with your payment.”
He swallowed in trepidation. “And that is?”
“Your life.”
His face went completely white. “What?”
“You will have fame, Coach. Just as you wanted. A brilliant win over your opponents. I’ll even be kind and give you an evening to bask in that victory. But come noon the next day, you and your players must die together. Imagine the news coverage then. Oh, the tragedy of champions dying on the heels of their great success. You’ll be legendary. Over and over again.”
Devus gulped heavily. “That’s not what I want. I didn’t sign on for that.”
There was no pity in the mirror’s eyes. “Yes, you did. You should have asked the terms before you made your contract. Have you never been told to read the fine print?”
Devus’s hands shook uncontrollably. “It’s not fair.”
“Life never is. But don’t despair. Unlike your players, you won’t stay dead.”
“What do you mean?”
“That is your bargain, Walter. So long as you gather souls for me, I won’t take yours. However, if you fail to deliver the winning team to me by noon, you will suffer unimaginable torment for the rest of eternity. Do you understand?”
He nodded.
“Good. Now, be a good boy and don’t lose your heart.”
* * *
Nick pulled back from the scene with his stomach knotted and his fury hot. How dare the coach make a pact like that. And for what?
Vanity?
He’d never understand it.
Kody sighed, drawing his attention to her. “Well, now we know how it all began.”
Nick opened his mouth to respond to that, but before he could, images started playing through his head. They came fast and furious, as they’d done in the mirror. And just as in the mirror, he had no control over them. It made him dizzy and nauseated.
Oh, the pain …
Gasping, he lay on the floor and pressed the heel of his hand to his eye, trying to alleviate some of misery. It felt as if his brain would literally explode.
“Nick?” Kody sucked her breath in sharply as she watched him convulse on the floor.
What was happening? What should she do?
She didn’t sense him being under attack by anything, and yet that’s what he acted like. Had she accidentally unleashed something on him? The very thought terrified her.
“Nick?” she tried again.
Again he didn’t respond.
She thickened her protection in the room, just in case. It was so tight now, nothing could breach it. She pulled Nick’s head into her lap and held him, hoping whatever had him would let go.
Nick heard the girl’s voice in his head. Julianne … She was talking to him in a tone that sounded like Madaug’s little brother. High-pitched and painful.
Free me, she begged him. Please. I don’t want to hurt anyone else. I want to go to my rest and be left alone. Why won’t he go away? It’s been so long, and I’m so very tired.
It was the girl Devus had murdered. She …
Something thick and warm went through his veins. It wasn’t like the other times when his powers had seized him. This was different. For once, he felt like he had control of it. Like he could channel and direct it.
Closing his eyes, he tried to focus.
Kody gasped and pulled away as she saw an orange aura engulf Nick’s entire body. It was a demon’s essence, and it made the hair on the back of her neck rise.
When he opened his eyes to look up at her, they were no longer blue. They were a vibrant lavender. The kind that didn’t belong to a human.
“You have to teach me how to raise the dead.” His voice was low and deep, and sounded nothing like the Nick she knew.
She blinked twice as her mind wrapped itself around his request. “It’s forbidden.”
His voice calmed down to its normal cadence as he pushed himself up to face her. “No, it’s not. It’s ill advised. But the only way to stop this is to let the girl confront her killer. She wants to be free, and I think we should let her.”
Kody shook her head. “We can’t do that, Nick. You’re not strong enough, and you have no idea what doors that will open. Doors that don’t shut easily.”
She’s lying to you.
Nick groaned as an unfamiliar voice filled his head. “Who are you?”
It didn’t say.
But he’d felt it and honestly, he was tired of having Grand Central Station for a head. People, things, animals. Keep out! The station was closed for business. Go haunt somewhere else.
Kody put her hand on his forehead to check for