Flight From Death

  Degoba stared at it, cupping the bottle in his hands. “Okay, listen up. The creature will be in the physical realm if you catch it in its lair. I think it’s sleeping now, but when you get there, it will wake up. Once it wakes, you’ll have to work fast because it can shift out of phase at that point. I believe—I’m not positive, but I think that when it sleeps, it’s a lot like a vampire. More vulnerable. Stab it with silver. Ralph, you can’t touch silver, so guard the girls here. Also, and this is from my connection with him—the wight king has a pendant. If you can get hold of it, you can destroy it and it will make it that much harder for the hive to re-form.”

  “But it wouldn’t be impossible? If we destroy the necklace, another wight can still take his place?” Tonya was jotting things down as quickly as she could.

  “Yes, eventually. So dive in there right away and don’t let him escape. If you do, he’ll just move his lair, and this time he’ll make sure we can’t find him until the entire town is overrun.” Degoba sniffed the Sleepy-Cold, and the look on his face made me laugh. “Damn, this stuff could knock out an elephant. Okay, bottoms up. I’ll stay here. Your house is warded heavily and that will help keep the wight out of my head, too.” As we watched, he slugged a hit of the cold medication, then another. By the time he was done, he’d taken at least three full doses of the stuff.

  We gathered our things and made certain that Patrick and Alex were as protected as we could make them. Tonya had the idea to bring down every silver chain she had in the house—necklaces, but nonetheless, they were silver. We unfastened them and hooked them together into one giant chain, which we draped on chairs around the sleeper sofa. It wasn’t a great deal of protection, but given that the wight hated silver, it might cause Degoba to pause if the creature should somehow manage to gain control and go after the vamps. It was worth a try, anyway.

  When we re-entered the living room, Degoba was snoring loudly on the sofa. He was already asleep.

  “That crap works fast,” Ralph said, laughing. “I kind of wish I could take it on nights when my mind won’t shut up, but OTCs have a notoriously bad effect on Weres, especially werewolves.”

  Tonya tucked an afghan around Degoba, then motioned to the door. “Let’s get a move on. It’s already one thirty and we don’t want to waste another minute.”

  And so the four of us went trooping out the door. I just hoped it wasn’t to meet our doom.

  • • •

  Fort Worden had a different feel by day. Once again, I found myself staring hungrily at the water, wanting to ditch everything else and go dive in. But as we approached the battery, the energy from the night before still pervaded the area and my focus returned to where we were and what we were doing. I looked around for evidence of our fight with the sapwalkers, but there was nothing to be seen—it was as if they had never existed. Then, out of the corner of my eye, I noticed a twig. It wasn’t moving, in fact it was just lying there on the ground, but my gut told me it had been the branch that had wrapped around my throat. I walked over to it and picked it up.

  “What’s that?” Tonya leaned in to look at it.

  “Sapwalker branch—the one that wrapped around my neck. I don’t know how I know, but I do. I can feel it.” Suddenly not wanting to touch the thing, I tossed it aside, shivering. “I wonder if those things walk only by night?”

  Ralph shook his head. “I have no idea. And I don’t fancy finding out.”

  I paused. I didn’t want to bring up a delicate issue, but it could turn into a major problem, so I decided it was best to have it out in the open. “Ralph, can you keep it together in human form? What if something goes down and . . .”

  He groaned. “And blood spills. Yeah, yeah, I know.” With a heavy sigh, he shrugged, looking embarrassed. His cheeks flared with color. “I’m not entirely sure I can promise. But tell you what, the minute a fight starts, I’ll shift. That should prevent me from fainting.”

  It was the best we could manage. Chai took the lead—he would be the hardest to hurt and the hardest to hit. Tonya and I came next, and Ralph brought up the rear. As we headed into the battery, it was still light enough to see our way around. We came to a sudden stop. A couple of college-aged boys were standing in one corner, eyeing the graffiti on the wall. A girl—about their age—was hanging back near the door, and she looked nervous as hell. When she saw Tonya and me, she flashed us a relieved, shy smile.

