “I tried
to stop it. Gage imprisoned Mildred. We were supposed to meet before the whole
thing started and when she didn’t show, I got suspicious that something was
wrong. I found her down in the cells. She was being guarded by some of his men.”

“You
had to fight them?”

He
looked down at his hands again. “I had to kill them.” I could see a flicker of yellow
and orange as hellfire slid across his skin.

Luke
had never wanted to use his magic to harm, but now he had killed men trying to
get to me. Trying to protect me. I wanted to reach out and comfort him, but I
was still conflicted. I still saw Caleb’s face when I looked at him.

He
had tried to get to me—and if he had gotten there in time, the ceremony
wouldn’t have taken place. And I would not be married to Gage. But I was. The thought
made me physically ill.

I
was desperate to change the subject, but thankfully didn’t have to come up with
something to say—people were moving around.
We’ll be heading out soon
. “You
really
want to do this? We don’t have to. I know Darla thinks this is the only way,
but there
have
to be people out there
willing to help us go after Gage and the demon.”

He
looked
at me for a long moment before he
said, “We know where they are. We need to strike while we can.”

“It’s
too risky,” I whispered.

“We
have to do it,” he answered. His dark eyes blazed with so much anger and hatred.
“I don’t just want to go after Gage for holding us hostage, for creating a
zombie army, for being in league with the demon. I want to make Gage pay for
what he’s done to you, Colina.”

He
wanted to get revenge for me? That was something the Luke I loved would say. I
felt my heart give a tug. But then panic filled me. How could I convince him
not to go through with it? I’d rushed
in once
before
to kill a madman. I had not waited for help and I hadn’t cared
what happened to me. Because of that, a lot of people died.
Luke
died. I’d promised myself I would
never do something so rash again.

But
Luke’s expression was resolved.

I
was not going to change his mind. Gage had hurt me, and Luke was going to make
him pay.

If
he was going after Gage, I was going with him.

Luke, Darla, the death dealers, and I stood on the edge of
the devastated town. What time and neglect had started, fire and violence had
finished. The sun was up just past the horizon. I could see the flames and dark
smoke rising in columns from the still-burning buildings. Some structures were
standing—others lay in smoldering ash.

My
eyes swung to the middle of town, where bodies covered the ground. Were my
friends out there amongst the dead? Had Dean, Wendy, and Mildred somehow
survived? I prayed to the Goddess they had.

We
carefully began weaving our way through the carnage. It was impossible to distinguish
between the human remains and the dead zombies. Everywhere I looked, bodies lay
sprawled, limbs twisted in unnatural directions, blood, bone, and guts laying
in piles.
Those who died
had done so painfully.
Some
were burned
—others had been
torn apart.

The
smell of death was overpowering. It filled my nostrils and my mouth.
The copper and iron smell of blood mixed with the
contents of voided bowels, smoke, ash, and the smell of the burned and still-burning
dead. It settled on me like a cloud and clung to my clothes and hair.
I
felt bile rise in my throat, but choked it back. As bad as it smelled now, just
a few short hours after the battle, tomorrow would be worse. I knew from
experience that the flesh would begin rotting in the hot sun.

Luke
turned and addressed the line of people following behind us. “There are tunnels
below the town.”

Darla
stepped forward, a look of annoyance clearly on her face. “They listen to
my
commands.
I’m
in charge here.” Before Luke could say anything, she turned and
said to the crowd, “We need to spread out and search. They might still—”

Luke
interrupted her. “We need to stay together. Who knows if Gage and the demon are
here, hiding, waiting to catch us by surprise? And if they’re gone, who knows
what traps he might have left for us?”

“You’re
being paranoid,” she said, her voice getting louder as she became more annoyed.

“I’m
being practical,” Luke countered. “Darla,
think
.
We are stronger as a group.”

She
looked out to the carnage before us. “But we’re slower as a group. Speed is of
the essence. If they
are
still here,
we need to find them before they flee.”

“You’re
making a mistake.”

“It’s
not your place to say.” She turned her back on her brother and said in a very
authoritative voice, “Small groups. Don’t let your guard down. You all have a
clear idea what Gage looks like—white streak through his hair—and
the demon looks like a little girl. If you spot them, don’t engage. Come back
and report to me.” The group split into smaller
groups
and began to spread out.

