Prologue
Blood-encrusted iron
shackles tethered Gabriel to the stone dais, digging into his bare skin,
grinding to the bone. Fighting starvation and sleep deprivation, he hunched
over, swaying back and forth, hovering between nightmare and reality. Sweat
gleamed off his shirtless body as the jailer stirred the white-hot coals in the
small fire pit next to him. He accepted what he’d done the same way he accepted
his punishment—without regret. It was judgment day and one man served as
judge and jury.
The torch flames flickered against the
stone walls like a serpent's tongue.
Councilman Haywood shuffled across the medieval courtroom floor
clutching a rolled piece of parchment in his meaty hand. Once the councilman read
Gabriel's sentence out loud, his fate would be sealed.
“This is an
unfortunate event.” The councilman’s baritone voice echoed off the walls. “Not
since the fall of the Ancients have we been betrayed in such a manner, and not
by one brother, but two.” He turned and addressed Gabriel, who straightened
his posture and glowered at the councilman.
“Your carelessness
has put not only your own people at risk. The fate of the world is now in
jeopardy.” The portly man paced back and forth before the inquisitive crowd.
“But because of your family's reputation, I have decided to give you a chance
to redeem yourself.”
A thick wood-planked
door swung open and banged against the cavern wall. A tall and husky man with
salt and pepper hair stormed into the room, his sword bouncing off his leg.
“Why is Gabriel not
properly represented?” he demanded.
“Jesper Turner, you
have no authority within these walls.” The councilman sneered, taking pleasure
in reminding Jesper of that fact.
Jesper paused for a
second. “You’re right, but the elf queen does.” He showed no sign of wanting to
debate with the pig-headed man. He turned and strode back toward the door.
The councilman cursed
under his breath. “I was about to offer him a deal.” Jesper waited, staring
over his shoulder with narrowed eyes. “We are offering him the chance to
fulfill his original duty. To track down and eliminate the Elemental girl known
as Jade.”
“What do you mean eliminate?” Jesper asked.
“To kill her.”
“Absolutely not. I
will not do it.” The muscles in Gabriel’s chest tensed. These were the first
words he had spoken since his unjustified arrest eight days before.
Jesper motioned for
Gabriel to remain silent. “Why does the Council wish to kill an innocent girl?”
“Because we have
never been more at risk. If Draven finds her first…” The councilman shook his
head. “Besides, how would she be any different from the other hundred creatures
he has brutally slain this past year? He has proven himself to be Elyndia’s
most talented assassin. It’s a shame to let that talent go to waste.”
“Because they were
demon beasts, and he did nothing but send them back to the void. We are talking
about a young girl.”
“A young girl who holds
the fate of our world in her hands. And let me remind you of something. You
both made a sacred vow to protect this land at all costs. Want to or not, you
have to admit this girl is a threat. And let us not forget why we are here.
Gabriel’s carelessness allowed the escape of the one and only person who knew
how to find her.”
Gabriel held his head
high in defiance. “Given the opportunity, I would do it again.”
Jesper approached Gabriel. They leaned
in close to each other and spoke in hushed tones. The councilman took in a deep
breath through his nose, scrutinizing them. “Gabriel accepts these terms. He
will track down and find this Elemental girl and eliminate her as a threat.”
The councilman nodded his
head in agreement and stowed the parchment with Gabriel’s sentence in the side
pocket of his silk robe. “I have something for you, Gabriel…something to act as
a reminder.” The councilman motioned to the husky guards standing nearby. Two
of them grabbed Jesper, one on each arm, holding him as he wrestled against
them. The look on his face was a combination of anger and fear for his young
friend. Two other guards forced Gabriel to his knees and laid his muscular arm
across a short, dingy wooden table. The jailer passed the councilman a
partially charred leather glove. He pulled it onto his hand and retrieved the
poker out of the fire. Except it wasn’t a poker, it was a brand. Councilman
Haywood let the searing hot metal hover over Gabriel’s bare flesh. The screams
in Gabriel's head were deafening, though no sound escaped his lips.
Chapter
1
Six
months later
Jade was an expert at
ignoring everything and everyone around her—except when there was a demon
hovering in the doorway. It was supposed to be the time of her life, but so far
junior year had sucked. Day after day she spent her lunch in the school library,
sitting at the same table in the back corner. The farther away she was from
everybody else, the better. It was the easiest place to escape the scrutinizing
stares and smart remarks she received from the wonderful students she was
supposed to consider her peers. Jade’s clammy hands gripped the armrests on her
chair until her fingers turned white, her chest frozen mid-breath while other
students moved around the room with careless ease.
