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We moved forward, with my sister and her youkai-kitsune at the helm. Things began to fly off the wal s and tables. In fact, one of the tables came skidding our way. Camil e and Morio didn’t flinch, and the rest of us managed to hold our ground. As the pot, vase, pitchers, and table met the edges of the misty circle, they were repel ed, rebounding off to the side.
Whatever Camil e and Morio were doing, they were doing it right. We made it to the door leading into the back and slowly filed through, crowding together to keep within the confines of the circle.
“Stairs to the right,” Camil e whispered. “We’re going to start down. Again—stay inside the circle or you might get hurt. The energy is so thick I could slice it up and serve it on toast.”
Slowly, she and Morio led the way, their palms facing forward as they pushed the energy of the moving pentagram before them. We kept up, walking slowly, in unison. As I stared at their backs, I began to notice a weaving of faint violet light between them—faint, almost imperceptible, like hair-thin threads joining their auras in a crosshatch pattern.
Only one person could descend the stairs at a time, so Camil e took the lead and, whispering something beneath her breath in rhythm with Morio, slowly stepped on the first stair. Morio fol owed, then me, then Vanzir. Tril ian and Smoky brought up the rear. The stairwel was narrow and the sides dark and dank. Mold grew along the wal , and I could see evidence of termites and rats.
As we entered the basement, the flashlights at Smoky’s and Tril ian’s belts cast out faint shadows, barely to the edge of the circle in front of Camil e and Morio. Three steps down and something crashed at the bottom of the stairs, loud and with the sound of breaking glass. A scream rang out, and the panicked sound of a woman’s voice.
“Jack, are you hurt? Jack? Oh my God, he’s been hit with a shard of glass. Stop it—whoever you are, stop it, please. Just let us go!”
“Who’s down there? We’ve come to help. How many of you are down there?” I cal ed out. “Is anyone seriously hurt?”
There was a pause, and then the same woman’s weeping voice echoed up. “Thank God someone’s come! There are five of us, but I think Lance is dead. Jack’s hurt, and so is Teri. I’m stil okay and Mocha seems to be, but she’s unconscious.”
“We’re partway down the stairs. Where are you?”
“When you get to the bottom, turn right and then left at the door. We’re in the back room and we can’t get out. There are . . . things in the room with us and every time we move, they come toward us.”
“Don’t move. Keep quiet and we’l be there as soon as we can,” Morio said. He turned back to us. “Keep the talking to a minimum. The spirits here are volatile and wil do whatever they can to interfere.”
Even as he spoke, the stair beneath Camil e’s feet splintered with a groan and she fel forward into the darkness. Morio immediately grabbed for her and caught her by the wrist, yanking her up onto his stair. The pentagram of protection flickered and vanished.
Breathing heavily, she glanced over her shoulder at me, her eyes wide. But the next minute, she was back in control and, using Morio’s hand to brace herself, she stepped over the broken step to the next one below, testing it cautiously before putting her ful weight on it. Morio kept hold of her until she’d taken another step down, and then he fol owed. I nimbly avoided the broken step but thought that a fal down into the darkness could have been deadly. At the very least, painful.
We slowly progressed, Camil e testing every step along the way, until we were at last at the bottom of the stairs. The minute Camil e stepped onto the floor, she gasped.
“What is it?” I whispered, keeping my voice low.
“Something just passed by me, brushed against me.” She glanced around, then moved to the left so the rest of us could exit the stairs.
“It was me,” Shade said, appearing out of the shadows. Everybody jumped, but the looks of relief were obvious. “I’ve had a look around—or tried to. The shadows here are so thick they’re hard to pierce. I found several areas that are fil ed with spirit activity. Up ahead, where the hostages are, is one of them.”
Camil e exhaled, deeply. “You scared the fuck out of me, but I’m so glad it’s you. What do you think about our ghosts? You’ve spent time in the Netherworld.”
“They are no longer merely ghosts. I don’t know exactly what they are, but they’ve become far more dangerous than the typical spirit.”
“Great.” As I stepped onto the cement floor, a flash of lightning split the air— en miniature, to be sure, but lightning it was. A low rumble fol owed.
“Crap,” Tril ian said. “What the fuck was that?”
“Apparently, lightning.” A squirrely feeling raced over me, like unwelcome fingers across my skin.
“Lightning. Inside. Not a good sign.” Shade glanced around. “Camil e, Morio, can you feel it?
The energy of the Netherworld is thick here. There’s a tremendous amount of spirit activity concentrated in this basement. Whoa!” He sucked in a deep breath.
“What?” I’d barely managed to yelp when something knocked against me and I heard a low growl. A hand grabbed my arm, the grip far stronger than any human could manage. Fangs coming down, I let out a hiss and swiped toward it. My hand went through a semisolid amorphous mass, but the moment I came into contact with it, the creature—or whatever it was—disappeared, along with the pressure on my arm. “The ghosts are trying to mindfuck us.”
Camil e sidled toward me. “Death magic deals with creatures from the Netherworld and shades and revenants, but not so much ghosts, though there is a connection. I’m not sure what to do. What do you think?” She glanced at Morio.
He shook his head. “Whatever this is, we can’t just wave our magic wands and say, “Go away,”
and expect it to obey. I suppose we can try an exorcism?”
With a slow nod, she said, “Maybe, but first we have to get the people out of here. Look.”
