“What is this place?”

  He didn’t reply, but The Lady did though her voice was softer now.

  Evil ones here. Get ring. Flee!

  Katia sucked in a breath. “You’re going to have to trust me on something. Can you do that?” she asked, watching her partner’s face in hopes of reading his inner thoughts. If they were like hers they were totally confused.

  “I’m getting a . . . feeling that the person in that tree is major evil. All we need is their ring. Nothing else. Just the ring.”

  His steely blue eyes locked on hers. “Do I want to hear how you know this?”

  “Not right now.” Because if she was wrong they were both history.

  “You’ll explain all this when you can?” he pushed.

  “Yes.” Simon was owed the truth one way or another. And if they were dead, it wouldn’t matter.

  He considered her for a moment longer, then nodded. “Okay. Ring only. Got it.”

  She stared at him in astonishment. “You’re trusting me on this?”

  “I am. You sense things I don’t. And we’re running out of time here.” He held up the button which was noticeably smaller than it had been when they’d entered this realm.

  “Oh, shit.”

  “Yeah.’ He tucked the thing away, then eyed the situation. “I’ll pull on the legs and hopefully that will get the body free so I can find the ring. Keep an eye on those branches for me.”

  “That works.”

  She realized he would need some sort of protection to keep from being sliced up if that tree proved hostile. Which it would since everything else in this realm seemed that way.

  Scooping up the tattered robe, she shook it out and then wound it around her right arm. To her relief no magic remained in the fabric. That wasn’t the same for whatever was in the tree. A low moan came again, but how could that be if the necro was dead?

  “Ready,” she announced.

  Simon grabbed both leg bones and tugged. Then tugged even more. One of the feet promptly snapped off in his hand as a scream came from inside the tree.

  He tossed the foot aside, then repositioned himself and pulled again. The body of whoever it was slid forward inch by agonizing inch as the bones creaked and cracked.

  Then the tree went crazy.

  The first swipe of a branch barely missed crushing Simon’s skull. Katia stepped forward as the next one swept sideways and she purposely let it hit her arm, gritting her teeth as the shock of the blow vibrated throughout her body. Positioned as she was, she couldn’t see her companion, and she worried she’d step on him.

  Two more branches came at her, working in tandem. She parried one branch, then spun to let the other bounce off her. This time it drew blood as it sliced through the robe and deep into her arm.

  There was more grunting, another muffled cry, and then “Got it!”

  She glanced down to find Simon hastily scrambling away from two dislocated legs and an arm. On instinct she ducked as the nearest branch barely missed her.

  “Asshole,” she said, then backed off even further. She was so tempted to give the trunk a stout kick, but that was probably how the necro had been trapped in the first place.

  He held up the ring. “I can’t believe we found it.”

  “Neither can I.”

  They’d gone only a few steps away when a groaning sound made them turn. The tree had begun to expand, the bark pulsing like it had a heartbeat of its own.

  Run! The Lady shouted.

  “Run!” Katia echoed.

  They sprinted away but only made it a short distance before the tree exploded and spears of bark flew toward them. Both dove to the ground, but still a few hit their target. Simon swore and pulled a shard from his shoulder, tossing it away. Katia did the same for the one that had hit her forearm.

  The fronds nearest them began to shift and dirt flew as they uprooted themselves from the soil.

  “What the . . . ” he said, jumping to his feet. Katia did the same only to find the fronds skittering across the ground toward them, their blooms glistening with the acidic nectar.

  They ran for their lives. Soon they were in the domain of the skeleton birds and this time the things no longer just screeched their fury, but flew toward them, scraping at their heads and faces with their razor-sharp talons.

  This world hadn’t liked them on the way in, now it hated them because they were trying to leave.

  “It’s because we have the ring. I swear it!” she said as they continued their flight.

  The moss was taller now and digging at their ankles, ripping their jeans and their flesh as the trees swung their branches in ever-closer attacks.

  A choir of voices rose, a hellish chorus of pain, anger and sorrow. They burrowed into Katia’s mind and made her stumble. Simon did the same, his face ashen gray and glistening with bloody sweat.

  Save us. Free us. Free us or die! the voices cried.

  “Holy Father, drive away the darkness and danger,” Simon called out. He sucked in another breath, still running with Katia by his side. “Clear our path and shelter us with your Light. Take us home!”

  In response, the realm doubled its efforts to kill them; even more eager to rip the flesh from their bones.

  “Come on, help us!” Katia called out. “You want this damned ring, help us!”

  Go. Go now! The Lady called out.

  In a dazzling flash a light appeared in front of them illuminating a stone path. The closer they got, the brighter that light grew.

  “Faster!” Simon shouted as they pelted across the open ground. A quick look over her shoulder showed the darkness growing steadily behind them.

  Katia reached the shimmering light first. She had no idea what was beyond it, only that whatever was waiting there couldn’t be any more dangerous than what was hunting them. Simon was right next to her now, sprinting as fast as possible.

  Something tripped her and as she began to fall he caught her. Once she regained her balance he jammed the ring into her hand. “Go!”

