The Eighth Mage Read online

  Dylan seems to sense that his work isn’t done yet. He brings his face closer to the book and sucks in air. The letters are pulled into his mouth. He lifts his head and blows them out toward the ceiling, where they slowly dissolve. He repeats this process three times before straightening up. While he shakes his hands and breathes in and out a couple of times, the pages of the book flip themselves. On each page, English text is now visible. With a last twist of his wrist, Dylan closes the book. I gasp when I read the title embedded in dark letters into the front.

  The Nine Circles of Hell

  CHAPTER 4

  Several of my friends bend over the book at the same time. They frown and sit back down, looking defeated.

  “What?” I ask.

  Charlie gestures despondently at the book. “It’s about the nine circles of Hell. What good will that do us?”

  “Really?” I almost snort. “You think this book won’t help us?”

  They nod, and I place my hands on my waist. “Okay, then why was it so well protected?”

  Taylar shrugs. He suddenly looks exhausted. “Because Shelton Banks wanted to trick us into taking the wrong book?”

  “No…” I shake my head and run my finger across the letters on the cover. “No, the other two books were useful too.”

  I refuse to believe he tricked us into taking an insignificant book.

  “Look,” I say. “There might be something in this book about keeping the circles of Hell closed. I say we check it out.”

  Gisella yawns and stands up. “Do whatever you want, but I’m going back to bed. I can barely keep my eyes open.”

  Charlie rises from his chair too. “I’m with Gis. It’s the middle of the night. Even if there’s something useful in there, we can’t do anything with it until we’ve had some rest.”

  The others mumble their agreement except for Vicky, who remains silent. Dylan stands between us with hunched shoulders. Once everyone except Vicky has left the kitchen, I give him a smile. “Hey, don’t feel bad. You did a great job. Whether this book holds important information or not, you helped us. It probably would’ve taken us hours or even days to figure out how to lift the protection on it.”

  The young mage nods. “Thanks for being so kind to me. I hope this book will help you somehow.”

  I flip through it aimlessly. “I hope so too. It worries me that Satan has a back-up plan.” I barely glance at the text that flashes by as I turn page after page. Until my eye catches a familiar face. I pull the book closer and flip back until I find the picture. I tap it feverishly. “I know this woman!”

  Vicky joins me and studies the picture. “How can you know her? It says here she lived centuries ago.”

  “Yes, but I saw her, in the memory that Charon showed me.”

  “Charon?” Dylan repeats, sounding puzzled.

  “The ferryman of the Underworld,” I explain. “He showed me a fight between Lucifer and his wife, Isabel.”

  Dylan’s gaze shoots from the picture to Vicky and back. “She kind of looks like you.”

  We both turn our heads to him in surprise.

  “Like me?” Vicky asks.

  The mage nods and points out several features. “Look at the full lips, the piercing blue eyes, the dark eyebrows.” He pauses. “And of course the black hair.”

  I follow his gaze and frown. “You’re right. She does look like Vicky. I noticed something familiar about her when I saw her in that memory, but I didn’t put it together.” I take Vicky’s hand. “She must be your great-great-great…” My voice fades as realization hits me. Vicky breathes in sharply at the same time.

  We spit it out simultaneously. “She is the one Shelton Banks was talking about!”

  “My great-great-great-grandmother,” Vicky whispers. Her eyes are wide. “Do you think I’ll be able to do what she did?”

  I nod slowly. “That must have been what Shelton Banks was talking about. And also why he wanted to pull you into the Shadow World, where you wouldn’t be able to cause any trouble.”

  She shakes her head. “I can’t believe that.”

  “Why not?”

  “Come on, Dante. I’m not that powerful! I’m just a simple empath.”

  I can’t help but grin. “Well, apparently, you’re much more than that.”

  Dylan slams his hands onto the table, and we both jump.

  Immediately he seems to shrink. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you. I just want to know what’s going on. What is it that Vicky can do?”

