Reapers -- The First Familiar (Reapers Chronicles Book II)

30 - The Devil's Secret (1 of 2)

“The devil can cite Scripture for his purpose.
An evil soul producing holy witness
Is like a villain with a smiling cheek,
A goodly apple rotten at the heart.
O, what a goodly outside falsehood hath!”

                                        --William Shakespeare

I woke up with a sudden jolt. My bed vibrated under my palms. The latticed shell lamps swayed from the ceiling.

The start brought me out of bed, but the aftereffects of whatever Luci put in the tea kicked in fast. I felt lightheaded as soon as my feet touched the floor, made worse by the tremors that shook the earth.

Staggering, I managed to reach the window. From there, I could see the tip of the three lodestones forming the Triangle protruding from redwood line. They were glowing fiercely, slowly rising up as if wanting to touch the sky.

Soon, as the Triangle stopped rising, the tremors also ceased.

Fighting the faintness, I stumbled out of the room and half-ran, half-scrambled to the garden. Every lodestone from every direction of the island emitted a recurring crystalline glow. It was as if they were alive. Breathing.

How long was I out?

Gray clouds loomed overhead, making it impossible to tell time.

On bare feet, I clambered up the hill leading to the wooden bridge.

My surroundings swayed and warped. It wasn’t long before I tripped, then slid a few feet down. I was so close to hitting a pile of construction pillars when my whole body was suddenly lifted off the ground. The neck of my robe strangled me as I was being pulled up from behind.

I struggled for air, trying to free myself from my killer clothes. But before I could do something really embarrassing like getting naked in public, I saw a giant pointy snout nip on the hem of my robe.

In a flash, the world was upside down. My head felt like it would explode with all my blood rushing towards it. Cerberus’ middle and left head sniffed me for a good five seconds before the snooty one tossed me in the air.

The scream barely made it out of my gullet before I landed on something warm and furry.

I gathered my bearings, a hand on my head as I sat up on what appeared to me as Cerberus’ back. Snubnose twisted his head over his shoulder and panted. Soon came the wagging. The tail didn’t show mercy on the newly-constructed gates.

“What’s happening?” I asked a scared farmer.

He answered shaking, trying so much to shrink behind a destroyed pillar. “Eldest has favored the Chief’s re-request. The Gate to Halo will open soon.”

There was no time to waste.

I gave Cerberus a pat. “Can you get me to the arena fast enough?”

He started bounding up the hill without further ado. I guessed that was a yes.

Cerberus sped between the cherry trees, reaching the lotus pond in less than a minute. He crossed the bridge in four lopes, not without demolishing the wooden handrails.

As we reached the wide open road to the arena, I saw the lodestones glow more fiercely. A column of blindingly white light shot from the tip of the Triangle, piercing through the clouds. The light pulsed and expanded, sweeping the whole island with a refraction of different colors.

A dark swirling hole had already appeared directly over the arena—the portal to Point Zero.

Cerberus stopped abruptly, his paws skidding against the gravelly road. Then all three heads howled to the skies as if in homage to the strange phenomenon.