Will's POV
Chapter ten
The latest news about Cornelia was not so good. How worse was she getting? I wish I was there with her right now, but the others need me here, because I carry the Heart of Candracar.
We were walking through the streets of Meridian, searching for the demon that caused all this trouble. Caleb was leading us to all the hidden places, since he was the rebel leader; he knew all the hiding places in Meridian. Long ago, when Phobos was ruling Meridian, all the rebels created hiding places to stand up to him and give Elyon her throne back.
Caleb led us to a lot of places, yet the demon was nowhere to be found. I really need to draw a map to Meridian, it's really big.
We entered the last hiding place – as Caleb confirmed – and found nothing. Again. We were running out of ideas. Where the hell is that demon?
"Maybe," Taranee suggested. "He's hiding in one of the people's cottages."
"Or maybe he's not in Meridian anymore," Hay Lin said.
"I'm getting really tired of this," Irma complained. "Why can't we just summon him?!"
I digested that last suggestion for a moment. She does have a point. Why can't we summon him?
"That's actually not a bad idea, Irma," I said, thinking about it.
"Hello," Irma said. "I was just joking."
"Even if we can," Taranee said. "How do we do that?"
"The same thing we do every time," I explained. "Use the Heart of Candracar."
I lifted the medallion from around my neck, and held it in front of me.
"Heart of Candracar," I said. "Find the demon who's causing all this fear. Summon him, and bring him here."
The Heart glowed between my hands. It shimmered, and a figure appeared in the little orb. The person standing there was the demon. He started to shimmer, and he was transparent. He disappeared, and there was air in his place. In the space in front of us, the demon appeared. He didn't look so bad for an evil spirit. Dark straight hair, dark evil eyes. He wasn't wearing anything Phobos used to wear, though. He was wearing a black, high-sleeved t-shirt and white jacket over it. And black baggy pants. I'm not kidding, baggy pants. He's a demon, and he's wearing baggy pants. If he wasn't so evil, I would have dated him. But I couldn't, of course. And not just because he was a demon, but because I already have a boyfriend, Matt. He is currently with his family in Brazil, visiting his aunt.
Any way, back to the demon. He looked surprised to find himself here, facing us. Though the surprise was replaced with amusement after a second.
"Ah," he greeted us. "Such an honor to be face to face with the oh-so famous Guardians of the veil."
"This is him?" Irma muttered. "But… he's cute."
I gave Irma a meaningful look. That shut her up.
"Give us the cursed knife," Caleb demanded. "Now."
"I would," the demon said. "But that wouldn't be a fair fight, will it?"
"In the name of queen Elyon," I demanded. "Give us the cursed knife."
"Yeah," he said. "You'll have to get through me first."
He shifted into a crouched position, his hands clawed by his sides. He suddenly disappeared, and reappeared behind Irma.
"Irma!" I shouted. "Behind you!"
But before Irma could but twitch, the demon had his arms wrapped around her chest, and sent her flying in the air. She crashed at the nearest wall, and slammed to the ground. She let out a little moan. Hay Lin to her, and tried to help her up.
"Hey!" I shouted, fluttering my wings and flying in the air. "Throw this!"
I pulled my arms in front of me, and shot an electric ray in his direction. The ray hit him, and he weakly fell on the ground. He quickly recovered before anyone can do anything else. He quickly ran over to Taranee, and carried her in the air. He threw at me, and we both slammed on the hard floor.
Caleb ran towards the demon, and they both were sent crashing on the floor, as well. Taranee and I tried to get up, but I felt numb. I heard Irma get up, and Hay Lin by her side.
"Caleb!" Irma yelled. "Get out of the way!"
They both send freeze rays against the demon and Caleb, Irma using water, and Hay Lin freezing it with the wind. Caleb got off the demon just in time for the freeze ray to hit him. The demon was on his feet, his hands clawed at his sides, frozen. Caleb helped my and Taranee to get up, and we went over to the demon. He didn't put up much of a fight.
We all stared at the frozen body of the demon.
