Dark Calling (27 page)

Keely grabs for the door handle deciding she has stayed a second too long.  Dana grips her wrist
tightly.  The pain comes instantly.  Her
other
hand searches across the seat for the special mace. 

“Uh-uh-uh.  We don’t want to spray this in the car.”  Dana plucks up the small bottle just as Keely’s fingers graze it. 

“Why are you doing this?  Who are you?”

“
Why are you doing this
?” Dana mocks in a whiny voice.  She makes a face and pretends
to wipe her eyes with the back of her hand
.  “Do you know how sick I am of you?  I mean, I cannot wait until this is over.”

Keely reaches for the handle again and is
once
again stopped.  Dana snatches a handful of Keely’s hair, pulls her toward
s
her.  Squeezes her cheeks, trying to open her mouth.  Nails cut into Keely’s
skin;
she tastes blood on her tongue.  She tries to pull away.
  H
its at Dana, but she only exerts
more pressure
and Keely’s lips pucker open.

Keely is unable to turn her head, but from her peripheral she sees black smoke rising from the floor on the driver’s side.  As it snakes up toward her, she realizes it’s not smoke.  What did Nick call it?

Leech Demon
.

The thick black gelatin slithers in the ai
r in front of her.  Moves closer
and closer to her face.  Keely squirms and thrashes out.  A sound bubbles in her throa
t.  She is already gagging on the thought of that thing shoving its way down her throat.
  Fisting her hand, she punches out at Dana’s face.  It slips through with a wet squishy resonance, comes back black and gooey. 

Keely screams and reaches for the door handle.  Jiggles it repeatedly.  It’s still locked.

Something hits the car with a thud.  Another thud.  Glass breaks.  Dana squeals and shrieks.  Releases Keely.
  And then she is le
ft alone in the car.  White sand
covers the seat where Dana sat a moment ago. 

“You gonna sit there all night?  Shake your tail feather.”

“Coach?  Wh-what are you doing here?  How did you know?  What…?” Keely trails off as she takes in the thick rusted piece of piping in her gym teacher
’
s hand
.  She pinches some sand
off the seat, runs it between her fingers.  It’
s salt
...

“Time is a luxury we don’t have right now.  Move it.”

Keely fumbles with the lock and stumbles out of the car obediently.  “Who are you?”

Coach gives a half smile.  “I’m a friend.  Let’s move.”  She gestures with her head and Keely starts walking, unsure where they’re going or if she should really trust the coach.  “I’m parked on the street.  We need to get you somewhere
safe.  I’ve never seen so many D
emons in one place at one time.  You are a very wanted young lady.”

“But my parents-
”

“Are fine for now.  It’s you I’m worried about.  Where’s your Guardian?”

Keely shrugs.  “I don’t know.  We got separated.”

“
Carelessness.”  She stops beside an older gold Volvo.  “Get in.”

“I think I want to find Nick first.  Do you have a phone?”

Coach sighs heavily.  “We don’t have time for this.  Get in.  You can call on the way.”  She opens the passenger side door.  Keely takes a step back.

“Nick never told me about you.  I need to talk to h
im before I go anywhere
.”

Coach stares at her for a long time before smiling.  “You’re a smart one.  You have spunk too.  I like that.”  She reaches into her pocket.  Keely holds her breath anticipating a weapon, but she produces a small black cell phone.  Holds it out.

Footsteps thunder across the ground.  Keely jumps, startled.  Coach doesn’t flinch.

“Keely,” Dustin calls breathlessly.  “I’ve been looking for you everywhere.”  He stops a few feet from the women, forming an awkward triangle.  “Coach?  What are you doing here?”

“Hierarchy sent me to save
your butts.”

Keely meets Dustin’s gaze.  Questions him with
her eyes.  “Keely, come here.”  He reaches out his
hand
to her.

“What are you doing?”
Coach asks confused.

“Come on, Keels.  We’re going to go find Nick.” 

Keely moves sideways to Du
stin, afraid to turn her back on
Coach.  He grips her hand in his and pulls her close to him.  They back away slowly.

“We need to get her someplace safe.  This is not protocol.”

“Screw protocol,” Dustin spits. 

“Dustin, don’t do this.  Keely, please, you need to come with me,” Coach shouts.  Keely shivers.  It was only a few days ago she was in this very same scenario.  She didn’t choose door number one or door number two.  She was saved by a third option.  Where was Bryon now?  God she hoped he wasn’t dead.  She looks up at Dustin then back at Coach.  Nick trusts Dustin.  Lila trusts Dustin.  Nobody ever told her about Coach.

Keely shakes her head.  “I’m going to find Nick.”

Coach moves surprising
ly
fast.  Rushes at Dustin like a quarter back.  Dustin barely sidesteps in time.  Coach rolls across the ground, jumps to her feet.  She can move for an old lady.

“Run Keely.  Go back inside,” Dustin yells at her.  She turns and runs, pumps her legs as hard as she can.
  She doesn’t need to be told twice.  All she wants is to find Nick.  She stumbles to the door, pulls it open.  It’s
dark;
very few blue lights still shine.  It’s quiet.  All she can hear is the pounding of her heart, the panting of her breath.  She isn’t even winded, it’s just because she is so insanely scared.  She wants to call out for Nick, but is too afraid of who else may hear her.  Moving slowly down the hall, she makes her way to the main room where the band played earlier.  At first she doesn’t see anyone.  Her eyes are
too busy focusing on the blood trails across the floors.  Eyes following the bizarre path.  Stopping on the large puddles.  Continue on to the smudge
s
and smears.  The handprints.  Her lips
tremble.  Fear seizes her as she wonders if any of this blood
belong
s
to
Nick and before she knows what she
’s
doing, she screams his name.

