“Yes, but she realized way too late that dying for Ocean’s ridiculous plan wasn’t worth it. Ocean’s done nothing but deceive you, Skylar. You must see that now.”
Skylar had to admit that Milicent wasn’t wrong. Is Ocean the reason Mom died? No, I can’t believe that. But she let Rhia die—
“And Rachel.” Milicent snickered. “I have to say I’ve enjoyed her decades of suffering in silence, watching another woman raise you as her own. It was more than I ever would have gotten out of just killing you. No offense.” She picked up a bottle of Grey Goose and poured the clear liquid into a chilled glass. “The one I feel for is Veronica. She has been through such pain, losing her daughter. I can only keep the reins on Joshua for so long. He’s a work in progress, really.” She shrugged and gulped her martini. “They have all gotten bogged down in the minutiae of this crappy existence, losing sight of the ultimate goal. With that book we will be the new leaders, the new saviors, the new goddesses of our time. And our time will last for centuries.” She raised her glass and finished her drink.
“Immortality,” Skylar whispered.
“Yes!” Milicent raised her voice with excitement. “If you could live forever, wouldn’t you? God, I am so close, Skylar. And I am willing to take you along with me. This is the side you want to be on, the winning side.” She glanced out the window; the dark sky outside was beginning to lighten. “We have a monumental day ahead of us. Let’s make history, shall we?” Milicent threw her glass into the cold fireplace, shattering it in celebration. “I’m going to sleep now. I will see you this afternoon.”
She left Skylar standing in the kitchen, staring into the void. As sleep would not be in her immediate future, she headed to make a cup of coffee.
“Skylar, see to it that sound check goes smoothly, will you?” Milicent said over the phone. “We will be along shortly.”
“Of course, ma’am,” Skylar said. She hadn’t seen Joshua since Rhia died, but she never said no to Milicent. And all these months later, she still called her ma’am. She figured it was too soon for Aunt Millie.
She made herself look as amazing as possible for sound check. She wore her hair down, and her sparkly white tank top and jeans accentuated her tanned skin.
At four thirty, Joshua appeared on stage. He was alone.
“You’re early,” she said to him.
He looked up from his set list and scanned her body. “You’re different.”
She stood firm, looking at him. “You’re the same.” His aura was the faintest green. Skylar wasn’t surprised it was dim, but she was surprised at the color. What little humanity he had left within . . . was guided by his heart? That couldn’t be right.
He walked toward her, and an image of him the first night they met went through her mind. He had such control over her then. She was helpless to fight his advances. How different things were now.
He stared into her eyes, and for a brief moment Skylar saw a human soul—the boy that had been broken so long ago. She softened slightly. But Joshua’s face closed, rejecting her compassion, and he turned away without a word. Skylar walked back to the tunnel behind the stage and breathed a sigh of relief.
“So, where does event planning fit in to your life’s goal of equine therapy?” a voice asked.
Skylar turned to see Suki and Kyle coming through the tunnel toward her, and she lost all focus on the task at hand. She was so happy to see her friends. “You guys came!” she gushed.
“We wouldn’t miss this level of crazy for anything!” Kyle said, laughing.
“I’ll get you down front,” Skylar said, leading them toward seats in the arena.
At seven o’clock, every seat was filled. Many ticket holders were stomping their feet in anticipation of Joshua’s show, an unruly mob demanding to see their idol. The Grayers still hadn’t arrived, and Skylar was getting nervous. She stared at Milicent’s number on her phone but couldn’t bring herself to press send. She was expected to handle anything that came her way, including delays.
Joshua took the stage to thunderous applause. The band came to life, and the light show began. Laser beams bounced in every corner of the arena as Joshua moved back and forth on stage, giving the performance of his career. Skylar watched from behind the curtain. His magnetism was truly not of this world. The audience screamed with hysteria. Skylar couldn’t understand the decibel level. She, of all people, understood the attraction, but it didn’t warrant the feverish madness she was witnessing.
