Chapter 28
Elaine and I got out of the car just before the body crashed into the windshield. My skin felt hot where shards of glass struck it, a contrast to the cold crawling through it. Even without trying, I could feel the darkness pouring through the broken window, tainting the frigid air around us. A shudder roiled through my body in response as Elaine staggered, taking the worst of the atmosphere, unaccustomed to such assaults.
I caught her just as she was about to fall down, steadying her. “Thanks,” she said in a strangled voice. “That body…it’s-“
“Jenna,” I murmured. One of Robert’s assistant. She hadn’t exactly looked spritely when I met her but she looked a hell of a lot better than she did now. The crash had shattered the windshield so that her head hung limply inside. Her face was set in an expression of horror, the iconic pink strip of her hair a bright disparity. Her limbs were twisted in odd angles. Whether it was caused by the impact of the fall or something else, I didn’t have time to tell.
Elaine spat out a curse and turned towards the Lodge. “We have to hurry inside.”
“No,” I said. “Stay with the car. If things get bad, we’re going to need to escape fast.”
“I’m not leaving you in there alone,” she insisted. “Do you even have a plan?”
“I-“ I gritted my teeth. No, I didn’t have a plan. God damn it, what was I even doing back here? Without Gram, I was useless against Adam or any of the beasts he could dredge up against me. But I had to try. If I could just get to Sigrun, free her if needed. Or if I could get Gram, or even Margaret, back in play I’d have a chance.
“Please, Chris. Let me help you,” Elaine continued. “There’s more than one enemy in there. I’m sure of it.”
“Exactly, and I can’t risk putting you in danger. Those snow monsters are only the beginning. God knows how many things Marzanna can give him.”
She jutted her chin. “I can take care of myself. And that’s not what I’m talking about. Back at the car, you said it takes a lot of-“ she had to squint as she forced herself to say it “-magic to keep the monsters going. Adam was right there watching us and he even tried to fight you. Someone else was summoning those things.”
“Marzanna,” I said with utmost certainty. “She must’ve done it. She’s helping Adam after all.”
“I’m just saying, it’s stupid to assume that there’s only one enemy in there.”
Another scream echoed through the darkened house. It was futile to argue with Elaine. We didn’t have the luxury of time so I just gave her a few spare cartridges for the Glock from the trunk. After a moment’s thought, I handed her one of Sigrun’s spare short swords and sheathed a broadsword for myself. My Guardian had been nothing if not prepared. I forced myself not to think of her in the past tense just yet. I also drew one of the runes I’d pocketed earlier and handed a one of concealment to Elaine.
It wouldn’t make us invisible but it would make sure that we’d go undetected by any magical or remote means. They won’t notice our arrival until they see us with their own eyes and that’s the only advantage I could hope for.
Elaine had gotten paler, I noticed. No matter how hard a front she put up, seeing a dead body like that must have shaken her and the added sinister atmosphere didn’t help her disposition much.
I nudged her lightly. Our eyes met and for a moment, everything was fine again. It was just the two of us, young lovers with differences, with problems that they would work through in the end. Then, the screaming started again.
Her eyes hardened and it wasn’t directed towards me. “You asked me if I had a plan,” I told her. “Get everyone who isn’t trying to kill us out of there.”
We broke off at a dead sprint toward the front door without another word. In hindsight, it might’ve been safer to go through the back but it wasn’t the best option. We were on a rescue mission and every minute we spent working our way through the several feet of snow that surrounded the sizeable Lodge counted.
The door was unlocked so we naturally burst in with guns at the ready, swinging in every possible direction in anticipation. When it finally started feeling silly standing there like Starsky and Hutch, we started for the grand stairs. Jenna – may she rest in peace – fell through a top floor window meaning whatever was happening was going down near or at the attic. I started feeling the lag as we began to climb, the heaviness of the air weighing down on my senses which were far more acute than Elaine’s. While I must have been showing some physical distress, Elaine was showing emotional ones. She was shaking, fidgeting so that I had to grip her arm to keep her from accidentally shooting at me.
“You do this every day?” she asked in a whisper.
“Nope, sometimes I go spelunking in the sewers,” I said.
She shot me an irritated look which slowly melted into one of realization. “Oh my God, you’re being literal.” Then it went to irritated again. “Our date? You went into the sewers before our last date?”
“Shhh!”
“Oh, right. We’ll talk,” she said with narrowed eyes.
We moved up the next flights of stairs generally unharmed. The second we stepped foot on the top floor, however, things got ugly. The air, which had already been so cold that our breaths frosted into mists in front of us, got even colder. My glove-covered hands numbed with the cold and the gun felt like it was stuck to them. My teeth were chattering and my body convulsed as it attempted to adapt to the sudden drop in temperature. It was a well-placed distraction.
My instincts suddenly screamed and I threw myself on Elaine, driving her down with me, as something darted overhead. There was a roar of sound near my head as Elaine started shooting at the thing. The form, still in mid-air, dodged the bullets easily and let out a mocking caw before landing on the floor. The crow shifted, the skin under its feathers churning as it shifted into the form of Adam Whistler.
“Mr. Pierce…Ms. Hartley…how wonderful of you to-“
There was a clicking sound as Elaine replaced the cartridge before shooting again.
Adam dove to one side, tumbling over the stairs before shifting into a crow again in mid-air. The ceiling of the Lodge was high enough that he was able to fly out of our reach and, in the nigh-complete darkness, our line of vision.
“Guy just doesn’t know when to shut up,” Elaine said as I helped her up. “Come on.”
“No, I’ll go,” I told her.
