Part 26 (2/2)

Standing took a lot of effort, but I managed in the end and saw I was in a long tunnel. I glanced right, then left. Not sure it mattered which way I went, I turned right and started walking. My footsteps echoed in the silence and a heavy loneliness settled on my shoulders. Wherever I was, I felt like the only living thing in existence.

When I came to the end of the tunnel, there were black marble stairs leading down. Flight after flight. How many stories I travelled, I'd never remember. It seemed like forever, but it might've been five minutes-or five weeks. Time had no meaning here.

Finally the stairs ended at an archway, and beyond it, a large hall made of carved stone, lit by torches of blue fire in sconces on the walls. At the end there was a large throne on a dais and on that throne sat something so dark it seemed to draw the light into itself. The huge creature was shaped roughly like a human, but smudged around the edges, indistinct, and cold radiated from its body.

The Dark Master had finally called me to him.

”Matthew.” His voice was kindly and warm, not like the nightmare image in front of me. ”How good of you to meet me. Come, please.”

My feet dragged me forward. I had no control over myself in his presence, no matter how I struggled.

”Sorry it took you a while to travel here, but moving between planes isn't an easy thing.” He chuckled and s.h.i.+vers wracked my body. ”I had to ease you into the transition with all those useless pa.s.sageways. Unlike your sister, I couldn't be a.s.sured you'd make it across in one piece. She's a special case to be sure, and can exist both places. You? Well, it was a risk I was willing to chance.”

”Where is Mamie?” I asked, hating to hear my voice shake. I wanted to look away from him, but he wouldn't allow me to turn my head.

”In due time.” He motioned me forward. ”I have a story to tell you. About why you're here. Please sit.”

My knees buckled and I was forced to kneel on the floor at the shadow's feet. Goose b.u.mps rose on my scalp.

”Matt?” a soft voice asked from the pitch black behind the throne. ”Is it you?”

”Mamie,” I whispered, although I wanted to scream. The Dark Master controlled even that, it seemed.

”Yes, yes, my pet is close by. Behave and I might let you see her.”

Rage finally started to break through my fear, and I checked the room for weapons. There were none. Only smooth stone walls, torches and the darkness of the Master.

”You must wonder why-and how-you came to be here,” he said.

”I couldn't care less,” I told him, fighting to raise my voice above a murmur. ”Give my sister back, you f.u.c.king monster, and let us go.”

”Profanity. So human.” He clucked his tongue against the roof of his mouth. ”Your race is a blight marring the perfection of my universe. I can't let that continue. You need to be weeded out.”

”Your universe? How do you figure that?”

Now he c.o.c.ked his head. His features were so smeared, I couldn't tell, but I thought he might be smiling. ”Because I made it. I created the very fabric of the cosmos, you know. And before long, I'll own it all. As it should be. You cannot keep something as vast as myself boxed.”

So Dr. Burton-Hughes's theories were true. That's why Nocturna Maura killed her-because she knew where the Dark One came from. The physics community had called her crazy. If they only knew. She may've been a scientist, but she was also a shaman, and she knew the truth even if her colleagues never believed her.

I tried to lift my head. ”Old news. Someone else already figured that out. Dr. Burton-Hughes discovered dark energy-you-blew apart what existed before the Big Bang.”

”Indeed. She was a rare exception to the rule of human stupidity.”

I edged a fraction to the right, wondering if I could rush the beast, break his neck. After straining every muscle until I saw stars, the best I could do was barely straighten my back. This was hopeless. I was in his world. Powerless to fight. How would I get to my sister?

”She saw that you were a tiny speck of a thing compared to all that light,” I said. ”You had to destroy something beautiful to come into being. Pretty pitiful thing to do if you ask me.”

”So disrespectful,” the beast said. ”My other family protected you, you know. Humanity, I mean. Otherwise I would have laid waste to men long ago.”

”But you failed.” My sister's voice was like velvet, a purr from a satisfied cat-not timorous or afraid. ”You tried and tried, and always failed. Our brothers and sister were always there to stop you.”

The Master's grip tightened on his spear. ”Not this time.”

Mamie's chuckle made me s.h.i.+ver almost as much as the shadow did. The power in it ... And her voice-her voice was so ancient as she said, ”You may have me chained here, but we are still bright enough to blind you.”

At the word ”bright” a soft glow began to light the absolute dark behind the Master, and there was my sister. Mamie walked forward slowly, and each step clanked. Shackles bound her feet and hands, with heavy chains threaded through them.

And that wasn't even the weirdest part.

Mamie was beautiful-almost terrible in her beauty, both nothing like my sister, and more like her than I'd ever seen. Her hair wasn't in pigtails, but flowed down her back in waves and her gla.s.ses were gone. Even her clothes were different. Instead of the bloodstained jeans and T-s.h.i.+rt I expected, she was wearing a long, white gown that shone too brilliantly to stare at for long.

She looked like a stylized version of the Rose Bowl queen. Except scary.

I'd heard tales of how men had fallen to their knees in the presence of angels, unable to bear to the sight of them. How they'd hidden their eyes and cried out in fear. That was exactly how I felt right now.

The chains rattled as she shuffled past the beast and down the steps. I kept waiting for him to strike her, or restrain her, but he sat still, his head turned away from her light. Mamie made her way to me and I bowed my head.

”What are you?” I whispered.

”You already know.”

”A proxy. The proxy.” Jorge should've given her the arrowhead, not me. She was The Archer. The one to tie it all together, and now I'd lost her to the Master.

”Yes. I didn't always know, but after that last eclipse, I discovered exactly what I am, and a few days ago, I finally understood what I was meant to do,” Mamie said. She knelt beside me, readjusting her chains so her hands had some range of motion, and straightened her dress so it pooled on the floor. ”I'm still your sister, but Zenka's book told us the rest.”

Her eyes glowed with some cosmic fire and I shuddered. ”Born under the right stars.”

She smiled. ”Of all the luck, right?”

Only my sister could joke at a time like this. ”And I'm your guardian. But I failed. You're here, and I can't even move, let alone help you escape.”

”You're not here. Just visiting.” She went to rest a hand on my shoulder and it pa.s.sed right through. ”See? You aren't solid. Your body is still on earth. The Dark One pulled in your consciousness, but not you.”

”I need someone to take over,” Jorge said.

”It's been too long,” Uncle Mike said, his voice full of panic.

”Not if we keep going.” That was Will, angry and determined. ”I got it, Jorge.”

Johnson was still calling for help, but the fight raged on behind the wall.

I drew a sharp breath. ”Being here is killing me, isn't it?”

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