Why don’t they see
him? He’s right there.
She moved only her eyes and scanned the room. If anyone else acknowledged it,
she would know she was not as crazy as everyone accused. She just needed one
other person to see him. Just one. The demon stood upright like a human,
hunched over with a slight hump on its back. She didn’t worry about fighting
back tears; those had dried up a long time ago.
She’d been seeing the
creatures of the shadows for years. That was what she called them anyway—for
that seemed to be their favorite place to slink out of. After one glimpse of
that hideous monstrosity, the memories of every creature Jade had ever seen
flooded her mind, some so grotesque and evil that she figured them to be the
direct offspring of the devil himself. Everyone told her they were figments of
her overactive imagination, something created in her head because it was easier
to be afraid of a supernatural beast than it was to face the fear of being
alone. Subconsciously she rubbed the faded scars on her forearm hidden beneath
her fuchsia-colored long-sleeved t-shirt. She got them when a clawed beast took
a swipe at her a couple years ago. The doctors were convinced she was cutting
herself, and after a while, it was just easier to let them think that. It
wasn’t long after that Jade learned if she acted like she couldn’t see the evil
heathens, they would leave her alone. The demons couldn’t tell who could see
them and who couldn’t.
After watching it for
what felt like an eternity, she saw Sadie Baker strut through the doorway,
followed by her boyfriend Seth. For half a second, Jade wasn’t sure what
surprised her more: the demon or that Sadie even knew where the library was.
She breezed past the demon as if he weren’t there, because to her he wasn’t.
Sadie caught the demon’s attention, and
he watched as she sauntered across the room. His face was partially hidden
beneath his draped hood, but Jade could see it was barely more than a skeleton.
His cheeks were sunk in, his skin was practically white, and his eyes were
nothing more than solid black orbs. He slithered from side to side like a
serpent as he glided across the tile floor, following her as the tattered
shreds of his charcoal gray cloak rippled behind him. Mr. and Mrs. Perfect
plopped down one table over from Jade and dropped their backpacks on the floor.
Sadie wore Seth’s class ring on a chain around her neck, and she played with it
often to make sure everyone could see it. She loosely held the ring in her
fingers and slid it back and forth along the delicate silver link chain. The
demon homed in on the ring, his head swaying to and fro like a cobra, saliva
dripping from his mouth.
Jade wished the demon
would get bored and move on, but something about the ring had him mesmerized.
More than anything, she just wanted to grab her things and pretend none of it
was happening. Despite the fact that Sadie was cold-hearted, thought she was
better than everyone else, and had made Jade’s life a living hell every school
day for the last five years, Jade didn’t want her to suffer the unholy wrath a
demon could inflict on a person.
Cautiously, Jade
stood. The demon hissed, exposing blackened, jagged teeth, and reached out with
gnarled hands toward the unsuspecting Sadie. Jade rushed over and grabbed the ring out of Sadie’s hand.
She yanked down hard on the chain, breaking it free from Sadie’s neck.
“What the hell?”
Sadie screeched, rubbing the back of her neck.
The demon jerked his
head and lunged for the ring. Jade threw it across the room. Clinking across
the tile, the ring slid in front of the window and down into a grated vent in
the floor, the chain trailing behind it. The demon gave chase and hovered over
the ring’s resting place. Before dematerializing into vapor, he faced Jade, a
sadistic smile spreading across his pale face.
Seth jumped to his
feet. “You’re going to pay for that, Rosenberg, you freak!”
“You were a freak
when we were kids and you’re a bigger freak now,” Sadie chimed in.
Jade didn’t look back
as she ran out the library doors. Thunder boomed overhead and rain splashed off
her face as she sprinted away from the school. She darted down a narrow alley
between two red brick buildings, seeking refuge. Panting, she leaned back
against a wall, the word freak echoing in her mind.
Jade wanted to walk
the long way home from school, but the blustery conditions outside took a turn
for the worse. Before going in, she momentarily lingered outside her
grandfather’s two-story building that rested at the edge of town. She peered
through the window to see if the coast was clear. The room appeared empty and
she slipped inside.
“Did you have an
early dismissal today?” Maggie popped up from behind the shop counter, barely
tall enough to peek over the cash register.
