Path of Night Read online

  He shivered, alone on the mountain as the snow fell. He should have known it was the wolf.

  “Nobody’s coming for you. Nobody cares that you’re here. You will die alone. There will be nothing left, no sign in any world that you ever existed. Not a drop of scarlet blood seen on the snow, not a child’s cry heard on the wind, not a whisper, not a tear. You’ll be nothing.”

  Amalia bared her teeth.

  “Or you can come with me.”

  “Please,” Nick said. “Anything but that.”

  “Anything?” said the other, darker voice. “You were never good enough. But you could be evil enough for anybody.”

  There was an escape from being nothing. All he had to do was listen to the voice of his own worst impulses, the urge to cruelty he’d been born with. Under the blood moon, the chosen of the wolf, close enough for Satan to whisper in his ear, and it was inevitable that he’d do something terrible. Why fight it?

  Let Lucifer have his way. Everything Nick had ever faked could be made true.

  In the heart of hell, Nick tried for grace and found it out of reach.

  Only one thing was in reach. Nick put out his hand, and his trembling fingers curled around the bars of the cage door.

  He shoved the door wide open.

  The birds surrounded me in a flock of silver whispers. I was airborne, and then the water had me. Icy shock enveloped me. I nearly dropped the scepter, almost panicked. I’d come close to drowning once before.

  All the times I’d almost died taught me I could survive. I hung suspended in the water, breathing through the pearl in my throat. My eyes adjusted, shapes materializing in the shadows. From black and gray, the waters changed to dark green shot through with sunlight. The birds were with me, needlepoints in the dark, silver gleams suspended in the gold rays piercing the water.

  A monster loomed at me out of the darkness. A ghost-pale shark, sleek white skin and bared hungry teeth. Behind the teeth was a waiting abyss. I turned it to ash in the water and swam down. I was in deep, and I’d go as deep as I needed to.

  “All this for a liar,” the birds said. “It’s not too late to turn back.”

  Theo said I could make a friend of the birds if I made a friend of the truth.

  I let out a deep breath. Silver ripples moved the birds, like watching the currents change.

  I’d lied to my mortal friends all my life. I’d even lied to Nick sometimes. It wasn’t the same as Nick’s lies for Satan, but I’d felt so guilty, and I knew I’d hurt them. I tried to make up for it, yet sometimes trying to make up for lies made the truth worse. My friends still loved me.

  My aunts and my cousin had performed dark devotions for the Dark Lord, and lied they’d never been asked, as if that meant escape from what they’d done. My family still loved me. My family had leaped at Lucifer, knives out for their god, in my defense.

  If we love each other as much as we can, if we try as hard as we can … surely there’s a chance everything will work out.

  Nick had lied so much and tried so hard to make up for it. To my mind, that was more than enough.

  “He did lie. It does matter. But something else matters more.”

  My words were bright bubbles, floating away. I watched the last bubble travel down, down, down, and the birds followed it. Making a silver trail of bread crumbs for me.

  I dived to the bottom of the coldest and deepest lake. Another demon came for me, a drowned girl with a resemblance to me in her rotting face. I threw fire through the water and watched her face sink in and her ashes float away.

  There were no stones or fish in this lake. There was only a gleaming surface, as though at the end of the lake was a black mirror. The light of the silver birds and my golden scepter was reflected there. I saw another gleam, pale and faint. I swam closer, my hand grasping the scepter so tight it hurt, then realized the gleam was only my own face.

  Or was it?

  I reached out with my free hand. Mirrors weren’t the only things that reflected. Perhaps there was another lake under this one, a lake of darkness. The Lady’s true lake. The resting place for the true grail.

  I plunged my hand into darkness and drew out a golden cup. Then I waited.

  I had the grail, the jewel, the sacred bough, and the cloak of feathers. I should find the Lady. But my friends had seen a shadow, a side profile, heard his voice. The veil between earth and hell must lift, for the Morningstar Princess. I wanted to see Nick.

  Where are you, Nick? You said we have a connection. I believe you.

