Eva shook her head. “If you want me to rule below, with you, then why would you want me above, here, with my friends and family?”
“Because, my dear, we’re going to rule above and below. We’re going to rule the world.”
He advanced and held her against him. She struggled to get away, not caring if she died in the process. She’d rather die than have his dead witch mother’s spirit writhing around inside her. Could Eva overpower her, or would Eva Nolan as everyone knew her, cease to exist?
Cormac pressed his lips against hers, and said, “I’m not a monster, Eva. I just miss my mother.” Then he kissed her, slowly, excruciatingly slowly.
Eva closed her eyes and kissed him back while deftly reaching for his cane, hoping that if in her possession, she could fight him off, and free the school from the barrier that he’d erected.
Cormac trailed his lips to her ear, and then bit down, hard. Eva screamed in pain.
He spoke in her ear. “Nice try, Eva, but your kisses won’t fool me. I can see into your mind, remember?”
She failed to find his cane in time before he gripped her throat, applying pressure. She could breathe, but just barely.
“I-I thought that was only when I was having a vision?”
Cormac shook his head and tightened his grip. “I can see into your mind all the time. I can manipulate it.” He squeezed harder. “I can break it.”
“Why did you use Lucas?” she managed to say, as he loosed his grip—just a little.
“He was easy to use,” Cormac said simply.
“Is he going to die?”
“Yes. They are all going to die, one day, Eva, except for you and me.”
Cormac released Eva’s throat and she took a deep breath, in and out. He didn’t let her go, though, keeping an iron grip on her arm.
“Why am I so special?” she asked, her voice strained.
“My mother chose you,” he said.
“But why? Out of all the Banshees, out of all the girls in the world, why me?”
Cormac was silent. He didn’t know, Eva realized.
“Your mother has an agenda. She can’t be trusted.”
Cormac shook Eva, angry. “You shut your mouth! Only when my mother has possessed your body, will you speak, and not before!”
“She’s going to destroy me!” Eva shouted.
“I said shut your mouth!” Cormac shouted back.
He yanked her arm and pulled her to the hole in the earth, the entrance, Eva supposed, to the Underworld.
“No!” she screamed. “NO! Help me! Someone help me!”
Cormac had her positioned over the hole. Once he let go, she would fall.
“No one can save you now!”
“Eva!” a voice shouted.
Eva looked up and smiled. Her ancestors, Muirgen and Aghamora were here.
“No, it can’t be!” Cormac said, and almost lost his grip on her, but reclaimed it before she fell.
It was Aghamora who’d shouted her name. “Take my hand!” She extended her ghostly hand, as she floated on the other side of the hole in the earth.
Eva shook her head. “I can’t!”
“Take my hand!”
A scream erupted from down below.
Cormac gripped Eva tighter. “Mother’s waiting.”
“Take mine!” Muirgen then shouted from across the void.
Eva was scared, but extended her hand to Muirgen, just in time for Cormac to push her into the hole. But Eva didn’t fall. Muirgen, above, held her tight. Eva breathed a sigh of relief—until another hand, below, gripped her ankle, pulling her down.
“No!” Eva shouted. “Pull me up!” she pleaded to Muirgen.
Saoirse held Eva’s ankle in her grip. One more tug and Eva would fall—and be claimed by Saoirse’s spirit.
Muirgen’s hand was cold and transparent, yet Eva’s doppelganger ghost ancestor held her securely. Then something happened that Eva didn’t expect. Muirgen vanished. Eva was surprised to find that she was floating above the hole in the earth. Saoirse had screamed and let Eva’s ankle go when Muirgen, spirit as she was, traveled into Eva’s body. Eva felt as if she’d grown wings. Her body was lighter than a feather.
“No!” Cormac yelled, and advanced to Eva/Muirgen.
Aghamora grabbed Eva’s hand and pulled her across the widening chasm. Cormac extended his cane, as if to strike them both, but Eva miraculously caught it in her hand, and knocked it against his head. Blood trickled from the gash that she’d made.
“Why?” he asked, sounding anguished, as the blood dripped and dripped.
Eva was speechless. Muirgen was not, holding the cane firmly in her grasp. “My sister and I have paid for our crimes. Now it’s your turn.”
And with another strike of the cane, Cormac fell into the darkness. The hole in the earth remained.
“You must seal it,” Aghamora said, indicating the cane. “And we must go below.”
Eva was confused. “We?”
“My sister and I,” said Muirgen, in Eva’s voice.
She was effectively talking to herself. “Could you let me down?” Eva asked her, noticing that she was still floating in the air.
Eva/Muirgen descended safely to the ground, and Muirgen left Eva’s body. Eva felt heavy now that she had control of her body again. She wondered how she could go on, feeling such weight on her shoulders.
“What do you mean you have to go below?” Eva asked Aghamora.
“We’ve been tasked with keeping Cormac and Saoirse in the Underworld,” she said. Then she nodded to her sister. “We’ll keep them below, away from you, away from the world.”
“By why you? Why not someone else?”
Eva knew that she’d miss them. They were her family, after all.
“It’s our fault what happened. The curse. The legacy.”
Eva shook her head. “That’s bullshit. Like Muirgen said, you’ve done your time.”
Muirgen cupped Eva’s cheek. Her touch was cold, but Eva didn’t mind. “We have, but Saoirse and Cormac are our responsibility now.”
“What will you do with them? Keep them imprisoned?”
“As best we can,” said Aghamora. “But we need your help.”
Eva held up the cane. Cormac’s cane. “How?”
“After we’ve descended, break the cane. The hole will close, trapping us below with them, but also preventing their escape. The barrier that Cormac erected at the school will vanish, as well. You’ll be reunited with your friends,” she added, smiling.
Eva was crying. “But I can’t. It’s not fair to you. You made a mistake, that’s all. You were just children.”
“Children who knew better,” said Muirgen. She squeezed Eva’s hand. “Don’t mourn us, dear Eva. I’m glad that we got a chance to know you. The curse is a curse, but only a hardship unless you make it. We’re all cursed, in one way or another. It is how we adapt to our misfortunes that make us who we are: do we bemoan our fate, and let it destroy us? Or do we use it to our advantage?”
“How?” Eva asked.
“You have the gift of foresight,” said Aghamora. “You know when someone is about to die. Save them!”
Eva didn’t know how, but she’d find a way. She’d turn her curse into a blessing.
“I will,” said Eva. “Thank you, for everything.”
Aghamora extended her hand to Muirgen. “It’s time, sister.”
The sisters joined hands and floated above the dark hole. “Goodbye,” they said in unison.
“Goodbye,” Eva returned, crying.
“The cane,” Aghamora reminded Eva. “Don’t forget.”
Eva nodded. “I won’t.”
The sisters gave her a farewell smile and disappeared. Eva stood at the edge, at the entrance to the Underworld. She heard a scream. Saoirse, she hoped, screaming in agony at her defeat. Eva’s name was whispered in an anguished voice. Cormac. He was calling to her, pleading for her to save him.
“You’re not worth saving,” she said, and br
oke the cane.
About the Author
Melanie Matthews is the author of Coldhearted, Burning Hearts, The Rebel Prince, and Stargazer. She lives in South Carolina.
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