The Dark Passenger (Book 1) (28 page)

Pyre met her sisters’ eyes and together they laughed. “Your
cloak can’t save you,” she said. “You only prolong our fun.”

Mina stood behind her sisters hugging her shoulders, rocking
back and forth on her feet. “This has to end. The boy must die.
The boy
needs to die!
”

Gretchen yelled, “Mistral, Pyre, Meryl, no more games! You
heard Mina. Something’s wrong. Kill the boy now, and Sam too if necessary.”

Still holding down Sam, a grin broke out across Walt’s face.
“Are you ready to die?” he asked Sam, or Edwin, or both.

The sisters were running towards Edwin now, and he sent a
bolt at the ground. The wood splintered and cracked, and then the whole floor
gave way and they were falling into the rooms below.

Edwin heard the sisters getting up in the other rooms. “No
more tricks, little mahrling,” Pyre yelled.

While the triplet taunted him, Edwin saw that Sam had used
the fall to wiggle free of Walt. Now trading punches, Walt and Sam threw on
their masks and disappeared.

The sisters appeared in the splintered doorway, and they
advanced on Edwin quickly. Together, with a single swipe of their hands, they
also put on their masks and disappeared.

“What will you do now, little one?” a triplet asked. She was
too close, and Edwin quickly backed towards the shattered picture window. The
brownie held tight to his cloak but never made a sound.

The room was filled with the sound of shuffling, and a
triplet on his left said, “You’re trapped.” There was a cackle to his right.

“Enough!” It was Gretchen’s voice, and she was
close—perhaps right in front of him. Edwin turned and ran.

Outside the cottage, he sprinted towards the boat, only to
find that it was no longer there. His first thought was that the halflings had
moved it, but then he saw its faint silhouette in the distance. It was moving
back across the lake fast, carried away by the nixies.

Not daring to stop, he ran around the island and jumped at
the nearest large statue. It was a mammoth horse-like creature, and he
straddled its neck as he grabbed for its horns. Rock began to fall from the
statue, and the creature began to shake the battle-axe in its hands. Then there
was a cutting sound, and the creature’s head, still partially rock, slid from
its body and fell to the ground.

As Edwin leapt from the statue, he grabbed the creature’s
battle-axe and ran. Behind him Gretchen said, “I can break rock with a thought,
but only if you make me. There aren’t many of that creature’s kind left. How
many others must die?”

On the other side of the island he could still hear Sam and
Walt fighting, but the other four sisters hadn’t made a noise and could be
anywhere.

Though he had never tried to lift so much, Edwin circled the
lake with a new determination and reached for the water with his mind. Feeling
its presence, he conjured it towards him, and clouds swept up and into the air,
swirling, filling the sky. And then it began to rain.

Sliding to a stop, Edwin turned around. The witches’
silhouettes appeared in the raindrops, and he could see that all five of them
were fast approaching. Meryl threw up her hands and said, “I cannot stop this
rain, sisters. The spell is too strong.”

“Clever Host,” Pyre grumbled.

“Hurry, kill him!” Gretchen yelled.

“I have an axe. What are you going to do, kill me with your
bare hands?” Edwin asked.

The sisters smiled wickedly, the contours clear in the rain.
“Of course,” Mina said. “That axe in your hands is a nuisance, but it will do
nothing to save you.”

“We’ll see,” Edwin said, and he tested its weight in his
hands. The sisters were circling him now.

Suddenly he heard Sam’s voice cut through the air: “Edwin,
run! Come to me!”

“…or maybe we won’t,” Edwin said, and he charged the sisters
and dived between two triplets. They scrambled to catch him, but he was already
past. Their feet splashed in the mud as they raced to catch up.

As he again rounded the cottage, Sam saw him and cried, “The
stick-bug! Grab Walt’s stick-bug!”

Sam and Walt’s masks were strewn across the ground, and Sam
had Walt pinned but couldn’t move for fear of Walt breaking free. Unconcerned
by the commotion, the stick-bug had crawled out of Walt’s pocket and was making
its way slowly across the ground.

Without stopping, Edwin grabbed Walker the stick-bug and
kept running. The ground was wet and slippery, but the rain-shower was losing
strength. Now that the bug was in Edwin’s hands, Sam had jumped up and was
running with him.

