Shadow Magic (35 page)

Baron Sable bowed low. “M’lady.”

This was a true dance of light and darkness. There were thousands here from Gehenna and Lumina, both in black and white.

The Gehennish wore masks that were beautifully grotesque. They were grinning devils, ghosts, ghouls, and skeletons from the grave. They dressed in cobwebs and in bones and ancient shrouds.

The guests from Lumina—Solar’s kinfolk—could not have been more different. Their costumes dazzled. Women wore gowns of silver, and the masks were all coldly perfect. They portrayed angels and handsome heroes and were of the finest porcelain and crystal. Some wore thin gauze, unwilling to hide their beauty beneath anything but the most transparent of materials.

Pan cleared his throat. “Lily, they expect you to dance.”

“I’ll dance when I feel like it.”

“Lily…”

Lily made her way down the steps to the hall itself. It was hot and stuffy in here. Too many people. Too many candles and too many mirrors, gifts from the duke. She wanted to escape.

She missed her friends. She missed K’leef. She remembered how the two of them had whirled across this very floor. The shocked looks on the Solars’ faces. It had been brilliant.

She missed Thorn. It surprised her how much she missed him.

He was loud, cheeky, and independent. He did things his way and didn’t care what anyone else thought.

He did what was right.

Now they were gone forever. She only hoped they’d gotten away safely.

A servant in a red demon mask offered her a drink. Lily pushed past and headed out one of the side doors into a small courtyard.

Rose-covered walls enclosed it. Weeds and small flowers grew out of the cracks in the paver stones. Black petals floated upon the water of a small fountain basin.

Lily removed her mask. She was tired of pretending to be something she wasn’t—ruler of Gehenna.

I could stay here until it’s over. Who’d notice?

They all would. She couldn’t escape who she was.

There was a splash from behind her.

“Who’s there?” Lily asked. Typical. She couldn’t get away for even a minute.

Her heart sank even lower when Gabriel appeared from beside a tree.

“Shouldn’t you be in there, dancing?” He tossed another stone in the fountain. “Oh, I forgot. You only dance with prisoners and traitors.”

“What do you want?” Lily asked.

Diamonds had been sewn into his tunic, and his cuffs were ringed with pearls, hundreds of them. A necklace of platinum hung from his neck with a golden centerpiece of a blazing sun.

They sat face-to-face. He sneered as he saw Thorn’s acorn amulet. “How typically cheap and nasty. There is nothing beautiful in Gehenna. Don’t you have anything like this?” He touched his own necklace.

What would Thorn say? “You can dress it in silk and jewels, but a pig is still a pig.”

Gabriel clenched his jaws as a blush rose on his cheeks.

Heirs to rival houses. Enemies for generations. A thirteen-year-old girl and boy.

“Where’s your mask?” Lily asked.

“I’m wearing it. Can’t you tell?”

He was perfectly handsome with skin smooth and unblemished, his hair lustrous. His suit shimmered. The buttons were diamond studs clasped in silver and gold.

But it was the way he spoke, softly and without that usual sneer, that made Lily pause. “What do you mean?”

“This isn’t what I really look like,” he said in a serious tone. He pointed at the water in the fountain basin. “Look in there.”

Lily couldn’t trust that he wasn’t playing her for a fool, but he had piqued her curiosity. “What will I see?”

“The truth?”

Lily peered down.

In the reflection, Gabriel’s hair was mostly missing. His skin was not smooth, but pockmarked and sickly. His clothes hung loose over bony limbs and a sunken chest. Small shoulders and a thin neck seemed to struggle to hold up his head; his jaw was big and held crooked, tarnished teeth.

Seeing Lily’s reaction, Gabriel laughed, and it was harsh and sad. “If you think I’m ugly, you should see my sisters.”

“I didn’t say you…Wait, it’s all an illusion?”

“Yes. The Shadows command the magic of darkness; we Solars command light and can make you see only what we wish you to see. This…trick has become as automatic as breathing—it doesn’t even fade when I’m asleep. But it takes all my power to maintain it.”

“Why do it, then?”

“I…need to be the sort of son my father wants,” said Gabriel.

“He’s not happy with you as you are?”

He huffed sarcastically, but before he could say anything, Pan appeared at the door. Gabriel straightened his tunic and swept his fingers back through his thick, shiny blond locks. “And don’t keep me waiting much longer,” he said dismissively before he reentered the hall.

“Getting along as famously as ever, I see,” said Pan. “It would be helpful if you at least tried to make friends with him.”

Friends? Lily doubted that would ever happen. But now she saw Gabriel in a new light—literally. Or perhaps she just pitied him now.

She kept staring at the water, watching it gently ripple back and forth.

Pan joined her. In the reflection, his mask looked like a real face, real but horribly scarred.

She frowned, suddenly uneasy but not sure why.

What will I see?

What had Gabriel just said?

The truth.

She saw another face in the water. Rose. Reaching up toward the surface as she drowned…

A man’s face looked on, impassive. With scars—no,
cracks
—and a pair of black holes for eyes.

The scarred man.

Lily gasped involuntarily.

Pan grabbed her arm. “Anything wrong, Niece?”

I’ve got to get away.

Lily tried to smile. “No, everything’s fine. I think we should get back. I…feel like dancing. Gabriel’s waiting.”

His grip tightened. “I don’t think so.”

“Uncle, you’re hurting me.”

He laughed. “Yes, yes, I am.”

The blackness thickened around Pan, pouring out from the folds of his long cloak. Tendrils rose up and clasped Lily’s limbs, lifting her and pushing her against the wall.

