The Black (25 page)

I quickly turned and moved along the lake bottom to lead them out from under the boathouse. The water was
growing brighter like a murky cloud of muck was being
washed away by a rogue current. Sydney pulled away from Marsh and swam harder. Her lungs must have been screaming. Marsh grabbed her arm and pointed up. He knew they
had cleared the boathouse doors and were in open water. Sydney followed and the two of them swam for the surface. I went up too and broke out of the water at the same moment that Marsh and Sydney did. Both gasped for air.

Alive. Once out of the water, the glow from my body was gone. No problem. I didn't need to be neon anymore.

Sydney turned back to the boathouse. "My god," she said through deep breaths.

Both Marsh and I looked to see that the illusion was over. Blood no longer oozed from the cracks. All was normal.

"C'mon," Marsh said, and swam for shore. Sydney swam right behind him.

I couldn't be sure if they'd seen my glowing self or not, but I had to believe that they had. Once again I had gone against the rules and influenced events in the Light. I didn't
care. I was going to do whatever it took to protect my family and friend.

As I watched them crawl out of the water and up onto the grass, I saw that someone else was onshore. Damon stood laughing as if my friend's near-drowning was a show put on for his amusement.

I flew toward shore. Literally. Faster than I had moved before. I willed myself to be there, and in less than a second
I sped past Marsh and Sydney and slammed into Damon, hitting him and driving him off his feet. We both landed, hard, but not on the grass near the cottage.

We hit the dusty ground of Damon's vision in the Black. We were back in the ancient town square. I sat on his chest
and wailed on him, throwing punches at his face. It didn't matter that I couldn't really hurt him. My anger had taken over and I wanted him to suffer for what he had done. All he could do was throw his hands up to protect himself.

Before I ran out of gas I felt strong hands grab me from behind and pull me off. Two of Damon's soldier
buddies had come to his rescue and it took both of them to hold me back. That's how fired up I was.

"You lied!" I screamed at him. "You tried to kill them!"

Damon rolled onto his side and touched his face. I hoped he was in pain and I had added another scar to his collection. He was surprisingly calm for somebody who had just gotten the snot beaten out of him. He then looked at me and smiled, revealing his two pointed teeth.

It turned my stomach.

"You're an animal," was all I could say.

"I did not lie," he said. "I told you I would leave him alone if you helped me and you have not."

"So you tried to kill him? And my sister? What is wrong with you? How is killing them going to help you get your weapon?"

Damon stood up and casually brushed the dirt from his tunic as if nothing worse had just happened to him than getting a little messy.

"Assistance," he declared.

The soldier ran up to him and while Damon stood there with his arms out, the soldier brushed all the remaining dirt from his robe like he was a regal king and they were his slaves.

"I would not have let them die," Damon said matter-of-factly.
"At least not the boy. The girl means nothing to me."

I pulled away from one of the soldiers to try and get another shot at him. Damon didn't even flinch. The soldier was bigger than me and quickly grabbed my arm again, locking it behind my back.

"What is the point?" I screamed in anger.

"I want him to be afraid . . . to wonder when the next horrifying image might appear. It is quite the
art, you know. It is not only about what I show him but what he fears I
might
show him."

"You're just cruel," I spat.

"Cruel, and effective. When someone has been reduced to a primal state of fear and paranoia, they will do anything to make it end. To return to normal. When I believe he has reached that level of desperation, I will offer him salvation. He will be more than willing to find the poleax."

Damon strolled casually to the fountain, reached down, and scooped some water to wash his face.

"Besides," he continued, "even if he is stronger than I believe, haunting him has the added benefit of forcing you to do what I want. Though I have to admit, you have not performed as I expected."

"I found Adeipho," I said.

Damon looked genuinely surprised. "You went to his vision of
Ehalon?"

"I don't know about any
Ehalon. I went to a city. It looked like New York."

"I do not understand. You used the ear to find Adeipho and it took you to a modern city?" he asked.

"Didn't I just say that?"

He seemed genuinely surprised. It wasn't an act. Damon paced, staring at the ground, trying to understand the implication of what I was saying.

"You are certain it was him?" he asked.

"How many guys do you know with one ear and a killer sword?" I asked. "Besides, he knew you. He wants another shot at you, by the way. What did you do to piss him off like that?"

"Interesting," Damon said, thinking out loud. "That cannot be his vision. Not a modern city."

"Maybe it was the vision of one of his friends. He has plenty. They're all freaks."

"Traitors," Damon spat. "Every last one of them. None would have a modern city as their vision."

"Well, somebody does," I said. "Maybe it was the guy in charge."

Damon threw me a quick, surprised look. Again, it wasn't an act. "Adeipho does not take orders from anyone."

"Well, yeah, he does. If that guy hadn't stepped in, Adeipho would have done me with the sword."

"Who was this person?"

"Adeipho said his name is Ree."

Damon's face went blank. Then he smiled, and laughed. "Ree! Of course!"

"Who is he?" I asked.

"Someone you must deal with in order to find the crucible," Damon replied. "I should have realized. Ree is protecting it, along with Adeipho and the other traitors. We are so close."

"No, we're not," I said. "They were all over me the second I showed up. Adeipho wasn't the only one who had a black sword. Those guys are serious. When we escaped, they followed me into my own vision and attacked me."

"You must have allowed it."

"I didn't allow anything! There's something going on that doesn't fit the rules. If I go back, I'm done, so I'm not going back."