“We’re late, Millie. We’re never late. We’ve got to go,” Devlin said from the bedroom.
Milicent was slow to respond, staring at her reflection in the bathroom mirror, expressionless. Finally, she said, “They wait for us, dear. Remember that.” She emerged from the bathroom in head-to-toe red leather. Her platinum hair and alabaster skin looked ghostly against her crimson attire. The night was hot as hell, but she was ice-cold.
Devlin was shocked. “Millie! In all our years together, I’ve never seen you in anything but purple!”
“Well,” she said in her kitten tone, “this is a very special occasion.”
They went downstairs to a waiting town car. She took his hand in the backseat.
“You deserve this night, Dev, for your political success and your breakthrough in the lab.”
“Breakthrough?” he asked in a distracted tone, busy looking over his index cards.
“Yes, dear. You don’t have to hide it from me. I read your papers. You found the genome.”
“Millie, I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“The genome for complete cell regeneration,” she said, anger creeping into her voice. “You know I hate it when you play dumb, Devlin.”
The car pulled up to the talent entrance, and security guards escorted them inside the pulsing arena. They walked down the tunnel toward the stage and the roaring crowd. Joshua had finished his first set, and the Grayers were expected to make their initial appearance.
“When were you going to tell me?” Milicent said, sauntering down the tunnel in her thigh-high stiletto boots. She tried to keep her tone sweet, but anger seeped in. “I mean, I want to celebrate your success. You know that. My only regret is that I didn’t find it first.”
Skylar met the Grayers in the tunnel just as handlers motioned for the couple to climb the three stories of steps up to the stage door. She could tell by the look on Milicent’s face that she should keep her mouth shut.
The crowd in the arena started chanting “Grayer! Grayer!” over and over.
The three of them climbed the fifty steps to the top of the scaffolding platform. Every side was covered in dark curtain. Devlin pushed one aside to see cold cement below. “God, that’s a long way down.” He looked back at Milicent. “Millie, we have to go out there now. We’re already behind schedule. Let’s talk about this later. Skylar, how do we get out on the stage?”
“You’re not listening to me!” Milicent seethed. “You knew I wanted that for my legacy. I was so close, and you stole it from me!”
It was Devlin’s turn to grow angry now. “God damn it, Milicent,” he said sternly. “I have overlooked your dabbling in witchcraft since the day we met. I even took into account how detrimental it would be to my political career before starting this whole thing. You had no actual chance at finding immortality through your cockamamie attempts. Your foolish quests to find eternal life through the occult are just that—foolish!” He turned to Skylar. “Show me the way out of here!” he demanded. “Are you coming, Milicent?”
“Of course, dear.” Milicent’s syrupy tone returned. Skylar marveled at how she could turn it on at will. Milicent took Devlin’s hand. “You had the wrong curtain, my love.” She pulled back an adjacent curtain, and in a rush Devlin stepped out—into blackness. Dangling in the air, the only lifeline keeping him from dropping fifty feet to the concrete below was Milicent’s hand.
Devlin screamed, but no one could hear him over the raucous crowd. His face contorted with fear. “Millie, what have you done?”
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Skylar was frozen in place, unable to believe that what she was witnessing was actually taking place.
“I’m sorry you never took me seriously,” Milicent said calmly. “But no one makes their dreams come true by waiting their turn.” She opened her fingers and released Devlin’s hand. “And I’ve told you a dozen times, never call it witchcraft!” she called after him as he dropped toward the ground.
Skylar gasped and lunged forward but didn’t have a chance at grabbing his hand.
Milicent turned away with a sigh, not even waiting to see him land on the pavement below.
Joshua ran through the stage curtain. “What’s the holdup? Where’s Devlin?”
“He’s been detained,” Milicent said dryly, tucking in one strand of errant hair and straightening her jacket. Skylar was speechless.
“You have a crowd out there that wants to see their presidential candidate,” Joshua said. “What are you going to do?”
“I’m going to give them one,” Milicent said as she exited the platform.
