by Alicia Rades
Mom pulled me into a hug before I was done telling her how much I missed her. I hugged her back so hard that it made my arms hurt.
Finally, we drew away from each other, and I looked to both of my parents. “You have both been wonderful to me. You have you put up with me when I acted out, and stood by me with unwavering faith when I was in and out of the hospital. You two have just been amazing. I couldn’t have asked for better parents. I’m so lucky to be your daughter. And just because you’re gone doesn’t change that. You’ll always be my parents, and you’ll always be with me… right here.”
I placed my finger to my heart, and Mom and Dad totally lost it. The three of us started sobbing together. But they were beautiful, wonderful tears. A huge weight lifted off my shoulders, and I felt so light I could float to the stars.
I wiped my eyes. “I have to admit. This is probably the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do—and that’s saying a lot.”
I took a deep, wavering breath. For a moment, I worried that the words wouldn’t come out. And then they just… did. And it was the most freeing, beautiful moment of my life.
“Goodbye,” I said.
Mom and Dad shared a smile. “Goodbye, Nadine. We love you.”
Peace washed over me as my parents faded from view. I should’ve run after them. I should’ve sobbed and begged them to come back. But I didn’t, because somehow, I was finally okay with letting go. It didn’t mean I didn’t love them. It didn’t mean I didn’t care that they were gone.
It just meant… everything was going to be okay.
“You’ve done well, my child.”
I whirled around at the sound of an unfamiliar voice. The cemetery had transformed around me. Instead of being day, it had instantly transformed into night. I wasn’t standing near the same plot as I was before. In fact, I wasn’t even sure I was standing in the same cemetery. The air was cold, and snow covered the ground. The full moon glowed above us.
A woman stood several feet away from me, cloaked in a velvet hood. I tilted my head to try to get a better look, but the hood fell so far over her eyes that even the moonlight didn’t touch her face.
“Excuse me?” I asked.
She reached up and lowered her hood. My heart stalled in my chest when I saw her. I’d seen those high cheekbones, full lips, and beautiful eyes before—in the painting that hung above the mantle at school. It was Mother Miriam.
I found myself rooted in place as I took her in. Positive energy radiated off of her in waves, and she seemed to glow slightly in the moonlight. The cool air around us warmed, and I truly felt like I was standing in the presence of a goddess.
“Mother Miriam?” I asked breathlessly, just to see if it was real.
She nodded lightly, then stretched out her hand. “Come with me, child.”
I hesitated a moment. Was I worthy enough to take her hand?
I wanted to be. And she was offering. So I took it.
All the pain in my muscles and joints washed away. When I touched her, it was like taking the hand of someone I’d known forever. All my hesitation fell away, and I felt totally at ease in her presence.
“What’s going on?” I asked as she led me through the cemetery.
Mother Miriam spoke slowly, like we were in no rush. “There’s something you must see, Nadine.”
Though I’d never heard her speak my name before, something about it seemed so familiar. It was like I’d known her my whole life.
We passed by gravestone after gravestone, until I spotted a shadowed figure in the distance. He sat in the snow, his back pressed against the base of a tall reaper statue. His knees were curled to his chest, and he shook in the cold.
“Who is that?” I asked Mother Miriam.
“I think you already know,” she said kindly.
My pulse quickened as we came closer. I began to make out the shape of his shoulders.
“Lucas?” I realized, before raising my voice so he could hear me. “Lucas!?”
He didn’t respond.
“He can’t hear you,” Mother Miriam told me.
I looked to her as we came to a stop several gravestones away from him. “What is this, then? A vision?”
“Of sorts,” she said with a nod.
“Is it real?” I asked.
She gestured around us. “Everything you see here is happening, Nadine.”
She was like the Ghost of Christmas Present.
I furrowed my brow. “What are we here for? What’s Lucas doing?”
Mother Miriam’s breath wavered, and my stomach dropped. Though she hadn’t answered, I sensed that it was something dark and dangerous. I gazed closer at Lucas, and that was when I noticed the pool of blood in the snow beneath him.
