Ashes of night, p.17
Ashes of Night, page 17
part #5 of Haunted High Series Series
“Come on, Finn,” she said. “Let’s get both of you upstairs. We’ll deal with Vicken after we’ve had a chance to check on you.”
I allowed myself to be led upstairs. The sounds of the professors reassuring the students were followed by footsteps. I couldn’t help the feeling that we were leaving someone behind. I closed my eyes to keep back the tears.
Chapter Fifteen
Movement made my eyes open. I lifted my head from where I had leaned my face in my hand and apparently fallen asleep. Eyes met mine. Their violet hue deepened when she smiled. The stark white of the pillowcase was counterbalanced by Dara’s long ashen hair and the hospital gown Dr. Six had dressed her in. The sight of her awake made me want to smile and cry at the same time.
“Hello, beautiful,” I said.
“I love you,” she replied.
I stared at her. When I had first professed my love, she had told me she refused to give her heart to anyone. She had been hurt too deeply by those she loved, and she refused to put herself in that situation again.
I shook my head, scarcely daring to believe my ears. “You love me?”
Dara’s smile faded slightly. “When Chutka took me, I thought I was going to die. My only regret, the only one, was that I had been afraid to tell you how I felt.” She lifted a soft hand to my cheek. “I’m not afraid anymore.”
I covered her hand with my own and told her, “I love you with all of my heart, Dara.”
She tipped her head when she looked at me. “You’re sad.”
I forced a smile. “I’m happy you’re alright. I’ve been so afraid I would lose you. I haven’t left your side.”
“We won?” she asked.
I nodded.
“But it was hard,” she said, guessing what I didn’t want to say.
I lowered my gaze. “Really hard. Professor Briggs was killed, Uncle Conrad died, and Vicken’s a demon. He sacrificed himself to get us out of the demon realm. The professors and our team have been working nonstop, but we haven’t been able to find a way to free him from the demon form.” I swallowed past my tight throat. “His soul is dying.”
“His soul?” Dara repeated.
I nodded. “Mercer said that a demon is a creature without a heart or soul, which is why it lives to devour fear and pain. That’s all it can feel.” I took in a slow breath and said, “Vicken’s soul can’t survive the demon form. Even now, there’s nothing left of him I recognize.” I couldn’t meet her gaze. “He’s dying, Dara.”
“Maybe I can help,” she replied, rising to a sitting position.
I set a hand on her arm, afraid that she would push herself too far after all she had been through.
“Maybe you should wait.”
She shook her head. “Vicken sacrificed for us. If there’s anything we can do to save him, we need to do it.”
Before I could protest, she rose from the bed. She staggered slightly and looked like she was going to fall. Without giving her the chance to deny my help, I picked her up in my arms.
She smiled up at me. “That was pretty smooth, Mr. Briscoe.”
I couldn’t help the smile that spread across my face. “I have my moments.”
“Yes, you do,” she agreed as I made my way to the door.
I carried her down the stairs to the main corridor. It was empty at the late hour; only a faint, charred scent remained to tell of the terror we had survived the night before. I stepped through the tattered remains of the unicorn photograph the demons had destroyed and walked slowly down the steps with Dara in my arms. The fact that she let me carry her told of the weakness she kept hidden. Dr. Six had confirmed Vicken’s worry that the demon realm had taken its toll on the empath. I hoped being near the vampire wasn’t going to affect her in a bad way.
I had spent the last day between the door to the basement room and waiting at Dara’s side for her to awaken. The sound of Vicken’s labored breathing beyond told me that he was still in the demon form. When we approached the door, his claws raked the inside with a sound like fingernails on a chalkboard. It set my teeth on edge.
“Vicken?” Dara called out.
The scratching intensified. She shot me a worried look as I lowered her onto the steps. I sat beside her.
“Brack used his affinity on the door. Vicken can’t get out. The last time we opened it to check on him, he nearly removed one of Professor Rexus’ horns. Luckily, Dr. Six was able to fix it. He’s up in the infirmary sleeping off the effects of her crystals. I promised the Headmistress I wouldn’t let anyone open the door again until we found a cure for Vicken.”
