Текст книги "Destined"

Автор книги: P. C. Cast

Соавторы: Kristin Cast,P. C. Cast
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Текущая страница: 19 (всего у книги 20 страниц)

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

Neferet

The shadows were agitated. Something was very wrong.

“Read the next chapter in your sociology book. I have business to which I must attend.” Neferet snapped the command to her very surprised-looking fifth hour students before hurrying from the classroom. She cloaked herself in mist and darkness so that prying eyes and all too curious professors would not witness her passage as she hurried to her private chamber. There she quickly slashed her hand. Cupping her palm she held it out in offering. “Drink! Tell me what is amiss!”

The tendrils of Darkness swarmed her blood, latching onto her leach-like. As they fed, whispered words from many different voices filled her mind.

The vessel does nothing to hinder earth

Joined with spirit the death vision will be given rebirth

“What?” Anger filled Neferet. “Is Aurox not there? Was he too stupid to find the farm?”

The vessel is there

He watches without care

“Force him to act! Make him stop the damn ritual!” The tendril voices all babbled at once, forming a stew of confusion in her mind. She closed her palm and slapped them away. “Do as I command! You’ve had your blood.”

The myriad of whispering voices were abruptly cut off as the specter of the white bull materialized in the middle of her chamber. The image was transparent and not fully formed, but his voice, powerful and obviously irritated, blasted through her mind. I have told you before your sacrifice must be equal to the command!

With an effort, Neferet stifled her own anger and, with soft, placating words she spoke to the ghostly apparation, “But the vessel was a gift from you. Why would it take a great sacrifice to control a creature created from Darkness? I don’t even understand why he is deviating from my command.”

I warned you at his creation that the sacrifice used to form him was not perfect and so the vessel would be flawed.

“Well, I can tell you that recently I’ve begun to doubt his intelligence.”

It could be he is thinking for himself rather than not at all.

“So, he’s lazy? I gave him a task and he’s doing nothing!” Neferet paused, controlled her temper, and then sighed dramatically. “It isn’t that I mind so much for myself, but it seems disrespectful to you.”

Ah, my heartless one, it touches me that your concern is on my behalf. Perhaps the vessel does need prompting.

“If you prompt him, you would have my thanks.” Neferet curtseyed deeply to the apparition.

For you, my threads will force his actions. Still, they require an appropriate sacrifice.

Trying not to sound as annoyed as she felt, Neferet said, “Very well. What sacrifice do they require?”

The vessel is a beast, thus a beast must be sacrificed to control it.

“A beast? A Raven Mocker?”

No, the sacrifice must be a creature allied with you.

Neferet felt ill. “Skylar? I must sacrifice my cat?”

If it troubles you so, choose another. There are many felines about this place, are there not …

With those words, the specter of the white bull wavered and then dissipated. With a look of cold determination, Neferet took the razor-edged athame from her dresser, opened the door to her chamber, and began summoning the perfect sacrifice. It would not be Skylar—he was not a Warrior’s cat. His death wouldn’t be imbued with the appropriate violence. No, there was only one feline whose death would suit this need. Cloaked in mist and shadow, Neferet glided into the night …

Zoey

“Come air, sweet, soft touch of Nyx breath divine.”

From the very first sentence of Thanatos’s spell, I knew that this wasn’t going to be like any circle I’d ever before experienced. First of all, the High Priestess’s voice had changed. It wasn’t that she shouted or anything like that, but there was something about the singsong cadence of the spell that lent power to her voice so that her words seemed to be alive and surrounding us. As she continued to speak that power bled out into the space around us. It sizzled across my skin and down my body. I could see Damien’s gooseflesh raised on his arms, and I knew the others were being affected by it, too.

“Blow from this place concealing shadows past

It is death’s shade to view we do incline

Death revealed through this circle spell we cast.”

With a flourish of her hands Thanatos gestured for Damien to lift his candle. The Priestess nodded at me and I struck the match, lit the wick, and said, “Air, please join our circle.”

