Adeipho didn't flinch. He kept his eyes on Damon, defiant till the end. It was over in a second. The noble warrior dissolved into smoke, and was gone.
Nobody moved. The stunned silence was broken only by Zoe's sobs.
"I'm going for the Rift," I whispered to Ree.
I didn't wait for her to say anything and took off running for the information booth.
The Guardians surrounding the structure were the last line of defense. They looked to one another with confusion as I headed their way. I was afraid that as soon as I got within sword distance, I'd be smoke, but I kept going.
"Move!" I shouted.
"Let him through!" Ree commanded, running behind me. They were too confused to react.
"Open the door!" Ree shouted. "Now!"
A few finally responded and moved out of the way. I was going to make it. I would get through the Rift. My mind was already on to the next move. I had to find the poleax before Damon did.
My thinking was rudely interrupted by another explosion from the tank's cannon. I thought it was going to try to blow me apart before I made it to the Rift but figured the odds were with me. How could a cannon hit a moving target?
It wasn't trying to. It was locked onto a stationary one. A second after I heard the sound of the cannon, the information booth exploded. There was an eruption of smoke and debris as the bodies of several Guardians were launched into the air. I was hit by the force of the explosion and knocked onto my back. Something smashed down beside me and bounced with a loud clang. It was the brass clock frame that was on top of the information booth. My ears rang and my eyes were filled with smoke and grit but of course I wasn't hurt.
As the smoke gradually drifted away from the impact point, I scanned the concourse. There were bodies everywhere. I assumed that most of them were the Guardians that had surrounded the booth. I made out the wreck of the train. It was surreal to see the huge engine resting in a pile of debris inside the concourse. The Kodak sign was destroyed, along with the entire landing on the east side of the terminal. The platform to the right was scarred, but intact. The ancient tank stood vigil, ready to unleash its fury once again.
It all made sense, unfortunately. I had seen it all unfold. But there was one sight I wasn't prepared for. In the center of the concourse was the destroyed information booth. There wasn't much more left than shattered pieces of its marble base. Inside the circle of destruction there was a wide hole. A black hole. Though there was an entire concourse beneath it, no light shone from below. That was because it wasn't a physical hole in the floor. It was an open wound between two dimensions. An empty, hollow howl moaned from the depths. The sight was impossible, yet made absolute sense.
The Rift had been revealed.
I struggled to get to my feet, thinking I could run the twenty yards and dive through. There was still hope . . . but not for long. Before I could take a step, several of Damon's soldiers circled the Rift. There was no way I would get past those guys.
The battle was over. The Guardians had lost.
And Damon of Epirus, Damon the Butcher, had control of the portal between lives.
29
So many emotions fought for control of my head. Fear. Frustration. Sadness. Guilt. The emotion that trumped them all was anger, and not necessarily at Damon. Before he could seize complete control of the situation, I got to my feet and ran.
"Coop?" Ree called weakly.
My head was spinning from the power of the explosion but I managed to stay on my feet and keep going. A few of Damon's soldiers moved to stop me.
"Let him go!" Damon commanded. "I am done with him."
I almost wanted them to try and stop me, that's how badly I wanted to hit somebody. But the soldiers backed away and I picked up speed. I sprinted toward the destroyed Kodak photo, leaping over piles of debris, headed for the exit to the street. Once I blasted through the doors, I kept running. I was so angry that I had to unload and there was only one target that would do.
After sprinting along the empty street for three blocks, I reached the edge of Ree's vision. Beyond it was nothing. I stopped when I saw a Watcher, alone, standing on a far street corner. He looked to be a guy as old as my dad. There was nothing unusual about him, other than the fact that he held the power to save or condemn every spirit in the Black.
"I don't understand!" I screamed at him. "How could you let this happen? What is your function? Do you even know what just happened? What's about to happen? How can you stand there and not do a thing?"
The Watcher disappeared, which was what I'd expected but it still made me crazy.
"Come back!" I shouted. "Face me! I'm watching you now!"
Two different Watchers appeared on the opposite corner. A young girl and an elderly man. Like all the Watchers, they were silent and impassive.
"Why are you so special?" I demanded. "What gives you the right to judge us? You're supposed to be evolved spirits? Well, prove it! Why don't you help us poor, backward idiots?"
The two Watchers disappeared and were replaced by a single athletic-looking African-American young woman with a long braid of hair that reached to her waist. It didn't matter to me what she looked like. I knew they all thought the same way.
"Are you afraid? Is that it? Seriously? You don't want to judge Damon because he might send his soldiers after you?
Well, that's exactly what's going to happen. There's no stopping them now. Hundreds of brave spirits gave their lives trying to do your job. That makes you no better than him." More Watchers appeared, joining the woman. They were scattered across the street, some on the sidewalk, others far back on the next cross street.
"Damon's about to go back into the Light. Isn't that against the rules? And he's not going to pay a friendly visit. If he finds that poleax, he could create more Rifts. What happens then? Are you going to stand around like a bunch of mannequins while the Light is overrun by the dead? The Black could empty out. Then what'll you do? Who are you going to watch then?"
Several more Watchers appeared. I'd never seen more than two or three at any one time so what was happening was definitely different.
