‘Pah! You cannot defeat me. But there’s power in you. Both of you. Strong spirits! I’ll take that strength. Starting with you, little Cassandra. Who will stand against me then? Who?’
There was no breath in Cassie’s lungs she could use to answer. As Marat kicked her forward, the Eldest stalked over to her beaten body. ‘I asked you a question, worm! WHO?’
She braced herself for the pain; for the wrenching agony of her spirit and her life being ripped from her. But then a shadow stepped between her and the Eldest.
‘I will. ME, you over-Botoxed prehistoric harpy.’
Richard Halton-Jones was standing in between them.
‘Richard!’ Cassie cried hoarsely. ‘No!’ She struggled to try and stand, desperate to stop him.
‘She’s quite right.’ The Eldest mimicked her with that terrifying echo of a voice. ‘“No, Richard!”’
But Richard stood firm, and Cassie gasped. There was something clutched in his hands and he raised it towards the Eldest. The Pendant.
The Eldest’s eyes widened as they locked on the ancient artefact, and as she opened her mouth to speak again, her jaw seemed to lock. The features of her face twisted into a scowl, but instead of words, a low, ominous growl emitted from the Eldest’s throat.
A bead of sweat trickled from Richard’s temple, and he glanced sideways at Cassie, the corner of his lip quirking even now with desperate laughter. ‘How does this bloody thing work, again?’
Cassie stumbled to a crouching position, hauling air into her lungs. ‘Richard! Wh-what are you doing?’
The Pendant was pulsing with that intense light once more, and as Richard held it out towards the Eldest, Cassie realised that around Katerina’s body, from head to toe, greenish-white light was beginning to ooze. The Eldest was squirming and writhing now, caught off guard by the Pendant’s power.
‘It’s working!’ Cassie shouted hopefully. ‘You’re drawing the spirit out of her!’
Slowly, painfully, the light was being sucked out from the Eldest’s chest and mouth, and towards the carved jade. Screaming with rage, writhing against the Pendant’s otherworldly pull, the Eldest focused on Richard, emerald eyes narrowing, teeth snapping. Still Richard held his ground, his arm shaking, the Pendant raised, his jaw clenched. Every muscle in his body seemed to be taut and shuddering, and he had to struggle to stay upright against both forces – the one flowing into the Pendant, and the raging intense fury of the Eldest.
‘Cease … NOW!’ she roared.
Richard wavered just for a moment, and the Eldest took her chance. She lunged towards him, claws raised, and struck him down with an almighty blow that rang and echoed from the cavern walls.
Cassie screamed.
Richard crumpled and the Pendant, its light extinguished, flew bumping and rolling away across the hard ground. Cassie ran towards Richard, but Ranjit raced for the Pendant, snatching it up.
‘Cassie, get the Knife!’
For a fraction of a second she was torn, staring at Richard. But there was no help for him without stopping this nightmare. Gritting her teeth, Cassie dived for it.
She made it ahead of the Eldest with only a moment to spare, and snatched it up. The Knife’s living hilt leaped back to life, fitting into her palm like an extension of her body. She roared and struck out at the Eldest wildly.
Opposite her, Ranjit raised the Pendant. The Eldest looked from him to Cassie, then back again, the first sign of panic in her glowing eyes. With the Knife on one side and the Pendant on the other, the Eldest was momentarily outmanoeuvred. She glared down at the tendril of spirit beginning to spiral from her ribcage towards the Pendant.
‘No,’ snarled the Eldest. ‘No!’
Reaching down, she clutched at her own spirit with both hands. At her touch, it glowed poison-green, with a heart of brightest ruby.
‘Very well,’ she spat at Cassie and Ranjit. ‘I’ll deal with you both later.’
Suddenly, she clapped her hands together in the swirling spirit-light, and the cavern seemed to implode.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
The world turned dark around Cassie, and a soundless impact slammed into her head, deafening her absolutely. For long seconds she thought the cave had collapsed, that she was being crushed beneath countless tons of volcanic rock.
Then, after agonising moments, seeping into her brain came the first sparks of consciousness. There was blinding light in the slits of her eyes, but as she forced them open she realised it was nothing but the phosphorescence of the cave. Pain seared through her head, and though she thought she was screaming, she could hear nothing. Cassie raised herself on to all fours, shaking her head furiously, blinking into the nothingness.
The Eldest had gone.
Isabella, staggering with dizziness, was hauling the groggy Jake to his feet, her mouth opening and closing as if she was coaxing him to rise; but Cassie could hear no sound coming from her either. Desperately she looked round for Ranjit. He was stumbling towards her, the Pendant still gripped in his fingers, also silently screaming her name. Cassie’s brow furrowed.
Then she saw what lay a few metres to her left. Richard was a crumpled heap, like a broken puppet. The bloodied Ranjit was skidding to a halt beside him, crouching to lay his fingers against his throat to feel for a pulse.
And suddenly, sound exploded back into Cassie’s ears. She could hear Jake’s moan of pain, Isabella’s desperate quest for reassurance that everyone was OK, Ranjit’s insistent repetition of Richard’s name …