Five: Out of the Pit (Five #2) (18 page)

Johnathan sat beside me and pulled me to him. I sobbed and allowed him to hold me until the memory of his betrayal resurfaced. I pushed him away and wiped the tears from my cheeks with a wince when my hands brushed across the bruised flesh. “Don’t.” I stared at the ground. “You don’t get to comfort me.”

“Paige—”

I interrupted Johnathan’s pleading and looked up at Alec. “Will you please portal me back to the house? I don’t think I have the energy to make it there on my own.”

He nodded, uncharacteristically silent.

I stood and held my hand out to him. He took it and we were standing in the kitchen of the house before I had time to blink.

I let a brief moment of dizziness pass before I walked wearily to the living room where Halli lay on the couch, Joe sitting in a chair next to her.

“How’s she doing?”

“Better. She’s asleep again. I made her drink a little chicken broth and so far she’s kept it down. How did things go?”

“Mostly as planned. They’re in the Netherworld. I hope they enjoy their stay.”

Seth and Johnathan came through the front door. They must have portalled into the yard. I turned and walked wearily toward my room.

“Where are you going?” Joe asked.

“To take a shower and get some much needed rest. Please, no one bug me until morning—late morning—unless it’s very, very important.”

There was no lock on my door, but I didn’t need one. I shot a locking spell at the doorknob. No one would be opening that door until I wanted it opened. I turned the shower as hot as I could stand it, then turned it up a little more. I scrubbed my skin nearly raw, paying particular attention to the areas Grease Ball had touched me. I’d never been so glad to see my toothbrush as I pulled it from my dusty backpack. I brushed my teeth, gargled, and repeated the process a few more times.

I found another silk shirt in the closet and put it on. Finally, I slid between the sheets of the most comfortable mattress I’d ever dreamed of. I sighed as my head sunk into the soft feather pillow and the down comforter settled over me.

I slept like the dead. The dead that are at peace, that is. Not the haunting, disturbed, confused dead that roam the Earth, looking for some sort of closure. It was the best, deepest, longest sleep I’d had since I left my parents’ home.

I awoke late the next morning to Halli’s quiet bathroom activities. I opened my eyes and smiled as the sun peaked around the edges of the closed blinds. I could see. I wondered if I would ever wake up again and not have that be my first thought.

Reluctantly, I crawled out from under the covers and stretched as I stood. When Halli left the bathroom, I went in and brushed my teeth and threw a ponytail in my hair before getting dressed. The bruises on my face had darkened overnight. I could see exactly where Grease Ball’s fingers had clamped down on the flesh of my cheeks. I shook my head, trying to push his image away.

Everyone sat around the large, curved kitchen island when I came in. There was a seat next to Johnathan and one next to Halli available. Johnathan looked at me expectantly. I sat next to Halli. A combination of savory aromas wafted toward me from where Joe stood at the stove. The smell of eggs, bacon, melting cheese, peppers, and sausage brought with it a flood of memories. My mom dancing around the kitchen, humming church hymns as she cooked Sunday brunch each week between services.

“Glad you could join us, Paige. What would you like in your omelet?” Joe flipped the eggs over in the pan.

“Mmm.” I looked at the options spread out before me. “Cheese, of course. And, bacon, tomatoes, and mushrooms.”

As Joe added the ingredients to the eggs, I turned to Halli. “How are you feeling?”

She smiled. “Okay. I’m still a little dizzy and my headache hasn’t gone away, but, at least I’m not throwing up anymore.” Her eye was nearly swollen shut, and her bruises had darkened overnight, too.

“Good.” I looked at Joe. “Is that about done? I’m starving.”

“Just about. Grab a plate so I can slide it on there.”

Joe and I were the last to finish eating. Everyone waited for us before we all moved to the living room and the comfort of the expensive couches there.

“Well,” Joe began. “The last several days have been eventful. Does anyone want to talk about it or have any questions I might possibly be able to answer?”

I asked something that had been bothering me all day. “How did Brone know we were here?”

“My best guess is he somehow traced Johnathan’s magic when he exploded the trees. He used a nuclear amount that would have telegraphed to any who were watching for it. How he figured out where the cave was, I don’t know.”

