The Demon's Grave (26 page)

I wanted to ask Damien what he knew, but not with Aidan and Cody around. He was talking about the night of the murder but I would have remembered a demon. I remembered scattered images from a five-year-old’s perspective but there’d just been the five of us that night.

The silence stretched during my contemplation and I realized everyone was staring at me.

Cody had moved to the side to touch my shoulder and I flinched. If Damien wanted to tell my family secret, what would stop him? And what would it matter at this point? I’d seen Aidan’s worst nightmare after all. Secrets were falling fast.

Shifting from foot to foot beside me, Aidan asked. “You remember him?”

“No.” I crossed my arms over my chest.

Damien’s eyes reflected a devilish shine. “If you truly believe that, then there could be problems ahead.”

“What sort of problems?” Aidan asked leaning away from me. It was an unconscious gesture, but it revealed what he was thinking all too clearly.

I felt sick to my stomach.

I hadn’t met Damien before, of this I was certain. “He’s lying.” I held my chin high. “What are you up to, Damien? Do you need to embarrass me? Maybe loosen their trust so we’ll separate again? What the hell does this have to do with getting our friends back?” I managed to keep my tone low and thought I sounded damn smooth.

The rage was starting to twitch again, building and twisting with the warmth. I had to clench my fists, fingernails biting into my palm to hold it from overtaking me.

Stepping forward, Damien made the hairs on my arms stand on end and sent a shudder through the air that buzzed in my head. Closing the gap between us I saw Aidan limp back, his eyes wide.

I’m not sure what held me in place. Perhaps it was fear. I’d like to think it was a shot of bravery, though I’d be lying to myself. My insides were vibrating into liquid and my skin crawled.

Aidan grabbed my shoulder to pull me back.

“Birket,” Cody hissed a warning, sounding surprisingly like Phoebe.

The demon’s cold, inimical gaze shifted to Aidan. I tried to step back and realized I couldn’t. Damien leaned in so close I thought for an instant he was going to kiss me.

Flinching, Damien stopped inches from my face, eyes alight.

Lips lingering just over the bridge of my nose, he whispered, still not looking at me. “Don’t move.” With a flick of his hand, Damien sent a sudden force through the room that spread outward in a gust of wind.

Aidan’s hand jerked from my shoulder and I heard two thuds followed by muffled shouts.

My body teetered at the impact but I didn’t step back, determined to stay still as I strangely felt more relaxed. The buzzing irritation I felt earlier was receding.

Turning my head, I saw Aidan and Cody suctioned to the wall, like they had been in the tower, and jerked my eyes back to Damien. I took a ragged breath to focus.

The warmth in my chest and stomach had vanished. I didn’t want to let him know he was making me nervous, though it proved impossible.

To me in a voice too low for the others to hear he hissed, “Your past has everything to do with why you’re still alive.”

Swallowing hard, I shook my head and moved numbing lips. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Don’t you?” He raised his eyebrows at me unbelieving. “Don’t you wish for justice for your sister?”

I snapped. “You only know about her from rooting through my head.”

“I did,” he said, “but it was buried deep. I didn’t see it until you showed me when you were covered in spiders. Still hopping back and forth between worlds?”

In the house and when I was with the spiders. I remembered the wooden chairs back to back. How could I have forgotten? Breathing through my nose I tried to wrap my mind around what he said‌—‌about what it
meant
.

“Am I going crazy?” I asked. “Is this all made up?”

Damien’s stony expression revealed nothing.

“You‌—‌you saw what happened, you don’t know me,” I said to fill the quiet. “What do you want?”

“To see what you can do,” he answered. “To see what Nell promised.”

Of course he’d remember her name. “And what can I do?”

“If I knew, I wouldn’t have to test you.”

“Test me for what exactly?”

An apprehending smirk twitched at the corner of his mouth. “You called Nell insane.”

“She is.”

“What about you? You believe you suffer from the same delusions?”

My heart twisted. “That’s not funny.”

“It wasn’t meant to be.” The smirk fell and he reached up one hand, palm cupped as if to touch my cheek, but he didn’t touch me. His hand hovered close enough that it shadowed my peripheral but didn’t give off a heat. “Perhaps what you perceive as crazy isn’t necessarily the truth.”

