Dark Calling (4 page)

“Maybe,” Beranabus says. “But that doesn’t alter the fact that Dervish will last about five minutes if we leave him here.”

“I’ll be fine,” Dervish snarls.

“No,” Beranabus says. “Your heart is finished. You’ll die within days. That’s not a guess,” he adds before Dervish can argue.
“And you wouldn’t be able to do much during that time, apart from wheeze and clutch your chest a lot.”

“It’s really that bad?” Dervish asks quietly.

Beranabus nods. “In the universe of magic, you might survive. Here, you’re a dead man walking.”

“Then get him there quick,” Grubbs says. “I’ll stay.”

“Not you too,” Beranabus groans. “What did I do to deserve as stubborn and reckless a pair as you?”

“It makes sense,” Grubbs insists. “If the attacks were Lord Loss looking to get even, they’re irrelevant. But if they’re related
to the Shadow, we need to know. I can confront the Lambs, find out if they’re mixed up with the demon master, stop them if
they are.”

“Is the Shadow the creature we saw in the cave?” Bec asks.

“Aye,” Beranabus says. “We haven’t learned much about it, except that it’s put together an army of demons and is working hard
to launch them across to our world.”

He stares at Grubbs, and as he pauses, the whispers change. They’re softer now, almost musical. I feel uneasy, even slightly
sick, but I’ve no idea why.

“You’d operate alone?” Beranabus asks.

“I’d need help,” Grubbs replies, and asks for Shark and Meera’s assistance. While they discuss that, I focus on the window
again. I’m close to opening it. The whispers of the lights have almost died away. I feel worse than ever, as if we’re in great
danger. But there’s no reason to be afraid… is there?

A pale green window opens. Beranabus still hasn’t chosen whether or not to let Grubbs stay. “Time to decide,” I tell him,
and as I say that, the whispers spark up again.

“Very well,” Beranabus snaps at Grubbs. “But listen to Shark and Meera, heed their advice, and contact me before you go running
up against the likes of Lord Loss or the Shadow.” He picks up the unconscious Sharmila. “Follow me, Bec,” he says and steps
through the window.

Bec doesn’t leave immediately. She’s confused, not sure of what’s happening. Dervish is busy saying goodbye to Grubbs and
Meera, wishing them luck, cursing the fact that he can’t stay and help them. As he finally stumbles through the window, Grubbs
has a short chat with Bec. Then she faces me. She looks more lost than I feel. As difficult as it is, I force a smile. “The
world moves quickly when Beranabus is around,” I tell her, trying to cheer her up.

“What’s it like through there?” she asks, staring at the window with quiet terror.

“Bad.” My smile slips. “The Shadow’s promising the eradication of mankind and a new dawn of demon rule. Others have threatened
that before, but it’s convinced an army of demons—even powerful masters like Lord Loss—that it can make good on its vow. We
could be looking at the end this time.” I take a step into the window of light but don’t cross fully, straddling two universes
at the same time. I wave Bec forward. “Let’s go.”

She looks back once, then follows me through the window to an oasis in the demon universe that Beranabus and I are familiar
with. We’ll be safe here, for a while at least.

But I take no comfort from our security. I’m steady on my feet, maintaining a calm front, but inside my head sirens are blaring,
my thoughts a million miles removed from werewolves, the Lambs, Juni Swan, and the Shadow. I feel sicker than when I saw the
dismembered babies in the hospital.

I’ve realized why the whispers unnerved me. That final burst of chattering, just before Beranabus made his decision to let
Grubbs go, clued me in to what was really happening.

Beranabus should have brought Grubbs along. He’s been wary of uniting the pieces of the Kah-Gash, but this was the time to
risk it. Our enemies are on the move, trying to kill one of us or get their hands on a piece of the ancient weapon. Beranabus
should have kept us all with him, if not to unleash the power of the Kah-Gash, then to protect us. We’d be a lot safer if
we stuck together. Leaving Grubbs behind was madness.

Why did someone as experienced as Beranabus make such a slip? And why did the others—myself included—go along with his bad
call?

Answer—the lights. The whispers influenced us. Something didn’t want us to band together, so it subtly interfered and split
us up, making it seem as if it was our own choice. We’re being manipulated by the whispers of the lights!

I
CAN’T
tell the others about the lights, the whispers, or my suspicion that we are being used. I want to, but whenever I try to
share my fears, my lips seize up. I’m unable to speak, or else everyday babble spills out and we end up talking about something
else. I’ve tried writing, scribbling a warning in the sand of the oasis, but my fingers clench and turn against me.

When we first stepped through the window, I thought I might have imagined the whispers or the influence they’re exerting over
us. Now I’m sure I called it right. The lights did—
do
—control us. They must have planted a hidden command inside my brain that makes me clam up whenever I try to share my misgivings.

