Matt Archer: Redemption (28 page)

“She saw that you were a tiny speck of a thing compared to all that light,” I said. “You had to destroy something beautiful to come into being. Pretty pitiful thing to do if you ask me.”

 “So disrespectful,” the beast said. “My other family protected you, you know. Humanity, I mean. Otherwise I would have laid waste to men long ago.”

“But you failed.” My sister’s voice was like velvet, a purr from a satisfied cat—not timorous or afraid. “You tried and tried, and always failed. Our brothers and sister were always there to stop you.”

The Master’s grip tightened on his spear. “Not this time.”

Mamie’s chuckle made me shiver almost as much as the shadow did. The power in it … And her voice—her voice was so ancient as she said, “You may have me chained here, but we are still bright enough to blind you.”

At the word “bright” a soft glow began to light the absolute dark behind the Master, and there was my sister. Mamie walked forward slowly, and each step clanked. Shackles bound her feet and hands, with heavy chains threaded through them.

And that wasn’t even the weirdest part.

Mamie was
beautiful
—almost terrible in her beauty, both nothing like my sister, and
more
like her than I’d ever seen. Her hair wasn’t in pigtails, but flowed down her back in waves and her glasses were gone. Even her clothes were different. Instead of the bloodstained jeans and T-shirt I expected, she was wearing a long, white gown that shone too brilliantly to stare at for long.

She looked like a stylized version of the Rose Bowl queen. Except scary.

I’d heard tales of how men had fallen to their knees in the presence of angels, unable to bear to the sight of them. How they’d hidden their eyes and cried out in fear. That was exactly how I felt right now.

The chains rattled as she shuffled past the beast and down the steps. I kept waiting for him to strike her, or restrain her, but he sat still, his head turned away from her light. Mamie made her way to me and I bowed my head.

“What are you?” I whispered.

“You already know.”

“A proxy.
The
proxy.” Jorge should’ve given her the arrowhead, not me. She was The Archer. The one to tie it all together, and now I’d lost her to the Master.

“Yes. I didn’t always know, but after that last eclipse, I discovered exactly what I am, and a few days ago, I finally understood what I was meant to do,” Mamie said. She knelt beside me, readjusting her chains so her hands had some range of motion, and straightened her dress so it pooled on the floor. “I’m still your sister, but Zenka’s book told us the rest.”

Her eyes glowed with some cosmic fire and I shuddered. “Born under the right stars.”

She smiled. “Of all the luck, right?”

Only my sister could joke at a time like this. “And I’m your guardian. But I failed. You’re here, and I can’t even move, let alone help you escape.”

“You’re not here. Just visiting.” She went to rest a hand on my shoulder and it passed right through. “See? You aren’t solid. Your body is still on earth. The Dark One pulled in your consciousness, but not you.”

“I need someone to take over,” Jorge said.

“It’s been too long,” Uncle Mike said, his voice full of panic.

“Not if we keep going.” That was Will, angry and determined. “I got it, Jorge.”

Johnson was still calling for help, but the fight raged on behind the wall.

I drew a sharp breath. “Being here is killing me, isn’t it?”

Now the Shadow laughed. “I’m giving them a little scare and thinning out your forces a bit in the process. But I won’t kill you, Matthew. You need to live.”

“Why, when you’re holding all the cards?” I asked.

Mamie stood slowly, her eyes full of a hatred I couldn’t fathom. “Who says he is? His control is fragile and he’s not strong enough to keep me here for long, so he has to force an endgame.”

“Your theories are cute, little one, but my real rush is that I’m sick of this game with my other family.” He shrugged. “I hate postponing the inevitable.”

Her glare grew uglier. “He also killed our brother. He’s trying to speed things up to minimize the risky position he put himself in.”

“Hardly,” the Dark Master said, sounding amused. “It’s not like
my
life is on the line.”

“What does that mean?” I asked, wishing I could hit him in the head with a shovel.

He sighed in disappointment. “We don’t have the means to battle in a physical world, so we elect champions.”