“What is it called, then?”

Damien canted his head. “To some it is gifted, to others, cursed.”

“And you call it?”

“A threat.”

The words ran my blood cold and I took the step back.

So many questions‌—‌insane questions‌—‌raced through my head that I wasn’t sure what to ask, or where to start. I tried to push aside the cloudy images that clogged my memory. I recalled the two men Nell had with her; one a bulky blonde and the other a thin redhead with the initials JWD on his jacket. Both were sadists, but they were human, and despite their hazy faces in my memory, I was positive neither could have been Damien. “Which one were you?”

“Which?”

“Of the men who helped Nell abduct us? Neither of them was found.” Only Nell had been locked up, found naked on the side of the road two days after I had been recovered.

Damien shook his head at me. “I wasn’t one of the men.”

“Nora,” Aidan’s voice wheezed behind me.

His voice sent a jolt through me.

I had forgotten about them!

I started to turn to my companions when Damien’s cupped hand forced me to look at him. His hand was cold, smooth and distressingly strong. He had my attention.

“We’re not through,” he said it as if it were a threat. “I know of your past, but he doesn’t.” Damien’s eyes flickered over my shoulder and I knew he was looking at Aidan.

“He doesn’t know,” I confirmed.

“Keep it that way for now.”

“What? You already told them you met me.”

His fingertips buried in my hair above my temple and I bit my lips together.

“Don’t tell the Birket about Nell,” he said. “Haven’t you ever wondered if he felt strange around you too?”

Bullseye.

“Start to,” he slipped his hand away, tracing fingers that buzzed with electricity down my cheek.

I stepped away, leaving a fair gap between us.

Ignoring me, Damien said louder for everyone to hear, “Time’s wasting.”

A black door materialized behind the demon. His supernatural gaze fixed on me as I backed away. I had wanted to ask him about Aidan, about Nell, questions whistled past but instead I pivoted toward my friends, toward safety.

I had to remember who was more important here. My friends were alive, unlike my past, which was long dead.

Cody and Aidan stepped away from the wall, brushing themselves as if they’d been coated with spiderwebs.

Aidan’s electric eyes were seething. “What did he say?”

I didn’t have to look over my shoulder to know that Damien was gone. “He was trying to intimidate me,” I answered. It was mostly the truth.

Cody eyebrows pinched. “What did he mean by infraction? I thought the three weeks was the punishment.”

“I’m sorry, Cody,” I said. “I shouldn’t have freaked out.”

“Why did you?” Aidan asked, his voice low.

Taken off guard I answered him with a strained stretch of my lips. I could only hope it looked like a smile. “He makes me nervous. Let’s get this over with. I don’t want our friends to be trapped any longer than they have to be.”

Aidan didn’t press his issue any further and shouldered me aside‌—‌without seeing my glare‌—‌he twisted the handle and pushed the door in. The door scratched along the floor, stopping short. It didn’t reveal much through the two-inch crack.

We paused, using every sense to locate signs of immediate danger on the other side. The seconds ticked by. I started to move when Aidan blocked my way. He leaned his shoulder into the door, forcing it to scrape the already scuffed floor.

Cody stayed behind Aidan and me. He’d be able to see over both of our heads anyway.

Inside there was darkness, though that didn’t surprise me.

Dismal and dark…‌
Just the way Damien liked it.

I was reminded of the tentacles that shot from the darkness for Phoebe and took a deep breath. Ducking, I pushed past Aidan to get inside first. If someone were to go missing, it would be me. I was being tested after all, wasn’t I?

“Wait!” Aidan hissed before snatching my wrist hard enough to make me flinch. He followed close, his eyes darting left and right, his cool hands moistening.

The light from the room behind us revealed the narrow walls on either side and a dark wood floor.

Muttering, Cody stepped in behind Aidan. The door slammed shut, making me jump. I kept my free hand close to my body, tugging at my damp camisole, as if it could keep me safe.

We froze at first, not daring to move, and listening to our collective breaths.

I inched forward, one foot testing the ground before the other. There was nothing but darkness above, below and ahead. I started swinging my arm from side to side when Aidan let go.

