The Stone Demon (22 page)

One more night before dawn—before Imbolc and Demian’s deadline.

Rachel opened the door, but the expression on her face wasn’t one of happy greeting. Her mouth was set in a grim line as she pulled them inside.

“Where have you been? The Demon King is here.”

Donna’s heart thudded. “He’s early. We still have time.”

“I know,” her mother replied. “I think he’s just playing with us, but he’s been asking for you.”

Xan tried to restrain her, fear clouding his eyes.

Donna touched his face with one gloved hand. “He won’t hurt me,” she said. “Let’s just get this over with.”

A voice called out from behind them. “Did you forget something?”

She stopped in her tracks, then turned around. Very slowly.

“Newton. What a pleasant surprise this is.”

Nav’s face reflected the demon’s displeasure. “You left me behind.”

Donna smiled. “I do believe you’re pouting.”

Newton leaned against the door jamb. “I never pout. Luckily, I know how to travel fast—even in this clumsy body.” He hooked his (Navin’s) thumbs into the pockets of Nav’s familiar red and black biker jacket. “Nice jacket, though. Maybe I’ll keep it after everybody dies.”

Demian entered the hallway from one of the rooms off to the side. “Lovely place you alchemists have here,” he said, his tone conversational. “Ah, Newton. How good to see you again.”

“And you, Majesty,” Newton-Navin said. He didn’t sound all that sincere to Donna.

The Demon King raised his eyebrows and waved them all inside. “Shall we?”

Donna stood in the center of the Blue Room and stared at the gathered alchemists: at her family, her friends (even if one of them was currently possessed by a slightly unhinged demon), and finally at Demian’s cruel beauty. She’d had enough. War was almost upon them, and there were only a few hours left before the Demon King’s deadline.

Quentin Frost stood beside Simon, watching her with concern. Maker had finally joined them and was sitting in his wheelchair, looking old and tired. Aunt Paige’s face was white as bone, as if she believed the end of the world was pretty much upon them right that very second. And her mother … Rachel actually seemed calm. Her gray eyes were also filled with pride. Miranda stood further back, with a small group of alchemists whom Donna didn’t know.

Newton-Navin was watching her with a predatory, almost feral gaze. “What are you thinking, little alchemist?”

Donna laughed bitterly. “Even though you’re not really Nav, you seem to know me the best.”

Newton raised Navin’s eyebrow. “He’s still in here, princess. I’m just not letting him speak. He really is quite upset … ”

“He’s not the only one. I
had
hoped that Simon could undo at least one crappy thing he was responsible for.”

The Magus scowled. “I am not responsible for the Shar-
ma boy breaking into my laboratory—again—and actually letting a demon, of all creatures, take over his body. You’re on your own.”

Demian took a step forward. “Newton will be home soon enough.”

Xan caught her gaze, steering her away from Simon, Demian, and from all the others in the room. “Donna, there must be a way around this. You always find a way.”

“I used to think I could do anything if I put my mind to it,” Donna replied in a low voice. “Now? I’m not so sure. I need to get into the Otherworld to find the Gallows Tree, otherwise everything I’ve done so far will be for nothing.”

“If you give up, what kind of message does that send?” Xan nodded in Demian’s direction. “To
him
, I mean.”

“Who said anything about giving up?” Donna ignored everybody else and stepped into Xan’s arms. She reached up and kissed him, holding him close and tracing the curve of his lips with hers. His temporary wings closed around her, shielding them from the room full of people.

Donna wondered if he knew she might be saying good-
bye.

Xan’s mouth opened against hers. He tasted of tobacco and mints. He tasted of the sun, and she pressed herself closer, trying to lose herself in his warmth, wanting to shut out the rest of the world if only for a moment. His hands cupped her face and he made a sound in the back of his throat. Donna wanted to hear him make it again so she kissed him harder, put more of herself into it and tried to tell him everything she wanted to say with a single kiss. This was her moment with Xan, just in case. Just in case her plan didn’t work.

Yeah, it was a reckless plan, but wasn’t that what Queen Isolde had said about her? Something about how Donna was unpredictable. Chaotic. Something about a death wish.
Fine
, she thought.
Let me hold tightly to all of that and use it
.

She pulled away from Xan and looked once more into his now-glowing eyes. Their inhuman inner light shone viridian-bright and she tried to smile. Turning her back on him, Donna walked to the center of the room.

Xan looked ready for action, but she refused to involve anyone else in this hopeless quest. Not any more. She was still missing two of the ingredients needed to make the Stone, and it was time to do something about it. She knew what she had to do. Of course, knowing it and
doing
it were completely different things, but she had to try. There wasn’t anything else left.

She was done playing nice. Now she was playing for keeps.

Donna felt something new shift inside her. It was like a creature unfolding its wings in her heart, testing them for strength before venturing into the sky. A little like Xan and
his
quest for wings … but maybe she could find her own somewhere deep within.

Her fingers curled around the hilt of the Ouroboros Blade, where she had slipped it inside her coat pocket. She was glad for her gloves. Glad that she didn’t have to feel the tug on her soul as her fingers gripped the cold, carved bone.

Maker tried to get out of his chair.

Demian moved toward her as she whipped out the blade, but he was too late. They all were.

Donna wrapped her other hand around the hilt, lacing her fingers together for a better grip, and plunged the wicked black blade deep into her gut. A gasp of surprise escaped her lips as she fell to her knees.

If she had to die to save the world, then that’s what she would do. She could only hoped that she survived it.

The first thing she felt was pain.

And then there was nothing.

Twenty

D
onna fell.

A rush of air cold enough to make my teeth hurt.

The sound of wings.

A kaleidoscope of color circling around me like a halo.