“We talked about this already, Chris-“
“I need you to keep an eye on Adam. Shoot him down if you can,” I explained. “I can handle myself, too, Elaine.”
She glanced at me sideways and shook her head. “I know you can but…” she bit her lip, shaking her head again. She then lifted the gun to where Adam was circling near the chandelier. “Alright. Go.”
I went through the door that led to the stairs that went into the attic. Gunshots would bark every so often behind me as Elaine tried to shoot Adam down and keep him off of me. I had to hurry. Once she ran out of bullets, there was no telling what Adam would do. We didn’t know anything of his capabilities. He couldn’t possibly just be a one-trick pony, could he? Not if he orchestrated this entire ruse to raise one of the Old Ones.
As I neared the top, I noticed a figure sprawled on the steps. I leveled my gun on it and approached cautiously. No need to let myself get tricked more than once in a day. The figure groaned, shifting uncomfortably as I drew near it. Close enough to see, I recognized the shock of red curls immediately.
Margaret stirred. My gun still in one hand, I helped her into a sitting position and checked her pulse. It felt normal enough that I didn’t worry.
“Chris…” she whispered. Her eyes fluttered open but it looked like she was having trouble keeping it that way.
“I’m here. What happened?”
“I’m sorry,” she said weakly. “I tried to stop them…but they were too strong. Adam, he’s got the others trapped upstairs. Hurry.”
I thought quickly. I couldn’t leave her here unguarded but I couldn’t take her with me either. Bringing her down to Elaine would take too much time as well. I suddenly remembered what I’d done before going to her room that afternoon. I rummaged through my pockets until I came out with one of Sigrun’s protection runes. I was still unclear on what it would do but Margaret would be able to utilize it far better than I could.
I held it up for her to see and placed it in her hand. “Protection rune. Stay safe until Elaine or I can get to you.”
Margaret nodded feebly. “Be careful.”
I smirked. “We’re way past that point.”
I continued up the steps until I reached the top. The attic had definitely been the sight of a struggle. Chairs and tables were strewn all over the floor, stuffing from the cushions coating parts of it with yellowed down. Some of the furniture had been broken into splinters. The computers that Robert’s team had spent so much time setting up were nothing more than smoking piles of scrap metal and wires. Broken glass also adorned the floor from where the light bulbs must have shattered during whatever mystical scuffle went down.
The air was tinged with so much residual magic that it sent frisson all throughout my body. I sifted through the sensations and tried to find where the others were. The sound of movement brought my attention to a far corner of the room.
Robert was laying there, his usually messy hair even more unruly than I’d last seen it. He had a split lip and his clothes were torn in places. It almost looked like he was having a seizure as he struggled on the floor against something unseen. As he saw me, I could see the panic and surprise. He opened his mouth as if to shout something but it was lost in an unintelligible garble as if something was strangling him.
The shadows that surrounded him suddenly shifted, completely independent of a light source and I suddenly realized what he was struggling against. The shadows roiled again before shooting out of the corner straight towards me. I barely managed to dodge them. One of the tendrils managed to snag my right arm, tearing through the jacket like tissue paper and leaving a sickly, oily feeling where it scarcely touched my skin.
The sensation extended to my other senses as I felt the presence of another in the room. My eyes snapped to one of the corners where the shadows were darkest. From deep within, I heard the sound of cackling, followed by the scuffling of footsteps against a wooden floor. The old woman from the night before materialized from the blackness, grinning as widely as before. She stretched an arm and, as she did, more shadows darted to strike me.
The few seconds of understanding were enough for me to prepare accordingly. I drew the spare broadsword and brought it to guard in front of me.
The shadow struck it and, unexpectedly, the sword flared a bright blue. Runes ran down its length, an azure beacon in the darkness. The shadows twisted away from the light that must have cast a frightening shadow on my face as I smiled fiercely. Of course Sigrun would have charmed the sword. I could feel her power hum through the blade, pulsing like a living thing. It wouldn’t have as much power as Gram but a sword was a sword.
I lashed out with the enchanted blade and as it bit into the black, twisting tendrils, flared even brighter. The shadows dissipated into wisps of black smoke as whatever magic made them come to life came undone. I turned the swipe into a pivot and spun on the ball of my foot. I stopped with the other and used the residual momentum to propel myself toward the old hag.
I felt the painful jerk in my shoulder as the sword stopped in front of her, just before the tip would have sliced into her chest. Closer, I couldn’t help but notice something different about her. She seemed…younger. Our eyes met for the briefest of moments but it was enough for me to consider it a huge mistake.
Ice blue mixed with utter blackness swirled in my vision. My insides went cold and I felt the onset of depression, despair, hopelessness and a myriad of other emotions settle into my very being. The weight of the old hag’s gaze brought me to my knee as I fought back crying out, not in pain, but in complete desolation. This old woman wasn’t human. She’d never been human.
“Chris!” Robert’s shout came out gargled but it brought me back to the present enough for me to notice my senses screaming at me.
I dove out of the way, the sword clattering uselessly on the ground, a few seconds before a bright light would’ve hit me in the back. Instead, the attack struck the console of computers, sending more sparks and smoke. The light from the sword faded but not before it showed me who had thrown the attack.
“Margaret,” I said and even then, I could hear the utter disbelief in my voice.
She stood there, her hands splayed toward the direction I’d occupied just a few seconds ago. The youthful, innocent demeanor in which she’d always held herself was gone. The kind, naïve expression in her face I’d grown so fond of over the last few days gave way into one a smirk of malice.
She smiled at me sweetly. “Me.”