There was a mighty whoosh! and whipping wind swirled around us, lifting my hair and making Thanatos’s cloak billow.

“To fire,” she told me, and I walked doceil or clockwise to Shaunee. Her brown eyes were big and round, and she was staring behind us. Remembering Grandma’s warning, I glanced back and gasped in astonishment. A glowing length of scarlet light snaked from Damien, outlining the circle and tracing our path from him to Shaunee.

I was used to the silver thread that often appeared when I cast a circle, but this was different. Yeah, it was powerful, but it also felt ominous. I didn’t know if Thanatos saw it or not; I didn’t know if it was a good or bad sign that it was there, but I didn’t want to interrupt the High Priestess’s spell as she was already beginning the fire invocation.

“Come fire, your blaze must be strong, sure, and true

Strike, burn, destroy what would prevent our sight

Force violent death revealed to us anew

Your illumating flame expose with truth’s light.”

At her gesture, Shaunee lifted the red candle and I lit it saying, “Fire, please join our circle.”

It was as if we were suddenly standing inside an inferno. Flames shot from Shaunee’s body, filling the already charred circle, but this fire didn’t add to the destruction. Instead I heard a massive hissing and from everywhere that had been dead and blighted mist lifted, as if fire had met ice and not earth.

Then air joined fire and the flames and mist flew up into the sky to streak and flash.

“Lightning.” Shaunee’s voice sounded hushed and awed. “Air mixed with fire is making lightning.”

“To water,” Thanatos said.

The thick rope of glowing scarlet followed us.

When we stopped in front of Erin I thought she looked scared, but she nodded and said, “Bring it on. I’m ready.”

Thanatos spoke:

“Come water, flow throughout this circle space

With tide of truth wash clear sight-stealing time

Allowing us to see death’s tear-streaked face

Violence cleansed sets us free of evil’s grime.”

Erin lifted the candle to meet my match as I said, “Water, please join our circle.”

There was a roar as if we’d suddenly been transported into the middle of a waterfall. The night turned brilliant shades of blue and turquoise and sapphire—all the colors of water. The element gushed into the blackened circle. Water swirled around like an angry whirlpool and then, just like air and fire, it gushed straight up into the lightning-streaked sky. Clouds billowed and roiled—thunder clapped, growling with such fierceness that I cringed.

“No,” Erin said quickly. “Water’s not mad at us.”

“Neither is fire,” Shaunee said.

“Nor wind,” Damien added.

“The elements are outraged at the act that was committed here,” Thanatos said. “Prepare yourself, circle. We move to earth.”

With thunderclouds multiplying above us and lightning illuminating the gathering storm, I moved to stand in front of Stevie Rae.

“Time to cowboy up,” she said.

Thanatos nodded and spoke the earth invocation:

“Come earth, rich, verdant truly Goddess blessed

Your bosom nurtures and keeps this spell’s key

Open here and dark death will be confessed

For the wound in your heart, justice we’ll see.”

Stevie Rae lifted the green candle to my flame. “Earth, please join our circle.”

The ground beneath our feet began shaking as if we were standing in the middle of an earthquake. I couldn’t help the little shriek that slipped from my mouth.

“Zoey!” Stark yelled. I could see him staggering, trying to reach the circle, which was now completely ringed with a thick rope of red.

“Wait, it’s okay!” Stevie Rae shouted above the cacophony of angry elements. “Like the other element, earth isn’t mad at us. It’s not gonna hurt us. Look, it’s making the ground new.”

I looked down and saw that she was right. The ground that had been washed clean by water had shifted, rolled, until instead of ashes and the remnants of blighted plants, the rich red Oklahoma earth lay newly exposed.

“See, it’s being made right,” Stevie Rae said. As she spoke, the tremors gentled and then stopped completely.

“We must finish the circle and the spell,” Thanatos said. “Call spirit, Zoey. Now.”

