Round Four: Rarepear
Title: The Demon's Crown (part 2/2)
Author: There's three authors! There's three members in the team! WHO COULD THESE MYSTERIOUS AUTHORS BE? (Spoilers: It's mizzy2k, empresstria and altogetherisi)
Pairing: Rarepears! Rarepears in lots of places! Wheeeeeee.
Summary: A shapeshifting demon, diary abuse, a heist involving the Royal Jewels, Nick discovers something shiny and a hidden identity revealed - the Demon's Crown could save the world, but is the price worth it?
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: One use of the F word! (AND YOU KNOW HOW DANGEROUS IT IS USING THE WORD FOOD WHEN NICK IS AROUND.)
~ten~
“Wait one second,” whispered Nick.
They crouched in the shadow of an glossy, expensive-looking car parked next to an alleyway. Far enough from the Tower that they could risk a brief pause. Overhead, the sky was as dark as it ever got over London-the few bright spots in the sky were probably satellites, not stars.
“We can’t wait,” hissed Alan. “We have a very limited time frame!”
“Wait anyway!” Nick closed his eyes and tensed.
There was a distant crash, then another, and two more, and a whistling noise. Nick jumped to his feet and caught something sailing through the air. His smile was bright in the darkness as he flourished his prize.
The Demon’s Crown fit perfectly in his palm, black and gleaming against his pale skin. Black like his eyes, yet less human.
No less entrancing.
The demon zipped the orb into the pocket of his jacket, breaking the spell.
Mae flailed her arms in indignation. “What was that? So much for the whole security guard thing, the camera arranging--”
“I had a Plan A, of course,” said Nick, looking down his nose. “Magic the Crown out and then run like hell.”
A shrill alarm pierced the night.
“Ah,” said Mae. “Let’s get to that second part, then.”
The three sprinted away from the exploding chorus of sirens. Nick grabbed Alan’s hand as they ran, and Mae laughed. She felt so light, as if high on fever fruit without the danger of falling.
They ran down side streets and main streets alike, too young and gleeful to arouse much suspicion. Just normal teenagers causing a ruckus, probably trying to make it back by curfew. Gasping, they slowed to a walk as they neared the neighborhood Alan parked the car. Mae thought Nick slowed first because Alan was stumbling.
He took the Demon’s Crown back out of his pocket, rolling it from hand to hand. The orb picked up hints of reflections, though Mae couldn’t tell what colors.
Alan took the longest to catch his breath, and when he did, he turned to Nick. “Why’d you let us waste all that time getting into the security system?” He slid his glasses back up his nose.
Nick shrugged those broad shoulders, tucked the Demon’s Crown back into his pocket. “Because we needed a Plan B. And you look cute when you’re programming.”
Mae saw Alan blink at that, and Nick did something funny with his face, like he was trying to swallow up his words. She tried to say something to defuse the tension. “Well, he’s right. You do look cute when you’re programming.”
No, that didn’t help. Alan still had that dangerous, thoughtful expression as he limped towards Nick. “I’m about to do something very stupid,” he warned.
He braced one arm on his brother’s shoulder.
They’re not actually brothers, thought Mae as they kissed, but this was still really weird. Then Nick closed his eyes and took Alan’s jaw in his hands and Alan moaned, and Mae thought that actually it wasn’t weird, just really hot.
Then they turned, and looked at her, foreheads pressed against each other, smiles curled in twin invitation. So she stopped thinking and stalked forward. Nick’s arm curled around her waist. Alan bent to press a kiss in the shell of her ear. She laughed, reached for Nick’s face-
Blue light flashed behind her.
They broke the embrace to see Jamie’s hologram, his hand clapped over his eyes. “So when I fantasized about the Ryves brothers getting together, first off I never expected it to actually happen, and second off I did not expect my sister to get involved too.”
“Um,” declared Mae.
Jamie removed his hand from his eyes and grinned. “Way to go, Mae! I am so proud.”
Nick stepped closer to the fizzy blue hologram. “Congratulations aside, what do you want?”
“Ah, yes!” Jamie’s grin disappeared. “I’m at the place where the Demon’s Crown has to be used. Might you possibly happen to have succeeded in your very important-“
“Yeah, we have it,” said Alan. He straightened out his rumpled shirt. Jamie pretended gallantly not to notice Mae do the same.
“Awesome.” Jamie beamed again for an instant, then hunched forward, speaking urgently. “I need you lot here fast. The Goblin Market is kind of under attack, and Sin’s only just holding off the magicians.”
Alan swore. Nick got that look on his face that said he was mentally counting his weapons.
“We’re in London right now.” Mae ran through routes and hours in her head. “We’ll never make it.”
Her brother’s hologram shook his head. “Just wait a minute.”
~eleven~
Let me get this down. I can barely breathe with this all. Is this the end of the world? Perhaps it is, perhaps. I'm giddiness and despair both at once.
I caught up with Jamie, Seb and Anzu at long last, the Sidhe demon Liannan bound tightly on a leash I created tugging me along. For some reason, she said she knew about the cavern. She and Anzu always knew about it, this place where an object could destroy life as we know it, but for some reason she can't remember why or how she knows about the cavern.
I thought I might have an upper hand on the situation, until Jamie rolled an expensive charm into the centre of the cavern, and his sister appeared with the Ryves brothers in tow.
I knew then I had lost control of the situation.
There's no one and nothing more powerful than Nicholas Ryves, after all.
Not in this world or the next.
The boy demon, the traitor to our kind, Nick Ryves. I forget every time how little he looks. Especially in a cavern such as this, where the roof soars high into a dark, dark point.
“Out on a school night, I see,” I catcall to Nick, a smile curving my face.
“Hermes,” Nick warns at me in response, and I bristle, and am silent.
Hermes.
It's a name.
Maybe it's my name?
I am so clouded by the thought that I miss Nick circling the cavern slowly as Sandy Gerald tries to wheedle Nick and Jamie onto his side.
They won't listen to Sandy Gerald. They know better.
There's a fight. I don't even pay attention to that. The boy Jamie wraps his delicious power around Gerald like a snake crushing its pray.
Sandy Gerald crumples to the ground, bound, spitting his fury uselessly around the cavern.
