Death Marked Read online

“You performed something miraculous recently, Ahmed said after a moment of silence. “I can sense it. You channeled your first spirit, yes?”

  Rohan remembered the events on the train with the dead man. He nodded.

  “You’re lucky that I am the first Kahin you have met. Someone less scrupulous might’ve tried to take advantage of you. They might have tried to kill you. You see, we Kahins have been training for decades for this moment. All of us have been trying to figure out a way into the next world. But no one could. I have no idea what Altemus knows, but he has unlocked the moment we’ve all been waiting for. Whether you like it or not, Rohan, the world is in danger. You have no choice but to act.”

  “How did you become a Kahin, Ahmed?” Corinne asked.

  Ahmed shuffled over to a table and began to heat up a pot of tea. “When I was a young man, I had a family. Three sons and one daughter. My oldest son died in a car accident. I was overwhelmed with grief. One afternoon, I was at the mosque, praying, when a strange light enveloped the sky. I was in a feverish prayer, and thought that it was Allah. The light descended, and as it grew closer I realized it was the spirit of my dead son. He said to me, “Father, I am stuck in this world. I wish to leave.” I touched him, and my spiritual energy opened a portal to the afterlife, which my son entered after quickly thanking me. Of course, I never saw him again.

  “But then, I began to see the dead everywhere. And they spoke to me, telling me their problems, how they were stuck in this world, and how all they wanted to do was pass into the next world so that they could rest. I saved as many souls as I could, but I could not keep it a secret. People began to talk about me, and soon I feared for my life. I happened across a traveler who also was a Kahin. A Russian. He knew that my days were numbered, and so he invited me to Russia with him. He brought me to this temple, where I have been practicing channeling and the dark arts for the last thirty years.”

  “Thirty years is a long time,” Rohan said.

  “And it began with a single event,” Ahmed said. “Just like your journey, Rohan. But now it’s time for you to see my power.”

  The candles in the room blew out, and all Rohan could see was the whites of Ahmed’s eyes. The man began to chant and sing, and wisps of light emanated from his body, swirling around the room, filling it with blue light.

  The wisps took shape, and Rohan saw that they were spirits with yellow eyes and hazy silhouettes. There were three of them, and they whispered as they gathered behind Ahmed.

  Rohan stepped back. Corinne looked speechless as well.

  “You must learn the dark arts,” Ahmed said. “Your life depends on it. It’s time to train, Rohan.”

  “I just met you,” Rohan said. “You’re talking to me like you know me.”

  “I know your soul,” Ahmed said. “I know what you’re capable of. And I know what will happen in this world if you do not tap into your true potential.”

  Ahmed pointed at Rohan, and the souls floated toward him. “These are spirits. Harness their energy before they harness you. A good Kahin never lets spirits control him.”

  The souls swirled around Rohan, staring curiously.

  “Who are you?” Corinne asked, but the souls did not respond. Instead, they inched toward Rohan.

  Rohan felt the air grow cold. He didn’t want to know what it would feel like if the spirits touched him. “I told you, I’m not a Kahin.”

  “Then you will suffer the consequences of being inhabited,” the old man said. “When you broke in here the first time, you should have known what was coming. Show me your powers. If you are truly meant to stop Altemus, destroy this soul.”

  One of the souls flashed and rocketed toward him.

  “Destroy it?” Rohan yelled.

  “No time for talking,” Ahmed said, frowning. “Act or die.”

  Rohan focused on the soul and imagined two invisible hands reaching for it. He imagined grabbing the soul by the neck, its wispy frame in his hands. He looked at the opposite corner of the room, and imagined throwing it there.

  And in a flash, the soul was flung toward the side of the room, just as he imagined. It disappeared through the wall, leaving behind a sickening moan as it sailed through unseen rooms of the temple.

  The other two souls whispered to each other and backed away, retreating behind Ahmed.

  Rohan expected the old man to laugh, but instead a grim look spread across Ahmed’s face.