Aurox

From his hidden place within the orchard Aurox watched the glowing scarlet circle form. Its power was awe-inspiring; the might of the elements was incredible to behold. He could feel the emotions air, fire, water, and earth evoked in the fledglings and vampyre who embodied them. Joy and courage and righteous indignation filled the circle and boiled over to wash through him.

Aurox could use the energy to change—to morph into the creature that would emerge from him, attack Rephaim as had been his command from Neferet, and most certainly disrupt the spell the High Priestess had almost fully cast.

He stared at Zoey. Radiant, she turned to the old woman who sat in the middle of the circle. Aurox knew once Thanatos evoked the final element, spirit, and Zoey lit the purple candle, the circle would be complete and the reveal spell would be set fully into motion.

If it was going to be stopped he had to act now.

He stood, warring with himself.

I was created to serve Neferet. She serves Darkness.

Before him the elemental Light of the Goddess glistened and expanded, so clean and bright, especially compared to what had been soiled by Darkness and destruction.

I should not stop this! Deep within him his spirit was crying out for him not to hinder. Instead to wait, to bear witness, to—

Pain exploded through Aurox as tendrils of Darkness whipped around him. Thick and sticky they spread, web-like, across his body. Aurox gasped as his skin began absorbing things, melting into the creature that rested within him, and awakening it. Helpless to stop himself, Aurox felt the bull emerge. The creature took control of his body. I knew only one thing, Neferet’s last command: attack Rephaim. Head lowered, glistening, deadly horns fully formed, Aurox charged Rephaim.

Zoey

Thanatos and I moved slowly and carefully to stand before Grandma, who was sitting, unharmed, in the center of the elemental tumult. Her face was pale, but her hands were completely steady as she lifted the purple candle.

Thanatos began the spirit invocation:

“Come spirit, faithful, eternal and wise

Sealed with salt we ask the truth to reveal

Lost years, wasted tears you felt Linda’s cries

Darkness be gone! Spirit’s strength we shall feel.”

I was striking the match to light the purple candle when Stevie Rae’s shout disrupted everything.

“Rephaim! Look out!”

I glanced up in time to see Dragon Lankford burst out of the shadows. Sword upraised, he was sprinting toward Rephaim.

“Trust me!” Dragon yelled. “Get down!”

“No!” Stevie Rae screamed.

Rephaim didn’t hesitate. Not even for an instant. He dropped to his knees as if he was sacrificing himself to Dragon’s sword. I wanted to puke. I heard Aphrodite shriek something about I told you so! but I couldn’t look at her. I was absolutely sure the Sword Master was going to cut the boy in two. I couldn’t stop staring at the train wreck that was happening to Rephaim.

Dragon leaped over Rephaim’s kneeling body and with a terrible screeching sound his sword collided with the razor edge of the bull-like creature’s horns. At the last moment he managed to deflect the deathblow from Rephaim, but the creature’s momentum was too much—his body was too powerful. Not even Dragon could stop the impact. Rephaim disappeared, not gored but knocked aside with such force that he was airborne for what seemed like ages, and when he finally landed it was far from our circle and he did not move.

“Oh, Goddess, no!” Stevie Rae sobbed. “Rephaim!”

I saw that she was turning, moving to step out of the circle and go to Rephaim.

“Do not break the circle! It is what Darkness wants; do that and any sacrifice here is made for nothing!” I couldn’t see Aphrodite, but in her voice echoed a majesty that I knew Stevie Rae recognized because instead of breaking the circle she dropped to her knees, exactly as Rephaim had only moments before. Stevie Rae bowed her head and, in a broken voice said, “Nyx, I trust in your mercy. Please, protect my Rephaim.”

The bull-thing turned and, tearing the earth with his hooves, he charged Rephaim again.

Dragon Lankford moved almost as preternaturally fast as the creature. He was there in time, standing between death and Rephaim. Lifting his sword he said, “A Sword Master of Nyx is here. I will protect Rephaim.”

