Necromancer Legacy - 5. Catch you when you fall

“I'll bring him back before midnight.”

The demon winked at Sasha as he pulled his hood over his face. Then a thin veil of black smoke enveloped him, and he disappeared. Sasha blinked, and saw that the smoke had dissipated rapidly, like he’d imagined the whole thing.

Nick’s body remained, but he was gone, too. His spirit was gone.

“Shit.”

Sasha dropped to his knees and felt for Nick’s pulse. It was slow. But it was there. He breathed out in relief.

How had he not felt the dark presence? All those years, his mother had taught him to use his powers. All for nothing, it seemed. She would be so disappointed if she knew. Sasha looked down at Nick’s pale face, feeling distraught.

If he hadn’t been so busy acting cold and distant toward Nick, maybe this wouldn’t have happened.

Sasha had certain abilities, just like his mother before him; he should, technically, be completely capable of driving demons and dark spirits away. Well, unfortunately, it wasn’t always that simple in real life. Everything seemed simpler in Lilya Koval’s journal.

And everything had been much simpler when she was still alive. Sasha’s father had known about everything too, of course. Without them Sasha felt lost. Completely lost.

He took a deep breath. Okay. Enough with the self-pity party. Nick needed his help. Just because Sasha didn’t much like him didn’t mean he should let him die.

Sasha tried to remember everything Lilya had taught him. Leaning closer to Nick, he noted the elegant brow, long eyelashes, fine-boned nose, angular features; Nick was a good-looking guy, just like Gabriel. Sasha shook his head clear.

He pressed one hand to Nick’s forehead, and the other on his chest, over his heart. Nick’s skin felt abnormally cold, his heartbeat uneven.

Sasha was supposed to be able to bring people back from their nightmares. This wasn’t exactly a nightmare, if the demon had brought Nick’s spirit to the other side, but… His mother had told him once that people with supernatural abilities were supposed to be able to travel to the other side and back, if they wanted to. So this should work, technically.

But nothing happened.

Nick’s heartbeat seemed to be slowing. What the hell was this? That hooded demon dude had no idea what he was doing. Sasha slid his fingers into Nick’s hair, and pressed their foreheads together. He squeezed his eyes shut.

“Come on,” he whispered.

Suddenly Sasha felt very cold, and as his eyes snapped open he realized he was standing in the middle of a frozen lake. And beyond it was only darkness in every direction. He looked down and with horror he saw that there was someone stuck under the thick ice. Nick. And he wasn’t moving.

Then Sasha looked up as he heard strange, distorted moans in the distance. From the shadows came tall black silhouettes, advancing quickly. Sasha wanted to scream but nothing came out. He brought down a fist to try to break the ice and get to Nick, but it was completely pointless. And those black, darting shapes were getting closer. Some of them started shrieking—a high-pitched, deafening noise.

Fear gripped at Sasha’s heart and his blood froze in his veins.

But then it was over; as suddenly as it had all appeared before him, it was gone. He was back in the bathroom, and Gabriel was pulling him to his feet.

“What’s going on? You were trembling.”

“I was trying to get into his head,” Sasha said, panting. “To bring him back. But I couldn’t…” He looked down. It was true. His hands were trembling. He brought them together. Shit. “It was so terrifying, Gabriel. I’m sure mom could’ve helped him, I’m sure she could’ve, but I can’t… I don’t think I can…”

“It’s okay. Calm down. We’ll figure this out.”

He nodded. Gabriel sat next to Nick, and touched his hand.

“He’s freezing.”

“I know… I don’t know if he’s going to make it on his own. I need to try again…”

“No.” Gabriel said firmly. “Absolutely not. Just… wait for me. I’ll make up some excuse for Shane. Wait for me and don’t do anything until I come back.”

Sasha just nodded again, and he sat on the floor as Gabriel left the small room. Sasha took Nick’s hands and brought them together, squeezing them, trying to warm them. He felt so useless.

He heard voices, but he couldn’t make out what Gabriel was saying.

Eventually, he heard the entrance door opening and closing. Gabriel hurriedly came back to the bathroom.

“What did you tell him?”

“That Nick has food poisoning, and that he’s going to spend the night here.”

“Did he buy it?”

“I think so.”

“So what do we do now?”

Gabriel shook his head. “I don’t know.” He glanced around the room like the white tiles would suddenly give him advice.

