The Regaymor swarmed as I tried to push my way to the warrior. In frustration, I released my magic, infusing black powers with the other two. The creatures screamed as flames flew from my fingertips, consuming them in white-hot fire that burned their cloaks first, then turned them to ash.
I blasted more and more. Any Regaymor in my path I destroyed with my magic. My mind had become absorbed by the violence of killing them all. I found Kull lying on the ground. Blood streamed down his face. Kneeling beside him, I took his hand in mine.
“Kull, can you hear me?”
Maveryck and Heidel fought behind me. I could barely hear my own voice over the battle and the roar coming from the open rift.
“Kull!” I repeated.
His eyes fluttered open, although he stared dazedly at the sky. The ground shook as Theht opened the rift wider. I fell back as the earth broke apart, spraying dirt into the air. Both Kull and I got to our feet as fire burst up through the open fissures in the ground.
“She’s going to tear our world apart if we don’t stop her!” I yelled to Kull.
He grabbed his sword. “We’ll stop her together. Can you use your magic to destroy that shield surrounding her?”
“Yes, I’ll try.”
We stumbled over the uneven ground toward the rift where Theht stood. The goddess still held her hands out, keeping the rift open with her magic. I knew now was my only chance to stop her. While she used her magic in the rift, she would only be able to use a limited amount of power against me.
I blasted out with my magic, using the same spell I’d used against the Regaymor. The shield shook. Cracks fractured its surface, but it didn’t break apart. I stepped closer, a whirlwind filling my ears as I increased the flow of my energy, hitting the shield until my own power blinded me and burned my skin.
Kull and I powered forward as Theht’s shield broke apart. The dome melted as if it were liquid, dripping like wax to the ground. Theht’s eyes widened as Kull struck out, so preternaturally fast she had no time to react as he stabbed her through the heart, then ripped the sword free.
She screamed and fell back. Blood pooled from the open wound as she clutched at her chest.
“You,” she hissed, “can destroy this body.” A wicked smile lit her face. “But can you destroy another?” She stared up at the sky. “I… release this body… to enter another.”
The goddess collapsed. A black mist formed over the prostrate figure, flowing and snaking like fog as it gathered into a more cohesive shape. Without warning, the black fog enveloped me, wrapping around my arms and legs, then entered through my chest.
I froze.
My heart stopped beating.
I tried to breathe, but couldn’t. My lungs constricted. I tried to move, to speak, but my body refused to cooperate.
We are one now, Olive, Theht said, her voice louder than I’d ever heard it before. My body moved backward, toward the rift, where I stood on the edge. Below me, I stared into an immense void where flames soared upward and on currents of overheated air, although the Regaymor no longer rose into our world.
I watched my arms move up and initiate a spell to call to the Regaymor. Magic streamed from my body, though I never called it. I still had my mind as I watched helplessly, but Theht had complete control over my body.
As I stood on the ledge, I felt myself turn around. Still holding the sword dripping with blood, Kull stood facing me. Theht’s body lay at his feet. Behind me, the screams of the Regaymor were carried on the wind as my magic allowed them into the world once again.
Chapter Twenty-Four
I stood on the ledge overlooking the rift between worlds. Theht controlled my body, but I still had my own mind and my own consciousness. She hadn’t won yet. Still, I had to find a way to speak to Kull, to let him know I was here.
Lightning sparked through the clouds overhead. Thunder boomed in its wake. Beyond Kull, Maveryck and Heidel battled the Regaymor. I attempted to move my hands, but couldn’t as the goddess kept a steady stream of magic flowing.
The rift.
I had to close it. If I didn’t, if I let the Regaymor continue to infiltrate this world, there would be nothing left to save. I reached out with all my senses, trying to take control of my body in any way I could.
Kull took a step toward me. “Olive?”
I tried to make my mouth move, but felt as if I was pushing against a mountain. Looking into his eyes, I knew I had to say something. He tightened his grip on the sword.
