The farther away I got from Gage, the clearer my mind became. All the warm and fuzzy thoughts finally slid away. In their place, I felt a deep hatred and a burning frustration.
“Put me down!” I shouted. I slammed my fist into the kidney of the person carrying me and heard a male grunt of pain, but we kept moving.
I started to thrash around, desperate to get free. After a few more minutes of clawing at my kidnapper, I found myself unceremoniously lowered to the ground. I was still in my fancy dress, so when I rolled onto my back, the skirt billowed up and obscured everything in front of me. I desperately pushed down the skirt and found myself looking up at my captor.
Caleb.
A cold sweat broke out over my skin. Now he has me all to himself in these deserted woods. I tried to scramble away, but the dress caught on brush and weighed me down.
Caleb was standing only a few feet away. I had seen murder in his eyes so often when he looked at me. And now…here was his chance. Gathering the dress, I scooted away.
“Colina… It’s me,” Caleb said.
As I locked eyes with him, something made me pause in my escape efforts. There was something familiar about the way he stood, the look in his eyes, his voice…
I felt myself go numb all over. For one moment my heart leapt with the idea that he could still be alive.
But then my heart sank again. It couldn’t be Luke. I shook my head. It couldn’t be. Luke’s spirit was gobbled up by the hellhound. This is a trick, cooked up by Caleb to torture me.
“This is a trick. You’re Caleb. Luke is…dead,” I whispered. I knew he could see my fear—I didn’t try to hide it.
“Colina, I’m alive,” he said quietly. He reached for me. “Come to me. Let me hold you.” His hand stopped in midair as I scurried backward. “How can I prove it to you?” There was a desperate look in his eyes. “Remember when you told me your family was killed? We were alone. You had a glass of water in your hand, and it was raining outside.” He moved slowly toward me. “The old gypsy woman gave me some vile-smelling ointment, remember? I was supposed to put it on the stab wound I got protecting that lady from the Triads.” His hand went to his side. “I never did use it.”
Everything he said was true. They were all things only Luke would know.
Did he come back from hell? And now he’s inside Caleb? I pressed the heels of my palms into my eyes, trying to clear my thoughts. When I looked back at him there was a familiar expression on his face—one that I had seen Luke make many times. Luke was staring at me from inside another body. It was true. He’d somehow transferred into Caleb’s body. All my prayers had been answered. I felt like shouting out with joy, like dancing around the room. I was so filled with happiness. I was bursting with excitment. Luke had come back from hell. We would be together again. I wanted to throw myself into his arms, but when I looked at him, I saw Caleb, and fear and uncertainity flooded through me.
“It’s me—it’s Luke,” he said, taking a hesitant step forward.
He held out his hand, but I didn’t move. I felt frozen in place with a mixture of happiness and horror. I closed my eyes and buried my face in my hands, fighting back confused tears.
I felt his body settle next to mine. “Colina.” A hand gently touched my hair. “Please.”
I should have been filed with joy…and in a way I was, but even as I tried to force myself to turn into his arms, I knew that I could not. A rush of fear ran through me at the thought of Caleb touching me.
Luke’s voice surrounded me, and for a moment the desire to be near him again rushed over me with such force that it took my breath away.
His fingers brushed across my cheek. “I’ve missed you,” he whispered in my ear.
I opened my eyes and found myself inches from Caleb’s face. Caleb—my sworn enemy. A man who had hurt me every chance he had.
Panic filled me and I shoved him back. I clambered away, only stopping when my back hit the base of a tree. I couldn’t move any farther and froze, my body shaking, my knees pulled up to my chest. I wanted to jump into his arms—the arms of the man I loved, who would have done anything to protect me. And at the same time I wanted to keep running—to flee from the hand that had burned and tortured me, the man who had taken joy in my pain.
I watched as frustration filled Caleb’s eyes and settled over his body.
It’s not Caleb, I reminded myself. It’s Luke.
But even as my mind tried to reel with the possibility that Luke had somehow come back, my body was still reacting in fear. I’d been scared for so long that Caleb would hurt me. He already had once. I had the scars of his hatred forever burned into my leg.
“You don’t want me to touch you… It’s because of him, isn’t it?” Caleb muttered through clenched teeth.
Him? Who was he talking about? Caleb? Did he understand my fear?
“You have feelings for him.” He towered over me, an intimidating intensity in his eyes. “I saw the way you let him put his hands all over you.”
Is he talking about Dean? I recalled Caleb’s look of jealousy as I’d sought comfort in Dean’s arms. How long had Luke been possessing Caleb? Had it actually been Luke watching me when I went with Dean? It wasn’t fair for him to hold that against me. I’d been inconsolable—I’d thought I’d lost him forever. For a brief, insane moment, I’d just wanted to escape the sadness, the darkness, the emptiness that filled my heart when I thought he was gone.
