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I ARRIVED AT THE INTERIM cemetery a little ahead of the scheduled time so I could take a look around before the others joined me. Although it had only been five days, it felt like more time had passed as my window to help Janna diminished. A few moments after my arrival, Nygard, in his super-kitty size, appeared a few yards from me. He stretched and looked around, getting the lay of the land.
Back home, I knew Ferris sat in his living room with the physical Nygard, keeping an eye on him as well as touching him so he could see what my cat saw. He wasn’t happy with this plan, and he’d let me know it. More than anything, I think he just resented that he couldn’t astrally project to come with me. That Gavin’s spirit had managed to do it didn’t help matters.
I noticed Nygard’s interest shifted to me as his eyes grew wide and intense. Then I realized he wasn’t looking at me, but at something behind me. Hairs rising on the back of my neck, I spun around to face whatever it was as I gathered my energy in case I needed to blast a yiaiwa.
I got one look and nearly collapsed in shock.
Digby walked toward me, his spirit-self strolling along the path from the direction of the gate.
“Oh, please no. Digby! Don’t tell me they’ve killed you,” I cried out, standing stock still. Anger and grief rising in me at the same time, I swore Belphegor would pay for this. I would blast him clear back to Hell and collapse a mountain on the portal if that was what it took to keep him there.
Almost to me, he laughed, “No, I’m all right. I just learned how to spirit walk from my Uncle Jack. Turns out he wasn’t as crazy as we all thought he was.”
“You came here on purpose?” I could barely believe it. He had managed to connect to here.
“Yeah. I want to help you, and this is the only way I can do it.” He made it sound so easy.
“No, no. You need to go back. This is far too dangerous, and you’re not a fighter.”
He frowned at me, giving me a wry smile at the same time. “Look who’s talking. You’re not a brawler exactly, last performance not counting, and yet you’re ready to leap in to save us all. Let me in on the party, Gilly.”
“Crap. How did you find out?”
“Ferris told me. He and I chatted yesterday. He unloaded on me about his worries and fears. No, don’t blame him,” Dig added quickly as he saw my expression turn to anger. “He doesn’t know I can do this. Only Uncle Jack knows, and now you.”
“It’s not a party,” I grumbled. Although I was happy to see Digby and know he wasn’t dead, I now had another soul to worry about. “It’s dangerous, Dig. I don’t even know that Janna hasn’t been destroyed already.”
“All the more reason you need to let me help.”
“I can’t convince—” I started to argue and stopped mid-stream as Gavin appeared almost on top of me.
“It’s time,” I muttered, my few minutes for reconnaissance gone before I’d even had a chance to look at the barrier. Exasperated, I shot a glare at Gavin, then reached for the first token to begin bringing the others across.
“What’d I do?” he asked as I walked past him.
“Don’t mind her, mate,” Dig said. “I just upset her apple cart a little. I’m Digby if you remember me.”
I shut their conversation out and focused on reaching the team members. For some, the path was easy, and they came across at almost the first touch. Elly, Bob, Cowboy, and Lucca arrived within moments of my even picturing them. Then Yoshi and Parnika responded practically simultaneously, followed by Hamish, and at last, after such a delay that I thought she wasn’t coming, Cara appeared. Astrid and Orielle arrived together as the psychic had come to Gavin’s house before we started. Sandy took a little longer as Jade had to reach us first then she pulled Sandy across.
Briefly, I went over the plan one more time, and we grouped in teams to move out. Gavin came up and pulled me aside.
“I have a spell that might help you,” he said in a low voice.
“What kind of spell?” I asked. I’d seen some pretty decent power come from him.
“A defensive one. It’s a—”
“No offense, but I’d rather have a whopping attack spell.”
He nodded, “Yeah, I get it. But this spell is like frigging armor surrounding your body. It’ll protect you from those grabbing vines and maybe even those iceberg attacks. That’ll free you up to use your power.”
A magical suit of armor? Hell, yeah, that sounded great. Maybe it would give me an edge. “Can you cast it on everyone?”