Skylar was left on the scaffolding with Joshua.
“That woman is fucking nuts,” he said, shaking his head. Skylar had to agree. “I need a drink,” he said, and bounded down the back steps with a backwards look.
Skylar watched him go, wondering how she ended up on the same side as Joshua, then rushed to the side of the scaffolding Devlin had been dropped from. Was he even alive after that fall?
A team of handlers was already there, tending to Devlin— who, it seemed, was unconscious but not dead. Skylar wasn’t sure if she should remain at her post as directed by Milicent or see if she could help Devlin, but before she had to make a decision, an ambulance stretcher came careening down the tunnel below her perch, and she decided to stay where she was. If anyone asked her questions about what had happened, she wouldn’t know how to answer. The incident was definitely not in her detailed action plan for the evening.
With Devlin taken care of, Skylar moved to the curtain facing the stage and peered through, curious to see what Milicent would do next.
Milicent was still floating down the stage steps, looking like an angel. The thundering applause that had initially greeted her had faded when the audience realized she was alone, but she seemed unfazed.
“Ladies and gentlemen, adoring supporters, thank you for coming out tonight to celebrate the assured nomination of Devlin Grayer,” she began.
The crowd erupted again, assuming he was about to step through the curtain.
“Devlin had a misstep on his way out here and has fallen.” The crowd gasped and started to talk amongst themselves. “Please, everyone,” she said, “I assure you, he is fine. He needs medical care but will be in perfect order to attend the convention next month and run a successful race. I am confident he will win the White House in November.”
Skylar watched Milicent intently through the curtain. She saw her mouth moving again, but now she couldn’t tell what she was saying.
“She’s using the principle of entrainment to manipulate the emotions of the crowd,” Ocean said, appearing at Skylar’s side. Ronnie and Rachel were standing behind her. Both looked like they could stand to gain a few pounds.
“We’re here to help you, Skylar,” Ronnie said, giving her best Rosie the Riveter fist pump. She forced a smile, but it didn’t reach the permanent sadness in her eyes.
“You came back from India?” Skylar asked.
“It will still be there when all this is over,” Ronnie said.
“Will it?” Ocean asked. “Pessimist,” Ronnie said rolling her eyes. She looked at Skylar. “Ocean loves to predict the end of the world.”
“This is hardly the end of the world. It’s just Milicent,” Rachel said. For all the misery of the last month, Rachel looked lighter, as if a massive weight had been lifted from her shoulders. She smiled at Skylar, and for the first time, laugh lines appeared on her face.
Skylar threw herself at her and gave her a hug. She hadn’t figured out a way to let go of the hurt, but she was tired of the conflict within her heart. Rachel’s arms engulfed her.
“I’m going to fix this right now,” Rachel said. “I should have done it long ago.”
Skylar quickly composed herself. “What is entrainment?”
“She is attuning the crowd to her vibration,” Ronnie said. “Basically changing their point of view to welcome whatever she throws at them.”
“Brainwashing?” Skylar asked.
“Similar, but with no incriminating evidence left behind,” Rachel said. “Whatever she’s piping into the air is helping her, too.” She pointed to a large, cannon-shaped tube above them. It was releasing a sweet-smelling vapor. Skylar almost rubbed her eyes with astonishment. How had she missed that little detail? She scanned the crowd in front for Suki and Kyle. She had to get her friends out of there, but they were not in their seats.
They continued watching. The crowd, so recently raging in reaction to Joshua’s performance, had quieted substantially—in fact, it now resembled Woodstock’s marijuana-mellow audiences. On cue, Milicent’s minions lit torches around the three tiers of the arena. Quickly, the entire venue was ablaze with controlled fire and smoke. The subdued crowd applauded politely at the light show. They were mesmerized by the spectacle before them, all eyes fixed on the flames.
Milicent started an incantation:
Hail in peace! I repeat to you the good deeds my own heart did for me from within the serpent-coil, in order to silence strife . . .
I made the four winds, that every man might breathe in his time . . .
