Authors: Lilian Carmine
Vigil stared at Tristan for some time in silence, pondering his words.
“Yes,” Vigil finally conceded. “All rules have exceptions.”
“So why can’t I be an exception this time?” Tristan asked again.
I smiled.
Clever boy.
“This is not my decision to make. My duty is only to put things in their rightful places,” Vigil answered.
“You can pretend you did. That you fixed this. And then walk away. Nobody would know.” Tristan pondered. “If you don’t tell, who’s to say you did or didn’t do your job?”
“There will be questions asked.”
“You could lie,” Tristan replied.
“I do not lie.” Vigil sneered. “I never lie. And I will not lie; not for you, human boy. Not for anybody.”
“Better a liar than a murderer,” Tristan said bluntly.
“I am not …” Vigil began.
“Ah. But that is
exactly
what you are. That is exactly what you are going to do, Vigil,” Tristan cut in. “You can sugar-coat it all you like, but you are going to kill me. And you don’t even care. Which makes it even worse,” Tristan said hotly.
Vigil’s eyes still kept dancing back and forth between Tristan and me, but he didn’t reply. He seemed to be debating something, struggling with an inner fight. His face was still smooth and cool, not showing anything, but his eyes betrayed him. Anger, pride and guilt as the glint of his eyes reflected the eerie light of the setting sun around us. He looked quickly at me again, a cautious nervous sideways glance.
“Why do you keep …?” Tristan started to ask, and then he stopped and stared accusingly at Vigil. Vigil snapped his gaze back to Tristan, and for the first time since he had arrived in the circle, I could see a flash of panic and fear.
Fear? What was Vigil afraid of? The two locked eyes again. Black fathomless eyes staring deep into piercing bright gray ones. I watched them carefully, switching fast from Vigil to Tristan, but I couldn’t see what they were feeling. They seemed to be having a silent conversation.
After a few tense seconds Tristan gave a tiny smirk, like he had just understood an inside joke. “That is
never
going to happen,” he said quietly, without breaking eye-contact with Vigil’s cold hard stare.
Vigil’s jaw twitched and clenched; his fist balled up at his sides. He looked angry. Really angry. For a non-human entity, he was sure mimicking human emotions increasingly easily.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Vigil snapped, a menacing tone in his voice and loathing in his eyes.
Tristan stared for a few more seconds in complete silence. “It. Is. Never. Going. To. Happen,” Tristan repeated slowly, deliberately, and with the most absolute certainty. He sounded angry too now. “Do you understand the concept of never?”
“Oh
, I do
, ghost boy.” Vigil sneered in hatred. “More than you’ll ever know.”
And then he stepped outside the line.
A loud thunderclap crackled as soon Vigil’s foot trespassed. A wave of pure intense energy hit us all, pushing us backwards. When we looked up again, Vigil was outside the circle, staring menacingly at Tristan.
Tristan searched urgently for Miss Violet at the other side of the grassed area, but her body lay crumpled in the grass, motionless.
“The old witch cannot help you any more, ghost boy.”
“What did you do to her?” I shouted, running to Miss Violet in panic. Harry and Josh were already there, kneeling by her side. Fear filled my whole mind. He had broken the circle! He had killed Miss Violet!
“She’s breathing, she seems all right,” Josh consoled me. “The impact must have struck her the most, since she was the spellcaster,” he quickly reasoned, but his voice held panic as well. He was scared too, but fiercely trying not to show it.
I turned and started walking towards Tristan at the same time as Vigil began walking towards him too. “How did you break the circle, Vigil? Miss Violet said it was ancient and powerful! Even Death cannot break it!” I said, trying to divert Vigil’s attention from Tristan.
He stopped for a second. “When you gave me a name, you gave me this power, Joe Gray. I told you this once,” he said, turning to look at Tristan again. “Fear is a powerful thing,” he added mockingly.
“I don’t understand! What your name has anything to do with this? You’re not supposed to cross that line!” I shouted desperately, my mind racing madly. Now that Miss Violet was unconscious and unable to make the emergency break-the-invocation spell, I had to do something myself to stop Vigil.
“I am not
supposed
to?” Vigil said, sneering. “What do you know what I
am
and
am not
supposed to do? Not even Death can hold me against my will. You humans, so presumptuous to think you could hold me with your feeble magic,” he said, and turned to face Tristan again. “So conceited … such foolish, small, weak little
things
.”