The Headmistress had used the word unless, not until, but I didn’t tell Dara that. I was determined to do everything I could to help Vicken if it was the last thing I did.
Footsteps sounded on the stairs above us and Dara stiffened.
“It’s alright,” I told her.
Kiyah appeared. She paused when she saw us, then continued down.
“Back here, huh?” she asked with forced lightness when she lowered to the step above mine.
“I guess I keep hoping being close to him will give me ideas. What about you?” I asked.
Kiyah nodded. Her silver and pink streaked hair brushed her shoulders. “The same. The entire pack is searching. I think Rhett’s read more books today than he ever has in his life.”
That brought a small smile from me. “That’ll be good for him.” I followed her questioning gaze to Dara. “I forget you two haven’t met. Dara, this is Kiyah. She’s one of the werewolves from the Den. She helped save Vicken’s life.” I smiled at Kiyah and said before I could stop myself, “Dara’s my girlfriend and she just told me she loved me.”
Dara laughed and pushed my shoulder. I gave her a lopsided grin.
Kiyah smiled. “Pleased to meet you. Any friend of Finn’s is someone I’ve found worth knowing, especially if you love him.”
Dara threw me a smile. “I do.”
Kiyah nodded. “He deserves it. He’s a good guy.”
I caught Dara’s questioning look and chuckled. “Don’t worry. Kiyah’s feelings aren’t for me.” I gestured toward the door. “They’re for him.”
Dara’s eyes widened. “You love Vicken?”
Kiyah nodded as her smile faded. “I do. With all of my heart.” She glanced at me. “It’s a werewolf thing. I know loving a vampire doesn’t make any sense, but—”
“But the heart wants what it wants,” Dara concluded as she slipped her hand into mine.
Kiyah nodded. “Exactly.” She turned her gaze on the door. “But the vampire I love isn’t in there.”
“He’s there,” Dara reassured her. “I can still feel him.”
Relief made the tension ease in my shoulders. “You can?”
Dara nodded. “I can, but it’s faint. He’s not going to be there long.” The worry showed in her violet gaze when she looked up at me. “What are we going to do?”
“I don’t know,” I admitted. “We’re running out of time and we have no options. Everything the professors have tried has failed. I don’t know what else to do.”
I shied away from the thought of losing Vicken completely to the demons. We had sacrificed so much to defeat Chutka. It didn’t feel fair that Vicken’s life would be sacrificed as well.
Something touched my shoulder. I looked up expecting to see Kiyah’s hand, but she was leaning against the opposite wall with her gaze on the door.
Dara caught my questioning look. “What?”
“Did you touch my shoulder?” I asked, even though doing so meant she would have had to lean across the stairway awkwardly to do it.
She shook her head. “No. Why?”
I frowned. “I felt someone there. It doesn’t make sense.” Something poked my shoulder in the same place. I jumped up. “There it is again.”
I stared at the empty staircase.
“What’s going on?” Kiyah asked.
“Something’s messing with Finn,” Dara replied with confusion in her voice. “But nothing’s there.”
“After everything you’ve been through, I’m not surprised you’re seeing things,” Kiyah said.
I shook my head. “I’m not seeing things, I’m feeling them. It’s like somebody’s trying to get my attention. But there’s nobody there, just….” A thought occurred to me. “Cadish.”
“Who’s Cadish?” Dara asked.
I stared up the staircase. “My mother’s imaginary friend that she brought to life. Nobody else can see him, but I think he’s been helping me since I got here.”
Dara set a hand on my arm. “Finn, you’re not making any sense.”
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the empath and werewolf exchange worried glances, but I kept my gaze on the stairs.
“It makes perfect sense,” I replied. “My mother helped bring Cadish to life, but something went wrong. One of the moonstones broke and he vanished, but she said he was still there.” I sucked in a breath. “Uncle Conrad told me Cadish was just happy my mother had helped him gain a soul.” My eyes widened and I repeated, “They helped him gain a soul!”
“What are you talking about?” Kiyah asked.
