He jumped back, banging into the wal next to him.
He smel ed the blood as it ran down his arm.
The creature's head jerked up. “Where is the boy going?”
A chil ran down the back of Link's neck.
The voice had a creepy quality that was always a sign someone was on the way to a padded cel , in the movies. It sounded like the thing was talking to someone right next to it, but there was no one there.
At least Link hoped so.
“I—I was just leavin', man. Me and my dog,” Link stammered. “Sorry to bother you.”
“The boy wanders away from home, and what does he see?” The voice rose and fel in the singsong rhythm of a terrifying and twisted nursery rhyme.
Link wasn't planning to stick around and find out.
He started to back up, and the creature reached out its broken and bent fingers, exposing tears in the winglike web of dark skin extending from its body.
It bared its teeth in a demented smile while singing the disturbing rhyme. “The monster in the mirror waiting to kil me…”
For a second, the thing stared at him as if it had presented a riddle for Link to solve and it was presented a riddle for Link to solve and it was waiting for an answer. Link didn't have one.
The smile twisted into a sneer and, without warning, the thing lunged at him.
Boo charged forward, but the creature caught the dog in the air as he jumped, knocking him against the exposed stone wal . Boo yelped, and Link felt his hands curve into fists.
Grayish-black fingers reached for Link, and his instinct took over. He lurched forward, and in a split second his hand was around the creature's throat.
The movement happened so fast that it surprised them both, and Link almost forgot to tighten his grip.
The thing lashed out, clawing at Link. “The boy is too far from home.” The voice was strained, a hiss more than anything else. A hand caught the side of Link's face, broken nails sinking into his skin.
“Don't touch me, you freak!” Link threw the mutated thing backward, and it flew at least ten feet, skidding across the dirt. Until then, Link hadn't realized how strong he was.
He watched the dark figure rise.
A smile spread across Link's face. That thing wasn't the only creature in the game. There was a Linkubus there, too.
Boo was back on his feet, stalking across the Tunnel floor and snarling.
Link held out his hand. He wondered if Macon was watching through the Caster dog's eyes. “Don't worry, Boo. I've got this.”
The yel ow eyes locked on Link, and he watched as the man-that-wasn't-a-man surged forward like he was running in slow motion. Link pul ed the garden sheers from the waistband of his jeans and waited.
The creature sprang, throwing itself on top on Link.
He felt the blades make contact and saw the creature's eyes widen.
It fel backward, hitting the ground hard. It wasn't moving, but its chest was stil rising and fal ing as Link sprinted past it, with Boo Radley right behind him.
CHAPTER 6
Apocalypse
Link didn't stop running until he made it al the way through the pitch-black Tunnel. But even when he slowed down, his mind was stil racing.
What had he done? It wasn't like he'd had a choice—that thing could've kil ed him.
What was it?
Did Macon know it was down there?
The farther Link walked, the more questions he had. His heart didn't stop pounding until Boo stopped in front of a Doorwel . Even then he stil didn't feel right—not that he ever did lately.
Was this what it meant to have superpowers?
Was it an unfair advantage in a fight? Did it count if you were fighting some kind of monster?
When Link stepped out of the Outer Door and saw the house, he forgot everything else. Macon said the house was inland, but he must have been joking.
Obidias Trueblood's home was practical y carved into the side of a cliff. The warped gray wood blended into the stone surrounding it and hung dangerously close to the waves hitting the rock wal below. Link was sure that if one of those waves was big enough, the whole place would crumble into the sea.
Who the hell would live here?
Boo barked as if he was offering an answer, but Link already knew it. A crazy friend of Macon Ravenwood's—that's who.
Link navigated the rocks until he reached the part of the house facing the land, where he saw two crooked windows and a door that had lost its paint to the salty air long ago. There was a round iron ring in the center of the rotted wood.
Link glanced at Boo, who was watching him expectantly. “Maybe nobody's home.” The Caster dog didn't look convinced. “Okay, I'm knockin'.”
The ring struck the door, and it slowly swung open.
“Hel o?” Link cal ed.
No one was there. Link glanced down at the lock.
It was busted. He stepped into the entryway tentatively. “Hel o? Is anybody home?”
Inside, the place was like a library. Books were stacked everywhere, and except for a few chairs by the fireplace and a plank table, there was no furniture. Just books and journals from floor to ceiling, and maps tacked to the empty spaces on the wal s in between. The kitchen was off to one side, with a huge window that overlooked the water.
Someone had to be there. The fireplace was stil lit.
“Mr. Trueblood?” Link cal ed out over the sound of the waves crashing against the rocks outside.
“Macon Ravenwood sent me. He has a message for you.”
