by Jenn Nixon
Mergan threw her head back and laughed. “Are you going to lock me away again?”
“No prison this time. Today you die.”
Zorin reached out to her. “Evelyn!”
“Stay back,” the elder caster shouted, and something unexpected happened.
Evie opened a siphon. She jerked forward, wrapping her hands around Mergan’s neck. The caster box dropped onto the deck then shot toward him, landing just beyond his fingertips.
Use the crystals and make peace with the siphons. Evie drained all the power from his body instantaneously.
He gasped, “Evelyn, stop!”
Streams of elements from every nearby caster spilled through the air, pouring into Evie, in a call to power unlike anything he’d witnessed in his elongated life. Although Zorin sensed all the casters’ elements on the wind, Cyndra’s was the strongest and he siphoned her from the collective, needing her strength to survive what came next.
Overcharged with elemental power, Evie screamed and reversed her siphon, pushing all the collected power into her attack on Mergan.
Forgive me, Zorin, this is my sacrifice to make.
No!
Keep them safe. Find a way to heal the world.
No, Evelyn, please…Pristy, Cyndra, these casters need you.
When she met his eyes and her truth filled his mind, Zorin knew there was no stopping her. He clawed closer to the caster box to guard it.
Lily and Bale will show them the way.
Evie cocooned Mergan in a suffocating cast of power.
The entire dock splintered and buckled. The two casters remained in the air, surrounded by swirling elements of earth and fire, water and air as the blinding energy zapped around the outer edges of the cocoon.
A crack formed within the elemental colors.
The cocoon exploded and the whole world went black.
Chapter 32
Cyndra got to her feet with Rune and Jack’s help while keeping her gaze locked on Zorin as he glided toward her grandmother. When he dropped mid-flight, Cyndra grew weak and leaned against the lighthouse. Mergan was retaking control of him.
“Evie, no,” her mother, Lily, said softly, drawing her gaze. Cyndra was still shocked at her youth, trying to grasp the whole time difference from the mirror-realm.
The elemental powers surrounding Mergan and Evie increased. Cyndra shuddered and gasped at the display of her grandmother fighting. “What is she doing?”
“What she expected to do twenty-five years ago,” Lily replied. “Kill Mergan.”
Kill? Rune covered his mouth as Jack shook his head, frowning.
“No, Zorin’s right there!” she cried just as the ground, lighthouse, and everyone shuddered and shook.
We need to get inside.
“She’s overloading Mergan…” Lily dashed into the lighthouse. “Get in, now!”
Cyndra stared back at Zorin, unable to move. Jack rushed Pristy inside. Her mother called her name again. Rune clasped her hand and pulled her into the lighthouse. Lily slammed the door shut.
The whole island seemed to shake for days and only stopped after a bright flash of light peeked through the cracks and gaps in the doorway. The blast of power that came next knocked everyone off their feet. Cyndra slammed into the ground then everything went eerily quiet.
Jack moaned, lifted his head. “Did she…”
“Yes,” Lily said softly, rolling to her back.
Cyndra felt it too. Even in a storm of emotions coming from the people standing around her, Cyndra knew Zorin was alive. Mergan and Evie weren’t as lucky. Tears glazed her eyes, one moment with her grandmother and she was gone, again.
“Everyone okay?” Jack asked.
All heads bobbed up and down as everyone slowly got to their feet. Pristy threw her arms around Cyndra and started crying.
“She told me not to tell you.”
“What?” Cyndra hugged back, glancing over her shoulder and meeting Rune’s confused gaze.
“She was hurt, badly, before she went into the mirror. Since time moved differently there, it never really took effect, or whatever, but she knew…” Pristy sniffled and leaned back, glancing over to the guys. “There are a few others who can’t come back either if they want to stay alive. I’m really sorry, Jack…one of them is your uncle.”
The mirror is cracked, can we fix it? Mergan said it’s going—
Lily gasped from the doorway. She pulled the door back. Hundreds of people of various ages from preteens to seniors stood around the lighthouse, disoriented and glancing at each other. Voices started rising through the air as the confusion turned to fear.
