Dime Store Magic
Page 107

I shut my mouth then. Shut it fast. In my head, though, I was still screaming, unable to focus or think, seeing only those yellow eyes boring into mine. The thing opened its mouth and gibbered, a high pitched stream of noise that stabbed through my skull.
It lowered its face to mine. I squeezed my hands between its shoulders and mine, and pushed with everything I had. It bared its teeth and hissed louder, spraying me with saliva and blood, but I kept pushing and finally managed to wriggle from under it.
I scrambled to my feet and kicked it in the head. It shrieked and gibbered. I turned to run, but a woman blocked my path. I recognized her as the shaman cook.
"Look out!" I shouted. "Run!"
She only bent and waved her hands at the creature, as if shooing a cat. It hissed and snarled. As I glanced back at the thing, it lifted itself onto its fingers and toes and skittered through another open door.
"Oh, God, thank you," I said. "Now let's get-"
The woman grabbed my arm as I turned to run for the back steps.
"He was here," she said.
"Yes, a lot of things are here. Now let's-"
The woman stepped in front of me, blocking my path again. I looked her full in the face for the first time. Her eyes were white-pure white, devoid of irises and pupils. I wheeled to run the other way, but she grabbed my arm with a viselike grip and pulled me to her.
"He was here," she said, her voice a breathless whisper. "I can smell him. Can you smell him?"
I struggled to get free. She didn't even seem to notice my efforts. She licked her lips.
"Yes, yes, I smell him. One of the masters. Here. Here!"
She moved her face down to mine, nostrils flaring.
"I smell him on you." Her voice and body quivered with excitement. "He spoke to you. He touched you. Oh, you have been blessed! Blessed!"
Her tongue shot out and licked my cheek. I yelped and dove past her. She grabbed for me, but I kept running.
I tore down the hall and back steps, vaulting over Sandford, then Shaw without so much as a stumble. At the bottom of the stairs, I didn't pause to look around. I dove through the first open door and slammed it behind me, then leaned against it, gulping air. I was shaking so badly the door itself quavered under me. Then I realized it wasn't me making the door shake. The whole house was quaking.
Beneath my feet, the floor rattled and groaned. I looked around wildly. The floorboards buckled, then gave way, splinters spraying upward as a wave of spirits flew through, formless rays of light, like the ones in the cemetery. The force of them hurled me into the air. As I rocketed across the room, a huge gaping maw appeared before me. Before I had time to scream, I sailed through the apparition and hit the floor.
All around me, spirits jetted into the air, moving so fast that I could feel theirpassing. The very fabric of the house moaned and shifted, threatening to blow apart. I fought to move, but the force of the passing spirits was like a gale-force wind, holding me still and snatching the breath from my lungs.
It stopped as suddenly as it had begun. The spirits had broken through the ceiling and were gone.
I took a minute to breathe, just breathe, then looked around. Between me and the door, the floor was gone, leaving a gaping hole into the basement. I glanced at the window, but it was barely eighteen inches square. My hips definitely weren't less than eighteen inches, round or square.
After a few more deep breaths, I approached the hole in the floor. Then, from below, I caught a sound that made my heart leap. Savannah's voice. She was in the basement, chanting an incantation.
I dropped to my knees, grabbed the edge of the hole, and leaned into it.
"Savannah?" I called. "It's me, hon. It's Paige."
She continued chanting, her voice a distant whisper. I cleared my throat.
"Savannah?" I said, louder. "Can you-"
The house rocked suddenly, like a boat cut from its moorings. I flew, face-first, through the hole and somersaulted, landing hard on the dirt floor beneath. For a moment, I couldn't move. The commands wouldn't travel from my brain to my muscles. Panic washed through me. Then as if in a delayed reaction, all my limbs convulsed, throwing me awkwardly into a sprawl. I scrambled to my feet, ignoring the pain that slammed through me.
From somewhere beyond came Savannah's faint voice. I looked around, seeing I was in an empty cold-cellar. I moved to the only door and opened it. Savannah's voice became clear. I caught a few words of Greek, enough to tell me, if I hadn't already guessed, that she was conjuring. Conjuring what, though, I couldn't tell. I hurried toward her before I found out.
Chapter 48
Show amp; Tell
AS I FOLLOWED SAVANNAH'S VOICE, I HEARD ANOTHER. Nast's.
"You have to stop, sweetheart," he said. "You can't do this. It isn't possible."
Savannah kept chanting.
"I know you're angry. I don't know what happened-"
Savannah stopped in mid-incantation and howled, "You killed her!"
"I didn't kill anyone, princess. If you mean that boy-"
"I mean Paige! You killed her. You told them to kill her."
"I never-"
"I saw her body! Leah showed me! I saw them carry her to the van. You promised she'd be safe and you killed her!"
I stepped into the furnace room and walked around the mammoth wood-burning furnace to see her on the other side, kneeling, facing the far wall.
"I'm right here, Savannah," I said. "Nobody killed me."