I spun, Zay’s sword still in my hand, and ran for the center of the field, for the pile of broken, blown-apart disks that no longer held magic, where the gate still shimmered in the air, growing smaller as Victor wrapped it in massive lines of magic that webbed it so that no more creatures poured out.
I didn’t want the disks. I wanted the crystal. Found it, glowing pink with magic beneath the burnt silver disks. I picked it up and could almost taste the sweetness of the full, heavy magic it carried like a perfume on the back of my throat.
“Terric!” I yelled.
He glanced over. I threw the crystal to him, willing it with mind and magic to find him, reach him. He caught it with the hand that was channeling magic, life, into Shame.
His eyes widened. And then he was on his knees, his ax discarded at his side, pressing the crystal to Shame’s chest with both hands, as if it were a new heart for a broken toy. He bent and pressed his forehead to Shame’s, whispering to him.
No time.
My father strode toward the gate. Close enough he could step through, but Victor’s lines blocked him.
“He must let me pass,” my father said.
Victor was focused, caught in a trance of sheer will, sweat peppering his face, his arms shaking as he chanted the spell and forced the gate between life and death to close. He was wielding a hell of a lot of magic with very little resources.
He did not see my dad. He did not know he was sealing Zayvion’s death forever.
There was no cavalry to come to our rescue.
But I didn’t need a cavalry to save Zayvion.
I strode over to Victor. My teacher, Zayvion’s teacher, who might even have been a father figure to Zay. I put my hand on his shoulder and used Influence so that he would understand me and obey.
“Wait until I pass through. Then close the gate behind me.”
“Allie,” he gasped. “It is suicide.”
“Zayvion is the guardian of the gates and I am his Soul Complement. No one’s going to tell me I can’t bring him home.”
Someone yelled. I thought it was Shame. He had told me I couldn’t go anywhere without him.
He was wrong.
I glanced over my shoulder. Shame was barely standing, eyes wide in horror or anger, one hand extended toward me. Terric stood behind him, one hand clasped with his, the other arm wrapped around Shame’s waist, holding him up, holding him back.
“Allie,” Shame yelled. “Don’t!”
I didn’t listen. I held up one hand. A wave. A farewell, and I turned away. Shame was in good hands. Maybe the best hands he could be in. Terric’s hands.
If there was ever going to be a chance to bring Zayvion back, it was now.
The shadow of a figure in flight flashed above me. Stone.
The big rock landed with surprising grace at my side.
I sheathed Zay’s sword across my back, and glanced down at Stone, all muscle and wing and fangs. He tipped his head to look up at me, ears perked into triangles.
“Stay,” I said. “I have work to do.”
Stone growled, then crooned like an out-of-tune pipe organ. His wings pressed against his back and he took a step toward the gate.
Fine. I was running out of time. I didn’t know if Stone could walk into death and return alive. Hells, I didn’t know if I could walk into death and come out alive. Didn’t know if I could find Zay’s soul and drag it back with me into the living world.
But I sure as hell was going to find out.
“Are you ready?” I asked my dad.
He frowned. “Where are you going?”
“To save my man.” I put my hand down on Stone’s head. My father smiled. I didn’t know why. Maybe he was angry.
“No,” he said, reading my thoughts. “Impressed. You know you can’t survive in there without me.”
“I didn’t say I was going alone.” I didn’t trust him. Sure, he talked a nice Truth spell, but once on the other side, he might change his mind about saving Zayvion. I wouldn’t chance that.
Dad took his place at my right, and Stone stood at my left. Without another look back, I walked through the gates of death.
Read on for an exciting excerpt from
Devon Monk’s next Allie Beckstrom novel,
MAGIC AT THE GATE
Coming in November 2010 from Roc
Death had seen better days. Vacant, crumbling buildings, a brown-red sky, and slick pools of black oil stretching out along the sidewalk of what I was pretty sure was supposed to be Burnside Boulevard. The city-and it was very clear we were in Portland-looked like a dump. If this was death, I wanted to meet the marketing team that had dreamed up both the fluffy-cloud-golden-harp thing and the eternal-fires-of- burning-hell shtick.
Because this place was broken and empty. Achingly so.
“Allison?” my father, next to me, said.
He was fully solid now, no longer ghostlike at all. A little taller than I, gray hair, wearing a business suit with a lavender handkerchief in the pocket. Death didn’t seem to bother him one bit.
And it shouldn’t have. He belonged here.
He squeezed my arm, his eyes flicking back and forth, searching the details of my face. “Can you breathe?”
Of all the dumb questions. “Of course I can breathe. Let go of me.”
His lips pressed together in a thin line and the familiar anger clouded his eyes. He pulled his hand away from my arm.
There was no air. No air in my lungs, and none to breathe. I tried not to panic, but, hey, this was death. I knew I’d be lucky to get out of here alive. And I had to get out of here alive. Zayvion was here, somewhere, his soul sent here, his body in life, in a coma.
This was my one chance, my only chance, to save him.
The wild-magic storm might have passed, but the very real danger of my never seeing Zayvion’s beautiful eyes, hearing his gentle voice, feeling his touch, set off a sharp panic in my chest.
Well, that and not being able to breathe.
Dad put his left hand in his pocket, tucking away something. Then he crossed his arms over his chest and watched me gasp. Stone-cold, that man.
I shut my mouth and glared. Yes, I was that stubborn. My vision darkened at the edges.
Could you pass out in death? I was about to find out.
Stone growled and stepped toward Dad, fangs bared. That’s my boy. Stone’s normally dark gray body was now black, shot through with lightning flecks of blue and green and pink, as if he were made of obsidian with opal running beneath the glassy surface. He shone, his eyes glowing a deep amber.
“Touch the Animate,” Dad said. “You should be able to breathe again.”
Since it was beginning to dawn on me that passing out and leaving my dad conscious might be a really stupid idea, I put my hand on Stone’s head.
Air-good. . well, if not good, serviceable, smelly air-filled my lungs. I hacked like a smoker on a three-day bender. My lungs hurt.
“You are in death.” Dad hit lecture mode from word one. “A living being crossed into death. There is so little chance you could have survived that, Allison. No one can step into death if they are fully alive. And yet here you stand. It does make me curious. What part of you is dead, my daughter?”
