14. Chapter 14
Chapter fourteen
U sing Hallow’s method, they built another portal under a stand of old trees at the base of the very peak of Maungakiekie. It was an old volcano, and the slopes were more like rolling hills than a steep drop off up until the peak, which was sheer.
The park was lush and green with various imported and native trees in stands here and there, while flocks of sheep and cows grazed the grass. Ash even saw a pheasant.
While Hallow set up the portal, Ash studied the diagrams and instructions for group castings, trying to commit as much to memory as he could before they went through. Once The Quetch was in front of him he wasn’t going to have time to flip through the pages of the book.
Hallow cleared his throat. “Are we ready?”
“As much as we can be.” Ash longed for a few weeks to study and prepare for this, but it simply wasn’t possible. He sighed, and stood, glancing around.
They were scant metres from the paved road people jogged on, but thankfully no one seemed to be paying attention to them. He hoped it’d stay that way.
Willow and Charli lit the candles, then they all sat together inside the circle the candles made. Knee to knee, touching so they’d all be able to use the portal.
Hallow spoke the words of the spell together with Ash. The portal appeared, shimmering and strange in the sunshine. The door that formed this time was plain bleached timber, with a shiny new doorknob.
It had a resonance Ash didn’t remember from the last one. When he touched the door handle, a reaction, a feeling of ownership, vibrated through his nerves. This portal was more his than the other one had been. “It feels different, like it’s mine? Is that because of your magic and mine combining, Hal?”
“You’ve changed.” Hallow pressed a soft kiss to the corner of Ash’s mouth. “My magic has been inside you since I brought you back, and now we’ve used it together. You have energy you didn’t have before.”
Ash took hold of Hallow’s hand, steadying himself. Coming back from the dead, and having some spark of Hallow inside him, it was like being told he had a medical condition. Nothing about who he was had changed, he thought the same way, he walked the same way, but his body had changed, fundamentally. He had to adjust to this new truth, and fast.
Ash rolled his shoulders, uncomfortably aware of his physical form. From the tips of his fingers to the crown of his head, he was conscious of how much space he took up.
Hallow watched him, his eyebrows crinkling together. “Are you all right?”
“Yeah.” As took a deep breath, pushed his toes down into the grass and let the breath out again. The air smelled of damp leaves, cut grass, and fresh air.
Home.
He was okay. He was fine.
“Adjusting still. It’s been a big few days.” Understatement of the year. Ash briefly considered what it would be like to write up his week and this whole confusing ‘magic is real’ experience for his blog. How would his followers respond? They’d assume it was a bit, a joke, and they’d indulge him for a while. He shook his head. They were about to go into battle against a monster in another world and he was thinking about social media?
He was distracted. He couldn’t afford to be distracted. There was a job to do. He’d process it all later. “Okay, let’s do it.”
Hallow stepped through the portal first and beckoned for them to follow. Ash went next, turning back to offer his hand to Charli. She took it immediately, fearless, although her cheeks were paler than usual. Willow came close behind her. Once they were all through, Ash tied a bandanna around the handle.
They were in a part of the alleyway Ash hadn’t seen before. The graffiti was thicker, the doors in disrepair. A few of them were boarded up.
“Ash, your chest...” Willow’s voice was shaky.
Ash swallowed and looked down. Compared to the way the void had looked previously, it was nowhere near as bad. He still had his shoulders, his clavicles, his stomach. But the gap in his chest was still uncanny to look at. “Ah, we hoped it had gone altogether.”
Charli reached a tentative hand towards him, like she wanted to prod her finger into the nothingness. “How does it work?”
“It... I don’t know. Please don’t touch it.”
“Where do your organs go?”
“Magic.” Hallow said. “It’s something inside him expressing itself visually.”
Ash felt worse than vulnerable with the void on display for everyone to discuss. It was humiliating, like they were seeing the innermost, secret part of him. Maybe they were?
What did it mean for a grown man to have a void in him? He’d thought Hallow had got rid of it, he’d certainly shrunk it. But some part of him still felt this way. It was embarrassing.
He had to distract them. “Anyway...this is the alleyway, each of these doors leads to a new world.”
Willow tore her eyes away from his chest, taking the hint, and made an impressed noise.
“This is so wild.” Charli rolled her shoulders, warming up as she looked up and down the alleyway.
Ash’s eye was drawn to a door standing open, hanging by one rusted hinge. Beyond the door he could see only forest, dense and wild, the trees grey and white, strange and shrouded in mist. Powdery white lichen covered the trees, vines hung from the branches, eerily bleached. The vines and lichen had spread over the rotten wooden doorframe, creeping onto the cobbles of the alleyway itself.
“Don’t touch the plants.” Hallow put a hand on Ash’s chest, stopping him.
Ash swallowed. He hadn’t even realised he was walking towards the broken door. “Yeah. I wasn’t planning on it.”
“But it’s so weird and cool,” Charli protested.
“Not safe.” Willow took hold of Charli’s arm. “Maybe we should find another place?”
“Right. Yes, should we walk?” He looked to Hallow.
“We need a good, defensible spot. The Quetch will find me, now I’m here, on this side of the door.”
His certainty chilled Ash’s bones. “Good to defend?”
“Like higher ground?” Charli asked.