  If we had a connection, I could make that a path to follow. Through the connection, I could pull him toward me.

  Every night I dreamed of seeing and saving him. The boy who sacrificed himself for me. It was all my fault. I had to make this right.

  I lifted the golden scepter and struck out at the darkness. A crack appeared along the lake bed, a line in the darkness that flashed pale.

  Peering through that break in the dark, I saw a face lifted up to mine. A face I knew and loved to look at. Dark, watchful eyes. Lips parted, eager to speak or smirk. Not usually vulnerable, but—every now and then. For me.

  Nick.

  Steel gleamed against his skin, weight bowing his back. He was on his knees in chains, and I had to get him out.

  I would smash the dark mirror, tear the veil between earth and hell to shreds. I brought the scepter down again and again, in a frenzy of violence and whirling water. I tasted blood and ash in my mouth. Nothing could make me stop.

  A hand caught my next swing.

  Fingers encircled my wrist, warm and trembling in the cold waters. The touch was light, not demanding, but Harvey held on. I turned to him in horror, barely able to discern his face in the shadowy tumult of the lake. He shouldn’t be here. He was only mortal.

  I lifted my eyes, to the circle of light above. He belonged up there.

  When my gaze returned to him, Harvey was shaking his head, his hair tumbled by the current. I could see he was already struggling against the urge to breathe. His grip on my wrist was going slack.

  I slid my arm around him, not letting go of the scepter or the grail, but holding him, fragile and mortal and more precious to me than gold. I felt his heart hammer in his chest and his last breath sigh between us as I pressed my mouth on his and let the enchanted pearl pass from my lips to his.

  It wasn’t a kiss.

  When I drew away, Harvey was breathing, pearl caught in his throat and distant gold reflected in his steady eyes. The spell I’d murmured would save a witch from drowning, for a time. Not long.

  He should leave me down here in the dark, but he never would. It must be both of us, or neither.

  I had to go, but I didn’t want to. I could live as a mortal and a witch. I could save them both.

  Except Harvey’s arm warm around me reminded me that you had to reach somebody to save them. I couldn’t rescue Nick like this, any more than I could kiss a reflection in water. All I could do was stay, and stare, and fail my quest.

  A chill ran through me, colder than the icy waters. This was a trap I’d almost fallen into. I’d come so close to failing. I began to swim away, but I couldn’t bear to go just yet.

  The Lady’s warning echoed in my memory. Demons and death will threaten, but she must not falter, and she can never look back.

  Before I could think again, I turned to catch one last glimpse of Nick. I strained desperately to see him, past the veil between heaven and earth, through the fracture in the dark.

  My mouth shaped his name. A silent promise. I wouldn’t leave him down there. I would never desert anyone I loved.

  Then I struck for the surface. I didn’t have the pearl anymore and my spell was failing, the lack of air burning my throat. The wet feathers of the cloak seemed to turn to lead, dragging us down.

  When our heads broke the surface of the water, I gasped frantically for breath. My limbs felt even heavier than the cloak. The cliff was high above, the lake stretching around with no shore in sight. We
sank down again, my lungs filling with water. I choked and flung up the hand holding the scepter, got my elbow up on the water as though it were solid as ice. I could pull myself up.

  The water was only water to Harvey, no handholds or landing possible. I remembered a safety lesson on swimming in Baxter High, and Ms. Wardwell saying that if people held on to each other, they would drown.

  I twined my other arm around Harvey, the golden cup pressing into his back. I’d drown rather than let him go. Magic could take both of us, or neither.

  When I tried to lift us both, this time it worked. Somehow Harvey was able to scramble up with me. We weren’t walking on water, but we knelt on the surface of the lake wrapped in each other’s arms.

  “Harvey,” I gasped against his cheek. “You shouldn’t have jumped.”

  Harvey whispered, “You did.”

  I curled in close, pressing my face down into the soaked hollow between his neck and shoulder. Then I heard the sound of footsteps, echoing as though the water were marble.

  I thrust my body protectively in front of Harvey’s. I was on my hands and knees gasping for breath, but I glared defiance up at the Lady.

