Bella, Shelton, and I made our way topside, taking back hallways to avoid students the best we could. Knowing Bigglesworth was dead was certainly a heavy weight off my back, but I wasn't about to let my guard down.
I reached the gates to the Fairy Garden, took a deep breath, and headed toward the pond with a confident stride. Shelton and Bella stayed back to cover my retreat, should one be necessary.
The Lady of the Pond and her annoying boyfriend leapt from the aforementioned body of water to greet me.
"You are persistent," the woman said. "And do not listen to the wisdom of women."
"I want to listen to your wisdom," I replied, and then shot a glare at her man, as if daring him to question the truth of that.
"He speaks the truth," the man said.
"It's a good thing your lady here isn't the truth detector," I told him. "Because you'd probably be in trouble all the time."
The woman laughed. Her man gave me a surly look and cracked his knuckles.
"I do not need his abilities to divine the truth of what he says," the lady said. "I also know I have no need to worry about him. He is ever honest when he tarries with the dryads of the woods. But he is male, and nature demands he spread his seed."
I waved my hands, and grimace. "Gross. That's way TMI." The last thing I wanted to imagine was this guy—oh never mind. "What I came here to ask is in regard to Ezzek Moore."
The lady's eyes went from smiling, to granite. "Then we have nothing to discuss."
"The infernal name," I said. "I need it, or everyone here will die."
"He speaks the truth," the man said in his rumbling voice.
I rolled my eyes, but refrained from commenting on how annoying he was. "There's a demon guarding the arch with the Cyrinthian Rune in it. The arch is ready to explode by the end of the week, and it'll take this entire place with it."
The man opened his mouth to speak, but the lady interrupted. "That you know of these things is very troubling." She made a motion, and trees sprouted from the ground in a tight circle around us. "Very troubling."
I backed away, eyes searching the circle, but the trees were too thick to break without manifesting into demon form, packed too tightly squeeze through, and too tall to jump. "Does that mean you're going to have to kill me?"
She stared at me for a long moment, as if trying to search me out. "My dear friend, Ezzek, told me any person other than the child must never possess this information. I do not wish to kill you, but I will hold you prisoner."
"That didn't work out so well last time," I reminded her.
"We will hold you beneath the waters," she said, looking at the black waters of the pond.
I thought of being dragged into those depths and gulped. I'd sprout demon claws and climb over these trees if I had to before I'd allow her to take me in the pond. Besides, I just knew she and her man probably peed in the water all the time. "I know you two spoke of children," I said, grasping at straws. "He didn't like them. He knew he was going to have a child someday though, even if she wasn't biologically his."
The lady tilted her head and regarded me for a moment. "How do you know these things?"
I took a calming breath before I spoke. "Ezzek is dead. Whatever plans he had for the rune perished with him. I'm trying to save lives by temporarily freeing the rune, but I promise to put it right back. Unfortunately, there's a demon guardian there, and I need its name so it won't bite my head off."
"He speaks the truth," the man said, still frowning at me, most likely about my earlier comment.
Some people just can't handle the truth.
The lady looked from the man to me, eyes uncertain. "The intended one is female. You are not her. I made a promise I cannot break, young man."
Could she mean Ivy? I couldn't let Jeremiah use her to get the rune. "How do you know it's a female child? Did Ezzek specifically tell you that the only person you could give this information to would be a girl?"
She remained silent for a moment before answering. "No. He expected a female, but his promise only stated that the child would give me a sign."
"What kind of sign?"
"He told me I would know it when I saw it."
I groaned. "That's stupid! The fate of the world hinges on this rune, and he decides to be all enigmatic?"
"He speaks the truth," the man said, his voice calm.
The woman looked at him, and laughed. "I told Ezzek he was being rather foolish, but he always did have a flair for the dramatic."
"Maybe it's sign enough that I know about the rune, and that I'm telling you the truth regarding my intentions." I sighed. "Because I got nothing else, really."
"I am truly sorry," the Lady said. "But it is not enough."
Men with bark for skin burst from the ground all around me. They looked angry, probably for the debacle I'd caused with their women. Before I could react, they gripped me. Dragged me toward the water. I struggled, but collectively, they were stronger than me.
