Dance of Fire (30 page)

‘Then we just have to destroy the lamp,' Nicola said, closing the book.

‘That sounds way too simple,' Justin said.

‘Does it?' Nicola said, her voice uncharacteristically grave. ‘It's actually quite dangerous. Lots could go wrong.'

‘Once you speak the invite, the demon is going to make a beeline for you,' Nicholas said to Vanessa. ‘Remember what happened to Hilda?'

Vanessa shivered, picturing the way Hilda's skin had blistered and cracked until she'd been destroyed in a brilliant burst of light.

‘That's why we have to act fast,' his sister continued. ‘Once you're out of the circle, you should be safe, because the demon will be trapped within the pentagrams.'

‘And if we don't get her out in time?' Justin said. His voice wavered at the end of the sentence, betraying his anxiety.

The Fratellis exchanged an uneasy look. ‘That's not an option,' Nicola said.

Vanessa spoke up before Justin could reply. ‘I want to start. Let's get this over with.'

‘OK,' Nicola said, nodding at her brother, who pulled a small penknife from his jacket and handed it to Vanessa. ‘Let's do this.'

A silence fell over them, the moment suddenly real. Vanessa walked back into the centre of the pentagrams. With each step she felt as if the air were tightening around her. Moonlight glinted off the engravings on the lamp, highlighting the fine filigree.

Nicola opened the book and began to read instructions to the others, but all Vanessa could think about was the offer the demon had made her days before.
When I am invited by the right partner, however, we are invincible.

What would happen if she actually let it in – would it destroy her? Or was she strong enough to control it?

‘Vanessa.' Justin was at the outside ring of the pentagrams, ‘I'll be here,' he whispered. ‘Until the end.'

Nicola threw her arms wide. Nicholas did the same. And on the beat of three, they began to dance.

Vanessa held the knife, waiting. To her surprise, the Fratellis were good dancers, their legs moving swiftly around the circle, their weight shifting, giving them momentum. There was no music; they seemed to be driven by the sounds of the night: the creaking of the building beneath them, the roar of the wind. Justin stood back, watching the twins with an unreadable expression on his face.

The lamp seemed to quiver, the brass developing a slight sheen, as if it were drinking up the dim light from the stars
above. It glowed bright, brighter, the engravings on the lid and handles suddenly ablaze.

It was time.

Vanessa gripped the knife more tightly and pricked the tip of her ring finger. A sharp sting, and a crimson bubble of blood welled up.

With her other hand, she reached out and touched the lid. Pain shot through her fingertips as the metal scorched her ­fingers, so hot that she almost couldn't bear it. But she had no choice. Clenching her teeth, Vanessa lifted the lid, then held her cut finger over the top until a few small drops of blood pooled inside.

With a gasp, she lowered the lid on to the lamp and stumbled back into position. At the same time, the dance around her began to change, growing quicker, as Nicola's and Nich­olas's feet retraced the pentagrams until each line glowed with an eerie yellow light.

Vanessa felt the ground beneath her shift, a strange heat grazing her arms in a tender caress, sending a prickle of goosebumps up her skin. All the while she concentrated on an image of her sister
en pointe
, seeing the faded pink ballet shoes, the satin stitching, the talisman she had practised with Zep that had worked so effectively in the competition.

Beside her, the lamp hissed and spat. Vanessa could feel the demon, his breath turning the night hot and foul, his presence constricting the air around her. Then a voice crackled in her head.

Here you are. At last we will be one.

Vanessa felt her legs begin to buckle. In the distance she heard Nicholas's voice.

‘It's here!' he shouted, the words swallowed immediately by the rush of wind.

Vanessa closed her eyes, remembering what Zep had taught her to do: she thought of the box of Margaret's old things that had been shipped home after she disappeared, of her ballet shoes inside. Then she pictured Margaret standing in front of her with the shoes on her feet, alive and well. Waiting for her.

With renewed strength, Vanessa opened her eyes. She read the phonetically spelled words of Latin from the scrap of paper, squinting at it in the darkness. As she spoke a ripple of heat passed through her body. She could feel it seep into her pores, rushing through her veins, making the bones in her neck crack.

