Dianne Salerni - The Eighth Day

Riley’s head jerked up. Behind his gag he mumbled something Jax thought was You gotta be kidding me. Nearby, Miller shuffled his feet and scanned the sky.

“Furthermore, I have the body of Niviane of the Lake, who conceived this spell and helped Merlin Emrys and Arthur Pendragon cast it. I invoke the presence of all three villains and take control of their magic with the blood of my vassals and a valuable sacrifice.” Wylit pointed Excalibur at Riley. “The last of his line, a descendant of the king who imprisoned us.” Wylit’s lips peeled back to show his rotting teeth. “I will cut out his heart on this altar for the right to win this world.”

Light flashed above them, and a bolt crossed the purple sky. It wasn’t lightning. Lightning didn’t shoot across the sky and stay there . It looked like a crack in a plaster wall.

Or a crack in whatever barrier held Grunsday separate from the rest of time.

John Balin reached into his suit jacket, removed his gun, and fired it straight into the air. “Loyal vassals, your blood!” he shouted. The man next to Balin unsheathed his honor blade, cut his palm, and raised his hand to the sky. This was the original purpose of the honor blades, Jax remembered from Melinda’s lesson. The offering of blood enhanced the spell. Balin holstered his pistol, then used his own dagger to slice through the twine on Jax’s wrists. Jax gasped in surprise as his hands fell free.

“Now, boy,” Balin said. “Join us or die.” He yanked Jax’s own blade out of its sheath and slapped it into Jax’s right hand. “Add your blood to the spell.”

Jax looked at Evangeline with absolute certainty. She nodded, then turned toward Riley and squeezed her eyes shut. Jax couldn’t tell if Riley took the hint. Gripping his dagger tightly, he flung his left hand out at Wylit, closed his eyes, and shouted out the phrase he’d memorized.

The spell Evangeline had planted in his head poured out of him like ejecta from a volcano. Even through his eyelids, he saw the explosion of light. It wasn’t a fireball—just natural light, the flame of a candle multiplied ten thousandfold in a mirror. Balin and the other man cried out in surprise, blinded by the flare, but Wylit howled in agony.

As the flare faded, Jax opened his eyes and saw two things he hadn’t expected. Tegan was off the ground, her hands free, sawing at Riley’s bindings with a penknife. And Miller pulled a walkie-talkie out of his pocket, yelling, “Now, now! ” Then: “Jax, duck!”

JAX DUCKED.

Miller whipped out his gun and fired point-blank at the man standing behind Jax.

Down on the Avenue of the Dead, a series of explosions shattered the silence of the abandoned city.

Miller spun on his heel, firing at Wylit. Balin pushed the old man behind the crate and returned fire with such vigor that Miller had to retreat down the side of the pyramid, skidding and losing the walkie-talkie on the way.

Tegan finally broke through Riley’s bonds. He pulled the gag out of his mouth with one hand and pushed Tegan out of the line of fire with the other. “Drop your gun and hit the ground!” he shouted.

His command didn’t affect Balin at all. With Miller gone, Balin turned his gun on this new threat, and Riley, who’d started in Evangeline’s direction, was forced to turn and dive behind Wylit’s sedan chair for shelter. “Get over the side, Jax!” Riley yelled.

Jax scooped up Miller’s walkie-talkie, scrambled to the edge of the summit, and rolled down the incline. The stones bruised and pummeled him as he dropped to the terrace below. Behind him, he heard more shots fired, and his heart thudded with fear for both his friends on the summit.

But a moment later, Riley slid down beside him, unharmed. “Throw your clansmen down the stairs!” Riley shouted at three men who were running up the pyramid steps from below. Jax shivered all over, sensing the magic in Riley’s desperate command, although it wasn’t aimed at him. The man in the lead turned and bashed the second one in the head with his rifle, knocking him off the stairs. The third man, Angus Balin, put his rifle to his shoulder and fired. Jax flinched as a bullet ricocheted off the rocks above his head. Then the man under Riley’s control barreled into Angus, and the two of them disappeared over the edge of the terrace.

Jax turned to look above him, worried about the other Balin shooting at them. The angle of the pyramid sheltered them, but if Balin came down after them . . .

“He won’t leave Wylit,” Riley said, guessing Jax’s thoughts. “And he’s still got Evangeline as hostage. I couldn’t reach her.”

Riley looked every bit as stricken as Jax about that. And as if flying bullets weren’t bad enough, Jax could hear Wylit’s voice above them. The crazy Kin lord was still trying to cast his spell. “What are we going to do?” Jax asked.

Riley looked around wildly and for a moment didn’t seem to have an answer. Then a low chopping sound rose above the sound of shouts and gunfire on the other side of the pyramid, and he went limp with relief. “Reinforcements,” he gasped. “It’s about time.”

Over the pyramid, a helicopter appeared. It was as ugly as a flying turkey, an old model that probably dated all the way back to Vietnam. How had Riley gotten a helicopter?

“Where’s Miller?” Riley yelled over the noise.

“He went over the other way,” Jax shouted. “Is he really on our side?”

“Of course he is!”

The floodlights on the Pyramid of the Sun went out one at a time, leaving them in darkness. Wylit’s men were shooting out the illumination that made them easy targets from the air.

“Miller kicked you,” Jax protested. “He told them to sacrifice Tegan!”

“He kicked me so Balin would think I was down,” Riley said. “He handed Tegan the knife and put my instructions into her head. They were meant for you, but Balin moved you out of reach.”

“This was all on purpose ?”

“Would’ve worked better if the Morgans hadn’t been late.” Riley looked up at the helicopter, which was making another turn around the pyramid. A searchlight swept over them, and Riley held up both hands, signaling It’s me! Don’t shoot!

“The Morgans?” Jax repeated. Someone waved a hand in salute before the helicopter banked away.

“Yeah. Congratulate me. I’m engaged.” Riley twisted around to look toward the top of the pyramid. He’d traded himself for the use of Deidre’s clan and their weaponry, Jax realized. He’d let Miller beat him up and offer him as a sacrifice so the two of them could get close enough to rescue Jax and Evangeline.

Another series of explosions erupted along the Avenue of the Dead. Jax’s head buzzed as intuition combined with magic. “That’s the Crandalls, isn’t it?”

“And Donovan. He joined up with us to get his daughter back.” Riley grinned briefly at Jax. “They crawled here through tunnels A.J. and I learned about on TV.” Jax nodded his understanding. Tegan had screamed for her father because she knew he was here. “It’s only a distraction,” Riley said, “but it keeps them guessing how many people we have—and where.”

Jax squirmed in worry as the helicopter circled again, shooting at the lower levels of the pyramid. “I don’t know where Tegan went.”

“She’s under the table.” Riley glanced upward again. “It’s safest there. The Morgans aren’t supposed to fire on the summit unless I okay it. That’s part of the deal I made with them.”

Light streaked across the sky again, longer and farther than before. It snaked across the purple heavens, breaking into branches and widening. A wind rose around them, swirling tiny pebbles. Jax half expected the sky to shatter like glass.