Yuletide (Matilda Kavanagh Novels Book 3) (20 page)

He was finished singing. He roared, the sound loud enough to knock me over had I not been sitting on the ground. As it was, I had to cover my ears and duck my head, a whimper pushing through my clenched teeth. A force struck me somewhere in the middle, nearly making me topple over. I opened my eyes to see Krampus reeling back and rushing my circle again. Wordless, animalistic noises fell from him with every unsuccessful blow. His fists pounded against the shield, the flames scorching his hands and filling the air with the stench of burning flesh and fur.

Every blow against my shield was a strike against me. My body shook with the effort to keep my shield and circle in place as he hit me, pain reverberating through my connection. I groaned as my stomach burned. I didn’t dare look down, for fear that the sight of any wounds would weaken my resolve.

He was going to break my circle and take what little power I had left. My fingers ached with the need to do something, to use power to protect myself, but I just didn’t have enough. I held my breath and steeled myself against the coming pain as Krampus threw himself at my circle again. My teeth chattered, and my head ached.

Carefully, I got to my feet, clutching the canister of Black Salt in both hands. I’d set the quintessence bottle on the black bag, hoping it would be safe there until I needed it. My jagged nails fit under the lid of the canister, ready to pry it off. As soon as I threw the salt, my circle would fall, and I would be face to face with the monster of my childhood. I repeated the spell over and over in my head—I would only have one chance to get it right. If I stumbled over even one syllable, all would be lost.

Krampus pounded against my circle of power. I took half a step back to steady myself. I was starting to see spots as my body rattled with effort and pain. The lid of the canister started to slide off, the scent of the salt drifting out to mix with the stench of burning flesh. I would succeed or die—I just prayed either was quick.

“Enough.”

The word reverberated around us, buffeting my ears and making me duck as though a cloud of bats had swarmed me. Krampus froze, his fist still raised, his mouth twisted into an ugly snarl, but his eyes had gone completely blank. The word hadn’t been yelled, but it held the power of the ages, and I found myself wanting to drop to one knee.

Krampus blinked and met my eyes. He towered over me, but in that moment when his eyes met mine, I saw a scared little child.

The sound of cloth sliding on rock slithered through the silence. Power radiated behind me, pressing at my back. In the next moment, Krampus fell back as though struck, and a gust of energy went through my circle, though it didn’t fall, thank all the gods.

Since Krampus was no longer beating against my circle, I found that I could breathe again, and the pain in my core abated. But I was sure, more than anything in my life, more than my five-year-old-self knew there was a monster in the closet, that I did not want to turn around. I did not want to know who was walking up behind me. I did not want to know who’d spoken that one word that had stopped a raging monster.

But I had to look.

With more courage than I thought I had left, I turned, the canister in my hands nearly forgotten. Standing at the edge of the bridge leading into the mouth of the Underworld was a goddess. Great and terrible, her long black hair hung around her face like curtains or raven’s wings. Her grey robes, tattered and worn, hung from her bony shoulders. A gust of wind rippled the hem of her robes, and I saw her long, grey toes. In one gnarled hand was a black staff that bore her weight. Though she seemed frail and wizened, I felt power radiating off her.

Krampus shifted behind me, but I dared not look at him. In the presence of the goddess of the Underworld, he seemed so trivial. He stepped forward. I could just see him out of the corner of my eye, and he tilted his head in an almost-bow. He spoke just one word.

“Mother.”

Chapter 22

Hel, goddess of the Underworld, stood before us. Her power was like nothing I had ever felt, and I knew I never would again. Though her power passed through my circle without breaking it, I knew that was by her will alone. If she wanted to, she could break my circle and let her son rip me to shreds.

And that was exactly what I was waiting for.

I clutched my canister of Black Salt, feeling the cool metal become warm under my sweaty hands.

I couldn’t understand how she was standing there, in front of me. It was said that once anyone—even a god—crossed the river of the Underworld, they could never, ever leave. How then was she standing there, her deep black eyes staring at us across the river?

Though my mind raced with questions and screamed at me to break my circle and run, I couldn’t look away from her eyes. They peered out of her sallow face, completely black with no irises, no pupils, and not even a sliver of white. Looking into her eyes was like looking into the mouth of Hell, and I felt myself pitching forward, threatening to fall forever.