An even more disturbing thought entered my mind. Or is he talking about Gage? Would he understand that Gage had taken control of my emotions and mind? I’d been helpless as Gage forced me into the role of his fiancée—no, his wife. That word stopped my protest before it reached my lips. I’m Gage’s wife. We completed the dark wedding ceremony.
Caleb—no, Luke—reached out, grabbed my arm, and pulled me roughly to my feet. His expression was hard, cold, and angry. It was an expression I’d never seen on Luke’s face before, but it was one that I often saw Caleb wear when he looked at me.
“You’re hurting me,” I hissed, trying to pull myself out of his grasp. The old mage, Walter, who had taught me the spell to transfer Luke’s spirit into Dean, said that if Luke transferred bodies more than once, there was a chance he could come back wrong. Sometimes the spirit would change and morph into something…not quite right.
His fingers tightened. “I thought you loved me, but you care for him. I saw you kissing him…being with him. Did you make love to him?”
Had he been spying on me? I turned my face away, ashamed. I didn’t know which one of them he was talking about, but I no longer cared. I just wanted to get away.
“I never stopped loving Luke—you,” I whispered.
“I don’t believe you,” he hissed. His eyes blazed with so much anger. I twisted out of his grasp and he made another grab for me. When his fingers touched my wrist this time, I screamed out in pain.
“You’re burning me!”
I fell back, uncontrollable tears streaming down my face, my wrist still feeling like it was pressed against hot coals. I looked at his hands. They were on fire. Reddish-orange flames slid along his fingers and down his arms. He was creating hellfire. He looked at me, hatred still in his eyes. He looked as though he wanted to hurt me.
“Luke…don’t do this,” I pleaded, cradling my burned arm.
He was standing over me, looking like he wanted to kill me. I knew something was off. This wasn’t Luke’s nature.
Luke had always been in control of his anger. When the darkness had run through his blood during the death dealer trials, he’d fought against it. He’d kept control. He didn’t let anger overtake his emotions. He’d found a way of balancing himself. It was something I’d been desperately trying to do myself since the death dealer rituals.
But that balance was something he’d possessed before, when he was completely himself—the Luke I met at the magic shop. The Luke I fell in love with.
When he possessed Dean’s body, there was very little darkness to contend with. Dean never finished the death dealer trials.
Caleb, on the other hand, was sadistic. He’d taken such pleasure in hurting me. And inside Caleb was hellfire. Was it Caleb’s uncontrolled darkness now swirling inside Luke, influencing him? Or was it something else? Had he come back wrong?
I wanted to believe with all my heart that the Luke I loved was now standing before me. That he had not come back damaged. That the body he was in was not such a dark influence that it had changed him. Or that a piece of the darkness from the other side hadn’t come back with him. “Luke…I love you,” I said softly.
Luke looked down at me, turned, and with so much force I flinched, slammed his fist into a tree. Then he stalked away.
I gave him ten minutes to cool off and then went after him. I found him twenty feet away, sitting up against a fallen log. The skirt of my dress kept tangling in the underbrush as I made my way over to him. The ridiculous ball gown was obviously not made for hiking through the forest. I tugged on the skirt, but the brambles it had caught on wouldn’t release their hold. With a huff of frustration, I pushed and pulled my way out of the contraption. Feeling self-conscious in only a silk slip that fell just below my knees, I wrapped my arms around myself and walked over to Luke.
I demanded, “Let me see your hand.”
He wouldn’t look at me. “Don’t come near me. I can’t be trusted.” I sat down next to him and grabbed at his hand, but he pulled away. “Colina, I’m serious. There’s so much anger racing through me. I can barely breathe. When I thought of you in someone else’s arms…” He looked off into the distance and said in a quiet voice, “I couldn’t control the jealousy that raged through me. I hurt you. I could’ve killed you.”
I reached for his hand again. “But you didn’t.”
He let me examine it without protest this time. His knuckles were bloodied, his fingers swollen. I held his hand and then dropped it abruptly when he turned to look at me.
Caleb’s eyes met mine.
I steeled myself, looked into his eyes, and tried to remind myself that inside this body was the guy I fell in love with.
Whenever Luke had taken over Dean, Dean’s blue eyes had changed to gray, the color Luke’s eyes had been when he’d been alive. That’s the only way I could tell who was in control. But, surprisingly, that wasn’t happening now. Caleb’s eyes were brown. The eyes I stared into now weren’t exactly brown, but they definitely weren’t Luke’s gray eyes, either. Somehow they were both colors at once. A ring of gray spread out from the pupil and a circle of brown rimmed the irises edges.