A phone buzzed then, and Sasha frowned as he realized it came from Nick’s pocket. So on a whim he grabbed the phone and read the text message: ‘Hi there, we met at your climbing gym last week. I’ve been thinking about what we talked about. We should do lunch some time. Liv -xx-’

Gabriel stared. “Hey, don’t read his texts! Why would you do that?”

“I don’t know I just...”

“Stop reading it!” Gabriel took the phone from him, and put it on the sink counter.

Sasha said nothing. But he wondered what that text was all about. Liv? He thought Nick was gay. Was he bisexual, then? Sasha realized he was being really silly right now; all that stuff wouldn’t matter if Nick died tonight, would it?

“What if he gets hypothermia or something?” Sasha was glancing down at Nick’s closed eyelids. And at the bluish tint of his lips.

Sasha didn’t know what to do. Unless he tried again, but—

What were those black things?

Sasha shuddered. What was Nick going through right now? All alone, trapped inside that ice. What was that demon doing?

“Hello, gentlemen.”

Well, well. Speaking of the devil.

The demon had showed up in their bathroom again—it was getting more crowded than a bathroom should ever be—looking all nervous. He took his hood off and cleared his throat.

“I might require some assistance.”

“Who the hell is this?” Gabriel asked, keeping his hand on Nick’s shoulder.

“A demon. He’s the one who’s doing this to Nick.”

“Well, when you put it like that, it sounds quite bad, I suppose. My name is Cyan, for starters. Please don’t call me demon. I’m a reaper. Also, please know that I don’t want to hurt Nicholas. I just want to help him! I just wanted to show him around a little, but he didn’t stay near me. He just ran off and now…” He reached up with a hand to scratch his blonde hair.

Gabriel looked furious. “Well bring him back then. What are you waiting for?”

“Well, that’s the thing. I might need some help with that. Alexander, if you would?”

Sasha looked to the side and met Gabriel’s dark eyes. “No choice now,” he said urgently, “I have to try. Even the demon says so.”

“And why exactly should we listen to him?” Gabriel hissed.

“We’ve got no choice. He’s dying. I’ve got to bring him back.”

Sasha placed his hand around Nick’s nape, and pressed their foreheads together, like before.

This time he was more in control. He was scared, but he was determined, too. He accepted the fear. He accepted the cold and the darkness. He was diving in.

Except, when Sasha opened his eyes, he wasn’t with Nick.

He was alone.

And his worst fear was coming true.

***

The ice was melting around Nick. That should have been a good thing, but it was not, because now the black shadows could get to him. They had been trying to get to him this whole time. They were tall, elongated silhouettes, like deformed, contorted humans. But they didn’t have faces. It was just all black. Just shadows. And still, they moaned and shrieked. One of the black shapes grabbed Nick and pulled him out of the ice. But it hadn’t completely melted yet. To Nick’s horror, his foot remained stuck in the ice. But the creature kept pulling, with such strength that the bone eventually snapped, and his foot got torn off.

With a scream of anguish Nick got yanked out of the water. The black shapes started moving around him in darting movements, slicing at him with black daggers that seemed to be made of shadows—shadows or not, they cut his skin and made him bleed. The pool of water where the ice had melted became red with the blood running from Nick’s mutilated leg.

He felt faint and tried to curl up on himself as much as possible, protecting his face with his arms. Those creatures wouldn’t stop. Their moans turned into a terrifying laughter. Nick had no idea what was happening. There was only fear. He couldn’t think. Couldn’t move.

But then suddenly they… froze. And stopped.

And Nick heard Cyan’s voice. “Go away you low life ghosts! Go! Now!”

They hesitated, then cowered away and dispersed through the night. Nick was trembling, and still curled up on himself. He wasn’t even sure if it was night. The sky above was so black—starless and moonless—that it looked artificial. And somehow they could still see even with no light. It was as though pale light emanated from the lake, and from Cyan also, as he stepped closer.

He grabbed Nick’s collar and pulled him up. “Now, listen. I can’t have you becoming paralyzed in fear every time you come here.”

“What were those things?” He breathed.

“Many names for them. Ghosts. Black ones. Who cares? Lost souls, all of them. They gave up. Come on, you’re better than this, Nicky. Sure, Hell can be a bit tricky at first, but you’ll get used to it. You can’t let them scare you like that. Oh, look at you. You’re still shaking in fear. Can you even stand on your own?”

