I didn’t waver in my gaze. “It would be rather pointless of me to lie, wouldn’t it? I’m sure that you could track me down easily enough if I tried to escape without honoring my word.”
At this Sherus nodded, a dangerous glint in his eyes. “Yes, you would be very foolish to mess with me. Very foolish.”
“Understood,” I said, even as I squirmed a little inside. I’d better find a way to get the Nasiris freed from the Drizans, or else…
I didn’t even want to think about how impossible the task could be even as a vampire, not to mention as a ghost. But one step at a time. Just one step at a time.
Sherus gripped my shoulder and squeezed hard. He leaned in closer to my ear and whispered, “Go now then. Go fetch your five comrades, but be sure not to dally. We will meet back here in ten minutes. In the meantime, my companion and I will also need to return, in order to retrieve two coffins.”
Yes, sir.
Ben
The three of us moved swiftly toward the main door and entered it. Here we parted ways. The fae headed down the tunnel, while I sank into the wall for fear of being seen. Ten minutes. I had ten minutes. But it was hard to keep track of the time due to the anticipation coursing through my spirit, and there was not exactly an abundance of clocks to be found in The Underworld.
I pushed myself hard, racing with speed I’d thought I had lost. Though I had to be cautious at the same time. Being caught out of my pool by a ghoul now would be catastrophic to the whole plan.
My pool had never been a more welcome sight. I dove in and frantically scanned the water for Kailyn and Lucas. To my relief, they were still down here—huddled in the same corner.
Kailyn immediately perked up on seeing me, and I was glad to see that Lucas’s eyes were still open, even if he did look more drained than a beaten donkey.
“Did the ghouls come round yet?” I asked.
Kailyn shook her head.
That was both good news and bad news. For all we knew, they could be on their way right now.
“I’ve found a way to escape,” I whispered. “The fae, they’ve agreed to help us. We all need to head toward the canal immediately. The fae also agreed to let Chantel, Nolan and Marcilla come with us.” I glanced briefly around at the rest of the poor ghosts in our pool, trying to keep a casual expression—although many of the ghosts had their eyes set on me curiously, after having just returned from yet another excursion. “We’ll have to come back for the rest,” I breathed.
Kailyn looked quite breathless. “Wait, what? Are you sure about this, Ben? What if it’s some kind of trap? A test of our loyalty to the ghouls?”
“Kailyn,” I said sternly. “You just need to trust me on this.” I shot her a glare.
At this, she pursed her lips and nodded. “Okay,” she breathed. “I-I trust you,”
Now I cast my eyes around the pool in search of the other three. They were sitting together on the other side of the pond, along with a fourth ghost I hadn’t spoken to yet. A short young man with caramel skin. I wasn’t sure what he had been before he’d died.
I moved closer to them, but, being unwilling to say what I needed to in front of this fourth ghost, I caught Marcilla, Chantel and Nolan’s gaze and beckoned them over to me. The young man looked curiously at us as they joined me. Turning my back on him, I quickly explained what had to be done.
Chantel looked afraid, but not nearly as much as Marcilla, who had already undergone torture several times. Still, even in spite of her uncertainty, there must have been something about the conviction in my eyes that made her agree to come with us.
We arrived in Kailyn and Lucas’ corner. The werewolf was already standing, and, to my relief, so was Lucas. Both eyed me expectantly. Then all of us began drifting upward at once. Several ghosts called after us in question, but we ignored them.
After checking that the chamber was still empty of ghouls, we lifted out of the pool. As we headed to the tunnel, I was dismayed to see that Lucas’ rest hadn’t done him any good. If anything, he was slower now than he had been before. But, I hoped that the more he moved, the more he would warm up. He had to. He was slowing us all down.
On reaching the mouth of the tunnel, we were about to submerge into a wall when a shout came behind us. I froze in horror.
“Hey! Where are you going?”
It was the young man whom Marcilla, Nolan, and Chantel had been conversing with.
Damn fool!
“Shut up, Keb!” Chantel gasped. “You’ll attract the ghouls!”
“Don’t leave without me!” he yelled even louder.
I wanted to grab Keb’s neck and snap it. Now I feared that it was already too late.
“Into the walls!” I hissed.
The six of us submerged into the walls of the tunnel, and I prayed that Keb wouldn’t follow us—or even if he did, that we would lose him before he managed to catch up with us. Six ghosts in total was what the fae had agreed to. And not a single ghost more. Turning up with seven could put the whole deal in jeopardy, if the fae took offense and thought I was trying to change the terms of the agreement halfway through.
We had to wind the rest of our way through the stone as much as we could, painfully slower since we couldn’t see where we were going. Still, we continued forging forward blindly through the walls until I felt it was about time to check where we were again.
Then another unwelcome sound met my ears. A much more unwelcome sound.
The screeching of ghouls. It grew louder and louder. At least two were coming our way, and fast.