  The Lady of the Lake, Eostre of the springtime, stood before us robed in shadow and light. Once again, sun and moon shared the same sky. Behind one of the Lady’s shoulders was darkness. Behind the other was clear day. She wore two feathers where her eyes should have been, one silvery bright and one the color of midnight.

  “Daughter of fallen angels and rising mortals, bring my gifts to me!”

  “In return, I demand what you promised. I want a way to save the man I …”

  The man I love. I still had my arm around Harvey. I could feel his warm breath, going uneven against my cheek.

  I did love Nick. I would shout that at the gates of hell or heaven. But it was hard to say it now, in front of Harvey. If hearing it might hurt him.

  Harvey cleared his waterlogged throat. “Nick Scratch.” He sounded exhausted. “The man I … am prepared to put up with.”

  “You’re sure that’s what you want?”

  “Yes!” I exclaimed.

  “Let me make you a different offer,” said the Lady of the Lake. “One shining princess to another. The dark days are coming for you, and a darker quest than this. When a void is created, the power of the void fills it. We minor gods linger on the edges of this world, but there are other gods. Older than worlds, devourers of the universe. The gates of heaven and hell barred them, but no longer. I will not be here when they come. You could go with me.”

  I hesitated. “Where are you going?”

  “Somewhere it is always bright, and never day,” replied the Lady. “A place where there is no sorrow, and no joy. You will forget both, and feel neither. It is your only chance of safety.”

  I looked down at my hands filled with magic, then up at Harvey. I shook my head. “Not even tempted.”

  “Then bring me my gifts,” said the Lady. “If you can.” I rose and walked across the shining waters. One last demon descended, and I was lost beneath the shadow of a great dragon.

  The short, sharp crack of a rifle rang out. The demon disappeared in a burst of ashes, leaving only a lick of flame upon the air. The fire didn’t burn the blue of balefire, but celestial gold.

  I twisted around and stared at Harvey. He grinned up at me. “Well done, ’Brina.”

  Did I do that? I must have.

  “Thanks for helping out.”

  Harvey nodded. “Thought it was worth a shot.”

  “You four insist on helping one another,” said the Lady. “My birds saw everything. Not only the birds. I watched you through so many eyes.”

  Her image was suddenly disrupted, like a reflection on a pool with a stone thrown into it. She became smoke, wings, a creature with too many eyes, a ghost girl, half a dozen faces I loved.

  “Was it all lies?” Harvey faltered. “Everything we went through, was it your illusion?”

  The Lady smiled at him. “It never is all lies. There’s always truth in illusion. Peace in war. Love in hate. You never get only one thing. Do you understand?”

  “I don’t,” Harvey told her.

  She said absently: “A time will come when you do.”

  “To be clear …”

  “As you always want to be …” murmured the Lady.

  “Would you have fed us to demons and turned our souls to birds?”

  “Naturally! The gods aren’t kind.”

  “Great,” Harvey muttered.

  The Lady’s focus shifted to me, like light moving on water. “Congratulations on escaping certain doom.”

  I shrugged. “Try attending two schools and staying top of the class.”

  The Lady of the Lake laughed, and the waters shivered.

  I walked under the light of sun and moon, under the falling ashes, to lay the Lady’s gifts at her feet. They spread before her, shining like dreams.

  She leaned and took up the cloak of feathers. When she shook the cloak out, the feathers were suddenly dry and shining. She drew the cloak about her slender shoulders and grasped the scepter. Then she reached for the cup. I caught her wrist, as Harvey had caught mine.

  “Saving Nick is possible.”

  Light and shadows swayed as the Lady nodded. “Everything is possible, but everything has a price.”

  “I’ll pay.”

  “Be sure you will,” whispered the Lady. “Ask yourself again, later. If it was worth the price. When the Queen of Hell closes a gate, the devil’s daughter will open a window. I see the window frame now, looking out upon Pandemonium. Many ways are opening.”

  The only way I cared about was the way to Nick.