“Theht,” he called as a flame burst behind me and more Regaymor burst free. “Close the rift!” he demanded.
“No.” She spoke to him in my voice.
“Close it now!”
“I will not. You will not stop me now. You cannot do it. You have slain one body, but you will not touch this one. I have seen all. I have been a part of her. I know her weaknesses, and I know yours.”
I screamed inside as I heard my own voice. An all-consuming anger filled me—the feeling of being utterly used by the goddess—of having my power and control taken away. I wanted to lash out and make her suffer, but I’d never once been able to beat Theht with anger. She was more intimately familiar with pain and anger than I would ever hope to be. Instead, I forced my mind to stay calm, to hold onto the last remaining beacon of hope I had. My death would bring her end.
I felt my hands form fists, and I knew I had controlled my own movements. She fought against me, but as I kept my mind calm, her power over me began to slip away.
“Kull,” I called, controlling my own voice for once. “I’m still here!”
His hands gripped the sword tighter. “Is it you?”
“Yes! Listen to me. You must kill her now. Now! Please, destroy her while you can.”
“I can’t.”
“You have to. It’s the only way she’ll die. If you don’t, she’ll take our world. She’ll kill you and everyone in it.”
“Olive, I won’t do it.”
The rain picked up, a driving torrent that railed against us. A flash of lightning illumined his face—the strong set of his jaw, those haunting blue eyes. I would miss him so much—I didn’t even have the words to describe the pain.
Theht warred against me, trying to tear my power away, but my calmness kept her from taking control. I still couldn’t move my body, but as long as I could speak to him, I wouldn’t stop. She was not going to win this.
“Kull,” I cried out. “You know what you have to do. This is the only way to kill her for good.”
Rain streaked down his face. “I can’t,” he repeated, with less conviction this time.
“Yes, you can. Do it for me, Kull. Do it because you love me.”
“How can you ask such a thing of me?”
More Regaymor escaped. The world shook as fire exploded behind me.
“Kull, please! She’s killing me anyway. She’ll never let me live. She won’t let anyone live. Please!”
He took another step forward. Tears misted his eyes, combining with the rain. He drove the sword into my body. The blade hit with such force I actually felt my breath leave in a painful gasp. After that, the air didn’t return. Although I tried to breathe in, I couldn’t.
Theht raged inside me, screaming with a force so loud and overpowering, I stumbled back and fell into the rift. Clouds of orange smoke fogged my vision. The goddess flayed inside, screaming, clawing, but she wouldn’t survive. Her time was over.
It’s finished, I told her.
No!
Yes, your time has ended. The prophecy has been fulfilled. You can be no more. You die with me.
Her screams grew quiet as the rift absorbed my body. I floated weightlessly, feeling as if I’d left my body. But as Theht’s voice disappeared, blissful silence filled my head. Slowly, I realized I could still feel my fingers, and then my toes.
Around me, only whiteness surrounded me, and I wasn’t sure where I’d gone. Was I still in the rift?
My magic gathered in my chest, growing stronger until I
felt it move toward the ring I wore. The gemstones glowed white, warming me, calming and soothing as the magic wrapped me in its cocoon.
One thought drove me forward.
Close the rift.
Looking below me, I felt my body rising. I realized that I was still in the rift, but I floated up, over the battlefield. Two forms swooped down out of the sky and onto the field. I recognized both Silvestra and the sky king. With the asteroid now destroyed, my stepfather’s powers must have returned.
The two dragons circled the field and then swooped down, landing near where Heidel and Maveryck fought. They clashed with the Regaymor, driving them back into the rift. Kull knelt on the ground, his sword laid out in front of him, his head bowed. He looked like a man broken beyond repair. My heart shattered. I reached for him, but couldn’t move any closer.
Close the rift. It is time. This time, it was Lucretian’s voice who spoke to me.
