Chapter 46: Derrick

Tuesday, October 4th

SHE COULD APPARATE? Oh, come on!

It makes sense. We’d never figured out how Tess got home from the bonfire, or how the demon could be possessing her body while killing off football players miles away. Why hadn’t I thought of it before?

Because it’s not supposed to be possible. I dug into my pocket and tore a bag of incense open. The wind was with me. When I threw the plastic bag at Tess, the powder flew to her like a magnet.

She hit the ground, her small frame shuddering under the onslaught of the horrible wet, hacking sounds bursting from her throat.

“Tess!” I knew better, but I couldn’t stop myself from dropping to my knees beside her.

Her hand shot out and wrapped around my throat. “What,” she demanded, her face a twisted mask of rage as she lifted me from the ground, “have you done?”

It’s not Tess, I reminded myself when my vision blurred. It’s not. Pain radiated from her hand to my throat. She wouldn’t do this. She’d never do this. Deep within my chest, white-hot throbs of agony stabbed at me with each struggled breath. It’s not Tess. I tried to pry her hand from my throat, but she held firm.

We pulsed in a sickening twist of vertigo that left my head pounding. The world spun and unraveled. Every iota of my being ripped apart and crashed together into darkness.

Seconds later, the world reappeared in Technicolor, only we were somewhere else.

I collapsed onto the ground, carpet fibers digging worm-like indentions into my knees where seconds ago, sand had left pinpricks. What the—? Immense pain doubled me over before I could complete the thought, blood and spittle exploding between my lips.

“Get him out of here!” Elizabeth shouted.

Elizabeth Dare? What was she doing here? Where was here?

Rough hands yanked me back so fast, I sucked in a surprised gulp of incense. Behind me, the creature inhabiting Tess shrieked with rage.

“Did you really think you could get Matt to roll over on me, Hernandez?” Josh Worthington leered as he hauled me over to the nearest wall. “And everyone says you’re so smart.”

I flipped him off half-heartedly. God, this hurt like my insides were being stitched back together piece by piece after being passed through cheesecloth. Was I in Josh’s basement? I glanced around, disoriented. Memories long past filled the room, jarring against the reality of now.

I remembered Tess and Josh crowing with delight, “sword” fighting with empty wrapping paper rolls in the same space where she now crouched on the floor coughing so hard, blood splattered her lips. Solemn Cub Scout oaths spoken around the table where Matt now sat tied to a chair in an oversized sweatshirt set up in a makeshift straightjacket. Josh raising a plastic gun to his lips and blowing off imaginary smoke in the middle of the room. Now he stood in the same place, leveling a very real gun at Tess.

“Don’t,” I croaked, making a feeble grab for Josh.

He ignored me. “I thought you said it had to be invited in!”

“I’d wager she was.” Elizabeth didn’t pause in circling Tess, pouring salt out of a dark blue canister, but she did jerk a thumb over her shoulder to Matt.

“I deserve this,” he sobbed. “Make it stop! Make it stop! I deserve this!”

Josh swore under his breath, his grip tightening on the gun as Elizabeth tossed the salt canister away and grabbed a bucket filled with what looked like shaved bits of metal—iron, maybe? “Hurry,” he urged.

She finished with the bucket, then grabbed a bottle of water. “Don’t look at me like that. I had to warn them, Derrick. This is bigger than you and your girlfriend.”

“He’s going to kill her.” I tried to struggle to my feet, but whatever happened to me in transit from beach to basement had turned my knees to rubber.

“If it comes to that, yeah.”

My mind raced, trying to figure out some way out of this. But being here was such an impossibility, I couldn’t catch up. We’d just been on a beach nearly six hours away. How could we be back in Fairdealings, in Josh’s basement of all places. What is she doing here? I tried to catch Elizabeth’s eye, but she avoided me, guilt etched along her face.

How could she work with them?

It’s the right call. If she and Matt had stuck with my plan, Tess and I would have still popped up wherever Matt was. Only he’d be alone and helpless. Now, at least, he had a chance. But did Tess?

This is bigger than you and your girlfriend, Elizabeth had said. Objectively, I knew she was right. If the Estrie completed the sacrifices, a lot more people would get hurt. Stopping it should be the priority.

But I’d long since lost my ability to be objective when it came to Tess.

Elizabeth sprinkled the water in a circle, then drew a piece of paper from her pocket and started reading in rapid Latin. An exorcism? Iron, water, salt, incense. I glanced around the room, taking in the symbols drawn on bits of paper taped to the walls.

“If this works—” I kept my voice low, directing my words to Josh. “—you can’t shoot her. I know you’re pissed, I know you want revenge, but—”

“I’m not a murderer, Hernandez.” Josh cut me a disgusted look.

Just a rapist. My thoughts turned to the cell phone in my pocket, but Josh watched me with a look in his eyes that told me he was itching for an excuse to shoot both of us.

“Derrick, help me!” Tess’s voice shrieked, but I didn’t need Elizabeth’s warning look to recognize Tess wasn’t speaking.

How is she yelling? I could barely breathe.

The demon’s voice echoed in my memory. We’re linked, you and I.

I could almost see the tether between us—a line of shadows pulling something from me, something important, something vital, to push into her.

The Estrie crouched down, muscles tense. She wasn’t coughing anymore.

“Watch out!” I shouted to Elizabeth.

Tess’s body flew at Elizabeth with a wordless growl in a rush of dark hair and flashing teeth. Wind stirred every paper in the room, and everything went dark. I could feel the shadows pulsing, writhing against me like a living thing.

Because they were. I could feel their pain, their memories. Chris, sliding the blade up his wrist, Harrison, staring up at the ceiling fan; Ryan, leaping in front of that car;

Beside me, Josh stiffened, and the gun clicked as the safety went off. No. Launching myself at Josh, I knocked him to the floor, fumbling blindly for the gun. Shadows fled the room, bathing us in a sudden light. Josh froze in surprise; I did not. I grabbed the gun from his hand and clubbed him over the head until he went still.

Behind me, I could hear the monster doing something to Matt. Whimpers from him; slurping sounds from her. My stomach lurched with the realization that if he wasn’t dead yet, he soon would be. I glanced around for Elizabeth. Her arm beckoned limply behind the couch. Desperation fragmented my thoughts. What do I do? What do I do?

Time slowed to the staccato rhythm of my pounding heart as I turned to face the creature kneeling at Matt’s side. Blood pooled around Matt’s head, gleaming against the tile. Swallowing hard, I raised the gun in shaking hands. “Stop.”

She didn’t so much as pause in her slurping.

I dropped the gun to the floor. I could never hurt Tess.

But maybe I could slow her down. I tore another bag of incense out of my pocket. The bag flew in an arc of pink powder and then landed on Matt’s chest with a puff of dust that settled over him, clinging to his skin. The Estrie drew back in a hiss as a second bag of powder exploded into the air. Before I could launch the last bag, pain exploded behind my eyeballs.

“Gah!” I dropped to the floor, my nose gushing blood as the strange pull between us went taut.