51

'Oh my God!' exclaimed Lucien. 'All this time, we've been fooling around on a magical piano?! Thank Goodness we didn't accidentally play something dangerous!'

'Well then, quick, how do we unlock this portal?' said Kuro impatiently.

'It's an hour-long piece!' said Lucien, keenly scanning the pages, before his face fell slightly. 'It's extremely complex... and even one mistake means the whole thing is ruined. I haven't played for such a long time, but this requires top-tier level skills. If I attempt this, it's going to take everything in me to play it.'

'This is the moment you've been waiting for, Lucien,' said Grace earnestly. 'Give it your all! You can do this – I know you can!'

Lucien smiled, and nodded with renewed energy. 'Yes,' he said excitedly. 'I will! I've got a feeling, human, that this might just be it – if I can only pull it off.'

'Before the Assistant finds out you're using his book,' added Kuro cautioningly. 'If you're going to do this, better hurry, Lucien. It's now or never!'

'You're right!' said the demon in a sudden frenzy, opening the book again. 'Let's see... first, I must move the piano to an open space without magic restraint, for the portal to open easily when the time comes – the Gateland would be perfect.'

'Sounds risky,' frowned Kuro. 'But it can't be helped. How in the world are we going to move it, though?'

'That can be done with a simple transportation tune – see page 146,' read Lucien. 'That settles it, then. See you there!'

He began to play a strange, fast tune, and before he knew it, he was in the Gateland, still playing as though nothing had happened.

'He's disappeared!' exclaimed Grace, looking at the empty corner in surprise.

'So has the piano – come, let's follow him, quick!' said Kuro, and he dashed out of the castle and towards the Gateland with Grace running beside him.

*  *  *

Squeaks trotted off anxiously, wondering how he was going to explain the missing book to the Assistant. 'Perhaps, it's better to hide for now...' he thought aloud, only to have his tail yanked as he was lifted up by it. 'OUCH!'

'Hide for now, huh?' said the Assistant fiercely. 'Have you betrayed me, Squeaks? I can see something in your pathetic little heart that's changed since I last saw you...'

'My heart isn't pathetic!' squealed Squeaks. 'It feels, okay! And I don't see why I have to be your slave because of one foolish childhood mistake!'

'Oh, maybe I should just end you, then,' said the Assistant coldly, twisting his tail. 'Where is the book?'

'OUCH! I–I gave it to Lucien, I'm sorry!'

The Assistant dropped him in alarm. 'Bother... looks like I'll have to hurry...'

Squeaks bitterly watched him leave. 'Gosh, it sucks being a rat,' he sighed. 'I wish I wouldn't get scared so easily... what now?'

*  *  *

'Isn't the wind rather strong?' said Grace worriedly, as Lucien stretched his fingers while studying the piece he had to play. 'It's been steadily worsening every minute, and now it's getting a bit scary...'

'Bother!' said Lucien, looking up at the darkening sky. 'There's a storm brewing – Grace, I've told you how destructive these things are, but this is bad even for Hell's standards!'

'It's the worst possible time for us to be out in the open,' groaned Kuro, his fur bristling up as the whistling wind blew it in the opposite direction. 'Yet here we are.'

'Well, if I do this right, it'll be our last hellstorm,' said Lucien, his purple eyes gleaming determinedly as he practiced his scales with a smile. 'So let's weather it well!'

'Not on my watch!' boomed a terrible voice, and Grace squealed as she saw a tall, dark figure approach them – the Assistant.

'Great, now we're done for,' muttered Kuro, cowering behind the piano.

The Assistant laughed unpleasantly as he surveyed them. 'A magical piano, huh? Don't know how you got your hands on one, but I'm impressed, Lucien. You're resourceful, just like your father.'

Lucien gulped, but he didn't stop playing. 'He was good once. And my mother loved him. I don't mind the comparison as much as I used to.'

The Assistant frowned as his words and music sank in. They felt heavy.

'Hand over my book, demon,' he said sternly. 'It isn't nice to steal, is it?'

'Says someone who collects souls,' grinned Lucien cheekily.

The Assistant glared at him, and felt his lighthearted demeanor weigh over him even more. Light energy... he could sense it.

