by Jenn Nixon
“Piggy back, like when you were a kid?” Jack sighed as he approached. Nodding was her only response. He turned around and bent over. She slipped her arms around his neck and hopped onto his back. Jack hooked his arms under her knees and scooted her up. Cyndra set her head on his shoulder and shut her eyes when he started up the stairs. Three-quarters of the way up the enormous staircase, she opened her eyes and saw the same heartbreak she felt on Rune’s face.
Her eyes welled. She sniffled against Jack’s back. When they both sniffed in response, Cyndra sobbed and didn’t stop when they reached the landing. She slid off Jack’s back and into Rune’s embrace.
“I think he’s really gone,” she cried, shuddering, trying to catch her breath.
He’s still on the island, there’s a chance we can get through, Cyndra. He squeezed, trying to calm her.
“Mergan’s hold on him is too strong,” she said, panting as the panic slowed.
“It’s not a hundred percent. He caught you off the balcony, Cyndra, knew you were in danger.”
She lifted her head, meeting Jack’s eyes, trying to hold it all in, grateful her powers had dimmed after the last siphon. “He had a moment of clarity probably because Mergan was checking to see if my cast worked on the barriers. Which it didn’t until she charged me up with my own powers and hers and Zorin’s…she brainwashed him.”
I’m not ready to give up on him. Rune shook his head, glaring at her. Are you?
“No. Except she knocked you out in two seconds, used him to siphon me dry, again, and got exactly what she wanted. The barriers are down. If there are crystals hidden here—”
“The mansion.” Jack gasped. “Maybe all the items are back.”
Do you know where they crystals are?
“No, but we can look and we have a library, too. Thousands of caster books.”
“What good will that fucking do?” Cyndra screeched, flinging one of the cups on the table into the wall, smashing it to bits. “There’s nothing to counter her control.”
Easy…
Jack frowned. “You don’t know that for certain. Maybe someone wrote it down, maybe there’s another cast we can use to trap Mergan. I’m willing to go look—”
“Go and look then,” Cyndra spat, shaking her head and heading for the stairs.
Rune snatched her wrist. Don’t walk away. I'm feeling much of what you’re feeling, too, Cyndra, he’s important to all of us.
Locking her jaw, Cyndra wiped her cheeks and nodded, unable to say anything aloud, afraid it would be too real, too painful when he soared away from her, holding Mergan in his arms, obeying her demands.
We should go to the mansion.
“And if she’s there right now?”
“I’m ready,” Jack said. “Mastered my water, earth’s gonna take time, but Rune and I have a system now.”
Besides, if she put all that power into breaking the barriers that means she’s back to normal strength. Our odds are much better.
Jack smiled slightly. “This one has to be unanimous, Cyndra.”
Rubbing her fingers together, she gazed down at her hands, surprised to see the swirl in the middle of her left palm. She mastered her energy, yet felt the same way she did after mastering fire, vacant and numb.
Hoping her powers returned by the time they reached the mansion, Cyndra nodded to the only true friends she’d ever known, trusting them with her life as she mentally prepared to fight Mergan, once again, to try to save Zorin.
Chapter 28
All of Cyndra’s power was gone, from the air, from his body, even from Mergan. Zorin ignored the hollowness in his heart and adjusted his descent, returning to the beach resort, far from the mansion, where he expected to go.
Mergan rolled her eyes at him when he landed and pushed out of his arms with a look of disgust on her face. “You used to be so brilliant, Zorin. Strategic, able to see two steps ahead of everyone else. The years alone have made you soft and worthless.”
Blanking his thoughts, he peered at her, keeping his senses open, refusing to fall into her trap.
“Silvio should have turned you back when he had the chance,” Mergan said.
“He had no reason to. Just stop baiting me, Mergan. Get your crystals and go.”
“Go?” She laughed, shaking her head. “You are my way off this island, Zorin.”
“No, I’m not.”
“You would stay a monster for her?”
“Yes.”
“You do love her.”