I was still walking fast in Tristan’s direction, but when my eyes shifted to him, my heart skipped a beat. His face was contorting in pain. Vigil was doing something to him! “Stop it!” I shouted at Vigil. “Stop hurting him!” I said, running now.
Vigil took a step forward, and Tristan kneeled down, letting out a loud grunt, one hand grabbing at the grass, the other clutching his chest. His knuckles were white with the pressure of his grasp, his face a mask of pain.
“Vigil! DON’T!” I shouted madly when I saw blood trickling out of Tristan’s nose. Vigil was killing him! Right in front of my eyes! Everything was happening in slow motion and I felt like I was walking in foam, trying desperately, futilely, to go faster. Vigil was only a few inches away from Tristan now, his face marked by anger and loathing. Tristan held his head up defiantly and looked angrily at Vigil’s eyes, which were now glowing an icy white. Ghastly cold enveloped the air around him.
“Decided to show your true nature, Vigil?” Tristan mocked, saying Vigil’s name with such venom. I wasn’t going to make it; I wasn’t going to reach Tristan in time! Vigil was right there already, in front of him. ”How does it feel, all this anger, all these
emotions
?” Tristan said, putting emphasis on the last word. “Aren’t emotions against the
rules
? Because they sure make you act irrationally, don’t you think? Aren’t you supposed to be logical and cold now,
Vigil
?” he spat out, and Vigil hesitated.
And that moment of indecision was all it took for me to get between then. I launched myself in front of Tristan, at the last second stopping Vigil from touching him.
“I will
never
let you hurt him!” I growled, breathing heavily and raising an arm protectively. For a fraction of a second, I saw an invisible glassy barrier over my arm. It was wavering and luminescent, and it looked like a ghost of a shield, but somehow it made Vigil step back fast, as if he’d been forcefully pushed by something solid.
And then, with my other fist, I punched him with all the strength I had.
The shock of the impact travelled up through my arm and was so violent that when my fist connected to Vigil’s chest, it felt like it would rip my arm from my body. A piercing, blinding light shone from my fists, shooting an energy blast straight to Vigil. It felt as if time were slowing down. All I was focused on was the need to save Tristan! It was the most pure, direct and fierce purpose of my life! I didn’t care about the unbearable pain tearing up my arm; it was as if shards of broken freezing glass were shredding my flesh, bones, all my nerve endings. But I didn’t care about anything.
I heard Vigil’s voice, a loud, distorted cry of pain, and then he crackled and exploded into a million brilliant pieces, vanishing along with the blinding light. And then time rushed back to its normal pace, and I stumbled forward. I had accumulated so much speed that I was caught off balance and fell, hitting the ground fast and hard. I shut my eyes tight, because that bright light felt like it had burned through my eyelids, and when I tried to move the pain redoubled, ripping through the whole right side of my body.
What the hell had just happened? I tried opening my eyes a fraction. I saw Tristan still kneeling in the grass a little further away, looking at me with terror-filled eyes, his hand still tightly clutched tight to his chest. He was breathing in short, labored breaths and was trying to say something to me. I couldn’t hear his words, because my ears kept ringing with an annoying buzzing sound. Then Harry was kneeling next to me, cradling me in his arms, checking for damage. Josh, Sam, Seth and a slightly dizzy Miss Violet came over to us too.
“What happened?” I managed to mumble. “Is Tristan okay? See if he’s okay!” I shouted in panic at Harry.
And then I heard his voice.
“I’m okay now, Joey. Don’t worry about me,” Tristan said, and then he was beside me. “Are
you
okay?” he asked urgently, wiping the blood from his face with the back of his hand. The sun had set and the place was getting darker by the second.
“You’re bleeding! You’re hurt!” I cried out, and tried to reach my hand to touch his face, but I recoiled immediately as a vicious stabbing pain shot through my arm, making me wince as I stumbled back into Harry’s arms. I clenched my teeth and cried out in pain again.
“Joey? Where does it hurt?” Tristan’s voice reached me, filling with panic. I slowly extended my right arm, the arm I had punched Vigil with. We all watched as a thick, dark liquid ran underneath my skin as if spreading inside my veins, throughout my whole arm. That didn’t look good. Everybody was clustered around me now, watching intently with scared wide eyes.