“I always thought you didn’t like me,” Edwin said to Sam.
Farther behind him, he heard the sound of footsteps trailing off as the witches
and Walt split off to circle both sides of the island. He knew that soon he and
Sam would be trapped.

“I tried to tell you to leave,” Sam said, “but now’s not the
time.”

“Idiot!” he heard Pyre yell. “How could you let them take
the double’s key?”

Edwin glanced at the bug, and its little eyes stared back up
at him. He asked Sam, “Why do we need Walker?”

“That bug commands the imp. It used to be a Host’s
mahr
.”

Edwin realized immediately what that meant. “How does it
work?”

“Give it to me. There’s no time to explain,” Sam said.

Edwin handed Walker to Sam, but Walker’s beady little eyes
continued to follow him, only once leaving his face to glance at the brownie
still hanging onto his shoulder. Edwin was starting to feel the strain of
conjuring the rain, and he commanded it to stop.

Sam began speaking in the Hosts’ tongue, and chills went
down Edwin’s spine as he realized just how little he had known. “Why’d you only
tell it to steal their masks?” he asked.

“They’re my family,” Sam said.

The imp appeared from under the surface of the lake, and its
tentacle-like hair began scouring the island. Edwin heard a yelp to his left,
another one behind him, and three more to his right. With their masks hanging
from the imp’s tentacles, the witches stopped running. The witches and Walt
approached cautiously, and Edwin saw pure hatred burning in their eyes.

“It’s over,” Sam said with a conviction Edwin wished he
shared. “We command the imp, and you’re only half-blood witches. Don’t test to
see whether the imp can harm you.”

“We should have dealt with you years ago,” Pyre said.

Sam’s face was unreadable. “You know Mina’s prophesy.
Neither twin may live without the other.”

“There are other ways to deal with such problems,” Pyre
retorted.

“Enough!” Gretchen said. “What do you want, Sam?” She smiled
her most alluring smile, but Edwin could only wince.

“Your plan failed, but we will let you leave,” Sam said.

“We will?” Edwin asked.

Nodding, Sam said, “Yes. Now go, live your lives, but never
try to find us.”

Gretchen shook her head. “You know we can’t do that. We need
the magic contained in these walls to live.”

“No,” Sam said. “You have fed off the magic of others long
enough. Go and live whatever time you have left in peace. Try to make amends.”

Gretchen smiled wickedly. “Is that your final word, Sam? You
wish to live without us?”

Walt looked genuinely upset. “Sam, no, please,” he pleaded.

Sam’s face remained expressionless. “It’s for the best. Now
go before I change my mind.” Behind them, the imp’s tentacles hung limply in
the air.

Bowing her head, Gretchen said, “Come, sisters. We have
lost.”

Edwin felt only a moment’s relief before the witches started
cackling, and the air filled with light as they wielded the elements in their
hands. Fire flew in thick molten columns from beneath the lake, swifter than Edwin
would have thought possible. The rainwater on the floor began coalescing into a
huge ball in the air. The wind grabbed wood, glass, dirt, and anything else it
could. Shards of rock pooled at Gretchen’s feet. Lightning crackled between
Mina’s hands. Next to him he heard Sam whispering words to the stick-bug.

Then, as one, the sisters attacked.

Edwin didn’t even think of a spell. With the spirit, he just
knew what to do. His eyes went black and he stuck his hands out, thinking only
the word
stop
—and the elements stopped in front of him. Halfway
between him and the sisters the air was filled with earth, fire, wind, water,
and lightning, but it looked as though it had hit an invisible wall. The
brownie scurried down his shoulder and hung on his back.

“More, sisters!” Gretchen yelled. “Destroy him!”

The elements attacked his shield from every direction. It
took all Edwin’s concentration, but the witches were powerful. A visible crack began
to appear between them, and a burst of lightning made its way through, hitting
Sam square in the chest. Sam flew backwards and the stick-bug fell to the
ground.

“Sam!” Edwin yelled. Gritting his teeth, he tried to close
the gap, and he felt a black vein form at his forehead and move down his face.

“Walt, the bug!” Gretchen yelled. “Hurry! Get it before they
can command the imp.”

Walt ran forward, weaving between fire and water. Edwin
moved a hand in his direction, said, “Back off,” and a burst of heat exploded
from his hand, sending Walt flying backwards through the air.

