by Caris Roane
Grace, he sent. His voice sounded thin, even within his own head.
I’m here. I’m safe in my apparition-form. I’m not feeling any pain. But I need something from you, I’m just not sure what.
I think I know. I finally get it, how I held back from you. Grace, I have within me all that you need in terms of skill and experience, even power. Just glide within me and feast.
I think you’re right. In fact, I know you’re right, but you’re in so much pain.
Pain doesn’t matter. Pain means life. Come to me. Take me now.
He felt her slide against his mind, then drop in and down. She knew the way to his soul where all his abilities lived, where he held all the deepest memories of action and forward motion, of decision and analysis, of strategy.
He felt her move within him and it was like heaven all over again, yet even more complete. She found the key to his vast experience as a warrior and as a leader of men. She opened the door, and he felt all that learned wisdom and understanding flow over her and through her. She caught it and held on.
* * *
Grace flew up and out of Leto’s most essential self, and when she’d departed she looked around. She stared at Greaves, so at ease in the chair. He still couldn’t see her.
She recognized what he was feeling: a deep satisfaction that he had vanquished them both, that now he could continue with his plans.
She accessed all that Leto had just shared with her, the analytical processes of his mind, how swiftly he would create strategies but toss them aside if they didn’t seem right, then his lightning-like ability to formulate new ones.
She did the same now.
She assessed the situation: her broken body, Leto’s as well, Greaves’s enormous power, the shroud he had placed over the cabin. She and Leto could never fight him and win, so this could never be about acquiring enough power to battle Greaves.
She could also sense that Leto was near death, so her most critical task involved healing and escape.
And now it all seemed so simple. She leaned down and kissed Leto while still in her ghostly form.
I’ll be back in a moment. I need to reach Fiona. I think I’ll be able to bring her back because I can possess her. I will need to see Horace as well, to acquire his healing ability. Stay alive, Leto.
I’ll be here returned to her strong and steady. How different from the man in despair she had left five months ago.
Fiona, who had the ability to enhance power, would be able to amplify Horace’s healing power once Grace had Horace’s advanced ability.
Because she was still functioning within her obsidian power, Grace focused on Horace and her apparition-self began flying through space. She found him just finishing up with one of the Militia Warriors at the New River Borderland. She called his name. He turned toward her, but he couldn’t see her.
She explained where she was and what she needed. He nodded, saying, “Of course. I have heard of what you’ve been able to accomplish. Please do what you need to do.”
Grace took as few words as possible to explain her process. Horace, the most powerful healer on Second Earth, nodded and closed his eyes.
She dove within his mind, then fell into his soul, which was, as she knew it had to be for such a kind man, very warm and very beautiful. She found his healing lock, inserted her blue flame, and acquired the ability.
She drew out and thanked him.
She then apparitioned to Fiona, moving swiftly and smoothly through nether-space. When Grace reached her, she was in Endelle’s palace because Endelle had done as Grace had asked and brought her obsidian sisters to the central rotunda, ready for action. Thorne stood next to Marguerite, and Jean-Pierre was pressed close to Fiona, his arms surrounding her.
Grace took as few words as she could manage to explain the Greaves predicament.
“What do you need from us?” Endelle asked.
“I need to possess Fiona in this form.”
“Do it,” Endelle said softly.
Fiona moved toward her by way of assent. “Yes, do whatever you need.”
Something deep inside Grace blossomed, a sense of belonging and of hope, of being very present in her life and less ghost-like than she’d ever been before.
She focused for just a moment on her variety of obsidian flame power and let a new wave flow from the earth, up into her soul, even into this apparition-form that was as much a part of her as her corporeal self.
She thought the thought and simply took possession of Fiona. Her obsidian power flowed.
Together Grace sped with Fiona back to the cabin. Just as she suspected, because she was part of Fiona, she passed through the shroud of Greaves’s mist and into the bedroom. Her body and Leto’s lay crumpled and burned.