I realized in a panic that I didn’t even know if Lucas was still following us. I could not see through the thick stone walls and now fear gripped me that he had fallen behind. I was forced to emerge into the tunnel to check exactly how much progress we had made toward the main door, and that was when I saw them—three ghouls rushing toward us down the corridor. I immediately sank back into the wall, but it was too late. They’d seen me. Arms shot through the wall and rummaged around, catching my arm. The next thing I knew, all six of us were being dragged out, the ghouls holding each of us with one hand. Lucas was being held in the other hand of my captor, and unlike me, he didn’t instinctively struggle. He was just limp in the ghoul’s grasp.
This would be the end for my uncle. They would take us back to the torture chamber and I knew without any shadow of doubt that one more session in there would drain him forever. As it was, I feared that they might pass judgment on him and send him down to The Necropolis, but after one more session, I could predict it as surely as the oracle herself.
“No!” I bellowed, kicking and flailing in the ghoul’s iron grip.
The ghouls began leading us away from the main door, down the corridor. I wouldn’t have been surprised if the ghouls had just been on their way to conduct their inspection… and to think that we would’ve just made it out in time if it weren’t for that bastard Keb causing them to hasten.
They moved faster and faster, and I was already mentally preparing myself for another round of torture when, to my shock, they stopped abruptly before we reached the end of the tunnel.
The ghoul had been carrying us with our backs facing forward, so I couldn’t even see why they had stopped. And everything that happened next was a blur. I heard the ghouls scream, and then the slicing of flesh… and then my ghoul’s hold on me—and Lucas—abruptly loosened. Drifting to the floor, I whirled around to find myself staring at all three ghouls, lying on the floor, decapitated.
Hovering over them were Sherus and his companion. They held daggers in their hands, tinged with thick, black blood. I gaped, both stunned and bewildered by what they’d just done.
I’d thought that if we got ourselves caught, our contract would automatically end. That the fae were actually willing to risk murdering the ghouls while in their own caverns spoke of deeper levels of desperation on their part than I’d ever imagined.
Sherus’ jaw tensed grimly as he wiped his blade against his sash and slid it back into his
belt. He and his companion quickly scooped up the bodies and opened one of two coffins that rested behind them. They dumped the ghouls inside, crushing up their bodies in order to make them fit. Then, removing their shoulder sashes, they soaked up the blood on the ground before chucking them on top of the corpses. They closed the lid of the coffin sharply before opening the lid of the second one.
Then Sherus set his steely gaze on me. “Get in,” he said, gesturing to the second box. “Now.”
Luckily we had subtle bodies and all six of us could pile in, our bodies merging into one another, which was a truly bizarre feeling. I shifted around as the fae slammed the lid shut, my body passing through all five ghosts simultaneously, as I moved to get a better look through the small, narrow window of the coffin.
I felt the coffin being lifted and held slightly vertical so that I could glimpse what was in front of us. They arrived at the main door, flung it open and we shot out. We flew over the lake, then into the canal before arriving in the vast entrance cavern.
It all happened so fast, I barely even believed my eyes as the fae rushed us past the unsuspecting guards and shot up through the base of the whirlpool. As the churning water sloshed against the glass, it was the most beautiful sight I’d ever seen.
We’re out.
Ben
We soared out of the vortex of swirling water over an expansive, tree-lined lake, and then the fae tilted the box so that the window faced directly upward to the sun-streaked sky and I couldn’t glimpse what was beneath us. Although I was curious to observe the location of this place—where the heck the portal to that ghastly hole existed on Earth—I could hardly complain.
I’d never thought I’d appreciate the sun as much as I did now. All those months as a vampire, it had been the bane of my existence. Now it felt like my salvation.
Overlapping each other in the cramped coffin, the six of us were all still too stunned to say anything. We just lay as we were, blinking, shocked at everything that had transpired.
I wondered what my uncle was thinking. I wouldn’t be surprised if a part of him believed that this was all just another vision imparted by one of the ghouls, one that would soon turn and twist into a torturous nightmare. But it wouldn’t. This was real. The fae had helped us to escape.
We zoomed with what felt like the speed of light, and soon enough, the coffin was lowered to the ground. The lid clicked open. I drifted out first to find myself back on the snowy mountaintop where it had all begun.
The fae stood barely three feet from me, but I barely looked at them. I gazed around, taking in the full glory of our snow-clad, earthly surroundings. After I’d been held captive in the dead realm, every detail of Mother Nature’s artistry seemed heightened and my spirit swelled with joy.
The rest of the ghosts followed me, and Lucas was the last to drift out of the coffin. He came out uncertainly, hovering next to me even as he looked around. From the look on his face, one would have thought that he’d just landed on another planet. I guessed it really was like another planet. He had suffered in The Underworld for almost two decades. It blew my mind to think what a shock this must be for him. Not to have seen sunshine for all that time. Not to have witnessed the living world. No wonder he had gone insane. I was actually surprised that he hadn’t gone more insane than he was. Then I reminded myself for a second time that he was, after all, a Novak.
We were all still too taken by the euphoria of our surroundings to pay attention to our rescuers, even as they stood, surveying us intensely. Finally I forced my attention to Sherus… and now that I did, the bitter reality of our escape returned to me. We’d gotten out. But now I had to ensure that we stayed out.
