by Dana Gricken
“Only the Cardinal and Wanda? Have you forgotten what the Dark Queen has done to us?” Jade asked, placing a hand on her hip.
“I know it’s hard to believe, but the Dark Queen is on our side. She’s only pretending to go with the Cardinal—she sent me a message that might help me stop him. Look, we don’t have time to explain. Please, free Caleb. If you think the sky looks bad now, wait until the Cardinal’s full plan is put into motion.”
Patrick was silent for a moment, contemplating his decision. Then he took a step forward, holding his gun up as he did so. “All right. I’m coming over. But any sudden movements and I’ll be more than happy to shoot.”
Caleb went still, trying his best not to tumble as Patrick sauntered over. He removed Caleb’s Restrictors, and the painful handcuffs fell to the ground with a clunk.
Patrick sprinted away, joining his army again. Fire spurted from Caleb’s hands as he smiled, breathing a sigh of relief. “That solves one of our problems, Riley. Glad my power is back.”
“Me too,” I said. “Now we just have to find a way to stop the Primal from controlling you.”
“The Primal? That’s the thing that makes the soulless evil, right? Like…a little voice that tells you to do wicked things?” Jacob asked.
Caleb nodded. “Yes, exactly. The Cardinal wanted it to overcome us. Riley’s okay because we had an extra crystal, but when it hits me, I’ll probably attack you all without any control.”
And I knew perfectly well what the loss of control felt like. I had known it when I had first become soulless, and I had known it when my power had started to develop. I would die before I’d let that awful feeling take over Caleb again.
I thought for a moment. “We’ll have to go back to the Grove. I know it’s far from here, but it’s the only place that’ll have Purity Crystals.”
Caleb shook his head. “I don’t know if we have time for that, Riley. Who knows how long the Cardinal will wait for us? Or how long the portal will stay open?”
I scoffed. “Caleb, I can’t stand by while you turn into a monster. You’re coming with me—”
“Wait,” Jacob said, sighing. “Allies or not, no one deserves that fate. I have a Purity Crystal if you want it. Patrick, your permission?”
“Do it, Cohen. May as well. We have enough crazy soulless to worry about.”
Jacob pulled the amber crystal out of his pocket, and walked over with caution. He placed it in Caleb’s palm. Caleb took it quickly, attaching it around his neck. He inhaled a deep breath, closing his eyes.
“Thank you, Jacob,” Caleb said. “If the Primal had come out in both of us, this world would have been lost for good.”
I looked over my shoulder at the portal. It was still whirling behind us. “We won’t forget this, Jacob. Are you ready, Caleb?”
He nodded. “With you, I’m ready for anything.”
“Wait a second,” Spencer said, taking a step forward. “You’re going into that portal? You don’t even know what’s waiting on the other side!”
“We don’t have a choice. It’s what the Cardinal wanted—and it’s the only way to stop him.” I glanced over at Caleb. “I think it’s best if we pretend the Primal has taken over, so the Cardinal will trust us. Then we’ll stop whatever he’s up to.”
“Good idea. I’ll follow your lead, Riley.”
As Caleb and I began walking toward the portal, Patrick’s voice stopped me. “Kid, I won’t let you go alone. Not after what we’ve been through.”
I turned around, facing him. “I thought you didn’t support us anymore? That you wanted to kill us?”
“Yeah, because I thought you were evil. But looking at the sky, seeing what the Cardinal has done…Look, if there’s a way you can stop it, we have to help you. Hell, stopping the apocalypse is what the Sentinels are trained for.”
“Does everyone else feel this way?”
The crowd looked around at one another before they nodded. Things weren’t perfect between us—they probably never would be again—but agreeing to back down from killing me was a start.
I sighed, looking back at the portal. “All right, but I can only take a few of you. If something goes wrong, I still want people here to defend our world. Patrick, Ruby, Jade, and Jacob—you’re with me. I’ll take Spencer and Lara too. Is that okay?”