“Lucas is summoning the reapers,” Mother Miriam said solemnly.
“Summoning them… why?”
“Because their power can take his away,” she explained.
“He’s not going to be the Reaper’s Apprentice anymore?” I asked.
I wanted to be excited about it. It meant the Reaper’s Shadow curse couldn’t touch us. We could be together.
But I sensed something deeper in the way Mother Miriam spoke. She obviously cared very deeply for Lucas.
“If he completes the ritual, he will be washed of his gift,” she explained.
“Why’s that bad, though?” I asked. “He doesn’t want it.”
She turned her gaze back to Lucas. She got this faraway look in her eyes—like she was recalling a special memory. “Because he made a promise to me, Nadine. When I offered him his power, he agreed to accept whatever gift I gave him. And now he is refusing that gift. He went back on his word. I can’t accept him into Alora if he does that.”
The air in the cemetery seemed heavy as a rock. I couldn’t breathe it in. I just stood there, completely frozen and trying to wrap my head around her meaning.
“You’re saying if he goes through with this, he’ll be cast out of the coven?” I asked. “He’ll be damned to the Abyss?”
Deep, unsettling worry twisted around my heart. Mother Miriam nodded solemnly.
“Then we have to stop him!” I insisted. “Lucas!”
Mother Miriam placed a gentle hand on my shoulder to stop me. “I’m afraid we can’t stop it, my child.”
A thick lump rose to my throat. “You don’t have to send him to the Abyss. I-I thought the coven granted second chances.”
“I am offering him a second chance… through you.”
“W-what do you mean?” I asked, but my throat closed so tightly around my words that it barely came out.
“Lucas is doing this for you,” she stated. “As long as you’re around, he will give up his gift to be with you. Once his magic is gone, he’s condemned himself, and his soul can’t enter into Alora… not without a trade.”
My knees grew weak as I realized what she was offering. “I can trade my soul for his?”
“These last few months, your souls have intertwined,” she explained. “I can take one, but not the other.”
“We’ll be apart,” I realized with sinking clarity. “No matter what, we’ll never be together.”
“Yes,” Mother Miriam confirmed. “There are only two outcomes, Nadine. If he gives up his gift for you and you live out your lives together, he’ll end up in the Abyss. Or you can trade your soul for his. I will take away his gift, and he will live his life without the voices, but I will accept him into Alora with open arms. Yet you will be condemned to the Abyss in his place, forever.”
The fact that those were our only two options burned me to the very core. All I wanted was to be with Lucas.
But we couldn’t have that.
If I did this for him, it meant giving up my life and my magic. It meant leaving Grammy behind and never seeing my parents again in Alora. I’d be banished to Hell. I’d have to give up absolutely everything for him.
“Time is running out, Nadine,” Mother Miriam stated. “Will you give up your soul to take Lucas’s place?”
Chapter 23
Lucas
“Take my hand.”
That’s all the reaper said. I couldn’t believe it was that simple.
“That’s it?” I asked.
Edgar’s robes billowed in the wind. “That’s all. I will take the thoughts you’ve collected with me. You will be relieved of your duties. Your power will be taken from you, and you will be sentenced to the Abyss.”
I took a step forward and reached for him. My hand just barely grazed his before he jerked away. His head snapped to the side, like he heard a noise in the distance that had caught his full attention.
I looked in the same direction, but I didn’t see anything. “What is it?”
Edgar turned to me, though I still couldn’t see his features beneath his hood. “I’m sorry. I must go. I have a soul to collect.”
“Wait!” I cried, but he was already backing away from me.
The reaper whirled around. His body glided above the snow and left no prints. I started sprinting after him, but he moved so fast I couldn’t keep up.
“Come back!” I screamed.
The air seemed to suck out of the cemetery the faster I ran. It was only moments before he had vanished from sight.
Panic swept through me. Had I lost my chance? Had he totally abandoned me? Was he coming back?
