Chosen (The Chosen Few Trilogy #1) (20 page)

She used the remaining thirty seconds to get clear of the wave.

2
9

YORK, ENGLAND

Our training continued mercilessly. It seemed surreal that we six, standing within the walls of a typic
al English garden, were
preparing to save the world.
I missed my old life, our home.
A hateful inner voice pointed out that I may have missed some kind of contact from Raychel.

“The
link
is still missing,
”
Eleanor said to me.
“
It will come.
”

It has to, I thoug
ht. A power without aim and
purpose
is
no power at all. I tried to
quell
thoughts
of failure by concentrating on
the news
Myleene had told us earlier.

Kinkade the gargoyle was proving himself a fantastic asset. And how could he fail? Everyone talked. How the hell would anyone know that countless three hundred year old stone statues were listening in?

Kinkade was sending constant updates, like a BBC World News ticker. Every time someone somewhere uttered one of the hundr
eds of flagged names or phrases
the gargoyles presence would flicker to life, listen and report. Say
Gorgoroth,
or
Aegis
or
Destroyer.
We had you. We were like the NSA on steroids.

His reports filtered down through a dedicated
witch’s
coven. Focusing
their might through inert metals- a trick of augmentation understood only by those blessed with extremely crooked noses- they had concocted a spell that allowed Kinkade to pass information through them. Spoken words were turned into instant e-mail by cyber-geeks and transmitted to Cheyne at the Library, to Eldritch in Miami, and here to Myleene.

Loki was old news. Emily Crowe was a major shock- almost all of us respected Supernatural
’
s rock-chick music- but to suddenly find out that their lead singer was a Destroyer bent on ending our world was a major mind-blower. Crowe was currently in Paris
, close to where the Louvre was burning
.
The other Destroyers-
Jondal and Leo
-
were so far just
names;
we knew nothing more about them.

More updates rolled in by the minute. The seventh Destroyer, Trickster, had not yet surfaced, but was held in high regard by his peers, whispered of as being one of the wiliest of Gorgoroth’s Destroyers.

We learned Ashka was moving steadily through York, asking questions about Dean Logan. About Aegis. We weren
’
t too worried. Look up at any building in the city of York and you are likely to see a gargoyle. We felt confident we knew what she knew.

And Gorgoroth? Well, finally, we knew everything. And it all made perfect sense. And it was so beyond terrible.

It was then I noticed
Belinda, watching
me from
the kitchen doorway. Her t-shirt shouted:
bitchslap me back to Heaven!

After a few seconds she spoke.
“
Guys, you
’
d better wrap it up. Latest from Gargoyle News says that Jondal has hit London, and was responsible for a bomb that went off today. It
’
s bad, guys.
”

30

YORK, ENGLAND

Imagine the cosmos long before Earth was even a twinkle in God
’
s eye. Imagine nothing but vast, eternal space for untold millennia.

Now something glitters in the limitless black. Life, of a fashion. An immense darkness, slightly lighter than the black nothingness that surrounds it. Vast beyond imagination, it is but one being of many.

What is it? It is nothing that can be described.

What is it called? It has no name other than the one we give it.

Where is it from? It came
before existence.
It is from the
outside.

It rolls in space, it turns,
and it
glides. The cosmos is its realm, a limitless place outside our universe, but a place that will always exist. The creature has not noticed humanity more than once, fleetingly, because it sees ten thousand years as but the blinking of an eye.

Now, i
magine this creature is the
first of its kind to visualize a new concept called
evil
. In fact
this creature invents evil.
It brings forth from its immense maw the very concept of wrongdoing and, on happening upon a new place
called Earth, it plants the
first drop of badness in our world. It invents Heaven. And Hell.

For its own amusement.

It is the
creator
of
evil. If you can imagine that, you can imagine the being that is Gorgoroth.

31

YORK, ENGLAND

I had learned all this last night. We knew now why there were no written texts about this creature. Who could write about a creature that existed in limitless space? Apart from HP Lovecraft, I suppose, but then he was dead.

My grasp of the situation was that this eternal creature, having planted the initial root of evil
eons
ago, it had missed the next few thousand years of our existence. Now it had returned as a
new
creature to us, but one older than our imagining.

Imagine the catastrophic consequences if something so colossal and powerful managed to punch its way through to our world?

Now Belinda turned on the
portable TV in the kitchen, balanced it on top of the fridge, and we all crowded around to watch.

