Darren Shan - Dark Calling

“Beranabus was afraid,” Grubbs interrupts. “That’s why he told you to send Kernel after him. It wasn’t so he could study Death from the inside and learn its secrets. He realized his soul might be trapped and he didn’t want to spend eternity in the grasp of the Shadow. He hoped Kernel could get him out. You know that’s true. You knew it from the moment you suggested the idea of rescuing him. Tell me I’m wrong.”

Bec says nothing. Her face was red with anger moments before, but now the flush fades. Her lower jaw trembles. She looks ashamed.

“This is personal,” Grubbs growls, facing us like a lawyer addressing a jury. “She’s not thinking about beating Death. She only wants to set Beranabus free.”

“What’s wrong with that?” Meera asks quietly. “He was her friend. You’d do the same for Dervish in that position. So would I.”

“I wouldn’t,” Kirilli pipes up.

“No surprise there,” Dervish mutters.

“It’s too dangerous,” Grubbs yells. “I liked Beranabus but I’m not going to risk everything to save his soul. Hell, he might not even be there. Maybe Death didn’t claim him.”

“It did,” I say softly. “I’ve been studying the lights while you were arguing, concentrating on Beranabus. A few started flashing as soon as I focused on him, and more have joined them. It’s not like when I search for someone living, but if his soul hadn’t been absorbed by the Shadow, no lights would flash at all.”

“OK, it took his soul. So what?” Grubbs shrugs. “How many of you want to risk a rescue? Who cared about the mad old buzzard that much?”

He looks around the room. Kirilli instantly shakes his head. Meera nods firmly to show she’s on Bec’s side. Dervish looks uncertain. “We owe him,” he says.

“We owe a lot of people,” Grubbs grunts, “but we can’t always repay our debts. You taught me that. A Disciple doesn’t risk his life to save a few people, not when the fate of billions is at stake.

“If I think we have a real chance of hurting the Shadow, I’ll jump at it. But if we’re just going over there to free Beranabus’s soul…. That’s not right. Beranabus wouldn’t have thought so either—not until he crumbled at the end.”

“What if he didn’t?” I ask angrily. “I spent more time with him than any of you. I never saw him ask for favors. He was the most selfless person I knew. What if he really did hope to learn something that might help us?”

“I’m not willing to take that chance,” Grubbs says.

“You’re a fool,” Bec shouts.

“Maybe,” Grubbs sniffs. “But it looks like we have a tie, three votes for each. You, Meera, and Kernel want to ride to the rescue. Kirilli and I have more sense. And Dervish…” He looks to his uncle for a final answer.

Dervish sighs. “I agree with Grubbs. We can’t let personal feelings cloud our judgment.”

“What if it was personal for you? ” I softly challenge him.

“It’s not,” Dervish says wearily. “If Grubbs was in that position, I’d do all I could to free him. But he isn’t, so there’s no point—”

“Bill-E,” Bec stops him. Dervish turns slowly, left eyelid ticking, but she isn’t looking at him. She’s staring at me. “Is it Bill-E?”

I nod slowly.

“Liar!” Grubbs howls, raising a huge, shaggy fist. “How dare you—”

“I searched for him after I looked for Beranabus,” I say quickly. “I was running tests, searching for others I knew who’d died, like Mrs. Egin, Logan Rile, Sharmila. I came up blank on all of them. Then I thought of Bill-E and a few lights flashed, the way they flashed for Beranabus.”

“If you’re lying…” Grubbs growls, fingers clenched tight.

I step forward. I’m shaking like a rattlesnake’s tail but I speak clearly. “If you think I’d say this to trick you, you don’t know me at all.”

Grubbs stares into my eyes. He wants to find deception, but he can’t, because I’m telling the truth. His shoulders slump and he backs away. He shares a scared look with Dervish, who’s been hit just as hard by the news.

Bec could crow but she doesn’t. She merely waits.

“I killed him to free him,” Grubbs finally croaks. “It was the hardest thing I’ve done. I murdered my own brother. I wouldn’t have done that to save the world, the universe, or anything else. But I couldn’t bear to let him live in torment at the hands of the Demonata. I killed him to spare his suffering, to set him free. Now you’re telling me I didn’t, that the Shadow has him?”

“I’m sorry,” I whisper.

Tears of blood trickle from Grubbs’s eyes. Raising a hand, he wipes them away, then covers his face with his hand and moans softly.

“We have to free them,” Bec says. She crouches by his side and reaches out to embrace him.

“Don’t touch me!” he barks, pulling away from her.

“Don’t be silly,” she smiles. “I absorbed your secret when we linked outside. I know what Juni predicted. But I don’t believe her. She’s insane. You would never do what she claimed.”

Grubbs cries out and wraps his arms around the little girl, hugging her like a doll, weeping while we stare at the pair of them, bewildered. When he finally stops crying, he releases Bec and grins shakily at her, then casts his gaze over the rest of us, his features firm.

“Show of hands. Who’s going to help me and Bec kick some Shadow ass?”

Five arms rise immediately. Kirilli is the only dissenter. “You’re all crazy,” he grumbles.

“Overruled,” Dervish laughs, then twists his spikes into place and drawls like a gangster. “I always wanted to be part of a jailbreak!”

I try opening a window to Beranabus, then Bill-E, but enjoy no luck. It’s too difficult on this world. The lights are few and scattered. I need more power to piece them together. I need the magic of the demon universe.

We cross to a realm we know is safe, where we’ve based ourselves in the past. Grubbs brings his pack of werewolves along (“For fun,” he grins bleakly) but we leave the soldiers behind. I choose a place where time operates like it does on Earth. That way we should be back to face the next assault. Assuming we survive our brush with Death. Which is a pretty big assumption.

As the others prepare for battle, I use the lights to pinpoint the position of our enemies. I still can’t get a fix on Death, even though I now know its identity. But I find Lord Loss and Juni Swan easily enough. They’re on a world I’ve never been to, surrounded by thousands… no, millions of demons. The thought of entering the midst of such an army is terrifying.

I think of telling the others, but what’s the point? We have to do this. Bec, Dervish, and Grubbs for personal reasons, me because I believe— hope —Beranabus can reveal something about Death which will give us the power to defeat it. If all goes well, we won’t have to face the demons, just their shadowy master. If it goes poorly…

Best not to dwell on that.

I turn my thoughts away from demons. Breathing calmly, I focus on Beranabus. Lights begin to pulse, but there aren’t many of them and I have a tough time piecing them together. Normally lights flock to me when I summon them but these patches resist. I have to focus harder than I’ve ever had to, and even then they only drift towards me sluggishly, reluctantly.

Gritting my teeth, I bully the patches into place, slotting them together as if they were pieces of a crudely carved jigsaw puzzle. I’m aware of time ticking, the others growing impatient, especially the werewolves, who howl and hammer the ground with their fists, eager for action.

I push the distractions from my mind and focus on the lights. Normally I can multitask, chat with others while I’m working on a window. Not now. This will take everything I have. I’m doing something no one has ever done before, breaching the barriers of life itself.