Apparently
we were going to do it Darla’s way whether Luke was happy with it or not.

The
center of town was a broken and twisted ruin—it was difficult to get
enough of a bearing to begin a search for survivors. The courthouse still
burned freely, only recognizable by the partially standing columns at the top
of the stairs. Oddly colored flames rose from its center. The smoke it produced
hung low; even though it was morning, the town remained oppressively dark.

I looked at the charred remains of the huge thorn
bush that had once dominated the town square. Most of it was burned away to
ash, leaving only the largest of the vines in charred piles on the ground. A
mangled corpse could be seen here and there among the blackened, thorny limbs.
Some looked as if they’d
been used
as
pincushions—hundreds of puncture wounds across their bodies leaked blood.
A few bodies had thick thorn vines entering and exiting in disturbing
locations.

I
shivered in disgust.
Did
anyone
survive?

Luke
came up to me and covered my hands with his. He gave them a squeeze. “I need
you to stay here while I
go investigate
the tunnels.”

It
still felt absurdly odd to have Caleb’s rough hands wrapped around my own, but
this time I forced myself not to flinch away from his touch. “I want to go with
you.”

He
gave me a firm look and said, “You’re our big gun. We need you to stay back and
help protect the younger ones.” He looked over at his sister pointedly.

I
nodded before scanning the sea of bodies. “You think…” I started to say Dean’s
name first, but I caught myself—I didn’t want to spark Luke’s jealousy
and anger. “Do you think Wendy,
Mildred,
and Dean are out there amongst the dead?”

“Mildred
is powerful and Dean is hard to kill.” He gave my hand another squeeze.

Maybe Dean and Mildred survived.
But Wendy… She’s helpless. The possession rituals ravaged her mind.

As
if reading my thoughts, Luke said, “Gage needs Wendy to commune with the legion.
He won’t harm her. It’s in his best interest that she stays alive.” He turned
away from me, still grasping one of my hands, and said over his shoulder, “I’m
going to go into the tunnels now.”

“Be
careful,” I whispered.

Looking
back at the following death dealers, he said, “Keep them safe.” He let go of my
hand and walked away.

I
watched him go and then forced myself to move. I had to search among the bodies
to see if I could find my friends. If there was a possibility that they were
still alive in all of this carnage, we needed to find them and help them.

And
if they were dead, I needed to know.

I
walked over to the closest body. Careful not to touch it, I bent down and
looked closely at the remains.
Not one of
my friends.
I moved from body to body, mentally wincing as I looked at each
face.
Will I stare into lifeless eyes of
a friend this time
? I asked myself over and over again. Some of the bodies
were ripped to shreds, while others still smoldered.

Oddly,
a few looked dried and shrunken, as though all the moisture had
been sucked
out of them. I’d seen Gage suck the
power from another mage by drawing out his blood and using it to heal himself.
Did this mean that Gage was still alive? Joy and fear tumbled together in a
confused bubble in my mind. I hated that the spell still had power over me,
making me care that the monster was still alive.

One
body after another… I lost count of how many I searched through. I combed
through until I couldn’t take it anymore. My hands trembled and I fought not to
be sick. I was physically exhausted and emotionally drained, and this fight was
not over yet.

Darla
and some of her people were looking for survivors. So
far,
there
were
none. At
least not here.

I
held back a sigh of despair.
Where are
Mildred, Dean, and Wendy?
If they weren’t here, maybe they were still alive
.
Maybe others were, too. Maybe the death toll
wasn’t as high as it seemed. A good number of these victims were probably
zombies—old casualties of Gage’s insane plot. Survivors could be hiding
in the tunnels or woods. They could have left. I wasn’t sure how to feel about
that.
This had
been a gathering of evil
people, killed by the products of their
own
plans. And my friends and I had been caught up in all of it.
Dean,
Wendy,
and Mildred might still be alive.
I prayed with all my heart that it was
true.

An excited, angry yipping echoing from the
edge of the square caught my attention, and I looked up to see a pack of
coyotes fighting over the dead. My stomach turned and I forced myself to look
away. But where could I look?
I
was walking in a living nightmare.