I'm distracted, and I don't know how much until traitor Nick is by my elbow, something in his hand, glittering like a magpie's eye.
I touch it, and can think only one thing:
Yes.
Nick smiles at me. He's taller than I remember. He turns to Liannan, and her curiosity melts away to awe, and I'm distracted that no one is noticing us in this amazing moment.
Our eyes meet and we are all smiling, and yes is the only thought that makes sense.
Yes.
I'm not terribly observant. You can scoff at that as much as you like. Your blustering words will be nothing but hot air.
What I am is patient. And clever. I'm terribly clever, and that adjective is not plucked out of thin air, because sometimes the cleverness is terrible.
Sometimes I am not clever enough.
If I was just that extra bit clever, I would have noticed before that the language on the tablet was full of inconsistencies. At the time, I was too full of my own cleverness, at the idea that my language work would bring the fall of magicians and demons everywhere, that I did not pause to study the imperfections. I did not contemplate what pattern lay in amongst the mistakes.
It turns out there is a mistake, and the mistake is me. I did not realise whoever wrote the tablet was a bit like Nick. Someone who had problem with the words. Someone who didn't normally have use of words, except to trick and cajole and manipulate.
A demon wrote the tablet.
A demon who didn't know the subtleties of Sumerian.
A demon who didn't know the difference between an object and a noun.
A demon who didn't know the word wasn't Crown.
The word was supposed to be King.
The demons don't have a crown.
The demons have a King.
I feel like I'm missing something, missing something incredibly important, but Mae is here and Nick is here and I don't know what it is.
I am more aware of Alan and Nick than I am of my own body now. It's weird. It also feels like coming home. I think I was the only one who noticed Nick could not stay still, but I don't know why he was moving - I was distracted by Alan, as he was close to me. His eyes were locked on the ceiling, on the curling script etched into the rock, and he was murmuring something under his breath.
He probably didn't know he was doing it.
But we knew. He got louder, and louder, as he read out what was etched deep into the stone around the top of this dangerous cavern.
“It's in two halves,” Alan says, in that soft and distracted voice he uses when he's being clever. “First is a declaration of some sort. The rest is... oddly rhythmical.”
“It's in order for a reason,” the demon Anzu breaks in, and Alan swallows hard and nods.
“Back before,” Alan says, his eyes crossing slightly as he translates on the spot, “the demon world and the human world were two separate worlds. Due to curiosity and the power of the King of the demons, the King created a knife that could cut through anything the two worlds became connected by holes. Instead of fixing the holes like the demons had power to do, the demons crawled through low on their bellies as the small holes allowed little else. This world was populated with ungracious mammals who made strange sounds.
“The strange mammals didn't know their world made the demon world uncomfortable. Their world was strange and different. Half of the demons wanted to patch the holes. Half of the demons wanted to open up the holes fully and connect the worlds completely. This would have made the demon world comfortable again, but it would destroy the ungracious mammals.
“The King of the demons was notorious for kindness. He would disguise himself as one of the mammals and walk amongst them to see if anything was worth saving in this strange world. After a long time had passed, he was still no wiser, and so the King of the demons made the test kinder. The King removed his own memories so that he could walk amongst the mammals and make an unbiased decision. He would leave clues. Once those clues were solved, his memories will be returned in time for him to make a decision.”
Alan stops and stills.
“Why stop there?” Jamie demands.
Alan shrugs. “The rest of it was carved later.”
“Read it,” Nick's voice carries through, soft but still a command.
Alan swallows, and starts to read. “Hrauðungr konugr átti tvá sono; hét annarr Agnarr, en annarr Geirröðr-”
“Can't you read it in English?” Jamie says, sounding pained.
“King Hrauthung had two sons: one was called Agnar, and the other Geirröth-” Alan starts, working hard at the translation, and I look at his eyes - there is no recognition there.
But there's recognition in mine.
I stop him. “Wait right there!”
All eyes are on me. I'm wild eyed. “This thing,” I say, gesturing. “It's one of the mythological poems of the Poetic Edda. The Grímnismál.”
Alan's eyes unfocus again, and by the look on Nick's face, we both find his academic open reactions ridiculously attractive.
“I remember something vaguely-” Alan says.
“Finish reading it, you're doing great,” I say, and Alan turns a little pink at the compliment, and keeps reading.
Normally I'd be jumping all over the place. Mae, knowing more about something academic than Alan? I'd have put better odds on the apocalypse happening; but then, I keep rather world ending company, so I guess I'm not one to speak.
Alan has everyone's attention on him. He doesn't enjoy it, but he copes. He's translating as he goes, but he's having trouble at the end of it.
The story so far of this Grímnismál seems to be of the god Odin taking human form and walking the world. It's much like the Demon King story Alan translated before. Odin pretended to be a wizard, and basically he had enough of pretending not to be himself, because the second half of the poem seems to be Odin listing every name he's taken while pretending to be human.
“Grim is my name, Gangleri am I,” Alan says, continuing, and then he sounds absurdly female when he says, “Herjan and Hjalmberi-”
Except it's not him. It's Liannan. Liannan has broken free of Gerald's leash and is saying the poem without even looking at the words.
“Thekk and Thrithi, Thuth and Uth,” Liannan continues, her voice soft as a lullaby.
Then Anzu steps up next to her, his psuedo-me appearance melting away to a generic one, and he joins in with Liannan. I have no idea what is going on, but I am too entranced by Anzu's deep resonating voice as he picks up the poem. “Helblindi and Hor,” Anzu says, slow and enchanting. “Sath and Svipal-”
“-and Sanngetal,” another voice says, and my stomach plummets when I realise it's Nick, Nick walking in to join the demons, his face deadly and beautiful, shining with light that isn't there, as he continues the poem. “Herteit and Hnikkar.”
Nick's voice is strong, but hitches on that last one, and I realise it the same time as everyone does.
Hnikkar.
“Brother, and lover, and friend,” Nick says, stalking fully into the centre of the circle, more alive than I've ever seen anyone. “Nicholas Ryves; Ofnir and Svafnir and Odin, and all, methinks, are names for none but me.”
He spreads his arms and I, like the others, can only stare in wonder.
