Raven's Peak (29 page)

“You would dare speak to me? You are nothing but an insignificant insect!”

“You hide within that body because you are pathetic and malformed,” Haatim said. “You are unwilling to show your true form to us. Isn’t that so, Belphegor?”

“I am neither weak nor afraid, mortal.”

“And yet here you are, cowering within the body of a child. You warp the minds of your followers because you know that if they knew the truth of what you really were, a sad and pathetic monster, they would never believe anything you say.”

“Silence!” the demon roared.

“It is you who should be silent,” Haatim said, striding confidently toward the demon. “This is not your world. You spread anger and strife and do not belong. It is time you went home.”

Abigail heard a rattling as the demon telepathically threw a large metal crate through the air. Haatim didn’t even flinch as it approached, and it missed him by only inches.

“You cannot harm me,” Haatim said. “For you are nothing against the greater design.”

The demon threw more objects at Haatim. He strode forward, unblinking as they narrowly missed him. He began singing in Hindi, his voice loud and strong. Abigail didn’t recognize the words, but she did recognize the conviction in Haatim’s eyes.

The demon roared in anger and began throwing things even faster. Shipping cartons and tables blasted across the room, smashing into the walls and floor in a din. Haatim walked through it all, stepping on broken equipment and moving ever closer to the demon.

He stopped singing and began chanting. Abigail recognized his words as prayers, having heard them spoken by Arthur countless times while growing up. He’d taught her rudimentary Latin, but it had never been something she focused on. More objects were flying through the air, but Haatim stepped past them unfazed.

Haatim switched to Hebrew and continued chanting. Abigail felt the demon’s control wavering as it released its grip on her to intensify its attack on Haatim. She could feel its frustration. It was focusing completely on the new threat, disoriented and confused by its inability to hit him with anything.

It threw a table saw through the air. Haatim took a gentle step to the side and it flew past, and the demon screamed in rage and frustration.

“Die!”

“You cannot harm me,” Haatim said. He was only four meters from Belphegor now, stopping calmly and staring at the boy. “You have no power here. You must leave.”

Abigail felt the demon release its hold completely, focusing all of its energy on Haatim. She climbed shakily to her feet, holding her side to pinch back the blood that was flowing out, and moved as quietly as she could toward the demon.

It was surrounded by a cloud of objects flying in all directions as it launched them at Haatim. Items soared over his shoulders and around his body, brushing against his clothes yet none actually collided with his body.

Abigail picked up a wrench off the ground as she went, creeping up behind the demon.

“Why won’t you die?” the demon screamed at Haatim.

Abigail swung the wrench down like a club hitting the demon in the shoulder and sending it staggering to the ground. The whirlwind of objects ceased and items collapsed to the ground, breaking and scattering across the floor.

Haatim stepped closer just as the demon was struggling to regain its feet. He placed a hand on the boy’s forehead and starting chanting in Latin. It was a banishment ritual, and his words were strong and full of power as they poured out of his mouth.

The demon cursed and spit at him, but was unable to pull away.

“This child is mine!”

“It is not,” Haatim said. “By the grace of God, I order you to vacate this child’s body.”

“No!”

“By the grace of Allah I order you to leave. By the love of Krishna, I order you to be gone from this realm! Return from whence you came!”

“Never!”

“I order you out, vile creature! Out!”

Haatim screamed the last word, and it hung in the air, echoing in the cavernous chamber back at them. The demon receded with a guttural screech, leaving behind only the sounds of their breathing and the moaning of the child on the floor. The room was filled with a vast emptiness, and Abigail knew that the demon was gone.

Haatim had banished it.

Abigail knelt and checked the child’s wounds. He had a torn cheek and some minor burns from the salt pellets and busted shoulder but he was otherwise OK. As long as they got help here quickly he would make a full recovery. Given the circumstances, that was a blessing she hadn’t really expected.

She looked at Haatim, standing there with his hand on the child’s forehead and panting. He was exhausted and drained, barely able to keep his feet. He staggered to the side and sat down, pale and sickly.