“Something like
that.” The wind caught the door and Jade pushed it shut with both hands.
“The school called.
Is there anything you want to tell me about?” Maggie asked.
“Not really.” Jade
tried to casually brush it off and headed directly to a set of stairs, avoiding
eye contact.
“They want your grandfather
to come in for a meeting. I don’t think they’re going to give you many more
chances.” Clipping her salt-and-pepper hair up in a loose bun, Maggie smiled
and stopped to give Jade a quick kiss on the cheek as she shuffled into the
back storage room of the artifacts and antiquities shop. It was just off the
main street in town, and a cozy apartment sat above the shop where the three of
them lived. Jade loved Maggie. She was her grandfather’s assistant and the
closest thing she had to an actual grandmother.
“You look like a
drowned rat,” she said.
“At least I look
better than I feel.” Jade gave her best impression of a smile.
“Is that you, Jade?
Why don’t you help your old grandfather for a quick minute?” Walter yelled from
the basement. Jade wondered how he could hear her walk in from two rooms away but
be completely oblivious to her presence while sitting together at the same
dinner table.
Weaving around cluttered
stands and displays packed with everything from a vintage cast iron model
airplane to a mummified cat encased in glass, Jade prolonged her walk to the
stairs that led down to the cramped basement. She took a deep breath and descended.
When she reached the landing, Walter shoved his latest project into her arms as
he rushed by, barely slowing for half a second.
“This day just keeps
getting better and better.” Jade stared at the human skull she cradled in her
palms.
“You act as if that’s
the first skull you’ve ever seen,” Walter said, not even looking back from his
workbench.
“I wish it was. But
no—" Jade paused, noticing Walter’s latest shipment. She walked over and,
with one hand, flipped back the corner of the canvas tarp. “Wow, Walter, this
looks like it could be used as some sort of medieval torture device.”
“Good eye, dear,
because that’s exactly what it is.”
“Of course it is.”
Jade was lightheaded and could feel the heat rising in her cheeks. Trying to
remind herself she was not actually trapped in the basement, she breathed slow,
even breaths to help prevent herself from hyperventilating. The room is not
getting smaller and the walls are not closing in on me. The pathway to her escape lay but a few
steps away, but it might as well have been a million. Even if she could escape
this claustrophobic hell, her freedom was only an illusion. The demons from her
past were good at sucking her back in. “Next time I say I want to start helping
out more, this isn’t what I have in mind. I love you and all, but this little
shop of horrors isn’t for me.” Clutching the skull in her hand, she crept
across the wood-planked floor, attempting a silent escape. She glanced back
over her shoulder to check if the coast was clear.
“Jade, careful where you’re going!” She
saw a look of horror in Walter’s eyes as he flung his arms out, hitting a tray
of chisels and cleaning tools. They crashed to the floor, clanging against each
other.
She caught the toe of
her sneaker on a curled up edge of the Oriental rug. She stumbled forward, fumbling the skull at her fingertips
like a football player trying to recover the ball. Inches before running
headfirst into a table holding a dozen other priceless artifacts, she regained
control. If she had a tail it would have been tucked between her legs. With
ginger steps, Walter approached her and retrieved the skull. He exhaled in
relief when she released it from her grasp.
“You are right. I
think it’s best if we keep you hidden away.” He set the skull a safe distance
away from Jade and tinkered with a few tools on his workbench before turning back
to face her.
“What’s more hidden away than a dark
basement?”
“Not much really. A
dark cave, maybe?" Walter smirked. "Don’t forget, I love you more
than anything. You’re my favorite granddaughter,” Walter said. He rubbed his
fingers through the white hairs of his perfectly manicured beard.
“I’m your only
granddaughter.”
“That’s beside the point.” Walter gave
her a quick kiss on the cheek and shooed her away.
Before he changed his
mind, Jade ran up the stairs to finally get out of her wet clothes. But
unfortunately for her, Maggie stopped her.
“Since you’re already
wet, would you drag those empty crates out? It’s getting really full in the
back room.” Maggie tilted her head to the side. Jade could never resist her.
Lights flickered and
booming thunder rattled the glass-paned windows. The chain creaked in protest
as Jade pulled hand over hand, rolling up the metal service door that led to
the dead end alley behind the building. The dumpster had been emptied recently,
but its permanent stench wafted across the way. Jade pushed the short stack of crates to the wall farthest
away from her in an effort to conceal the new tag from the world’s worst
graffiti artist. Halfway to their new resting place, Jade was halted when she
pushed the stack into a broken pallet and the top crate slipped off and crashed
to the ground.