My hands rose. Pure magic streamed from my ring and through my fingertips as I let the power flow into the rift.
A portal opened. The Regaymor were pulled inside as it grew wider, sucking them back into the world they’d come from. Their unnatural wails sounded far below me, and they too disappeared.
I tried to move out of the opening, but it sucked me inside. A white glow encircled my wrists and ankles, then pulled me deeper into the gateway. A mist of white fog obscured my vision, and the field, the dragons, the warriors, and Kull all disappeared behind the curtain.
My ears popped with the change in gravity. The rift collapsed as the portal interacted with its magic. The power crushed me, and I felt as if the pressure would kill me unless I did something to stop it.
Tears blurred my eyes as the weight increased. My thoughts grew frantic as I reached out and blasted my magic into the gateway, attempting to seal it shut with pure magic. The dazzling light glittered before me in an array of rainbow-filtered colors. As the portal closed, the fissure in the ground began to shrink. The pressure decreased as the rift closed, sealing it. But I knew it could never be opened again, so I manipulated the pure magic into it, closing it permanently and destroying the portal around me.
My fingernails dug deep into my skin as I fisted my hands. Anguish tore through me. I knew this was the only way to keep the world safe, but the price I paid would be a sacrifice I would always regret.
Beneath me, the ground boomed as the two ridges of earth slammed together. As the rift disappeared, the gateway also collapsed, sending me back to my own reality. A brisk wind made the tears on my cheeks grow cold. I landed on my back on my apartment floor. The portal’s light slowly faded overhead, its glittering colors dwindling until the pure magic diminished, sealing it shut—sealing all portals shut. Forever.
A week later, I lay on a rent-a-couch in my apartment. It was morning, but I hadn’t slept all night. Time didn’t have any meaning to me anymore. The pain hadn’t stopped once. I’d expected to feel somewhat human again after a week of misery, but no such luck.
My phone rang—Dr. Hill’s ringtone—but I didn’t answer it. He’d been trying to call me for a couple of days, ever since I’d stupidly told him what had happened. And now the man wanted to fix me. Fix me. How could someone be fixed when there were no working parts left?
I was broken beyond repair. When I had sealed all portals shut forever, I had sealed my own fate. I would never see Kull again.
The clock ticked on the wall. Its incessant sound reminded me I was alive, although I felt dead inside. Dead and alone.
Everything that was prophesied to happen had happened. I had become the Deathbringer, destroyed the world, and taken the lives of billions. Kull had killed me—or close enough—he thought I was dead, and I wasn’t sure I could argue the point. I wasn’t sure how much meaning life had left to me anymore.
I had mended the rift—the one thing Lucretian had told me to fear—and now I knew why. It was done. All the prophecies had been fulfilled. Unsurprisingly, I hadn’t gotten my happy ending.
But there was still a silver lining. There always was if I took the time to look for it. Theht was dead, both our worlds were saved, and there was no chance she could put them in danger ever again. I no longer had to worry about becoming the Deathbringer.
Han stalked out of the bedroom and into the living room, then sat and stared at me. He didn’t mewl or jump onto my lap. After a minute, he stood and walked to his empty food bowl, sniffed it, then crossed back toward me and sat again.
Grudgingly, I stood and stumbled into the kitchen. After scooping his food, I stared around the kitchen, wondering why it was such a mess, but feeling too depressed to do anything about it.
When I tried to make it back into the living room to resume my sentence on the couch, I tripped over my pack.
I stooped to pick it up, but when I lifted it, my Barbie mirror fell out.
Stupid thing.
Of course, without the portals, the mirror was obsolete. When I plucked it off the floor, not feeling any magic inside, I was reminded of my state of loneliness once again.
I stomped to the trash can, intent on throwing it away, when the corner of a piece of paper slid out.
Odd.
I placed the mirror on the counter and opened it. A folded sheet of parchment—the kind used in Faythander—rested atop my figurines. Curious, I picked it up and unfolded it. The script was written in Kull’s hand.
