Chapter 3: Patchy Protection

..."And you're sure, there was no one else?" Dervish stressed.

"No, just me and Grubbs. I was walking here to talk to Grubbs and I saw him lying there." Bill-E sounds stressed too and a little annoyed, I wonder how many times Dervish has asked and how long I have been out.

"I'm so stupid I knew it wasn't safe, I should have watched him." Dervish starts off again.

"Dervish how could you possibly know..." I hear Meera's voice. It was definitely different before.

"I should have tried Meera," Dervish cuts her off angrily. He's not angry at her, more himself.

"I just nearly died and now I wake up to arguing." I try and smile but it turns to a grimace. My voice is faint and shaky. My head feels heavy on my neck, and my sides ache. I open my eyes slowly and blink until my sight becomes clear. I gaze around at my surroundings. We are in the cellar. It looks the same as usual except the bed I'm laying in and a couple of seats around my bed.

"Grubbs!" I hear three sighs of relief; it's nice to know that people care about you... especially when you nearly got dragged off and... Well it doesn't even bear thinking about.

"Meera, thank you. I never knew you were that powerful and, heck ill say it, amazing! How did you do that! Why did you run off? How did..." My voice grew stronger as I talked.

"Grubbs? I think you're a little concussed sweetie." She cuts me off. I start to sit up but a twang of pain squeezes my insides. I gasp aloud and swear.

"Easy now Grubbs," Dervish's hand holds me back into my pillow. Dervish looks at Meera, I can't see his expression but when he looks back, worry is written all over his face. "I want you to tell me everything you can remember, whatever it is."

"Well..." I started my thrilling tale, a little confused as to why Meera hadn't told them. "I was walking home and I decided to get home quicker and went through the woods because I wanted to know what you had to say." I cleared my throat. Dervish didn't elaborate he just waited for me to carry on. "And erm, I felt magic in the air like a window had been opened." I groaned at the memory. "I thought we were safe here Dervish?" I ask. I can't help the accusation slip into my voice.

"I'll explain that later, go on." Dervish said half-impatiently. I thought it was rather rude but I carried on anyway. "And then this demon attacks. I fight it off but it spits green shit in my face. At first it does nothing but then I got drowsy and I couldn't move. I collapsed and I tried magic but that failed so the demon dragged me towards the window."

"It didn't just rip you apart and devour you?" Dervish asks more to himself and rubs his chin in thought.

"Evidently not but I guess it just wanted to torture me more and stuff..." I trail off.

"Demons aren't like that; they kill what they can whenever they can. Their minds think only of now, not what happens later, unless they are like Lord Loss or perhaps under orders" Dervish answers wonderingly.

"What happened then Grubbs?" Bill-E asks in wonder at my story. "How did you escape?" I look up at Meera but she just gazes back at me blankly.

"I didn't escape, I was a goner. Meera saved me." Dervish gives me a funny look and so does Billy-E. I turn to Meera as do Dervish and Bill-E.

"I came when you called me Dervish, I... don't understand." Meera stares at me oddly.

"Are you sure you saw Meera?" Dervish asks. I think back, "I thought it was. My vision was blurred but I could make out someone with blood hair and they looked similar." Now I think harder about it, the girl who saved me was smaller than Meera. "Actually, she was smaller and her hair longer than yours, it was all the way down her back. She knew my name though and she sounded very similar, maybe a bit softer but..." I break off confused.

"What happened then?" Dervish asked. "What did this girl do?"

"It was amazing," I heard the excitement grow in my voice. "There was hardly any magic in the air but this girl blasted the demon miles into the air with water. It let me go but came down and then she..." I stop and frown. "Well she drowned it from the inside." I looked up at Dervish. He just looked back at me puzzled. I continued with my grand finale. "Then, the window was about to close and water shoots from her palm without using any spells and throws the demon through."

"That's impossible." Dervish says. Meera has gone white but Bill-E just seems excited.