~twelve~
Mae mustered her voice into something more than a squeak. “What do you mean? Odin?” She shared a glance of desperate confusion with her brother, whose eyebrows had almost disappeared beneath untrimmed bangs.
Nick smiled at her, but crooked a finger to the other demons. They flocked to his side, a matched set, each with hair like flames.
“Our worlds were separate,” purred Nick. He twisted his neck, cracking vertebrae echoing in the cavern, louder than life. “But I could feel yours anyway, the way a bird feels the wind through his feathers.”
“We felt it too, such warmth,” breathed Anzu. His weight shifted from foot to foot.
Nick chuckled. “You only felt it after I showed you, Thought. Take a leaf from Memory’s book.”
Alan put a hand on Mae’s shoulder as if to stay upright. “Hunin and-“
“Munin,” agreed Mae. “This is ridiculous.”
“Do you think so?” Nick smirked. “I can skip all this exposition if you do.”
His smile was the same as ever. That steadied Mae. “Oh, please, expose away.”
A flirtatious hand slid under the hem of his shirt. Nick winked, then continued. “My interest in your world was powerful enough to breach holes in the barrier. Even then, I liked cutting things.”
A softer voice took up the tale, Liannan swaying in her borrowed body. “Those holes upset the balance of the worlds. They made our world uncomfortable.” The bones of her face looked uncomfortable, too symmetrical.
Anzu rattled, “We had two options-patch the holes, or open the breach entirely. The latter would kill all humans, but some of us,” he shot a dirty look at Liannan, “were fond of the blue sky.”
“And the men,” laughed Liannan.
“I decided,” Nick said, and his quiet voice enthralled Mae, “to walk among humans over your centuries to learn your worth. I hid my memories, and the power to close the holes, in the Demon’s Crown-I wanted an unbiased test.”
Gerald spat. Mae had almost forgotten him, kneeling in the bonds of Jamie’s magic. “Who are you to judge our worth?”
“I am Odin, and Hnikkar, and Nicholas Ryves. Who better?” Arms spread, he bowed.
“Nick,” said Mae. She stepped forward, meeting those lovely dark eyes. “You’re still Nick?”
His free hand reached to brush her hair away. “You and Alan made me see your world is worth saving.”
He kissed her forehead, then strode past her. Mae turned to see him kiss Alan’s cheek. Her stomach clenched-she had never seen Nick look so sad.
“When I place this sphere in this depression, everyone in the cavern will return to the demons’ world. Any demons outside will remain, but without their power. The holes will seal and our worlds will balance again.”
Liannan tossed her hair over her shoulders and strode away with only one glance back at Nick.
“Hugin and Munin fly each day over the spacious earth. I fear for Hugin, that he come not back, yet more anxious am I for Munin,” Nick said abstractly, his eyes locked as if staring at some faraway point, before he shook himself and smiled at Liannan's retreat, saying fondly, “She still loves the sky.”
“And the men,” Anzu said with a wink.
Nick turned to the bird-like demon. “What of you, Thought?”
Anzu cocked his head. “You know, I’ve grown fond of the men as well.” He sauntered towards a surprised Seb.
“Um. Is this supposed to be a come-on?” Seb gestured as if to indicate the demon’s entire self.
“Oh yes,” said Anzu, and he stretched his arms upward, body shifting and mutating. His skin lost the gray hue. His cheeks filled out a bit. His hair paled, from burning red to blond, and much of the length broke off and disintegrated. He shrank.
Jamie spluttered from across the cavern. “Anzu! You aren’t allowed to do that permanently!”
His mirror image fluttered his fingers. “But aren’t I?”
“Ah, no, you aren’t,” said Seb. “Because it actually is kind of creepy.” His eyes flicked back and forth between the two slender blond boys.
“Well, I rather think I am. I can’t think of any other form I’d spend eternity in.” Each sentence piled on another heaping spoonful of sleaze. “And you know, Seb, how easily you could come to accept it.”
Jamie rubbed his temples. “You at least have to change the eye color, or the shape of the nose, or something. I refuse to be identical to a demon.”
Anzu sighed, and his irises turned black. “Better? I won’t wear nearly as much purple as you do, either.”
“This is still weird,” protested Seb.
Anzu grabbed his elbow. “Please escort me from the premises, dear sir.” He looked over his shoulder as he dragged Seb towards the exit. “Good-bye, Hnikkar.”
“Thank you,” said Nick. The-demon? god? Mae was tired of changing his labels-Nick turned to the remaining humans. “All of you need to leave to. I’m staying to hold the Crown in place as the holes mend.”
Alan made a choking sound and reached for his brother. “Nick! I’m not letting you do this.”
“But isn’t this what we want?” Mae searched Alan’s stricken face. “All the demons powerless, and anyone in here-wait. Anyone?” Her heart skidded and she whirled on Nick.
He looked away.
“Alan’s right. We’re not letting you do this.”
“I don’t think you realize how many choices I have here.” His wry voice failed to distract from the downturned corners of his lips. “So I’ll tell you, they are zero. Now that I’ve touched the orb, I have very little time before all its power breaks loose. In case you were wondering, that would be kind of disastrous.”
Mae opened her mouth, then shut it to keep the sob in.
Nick moved to them again and curled his free hand in Mae’s hair while he kissed Alan. “I love you both very much,” he murmured against his brother’s lips, before he turned to kiss Mae instead. To her he whispered, “Please, leave, before it’s too late. I must know you’re safe.”
Shaking, she nodded. “Jamie, drag Gerald along. Let’s get out.”
The next moments blurred together. She hoped she told Nick she loved him as she left, hand on Alan’s elbow to steady him, Jamie at her other side, with Gerald stumbling along at the tug of Jamie’s magic. The cave tunneled out, twisted. They emerged into stinging sunlight..
She heard Gerald murmuring to her brother. “You’re stronger than I thought you were. Magically.”
“Yeah, I always held back. Sorry about that. I could never trust someone who kills as easily as you do.” Jamie stuck both hands in his pockets, gaze firmly on the sky.
“I thought you liked me.” The pout looked wrong. Gerald didn’t seem to be trying very hard.