Dragon clashed with the beast again. It battered him back, but in doing so Dragon was moving him away from Rephaim’s unconscious body. Then, snarling a frightening sound, the creature turned its head so that I could see its bestial face—and I felt like I’d been kicked in the gut. The creature’s eyes glowed with moonstones. I knew the thing was Aurox—fully changed and absolutely, totally, no longer human.

“Warriors, rally to me!” Dragon shouted as he faced Aurox’s next attack.

“Zoey, you must summon spirit and light the candle!” Thanatos grabbed my shoulders, turned me to face her and shook me. Hard. “Dragon will battle the beast. We must hold true to the circle and complete the spell or there is no hope for any of them.”

Any of them? Where was Stark? Where was Darius? I looked wildly around. My gaze passed over and through them before I actually understood what I saw. They were there, both of them, standing in the positions they had taken before we’d begun casting the circle, but they couldn’t help Dragon. They couldn’t even help themselves. Darius and Stark, my Warrior, my Guardian, were frozen zombies. Mouths open in silent screams of agony their eyes stared sightlessly at nothing.

“Threads of Darkness encase them,” Thanatos said, still gripping my shoulders. “Open the circle so that I may complete the spell. We need the power of Death and all five elements to battle this evil.”

“Zoeybird, do as she says.” Grandma lifted the purple candle.

With shaking hands I lit the match and yelled, “Spirit, join our circle!”

Thanatos raised her arms. Flinging salt around us she spoke the final words of the spell:

“Death’s dark door I command open to me

The truth Darkness has hidden we shall see!”

The scarlet rope expanded and with a deafening roar it funneled up and up, creating a chaos of glowing red that illuminated the bruised storm clouds filling the swollen sky above us.

“Keep control of your elements! Remember our intent!” Thanatos yelled. “Begin with air!”

Damien lifted both of his hands and in a strong, sure voice called, “Air, blow from this place concealing shadows past!”

A gale blew from Damien. It captured the chaotic red glow and changed it into a cone of swirling, concentrated energy.

“Fire!” Thanatos commanded.

Shaunee lifted her hands, shouting, “Fire, strike, burn, destroy what would prevent our sight!”

Lightning sizzled, magnet-like, drawn to the center of the glowing cone.

“Water!”

Erin’s arms weren’t lifted. Instead she was pointing to the spot where Grandma had found Mom’s body. “Water, with tide of truth wash clear sight-stealing time!”

Crack! A bolt spiked from the sky, striking the ground. As the earth opened, water rushed up from it, rippling in the red earth like a pool of blood.

“Earth!”

Stevie Rae, still on her knees, was staring at the battle Dragon waged with Aurox, watching it circle ever closer and closer to Rephaim’s still body. She was crying and her voice shook, but her words rang across the circle, carried by the power of her heartache. “Earth, your bosom nurtures and keeps this spell’s key.”

The water rippled. Images lifted from the pool’s depths as if the earth was vomiting them, but they wavered and were unclear, just unrecognizable glimpses of faces and vaguely human forms.

“Spirit!” Thanatos called.

My mouth opened and through me, spirit recited the correct words from the revealing spell. “Lost years, wasted tears you felt my mom’s cries. Spirit, release the truth before our eyes!”

Instantly, everything outside the circle—Aurox and Dragon, Darius and Stark and Aphrodite—ceased to exist for me. The only thing that was real was what was being revealed within the pool. The water cleared and, as if it was happening before my eyes I saw my mom on Grandma’s front porch. She answered the door, smiling but looking kinda confused. Then the scene expanded and the point of view changed and I could see Neferet, naked, standing on the other side of the open door, asking if Sylvia Redbird was home. I heard Grandma sob and I wanted to run to the pool of water, to stand between it and Grandma—to try and shield her from the grisly, unbearable vision I knew it was going to expose.

But I couldn’t move.

