Dakota Lee: The Palace of Satan [NaNoWriMo]

Chapter 6

"You what?"  I blurted, and he smirked,

“Did I forget to mention that?  Shame?  Well, I’m sure she’s here somewhere.”  He began picking through the spirits, and I felt a white hot rage racing through me, paralyzing my heart.  

“What did you do to her?”  I snarled, and he shrugged, still looking through the spirits like clothes racks on Black Friday.

“Oh, I killed her, of course.  Brat wouldn’t tell me where you were- said she didn’t know.”  He paused, “She must’ve been telling the truth- my bad.”  Hot tears clouded my vision- I hadn’t exactly been close with my mom, but ever since my dad died, she’d been my only form of support.  And now she was gone.

“Now, let’s get to it, then!”  Pepperboy said, rubbing his hands together, sparks flying.  “Would you like to start, or should I?”

“Start- what?”  I asked dumbly, and he cackled,

“The killing!”  

“SATAN!”  Orion roared, and launched himself at Pepperboy.  I’ll admit- he was brave, but stupid.  He passed straight through Pepperboy- the devil was made of dead people, after all.  

“Orion, you idiot!”  Aurora muttered, and stepped back.  “There is nothing to be done.  We cannot touch him.”  I rounded on her,

“What do you mean, there’s nothing to be done?  You’re a freaking alligator- do something!”  Aurora scowled at me,

“Know your place!  And it’s crocodile!”  She heaved a sigh as Orion shouted a challenge at Pepperboy, “Anyways, the only one who could possibly defeat him is the Blue Lady herself, and without her name, she has no power over Satan.”  

“Wait- you’re telling me no one knows her name?”  I said in horror.  “So- we’re pretty much dead?”  Aurora nodded,

“We are pretty much dead.”  She agreed, and I swallowed and watched Orion get beat up some more.  He probably could’ve dealt some damage if he could touch Pepperboy, but right now he was pretty much running through him over and over, at most a minor annoyance.  Well, he was distracting Pepperboy, and giving me time to sort through my confusion, which was nice.

From what Pepperboy had said, I was supposed to know the Blue Lady’s name.  Supposedly, that’s why he’d killed my mom.  And why he was going to kill me, as soon as he finished with Orion.

“Dakota.”  A quiet, achingly familiar voice whispered behind me.  “I can help you.”  It was my mom.  Well, actually, my ‘spirit’ mom because she was, well, you know, dead.  

“Mom?”  I said, trying to hide my pain behind a mask of jaunty everything-is-gonna-be-right crap.  “What’s up?”  She squinted at me, wispy hair flying around her face in a halo of straw.

“I had...something I needed to tell you....it was important- and I can’t remember…”  I stiffened.  Only one important thing came to mind, and if that was it- well, she’d just saved us all.

“Mom- is it the Blue Lady’s name?  Is that what you were going to tell me?”  I whispered desperately, glancing back at Pepperboy and Orion duking it out.  I seriously doubted he could hold out for much longer- I had to act fast.  “Tell me!”  I hissed, and she gazed at me vacantly,

“Ah...the Blue Lady’s name.  Hard to pronounce- in the wrong hands- fatal.”  She murmured, and I reached out, about to shake her shoulder, demand she tell me before Orion was hurt, or even killed.  But my hand drifted through her shoulder, yet another reminder that this was just an echo- she was dead.  

“Mom- I need to know!  Pepperboy’s going to kill Orion- and me!”  I said with devastating certainty.  “You have to remember!”  It must’ve been the desperation in my voice, because she beckoned me forwards, and, leaning so close I could feel the faint chill of her spirit, breathed,

“Rialta Nova.  Use it wisely.”  And then she was gone.  I held the name in my mind- everything from the harsh, heavy ‘ria’ to the soft, lilting ‘ova’.  Orion let out a scream of pain, and I looked over.  Pepperboy was flame broiling him with white hot flames, and Orion was encased in the middle, ten feet off the ground like a falling angel, head thrown back.  It was now or never.

“Rialta Nova.”  I whispered to the wind, to the rain and the spirits and the strange silver stream, and they echoed me,  

“Rialta Nova.”  As if he’d heard my plea, Pepperboy whipped his head around to stare at me with wide, burning eyes.

“You called her.  That’s cheating!”  And, just as he stormed towards me, he disappeared in a cloud of cyan smoke.  

The Blue Lady appeared from Pepperboy’s ashes, rising out of the mist.  The spirits frothed around her, churning up the air like a foggy, broken mirror.  Aurora and Orion were the first to bend their knees, though it obviously killed Orion to even move.  Then the spirits rushed to the ground in a flurry of movement, and then the Blue Maidens, and after a long moment of silence, Jordan dropped gracefully to his knees, followed by the tough looking teenagers he’d brought with him.  And then I was standing alone, barely feet from the Blue Lady, too shocked to kneel.  She’d come.  My mother had been right- maybe even in death, she continued to look out for me.

“Spirits.  Humans.  Guardians.”  The Blue Lady called to the assembled crowd, politely ignoring the fact that I was still standing, shell shocked, in the middle of the masses of spirits.  “Today, Satan has fought his way into the heart of our camp- violating any hope he has of retribution, and has somehow destroyed Spirit Law, releasing his most vehement servant, Blood Mary, upon the world.”  An angry murmur whisked through the crowd.  “Today, Satan has delivered some of our beloved spirits to the stars, where they will continue to watch over us.  But today has been a victory as well- the Special One has arrived in the Spirit Camp, bringing with her my name- the secret to our success.”  A roar rose from the throats of the spirits- obviously this was some big achievement for them- even though I’d caused them nothing but trouble.  “She has come with comrades, to help her in this quest against evil.”  She gestured for me to come forwards, and I did as she said, scanning the crowd of spirits for a familiar face.  My eyes land on Orion, but his expression was fixed and blank- staring straight through me.  Aurora’s face may as well have been carved out of stone.  Just one face.  One familiar face.  I begged silently, eyes panning over the legions of motionless spirits.  My gaze fell on Jordan, whose whole face was washed in blue light.  Seeing me, he flashed a tiny grin.  Barely noticeable, unless you were searching for that one little bit of human companionship in a room full of dead people.  

“Dakota Lee.  You have performed a great deed, and accepted a heavy burden.”  Okay, I liked the ‘great deed’ part, but no one told me about a heavy burden.  I don’t have any upper body strength- I’m not sure I could support a heavy burden right now.  “By speaking my name, and investing strength in my divine body, I have the power to do something that hasn’t happened in centuries-”  She paused, blazing with light, looking like an avenging angel, and looked down at me, eyes full of fire,  “The restoration of Angelic Silver!”