Two Halves Series (65 page)

“I will. I promise.”

My mother and aunt stepped back, then flew into a side tunnel, their essences following them like another set of glowing ghosts that wrapped their silhouettes.

Eric wiggled his fingers, and blue light appeared underneath everyone’s feet. “Once the portal to the doorway is opened, it will get nasty,” he explained when I raised my eyebrows.

“But how will you fight?”

“Fighting isn’t always physical. Leave that to us.” Xander stood with his feet apart, taller than I remembered. His hands were thrust in front of him, palms out. Mira held the same stance.

“They’ll be here soon,” Eric whispered.

“What’s that?” I pointed to the gleaming light at the bottom of the mirror.

“The point in between the now and the hereafter,” Eric answered. “That’s where Aseret needs to be locked up.”

I grimaced. “That doesn’t tell me much.”

“A portal to another dimension. A one-way ticket,” Mira supplied.

The light glowed brighter, holding greater meaning. “So, how exactly do we do this?”

“You worry about staying with us. You’re doing your job by luring the warlock here. My sources say he’s furious with you,” Eric said. “Aseret can only be killed beside the portal, so his spirit can be pushed in. Otherwise, he’ll escape and roam as a ghost until he finds a suitable host.”

“Sounds like you know what you’re doing.”

“I’ve done it once. I can do it again.” He winked. “Except this time, his culprit witch will be locked away with him.”

“Right.”

The wind whistled through the tunnels before it gusted into the cave. The current increased, carrying with it the stench of rotten eggs and dirty socks. Seekers spilled into the cave like a disturbed colony of ants. Once in, they moved to hug the walls, holding onto rocks and tree roots. Their cloaks fluttered uncontrollably in the wind. It looked like we were in the eye of a tornado and the seekers on its edge.

Behind them, Aseret floated in, his cloak trailing on the dirt floor. His gaze drifted for a moment toward my husband, and Aseret paused mid-step before resuming his drift. Miranda’s ghost hovered at his side. Both held their heads high, but the witch visibly struggled not to look at the body in front of William. Her focus fell on Xela’s and Mrs. G’s joined hands, and her spirit vibrated. Twenty feet in, the witch and the warlock stopped. Movers and freezers crossed in front of them, creating a pyramid formation, protecting their lord. Aseret did not to step over the threshold in a stone wall that would put him in the same area of the hereafter as us.

The blue light under my family’s feet disappeared, but they didn’t move an inch. The hall was silent, except for the electric buzzing of the ripples in the mirror.

“Silly, silly creaturesss,” Aseret drawled in his monotone. “What worked once, evil-bender, will not work again.”

“We’re not here to bind you,” Eric lied. “Why don’t you leave and let us do our job?”

“Don’t insssult me,” the warlock hissed, turning his head aside to hide a grimace, as if he’d lost the ability to control his emotions. He looked forward again. “Hmm, and you’d leave the twins by themselves? Silly to leave your family without protection.”

Eric didn’t say anything, just stared at Aseret.

“Ahh well, I shall sssend sssomeone to keep them company at the cabin.”

Three seekers and a handful of freezers and movers left through the door behind Aseret.

My family!
I said to Eric.

Don’t worry. They’re safe. Try not to talk. It makes my job a bit more difficult.

Spikes of flesh extended on Eric’s neck; they’d also thickened. Calmness swept through my body, the same as when Crystal touched me. I scanned the room but couldn’t see her. I almost tasted the twins’ lemon-honey aroma on my tongue, though.

“Let’s get this over with.” Aseret lifted his arms, and his cuffs slid down to his elbows as his translucent hands prepared to beam fire, his strongest choice of magic, from his twig-like fingers.

“Let’s.” Eric lowered his head and reached right through me to take Xander’s hand.

“You’d better hold on.” Xander looked at their gripped hands inside my ghost, then squeezed Mira’s hand on his other side.

Their energy flew through me. The waves of Eric’s bending made my ghost flicker like a broken lamp.

“You have no way of taking me down. My essence is a hundredfold greater,” Aseret said, gathering his first blow in his palms. Red fire circled his wrists before enveloping his hands. “You will all end up there, looking at me from beyond as I rule your species.” He threw his hands forward and streams of light zipped through the cave, changing into flame, crackling like fire. One flew toward us, the other toward William, Mrs. G, and Xela.