“Shit,” Cyndra snapped, moving to the doorway. The first person she looked for was Zorin. She didn’t see him, only sensed him through the bond. “This is going to be bad.”
“It may not, we’re free…you don’t know how much that means,” Lily said. “They need to know what happened.”
“Heck, we still need to know everything that happened,” Pristy quipped, lightening the mood slightly.
“You should talk to them, Cyndra,” Jack suggested.
“Me?”
You’re the one who lowered all the barriers. You freed everyone.
Cyndra frowned and shook her head. “No, I didn’t—”
“Okay, fine, but you know more about all of this than any of us. Talk to them.” Jack smiled as Rune and Pristy nodded to her.
“Will you go look for Zorin and those crystals?”
“That demon—” Lily began. Cyndra lifted her hand. “Do you know what—”
“Mergan’s responsible, not Zorin.”
Lily leaned back and lifted her brow. “You care for him?”
“You sound just like Mergan. Yes. I do. I—” Cyndra meshed her lips together and nodded to Rune and Jack, not explaining herself to anyone, even her mother.
The voices outside the lighthouse elevated and seemed to take a darker tone. Totally done with casters, siphons, and their stupid fucking bickering, Cyndra stormed out of the lighthouse, evoking the power to both her hands and marched into the group. Some smirked at her, others backed away seeing her arms blaze with power.
Cyndra directed the power into the air.
Mostly every head turned her way. There weren’t as many people as there should be. What happened to the rest? Shuddering, Cyndra took a breath, focused on the immediate group surrounding her. “Mergan’s dead.”
The group gasped. Some started cheering.
“Shut up! My grandmother, Evie, just blew herself up to save all of us.” Cyndra glared at them, saw Jack and Rune from the corner of her eye rushing toward what used to be the dock. “I was five years old when all of you decided to destroy the world. Millions of people died because of your war. We’ve picked up the pieces and made the best of the little you left behind.”
The talking stopped, more people turned her way. “I don’t care how or why or who was right or wrong it was twenty-five years ago out here and it needs to stay there, in the past. Mergan and Evie did the most damage and they paid the price, they’re gone. Do you see this island around you? Look at it!” Cyndra watched the group’s eyes widened as they glanced around murmuring softly. “This is fucking paradise. The rest of the world doesn’t look like this. Some of it has healed, but most of it is uninhabitable because of Mergan’s flare and the human’s bomb.”
“What about my family?” someone shouted.
“It’s been twenty-five years and mostly everyone out there has forgotten.”
“What does that mean?” another asked.
“It means,” Lily said, moving to Cyndra’s side. “They can never know of our existence again. We must return to the ways of our ancestors. One community, one peace.”
“What?” Cyndra said, shaking her head. “No, it means we don’t know what happens next, it means we all have to work together, decide what to do.”
The bickering started instantly. Cyndra shut her eyes, evoked her fire, and flared it upward. “The first
thing you do when you’re free is start arguing again? Unreal. Siphons go to the town south of the lighthouse. Casters you go to the mansion. Rest. Recover. Process what I’ve said and be ready to talk and negotiate in the morning.”
“But—”
“That wasn’t a suggestion,” Cyndra said. “You need to talk among yourselves, figure out your shit, and what you want or are you going to start fighting again and kill what’s left of us?”
“No more fighting,” Lily said to someone who nodded back and turned to a smaller group, looking toward the town. The rest of the voices softened and chunks of people moved in opposite directions. Cyndra swallowed, shocked they were actually listening to her.
Rune’s voice tickled the back of her mind. Cyndra, he’s alive…we’re going to take him to one of the huts.
Found the box of crystals near him too. Not as many as I thought, Jack added.
Cyndra sighed and shut her eyes.
Lily rested a hand on her shoulder. “I always knew you’d be strong.”
“No one should have to be this strong.” Cyndra sniffled.