"No!" I shouted. "You have to listen to me! You have to—" My legs turned to jelly as intense cold swept from one and down the other. I felt ice tendrils crawling up my waist. The bark men seemed to sense something was off, and dropped me, disgust in their faces. I pulled up my shirt and watched in horror as the veins blackened and pulsed.
"What is this?" the lady said in alarm.
I tried to speak, but agony tore through me like frostbite. I felt consciousness fading, and with it, control. My demon half took the chance and surged for freedom. Skull-splitting pain erupted on my forehead as horns sprouted.
"No!" I cried out.
The cold surged again, creeping from my lower body, toward my stomach, and grasping for my chest. The faintest whisper of cold seemed to sear the bottom of my heart. And then a burst of fire radiated out from my core. I heard a scream tear from my throat as the heat and the cold ravaged my senses until my consciousness dangled by a thread. I heaved a breath, and saw blood dribbled on the ground beneath me. Fire burned through my shoulders, and I screamed again. The world blinked black for an instant, and all sensation faded. I heard my panting breaths. Felt the pounding of my heart. My lower body burned with cold. Somehow, I stood.
The lady and her man stared at me, mouths hanging open. I pressed a hand to my head, and felt the curving horns. My hands and skin seemed normal, however.
"What's wrong?" I asked, my voice sounding a bit slurred. "You've seen me manifest before."
"This is the sign," the lady said, eyes wide with wonder. She motioned at the pond, and a sheet of water rose like a giant mirror.
I looked at the shimmering image for a long moment before realizing it was me. Ebony horns curled upward from my head, even though my skin remained a normal pink hue. I suddenly knew they weren't the cause of her wonder. Ultraviolet flames billowed behind me, dark light smoking off them like frozen mist. I flinched with surprise, and the flames unfurled from my back. The darkly burning shapes on my back weren't flames.
They were wings.
Chapter 43
Wings? I have wings?
"Ah!" I shouted, spinning in circles like a dog chasing its tail so I could see the wings without the aid of a mirror. I felt them burning deep in my shoulder blades, like hot knives. And yet, the pain didn't reach agonizing levels. Maybe it was because I was so used to pain by now, thanks to the vampling curse dominating my lower half, or maybe I was just in shock. As if growing horns wasn't painful enough, I now had to deal with wings stabbing through my back.
"You must be the one," the lady said.
I stopped chasing my wings, and looked at her. "I am so done with this crap." Pulling at the waistband of my jeans, I watched as black veins writhed through my waist. Lifting my shirt revealed the full extent of the curse. A single dark talon speared through my abdomen straight toward the left side of my chest where my heart pumped furiously. I didn't have much longer. For all I knew, this week might be my last.
A loud poof startled me, and my wings vanished, leaving behind dark smoky smudges in the air.
The lady took my hands, and smiled. "You are the one. True, you are not a female." She looked me up and down as she said this, smiling. "But my old friend could not have known such a thing so far in advance." She leaned toward me, her lips brushing my ear, and whispered a word. Even though the word was filled with consonants, sounding like the noise someone would make after a steamroller just ran over their foot, the demonic part of me understood it on the first try, burning it into my mind.
More than just a word, it evoked an image in my head—a symbol that was neither Cyrinthian, nor human in origin. The symbol bore an uncanny resemblance to the symbol in the floor beneath the eye demon. I knew without a doubt if I uncovered the rest of that rune, it would look identical.
"Thank you," I said, my voice a whisper. "I will try to make things right before"—I suddenly had a terrible premonition—"before the end."
"He speaks the truth," the man said, and gripped my forearm, pressing my hand to his forearm. "May the peace of the world go with you."
The pain in my lower body receded, leaving behind a delicious numbness. It felt so wonderful, I almost twirled like a little princess in a fairy tale and pranced around from the sheer joy of not feeling pain. The huge trees around me abruptly uprooted, and lumbered into the forest to join their brethren, while dozens of dryads sang and danced after them.
"I have only removed the pain," the man said. "Not cured the curse."
The Lady of the Pond kissed my cheek. "You will do well."
Shelton and Bella stood twenty yards away, eyes wide as the giant trees strolled away. Bella's staff glowed purple, while a sun-like inferno spun atop Shelton's. I was glad they'd held their fire. Things could have gotten ugly.
I turned from the two pond people without another word, offered a weak smile to my friends, and we departed.