Damon ran at me, got right in my face, and growled, "You
will
go back. You will find the crucible and you will destroy it."

"I won't lie. I'm afraid of you, Damon. But those freaks? They've got it all over you. No way I'm going back."

"Then your friend will suffer for your cowardice."

"You're going to make him suffer no matter what I do. I get that now. Sorry, chief, you're on your own."

Damon stepped back from me, strode to the fountain, and grabbed his black sword from one of his warrior pals. He came right back at me and held it up, ready to swing.

"Go ahead!" I shouted. "What's the difference? Here or there. Either way I get whacked."

Damon raised the sword higher.

"Forget it," I said. "I'm done."

I braced myself, ready to be blasted into ash. Instead, Damon relaxed, lowered the sword, and put his hands on his hips.

"Oh I have chosen so well," he said with a playful smile while wagging his finger at me.

He looked around at his soldiers as if for verification. They all smiled and nodded. Of course they would have done that if he had said the moon was made of cheese. Once again, Damon had me off balance.

"I can't say much for your intellect, Foley, but you are a bold one, no doubt about that."

He nodded and the soldier let me go.

"Man, you are warped," I said while rubbing my aching arm.

He chuckled as if it were a compliment. "Crossing swords with Adeipho is dangerous, I will not deny that, but the reward is so great. Are you forgetting that if you succeed, your life would be returned?"

"But it's impossible. Going back there is suicide," I said flatly. "Find somebody else for your scavenger hunt."

Damon nodded thoughtfully. "What if I could turn the odds in your favor?" he asked. "What if I
could make the impossible . . . possible. Would that change your mind?"

"There's no way you can do that," I said.

Damon tossed his black sword down at my feet. The deadly weapon landed in the dust, inches from me. It wasn't a threat. He was giving it to me.

"As you have seen," he said, "you do not have to be an expert swordsman for it to be effective."

Giving up that sword was the last thing I expected him to do. No, the last thing I expected was for him to give it up . . . to me.

"You're not serious," I said.

"I am," he replied. "The question is, how serious are you? Are you willing to fight for your life?"

I knelt down to pick up the sword. Damon's warriors made a move to stop me but Damon held up his hands,
freezing them. He wasn't kidding. He wanted me to have it. I grabbed the handle and lifted it from the dirt, surprised to find that it wasn't heavy. Instead of a cumbersome weapon, it was more like a graphite tennis racquet. It didn't even seem strong enough to physically damage anything, but physical damage wasn't what this sword was about. The thing was deadly.

And it was mine.

I looked to Damon and he held his hands out as if in surrender.

"I know what you are thinking," he said. "It would be so easy. One thrust and I would be gone. But along with me would go your one and only chance of retrieving your past life. What is more important to you? Destroying me and insuring that your friend will no longer be haunted? Or the promise of returning to your previous life? Those
are your choices, Foley. Which is more important? Your friend's life? Or yours?"

I hated this guy.

But he was wrong. There was a third choice. If I got my life back, it would mean that Damon had succeeded and he would have no reason to haunt Marsh. I could have it all. The ticket was in my hands. I held the power to destroy a spirit. Forever. Would I have the guts to use it?

I wanted the chance to find out.

"If you're lying to me," I said. "I'll use this on you." Damon smiled. He didn't feel threatened in the least. "I knew you would make the smart decision," he said. He was right about me. I was ready to fight. And the
sad truth was that I was no better than he was. I would do
anything to get what I wanted.

And I wanted to live again.

19

I left Damon's vision and returned to my own.

I needed time to plan my next move before stepping right back into the fire. Having the sword gave me confidence.

My goal was clear. I had to find that golden crucible and either break it or bring it back to
Damon. What wasn't as clear was how to do it. First I had to find it, which was going to be tough enough. But I also had to try and avoid Adeipho and whoever else was protecting it. It didn't seem likely that I could enter Adeipho's vision, find the crucible, steal it, and then blast out of there without tangling with at least one of them.

One way or another, I was in for a fight.

Maybe I was kidding myself, but I believed I could do it. There weren't many things I've failed at. I guess you could say I'd lived a charmed life, even factoring in my untimely
death on Thistledown Lake. That was a total fluke. If I'd known that Damon was out to get me, I'd never have let my guard down. That wasn't going to happen again.

I hated doing anything to help that guy, but when I balanced it out, I decided it was worth it. Was he lying about giving me my life back? Maybe. But if he wasn't, I'd be kicking myself for all eternity. What I was risking was my own life. Or spirit. I could be destroyed. Forever. But the hope of getting my life back made it worthwhile. If I was going down, I was going down swinging.

I decided not to tell Gramps or Maggie about what I was going to do. Gramps would have tried to stop me and Maggie would have wanted to come.

I stood in front of my home in the Black and looked at the house I grew up in. Or my vision of it. For a brief moment I wondered if I would ever see it again. I quickly pushed that doubt away. Doubt was bad. I wanted no part of it. Never did. Didn't want to start. I was going to see that house again but for real. In the Light.

I grasped the handle of the sword that was tied to my belt with a leather strap. With my other hand I touched the shriveled ear through the material of my jeans and visualized Adeipho. The colored swirl of smoke appeared in front of me. I took a step forward . . .

And found myself back on the same city street where Maggie and I landed before. It was Adeipho's vision after all, whether I understood it or not.