Dear Olive,
I write this on the morning after our wedding as I watch you sleep. It occurred to me as I woke during that dark hour before the sun rises that I’ve never been able to express how I feel about you. It’s never been easy for me to talk about my emotions. I’m Wult and we’re just lousy at that kind of thing. So, I thought perhaps this would be easier to say in writing. I’ve told you I love you before and I’m sure I’ll say those words for many years to come, until the words become so trite that saying them no longer means anything. The words will come too easily and end up a rote phrase, like a greeting, a farewell, or an oration recited too many times to count. So I thought perhaps you should know exactly what these words mean to me.
I love you.
It means you are my life.
I love you.
It means you are my everything.
I love you.
Without you, I am nothing. You are my forever. Neither time, distance, or death will change how I feel.
I love you and always will.
-Kull
I read the letter repeatedly, until my tears made the letters blur. With shaking hands, I folded the letter and placed it back atop my figurines. My gaze snagged on my ring.
All the magic was gone from the jewels, yet still I wore it. The ring, like the letter, gave me hope.
I will find a way back to him. I don’t care how long it takes, but it will happen.
It will not end this way.
Again, my phone rang. It sat on the counter near me, Dr. Hill’s number appearing on the screen. I debated on whether to answer it.
Was I ready to talk to him? I realized that if I did this, it meant I was moving on. I was accepting that Kull would no longer be a part of my life, and I would have to live with that fact for a very, very long time.
Finally, I relented and answered.
“Before you say anything,” I said before he had the chance to speak, “I’ve got to tell you something first. I’m not okay and I fully admit it. I’m broken beyond repair. If you want me to fix anyone, it will be a complete farce, because you’re asking someone who’s completely ruined to do it. It will be the greatest hypocrisy the world has ever seen. But if you still want me, I’m here. And I’m ready to work. I want to heal others precisely because I can’t heal myself.”
After a pause, he asked, “Is that all?”
“Yes,” I said with a sigh. Finally, I felt as if a weight had lifted off my shoulders. For the first time in a week, I knew I could keep going. “Yes, that’s all.”
“Alright then, I’ll meet you tomorrow in my office. We’v
e got a huge client list to discuss.”
“Okay. I’ll see you then.”
I ended the call, then placed the phone on the countertop. Grasping the letter, I held it close. Through the curtains, sunlight streamed over the carpet and furniture. I crossed the room and opened the drapes, letting the light inside, feeling its warmth on my skin.
As I stared outside the window, I looked past the parking lot with the fractured asphalt, beyond the crowded seawall littered with refuse, to the ocean. Sapphire blue water spanned toward the horizon.
“Tomorrow,” I repeated to myself, keeping the letter held tightly to my chest. “I’ll see you then.”
* * *
COMING SOON IN FALL/WINTER 2017- GRAYGHOST, FAIRY WORLD MD, BOOK SEVEN!
Acknowledgments
After writing the sixth book in a series, I have so many people to thank for helping me get to where I am now. I couldn’t do any of this without my awesome publisher, Clean Teen, including Marya Heiman, Rebecca Gober, Courtney Knight, and Melanie Newton.
This book would not be what it is without my amazing editor, Cynthia Shepp, and proof reader, Pamela Renfro.
Also, I want to thank my trusty beta readers: Ann Jones, Julie Woods, Tasha Priddy, Jenny Bynum, Leah Alvord, and Melissa Lopez.
I would also like to thank Jennifer Lapachian, who gave me some insider info into the workings of Arches National Park in Utah.
To the members of my street team: Thank you! You are all so awesome and amazing. You encourage me in ways you don’t even realize.
To my PA, Courtney Whittamore, who helps me with all those giveaways!
My family has also been a great supporter of my writing, and my stories would never come to life if not for my husband, David Grantham, who faithfully listens to all my wild first drafts and helps them become better.
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