Chapter 26 #2
Ariana threw back her head and laughed. It was as appealing as shattering glass.
“Of course I do. Then I will raise you from the dead and you will use that grimoire to do my bidding. This is just the most perfect retribution for your grandmother stealing my powers and banishing me and for your mother eluding me for all these years. So many decades I spent tracking her as she slipped through time. It was supposed to be Juliet who became my undead servant with all the power of the Donadieu grimoire, but this is even better. Now it will be you, Zoe. You and the grimoire are all mine and everything your mother did to save you was for nothing. This revenge will be the sweetest I have ever known.” Her eyes glowed with pure malice and I shivered.
I opened my mouth to fire more questions at her, but Ariana cut me off. “Give me the book, Zoe. Give me the book and I’ll make your death painless.”
“Don’t do it.” I felt Olive lean closer to me as if she would protect me or the book or both, and I was touched.
I glanced across the labyrinth, taking in the twitching fingers rising up from the dirt, and thought I might black out. But the reality that this woman had used Eloise to murder my mother and grandmother made a surge of fury obliterate every other feeling.
“You can murder me, but I won’t come back and do your bidding.” I had absolutely nothing to back this statement up except my rage.
Ariana simply stared at me. The sky had grown dark again as a second storm rolled in, dropping the temperature enough that I could see my breath.
With her hair whipping about her face and her electric eyes fixed on me, Ariana looked lethal.
I had the feeling that if she could break my neck with a snap of her fingers, she wouldn’t hesitate. I refused to cower.
“You Donadieus are too weak to possess a grimoire with that much power. Do you have any idea of the spells contained in that book? A witch in possession of that book can do everything from traveling through time to seeing beyond the veil to mending souls.”
It was Olive who laughed this time, and it was as cold as a winter wind. “You have to have a soul for it to be mended, Darkwood.”
“Shut up! That grimoire belongs to me!” Ariana declared.
A flutter of fear came from inside the backpack. I hugged it tighter, trying to calm the grimoire. The protective instinct to shield my family’s legacy overrode any other emotion I was feeling at the moment, including terror.
“The hell it does,” I snapped. I felt Olive staring at me and turned to find her color returning and, if I wasn’t mistaken, a look of approval on her face.
Ariana strode even closer until she was a few feet away. “This conversation is tiresome. The book.” She held out her hand.
“It won’t open for you,” I said. “You know that.”
“Good thing I just need a bit of your blood.” Ariana smiled. It was a terrifying display of perfect white teeth.
We were trapped. There was no escape for us.
I felt the blood drain from my face. Everything went fuzzy except for a flash of blue in my peripheral vision.
It was Olive, shooting blue fire out of her fingertips.
Ariana darted back, but Olive wasn’t aiming for her.
Instead, she bent low and blasted the hands holding my feet and then her own.
“Run for the boulder, Ziakas!” Olive ordered, and we darted around one of the large stones that demarcated the entrance.
Hands punched up out of the ground, trying to grab us or trip us, I had no idea which.
When we reached the rock, Olive pushed me on top of it and moved to stand in front of me.
She held her arms out in front of her and I knew she was trying to hold Ariana just as she had Moran.
It didn’t work. Ariana marched toward us with deliberate steps, her gaze unwavering on my backpack.
She was too close. If we ran, I knew she would just send her rising undead army after us. Why had we let Jasper stay in the car? We needed him.
The raven appeared above Ariana. He swooped low, diving at her head. I saw his beak make contact and she jumped and tried to smack him. She missed. He rose high again and dove straight at her like a bullet. At the last second, he turned and scratched her face with his talons.
The scream that came out of Ariana was unlike anything I had ever heard.
It was a deep bellow of primal wrath that made everything in the vicinity of the labyrinth go completely still, except for the hair on my arms, which was standing at attention.
Suddenly, the earth at Olive’s feet was churning as more fists punched up through the dirt.
Olive whipped around where I crouched on the rock. “She’s raising an army. We’re going to have to run.”
I jumped down from the rock just as the raven made another pass at Ariana.
This time, she anticipated and reached down, then ripped an arm right out of the ground and threw it at the bird.
My brain made a fritzing noise, clearly rejecting what it was seeing.