“No, wait.” Panicked, I looked down. The red glow that had outlined our circle had expanded. It carpeted the entire space, engulfing each of us. “This is too much! I don’t want Grandma to—”

“You cannot stop it,” Thanatos said. “Death has put this spell in motion. Only death can release us.”

Grandma managed to lift her arm. She slid her hand in mine. Trapped by the power of death unleashed through the elements, we saw everything. Neferet bound my mother with sticky, whip-like threads of black and then she slit her throat and let the threads drag her from the porch. In the middle of a blighted circle, the white bull of Darkness drank from her until the threads surrounding him were swollen and bloated. After Mom was dead and drained of blood, Neferet, laughing, mounted the beast and they disappeared together.

“It is true,” Thanatos said. “Neferet’s Consort is Darkness.”

Then Stevie Rae cried, “Help Rephaim! The bull’s gonna kill him!” I looked from the disappearing vision in the pool to Stevie Rae. I only had time to wonder why the hell she was on her cell phone before the world around me exploded into sound and blood.

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

Kalona

Rephaim hadn’t told him. His son had let him believe the Goddess had forgiven him, and in doing so she’d gifted him with the form of a human boy.

Rephaim hadn’t mentioned that he’d been condemned to be a bird, a beast who could only long for something that was, with a creature’s mind, forever unattainable.

“At least for the hours of daylight it is unattainable,” Kalona said, pacing across the top of the ridge.

“Help you, we will?”

Kalona’s anger exploded at the hissing, semi-human sound of his other son’s voice. He turned on Nisroc, raising his hand to cuff him into silence. The Raven Mockers who were clustered around scurried back, out of his reach. Nisroc cringed, but remained near and did not try to escape his father’s wrath.

Mid-swing, Kalona hesitated. He let his fist drop to his side. He stared at his silent son who crouched, waiting for the blow.

“Why?” Kalona allowed the desperation he was feeling to be heard in his voice. “Why would you want to help me?”

Nisroc raised his head. There was confusion in his red gaze. “You are Father.”

“But I have not been a good father,” Kalona heard himself say.

Nisroc’s gaze remained steady on his. “That mattersss not. Ssstill you are Father.”

Utterly defeated, Kalona could only shake his head, and in a voice gentled by emotions he barely understood, he said, “You cannot help me with this.” Kalona gestured to the sky. “Go on. It is full dark now. You may stretch your wings and ride the sky without being seen. Just be back before dawn.”

They didn’t hesitate. They leaped from the ridge, and with raven cries took to the sky.

He didn’t realize Nisroc had not left with the rest of them until he spoke. His son’s voice was unusually soft. Perhaps it was the softness of it that made him sound so human. “Help you, I would.”

Kalona looked at his son. “Thank you,” he said.

Nisroc bowed his head as if his father’s words were as tangible as the blow he’d almost received.

Kalona cleared his throat, and looked away from the creature he’d created in anger and lust. “Go on. Join your brothers. I command it of you.”

“Yesss, Father.”

Kalona listened to Nisroc’s wings beat against the wind. He tilted his head up so that he could watch his son disappear into the night.

It was when he was alone that the phone began to ring. Feeling decidedly foolish, he lifted the thing from the rock he’d left it on the night before. The display said STEVIE RAE. Without hesitation Kalona tapped the accept button and put the phone to his ear.

“Help Rephaim! The bull’s gonna kill him!” The Red One’s voice shouted above a terrible swell of sounds.

There was a crackle of static and the connection went dead.

Kalona’s body was moving before his mind fully processed his decision. He launched himself into the air, gathering with him the ethereal wisps that drifted from the Otherworld to form invisible currents in the mortal sky.

“I call upon the power of the spirit of ancient immortals, which is mine by birthright to command. Take me to the blood of my blood, the son of my spirit. Take me to Rephaim!”

Zoey

“Help Rephaim! The bull’s gonna kill him!” Stevie Rae screamed and dropped the phone, which was instantly engulfed in the scarlet glow. She tried to get to her feet and go to Rephaim, but her body was trapped within the circle’s power. Desperately, she yelled at me, “Close the circle! Let me help him!”

