Keys to the Demon Prison

"You’ll be all right," Kendra assured him hysterically. Everything was happening too fast!

Seth unscrewed the lid of the flask. "She got me," he wheezed. "I’m a shish kebab."

"You can’t go gaseous," Kendra insisted. "You might not be able to teleport with us!"

"Better than bleeding to death or getting zombified." He fingered the arrowhead. "I’m useless like this." He coughed wetly into his fist, then chugged the contents of the flask. His body and clothes became hazy as Seth transformed into a ghostly, vaporous version of himself. The arrow in his chest became gaseous as well.

Elise grabbed Kendra, hustling her farther from the entrance. Kendra allowed herself to be led. The spectral form of her injured brother followed at a much slower pace.

Up ahead, grimacing fiercely, sweat glistening on his brow, Tanu held the squirming bronze lion in a wrestling hold as Mara drew near. The iron bull was rapidly closing in on them, but Mara reached the lion first, climbing hurriedly. She hastily stabbed the key into a socket and twisted. Both of the bulls and the lion fell apart in clangorous heaps of metal scraps. The parts from the moving bull tumbled and slid across the glossy floor, colliding with the wreckage of the lion.

As zombies shambled into the room, Trask fired a quarrel from his huge crossbow, then set the weapon down, drawing a sword. Tanu and Berrigan flung aside metallic plates and ornaments, searching frantically. Blood oozed from ragged stripes and ugly punctures on Tanu’s arms and shoulders. Elise raced toward the demolished lion with Kendra.

A melodically chanting voice caused Kendra to glance over her shoulder. The zombies had parted to let a glaring man with golden skin stride into the room. The slender stranger wore a cape and a turban. Beads, bones, and bits of twine decorated his braided beard. He held up one hand clenched in a fist. With every step, he left behind a flaming footprint burning blue and green. His chant rose to a shout as he pointed across the room at Tanu. In a flash, the giant Samoan shrank back to his normal size.

"I have it!" Mara cried, holding up a platinum cylinder. "It was inside the key."

"Use it!" Trask barked.

Tanu, Mara, and Berrigan all took hold of the Translocator. Nothing happened.

Not far from where Trask stood with his sword, Kendra and Elise ran side by side, still about forty yards from the fragmented lion. Tanu took a step away from Mara and Berrigan and flung the Translocator like a desperate quarterback. The cylinder flew in a high arc toward Elise and Kendra, turning end over end. Elise stopped rushing forward, took several steps to one side, and made a diving catch.

Trask lifted his crossbow, aimed, and let loose another quarrel. The wizard waved a hand, and the quarrel turned into a harmless stream of twinkling dust. Behind the wizard, the Gray Assassin stalked confidently into the room, swords unsheathed. Trask ran toward Kendra and Elise.

Elise handed Kendra the cylinder. Symbols embossed the silvery casing. Tiny white gems sparkled. Kendra felt the Translocator hum to life when the device came into contact with her fingers. Noting its three segmented sections, she could see where she would twist it, but she hesitated, waiting for Trask to reach them.

Back by the entrance to the chamber, the wizard was chanting again. He opened a small, samite sack, and thick-linked chains slithered out rapidly, clinking against the polished floor. The chains were much too long to have fit in the small sack without the aid of magic. Torina emerged from the entryway, bow held ready, along with a fierce creature that looked halfway between a wolf and a bear. Zombies continued to stagger forward.

Trask grabbed the middle section of the Translocator. Kendra held the left, Elise the right. They twisted the device as Torina let loose an arrow.

Kendra experienced a brief sensation like she was folding into herself, as if she were collapsing down to a single point somewhere in her midsection, and then the odd sensation passed, and she was standing in a tidy apartment. Daylight streamed through the windows. Out on the street, somebody honked a car’s horn.

"Where are we?" Elise asked.

"My apartment in Manhattan," Trask said, tossing his crossbow onto a nearby couch. "First place that came to mind. Let go of the device. I have to go after the others."

Kendra and Elise released the device. Trask twisted it and vanished. For a moment, Elise and Kendra stood together in silence. The refrigerator hummed as the compressor kicked on.

"He’ll be back, right?" Kendra asked.

"He’ll be back."

"Is there a chance he’ll get Seth?" Elise stared with wordless sympathy. "He’ll try," she finally said.

Elise started to pace. Kendra folded her arms. The apartment was stylish, with leather sofas, a sleek flat-screen television, a glass coffee table, black-and-white photographs framed on the walls, and designer lamps. Kendra disliked the suspense of waiting. "When do you–"

Trask reappeared suddenly, along with Tanu. Chains cocooned the Samoan from his ankles to the bottom of his chest. An arrow jutted from Trask’s shoulder.

"Can’t go back," Trask panted. "Can’t lose the artifact."

"What about the others?" Elise asked.

"Mara and Berrigan are wrapped in chains," Tanu said. "The wizard cast a spell and sucked Seth into a bottle."

Kendra whimpered involuntarily, her hands going to her mouth. "What will happen to him?"

"Inside the bottle, he won’t be able to revert to his normal state," Tanu explained. "He’ll be preserved as a gas until released, theoretically for years. He’s been imprisoned."

"It could be worse," Trask said gently. "The wizard could have scattered and destroyed him. At least this means they want him alive."

"And as a gas, his wound won’t get any worse," Tanu added.

Kendra nodded, trying to act brave as tears leaked down her cheeks. It felt like her heart was being squeezed. First her parents, now Seth! What else would the Sphinx take from her? Rage flared up, helping her resist the grief. She ground her teeth.

"Couldn’t I pop in, grab Mara, and pop out?" Elise asked.

Trask shook his head. "I barely made it back. They’re ready now. They’ll get you. We have to choose a better time."

Elise turned and hugged Kendra. "Seth will be all right. We have a powerful new weapon in our war against the Society. We’ll use the Translocator to get your brother back, and your parents."

Kendra wasn’t sure how much she believed the words, but they were nice to hear. "Warren," Kendra said softly. "We should get Warren."