The Devil's Third (10 page)

“I think it’s a train,” she called, wrenching a door open. “But I’ve never stuck around to find out.”

I was still staring off into her room, transfixed on the icicles hanging from the ceiling like a mouth full of pointy sharp teeth ready to chomp, when she pulled me through the door. The icy veil instantly lifted from my body. The familiarity of the warm, dry air brought me back to my senses.

“Oh, no. We got to get out of here.” Carrie wheeled around, bumping into me just as I turned to look at our surroundings. She clamped her hands on my shoulders, twisting me the other way, but I broke free and stepped around her.

We were in a concrete warehouse with exposed wooden beams. Two orange tripods stood opposite each other across the room, the bulbs incased in a round, metal half-domed shell, shining bright light about.

But in that moment, those things were irrelevant, along with the forklift next to a stack of wooden boards and the white plastic buckets lined against the far wall. What caught my immediate attention was the young man standing on a scaffold.

“Daddy,” I said in a childlike voice.

He looked like he did in the pictures I had: tousled auburn hair and a lean athletic built. He was looking up, and to my surprise, a cigarette dangled out the corner of his mouth, a thin wisp of smoke snaking in the air from its ashen tip. I wondered if Mom ever knew he smoked or if he’d kept it from her.

“C’mon, Paige,” Carrie said, her hand encircling my wrist.

For a second, I couldn’t understand why Carrie was being so pushy, but then the shock of seeing my father receded, only to bring a tidal wave of gut wrenching realization. I doubled over, clutching my stomach, remembering these were the last moments of his life, right before Aosoth killed him.

“Daddy!” I yelled. “You need to leave!” My words fell on deaf ears. I blinked away the tears blurring my vision and saw a teenage girl with short, dark, choppy hair stepping out of the shadows behind us.

“He can’t hear you.” Carrie pulled me through the door as I kept screaming for my father to look out. She slammed it shut, and we were back in her room. Bright lights were rapidly flashing like a strobe, making our movements appear slow and distorted.

“Stop!” I yelled, wanting to go through the door I just came from, but the roaring was so loud now Carrie couldn’t hear me. I tried pulling her in that direction but became suddenly exhausted and too weak to break her grip.

The floor began teeter tottering, and I stumbled behind Carrie as she pulled me through another door.

“You’re rotten to the core,” a haggard-looking woman said. The permanent frown lines that etched her pallid face deepened. Her black hair was pulled into a tight bun, and her dark skirt swallowed her feet, brushing the floor.

Like a vulture leaning over its prey, she was bent above a child who sat in a corner of what appeared to be a garden tool shed. The little girl hugged her knees to her chest, her blue eyes peeking out of a mass of bushy, dirty blonde hair. Thin rays of light streamed through the cracks of the wooden shed, casting soft light around them. The little girl’s long white skirt was splattered with mud, her black boots caked in it.

“I am not, Auntie,” the girl mumbled into her knees.

Her aunt leaned farther, hands on her hips. “What did you say?”

I looked at Carrie. She was staring at this hideous woman, a glaze of fearful intimidation plastered on her face. I took her hand and squeezed it, getting prepared to drag her back through the door, but then the girl spoke, and I hesitated.

“I am not!” she said, jumping to her feet, her small hands balled into fists.

The women snatched the girl from beneath her armpit, her nails digging into flesh. She shook her and peered into her face. “How dare you speak to me in that manner!” She raised her hand and drove it down across the child’s round cheek.

Carrie’s head jerked to the side at the same time the girl’s did, and a whimpering sound came out of both of them. A bright red hand print rose against Carrie’s cheek, just like the little girl’s. I realized then I had to get Carrie out of there and headed toward the door with her in tow.

“You’re a rotten, wicked child, spawn from the Devil himself, Elizabeth. The moment you came out of my sister’s loins and killed her, I knew then what a vile creature you were.” She pushed the girl down, and Carrie fell backward, pulling me with her. I tripped and landed beside her on my hands and knees.

Pushing myself from the floor and wiping off mulch, I removed Carrie’s hand from her face and pulled her up. A dark shadow caught my eyes. It slithered across the floor toward the girl whose face was buried in her hands. My heart pounded in response to the dark energy stewing in the air, and I raced to the door before it consumed Carrie as I knew it would Aosoth who was once that small girl.