His mouth turned downward, and his eyes answered before he said, “No. I don’t have enough energy for everyone. I figure you’re the one Belphegor wants, so you need to be protected.”
While I didn’t like that I would be the only one with it, I didn’t turn it down either. If Gavin had that right, then I would be the primary target. “Do it.”
Within less than a minute, he’d spoken some words, waved his hands a couple of times, and said it was done. I didn’t feel any different and hadn’t even felt an aura of magic from the spell, so I wondered if it actually worked.
We rejoined the others and fell into positions, my vanguard in front leading the way with the others behind us to protect and secure our passage. I sent Digby back with the support team so he wouldn’t be in the first forays.
“Don’t go crazy with your powers,” I warned them as we approached the barrier. “Use only what you need to use, so you don’t exhaust your energy.”
Ahead, the dark vegetation looked unchanged, but not further out than it had been earlier. Maybe we, at least, stunned it last time.
We headed toward the vine-covered gate, and Bob fired the first volley, a round of three fireballs that set the plants sizzling and burning. As the foul order of burning and diseased flora filled the air, I choked on it, covering my nose and mouth with my hands. Behind me, the rest of the team reacted similarly and slowed down a bit to wait until the way was cleared.
The only one who seemed unfazed by the obnoxious odor was Jade. Like Janna, she moved on a whim and floated above the ground rather than walking. Until then, I hadn’t thought much about the differences between an untethered soul and one that was still attached to the physical body. Since the odor bothered the rest of us, I guessed that not all of our bodily senses transferred to a freed spirit, or they were desensitized in some way. If we couldn’t float and they could, were we relegated to what our physical bodies could do? Astrid had spoken of astral travel and seeming to fly swiftly to her destination, but once there, she responded more as her body would. Were they limits we imposed on ourselves?
No time to think more about that now though as the way opened through the barrier, and we began to move. I motioned Nygard to my side, pleased when big kitty responded, and led the way through with Bob and Lucca flanking me on each side. Close behind me, Gavin followed, on alert for anything that might make a grab. Small vines scurried toward us, then retreated almost as quickly as Bob shot a spurt of flames their way.
“Nice,” I said. “You’ve gained great control of that fire.”
“I’ve been practicing, Miss Gillian,” he drawled as he cast another brief flash from his fingertips, a shit-eating grin splitting his face.
I chuckled and moved on in the direction I’d last seen Janna. I scanned over every slight break into the twisted trees and abundant ground bushes and vines, all in that deep green, almost black color that suggested pure evil. A little less than three feet away from them, I watched as the long tendrils of sky-growing roots waved and reached out, trying to get a grasp on one of us.
I urged Nygard to my left side to keep him between Bob and me. Pulling a little closer, Lucca also gave them a wider berth. Behind me, Gavin muttered something unintelligible, and a flash of blue-white shot into the parent tree. A sharp whistling sound cut the air as the tendrils shot skyward then wrapped around the trunk as if protecting it.
Just ahead, I spotted what might be a path through the woods and motioned to the others. “What do you think? Shall we try it?”
Lucca nodded. “It’s the only trail I see so far.”
Narrow, uneven, and winding, the almost-clear-of-vegetation dirt path looked foreboding as it wound through the woods. On alert, I led the way with Nygard at my side, Bob and Lucca right behind me and all of us ready to blast, scratch, burn, and repel as needed. A clump of vines rattled their leaves as several shoots sprang toward me, reaching tendrils out to grab. I slashed my hand down, and a thin blade of white energy lopped the whole clump in two.
Instead of retracting, it doubled its efforts, both halves of the vines sending out more runners to attack the group. Before I got off another shot, Bob sent a blast of fire into them. It caught easily and burst into more balls of flame as it found dead leaves and branches it could use. Behind us in the support group, I felt a sharp breeze as Hamish sent it flying into the woods to spread the fledgling fire further in. Screeches rose up from the woods as the trees reacted to the threat, their branches undulating in frantic motions.
