Chapter 17 #3
Daniel looks like he wants to protest, but they all agree and step over the salt, spreading out a bit to form a line of defense.
Which means… I guess this is it.
I turn back to the wall. Ewan’s still inside the first circle, watching me. I take my position just outside the salt line. Ideally, Ewan will get out before the demon is even aware it’s been “freed,” and then it will be contained within the circle while we’re all outside it.
Gripping the bundle of herbs tightly, I steady my nerves and nod. “Do it.”
Ewan puts his fingertips to the edges of the patch and… wriggles them. Or does something. I can’t really tell. But I can definitely tell when he starts straining to pull it out, because all his magnificent muscles are suddenly on full display. Thank you, Jesus, for short-sleeved T-shirts.
“Oh my,” Skye murmurs behind me.
“God does good work,” Arissa agrees.
“Do… you… mind?” Ewan grits out.
“Ignore them,” I coo. “You’re doing great. Later, I’m gonna rub you down as a reward.” For me.
Ewan starts to say something else, but it turns into a yell as the stone patch suddenly flies loose, slamming into his chest and sending him scrabbling backward.
“Ewan!” I yell as his head hits the hard floor with a thunk, but then the demon bursts free, and I don’t have time to think of anything else.
I raise the herbs, but it’s already shooting past me, and I realize with horror that Ewan must have accidentally scuffed a hole in the salt line when he got knocked back.
“Ghosts, manifest!” I shriek, suddenly terrified that it’ll get to them while they’re vulnerable. In the next second, it screams, a sound that fills me with fear like I’ve never felt before, and turns on me.
The second salt line held it back.
At the back of my mind, I know that’s a good thing, but I can’t think right now. Waves of hatred and fear are beating at me, pushing, tearing as the demon bears down on me, and I can’t—
Behind the demon, Daniel hands his lantern to a shaking Arissa, steps quietly over the second line, and goes to Ewan, pulling the remainder of a bag of salt from one of the deep pockets of his cargo pants.
Strength floods into me.
Hope.
As Daniel pours the salt in a rough line, protecting his friend—my guy—I pull myself together and face down the demon.
It can’t hurt me directly, I remind myself. The stone slab is behind salt now, and hopefully Daniel will remember to hold on to it. But I can’t focus on that.
The demon is everything the ghosts described. A darkness, a foulness. It has no distinct form, but rather seems to be a collection of shadows, even in the bright light of the lanterns. The air seems thick with the horror of it.
But my mind’s eye sees more than just the shadows.
The part of my brain that sees ghosts when others can’t also perceives the essence of the demon.
It’s a deep malevolence, a violent urge to feed and keep feeding, no matter what it must do to make it happen.
There is no sentience that can be reasoned with, just an instinct to kill and consume.
This thing cannot be allowed to escape.
I raise the herbs and let my ability fully loose for the first time ever.
Power I didn’t know I had bubbles up inside me, the fingers of it reaching out to the demon, wrapping around its stolen energy, the energy it’s been hoarding for fifty years, tightening, squeezing the power loose from the matter that is pure demon.
It shrieks, a sound that is not a sound, that I hear not with my ears but with my soul, and tries to flee, beating against the salt-and-quartz barrier.
Skye, eyes blazing with determination, steps forward and thrusts out the chunk of quartz in his fist, and the demon recoils.
I keep up the pressure, watching with my other senses as the stolen energy slowly drains from it.
I feel the surge of hatred in the second before Daniel yells and risk a quick glance.
He’s holding on to the stone slab with white-knuckled, bleeding fingers, his face set as he kneels in front of Ewan, the slab seemingly trying to wrench itself free.
I guess the salt doesn’t completely limit the demon’s abilities.
Grimly, I intensify my efforts. It can’t be allowed to hurt anyone else.
It lurches back from me, throwing itself at the salt line between me and Daniel and Ewan, and the fear trickles down my spine again. That line isn’t as strong as the others—less salt, no quartz, hastily drawn. If any is going to give way, that would be it.
As though my thoughts were a foretelling, I see the dark essence of the demon blur over the salt line. Where before it was as though it touched a solid, if transparent, wall, now the wall is giving way.
Ewan stirs. I’m not sure how I know, because I don’t dare take my eyes off the demon again, but there’s a tickle at the back of my mind that tells me he’s awake. My knees want to give way with relief, but this isn’t over yet, and he’s currently in more danger from the demon than he was before.
The demon is weakening, I can see it, but somehow, even after all this time, it’s managed to hold on to more energy than I would have thought possible. Or maybe it’s me? Maybe I just don’t have the strength and experience to do this?
It blurs against the salt line again, and then, for an instant, part of it slips through.
Daniel screams as the slab is ripped from his fingers, and as it hurtles toward me, I brace myself, pouring every ounce of effort into squeezing the demon of energy.
I dare not even close my eyes ahead of the impact.
The demon shrieks again, and the slab drops to the floor, tiny shards splintering free.
Ewan slowly staggers to his feet, a chunk of quartz in each hand held before him, warding off the demon, forcing it back.
One slow, painful step at a time, he drives it toward me, and finally I’m able to wring the last of its energy from it.
I raise the herbs and channel the flow of my power directly into the demon, and with one last soul-shaking screech, it comes apart into billions of subatomic particles.
The darkness is gone.
Adrenaline crashes, and I start to shake.
“Josh—” Ewan gasps, staggering to my side, and I whirl on him.
“What the fuck did you think you were doing? You got closer to it on purpose!”
“It was going to kill you,” he says hoarsely, his gaze locked on my face. His pupils are blown, and I’m pretty sure he has a concussion. Plus whatever is making him walk funny.
“And what if it had turned and decided to kill you? It could have changed the direction of that slab and bashed your already damaged brains in.” I lift shaking hands to cover my face and nearly put my eye out with the herbs I’m still clutching.
“You can’t die, Ewan. I need you. I lo—” I stop. It’s too soon for that.
Isn’t it?
Ewan’s eyes blaze. “I love you,” he proclaims, his voice cracking. “I love you, and I would risk anything to keep you safe.”
I drop the battered herbs and hurl myself at him. He makes a pained sound, but when I try to pull back, he closes his arms around me tight.
“Love you, love you, love you,” I mutter into his neck, and he squeezes until there’s no breath left in me to say it anymore.
“Uh, guys?”
Ewan’s arms loosen, and we both turn to face Kieran. He’s even paler than usual but seems solid.
“Sorry,” I mutter. “Emotional moment.”
“No, that’s… I get it. But Daniel needs a hospital, and I bet Ewan does too.”
“I’m okay,” Ewan protests. I elbow him, and he makes a noise that proves he’s definitely not okay. I glance over at where Skye and Arissa are helping Daniel up. It looks like his hands have been shredded; even from here, I catch a glimpse of something white that might be bone.
“Let’s get out of here,” I agree, stepping forward toward the stairs. My knees buckle, and I collapse. “Whoa.”
Ewan leaps forward to help me and nearly ends up in a heap beside me.
“Stand still,” Kieran orders him sharply before turning his attention to me. “Were you injured?”
Shaking my head, I try to get my feet under me. “No, I… I think I’m just tired. But now that I’m down here, I don’t think I can get back up.” My limbs are like jelly, and my mind starts to swim.
Thankfully, Kieran is still in possession of all his faculties. I dimly hear him and Arissa clearing away the salt so the ghosts can help them and Skye haul the rest of us up the stairs.
It’s so good to have friends.