Demons Forever (Peachville High Demons #6) (38 page)

"I can't believe I trusted you," I said, anger and sadness twisting in my stomach. "I should have seen the signs. The butterfly tattoo. The insane amount of security at your house. The fact that you knew spells none of the other girls knew."

"Don't be too hard on yourself," she said with a frown. "I can be a very good actress. I learned it from my mother. All seconds are trained in the art of deception from the day they are born."

"Seconds?" My eyes widened. "Your mother was a second?"

She nodded. "Yes," she said. "All seconds are eventually placed as spies in demon gate towns. That's why no one can remember them. Seconds become someone else. The priestess has eyes everywhere."

Everything was finally becoming clear. No wonder Zara never knew where the seconds were taken. They weren't being sacrificed. They were becoming a part of some evil network of spies, sending information to the priestess about each individual coven. That must have been how Priestess Winter knew about gates like Aldeen. Gates where the witches had begun to protest the slavery of demons.

A loud rumbling above sent more debris raining down on us.

Lark looked up. "I'm afraid I don't have any more time to talk," she said. "Grandmother is expecting me to deliver you to her soon so we can end this once and for all."

With a snap of her wrist, she sent a stream of light toward me. It was exactly like the one she'd frozen the other girls with, but I was too fast for her.

I shifted into white smoke and flew down to the back of the room, disappearing into the shadows.

Lark cursed and whipped around, her black eyes searching for me. She formed a bright orb in her palm, then commanded the scorpions to find me.

I had to think fast. It had taken everything Jackson and I had to fight just one of these things. Luckily, I already knew their greatest weakness.

I reached inside my core and dragged my power to the surface. Flames danced across my fingertips as the scorpions skittered toward me. With a fierce cry, I fueled the white-hot fire with my pain. I had trusted her. Loved her. And all along, her friendship had been a lie.

Tears streamed down my face, but rage burned in my heart. I sent the fire out in a circle around my body, burning the scorpions' shells to a crisp until their green blood boiled within. The sounds of their final screams mirrored the agony I felt inside.

When the scorpions were dead, I turned to Lark.

I would mourn our friendship later, but now, I would have my revenge.

I Trusted You

Lark's eyes grew wide, surprise and fear sending her stumbling backward toward the stairs. She kept shaking her head, unable to take her eyes off the sizzling corpses of the scorpions.

I raised my hand in the air and the stone beneath her feet obeyed my command, rising up in a wave to send her sprawling, head-first into my arms.

I gripped her shoulders tight. "Look at me," I said, my voice trembling with anger.

She choked out a sob and ran her hand under her dripping nose. "I can't."

I reached up and grabbed her jaw between my thumb and index finger, forcing her eyes to mine. I stared straight through them, hoping to send my message straight to her soul. If she had one.

"I loved you as a sister," I said, my heart breaking. "I would have given my life for yours."

She raised her hand to my wrist and pushed, trying to escape my grip, but I wasn't ready to let her go.

"I don't give my trust easily, but I trusted you," I said. "I should kill you for this. For putting us all in danger."

A whimper escaped from her lips as she struggled against me.

I looked toward the entrance to the ritual room where the other girls stood frozen. "Release them," I said. "Whatever spell you're holding them with, undo it."

I let go of her jaw and forced her to turn around. With shaking hands, she cast a new spell, sending a darker stream of energy toward the others. With audible gasps and chokes, they came back to life, stumbling against the stairs, horror written across their features.

The others came down to stand beside me.

"How could you do this?" Angela asked, staring at Lark. "This whole time, it was all just an act?"

"I never wanted it to be this way," she said. "This was Harper's choice."

"Now, the barrier," I said. We didn't have any time to waste. "Take it down."

Lark shook her head. "I can't," she said. "The way the magic works won't allow anyone to open that barrier except Priestess Winter herself."

I lifted my hands, flames springing to life. Lark cowered.