“Will he be coming for us, now?” Halli asked.

Joe shrugged. “Probably not yet. His magic is weak here. I’m sure he’ll send more of his minions after us, though, so we should all stay very alert and make sure you don’t go anywhere without another of the Five with you.”

I looked at Johnathan. He didn’t meet my gaze. He looked a bit uncomfortable, squirmy even.

“I have a question,” Alec said. “Do you really think I could be Trey’s offspring? I mean, we never really came to a conclusion on that.” I wondered if he changed the subject on purpose.

Joe looked down at his hands. “I’ve looked into it a little while you all have been out gallivanting. I’m still not positive, but it is a possibility. I don’t know how to prove or disprove it at this point, though.”

Alec looked frustrated at his answer. “Then at least tell us more about Merlin. If I am the son of an Incubus, I’d like to know more about one before me.”

“Okay,” Joe said, nodding his head. “I think I already told you he was the one who trained the first Five.”

We all nodded and Seth said, “Yeah… so, who were the first Five?”

Joe smiled. “Arthur, of course—”

“No way!” Seth cut him off. “
The
Arthur? Like, the sword in the stone guy?”

“Yep, the one and the same. King Arthur.”

“Well, don’t keep us in suspense. Who were the others?” Seth asked.

“Lancelot, Galahad, Gawain, and Guenevere… she was the only girl.”

Halli sat forward. “So, were there really all those problems over Guenevere?”

Joe shook his head. “No. Guenevere and Arthur belonged only to each other. Those stories evolved over the years to explain the downfall of the kingdom. Really, the Five fought together valiantly. They not only had the Fae and their allies to contend with, but dragons and sea creatures, too. Those were perilous times for the Five.”

My eyes widened at the prospect. “Dragons? They were real?”

“They were. And, still might be. They’ve been known to go into hibernation for hundreds of years before, when their numbers were diminished. Crazy times those were—but, I’m afraid we’re heading for some even crazier ones.”

We were all silent for a moment.

“How old are you, Joe?” Alec asked.

“Why?”

“Well, it seems like you mentioned before something about the
Quinae Praesidia
having long lives. I’m just wondering how long.”

Joe leaned back in his chair and looked up at the ceiling. “Well. I was born in 1655, so that makes me… three hundred fifty eight next month.”

I nearly choked on my own spit.

Halli was the first to recover enough to speak. “You’re kidding right? Just pulling our legs?”

Joe’s smile was sad. “No, Halli, I’m not kidding. And, I’ve been alone since Mia was killed in 1980.” He shook his head. “Another thing you all might find interesting is that you’ll all stay young—late teens, early twenties—until you’re the last one left. Then you age into adulthood in preparation to train the next Five.”

We were all silent. I wondered if the others were thinking the same thing I was—I didn’t want to be the last one. I didn’t want to go on without my friends. As disappointed and angry as I was with Johnathan right now, I couldn’t imagine life without him. Without any of them.

“Has there ever been a time when none of the Five survived?” I asked.

“Never. One has always survived to train the next group. Always.”

“This is depressing.” I stood and stretched. “What’re everyone’s plans today?”

Alec and Johnathan looked at each other.

“Me, Seth, and Johnny were thinking of going for a hike,” Alec answered. “We wanna check out some of the arches. Mariah told us which ones are the coolest.”

I tensed at the mention of Mariah. Not that I had anything against her, her name just reminded me of her blonde friend whispering in Johnathan’s ear. Touching his arm.
Kissing
his face.

Johnathan avoided my gaze. “We should probably get going if we want to be back before dark.” He looked up at me, eyebrows raised hopefully. “Do you and Halli want to come with us?”

I shook my head and averted my gaze from his, a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach as I thought about yesterday.

“Are you—”

“I’m sure,” I interrupted.

The boys shuffled to their rooms to gather their jackets, belts, and packs.

I looked at Halli. “What should we do today? Any ideas, Joe?”

Joe watched the boys disappear down the hall and then looked back at me. “I was thinking of going to check out the spot Brone appeared to your attacker. You two are welcome to come with me. I’ll show you the Elephant refuge. You should be able to feel something there if Dark Magic has taken place.”