“Yeah, I did. But liking and trusting are two different bags of tea, Gerald. Like, one is peppermint and one is Earl Grey or something.”
Tea metaphor aside, Mae thought little brothers weren’t supposed to mature so fast.
A red glow seeped from the cave. She reached for Alan’s hand.
“Fuck this,” muttered Gerald. With a blinding flash, the magician surged out of Jamie’s power and sprinted back inside, barreling through half-hearted attempts to restrain him. Jamie lifted his hand as if to use magic but Mae grabbed his shoulder. She didn’t know if Jamie could interfere with the Demon’s Crown, but she didn’t want to risk it.
The glow brightened.
Nick stumbled out of the cave, eyes wild, as the glow died.
Mae blinked. She thought she said something, but forgot what as soon as the words left her lips. Alan was talking too, though she couldn’t understand what, and Nick pulled a shaky halt in front of them.
Alan touched Nick’s pale face. “What happened?”
Nick shook his head. “Gerald couldn’t stand to lose his power. He said it was all he had. He took my place at the orb and told me to run.”
“Don’t you ever scare us like that again,” gasped Mae. She meant to sound angry but she didn’t have the breath.
“Yes,” said Alan. “You’re not allowed to try to sacrifice yourself to save the world ever again.”
Nick shrugged. “Fine. You’re still not allowed above the ground floor.”
“My magic’s gone,” announced Jamie, staring at his hands. “Nick, try yours.”
The dark brow furrowed, then smoothed. “Nothing. I’m like a human.”
Mae clapped her hands. “You’re like a human, and we don’t have demons or magicians chasing after you anymore. Improvement indeed!” She jumped up to ruffle his hair.
Nick ducked away from the hair-ruffle. “No demons or magicians. What am I going to do with my life?”
“Well,” Jamie said, disgustingly chipper, “whatever you do, just don’t tell me about the parts that involve my sister. Because I really don’t want to know. Really.”
Nick lifted an eyebrow. “I’ll keep that in mind.”
“Ignorance is bliss,” agreed Jamie. “But for things that don’t involve my sister-and your brother, hah, that’s funny-for things besides sex-oh my god are you going to have sex-besides that, you know that swords don’t need magic to work, right?”
“I’d figured that out, yes,” drawled Nick. He fingered the hilt at his waist
“Now, Jamie.” Mae slung one arm around Nick’s waist and the other around Alan’s. She tilted her chin. “I want to start getting to those things you don’t want to hear about. So if you could run along and help Sin clean things up-“
“Oh, yes, I love community service!” Jamie waved his arms around. “Excellent idea. You kids have fun.” He flailed one last time at them, then turned on his heel and trotted off towards the battlefield.
Nick said, “The possessed people should have collapsed, along with probably half the Market folk.”
Alan laughed. “So Sin will finally learn which of her people had magic?” He leaned against Nick’s shoulder, turned his head the inch necessary to press his lips to his neck.
Mae buried her face in Nick’s chest. She felt Alan’s arms wrap around both of them, and someone’s hand stroked her hair. For one calm moment, they held each other.
THE END :)
Thanks for reading!
Download the soundtrack!
Gomez - How We Operate
Calm down
And get straight
It's in our eyes
It's how we operate
You're true
You are
I'd apologize but it won't go very far
Please come here
Come right on over
And when we collide we'll see what gets left over
A little joy
A little sorrow
And a little pride so we won't have to borrow
Wherever you lead, I'll follow
Three Days Grace - Scared
At night I hear it creeping
At night I feel it move
I’ll never sleep here anymore
I wish you never told me
I wish I never knew
I wake up screaming
It’s all because of you
So real these voices in my head
When it comes back you won’t be
Scared and lonely
Queensrÿche - I don’t believe in love
I don't believe in love
I never have, I never will
I don't believe in love
It's never worth the pain that you feel
No more nightmares, I've seen them all
From the day I was born, they've haunted my every move
Every open hand's there to push and shove
No time for love it doesn't matter
Stevie Ray Vaughan - Tightrope
I was walkin' the tightrope steppin' on my friends
Walkin' the tightrope it was a shame and a sin
Walkin' the tightrope between wrong and right
Matt Nathanson - Angel
I'm not a monster I believe
like a liar would believe
helps me navigate the wooden smiles
John Mayer (with Taylor Swift) - Half of my Heart
Half of my heart's got a real good imagination
Half of my heart's got you
Half of my heart's got a right mind to tell you
That half of my heart won't do
Half of my heart is a shotgun wedding to a bride with a paper ring
And half of my heart is the part of a man who's never really loved anything
Offspring - Want You Bad
If you could only read my mind
You would know that I’ve been waiting
So long
For someone almost like you
But with attitude, I’m waiting so come on
Ron Pope - I Believe
The sun comes out from a sea of clouds
I shed my disguise
We laugh out loud
I am sure that someday soon we'll all be just fine
I hear a choir of angels on a dead end street
The faces of children make me believe that someday
Some day soon the dark will subside
Neko Case - This Tornado Loves You
My love, I am the speed of sound
I left them motherless, fatherless
Their souls they hang inside-out from their mouths
But it's never enough
Hinder - Without You
Without you, I live it up a little more every day
Without you, I'm seeing myself so differently
I didn't wanna believe it then but it all worked out in the end
When I watched you walk away, well, I never thought I'd say
I'm fine without you
James Carrington - Lights
You're still hoping for the light
To shine, shine, shine
Shine, Shine, Shine
Cause lights are for living and breathing inside
So light up your life and hold on for the ride
Lights are for living and revealing
Lights are for the side of you that's feeling
Relient K - Be My Escape (Live)
I've given up on giving up slowly
I'm blending in so you won't even know me
Apart from this whole world that shares my fate
This one last bullet you mention
Is my one last shot at redemption
Because I know to live you must give your life away
John Mayer - Slow Dancing in a Burning Room
We're going down
and you can see it too
We're going down
and you know that we're doomed
my dear
we're slow dancing in a burning room
Lifehouse - Broken
I am here still waiting though I still have my doubts
I am damaged at best, like you've already figured out
I'm falling apart, I'm barely breathing
With a broken heart that's still beating
In the pain, there is healing
In your name I find meaning
Part 1 | Part 2
Author: There's three authors! There's three members in the team! WHO COULD THESE MYSTERIOUS AUTHORS BE? (Spoilers: It's mizzy2k, empresstria and altogetherisi)
Pairing: Rarepears! Rarepears in lots of places! Wheeeeeee.