He slowly turned to Grace with one of his dangerous smiles. 'My book. Give it – before I lose my patience.'

Grace nervously looked at Lucien, who winked playfully at her with the calmest countenance she had ever seen on him. Suddenly, she didn't feel so afraid.

'Why?' she said coolly, and her cross glowed slightly. 'Like someone once said, ownership changes, you know...'

The Assistant's eyes gleamed a terrifying red as he spoke in almost a whisper. 'How dare you sauce me, mortal!

'We may be harmless,' said Kuro smoothly, climbing onto the piano with renewed courage and looking at him in the eye. 'But you don't mess with us! We'd appreciate it if you leave now, if you don't mind...'

'That's it,' snapped the Assistant, raising his hand over them and muttering something under his breath as the wind howled menacingly. Shadows emerged around them and their surroundings grew dark as night.

Lucien stopped playing and looked around worriedly. Grace watched the lingering blackness with a hammering heart, and Kuro shrank into her arms with his ears down.

'Now, you insolent lot,' said the Assistant through gritted teeth. 'I'll show you exactly what happens to those who defy me—'

'NO, you won't!' said a powerful voice from the sky, and its owner followed within a few seconds, startling them all. It was Azel, swooping towards them with a trail of dazzling light behind him, piercing through the created darkness and destroying it as he landed.

'This isn't the Mainland,' he said, the wind blowing his hair up as he spoke – somehow, he still managed to look good. 'You don't get to hurt them here!'

'Well, this isn't Sheltered Hell, either,' said the Assistant, eyeing him warily. 'So you don't get to protect them!'

'Then, we'll both just have to let them be,' said Azel, nodding to Lucien, much to his surprise. 'Go on, demon. Play. Let's see who stops you.'

Lucien slowly smiled and placed his fingers on the keys. He closed his eyes and heard himself breathe in the silent air. Then, he began to play the tune of the portal. Soft, lilting notes, the beginning of an arduous piece. His heart beat faster. This was it.

Now or never...

The music intensified, and the wind raged again.

'You're letting a demon potentially escape through a musical portal,' hissed the Assistant. 'What kind of Gatekeeper are you?'

'No, I'm preventing a demon like you from having access to it,' said Azel calmly, forming a ball of dazzling light in his hands and hurtling it at him.

'Very well. Go on with your wishful thinking,' scoffed the Assistant, deflecting it with a sprawl of shadows that turned into slithering chains around the angel. 'But the truth is that you can't stop me, for I am far more powerful than you are. And I will get what I want. Starting with... that girl...'

'Don't you dare!' said Azel, struggling with the snake-like restraints as he cut them off one by one with bursts of light.

'I've always loved you, Grace,' said the Assistant, wrapping his arms tightly around her neck. 'It's such a pity you chose the wrong side...'

Lucien looked sideways in alarm and was about to stop playing when—

'WAIT a minute!'

The Assistant frowned and looked down. Kuro stood in front of him with his deadliest death glare.

'Do you want to die, cat?' he snarled.

'No, I want to challenge you,' said Kuro fiercely, making the Assistant let go of Grace with an amused chuckle.

'Oh. To what? A duel?' he scoffed.

'To a card game. Set of three. Win it and you do what you like to us. Lose it and you can't hurt us.'

'Delicious,' said the Assistant with a keen smile. 'But let's make this more... interesting. How about we play nine games instead of three?'

'N–nine?'

'And you can bet a life on each one. Win even one game, and I'll let you all be. Lose all, and I'll do as I please – and you'll die. For even a cat has but nine lives...'

Kuro paused in trepidation. 'Done,' he said at last. 'Bring the cards!'

Grace watched on in horror, and the notes from the piano grew soft and shaky as its player fidgeted in angst.

'This is wrong,' said Azel, who had freed himself at last. 'I can't let this happen!'

'This is Hell,' grinned the Assistant, shuffling the deck with such finesse that even Kuro got momentarily intimidated. 'And I think it's best if you focus your energies on... more pressing emergencies. You see, while I promise I won't lay a hand on anyone while I play with Kuro, I can't guarantee my loyal subjects won't try to take advantage of the storm and wreak havoc on your terrain. Beware!'

'You cheating snake!' said Azel furiously, as he saw an incoming group of banshees, hounds and other strange creatures coming their way as the terrific gale intensified.