The six of them nodded. When Angel whimpered, I rolled my eyes. “Okay, you can come too, Angel—but stay out of the way, all right?”
The Darkhound walked over to my side, happily wagging his tail.
“What about us, Riley?” Marissa asked. “What should we do while you’re gone?”
“Stay here and guard the portal. Shoot anything that comes out of it. I’m counting on you, Phoenix Patrol,” I said. “No matter what happens, we’re not going down without a fight.”
“You must take me with you as well,” Princess Ivy said, pushing through the crowd. “My mother is waiting on the other side. This fight is personal, and my snakes can be of great use.”
“All right, but—and I’m saying this to all of you—you need to listen to me. You can’t question my orders. If I tell you to run or hide, you need to do it. I’m still responsible for your safety.”
Patrick nodded. “Seems like you know what you’re doing, so we’ll follow your orders. But if you betray us now, kid…”
“I won’t. I’m committed to stopping the Cardinal, no matter what,” I replied, before I took a deep breath. “Is everyone ready? It’s time.”
As we stepped into the portal’s swirl of energy, I prayed the ten of us combined would be enough to stop the Cardinal and his army of spirits. I made sure to grab Caleb’s hand, just in case this was the end.
31
Equal Power
The swirl of energy tickled my skin as we passed through it. I was afraid it would suck us in forever, or take us straight into the afterlife like it had for Rachel and the Darkhunters, but the energy faded instead, pushing us into darkness.
I landed on a smooth floor with a thud, still upright and holding onto Caleb’s hand. When I opened my eyes, we were standing in a place I had never thought I’d see in person…
The United Nations headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. It looked much different than the video I’d seen. The desks lay overturned, lights flickered, and the floor was scattered with papers. Outside, a terrible storm raged on.
As I looked around, I didn’t see anyone. Where had they gone? And where were the Cardinal, Wanda, and the Dark Queen now?
I pushed my Purity Crystal inside my shirt, trying to hide the necklace. Caleb noticed, and he did the same. I checked on the others, and they all looked fine—just confused.
“What happened, kid?” Patrick asked. “Feels like someone hit me over the head. Again.”
I nodded. “Yeah, that’s how I felt when I escaped the Mindfield. It has a lot in common with the Quintessence.”
“Heritage can affect a soulless’ power,” Caleb replied. “Let’s just be glad my mother isn’t capable of doing what the Cardinal can.”
“I recognize this place,” Jacob said, looking around. “It’s the U.N.! We need to be careful, Riley.”
“Let’s split up,” I replied. “The world leaders should be here somewhere. Wherever they are, the Cardinal won’t be too far behind. And remember: Me and Caleb are pretending to be pure soulless, okay? If the Cardinal thinks I’m on his side, we can get close enough to stop him.”
The others nodded and divided themselves into two groups. Jade, Ruby, Ivy, Jacob, and Lara went to the left side of the building, while me, Caleb, Patrick, Spencer, and Angel went to search the right. We found nothing but disaster everywhere we looked.
“Something isn’t right, Riley,” Spencer whispered. “It’s like they all just…vanished.”
A giant light flooded the room. I turned around, noticing the main screen—the same one the leaders had used to call the Sentinel headquarters—switch on. The Cardinal’s face appeared on it, as smug and confident as ever.
>
“Ah, Riley Stark,” the Cardinal began, smiling down at me. “I was wondering when you and my grandson would arrive. Has the Primal freed you? Released you from the chains of the crystals?”
“Yes, Cardinal,” I lied, stepping forward. I tried to sound as convincing as I could. “Without the Purity Crystals, we see the truth now. We know opening the Quintessence is the best thing for this world.”
“Have you brought some friends with you?” the Cardinal asked, gesturing at Patrick and the others behind me.
I shook my head. “Friends? More like slaves. They’ll see why we need to open the Quintessence—even if I have to make them.”
I took a quick glance at Patrick, hoping he knew this was all an act. I couldn’t risk him turning on me again. His face twisted in anger when he looked at the Cardinal, but his eyes softened when he glanced at me. I took that as a good sign.