He dropped him and Nick fell to the ground, feeling humiliated. But his leg… He held it and repressed a scream of pain. There was so much blood.

But Cyan was shaking his head. Nick wondered how he could even see him in the darkness; black against black. But Cyan’s pale blue eyes were gleaming.

“It’s all in your overly creative brain, love. It’s not real. You’re only here in spirit; your real body’s not even here. Look again.”

Nick looked, but his leg was still mutilated. His foot still very much missing. He felt a wave of nausea burning his chest, and this time he couldn’t repress a moan as he fell back onto the icy ground. This felt very real to him.

“Okay. Plan B. I thought I might need some assistance. So I brought your friend Sasha. Thought you two might help each other. Because, honestly I haven’t got all night… Better things to do, you know.”

“What have you done?”

Sasha couldn’t be here. This was Hell. Literally. Cyan had said so, and now Nick believed him. Sasha didn’t belong here. He belonged in his home with Gabriel, safe and away from all this. Nick shouldn’t even have gone back there. He should’ve left them alone, and maybe they could’ve finally had a chance at a normal life; he owed them that much.

And now Cyan had brought Sasha here? This was the worst…

“He’s up there,” Cyan said, pointing with a finger.

As Nick looked, he realized the scenery had changed, as though they were in a dream. They were in the middle of a forest now, with tall, crooked, leafless black trees. Nick forced himself to sit up and he narrowed his eyes to try to see Sasha. He was at the top of the tallest tree, clutching a branch that looked way too fragile to hold his weight.

“It turns out,” Cyan mused, “he’s afraid of heights. Well, afraid of falling, really. I find it odd how people say they’re afraid of heights, but really what they’re afraid of is falling, isn’t it?”

“Why did you do this?”

Cyan shrugged. “I figured he might be strong enough to handle it and talk some sense into you. Not very likely, though. So it was either that, or he lost it like you did, and you would be forced to come to your senses and save him. I should let you know, even though you’re both only here in spirit, if your body reckons you’re dead, it can be very dangerous. So don’t take this lightly. So, will you save him?” Cyan looked deep into his eyes. “Look, Nicky, I need to know if you can do this. And I need to know it now. I’m sorry this is all a bit rushed. But we don’t have much time. I know it’s all very troubling at first, but all those illusions, you can just ignore them. You’ll even learn to bend reality to your will with time. For now, all you need to do is help him. By doing that, you should stop being afraid of your own fears.”

“I want to help him,” Nick said firmly. “I have to. This is my fault.”

“Well it’s mine, really, but whatever works for you.”

Nick ignored him. He just kept looking at that tree. Before he knew it he was back on his feet, and he knew even without looking that Cyan had been right, and that his leg was fine.

The tree looked so thin and fragile that Nick wasn’t sure it could hold both their weights. Bend reality? Well, he wasn’t quite there yet, so he would have to go with what he thought was best.

Suddenly a strong, cold wind rose and blew Nick’s hair from his face, slipping through his clothes, chilling his very bones. The tree Sasha clung to got yanked around in all directions by this wind, especially at the top. Sasha was clearly terrified, but he wasn’t screaming. He just seemed to be paralyzed in fear. Nick wasn’t unfamiliar to the feeling.

Taking a deep breath, he grabbed the lowest branch of the nearest tree, and he pulled himself up. Tree climbing wasn’t exactly rock climbing, but his cardio was there, and his arms and legs were strong, so he managed. When he couldn’t find branches he found cracks and ridges in the trunk and pulled himself up somehow.

Outdoor climbing wasn’t the same as indoor climbing, either. Nick had always wanted to go on climbing expeditions with Shane’s father and his friends, and he was even scheduled to go with them next time. Now he wasn’t so sure. That harsh wind was really annoying. Actually, he regretted letting his hair grow longer. Now the raven strands were getting in his eyes and he couldn’t see a damn thing as he tried to climb up that stupid rickety old tree. Those black branches were really freaking him out, too. No wood should be that dark.

As he climbed higher—he was halfway to Sasha now—he saw a thick line of gray smoke in the distance, towering in the black sky. The wind carried the smell of something burning. Something, or someone.

Or several people.

Focus.

He couldn’t be afraid now. Sasha needed him. So Nick kept climbing. When Sasha saw him, instead of being grateful, he freaked out even more.