Summary: A shapeshifting demon, diary abuse, a heist involving the Royal Jewels, Nick discovers something shiny and a hidden identity revealed - the Demon's Crown could save the world, but is the price worth it?
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: One use of the F word! (AND YOU KNOW HOW DANGEROUS IT IS USING THE WORD FOOD WHEN NICK IS AROUND.)
~ten~
“Wait one second,” whispered Nick.
They crouched in the shadow of an glossy, expensive-looking car parked next to an alleyway. Far enough from the Tower that they could risk a brief pause. Overhead, the sky was as dark as it ever got over London-the few bright spots in the sky were probably satellites, not stars.
“We can’t wait,” hissed Alan. “We have a very limited time frame!”
“Wait anyway!” Nick closed his eyes and tensed.
There was a distant crash, then another, and two more, and a whistling noise. Nick jumped to his feet and caught something sailing through the air. His smile was bright in the darkness as he flourished his prize.
The Demon’s Crown fit perfectly in his palm, black and gleaming against his pale skin. Black like his eyes, yet less human.
No less entrancing.
The demon zipped the orb into the pocket of his jacket, breaking the spell.
Mae flailed her arms in indignation. “What was that? So much for the whole security guard thing, the camera arranging--”
“I had a Plan A, of course,” said Nick, looking down his nose. “Magic the Crown out and then run like hell.”
A shrill alarm pierced the night.
“Ah,” said Mae. “Let’s get to that second part, then.”
The three sprinted away from the exploding chorus of sirens. Nick grabbed Alan’s hand as they ran, and Mae laughed. She felt so light, as if high on fever fruit without the danger of falling.
They ran down side streets and main streets alike, too young and gleeful to arouse much suspicion. Just normal teenagers causing a ruckus, probably trying to make it back by curfew. Gasping, they slowed to a walk as they neared the neighborhood Alan parked the car. Mae thought Nick slowed first because Alan was stumbling.
He took the Demon’s Crown back out of his pocket, rolling it from hand to hand. The orb picked up hints of reflections, though Mae couldn’t tell what colors.
Alan took the longest to catch his breath, and when he did, he turned to Nick. “Why’d you let us waste all that time getting into the security system?” He slid his glasses back up his nose.
Nick shrugged those broad shoulders, tucked the Demon’s Crown back into his pocket. “Because we needed a Plan B. And you look cute when you’re programming.”
Mae saw Alan blink at that, and Nick did something funny with his face, like he was trying to swallow up his words. She tried to say something to defuse the tension. “Well, he’s right. You do look cute when you’re programming.”
No, that didn’t help. Alan still had that dangerous, thoughtful expression as he limped towards Nick. “I’m about to do something very stupid,” he warned.
He braced one arm on his brother’s shoulder.
They’re not actually brothers, thought Mae as they kissed, but this was still really weird. Then Nick closed his eyes and took Alan’s jaw in his hands and Alan moaned, and Mae thought that actually it wasn’t weird, just really hot.
Then they turned, and looked at her, foreheads pressed against each other, smiles curled in twin invitation. So she stopped thinking and stalked forward. Nick’s arm curled around her waist. Alan bent to press a kiss in the shell of her ear. She laughed, reached for Nick’s face-
Blue light flashed behind her.
They broke the embrace to see Jamie’s hologram, his hand clapped over his eyes. “So when I fantasized about the Ryves brothers getting together, first off I never expected it to actually happen, and second off I did not expect my sister to get involved too.”
“Um,” declared Mae.
Jamie removed his hand from his eyes and grinned. “Way to go, Mae! I am so proud.”
Nick stepped closer to the fizzy blue hologram. “Congratulations aside, what do you want?”
“Ah, yes!” Jamie’s grin disappeared. “I’m at the place where the Demon’s Crown has to be used. Might you possibly happen to have succeeded in your very important-“
“Yeah, we have it,” said Alan. He straightened out his rumpled shirt. Jamie pretended gallantly not to notice Mae do the same.
“Awesome.” Jamie beamed again for an instant, then hunched forward, speaking urgently. “I need you lot here fast. The Goblin Market is kind of under attack, and Sin’s only just holding off the magicians.”
Alan swore. Nick got that look on his face that said he was mentally counting his weapons.
“We’re in London right now.” Mae ran through routes and hours in her head. “We’ll never make it.”
Her brother’s hologram shook his head. “Just wait a minute.”
~eleven~
Let me get this down. I can barely breathe with this all. Is this the end of the world? Perhaps it is, perhaps. I'm giddiness and despair both at once.
I caught up with Jamie, Seb and Anzu at long last, the Sidhe demon Liannan bound tightly on a leash I created tugging me along. For some reason, she said she knew about the cavern. She and Anzu always knew about it, this place where an object could destroy life as we know it, but for some reason she can't remember why or how she knows about the cavern.
I thought I might have an upper hand on the situation, until Jamie rolled an expensive charm into the centre of the cavern, and his sister appeared with the Ryves brothers in tow.
I knew then I had lost control of the situation.
There's no one and nothing more powerful than Nicholas Ryves, after all.
Not in this world or the next.
The boy demon, the traitor to our kind, Nick Ryves. I forget every time how little he looks. Especially in a cavern such as this, where the roof soars high into a dark, dark point.
“Out on a school night, I see,” I catcall to Nick, a smile curving my face.
“Hermes,” Nick warns at me in response, and I bristle, and am silent.
Hermes.
It's a name.
Maybe it's my name?
I am so clouded by the thought that I miss Nick circling the cavern slowly as Sandy Gerald tries to wheedle Nick and Jamie onto his side.
They won't listen to Sandy Gerald. They know better.
There's a fight. I don't even pay attention to that. The boy Jamie wraps his delicious power around Gerald like a snake crushing its pray.
Sandy Gerald crumples to the ground, bound, spitting his fury uselessly around the cavern.