When we stepped back into Carrie’s room, I was relieved to find it in perfect order and silent, though a chill still hung in the air. I sat a dazed Carrie on her bed and examined her cheek. It looked fine. There wasn’t a red mark. I held her chin gently and fixed my eyes on hers. She stared blankly past me.

Why was she acting this way?

What was wrong with her?

“Carrie.” She didn’t move or glance away. I waved a hand in front of her face. Nothing. “Carrie,” I said louder, snapping my fingers next to her ear. She blinked and looked at me.

Thank God.

But then confusion clouded her eyes. She jerked away and lifted her legs on the bed, crawling crab-like across it.

“Carrie?”

“Who are you?” she demanded, sliding off the mattress.

“It’s Paige.”

“I don’t know you. Get away from me!”

“Huh?” What the hell was going on? Then something clicked inside my head, but before I could fully process the situation, I blurted Aosoth’s birth name. “Elizabeth.”

Carrie had a pewter candlestick raised above her head, poised to throw at me. She lowered it when I said that name.

“How do you know my name?”

Thinking on my feet, I said, “My mother was the midwife who delivered you. She told me what a beautiful baby you were, so I thought I’d meet you in person.” I gave her a pleasant smile, hoping she’d fall for it, while the other part of my brain tried to figure out how to wipe Aosoth’s memories from Carrie’s mind. I almost felt like calling out Nathan’s name to see if it would bring him here. I could use his help; however, using him as a crutch didn’t appeal to me even in this precarious situation. I had to find a way to help Carrie on my own and stop relying on Nathan all the time.

“Oh,” she said, her eyes filling with tears. “Did your mother ever mention I killed my own mother?”

“It wasn’t your fault,” I gently said. “A lot of women die giving birth. It’s a risk they’re willing to take in order to have children.”

For a second, her hard expression broke into a heart shattering, wanting-to-truly-believe-me kind of look. But then Carrie violently shook her head, her shoulder length hair whipping her face. Dark, snakelike shadows slithered up the wall behind her onto the ceiling, dangling from it. A deep, guttural growl that sounded more beastly than human reverberated in her chest, sending chills across my body. When she raised her hands above her head, her fingers stretching for the creepy shadows, I threw myself across the bed and knocked her away. She stumbled a couple steps back, then charged at me, the brown pigment in her eyes gone colorless.

“I’ll kill you, too,” she said, growling. In a quick gesture, she skirted the bedframe, coming toward me. I tried to dodge her, but she was too fast. It was like she was the one with the immortal powers, and I became the helpless mortal here. “You deserve it for feeding me filthy lies.”

“Please. Carrie . . . I mean, Elizabeth. I wouldn’t lie to you,” I said when she shoved me against the door I came in.

I slid to the floor, feeling the same earlier exhaustion. I tried kicking her feet out from under her, but my legs were too weak. She grabbed a fistful of my hair and yanked me up, bringing tears to my eyes. Pinning me to the door, her hands encircled my neck, choking me. Her top lip curled, baring her teeth, and her colorless eyes held a lunatic’s smile. The room swam across my vision, where every few seconds blackness obstructed my sight. I thought this was it. I failed Carrie, and she may be lost to us forever because of my ineptness.

But then between flashes, I saw a tall man with a gnome-like face. He had a snow-white beard that went down into a point touching his brown robe. At first, I thought I was seeing things, but the image remained. He held a flaming torch, and when my gaze met his, a word picture popped in my mind. I then knew who he was and what to do.

A jolt of energy sparked through me, and I managed to swing my arms up and down on Carrie’s, forcing them from my neck. I darted to her right and caught the flaming torch Boreas tossed to me, his image vanishing when he released it. I swung the torch wide, the flame striking Carrie’s chest. Screeching, she jumped back. I paused, waiting for her to advance on me, but she shook her head instead, blinking, the brown returning to her eyes. The tightness around her mouth loosened. The maliciousness carved into her features cracked like pottery being heated too fast, then shattered.

“Paige?” Carrie said in a small voice. “How did we get back here?” Her eyebrows knitted. “I don’t remember . . . ” She trailed off.

