Part One is here

 

The church was lit with flaming torches, some shoved in the backs of pews, others strewn across the stone floor. Lara was on the right of the four sacrifices, head held high as tears streamed down her cheeks. It was all Scarlet could do to not run out there. Martin realised, his hand closing gently around her arm. ‘Not yet. Come on.’

He pulled her back into the shadows and they crouched, facing one another. Her leg muscles squealed. She’d done more exercise in the last four days than her entire life and they were close to quitting. She sat on her bum, sighing as she took the weight off, and looked back between the barrier.

One of the crazies stood, stepped forward, and checked his watch. He stared at it for a few seconds, then bent and lit one of the lanterns. Scarlet squirmed, sweat breaking out on her brow as she waited for the corresponding girl to be sacrificed, but apparently it wasn’t time for that yet. It was the first lantern lit, so they had a bit of time. Maybe.

Martin pulled the book from his pocket and laid it down, bending back the spine so it stayed open. She glared at him, shaking her head, then decided that proper book care probably wasn’t high on the list of things he was worried about right now.

He pulled all sorts of ingredients from his pockets and laid them out. She watched, eyes flicking between him and the crazies. When Martin was finished, he rocked back on his heels, finger moving slowly down the page, checking and rechecking.

‘What does the spell actually do?’

Martin rocked his head from side to side. ‘It’s a binding spell, essentially, but it has some other things thrown in. The Undying carries a lot of power with him, more than could be managed by a normal binding. So we’re blocking his sight of the real world and removing some of the sources of his power as well.’

She nodded, as though she had any idea what he meant. ‘So what am I doing?’

He slid the book over to her, turning it around and pointing to the top of a long verse. ‘You’re reading that. As you’re reading, you’re focusing on Elt, and on not having the Undying climb into your brain and eat you alive.’

‘Oh, Okay, easy enough then.’

She wished, every now and then, that Martin understood the subtler things about life as a sixteen year old girl. There was no reason he should, but surely he could make a bit of an effort. ‘So what do I do if it does crawl into my brain?’

Her hands shook.

‘Tell it to go away, and focus on the spell. You’ll feel him, I’m almost certain of it. Thornbright makes it sound like a wrestling match in there, so be ready.’

‘How the hell am I supposed to be ready?’

She hissed at him and he put his fingers to his lips. The chanting stopped and they both froze, Scarlet gripping the top of the book. She could hear her heart thumping, the blood rushing round her body. Surely they could as well. The only sound was the gentle crackle of the torches, the soft scurrying of the wind outside.

Then the chanting continued and she let out a long breath, the shaking coming again until she had to let go of the book and sit on her hands. She glared at Martin, mouthing the question to him again. His reply was a shrug.

‘That’s it? That’s all you’ve got, oh great and powerful master?’

He nodded. ‘All I can add is that I wouldn’t be letting you do this if I didn’t think you could. You have power, Scarlet, and—’

‘So that’s your real name? Well, it took a while, but it was well worth the wait.’

The man emerged from the pews beside them, black cowl pulled back to reveal a face that belonged in a Tim Burton movie, all cheek bones and dark eyes. He flowed rather than walked, like a snake oozes across the forest floor.

She wasn’t sure what made her shudder, the sight of him, or her inner vision of the nature documentary about snakes she’d had on replay for the last couple of weeks. Then he spoke again and she forgot all about the TV show.

‘This is turning out rather well. I have the book and your real name. You tried, and for that I congratulate you, but alas, it wasn’t to be.’

He was speaking quietly, voice low and slippery as he stepped between them and bent to scoop up the book. Scarlet grabbed for it. He yanked it out the way and with his other hand, shoved her back.

She hit the stone floor, arms flailing, but somehow failing to connect with anything that would stop her fall. Her head cracked against the paving and her mouth slammed shut. She whimpered, the world going black for a moment, before her vision returned, accompanied by a steady thudding behind her eyes.

The man and Martin were staring at one another, both tense, jaws clenched. She relaxed her eyes and saw the green. They were wrapped in it and between them ran a thread, a twisting rope of green that tied them together.

She moved closer, mouth open as she forgot for a second where she was and marvelled at the sight. The energy moved, shooting back and forth between them. They were fighting, on some level. She should probably help, but it was so pretty.

She blinked, then clenched her fist and punched the man as hard as she could in the stomach. He blinked, the tension leaving him as he sat on his bum with a look of surprise on his face. Why was it these guys were always surprised when someone used physical force?

Martin was blinking as well, shooting Scarlet the funniest look. He’d thank her later, probably. The crazy lunged at her, snarling, and grabbed her around the throat. Then he stiffened, hands slipping free to clutch his side

He toppled back, Martin catching him and lowering him to the floor. She spotted the knife buried between his ribs and stared at Martin, the blood rushing from her face.

‘You killed him.’

Martin frowned and turned to the body. He grabbed it by the shoulders and dragged it from the chapel, back out into the store room. She watched him work as her stomach tried to rebel. Four days ago, she’d never seen a dead body, never imagined she would. Now she’d not only seen one, she’d seen her master do the killing.

That someone had been trying to strangle her, but… she put her hands to her throat, feeling the bruises already rising and rolled onto her side, shoulders hitching. He was going to strangle her, real name or not. Her tears were hot and felt like lines of fire running across her cheeks and nose. When they dropped to the floor, she half expected them to hiss and bubble.

Martin came back from the room and lifted her gently, wrapping her in his big arms. She stiffened, as though the blood on his hands could somehow be passed to her, but in a moment she relaxed, sobbing into his chest.

When it subsided, she pushed him gently away and they sat facing one another. He shook his head. ‘I’m sorry, there was no other option. He knew your name.’

‘So that was my fault?’

‘Of course it wasn’t. But we have to stop this. This isn’t just about your mum, or me, it’s about the entire world. The stakes are entirely different.’

Were they though? Her world was made up of mum, and Martin, and maybe the few vaguely good bits of school, and of course, now there was Lara, but was there much else? She thought about Tumblr. Nope, that was about it.

So maybe it was about the world, but she’d already had to fight for most of hers. This was just the same, which meant she could do it. She nodded, chewing on her lip, as the now-familiar sight of those dead eyes came back to her from the Underworld. There were things she could never forget, never remove, no matter how long she lived. But she would keep going. Anyway, she didn’t have much choice.

Martin nodded and picked up the book, leafing through it to find the correct page. He handed it to her and she was about to ask when she was supposed to start when the chanting stopped again, to be replaced by a booming, try-hard voice.

‘The lanterns are lit, and everything is ready. Let the sacrifice begin, let the Undying come back to life!’