I'm distracted, and I don't know how much until traitor Nick is by my elbow, something in his hand, glittering like a magpie's eye.
I touch it, and can think only one thing:
Yes.
Nick smiles at me. He's taller than I remember. He turns to Liannan, and her curiosity melts away to awe, and I'm distracted that no one is noticing us in this amazing moment.
Our eyes meet and we are all smiling, and yes is the only thought that makes sense.
Yes.
I'm not terribly observant. You can scoff at that as much as you like. Your blustering words will be nothing but hot air.
What I am is patient. And clever. I'm terribly clever, and that adjective is not plucked out of thin air, because sometimes the cleverness is terrible.
Sometimes I am not clever enough.
If I was just that extra bit clever, I would have noticed before that the language on the tablet was full of inconsistencies. At the time, I was too full of my own cleverness, at the idea that my language work would bring the fall of magicians and demons everywhere, that I did not pause to study the imperfections. I did not contemplate what pattern lay in amongst the mistakes.
It turns out there is a mistake, and the mistake is me. I did not realise whoever wrote the tablet was a bit like Nick. Someone who had problem with the words. Someone who didn't normally have use of words, except to trick and cajole and manipulate.
A demon wrote the tablet.
A demon who didn't know the subtleties of Sumerian.
A demon who didn't know the difference between an object and a noun.
A demon who didn't know the word wasn't Crown.
The word was supposed to be King.
The demons don't have a crown.
The demons have a King.
I feel like I'm missing something, missing something incredibly important, but Mae is here and Nick is here and I don't know what it is.
I am more aware of Alan and Nick than I am of my own body now. It's weird. It also feels like coming home. I think I was the only one who noticed Nick could not stay still, but I don't know why he was moving - I was distracted by Alan, as he was close to me. His eyes were locked on the ceiling, on the curling script etched into the rock, and he was murmuring something under his breath.
He probably didn't know he was doing it.
But we knew. He got louder, and louder, as he read out what was etched deep into the stone around the top of this dangerous cavern.
“It's in two halves,” Alan says, in that soft and distracted voice he uses when he's being clever. “First is a declaration of some sort. The rest is... oddly rhythmical.”
“It's in order for a reason,” the demon Anzu breaks in, and Alan swallows hard and nods.
“Back before,” Alan says, his eyes crossing slightly as he translates on the spot, “the demon world and the human world were two separate worlds. Due to curiosity and the power of the King of the demons, the King created a knife that could cut through anything the two worlds became connected by holes. Instead of fixing the holes like the demons had power to do, the demons crawled through low on their bellies as the small holes allowed little else. This world was populated with ungracious mammals who made strange sounds.
“The strange mammals didn't know their world made the demon world uncomfortable. Their world was strange and different. Half of the demons wanted to patch the holes. Half of the demons wanted to open up the holes fully and connect the worlds completely. This would have made the demon world comfortable again, but it would destroy the ungracious mammals.
“The King of the demons was notorious for kindness. He would disguise himself as one of the mammals and walk amongst them to see if anything was worth saving in this strange world. After a long time had passed, he was still no wiser, and so the King of the demons made the test kinder. The King removed his own memories so that he could walk amongst the mammals and make an unbiased decision. He would leave clues. Once those clues were solved, his memories will be returned in time for him to make a decision.”
Alan stops and stills.
“Why stop there?” Jamie demands.
Alan shrugs. “The rest of it was carved later.”
“Read it,” Nick's voice carries through, soft but still a command.
Alan swallows, and starts to read. “Hrauðungr konugr átti tvá sono; hét annarr Agnarr, en annarr Geirröðr-”
“Can't you read it in English?” Jamie says, sounding pained.
“King Hrauthung had two sons: one was called Agnar, and the other Geirröth-” Alan starts, working hard at the translation, and I look at his eyes - there is no recognition there.
But there's recognition in mine.
I stop him. “Wait right there!”
All eyes are on me. I'm wild eyed. “This thing,” I say, gesturing. “It's one of the mythological poems of the Poetic Edda. The Grímnismál.”
Alan's eyes unfocus again, and by the look on Nick's face, we both find his academic open reactions ridiculously attractive.
“I remember something vaguely-” Alan says.
“Finish reading it, you're doing great,” I say, and Alan turns a little pink at the compliment, and keeps reading.
Normally I'd be jumping all over the place. Mae, knowing more about something academic than Alan? I'd have put better odds on the apocalypse happening; but then, I keep rather world ending company, so I guess I'm not one to speak.
Alan has everyone's attention on him. He doesn't enjoy it, but he copes. He's translating as he goes, but he's having trouble at the end of it.
The story so far of this Grímnismál seems to be of the god Odin taking human form and walking the world. It's much like the Demon King story Alan translated before. Odin pretended to be a wizard, and basically he had enough of pretending not to be himself, because the second half of the poem seems to be Odin listing every name he's taken while pretending to be human.
“Grim is my name, Gangleri am I,” Alan says, continuing, and then he sounds absurdly female when he says, “Herjan and Hjalmberi-”
Except it's not him. It's Liannan. Liannan has broken free of Gerald's leash and is saying the poem without even looking at the words.
“Thekk and Thrithi, Thuth and Uth,” Liannan continues, her voice soft as a lullaby.
Then Anzu steps up next to her, his psuedo-me appearance melting away to a generic one, and he joins in with Liannan. I have no idea what is going on, but I am too entranced by Anzu's deep resonating voice as he picks up the poem. “Helblindi and Hor,” Anzu says, slow and enchanting. “Sath and Svipal-”
“-and Sanngetal,” another voice says, and my stomach plummets when I realise it's Nick, Nick walking in to join the demons, his face deadly and beautiful, shining with light that isn't there, as he continues the poem. “Herteit and Hnikkar.”
Nick's voice is strong, but hitches on that last one, and I realise it the same time as everyone does.
Hnikkar.
“Brother, and lover, and friend,” Nick says, stalking fully into the centre of the circle, more alive than I've ever seen anyone. “Nicholas Ryves; Ofnir and Svafnir and Odin, and all, methinks, are names for none but me.”
He spreads his arms and I, like the others, can only stare in wonder.