“Shoot.” She bent
down, grabbing at the clumps of spilled straw. She had just gotten a handful
when the wind caught it and carried it out of reach. Her long black hair whipped
her face and tangled in the wind. Wisps of straw littered the alley and clung
to the wet concrete. A dark object drifted into Jade’s peripheral vision. It
was the cloaked demon from the library, hovering overhead. It floated down in
front of her, blocking her off from the shop door—the only exit in the dead end
alley. With a spike of adrenaline she rushed toward the demon to jet back
inside, caught her foot on a broken pallet, and fell to the ground, skidding on
her hands and knees. Jade winced as small pieces of dirt and gravel became
embedded in her palms.
“Kavalto reneverta,” an
unseen person yelled down the alley.
The demon jerked his
head to look behind him and disappeared in a blur around the corner of the
building. Jade was afraid to follow and afraid to run away. Just as she started
to stand, a figure emerged from around the corner. It was the town’s homeless
guy. In a town the size of Lakamas, a person could refer to him as the homeless
guy because he was the only one.
He strolled up and
extended his hand to Jade. She tilted her head and stared before leaning around
him to see if the demon was coming back for another round. Nothing. He reached
down to help her up and the sleeve of his battered trench coat slid back enough
to reveal a leather cuff with an intricate, circular-shaped symbol carved into
it. Jade vaguely remembered seeing it somewhere but could not place it in her
mind.
“Thanks…I guess.” She
didn’t want to, but she grabbed his grubby hand. He pulled her to her feet
close to his chest. He held her there, not letting go. Surprisingly his hands
were warm and strong. At eye level with his chin, Jade shuffled back and tugged
herself free. Looking up and past the grime on his face, her eyes locked with
his. She could see they were crystal blue. This was the closest she’d ever been
to him—he was like a stray cat that you only saw every now and then, and you could
never get close enough to catch. Jade blinked and shook her head in an effort
to break free from the trance. “Did you…I mean…what just happened?” If this guy
had seen that thing, she had to know.
“I got it from here,”
Theron said, walking up, unfazed by the torrential downpour of rain. “You can
go now.” Theron was not usually condescending, but he spoke loudly and slowly
as if it would help the man understand him better.
Water dripped off the
homeless man’s shaggy bangs and rolled down his face. He hesitated for a minute,
looking like he wanted to say something, but he turned around without saying a
word and rounded the corner, leaving Jade alone with Theron.
“You didn’t have to
be rude to him. He was only being helpful.” Jade brushed the debris from her
hands and looked down to see if she had ripped her jeans. She only had two good
pairs and these were her favorite.
Theron dashed into
the shop and grabbed the clear plastic umbrella from the stand just inside the
door. He held it over Jade even though she was already soaked. “The guy’s a
total whackjob. I think he is stalking you, you know. I’ve seen him outside
your place for the last few months. He just stares at your building all the
time like he’s waiting for something.”
“He is waiting for
something. I think Maggie sneaks him food.” Jade took the umbrella from Theron,
walked to the edge of the alley, and looked both ways down the street.
“She does not,”
Theron scoffed in disbelief.
“Sure she does. Why
not? I mean, look.” Jade pointed down the tree-lined street where he walked
past several people rushing along the sidewalk in the rain. The homeless man
crossed his arms and hunkered into his coat, trying to block the wind. “Look, not
one person even acknowledges him. It’s as if he’s invisible.”
“He might as well
be.” Theron unwrapped a piece of gum and popped it in his mouth.
Jade tried to ignore
Theron’s irritating comments which meant she ignored half of anything he ever
said. “That’s what’s wrong with all you small town people. You’re so close-minded.”
Jade playfully elbowed him in the ribs.
“Is that so, Little Miss
World Traveler?” Theron smirked. Jade rolled her eyes.
“Did you notice his
bracelet?” For some reason, Jade couldn’t get the image of the symbol out of
her head.
“He probably stole
it.”
Jade closed the
umbrella and flung it into his gut. “Well, you might as well come in.”
“I thought you’d
never ask.”
Before going in, Theron
helped push the remaining crates over to the wall next to the dumpster. When
finished, the two of them jogged in and shook the rain off. With no warning, the room was engulfed
in darkness as the lights went out. A scream pierced their ears. Maggie.