She tried to process all these things as the world moved—or perhaps she was the one moving—and she arrived back on solid ground.

Here, at the entrance to the Otherworld, everything was blanketed by a blue-gray mist that wound around and above the jagged treetops. The smell of sulphur hit her hard, along with a spicy mixture of decay and burnt flesh.

This was no special effect. This was real.

Donna lay on the hard earth beneath twisted trees. Every muscle in her body hurt. How could she be so tired? She looked up at the few remaining dead trees that trailed jagged branches above her face. She took an experimental breath, wondering if it was still necessary to breathe in the Underworld.

“Aren’t I dead?” she wondered aloud.

“You’re not dead yet, little alchemist,” an amused voice replied.

Donna rolled onto her side, her heart pounding. “Newton?”

Newton stepped forward, still in Nav’s body, and offered her his hand. Donna didn’t hesitate, allowing him to help her up onto her feet.

She frowned. Something wasn’t right. Well, apart from the fact that she was in the Otherworld. Then she realized what it was.

“My hands hurt.” She automatically went to pull off her gloves, but realized that she wasn’t wearing them any more. “Oh.” Donna frowned, watching her tattoos glittering in the sickly yellow light. She swallowed. “What’s wrong with the sky?”

Newton shrugged. “Nothing. It’s the sun making it look like this.”

“Hell has a sun?”

“The Otherworld sun is made of iron,” he replied, as though it should be obvious.

“How can the sun be made out of iron?” Donna turned around, trying to take in her surroundings.

“The Demon King manifests a vision of Hell that he finds the most … comfortable. Demian has always been fascinated by the Aztecs. He probably stole the iron sun from them. You don’t expect demons to be
original
, do you?” Newton leaned toward her, lowering his voice to a conspiratorial whisper. “Our lord and master has always lacked imagination, you know.”

Donna shook her head. It was crazy. She was in Hell, talking to a demon walking around in the body of her best friend. She touched her stomach, for the first time remembering that she’d stabbed herself.

There was no wound. Her clothes weren’t even ripped. But she could still remember the sensation as the blade sliced through flesh.

“How can you say I’m not dead?” she demanded. “I’m not even injured. This can’t be my true body.”

Newton smiled benevolently. “You have much to learn.”

“What kind of an answer is that?”

“The only one you’re going to get.”

She glared at him. “Fine. Why are you even here?”

And then her heart sort of jumped and her gut clenched with sudden fear. Not for herself—she was way beyond being scared for herself.

“You’re really here? In Navin’s body?” Blood pounded in her ears.

Newton held his arms out on either side. “As you see.”

“You brought my best friend into Hell?! What are you doing?” She advanced on him. “How
could
you?”

Newton stood his ground, though his expression turned wary. It was the same look Navin got whenever Donna started talking about magic or elves or demons. “Quite easily, thank you very much. I have every right to go home. I’ve been a prisoner long enough.”

“But … what about Navin?”

“You can hit me if it would make you feel better,” Newton said.

Oh, how she wanted to. But, of course, she couldn’t hit the demon without hurting Nav.

“How did you get here?” she asked. “I thought you couldn’t get home?”

“I clicked my heels together and said—”

“Stop it! Stop acting like this is all a big joke. I just stabbed myself. I’m in Hell to find a piece of
fruit
. And you dragged my best friend down here with us.” She stopped, trying to calm her breathing. “Just answer the question. For once. Please?”

Newton narrowed his eyes, which looked wrong because it just wasn’t a Nav expression.

“Very well, Miss Grumpy Pants. I followed you. When you killed yourself—” He gave Donna a fierce look to stop her from interjecting. “Yes, you did kill yourself, but you’re not quite dead. Not yet.”

“So, when I … did that, what did
you
do?”

“I followed. It was simple because Demian was too busy watching you to notice little old me, and by stabbing yourself with the Ouroboros Blade—nice move, by the way, didn’t think you had it in you … ” He stopped speaking and raised his hand for a high five.

Donna ignored his hand and waited for him to continue explaining.

“Oh, be like that.” Newton rolled “his” eyes. “When you stabbed yourself, you opened a door to the Otherworld and pitched yourself through it. I followed. Shame you had to land us so far away from where you
want
to be. Top marks for entry, not so good on positioning. Know what I mean?”

“I’m getting the picture,” she said.

“There are so many more interesting places we could be right now,” he complained. “The Wailing Bridge, the Plain of Sorrows. You practically dumped us in the middle of nowhere.”

Donna glared at him. “I hardly did it on purpose. Anyway, why are you still in a human body? In Navin’s body? Shouldn’t you have turned back into … I don’t know … your true self once you came home?”

Newton glanced away, looking almost embarrassed. “Yes, well. I have to admit that I thought I’d leave this body as soon as I stepped through the door you’d opened. I did everything right. Of course, I didn’t know quite what would happen for sure, but it seemed a pretty good theory.” His expression turned mournful. “Maybe my own body is lost … ”

Donna had had enough. She picked a direction and began following the line of blasted trees, heading toward what looked like open space and walking away from Newton. He would either come with her or he wouldn’t. She secretly hoped he
would
follow, what with the tiny issue of him still wearing her best friend’s face, but she was just so tired. And scared.

And, now she came to think of it, pretty hungry too. Dying was hard work.

Newton immediately caught up to her and kept talking. “I thought you wanted me to explain?”

“You’re taking too long.” Donna kept walking.

He huffed slightly beside her. “This body is quite unfit, you know,” he said again.

She almost smiled, but quickly stopped herself. She would not be disloyal to Nav and laugh at any of this creep’s jokes.

“Donna,” Newton said, sounding slightly plaintive.