Chapter 25
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
My throat was raw as I roared.
Auggie’s head slumped back, blood soaking the front of his shirt, oozing out around the hilt of the dagger buried in his chest. His lifeblood ran down his arms and dripped onto the hard-packed earth.
Shock rocked my body as I watched Auggie’s soul leave his body, a butterfly with iridescent wings that attempted to fly up into the sky, as if to reach the blood moon, but was instead sucked toward the Ice Queen, disappearing into her chest.
The Ice Queen’s body convulsed momentarily before she gasped.
She laughed as she gazed at her hands. She swept them out before her and a trail of ice crystals fell from her like dust. I could feel the cold radiating from her from where I stood, yards away, even colder than the ice wrapping around me, holding me prisoner.
“It’s … more than I could have ever dreamed,” the Ice Queen proclaimed, laughing, her breath leaving her mouth in a steam of cold. “Oh, Mistress, I wonder if you even know what you’ve gifted me this day.”
A dark shimmering portal suddenly appeared before the witch, and the Ice Queen paused for a moment. “Very well,” she said. She looked back at me. “It’s your lucky day, witch. You get another reprieve. My mistress calls, and I’m afraid Hell won’t freeze over on its own.”
I struggled against my bonds. My arms had melted a tiny portion of ice at the front of my body, but it would be too long before it was of any use. “I’ll kill you,” I promised her.
“And I have no doubt you will try,” she said, putting a hand over her heart. “It really is valiant of you.” She blew me a kiss, then disappeared into the portal.
The red hue fell away from everything as the height of the blood moon’s power abated, leaving all around me still and dark and quiet.
I stared at the body of the boy I’d loved.
Loved. Yes, that had been the feeling that had been creeping over me for days. He’d somehow found a spot inside my dead heart for his roots to bury themselves, growing until he’d been helplessly intertwined.
And now he was gone. He would never know how I felt about him, the impact he’d had, and would continue to have, on my life. All I had now was impotent rage, the potential that had simmered between us cooling, just as his body would.
I’d failed him. I’d failed everyone.
I screamed into the night. Screamed until I imagined even the heavens felt my anguish.
But there was nothing to be done for it. Auggie was gone.
“No!”
I turned to see Lexi run into the town square, making for me. Then her eyes found Auggie, and she changed direction. I wanted to tell her that it was too late, but I couldn’t summon the strength. I felt empty inside, as numb within as my body exposed to the ice.
Freya was suddenly at my side, hacking at the ice. I hardly noticed when it gave way, freeing me. I swayed on my feet so that she had to prop me up. “What happened?”
I swallowed hard. “She killed him. The Ice Queen. Auggie is …”
Freya shook her head wordlessly, staring at Lexi’s back where she’d dropped before Auggie. Therese was there as well, I realized, kneeling beside Lexi, eyes fixed on the motionless figure. After a minute, Freya said, “I should never have left you.”
“I thought I could …” my throat closed on itself. An emptiness was settling over me like a black hole pulling everything toward it, inevitable, final, leaving nothing behind.
“I can’t keep his body alive forever,” Lexi said. “But I can hold it for a time.”
What?
“What are you saying?” Freya demanded.
Lexi explained, “He’s still alive. A person can live for several minutes after their soul leaves their body. You told me that once, Callum.”
I had said that. I’d seen it, after I’d taken the souls of Lucifer’s victims to him.
But … did she mean … ? I stumbled out of Freya’s arms and walked to Lexi’s side as if in a dream.
A flicker of hope ignited within me as I fell to her side, staring down at Auggie.
He looked dead to me, but he also looked as if he was …
sleeping. A warm glow beneath Lexi’s hand seemed to be funneling life into Auggie’s chest. Her other hand held onto Therese, the glow flowing from her supporting Lexi’s power. “He’s alive?”
Lexi glanced at me with a tight smile. “I have to be in a constant state of healing him or his body will die. But I managed to close his wounds and rebuild his blood supply. It’s taking a lot out of me, and I can’t keep it up for long, but …”
“We’ll keep it up for as long as we must,” Therese said resolutely, mouth set. “I’ll spare all the energy I need to.”
My chest felt fuzzy with gratitude. I put a hand on Therese’s back. “I’m glad you’re here,” I told her.
She smiled. “I know. You always pretend you don’t want me around, but I know that you need me, Mr. Witch.”
My hand trembled as I removed it from her. My eyes were misting over, despite myself. I turned to Lexi. “I can go to Hell. I can retrieve Auggie’s soul. I can return it to his body and he’ll … be okay?”
