I let myself in, locking the door behind me, but I didn’t bother trying to build a fire to warm it up. The musty smell of the room wasn’t overpowering, but it certainly wasn’t pleasant. Someone had put down a new floor rug recently. Donny and Gabe sometimes used the place to be alone. . . . I wondered if Gabe was trying to fix it up for her. It seemed like something he would do.
I opened my case and pulled out my neglected instrument. The familiar weight of my violin settled into the place on my body where it had always belonged, but I hesitated. Before I’d known what Under was, I had played a song that transported me there against my will.
This time I would take myself there.
My trips to Under had never been in my control. Often I’d been a pawn in a game I didn’t understand. The conflicting desires of Haden and Mara brought me in and out of their world on their whims. Back and forth, I’d been urged and repelled.
And where was Haden now? I wondered as I sat in a scarred wooden chair. I readied my bow. Did he miss me? Or was he filling his time with pursuits of other girls? Girls less complicated. Girls who could feed his appetites.
I closed my eyes and pulled an age-old tune from my soul, twisting and turning it around until I found just the right notes. In my head, I could hear the rest of the orchestra joining me. It was a song I’d heard only once, but such was my gift that once was all I ever needed to translate what I heard to my bow and strings.
Father had always pushed me to use my gifts to study and play classical music. I think it had been his dream that I play in a renowned symphony, but it was never mine. I heard a different kind of music in my soul—I always had. The kind of songs they played in Under. Perhaps I’d lured the underworld to me all along and not the reverse.
I didn’t need to open my eyes to feel the change. The atmosphere was thicker in Under, as if the air coated my skin. The music played on, though I no longer held my violin. I opened my eyes.
The ground below me was parched and cracked, so devoid of color I couldn’t even call it gray. All around me it hinted at once being resplendent by how desolate it now appeared—nothing grew, but in place of vegetation, the stalks of dead plants withered in the bleakness. The wasteland seemed to stretch for miles around me in every direction. On the horizon, bolts of lightning cracked the sky and the beyond rumbled back as if in protest for the deep crevices the lightning left behind.
The whole place felt lonely.
A splash of color caught my eye. I couldn’t tell how far it was from me, but I started towards it. My legs grew heavier the farther I walked, but the colors were so beautiful in the middle of the barren earth that I pushed myself to slog ahead even when they seemed to be getting no closer as I walked towards them.
In the distance, dark clouds gathered ominously. The thunder clapped louder, followed by long sizzles that echoed as if I were standing in a cavern instead of on the flat ground. I didn’t like the noise; it sounded as if the sky was being torn at the seams.
I kept moving, knowing that standing still would be no safer, despite the part of me that wanted to cover my head and hide. Finally I looked down at myself and realized I was wearing a large, heavy coat. Strange. While I walked, I unbuttoned it, shrugging out of it and letting it fall to the ground. I felt a little lighter, but I was still wearing another coat. I kept shucking off layer after layer of restricting jackets and coats, getting lighter and lighter until finally I was down to a nightgown, red again.
Without the bulky clothing, I moved with ease and sprinted to the colorful spot in the desolate landscape. As I neared it, I realized it was the flowers that I had liked so much. Strange that they could grow where nothing else survived, here in the middle of nowhere. I smiled when I could smell them—so sweet, like fruit.
I needed to go find my father, but first I rubbed the soft petals of the yellow bloom across my cheek, inhaling deeply at its fresh scent. The pink one was next and then the blue. I felt giddy, despite my surroundings. If my flowers were here, it couldn’t be that bad.
“Theia!”
Haden’s voice startled me and I turned abruptly towards him, surprised to see him. He wore faded jeans and one of his white button-up shirts with an untied cravat under the collar. His face was covered in stubble and his hair was rakishly mussed. His black eyes made him appear more demon than human at that moment, and he reeked of the sulfur that accompanied his use of the Lure. His face was stretched tight and I couldn’t decide if he looked tired or angry or both.
He looked behind me and then back at my face. “My God, what have you done?”
Confused, I turned to the flower bed. The yellow flower had lost its color and its stalk bent sadly. “I don’t understand,” I said, looking back at him. “I was just smelling the flowers.”
I looked behind me again, and the flowers were all drooping. Dying.
“Oh, Theia.” He looked crushed. More so even than the night I had broken up with him. “Those aren’t flowers.”