But Dara had risen at my words. She stared with me up the empty staircase. “How did they do it?”
“With moonstones,” I replied. “Lots of moonstones.”
“We’re supposed to get that shipment from Madam Opal. Do you think it’s arrived yet?” Dara asked.
I looked at her and saw the same excitement I felt reflected in her eyes. “I’m not sure, but I’m going to find out!”
I left the girls and ran up the stair four at a time. I burst into Mrs. Hassleton’s office and skidded to a stop at the sight of her sorting through files on her desk.
“Finnley Briscoe, what are you doing in here?” she demanded.
“What are you doing in here?” I asked. “It’s really late.”
“Really early,” she corrected. “The Headmistress is a night owl, remember? I keep her hours.”
“Right,” I replied. “I’m sorry to barge in, but has a box arrived from Madam Opal?”
“You’re asking about mail at this time of the morning?” she said, her tone suspicious. “What’s gotten into you?”
“I don’t have time to explain, but a student’s life hangs in the balance. Did you get the package?”
“Well, yes, actually.” Mrs. Hassleton looked around her office. “It’s here somewhere, I’m sure.”
I sniffed as I looked, searching for the smell of ironwood. Mrs. Hassleton batted me away.
“You and your werewolf kind shouldn’t be in here, Mr. Briscoe. There are plenty of other schools where—”
“Schools?” I replied, caught off-guard. “You think we should leave the Academy? All of us?”
Mrs. Hassleton paused in the act of shuffling through a stack of oddly shaped packages in the corner. She glanced back at me. “Did I say schools? I meant rooms. Your kind has plenty of rooms here at the Academy. You don’t have to be in my office.”
I approached her desk. “Mrs. Hassleton, what do you have against werewolves?”
She picked up a spray bottle and aimed it at me. The word ‘cloves’ was written down the side. “Nothing. You are a student and should be off learning, not harassing me.”
I put my hands on her desk. “Mrs. Hassleton, I’m trying to save my best friend’s life. In fact, I haven’t done anything except try to save this school since I’ve been here. I’ve been stabbed, burned, beaten, had my arm broken, and nearly died more times than I could count, and all because I care about this place.” I narrowed my eyes at her. “So what makes me being here so wrong?”
Mrs. Hassleton was quiet for a few minutes. The spray bottle lowered along with her gaze. When she spoke, there was a slight hesitation in her voice. “I’m afraid of dogs.”
I fought back the urge to laugh hysterically. Finding the moonstones to save Vicken’s life was so urgent. The fact that I was now faced with such a paltry fear made me feel as if I was on the edge of going crazy. “Dogs?”
Mrs. Hassleton nodded without looking at me. “I was attacked by a little poodle when I was a toddler.” She lifted a hand to her cheek and touched a small triangle-shaped scar I hadn’t noticed there. “I had to get stitches and spent a week in the hospital. I’ve been terrified of them ever since.” She lifted her gaze to look at me. “When I see you, all I see is a huge dog waiting to attack.”
The realness of her fears smothered any urge I had to laugh. I nodded and shoved my hands in my pockets in an effort to appear less frightening.
“Can I tell you something?” I asked her.
Mrs. Hassleton nodded. The embarrassment she felt at her admission showed in her eyes. It made what I was going to say that much easier.
“When I phased into a werewolf for the first time, I was afraid of myself,” I admitted.
Mrs. Hassleton’s eyes widened behind her thick glasses. “You-you were?”
I nodded. “Terrified, actually. I didn’t even know monsters existed, and then I was suddenly in the form of this nightmarish creature everyone was afraid of, and I couldn’t blame them.”
“You couldn’t?” she said.
“I couldn’t,” I replied. “I was scared, I was alone, and I had nowhere to turn until I found this place.” I lifted a hand from my pocket to indicate the Academy. “Haunted High has become my sanctuary, and I’ve worked hard to help keep it safe for all of the students here.” I met her gaze. “But I don’t want someone to be afraid of staying here because of me. Maybe we could find a way to be friends?”