“What do you want, Mergan? You had my friendship and loyalty for years. We changed…you changed more. I tried another way, thought I could make a difference during the war and when I failed, I foolishly thought you understood. Instead, you used my anger and grief, twisted my thoughts.” Zorin stared at her knowing his pleas would never pierce her insanity or gain her understanding. He still needed to say his peace. “No one would choose to be this. You knew what you were doing to me, which is why you made sure you maintained control. You cursed me, destroyed my soul. The moment I find solace, you rip it from me again. What more do you want?”
“I only want my freedom,” she sneered.
“There’s a boat on the docks. Release me and go.”
“Once I have the crystals in hand, you’ll take me to the mainland.”
“No,” Zorin said, feeling her dark hold strengthen. She was much stronger than he remembered. If she found a stash of crystals, there may be no limit to her powers.
His body automatically followed her across the overgrown parking lot and through the main doors of the beach resort. From her direct path to the safe behind the main desk, obviously knowing where to go, Zorin sighed and waited by doors for her triumphant return.
A loud bang and shriek echoed instead. “Evie!”
Zorin smirked, freezing in place when Mergan stormed toward him.
“Where are they?”
“Why would I know?”
“Two steps ahead. You were the only one left,” she snarled, lifting her hand and twisting her wrist. “Who better to move them than someone who would forget?”
Zorin grabbed his head and stumbled forward. Mergan’s control scraped through his mind, probing his memories.
“There,” she cooed. “Evie came to you, in a dream…”
“She told me what she had to do and asked for my help,” Zorin said, unable to hold his tongue as she penetrated further into his head. “To move the crystals someplace safe.”
“Do you remember, pet?”
“Yes,” he hissed, shutting his eyes.
“Take me there.”
After picking Mergan up, Zorin exited the resort and glanced around the lot. Seeing a broken lamppost, he used it to get into the air and then tilted his wings for lift. When the wind whipped over the landscape, Zorin rose higher, altering his direction back to the middle of the island.
“Of course, where else would you take them…your lair.”
“Fuck you, Mergan,” Zorin said, descending toward the lighthouse walkway. When he landed and let her go, she chuckled and ran her hand along the railing making it rumble. Zorin jerked away and walked through the doorway. No one was there, but he sensed Rune and Jack nearby, still nothing from Cyndra.
Mergan smacked the back of his head, bombarding his mind with destruction and death and war, and everything she wanted to do to Cyndra, Evie, and all the casters in the mirror.
His body tensed with each step down to his room. He balled his fists when she shoved him forward. “Move, Zorin.”
“The moment I’m free of your control I’ll squeeze the life from your body,” Zorin snapped, pausing on the last step and glancing back to meet her eyes. “And if that means my death, too, so be it.”
Mergan smiled and rolled her eyes. “We’ll have a long, happy life, far away from casters and siphons and those barbaric humans. I’ll create a paradise for us.”
“Why me, Mergan? You don’t need me. You don’t care for me.”
Tears filled her eyes,
shocking him. She quickly turned away and wiped her cheeks. “Get the crystals, Zorin.”
“Mergan—”
“Of course, I care for you. You were like a little brother to me, I thought of you as family…”
“Then why did you do this to me?” he pleaded, shaking his fists at his sides, boiling with rage.
“So you wouldn’t leave me again. You broke my heart!”
Zorin covered his face. “You never listened to me, to any of our friends. I only left when you…you crossed the line, then you made me do the same. You made me kill, Mergan. When the thirst took hold, you unleashed the monster, not me. No more lies. No more pain.” He moved to the foam mattress on the floor ignoring everything he and Cyndra shared here and kicked it aside. He lifted the floorboard. Tucked under the hollow space sat another wooden box with a Caster Crest on top. He pulled it out and showed it to Mergan. “Take the crystals. Take the boat. Go.”
“She’ll never survive a siphon of twelve, Zorin.”
A mirror-wraith screeched beyond the lighthouse. Mergan grinned and tucked the box under her arm as she dashed for the stairs. Zorin sensed both Jack and Rune’s powers increasing. No Cyndra.