  I sidled over to her. “Weird place, huh?”

  She nodded. “I don’t like it. My friends wanted to come out to look at it, but I’d rather just go home. Everything feels so . . . sinister in here. It’s probably just my imagination, but . . .” As she drifted off, I realized that her friends were staring over at her, and the looks on their faces were harsh and glittering.

  Shivering, I tried to think of some way to get them to leave before the men were caught up in the forest wight’s energy. Then it hit me. I slipped over to Chai and wrapped my arm through his, pulling him off to the side.

  “Chai, I am not asking a favor. Not at all.”

  He grinned. “Okay, that much is clear.”

  “You see those two men over there in the corner?” I waited till he nodded. “They need to leave this place now. I wonder, I wonder, maybe I should do something to get them out before they get trapped by anything nasty?”

  With a low rumble, Chai shook his head. “Little Sister, you’re good. Wait for a moment, before you do anything. I have an idea . . .” And then, he slowly meandered over in their direction. As he went, the temperature began to rise. It was getting unseasonably warm, especially near the djinn. In fact, it was downright uncomfortable after just a few minutes.

  The college boys looked confused, and then, tugging on the necks of their collars, they slid their coats off. Another minute and they dislodged themselves from their position and headed toward the entrance. Both looked a little glazed over and neither looked like he knew what the hell was going on. The girl glanced at me and slowly nodded, then swung in behind them as they left.

  “There’s no way to lock people out, is there?” Tonya glanced around once they were gone.

  “I don’t have anything that can help—not really.” My magic might froth up the waves and drive people out of the water, but it wouldn’t do much good here.

  Ralph shook his head. “I got nothing.”

  But Chai, once again, arched his eyebrow. “Be right back.” He headed out the door and then, a few minutes later, returned. “The entrance is not so appealing right now. I could not fully make it invisible—well, I could but that would be an all-out granting-of-a-wish type of power. However, I put up an aura of don’t come near around it, so anybody thinking about visiting will think twice, and a third time.”

  “That will have to do. I guess we’re good to go, then.” I turned to the left. “Degoba said to head left, to the furthermost back room, to look for the panel to the wight’s subterranean lair.”

  “Joy of joys,” Tonya said.

  And with that, we headed into the bowels of the battery yet once again.

  CHAPTER 18

  The farther away from the door we got, the more I expected the light to fade, but there were still windows—actually big gaping holes—that looked out into the brush surrounding the building, and they let in the daylight, such as it was. We wound our way through the battery, now deserted except for us, until we found ourselves at a door leading into the back rooms. The building was longer and deeper than I’d thought, and we were going to have to let go of the light as we entered rooms that were windowless. As we plunged into the darkness, Ralph brought out a high-beam flashlight.

  We kept quiet, following Degoba’s instructions. Even if the wight was sleeping, best not to chance waking him up. The more time we had before engaging him, the more chance we had to kill him outright. In my most optimistic fantasy, we’d discover him asleep and destroy him before he could wake up and take us on. I knew that wasn’t a likely scenario but hey, I could dream, couldn’t I?


  As we moved into the room where he was supposed to be hiding, Ralph trained the flashlight into the corners, but there was no sign of the wight. We’d have to find the access panel he’d created—not an easy task given the size of the room and the fact that it was pitch black in here except for the light from our flashlight. The last thing we wanted to do was to wake him up before we’d discovered his hideout.

  “Where do we start?” I kept my voice low, whispering in hopes we wouldn’t be overheard.

  Tonya assessed the room, staring first at one wall, then another. “It can’t be the wall behind us,” she whispered back. “Or the wall to our right—that’s adjacent to another room. So it has to be either straight ahead, or the wall to the left. I’m thinking . . . straight ahead. There’s some force that feels like it’s pulling me to it.”

  “Compulsion?” I stiffened, wondering if the wight was putting the moves on her now that Degoba was out. But she just shook her head.