That’s when she sees them. 

All of them.

Apophis st
ands in the center of the stage.  He’s d
ressed in an immaculate white suit,
legs shoulder width apart
.  A
rms crossed in front of his chest, hair combed neatly to the side.
 
Down on the floor in front of him stand twenty or so
people.  Kids.  Like Keely.  A
ll turned to face her now that she has drawn attention to herself by screaming.

Their eyes are wrong.  All of them.  S
he can tell even from where she stands.  They are no longer whoever they were before they came he
re tonight.  No
control of themselves.
  Someth
ing behind their faces flickers
or
shimmers, making
them hard to see for a moment before her eyes settle back on their black eyes.

“You’re late,” Apophis calls.  His gaze falls lazily on her.  “I don’t like to be kept waiting.”

Keely is frozen, gripped with
dread
and anticipation.  “Where are my mom and dad?”

“They
’re here.”  He shrugs as if he’
s already bored.

“Well, so am I.  You need to let them go.  That was the deal.”

“The deal?  The deal was you come alone.  The deal was eight o’clock.  You didn’t exactly hold up your end.”  He slides his leg.  Moves to the steps.  “Why should I worry about holding up mine?”

Keely can’t think.  All those people just st
and there, staring like
statues.
  She backs up, one step.  Then two.  “Just wait.”  She puts her hands up, palms out.  “
I was here.  Something happened
so I went outside, but I never left.”  She licks her lips nervously.  “And I’m alone now.  Let them go, please.”

“You’re not alone.”  He steps on the first stair.  It creaks under his weight.

“I am.  I have no one.  I don’t know where anybody is.”  She takes another step backwards.

Apophis descends another step.  Points his finger at Keely.  “Then who is that?”

Keely takes another step back right into someone.  She feels a solid chest against her back.  Hands rest on her shoulders.  She turns her head slowly.

“Dustin.”

“It’s all right, Keels.”

“The deal is null and void
,” Apophis sings.  He clears the final step.

“No.  Please.”

“Do you want to re
negotiate?”  He moves
closer to her.  Step, slide.  “What are you willing to give me?  My price has gone up.  A
fter all, there are two parents
and only one you.  Who else are you willing to give up to save your parents?”

Keely is shaking her head.  She can’t stop.  This can’t be real.  It just can’t be.  This is not how it’s supposed to happen.  This is all wrong.  “I can’t give you anybody else.  Just me.  You can’t own people.”

He laughs, rolls his eyes dramatically.  “Sure I can.  I mean, you maybe can’t…”  He spreads his hands out, palms up.  “But I can and I do.”  He snaps his fingers and the kids turn their heads from Keely to him.  Turn their bodies in unison to face him.
  Their feet thunder like drums.
 
They remind her of an army.  A D
emon army.

Keely pushes back against Dustin, urging him to move with the pressure of her body.  He
holds firm in place.  “It’s O.k
. Keely.  It will all be over soon.  I’m sorry.”  His grip presses into her shoulders firmly.
  She doesn’t try to look back at him.  Doesn’t try to get away.  She just stands there, too weak, too defeated to do anything.

“I thought you were one of the good guys,” she whispers.  His fingers dig into her skin silencing her.

“There are no good guys left beautiful little sister,” Apophis says as he slides up in front of her, his army of possessed flanking him.  “Deep down, we are all monsters.  You just need to know how to bring the darkness to the surface.”  He winks at Dustin.  Keely feels him stiffen behind her.
  “If you’re dealing with a mother, just threaten her child.  A child, her parents.”  He smiles at her.
  “A man, his woman.”  He shifts his mocking gaze to
Dustin. 

He turns away, staring out at his blind followers.  “Take your dear friend, Dustin, here.  It was so simple.  He turned quicker than I have ever seen.  He sold you out like that.”  He snaps his fingers, flicking his index finger out at Keely.  Turns to face her again.  “I just snatched up his pretty little pink haired angel.  That’s all it took.”

Dustin squeezes her shoulders.

“Now just imagine who you would be willing to sell out if I had your parents and your friend.  And your boyfriend.”  His eyes lock onto Keely’s.

“I don’t believe you.  You don’t have Nick.  You probably don’t even have Lila.  You’re a liar.”  She squirms under Dustin’s grasp.

Apophis laughs loudly.  “I
never said I had Nick.  But it
would be
easy to retrieve
him.  Especially now that I have you.  Threaten a man his woman, he will come running.  For.  You.”  He bops her nose with the tip of his finger.  Keely turns her face away.  Glares at the wall.

She slides her
hand slowly to her back pocket
hoping Dustin doesn’t notice what she’s doing.  She pulls out the small dagger.  “Not if I’m already dead,” she says calmly.

It’s the calmness that alerts Apophis.  He glide
s back to her in one big step and
slaps the dagger out of her hand
.  P
unches her in the cheek.  Keely sees nothing but a flash of white before everything goes black.

***

Before she has even opened her eyes,
Keely knows she is dream visiting again
.  Her face hurts.  She can only imagine what she looks like between Dana squeezing her face off and Apophis punching her.
  That’s the least of her problems right now though.

“I know you are awake.  I can tell by the way your breathing
has
changed,” Asmoday says quietly.  “What happened to you
now
?”

Keely opens her eyes, squints at her brother.  “Apophis happened.  I thought you guys were going to be there to stop him.”