  I tap the picture of Isabel. “It looks like Vicky is able to create the circles of Hell, like her great-grandmother did. So even if Lucifer is able to break them, Vicky can create new ones and lock him in again.”

  Dylan’s mouth falls open. “Really?”

  I feel like cheering and dancing, but I remain calm and only nod. “Yes, really. Vicky can make sure we win.”

  Vicky shakes her head. “Don’t get too excited about this. I have no idea how to create those circles.”

  “You will, once you read…” I flip the pages of the book until I find a description, “… this.” When I turn the book over to her, she quickly scans the lines.

  She sighs. “That’s still not a lot of information. And it doesn’t mean I can do it.”

  I kiss her on the cheek. “Sure it does. You’re awesome.” I look up at the mage. “Right, Dylan?”

  He blinks several times and clears his throat. “I’m sorry, but… doesn’t that also mean that Satan is her…” He pauses and wets his lips, “… great-great-great-grandfather?”

  Vicky’s mouth falls open, and she searches for support. I catch her before she falls and help her into a chair.

  “That can’t be true, can it?” she whispers. “I can’t be re-related to… S-Satan. Even if Isabel was my great-grandmother, that-that doesn’t mean any-anything.” She’s so shocked that she stutters. “She-she could have… had chil-children with someone else, right?” She reaches out to the book and starts flipping the pages rapidly. “Maybe there’s more in here about Isabel. About her children.”

  Dylan and I watch in silence until I see something familiar. “Wait!”

  Vicky’s hand comes to a halt.

  “Flip back a bit,” I say, without taking my eyes off the book.

  She does, and my hand shoots forward when I see the symbol again. “There!”

  Vicky frowns at the symbol, consisting of a two-barred cross with an infinity symbol at the bottom. In each space of the lemniscate, there is a horizontal capital I.

  I read the text below it. “The Leviathan cross is a symbol of satanism. A horizontal I inside the infinity symbol indicates birth, in this case pointing to the offspring of the Devil.”

  Vicky narrows her eyes. “Where have I seen this before?”

  An image flashes before my eye. “On the Book of a Thousand Deaths.”

  She nods feverishly. “Right! But we both had a feeling we’d seen it somewhere before, didn’t we? But where?” She scratches her neck, and I watch her while I try to think.

  Then I see it.

  I suck in my breath, and both Vicky and Dylan turn their head.

  Vicky lowers her hand. “You’re shocked. Why?”

  I swallow. “That symbol on your neck, the one your mother and grandmother also had…”

  There’s no need to finish my sentence. Vicky is already shaking her head. “No, that looks different.”

  I stick out my arm and push her hair up so I can examine it again. “You’re right, it does look different, but it’s the same symbol… except… it’s only half of it.”

  Dylan joins us. He compares Vicky’s symbol to the one in the book. It’s a capital I with a smaller I horizontally attached to it, just under the top on the left side. The half of the lemniscate resembles a large raindrop. “It’s definitely the same.”

  Vicky places both hands next to the book, leaning heavily on the table. “The Devil’s blood runs thro
ugh my veins.”

  “So what?” I say. “That doesn’t mean you’re evil. You could never be evil, babe.” I try to keep the panic from my voice, but my words are still a bit shrill.

  Vicky shivers, and I pull her close. I rock her and kiss her head until she calms down. Dylan keeps his eyes down and doesn’t move a muscle. I feel sorry for him. He got sucked into Jeep’s tattoo decades ago, and when he finally manages to escape and tries to help, he accidently drops a bomb on us.

  I reach out to him with one hand, and he looks up, startled. “You helped us a lot, Dylan. I’m sorry you had to suffer for years, but in the end, you did that for a reason. Without you, we might never have found out about this.”

  Dylan seems a little happier until Vicky pulls herself free and wipes the tears from her eyes. “I’m not sure I wanted to know.”

  With my finger, I catch a tear running down her cheek. “I can only imagine how hard it must be for you, but honestly…” I wait for her to meet my eye before I continue so she can read my emotions and know that I’m telling her the truth, “… I have never seen any evil in you.”