"What about all those spirits who've been protecting the Rift? They weren't afraid. They sacrificed themselves to do what was right and now they'll never get the chance to move on to their better life. If anybody earned the right, it was them. Now they're gone. But not Damon. Oh no, Damon is alive and well. At least he will be as soon as he steps through the Rift. And you know whose fault that is? Yours. You're supposed to be rewarding those who deserve it and punishing the hopeless. But you haven't been doing that, have you?"
Still more Watchers appeared. I was drawing a pretty decent crowd.
"You know what I want to know? Who's judging you? Who decides if you're doing a good job or not? You better start watching out for yourselves because while you do nothing, worlds are about to collide. If I were judging you, I'd send you all to the Blood and start over. Maybe then some spirits who were truly evolved would step in and do what's right."
Many more Watchers began appearing. The street in front of me was suddenly packed with people, all wearing the same black clothing. No two looked alike. There were young kids and gray-haired grandparents. I saw every race imaginable. Their numbers continued to multiply, with everyone staring directly at me, silently. It was enough to make me finally shut up.
There had to be thousands of them. Multiple thousands.
They filled every inch of the street, stretching off in both directions and disappearing far back . . . and they kept coming. For as many people as were there, it was impossibly silent. I couldn't hear their breathing, the pumping of their hearts, or even their feet shuffling on the pavement. Unlike spirits in the Black, these spirits felt more like true spirits.
I stood there alone, facing them. Behind me the streets were as empty as when I'd arrived. If everything I'd heard about the Black was true, there was no reason for me to be afraid, because I was right. If these spirits had any reasonable sense of righ
t and wrong, of justice and humanity, they knew I was right. If they didn't, then we were all in a lot more trouble than even Damon was capable of creating.
"I'm going back to be with the Guardians," I said. "If my spirit is going to die, I want to spend my last few moments with people I respect."
I was about to turn and leave when the mass of Watchers began moving forward. If a signal was given, I didn't hear it but there had to be something that happened because the entire group began walking at the exact same moment. I backed away with my eyes on the crowd. There may have been thousands of individuals, but they moved as one, like cogs in a massive machine. No expressions changed. No sound was made. Multiple thousands of shoes struck pavement but it remained as quiet as if the street were empty.
It wasn't until they had traveled halfway up the block that I realized what had happened: The Watchers had crossed into Ree's vision. I couldn't begin to guess what was happening, but I didn't want to be alone when it did so I turned and sprinted back toward Grand Central. I wanted to be with Ree. And even with Zoe. And with everybody else who was left after having fought so valiantly for the future of mankind.
I didn't stop running until I entered the terminal and reached the archway beneath the destroyed Kodak sign that led into the main concourse. The place was in ruins. The only thing different from when I left was that the remaining Guardians had been herded together and sat huddled next to the wreck of the train engine. I counted twenty, down from what were probably two hundred when I ran off. What had happened to the others? Had they been executed the way Damon executed prisoners when he was alive?
The only consolation was that I saw Ree and Zoe with them.
A group of Damon's soldiers was guarding them, though it didn't look like they needed to. The Guardians had no fight left. Several more of Damon's soldiers surrounded the Rift, staring into the void and listening to the hollow howl that came from the depths. It seemed impossible that stepping into that opening would shoot anybody back to the Light, and to physical life.
The rest of Damon's army was gathered on the stairs leading up to the landing that held the tank. Sill more were on the landing, lined up along the shattered safety rail. Some had climbed up onto the tank. It was an impossible mix of warriors from many different eras and places. The one thing they had in common was that they had all bought into Damon's plan. Whatever he'd promised them, it looked as if he was going to deliver.
Damon was back on his horse. The proud victor. He rode past the defeated Guardians, looking down on them like they were rats. I could imagine him doing the same kind of thing when he was alive. He had murdered thousands of prisoners. If he decided to kill off Ree and the rest of the Guardians, I think that would have flipped me into insanity. If he so much as pulled out a black sword, I was ready to go after him . . . and die in the process.
"Thank you, Ree," he called down.
Mrs. Seaver kept her eyes on the ground.
"If not for you, none of this would have been possible."
He looked around at the shattered terminal. "Such an impressive vision," Damon continued. "This marvelous structure was created as a place for travelers to pass through on their way to grand adventures. How fitting that it now holds the portal through which I will initiate the greatest adventure of all time."
"It's no adventure," Ree said through clenched teeth. "It's the end of humanity."
Damon scoffed. "Perhaps. But what has humanity ever done for me?"
He looked to his soldiers, who crowded the landing, and he called out, "What has humanity done for any of us, other than to grind us up and throw us aside like spoiled grain?"
His soldiers grumbled in agreement.
"Not anymore. You have been patient. We have all been patient. I promised that your time would come, and with this victory it has."
A cheer went up from the soldiers. The Guardians seemed to shrink even more.
Damon rode his horse to the front of his mass of soldiers as he continued his speech.
"We each have different stories. We come from different places and different times. But we share the common bond of oppression. No more will we have to bow to those who unjustifiably consider themselves superior."
The soldiers cheered.