I slowed and stared after the reaper where he’d disappeared into the trees. A feeling of hopelessness settled over me. I’d missed my chance, hadn’t I?
“I thought we had an agreement!” I shouted.
A leaf tumbled in the wind and caught on my shoe. I kicked it off, but the wind swirled around me, sending the leaf back into my leg. I tried twice more to shake it off, but each time, it came back. Frustrated, I bent to grab it, ready to tear the freaking thing to shreds—
But it wasn’t a leaf at all. I took it in my hands and lifted it. My stomach dropped out of my abdomen. It was a tarot card, the Death card—perhaps the very one I’d thrown into the wind on Halloween. Somehow, it’d come back for me.
It had to be a message. My eyes went wide. I glanced around, like I expected to see someone standing there willing to explain.
“Eric?” I called out to the darkness. “Is this yours? What does it mean? What do you want me to do?”
The voice that answered was the last one I’d ever expected to hear.
“I did it to save you, Lucas. I will always love you.”
I whirled around, expecting her to be standing there, but there was nothing but tombstones beside me.
I’d heard her last thought.
The heart-wrenching realization hit me like the weight of a thousand stunning spells. For a moment, I couldn’t move, couldn’t think. All I could do was stand there as my entire world stopped spinning.
Not my Nadine.
The second her name passed through my mind, I snapped back to attention. No one was taking my Nadine from me!
I started sprinting. I’d never run so hard and fast in my life. The only time that came close was the night of my Evoking Ceremony when I’d rushed home to Eric. It struck me how frightening similar this was. Hurdling over grave stones and sprinting out of the cemetery was a sick form of déjà vu.
I just hoped this time I wasn’t too late…
My sliced palm stung as I pumped my arms. My legs protested as I pushed them harder than I’d ever pushed before. My chest burned with the need for air. But none of that mattered right now, because the thought of losing Nadine hurt more than any other pain I could imagine. I’d gladly welcome a thousand eternities of flesh-burning torture for her.
Houses blurred past me as I ran through town. I sprinted down her grandmother’s street—and stopped in my tracks when I caught sight of the scene in Helena’s living room. I had a mere split second to take it in.
Through the window, I saw Helena, Grant, and Talia seated around Nadine’s body. She hovered in the air as if she was lying on an invisible table. Everyone watched on silently, oblivious to the fact that there was a fucking reaper standing over her! He stood beside her like he was hungry for his next meal.
The only one who seemed to notice something was amiss was Isa. She stood on Talia’s lap, her hair on end, hissing.
The reaper reached out for Nadine and scooped her up. Suddenly, I was seeing double. Nadine’s body remained hovered in the air, but a transparent figure identical to her lay cradled in Edgar’s arms. I didn’t know how I was seeing her soul, but I sensed it was because the reaper had touched both of us tonight.
“Stop!” I screamed.
But no one heard me. Nadine’s body dropped out of the air, slamming to the ground beneath her. All at once, Helena, Grant, and Talia leapt to their feet. Sheer and utter worry marred each of their faces.
I barely had a chance to process it before the reaper was on the move. He stepped through the wall and onto the porch like a ghost. My precious Nadine’s spirit lay lifeless in his arms.
“You can’t do this!” I demanded.
He looked toward me, but he must’ve decided I meant nothing, because he turned away and started toward the trees at the side of Helena’s house. I didn’t know how far I’d already run, but I knew one thing for certain: I’d race to the ends of the earth for Nadine.
I followed the reaper as fast as my legs could carry me. I trampled over dead plants in Helena’s garden and crunched down snow as I raced over the lawn. I followed the reaper into the forest, where the snow was minimal and a clear dirt path paved the way.
“Come back!” I shouted.
Edgar didn’t slow, but somehow, I was catching up.
I heard him mumble something under his breath, and then something frightening happened. I could barely believe my eyes.