I plunged ahead, keeping on the dirt path as the fire raced into the woods to the right of us. For a moment, I worried that we might have cut off our only exit. The woods grew darker as canopies of taller trees blocked any sunlight that might enter. Through the few breaks in the branches, I could see dark clouds filling the skies so not much light could have shone through anyway.
“How’s your night vision?” I asked the guys.
“About as good as yours. Maybe the cat should lead,” Gavin quipped from behind me.
“It is not a problem,” Lucca said as he lifted his hand and a luminous ball rose from it to glide in front of us. Giving off enough light to show the path all the way to the edges and a foot or so beyond, the light hovered in position until we—or more specifically, Lucca—started walking forward again.
“You’re holding out on me,” I accused. “What else can you do besides light balls and repelling attackers?”
Smirking, he shrugged his shoulders and replied, “I don’t know. When I needed a light, it was there. The same with the repelling.”
“Handy. If you needed a bomb, would you get one out of nowhere?” Gavin asked with more than a touch of sarcasm.
“I do not think so,” Lucca answered. “Most of my gifts are protection and appear when I have a use for them.”
“This guy has a high connection to the supreme deity,” Gavin mumbled into my ear so that no one else heard. “Where did you find him?”
“The Vatican,” I replied tersely. That shut Gavin up.
I gazed around the illuminated area uneasily. Where were the yiaiwa? We’d blasted our way into their territory; I’d expected some retaliation.
“Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” Bob’s drawl asked in a loud whisper.
“That we might be sitting ducks?” I answered.
“Well, that or this might be some kinda set-up.”
Bob stepped closer to the edge where one of the pesky vines tried to make a grab for him.
“At least the vegetation is still reacting even if it isn’t attacking.” I looked up at the break in the tree limbs over us where only a dull gray light barely peaked though. No tendrils extended from the twisted appendages to attempt to grab one of us and not even the whisper of a breeze sounded in the woods. It felt as if everything was waiting for a signal.
“I don’t like it,” Gavin muttered.
As I started to step forward again, I heard a low growl from Nygard and shifted my eyes to him. Ears alert, he twisted to look behind us as his fur puffed out making him look twice as big. I spun around, seeing shadowy shapes creeping up on the back of the group.
“Behind you!” I screamed as a yiaiwa started to grab Yoshi.
The rest of the group whirled around. Before the yiaiwa made contact, Yoshi dropped to the path and rolled away as Astrid cast an illusion spell. In the blink of an eye, two duplicates of all of us filled the space between our group and the attack force.
Bob and Lucca turned back to face the front, standing guard in front of me while I readied a blast aimed at the threat.
“Everyone down,” I called out and hoped that all of the real team responded as their doppelgangers still wandered in the path.
“In front, Gilly,” Dig called out. I looked back over my shoulder to see more of the shades in front of us. I hesitated, uncertain which way to go first.
“Take care of the back ones.” Gavin charged forward as he yelled. “I’ll help Bob.”
I nodded and moved to fill his spot in the column. Reaching with my left hand to touch Nygard’s head, I released my power. Blue white light streaked like a bolt of flash lighting into the middle of the yiaiwas. Shrieks like the screams of eagles rose from the creatures as they shot to the sky, vanishing into the woods.
From behind me, I heard sizzling sounds of flares and words of an incantation. More shrieks burst from the front group. I spotted another one in the back as a yiaiwa tried to fly toward me and sent another pinpoint of power into it.
From one side, I noticed streaks of red as bolts of electrical energy hit two more of the yiaiwa. I glimpsed the satisfied look on Orielle’s face as her newly-learned magic seemed to work well on this plane.
Along the edges of the path, I saw that Elly had sent thorny vines along the side to stop the tree off-shoots trying to grab for anyone at the edge. If I didn’t know better, I would have said that the little weeds looked happy piercing the thick roots.
Warily, I scanned the dark skies looking for any movement to indicate the opposition had come back or were lingering there. Nothing. At least, nothing I could see.
