Chosen (The Chosen Few Trilogy #1) (43 page)

BOOK: Chosen (The Chosen Few Trilogy #1)

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Then someone cried:
“
Eliza!
”
I saw a huge bear of a man stand up, the chef from Ceriden’s house we knew as Milo, with Eliza
’
s body cradled gently in his massive arms.

Milo, this enormous man, was weeping uncontrollably.

Eliza
’
s body was limp,
but moving. I saw her feet kick
, and the weak raising of her hand.

“Oh, Eliza!”
Ceriden cried out in hope and flew past me as if the pit-born hounds of hell were at his heels.
“
Devon must have saved her,
”
he shouted to anyone who would listen.
“
Devon p
rotected her
.”

Tears
welled in my eyes. I hoped
Eliza was another
one
of Loki
’
s victims
that
he h
ad
overlooked. Thank God. No. . .
thank poor Devon.

I started as Lucy slipped her small hand into my own. I smiled into her tear-streaked face and hugged Belinda to me. We had won. So why did our victory feel so empty?

Lysette suddenly screamed, her voice a knife in the dark.
Everyone on the beach turned to her.

“
Seven demons,
”
she said, leaning her weight on Giles.
“I…I read Crowe as she ran away. God, for my future sanity, I wish I hadn’t,” she groaned into Giles’ arm. “I know everything.
It all comes down to the text Crowe stole from the Louvre. The Text of Seven
. Including
Dementia,
there are seven demons.
And seven Hells.
”
S
he paused, shaking her head in confusion. “
The Hierarchy manipulated everything
. There are s
even places on Earth where seven ancient artef
acts are hidden. I gleaned that. . .
”

“
We should have known,
”
Ceriden sounded
crushed, as if Cameron
had just called to cancel a dinner date.

“
Known what?
”
Belinda asked weakly, and Felicia and Ken turned towards us.

“
It was their plan all along,
”
Che
yne cleared her throat
.
“
No
demon, and especially t
he Hierarchy demons, would
destr
oy this world. Because
it is also
their
world.
”

“
So the mall was a distraction,
”
Lysette said.
“Or rather
-
a distraction in
Gorgoroth’s plan
and in the minds of his Destroyers, buy Crowe was a
double agent,
a Hierarchy slut, and she
did
engineer
the Hierarchy’s summoning at the mall
.
”

Marian Cleaver nodded. “Whilst we were busy with Gaines?”

“
Yes,
”
Cheyne said.
“
In a normal world the witches council would have stopped any Hierarchy summoning. That is our job, to monitor magical activity. But with the finding of the Text of Arcadia and its message- that Gorgoroth was coming- it focused our attention. I believe now that the Hierarchy themselves, or Emily Crowe, arranged that we find the Text. To help
keep us concentrating
on Gorgoroth.
”

It made sense.
“
But why?” I asked. “What
does
the Hierarchy want?
”

“
They are already seeking these seven artefacts,” Lysette said slowly. “Two of these artefacts are in Hell. The other five are scattered across the far reaches of our world-
”
Lysette paused to think and a profound silence settled.
“
We must get to those artefacts before the demons do.
”

My initial thought was:
a race!

“But
why?
”
it was Ken
’
s tortured whisper.

“
T
heir plan all along,
”
Cheyne told us.
“
Was t
o
be summoned
whilst
this whole
Gorgoroth
thing distracted us
. To disguise
t
heir ultimate agenda
.”

Ken prompted, “Which is?”

Cheyne paused
.
“
To bring Satan Himself
into our world.
”

I felt my jaw drop in shock.
“
They
’
re trying to raise the Devil?
”

“
They
will
raise the Devil,
”
Lysette said.
“
If they
manage
to collect all the artefacts.”

“
And the Devil is worse than Gorgoroth because-
”
I had to ask.

“
Imagine Hell on Earth,
”
Ceriden said tonelessly.
“
With all of us alive. Forever. I mean, Gorgoroth was just going to destroy it.
”

And now memories of visions hit my like black thunderbolts. I had seen Belinda captured by a demon, corpses piled high. They hadn
’
t been visions of the coming of Gorgoroth. They had been
premonitions
as I had feared, precursors to the coming of Satan. The Devil.

The very embodiment of mankind
’
s deepest fears. And he would bring Hell to Earth.

Ken
turned once again towards the Gates of hell, hefting his sword.
“It comes down to
Dementia and me
.”
he started forward, and my heart went out to him.
“
I will
go into Hell and
find the artefacts. Someone
has
to.
”

“
No,
”
I heard the Jade, the elf, say.
“
Not without me.
”

Then
Felicia looked straight at m
e and
flicked a glance off Belinda to Ken.
“
And not without me, too.
”

I felt my heart break as our fellowship broke
apart. I remembered Felicia sat at the kitchen table, sipping coffee, playfully mocking Belinda and explaining to me the ways of her kind. She loved
life;
she loved the freedom of the run. And she had just volunteered to walk the dread paths of Hell.

Together they stood, these new companions, brushed themselves off, and walked towards the Gates of Hell, kicking sand as they went. Moonlight and starshine glittered from their
eyes and in shimmering shards
from their readied weapons.

Humility brought
tears to my eyes. One swift glance at Belinda and I knew that if she had been able, she would have accompanied them as well.

But
still there was more.
I saw Eliza wriggle out of Milo’s grasp and land on steady feet, breathing harshly, but determined. “I will help you, Ken.” Eliza spoke up, and Milo also grunted in agreement.

And finally Mai
walked up to the little group. “And I,” she said with venom. “I also owe Dementia a painful death.”

“
There are still five artefacts to race for on earth,
”
I said,
mainly for Belinda’s benefit.

Marian Cleaver added. “The Hierarchy
has
a head start on us.”

Cheyne nodded.
“
And we will need all of you
r
help.
There is a copy of the Text of Seven at the library. I’m sure there are riddles to solve, codes to crack. The search must start now. Without delay. We must determine the location of the five pieces on Earth before the Hierarchy
finds
them,
”
she glanced behind her.
“
Come Brethren, timing is everything now. We must begin.
”

Behind Cheyne, the coven bega
n to gather.
As a group they passed beyond the exhausted Johnny
Trevochet
and
his wife, Natalie
who clung
to one another, just happy to be alive. I studied the approaching coven. All twelve witches wore dark cloaks that covered their bodies and deep cowls that concealed their faces. Almost as one they rea
ched around their necks for their platinum talismans, the
source of their powers
,
as I had seen Cheyne do a dozen times already.

They were ready to cast their spell. Where would they send us?

I held tightly to Belinda and promised
myself we wouldn’t be separated anytime soon.

Some
promise
.

THE END

Authors Note

As you may n
ow gather my novel, Chosen, is the first part of a
trilo
gy. There are many more journeys planned
for our adventurer
s
. M
uch peril and adventure and heartache.

I’m currently
planning and
writing Book
s 2 and 3
of the Chosen Few trilogy
.
All
helpful,
genuine
comment
s
and
advice
are welcome. I would love to hear from you.