I
knew this is what Gage wanted—death, destruction, chaos. If he had his
way, he would release a legion of demons into our world. This scene would be
repeated all over the world, chaos and violence, again and again in ever-increasing
scale. Whole towns—cities—would be destroyed, thousands of people
would die, all to feed Gage’s hunger for chaos.

* * *

I was slumped against one of the few buildings still
standing when Luke approached me.

“Did
you find anyone?” I asked without hope. I’d seen enough of the devastation
myself to know there was little chance of finding anyone alive.

His
face was dirty and drawn, showing the same strain I felt. “No. We’ve searched
the tunnels and all the underground quarters. If anyone is still alive, they
hightailed
it out of here a while ago. We
haven’t found Wendy, Dean, or Mildred among the bodies. We haven’t found Gage.
He must have made it through the battle.” He paused, looking at me to gauge my
reaction before he continued. “The demon isn’t here, either.”

Despite
my fear of the demon, my heart sank. I wanted so desperately to try and destroy
the creature. It was my fault it was loose on the world. If only I could right
the terrible
wrongs
I’d committed. If I’d
faced the demon during the battle, would I have been killed? Did Mildred save
my life by stopping me? Had she been able to get away?

And
what about Wendy? Last time I’d seen her, she’d been knocked back by Mildred’s
lightning attack and lay unconscious on the floor, surrounded by debris. I’d
tried to search the building, but it was a collapsed ruin, a broken pile of
wood and stone that stood higher than I was tall. There was no way to search it
without serious manpower and equipment. I’d called out, hoping I would hear her
cries for help if she were trapped inside the wreckage, but I was met with
nothing but silence. As far as I knew, Jacob and Wendy’s bodies still lay under
that pile of debris.

Wendy’s
words suddenly came back to me:
You will
escape. I’ve seen it. But not me
.

She knew that I would escape and
she wouldn’t,
I
realized
.
Both guilt and sadness
filled me at the thought.

And
Dean—he’d turned into a berserker. I knew his powers only lasted a short
time, and as soon as he lost those powers he would’ve been defenseless.

Where
were my friends?

Wait.

Why
hadn’t I thought of it sooner? There
was
one place I hadn’t checked. Had anyone else? I pushed myself off the wall and
started forward, picking up speed until I was running.

Luke
followed close behind me. “Where are you going?”

I
called over my shoulder. “Everyone was focused on checking the tunnels and the
big buildings. What about the smaller residences?”

I
stopped in front of the house we’d all stayed in for the past few weeks and
tried the door. Shrugging, Luke moved past me and yanked on the handle, then kicked
open the door. I rushed into the house and looked frantically around the main
room.

“Wendy?
Dean?” I called down the hall. “Are you here? Hello? Mildred?”

All
hope began to fade. The place was empty. My friends
were really gone
. They were
either laying
dead somewhere undiscovered, or
Gage had taken them.

It
was then I noticed a drop of red on the living room’s plush carpet. A trail of small
red dots led from the main room into the hallway. Sheer panic flooded through
me.
That’s blood
.

My
heart pounded as I followed the trail. The drops of blood veered off into one
of the bedrooms. I pushed open the door and my eyes settled on a piece of
broken glass just beyond the doorway, laying in a pool of blood.

Next
to the blood was a body.

A
girl with long dark hair
lay facedown
,
motionless.

My
heart stopped for a moment and my mind went blank. “Wendy?” I sank to my knees,
my voice shaking. I knew I couldn’t touch her—she would reanimate as a
zombie. “Wendy.” I sat there on the floor, frozen, unable to move as tears slid
down my face.

Luke,
who’d followed me into the room, reached down and gently turned the body over.

I
gasped in relief as I stared into a face that wasn’t Wendy’s. It was a girl I’d
seen at the rituals. Someone who I had occasionally passed in the tunnels. One
of Gage’s nameless followers.

Deep,
uneven slashes decorated her wrists. It was painstakingly obvious that someone had
sawed through her skin with the piece of broken glass.

I
wiped away my tears and looked up at Luke. He was looking off to the right, his
expression pale. I followed his gaze, and that’s when I saw the words. Big,
loopy handwriting was scrawled on the wall.

FIND
ME. SAVE ME.

WE

The
red words bled down the wallpaper. My mind flashed back to an eerily similar
scene—the asylum and the ritual room where Weatherton had written his
spells on the wall in blood.

I
forced myself to my feet and walked closer.