What does that mean? I wondered.
Luke interrupted my thoughts by saying, “I thought you were dead. I didn’t know you were still alive until I saw you in the square.” His free hand reached out, and before I could move away, he touched my face gently. “She knew that if she told me you were alive, I wouldn’t have stopped until I found you. And if Gage knew I was inside of Caleb, we would have lost our advantage. She’s a cagey old thing. She planned all of this. She helped bring me back.”
Had Mildred orchestrated this all? I’d been steadfastly distrusting her, but she had only helped us since we arrived at the mining town.
I watched as Luke pulled a velvet pouch from his pocket. He unwrapped the leather rope around the top and let the contents fall into the palm of his hand. A pile of runes laid there. “She told me to carry these with me,” he explained, carefully pouring the runes back into the bag and tucking it back into his pocket. “The hellhound ripped the soul from Caleb’s body. The exact moment his soul left, my soul entered. She transferred my spirit from Dean to Caleb. I don’t know how the old woman did it—the timing of such a spell, the power it would take…” He looked off into the trees.
It was all making sense now. During the transfer ritual, I recalled seeing runic symbols in the fog. At the time, I hadn’t given it much thought, but now I knew it had been Mildred performing a spell. “She planned the hellhound attack?”
He nodded. “She had control over the creatures somehow.”
I remember Mildred cooing and petting the beasts. “I saw her with them in the woods once. She fed them and talked to them like they were pets.”
“Who would’ve thought the old woman had so much power?” Luke said.
What was Mildred? She told me she’d walked with the demons a hundred years ago, and now she’d somehow brought Luke back to me. Was she even still alive?
Luke continued talking. “When it first happened, I was so confused. I wasn’t inside Dean anymore. Mildred grabbed me, pulled me aside, and told me our only chance of escape was if I pretended to be Caleb.”
“You were in him the whole time after that ritual?” I recalled the times when Caleb had been almost kind to me. Now it made sense. It had been Luke all along.
Luke looked away. “I couldn’t tell you. If I told you, I worried you would react to me differently than you did to Caleb. Then Gage would suspect something was up and realize what happened.”
Every time I saw Caleb, I’d felt only fear and hate, but Caleb died during that ritual. All the anger I’d thought I was focusing on Caleb had actually been directed at Luke. What must it have been like for Luke to see me looking at him with so much hatred in my eyes?
Luke got to his feet. “We need to keep moving. A couple days ago Mildred used her disappearing trick to go off and find my family. She told them where we are. They’re coming in to attack Gage and his men. I thought we would’ve run into them by now.”
I felt my heart thump wildly in my chest. “Your guild is out here?” My eyes scanned the trees. “If they find me, they’ll kill me.” I remembered Darla promising to kill me herself the next time she saw me.
“I’ll explain to them why you had to do what you did.”
He reached for me, and I instinctively cringed and slid away.
Luke pulled back his hand and narrowed his eyes, but continued. “We need them. With their help, we can take down Gage. We can free the others.”
“If they’re still alive,” I whispered, getting to my feet. I’d left my friends to die in the middle of a bloody battle. The guilt that washed over me was suddenly overwhelming. Gage had made it clear he didn’t need or want Dean around. What would happen to Dean once his berserker power was gone? Will he be killed? Is he dead already? I forced the thought away. Dean, Wendy, Mildred… They have to be alive.
Luke was watching me. “We can hope, Colina. I’m sorry—I had no choice, I had to get you away from Gage.”
This time I couldn’t meet his eyes. Did he know about the new power Gage had over me? I wondered whether Mildred told him about my bewitched affection for Gage and how he forced me into marrying him. I wanted so desperately to ask the questions swirling around in my head, but I was afraid of the answers.
I looked up into the sky. Dark clouds were slowly covering the full moon.
Luke pulled out a small flashlight from his pocket. “If we keep heading north, we should run into my guild.”
I nodded, but swallowed back a lump of dread. When we came face-to-face with the Phoenix Guild, would they try to kill me before Luke had a chance to explain?
* * *
We scrambled over logs and pushed our way through heavy brush in silence, and I was thankful for it. I didn’t know what to say to Luke.
I thought back to the time I’d rushed into Dean’s arms for comfort. It had been Luke, not Caleb, who stood there watching as I ran without hesitation straight to Dean. Sonja found me with obvious signs that Dean had been in my bed the next morning. Had she mentioned it to Gage? Had Luke stood by, listening to them gossip about Dean and me?
My thoughts were interrupted by a loud shuffling noise in the bushes ahead of us. Luke grabbed my arm and pulled me to the ground as two shadows separated themselves from the trees, but it was too late to hide. Two men dressed in camouflage gear stood with deadly crossbows in their hands leveled right at us.