While I struggle to break through the spell, the others argue about what to do next. Beranabus wants to hunt the Shadow, pick
up where we left off. Dervish is against that. He’s determined to go after Juni, to settle old scores.

I stay out of the arguments for a couple of days. But when Dervish is pressing his claim for the umpteenth time, trying to
sway Beranabus by saying we might be able to torture Juni to find out information about the Shadow, the small, ever-changing
lights pulse and the air hums with whispers only I can hear.

“We can’t go after Lord Loss directly—he’s too powerful,” I find myself telling Beranabus, and although I know these aren’t
my words, that I’m being used like a puppet, I can’t stop. “But we can target Juni. Lord Loss didn’t show himself at the hospital
but Juni was acting on his behalf. She might have been part of the group in Carcery Vale too. If more assaults on the Disciples
are planned, she’ll possibly act as the go-between again, conveying Lord Loss’s orders to their allies. If we can trap her,
we can find out what she knows about the Shadow.”

Beranabus thinks that makes sense—or the lights make him think it—so he tells me to focus on Juni, track her movements, and
let him know when she slips out of Lord Loss’s realm.

I want to scream and tell them we’re being toyed with, but my lips gum up. I throw everything I have at the spell, to no avail.
In the end I do as Beranabus bids. I retire to one of the fake trees—the oasis is dotted with trees made of bones and scraps
of flesh—and sit in the shade, glumly training my thoughts on Juni Swan.

  As days pass, the others recuperate. Beranabus and Bec fashioned new legs for Sharmila out of the bones and skin of the trees
when we arrived, and she adapts to them smoothly. Bec has worked a lot with Dervish, drawing on her healing powers, doing
what she can for his faltering heart. Neither he nor Sharmila can live on Earth again, but as long as they stay in this universe
of magic they can function almost normally.

The four of them pass a lot of the time dueling, sharpening their reflexes, testing their skills. Magic is all about trial
and error. Even after thousands of years, Beranabus is still discovering new aspects of himself, depending on what’s thrown
at him.

I’d like to join them, but I’ve been given a task and Beranabus doesn’t take it kindly when one of his assistants disobeys
a direct order. So I keep to myself, studying the lights and focusing on Juni Swan and her master.

It’s difficult because of the whispers. The murmurs come regularly while I’m concentrating, not as strongly as at the hospital,
but distracting nonetheless. I can’t stop thinking about the spell they’ve woven. Is it the work of the Shadow? Unlikely—if
the creature could exert such influence, it would turn us against one another.

The Kah-Gash? A weapon that can destroy universes and distort the laws of time would have no difficulty bending a few humans
to its will. But the Kah-Gash would surely have wanted me, Grubbs, and Bec together, to unite so it could be reassembled.

If not the Shadow or the Kah-Gash, who can be controlling the lights? Are they self-conscious, some new life-form? Or maybe
I’m imagining them. I’ve doubted my sanity in the past. Maybe this time I’ve cracked for real.

Finally, after a week of self-torment and doubt, I sense Juni opening a window and leaving Lord Loss’s world.

“She’s moving,” I tell the others, disrupting their latest duel.

They crowd around me. “Where did she go?” Beranabus asks.

“Earth,” I say after a brief pause to confirm her location.

“And Lord Loss?”

“He stayed in his own realm.”

“Can you tell where exactly she is?” Dervish asks.

“No. I should be able to, but I can’t place it.” That worries me more than I reveal.

“Is she close to Grubbs?” Dervish presses.

I do a quick scan and shake my head.

“Well?” Sharmila asks Beranabus.

“Kernel and I will investigate,” he says. “The rest of you stay here.”

“Nuts to that,” Dervish huffs.

“Don’t forget about your heart,” Beranabus says. “Or Sharmila’s legs. You’re a pair of wrecks on that world. Let us check
the situation and report back. We won’t engage her if we can avoid it.”

“What about me?” Bec asks. “I can survive there.”

“Aye, but I’m asking you to wait. Please. Until we know more about what we’re walking into.”

I’d like to know more about it too before I cross. But I’ve lived with Beranabus long enough to know he doesn’t hold much
faith in the philosophy of look-before-you-leap. Except for his edgy pursuit of the Shadow, I’ve never seen him act cautiously.
He believes it’s best to jump in the fire and deal with the flames when they’re licking the soles of your feet.

Keeping silent about my fears, I slot patches of light together and open a white window. With my back to the others, I offer
up a quick prayer, the kind I used to reel off when I was a fresh apprentice, before I grew hardened to the terrors of the
Demonata. Then, sensing Beranabus behind me, I step forward into the unknown.