David Baldacci - The Keeper

Down the hall I stopped at the door with the little mark on it. The jabbit, I knew, was behind this portal, trapped in his cage of light.

I raised my wand, made the three parallel strokes with it and said, “ Crystilado magnifica .”

Instantly, the image of the jabbit appeared directly in front of me. I knew it was coming, but it still took all of my willpower not to scream.

Okay, I thought. The thing is in there . But wait, how was I going to get in the door? It would shout “GO AWAY! ”

Then I forced myself to calm down. Astrea had taught me that one. I tapped the door’s lock with my wand and said, “ Ingressio .”

The door immediately swung inward.

I stepped forward into the room, my wand at the ready.

The jabbit was across the space, curled up, its multiple heads lowered, all the awful eyes closed. It was asleep. All around it I could see the lights of its cage swirling. The jabbit was a truly enormous serpent, thick as a tree trunk, with two hundred and fifty venomous heads running the length of its body. It was the most fiercesome beast in all of Wormwood. And yet there were even more terrifying ones out there in the Quag.

I had a plan. I didn’t know if it would work, but I was going to try. I raised my wand, pointing it at the body of the giant serpent.

I flicked my wand and said, “ Paralycto .”

The spell I cast hit the wall of light and rebounded. I ducked just in time and it flew over me and hit the opposite wall with a crash.

When I rose, I knew that my spell could not get past the lighted cage. This was a problem. When I heard multiple hisses, I knew I had another problem.

I turned to look. The jabbit was awake now and five hundred eyes were upon me, each of them filled with malice. I swallowed, and it seemed most of my courage drained with it. Now I would have to undo the cage, then cast the spell. But that would free the jabbit, at least momentarily. And I knew better than most how quickly they struck. However, unless I did this, Astrea was going to die.

I decided to act fast because the longer I waited, the more time the jabbit had to fully awaken. As I looked at the serpent, something remarkable happened. I grew calm. I don’t know why, but I felt a confidence I had no reason to have. I pointed my wand at the bars of light and, focusing my MBS, said, “ Eraisio .”

The light bars instantly vanished.

I could tell the serpent was not yet fully aware that it was free.

Seizing this opportunity, I pointed my wand once more and said, “ Paralycto .”

It was truly remarkable to see such a gigantic creature become instantly frozen. It had reared up right before the spell struck, but now its hundreds of eyes were glazed over and its fangs were conveniently bared.

Still, I walked toward it with great caution, hoping with each step that my spell would hold. I pulled the metal bowl from my cloak pocket and drew close to the nearest set of fangs.

I held the bowl under one of the open mouths, pointed my wand at the fangs and prepared to cast a spell that Astrea had taught me for drawing liquid from various objects like stones and trees, since we would need a source of water.

“ Springato erupticus .”

A yellowish liquid poured from the fangs and collected in the bowl. It was amazing how much venom could come out of a single pair of fangs.

Once the bowl was fairly full, I pointed my wand at the fangs and muttered the reverse spell to stop the flow of venom.

I stepped back against the far wall, set the bowl down and prepared myself.

Two spells back-to-back.

MBS, MBS. Focus, Vega, focus.

I whipped my wand down the length of the serpent and said, “ Unparalycto .”

The jabbit immediately came back to life. It fixed its gazes on me. I could see exactly what it was planning to do.

“ Incarcerata .”

The jabbit struck at that instant. And slammed right into the white light bars that had reemerged around it. They held fast and the creature retreated into vast, windy coils, its fury evident in its hideous eyes and the angry twitches of its tree-trunk body.

I smiled. And then turned to pick up the bowl. I never got there.

The jabbit struck with the bloodcurdling shriek that I had always been told was the last thing you would ever hear.

“ Pass-pusay ,” I screamed, slapping my wand against my leg.

I was instantly on the other side of the room and the jabbit had slammed into the wall with its two hundred and fifty heads. The roof of the cottage shook with the impact, and a long crack appeared along the wall.

How the Hel had it escaped my cage of lights?

It turned and with a massive whip of its tail, it was charging straight at me. My thoughts turned back for an instant to Stacks, where a pair of jabbits had been hunting me down. I had escaped behind a little wooden door with a screaming Wug for a knob. There was no such escape now. No door, no screaming Wug.

The jabbit struck again.

“Embattlemento.”

The serpent hit the conjured wall with such force that the entire room shook. I fell back, but I quickly regrouped as the jabbit rebounded off my spell and was flung backward against the far wall of the room.

It was slow to shake off the impact.

I could hardly believe my eyes. I had hurt a jabbit.

Before it could attack once more, I shouted, “ Incarcerata .”

The white bands shot from my wand and encircled the creature.

I prayed that it would hold this time. I stepped carefully around the jabbit as its five hundred eyes followed my every move. I slowly bent down, keeping my gaze on the thing, and picked up the bowl of venom.

Then I was out the door in a flash and closed and secured it behind me with a locking spell. Breathless, I hurried down the hall, where I nearly collided with Delph coming the other way. He was carrying an old journal.

“Found it,” he said. “The instructions for the elixir.”

“Brilliant!” I held up the bowl. “And I got the venom.”

“Bloody Hel,” he gushed, taking the bowl gingerly.

“And now for the garm.” I rushed down the hall to the other door that had told me, “GO AWAY!”

I cried out, “ Crystilado magnifica. ”

I blinked. “ Crystilado magnifica ,” I said again.

The room was empty. There was no garm in a white-light cage.

I heard the growl behind me. I didn’t even have time to turn.

I screamed. The garm roared.

I saw a flash of something and I was knocked heels over arse.

As I slid along the floor, I looked behind me.

The garm was on its hind legs, just about to expel a chest of flames that would burn me to cinder.

And there was Harry Two. He must have knocked me down.

He leapt directly at the beast and then the impossible happened. My canine clamped his strong jaws around the garm’s snout, forcing it shut. The garm screamed in fury, though the sound came out muffled because it could not open its mouth.

It flung itself around, slamming Harry Two into the wall. But still Harry Two hung on, even with his legs dangling uselessly and blood pouring from the side of his head. The garm reached up with its forelegs to rip Harry Two to pieces.

I had another vision. Of my first canine, Harry. He had also saved me from a garm and sacrificed his life in doing so. I had no intention of letting that happen again.

There was a powerful feeling surging through every bit of me. It wasn’t hatred. Or loathing. It was far more than that. I don’t believe there is even a word to adequately encompass it. I said it before I even realized saying it. It came out of my mouth with such force that it seemed the words alone could do what I wanted done.