CHAPTER TWELVE
M
y eyes snapped open. Someone was pounding at the door.
I was back in the cabin, still playing the song on my violin that had carried me Under. I had to concentrate to pull my arm away from my instrument, my body still a little possessed with the aftereffects. The pounding on the door continued, but I couldn’t seem to move from my chair. I was paralyzed with grief. I hadn’t found my father. A blade of guilt slashed my stomach. I’d been distracted by the flowers.
The flowers.
Every time I’d touched them or inhaled their pleasing fragrance, I’d been draining them. Their scents had filled me with a sense of well-being. I’d taken such pleasure from them.
The shame overwhelmed me. Not flowers . . . souls. I’d been feeding from human souls.
“Theia, I know you are in there. Open up. It’s Mike.”
Why in the world was Mike at the cabin?
The oddity of his presence startled me out of my numbed state. I crossed the room, aware for the first time that it had begun to rain while I’d been gone, the sound of it like falling nails on the tin roof. I opened the door with trepidation. “Mike?”
He dripped all over the stoop, water running down his face in rivulets. He was breathing heavily and looked agitated. He folded me into his wet embrace, squeezing harder when I stiffened in his arms. “It’s okay. It will all be okay now,” he assured me.
He didn’t loosen his hold on me, but instead pushed into the cabin with me in his arms. Unease shot arrows down my spine. I tried to shove away from his chest, but his arms didn’t relent. Years of wrestling made him strong. “I promise it will be okay now. You don’t have to worry anymore.”
I panicked and struggled vainly in his viselike hold. “Let go of me!”
He released me and looked surprised at my vehemence. “I’m sorry, Theia. I got you all wet. I shouldn’t have grabbed you like that.” He shook his head, chastising himself. “You’re shivering. I’ll make a fire, okay?”
Something was so wrong with his presence, but I didn’t know where to begin. “What are you doing here?”
He went about laying kindling in the ancient woodstove. “I came to save you.”
My arms erupted in goose bumps. “Save me? Save me from what?”
He didn’t answer me. He methodically built a fire, as if we’d been in this situation a thousand times.
I wrapped my arms around myself, but my chill went further than my damp skin. “Mike, what is going on? You’re acting so strangely. How did you even know I was here?”
“You don’t need to worry anymore. It’s all taken care of.” He sat back on his haunches. “That should warm you up in a few minutes.” He looked up and pinned me with his gaze. His eyes were filled with an earnest fervor that I’d never seen him express before. Not even for French fries. “There is still hope for us all, Theia. But you need to turn away from the evil that has infected you.”
I stared back, the hairs on my neck standing up like a porcupine’s quills. “Mike, what are you talking about?”
He stood and stepped towards me, not seeming to care that I backed away. “He’s used the powers of evil to turn you from your true nature. Renounce the evil demon and all will be won.” Mike’s vehemence shone in his eyes. “He’s brainwashed you, Theia. Just like he’s done to everyone. But you know, deep inside, that staying with him is wrong. You’re holding the hand of the devil, but it’s not too late.”
“Too late for what, Mike? Who are you talking about?”
“Haden is a scourge, a plague, on earth. We must unite and defeat his evil. We must wipe him off our world. He is a demon and must be killed.”
My knees turned to jelly. He sounded like he was on a street corner citing Bible verses at random passersby. Not the easygoing wrestler I was used to, the one with a huge appetite and very little to say. What had happened to him? “Mike, you don’t understand.”
“Theia,” Mike pleaded, “you know the right path. He’s led you astray, but you know the truth. You know what you must do. It’s not too late. I forgive you.”
“Forgive me?” He kept moving slowly towards me, so I moved away, putting a chair between us. I aimed my voice for cheerfulness, but it came out sounding thin and reedy. “Where did you get the idea that Haden is a demon? Surely you know that sounds crazy.”
“I know all about Haden. I know how he’s tricked everyone into thinking he’s such a great guy. I know he’s an evil incubus. It’s disgusting.” Instead of closing the distance between us, Mike crossed the room and threw the bolt on the door, locking us in. “We’ll wait until the rain lets up, okay?”