Oh, God, Fiona murmured.
It’s all right. Now, I’m going to concentrate on the healing ability I learned from Horace. Are you ready to enhance the power?
Yes.
Grace just let the thought take form in her mind, and healing began pouring toward the bodies on the floor.
* * *
Leto drew a sudden deep breath and rose, his own body knitting together at lightning speed, miraculously, unbelievably. He wasn’t even sure exactly how this was happening, but he could feel Grace’s presence.
He turned Grace’s body and watched her re-form, though she remained inert because Grace was in her apparition form. He glanced around and saw the strangest sight: Fiona in a ghost-like form, glowing in streaks of gold and blue. It meant of course that Grace was with her, and that together they were doing the impossible.
And now all his pain was gone.
In a sudden heartbeat, the dual apparition-form vanished, and he heard a thump behind him.
Grace rose, laughing. “I stood up too fast and hit my head on the wall.” Her gaze shifted beyond Leto. “Oh, shit, we’d better get out of here.”
“How?” he asked.
“What the hell is this?” Greaves shouted, rising from his chair. “How did you heal?”
Leto feared the worst, that though Grace had worked her miracle, Greaves would now bring fire and brimstone down on their heads and wipe them from the face of the earth.
But the moment these thoughts flew through his mind, he realized Grace had already split into her apparition-form and once more Fiona returned, glowing with blue and gold streams of light swirling around her.
Fiona winked. Or was that Grace? Then he heard Grace’s voice in his head: Sorry for the delay, but I had to access Endelle’s folding ability. Ready?
Yes. Make it quick.
He felt Greaves’s power ramping up again. He stiffened, waiting for the blow, but before the blast hit he was gliding through nether-space. When his feet touched down in the palace, he felt Grace beside him as well, though a little unsteady on her feet since she was only partially inhabiting her body. He steadied her with a hand beneath her arm.
He was still in his beast-form, so she might as well have been a feather. He drew her into his arms and held her close. He felt the moment when she returned fully to her body. She slid her arms around his neck. “We made it,” she whispered.
He kissed her again, but his warrior concerns returned as he drew back. “Greaves. We should prepare in case he follows us here.”
“Fiona and I blocked the trace.”
He let out a deep breath. “Good.” He kissed her again, long and deep. I have things I need to say to you, my darling.
Me, too. So much.
Endelle’s voice cut through their telepathic conversation. “Okay, you two, knock it off. We have things to discuss.”
Leto released Grace and set her on her feet.
Grace, however, turned toward Fiona. “Thank you,” she said earnestly. “Thank you, for all that you’ve done to be able to work with me as you have just now. We would have died otherwise. Fiona, how will I ever repay you?”
Fiona shook her head, and her cheeks turned a rosy hue. “I don’t feel like I did anything except lend a h
and.”
Grace laughed. How like Fiona to diminish her contribution.
But Endelle was tapping a stiletto. “All right, Grace, enough with the chitchat. Where’s the Geneva bastard, and what do you think I should do about him?”
The entire group fell silent.
Leto couldn’t believe his ears. Endelle asking advice of anyone? Especially of Grace?
“Uh,” Grace murmured.
“Oh, for Christ’s sake. You did good, and so I’m asking, what do we do next?”
Grace blinked a couple of times, then turned to Marguerite. “I think this might be a job for your Seer skills. My intuition is yelling at me that we fire up obsidian flame and use the power this time to look into the future streams.”
Fiona seconded the plan, and the three women moved together at once.
Leto could feel the surface changes that Grace experienced, the flow of vibrating power over her body. Beyond that, he watched and waited.
The women looked peaceful with their eyes closed as they worked through the process.
He also felt the moment the triad completed what they’d set out to do because the soft rumbling vibrations disappeared, flowing back into the earth.
Leto turned to Grace. Her eyes were wide as she met Marguerite’s gaze then Fiona’s.