“Mother,” Krampus said again, daring to step forward.

“Enough,” she said again, the word hitting us both.

But it was her hand, raised casually so that her sleeve belled at her elbow, that stopped Krampus. Her power struck him, and he collapsed to his knees, his arms around his waist and his head bowed forward as a whimper of pain escaped him. My jaw dropped, and I managed to look away from the goddess at her son on the ground. Her power was so infinite, so pure, she used no effort in controlling it.

“Mother, I beg you,” Krampus said, his voice strained under Hel’s power.

Her hand was still in front of her, the power emanating from it holding him on his knees. He lifted his face and held out his hands, begging her, but Hel would not relent.

“It is finished, my son.” She was almost whispering, but her voice filled the world around us—even the flames of my circle flickered under the weight of it.

I thought I’d been struggling under Krampus’s rage, but that was nothing compared to this. I had never wanted to meet a god, and now I knew that I was right about that.

“No,” Krampus said, his voice weaker. “No, I have my power again. The children, they believe again. I can be what I once was. Please, let me finish this.”

“You are broken,” she said. “You will never be what you once were. A handful of terrified children will not bring my son back to me. This is finished. It is better that we end it now. If you continue on, you will lose everything, even your legend.”

Krampus opened his mouth to argue, but something about her words stopped him. His mouth opened and closed, but no words came. His eyes were wide and pleading and, to my great surprise, filling with tears. A small part of me pitied him.

“But I have brought her here for you, my greatest tribute,” he said, flinging one arm out to indicate me, effectively destroying that little bit of pity I’d found for him.

I wanted to rip his tongue from his throat.

“I am no longer interested in your tributes and offerings. My son died a long time ago, trapped in a mountain by mortals.”

“No.” He shook his head.

I heard the note of anger in his voice. It was a spark of heat that changed that simple word into a curse. He got to his feet, grunting and struggling against her power, but he was standing again.

“Yes,” she said.

That was all the warning she would give me, but her intent washed over me. I was ready. Her hand cut through the air and sent a gust of power through my shield and over my body, filling me. Power flooded my body so that I became electrified—bolts of power flashed all over me, almost lifting me off the ground.

“No,” Krampus snarled, facing me as I broke my circle with a thought.

The blue flames lifted into the air and flickered out, leaving nothing but space between the broken monster and me.

“Yes.” My voice echoed in the endless cavern thanks to the power of his mother, making him flinch.

He roared, and I felt him drawing in the energy around him. I saw his muscles bunching together, and I knew exactly when he was going to launch himself at me. When his cloven feet left the ground, I unleashed my power. Bolts of lightning struck him, stealing the scream in his throat and holding him in the air.

I didn’t remember doing it, but the lid of the canister was off. I threw the Black Salt into the air and it caught on the wind of my power, surrounding the frozen demigod.

“
Irritum corporis, anima separata
.” I spoke the incantation easily, my voice reverberating and striking Krampus.

This time, he did scream. Through the cloud of black crystals, I watched his body break, shattering into millions of pieces and becoming nothing more than ash and dust.

I had the bottle in my hand, the red wax cork in the other, and I spoke the final line of the spell, “
Alligant autem spiritu
.”

Time froze. The black crystals hung suspended in the air as the blood in my veins stopped. I held on to the power with every fiber of my being, concentrating, hearing my voice echo, on and on, never dying.

When time started again, it was with an explosion that rocked all three worlds.

The cloud of Black Salt and lightning died with the sound of sand on stone. The bottle in my hand was warm to the touch and corked again. It radiated with energy—Krampus’s spirit was trapped inside.

My hands shook as I gripped the neck of the bottle, wrapping one hand around the top of it. The wax was warm, and I whispered, “
Signo contineo
.” As the spell took hold, the wax cooled and hardened under my hand.

Slowly, I became aware of my surroundings again—the stone floor under my bare feet, the heat of Helheim whipping around me, the goddess standing silently, watching me. I clutched the bottle to my chest, terrified that she would demand it. If she did, I could do nothing to keep her from it. Especially not in her own domain. The mortals of my world may have many names for her, but they all still believed in the ruler of the Underworld, giving Hel more power than most gods.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered, not sure what else to say. I wasn’t a mother, and I couldn’t wrap my head around the idea of sacrificing your child.