My heart pounded dangerously. My natural instincts warned me that I was in some kind of peril, but I couldn’t afford to lose control of my emotions. The last thing this situation needed was my demon side making an appearance. I had to keep myself calm; I had to keep Mike calm. I thought to play along. “What will we do then, Mike? When the rain lets up?”
He took off his jacket and laid it over the back of a chair near the fire. Not answering my question, he said, “I tried to warn you about Haden. The notes . . .”
“I didn’t realize that was you.” Had he been putting some kind of plan in motion? “Why did you—”
“You’re wearing the bracelet I gave you.”
I looked down at my wrist. I’d forgotten it was there. “Mike, I have to go. My father is at the hospital, remember? I have to go to him.”
“You can’t go right now. The roads are terrible. It’s my job to keep you safe now.”
He stood in front of a window and looked into the dark, though I was sure he couldn’t see anything. I felt his craziness coming off him in waves.
“Just the same, I think I’ll go. I’d feel better if I were closer to my father.”
He stepped in front of me, blocking my path. “He’s coming for you, you know.”
“My father?”
Mike smiled, but his eyes were serious. Deadly so. “No, of course not. Haden.”
“Haden doesn’t know I’m here.”
The door shook from a sudden pounding and I jumped. Mike just smiled at my reaction. “I told you.”
“Theia!” Haden yelled through the door.
Mike clapped his hand over my mouth and turned me so my back was to his chest. I stopped struggling when he flashed a knife in his other hand. “Not a word, Theia. You just let me handle this. It ends tonight.”
Haden banged on the door a few more times and then he crashed through it, dead bolt and all. It didn’t take him long to assess the situation. “Let her go, Matheny,” he growled.
I could smell Mike’s fear and agitation. “You should have let her go a long time ago. You’re an abomination.”
Haden spread his hands to show he was unarmed. “You’re not wrong about that. But let Theia go and we can settle this between ourselves. She’s an innocent girl.”
Mike squeezed me tighter. “She used to be innocent until you ruined her. But once you’re gone, I can save her. I
will
save her.”
“We both know you’re not going to use the knife on Theia, so let her go.”
Haden sent me a look that told me more than words could ever have said. It was comforting, but more, it reached down to my very soul.
I needed to find a way to distract Mike. I wasn’t helpless and the situation needed to be defused quickly before anyone got hurt. Mike wasn’t thinking clearly, if he was thinking at all. He was so unlike himself that it was frightening.
The windows. I’d been making glass explode for a while without thinking about it. I wondered whether I could do it on purpose. I concentrated very hard on one across the room. At first nothing happened. I let myself absorb some of the tension in the room, and something broke free deep inside me. It felt like a warm ball of light gathering around my breastbone, and then it funneled into a stream directed by my will and burst out of me.
The window began to shift in its casement. I had no idea what I was doing, but I kept thinking about it shattering. I saw it over and over in my mind. The pressure built inside me and I tuned out the argument between Haden and Mike. A final push, and several windows shattered, spraying shards of glass into the room, like water from a hose nozzle.
Everyone instinctively ducked to avoid the spray and I used the distraction to wrench out of Mike’s arms. Haden leaped on him, yelling, “Theia, get out of here. Now. The keys are still in the ignition.”
I started to run, making it all the way to his truck before I remembered that I didn’t know how to drive a stick shift. The keys to Muriel’s car were still in the cabin. As I started to go back, the boys rolled out onto the porch and then into the grass. I knew Haden was holding back because he didn’t want to kill Mike, but Mike was an all-star wrestler and he wasn’t holding back.
The rain came down in sheets, soaking us all. Haden and Mike continued grappling and a glint of silver slashed into the air. “Watch out for the knife, Haden!”
I grabbed a nearby stick and got up, holding it like a baseball bat. It was a sturdy branch but I wasn’t sure how much damage I could really do with it. I held the stick firmly, feeling the bark roughen the skin on my palms.
Time rearranged itself, playing the scene in slow motion and yet somehow, at the same time, very quickly. The knife gouged into Haden’s side. Haden gasped once and stopped moving, but Mike continued to pummel him with his fist. He kept grunting and yelling out nonsensical words. When he raised his arm to stab Haden again, I swung with all my might. I’d never hit anyone before. I wasn’t prepared for the give of his skin or the sound of bone meeting wood.
Mike collapsed on top of Haden. I fell to my knees and rolled him off. They were both lying so still.