“All right,” Endelle said. “Cut the suspense. What are we up against?”
Marguerite moved to stand beside Thorne. She took his hand and held on hard. “First, Stannett isn’t blocking the future streams anymore. He’s just not there. I think he might be gone, as in dead.”
Silence held the room for a moment, then Endelle said, almost somberly, “Well, thank the Creator for small favors. So, what did you see?”
“Greaves is preparing to attack the hidden colonies, all of them, in about fifteen minutes. He succeeded in mapping every single one so he knows where they’re located. In the vision, he’s using his own power to sequentially torch the colonies, after which he intends to fold his death vampires to each location to attack the colonists. It’s very organized.”
Leto struggled to breathe. He had always known it was a likelihood that Greaves would go after the colonies, but now that the moment had come, he felt sick in his gut. The logistics seemed impossible. How could they get enough Militia Warriors to each site at this late hour?
He was ready to contact Seriffe and to start issuing orders to gather the necessary squads at Apache Junction Two, but Grace put her hand on his arm. “Hold on, Leto. I think this might be something obsidian flame can help with. Marguerite has already seen what we need to do. We’re to set up as a triad in Diallo’s courtyard so that we can be as close to the mossy mist as possible.”
“What exactly are you going to do?” he asked.
“I’m not sure, but once we engage as a triad I have no doubt we’ll know what needs to be done.” She turned to her brother. “And, Thorne, it appears you will have a larger role in the process as well. Just wanted to give you a heads-up.”
At that, Thorne smiled. “If it means saving the colonies, my pleasure.”
Circles are the ultimate perfection.
—Collected Proverbs, Beatrice of Fourth
CHAPTER 19
Greaves felt the future flow toward him like a dark wave, foreboding but exciting. Stannett was gone, so he had no one at the helm at the Illinois Seers palace to block his next moves. His only shot was to act quickly.
He contacted the war room at Estrella and had his generals ready to initiate the attack on the colonies once he was assured that he could burn all the mossy mist away.
Grace and Leto had somehow made their escape. He still wasn’t sure how, except that suddenly a miraculous healing had occurred. Even then he should have been able to blast them all to hell, but they just disappeared and he had no idea how they’d gotten past the shroud he’d created.
Unless of course obsidian flame was involved in a way he still didn’t understand.
He thought about folding back to Estrella, but the location within the Seattle Colony served his purposes better and he could monitor the results of his efforts right away.
He sustained the shroud over the cabin, settled back in his chair, and redirected his hand-blast energy. With great care, he began gathering kinetic energy; in a few minutes he’d be able to ignite the moss-based mist of the Seattle Colony. He’d worked out the sequence, and once he fired this special hand-blast, the burning would ignite all the colonies, one after the other, in quick succession.
He had only a couple of minutes, and then this part of his plan would unfold.
* * *
Grace stood on Diallo’s patio, her hand tucked into Leto’s. He was still in his beast-form, and she loved it. He kept looking down at her from his increased height, looking into her eyes as she looked back.
The world was new, different, better, brighter, even though she still wasn’t sure what had happened between them.
I love you, she sent.
I love your hand in mine, the beats of your heart, your smile, your infinite worth.
Love flowed from Leto now as it never had before. She could feel it, a warm, almost liquid sensation of caring and belonging. That was the difference—or at least one of them, since she felt changed as well.
Whatever strange shields had existed before now lay flat, dissolved, obliterated.
He leaned down and kissed her, apparently still not caring that everyone gaped at either his size or his affection for her. When he drew back, he whispered, “I love you so much.”
Her heart expanded, and she sighed.
“I love you, too.”
“Grace,” Thorne called softly.
She could hardly tear her gaze from Leto. She blinked and turned. He put his hand on her shoulder, the expression in his eye tender. “Marguerite has had a second vision about the colonies. It’s time.”