Before I could even think to react, Luke stood up, yanking me with him, and shouted, “Phoenix rising!”
The guards seemed to relax, but they didn’t lower their crossbows. Without a word, one turned and walked into the darkness, gesturing for us to follow. We walked down a trail barely visible in the darkness with the second man covering us from behind.
After we’d walked a few hundred feet, we stopped. I could see bodies moving in the bushes to our left and Luke whispered in my ear, “Stay here.”
Where was he going? Did he really expect me to stay put while he headed off into the woods? He started to move away, but I grabbed his arm and hissed, “I’m coming with you.”
I walked by his side, trying to calm my pounding heart. I’m not some wimpy, newly initiated death dealer, I reminded myself. I might not have power over the living, but I have magic.
We came into a small clearing and Luke stopped abruptly. Hooded lanterns cast a wavering light on the surrounding trees, making it look as if a mysterious group of giants towered over us in judgment. The sky had gone dark as the clouds ate up the stars and the moon. The clearing seemed to be an island of light in a very dark world.
Over Luke’s shoulder, I saw a familiar face.
Darla stood in front of a group of thirty or forty young men and women. Her camouflage clothing faded into the greens and browns of the forest. Dressed in a well-worn fatigue jacket and pants, she looked older than the last time I’d seen her. Her blond hair was still short, though, cut above her chin.
Luke strode toward her, but this time I didn’t follow him. I hung back in the shadows.
Darla stopped, her face anxious, and asked cautiously, “Is it really you?”
“It’s me,” Luke answered.
Darla stood staring at him, a hard look on her face. “Prove it,” she demanded.
“Once, when you were seven, you got mad at me for taking the head off your doll. To get even, you made me lemonade…but you substituted salt for the sugar.”
Darla stared at Luke. Her posture was rigid and one hand held a dagger in a sheath at her side. The tense silence stretched uncomfortably as she considered his words. I could tell by the look on Darla’s face that Luke’s answer had been the right one, one only he would know. But now that he’d answered her question, it seemed like Darla didn’t know what to do next.
Another familiar face emerged from the middle of the group—Freddy, Luke’s friend who’d joined us in saving Darla what seemed a lifetime ago. With no hesitation, he strode up to Luke and gave him a big bear hug, laughing a few times before finally letting him go. A wide smile crossed his face. “I don’t care who you look like, buddy, I’m just glad to see you.”
Luke returned the smile. “It’s good to see you, too.”
It was only then that Darla spied me hiding back in the shadowed tree line. She gave me a withering stare, and in a flat voice, said, “You’re still alive.”
“I am,” I answered. I straightened my shoulders and made my way to Luke’s side, highly aware of the fact that I was wearing only a skimpy slip. Wrapping my arms around myself, I studied Darla’s face. From her expression, it was clear she still felt the same way about me. Her eyes shone with anger and the threat of violence.
Luke moved in front of me protectively. “Darla, I wouldn’t be here if it weren't for Colina.”
Darla hissed, “You defend her after what’s she done? She raised the dead. Our people are targets thanks to her.”
Luke raised his voice. “She is not our enemy.”
Darla advanced toward me, a menacing gleam in her eyes. “She needs to pay for what’s she’s done.”
I could feel a rush of adrenaline course through my veins as my heart started to pound. A crowd of death dealers faced me with hostile expressions on their faces. They hated me. They wanted to hurt me. That’s when I heard the howl on the wind.
And I wasn’t the only one to hear it.
The younger death dealers looked around in fear. A few raised their hands and began speaking Latin. A dozen banshees suddenly filled the air between the crowd and me.
Luke shouted, “Stop this!”
Shadows raced past me—my spirit pack had materialized. I heard shouts of panic as the crowd began to scatter, but one thin young man stood his ground. Ignoring the fleeing death dealers and the swirling, ghostlike wolves, the young death dealer’s dark eyes glittered in the light of the lanterns. He shouted something lost in the chaos and gestured toward me emphatically. Two banshees circling around him rushed in my direction.
Without thinking, I took a deep breath and focused all my energy on the spirits coming toward me. The air wavered. Where moments ago there was nothing, a shimmering light appeared. I was opening a rip in the veil to the other side.
I heard voices cry out in astonishment, but my focus was solely on the banshees. I used every ounce of energy in me to redirect the spirits’ path and push both of them toward the rip in the veil. Rays of light broke through the rip and shot out to surround the spirits. In a rush of sound and light, they were engulfed. There was a loud whooshing noise and the light disappeared back from where it came—and the spirits went with it. I’d crossed them over to the other side.