The shield in her mind began to quiver, as if something were banging against its walls. She read the final syllables from the paper, and was nearly blown off her feet by the demon's answer. She felt it in every corner of her being.

You have called and I have answered. You are mine.

Heat wrapped itself around her. Her fingers trembled as warmth radiated through her, bringing her blood to the ­surface.

She felt herself weaken.

Then a hand grasped her wrist, cold and pale, jerking her from the pentagram's cage of light, back out on to the icy roof.

The cold was a shock. She turned, feeling Justin's arms holding her close, his hand still clasping her wrist. ‘Vanessa?'

‘Yes,' she said.

Justin's eyes welled, and then she realised he was looking past her.

She spun and watched as something swirled within the grid of light, where the silver lamp stood, waiting. They all fell back as the air within the pentagram twisted and erupted into flames. The fire in the air curled into a thin braid and poured itself into the lamp's narrow spout.

The rooftop was suddenly dark and silent, and Vanessa blinked as her eyes adjusted. ‘Is that it?' she asked. ‘Did we do it?'

The lamp rattled in the centre of the pentagram, the sides bulging as if something inside were trying to force its way out.

Justin backed away, pulling Vanessa with him. But the ­Fratelli twins looked on with wonder.

‘We pulled it off,' Nicholas said in awe, and turned to his sister. ‘It worked!' They slapped palms and stepped away, breaking their circle of protection.

‘Now all we have to do is destroy the lamp,' Nicola said. ‘Then the demon will be cast back to its dimension.'

A loud crack silenced them all.

They turned to the lamp just in time to see its metal split at the seams. Vanessa looked at the twins. ‘Guys, is this supposed to happen?'

Slowly, something began to rise out of the lamp.

They watched in horror as a shape stretched and warped against the sky. It grew brighter with each passing second, sending off flicks of golden light like embers from a campfire.

Nicholas gasped. ‘What the . . . ?'

And then it began to change. Within moments it had formed a hulking silhouette, a dark outline with flecks of golden light: a head, broad shoulders, arms and legs. There were no eyes, just a whistling black hole where a mouth should have been. And then it began to speak.

I am Werzelya,
the demon said
. And it is time for us to dance.

‘Oh crap,' Nicola whispered.

Chapter Twenty-Two

The demon's figure grew, eclipsing the stars in the sky. Its outline crackled as it moved leisurely towards them. Eyes began to form in its head, dozens of eyes that burned a terrible orange. As they expanded and contracted, Vanessa could almost see herself in their reflection.

Justin thrust himself in front of her. ‘Stay behind me!' he said. The Fratellis scrambled to their feet and closed in on either side of Vanessa, shielding her.

‘You skipped part of the invitation!' Nicholas said, looking back at Vanessa.

‘I did?' she cried.

‘The nothing and everything bit. I'd hoped it wouldn't ­matter. I'm sorry.' He took a deep breath and turned to face the demon. ‘Let's get this over with.'

Summoning her courage, Vanessa pushed past Justin and the Fratellis. ‘I'm the one it wants,' she said. ‘I'm the only one who can stop it.'

The black swirl of the demon's lips parted, and it laughed at her.

‘No!' Justin grabbed her arm. ‘I won't let it take you!'

Vanessa called forth her sister's pointe shoes, but the mental image blew away in tatters. The demon's wrath was too strong. As it pulsed through her, Vanessa felt her limbs begin to shake, her neck arch back, her lips crack and sizzle.

Justin grasped her hand. ‘Stay with me,' he pleaded.

Frantically Vanessa called to mind the people she loved – her mother, who was likely back at the hotel, waiting for her in the restaurant; her father, who would be arriving tomorrow morning for Christmas; her friends, TJ, Blaine and Steffie, and Elly too. Justin. Even Svetya and Geo, Pauline and Maisie. Margaret. But their faces boiled away into a hot black nothingness that seared the air in her lungs and filled Vanessa with fire.

Then a new, familiar voice sounded across the roof.

‘I welcome you, Werzelya.' The words were followed by a string of hurried Latin.

Zeppelin Gray stood halfway to the stairwell, by the roof edge. How long had he been there?