Gasping, I opened my mouth to say his name. A fluorescent light began to flicker overhead. Wheezing out the fading word, I looked back to see Aidan standing next to a standard, everyday light switch. His eyes were looking up at the ceiling in relief.

We stood in a hallway. It had warm-brown walls with a mural of cherry blossoms gracing every inch of free space. The hallway felt welcoming.

Perched on white pedestals on either side of the door were two white, Chinese-style vases.

“The door hasn’t disappeared,” I whispered.

Cody twisted to inspect it before shaking his head and saying, “Doorknob.”

I had to do a double take, but he was right. The doorknob was missing.

That meant we could only go one way.

Turning, I noticed the sign above the archway ahead. It would be the only thing to mar the warm atmosphere. In large, uneven letters, dripping crimson, it read:
Museum
.

Aidan asked Cody. “Any nightmares about museums we should know about?”

Cody gaped in confusion. “Should I have?”

My insides were still reeling from my encounter with Damien and I wanted to get this over with quick. Without waiting for them, I started forward, my sneakers squeaking on the polished floor.

As I approached the gruesome museum letters I could hear the boys trailing after me. I tried to prepare myself for anything. This could be a museum of horrors. Maybe there were monsters that would spring to life or stuffed animals that would be waiting to devour and skewer us on horns and teeth.

Alright, first look for exits and try to herd everyone toward them
, I thought.

I stopped just before the archway and peered inside, straining to see as far as I could. Dim overhead lights illuminating the gigantic room.

There weren’t any windows that I could see, or doorways, but they could still exist amongst the obstacles.

The displays were like any others in a museum; warm colors, pleasant, with titles, captions, tags and all closed off by red rope or glass. I was surprised at how normal it was.

Cody peeked over my shoulder and breathed out slowly. His breath was atrocious and I leaned away from him. He didn’t move past me, but was close enough I could feel his body heat at my shoulder. He swallowed and whispered. “At least it isn’t a museum on wolves or the history of witchcraft.”

I smiled wide. “Or Ouija boards.”

“Or spiders,” Aidan contributed dryly.

I couldn’t help myself. “Or a killer Maserati.”

Looking back I saw Aidan looking away, eyes narrowed in thought.

Bewildered, Cody glanced between us.

Feeling the tension coming off of Aidan, I patted Cody’s shoulder reassuringly. “It’s nothing,” I said more softly and stepped through the threshold.

Veering to the left, I found myself amongst busts of ancient goddesses and gods as white as bleached bone. Tables with pale cloth showed off spotless golden discs, intricate jewelry and pottery reciting ancient stories from Greece or Rome.

I ran a finger along the edge of a glass which held golden jewelry. Bracelets, necklaces and rings, each carved with a meticulous hand.

Aidan stopped at one of the busts. It was of a warrior-like woman. She wore a helmet with a Mohawk top. On her right shoulder, holding up her garments was a decorative disc. He read the tiny golden plate at the base of the glass casing. “Pallas Athena, Patron of Athens.”

This was only the first section and as interesting as it was, it didn’t reveal anything of our Challenge. Each area was separated by thin, temporary walls taller than Cody.

“Come on,” I whispered to them, “we need to find a way out.”

Agreeing mutely, Aidan was closest to the next opening and stepped through.

Following close behind, we ended up in an Egyptian-themed area. The centerpiece of the room, which caught everyone’s attention, was the open sarcophagus. The golden lid depicting a pharaoh’s noble figure leaned against the casket. Stone-faced and holding a scepter close to his body, it was vibrant with colors even in the dim light.

Aidan hobbled around the glass casing without us.

I wanted to stop him, but knew I’d be too late if something were to leap out and nab him.

Shuffling to a stop on the other side of the sarcophagus he breathed,“Woooooowww.”

Cody and I scrambled to catch up.

I’d never seen a half-covered mummy that wasn’t on TV before.

The face was partially revealed, showing the dark, paper-like skin stretched over the cheekbones and forehead. The eye sockets were empty but weren’t gaping holes, instead they were two slits that were too dark to see inside. The lips had decomposed and peeled back to reveal a row of crooked, yellow teeth. One hand was wrapped tightly to the chest while the other was free, revealing not just the browned, dead flesh, but brittle bone as well.