"Priestess Winter knew we were coming this whole time, didn't she?" I asked. "You told her about our whole plan. This was an ambush."

Lark pulled away, attempting to run. I sank my power deep into the earth, then lifted up with all my might. A cage of stone rose up from the ground, trapping her inside. She beat her hands against the barricade, but it held firm.

"Tell me why the ritual failed," I said. "It was working at the beginning. I could feel it. What happened?"

She shook her head, scratching her nails furiously against the stone until her fingers were bloody.

"You must have known we wouldn't be able to free Aerden," I said. "If it had any chance of working, Priestess Winter never would have let us get as far as we did. What did we do wrong?"

She stopped clawing at her cage and stared at me through prison bars made of earth.

"Tell me," I said. "I need to know."

She sniffed, tears running down her face. "You were missing one piece all along," she said.

I shook my head. "That's not possible," I said. "We went over it a dozen times. We had every item from the original ritual."

"Every item except one," she said. "You never had the master stone."

My breath stuck in my throat. "But the master stone is here," I said, looking back at the large blue gemstone embedded in the floor. "The portal stone."

"No," she said. "You assumed the portal stone and the master stone were the same thing. I just confirmed it for you, making you think you were right all along. The ritual was never going to work without the master stone. Priestess Winter wanted you to believe it would so that you would put the ring back where it belongs and reactivate the blue demon gates."

I brought my hand to my forehead.

"Piotrek and the others?" My head pounded.

She lifted her chin. "Probably dead by now," she said. "Once they placed the ring near the stones, more than a dozen hunters appeared to take them down. Hunters led by an old friend of ours. Lydia Ashworth. Or what's left of her."

I clenched my teeth together. This was my fault. I'd trusted the wrong person and now my friends were dead. I had to find a way to make this right.

I had to find the master stone and complete the ritual. I searched my memory for any reference to another stone during the rituals I'd witnessed, but there was nothing.

"Where is the master stone?" I asked. "Does Brooke's mom have it?"

"The stone belongs to Priestess Winter," she said, "Like the ring, there's only one for all the blue demon gates. I've never seen it, but I know she keeps it with her at all times. You'll never be able to get it from her."

Above us, a loud boom shook the earth. More of the ceiling caved in around us. I lifted my hands over my head and moved toward the stairs. We had to get out of here before this whole thing fell in on us. The others followed me.

Lark, trapped in her earthen cage, fell to her knees, her straight black hair falling down around her face.

"Please, let me go," she said, coughing as bits of dirt rained down on her. "I don't want to die down here."

I stared down at this girl who I'd thought was one of my best friends. "You should have thought of that before you betrayed us," I said.

I placed my hand against the stone, knowing that with a single push it would cave inward, crushing her beneath its weight.

"Harper, don't," Mary Anne said, coming to stand beside me.

Tears of rage welled up in my eyes. "She deserves to die," I said, but I knew Mary Anne was right. I couldn't kill Lark.

Instead, I brought my hands together, squeezing the rock tighter to create solid walls. At the very top of the stone enclosure, I left a tiny hole. Big enough to let air in so she could breathe, but just small enough that a butterfly couldn't pass through.

My Destiny

A battle roared above us.

"We have to get up there," Mary Anne said, pounding against the black barrier. "Essex is up there."

"Jackson's up there too, but even if we find a way out, we're going to need a plan." I grabbed her arm and pulled her back toward me.

"There's no time for a plan," she said. I'd never heard her voice so full of panic. "Listen to it out there. They need our help."

"We won't be able to help anyone if we're all dead," I said. "We have no idea what the situation is up there or who is in control."

"What should we do?" Zara asked. She wrapped her arms tight around her body.

My mind raced ahead, searching for some solution. I looked up, remembering the battle with the crow witch. When she left this room, she hadn't bothered with the steps. She blew a hole in the roof and flew away.

"I know how we can get out of here," I said. "But then what? From the sound of it, I think the fight has already reached the inner circle."

"Please," Mary Anne said, her eyes begging.