“No! Don’t! If you come on this tree it—it’ll fall over for sure. It can’t hold both of us. It’s already…”

The strong wind yanked the tree from side to side, over and over again, and Sasha was terribly pale, like he was about to pass out. His knuckles were white from clutching the tree so tightly, and blood trickled from his palms. There were tears in his eyes.

Nick climbed up the rest of his tree, and now he was almost as high as Sasha.

“I won’t come on your tree. I promise,” he yelled to be heard over that wind. He could still see all that smoke clouding the sky—gray against black—but he ignored it. He just looked at Sasha. “We have to get down. I’ll help you.”

“No. I can’t. I can’t.”

“Your left foot,” Nick said.

“What?”

“I need you to bring your left foot down on that other branch right there.” He pointed and Sasha looked down. “That’s it. You can do it. It’s just another branch, just a little lower. We’re going to do this one step at a time, okay?”

Sasha did as he was told; he wanted to get down, he just didn’t know how. That was why Nick was here. He climbed down too, to be always just a little lower than Sasha was. Some of the higher branches of the trees were knocked together by the wind with a hollow sound. The branch Sasha had been standing on just before cracked and broke, and he yelped as it got hurled in his face.

“Are you okay?” Nick shouted.

“I think so.” He just had a scratch on his cheek.

They kept going down for a bit, Sasha following Nick’s instructions. This was excruciatingly slow, but at least Sasha was listening, and he was making progress.

“How did you even get up there?” asked Nick at some point.

“I didn’t! I was already up there! Just like you were under that ice. How did you get out?”

Nick shivered. “It’s not important. How do you even know about that?”

Sasha was crouched on a thick branch, clutching the trunk with one hand. They were halfway down.

“I saw it!” He shouted. “I came here to save you. But then…”

“It’s okay,” Nick said. “We’ll both be fine.”

“But what am I supposed to do next?”

Nick had just been wondering the same thing. Some branches on Sasha’s tree seemed to be missing. There was no foothold. He had to either find deep enough cracks in the trunk or let go and jump down onto a lower branch. He explained this to Sasha, slowly and patiently, but his face paled even more and he clutched the branch he was crouching on with his bleeding palm.

“I can’t.”

“Okay, listen. I’m going on your tree.”

“No.”

“It’s fine. It’s solid enough down here. It can hold both of us. Don’t you trust me?”

“No!”

Nick’s patience was wearing thin. “What choice do you have?” He shouted.

Sasha said nothing.

Nick leaned closer and leaped onto the other tree, landing on a branch just a little lower than the one Sasha needed to jump on.

“Come on,” he said. “Just come down, and if you fall I’ll catch you. I promise.”

Sasha shook his head, closing his eyes. “I can’t.”

“Come on!” Nick insisted. “Do you think I climbed all the way up there, and helped you down all this way just to let you fall? Now just let your legs down, and hold yourself with your hands, and let go for just one second and you’ll land on the other branch, okay? Easy.”

Sasha nodded. He let his legs dangle like Nick said. And it took him some time, but eventually he let go. The wind blew strong at once, making the branch crack. Sasha got scared and his shoe slipped.

But Nick was ready. He caught him as he fell, slid his arms around his waist and pulled him close, so they were standing on the same branch, and leaning against the trunk. For a split second Sasha hesitated, but then he wrapped his arms around Nick and leaned into him completely. He cried and Nick didn’t know what to do. He just held him tight.

“It’s okay,” he said awkwardly. He wasn’t very good at comforting people. “It’s gonna be okay.”

Sasha sniffed, but he said nothing, and he didn’t pull away. He was clinging to Nick as tightly as he had held that branch earlier.

“We’re almost there.”

“No we’re not,” Sasha replied immediately, and he sounded so frightened and shaken up. He couldn’t do this.

“Okay, I know what we’re gonna do. Get on my back.”

“What?”

“I’m serious. Get on my back. I’ll get us down. I can do this.” He tried to sound as confident as possible. Apparently, it worked.

Sasha nodded and as Nick turned around, he climbed on his back, wrapping his legs tightly around his hips and his arms around his neck—a little too tightly.

“Sasha… I can’t breathe.”

“Sorry.” He loosened his grip, but not that much.

