But then it happened.
The darkness outside the van flowed.
Flowed with its hateful cargo into the van. Through her and into the amulet.
Her scream rose and rose and rose. Was ripped from her throat. Pain, unimaginable to anyone but herself. And him.
For he felt her pain. And she his. For an everlasting moment their were a single entity. Combined in purpose and agony.
Then the last of the darkness flowed into the amulet. And was gone.
The Sapphire Witch let go and fell away. Her body crumpled to the floor.
He stared down at the amulet. The metal and gem had darkened. So dark they were almost black. Filled with worlds full of evil.
The metal that had been searingly hot moments ago was now colder than the farthest depths of space.
“The box!” he shouted.
Marco fumbled the lid open. Shoved it toward him.
Hilario threw the amulet in.
Marco slammed the lid closed.
Hilario wobbled on unsteady legs. He couldn’t hold on much longer.
He lifted his gaze to the open door. Outside was…nothing…it hurt his eyes to look out. He turned away. He didn’t have the strength left.
But then he didn’t need it.
“Odom!” he said, his voice weak, “The bag. The back door.”
“Ay!” Odom shouted.
The Paladin leapt to the door. And out into the nothingness.
Darkness closed in around his vision. The searing energies were taking him.
Just a few seconds longer….
Metal crashed. Then the sound of rending fabric.
And as his consciousness faded, a rush of sound and light…
71
The blackened pile of bricks and charred timbers that had once been the Stung Sparrow was cold. The fire long since gone. The embers extinguished.
Toward the back of the building Hilario saw the the partially collapsed dome of Larry’s beloved pizza oven. The fire spirit that animated it gone for good.
Had it returned to the unseen world?
Hopefully it had. Otherwise the city would be burning.
The stink of charred brick and plastic still hung over the wreck of the Stung Sparrow. The cheerful light of the morning sun did nothing to lighten his mood, even as it warmed his back.
His knees ached and his stomach complained about the ongoing lack of nourishment.
Soon, he told it. There was a donut shop down on Twenty-fourth and Verdonna Street. They’d be cranking out hot glazed donuts by the dozen right now.
But first…
The black angel waited on the cracked and stained sidewalk. Next to the broken neon sign that used to hang in front of Larry’s restaurant. The tubes that used to say: The Stung Sparrow in a loopy script were shattered. Only the neon outlined bird was still intact. Its beak pointed to the sky, its wings outspread, like it was ready to take flight.
The black angel shimmered and buzzed in the morning light. Its spiky form as disturbing in the light of day as at night.
Maybe more so.
“I don’t want to go,” Larry said.
The mouldering corpse of Lord Igidbon fell away from his spirit in pieces and chunks. The flesh flaked away. Desiccated parts dropped off.
Hilario looked away. To his left Odom the Paladin and the Sapphire Witch stood in front of his much abused van. The Paladin had his arm around the Lady Sapphire’s shoulders. They seem to have made up in the last few hours.
Maybe they could have a normal relationship (for them) now that she wasn’t entrapped by the dark master’s spell.
Her face was expressionless and aloof. He yearned to say something to her. But he knew his place. Even though they had shared moments that seemed beyond intimate.
Sigh.
The light glinted off the Paladin’s massive iron gray shoulders. His mighty sword was back in its sheath on his back.
With a single swipe of that mighty sword the paladin had cut open Sinzerklaazz’s magic bag. And freed the city.
The city had poured out of the bag, and the back of the van. Zipping back into place like nothing had ever happened. No one in the city had the faintest clue that they had escaped the hordes of darkness.
Just as well.
He turned his head to the right. Rachel and her brother, Marco stood apart from the rest of them. Rachel had her eyes on Larry. Her hands were clenched at her side, her brow furrowed.
The twining vines and green fire were gone. She looked normal again. No glowing green eyes. Just a lovely lady with dark hair who looked a bit tired. And angry. And concerned.
He couldn’t even imagine what might be going through her mind right now as her dead ex-husband stood before the black angel. She still loved him, he knew. But Larry had things to atone for. Because of his weakness and impatience, a door had been opened between the normal world and the unseen world.
A door that couldn’t be closed.
The Sapphire Witch had pointed it out to him. Though they had saved the city, there was now a tear between the worlds.
Why hadn’t the wizards of the coven closed it?
She wouldn’t say.
He glanced at the bloodwood box tucked under Detective Marco’s arm. With so many of the lords of the dark places and their armies trapped in there, the normal world was safe. For now. New dark lords would rise, of course. Fresh armies would be gathered. But he had a feeling the dynamic had changed.
It was something he would need talk to his bosses in the coven about.
Sometime. Maybe.
“I don’t want to go,” Larry said again, “This isn’t fair.”
Hilario refrained from going up and slapping his idiot friend. Fairness had nothing to do with any of this.
Or maybe it did. If by fairness, he meant balance.
Things always had to be balanced out. In the end, the scales always returned to their