“What the hell was that?” she asked.

“I don’t know,” he answered. “I just…when I was walking toward the demon, something told me it wouldn’t hurt me.”

“A guess?”

“A feeling,” he said, shaking his head. “I can’t explain it.”

“Are you all right?” she asked.

He nodded. “I just need a minute. I’m exhausted.”

He looked around at the room as though for the first time. He had a look of shock on his face, and Abigail could relate: the entire chamber had been demolished with broken equipment, conveyer belts, tools, and other miscellaneous objects spread all around. It looked like a tornado had ripped through and disappeared.

Abigail’s side was agony, but her body was still pumping adrenaline, so she barely felt the pain.

“I’m not surprised that you’re so tired,” she said. “Doing things like that really take a toll.”

“Like what?” he asked.

She hesitated. “Channeling.”

“Channeling what?”

“We can talk about it later. I need to get in touch with Frieda and let her know Belphegor has been dealt with. They need to call off the strike.”

“All right,” Haatim said, yawning. “I’ll be right here.”

Abigail headed outside and pulled out the satellite phone. She stepped out into the cool air and dialed Frieda’s number. Frieda picked up almost immediately.

“Are you OK?”

“I’m fine,” Abigail said. “It’s done. The demon is gone.”

“You’re sure?”

“Positive.”

“All right,” Frieda said. Abigail heard her speak with another person, telling them to call off the strike, and then Frieda was back. “We will send a cleanup crew and create a story to explain what happened.”

“That’ll be an interesting one.”

“Are you injured?”

“I’m fine,” Abigail said. “Couple of scrapes and bumps but nothing major.”

“What about Haatim? Did he get out of the city?”

“Something like that,” she said. “I’ll tell you all about it when you get here.”

“Is he safe?”

“He’s safe.”

“Good,” Frieda said. “His father is furious with both of us.”

“I assumed he would be,” Abigail said. “But there’s nothing we can do about it now. There’s something I need to tell you. Something I heard about Haatim’s father, and you aren’t going to like it.”

“What is it?”

“Not here. In person.”

“OK. Don’t leave the city, Abigail. We’ll be there in a few hours.”

“I need to check on something, but it’s in the area so we won’t have to go far. It’s out near the Church where Arthur was taken.”

“Why?”

“Belphegor was here looking for something, just like the demon that took Arthur. I need to find out what it is and why they were looking for it. I don’t know, Frieda, but this feels important.”

“All right,” Frieda said.

“There’s something else,” she said. “When I spoke to the demon, it told me that they had Arthur.”

“Who?”

“I don’t know. Belphegor was working with the demon that took Arthur to hell.”

‘It might have been bluffing.”

“I don’t think so,” Abigail said. “It was…convincing. Belphegor knew who I was and knew things…”

Frieda was silent. “I’ll be there soon, Abi. Be careful, and keep an eye on Haatim until we get there.”

“Will do.”

She hung up the phone. She grabbed some supplies and patched up her side, and then went to find Haatim. He had a little more color in his cheeks but still looked thoroughly exhausted.

“You look like hell,” she said.

“Thanks,” he replied, smiling wryly. They headed for the exit, walking back through the dark office space toward the town beyond.

“I should be thanking you,” she said. “You saved my life.”

“Just returning the favor,” he replied with a shrug. “It’s funny, actually; I learned all of those prayers in my years of studies. Words in many languages for different religions. But, until today, that’s all they were to me: just words.”

“Now they are something else,” she said. “Something to battle against evil.”

He nodded. “I thought I knew what evil was, but I was wrong.”

“Then what is it?” she asked.

“Ambivalence. Standing by and watching people suffer and die when you know you can help them. I realized today that I don’t want to be someone that just sits by and does nothing. I don’t think I could have let those people die without trying.”

Abigail smiled. “I think Arthur will like you.”

A moment passed. Haatim looked at the unconscious bodies of the men on the street. “What happens to them now?”

“The Council will send a cleanup squad. Patch everyone up and concoct a story about what happened.”