I cleared my throat. “So now…” I began, eyeing him and his companion tentatively. I noticed for the first time that the second coffin containing the ghouls’ corpses was missing. Maybe they had dropped it in the ocean along the way.
“Yes, now,” Sherus said, nodding with expectation in his eyes. “Now you will fulfill your end of the deal. You have exactly one day to return to this mountaintop with your army of jinn who must be willing and ready to do our bidding. If you fail to arrive with them… well, I’m sure you already know what will happen.”
I nodded stiffly. “I understand, and I will fulfill my promise…” I paused, wincing internally at the bombshell I was about to drop. “But… I need more than one day.”
“What?” Sherus snapped. His hard expression morphed into a cocktail of disappointment and anger. “You told me that you have jinn at your disposal. Why would it take more than one day to summon them here?”
“I do have an army at my disposal,” I said truthfully. “But it’s been some time since I last saw them. I need to take into account the fact that they might not be where I left them. I need some extra leeway, but I assure you, once I find them”—and figure out a way to free them from the clutches of what are supposedly the fiercest clan of jinn of all time—“I will bring them here directly. Just… give me five days.”
“Forget it!” Sherus seethed. “Three days, or I will return you and your hapless friends right back to where you belong.”
“All right. Three days.”
Sherus glowered at me a few moments longer, then his lips formed a hard line and he nodded curtly. “Three days. And not an hour longer.”
His arm shot out and grabbed my shoulder.
“What are you doing?” I asked, alarmed.
“Obviously,” Sherus hissed, “I’m not just going to let you leave as you are. I need a way of tracking you, do I not? Otherwise you might find a way to slither out of your promise.”
A way of tracking me? I wasn’t left to wonder long as he ordered, “Step into me.”
I stared at him in confusion, but did as he requested. I moved forward, closing my eyes as my body passed through his. Then I stood still. Unlike before when I’d shot through him back in the canal tunnel, I was not expelled this time. A warm sensation surrounded me, followed by an unpleasant prickling, as though somebody was poking with me with needles.
“Now step out.” Sherus’ voice rumbled all around me.
I did as I was told, feeling oddly… cold as I did. I glanced back at him in confusion, wondering why he’d asked me to step into him in the first place. Then I heard gasps behind me. I whirled around to see all five of my ghost companions gaping at me as though I was an alien.
“Wha—?”
My eyes shot downward to my… body? What the…
I was no longer translucent, and my form had a slight aura about it, exactly the same as Sherus’ and his companion’s. I was no longer wearing my old clothes either. I wore the same garb as the fae: one sash around my waist, and another draped over one shoulder. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.
I staggered back, my mouth hanging open as I gazed dumbfounded at the fae.
“Wh-What is this?” I stammered.
“You seem to have figured it out already,” Sherus replied shortly.
I balled my hands into fists and… I could feel my fingers. I clasped my palms together… I felt them touch. I reached a hand up to my face, and touched my cheek. Then I ran my fingers through my hair, down the bridge of my nose, across my shoulders… How could the fae pull off such a miracle?
“I told you I need a way of tracking you,” Sherus said impatiently. “While you possess this body, I will be able to sense your movements. And if you do not return as promised after three days, it will not be difficult for me to hunt you down.”
Still in shock, I barely registered his warning. I glanced at my companions, then back at Sherus.
“Will you do the same for them?” I asked.
Sherus furrowed his brows. “That won’t be required. You are the one who has made me a promise. I have no business with your friends.”
I took a step forward, marveling at the crunch of snow beneath my bare feet as I dared say, “But I’m asking you to do this. Would you please give them bodies, too? If you agree, I would do my utmost to retur
n earlier with the jinn.”
Sherus exchanged glances with his blond-haired companion, who shrugged.
“Hmph. I suppose there’s no harm in it,” Sherus muttered. He turned his focus on the five ghosts. I stared as two at a time, the ghosts merged into the two fae and then stepped out with solid bodies. They still looked like themselves. Lucas was the last to be seen, and as he stepped out of Sherus, I wondered how much more his mind could take before being blown to pieces.
I couldn’t wrap my mind around what kind of powers these fae possessed, but it was a reminder that there were still so many things I did not know about them… including what exactly they needed the jinn to do. But, no doubt, we would find out a lot more about them in the days to come…
“Thank you,” I breathed.
“Thank me after you have brought me your jinn,” Sherus replied. “For if you do so successfully, I will allow you to keep these forms forever… That should be quite an incentive, don’t you think?”
Oh, my God.
Derek
Ibrahim and I didn’t stay long after Herbert’s business was done. We left Jeramiah alone in his trembling state. As we emerged in the corridor and I closed the door softly behind us, I couldn’t help but feel a stab of guilt, as well as doubt. Doubt as to whether I should have done any of this to begin with. Whether I should’ve just allowed him to continue living in his fantasy world. Seeing the man reduced to a quivering boy made me feel sick to my stomach. I didn’t feel any of the satisfaction I’d been expecting on the successful completion of this mission. If anything, I felt even worse than before we’d started.
I exchanged a glance with Ibrahim. He was quiet and I could tell from his ashen expression that he was having similar thoughts himself, though he did not express them.