Mrs. Hassleton appeared taken aback. She stared at me with her mouth open and one of her hands raised halfway to her glasses as though she had been about to adjust them and forgot.
“I promise I will never scare you as a wolf and I will make sure none of the other werewolves do, either.” I winked at her. “They have to listen to me, you know.”
A slight, timid smile touched the woman’s mouth. “Do they, really?”
I nodded. “They do, and I’ll make sure none of them scare you, ever. I’ll tell them they’ll be expelled from Haunted High if they do. Will that help you feel better?”
Mrs. Hassleton gave a short nod, paused, and then nodded again. “Yes, actually. That will. That helps a great deal.” A relieved expression filled her face. “A great, great deal.”
I smiled at her. “And I promise to keep up my end of our friendship. I’ve been fighting to protect everyone at Haunted High, and that includes you.”
That made her smile deepen. “Thank you, Mr. Briscoe.”
“I’m glad I can help.” I lifted my gaze to the packages behind her. “Now what I need is the package from Madam Opal of the Maes so I can help my friend Vicken. He’s going to die if we don’t do something.”
Mrs. Hassleton’s eyes widened. “Vicken Ruvine, the vampire?”
I nodded.
She turned quickly to the packages. “Vicken is such a nice boy. You do everything you can to help him.” She picked up a box. “This is the one you’re looking for.”
I couldn’t help staring when she handed it to me. I had never expected the woman who feared me so much to refer to Vicken as such a nice boy.
“Now you take care of him,” Mrs. Hassleton directed, shooing me out the door. “If you need anything else to save him, you come right back here, you hear?” She shut the door behind me and left me staring at it.
“Right back here!” Mrs. Hassleton repeated through the door.
I walked numbly to the unicorn photograph and was about to duck inside when Alden called my name.
“Hey, Finn! What are you doing?”
The Grim’s voice jolted me back to the present. “Alden, is Vicken’s name on your arm yet?”
Alden pushed his sleeve up. For the briefest second, I saw Vicken’s name written there in scrolling blue words. I blinked and it was gone. The memory of the same image from the Mythic Labs made my heart pound harder.
“Nope,” Alden said with relief in his voice that hinted of how hard it had been to take Professor Briggs away.
“Good,” I told him. “Get the others. We have a chant to perform.”
“What chant?” Alden asked in surprise.
I held up the box. “A moonstone chant. We’re going to save Vicken.”
“Where did you find the chant?” the little Grim asked with relief on his face.
“It’s my mother’s,” I replied. “I’ll explain when everyone’s together.”
It didn’t take long for the team to meet on the basement steps. They were each as anxious to get Vicken back as I was. Everyone waited eagerly as the sounds of Vicken’s scratching increased.
“What’s the plan?” Lyris asked.
I held up the box. “These are moonstones from Madam Opal. We’re going to use them to bring Vicken’s soul back so he can defeat the demon.”
“He’s going to fight the demon himself?” Lorne asked.
Dara nodded. “If we can help him be strong enough, that’s Finn’s plan.”
“So where do we start?” Kiyah asked.
Everyone looked at me. For the first time, the enormity of what I wanted to accomplish was daunting. I cleared my throat nervously. “We’re going to ask if my mother’s imaginary friend that she brought to life and gave a soul will help us.”
Glances were exchanged. Fortunately, Kiyah and Dara had my back.
“Clear your minds,” Kiyah instructed. “Give him a chance to speak.”
Dara nodded. “It’s difficult for those without a solid form to make themselves heard. We need to be open. Let go of your judgments and your fears, and hold onto your hope for Vicken. Do this for him.”
To my relief, every member of the team closed their eyes. I listened to their breathing and their heartbeats settle. The sound of Vicken’s harsh breaths in the room beyond came as a stark counterbalance to the stillness of the group. I hoped there was a chance Cadish would speak to us, but I didn’t know where to begin.
Dara’s hand slipped into mine. She must have sensed my uncertainty, because she spoke in a calm, quiet voice. “Cadish, we need your help. Our friend is fighting for his life, and you have the only key to saving him. Please let us know if you hear us.”
