Dark Star (22 page)

“It’s okay,” I said, telling myself to keep calm. “Just—just get us back out.”

Iris didn’t answer.

“You can get us back out, right?”

I didn’t need a Knowing to read the fear on her face.

I clenched my hands into fists. “Right. Well, there has to be some way out of here.” I looked around. Getting out might be an option if I had any idea how we’d gotten in. I pressed one hand against what used to be a car, then drew it back quickly as the substance flaked beneath my touch. It left a reddish film on my fingers, which I rubbed onto my coat. Above, the sky with its sinister, menacing stars felt low and oppressive.

“No wonder demons are so cranky,” I said. “If I had to live here, I’d be in a bad mood too.”

“Demons don’t just live here. They live other places too. And there’s more to it than—this. This is just the surface, in a way. A sort of passageway, or entrance. I’ve heard there are other places. Layers. Entire worlds Beneath.”

“Come here often?” I joked.

Iris hugged her coat against her. “This is serious, Audrey. We shouldn’t be here.”

I nodded, scanning the area, trying to think. Mom and Leon hadn’t told me anything about the Beneath, or how to escape it. What I did know came from scraps of information Esther had let drop, and my hazy memories of Gram’s stories. None of it seemed very helpful. We were Beneath, between seconds and breaths, sun and shadow. The realm of the Old Race, long abandoned, corrupted by Harrower rage and gone to rot.

The realm of demons.

Everything I knew about Harrowers led me to believe they wouldn’t be very happy to see us here. Not to mention the fact that Iris had just killed one of them.

I turned back toward her. “How did you kill that thing? That couldn’t have just been training—Mom says most humans aren’t strong enough. I thought you weren’t a Guardian.”

In the red glow around us, Iris’s color was muted, her face vague, as though I were gazing at her through thick glass. She lifted her hand to the chain that circled her throat, resting one finger on the metal of the triple knot. “I’m not. I used this. It lets me share my boyfriend’s abilities. It’s made from his blood and skin.”

Temporarily distracted, I gaped at her. “Did you … seriously just tell me your necklace is made from your boyfriend’s skin?”

A giggle broke through her grim expression. “You should see your face.”

“You put that thing in my hand!”

“It’s not just that. It’s a special kind of metal, made by the Kin. It’s meant to enhance and preserve. He gave it to me for my birthday. As long as I have it, we’re connected.”

I couldn’t decide if that was sweet or creepy. Possibly both.

But it gave me an idea. “Connected enough that he could come get us out of here?”

Iris hesitated. “It doesn’t usually work both ways. And Kin powers don’t work well Beneath. We’d need …”

“We’d need a Harrower,” I finished for her.

Exactly what we didn’t want to see.

“Well, we can’t stay here,” I said, a lump of panic forming in my throat. I heard the edge of hysteria in my tone and struggled to contain it. “We need to get out somehow. And quickly.” Before something finds us, I thought.

Cautiously, quietly, I picked my way down the row of cars, surveying my surroundings, searching for movement. In the dim red light, every innocent shape appeared threatening. The ground beneath me shuddered again, and I noticed bits of scarred metal reaching up from dry, cracked soil. The buildings stood quiet, empty. All the doors were closed.

“What do you think we should do?” Iris whispered, following close on my heels.

Stepping farther into the street, I looked up into the blank glare of the stars. I shivered. It was cold here—not the cold of an icy Minnesota winter, but a chill that went deeper. I turned to Iris, swallowing thickly. I kept my voice low. “Do you think you could fight another Harrower?”

“I wouldn’t necessarily need to fight it. Just touch it—if it’s one that’s strong enough to breach the Circle. But I’m not sure I could handle one here.”

“There has to be something we can—”

The ground shifted suddenly, thrusting upward, knocking me from my feet.

“Dammit,” I complained. As I hauled myself upright, I saw a trace of blood on my palms.

Iris stared at me in horror.

“You can’t bleed here.”

Something sharp and metallic had dug itself in the skin of my left hand. I removed it gingerly, then drew back quickly as pain raced up my arm. I looked at Iris.

“Does blood attract demons?”

I had a sudden, terrible vision of Harrowers swimming up out of the night like sharks.

Iris tugged her scarf free from her coat, pushing it toward me to cover my hands. “You’re the daughter of Morning Star,” she whispered. “This place knows you, Audrey. It knows your blood.”