“Maybe we can use one of the places behind the doors?” Ash chose a direction and started walking, leaving the creepy encroaching forest behind. “We don’t want to bring trouble to some innocent, besides The Quetch can’t cross into other worlds. As far as I know, it’s trapped in the alleyway or it would have followed me into your world.” Hallow slipped his hand from Ash’s to link their arms together instead.
“Good point.”
Once they were out of sight of the open door and the forest, they slowed their pace. The alleyway turned subtly, and instead of an endless stream of doors, there was something like a crossroads. Ash paused, weighing the spot. It was still only two possible directions, but it felt right somehow.
“I can feel it.” Hallow pulled Willow and Charli to the very spot Ash had been considering. “We need to prepare.”
Ash wasted no time. He pulled out the book of diagrams and referred to it as he sketched a defensive spell in the air with his finger. A trace of light trailed behind his finger, hanging in the air.
It should, if it worked, act like a magical shield for each of them. Not rooted to the location, but to the four of them.
Ash felt a magic pull. He turned to watch as Hallow’s hands glowed pink, light manifesting into a long, glowing sword.
“Get out, he has a lightsabre?” Willow said. “I’m way outclassed. What am I supposed to be doing here again?”
Ash flipped to a basic coven strength spell and shoved the book of community spells into her hand. “Read those words out.” Maybe it would do nothing but if it gave Willow a sense of purpose, that was a win, right? “There’s every chance Dad was wrong and you do have some magic in you.”
“Yeah. Charli’s my kid after all.” Willow gamely took the book and scanned the page, saying the words softly.
Charli stood ready in a fighting stance, feet part, knees bent, knife held in her two hands. Ash felt almost unbearably proud of her.
“When this thing arrives, be ready,” Ash patted her shoulder, feeling the frisson of his magic responding to hers. He immediately felt foolish. There was no way to get ready for seeing an otherworldly monster for the first time. “Try not to scream and no matter how much you want to, don’t run. It’ll follow. Staying together as a group is our best chance.”
“No splitting up like in one of those dumb horror movies.” Charli nodded.
Hallow shivered. “It’s getting closer.”
Ash could hear it now, a distant rumbling and the thudding of feet. The Quetch was approaching, growling, on the hunt. The hairs on his neck prickled.
The Quetch was coming.
It was specifically coming for them.
Hurriedly, Ash pulled out the foldable staff he’d got at The Magic Shop and focused on his magic. As if in response, the noise of The Quetch approaching ceased.
Somehow, the silence was worse.
Ash didn’t think for a moment it had gone, or given up. No, it was simply done with heralding its whereabouts to them.
His stomach roiled, and he strained to hear something, anything, of the monster.
“Why isn't it making any sounds?” Charli asked in a stage whisper.
“To scare us,” Hallow said.
“It’s working.” Willow pressed closer to Ash. She began to repeat the spell words from the book.
“Can you feel your magic, Charli? Now’s the time to tune into it and prepare.” Ash gave her a rueful smile. “I know we’re throwing you in the deep end big time, here.”
“Yeah.” Charli shrugged. “The knife likes it, I can feel it working with my power, kind of combining and enhancing.”
Such a straightforward answer. Ash was impressed and maybe envious of how simple she made it seem.
Compared to her confidence Ash felt unsure, outclassed. Sure, he’d cast a shield spell, but he had no idea if it would work.
He unfurled his travel staff with a flick of his wrist. It felt right in his hand. Was this feeling the same as what Charli had described with her knife? It felt correct. The feeling, and the simple act of holding a tool, gave him confidence. Maybe it was the same thing, when it really came down to it?
The silence pressed on Ash like he was fathoms underwater. Free diving, or SCUBA on the ocean floor. Briefly he remembered diving off the Fijian islands, the Great Barrier Reef, and free diving with a group of wild backpackers in Santorini.
Ash swallowed. He could die at any moment.
The Quetch had killed him before. It had that same power, still.
No. This time was different. This time he wasn’t blundering in without thinking. This time he had people beside him, a coven, a community. They had magic spells, tools. Most importantly, he had Hallow at his side.
The pink glow of Hallow’s sword reflecting in Ash’s void. Their shared magic passed between them, sending an echo across space and time. Was this a quantum entanglement situation? If Ash’s void changed, would some part of Hallow’s glow change in response?
Focus! He couldn’t risk getting lost in thought—
Charli’s sharp inhale was the first sign something was happening in the world outside of his head.
Ash’s eyes snapped to the corner. A shadow cast by the wall was deepening, stretching itself unnaturally, taking on an almost green hue.
“This is it.” Ash struck the staff against the cobbles. It made a satisfying thwack as he infused it with his power.
Perhaps hearing them talk, or alerted by the striking sound of Ash’s staff, The Quetch stopped creeping. It charged around the corner like an enraged bull.
Ash took a step back, a natural response to seeing a huge, snarling monster run towards him. He stepped on someone’s foot.
“Oh fuck,” Willow hissed.
“Sorry.”
The Quetch was heading directly for Hallow. He bent his front knee and lunged forward, sword held ready to spear it. Ash watched in horror. The sword wouldn’t stop The Quetch. It was too large, too angry. The possible outcome played out in Ash’s mind. Hallow spearing the thing as it opened its jaws and tore him apart. Mutual destruction.
Destruction of the person Ash loved best in all the worlds.
Ash decided what to do without considering.
He flung himself in front of Hallow, just as The Quetch opened its jaws.