She nodded, but she wasn’t sure she could feel her feet. As she relinquished Leto’s hand and turned toward her obsidian flame sisters, though, she felt her power vibrate deep in the earth and once more rush up her legs and into her being.
She reacted swiftly, opening her mind to Marguerite, who shared the vision with both her and Fiona at the same time. Her breath left her body in a swift rush.
“He’s begun his torching sequence. The colonies will begin to ignite in a little over a minute.”
Grace glanced at Thorne. “How do we proceed?”
He shook his head. “I can only support you. Grace, this is your call. I anchor obsidian flame, but what I understand now is that you lead it.”
She could not have been more shocked—and yet it made sense in terms of the allocation of gifts. Marguerite could only indicate the direction. Fiona’s power could only support what Grace could offer. But Grace could find the location, then learn and amplify the ability needed to fix things.
In this case, what did she need to do? What needed to happen?
Her mind whirled swiftly. She needed to stop the process at the core, at the place where it would begin, where the moss would first be lit on fire.
“The mist,” she said. “The key is with the mist.” She shifted slightly toward Thorne. “And you know how to make the mist, right?”
“Yes.”
“Then may I enter your soul and find the formula for the mist?” She smiled as she said it.
“With pleasure.”
Grace dove and felt Thorne jerk back in surprise. He was very powerful and almost prevented her from sinking. But a moment later, he relaxed and relented.
Grace had finally come to understand that she wasn’t second to him or to Patience, but an equal in power and in purpose. She dove and fell through the deep cloudy space between the mind and the soul where the key to many, many things existed.
Thorne’s landscape was multihued but in subdued tones, like the facets of his eyes that were also multihued in soft golds and greens, light browns and blues, even grays, a perfect hazel. Magnificent, she sent to his mind. You are magnifi
cent, my brother. And so beautiful. I can feel that you are whole and that Marguerite has done this for you, given you peace.
It’s a strange thing to feel you within me. I love you, Grace, and I’m so proud of you and what you’ve accomplished. I can feel your power. It’s amazing.
She smiled and focused on the mossy mist. A memory glowed a vibrant blue color, of Diallo teaching both Marguerite and Thorne how to make the mist that protected all the colonies. She found the lock and inserted her blue flame obsidian key. In a flash, she drew from him what she needed, then swiftly pulled out.
As she opened her eyes, she realized she needed more than just Thorne’s ability to make the mist. “There is another key. Excuse me. I must go get it right now.” She had to act fast and couldn’t stop to explain.
She apparitioned to the hospital on Second, then sought and found Diallo. He was still bruised. Diallo, forgive me.
He turned his head in her direction. I can see you, Grace. You look lovely. What form is this?
A sort of split-self.
Ah. But I can feel your discomfiture. Tell me what I can do.
First, she relayed as swiftly as she could all that was happening. I have the key to the mist, but there is something more I need. I felt it within Thorne, but he doesn’t have the key to the rest of the colonies. I need to acquire the ability from your soul.
His brows rose, but a smile tugged on his lips. I have been wondering how to be of use when my body is broken. Now I know. Please, take from me what you need.
She explained in more detail what she would need to do, and when he gave permission, she dove as she had with Thorne.
She marveled at how different each person was. Diallo felt as though he carried great riches within, and when she sank into the clouds separating the mind from the soul, she landed in a place of the brightest gold. She gasped and she felt him laugh within his mind. I can see what you are looking at, Grace. I am equally surprised, but I believe that my wife may have created all that beauty. I can account for it in no other way.
Grace wanted to stay and to savor, but she had a mission to accomplish. She focused on the mossy mist and the lock came forth, almost blinding in its beauty as well. She put her blue energy within, and the gate to his knowledge opened. What she saw astonished her—the sheer simplicity of how Diallo had created the interconnected mist that sustained the secrecy of so many hundreds of colonies all over the globe. She took the secret into her soul and flew from Diallo, nodding to him in her apparition-form as she swiftly returned to the courtyard garden.