Once back on the walkway, Zorin picked Mergan up and swooped down to the ground, landing on the mansion side. She jumped out of his arms and glanced toward the woods.
“My loyal casters have returned,” Mergan sighed happily as Zorin made the connection. The twelve she had siphoned became her soulless and wraiths. Now they were free of the mirror-realm adding another threat to the casters and his mission to protect them. He had to warn Cyndra.
The moment he thought of her, Mergan blasted him with dark energy. He crumpled to his knees, seeing a flash of light near the mansion.
“I think we’re about to have company, my pet. This may be your last fight, I hope you’re ready.”
Halfway through the woods, Cyndra paused and leaned against a thick tree to catch her breath. Rune, who was ahead, turned around while Jack came up from behind, and rested his hand on her shoulder.
“What’s wrong, firebug?”
Cyndra smirked, feeling her heart tap hearing the nickname. “Not recovering quite as fast this time.”
Do you want to siphon some power from us?
“Let’s see how I feel when we reach the—”
The ground shook beneath her feet. Cyndra thought she heard something and stood straighter, holding her breath to listen.
That was weird, Rune projected.
I think…Cyndra replied, searching the area, feeling the hairs on the back of her neck rise.
A wraith screeched and entered the woods, slithering through the trees, heading right for them. Cyndra evoked her powers. Nothing happened. Wide-eyed, she reached over, clasped Rune’s hand, and tried to siphon him. “Shit.”
Above their heads, a quick flash of light brightened the night sky.
“What?” Jack said, walking backward, eyes fixed on the approaching mirror-wraith.
“I’m drained…” Cyndra blinked when Rune broke from her grasp and ran toward the wraiths, a growing fireball in his hand. “Go help him, I…I’ll go to the lighthouse and get my crystal, maybe it’ll help.”
Jack gazed down at her with a frown. “Be careful, Cyndra.”
Nodding, Cyndra squeezed his hand and let him go, dashing in the other direction, knowing Rune was strong enough to take down a half dozen wraiths on his own. As she ran through the trees, jumping over logs and ducking branches, she tried to evoke her fire, needing it, missing it almost as much as she missed Zorin.
Next, she tried just her energy, that didn’t work either. When her powers faded after mastering fire, they came back after she had rested. This time, she had no luxury. The crystals would have to suffice.
She bounded out of the woods and into the field, running half speeds so she wouldn’t collapse before reaching the—
Mergan stood at the far edge of the field with Zorin beside her, on his knees, hunched over and palming the ground.
Pushing the rage into her hands, Cyndra evoked her elements. Again, nothing happened.
The sinister laugh echoing through the air rippled over Cyndra’s skin. Mergan knew. Prepared for more taunts and lies, she slowed to a jog then walked, balling her fists as she moved closer. The older woman had a box under her arm and her free hand stroked the top of Zorin’s head as if he were a dog. Cyndra crunched her fists, doing everything she knew to regain her powers.
“Let him go, Mergan. You got what you want.”
“I only want what my pet wants, to change him back.”
“And I will, let him go.”
“Are you willing to die for him?” She raised an eyebrow. “Do you even know what’s required to transform him back?”
Cyndra paused ten feet away and gazed into Zorin’s eyes. They were stoic and lifeless, similar to how he looked at her when they first met. That wasn’t her Zorin anymore. With no powers or siphon, she couldn’t speak to his mind anyway. Maybe he could still sense her, feel her emotions. Did he catch her uncertainty, the constant, continual breaking of her heart? Did he know, despite all the pain, she needed him for so many reasons? “I don’t care how long it takes, one day I’ll be strong enough.”
“If you get your powers back,” Mergan said, chuckling softly. “He didn’t tell you how many casters he drained?”
“You are so full of shit,” Cyndra snapped, rubbing her fingertips, growing more annoyed that her powers weren’t surfacing. “Same thing happened before, they’ll come back.”