“It doesn’t matter.” I moved to the first door leading to Aosoth’s memories, setting it on fire with the torch. In a whoosh, the orange flames shot up, engulfing it. I moved to the next door and did the same.

Carrie ran to me. “What are you doing?”

“I’m getting rid of Aosoth’s memories from your mind.” I continued the process, eager to burn every last flippin’ one. My heart pounded from the adrenaline rushing through my system. I didn’t know how much time I had left, so I moved as fast as I could, ignoring the black smoke clouding the air.

“How do you know it’s going to work?” Carrie asked between coughs.

I lit the last one and snatched her arm. “Trust me. It will.”

Carrie covered her mouth and went into a coughing fit. I glanced at her and saw panic in her watery eyes. She stared at the half circle of fire that reminded me of an angry frown. The smoke stirred around us, thick and heavy. Waves of smothering heat stretched across the room like groping fingers reaching for whatever it could possess.

“C’mon,” I said, leading her to the door I’d entered through. She stumbled behind me, then dropped to the floor, halting me.

“I-I can’t go any farther.” She covered her mouth and coughed violently.

“Yes, you can,” I said through gritted teeth, yanking her arm up with my free hand. “This is
your
mind. You don’t have to be feeling this way. Why do you think I’m not hacking up a lung? Damn it, Carrie. Help me.” She was dead weight, and her lack of effort to rise to her feet made it impossible to pull her up. I longed for my immortal strength.

“I’m tired, and my head is killing me again,” she complained, trying not to gag. “Just leave me here.” She lifted the collar of her T-shirt over her mouth and lay down.

I couldn’t believe it. Did she really think I’d leave her here? Didn’t she realize if I did, she’d never recover from her accident?

“You’ve got to be kidding me.” I let out a disgusted laugh. When she didn’t respond or move, I kicked her foot and grabbed it. “Fine. I’ll drag your ass out, then.”

“Stop it, Paige.” She tried to kick me. Reflectively, I brought the torch down on her kicking foot. “Ow.” She drew it back and at the same time I dropped her other foot and opened the door. She scrambled backward, but I caught her ankle and dragged her out the room. She reached for the frame but the door slammed shut before she could touch it. I stepped over her and lit the portal like the other ones. When I turned around, Carrie was on her feet. She took my hand, and we half ran out the building. “Burn it!” she yelled.

I threw the torch inside the structure, and we rushed to the road, watching it go up in flames. Carrie jumped up and down, clapping, making gleeful sounds. She threw her arms around my shoulders. “It worked. Thank you so much, Paige.”

I hugged her back, laughing from relief, knowing she’d be okay. But then a disturbing thought entered my mind.

What would happen to her now?

I released her and stepped back. I didn’t want Carrie to linger in this dreary, depressing place. If the stupid doctors hadn’t induced her coma, I bet she’d be able to wake up this minute. Deep down, though, I knew they had done the right thing because her brain needed to heal from the trauma it sustained. However, I still didn’t feel comfortable with her staying here.

I looked up at the sparks of burning wood hurling through the air, raining down, leaving tracers in the black sky. The blazing building crackled and popped as it collapsed, making a pit of fire. Instinctively, we moved to the other side of the road, leaving a huge gap between us and the pyre. I wondered if there was anything I could do to make sure Carrie would be okay until the time came when she could wake up. I also wondered where we were.

Crap.

What if this place resided next to where the dark spirits lingered? If that was true, Carrie needed to stay here in one of the other buildings because if she were to wander off, she might stumble into their territory.

“Carrie, we need to--”

“Paige, look.” She pointed to the end of the street where two figures emerged from a wall of fog that wasn’t there a minute ago. At first, their images were fuzzy, but I could tell they were holding hands. I looped my arm through Carrie’s, determined not to let go unless it was in her best interest. “Omigod. It’s your parents,” Carrie gasped at the same time a weird, choking sound escaped my lips when their figures became clearer to us. “What are they doing here?”

The overwhelming joy I felt in that moment rendered me speechless. My body jerked forward, wanting to run to them, until a frightening thought exploded in my mind, overshadowing all other. I tightened my hold on Carrie.

She looked at me, confused. “What’s wrong? Why aren’t you going to them?”

I straightened my back, hoping to God Nathan doesn’t wake me up yet. “Because they might want to take you with them, which means you’re going to die in the coma.”