  She smiles weakly, and I stroke her cheek. “Try to think of this as good news. You probably inherited a lot from Isabel, who was a good person and who had great power. You’ve got that same power. All you need to do is find it within you.” I bend toward her and kiss her on the lips. “And I know you will, because you are awesome.”

  She stares past me for a couple of seconds. Minutes maybe. Then she takes my hand, which is still resting against her cheek, squeezes it lovingly and straightens her shoulders. “You’re right. This isn’t bad news at all.” She pulls the book toward her. “If I study this, we’ll have a great back-up plan.”

  “Exactly. And now we finally know why the Devil wants to get you out of the way as much as me.”

  “And why my mother and grandmother were killed.” She bites her lip. “They must have had the same power.”

  Dylan is staring at her neck again, or rather at her hair, which has fallen over it. “But why is the symbol not complete? Why is only half of it visible?”

  We all look down at the book. Eventually, Vicky pulls the collar of her leather jacket up to cover the symbol. “Maybe the other half will show itself when I use the powers I inherited from him? Or the ones I got from Isabel?”

  I rub my arms to drive out the cold that suddenly spreads through them. The thought of her being a great-great-granddaughter of the Devil does give me chills. “Maybe. But it doesn’t really matter. The most important thing is that you have the power to create the circles of Hell. And Lucifer knows this too.”

  She tilts her head in thought. “He tried to get rid of me, like he did with my mother and grandmother, but he failed.”

  I wrap my arm around her. “And he will fail again and again, because we are stronger than he is.”

  She rests her head on my shoulder. “I hope so.”

  Dylan stretches his arms and legs. “Would you guys mind if I take a nap? Pulling myself from Jeep’s tattoo sucked a lot of energy out of me, and I also used my powers for the first time in… well, I’m not sure how long, but it seems like forever.”

  I let go of Vicky. “Of course! We should all get some sleep, if we can. We’ll need all of our energy to prepare for the next phase in this battle.”

  Vicky frowns. “What next phase?”

  I close the book and shove it under my arm. “Can’t you feel it? The tables are turning. Our chances of winning are getting bigger.”

  There’s a violent crash somewhere above us, and instinctively, I conjure a lightning ball.

  Vicky’s shoulders sag. “You were saying?”

  I cling to the book as if it’s a lifebuoy. “Mona!”

  More clanging and creaking answer me.

  “Mona!” I call out again.

  The fairy godmother appears in a cloud of sparks. “We’re under attack!”

  “Yes, I’ve noticed.” I hold out the book to her. “Can you please keep this somewhere safe? The information inside is crucial for our survival.”

  “Of course.” She grabs the book and slides it onto an invisible shelf in the air.

  I call out a quick ‘thank you’ to her and hurry up the stairs, with Dylan on my heels.

  CHAPTER 5

  Vicky apparates upstairs, where we meet up again. I freeze when the mansion shudders. The noise is deafening, as if we’re in the middle of a tornado. The others hurry from their rooms into the second-floor hallway, with their weapons drawn. Taylar isn’t with them. His panicked voice wakes me from my frozen state.

  We dash around the stairs to the third floor and come to an abrupt halt. Taylar is dangling upside down near the ceiling, swinging his arms frantically at the swirling demon that’s holding him up.

  The sound coming from the monster is a combination of swooshing, whistling and growling. A loud thrashing comes from the secret room, which the demon blocks with its broad, twisting body. It hasn’t been able to cross the line of salt that I placed along the doorway to the secret room, but the line at the porthole must have been broken.

  The porthole must not have been properly closed. They must have found a way to open the portal in the silver mine again and stumbled upon the open porthole. How could we let this happen? They will destroy Darkwood Manor!

  The tornado demon closest to us takes a step forward and hurls Taylar at us. I hold up my hands to catch him, and brace myself, but the white-haired ghost turns transparent and flies right through me. Once Taylar has landed safely inside Vicky’s room, we all charge.