In the middle of the forest, a portal opened. One moment, all I saw was shadows of trees in the moonlight. The next, a wide, swirling archway grew from nothing. It expanded until it was large enough to step through. At first, all I saw was blackness around the edges. Then came the distorted image of the horrifying landscape beyond. In the flickering of the portal, I could make out fires that went for miles across a dark, desolate landscape.
The Abyss.
He was taking my Nadine to the Abyss! This was either a sick joke, or a horrible mistake. I had to stop this!
I didn’t know if it was sheer willpower or by the fate of the Goddess, but I finally reached him. My hands shot upward, and my fingers wrapped around the dark fabric of his hood.
I yanked downward, and his hood fell away. He whirled around and thrust his arm outward. A blast of red magic shot out of his hand and slammed into my chest. I went flying backward but hardly made it three feet before slamming into a tree. I slumped to the ground, gasping for air.
It barely fazed me, because what I saw next shook me to my very core. The reaper turned, and I caught sight of his face—his true, deadly form. The legends of the reapers were true. They walked the earth as a shadow of death. His face was nothing but a skull. There were no muscles, no skin—just pure white bone. His eyes were completely hollow—a deep, dark black that seemed to suck my life energy just looking at them. He was the very embodiment of death.
“You can’t save her,” he snarled. “She’s my assignment.”
His jaw moved, but he had no lips to form his words. Somehow, they came out sounding clear.
“I’d be damned if I didn’t try,” I growled.
I raised my hands, and purple magic shot out of my palms. A stunning spell slammed into his chest. His feet swept out from under him, and he went tumbling backward. Nadine’s spirit fell from his arms, and she hovered in the air limply.
I jumped to my feet. At the same time, the reaper sliced his hand through the air, and I felt a sharp pain on my face, as if an invisible dagger had cut my skin open. The warmth of blood trickled down my face, but I didn’t stop to assess the damage. I hurdled over the reaper and reached out for Nadine. I nearly touched her soul, but I didn’t get there before a cold hand grasped my ankle.
/> “Let me go!” I shouted.
I drew my foot back and slammed my heel into his face. A satisfying crunch met my ears, though it didn’t seem to slow him down. He squeezed my ankle tighter and yanked me backward, dragging me through the snowy dirt. My hands clawed desperately outward, but I couldn’t find a handhold.
“You can’t stop this,” he warned, before drawing his arm back and slamming it into my cheek to slow me down.
Ever been punched by a reaper? Turns out, their swing is fucking strong. He had the punch of a freaking heavyweight champion, yet he didn’t have a single muscle on him. Pain radiated across my face, and a blast of red flashed across my vision. The world spun around me. I was half surprised he hadn’t knocked me out right then and there.
The reaper left my side to go to Nadine, but there was no way I was giving up now. I jumped to my feet, though it felt as if the earth was rocking beneath me. I forced my eyes open, but only my right one followed my command. The left was completely swollen shut.
He reached out for Nadine. I couldn’t stand the excruciating thought of death touching her. Not today.
I totally and one-hundred percent lost it.
“You’re gonna have to try harder than that,” I growled.
Fury swept through me, and I threw all of my anger into my magic. A sizzling ball of magic swelled in my palms. As the magic came too much to hold on to, it shot from my hands and went spinning toward the reaper. My battle magic landed at his feet and exploded, sending him blasting away from the portal and my Nadine.
It disoriented him enough that I gained the upper hand. I threw all my weight at him and grabbed him by the back of the robes. I gritted my teeth and screamed as I spun him around. I intended to use his moment to smash his head into a tree, but I guess I forgot we were fighting on different planes. My magic worked against him, but other weapons didn’t. His skull went through the damn tree. I swung him to the ground and threw myself between him and Nadine.
“You can’t have her!” I cried.
He pushed himself up, like he hadn’t felt a thing. How the hell was I supposed to fight a freaking skeleton? He didn’t feel pain. He couldn’t be choked or bruised or knocked out. Plus, he was fucking strong. I was at a total disadvantage, but I’d still do anything to defeat him.