He formed a ball of light and threw it at them, but it wasn't nearly enough. There were hundreds of them out there; he was outnumbered. If he went back to fetch the other angels, Sheltered Hell would be compromised in the meantime by the evil side. His face fell. Had he... lost?

'We'll help you fight them, Azel,' called out a stout woman, approaching him – Mrs. Sauer – with her rolling pin! 'I've got bounds of light energy that won't agree with those hussies out there! Take that!'

She pointed her now lighted rolling pin at a banshee, and it screamed and ran away. 'Heh! And there's dozens more of us!'

A crowd of townspeople made their way behind her and waved excitedly at him.

Azel's eyes widened in surprise and delight. 'Well, my word, you're the most striking lot I've seen in all my years in Hell!' he exclaimed, forming a light ball and aiming it at an evil tree. 'Come then! Let's fight together, people!'

Lucien played urgently, despite all the distracting things going on around him – the raging storm, the deadly card game, the fight between light and dark.

He wanted to get up and stop Kuro, more than anything. It ached to watch him dive into danger while he sat there, helplessly unable. But he knew that if he created the portal fast enough, they could all go through it and escape the Assistant; he could pull Kuro away from the game at the last moment. All he had to do was play while the others stalled the danger and bought more time somehow...

And then, he noticed that Grace was missing. He froze.

For a few seconds, there was absolute silence.

'Don't stop, idiot!' yelled Kuro desperately. 'PLAY!'

'Yeah...' whispered Lucien with tears in his eyes and fire in his hair, touching the keyboard again with trembling fingers.

The haunting melody continued as Grace stumbled her way as fast as she could through the howling gale. The dust nearly blinded her, and the noise was tremendous, but she kept going. With everyone distracted at the Gateland, it had suddenly occured to her that now was the perfect time to try and find the Assistant’s life source: his secret soul storage.

The line of hostile trees shook threateningly as she neared the mansion, but she set her jaw and raised her cross firmly. She wouldn't be afraid. Not today. It shone brightly, and they collapsed one by one at her feet, enabling her to walk across.

*  *  *

'Your fifth loss,' said the Assistant with a lazy smirk, clawing at Kuro and making him yelp as he took yet another life away. 'Cat, I could shuffle decks before I could spell. You're not bad, but you don't stand a chance. I advise you to surrender – before it's too late.'

'I still have four lives,' said Kuro, confidently dealing out a fresh hand of cards. 'And let me tell you, I'm impressed. It was fun losing to the greatest player I've ever seen. But... it will be glorious when I'll win from him!'

'Heh. Delusional.'

*  *  *

A heavy branch thrashed against a girl, making her scream in pain. The roots of the tree she was near made her trip and fall, and she braced herself for the next blow as the branches reared above her.

Lee noticed in alarm, and pointed his lighted pencil at once towards the deadly tree, making it crumble into pieces.

'T–thank you,' said the girl in relief.

Lee grinned. 'Anything for the girl I've always loved...'

She blushed and smiled. 'I like you, too.'

To their surprise, they both began to glow with light energy, which they used at once to disarm another attacking tree.

A crescendo of notes from Lucien made them smile towards him, before a roar of thunder and a sheet of dust up ahead sent them in a renewed panic.

*  *  *

Clang! Grace pushed open the door in the corridor, panting, and found the same white space as she stepped in.

'It's here,' she muttered. 'It's here somewhere. But where?'

Then, she suddenly heard a faint voice again. Help me...

She strained her ears, and heard another voice.

Help! Please!

'Where are you?' she called out, looking around, frightened.

Under the floor! Help....

She frantically grabbed a chair and began to break through the floorboards. She pulled the planks off one by one, until...

She gasped.

Sure enough, there was a space beneath it! An entire cellar, filled with shelf upon shelf of jars, each of which contained a flower and a moving light, reminding Grace of the rose and the ghost girl she had seen on her first night in the castle.

She stepped inside, her heart pounding. She had found the secret storage of souls, and she could now free them all and weaken the Assistant in the process. She reached out for a jar, and was about to open it, when she felt a cold hand on her neck and screamed.

It was a banshee! And judging by its iron grip on her, she was in mortal danger.