  “Very good, but also very bad,” Ahmed said. “Never fling a soul anywhere you cannot see.”

  “Why?”

  “Because you will lose control of it. You don’t know where it will end up, and it may harm other people before you can get to it.”

  Ahmed snapped his fingers, and the soul flashed back. “You’ll never beat Altemus with the skill set you have now. Merely being able to fling souls is not enough. Try again!”

  The soul zoomed at Rohan, roaring.

  Rohan imagined two invisible hands grabbing it again, but this time, he aimed for the floor. The soul slid across the floor and through a table, stopping just before the wall.

  Rohan dashed across the room and grabbed the soul by the neck again. It moaned.

  “Better,” Ahmed said. “But when you threw it, you disconnected your link. Never break the link.”

  Ahmed focused on the soul, picked it up, and tossed it into the middle of the room. While the throw was the same, the soul looked like it was in a vice grip.

  “Imagine throwing a ball against a brick wall. Throwing a soul is not the same as throwing a ball. When you release a ball, that’s it. You wait for it to come back to you. Not so with a soul. When you throw it, you must imagine it on a string—it, too, will come back to you, but only because you control it. Again!”

  The soul rushed at Rohan. His mind was fatigued from the last two encounters, and he struggled to concentrate. He grabbed the soul with his mind and flung it across the room, picturing a silvery thread that connected the soul to him. As the soul sailed through the air, he still felt as if it were within his grasp—controlled by his every thought.

  The soul slid across the floor with a dazed look.

  “Flinging souls might sound trivial to you,” Ahmed said, “but they are not meant to interact again with the living. When we control them, it dazes them. When the Kahin’s mental powers are stronger than the emotions of the soul, he can control that soul. If it’s the reverse, well… heaven help the human.”

  Rohan’s brain reeled. He stumbled back, mentally drained.

  “I know you must be tired,” Ahmed said. “But I hope this first lesson has given you a glimpse of what you can do with the dark arts.”

  Rohan stumbled into a chair and downed a cup of rose tea. “No more.”

  “For now,” Ahmed said. “But we’re not even close to being finished.”

  ***

  Rohan spent most of the night training with Ahmed. The souls continued to overwhelm him, and he still had trouble controlling them with his mind.

  They studied through the night, the only light coming from candles on the wall and the souls themselves. Pentagrams glinted from the sides of bookcases. Skulls watched them with their black-eyed stares.

  Ahmed was likable, and they got along well. He wasn’t as dark as he seemed. But he was serious. Rohan guessed you had to be serious if you were a temple elder. Ahmed had interacted with a lot of souls, and had a lot of experience. He had been waiting for the portal to the afterlife to open. He was ready for it. Rohan, on the other hand, was not.

  At first, it seemed like he would never learn, but after a while he got better at controlling the souls. By the end of the night, the souls were able to pass through him without affecting him at all. He had learned to make his mind like steel.

  “Don’t get overconfident,” Ahmed said. “This is just training. What you will encounter in the real world will be much, much more complicated.”

  “Thanks for the help.”

  Ahmed yawned and disappeared into another room. “We
’re done for tonight. Get some rest.”

  “And Altemus?” Rohan asked, frustrated that they’d spent so much time training instead of going after him.

  “The spirits of my brothers are searching for him,” Ahmed said. “When they find where he has gone, you’ll be notified immediately.”

  When the old man was gone, Rohan glanced over at Corinne, who had been watching him the entire time. “You’re awfully quiet.”

  Corinne stared off into the distance. “I remembered a little bit, that’s all.”

  “Remembered?”

  “How I died. Being around Ahmed’s souls helped me remember.”

  Rohan’s eyes widened. “What happened?”

  Corinne started slowly. “I was… a lawyer. In… California.”

  “California?” He found that tidbit interesting, considering that was where he was from. “Go on.”

  “It was a car accident. I think. I just remember the crunch. The shattering glass. That’s it. I have this memory that keeps trying to break through, but every time I get close to remembering it, it drifts away.”