Staying between Eric and the siblings as they’d asked, I closed my eyes before impact.

It should have reached us by now.
I opened my eyes.

It never did. Instead, both streams of light slowed their blast and bounced off invisible shields similar to the one I’d created with William in the underworld when we faced off against Aseret.

The warlock pressed the attack, this time with fire, trying to break the invisible hold.

On the side of his neck nearest me, Eric’s fleshy spike ripped open. Blood streaked down his neck and body.

You’re hurt.

It’s all right,
he answered without moving.
Let me concentrate.
The spikes vibrated again, and I smelled honey and lemon.

A yellowish mist wafted down from the ceiling like flower pollen. Before it touched the ground, the pollen concentrated in two spots and materialized into my children. Crystal and Ayer stepped out of the golden powder, beaming their aura.

“Impossible!” The warlock slid the hood off his head.

“Love your decorative scars, Aseret.” Xander sneered at the warlock’s orange glowing marks on the face and neck.

“You afraid to come closer?” Eric taunted. “You’ve been waiting for this. They’re here. Come and get them.”

What are you doing?

It’s all right, Mama. Stay still,
Crystal whispered.

“Tempting, but I’m not stupid, bender.” Aseret’s gaze flew from my children to Eric as he licked his lips.

“We’ll see.” Eric smirked.

Seekers crawled around the wall and attacked Mrs. G and Xela. William protected them, clearly stronger than any other time I’d seen him, even in Aseret’s hall.

Her ghostly face a mask of determination, Miranda sped toward my children. Charging like a raging bull, she flew right through the twins. The witch stopped and whirled around to try again but bumped into an invisible wall before reaching Crystal and Ayer. She circled to the side and found an unseen barrier there, as well. Miranda zoomed upward like a rocket, then crashed down to the floor.

All the time, Mrs. G and Xela continued their chanting. Each time Miranda hit an invisible wall, Mrs. G’s and Xela’s arms bruised. Miranda halted, changed direction, and flew straight at the witches, only to hit another wall. She was enclosed in an invisible box, her soul captured.

“Ssstupid witch,” Aseret hissed, wiggling his flat nose.

“You will help me, warlock. We’re bound by blood.” she called, excess saliva slurring her words.

“You’re getting old, witch. It’s the second time you’ve been tricked today.” Aseret looked at me, unphased by her threat. “Fend for yourself.”

“Your blood ties your fate to mine!” she bellowed.

“You have no body, witch; blood ties aren’t honored between the realms.”

Miranda tilted her head back and released a howl of frustration that rose to the opening in the roof of the cave and never came back. Foaming at the mouth, Miranda turned her back to Aseret and began humming a spell that sent waves of energy at the enclosure. Mrs. G’s and Xela’s muscles tensed as the blasts from Miranda’s chant struck the barrier, but their black eyes remained rolled back in their heads.

“One breathes, ssso does the other. One crafts, ssso does the other. One dies, ssso does the other,” Aseret repeated Mrs. G’s words.

My ghost trembled.

“That’sss right, Sarah. I will get the twins. Only one crafter will do to end you all. Their essence will be enough to rule beyond any ruler.” Hatred flared in his orange eyes.

He can see me,
I whispered in my head.

Sarah, don’t listen to him,
Eric warned, but his cautious tone sounded as if it were coming from another planet, and once again, I felt like the warlock and I were the only ones occupying the cave, the same way when he spoke to me the first time I’d met him.

“Sarah, you can ssstill save your children. Come.” He beckoned me with his twig-like index finger.

“Liar!” I yelled. “I will not fall for your tricks, and you will not touch my children.”

“Look at them.” He waved his hand. A red fog billowed forth, creating a screen. An image of Crystal and Ayer appeared, my children on their knees, bound by the light ropes. Aseret sat on his throne as they cried out in pain, bowing at his feet, except their voices were locked in their throats as their lips had been sown together. “Is this the future you want for them?”

“I know my children’s future, and you are not in it!” I escaped from between Eric and Xander and floated toward the warlock. Somewhere in the distance, I heard muffled voices, but all that mattered was getting Aseret.