It wasn’t easy with the added weight. And Nick had sounded all confident before but he had no idea if he could do this. He proceeded slowly.

At least, the branches were denser down here. He managed to find a good foothold every time, and their progression was slow but steady. Sasha had closed his eyes a while back, and he seemed to be trusting Nick now.

They reached the last branch and unfortunately there was a long gap with nothing whatsoever to cling onto before reaching the ground. Nick helped Sasha down and explained the situation.

“So I’m going to jump first, and then you—”

But Sasha was shaking his head stubbornly. “No, no, I can’t… Please don’t make me do this.”

“Sasha it’s not that high. We’re gonna be okay. I’ll jump first and you’ll see.”

“No, wait, don’t leave me alone please…”

“We’ve got to get down, okay?”

So he jumped, landed in a crouch on the earthy ground, and leaped back up. “See? That was fine. And you’ll be just fine, too. I’ll catch you if you want, okay? Like I did before.”

Sasha really was terrified, though. Nick wondered what had made him so afraid of heights. But now wasn’t the time to start a conversation.

Suddenly the tree seemed to move. There was a sort of rustling, creaking sound and Nick stared in shock as the tree started to come out of the ground some more, growing even taller at an accelerated rate. And now Sasha was getting even further from the ground.

“Nick!”

“Just jump! Before it’s too late! Hurry!”

Sasha wanted to jump; Nick could tell he wanted to. But the branch was getting higher, and his fear was blocking him.

“I’ll catch you,” Nick said again, in a loud, but calm voice. It was now or never.

Sasha jumped. Nick caught him as promised, and then they fell together and rolled over on the ground, before finally coming to a stop. But they were fine.

Even though he was still somewhat shaky, Sasha seemed to slowly regain his senses now that they were on firm ground. He pulled away from Nick, and got back on his feet. Nick did the same, quietly.

And before they could say a thing, they heard Cyan coming toward them, making his way through the trees. The wind seemed to have gone down somewhat.

He smiled. “There, I knew you could do it. So, drowning,” he pointed at Nick with his gloved hand, “and heights?” His finger flicked to Sasha. “Well. It’s all a bit boring when you’ve seen it a thousand times, honestly. For me it was fire. And no one was there to help me—oh, no. So I spent weeks wandering around like an idiot, thinking I had third degree burns all over.”

“Why did you make me come here if you knew I couldn’t help him?” asked Sasha. His fists were clenched at his sides.

“Oh but you did help him. Now, Nicky, like I said, Hell is a bit tricky at first. But you’ll see, it’s not all that bad. You simply must visit again soon. And stay longer next time. But I think that was enough for today.”

Nick shook his head. “You’re insane if you think I’ll ever come here again.”

“Oh, don’t say that. It might grow on you when you overcome your fears. Still, never mind; it’ll be for another time. And Sasha, I hope you enjoyed your little visit. I do hope there aren’t too many side effects.”

“What are you talking about?” Nick snapped.

But there was no time. Cyan disappeared in a sort of black cloud. In fact, everything disappeared. And when Nick opened his eyes again with a quiet gasp, he was in the bathroom.

He heard Gabriel’s voice. “Sasha? Are you okay?”

Sasha was on the floor, and he was waking up, too. Well, of course Gabriel would make sure Sasha was okay first. That was only natural. They had grown up together, and they loved each other, and everything. Sasha was more his brother than Nick could ever be.

Nick sat up completely so he could look down at Sasha. He really didn’t look good.

“I’m… fine.”

But ‘fine’ wasn’t good, was it? That didn’t sound good at all. Sasha got up nonetheless, and pushed past Gabriel. He didn’t glance at Nick once.

He just walked out the bathroom, and into the hallway. And then they heard his bedroom door being slammed shut.

Great, Nick thought, now he hates me even more.

But that wasn’t his most urgent problem. What was he going to do about Cyan? What if he kept coming after him?

“Are you all right?” Gabriel asked carefully.

“Yeah,” he lied.

Of course he wasn’t all right—the frozen lake, those black creatures, his torn foot, the black leafless trees, the harsh wind carrying the smell of burning flesh. Nick shuddered, and looked at the bathroom’s doorway, through which Sasha had left so quickly.

It wouldn’t have been so bad, except Sasha had been there with him. So Nick couldn’t deny it anymore. That place was not a nightmare. They couldn’t both have the same nightmare. So it was real.