  I hit the whirlwind demon with frost while I approach. Vicky waves her sword, Gisella tries to pierce it with her blades and gel balls whizz around our ears. I can’t hear much above the racket that the demons are making, but I’m sure Maël is trying to freeze it in time, or at least slow it down. D’Maeo has stretched out his hands to hold back the wind as much as he can while Mona changes into a sparkling whirlwind that hits the monster in the face over and over. Jeep’s hands are moving rapidly, and I can already hear small footsteps coming up the stairs. Kessley is changing shape rapidly, trying to come up with the best one to attack.

  When I manage to cover the demon’s chest in ice, I dive forward to knock it over. Any hopes of the body shattering to pieces evaporate when I fall right through the whirling wind.

  I land on my stomach in the secret room, where I find two more tornado demons. They’re turning like maniacs, ripping the walls and ceiling apart. Wood splinters fly everywhere, and I roll over when part of the ceiling comes down. One of the demons shoots up to the upper floor before I can stop it.

  “There’s one upstairs!” I call out to the others.

  Only now does the demon in the secret room notice me. It turns a little slower and takes me in with its tiny eyes that are like needle pins in the large, cloud-like head. Now that it has almost come to a halt, I can make out its two thick arms and broad shoulders. It almost hits its head against the ceiling, and it has no legs or feet. Its lower body ends in a funnel. Even when it’s not moving, the noise coming from it is deafening. Without taking its eyes off me, it reaches for the ceiling and pushes.

  I grit my teeth and envision ice covering the whole body. Behind me, the swirling decreases, which hopefully means that Maël’s powers are working.

  A quick glance to my left tells me the porthole is still open, and two more demons are approaching it rapidly. I need to stop them, or they’ll rip us into little pieces along with the house.

  The tornado figure in front of me is completely covered in ice now. It’s trying to shake the cold shards off, but with each piece that falls off, a new bigger one appears. Meanwhile, I step closer to the porthole and take my Morningstar from my pocket. When the demon turns to me, I swing my weapon. The stick extends, and the spiked ball is catapulted forward while the chain attached to it unrolls. It knocks a hole in the lower body, and the monster collapses on the floor.

 
; I don’t wait to see what happens next. Instead, I take the last step toward the open porthole, grab it and pull it closed. A millisecond later, a wind demon slams into it full force. Quickly, I get onto my knees and restore the salt line. Now they won’t be able to get inside, even if they manage to get the porthole open. Which will be nearly impossible since it is now invisible from the other side.

  When I get back to my feet, Vicky yells, “Duck!”

  I’m not sure she’s talking to me, but I do it anyway. At the same time, I turn around. The tornado demon I knocked over has somehow put itself back together and is now looming over me.

  The wind it creates cuts off my breath. A sword comes soaring at us, and I lean back to avoid it. I expect it to lodge itself in the demon’s chest, but it flies through as if there’s no monster at all. Once again, I hit it with ice. It’s the best I can think of while I try to come up with a way to destroy it. Vicky comes soaring after her sword. She tries to kick the demon in the neck, but her foot slips right through. The wind catches it, and Vicky loses her balance. She is thrown around and lands upside down against the back wall.

  Anger flares up inside me, and I push off, sending all of my power to my outstretched hands. The wind pulls at me ferociously, but my rage gives me so much strength that I reach the demon in two strides. Energy courses through me, and lightning explodes from my hands as I push them against the monster. It shudders violently and makes a sort of grinding noise.

  “Incoming!” I hear from behind me. When I step aside, big chunks of grease soar past my head. They cling to the demon’s head and torso. It raises its trembling arms to tear the sticky stuff off. I think hard about rays of burning sunlight shining down on the grease, heating it up. I imagine it melting and spreading over the demon’s body, blinding the monster and burning it all over. I’ve never tried using sun before, but on impulse, I thought it might work, since sunshine is a part of the weather too. In my mind, the grease is dripping down, taking over the demon’s body bit by bit. Charlie is still hurling gel at it, and it’s really pissing off the monster.