Bitter Demons

27. The Black Stone

"Can you help her?"

The demon didn't take his eyes off Caroline. The swirling shadow of him was light and weak. Instead of a deep black like the demon who'd come to my rescue, this demon was more like grayish smoke. I could see through him, as if he were only a ghost.

I stood and took a step toward it.

"Can't you do something?" I said. "Or do the flowers hurt you too?"

The demon still didn't answer me. Couldn't he hear me? Weren't Prima demons supposed to be these amazingly powerful beings? Surely he was stronger than me and could handle the pain. The way he just sat there staring at her made me want to scream.

I glanced back toward where Zara had disappeared into the woods. What was taking her so long?

Caroline groaned. Her back arched high and for the first time, I noticed a black stone hovering just above her chest. I stepped closer. The stone was roughly cut with sharp edges. It was black, but also transparent enough that I could see light shining through it. As far as I could see, the stone wasn't actually attached to anything. It hovered in the air just above her heart. When she moved, the stone moved with her.

Studying her, I now saw that there was a bluish sort of vapor coming off of her body. The smoke-like vapors traveled like tiny clouds up to the stone, then were absorbed into it. Was it the stone that was hurting her?

I rushed to the edge of the woods, looking for a fallen branch or a long stick. I found a broken limb and stepped on it to break it in half. I took the longer half and ran back to Caroline. Carefully, I edged the stick toward the circle of black roses. If I could just knock the stone away, I thought maybe I could break whatever spell she was under.

Of course, it might also kill her.

I was dealing with magic way beyond my knowledge. Dark magic. I knew I should wait for the others to arrive, but I could see from Caroline's pale face that she didn't have much time left. I had to trust my own instincts.

I gripped the end of the stick with both hands and pushed it into the circle. I aimed for the black stone, hoping to knock it loose, but the second the wood hit the area just above the roses, it burst into flames. It was like watching a meteor try to make its way through the earth's outer atmosphere. The stick disintegrated into ash.I fell to the ground, my chest tight. Only the very end of the limb survived. I gripped the wood tight in my hand, then hurled it toward the roses as hard as I could.

The stick hit the barrier, flared up, and was gone.

I wanted to destroy those things. To reach in and rip each one from the ground.

The limb might have burned in the flame, but my hand didn't disintegrate. Sure, it hurt like hell, but maybe I could handle the pain long enough to pull Caroline free.

My breath came fast and hard as I tried to psych myself up for the pain. It was probably nothing compared to what Caroline was feeling.

I moved toward the circle, still on my knees, positioning myself as close to Caroline as possible. I held my hand up and started to reach toward Caroline, but the demon by my side turned and startled me. I pulled back.

"What?" I shouted. I felt my grasp on sanity slipping away. Fear and desperation filled me. "You got a better idea?"

The demon only stared at me.

"I didn't think so," I said.

My heart pumped in anticipation. I tried to take a deep breath, but I felt like my airways were blocked. In front of me, Caroline whimpered, then went limp. Terror gripped me. It was now or never.

I pushed my hand through the smoky barrier. Pain ripped through my hand and arm and I screamed. Every part of my brain was screaming for me to pull my hand back, but I forced myself to keep moving forward. Tears ran down my cheeks. I gritted my teeth and pushed on.

My fingers touched flesh and I blinked through the tears. Caroline! I'd reached her! I tried to tug on her arm, but she was way too heavy. There was no way I was going to pull her through the flowers. I didn't have the strength.

The black stone glowed above her chest. I closed my fist tight around the rough stone and felt it burn the skin from my palm. I yelled out and tried to yank my hand back through the roses. But I was frozen. I tried to release the stone, but I had lost control of my body. Slowly, I felt myself being sucked into the circle. My knees scraped against the ground and I reached out with my left hand, desperate to find something to hold onto. I pulled up fistfuls of grass and tried to dig my feet into the ground, but nothing worked.

I was being pulled in with Caroline.

The entire right side of my body screamed in agony as I slid toward the black roses.

"No!" I yelled. I closed my eyes tight and pulled with all my strength. I couldn't let myself get sucked in along with her. The burning spread up my right arm and shoulder. It hurt so bad, there were no longer words to describe it. I put every ounce of my strength into resisting the force that was pulling me toward Caroline, but it was no use.

In that moment, I knew that I was going to die.