Gods of Chaos (Red Magic) (7 page)

“You shall not enter my domain alive. Go back; you are not of the dead. Yet.” The voice rasped and echoed around me, and I sat up with a jolt, smashing my skull against the ceiling for the second time that night. I rubbed my head and bit back a curse, glancing around the dark room.

Still shaken by my dream, I lay there in the dark with my eyes open for a while. I had been so sure that Hecate had found me, but the woman at the cauldron was not the goddess I ran from. Whoever she was, she wasn’t someone I wanted to get to know—the entire dream had been creepy. I shivered, remembering the mound of bones and the standing stones. I had no desire to go to such a place—the voice in my dream had issued an unnecessary warning.

As my fear faded, it was replaced by irritation. The dream and the meditation hadn’t told me anything, and I was no closer to knowing where to look for the other Red Witch than I had been before. Sure, I was here in Scotland, but so far, that had been the only clue I’d had. How was I going to form an alliance with the other Red if I couldn’t even find her? Annoyed, I drifted back to sleep.

The next morning, I stepped out of the shower to find the shared bathroom occupied by a tall, blond girl who was industriously plucking her eyebrows over the sink. After a moment, I recognized her as the girl who had interrupted my meditations to find a toothbrush. Our eyes met in the mirror, and she blushed.

“Sorry if we woke you last night. Everyone was enjoying the party a bit too much.”

Her accent sounded Australian.

“It sounded like you were having fun. Did he kiss you?”

“You heard that?” Her long hair swayed as she laughed. “Nope. That bloke was gone by the time we got back downstairs. Pity,” she sighed, turning back to the mirror with her tweezers. “I made up my mind to have a bit of a romance on this holiday, and I’m running short on time!”

I leaned against the sink. “Where are you from?”

“New Zealand. Thank God you asked; I hate when people assume I’m Australian.”

I grinned at her. “Well, to tell the truth, I—”

“Don’t say it!” She shook her head. “I think I like you, and I don’t want a reason to hate you.”

Her words were playful, but I felt a chill when I met her eyes. Had she meant something by that statement? Nervously, I clenched my hands. I needed to get over this paranoia; the whole world couldn’t be working for Hecate.

She studied me for a moment. “You’re new to the hostel.”

I nodded. “Just got in last night.”

“American?”

I nodded. “Right in one guess.”

“You Yanks are easy to spot. How long are you here?”

I paused, considering my words. “I don’t really have plans. I’m just winging it, I guess.”

“Lucky! There’s no way my folks would let me go on holiday forever.” She pouted at her reflection and put her tweezers back in her bag. “I fly home on Sunday.”

“You’re not going to be here for New Year’s Eve?”

“Nah. The winter term starts right up, and as much as I like a good party, I can’t stand being jetlagged and hungover at school.”

“Fair enough.” I stood there nervously for a minute. “I’m Darlena, by the way.”

She smiled, showing her perfect white teeth. “Sandra. Don’t you dare call me Sandy.”

I laughed. “Okay.” I turned to leave the small bathroom, but her words stopped me.

“Want to explore with us a bit today? We’re going to the vaults.”

I glanced at her curiously. “What are the vaults?”

Her eyes lit up. “You’re kidding, right?”

I shook my head. I’d been ready to begin my search in peace, but her tone made me pause. “What are they?”

She turned around, ignoring the mirror. “That settles it. You’re coming with us.”

“But—”

“It’s an underground city.”

I stared hard at her, trying to read her expression. She looked thrilled. “But I’ve never heard of it.”

“Silly, not many tourists know about it yet. They’re still excavating.”

I stared at her blankly. “So why do you want to go there?”

“Ghosts. The vaults are bursting with them!”

My skin prickled, but I heard myself telling her, “Sure.”

An hour later, I was trailing the two Kiwis toward the South Bridge. I’d been right last night; they were a few years older than me. Sandra was in college, but her traveling partner, Joan, was taking a gap year. The girls had been surprised when I hadn’t know what that was; apparently, a lot of people they knew took a year off between high school and college to figure things out, but I’d never known anyone who did that.

Even though I was eager to get underway with my search for the other Red, I instantly liked Sandra and Joan, and hanging out with them in the unfamiliar streets of Edinburgh made me feel sort of cool. Sandra led the way down the crowded street, talking over her shoulder.

“It sucks that they give tours now, but I still want to see the vaults. My brother was here a few years ago, and he said only a few folks knew about this. It was much creepier then, I’m sure.”

“How did he know about them?” I almost tripped on a raised cobblestone, but Joan steadied my arm.

Sandra smiled. “He’s a ghost hunter. An amateur, but he loves it. If there are ghosts anywhere he goes, he’ll find them.”

Joan shivered. “That’s so creepy. Do you really believe there are ghosts down there?”

We stood beneath the bridge, facing a dark opening that was shorter than a doorway. I peered into the darkness, my stomach twisting oddly.

Sandra laughed. “Of course not, silly! My brother’s a bit addled is all.”

Joan sighed in relief, and I glanced at the two girls, confused. “But I thought you wanted to come here because of the ghosts?”

