Chapter 30
The light coming through the rift was bright and red and orange. Dylan could make out shadowy figures moving on the other side, but there were no details. No real shapes, just dark frames against the brightness. He realized the light was moving, and it was fire, a fire so big he couldn’t see its beginning or end through the rift, and he wondered if this was what it was like to see into the bowels of hell.
One shadow, the largest, stepped forward, getting closer to the opening as it grew.
Dylan trusted the wards. He looked past the rift but couldn’t see anyone. They’d. gotten inside. That was good. That was… the door swung open. He could hear Johnny screaming something, the words lost in the buzz. It was getting louder. He realized it wasn’t a buzzing sound at all. It was the roar of the flames. The sound of a battle.
The figure growled and its eyes glowed red. “Coates!” Dylan’s mind raced. He couldn’t move. If he did, Johnny would be in the crosshairs. Something inside him screamed to be let out. He stared into the maw. Into the red eyes of the beast on the other side, and his body felt as if it would explode.
“You can’t hide behind your pretty wards forever. Did you make those yourself? Or did the Tiresians help you? I smell their foul stench even now.” There was a beat of silence. “The old man made them. I can smell the anger. The fury. The fear behind them.”
Dylan glared at him. At it. He wouldn’t let himself be goaded into doing something stupid. Towards the end, Derek had done that and turned some of their mutual friends against him. Never again. He knew he had to be careful. He had to be smart. “Who are you? What is all of this? I don’t know what’s going on.” He hoped the beast couldn’t smell the lie. He wondered how much of it really was a lie. How much did he know, and of that, how much was accurate? He took a deep breath and yelled, “What the fuck is going on?”
The beast twitched its head. The rift had stretched big enough to walk through. Dylan prayed the wards would be enough. If they weren’t, it was almost close enough to grab and pull him through. Then it laughed . It started as a low rumble that grew into cruel laughter. Dylan glanced to the side, making sure his path was clear in case he had to dive out of the way. “Don’t play games with me, boy. I know the old man is dead. I can feel his magic fading. Soon, we’ll be able to come to you. Why don’t you just save us the trouble and give yourself to us now? I promise your death will be quick and painless. The Coates must end with you. Your magic must die before my people can control the gates. That’s all I ask.”
The sound coming through the portal was evening out, no longer deafening. He heard the door slam shut again and saw Gabriel. This thing didn’t know about his mother. It didn’t know about Tinah or his mamaw. It didn’t know about Gabriel. But it would slaughter them if it got through. Rage boiled through him, and he felt a surge of power, but it wasn’t coming from him. Part of him wanted to throw fire and ice, wind and stone toward the creature, but he doubted his control. He heard Johnny behind him saying the rift had to close. It was too unstable; the ones opening it too weak to keep it up, and if Dylan was pulled through, they might not be able to get to him. Dylan looked up at Gabriel, and God, he was glowing . Dylan heard a whisper in the wind. We’re here. We’ve got you, son. Always here. This is our land. Generations of Coates have lived and died here. Trust it. Trust yourself. He dropped to his knees, his hands touching the grass. His fingers digging into the earth below it. Tendrils of magic grazed his fingertips. He pushed deeper. Gabriel nodded, his nostrils flared.
Dylan shouted. “I am Dylan Coates. I am my father’s son. You are not welcome here.” He listened to the earth, letting it guide him. He had no idea what he was doing, but he trusted the wards and Homer’s magic.
There was something there, deep within the earth. He could feel it, he could hear it in his head. He didn’t know what it was, but he felt the wards shift. His head flew up, and he saw Gabriel close his eyes. A roar started in the back of his mind, and it was building. This wasn’t like the roar of the fire through the rift. This was a river. A river of magic was flowing through him, as if he had completed a circuit. Gabriel seemed to hear it too, and jumped into the grass, mirroring Dylan’s position behind the rift.
The roar grew to a crescendo, and the rift vanished. It didn’t close slowly like the small ones had done before. It imploded in a flash that was swallowed by darkness. Dylan didn’t move. The roar in his head faded, but there was still something there. A pulse. A heartbeat. The wards. He could feel them. He could hear them in his head. Gone, they whispered. His mind flooded with words and symbols he couldn’t comprehend. His head dropped, his eyes closed. The wards were talking to him, and it was nothing and it was everything. He tried to express his gratitude to them. He felt something shift, as if they were settling peacefully down after a long fight, much longer than this one incident. A hand on his shoulder, then another and another, and another. When the fifth hand rested on him, his head jerked up, and he was on his feet, ready to fight. Johnny was there, inside the wards.
“How?”
“I can still feel them, kid. I think you changed them. They know I’m here to help.” Johnny’s voice was rough, as if he’d screamed his vocal cords raw. “I wasn’t sure before, but now I know. You can save us. All of us.”
Dylan sighed, his voice unsteady. “What do we need to do?”