  “That must be hard.”

  “Maybe one of these days I’ll be able to remember everything,” she said. “Even though I enjoy the afterlife, I do think it would be nice to remember my family. Where I came from.”

  Several souls entered the room, calling Ahmed’s name frantically. They zipped around Rohan and swirled toward the old man as he entered the room.

  “What’s the matter?” Ahmed asked them.

  The souls communicated to him so rapidly that Rohan could not make out the words.

  Ahmed sighed, turning back to Rohan. “Our training is over. I thought I sensed something, and these souls have confirmed my suspicion. There’s a gathering of energy nearby. It has to be Altemus.”

  Rohan cursed. “Has he opened another portal?”

  “Not yet. But he may be close. I’ve never told anyone this, and I’m hesitant to tell you now, because I was sworn to secrecy as a temple elder.” He paused, then continued, “There is another gate to the afterlife. We were never able to open it, but Altemus may be able to now that he’s already opened a gate once.”

  “Where is it?” Rohan asked.

  “Deep within this mountain there are caverns, and if you go even deeper, you’ll find water that steams as if from hell itself. Our order believes this to be a gate—it’s why this temple was founded here in the first place. And it’s where the skull is most powerful.”

  “How do you know this?”

  “Because every time I go there, I see souls in the area. They sense the portal, but they can’t access it. I’ve never been able to, either. None of the elders in the temple have been able to, though trust me—we’ve tried.”

  “Then we have to go to this portal,” Rohan said. “It’s time to put a stop to Altemus once and for all.”

  “Good luck,” Ahmed said. “And if that doesn’t happen, rest well in death. But Rohan, you should know that if Altemus opens the portal to the afterlife, he will summon an army of the dead and use it against the world. Once he’s revived his lost wife, he’ll do anything in his power to keep her. No matter the cost.”

  Chapter 11: The Underground Cavern

  Ahmed had left them at the entrance to the tunnel to the underground, and Corinne and Rohan proceeded through the darkness, the only light from her glow. If Ahmed couldn’t be trusted, they were walking into a trap.

  If the old man was telling the truth, soon they would be facing a showdown with Altemus.

  The sound of dripping water came from ahead, and more than once Corinne had to warn Rohan to watch his step where the rocks were slippery. He turned a corner to find a small chamber, where stalactites grew from the rocks above and stalagmites rose up around them. The chamber felt like it would collapse on him at any moment, those stony teeth chomping him to bits. The smell of sulfur hung in the air like dense smoke, and the sound of rushing water was not far away.

  “Do you think Ahmed was telling the truth?” Rohan asked.

  “We’re here, aren’t we?” Corinne asked.

  “I don’t know,” Rohan said. “You’re a better judge of character than I am.”

  “Because I’m a spirit?”

  “I guess so,” Rohan shrugged.

  “He looked trustworthy to me,” Corinne said after a moment.

  Rohan stumbled, then stopped and squinted through the darkness. Corinne flew ahead, illuminating the path. Several spiders skittered out of the shadows.

  “He could be anywhere down here,” Corinne said.

  Ahead, the path branched out in multiple directions, leading into an ominous rocky maw.

  Rohan strained his eyes to see in the faint, silvery light. “Let’s keep going. We’ll be quiet."

  “Let me try something.” Corinne closed her eyes. A moment later, the chamber was filled with a flash of silver light, and then she was gone.

  “Corinne?” Rohan asked. He looked around frantically as darkness settled on him.

  No response. He stood in the blackness, unable to see anything. He stepped back out of fear, and his feet splashed in a puddle, the sound reverberating off the walls. When the echoes disappeared, he heard water dripping from a nearby rock.

  A silver light flashed next to him, and Corinne appeared at his side.

  “Could you give me a warning next time?” Rohan said.

  “Afraid of the dark?”

  “Considering that the person we’re chasing wouldn’t hesitate to cut my guts out, then yes, I guess you could say that right now, I’m afraid of the dark.”