"Where's the knife?" Hay Lin asked.
"I saw it in his back pocket when I jumped on him," Caleb replied.
"How do we get it," I asked. "without unfreezing him?"
We thought about that for a moment. Then we looked at Taranee.
"Why are you looking at me for?" Taranee asked, surprised by our stares.
"You're the only one who has body heat," Hay Lin explained. "And you know how to use the knife."
Taranee growled. "Why me? To get it I have to touch his…" Taranee scowled. "Butt."
"Tell us how it feels," Irma said, placing a hand on her shoulder. "If you survive."
"And," I joined in. "Don't touch me until you shower at least three times."
Taranee took a deep breath. She slowly walked behind the demon, and searched for the knife. I spotted it at the same time Taranee did: in his left back pocket of his jeans. Taranee slowly lifted her hand, and dipped her hand inside his pocket; her heat melting the ice in her way. She quickly snatched the knife out of the pocket, and stumbled back a step.
"Got it," she declared, raising the knife in the air. She went over to us, and showed us the silver blade. At the same moment, I saw a movement in the demon's hand. He was trying to pull his fingers together, and succeeded, perfectly. The ice surrounding his hand broke into shattered glasses, and fell on the floor.
We started backing away.
"Maybe," I said. "You used too much body heat, Taranee."
The demon's body started shaking. The ice all over his body broke, and the glass crashed on the floor noisily. The demon's nostrils were flared with anger, and his eye color turned red. His hands were fists, and he growled.
"Give me," He demanded, no amusement in his dead voice anymore. "The Cursed knife."
"We can't do that, man," Irma said, still joking. I wish that she would stop doing that. But this time, there was no Cornelia to tell her to shut the hell up.
The demon to a step towards us, and we took a step back. Oh no, he was mad.
"I think it's time to go," Taranee said. But Caleb disagreed. He stepped in front of the demon, facing him with the same angry face.
"Take care of the knife," I muttered to Taranee as I stepped to Caleb's right side, ready to attack. Irma stepped to Caleb's left side, Hay Lin beside her. Taranee backed away, hiding the knife from him.
The demon jumped forward, landing on top of me. He had his hands on my throat, strangling me. I placed my hand on top of his, trying to push it away. But let me tell you, those muscles of his? Yeah, they were huge. I was struggling to catch a single breath. But thank God, Caleb jumped on top of him, dragging him away from me. I breathed in ragged gasps, Hay Lin by my side, helping me up. The demon and Caleb rolled on the floor, their hands on top of each other's throats. If I didn't do something, the demon was going to kill Caleb. But I couldn't do anything, of course, because they were rolling around, and it was hard to see who was winning.
"What should we do?" Irma asked. "I can't shoot anything. I might hurt Caleb."
I didn't know what to, either. I couldn't just stand there.
Caleb did something that surprised us all. He got up from the demon, and ran towards us.
"Give me the knife," he demanded Taranee, panting.
"What?" Taranee asked stupidly. He snatched the knife away from her, and ran to the demon. They were both circling each other, panting.
"Give me the knife," the demon demanded.
"You want it?" Caleb said. "Then you're gonna get it."
I thought Caleb was going to give it to him. I really thought he was going to betray us. But to m surprise, instead of giving knife to the demon, he ran towards him, and dipped the knife into the demon's guts.
The knife's edge emerged from the demon's back, covered with blood. The demon started trembling, and let out a scream.
"This," Caleb said, crushing the knife even deeper. "is for Cornelia."
When the knife didn't go any deeper, the demon screamed again. Hi body was set to fire, and he disappeared.
We vanquished him. Or should I say, Caleb vanquished him. He looked at the knife in his bloody hand, then at us.
"He's gone," He said. He was breathing really hard, as if he just came out of a football field. He walked toward us, and Irma sent a splash of water over the knife. The silver blade was spotless, as if it were brand new; which was weird because it was a legend.
"Let's go back to the palace," Caleb said. I held the Heart of Candracar in my hand, and opened a portal that will send us to Cornelia.