“
Outside the temporary ticket booth at Kings Cross station this is the scene-
”
the red Sky News banner flickered across the screen. Jeremy Thompson, looking shocked and
disheveled
, was talking
animatedly
as the picture cut past him and focused on what I could only describe as utter chaos.

Black and grey smoke billowed into the air. Concrete walls stood smashed and battered and blackened behind the smoke.
E
ager flames licked at everything in sight.

No one spoke. I felt tears spring to my eyes. The people didn
’
t deserve this. It looked like a terrorist attack.

“
Jondal,
”
Myleene told us. Belinda flicked off the TV.
“
T
he Destroyer, also called Spirit. He has the power of invisibility, and the ability to inject hate into
people’s
minds. I have no doubt that they will catch someone for this bombing, but our intelligence says it was Jondal.
”

“
His power turns good people
bad?
”
Lysette said.

“
In Barbados he made an entire community consume itself.”

Ken, the surfer dude from
‘
Frisco, was explaining it all to Kisami, using hand signals. His last gesture left no doubt in anyone
’
s mind what he thought of Jondal.

“
I need a beer,
”
Ken said, opening the fridge. He pulled out a six-pack,
and then
offered one to Kisami.
“
Coming, man?
”

“
Ah, yis,
”
the little Japanese guy bleated.

Ken smiled around at everyone.
“
Hear that? Been teaching the little guy some pure American English.
”

Ken pushed through us. I
felt
pity
for
the poor guy. He was only trying to
lighten the mood, but
didn
’
t have the
s
ocial skills to appreciate there were times you just simply couldn
’
t.

“
I want only those people from last night,
”
Myleene sounded as overwrought as I felt.
“
In the conference room. Now.
”

I found my seat as Myleene’s Vaio
signaled
a newly arrived e-mail. 

“
Kinkade?
”
I asked, pouring a glass of water.

“
Gargoyle
’
s chattier than a nest of sparrows.
It s
eems like he
’
s enjoying his first contact in five thousand years.
”

I watched Myleene read the e-mails as t
he others filed in. I felt
abs
urd, sitting in the midst of
these
people, hiding
the knowledge
that I was a sure-fire failure, so I sipped my water and stayed quiet.

Belinda spoke up
quickly
. “
Okay, well s
ome things
have
started to make sense now guys, b
ut
still
not the involvement of the Hierarchy of Demons.”

“Because they need this world as much as we do?” Devon’s question was a mix of sarcasm and understanding.

“Correct.”

Felicia held up a small hand.
“
Didn
’
t I hear Ryan and Ken reporting that they
’
d already had a run in with the demon, Dementia?
”

Myleene nodded.
“
Yes. It
’
s another one of those things we
can’t
explain, I
’
m afraid. Dementia is the
worst
kind of demon. Seventh on the Hierarchy. She is devilry incarnate, and crazy to boot.”

“
Our intelligence,
”
Lysette spoke up next.
“
Seems
…
ummm
…
very
limited.
”

“Know this, Lysette. Before
the witches involved
Kinkade we were floundering
badly. Without his help, Aegis would be lost. He has furthered our efforts more in the last few days than all the witches and scholars combined in the previous twelve months.
”

Myleene
’
s laptop bleeped again, as if Kinkade were listening.

“
My God,
”
she
said.
“
Jesus Christ!
”

“
What?
”

My heart started to race.
“
What?
”
I echoed, along with everyone else.

“
We have
Tanya Jordan,
”
he said without taking his eyes off the screen.
“
She
’
s okay.
And
she killed a Destroyer!
”

I felt my mouth go dry from the knowledge that yet another one of the so-called Eight had proven themselves.

And I had not.

“
I quote,
”
Myleene’
s eyes were
wide
.
“ ‘
Message from Remy. I have met Tanya Jordan. I saw what she did. I have never seen the like of it before, not in all my years. Jordan is
the
Master of her art. And her art is fighting.
’”

There was a revered silence. Belinda made a pouty, but good-humoured face.
“Coming from Remy, that
is
sheer gold.
Bet she
’
s not as cute and feisty as me though.
”

“
Bonus!
”
Felicia struck at the air with both hands.
“
One Destroyer down, only five to go. Score one to the good guys,
”
her last few words became a long drawl.

“
It also says Tanya
should be here late tomorrow. And that her powers surfaced as she fought for her life.
”