  Katia turned to reach for him only to see him being dragged backward.

  “Go!” he shouted as he fought whatever had gripped his leg.

  “No way!”

  As she hurried toward him she slipped the ring on her thumb to keep from dropping it. The instant the ring was in place its magic wound around her and she hit an unseen barrier. When she struggled to reach Simon it held her back, then slowly began to pull her away from him.

  Katia tugged frantically on the ring but it refused to budge. Simon cried out, fighting against whatever had grabbed onto him. She managed to take a few steps forward, the magic tearing at her with each movement. She kept fighting it and reached out. He stretched out his hand for hers, his eyes filled with terror. Closer, closer, a few more feet.

  Then to her horror he jerked backward as something reeled him in. When she tried to grab him, the magic doubled, enveloping her, lifting her into the air.

  “NO!”

  She sailed over the ground and through the portal, landing hard on the factory floor. When she stopped rolling, someone grabbed her arm and pulled her up to her feet.

  “Where is he?” his sister demanded. Then Dee looked back where the wall should be and saw the void that was just beyond. “Simon?” she shouted.

  “No, don’t!” But before Katia could stop her she leapt through the portal and was gone.

  The doorway snapped closed. Simon and his sister were gone.

  SIXTEEN

  “NOOOOO!”

  Katia pounded her fists against the rough concrete blocks. She could feel the residual magic in them, but there was no way she could make that portal open once more.

  “God no, Simon. You damned fool.”

  There had to be a way to get him back, and Deanna as well.

  The ring. She looked down at her hand, but it was gone. “Where is that damned thing?” It would be the leverage she needed to make the necro retrieve them.

  “I have it.”

  She whirled around to find the summoner near the front doors, the gold ring in hand. His expression wasn’t triumphant, but saddened, as if he knew exactly what price had been paid for its retrieval.

  “Bring them back!” she demanded, pointing at the wall. “Bring them back, now!”

  The summoner gestured. The wall glowed, but nothing more. He tried again, shouting some magical words. The glow faded and died.

  “I . . . can’t,” he said. “I’m sorry. I’m really, really sorry.” There was truth in his words. “You removed something from that world and now it’s closed to us. I didn’t realize that would happen.”

  He looked down at the band resting on his palm. It seemed so ordinary, made of gold with a ruby setting. “I must go now. If I don’t, she’ll die. I can’t let that happen. I’m truly sorry about the others. If there is a way . . . ” Then he glanced over at the Deaders now, Means in particular. “I’ll set you free, I promise.”

  As the doors behind him swung open, the summoner strode through them. Then they banged shut.

  Katia’s jaw dropped. “You bastard! You can’t leave them there!”

  But he had.

  Her mind ran rampant, desperate for a solution. The only way she could get back into that world was through a powerful summoner. Mort or Lord Ozymandias. Either one might be able to do it.

  Katia spotted her trapping bag resting by a wall so she sprinted to it, then dug inside. Her phone was in there, but of course it didn’t work. The necro had probably set a spell to keep that from happening. She jammed it in her back pocket, then rose again.

  “I have to get out of here.”

  Tears burned tracks down her face, the truth as painful as any wound she’d ever received.

  Simon had known that ring was pulling itself into this world. He’d given it to her, on purpose. He’d sacrificed himself to ensure she survived, never anticipating his sister would try to rescue him. Be trapped with him.

  The tears slowed and she knuckled them away, cold fury filling her.

  “You will come home. Both of you,” she whispered. “If I can’t do it, I’ll find someone who will. I will make this happen, or I will die trying.”

  The vow hung in the air, taking on a strength of its own.

  A shuffling noise announced the approach of a reanimate. Mr. Means stopped next to her, then gently touched her arm, his face gray and his eyes dull.

  “I’m sorry. It’s . . . . not . . . . right,” he said.

  Maybe this man knew more than he thought. “Why did he reanimate you?”

  “He thought we could enter that other place, get the ring.”

  “Why?”

  “He said he needed it to save someone he loved.”

  Loved? “Who?”

  A sad shake of his head was the reply.

  “How do I get the hell out of here so I can find us help?”

  “You cannot crawl out the lower windows. There is magic on them.”

  Wards.

  “The other lady couldn’t go up the stairs. But maybe the spell is weaker the higher you get. I don’t know.”

  And if she did make it to the top of the stairs, then what? Shout from one of the windows until someone called the cops? Well, it was better than waiting for the asshole to come back. Or starve to death if he decided to abandon them.

  If I can get up on the roof . . .

  She took one deep breath, then another. Her muscles ached, her wounds burned, and her head throbbed. But the fury deep within her propelled her forward.

  I will not let you die because of me.

  A plan began to form, a long shot, but at this point that was all she had. After taking a deep breath to let some of the adrenalin drain off, Katia retrieved one of the bottles of the sacred liquid from her pack and waved Means over to join the other Deaders. Then she carefully laid a circle around all them and invoked the protection. The circle flared bright as a smile appeared on Means’ face. He knew what she was doing.