Around us, the air rippled. The doors of every car blew open in unison, metal screeching in our ears, then slammed shut. A loud, unearthly keening rose up, filling my senses. Like some kind of alarm system for the Beneath.

Or some kind of awakening.

Iris and I stared at each other, our breath clouding the air. Red stars burned above us. I twisted about, searching the street for movement. The sky fractured once more. There was a flash of light, a moment of darkness. My surroundings shifted again, colors vanishing, leaving everything a pale, deathly gray.

Then, as abruptly as it had begun, the keening stopped.

I turned back toward Iris. “What just happened?” I asked, a tremor in my voice.

But Iris didn’t answer.

She was no longer there.

***

Alone, I turned in slow, uncertain circles. The street had disappeared. Gone were the buildings, the skeletal cars, the knotted trees. There were no stars, no hint of sky. Cold, colorless sand shifted beneath me when I took a step, swallowing up my footprints. Everything was muted and dim. The only color that remained was the blue of my coat, the blood on my hands. Somewhere, a wind was blowing.

I called out for Iris, but my voice sounded harsh and loud in the echoing stillness. There was no response. I fell silent, worrying what else might hear me. What else might answer.

I told myself to remain calm. Panic wouldn’t serve me. I needed to think. Harrowers moved out from Beneath, so there was a way. They crept out in places where the fabric was thin, pushing through the Circle and into the city. There would be some path to follow. There had to be.

But around me was only wasteland, emptiness spreading outward, dry, dead earth below the cold sand. I took a step forward, then another. Though I had no clear direction in mind, progress felt important. I walked, and kept walking; minutes, hours—I wasn’t certain how long. I simply moved, stopping on occasion to check if my surroundings had altered, if I could discover some sign, anything that might point the way. Nothing changed. The emptiness continued around me unbroken. Briefly, I considered trying to reach out with my Knowing, but something told me I shouldn’t try that here. I remembered Gram telling me there were places it was best not to look.

Even as I thought that, awareness crept over me. Not a Knowing. Something physical. The sort of awareness that makes your skin prickle and your heart freeze. I halted, barely breathing. I knew what that awareness meant.

This space was not mine, and it did not welcome me. But it wanted me.

In the stillness that surrounded me, the emptiness breathed. Something here was alive. Something old and angry, watchful, ravenous. It didn’t have shape or name. But it knew me. Knew I was Kin. Knew my blood.

I turned, feeling the wind on my neck. In the low light beyond me, nothing stirred, but that nothing was bitter, full of craving.

As I stood there, that emptiness spoke to me. It whispered that I was forgotten. That I was abandoned. It whispered that this was what it was like to be left behind in the void. What it was like to know grief, to know wrath, to feel nothing but horror and hate bubbling up inside you in the blank space that should have sheltered a heart. To feel corruption eating up the light within until corruption was all that remained. To decay.

You are going to die here, that stillness said. You are going to want to die.

It was then that I realized I was no longer alone.

The first Harrower approached leisurely. It didn’t walk upright, but crept, pulling itself forward, pausing, observing me. Here, Beneath, it had no need for disguise. I saw its face plainly. Gaunt flesh, silver and scaled, was pulled taut across its skull. Pale milk eyes blinked above an eager smile.

The second Harrower came slinking behind it.

I whirled, ready to flee, but I hadn’t taken more than a step before I stopped short. The third Harrower was closing in from behind. This one was farther away, but moving faster. The click of its talons upon the ground was rapid, restless. At its side, the fourth progressed at an uneven pace, cautious and watchful. The fifth was running.

After that, I stopped counting. I glanced from side to side, but no direction was safe. Others were approaching now, and others beyond those, a thick net tightening. The nearest were slow, methodical in their advance; those farther away came hurtling across the distance, all of them moving closer, closer.

I knew, in that moment, that the voice had been right. I was going to die. I felt it with a certainty so deep that it pushed me beyond hope, beyond fear, beyond helplessness. For just a moment, I closed my eyes. I thought of Gram’s voice, soft as she bent to whisper secrets. I thought of Mom sitting beside me in sweet summer grasses, leaning back to point out the moon. I remembered Gideon hitting a baseball up over the roof of my house, how it rolled so far we’d never found it.