My spirit pack had circled around me. Dozens of ghostly wolves were poised in the air, not attacking, but ready to protect me. Directly beside me, a huge shadow in the form of a bear stood imposingly. My heart soared and power rushed through me. My pack survived the battle with Gage. I had no idea what the fight had cost them, how many spirit wolves had been lost, but the pack still survived. I lowered my hands and looked straight at Darla.
Her face had gone white, but she seemed to shake off the fear. Her face filled with determination and she started toward me. She was ready to take me on despite the threat I posed.
“I said, enough!” A voice roared through the night, and seconds after it came a whirlwind of orange and yellow flames that scorched the earth between Darla and me. When the flames went out, I saw Darla had stopped, her eyes wide with shock. She wasn’t the only one who seemed frozen with surprise. A stunned silence settled over the clearing.
Luke walked between us. Flames wreathed him, creating a tornado of hellfire that reached nearly to the treetops. Dozens of banshees weaved in and out of the flames, but they were different from any other banshee I’d seen. Rather than the normal, transparent forms of most death dealers, Luke’s banshees now burned with hellfire. I knew without any doubt that if I crossed these banshees over, they would go straight to hell.
I watched Luke with both awe and trepidation. His face was full of fury, flames flickering along his body. How would he ever find a balance against a power that was so rooted in evil?
With a wave of his hands, Luke released the fire and banshees whirling around him. Though they faded slowly from sight, small flames still slid off his hands.
He looked my way and then at Darla. “We have a common enemy. He’s the one we need to focus on. He’s the one we have to destroy.”
Darla's face was emotionless when she addressed her brother. “We’d heard that a death dealer in the Dragon Guild was able to use hellfire, but…we thought it was just a rumor.
I noticed a quick flash of fear in Darla’s eyes, though it was gone quickly. Was she scared of her brother? Did she think he would harm her? I had the same doubts swirling through me. I was scared of Luke in his new form.
Luke looked down at his fingers and the fire that still twirled around them. “It’s not just a rumor. And the remaining members of the Dragon Guild have joined up with Gage. They were with Macaven before that. They are the ones who started all of this. They’re the ones who began killing people to raise a demon. And they’re within our reach. We can stop them.”
The anger and fight had left the crowd. Everyone was now focused on Luke. Wide eyes full of fear and suspicion watched his every move. I was no longer their target. With a sigh of relief, I let my spirit pack slowly drift away and turned to Luke. “You think it’s a smart idea to go back and take on Gage?”
“What choice do we have?” Luke answered, though he didn’t direct the question at me. His eyes were on his sister, surrounded by a semicircle of guild members.
I was surprised by his answer. He was acting impulsively. Luke wasn’t thinking—the dark emotions Caleb harbored ruled him, emotions which now swirled through him. I looked to Luke again and tried to reason with him. “Gage has powerful magic and strong mages with him.”
“I’m not afraid of Gage,” Darla declared.
“Then you’re a fool,” I answered immediately.
Darla was acting as impulsively as her brother. But her reasoning had less to do with following her brother’s lead and more to do with her hatred of me.
Darla’s eyes narrowed. “You can’t expect us to walk away. Not when you left those things…those abominations out there. I will not have someone else die because of your reckless, careless actions.”
How does she know about the zombies? It gave her one more reason to despise me. My face burning, I looked over to Luke. He was openly staring at me. He must know about the zombies by now, I thought. Gage would have talked about them. I decided not to address the topic and instead turned back to Darla.
She started to say something, but I raised a hand and interrupted. “Listen, I have no idea how to destroy the zombies. Eventually they fall apart, or you can hack them to pieces, but is there magic that can stop them? We don’t know. And going after Gage is suicide. You can’t hurt him. Gage can heal himself. It’s no good doing physical damage to him. I’ve watched his wounds close on their own.” I turned my attention back to Luke. “Gage has a vial of something like…nerve gas and everyone in its path dies. I saw him use it. I’ve seen what he can do.”
Luke and Darla considered each other. He looked angry, while she looked determined.
My words came out in a rush. “You can’t take him on—he has too much power, he has zombies, and he has hundreds of followers.”
Darla turned to her brother. “We are fifty strong. We’re all fully trained death dealers.” At her words, her brother’s face filled with surprise. “That’s right,” she continued, a hint of pride coloring her face. “I’m a death dealer now. I’ve gone through the rituals.”
Luke frowned. “But you’re only fifteen.”
Darla straightened her shoulders. “I’m sixteen. You’ve been gone a long time, brother. You don’t know what it’s been like.”
Luke looked around at the faces in the crowd standing before him. “Where’s Uncle Franklin? Where are the elders?”