  “No, just a sense. The energy there is thicker and darker—like a murky veil. I think that’s our best bet.” She moved up to stand beside Chai and, giving the djinn a hesitant smile, started forward.

  He kept pace with her, guarding the way. Ralph and I followed behind. I wondered if it wasn’t best to spread out in a single line, but that would just give the wight access to more of us at once. At least this way, Ralph and I were the second line of defense. Not sure if that was sound thinking or just self-preservation, I decided it made logical sense. I sure wasn’t the expert on matters like this.

  As we moved forward, it once again occurred to me how weird my life had become. After I’d been released from the Lost and Foundling, I spent most of my time alone, making my way as best as I could. I’d always managed to get myself into sticky situations, but most of it was trying to avoid being caught. I’d stolen to keep myself alive, for the most part—although I did admit to taking a covert delight in outwitting so many of the dragons who wouldn’t give me the time of day on the street. But mostly, I had just wandered through the Dragon Realms, drifting from town to town, occasionally dropping down into the Northlands where nobody questioned me about my house or my lineage.

  And now? Here I was, Earthside, working with vampires, werewolves, and humans, sneaking up on a forest wight to put a stop to his reign of terror. Surreal.

  Tonya paused, extending her hands palms wide. My guess was that she was trying to gauge the densest part of the energy—the central core. After a moment, she started forward again, toward the far right side of the back wall. As we drew closer, Ralph lowered the flashlight so it wasn’t directly pointing ahead. Good move. If there were cracks around the panel, we didn’t want to flash a light through them.

  Another moment, and we were there, within arm’s reach of the wall. Tonya leaned forward, still silent, then turned around and nodded. She pointed to the wall, then traced an outline in the air, her fingers a few inches away from the concrete.

  I squinted. In the diffused light, I could see the outline of a rectangle, flush against the wall. But was it a door or a panel? I couldn’t see any protrusions indicating a handle, but that didn’t mean there weren’t hidden indentations or levers.

  Ralph motioned for us to move back. He handed me the flashlight, then pulled something out of his pocket that he clipped on the edge of his glasses. A faint light glimmered from it and I realized it was a clip-on flashlight, but the light was pale and not blinding. He crouched on the floor, using one hand for balance, as he closely examined the outline.

  I kept the flashlight turned to the side. Nobody was guarding our backs at this point, so while Chai and Tonya watched Ralph, I turned around to nervously peer into the darkness behind us. Every sound we made in this hollow bunker echoed, down to the littlest scraping sound. How could we be here without the wight hearing us, unless he truly was asleep?

  A moment later and Tonya peeked around to catch my attention. Grateful she hadn’t tapped me on the shoulder, I gave her a nod and turned back to see what progress Ralph had made.

  The werewolf had backed away, but he pointed to the far right edge of the outline. Trying to puzzle out what he was gesturing at, I shook my head. I just wasn’t seeing it. Tonya and Chai did the same. Ralph motioned for us to back out of the room. As soon as we were on the other side of the door, in low tones, he told us what he’d found.

  “There’s an indentation about halfway down the edge, and a small button inside the hollow. From what I can tell, when you press the button, the panel will swing open. I got the impression of hinges on the other side, but I’m not entirely sure.” Ralph shrugged. “If he’s rigged any traps, that I can’t tell. I’m a damned good lock pick, but we aren’t dealing with humans here, or even normal Supes.”

  “I’m good at picking locks, too,” I said. I’d made a long study of various locks while attempting to navigate through my earlier life. It had paid off, too, until the Greanfyr incident.

  “Thing is, this isn’t a lock. It’s a handle of sorts—so we’re stuck with either just going through, or not. There’s no middle ground.” Ralph looked at Chai. “You know, if the biggest, toughest one of us went first . . .”

  Chai cupped his chin. “I wonder who you’re talking about, Master Wolf. You’re about as subtle as a skunk.” He let out a chuckle. “All right, I will take the lead. You could have just told me, you know.”

  “I didn’t want to incur a favor.” Ralph shrugged.