“I never imagined this life for either of us, Cyndra. You were four years old the last time I saw you…and it only feels like a year to me, but you are still my daughter and I love you. I’ve missed you,” Lily whispered painfully, wrapping her arms around Cyndra’s shoulders. She leaned into her mother sideways, feeling welcomed in her embrace, and let a tear or two fall.
“I’ve missed you too,” Cyndra replied, whipping her nose as she leaned forward. “I have to go check on Rune and Jack. You should go pick some food from the garden and feed the casters. I’ll make sure the siphons eat. We have a lot to talk about in the morning.”
Lily smiled at her. “You still have your father’s kindness.”
“I look forward to hearing stories about you two,” Cyndra said, placating her mother slightly to speed up the conversation. Lily leaned in for a proper hug. Cyndra hugged back, then broke away and dashed around the lighthouse, glancing back to make sure the siphons weren’t fucking around and heading to the town.
Ignoring the two younger people picking through the garden, Cyndra slowed at the edge of the corn stalks, blinking at the man who had to be Rune’s father with the same dark hair, peppered with silver, and emerald green eyes as bright as real gems.
He lifted his head as she neared, then he stepped to the left, blocking the entryway. “Cyndra, yes?”
“Uh, yeah,” she replied. “You’re Rune’s dad?”
“Yes, Bale,” he said as his eyes lit up. “I’m glad you found the pictures.”
“Me too,” Cyndra answered honestly, raising her brow. “You did that?”
“No, your grandmother, hoped they’d jog your memories if needed and point you in the right direction, like the notes she and Silvio wrote….”
“I’m glad your master plan worked out and we made it to the island, now if you wouldn’t mind, I’d like to see Zorin.”
“He’s still fighting Mergan’s control.”
“What?” Cyndra darted forward. He stepped over. Lifting her hand to the man, she snapped, “Move.”
Sighing, the man moved and she ducked in the cloth-covered doorway and rushed into the hut, surprised at how fancy Rune had made it already. He and Jack stood at Zorin’s bedside made of a foam mattress resting on a large flattened root. Thick, strong vines were strapped around his limbs, stomach, and chest. “What the shit?”
Cyndra—
“Let him go, Rune!” Panic set into her chest seeing him bound again.
“He can’t,” Jack said, reaching for her hand.
Cyndra jerked back, lifting her left hand, hoping she could counter Rune’s earth.
Zorin’s eyes snapped open. He snarled and struggled beneath Rune’s vines. “Release me.”
“To do what, Zorin?” Jack caught her forearm before she got too close.
“Drain all the casters.”
“Shit,” Cyndra snapped and pulled out of Jack’s hold, inching closer to Zorin. He tilted his head, and recognition passing crossed his eyes for a moment. “He’s still in there.”
Can you reach him, Cyndra?
Evie’s last words filled her mind. She shut her eyes and nodded. “Probably.”
Bale scoffed. “You can’t tame this mon—”
“Don’t you dare. Do you know—”
“Do you? You said you were five years old, I fought—”
“Leave,” Cyndra screamed, cutting him off then turned to Rune. “You and Jack stay.”
Rune nodded to her, unmoving.
“Couldn’t get rid of us if you tried, firebug,” Jack said with a smirk, shrugging to Bale as he went to the exit. “Help him, Cyndra. I think you’re the only one who can.”
She went to the left side of the bed so she could take his energy hand in hers, making sure the connection was as strong as possible. Although he struggled and twisted under the vine’s tight hold, his fingers wrapped around hers and his eyes continued darting toward her every few seconds.
Cyndra pushed her energy into him, hoping she was strong enough to help him do whatever he had to do to break free of Mergan’s command.
Zorin began to shiver.
His eyes turned glassy.
She let him take control of the siphon, allowing him to drain her completely if he needed it. Only Zorin was too tired, weak from fighting Mergan, giving and taking so much energy through his battered body. Cyndra needed to help him sleep. She focused on calming him, soothing him, and helping him clear his mind from all the troubles of the day.
His eyes fluttered and shut.
