chapter 28
Getting from the Waldorf to Battery Park before the last possible outgoing ferry made its departure proved to be a challenge of its own, even without any hiccups. After meeting back up with Josette and Obi, we decided on public transit, hopping a couple of subways and walking a bit to get down to dock with only a couple of minutes to spare. I had covered us all in a simple disguise as Japanese tourists, and the rainy weather was helpful to hide the two swords as umbrellas. We had also each claimed one of the Blessed Order’s daggers. There had been a moment of tension when Rebecca and I had returned from the roof with them, but Josette had been elated when I told her that nobody had been killed in their acquisition.
It was the middle of the afternoon when the ferry docked at the Island. I looked up at the Statue, and couldn’t help but think about the night Mr. Ross had dropped me off on the torch; cold, scared, and confused. It had only been a few days ago, but I felt like it had been an eternity. I had learned so much, experienced so much, changed so much in that short time.
I looked at Rebecca, remembering our first encounter. The way she had pummeled the closet I had been hiding in, toyed with me like a cat, and in the end let me go. She had been frightening in her raw, violent power. That fear had turned to admiration and affection. She wasn’t a mindless killing monster, but a beautiful, intelligent, thoughtful creature with her own free will, her own power to make her own decisions. She caught me looking at her and winked. It was like she could read my mind.
The rain had kept some of the visitors away, but the Island was still crowded with people. We disembarked from the ferry and headed up towards the Statue itself. I kept my senses focused on the area around us, staying alert to any Divine that might show up. I wasn’t picking up anything.
“Where are we supposed to meet?” Obi asked. He had spent the entire trip marveling at his newfound resistance to cold, and had removed his heavy wool pea coat in response.
“I don’t know,” I replied. “I just figured we’d know it when he showed up.”
“I know where he is,” Rebecca said. “Follow me.”
We made our way into the pedestal, back into the lobby, and then to my surprise back to the storage closet where I had spent my first night returned to the mortal world. Rebecca cast a sidelong glance in either direction to make sure we weren’t being watched, then slipped a key into the door and swung it open just wide enough for us to squeeze through. Once we were in, she slammed the door shut and locked it again.
The room was pitch black, but I was able to see without too much difficulty, my world illuminated in grayscale. “Here?” I asked.
“You’ll see,” Rebecca said. She motioned with her arm to move us even further together against the back wall, pressing us up against the shelf that had been knocked over when we had met. Judging by the way Josette and Obi were stumbling in the darkness, they weren’t as fortunate with their sight.
Rebecca knelt down and put her hand against the solid cement floor. Except it wasn’t solid, it had just looked that way until she pulled up a simple brass handle from beneath the glamour. A glamour I hadn’t even been able to see through.
“This passage was added in secret by a powerful demon named Silza,” Rebecca said. “His goal was to provide a refuge for those who were looking to make the most of the opportunity to subjugate this country, and in doing so bring them under his control. He was killed by Reyzl.” She pointed at a messy scrawl of runes on the underside of the door. “These runes hide this passageway from the eyes of any who don’t know the command to enter. They also protect those inside from being sensed. There are six beings in existence that know this place exists, and we are four of them. Even the Demon Queen could not find us down here, which is why Reyzl has chosen this place to meet us.”
It was also her nest. Her home. I tried not to let it bother me that Reyzl knew where she lived, especially after what she had said he wanted to do to her. There was someone else who knew. Who?
“I don’t have any lights,” she told me, holding the door open so we could climb down.
Why would she? She didn’t need them. I looked around the storage closet until I found a can of turpentine. All I needed was something to ignite. I opened it and focused, forcing the chemicals to combust, then pulled the flames out of the can and wound them into a dancing ball of light. Josette and Obi looked grateful to have their eyes back.
“Let’s go,” I said, leading them down into the darkness, holding the light over the back of my shoulder.
Rebecca closed the door behind us as we descended a ladder about thirty feet down through a small round tunnel. The entire length of the shaft was covered in the same scrawled runes, and I could feel a pressure against my head while I climbed downward.
“Angels cannot enter this place,” Josette said. “I have seen runes like this before, in a sewer below Paris. When I tried there was such pressure, I felt like I would drown.”
“I don’t feel anything,” Obi said.
My feet touched down on an old, thick rug whose center had been worn away by the many feet that had scraped against it on their way up or down over the years. The passageway continued through a circular stone archway that traveled another thirty feet before opening up into a larger space. I could just make out the vague shape of a bed resting near the back end of the area. I could also hear the faint sound of...singing?
The voice was a smooth baritone, the melody old and unrecognizable to my modern ears. Even from here I knew whose mouth was producing the sounds, whose breath was being expelled into the air in the shape of the rough, sad notes. Rebecca hopped off the ladder, cocked her head, and frowned.
“Looks like you were right,” I said to her.
She nodded, looking more fearful than I had believed she could look. I hadn’t expected her to be apprehensive about the archfiend after she had already put a dagger through his heart.
The room was large, with a high arched ceiling and a mosaic floor. Against the back wall was Rebecca’s bed, an intricately carved four-poster that in other circumstances I might have spent hours pondering, wondering how it had come to be in this location without anyone having seen it. Towards the southern wall a rack of blades of all shapes and sizes, thick blocks of wood with plenty of nicks taken out of them, and a mat to separate the training space. To the north a refrigerator whose contents needn’t be guessed, and an antique-looking desk with a laptop sitting on it. Did she really have Internet access down here?