  “Telling me to go first isn’t the same thing as asking.”

  “How was I supposed to know that? I’ve never dealt with a djinn before. Anyway, you go first, then. Whatever the case, the longer we stand out here bickering, the more chance we have for that thing to wake up and come charging out at us. And you don’t want me to fall down in a faint because somebody spills a little blood.” Ralph snorted. “In fact, before we head back in, I’m turning into my wolf form to stave off just that possibility.”

  He stepped back, then effortlessly shifted into wolf form. As with all Weres, his clothes changed with him. In Ralph’s case, they seemed to shift into a bandana around his neck. I wondered what determined their final form, but this was neither the place nor time to ask.

  Chai took the lead. Tonya unsheathed her short sword and fell in behind him, and I took my place beside her, dagger out and ready in one hand and flashlight in the other. Ralph closed in behind us. We headed back in.

  As we approached the outline, Chai motioned for us to wait. He went ahead. In the glow of the flashlight, he ran his hand along the edge where Ralph had pointed, and the next moment there was a soft click, and then a swish as the panel swung inward. From where Tonya, Ralph, and I were, the darkness loomed thick inside the passage. We hurried forward.

  Chai was already peeking inside when we reached his side. A corridor of rammed earth stretched in front of us. It wasn’t very tall—about six feet, which meant that Chai would have a rough time, and I’d have to hunch a little. Either that or scrape my head along the top. Bending low, Chai stepped inside, and then I followed, with Tonya behind me. Ralph loped in behind her. We’d have to hope nobody came along and shut the door on us.

  • • •

  The passage was so narrow that the light from my flashlight illuminated the entire area. I hoped to hell the wight was still asleep, because that was the only way he wouldn’t know we were coming. Trying to see around Chai was useless because he filled the space. Behind me, Tonya and Ralph slinked along, Ralph letting out very low growling noises. I’d noticed one thing about him—when he was in Were form, he tended to be a lot more aggressive. Ralph the geek boy had a definite animal edge to him.

  We hadn’t gone far—about four yards—when Chai suddenly straightened up as he stepped out into a chamber. Two steps and I was by his side as I moved out of the way to allow Tonya and Ralph to enter. I glanced around the chamber.

  The hole—it was more a hole than a room—was about eight feet tall and about ten feet wide. A nest of leaves and forest detritus filled one corne
r, smelling like a rain-sodden forest. There was a chest near the nest that looked like it was made out of interwoven bones. And on the nest, waking up to stare at us, was the forest wight. The moment he saw us, he was on his feet.

  The wight was bipedal, short but squat like the sapwalkers, and he was dark and bushy, and his skin was an ochre color, overgrown with big patches of prickly black moss or lichen. His eyes were dark pools of anger, above a mouth ringed with teeth. With massive arms as long as mine, he walked in a gorilla-like fashion, and his feet were wide and gnarled with knobby weals.

  He lunged forward, eyes flashing, hissing at us. I spotted the pendant around his neck that Degoba had mentioned. We had to not only destroy him, but get hold of that pendant and crush it.

  But all thoughts fell to the wayside as he aimed himself at me. Startled, I dropped the flashlight and brought my dagger up. At the gleam of silver, he paused, eyeing me closely. Chai chose that moment to dive in and ramrod the wight with his head, a move that surprised me but also proved to be relatively effective in dislodging the wight’s attention from me. The creature turned to the djinn and his already angry glare turned murderous. Apparently, wights didn’t like djinns.

  Tonya pushed past me, swinging with her short sword. The blade caught the wight on the arm and nicked it—but though it drew blood, the wight let out a hiss and glared at her. He didn’t look like he’d been hurt in the slightest. Apparently he was tougher than her blade.

  I thought quickly. I was stronger than Tonya, even if I wasn’t as good with weaponry. Maybe I could grapple him and hold him for her. I was about to leap on the wight when Chai—apparently with the same idea—crashed into him. But the wight somehow managed to tuck and roll as he fell. He avoided being pinned as Chai went down on the ground, grappling air.