I didn’t hesitate. We’d seen the truth of Mom’s murder. The circle could be closed. “Spirit, earth, water, fire, air—I release you!”

But my words made no difference. The red glow still imprisoned us.

“What’s happening?” Stevie Rae was sobbing and struggling futilely to stand.

“Death has put this spell in motion,” Thanatos repeated. She sounded sad, resigned. “Only death can release it.”

“You represent death. You release us!” I said.

“I cannot.” She looked old and defeated. “Forgive me.”

“No! That’s not good enough. You have to—”

Before I could complete the words, Aurox lowered his horrible head to charge at Rephaim again. Bleeding and battered, Dragon Lankford staggered between the boy and the creature, taking the blow meant for Rephaim. Aurox’s horn caught Dragon in the middle of his chest, lifting him off his feet as the bull gored completely through the Sword Master. Aurox stepped back, shaking his head so that Dragon’s body came loose and slid to the ground. We watched Dragon shudder, cough, and with his last breath he looked toward our circle and said, “If only death can release you, then my death releases you…”

Aurox roared his victory and circled around Dragon to resume his attack on Rephaim.

But Dragon’s death changed everything. The red glow lifted from the circle. It went so high that it seemed to touch the moon. In the sky it exploded and a pure silver mist fell back to earth bathing everything gently in a warm, spring-scented rain.

The instant she was released Stevie Rae ran forward, calling, “Earth, come to me! Protect Rephaim!”

But the green glow that appeared instantly around Rephaim wasn’t needed. As the silver rain washed over the bull, the creature’s body jerked and twitched and then stumbled. I blinked and wiped my face, trying to clear my vision, but I realized there was nothing wrong with my sight. The bull-thing was melting, changing, shifting, and within moments Aurox, the boy who’d saved me from the falling branch, was standing in his place.

He blinked several times and looked around as if he was confused, as if he didn’t know where he was.

“Stay away from him!” Stevie Rae snarled at Aurox as she stood between him and Rephaim. Her hands were glowing green.

Aurox took a hesitant step back, shaking his head. He was looking around, still obvious dazed. I saw the moment his gaze found Dragon’s gored body.

“No!” Aurox said. “No.” He looked from the Sword Master’s battered body and his gaze found me. “Zoey! I chose a different future. I did!”

Then Stark and Darius were there, descending on him with swords raised. Aurox was still shaking his head and saying over and over again, “I chose a new future … I chose a new future…” but no matter what his words said, I could see that his body was beginning to ripple again. He was shifting back into the bull. Stark and Darius were going to kill him.

Darkness does not always equate to evil; light does not always bring good. See with true sight, child … see with true sight …

Nyx’s voice filled my mind and I knew what I had to do. I lifted the seer stone from where it hung between my breasts, drew a deep breath, and looked through it at Aurox.

Seen through the stone the boy’s body radiated a moonstone glow from its center, near his heart. The glow expanded until it shielded Aurox completely. And then I realized what the glow actually was—it was the image of another body, one that was ghostly, ethereal, and it wasn’t so much shielding Aurox as overshadowing him because it was so bright.

And familiar.

“Heath!” I screamed his name. Aurox, already partially changed into the creature, swung his head around to look at me. The glowing vision of Heath moved with him and, just for an instant, our gazes met. I saw Heath’s eyes widen in surprise. “Earth!” I borrowed from the elemental energy Stevie Rae had already manifested. “Protect Aurox. Don’t let Stark and Darius hurt him!” Some of the green glow that hovered around Rephaim spread through the ground and then lifted in front of Aurox, forming a wall between him and the two Warriors.

“Zoey, what in the hell are you doing?” Stark said, trying to get around the wall of protection.