“Uncle Franklin is alive. But for how long? You have no idea how many death dealers have died. Everyone has declared war against us. The most powerful of our kind have gone off to try to and round up as many death dealers as they can and bring them to the strongholds. That’s where your friend found us.” Darla waved her arm to encompass the group of young men and women standing around her. “We heard you needed help, so we came.”
Brother and sister looked at each other for a long moment.
I finally broke the silence. “Death dealers are in danger, which is why it’s important you don’t waste the lives of your people going against Gage.”
“We can take on Gage and his men.” Darla sounded so sure of herself.
“What about the demon?” I demanded.
Her gaze swung my way, and I realized by the look of apprehension on her face that she didn’t know the demon was close. They obviously hadn’t been planning on facing a demon. Mildred told them where we were and that we needed help, but she didn’t mention the demon?
“If the demon is here, then…we’ll destroy it.” Her voice suddenly sounded younger and vulnerable.
I tried again to reason with her. “We have no idea how much power the demon has, even in human form. “ I turned and looked at Luke. “You saw what that thing did to Macaven and his men.”
Luke looked away.
I looked back at Darla and pleaded. “Trust me, you don’t want to do this. You should wait—you need more reinforcements.”
“There is no one else,” she explained impatiently. “It’s only us.” Darla crossed her arms and faced me once again. “Whatever you say is not going to change our minds. We have to go in and kill Gage and the demon. They’ll come after us eventually. How many death dealers has he killed so far? How many more will die so he can create his zombie army? So you can create his army?” She angrily flung those last words at me.
She looked so young standing there with an openly defiant look on her face. She wanted to fight, wanted to rush in. I’d been that rash once, and Luke had died.
I turned to plead with Luke. “It’s suicide. Don’t go.”
“She’s right, Colina. We can’t let Gage or the demon get away. They have to pay for what they’ve done,” he said. He started to reach for me, but changed his mind. “Colina, I don’t want to put you back in danger.” He looked uncertain for a moment and looked at his sister, and then back at me. “If there is any chance of success, any chance of us all making it out alive, we need your magic.”
“It’s madness,” I whispered.
“If she’s too scared to go, then let her stay here. We don’t need her,” Darla spat.
Luke’s eyes never left mine as he said loudly, “You’ve just seen how powerful her magic is. She can cross banshees over to the next life. She single-handedly destroyed hellhounds.”
Darla looked at me as though I’d just sprouted two heads. “You killed hellhounds?” Her voice took on an accusatory tone “How dangerous have you become?”
I didn’t answer her. How could I? I didn’t even know what I’d become. I still didn’t have full control of my powers.
I looked at the young men and women standing around Darla. They were going to rush off to fight Gage, his death dealers, and a demon. I had counted close to one hundred people living within the tunnels and the mining town—there was no way the battle had killed them all. Even if the zombies had taken out a decent number, there would still be plenty of able-bodied men and women ready and willing to fight Darla and her guild.
And then there was the demon.
I looked over at Darla. Her young face was hard and set. Nothing I say is going to change her mind, I realized.
Luke turned and spoke to the crowd, effectively ending our argument. “We need to keep moving. As I’m sure Mildred told you, Gage and his people are set up in a town about three miles from here.”
Darla moved next to her brother and called out to her people. “We’ll stop and camp here and make our way to the town at dawn—that’s only a couple hours from now. Take a break and eat some food before we head out.”
I could tell by Luke’s expression that he didn’t like the delay. He started to open his mouth to say something, but the withering stare Darla had given me earlier was now directed at him.
Luke closed his mouth, obviously deciding not to press the point. He turned to Freddy. “Can you keep an eye on Colina? I want a word with my sister.”
“I’ll keep her safe,” Freddy answered as he gave me a wink. He straightened up, puffed out his chest, and gave the crowd a cold stare. Freddy, who didn’t have an ounce of magic, had suddenly taken on the role of my bodyguard. Freddy, whose loyalty and friendship had brought him to this place of danger.
Without another word, Luke motioned to his sister. He turned and walked into the trees. Darla slowly followed, her body tense and angry, but she turned back before following Luke away. She glared at me with obvious hatred. “Don’t even think of running away. After we deal with this—clean up another one of your messes—you are going back to my people to stand trial. You will pay for what you’ve done, and after my brother hears all your crimes, he will happily leave you to your fate.” She turned and marched away, dismissing me with disdain.
I wanted to hate her back, but instead I just felt shame. I looked around at the group still circling us. How many of their family and friends died because of me? They all knew their people were targets because of what I’d done. How many of them wanted to see me hang for my crimes?
Freddy gave me a wide grin that faltered into an embarrassed expression as he looked me up and down. He patted a backpack slung over his shoulder awkwardly. “I’ve got some extra clothes you can change into if you want. And I’ve got chips and cookies. I’m happy to share.”