I knew she was right. We didn't have time for some elaborate plan. "Okay, but I'm going first," I said. "As soon as I give you the signal that it's safe, you can come up."

"Where do we go?" Zara asked.

"Get into the woods, hide somewhere in the trees," I said. "Don't rush into anything. Watch the battle and see if there's a safe place to join the fight."

They stared at me with wide eyes full of fear.

"If we're losing and there's no hope, get the hell away from this town as fast as you can."

"What are you going to do?" Angela asked.

"I'm going after the master stone," I said.

Energy rushed through me. The ritual may have failed at the end, but we'd almost completed it. All that was missing was the master stone, and Lark had said Priestess Winter kept it on her at all times. If I could just find it and get it down here, maybe I could still complete the ritual. It was our only hope.

I turned and started up the steps, but Courtney reached out to grab my hand.

"Here," she said. "Give me your other hand."

I placed both hands in hers as she poured new power into my body. It filled my core, as if someone had plugged me in to some never-ending source.

"Thank you," I said, a strong current flowing beneath the surface of my skin.

I pushed everyone back against the stairs, then gathered my strength in the palm of my hands. I reached out to grab the earth above the ritual room. With a great yell, I pulled the ceiling down, rocks and grass and dirt falling to the floor.

A massive hole opened up, the dim light of the dreary day pouring in around us. I stepped forward, climbing over a mountain of earth, upward toward my destiny.

Bloodbath

I ascended into hell.

Spells flew through the air. Trees blazed with orange fire. A misty haze hovered above the area, blocking out the sky. Lights flashed all around like gunshots in the darkness.

I swept my gaze across the area, quickly taking in the scene from one side to the other. I searched for Jackson, praying he was still alive. Still fighting.

Lea commanded a group of archers to my left, their purple arrows flying deep into the woods.

Andros and the Resistance held the perimeter against the advancing witches of the Order. I saw faces I recognized fighting against us. Brooke's mother. Ella Mae. The sheriff. The ground beneath them was scorched and dead, demon power sucking the land dry.

No one had gotten through to the center of the ritual circle yet. I motioned to the others below.

"There," Mary Anne shouted as she joined me. She pointed toward Aerden's statue. "I see Essex. He's alive!"

My heart skipped a beat as I followed her gaze, searching for Jackson. He was supposed to be commanding the center line of defense, but he was nowhere to be seen. "Everyone spread out, find a place to join the fight. I have to find Jackson."

I shifted into white smoke, then shot straight up through the air, getting far above the trees so I could get a better view of the battle. Nausea rolled over me in waves. Everywhere I turned, bodies littered the ground like rose-petals, their bright red blood flowing across the scorched earth. The carnage turned my stomach.

My father was right. I had underestimated the Order. Underestimated my own friends. This was a bloodbath.

What have I done?

I had led both humans and demons to their deaths, betrayed by one of my closest friends. Someone I thought I could trust. Hadn't I learned my lesson by now? I couldn't let this be the end.

I needed to find Jackson. I needed to make this right.

I searched the battlefield again as I hovered in the air. There was no sign of him. I knew I needed to calm down. To focus my energy on finding our special connection. But my being filled with panic and turmoil as the battle raged below.

If I didn't focus, I would lose him forever.

I took a deep breath in, then released it, pushing away thoughts of the battle. I let go of my worry and guilt. I let go of all my doubt and fear until I finally came to focus on the one person who was most important in my life. The one I couldn't live without.

My heart stilled. The noise of the attack fell away. I searched for him in my soul, connecting to the bond I only shared with him. It radiated through me like a warm sun, bright and strong. I let it fill me completely. I let it lead me.

Our connection rose up from the battlefield, binding us together.

Pain seared through me, but it wasn't my pain. It was his. Somewhere among the slaughter, Jackson was in agony.

My eyes flew open and my head snapped to the right. I'd been searching the ground and the woods, expecting him to be lost somewhere in the bloodshed below.