Hel did not speak, her dark eyes holding mine. She lifted her hand again. A gust of power blasted through the air, nearly knocking me to the ground. Light flooded the cavern, and gasps and screams hit me from behind. I turned, still clutching the bottle, to see the portal she had created for me. Beyond the flickering light was my apartment, full of people.

Ronnie rushed to the front, standing just inside the portal, and stared at me. Her face was pale so that her freckles stood out in stark relief. Though she dared not step through the portal, she did hold out her hand, reaching to pull me through.

I turned back for one last look at the first and probably last god I would ever see, but the stone bridge was empty. The only proof that anything at all had happened was the dull Black Salt scattered on the ground. Not even a scrap of cloth marked the spot where Krampus had stood. Even his bag was gone.

“Mattie?”

Ronnie’s voice was weak and scared, but it tugged at me. Holding the bottle to my chest, I turned toward her voice, toward my home. When I passed through the portal, the power washed over me like electrified water, making every nerve in my body burn, but somehow it didn’t hurt. My feet touched the cool hardwood, and the portal collapsed behind me with a gentle gust of wind.

Chapter 23

There were too many bodies in my apartment. I clutched the bottle to my chest, terrified to drop it and release the spirit inside. Everyone rushed forward, all talking at the same time and making my head spin. Three cops, including Knoll, were asking me questions, and two others were prodding the wall behind me, looking for a way to reopen the portal, as if they just needed to push a button.

All I could do was blink at them.

So many voices became buzzing noise in my ears, and my legs shook. I might’ve stopped blinking at some point because Ronnie looked at me as if she wasn’t sure anyone was awake in my head. She had a blanket and draped it around my shoulders, sliding her arm around me to guide me to the couch.

I sat heavily on the soft cushions. After being dumped so many times on the cold stone floor of the Underworld, the sofa felt strange. I pushed at one cushion with one hand while cradling the bottle with the other.

“Mattie?”

Ronnie’s voice cut through the din of voices, and I looked at her. My face felt tight, as if it was pinched and I couldn’t relax it.

“Mattie?”

“Yes,” I said, making sure I pronounced the word exactly right.

“Are you okay?”

The other voices dropped off, one by one, as everyone waited for my answer. I blinked, looking from Ronnie’s worried face to the sea of others. Among them was Frankie, standing in the back with her arms crossed under her ample chest. She was dressed in a blue silk kimono and her hair was a pretty shade of peacock blue. She didn’t look as angry as she normally did, and I appreciated how big and lovely her eyes really were when her brow wasn’t drawn down in a scowl. I realized I was smiling at her when she tilted her head.

“Mattie?”

Ronnie’s voice brought my attention back to her, and I looked into her round green eyes. “Yes, I’m fine. What are you all doing here? How did you know I was gone?”

“Artemis came to my window,” Frankie said, surprising me.

“Not to yours?” I asked Ronnie. She shook her head, and I thought she looked a little hurt. “Probably just because of Pumpkin.”

Ronnie’s face cleared, and she chuckled lightly.

“Figured something was really wrong if he came to my apartment, you know?” Frankie said.

“Mattie, we need to talk,” Knoll said.

I wouldn’t look at him. I leaned toward Ronnie and whispered, “Make these people leave, please.”

“Oh, uh…” Ronnie blinked and looked around at the police. Something in her face told me my whisper wasn’t exactly quiet.

“Mattie?” Detective Knoll stepped forward, phone in his one hand and stylus in the other. “We need to ask you some questions.”

“No,” I said, shaking my head. “You don’t. Ronnie, please make them leave.” I made sure to whisper that last part.

She sat next to me on the couch, taking my hand. She looked uncomfortable.

“Mattie, listen—” Knoll started again.

I looked away from him. “Artie!”

I knew the moment he walked into the room because I felt his presence. Knoll seemed to know better than to press me while the black feline slinked through the forest of legs, jumped onto the back of the couch, and walked across to drop into my lap. He curled up into a fluffy black ball and closed his eyes. I felt my aura shifting with his. Though Hel had given me back my powers and energy, something strange was happening to me. It felt good to have my familiar.

“Maybe this isn’t the time,” Ronnie said gently.

“I’m sorry, but I have a job to do,” Knoll said.

“No.” I pulled my hand out of Ronnie’s to run it over Artie’s thick fur. “You have a family you need to get home to.”