“What—what are you doing?” she asked, panicking now.

He whispered in her ear. “Lily, I thought you were smarter than that.”

P
an had practically raised Lily. He’d taught her to read and write and looked after her when she’d been sick and her parents were too busy. He’d told her stories of his adventures as a young man.

He was her hero.

Now he wanted to kill her. Like he killed Rose. It was—

“Let her go!” Gabriel’s shout interrupted her thoughts. He locked his arm around the earl’s neck and wrenched him back.

Gabriel trying to save her. Her uncle wanting to kill her. The world had gone
insane
.

The shadowy forms holding her vanished, and Lily dropped to her knees, gasping for breath.

Pan twirled around, grabbed Gabriel’s head, and slammed it against the wall. He did it again, then let the unconscious boy drop to the ground.

Lily fled toward the door to the Great Hall. Shadows surrounded the doorway and slammed it shut. She grabbed the handle and pulled, but it wouldn’t budge.

“It’s no use,” said Pan.

Lily banged her fists on the door. “Help! Help!”

“Who’s going to hear you, Lily? No one. They’re all too busy enjoying themselves. Come now, I will make it quick and painless.” He looked down at Gabriel. “For you both.”

“Uncle, you’re not making sense.” Lily couldn’t fully grasp what was happening. Pan was using real magic. How? “I don’t understand.”

Stall him. Someone will come out here soon, looking for us. They have to….

“What’s to understand? I am merely claiming what is rightfully mine. I will be Lord Shadow, as I was always meant to be. Tonight begins a new reign, Lily. The reign of Pandemonium.”

“You can have Gehenna. I don’t want to rule. I never have.”

He shook his head as he stepped closer to her. “It’s not that simple, I’m afraid. No one will see me as legitimate ruler while you still live.” He flexed his fingers, gave Gabriel a kick. “Strangled by Duke Solar’s son, while you bashed his head against the wall. How utterly perfect.”

“There’ll be war,” said Lily, forcing herself not to cower.

“Exactly. All of Gehenna will rally around me. Your death will inspire them. Then I will reveal the extent of my power. Armies of undead. Legions of zombies and skeletal troops. All-conquering. The age of the necromancer will return.”

“No one has that power, Uncle.”

He tapped his mask. “Astaroth has.”

“Astaroth?” She stared at the deformed, cracked face before her. She’d said it herself, back in the Shadow Library. How a common farmer could be a great sorcerer, just by wearing the mask. “You found the Mask of Astaroth?”

“You have no idea how many years, how many fortunes I spent looking for it. To think I found it in a box of junk. Broken, to be sure, but I recognized it instantly.” He caressed his stone cheek. “He’s still here, Lily. He tells me things. He gives me power, all the power I ever dreamed of.”

“Did Father know you’d discovered it?”

“I gave him a chance, Lily. I really did. But he wouldn’t listen. He said the mask was evil and I should destroy it.” He slammed his fist against the stone wall. “He was jealous. Jealous that I would be more powerful than he was. He would not let me reclaim my right to rule Gehenna. He would not step aside, so I removed him.”

Removed him?
She felt a wave of dizziness as shock, rage, and sorrow swirled inside her.

It was Pan all along
.

“I will make Gehenna great again. All the other houses will bow before me. Your death will ignite the flame, Lily. You will achieve more by dying than you ever could have by living.” He chuckled. “After all, you are just a girl.”

Gabriel moaned softly and blinked. He was regaining consciousness, but he still looked shaken and weak. Whatever happened next was up to her.

“My father loved you, Uncle.”

Pan twitched. There was a savage jerk and his hand jumped to his mask. His fingers trembled against the straps.

Was he trying to take it off?

Was the mask controlling him?

Pan threw his head back and groaned.

He’s fighting it.

“You won’t hurt me, Uncle.” She said it forcefully, trying to believe it herself. “If you really wanted to do it, you would have killed me by now. But you can’t. We share the same blood.”

Her words seemed to give him renewed strength. Pan straightened and gave a hollow, dreadful laugh. “I’m afraid you are dead wrong. I already
did
kill you. Only it turned out to be your foolish maid, Rose. I have been aching to kill you for months now, ever since I slew the rest of your family.” His face took on a hideous leer. “Your brother and I shared the same blood, too.”

Lily was nauseous; it felt as though Pan—no,
Astaroth
—had punched her in the stomach. She realized she truly was facing her own death.

Before she could catch her breath, he continued. “Tonight I have the entire Solar family here along with their relatives. Once I’ve killed you and Gabriel, I will summon an army of undead to destroy our greatest enemies.”

“What army?”

“This is Halloween. The night when the barrier between the land of the living and dead is at its thinnest. I’ve tested my powers already, by raising zombies and ghosts in villages and graveyards throughout Gehenna. Tonight I’ll do something not seen in hundreds of years: I shall summon thousands.”

But where could he hide so many? Oh no. It was obvious. The biggest graveyard in all of Gehenna was just a stone’s throw from here.

“The City of Silence. That’s where they are.”

“Yes, I will use our own ancestors.” Pan flexed his fingers. “It is time to die, Lily.”

Tentacles of black spread over her. She tried to scream, but the cries were absorbed by the darkness enveloping her. Lily tore at the living shadows, ripping them off like cobwebs. Pan forced her down to the ground, where she couldn’t prevent their spread.

She saw that Gabriel was awake, held down by tendrils of blackness only a few feet away from her.