"That's what I thought; no one is powerful enough for that!"

"Are you sure Grubbs?"

"Positive."

"Coolio!" Bill-E enthuses.

"Dervish I have to go, I got this thing that I promised I'd go to, sorry Grubbs." Meera gets up and starts walking out. She's shaking and looks like she is going to be sick.

"What thing Meera?" Dervish asks too politely with a hint of suspicion.

"Erm an opera, my friend has non-returnable tickets that I wanted her to get. Ill pop in tomorrow bye" And with that she was gone.

"Meera doesn't strike me as the opera kind," I asked aloud to myself.

"She's not." Dervish said and I caught a look of mistrust in the corner of his eye. I frown at him in confusion, Dervish notes my reaction then quizzes me some more.

We go on for what seems like hours. I describe the demon, draw it, the girl, attempt to draw her and about the other pulse running towards me in the woods. We go over and over and over every single tiny detail until Dervish is finally happy that he has the full story. Bill-E went home to Ma and Pa Spleen after Dervish had interrogated him too, which was a shame as I wanted to ask him about his library date with Sarah. Dervish went upstairs to make some calls and then came back to my hospitalised cellar and slouched in the chair beside me; now it was his turn to answer some questions.

"What's going on Dervish? How did that demon get through?" I'm exhausted but I feel if I don't ask now, I'll never know. Dervish looks up at me and sighs. His voice is strained when he finally answers.

"A magician cast protective spells around Carcery Vale. When he dies, the spells die with him. However he isn't dead and the spells are still there but something is changing them."

"What do you mean, changing them?"

"The spells make a dome shield around Carcery Vale; everything within the dome is heavily protected. Nothing can get in and if it does, highly unlikely, then alarms are sent off. However something, we have no idea what, is making pockets in the protection like small holes, silencing alarms as they do so. In these holes demons can get through with the use of a host or a demon master. It has been happening for about a week."

"If it isn't setting off alarms then how do you know about it?" Dervish smiles and goes over to his locked cupboard at the other side of the room. He brings back what I can only describe as a crystal ball that has gold smoke swirling in it. I laugh as he presents it to me with a pleased look on his face. My insides tense with pain as I laugh and I end up crying out and clutching the bandages. Dervish laughs back at me, "That'll teach you." He hands me the ball and I hold it sceptically.

"A crystal ball, you gotta admit its a little, well erm, gay." I emphasize the last word. Dervish ignores the remark completely.

"This 'gay' crystal ball tells me that there is magic near and it can tell me the location. The smoke is gold but when a window opens or a hole appears in the dome it turns purple."

"Where you get it?"

"The magician who cast these protective spells won it playing chess with Lord Loss." Dervish chuckled. "He gave it to me as a Christmas present."

"So if it shows the location then is there a pattern to the places the holes appear?"

"Not as far as I can tell, they are completely random. Anyway Meera and I have been keeping an eye out but this is the first time a demon has crossed."

"Why hasn't one crossed sooner?"

"I don't think they realised they could. I don't think it is the demons causing the holes. It is something on our side, in Carcery Vale. However it is clear now that they know and I think Lord Loss sent that demon to take you back to him. He would have got you himself but he is cautious about the holes as he isn't sure why either." I shuddered. That was nearly my fate.

"Who do you reckon the girl is?" I ask the question that I really want answered.

"Not a clue."

"You have no idea!"

"From what you described she sounds like a very powerful, unique human, who knows who you are."

"Really Sherlock? Should we be scared of her?"

"Are you?"

"No." That is true, I'm just curious about her.

"Then probably not." And with that Dervish gets up and heads towards the door. "Get some rest Grubbs."

I'm a little nervous that Lord Loss might just pop in and visit me if a hole appears and I doubt I'll rest at all but I'm exhausted and just drop into a deep sleep, filled with demons, green spit, water and a mysterious girl, as soon as I close my eyes.