Knoll closed his mouth and shifted from foot to foot. I was being uncooperative in front of a bunch of subordinates, making him lose control of the situation. That couldn’t look good for him.

I blew out a breath, making my lips vibrate with a funny noise. “Your job is done. Krampus is dead.”

The silence that fell over the apartment was thick and heavy. I almost reached out to see if I could feel the silence.

“Dead,” Knoll repeated, staring at me.

“Dead.” Nudging Artie off my lap, I stood, letting the blanket fall to the couch. Artie blinked his big yellow eyes at me, but I just turned and walked to the bookcase by the front door.

The officers parted around me like water around a rock. I wasn’t sure if they were afraid to touch me or if I was actually pushing them out of my way, but either way, I was glad they weren’t trying to stop me. I felt a strange tingling sensation in my arm and a small ache forming behind my eyes. I made a place for the bottle on the top shelf, pushing it between two stacks of books to make sure it wouldn’t accidently get knocked off and shatter. Stepping back, I looked at it. For one moment, I thought I saw something inside staring at me.

“What’s in the bottle, Mattie?” Knoll was right behind me. I hadn’t even heard him walk up.

“Nothing.”

“Mattie…” he said as though he didn’t believe me.

“Nothing.”

I turned to face the room at large, but Knoll started to reach over my head to grab the bottle. I didn’t mean to do it, but in the time it took me to blink, my hand shot out, full of kinetic power, and grabbed his wrist. Knoll grunted in pain as the bolt of power went through him, freezing him with our arms raised in the air. I heard guns being drawn and Ronnie muffling a cry.

“You have no right to be in my apartment and no right to touch my things,” I said.

Knoll’s lips parted in surprise, and his eyes were wide enough that I could see the whites all around his irises. My fingers flexed on his wrist, making him feel the power in my hand, before I let go. Something in me told me that with the boost of power Hel had given me, I could have sent a bolt of power through his arm strong enough to stop his heart. If I wanted to.

“Dead, you say,” Knoll said, trying to make his voice sound normal.

I nodded. He pulled out his phone and tapped the screen until his stylus was poised, waiting for me to explain. The cops around us holstered their guns, and their confusion was palpable.

“Yes,” I said. “He attempted to kidnap me because of the children we saved. He tried to take me into the Underworld, but his mother, Hel, stopped him.”

“Hell?” Knoll asked, furrowing his brow.

“Hell is your word for the Underworld. Hel is the goddess who reigns over Helheim. Or Hell if it’s easier for you.”

Knoll just blinked. After a moment, he clicked his phone off and put it into his pocket.

“Anyway, she killed him, not me. He was a demigod, so I don’t think I could’ve killed him if I’d tried. But he’s gone, and that’s all that matters.”

Knoll cleared his throat and straightened his tie, but the knot had been pulled so many times, he couldn’t get it straight. Looking at the other cops in the room, he pursed his lips and nodded. “Boys, I think we’d all like to try to spend a little bit of the holiday with our families. Let’s get out of here.”

Though they still looked completely confused, no one argued with him, and they filed out of my apartment. I held onto the door, watching them crowd into the hallway in front of the elevator.

Knoll stopped and faced me. “I don’t know what happened to you, but I’m sure whatever you did, it was nothing Althea could have done. And I think the world probably owes you thanks.”

“Merry Christmas, Knoll,” I said, giving him a tired smile.

“Merry Christmas, Mattie. Get some rest. I think you may be going into shock.” With that, he turned and joined the others in the elevator.

When I closed the door, I found Ronnie, Joey, and Frankie still in my living room. Joey ran forward and threw her thin arms around my waist, smushing her cheek to mine. I found it wet with tears.

Patting her back, I said, “I’m okay. It’s all over.”

“Really?” Frankie’s yellow eyes caught the light coming through the windows. It was so strange to see my apartment lit by the sun.

“Really,” I said with a nod.

Frankie’s shoulders fell, and she ran her hands over her face, taking a deep, relieved breath.

“Did Hel really kill her own son?” Ronnie asked as I rejoined her on the couch.

Frankie sat in my recliner, and Joey sat on the arm of the couch, watching us with her wide lavender eyes. I told them everything, except for the part about trapping Krampus’s spirit in the bottle. I figured the fewer people who knew about that, the better.