Cyndra felt him fall under, leaned over, and kissed his forehead. She held back the tears this time and whispered against his ear, “Please come back to me, Zorin.”
Rune and Jack were both frowning when she turned around. Jack spoke first. “Think he’ll be okay?”
“She’s gone, the control should fade.” Cyndra shrugged, meeting Runes eyes. He signed that he was sorry and glanced toward the exit. She palmed the back of one of his stationary tree-root chairs he made opposite the sleeping area, even noticing the outstanding thick vine shelves lining the far wall. Compliments had to wait since the three of them had much bigger problems.
Bale approached the moment they exited.
“I have questions,” Cyndra said. He stopped abruptly, blinked, and looked to his son who nodded. “What happened to the rest of the casters?”
“Dead,” Bale said and signed, frowning. “Powers didn’t fade right away in the mirror realm, some of us held on for days. Without crystals, others couldn’t contain the elements and quite a few took advantage and continued the fight with the siphons.”
“Out of thousands, five hundred are left?” Jack asked rhetorically.
And Zorin said they were still fighting when he went in.
Cyndra frowned. “Is that true?”
Bale signed yes and continued signing something else, too fast for her to understand.
“What?” she and Jack asked together.
Rune frowned. He said we need to banish the siphons and Zorin.
“No. No one’s leaving this island until we do all that stuff Jack talked about, tribunes—”
“Tribunals,” Jack corrected.
“You think—” Bale tried.
“Yeah, that’s the way you used to do it. Right? Tribunals and councils or whatever,” Cyndra stammered, shaking her head and feeling the elements swirling through her body. “You’re not taking him away from me.”
“Easy, Cyndra, no one’s saying that,” Jack responded with concern on his face.
Cyndra didn’t like the look in Bale’s eye. She spun around and darted for the lighthouse. She had to make sure Zorin and the rest of the world was safe from the casters and siphons. She was starting to think this was all a big mistake.
Cyndra! Rune called, running behind her.
She ran faster. We’ll be outnumbered, Rune. I know what to do.
Then tell
me. Isn’t that why you always get angry with Zorin?
Slowing to a jog, she glanced back. “I’m putting a new barrier around the island so no one can leave.”
Including us?
“I’m sorry, yes.”
Are you certain you can? It’s a big island.
“How else can we make sure the siphons don’t leave and tell everyone what they’ve forgotten? Is there another way to keep the casters from going after the siphons and vice-versa unless they’re forced to compromise?”
I wasn’t disagreeing with you, Cyndra. Jack and I are with you, all the way.
“I should be able to do it with my energy and fire. I want someone watching these people overnight.”
I can ask Pristy and she said she trusts Tulli, who we’ll have to meet properly tomorrow.
Cyndra shook her head, trying not to think about tomorrow. Where are the crystals?
Under the box of guns in the far corner. Are we going to give them back?
“Smarter if we do, don’t want anyone going nuclear like me and Mergan.” Cyndra paused at the lighthouse door. “The siphons will need to eat, too, maybe you and Bale can try chatting with a few of them, get an early read on what we’re going to have to deal with?”
I’ll ask. I’m sure he’ll be happy to spend time together, it’s…not as awkward as I thought it would be, seems he was a bit older when I was born.
“Lily looks like my sister, she…must have been my age when she had me, and it’s already awkward.” Cyndra shook her head.
Sorry.
“I’m sure time will help,” Cyndra said, glancing back toward the garden and huts.
If you need help with the barrier, let me know, for now, we’re still the only master casters with full power on the island.
“Yeah, enjoy it while you can. Our whole world’s about to change again in the morning.”
Rune laughed and rolled his eyes playfully. Perhaps he didn’t see it that way, Cyndra sure did. In the morning, she had a living parent, dead grandparent, returned missing cousin, and five hundred plus casters and siphons, slowly returning to normal, gaining back their powers. “You have a lot more optimism than I do.”
I think once they truly know all that’s happened, they’ll work together, find a way to make peace.