“I’m in. How about you, Hal?”

“Heck yeah!”

The boys ran out the door, pushing each other as they went.

We took a little longer. We prepared a lunch to take with us and made sure we had plenty of water. Mostly we dawdled so the boys wouldn’t think we were following them. I washed my only extra T-shirt in the sink and hung it over the shower curtain to dry. Halli did the same with her dirty clothes.

We ended up leaving about an hour after the boys.

Even though there was a chill in the air, the sun was out and it felt good to be outside. Especially knowing we had a nice, warm house to return to at the end of the day. We walked to the entrance of the National Park; Joe paid the entrance fee and grabbed a map. We ended up not really needing a map, as Halli and I could both feel where our destination was. I wasn’t sure at first if it was the refuge pulling at us or the Dark Magic in the area. As we drew closer, it became evident it was the Dark Magic we felt. My skin crawled as if a million boring insects were just below the surface, burrowing deeper. Like walking face first into a spider web and then spending the rest of the day feeling like spiders crawled all over me. Or, like the time when, in the first grade, I found out half my classmates had lice. My head itched for days even though I never got them.

My stomach churned. My omelet worked against gravity and tried to come back up my throat. The sensation grew the closer we got.

“Breathe through it, girls. Concentrate on something good and pure and it’ll slip back out of the forefront of your consciousness,” Joe instructed.

I took some slow, deep breaths and thought about Mr. Grewa. The teacher I’d only known a few short weeks had made a huge impact on me. He’d also sacrificed his life for mine. He was a truly good person. Joe was right, the dark feelings receded.

I stepped off into the sand and brush, even though the Ranger had told us not to leave the gravel pathways. The trail we followed was mostly invisible and took precedence over the rules at this point in time. We stopped long enough to gaze up at the elephant shaped rocks. Joe pointed out to us where the entrance to the refuge was. The same as with the Easter Island rocks in Cowiche Canyon, we had to open our
sight
to be able to see it.

“The entrance to this one is where the ‘trunk’ of the rock that looks most like an elephant is melded to the ‘leg’,” Joe explained. “There isn’t an obvious crevasse there, but with the
sight
you can see the entrance. We won’t go in today; I don’t want to take any chances that someone might see us and figure out it’s a refuge.”

We bypassed the elephant rock and followed the invisible path to a hidden little valley out of sight of the main trail and the Double Arch. I could instantly see the scars on the earth where Dark Magic had been performed. More than once, from the look of things.

“This is definitely the place. Can you feel it Halli?” I whispered.

Halli nodded. “It’s dead. The ground here is dead. Not even sagebrush will grow here.” She looked up at Joe. “What was done to cause this?”

“I’m not sure. This reeks of Brone’s work, though. He has no thoughts for the Earth or the damage his Dark Magic causes. His projection spell isn’t the answer, though. That would have taken very little Earth energy. Something else has gone on here. Something big.”

I rubbed my hand over the back of my neck. “We need to find out. We need to know what he’s planning. Do you think it’s a coincidence he chose the same place we chose to come?”

“No.” Joe shivered. “I think this place was chosen by Brone long before we decided to come here. We were drawn here for a reason. A dark reason. This is where you’re needed, where the darkness is gathering. And, I agree, we need to figure this out.”

I thought for a moment. “So, why would he choose this place if his magic is weaker here, where there isn’t a lot of vegetation?”

Joe looked out over the destroyed area of land. “There are some places on Earth that are closer to the Netherworld. Where the barrier between realms is
thinner…
easier to break.” He looked back at me and then Halli, eyebrows drawn together. “We have to figure out what his plans are. We cannot let him succeed.”

“Yeah,” I whispered.

“Let’s get out of here—go somewhere else to eat our lunch and talk about this,” Halli said. “This place is making it hard for me to think.”

I nodded. We walked back out by the trail, away from the stomach churning evil of the dead zone. Joe opened up the map. “Where should we go to eat? The nearest picnic tables are here.” He pointed to an area about a mile down the trail.

“That’ll work,” I said.

Halli agreed and we headed out.

We easily found our way to the picnic area. The little cove was surrounded by tall red cliffs. The trail disappeared around the edge of the rock wall.