Sectioned off near the center of the room was a small sitting area with a leather sofa, a couple of end tables, a rocking chair, and a large flat-screen television. Reyzl was sitting in the rocking chair, his eyes closed, his legs pushing him back and forth. He was wearing a simple pinstriped suit and a pair of wire rimmed glasses, and he didn’t even bother to open his eyes when we entered. Being able to examine him up close, I could see that his features were more akin to the Egyptian sculpture I had seen in the Museum than they were to any of the Indian’s I had come across around town.
“You’re late,” he said, his voice holding a hint of a British-English accent. During our first meeting he had seemed so powerful, so malevolent, so in control of everything. Now, he didn’t even register as being evil.
“That depends on your concept of time,” I replied. For someone who could wait forever, there was no such thing as late.
Reyzl opened his eyes and turned his head. I could only imagine the black orbs were focused on me, looking me over for a second time. “You are a resourceful one,” he said. “Your success against my angels was unforeseen, and most unfortunate.”
I glanced over my shoulder, surprised to find Rebecca hiding behind me. Not wanting to show them I was afraid, I walked over and sat down on the sofa, turning to face the demon.
“It was nothing personal,” I said.
Reyzl laughed. “Personal,” he repeated. “No, it wasn’t, was it? Just as Ulnyx wasn’t personal.” He smiled. “It is of no matter,” he said. “I will destroy you when it suits me. Or perhaps you will come to work for me, as your predecessor once did. Either way, you will fall under my dominion as all things are destined.”
He turned his head to look back at where Rebecca, Josette, and Obi were still standing, trying to keep as much distance between themselves and the demon as possible.
“Rebecca, will you not join us? And Josette? It is a pleasure to see you here. It tickles me that after all these years you will be helping instead of hindering. You have made excellent choices in friends, Landon.”
I suspected his words were intended to intimidate. Instead, I found myself amused by his self-importance. He was a powerful demon, but I had power too, and right now I refused to let him get the best of me.
“You do understand,” I said, trying to mimic his quiet bluster, “Time is important in consideration of our endeavor.”
Reyzl’s head whipped back to look at me, his blank expression showing signs of life as he reacted to my mocking tone. Just as soon as it had appeared, it was gone, replaced with his calm emptiness.
“Of course,” he said.
He rose to his feet and walked over to the exercise mat in the corner. He knelt down on it and started scratching out runes in the vinyl, his finger cutting through in precise, rigid lines. A minute later he had completed a circle with the runes, and with a guttural exultation they began to burn.
“This is a transport Rift,” he said. “It connects to an identical circle in the home of the Demon Queen. You will step into this circle, and step out of that circle. You will retrieve the Chalice and return. At that time, I will open a second Rift to Hell through which my legions can travel through the circle and launch the assault on the Demon Queen.”
I walked over to the circle and looked right into Reyzl’s eyes. “I’ve got it,” I said. I motioned to the others. “Let’s go.”
Reyzl’s hand was a lightning bolt, lashing out and attaching itself to my shoulder, his claws digging into my skin. “Just you,” he said, letting go before I could retaliate.
Just me? “We had a deal,” I said.
“A deal that you would get the Chalice from the Demon Queen. Your companions are my insurance that you will not sell me to her in exchange of your own life. This Rift connects both locations. Should she come through the circle, my soul would be forfeit.”
“What if she kills me and then comes through?”
“I will know if she kills you, and destroy my side before that can happen. If you die, your companions will be executed as well. Consider it an added incentive.” His head tilted downward towards my groin. “You must leave the weapon here,” he said. “You cannot pass through the Rift while you are carrying it.”
By myself, unarmed. This was getting better by the second. I should have known that making a deal with a demon wouldn’t be a straightforward thing. I looked over at Rebecca, her expression a mixture of anger, sadness, and fear. Josette and Obi seemed to be hiding their emotions better, though neither looked very comfortable with the situation.
“We had a deal,” Reyzl reminded me.
I could almost sense the hint of mirth in his voice. He had trapped me perfectly, leaving me between a three thousand year old Egyptian rock and an even harder place. Resigned, I nodded my understanding to the demon, slipped the dagger from my belt and dropped it to the floor. I took a deep breath and stepped into the Rift.
Traveling through the Rift was identical to what I had experienced in Purgatory when Mr. Ross had led me off of the beach. One moment I was one place, the next I was someplace else. There was no wormhole, no weird wavy lines, no churned stomach or headache. One step brought me into the Rift under the Statue of Liberty. The next step brought me onto a stone floor.
The first thing I noticed was that it was super bright. So bright that part of me felt like it was shriveling under the intense glow. The second thing I noticed was the Grail. It was sitting right in front of me, about forty feet away. It was resting on a simple stone pedestal, looking as though it were still in the Museum of Natural History, as though the entire thing had been a dream and I was back to my actual life.
That illusion didn’t stick long, because the third thing I noticed was that I wasn’t alone. To the right of the Chalice were two simple white metal folding chairs, the kind they use at outdoor weddings. She was sitting in one of them, smiling at me.
“Landon,” she said with a gentle voice not befitting the Queen of Demons. “I’ve been waiting for you.”