~twelve~
Mae mustered her voice into something more than a squeak. “What do you mean? Odin?” She shared a glance of desperate confusion with her brother, whose eyebrows had almost disappeared beneath untrimmed bangs.
Nick smiled at her, but crooked a finger to the other demons. They flocked to his side, a matched set, each with hair like flames.
“Our worlds were separate,” purred Nick. He twisted his neck, cracking vertebrae echoing in the cavern, louder than life. “But I could feel yours anyway, the way a bird feels the wind through his feathers.”
“We felt it too, such warmth,” breathed Anzu. His weight shifted from foot to foot.
Nick chuckled. “You only felt it after I showed you, Thought. Take a leaf from Memory’s book.”
Alan put a hand on Mae’s shoulder as if to stay upright. “Hunin and-“
“Munin,” agreed Mae. “This is ridiculous.”
“Do you think so?” Nick smirked. “I can skip all this exposition if you do.”
His smile was the same as ever. That steadied Mae. “Oh, please, expose away.”
A flirtatious hand slid under the hem of his shirt. Nick winked, then continued. “My interest in your world was powerful enough to breach holes in the barrier. Even then, I liked cutting things.”
A softer voice took up the tale, Liannan swaying in her borrowed body. “Those holes upset the balance of the worlds. They made our world uncomfortable.” The bones of her face looked uncomfortable, too symmetrical.
Anzu rattled, “We had two options-patch the holes, or open the breach entirely. The latter would kill all humans, but some of us,” he shot a dirty look at Liannan, “were fond of the blue sky.”
“And the men,” laughed Liannan.
“I decided,” Nick said, and his quiet voice enthralled Mae, “to walk among humans over your centuries to learn your worth. I hid my memories, and the power to close the holes, in the Demon’s Crown-I wanted an unbiased test.”
Gerald spat. Mae had almost forgotten him, kneeling in the bonds of Jamie’s magic. “Who are you to judge our worth?”
“I am Odin, and Hnikkar, and Nicholas Ryves. Who better?” Arms spread, he bowed.
“Nick,” said Mae. She stepped forward, meeting those lovely dark eyes. “You’re still Nick?”
His free hand reached to brush her hair away. “You and Alan made me see your world is worth saving.”
He kissed her forehead, then strode past her. Mae turned to see him kiss Alan’s cheek. Her stomach clenched-she had never seen Nick look so sad.
“When I place this sphere in this depression, everyone in the cavern will return to the demons’ world. Any demons outside will remain, but without their power. The holes will seal and our worlds will balance again.”
Liannan tossed her hair over her shoulders and strode away with only one glance back at Nick.
“Hugin and Munin fly each day over the spacious earth. I fear for Hugin, that he come not back, yet more anxious am I for Munin,” Nick said abstractly, his eyes locked as if staring at some faraway point, before he shook himself and smiled at Liannan's retreat, saying fondly, “She still loves the sky.”
“And the men,” Anzu said with a wink.
Nick turned to the bird-like demon. “What of you, Thought?”
Anzu cocked his head. “You know, I’ve grown fond of the men as well.” He sauntered towards a surprised Seb.
“Um. Is this supposed to be a come-on?” Seb gestured as if to indicate the demon’s entire self.
“Oh yes,” said Anzu, and he stretched his arms upward, body shifting and mutating. His skin lost the gray hue. His cheeks filled out a bit. His hair paled, from burning red to blond, and much of the length broke off and disintegrated. He shrank.
Jamie spluttered from across the cavern. “Anzu! You aren’t allowed to do that permanently!”
His mirror image fluttered his fingers. “But aren’t I?”
“Ah, no, you aren’t,” said Seb. “Because it actually is kind of creepy.” His eyes flicked back and forth between the two slender blond boys.
“Well, I rather think I am. I can’t think of any other form I’d spend eternity in.” Each sentence piled on another heaping spoonful of sleaze. “And you know, Seb, how easily you could come to accept it.”
Jamie rubbed his temples. “You at least have to change the eye color, or the shape of the nose, or something. I refuse to be identical to a demon.”
Anzu sighed, and his irises turned black. “Better? I won’t wear nearly as much purple as you do, either.”
“This is still weird,” protested Seb.
Anzu grabbed his elbow. “Please escort me from the premises, dear sir.” He looked over his shoulder as he dragged Seb towards the exit. “Good-bye, Hnikkar.”
“Thank you,” said Nick. The-demon? god? Mae was tired of changing his labels-Nick turned to the remaining humans. “All of you need to leave to. I’m staying to hold the Crown in place as the holes mend.”
Alan made a choking sound and reached for his brother. “Nick! I’m not letting you do this.”
“But isn’t this what we want?” Mae searched Alan’s stricken face. “All the demons powerless, and anyone in here-wait. Anyone?” Her heart skidded and she whirled on Nick.
He looked away.
“Alan’s right. We’re not letting you do this.”
“I don’t think you realize how many choices I have here.” His wry voice failed to distract from the downturned corners of his lips. “So I’ll tell you, they are zero. Now that I’ve touched the orb, I have very little time before all its power breaks loose. In case you were wondering, that would be kind of disastrous.”
Mae opened her mouth, then shut it to keep the sob in.
Nick moved to them again and curled his free hand in Mae’s hair while he kissed Alan. “I love you both very much,” he murmured against his brother’s lips, before he turned to kiss Mae instead. To her he whispered, “Please, leave, before it’s too late. I must know you’re safe.”
Shaking, she nodded. “Jamie, drag Gerald along. Let’s get out.”
The next moments blurred together. She hoped she told Nick she loved him as she left, hand on Alan’s elbow to steady him, Jamie at her other side, with Gerald stumbling along at the tug of Jamie’s magic. The cave tunneled out, twisted. They emerged into stinging sunlight..
She heard Gerald murmuring to her brother. “You’re stronger than I thought you were. Magically.”
“Yeah, I always held back. Sorry about that. I could never trust someone who kills as easily as you do.” Jamie stuck both hands in his pockets, gaze firmly on the sky.
“I thought you liked me.” The pout looked wrong. Gerald didn’t seem to be trying very hard.