“What he really means is that we’re chess pieces. All of us. While dark energy can pull the universe apart, it’s infinitely slow. And his power is too weak to impact the Earth as a whole,” Mamie said. “Dr. Burton-Hughes
was
right—dark energy started the Big Bang. He didn’t like being cooped up in his little corner of the cosmic cookie jar, so he shattered it, fracturing Tink and her brothers and sending light shooting across infinity. Imagine that, going from whole to broken in a fraction of a nanosecond? It had a benefit though. Us.”

“More like a plague,” the Dark Master said.

“He’s jealous. That’s what this is all about. Sibling rivalry on a universal scale.” Mamie shifted so she was sitting next to me. “That explosion was supposed to put him in control. Instead, it gave the Light something bigger than before: life. We’re made of stars, Matt. All of us. Everything you know originated in a star somehow—Tink and her brothers are the reason we’re alive. And that’s why he’s trying to kill us. What was supposed to be his biggest triumph was his biggest mistake.”

“Enough!” the beast roared.

The chains lifted from the ground, pulling Mamie up with them. Like a puppet master, the beast dragged her up the stairs to the dais and made her stand behind his right shoulder. Her wrists were raw and bleeding by the time he dropped the chains. Only now, as her brilliance faded, did I notice the bruises on her arms. Staying strong for me was taking every last drop of energy she had left.

“What do you want?” I asked the Master.

“To make you an offer.” He smiled. “I want you to throw the fight. It’s hopeless, Matthew. You fight me, not only do you lose, but you’ll also die in pain. As will everyone you love.”

“If you aren’t corporeal, how do you expect to do that?” With effort, I crossed my arms in defiance.

“I know what terrorizes you in the dark. My human servant and her people worked hard to bring my true proxy into your world, and he’s there, even now, while you waste time in Africa,” the Master said. “After he kills you, he’ll crush your baby cousin and murder the rest of your family.” He stroked Mamie’s cheek. Red streaks scored her skin, and her light faded even more as she cried out. “And I’ll make this one my special companion even as darkness spreads to the four corners of that miserable rock you call home.”

Oh, God, he meant it. I knew it in the depths of my bone marrow. Mamie stood on stiff legs and shook her head. “Don’t do it. Do
not
take his deal.”

“I wouldn’t listen to her. She’ll be mine, suffering my whims forever. I had your brother killed. I’ll torture your parents.” He chuckled. “Let my minions use your girlfriend for a few months until she curses your name before I end her unfortunate life. Everyone you love will be the first to die, in agony. Except for sweet Mamie. Oh, no, she’ll be mine.”

“What deal are you offering?” I asked, over Mamie’s pleas to ignore the monster.

“Throw the fight. You die either way, that’s a given, but if you let me roll over you, I’ll protect your family forever,” he rumbled. “Think of it Matt. They’ll live forever, favored, taken care of. None of them will see a single day of darkness. If I control the light, I can make sure they stay in it.”

I’d die either way? A shiver ran down my spine as I realized what I’d been missing all this time, and I stared at my sister, a new plan taking root.
That’s
what the Jinn’s words meant all along, and Xing Li’s, too. One to shine. Light, once bound, rises to close the rift forever.

To close the portal between our world and the Dark Master’s for good, Mamie had to be freed at any cost. Including my life.

Now I just had to play my cards right. I lifted my chin and met his eyes. “You’d do that? You’d protect them in exchange for my life? Even my sister? You’d protect her, too?”

Mamie cried, “no!” but I blocked her out. The Master smiled. “Of course. We do have
some
rules around here. A proxy’s last wishes are always honored.”

A silver dart of truth zapped into my mind.
Lies.

The Dark Master jerked in anger. “You don’t belong here. This is my house!”

And it took all my power to break through to keep you from cheating. Stop your interference. That’s against the rules, too,
Tink growled.
We agreed, from the beginning, not to fix the fights.

I knew the Dark Master had an angle, offering me the deal, but now I understood. “You don’t want your proxy to fight me, do you? There’s something about me that scares the hell out of you, so I must have a chance against the Shadow Man. If I’m going to die either way, then we’re throwing down.”

“You’d sacrifice your own family? Even the innocent Katie?”

I pushed against the floor. My knees popped under the pressure, but I didn’t stop until I broken free of his hold, then stood before him. “You must not know my family very well to think they’d let me save them at the cost of the rest of the world.”

