Beautiful Darkness
Page 56
"Hel o. We're already underground." Link didn't take his eyes off the Vex.
"Not the kind of Underground I'm talking about."
"What does it want with us?" Link risked a glance down the street, mental y calculating the distance to Exile.
The Vex began to move, dissolving into mist and back into shadow again.
"I think we're about to find out." I squeezed Liv's hand, trembling in my own.
The black fog, the Vex itself, thrust forward like angry open jaws. And a sound, loud and shril , erupted from deep within. It was impossible to describe -- fierce and menacing like a roar, but terrifying like a scream. Lucil e hissed, her ears flattening against her head. The sound intensified, and the Vex reared back, rising above us as if it was planning to attack. I pushed Liv to the ground and tried to shield her body with mine. I covered my neck, like I was about to be devoured by a grizzly bear instead of a body-snatching Demon.
I thought about my mom. Was this how she felt when she knew she was about to die?
I thought about Lena.
The scream reached a crescendo, and I heard another sound rising above it, a familiar voice. But it wasn't my mother's, or Lena's.
"Dark Demon a the Devil, bend to Our wil and leave this place!" I looked up and saw them standing behind us under the lamplight. She was holding a string of beads and bone in front of her like a crucifix, and they were gathered around her, glowing and luminous, with purpose in their eyes.
Amma and the Greats.
I can't explain what it was like to see Amma and four generations of the spirits of her ancestors towering above her, like the faces from old black and white pictures. I recognized Ivy from the visions, her dark skin gleaming, dressed in a high-necked blouse and calico skirt. But she looked more intimidating than she had in the visions, and the only one who looked fiercer stood to her right, her hand on Ivy's shoulder. She had a ring on every finger, and she was wearing a long dress that looked like it had been stitched from silk scarves, with a tiny bird embroidered on the shoulder. I was staring at Sul a the Prophet, and she made Amma look about as harmless as a Sunday school teacher.
There were two other women, most likely Aunt Delilah and Sister, and an old man, his face punished by the sun, standing in the back with a beard that would've put Moses to shame. Uncle Abner. I wished I had some Wild Turkey for him.
The Greats tightened their circle around Amma, chanting the same verse again and again, in Gul ah, the original language of her family. Amma repeated the same verse in English, shaking the beads and bone, shouting to the heavens.
"Of Vengeance and Wrath, Bind the Suspended, Hasten his path."
The Vex rose even higher, the fog and shadow circling and swirling above Amma and the Greats. Its scream was deafening, but Amma didn't even flinch. She closed her eyes and raised her voice to meet the demonic cry.
"Of Vengeance and Wrath, Bind the Suspended, Hasten his path."
Sul a raised her bracelet-laden arm, spinning a long stick with dozens of tiny charms dangling from it, back and forth between her fingers. She took her hand from Ivy's shoulder and rested it on Amma's, her glowing, translucent skin glimmering in the darkness. The second her hand touched Amma's shoulder, the Vex let out a final gnarled cry and was sucked into the void of the night sky.
Amma turned to the Greats. "I'm much obliged."
The Greats disappeared, as if they had never been there at al .
It probably would've been better if I had disappeared with the Greats, because one look at Amma's face made it clear that she had only saved us so she could kil us herself. We would've had better odds against the Vex.
Amma was seething, her eyes narrow and focused on her main targets, Link and me.
"V. E. X. A. T. I. O. N." She grabbed us by our col ars at the same time, as if she could have thrown us up the Doorwel behind her with a single toss. "As in, trouble. Worry. Agitation. Botheration. Need me to go on?"
We shook our heads.
"Ethan Lawson Wate. Wesley Jefferson Lincoln. I don't know what business the two a you think you have down in these Tunnels." She was shaking her bony finger as she pointed at us. "You don't have a lick a sense between you, but you think you're ready to be battlin' Dark forces."
Link tried to explain. Big mistake. "Amma, we weren't tryin' to battle any Dark forces. Honest. We were just --"
Amma advanced, that finger barely an inch from Link's eyes. "Don't you tel me. When I get through with you, you're gonna wish I'd told your mamma about what you were doin' in my basement when you were nine years old." He backed up until he hit the wal behind him, next to the Doorwel . Amma matched him step for step. "That story's as sad as the day is long."
Amma turned to Liv. "And you're studyin' to be a Keeper. But you don't have any more sense than they do. Knowin' what you do and stil lettin' these boys drag you into this dangerous business. You're in a world a trouble with Marian." Liv slunk down a few inches.
Amma whipped around to face me. "And you." She was so angry she was talking with her jaw clenched. "You think I don't know what you're up to? You think because I'm an old woman, you can fool me? It'l take you three lifetimes before you can sel me a raft that doesn't float. Soon as Marian told me you were down here, I found you straightaway." I didn't ask her how she'd found us. Whether it was chicken bones or tarot cards or the Greats, she had her ways. Amma was the closest thing I'd ever seen to a Supernatural without actual y being one.