“Yeah, I did. But liking and trusting are two different bags of tea, Gerald. Like, one is peppermint and one is Earl Grey or something.”
Tea metaphor aside, Mae thought little brothers weren’t supposed to mature so fast.
A red glow seeped from the cave. She reached for Alan’s hand.
“Fuck this,” muttered Gerald. With a blinding flash, the magician surged out of Jamie’s power and sprinted back inside, barreling through half-hearted attempts to restrain him. Jamie lifted his hand as if to use magic but Mae grabbed his shoulder. She didn’t know if Jamie could interfere with the Demon’s Crown, but she didn’t want to risk it.
The glow brightened.
Nick stumbled out of the cave, eyes wild, as the glow died.
Mae blinked. She thought she said something, but forgot what as soon as the words left her lips. Alan was talking too, though she couldn’t understand what, and Nick pulled a shaky halt in front of them.
Alan touched Nick’s pale face. “What happened?”
Nick shook his head. “Gerald couldn’t stand to lose his power. He said it was all he had. He took my place at the orb and told me to run.”
“Don’t you ever scare us like that again,” gasped Mae. She meant to sound angry but she didn’t have the breath.
“Yes,” said Alan. “You’re not allowed to try to sacrifice yourself to save the world ever again.”
Nick shrugged. “Fine. You’re still not allowed above the ground floor.”
“My magic’s gone,” announced Jamie, staring at his hands. “Nick, try yours.”
The dark brow furrowed, then smoothed. “Nothing. I’m like a human.”
Mae clapped her hands. “You’re like a human, and we don’t have demons or magicians chasing after you anymore. Improvement indeed!” She jumped up to ruffle his hair.
Nick ducked away from the hair-ruffle. “No demons or magicians. What am I going to do with my life?”
“Well,” Jamie said, disgustingly chipper, “whatever you do, just don’t tell me about the parts that involve my sister. Because I really don’t want to know. Really.”
Nick lifted an eyebrow. “I’ll keep that in mind.”
“Ignorance is bliss,” agreed Jamie. “But for things that don’t involve my sister-and your brother, hah, that’s funny-for things besides sex-oh my god are you going to have sex-besides that, you know that swords don’t need magic to work, right?”
“I’d figured that out, yes,” drawled Nick. He fingered the hilt at his waist
“Now, Jamie.” Mae slung one arm around Nick’s waist and the other around Alan’s. She tilted her chin. “I want to start getting to those things you don’t want to hear about. So if you could run along and help Sin clean things up-“
“Oh, yes, I love community service!” Jamie waved his arms around. “Excellent idea. You kids have fun.” He flailed one last time at them, then turned on his heel and trotted off towards the battlefield.
Nick said, “The possessed people should have collapsed, along with probably half the Market folk.”
Alan laughed. “So Sin will finally learn which of her people had magic?” He leaned against Nick’s shoulder, turned his head the inch necessary to press his lips to his neck.
Mae buried her face in Nick’s chest. She felt Alan’s arms wrap around both of them, and someone’s hand stroked her hair. For one calm moment, they held each other.
THE END :)
Thanks for reading!
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Gomez - How We Operate
Calm down
And get straight
It's in our eyes
It's how we operate
You're true
You are
I'd apologize but it won't go very far
Please come here
Come right on over
And when we collide we'll see what gets left over
A little joy
A little sorrow
And a little pride so we won't have to borrow
Wherever you lead, I'll follow
Three Days Grace - Scared
At night I hear it creeping
At night I feel it move
I’ll never sleep here anymore
I wish you never told me
I wish I never knew
I wake up screaming
It’s all because of you
So real these voices in my head
When it comes back you won’t be
Scared and lonely
Queensrÿche - I don’t believe in love
I don't believe in love
I never have, I never will
I don't believe in love
It's never worth the pain that you feel
No more nightmares, I've seen them all
From the day I was born, they've haunted my every move
Every open hand's there to push and shove
No time for love it doesn't matter
Stevie Ray Vaughan - Tightrope
I was walkin' the tightrope steppin' on my friends
Walkin' the tightrope it was a shame and a sin
Walkin' the tightrope between wrong and right
Matt Nathanson - Angel
I'm not a monster I believe
like a liar would believe
helps me navigate the wooden smiles
John Mayer (with Taylor Swift) - Half of my Heart
Half of my heart's got a real good imagination
Half of my heart's got you
Half of my heart's got a right mind to tell you
That half of my heart won't do
Half of my heart is a shotgun wedding to a bride with a paper ring
And half of my heart is the part of a man who's never really loved anything
Offspring - Want You Bad
If you could only read my mind
You would know that I’ve been waiting
So long
For someone almost like you
But with attitude, I’m waiting so come on
Ron Pope - I Believe
The sun comes out from a sea of clouds
I shed my disguise
We laugh out loud
I am sure that someday soon we'll all be just fine
I hear a choir of angels on a dead end street
The faces of children make me believe that someday
Some day soon the dark will subside
Neko Case - This Tornado Loves You
My love, I am the speed of sound
I left them motherless, fatherless
Their souls they hang inside-out from their mouths
But it's never enough
Hinder - Without You
Without you, I live it up a little more every day
Without you, I'm seeing myself so differently
I didn't wanna believe it then but it all worked out in the end
When I watched you walk away, well, I never thought I'd say
I'm fine without you
James Carrington - Lights
You're still hoping for the light
To shine, shine, shine
Shine, Shine, Shine
Cause lights are for living and breathing inside
So light up your life and hold on for the ride
Lights are for living and revealing
Lights are for the side of you that's feeling
Relient K - Be My Escape (Live)
I've given up on giving up slowly
I'm blending in so you won't even know me
Apart from this whole world that shares my fate
This one last bullet you mention
Is my one last shot at redemption
Because I know to live you must give your life away
John Mayer - Slow Dancing in a Burning Room
We're going down
and you can see it too
We're going down
and you know that we're doomed
my dear
we're slow dancing in a burning room
Lifehouse - Broken
I am here still waiting though I still have my doubts
I am damaged at best, like you've already figured out
I'm falling apart, I'm barely breathing
With a broken heart that's still beating
In the pain, there is healing
In your name I find meaning
Part 1 | Part 2