It was a direct hit. The raven was knocked off course and headed straight for a nearby rock at the entrance of the circle.
He slammed into it, and I ran forward, with Olive right behind me.
“No, no, no!” I moved to stand in front of the bird, shielding him from Ariana. “Don’t be dead, don’t be dead.”
Olive stood shoulder to shoulder with me. “Look out!” Blue flames shot out of her fingers, and when a hand punched through the ground at our feet, she blasted it back under the surface. I made a mental note to ask her to teach me to make flames…later.
Ariana pivoted to face us. She positioned her arms wide with her fingers spread, and the ground beneath our feet became a frenzy of fists and arms clawing their way out. I could feel the earth churning with malice and I knew we were in deep, deep trouble.
Ariana looked invigorated by the rising horde. I had the brief thought that this was how I was going to die and then I immediately rejected it. Nope. Not today.
Olive was holding her hands in front of her. Her fingertips were alight in blue flame, but as helpful as it had been to release the hands that held us, I didn’t think her fire wielding was enough to stop Ariana. Otherwise, she would have weaponized it by now.
“ Give. Me. The. Book. ” Ariana shouted each word. I clutched my backpack close and Olive assumed a defensive stance beside me as we huddled in the entrance of the labyrinth with the unconscious raven behind us.
“No.” I tried to make my voice strong, but there was the tiniest quaver in it.
“So be it.” Ariana stared at us, unblinking, as the heads and shoulders of her army began to appear, rising up from the dirt. There was no way we could hold back this number of undead.
Olive and I pressed closer together, bracing for impact as the first of her minions lurched out of the dirt and came at us at a run.
The skeleton, which had a cracked skull, empty eye sockets, and a missing jaw, started to sprint and I felt my entire body clench.
It was so close and then, bam! It was on the ground as if it had run into a thick wall of glass.
What the what?! I glanced from side to side, trying to figure out where the thick haze that separated us from Ariana and her minions had come from.
Olive glanced behind us at the path that cut through the copse of trees and said, “It’s about time. Did you get lost?”
I followed her line of sight, expecting to see Jasper. Instead, it was Miles and Tariq. I almost sagged with relief. “Help!”
“Of course.” Miles nodded. “You need to get the book out of here. Take the raven and get back to Jasper. Whatever you do, do not let any harm come to the bird. You must protect it and Jasper even if you have to take the car and get them out of here. Understand?”
“Yes.” I didn’t understand, not really. I was shaking and terrified. Running from here with an unconscious bird was fine with me, as I would leave the undead army behind, but it was also terrifying because I would be on my own.
“Here.” Tariq handed me a small cloth pouch. “This will help you awaken the raven. You won’t be able to rouse Jasper until the bird wakes up.”
Rouse Jasper? At this point, I was going to kick him for not being here when I…we…needed him.
“They’re coming through your shield, Miles,” Olive said.
“Go!” Miles ordered. He turned back to face the horde with Olive and Tariq. I knelt down and gently scooped up the bird. I cradled him against the backpack I still wore on my front, then I sprinted through the trees for our SUV.
It was parked exactly where we’d left it. I opened the driver’s-side door and found Jasper fully reclined and unconscious. I glanced from the raven to the man. I thought about the tattoos on his forearms and how he and the raven were never in the same place at the same time. They were connected!
“Jasper!” I used my free hand to shake him. He didn’t move. I remembered what Tariq had said and focused on the raven.
I hurried to the back and opened the hatch, then I gently laid the bird down. I opened the cloth pouch Tariq had given me. A small vial filled with purple flakes was inside.
Assuming it was like smelling salts for a bird, I unstoppered the vial and held it under the raven’s beak.
The bird didn’t move, so I moved the bottle back and forth, hoping to get the scent moving out of the vial.
Nothing. Was I supposed to sprinkle it on him?
Make him eat the dried flakes inside the vial?
Panicking, I glanced at where Jasper was asleep.
Come on , I chided myself. Think! Or maybe don’t think? What were my instincts telling me?
Somehow, Jasper and the raven were in some sort of mind meld. That’s why Miles had been insistent that nothing happen to the bird. Could the bird’s death cause Jasper’s? I felt my anxiety spike all the way out of control and I hopped on my feet while a high whine came out of my mouth.