“I know what I’m doing,” I told Stark, but my gaze never left Aurox. But Aurox wasn’t human anymore. The creature was fully formed and the image of Heath was gone. The beast roared with rage and agony and despair, dropped his head, and charged directly at me.

I know it was moronic, but I didn’t move. Instead I kept staring into his eyes and sounding way more calm and certain than I felt as I said, “You won’t hurt me. I know you won’t.”

At the last instant Aurox veered to the side. Missing my body by inches, he passed so close to me that I could smell the blood and death on him, and feel the brush of his skin. Then he disappeared into the night.

I don’t know whether it was adrenaline or stupidity that had kept me on my feet up ’til then, but both suddenly deserted me and I went down smack on my butt. The green wall disappeared and Stark ran to me.

“Are you hurt? Are you okay? What the hell is wrong with you?” Stark crouched beside me and fired questions at me as he ran his hands all over my body. “Are you bleeding?”

I grabbed his hands, holding tight to him, hoping he couldn’t tell how badly my own hands were shaking. “I’m fine. Really.”

“You’re stupid. Really,” Aphrodite said, looking down her nose at me. “Seriously, Z. It’s either that or you’re delusional. Bullboy is not Heath.”

“Hell no he’s not Heath,” Stark said, looking at Aphrodite like she’d lost her mind.

So he didn’t hear me. Good, maybe no one else heard me. I can handle Aphrodite. Later. Just then I ignored her, which was easy because Grandma was hurrying up looking as worried as Stark. “Did he harm you?”

I tugged on Stark’s hands and he helped me up. Then I hugged Grandma. “No, I’m okay.”

She gave me a reassuring squeeze and didn’t call me stupid. Instead she said, “Rephaim is not.”

“Uh-oh.” Damien, Erin, and Shaunee had joined Stevie Rae where she knelt at Rephaim’s side. We started over to them. Under her breath, Aphrodite said, “This is gonna be bad. Really bad.”

I meant to keep my eyes from looking at Dragon’s body, but they didn’t listen to me. He’d fallen not far from Rephaim. Just seeing his face I would have thought he was sleeping. I mean, except for the trickle of blood from the corner of his mouth he actually looked more at peace than he had since Anastasia’s death. It was his body that was a disaster. Both arms had wounds in them. Aurox’s horn had ripped through the fabric of his pants leaving one of his thighs a hamburger meat–looking mess. His chest was a terrible thing to see. His ribs had splintered around the hole. From his chest down, blood was everywhere.

I was standing there, staring, when Thanatos’s velvet cloak swirled into view. She’d unclasped the brooch that held it over her shoulders and, with a flourish, the High Priestess covered Dragon’s body. She had an odd expression on her face, and I was trying to figure out what was going on, when she spoke.

“You may move on now. You were destined to either die this night with your oath reclaimed, your path true—or to emerge from this night with your body alive, but your spirit dead to all that is honorable.” Thanatos smiled, and I realized her expression looked odd because she was talking to the air above Dragon’s body. “By sacrificing yourself for Rephaim you found mercy again, and through it, our Goddess.” Thanatos made a sweeping gesture up with her arm, and I thought she looked incredibly graceful and totally beautiful. “There is your path. Move on to the Otherworld and your new future.”

Then I gasped as the sky above Thanatos shivered. Night parted and a familiar tree came into view. It was green and lush, a rowan and hawthorn twined together. The pieces of cloth that were tied to its massive umbrella of branches kept changing colors and lengths as they waved gently in a warm breeze that smelled of earth and moss and springtime.

“The Goddess’s hanging tree,” Stark whispered.

“You can see it, too?” I murmured to him.

“Yeah,” he said.

“So can I,” Aphrodite said.

“As can I,” Darius said—and all around me my friends nodded and whispered and stared in wonderment as a girl stepped from behind the tree. She was blond and smiling, and looked super gorgeous in a long skirt the color of blue topaz that had glass beads and shells and white leather fringe all around its hem and the neckline of the sleeveless, matching top. She was carrying a single sunflower.