Page 100 of How To Take Down A Cult At The End Of The World
I think it’s my husband the World Eater wants. But why did they take Clyde? I don’t understand that part but I know enough to know that sometimes gods and demons don’t make sense. They’re just as capricious as people. Maybe there is nothing to make sense of. I hope there’s nothing logical about it all, but my gut tells me I’m wrong. I move closer to Jaak and scan the room for threats.
It’s different from the last room. This one is smaller with rows and rows of wooden pews lined up to make two aisles. Heavy drapes hang from the ceiling to the floor and block out the windows. There’s a mezzanine level that I don’t like the look of.
“What do you think of that?” I ask Jaak.
He follows my gaze towards the mezzanine and shakes his head. “Not good. We better get someone up there. My vote is Mort and the gamemaster.”
“I’m with you,” I tell him and motion for Charlie and Mort to come closer to me. “You think you two can find a way up there?” I ask, pointing to the second level.
“We’re on it.” Charlie gives me a thumbs up and grabs Mort. “Come on, buddy. We’ve got a job to do.”
Dina, Jaak, and I walk up the length of the aisles. There’s a small podium with a book on top of it. “What is this?” Dina asks, looking at the book. “A bible?”
“Um, maybe?” I have no idea what a bible is. They were banned in town as heresy so I’ve never seen one. Why would the World Eater have a bible though? I approach the book to get a closer look and freeze when I’m in front of it. “I know what this is. It’s a copy of Charlie’s book.”
“When I use the book it’s like… I don’t know, it’s like I’m making a call…Now there’s someone else there, there’s static on the line and everything is hard to hear through them.”
I put a hand on it and jerk it back the second I do. The power that I felt from Charlie’s book is here in full force but it doesn’t feel like anything Charlie would use.
“The static on the line, this is it!”
“What is?” Jaak looks confused and so does Dina. I know I’m not making sense to them. “This book is a copy of Charlie’s. Earlier when Charlie and I went to make sure his book was there, something happened to him. It was like he short-circuited and he saw into the World Eater’s mind. This is how they’re connected, they’re siphoning the book’s power and Charlie’s the conduit, but I don’t understand why.”
A door behind us swings open and there’s a slow clap. “About time you all got here. We’ve been waiting for you.”
“Who are you?” I ask the tall man with a hooded robe on. He strides into the room like he owns the place, which, okay, he probably does.
“I should be the one asking questions considering you’re in my temple, don’t you think?” he asks and flicks his wrist. Invisible hands shove us away from the podium and I fly through the air and land on my back. I stagger to my feet and see Dina flipping over the top of a pew while Jaak falls to one knee. The man darts forward and snatches the book off the podium and I square up with him.
“You defile our temple! Today is a hallowed day, you treacherous beings! Our god shall make you pay!!” He raises the book over his head and the whole room starts to rumble.
“That’s enough of that!”
“You cannot stop us. We are infinite and-”
I kick him so hard he flies backwards and his book lands where he was standing. The man slams into the wall and falls to the ground with a groan. He tries to get up but doesn’t quite manage it and instead falls facedown on the floor.
I tilt my head and consider the blacked out mage on the ground. “For a head mage, I somehow expected more,” I say.
“Yeah, how do you like it, jerk!” Dina yells as she pops up from behind the pew.
“Well done, my heart.” Jaak rises to his feet and shoulders his axe.
“Thanks.” I pick up the book and flinch when I feel the dark magic in it rise up. I don’t know if it’s the World Eater or not, but I’m not going to let it in. “I’m going to get this to Charlie. Maybe he knows how to use it,” I tell Jaak, but when I turn to call out to Charlie another door opens and more mages start to flood into the room.
“Orrrrr, I can stay right here.”
Chapter Thirty Nine
“What do we do, Meadow?” Dina asks. We’re all three together, Jaak and her on either side of me while I hold the nightmare book.
“I don’t know,”I tell her. “This is way more than a dozen. How are there so many?” There’s at least fifty mages in front of us. I can’t see any of their faces and they haven’t said a word since they entered the room a minute ago. They came in and formed orderly lines but now they’re still as statues like they’re waiting for an order.
She shakes her head. “Maybe they recruited new members? There aren’t this many businesses in town, not by a long shot.”
There’s movement on the mezzanine level and I almost scream when I see Charlie start to take aim at one of the mages. Thankfully, Mort grabs him and drags him away from the balcony. Jaak sees the same thing I do but doesn’t say anything.Not yet, Charlie, just wait.I silently will him to understand that firing into a group of mages isn’t the best survival move we could make. We still don’t know why any of this is happening, or who is doing it.
We need that information if we’re going to get to the World Eater.