I turned back to face the front where Bob unleashed another fireball at a shade advancing on him. I watched one try to grab Lucca, saw the Italian cross his arms over his chest, wave one arm out, and the yiaiwa bounced off as if it had hit a trampoline. Repel spell in action. A grim smile touched my lips.
Glancing back over my shoulder, I called out, “Yoshi and Jade, keep an eye out behind us in case they come back. Everyone else, watch the edges of the path for any movement.”
Cara suddenly screeched out a high note, a sound so off-key I couldn’t even tell what she was aiming to hit. What the heck, I wondered, then saw the movement as a pair of shades, almost on top of Bob, jerked back and retreated into the darkness.
“Sound waves,” I muttered. “Sound waves bother them.”
I marched to the rear, grabbed Cara’s wrist, and pulled her to the front. “You’re our secret weapon, Cara. They don’t like your voice, so sing loud and high.”
With a nervous nod, Cara started singing a church hymn I didn’t recognize. I watched the yiaiwas trying to regroup, their movements jerky. I tapped Bob’s shoulder and pointed to them. He nodded and shot a fireball into them.
I slipped to the back again, peering into the darkness trying to discern any movement. Shaking my head, I sent a blast that direction illuminating the area enough to see two more shades hanging behind us, but also appearing agitated. A more precise bolt sent them flying. But I noticed one seemed more damaged than the other as it flew erratically, then disappeared.
I started to turn, and a yiaiwa appeared in front of me, less than an arm’s length. Gasping, I jumped backward feeling Astrid’s spirit force almost on my shoulders. Faster than I, the creature lunged for me, an appendage forming to penetrate my soul. I shuddered, already too familiar with the debilitating cold touch, and I raised my hand, ready to let loose with a light blast. The yiaiwa hit me first—and repelled back as if something had slammed into it.
Gavin’s shield spell! It worked.
I threw my blast in an open-handed thrust that plowed into the yiaiwa. Shrieking and tattered, it started to lift to the sky when a fireball collided with it, and the creature vanished.
Going back to the front, I saw that Bob and Gavin had handled the small squad there. While most were gone, two motionless shapes lay on the ground, gaping red wounds oozing an oily-looking liquid. Lucca guided a light as we moved closer to investigate.
“They look dead,” Lucca said.
I nodded. “I didn’t think we could kill them.” Excitement grew in me as I thought we might have managed to do it, but I was afraid to believe.
As we studied them, waiting for any sign of life, the skins withered and turned to dust, leaving only stains on the dirt from their oily ichors.
Returning to the path, I motioned the group to resume the hike while my other hand unconsciously rubbed Nygard’s ears as we walked. Feeling the cat relax, I heaved a sigh of relief. But part of me thought it was too easy. The yiaiwa hadn’t fought that much.
Cara changed songs to an off-key rendition of “Ave Maria.” Wishing for earplugs, I dropped back a little and kept shifting my gaze from right to left and up, waiting for the next ambush. As we walked, I wondered if we’d actually killed the yiaiwa or if we only destroyed the shell. Worse, if the souls within had been stolen, had I obliterated them also?
“It’s not your fault,” Gavin said as he moved beside me. “Those souls were lost long before now.”
How did he know what I was thinking?
“Beyond retrieving?” I asked.
He nodded, his mouth a grim line. “Destroyed by the soul eaters.”
“The shield works. Did you see the one bounce off it?”
“Uh huh. Just don’t get dependent on it,” Gavin answered.
Stepping around a stone in the path, I frowned at him. “What do you mean?”
“I mean, don’t get careless and expect it to always save you. It’s just a shield. Something stronger than that yiaiwa may come along that can go right through it.”
“Like Belphegor.”
“Exactly.”
A fair warning, and it made me pause. We could barely stop the yiaiwas. Could we stop Belphegor? I knew we couldn’t kill him, but could we force him back to his underworld and seal it? I had to believe it was possible or I wouldn’t have been chosen to try. But was I leading everyone with me into a fatal confrontation?