“You’d let your sister suffer my attentions for an age?” The beast’s eyes glittered as he regarded her. Lust seemed to steam from his skin.

Mamie raised her chin and her light brightened a little. “Don’t worry about me being this thing’s pet. I’ll find a way to die alongside the rest of you.”

The thought was so repugnant, I almost gave up, but something about Mamie’s expression told me I had to accept whatever fate we faced. I looked the thing in the eye. “If I have to die, I’ll make sure I end your proxy before I go out.”

“You want to see this through to the bitter, bitter end?” he growled. “Then so be it! My proxy has been right under your noses all this time and you never noticed. The Dark has been called home, waiting to slaughter every living thing in their path like the ants you are and to clear the way for me.”

The Master rose and backhanded Mamie so hard, she slammed into the stone wall behind her. Her screams died with the impact and her light winked out.

“No!” I tried to run to her, but it was too late. With a dizzying spin, my soul was ripped from the room, spiraling through the darkness, until it slammed into my body.

I gasped for breath. My lungs burned and my heart fluttered in my chest. When I was finally able to open my eyes, I found myself surrounded by ashen faces: Will, Mike, Jorge, Johnson. Klimmett and Nguyen stood behind them, and Klimmett had one of those defibrillator machines clutched in both hands.

“The cave’s open?” I croaked, blinking in the sudden light. “Is the fight over? What happened?”

“What happened to us isn’t important. What happened to
you
?” Will asked. “You
died
. Your heart stopped.”

“I found him.” I tried to sit up, but the cave tilted, so I lay back down. “He’s got Mamie.” I squeezed my eyes shut against the pain. Fury overrode it. That’s all I needed. “I know one thing for sure, though. The end is coming. In fact, it’s probably already here.”

Chapter Thirty-Three

We walked back to the team as fast as my shaking legs would go, Will staying close by to catch me if I stumbled. His face was still pale as wallpaper paste; my dying had him rattled. Exactly like that dark bastard wanted.

And I felt like death warmed over, which was probably a side perk for him.

Julie stepped out of the shadow of a small tree near the edge of the path. Dead monsters—creatures that were a cross between a warthog and a leopard from what I could tell—lay in piles nearby. She had a smear of yellowish blood on her cheek and her eyes were cold.

“Did you do all that?” Uncle Mike asked, staring at the carcasses.

“These?” she glanced over her shoulder. “Those were the last wave. I have a bigger pile over near the Humvees.”

His mouth worked, like he had no idea whether to compliment her or freak out. Like Will, he looked like he’d already seen too much today.

Julie shifted her gaze to me. “Matt, are you okay?”

I kept shuffling down the path toward the group of men huddled around our wounded. Two lumps, covered by survival blankets, lay to one side. A boot stuck out of the bottom of one of them. We hadn’t come out of this unscathed. Not by a longshot.

My breath caught and Will tensed up. But I wasn’t going into cardiac arrest again—at least not yet. Where were my guys? Who’d we lose? Was that Blakeney under the blanket?

Ramirez came around from the back of a Humvee, saw us and turned to call someone. Lanningham and Blakeney appeared and started jogging our way. Lanningham had a long, shallow gash on his left arm and Blakeney’s face was bruised, but they were okay.

I closed my eyes, thankful. “They’re alive.”

“Alive, nothing,” Julie said. “Blakeney figured out if you shot these things in the head enough times, the ammo would eventually get through. He killed at least ten of them himself. It probably took four hundred rounds, but he mowed some down for us.”

Pride swelled in my chest, replacing some of the residual fear I was hanging onto from the cave. They met up with us and took over for Will, one on each side, to support me on the way back to the vehicles.

“Are you going to tell us what’s going on?” Julie asked.

 “Too much to explain,” I said. “Except one thing, and it’s time I was straight with all of you.”

“Wait,” she said as I staggered by. “Where are you going?”

“Fort Carson,” I said. “We’re going home.”

Lanningham helped me climb into the nearest Humvee, while Blakeney hurried to the driver’s seat.

Uncle Mike took the seat next to mine and confused soldiers were slowly following suit. Will climbed into the seat across from me and I waved for Jorge to join us.