Part 11 (1/2)

”Master!” Juni screams. ”Help me! I need more time!”

”Spine!” Lord Loss roars. ”Femur!” I sense him looking for his familiars. Then he curses. ”Attack them, Artery. Leave Beranabus to me.”

Ripping sounds. Bill-E yells a warning. ”Grubbs! Look out! He's -”

Artery lands on my back and I stagger. Before I can turn to deal with the h.e.l.l child, Dervish grabs his legs, swings him around, and batters his head off a low-hanging stalact.i.te. The skull splits down the middle and brains ooze out. Lice fall from the fiendish baby's crown and scuttle around on the ground. Dervish twirls the demon overhead a couple of times, then throws him far across the cave, where he smashes hard into a wall and collapses. Artery will recover, but it'll take him a minute or two. That should be more than enough time.

”Master!” Juni screams again, spitting the cry out between the words of the spell that she's chanting. Her real face looks far less commanding than the one she wore when she was pretending to be our friend. It carries the scars of fear and low character. ”One more minute. That's all I need.”

Lord Loss howls louder than any wolf, then reluctantly releases Beranabus and whacks him aside. I hear a whoosh as he propels himself toward me. ”Grubbs!” Dervish yells.

”Just a second,” I mumble, taking aim, letting off one last blast of energy. It sounds like a gunshot when it hits the barrier-then crashes through and connects with Juni, knocking her to the floor.

I open my mouth to cheer, but Lord Loss is on me before I can, cursing foully, eight arms around my mouth and throat, squeezing, tearing, intent on pulling me to pieces and choking me all at once.

Gasping for air, I grab two of his arms, focus my magic, and tug with all my strength. The arms rip free of their sockets. Lord Loss wails and tries to reattach them, but I send fire shooting up the limbs and they burn away to nothing before he can restore them.

Dervish steps in to help. ”No!” I yell, feet dangling a few inches above the ground as a furious Lord Loss clutches me to his chest, where the snakes fight with one another to bite out my eyes. ”Kill Juni! I can deal with -”

The demon master gets a few mangled, lumpy, b.l.o.o.d.y fingers into my mouth. They lengthen and extend back into my throat. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Dervish wavering. His natural instinct is to help me. But then he sees Juni back on her feet, muttering the spell again. With a wild curse he goes after her.

I bite off the fingers and spit them out. Lord Loss screams obligingly. One of the snakes digs its fangs into my bald skull and rips out a chunk of flesh. I s.n.a.t.c.h the snake from its heartless home and chew its head off. I'm starting to enjoy this biting business.

Lord Loss's six remaining arms tighten around my body. I feel the bones of my rib cage creak and groan. I know that if the demon maintains this pressure, the bones will snap and pierce my lungs and heart, and that will be the end of me. But it doesn't matter. I'm buying time for Dervish. Stopping Juni is my only reason for being here, for living. If I have to die to thwart her evil plans, that's just bad luck. I'll give my life gladly.

But before I can die n.o.bly, Beranabus stumbles back into action. Picking up a stone, he invests it with magic and hurls it at Lord Loss's head. The stone pierces the demon master's flesh and bone and ends up sticking half in and half out of the monster's skull, just above his left ear.

Lord Loss shrieks with pain and rage, then twirls and throws me at Beranabus. I collide with the magician and we sprawl across the ground. Lord Loss starts after us, then remembers Juni. Hesitating, he looks over his shoulder. Juni's wrestling with Dervish, shouting the spell even as they battle. Dervish is striking her hard, weeping, hands clenched together to form one mighty club. Juni's pockmarked, pasty face has been smashed to a pulp. Her hair and skin are flecked with blood, and her eyes are almost invisible behind her mashed flesh.

As Lord Loss turns to help, she stops chanting and smiles at Dervish. Her flesh ripples, changes color, and she looks like the old Juni Swan again, only battered and bleeding. ”Dervish, my love,” she wheezes. ”Please stop. You're hurting poor Juni.”

”You betrayed us!” Dervish roars, tears coming harder than ever.

”I made a mistake,” Juni murmurs. ”I love you, Dervish. Please don't hurt me. I can make this right if you give me the chance.”

Dervish stares at her, hands dropping, fury leaving his body, shoulders sagging. He takes a step forward. I think he means to hug her. That scares me but not as much as what I suddenly spot happening overhead-the rock around the crack has started to pulse! Light is s.h.i.+ning from deep within. And it's beginning to split wider apart.

”Dervis.h.!.+” I yell. ”She finished the spell. The demons are coming. You have to kill her!”

Dervish stops moving but doesn't bring his hands together. Beranabus throws himself forward desperately. Lord Loss grabs him and laughs.

Skittering footsteps behind me. I half turn and spot Artery leaping, three sets of sharp teeth gnas.h.i.+ng savagely. I raise my arms-too late. The demon strikes me in the chest with his tiny feet. I fly across the cave and smash into the rock at the back of the waterfall. Come up spluttering and cold, my leaf suit soaked through and disintegrating, the water cutting out the sounds and sights of the cave.

I drag myself clear of the waterfall as Artery bounds toward me. He leaps to kick me again, but this time I grab him by his childish torso and hold him at arm's length, trying to find the strength to kill him but too exhausted and dispirited. I glance around wearily, looking for help or inspiration.

Kernel is still out of the main action, unable to kill Spine, struggling to keep the demon pinned to the stalagmite. Lord Loss is bearing down mercilessly on Beranabus, squeezing tightly, snakes more active than ever. The demon master is laughing triumphantly, confident of victory. The opening in the rock is pulsing faster and faster, the colors and shades of light changing with every pulse, the mouth of the crack stretching, widening, extending. A magic-laced wind whistles up out of nowhere. I feel it blowing past me, toward the hole. Soft at first, but growing steadily, sucking up dust and bits of grit, sending them shooting down the crack. Bill-E's scrabbling away from the hole, moaning, sensing disaster.