The Cardinal nodded. “I see. They can stay…if they promise not to cause any trouble. What we’re doing here is too important to be stopped.”
“Where are you?” Caleb asked. “We wish to see you again, so we can reunite properly.”
“Down the corridor, in the large conference room to the left,” the Cardinal replied. “We’ve been waiting for you to arrive so we can begin. Take your slaves with you if you must, but ensure they don’t interfere.”
The screen flickered off, plunging the room into darkness again. I sighed, turning around to glance at the others.
“You sure you know what you’re doing, kid?” Patrick whispered.
I nodded. “I think so. Just follow my lead—and attack when I say so, okay?”
The others murmured in agreement as they followed Caleb and I down the corridor. We took a left, approaching the doors to the conference room.
“Here we are,” I whispered, taking a deep breath.
The conference room was large, perhaps even larger than the main room. A giant portal loomed inside the room, but instead of a teleporter, this one was a direct link to the Quintessence. Dark spirits fluttered around, lingering above the Cardinal, Wanda, and the Dark Queen, who waited on the right side of the room. On the left, all of the world’s leaders—from Canada to Australia to Sweden—were tied up and gagged.
“I knew they would come to us,” Wanda said. “My visions do not lie.”
I gulped. How much had she seen in her visions? Did she know what we planned to do?
“What the hell are you doing? What’s with the U.N.?” Patrick demanded.
“Keep your slave contained,” the Cardinal said, looking at me. “I have come to Geneva to kill the world’s leaders.”
“Kill them?” Caleb asked, before he softened his tone. “For what purpose, Cardinal?”
The Cardinal sighed. “My reasoning behind opening the Quintessence was to bring those we lost back to life. I don’t like to be the bringer of death instead, but these world leaders wouldn’t approve. So, I have a way of making their souls disappear—even with the Quintessence open.”
Making souls disappear? I didn’t like the sound of that. It seemed worse than death.
“But…why? What’s the point of that?” Lara asked.
“These world leaders are a threat. When we completely open the Quintessence, they might rebel against us. They’re more trouble than they are worth.”
I looked around at the politicians and humanitarians. They all looked terrified. This wasn’t right—and I couldn’t stand by while they were slaughtered and discarded.
The time was coming to intervene—to show the Cardinal I wasn’t as pure of a soulless as he thought.
“To avoid getting my hands dirty,” the Cardinal continued, “I’ve decided to allow the freed souls to do the job.” The Cardinal lifted his hand, and it pulsed with energy in front of us. The dark spirits in the room flew toward him. “Transform! Return to your old bodies!”
In a flash of light, the souls changed in front of us. They weren’t just dark swirls of energy anymore. Now they were corporeal, and staring at us—and the Joining of our power made it possible.
The Cardinal smiled. “Ah, my plan is coming to fruition. Soon, all life will be restored!”
I gasped as I recognized the people in front of us. King Bane, General Grissom, Elaina, King Lucius, Rachel and Michael, Amanda…the list went on. But there was one person who stood out the most.
Dad. He looked just as I remembered him before he had died.
“What happened?” Dad asked, looking down at his hands. “I was dead.”
The Cardinal nodded. “Yes, you were—before Riley helped me open the Quintessence. It will be a slow process, but if we work together, more can be brought back to life.”
Spencer stepped forward, his eyes wide. “Elaina…is that you?”
She smiled, and her eyes twinkled—the same color they had been before she had become soulless. The afterlife had restored her true self. “It’s me, Spence. I can’t believe I’m back.”
As they embraced, my heartbeat quickened. When Caleb rushed to King Bane’s side and Ivy did the same with Lucius, I realized the truth—none of our people would be willing to give up their loved ones. Not again.
“Riley, this is crazy,” Dad muttered, tears filling his eyes. “But I’m glad to be here with you again, kiddo.”
I didn’t want to lose Dad twice, but I had to. Death was sad, but it was a necessary part of life. Without it, nothing would make sense—and the world would crumble from overpopulation.