This can’t be happening
. I began trembling from head to toe, my teeth chattering, my heart stuttering. The rain poured over me as if dumped from a bucket.
I leaned over Haden’s mouth and felt his breath on my ear. “Thank God. Please wake up.”
I pulled off my hoodie and held it to his side to stanch the blood. I had to get him to the car, unless my phone got magical cellular reception.
The sound of gravel crunching under the wheels of a car preceded the headlights on the dirt drive leading to the cabin.
Now who was here?
“Haden, please wake up.”
I recognized the car to be Donny’s and relief flooded through me. “It’s going to be okay, Haden. We’ll get you to the hospital.”
Donny, Ame, Gabe, and Varnie ran to us and stopped short when they saw the boys on the ground.
“What the hell happened?” Donny asked, and then looked at the other unconscious boy. “Mike?”
As soon as Amelia saw Mike, she squeaked and collapsed. Varnie scooped her into his arms before she hit the ground. “We need to dial 911. Donny, can you—?”
“There’s no cell service. What the hell happened?” Gabe asked, echoing Donny.
“Mike stabbed Haden, so I hit him and knocked him unconscious.”
“I’m taking Amelia inside,” Varnie said. “She’s unconscious too.”
“What is going on?” asked Donny.
“I don’t know exactly. We need to get Haden to the hospital.” There were far too many unconscious people in my life. “How did you know I was here?”
“Varnie had a vision right in the middle of the
American
Idol
finale,” Donny answered.
Haden groaned. “Theia.”
I touched his face. “I’m right here.”
“It’s raining, you’ll catch cold,” he mumbled.
I laughed a little. The sniffles weren’t high on my priority list. “We need to get you to the emergency room. Do you remember what happened?”
“Matheny.” He blinked. “Where is he?”
“I hit him. Our friends are here. We’re going to take you both to the hospital.” I didn’t tell him about Amelia.
“I don’t need a hospital. I’m already healing. It’s just going to take a little longer. He must have used a pure silver blade.”
“You’re bleeding from a knife wound. You need a doctor.”
He winced as he sat up very slowly. “I’ll be fine.”
He obviously wasn’t going to agree with me. Donny and Gabe were carrying Mike into the cabin, though I’m not sure if we should have moved him. I helped Haden up. He leaned on me but was able to walk back inside.
“What happened to Amelia?” I asked.
Varnie sat on a chair with Ame curled like a small child in his lap. She whimpered while he reassured her, stroking her hair and lying to her that everything would be fine. “I wish I knew. She’s awake, but she’s not all there.”
I settled Haden into a chair, trying not to panic at all the blood on his shirt, and went to find the first-aid kit, crunching across all the glass. The place was a mess.
“We need to tie him up,” Haden directed the others, pointing to Mike’s prone body on the couch.
“Dude,” Gabe said, “he’s unconscious. We need to get him a doctor.”
“When I got here, he was holding a knife on Theia.” Haden’s voice was deceptively calm. “He’s lucky I didn’t kill him.”
Ame began sobbing inconsolably. It was actually more than a little strange. Donny and I looked at each other. We didn’t know where to go first. Ame? Mike? Haden? They all needed help.
Donny sent me an exasperated sigh and then rolled up her sleeves. “Okay, English. Give us the short-story version so we can fix this.”
Where to begin? She took the kit and held it open while I pulled out some bandages and antiseptic. “You and Gabe check out Mike, I’ll look at Haden’s wound, and Varnie can take care of Ame,” I said. “We’ll get Mike to a doctor as soon as I know Haden isn’t going to die on the way. The short story is that Mike somehow knows Haden is a demon and wants to save me by killing him. He also kept me here against my will.” I snapped the box closed. “He stabbed Haden and I knocked him unconscious.” I looked at Haden to fill him in. “Oh, and my father is being tortured by Mara in Under, so I have to go back as soon as possible.” Returning my gaze to a wide-eyed Donny, I said, “I don’t know the rest of the story.”
She raised her eyebrows. “Why is Ame having a meltdown?”
“I don’t know that either.”
“All righty then.”
The wind blew rain in through the open windows. Our shelter wasn’t much of one anymore.
Haden tried to take the bandages from me, but I just pushed him towards the small bathroom. “You’re not going to Under,” he said as I closed the door behind us.