“Terrific,” I said with a shudder, very aware of my barely there silk slip. I’m standing in front of everyone in my underwear. “What does she mean by a trial?”
Freddy looked uncomfortable. “I’m sure she’s not serious. Don’t worry about it.”
I sighed, suddenly very tired. “Freddy…just tell me.”
“Well, when a death dealer does something so bad that the family can’t deal with it, they form a tribunal of elders to hear the evidence and pass judgment.”
“What kind of judgment? What ever happened to ‘trial by jury’?”
“The death dealers have been taking care of their own justice since before the Constitution was written.” Freddy started, ready to give me a speech about the history of the Phoenix Guild, but I cut him off.
“What kind of judgment?”
He paused for a moment, obviously trying to decide whether to tell me the truth or a comforting lie. “There isn’t really a limit. They could put you on kitchen duty for a decade…or they could sentence you to death.” He looked at me with trepidation, waiting for me to explode, but I wasn’t really surprised. I just nodded and gestured at my slip awkwardly, effectively changing the subject and giving him a way out of the conversation.
Freddy walked toward a group of trees away from the group, and I followed, thankful to get away from their angry stares. He found a fallen log, sat down, put his pack on the ground, and opened it, pulling out some clothes and handing them over to me.
I gratefully took them and Freddy turned away while I got dressed. I stepped into a pair of green pants and pulled a camouflage T-shirt over the slip.
When I put on the shirt it caught against something. I looked down. The red ruby necklace still hung from my neck. I reached around and unclasped it and it fell into my palm. I slid it into the pocket of my pants.
When I was done, Freddy grabbed a bag of chips and threw them at me. “From what I’ve heard, you guys have been through quite an adventure.”
“We have,” I answered.
“The old lady who brought us news that you guys were alive—”
I interrupted him, “Mildred. Her name is Mildred.”
“Right, Mildred. You should’ve seen the commotion she caused. The minute she came and told us you guys needed help, Darla scrambled together a rescue party.”
“A rescue party to save Luke, not me.” When he didn’t say anything, I continued. “We both know Darla and her people only came because of Luke. She told me herself—she wants me to die.”
“She was just angry when she said it.”
“And she’s not angry anymore?”
He laughed. “No, she’s still angry. But she won’t hurt you.” He saw my skeptical look and put his hand on my shoulder. “Seriously, she won’t. If she did, Luke would never forgive her.”
“You really think that would stop her?” I asked.
“I know she loves her brother. She would do anything for him. She’d never intentionally do anything to hurt him.” He handed me a chocolate chip cookie.
“And what about the rest of the group?” I could see flames through the trees—someone had started a small campfire. I could see young death dealers milling around it, far enough away that we could talk without being overheard. But even with the distance, I still felt the pressure of being watched, and I knew that Darla had set guards that observed us from somewhere in the darkness. One of the death dealers had already sent their banshees at me. How long until it happened again?
Freddy took a bite of cookie and chewed on it a while before answering. “You can trust these people.”
“How did Darla end up in charge of the rescue party?” I asked, opening the bag of chips. “She’s awfully young, isn’t she?” Many of the mages within the group were older than she was. How powerful was she?
“The death dealer guilds aren’t monarchies or anything like that, but Luke and Darla are from a very old family. Their family has led the Phoenix Guild for generations; their uncle is the current guild leader. They’re a powerful family, yes, but the guild really follows them because they’re natural leaders.” He shrugged. “When Mildred came into our camp, most of the adults were out trying to save as many of the other guilds as they could and bring them back to their old bolt-holes.”
“Bolt-holes?”
Speaking through another mouthful of cookie, he explained, “You might not know this, but death dealer guilds have only been in the public eye for a few generations. Before that, they hid from the world in isolated communities. When they came out of hiding, most of these old villages and camps were mothballed, but some guilds maintained them. Now they’re like sanctuaries.”
Freddy had no magical abilities, yet he knew intimate details about the guilds. “You know an awful lot about how the guilds work,” I said.
He gave me a sheepish grin. “I’m not supposed to know any of this stuff.” He looked around as if suddenly worried we might be overheard, but there was no one close by. “Luke and I grew up together. There are no secrets between us. Anyway, do you want to know or not?” he asked, an amused look on his face.
I raised my hands in surrender. “Continue on, please.” He was telling me more about the guilds than Luke ever had.
“The guild members return to those sanctuaries for important events and rituals, and sometimes just to get away from the hate of modern society.”
“So that’s where Luke’s uncle was when I first came looking for a teacher?”
“Yes. Many of the sanctuaries—sometimes they’re called strongholds—have no phones, televisions, or electricity. The same isolation that makes those places safe also makes them hard to contact.”