Boo sniffed around the room, pausing by a long hall way. More maps were taped to the wal s there.
“You smel somethin', Boo?” Linkubus senses were sharp, too. He inhaled deeply—pipe tobacco.
Link fol owed the combination of licorice and oak until he reached the end of the hall way, where a door was cracked just wide enough to let a slice of moonlight escape. There were voices—no, one voice—fol owed by a low moan.
A new smel flooded Link's heightened senses—
something more familiar. Copper and salt. Blood.
He zeroed in on the thin space between the door and the frame. There was someone in the room, cradling an old man in his arms. Blood seeped onto the floor.
Link would've known that leather jacket and slick black hair anywhere. It was Hunting Ravenwood. And the Blood Incubus wasn't supporting the wounded man. He was feeding.
“Hunting!” Link shouted before he could stop himself. He wasn't sure what he was planning to do, but he was going to do something. Link burst through the door, brandishing his shears just as Hunting flashed him a bloody, satisfied smile.
“You're a little late, kid.” He dropped the limp body. “I'd kil you, too, but you don't matter.”
Link heard the sound of the rip. Hunting was gone before Link could make it across the room.
The old man—a good twenty years older than The old man—a good twenty years older than Macon, judging by his white beard—was lying in the center of the room, where Hunting had dropped him.
The moon shone through the window, casting a pale and eerie light on his features. His white shirt was streaked with blood.
Boo barked, and the man stirred, tilting his head to the side. His eyes were gold. Obidias was a Dark Caster.
Link slid to his knees at the injured man's side and realized why Boo was barking. Obidias' hand was lying across his chest, but it wasn't a hand at al .
When Link got close, the heads of five black snakes the length of human fingers hissed and struck the air.
The snakes were attached to the old man's wrist, where his hand should've been.
“Holy crap!” Link jumped back.
“Don't worry,” the man said, his voice strained.
“They only like to hurt me.”
Link pul ed himself together. He could deal with a few snakes. But this guy was in bad shape. “Mr.
Trueblood? What happened?”
The man coughed. “Abraham Ravenwood sent me a visitor.”
Link's skin crawled at the sound of Abraham's name. “But why? You're a Dark—I mean, you're one of them.”
Obidias coughed, trying to catch his breath. “I am not one of them.”
“I don't understand—”
“There's no time to explain. Macon needs to know what Abraham was trying to confirm…” Obidias could barely breathe. He wasn't going to make it.
Link took off his black AC/DC sweatshirt and pushed it under the old man's head.
With his good hand, Obidias grabbed Link's arm and pul ed him closer. “I know what's coming—the consequences. The Order is broken.” Obidias closed his eyes and opened them again slowly. He was talking about the Order of Things, broken on the night of Lena's Seventeenth Moon.
“What's gonna happen, sir?” Whatever it was, maybe they could stop it if they knew what they were up against.
“The apocalypse. The end of the Mortal world as we know it—” Obidias was fading.
“What do you mean by apocalypse? Like in the Bible?” Was there another kind? Link didn't even know.
Obidias' eyes were glassy. “Unimaginable plagues wil rain down on the Mortal world until there is nothing left, and the Casters wil be powerless to stop the destruction.”
“What should we do?”
“There are some things too broken to be fixed,” he said, struggling to breathe. “Some that are inevitable. Tel Macon I'm sorry. For a lot of things…”
The old man's head rol ed to the side, his eyes stil and unfocused. The snakes stopped hissing and fel against his chest.
He was dead.
Link grabbed his shoulders and shook him gently.
“Mr. Trueblood!” But he was gone.
The end of the Mortal world.
The words kept replaying themselves over and over in Link's head.
He walked over to the ashtray, where a pipe was stil smoking, and knocked the embers out of it.
Obidias Trueblood wouldn't need it anymore. Link pul ed the heavy cream envelope out of his pocket.
Something else the dead Caster wouldn't need.
He stared at Macon's handwriting scrawled across the envelope. The letter wasn't meant for Link. He knew that. But he also knew the guy it was meant for was dead. He tore open the envelope, cutting his finger on the edge of the paper.
He pul ed out a card from inside, his blood smearing across the front. He stared at it for a long time, his hand shaking.
The card was completely blank.
“No way.”
Link looked from the card to the Dark Caster lying dead next to it. There wasn't a letter. There never had been. The message was from Macon Ravenwood, but it wasn't for the dead guy. It was for Link—even he knew that much.
If it was a test, Link hoped he had passed. It didn't happen very often, but there was a first time for happen very often, but there was a first time for everything.
Besides, this time Link knew there was more at stake than summer school.
Much more.