Distracted, the demon had to obey the invitation. Suddenly able to breathe again, Vanessa gasped and fell to her knees. Why was Zep doing this? And how had he found them?

‘No!' Vanessa cried, struggling to her feet. If Zep finished the incantation, the demon would destroy him.

But before she could move, Justin tightened his grip on her hand. ‘Let him do it,' he said.

‘No!' Vanessa called out again, but by then it was too late. Zep had finished speaking the Latin, and she felt the demon's hold on her loosen completely and disappear.

Zep hopped up on the raised edge of the roof, drew his hands close over his heart and looked at the gold-flecked form of the demon. ‘Come and get me,' he said.

The demon's outline trembled, its form disintegrating until it was nothing but a snarl of particles, a terrible black wind. It raged over the rooftop in a shrill whistle, straight towards Zep. Vanessa watched, and for a moment she saw the Zep she'd first fallen in love with. The handsome boy who'd smiled at her as he walked up the stairs of the ballet theatre in Lincoln Center. The boy who had swept her away to the quiet streets of the West Village, where they'd sat, their knees touching as they laughed over their pizza. The boy who had taken her hand and run with her through the brisk autumn night into the studio, where they had danced in the darkness, their bodies tangling together as he bent over her in a soft kiss. The boy who'd helped her remember why she loved ballet.

There was a split second when Vanessa thought she saw Zep smile at her – and then his expression froze as the dark cloud enveloped him, seeping in through his skin, his lips, grasping at his throat.

A flash of red lit up the sky, and for a moment everything was silent.

All Vanessa could hear was the sound of her own breathing; all she could feel was the staccato beat of her heart.

‘I found her,' Zep said as his body began to crackle with light. He curled his fingers into fists and raised his arms. Then he turned to Vanessa, his expression soft. ‘This is my proof!' he called.

Vanessa knew then that the Zep she'd loved was real. He had been there all along. This was his way of atoning for his role in Josef's evil scheme, his final sacrifice. His gaze never left hers as he took one step backwards and tumbled off the rooftop.

With Justin and the twins beside her, Vanessa rushed to the roof's edge and looked down to where Zep lay, his body bent awkwardly on the pavement.

Vanessa turned away and sat down, her eyes closed, stunned.

‘Is it truly gone?' Nicholas asked.

‘Only one person can tell us the answer to that.' Justin put his hand on Vanessa's shoulder.

She felt for some hint of that other presence in her head, but there was nothing. ‘As far as I can tell, it's gone,' she said softly. ‘Zep killed himself and took it with him.'

‘He did it to save
you
,' Justin said.

Zep
, Vanessa thought. There had still been good inside him. Though he had done terrible things, she knew now that he had been telling the truth. He'd merely been a pawn, swept up in Josef's sinister plan.

‘There was nothing you could have done,' Justin said firmly. ‘He helped bring the demon into the world in the first place. This was his choice.'

Nicola stuffed her hands into her pockets and said, ‘Who was the
her
he mentioned?'

Vanessa was about to answer when they all heard a quiet pattering of footsteps. Someone else was here.

Nicholas snapped his flashlight beam around to the other side of the roof, and they saw a pair of eyes staring calmly at them.

Enzo.

He stepped forward, his long hair tied back, his face stony in the light from the torch. ‘The demon – have you already summoned it?' He stared directly at Vanessa. ‘We can still avenge your sister, Vanessa. There is still time –'

‘The demon is gone!' Vanessa called out, her eyes trained on Enzo. ‘Sent back.'

Enzo blinked rapidly. ‘I don't believe you,' he said, ‘I am sure that it –'

‘Believe it,' Vanessa said. ‘We took care of it.'

‘Only the Lyric Elite can make sure it is gone,' Enzo said.

‘You're not the Lyric Elite,' Justin said. ‘There is no Lyric Elite. Not any more.'

Enzo scanned the roof, his gaze resting on the twisted metal shards of the lamp in the centre of the pentagrams. ‘You are liars,' Enzo said, contempt in his voice. ‘There is no way you could have –'

‘Zep invited it in,' Justin said, interrupting. ‘And then he killed himself. Sorry you weren't able to make use of the demon – we know that was your plan, what you've wanted all along.'