I looked over to where Darla and her people were gathered. “You were telling me how Darla ended up in charge.”
He took a deep, exaggerated breath and then continued. “Yes…well, as I was saying, when Mildred came into the village, only a few adult mages were there, left behind to keep an eye on the families. They were not willing to mount a rescue party, and they forbade Darla to try it on her own.”
“So Darla went against their orders.”
“Darla gathered a group of volunteers and snuck out of the camp. Everyone here is a volunteer, ignoring the wishes of the guild. Darla put this all together on her own.”
The moment Darla heard that Luke was here, of course she would move heaven and earth to get to him. “So she put all of this together to save Luke?”
Freddy paused, looking uncomfortable, and it finally dawned on me, her true purpose in coming here.
“Darla didn’t come for Luke,” I said flatly. It wasn’t a question.
He reached out to lay a reassuring hand on my shoulder. “Darla didn’t believe Luke was alive. She used a different motivation to get them all to come. But that’s all changed now.”
But I’d stopped listening. My suspicion was right. Me. They came to kill me.
* * *
When Luke approached Freddy and me a while later, he looked angry. It was a familiar look on Caleb’s face.
“Is everything okay?” I asked.
His eyes met mine and he tried for a smile, but didn’t quite pull it off. “Everything’s fine.”
Whatever words brother and sister had exchanged, they had clearly been heated.
Freddy got up and gave me a smile before walking off. I passed Luke the almost-empty bag of chips.
“Thanks,” he said, settling down next to me on the log.
I’d begun unwinding the complicated braids Sonja had fashioned in my hair while waiting for Luke, and now I finished, pulling apart the last few strands. My hair hung down to my shoulders in waves.
Luke watched me. “That was quite the dress you had on back there.”
I couldn’t tell if he was teasing me. “Gage does love his fancy parties.”
“But this wasn’t just a party, was it?” Luke said, his tone suddenly void of emotion.
I couldn’t tell by his expression what he was thinking. I started to reach out to touch his hand, but stopped myself. “You know, don’t you? You know he forced me to marry him.”
This time there was no missing the flash of anger that flickered through his eyes. “Yes.”
My mouth went dry. Did Mildred tell him what Gage had done to me? That he messed with my mind and emotions until I was nothing but a mindless, love-stricken idiot? If Mildred hadn’t broken the spell… I looked off into the woods. I couldn’t bear the thought of what might have happened if she hadn’t restored my reason. But then again, Mildred didn’t truly break the spell—she only loosened it. I still felt drawn toward Gage when I was close to him. My head filled with hideous thoughts of love for the monster whenever I thought of him or he was around.
When I looked up at Luke, he was staring down at his hands.
“I didn’t have a choice…” My words faltered. I took a deep breath and tried again. “He forced me—”
Luke raised a hand and stopped me. “I don’t blame you for what happened. Gage arranged all of this because he wanted your magic.”
Luke moved closer. I could feel the heat of his body only inches from mine. “I tried to stop it. Gage imprisoned Mildred. We were supposed to meet before the whole thing started and when she didn’t show, I got suspicious that something was wrong. I found her down in the cells. She was being guarded by some of his men.”
“You had to fight them?”
He looked down at his hands again. “I had to kill them.” I could see a flicker of yellow and orange as hellfire slid across his skin.
Luke had never wanted to use his magic to harm, but now he had killed men trying to get to me. Trying to protect me. I wanted to reach out and comfort him, but I was still conflicted. I still saw Caleb’s face when I looked at him.
He had tried to get to me—and if he had gotten there in time, the ceremony wouldn’t have taken place. And I would not be married to Gage. But I was. The thought made me physically ill.
I was desperate to change the subject, but thankfully didn’t have to come up with something to say—people were moving around. We’ll be heading out soon. “You really want to do this? We don’t have to. I know Darla thinks this is the only way, but there have to be people out there willing to help us go after Gage and the demon.”
He looked at me for a long moment before he said, “We know where they are. We need to strike while we can.”
“It’s too risky,” I whispered.
“We have to do it,” he answered. His dark eyes blazed with so much anger and hatred. “I don’t just want to go after Gage for holding us hostage, for creating a zombie army, for being in league with the demon. I want to make Gage pay for what he’s done to you, Colina.”
He wanted to get revenge for me? That was something the Luke I loved would say. I felt my heart give a tug. But then panic filled me. How could I convince him not to go through with it? I’d rushed in once before to kill a madman. I had not waited for help and I hadn’t cared what happened to me. Because of that, a lot of people died. Luke died. I’d promised myself I would never do something so rash again.
But Luke’s expression was resolved.
I was not going to change his mind. Gage had hurt me, and Luke was going to make him pay.
If he was going after Gage, I was going with him.