“In theory?” Lexi answered. “I’m not sure. I’ve never worked with souls before. But you have. Maybe between the two of us we can find a way.”
Okay. I could do this. It was a long shot, but it was better than nothing. All I had to do was go to Hell and wrench Auggie’s soul from the Ice Queen, who was now a thousand times stronger than she’d been when she’d defeated me only moments earlier.
I could do this. I had to do this. It was my only option. I stared at Auggie’s eyelids, those beautiful eyelashes. “Hold on for me,” I told him. “I’ll never forgive you if you don’t.” I paused. “In fact, it would be very selfish of you to let go. Do you hear me? Selfish!”
Therese told me, “Well, he wouldn’t like that.”
“No, he wouldn’t,” I agreed. “Which is why he will do what he can to stay.”
I turned to Freya. “Can you open a portal to Hell?”
Freya hesitated. “No. I’ve never been there.” She gestured to the demons trapped in ice around us. “But one of them could bring us there, right?”
I frowned, recalling Samuel’s words from earlier.
“No. Only specific demons can open portals to Hell. I could open a portal myself, but I wouldn’t make any headway once there.
I’d be lost. We need someone who can guide us to Lucifer, or there’s no point in going.
” I didn’t add that any souls who went with me would simply slip out from their bodies as we stepped into Hell, as had happened to Ambrosia.
Lucifer’s spell to deposit souls into Hell didn’t extend to anyone else.
And we really did not need any more complications tonight.
“We’re a coven now,” Lexi reminded me. “We can summon a demon. One that can bring you to Hell.”
I pursed my lips. “And I know exactly which one to ask for.”
It was ten minutes later when a pentagram had been drawn in chalk along the ground. Candles had been lit at each point, and blood from each of us had been drizzled over the center. I created a circle of salt around our blood and nodded, satisfied. Now, I only needed to invoke the demon.
I lifted my arms toward the sky. “Oh, denizens of Hell,” I said, projecting strength into my voice. “The children of the night call upon you for aid. Thy services are required.”
The flames of the candles flared momentarily before retreating back to the wicks.
“I requirere praesidio ad inferos.” I proceeded. “I vocare te!”
The candles blazed once more, brighter than before, and then blinked out all at once. Freya grunted as the power from the spell sapped her strength to energize it, since I no longer had any to give.
The scent of sulfur permeated the air. A figure appeared in the center of the pentagram within the confines of the salt circle.
I smiled. “Hello, Samuel.”
Samuel stared at me with those lidless eyes. “Oh, hello, Callum.”
“I see you found another body to occupy.”
Samuel nodded. “Oh, yes. There are many to choose from to occupy in Hell. Sometimes I itch for an excuse to inhabit a new one, and get flayed once more. That horrible witch gave me just that.” He tilted his head. “Did you see what she did to me? Positively pulverized my head.”
“Yes, I’m sorry about that.”
“Sorry?” Samuel barked out a laugh. “It was the most wondrous experience I’ve had in my many, many years. I wish I had the chance to do it again.”
I shifted uneasily on my feet. “Yes, well, you’ll have the chance much sooner than you’d think. I need you to bring me back to Hell with you to visit the Ice Queen, you see.”
Samuel stared at me again. “You betrayed the master.”
“No, no, no,” I said, putting up my hands in a placating gesture.
“I’m still in his service. I have three tasks to complete for him still.
What I said before was just a simple misunderstanding.
That Ice Queen is working for the rival of your master’s.
I need to stop her to protect him.” When Samuel didn’t respond, I continued. “Do you understand?”
Samuel sighed. “Very well. But if the master flays you alive, it’s me who gets to devour your soul.”
“Deal.”
Samuel held out a bloody hand, and I grimaced as I grasped it, feeling every fleshy muscle as I shook it. “Then it is done,” Samuel said. “Follow me.”
A portal appeared at his back. The scent of sulfur was much stronger now, so thick that it nearly gagged me.
I nodded to Freya, who walked up to the portal with me.
I paused on the threshold to look back at Lexi and Therese, who hadn’t left Auggie’s side.
Lexi smiled up at me weakly, a soft golden glow between her hand and Auggie’s chest.
I hoped I saw her again. I hoped I saw Therese again as well.
“Good luck, Mr. Witch,” Therese offered. I nodded back.
My eyes dropped to Auggie, and my jaw hardened.
I put a hand on Freya’s shoulder, and we stepped through the portal, as one.