  Corinne pointed down a path. “He’s that way. I sensed him.”

  “But did you see him?”

  “I flew ahead, but I didn’t have to go very far. I sensed a spiritual force unlike anything I’ve experienced before. You know, like how the hairs on the back of your neck stand up when you sense something bad? I’m positive it was Altemus. And someone was with him.”

  “Who?”

  “I… couldn’t see. But I definitely sensed something else down there. Be on your guard.”

  Rohan put his hand on his pistol and they started down the path.

  The deeper they went, the more the dank smell increased. Soon, another rotten smell mingled with it.

  “Do you smell that?” Rohan asked.

  “I can’t smell, Rohan.”

  Rohan stopped and sniffed. Sickly sweet. Putrid. Rotten.

  “It smells like death.”

  Corinne, who was floating forward, stopped and stared at him, afraid.

  Ahead, in the faint glimmer from Corinne’s light, two shapes appeared on the path. They took a few steps toward Rohan and Corinne, and then stopped.

  Rohan drew his gun. Corinne retreated, and the shapes blended into the darkness.

  Footsteps pounded against the rock.

  “Dive!” Corinne cried.

  Rohan knew by now to trust Corinne, and so he dove to the ground just as a fiery arc flew over his head and sailed deeper into the cave.

  The two shapes drew closer, and Rohan saw that they were corpses.

  Rotting, stinking, corpses of flesh and bone. Their skin peeled from their faces like fading wallpaper, and their hands were engulfed in flames. Their maggot-ridden faces were lit up by their fiery swords.

  A second fiery arc flew toward Rohan. He jumped up, but he couldn’t avoid it. His body slammed into the cold, hard rock.

  A corpse was on top of him in an instant, trying to burn his face with its hands of flame.

  He grunted in pain and kicked at its knees, a blow that would have brought a regular man to the ground. The corpse staggered back, surprised, and then charged him again.

  Rohan drew his gun and fired straight into the corpse’s stomach, stunning it.

  The other corpse leapt into the air with a roar, its fiery hand poised to strike.

  Rohan rolled out of the way just in time and jumped back, putting distance between himself and the corpses. They shambled
toward him with their fists flaming, watching his every move.

  “I need a little help here!” Rohan shouted.

  “Try this,” Corinne said, her eyes glowing bright.

  She faded, and then surged into Rohan’s hands.

  Light flashed through the cave, making the corpses shield their eyes. When the flash disappeared, it turned into a gleaming, silver sword.

  “It’ll do,” Rohan said, tucking his pistol into his belt.

  He thrust himself toward the closest corpse and swung, slicing one of its arms off. The creature slashed at him, but he stepped back and cut its other arm off, then kicked it to the ground.

  “Go for the head!” Corinne said, her voice emanating from the sword.

  “Thanks for the advice,” Rohan said as he slashed the corpse’s head off.

  The other corpse ran toward him, but Rohan spun and dodged before taking its head off, too. The corpse fell to the ground, leaving Rohan standing in the middle of the darkness, covered in blood.

  Corinne returned to her normal form, then flickered and caught herself on the stone wall.

  “You okay?” Rohan asked.

  Corinne nodded. “Using my power… it weakens me.”

  Rohan nodded. “We’ll have to figure out another way from now on."

  “Just keep moving,” Corinne said, flying ahead.

  Rohan stared after her. She was hiding something. He followed her into the darkness. With each step, he expected another corpse to attack. But none came, and after a while they emerged into a massive cavern lit by candles.

  Steam pools filled the cavern. Arched rock above made the place feel like an ancient fortress, and the gentle light from the pools gave the area an aura of magic.

  “This is what Ahmed was talking about,” Corinne said. “I can’t believe somewhere like this could exist, and only the temple elders know about it. It’s like the eighth wonder of the world.”

  “It’s amazing.”

  “Amazing? I feel a connection with the afterlife here. As if I could just reach out and—”

  Rohan heard a sound, and shushed her. They hid behind a rock and focused on an altar in the center of the room.