"Not the kind of Underground I'm talking about."
"What does it want with us?" Link risked a glance down the street, mental y calculating the distance to Exile.
The Vex began to move, dissolving into mist and back into shadow again.
"I think we're about to find out." I squeezed Liv's hand, trembling in my own.
The black fog, the Vex itself, thrust forward like angry open jaws. And a sound, loud and shril , erupted from deep within. It was impossible to describe -- fierce and menacing like a roar, but terrifying like a scream. Lucil e hissed, her ears flattening against her head. The sound intensified, and the Vex reared back, rising above us as if it was planning to attack. I pushed Liv to the ground and tried to shield her body with mine. I covered my neck, like I was about to be devoured by a grizzly bear instead of a body-snatching Demon.
I thought about my mom. Was this how she felt when she knew she was about to die?
I thought about Lena.
The scream reached a crescendo, and I heard another sound rising above it, a familiar voice. But it wasn't my mother's, or Lena's.
"Dark Demon a the Devil, bend to Our wil and leave this place!" I looked up and saw them standing behind us under the lamplight. She was holding a string of beads and bone in front of her like a crucifix, and they were gathered around her, glowing and luminous, with purpose in their eyes.
Amma and the Greats.
I can't explain what it was like to see Amma and four generations of the spirits of her ancestors towering above her, like the faces from old black and white pictures. I recognized Ivy from the visions, her dark skin gleaming, dressed in a high-necked blouse and calico skirt. But she looked more intimidating than she had in the visions, and the only one who looked fiercer stood to her right, her hand on Ivy's shoulder. She had a ring on every finger, and she was wearing a long dress that looked like it had been stitched from silk scarves, with a tiny bird embroidered on the shoulder. I was staring at Sul a the Prophet, and she made Amma look about as harmless as a Sunday school teacher.
There were two other women, most likely Aunt Delilah and Sister, and an old man, his face punished by the sun, standing in the back with a beard that would've put Moses to shame. Uncle Abner. I wished I had some Wild Turkey for him.
The Greats tightened their circle around Amma, chanting the same verse again and again, in Gul ah, the original language of her family. Amma repeated the same verse in English, shaking the beads and bone, shouting to the heavens.
"Of Vengeance and Wrath, Bind the Suspended, Hasten his path."
The Vex rose even higher, the fog and shadow circling and swirling above Amma and the Greats. Its scream was deafening, but Amma didn't even flinch. She closed her eyes and raised her voice to meet the demonic cry.
"Of Vengeance and Wrath, Bind the Suspended, Hasten his path."
Sul a raised her bracelet-laden arm, spinning a long stick with dozens of tiny charms dangling from it, back and forth between her fingers. She took her hand from Ivy's shoulder and rested it on Amma's, her glowing, translucent skin glimmering in the darkness. The second her hand touched Amma's shoulder, the Vex let out a final gnarled cry and was sucked into the void of the night sky.
Amma turned to the Greats. "I'm much obliged."
The Greats disappeared, as if they had never been there at al .
It probably would've been better if I had disappeared with the Greats, because one look at Amma's face made it clear that she had only saved us so she could kil us herself. We would've had better odds against the Vex.
Amma was seething, her eyes narrow and focused on her main targets, Link and me.
"V. E. X. A. T. I. O. N." She grabbed us by our col ars at the same time, as if she could have thrown us up the Doorwel behind her with a single toss. "As in, trouble. Worry. Agitation. Botheration. Need me to go on?"
We shook our heads.
"Ethan Lawson Wate. Wesley Jefferson Lincoln. I don't know what business the two a you think you have down in these Tunnels." She was shaking her bony finger as she pointed at us. "You don't have a lick a sense between you, but you think you're ready to be battlin' Dark forces."
Link tried to explain. Big mistake. "Amma, we weren't tryin' to battle any Dark forces. Honest. We were just --"
Amma advanced, that finger barely an inch from Link's eyes. "Don't you tel me. When I get through with you, you're gonna wish I'd told your mamma about what you were doin' in my basement when you were nine years old." He backed up until he hit the wal behind him, next to the Doorwel . Amma matched him step for step. "That story's as sad as the day is long."
Amma turned to Liv. "And you're studyin' to be a Keeper. But you don't have any more sense than they do. Knowin' what you do and stil lettin' these boys drag you into this dangerous business. You're in a world a trouble with Marian." Liv slunk down a few inches.
Amma whipped around to face me. "And you." She was so angry she was talking with her jaw clenched. "You think I don't know what you're up to? You think because I'm an old woman, you can fool me? It'l take you three lifetimes before you can sel me a raft that doesn't float. Soon as Marian told me you were down here, I found you straightaway." I didn't ask her how she'd found us. Whether it was chicken bones or tarot cards or the Greats, she had her ways. Amma was the closest thing I'd ever seen to a Supernatural without actual y being one.