As I passed my children, my ghost was yanked toward the hereafter. My family’s and friends’ feet were locked in place, but I was a ghost. No magic could keep me from being pulled. Now I understood why Eric had warned me to stay with him. Being connected was the only way to keep my ghost from entering the hereafter.

Eric, what’s happening?
I asked.

But my evil-bender kept his eyes closed. The spikes on his neck lengthened, vibrating with his effort to bend. Another spike burst, pouring blood down his shirt. His skin had paled. It wouldn’t take before he was drained of energy. As they let Eric draw on their connected essences, Mira’s and Xander’s faces were taking on a greener shade.

Fighting the dragging sensation that drew me closer to the nearing hereafter I focused all my energy on escaping the gripping draft. It didn’t help. I was about to pass William, Mrs. G, and Xela. Once there, only few feet would remain. My husband’s brows narrowed in concern, eyes darting from the haul on my soul to the seekers he continued to shove to the ground, protecting the body that lay at his feet as well as the two witches behind him. His fangs gleamed, and veins swelled in his face, creating a bluish cast.

Aseret resumed his blasts at the invisible shield in front of Crystal and Ayer. My children stood still and waited like patient hunters. Miranda threw her own magic spells at the wall of the box that trapped her soul, bruising Xela and Mrs. G. Her ghost darted from one corner to another, growling and chanting relentlessly.

As I passed Miranda’s corpse I remembered Xela’s words: “
It takes three witches.”

Was this where I was needed?

I grabbed Miranda’s body by the legs, my hands connecting like a fly to a glue trap. Holding on, I crawled along the corpse and entered her body. My lungs filled with the stench of rotten eggs and dirty socks, but I welcomed the air. My chest expanded, and the breath was disbursed through the body. The heart I remembered from four years ago began beating. Blood circulated through the veins, and warmth returned to the flesh. My eyes opened, and I saw my family for who they were. I was no longer a ghost.

“That’s my body!” Miranda rushed toward me but was stopped again by the magical wall.

Mrs. G’s face and arms became more mottled with purple. Surely the rest of her body, as well as Xela’s, matched the bruises on her face and limbs.

I sat up like an automaton. My new arms and legs pushed me up, and I took Mrs. G’s other hand. Her chants flew to me through our connection and spilled out of my mouth. My eyes were open, but I knew they’d become fully black orbs, just like the witches’. Through these eyes, I saw the outline of the box holding Miranda captive.

“No! She’s not a witch,” Miranda screamed.

Maybe not, but my ancestors were.

Miranda’s ghost fell to the floor. As we chanted, her enclosure drew along the ground toward the hereafter. She pressed her back against the far wall. “You can’t do this to me. Aseret, help me!”

The warlock’s focus didn’t falter as he continued his failed attempts at the twins. Crystal and Ayer waited patiently.

A few steps closer.
I heard Crystal whisper to her brother.

Aseret neared the threshold of the stone wall. His face contorted, its usually emotionless expression twisted and tightened as the warlock ground his teeth and bit his lips until blood and saliva streamed from the sides of his mouth.

Crystal and Ayer’s tattoos danced around their wrists as if they were alive. The spheres spun energy that radiated outward to William, my watchers, and the protective shields.

The seekers stopped attacking William, who walked closer to the hereafter, toward the twins. The blue light under his feet alternated with each step. He looked like he was walking in gravity boots that held him grounded.

The spell I chanted with Xela and Mrs. G overtook my body, and I could only make out portions of the twins’ battle. Dust swirled behind Aseret when he stepped over the threshold that protected my family from his streams of fire. A grin stretched across his wrinkled face. The warlock lifted his arms. Sparkling energy encircled his entire body before gathering into one bulk at his front. He released the blow at the children. Crystal and Ayer caught the stream in their hands, absorbing Aseret’s wrath, and returned his blast in the form of a spell.

The warlock’s body trembled and morphed, reshaping itself, shrinking its contours, until his soul escaped. As the limp corpse thumped to the ground, the children refocused their stream of electricity on Aseret’s soul. The ribbons of light twined between their fingers, then flew at the ghost. Aseret ducked out of the way, but one strand of energy caught his wrist. Crystal pulled the stream in as if it were a rope, then whipped the warlock overhand toward Miranda’s box. The warlock’s spirit yelped and thrashed as it hurtled through the air.