"Gone are the days when we must grovel so that others may thrive."
And cheered again.
"Kingdoms have been built by the sweat from our backs. The blood from our veins. And yes, by our very deaths. History may not remember us in life, but I promise you, they will know of us in death. Such a glorious moment as we march triumphantly back into the Light."
The soldiers went wild.
I slowly made my way along the north wall of the concourse, the wall that held the doors to the train tracks. I wanted to get close to Ree and Zoe.
When the soldiers settled down, Damon continued.
"The gift I give you today is a second chance. We are about to re-enter a world that is very different from what most of us remember. It is a world populated by the weak and the privileged. Their slothfulness was inevitable for they are descended from the same arrogant upper class that tortured us in life. The time has come to even the scales. It is our right—no, it is our duty to push aside the undeserving, the self-entitled, and assume the mantle of power that is rightfully ours."
More huge cheers. They were eating it up because Damon was telling them exactly what they wanted to hear. These soldiers must have been put together by Damon out of the dregs of many generations. They were people who resented those who had more than they did in life and had centuries of built-up animosity. What they didn't realize was that they were being led by a sadistic maniac. It scared me to think what they might do when he let them loose in the Light.
"We shall not inherit the earth!" Damon shouted. "We shall conquer it!"
They went nuts.
Damon motioned to one of his soldiers, who grabbed Ree by the arm and dragged her away from the group. Zoe tried to hold on to her but another soldier wrestled her away. Ree was shoved forward and fell to her knees at the foot of the stairs that held Damon's soldiers.
"There will be no mercy," he shouted to them, "for no mercy was ever shown to us! And to begin, I will personally execute the leader of the dogs who have stood in our way for so long."
Uh-oh. Was Damon the Butcher back to his old tricks? The Guardians sprang to life, jumping to their feet in protest, but were held back by the soldiers. Damon got off his horse and strode toward Ree. Ree wouldn't bow. Though she was on her knees, she kept her chin up and her eyes focused on Damon.
"First the arrogant Adeipho, and now the leader of the Guardians," Damon announced.
He pulled his black sword from its sheath. He was really going to do it. There was only one person in that terminal who had any chance of saving her.
"This is but a beginning!" Damon shouted. "We will become the avengers of the Light. People will fear us, for we have nothing to lose and we hold the ultimate power . . . the ability to execute them in the Light and then destroy their spirits in the Black."
Damon grasped his sword and raised it high over Ree's head.
I took off running.
The Guardians howled in protest. Zoe fought to get away. Damon's back was to me. All eyes were on him. And his sword. And Ree. Nobody saw me coming.
The soldiers cheered Damon on, screaming for the death of the leader of the Guardians.
Ree didn't flinch.
Damon raised his sword higher . . .
And I hit him square in the back. What followed was a jumble of sound and fury. I wrestled Damon for the sword. It was all about the sword. If I could turn it on him, he'd be done and this whole nightmare could end.
Damon got his wits back quickly and kicked me away as several of his soldiers tried to jump in.
"Stay back!" Damon yelled. "I will execute him myself."
I jumped at the guy, launching myself feet first, and knocked him on his butt. He didn't stand a chance because I was out of my mind. I st
arted punching at his head, his arms, his chest. I hit him so many times that he couldn't gather himself to control his sword.
I sensed more than heard the shouting and boos from the soldiers around me. It was like being in a gladiator pit where I was the underdog. Nobody wanted me to win, except for the Guardians and they couldn't help.
I threw more punches at Damon than I could count. He didn't know how to defend himself and paid the price. Destroying his spirit would be quick and painless but that wasn't good enough for me. I wanted him to hurt.
He struggled to get control but I was too fast. Too relentless. He stumbled backward, trying to stay on his feet but I didn't wait for him to fall. I pounced on him, knees first. When his back hit the ground, my knees drove into his chest. I heard him grunt in pain. It felt good.
His head snapped back and hit the floor. With a low cry he dropped the sword. As it clattered to the floor I went for it . . . and felt a burning pain in my lower leg.
I looked back to see that Damon's mouth was clamped on my calf, his pointed teeth tearing into my flesh. Like a shark attacking its prey his eyes rolled back into his head. My stomach turned. The guy was an animal. I coiled my other leg and drove my heel into his face. The pain was horrible as his teeth raked across my skin, but he let go.
And I grabbed the black sword.
His soldiers didn't stay back any longer. They came at me but I jumped at the still reeling Damon, put my foot on his throat, and held the tip of the sword to his chest.
"Stop!" I shouted to his soldiers.
These guys were vicious, but dumb. Nobody knew what to do. But I did. I had to destroy Damon. If I let him go, even if I was able to get Ree and Zoe and the other Guardians out of this vision, he would be back with more vengeance than before. No, it had to end right there.
"Ree!" I shouted. "Go back with the others."
She struggled to her feet. "What are you going to do?"
"Get everybody out of here," I commanded.
"And then what?"
"Yes, Foley," Damon asked. "Then what?"
I looked down to see him licking his lips, as if tasting the blood from having bitten me. But I wasn't bleeding. I was a spirit. He must have been doing it out of habit. Whatever the reason, it disgusted me.