And just beneath the crack-what will soon be the entry point for hundreds of demons-Juni Swan is kissing Dervish, her luminous white hair billowing out in a fan shape, gusting away from her skull in the ever-increasing breeze.

”My love,” Juni gurgles, pulling back from him slightly, pink eyes twinkling maliciously. She strokes his cheeks, smiles seductively, kisses him again. Dervish is motionless, mesmerized, under her spell. Moving her head to his shoulder, she murmurs into his throat, ”You could never harm your Juni. You love me, as I love you. What savagery, hitting me like that. But I forgive you. I love you too much to bear a grudge.”

Her fake flesh has already healed and is as smooth and white as ever, though a few streaks of blood remain. She looks beautiful. It's strange, but unconcealed evil suits her. She's more stunning now than she ever was when she was pretending to be good.

I try shouting a warning, but I don't have the strength. Holding Artery at bay is all I can manage.

”I'll take you to the universe of the Demonata when this is over,” Juni promises Dervish. ”You'll have to be killed eventually, but there's no rush. I'll show you such wonders and treat you so sweetly, you won't care about dying. In fact you'll die gladly, to please me. Won't you, my love?”

Dervish stares at her blankly. Then Bill-E screams. ”Dervis.h.!.+ I'm afraid!”

Juni laughs. ”Don't worry, silly Billy, I haven't forgotten about you. How could I? You're the most important -”

Dervish grabs Juni by the waist and picks her up as if she's weightless. ”No!” ”No!” she screams, las.h.i.+ng out at him but unable to connect because of the angle he's holding her at. Dervish lunges away from the pulsing rock, struggling against the wind. Juni's hands stretch upward, searching for magic. Her lips start on a new spell. Lord Loss shouts with alarm and springs away from Beranabus. she screams, las.h.i.+ng out at him but unable to connect because of the angle he's holding her at. Dervish lunges away from the pulsing rock, struggling against the wind. Juni's hands stretch upward, searching for magic. Her lips start on a new spell. Lord Loss shouts with alarm and springs away from Beranabus.

But Dervish is too quick for both of them. He looks around. Takes a couple of steps to his right, holding Juni high above his head. Then slams her down with all his strength on top of a small stalagmite.

The tip pierces Juni's flesh and slices in through the skin of her back-then bursts through her chest a moment later. Dervish cries out and falls away, staring with wonder and disbelief at Juni as blood spurts and her legs and arms thrash, as if he doesn't know how she got there.

”My swan!” Lord Loss howls, flying to her side.

”Master . . .” Juni groans, her mouth full of blood. ”Help . . . me.”

Lord Loss reaches out to her, then stops and studies the wound. He shakes his head softly, sorrowfully. ”I cannot,” he says.

Juni stares at him incredulously. Then her expression clears. ”I understand. Thank you, master. For . . . everything you showed me . . . all that you did for me . . . I offer my everlasting grat.i.tude . . . and love.”

Lord Loss stretches out a single arm and touches Juni's cheek with his clammy fingers. He's smiling sadly, but it's not his usual mocking smile-this one is almost human. ”I will miss you,” he mutters.

”And I . . .” Juni shudders and her eyes go wide. ”Death!” she wheezes. ”It's here. I sense it. I . . . no! Don't let it take me, master! I want to be free. Don't . . .”

She stops. Her mouth and eyes freeze. Lord Loss bends, kisses her forehead, then floats back a few paces. ”Goodbye, sweet swan,” he murmurs, and that's when I know for sure she's dead, though it's not until I hear Beranabus chuckling softly that I realize what that means.

The key has been eliminated . . . The tunnel can't be opened . . . We've won! We've won!

. . . And The Low.

THE sweetness of a hard-won victory lasts all of two seconds. Maybe three. Then it hits me-the rocks within and around the crack are still pulsing. The lights are flas.h.i.+ng more vibrantly than at a disco. The wind is growing stronger. sweetness of a hard-won victory lasts all of two seconds. Maybe three. Then it hits me-the rocks within and around the crack are still pulsing. The lights are flas.h.i.+ng more vibrantly than at a disco. The wind is growing stronger.

”Beranabus!” I yell. ”Why isn't it stopping?”

”It is,” he mutters, staring at the crack doubtfully. ”It must be. We killed her. But sometimes it can take a minute for a body to properly die, for all the senses to expire. When the last spark of life flickers out in her, this will end.”

”But if the demons cross before that . . .”

Beranabus shrugs, then winces and reaches back to try to heal the wounded flesh between his shoulder blades. His skin and eyes are normal now. He looks like a tired old man, not a mighty magician. ”A few might squeeze through, but not many. We'll just have to -”

”Imbeciles,” Lord Loss snorts. He glares at Beranabus, then Dervish, who's lying close by Juni. Her face has lost its glamour, changed back to its real appearance, scarred and b.l.o.o.d.y from the beating she took. Dervish is staring at her with a mix of horror and loss. ”You think you have defeated us? You believe we fall that easily? You are arrogant and ignorant, Beranabus, the result of too many soft victories over lesser demons. Killing Juni won't save your pitiful excuse of a world-or your lives. It only makes me more determined to see you and the grotesque Gradys suffer slowly and agonizingly.”

”We were wrong!” I roar. ”The key wasn't Juni. It's one of the demons.” I spin, trying to figure out whether it's Artery or Spine.