These are the things I’ll take with me, I thought.

I opened my eyes as the first demon reached me. I didn’t scream when I felt its claws.

I fought.

I wasn’t strong like my mother. No Guardians powers surged through my veins, no sudden swiftness to dodge blows, to counter and evade. No lights glowed beneath my fingertips. When the demon caught the side of my neck, I felt my flesh tear. Warm blood oozed onto my coat and steamed in the chill. But I fought. Frenzied, uncaring, I grappled with the demon, thrusting it away from me and then rushing it, my hands seeking its throat. If I was going to die, I wasn’t going to die easy.

The Harrower’s skin was cold and hard. My nails couldn’t pierce it, but I squeezed, digging my fingers as far as I could. This demon wasn’t as strong as the others I’d seen, but it was strong enough. It tossed me backward and then launched itself against me. All around me, I heard the sounds of talons click-click-clicking upon the ground. I rolled away as the demon sunk its claws into my arm. I didn’t register pain. My hands went for its throat again, wild, ineffectual, unable to break its skin.

Teeth, I thought. Teeth might puncture it.

From somewhere above, I heard a man’s rich chuckle and then a familiar voice, lightly accented, warm with amusement. “This vicious streak of yours is quite becoming, but it’s like to get you killed. Allow me, please.”

The demon was wrenched from my grasp. A silver form blurred past, dragging the Harrower with it. The two figures tumbled beyond my vision, and I heard a sudden, sickening snap.

I jumped to my feet and a hand caught at my elbow. Spinning wildly, I brought my arm up to fling away my attacker. Human fingers caught my wrist in a firm grip.

“Audrey,” a low voice breathed.

Then there were hands on my shoulders, big hands, gripping me tightly. There were arms I knew, and white shirtsleeves, and a tie blown about in the wind. Dazed, uncertain, I looked up into dark blue eyes and an anxious face. Leon.

He drew me against him, wrapping an arm around my waist. “I’ve got you,” he whispered, and I felt an instant of dizzy relief, even as the chaos roared around us.

Nearby, the other man’s voice said, “No time for reunions, I’m afraid. We need to leave. You’ve attracted the wrong sort of attention, and the locals here aren’t friendly.”

Before I could respond, Leon tightened his grip on me, his other arm curving around my back. As I looked up, I caught the briefest glimpse of Harrower faces, dozens beyond us, a tide pushing forward. Some running, some creeping. Red teeth gleaming.

“Definitely time to go,” the unseen man said.

A cold hand slid into mine. I sucked in a breath—and darkness closed in around me.

Exiting the Beneath was not like entering it.

As that thick darkness engulfed my senses, the hand tugged me forward. Leon’s arms remained securely around me, but I felt the ground give way beneath us. My throat was hot. I smelled blood. All around me were small explosions of sound. I heard music, and whispers, and a harsh, braying laughter. I caught the cries of animals—wolf howls and the hum of bees and the swift drumbeat of a bird heart. A high, broken wail found its way beneath my skin and settled there, so mournful and wild that I tried to pull back, to shake free of the hand that grasped me. The wind rose up, tearing its way into my lungs.

Then we were out.

I hadn’t fallen. The sidewalk was solid under my feet, gray cement wet with snow in an empty street yellowed by lamplight. My hand had been freed, but Leon’s arms held firm. Above, the sky was dark with clouds, but here and there starlight pushed through. I didn’t move. I didn’t react to the pressure of Leon’s hands against me, sliding down my arms, turning my wrists so he could see the cuts on my palms still burning red. I didn’t react to him brushing the hair back from my face, or tugging me against him.

Then, finally, his voice broke through.

He was speaking.

He was saying my name.

He was telling me I was all right.

Relief washed through me, making my knees watery. Leon’s arm curved around my back. I leaned forward, resting against his shoulder. I told myself I would stay there only a second, but for that second, I simply stood and breathed.

Nearby, the other man spoke. “There now. Back in the land of the mostly living, with all limbs attached and in their proper positions. Nothing to it.”

I pulled away from Leon and turned toward the voice. The man stood a short distance from us, his blond hair dusted with snow. Recognition sparked. I knew this man. Though I hadn’t seen him clearly, I’d met him twice before. I recalled those green eyes and the trace of laughter in his tone. It was the same man who had rescued me outside the Drought and Deluge.