  “Stay inside this circle. I’m not sure if this will keep you safe, but it’s better than nothing. I’m afraid I might trigger a magical backlash or something if I break out of here and I don’t want you hurt.” She handed him the only other bottle. “Reinforce it if necessary. You understand?”

  He nodded. “Where are you going?”

  “To find someone to help us.”

  Means gave another nod, then sank onto the floor with the bottle of Holy Water clenched in his hands.

  Katia exited the circle, taking great care to keep it intact, then picked up her bag and headed for the nearest set of stairs. There was no guarantee she’d be able to escape the building, but she bet the necro hadn’t planned on having a free agent wandering around inside, at least one that wasn’t a Deader.

  As Means had said, the stairs were not an option, warded at the top where they reached a door marked Office. Retreating to the factory floor she methodically checked every potential exit, though the reanimate had said he’d already done that. All were warded. That left only one more way out of here.

  That choice sucked. She dug out an unopened bottle of water and took a long pull of the refreshing liquid. Once she’d recapped it, she set it aside and tucked a power bar in her pocket. More time was involved re-tying her shoe laces.

  “Just get it done,” she muttered.

  After another glance at the Deaders inside their circle, she headed for the shelving on the far wall. Like everything in this place it was old, grubby and not in great shape. Once she found a section that felt firmly bolted to the concrete blocks she began to climb.

  When Katia’d been in high school, she’d religiously scaled a climbing wall at a local gym to strengthen her arm and chest muscles. At first it’d been impossible, but eventually she could scale that wall like a monkey.

  But this was nothing like that.

  The shelves were dirty and slippery with both dust and a thin film of oil. Worse, a few of them wiggled more than she’d like. It took a while before she developed a rhythm: Right foot on the closest shelf, left hand on the shelf above that, then move upward switching limbs. Once Katia was in the zone, she made substantial progress until her left hand met something on the next shelf up.

  When the rat trap snapped she nearly fell, then swore in a stream of both English and Hellspeak. It took work to pry the thing off her fingers while dangling one-handed above the factory floor. When it came free and fell at least thirty feet, then executed a series of energetic bounces across the concrete, shocked gasps came from her audience inside the glowing circle.

  “It’s all good,” she called out, trying to reassure them.

  It wasn’t, but they didn’t need to know that.

  There were at least eight more shelves so she kept moving. Her arms and back throbbed as her face dripped sweat. The higher she went, the hotter it got.

  After what seemed like days she reached the top shelf. She tested it, then crawled up on it, balancing precariously. A forgotten box of dusty gears sat nearby, the bleached-out address label catching her notice. This package had been shipped fifteen years earlier. Katia had been ten. She’d spent that summer skateboarding in Lawrence or at her grandmother’s farm to avoid arguing with her mother.

  “I miss you, Gran,” she whispered. “You wouldn’t be doing this crazy shit.”

  But her gran would be cheering her on. She always had.

  Now, all those years later, she was spending her birthday trapped in a factory with some very dead people. Gran would have had a good laugh about that.

  The twitching of her over-worked muscles made it feel like something was creeping all over her arms, legs and back. And of course, there had been a spider or twenty and she was ignoring the wasps’ nest tucked high in the rafters. So far its occupants had been ignoring her.

  A sneeze began to build and despite her efforts to stop it, it burst forth. Katia clung to her perch as her nose tried to rid itself of all the dust she’d sucked inside. When the sneezing finally ended, she wiped her nose on her T-shirt and studied the line of windows above her.

  Even as her nose continued to drip, Katia tried to judge how much magic was present. To her relief, it appeared to be none. Madman Necro hadn’t bothered to ward the area near the windows and the roof girders. Why would a reanimate try to climb up here? They wouldn’t, not when they were under his control.

  But Katia wasn’t one of his minions.

  “That was a mistake, dickwad.”

  A quick check of her mashed fingers proved they weren’t broken or bleeding, just hurting like hell, which meant it was time to get out of here.

  Katia carefully stood, bracing herself against the wall and peered out the closest window. There was nothing outside, no walkway, no railing, nothing but a sheer wall.

  “Really?” she said, shaking her head.

  She shoved at the window and it creaked open, spraying rust and dirt in all directions. Leaning out she found a metal stairway further down the building, one that extended downward from the roof. Not a fire exit, but likely used to access the roof if repairs were needed. It would be a way out if she could figure out how to get to it.

  It was either that or yell her head off and hope someone heard her. The industrial estate remained as silent as when she’d arrived. She saw no cars or people so that meant she could shout until the end of the world and no one would hear her.

  Which left that exterior stairway as her only other choice. To reach it, she’d need to move to the next set of shelving to her right. Shelving that was at least eight feet away and stacked with mangled boxes and even more dust. She narrowed her eyes trying to study the bolts securing that section to the wall. They didn’t look good.

  “Stop whining. Simon wouldn’t be whining. By now he’d be out of here, the necro in chains. Get it done, Breman.”