“Seems like a pretty big thing to cover up.”

“We’ve dealt with worse,” Abigail said. “Apart from the people who live here, no one will ever believe anything strange happened. Over time even the people who actually experienced these events in Raven’s Peak will start to wonder if their memory isn’t just playing tricks on them.”

“OK,” Haatim said. “So what do we do?”

“We?” she asked. “Your father was quite angry with me when he found out you were here at all. I have been summoned before the Council, so I’ll be arrested and held as soon as they arrive.”

“I’ll talk to my father,” Haatim said. “Make sure he understands it wasn’t your fault.”

“I don’t think he will care.”

“I’ll make him care.”

Abigail shrugged. “Thanks. Any help I can get would be much appreciated at this point.”

“No problem. So, now we just wait for them to get here?”

“Actually, I have one other thing to look into before I’m arrested.”

“Oh?”

“You’re welcome to come with me, but you don’t have to if you don’t want to,” she said.

He let out a sigh and smiled at her. “So where are we headed to now?”

“The old Raven’s Peak. The one we found up in the woods.”

“The mining town? Why? What are we going to do there?”

“I’ll tell you as soon as I know.”

Abigail searched the area surrounding the old mining town, and it didn’t take her long to find what she was looking for: a hidden entrance at the top of a waterfall leading underground. It was covered by a number of huge stones, and it took them a good thirty minutes to clear the area.

Once they did, it revealed an ancient trapdoor built into the ground, covered in runes.

“What’s this?” Haatim asked.

“It’s what the demon was looking for,” Abigail said.

“It wasn’t that hard to find,” Haatim replied.

“No, but that isn’t the point.”

“Wonder what’s inside,” Haatim said, reaching for the stone trapdoor. “It feels like there’s something…”

Abigail caught his hand and pulled him back. She felt a tingle as her hand got close to the door, almost like electricity.

“Don’t touch,” she said. “Do you see these runes? They are old, at least a few hundred years, and loaded with energy.”

“What kind of energy?”

“The kind that kills you,” she said. “And the kind that destroys demons and sends them back to hell. That’s why the demon wanted my help because it can’t get past here.”

“You can get past this?”

“No,” she said. “Not precisely. I don’t actually know many people who can get past runes like this, but these sorts of places always have a backdoor. There is definitely another way inside, we just have to find it.”

“Oh,” he said. “So what do we do now?”

She gave him a long look. “Ever been spelunking?”

Spelunking, it turned out, was the most horrible experience of Haatim’s life. He’d never really thought of himself as claustrophobic, but he’d never really understood what claustrophobia was before, either. He thought it only applied to people who didn’t enjoy confinement in small rooms: however, being trapped deep underground in tunnels and holes beneath the earth was terrifying.

There was no light except for his and Abigail’s flashlights, and even that was only a pinprick he could shine forward. The only sounds came from them scratching their way through the tight tunnels and his heavy breathing from the exertion.

Abigail was in front of him, first walking while they traveled down the miner’s tunnels and eventually crawling. After about an hour they reached a split where the passage forked to the left and right. One pass looked manmade and was larger and lined with tracks for the carts, and the other looked like a wall had crumbled and led into tighter tunnels that looked ancient and rough.

“This must be where it’s hidden,” she said. She examined the stones. “Looks like it was broken open sometime in the past. Hard to say when.”

“Where does it go?”

“No clue,” she said. “But if the artifact is down here, this is where we’re going to find it.”

“Artifact?”

Abigail ignored him and kept moving. She slipped into the tight hold and disappeared. Haatim let out a sigh and followed. It led into a steep decline and was moist with water and mud. He half slid and half crawled down after Abigail, struggling to slip through the small tunnel.

“Shouldn’t we have hats on?”

“Only if you’re concerned with falling rocks.”

Haatim frowned. “We aren’t?”

“The likelihood of a falling rock killing us is way less than a cave in. That would cut us off and starve us long before a rock would kill us.”

Haatim hesitated. “That doesn’t make me feel any better.”