As Walt hit the wall of the cottage and fell to the ground,
Edwin’s shield contracted. The witches’ elements had almost reached him, but
not without costs; their once beautiful bodies were shriveling, their hair was
graying, and wrinkles covered their faces.

The brownie grabbed Walker and brought it to Edwin’s
shoulder. With its six prickly feet, the stick-bug crawled towards his neck,
where it nuzzled his skin. Edwin began telling the bug to kill the sisters, but
before he could finish, Sam tugged at his leg.

“No!  Don’t kill them,” Sam croaked.

“I can’t hold them back much longer,” Edwin spat. His black
eyes were regaining their color, and nearly spent, the dark power of the spirit
was receding from his face.

With noticeable effort Sam stood up, holding a huge,
puss-filled hole where the lightning had struck. Sam grabbed Walker from
Edwin’s neck and finished giving Walker its orders. Edwin was only able to hear
the end of it, but he understood what Sam meant to do.

“Hurry,” Edwin urged.

When Sam stopped talking, pink smoke began to waft up from
the stick-bug, smelling pungent and saccharine, communicating with the imp by
smell. The imp understood the smoke, dropped the masks, and took flight. The
sisters made one last push towards Edwin, screaming, but his shield held.

And then the imp was on them, grabbing at their limbs with
its tentacles. One tentacle reached out to the cottage and pulled Walt back to
his aunts. A moment later they were all writhing and screaming as the imp
dragged their bodies towards the edge of the lake. As soon as their skin hit
water the fighting stopped. While the nixies snickered, Walt and the hags
turned to stone, looking no different than any of the other statues on the
island. Edwin fell to the floor next to Sam, exhausted. The brownie sat on
Edwin’s chest and chirped noisily. Neither Edwin nor Sam could move.

Sam’s breathing was shallow. “Edwin… We need to get out of
here. The light, the moon—I can heal myself, just need to be above ground.”

With effort Edwin rolled his head to the side and met Sam’s
eyes. “We can’t leave. The villagers are waiting for us.”

“The imp. The Gate’s creation spell forbids it from bringing
anything in. Walt was never down here. Walt commanded the imp. It was all a
trick. But the imp, it can take us out and up to the surface. Past Newick. And you
need to absorb something. You’re dying. The brownie. Absorb the brownie. Take
Walker. I can’t… Nothing left to command him.”

The brownie nodded solemnly and walked to Edwin’s hand, accepting
its fate.

“No, I can’t,” Edwin said. “Never again, no matter what.” He
patted the brownie on the head, thanking it for its willingness to sacrifice
itself.

“Then hurry, maybe enough time… Walker,” Sam said.

“What about everything here? The other creatures? There
might be other Hosts.”

Sam, barely breathing now, didn’t answer.

Edwin’s throat was dry, and the weight of the necklace
around his neck was choking him. He gulped, and said, “Walker, come here. Come
on.” The stick-bug looked at him quizzically a moment, and then hopped from
Sam’s hand onto Edwin’s chest. “That’s a good bug.” Then, as quickly as he
could, he asked the stick-bug to have the imp fly them out of here and past
Newick. The stick-bug released its pink smoke, and the imp was at their side,
scooping them into its tentacle-like hair.

A moment later they were in the air, flying past the rune-covered
walls and towards the Gate. The imp dropped Edwin and Sam at the base of the Gate
and then flew through the skeletons unscathed, leaving Edwin to open it. When
the Gate opened, Edwin saw that the imp had cleared the area of a few
villagers, but others were now charging with bloodstone-covered weapons,
driving it back. The imp grabbed Edwin and Sam and flew into the air, leaving
the Gate to close itself behind them. Looking down, Edwin saw that the
villagers and Shades had managed to destroy all the golems and clear nearly all
the trees. Even so, without him there to open the Gate they would never get
near the cottage or lake.

And then, at the top of the cavern, near what remained of
the white-haired bats, they flew into a hidden tunnel and over a hidden
staircase, and Edwin realized they were following the same secret path his
mother had taken all those years ago. On they flew, up the mine, above the
stairs, up and into the Black Keep. The imp’s grip on their bodies was gentle
but firm. A short while later they were out of the Black Keep and high in the
air, flying above the ledge and the Medgards’ Inn, up the cliff, and away from
Chardwick.