When I was done, Ronnie went into the kitchen to get me a revitalization elixir. “Last one,” she said as I drank the whole thing.

“It’s fine.” The tingling sensation in my arms faded, and the sharp edge of pain behind my eyes became dull. “I can make more.”

The three women made their way to my front door, and I caught Frankie and Ronnie staring at the bottle.

“Good thing Hel didn’t leave a way for him to ever come back,” Frankie said, dropping her eyes to meet mine.

“Yep, good thing.” I didn’t flinch, and I didn’t worry about her smelling the lie on my words.

After a moment, Frankie nodded. “Thanks, Mattie.” She turned and walked out, the hem of her kimono snapping at her heels.

The one good thing that had come from Krampus’s reign of terror was the fledgling friendship between the she-wolf and me. It wasn’t the way I would have liked for it to happen, but I couldn’t regret that.

“Get some sleep,” Ronnie said. “Dinner and fire at my parents’ house at eleven, okay?”

“Okay,” I said with a nod.

Joey hugged me again. “I’m so sorry.”

“What are you sorry for?” I asked, pushing her back so I could look her in the eye.

Tears were shimmering there, and she was trying desperately not to let them fall. “Because I thought all of this was so cool and fun, and I was totally stupid about it.”

“You were not,” I said, making sure she met my eyes.

“Yes, I was. Those kids, they might have died, and here I was going to concerts and laughing about it.”

“Joey, you didn’t know. No one did.” She was shaking her head, so I pulled her close again and hugged her tight. “It all turned out okay, and that’s all that matters.”

“I guess,” she whispered against my shoulder.

“You’re learning, right?”

“Right.”

“Don’t beat yourself up about it. You helped fix everything.”

“I guess.”

“Hey.” I pushed her back and looked her in the eye again. “I mean it. You helped, and everything is okay. That’s all that matters in the end. Okay?”

Her lips were pressed into a tight line, but after a moment, she nodded and tried to smile. I told her to go, and she dashed after Ronnie, meeting her in the tiny elevator. I close the door, set the freezing spell after locking the locks, and faced my apartment. Ronnie must’ve broken my darkness spell, but with all the twinkle lights and fire out, my living room didn’t look so merry.

I wouldn’t be able to do it for much longer, but using the boost of power from a goddess, I waved my hand, and all the blinds and curtains fell closed. With another wave, the lights on the tree came to life. With a thought, my heatless flame flickered to life in the fake fireplace, glittering in a lovely silver.

Still in my pajamas, I walked over to the couch and pulled Artie into my lap. I covered us with the blanket. With one last wave, the stereo came on, and a holiday carol played. Thankfully it wasn’t “Santa Claus is Coming to Town.”

***

Hours later, I woke on the couch, my face creased from the pillows. Artie stared at me, waiting for food. All I wanted to do was take a shower, put on fresh pajamas, make some pasta, and stay on the couch with my fluffy cat, but I knew no one would let me get out of spending the holiday with my extended family.

It would take more than a trip through the washing machine to get the stench of sulfur out of my pajamas, and I had to shampoo three times to get it out of my hair. I spooned some tuna into a bowl for Artie so he could eat while I got ready.

A message from Ronnie on my phone let me know that the gathering had been moved to her apartment. She didn’t want to spend even more time away from Pumpkin, and she thought having him around while we celebrated might help their bond grow and make up for the missed time over the last couple days.

I was actually really grateful for the change. Being so close to home made the idea of going out less daunting. Once I was dressed and had my gifts nestled in a hand basket, I made Artie come with me upstairs. He put up a fight about it, knowing Pumpkin would be there, but I didn’t want to be away from him yet either.

Though I was glad I wasn’t going to Ronnie’s parents’ house, where the rest of her family was sure to be, I wasn’t sure that I wanted to be around anyone at all. I’d had more than a rough week, my perfect holiday stolen from me with nightmares and claws. But everyone was making such an effort for me that there was no way I could get out of going. I just had to screw on a smile and try my hardest to get back the holiday that I wanted.

The gathering in Ronnie’s apartment was a small affair, for which my nerves were grateful. It was just Ronnie and Spencer, her parents, Joey, me, two cats, and one tiny dragon. Joey had spent the day with her parents. She’d never spent a Christmas in Havencrest and was excited to see what we did.