“Ghosts or not, I like a good scare, and this place is guaranteed to deliver.”

My uneasiness hadn’t abated, and I could tell Joan was still nervous, too. She reached into her bag and pulled out a flashlight with shaking hands. Sandra took it from her and stepped into the vault. It was dark and damp, and the strange musty smell tugged at my memory, but I couldn’t place it.

The beam of the single flashlight didn’t cut very far into the darkness, and I paused for a moment to draw up a little Red magic. Even if Sandra said she didn’t believe there were any ghosts down here, I wasn’t so sure, and I didn’t want to be defenseless. My fingertips tingled as I followed the girls, and red sparks caressed my arms. I stayed a few steps behind them, hoping they wouldn’t notice.

Our footsteps echoed on the earthen floor of the passageway, and Joan crinkled her nose.

“It’s all wet! I bet we’re in the sewer.”

Sandra laughed, dropping her voice a bit. “These are the vaults, all right. Can’t you feel the ghosts?”

Despite her teasing, I felt something. But whatever presence was in the vault, it felt nothing like the dead in the realm of Hades. I shivered and glanced behind us at the receding doorway. The light from outside was almost gone, and the flashlight gave off an eerie, blue glow as we descended deeper into the vault.

“Why are we here again?” I called to Sandra.

“I told you! Ghosts!” She chuckled. “But really, this used to be a city, with shops and everything. I wanted to see it for myself.” She moved forward as she spoke, and Joan and I followed her, watching the thin beam of the flashlight bounce along the corridor. My skin prickled along my neck, and I struggled to ignore the strange sensation.

“But why isn’t it being used now?”

“I don’t know, but it hasn’t been used for centuries.”

The light flickered.

“Sandy, be careful!” Joan’s voice sounded tight.

Sandra laughed. “You girls are such drags. I thought you wanted an adventure.”

I caught a whiff of sulfur. “Something isn’t right.”

“Not you, too?” Sandra sighed heavily. “How did I get stuck with two big scaredy cats?”

Joan whimpered. “I want to go out now.”

The light moved ahead, and Sandra’s voice called from further down the tunnel, “The only way out is through!”

The inside of my nose burned, and I suddenly identified the smell. Hecate always smelled of sulfur. Panic gripped me. “We need to leave. Now.”

I stopped walking, and as soon as I was standing still, the earth beneath my feet began to ripple. A rumbling noise filled the air, and I lost my balance, tumbling into the rock wall.

“What’s happening?” Joan’s voice was far ahead of me, and I strained to see in the darkness.

“I don’t know; we need to go back.” Sandra’s carefree tone had changed to one of fear, and the light began bobbing back toward me.

“Hurry. Seriously, I don’t know what’s happening, but this isn’t good.” I turned around to go back out of the tunnel. The ground moved again, and this time, there was a loud cracking noise. I whirled around in time to see a huge chunk of the vault ceiling crash to the ground, blocking the tunnel with the girls behind it. I was plunged into darkness as the flashlight disappeared.

Joan screamed briefly, and then went silent.

I reached out a hand and felt the wall. Cautiously, I took a step forward. “Joan?”

There was no answer. I felt something move in the dark beside me, and I yelped in surprise.

“Sandra?”

The only sound I heard was the faint trickle of water from somewhere far ahead.

I took a couple of steps back and raised my hands defensively. The presence I had sensed as soon as we entered the vaults seemed stronger, more pervasive. It felt like I was surrounded by thick, sticky air. I took a deep breath, trying to calm myself, but my nostrils filled with the smell of sulfur and I choked.

I conjured a small sphere of light, but my attention was too distracted to hold the spell. Before I was plunged into darkness again, I saw Sandra and Joan. What I saw terrified me.

The girls were lying, face down and motionless, a few yards in front of me. They were pinned to the ground beneath the massive boulder; it looked like it had landed directly on them. Were they still alive? My stomach churned and I took a step forward, unsure of what to do.

I was forcibly reminded of the bodies inside the green car that I’d flipped; even though Hecate had said that I’d actually averted death, those two people were the first Nons I’d ever killed. Was I responsible for two more deaths? What if Hecate had caused the cave-in, trying to get to me? A shadowy presence brushed by my ear, and the sound of harsh laughter echoed in the cave. Recoiling in fear, I felt Red magic surge through me, and a blast of light filled the tunnel. Panicked, I turned and ran.

I emerged into a cold drizzle, gasping for breath. A few people glanced at me curiously, but I hurried across the street. I had just reached the other side of High Street when a sound like fireworks filled the air. Smoke poured out of the doorway to the vaults, and the bridge shook violently. Without looking back, I took off in the opposite direction, not caring if I drew attention to myself.
What the hell had I just done?

A few blocks away, I stopped to catch my breath. I could still hear the muffled sounds of panic from the bridge. A high-pitched siren filled the air, followed by another. Doubling over, I felt sick to my stomach, and it wasn’t just because of the image of Sandra and Joan’s mangled bodies. I hadn’t used that much Red magic since I faced Rochelle, and I wasn’t prepared for the aftereffects.