I made the great inundation, that the humble might benefit by it like the great . . .
I made every man like his fellow; and I did not command that they do wrong. It is their hearts that disobey what I have said . . .
I have created the gods from my sweat, and the people from the tears of my eye.
As if the crowd had been reading Milicent’s mind, they recited the next lines together, like a pledge of allegiance:
I shall sail rightly in my bark, I am lord of eternity in the crossing of the sky.
I am not afraid in my limbs, for Hu and Hike overthrow for me that evil being.
I shall see light-land, I shall dwell in it . . .
Make way for me, that I may see Nun and Amun! For I am that Akh who passes by the guards . . .
I am equipped and effective in opening his portal!
As for any person who knows this spell, he will be like Re in the eastern sky, like Osiris in the netherworld. He will go down to the circle of fire, without the flame touching him ever!
“And there it is.” Ocean said. She burst through the curtains and ran down the steps toward the stage. “She never does anything by half, does she?” she called over her shoulder.
“What is she saying?” Skylar asked as they all followed Ocean.
“She’s enacting a spell from the Egyptian Book of the Dead,” Ronnie said breathlessly. “It’s always been one of her favorites.”
The flames broke free of their containers and snaked their way to the floors. They were dangerously close to the crowds but appeared to be following a set route. They reached the stage and began crawling up the walls. The stage burst to life with red fire, the flames lapping around a golden pyramid of energy that suspended Milicent in a cocoon of protection. Her appearance morphed, demon-like; her porcelain face wrinkled slightly. Her flaming red eyes revealed her true intent.
As Skylar followed Rachel, Ronnie, and Ocean down toward the stage, she realized she felt better than she had in months, despite the insanity Milicent was creating. She felt loved and a part of this tribe that accepted her as one of their own. No matter what happened tonight or in the future, she knew they all had her back, and that meant more to her than anything.
As they ran onto the stage, the spectacle continued to unfold. An opening appeared above the crowd nearest the stage—a curtain moving aside to reveal another dimension behind the one they all resided within. An intense beam of
light shone down from the full moon above, drawing everyone’s attention away from the mesmerizing flames. As everyone in the arena looked up, a vast pit opened in the stage behind Milicent, getting ready to receive its sacrifice.
Skylar’s jaw dropped. The crowd engulfed in flames was eerily similar to the scene Magda had shown her on the hill. And Skylar had helped bring it to life. She was on the wrong side.
“Mother Earth can’t possibly be a part of this,” Skylar said, looking at the pit.
“That’s not the earth opening up,” Ocean said. “It’s the underworld. The arena floor is untouched on the physical plane.”
“You mean hell?” Skylar asked.
“No, underworld,” Ocean said. “It’s one of the many holding areas for souls waiting to return to earth.”
“She wants to release all the souls?” Skylar asked.
“Nope, just one,” Ronnie said.
Just like that, Milicent’s plan crystallized in Skylar’s mind. She and the others tried to make their way toward Milicent, but it was like walking onto a tarmac where a dozen helicopters were going at once. The wind was impossibly strong, and the sound from the open portals roared painfully in their ears. Everyone stopped in their tracks.
A bright halo of white light appeared over Milicent’s pyramid. Its rays bounced off in brilliant prisms into every corner of the arena. They faded after a moment, and then Magda appeared in front of Milicent.
“No!” Skylar shouted.
Magda looked at Skylar and spoke without words. I warned you this could happen. But according to our law, she’s done nothing wrong. In fact, it’s just the opposite. Milicent followed an ancient plan to the letter.
Skylar shook her head. “This isn’t right!”
I must grant her what she seeks, the return of her sister, Magda said. She closed her eyes and started her own invocation. Milicent started to rise within her pyramid. The beam of moonlight slowly traveled toward the pit below.
Ocean paused for just a moment, then cut through the wind and noise, this time with ease. She positioned herself on stage just beyond the cone of energy between the moon and the underworld, raised her arms into the air, and started to conjure a spell of her own:
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