Zorin’s eyes widened in surprise before returning to their neutral state.
“Oh, my. How tragic.”
Her heart dropped, knowing he was stuck behind yet another mask of Mergan’s making, unable to share what he knew. Cyndra shook her head. “You know what? I don’t care if they come back. I didn’t need them before and I don’t need them now—”
“But you need Zorin,” Mergan mocked.
“Wow. Are you jealous?”
“Hardly.”
“Let him go.”
“Do you love him, caster?” Mergan stroked the top of his head, trying to goad Cyndra into losing her temper.
“You seem awfully hung up on how we feel about each other for someone who’s not jeal—”
“See how she evades answering?”
Cyndra rolled her eyes. “And I’m the tragic one. You have to force people to obey you because you know they’d choose to run far, far away from you.”
“Is that so?” Mergan grabbed a handful of Zorin’s hair and pulled. Cyndra’s heart stopped, seeing the anguish on his face. He rose to his feet, gazing down at his captor. “Answer truthfully, my pet, understood?”
“Yes,” Zorin replied, monotone and lifeless.
“Do you want to be human again?”
“Yes.”
Mergan smirked, seemed relieved, slightly. “Do you think Cyndra is strong enough to transform you back?”
“No.”
Cyndra gasped and covered her mouth.
“Can she save you from my control?”
“No.”
The last piece of her breaking heart hung on by a string.
“I promised I would turn you back if you left with me, didn’t I?”
“Yes,” Zorin replied, shuddering in place.
Mergan turned away from Zorin, taking a step closer, holding the caster box tighter, and directing her next speech or lecture or brag session to Cyndra. “He remembers the lengths I went to create him. He remembers the power I possess. He knows why I control him, to keep him tame and safe, so he won’t kill innocent humans again.”
Cyndra furrowed her brow ignoring the lies, trying to push Mergan’s buttons for once. “Give him the choice or are you afraid to ask?”
“Ask him what? If he loves you? I’m not sure he understands the concept because he didn’t answer me.”
“Zorin, do you want to go with her or stay here with me?” Cyndra asked in her stead, hoping he’d answ
er, maybe set Mergan off and give Rune and Jack a chance to finish with the wraiths and back her up.
Mergan laughed. “Fine, I’ll ask him. Pet, tell me…what do you desire more, to go with me and be human again or stay on this island as you are.”
“Be human,” Zorin answered, verbally punching her in the gut.
“What?” Cyndra narrowed her gaze, stepping back. “No, you’re still in his head. He’d never go with you.”
“Am I forcing your answers?”
“No.”
“You say I lie and manipulate, here is your answer. I commanded him to speak the truth,” Mergan scoffed and waved her hand. “Come, Zorin.”
Without hesitation, the mindless gargoyle turned his back to her and began walking toward the docks with Mergan.
“No fucking way.” Cyndra’s heart thumped. She bolted forward, reaching out and grabbing Zorin’s left hand, hoping their bond would take form. Instead, she felt his cool, tough skin beneath her fingers, and met his dead eyes when she tugged him back. I’ll find a way to turn you back, I promise…
His eyelids widened, confirming he heard her.
“Touching,” Mergan said, gripping Zorin’s other hand. “You’ll never survive transforming him, Cyndra. You need to let him go.”
Lacing her fingers through his then pressing the raised symbols of their caster brands together, Cyndra squeezed Zorin’s hand and tugged him. Don’t go, please.
Mergan pulled the opposite way. “He doesn’t want you!”
Zorin?
His fingers tightened.
Cyndra’s hand tingled. He’d started feeding her his energy.
“No!” Mergan barked, pulling Zorin away.
With their hands locked, Cyndra jerked and stumbled forward. Zorin lifted his arm, steadying her so she wouldn’t fall. He was in there, fighting. She took his air and energy as quickly as her body allowed, hoping it would entice her powers to return.
“Foolish newborn, your power is no match for mine,” Mergan barked, evoking a large ball of water to her empty palm.