“What the hell? What’s happening to my arm?” I grunted, trying to keep my voice level and not sound too frightened. Tristan carefully took my arm, trying not to move it much, and his soft touch made painful stabs pierce through my skin. The dark liquid in my veins was disappearing where Tristan’s hand touched my skin. As soon as he realized this, he started moving his hand up my arm, and I cried out in severe pain. It felt like he was cutting my arm with razors wherever his hand touched my skin. He immediately let go of me, scared of hurting me more. The lines started flowing again, and we heard Miss Violet’s voice for the first time, coming from behind Seth.
“You have to keep going, Tristan. You have to touch Joey where all the dark lines are in her arm.”
“But it’s hurting her!” he protested.
“It’s for her sake. It’ll hurt, but you have to keep going! You saw how they disappeared after you touched them. If they spread any further, God knows what they can do to her.”
Tristan looked doubtfully at Miss Violet and then back at me. His eyes were questioning; he didn’t like that it was going to hurt me. I looked around at all the scared faces staring back at me. The dark lines were resuming their slow trail up my arm, and it hurt like hell. Soon they would reach my shoulder and chest, and breathing was starting to feel strenuous. I nodded silently and Josh kneeled down by my side, taking my hand in his, to give me support. Harry put both of his hands over my shoulders to hold me still, and Tristan leaned in closer.
“I’m so sorry, Joey. I’ll try to do this as quickly as I can, okay?” he whispered with sorrowful eyes.
“I’ll be fine, go ahead,” I said in a brave voice. Inside I was bracing myself for the pain that would come. I couldn’t let him see how much it was hurting.
Tristan started touching my arm, and the stabbing cuts slashed strongly through my skin again. I squeezed Josh’s hand, but I didn’t cry out this time. I had to be strong and endure this, or Tristan would never keep going. He wouldn’t stand seeing me in so much pain.
Gradually the dark lines disappeared beneath Tristan’s touch until they were all gone and my arm looked normal again. The pain was subdued now.
“How are you feeling?” Tristan asked worriedly when he had finished.
I flexed my arm a little, testing my fingers and wrists to see if there was permanent damage. A little pain still remained, making my muscles sore and tired, but I kept it to myself. It was a feeble ache now, nothing to worry about. The important thing was that I had my arm back, functioning as normally as it could after such an ordeal, and Tristan was still here. For now at least.
“I’m okay,” I said, giving everyone a weak smile. Tristan sighed in relief and took me carefully in his arms, hugging me softly.
“Are you sure?” he whispered in my ear.
“I’m okay, Tris. Are
you
really okay?” I asked, burying my face in his neck. I’d been so scared for him. I couldn’t believe I had saved him! He was here! He was fine!
“I’m really okay,” he said, smiling. “Thanks to you.” But he looked unbelievably exhausted.
Miss Violet looked fairly normal and said she was feeling perfectly fine, like nothing had happened. She didn’t even remember fainting or waking up! Seth told me how they had all watched me throw myself between Tristan and Vigil, and there had been this intense bright light shooting from a spot in the middle, with a loud thundering sound. We had scared them to death! I think the guys had remained somewhat skeptical about this whole magic deal, even after seeing Tristan’s fading away trick, but after tonight they had no more doubts.
And now we all knew how truly dangerous Vigil was.
Josh and Sam helped Tristan up and supported his arms over their shoulders, while Harry helped me, and Seth gave a hand to a resisting Miss Violet. Tristan seemed really weak and tired, barely managing to walk. I wasn’t feeling in my best shape either: my legs were wobbly and shaky, and my right arm still throbbed a little, sharp stabbing needles piercing painfully through it. All I wanted now was to get back home and get some rest. Tristan and I left the graveyard with weary hearts and tired footsteps, in the arms of our friends.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Full-Blast Christmas Spirit!
Mom freaked when she saw the state of me, and all the blood on Tristan’s shirt, but we reassured her everything was fine and nobody was hurt. She had been waiting anxiously since we left the house a couple hours before sunset, holding her breath until she knew the results of Miss Violet’s risky plan. She had wanted to come with us to the cemetery, but I’d pleaded for her to stay behind. I didn’t want her to be at risk, too. It would have only been one more person to worry about and I was stressed out enough as it was. I wasn’t even sure why I had agreed to the boys coming along. Maybe because they were determined to be there for Tristan and weren’t taking no for an answer!