I looked at the Cardinal, ignoring Dad. If I didn’t look at him, maybe this wouldn’t be so difficult. “How will the pure soulless and soulful live in harmony, Cardinal? War has hurt our people for so long. Won’t the Primal try to convince the soulless to do terrible things?”
“It’s simple, Riley,” the Cardinal began, smiling. “I am the Primal. I can easily destroy it forever, removing my voice from the minds of the soulless.”
The room turned quiet.
“You’re…the Primal? How?”
“Tell me, did the Dark Queen ever explain how the soulless came to be?”
I nodded. “She said it was an error in evolution.”
The Cardinal chuckled. “That lie may have served the soulless once upon a time, but not anymore. I created the soulless. It’s why the rumors swirled that I was a God.”
“That…isn’t possible!” Caleb said.
“The truth can be difficult to accept. All the soulless are my offspring—my personal experiments,” the Cardinal replied. “I was looking to create super-humans, but I realized in order to do so, their power required the loss of their soul. It was necessary for them to be able to handle the weight of their new abilities. A simple trade, I thought.”
“But the Purity Crystals give the soulless both a conscience and their power,” I said.
He scoffed. “And look at what they do with it. They waste their power. Morality simply gets in the way.”
“So…what are you, then? A scientist? Engineer? Doctor?” I asked.
“For your understanding, all of the above. I was once soulful before I decided to test my theory out on myself. It worked, as you can see,” the Cardinal replied. “After today, I will be a liberator. But first, there is something I must ask from those I’ve returned to their bodies.”
Dad turned around. “What is it?”
“You must kill these world leaders. They will never support my plan. They will raise an army to fight us—which means they’ll want to kill you. Do you want to die again?”
“No, of course not. We want to stay,” Elaina replied. “We can’t pass up another chance to live…but we can’t kill people, either!”
The Cardinal sighed. “Then I suppose I’ll return you to the Quintessence. If you can’t do this one favor for me, then you don’t deserve to live again.”
The reborn group looked at each other, the resistance fading from their faces. I couldn’t believe they were actually going to kill innocents. I had to stop this.
I looked at the Dark Queen
and nodded. “Do it, Anya!”
She nodded, lifting her wrist. A gray fog spread around the Cardinal, and he groaned and fell to his knees. It was a good thing she had understood what I’d meant.
“My power will not hold him off forever,” the Dark Queen said, her voice strained with exertion. “Do this quickly, Stark!”
Dad turned to me, wide-eyed. “What are you doing, Riley?”
“Closing the Quintessence for good. I’m sorry, Dad.”
I lifted my hand, aiming it at the people the Cardinal had brought back. I closed my eyes. I had to focus.
I opened my eyes when I heard a gasp. Wanda had stabbed the Dark Queen in the heart with a Deathblade.
“Did you think I wouldn’t see what you were planning, Anya?” she hissed. “My visions do not betray me anymore. I pretended I didn’t know about your foolish plan to wait for the right moment to strike.”
The Dark Queen collapsed, clutching her wound. “Clever woman…But you won’t win, not while Riley opposes you.”
“Mother!” Caleb cried, pulling away from Bane. His eyes went darker as he looked at Wanda. “Did you see this coming, you bitch?”
Caleb released a ball of fire, and it engulfed Wanda. She screamed and contorted, falling to the ground. Seconds later, she turned to ash. It was a quick death—quicker than she deserved.
“We can fix this, Mother,” Caleb muttered, rushing over to her and placing his hands over her wound. “I’m sure the Healer—”
She shook her head, stopping him. “No, my son. My death is necessary.”
“I’m sorry I couldn’t save you…” Caleb whispered, tears welling in his eyes.
The Dark Queen touched his face. “Riley once told me what the feeling of love is. I think…I think I can feel it for you, my son. I know I feel pride when I look at you.”
Caleb reached into her pocket, pulling out a Purity Crystal. “It’s because of this. When I came to the submarine, I slipped it in your pocket. I never gave up hoping you would join us one day, Mother.”