  “Soon?” I begged, my voice trembling. “Will the path to Nick open soon?”

  The Lady touched my face. Her fingertips were as cool as water.

  “Soon,” she promised.

  “And you’ll give me what I need to save him?”

  “Will I?” the Lady murmured. “Morningstar Princess. Did you really succeed in your quest? No wavering of faith? No lie before a truth? No betrayal of love? No looking back?”

  I recalled the last glimpse I’d stolen of Nick and crossed my fingers behind the golden surface of the grail. “No.”

  The Lady’s laughter sang out like a bird. “You fiendish liar. Princess of Lies. I told you not to help each other, and never to look back.”

  “Why shouldn’t we help and look for each other?” I demanded. “What’s the point of a quest without love?”

  “The point is to test you.” The Lady’s voice crashed down on me like a wave. “You told lies, broke rules, hurt people. You loved too many and demanded too much. Can you truly say you are worthy?”

  I fought back tears. “I’ve decided I’m worthy,” I said. “Nobody gets to decide that but me.”

  “And your companions?” asked the Lady. “Are they worthy? All five of you?”

  “Five!” I exclaimed.

  The Lady laughed. “Of course,” she murmured. “Your paramour is being tested too. Is Nick Scratch worth saving?”

  “I’m sure he is. I’m sure of them all,” I said. “As sure as I am of my own heart.”

  “Are you sure of your heart? What did you call yourself once?”

  “The Dark Lord’s sword,” I whispered.

  “What are you, Sabrina Spellman, Morning Star on the Path of Night?”

  A rush of water came sparkling into her hand, like a waterfall in reverse. Clear liquid shaped itself into a sword, diamond bright. The Lady rushed at me.

  I shouted: “I am no one’s sword but my own!”

  She smiled a bright merciless smile and brought the sword down.

  A blade shouldn’t be afraid of a blade. I refused to be afraid of anything. I accepted the sword, and accepted myself. On my knees with a sword hurtling down toward me, I performed a magic trick. I swallowed the sword. I felt the blade burn its way through me.

  “I agree that you are more than worthy,” murmured
the Lady of the Lake. “Princess Sabrina, I give you all you will need in hell. Your own flawed self.”

  Swallowing the blade had hurt, but transformation always did. You can’t have light without burning. I felt myself become one with the sword, my purpose sure as steel. I knelt on the surface of the lake, and around me the waters shone.

  The Lady of the Lake closed her fingers around one handle of the golden cup. She used the grail to scoop water from her lake. In the gold-touched depths I saw both sun and moon reflected. The Lady lifted the grail to her lips and drank deep.

  The water seemed to become the sky and the sky the water, the world reversing. The cloak of feathers billowed out for one final flight. The Lady leaped into the white lake of the moon.

  A ripple ran through the world, and the goddess was gone. The waters moved beneath us, fragile balance disrupted, and Harvey and I were pitched back into the lake. Over the side of the white cliffs, a rope was hurled.

  The rope was made from leaves and vines, a flannel shirt and feathers. Our friends’ faces peered from the edge of the cliff.

  “Hey, guys!” called Theo. “I asked the birds to help us make a rope. Think it’s mostly working on faith, so you’d better get up here quick.”

  “You first,” I told Harvey.

  “No, you.”

  “I’m the leader!”

  “I’m gonna drop rocks on both your heads,” said Theo.

  I sighed, grasped the end of the rope, and climbed up the cliff face slowly. I didn’t think I had a drop of magic left.

  When I reached the top, Roz took me in her arms, rubbing my chill limbs and my back. Harvey scrambled up onto the ground, then picked up his dry jacket and settled it on my shoulders.

  He put his arm around Roz. I drew the jacket tight around me.

  The cliff was sinking gradually down into the earth, the lake drying up until it was nothing but a shimmer in the air.

  “Quest accomplished?” Theo asked.

  “I …” I said. “I think so.”

  We high-fived.

  “Did you see Nick?” Roz asked, with concern.

  “I did see him,” I said eagerly. “I—I’m sure it was him.”