Cal stiffened in shock.
“Do you mind removing your sword from my back?”
Cal let go of the sword and staggered back in cold dread.
“I told you, you cannot defeat me.”
Gai’tan pulled the sword from his own body, turned and whipped it through the air with powerful force. Cal tried to duck out of the way, but the blade hit true, embedding directly into his chest.
He stumbled wordlessly back and looked down in shock. It struck him as odd to feel no pain with a full length of metal sticking out of him.
And then, the world shifted, robbing him of balance. He fell to the ground on his side, gasping for breath.
On a broken leg and dragging damaged wings behind her, Stassi howled and flew at Gai’tan in a rage. The devil struck her in the face so hard, Cal could hear the bones break.
Wrath surged through Cal once again, the same white-hot anger that had brought out his wings. He ground his teeth together and slowly wrenched the sword from his body. Inch by inch. The exposed, sharp metal slicing open the palms of his hands. When it finally came free, he raised it in the air toward the heavens. I need your help! You can’t let Gai’tan win! You can’t! I’m not asking for myself, I’m asking for all mankind! I’m asking for the Faedin! I’m… I’m asking for Stassi.
A booming rumble of thunder answered his call. Bright lightning crackled the air and a sliver of light hammered down toward the tip of the sword.
Cal screamed and almost dropped the weapon from his hands, but by some miracle held on. The blade trembled, radiating with energy — a power far too vast for Cal to hold. He knew instinctively what he needed to do.
He flung the sword and the lightning out toward the devil.
“No!” Gai’tan bellowed as the ribbon of white fire coiled around him, pinning his arms to his sides. The brilliant flare consumed him, licking over his skin in hungry flames. He fell to the ground in an attempt to smother the inferno that had become his body, but it only grew hotter as it devoured him. The devil writhed in agony as he burned, and Cal knew that there would no escaping that holy fire.
The pit started to stir once again and shadows slithered across the ground. They grabbed a hold of Gai’tan’s ankle, and the devil shrieked and clawed at the earth.
Out of nowhere, an ominous roar crashed out of the sky and a vortex of wind spun into existence over the pit. Hovering above the ground, the black, swirling orb of menace seemed intent on destruction.
The pit began to collapse in on itself as the powerful eddy broke it apart and sucked in the pieces. Debris from the Tree That Will Not Die spun over the land in a violent tumble before disappearing upward into the eye of the hole. The devil, no longer screaming and abandoned by the shadows, was caught up in the potent stream and being pulled closer and closer.
The strong winds battered at Cal, tearing at his clothes and hair, and he feared he would be next.
But he need not have worried.
An abrupt silence cut through the world, and when Cal looked up, the pit, the tree and the devil had vanished.
CHAPTER 26
The Death of Legends
The adrenaline slowly seeped from Cal’s body and the pain seeped in. He knew that he had taken a fatal wound. Most likely Stassi as well, but he had to know for sure.
Using weakened forearms, he pulled himself slowly across the ground.
She appeared so still, lying there, and the closer he got, the worse it looked. An alarming amount of blood had pooled beneath her head.
When he finally reached her side, he stretched out a shaking hand to push the hair from her face. “We did it,” he told her hoarsely. “We did it, Stassi.”
A soft moan told him she still lived, but blood dripped from her eyes, her ears and mouth. He buried his face in her neck and started to cry. Ugly tears of regret that wouldn’t stop no matter how hard he tried.
“Don’t… cry,” she whispered.
“I… okay.” It took every bit of willpower he possessed to do as she asked, but he was determined to make her last moments happy. He lifted his head. “You did it, Stassi. You can go to the Wonder now. It’s where you want to be, right?”
“The… Wonder.” A bloodied smile lit her face. “Yes. I will… wait for you there, Cal. We… will see each other again. I promise.”
No, we won’t, Stassi, he thought, choking back another sob. You won’t remember any of this. You won’t remember your life in Faedin. You won’t remember your family. And you won’t remember me. I figured it out. I know what happens. The Faedin live to die, but they also die to live. Life is your Wonder, Stassi. Human life.
He had thought about this for a while now and knew he was right. After he saw Leeah outside of the veil, he realized that the Faedin were reborn as humans when they die. That was why it was important for them to become more compassionate. So they could strip some of their feral tendencies and assimilate back into society.
But he didn’t tell her this. He didn’t want her to go to the Wonder knowing her entire life had been forfeit. She had been a hero in life and she would be a hero in death.
He kissed her gently on the mouth. “You’re the answer to every prayer I ever had. You came for me in the dark when no one else would. I love you.”
Her lips twitched up into one last smile and then the light faded from her eyes.
Cal wasn’t sure how long he had been lying there next to Stassi’s body. It may have been seconds or hours. The pain had stopped, but his broken body was growing heavy as though a weighted dumbbell lay across his chest. He couldn’t move anything below the waist. He couldn’t do anything but wait to die.
His mind played tricks on him. Strange images appeared before his eyes. Sometimes he saw his mother and Landon standing over him and blowing him kisses. Another time, he saw Stassi swinging on a playground swing set, a smile on her face and the wind in her hair. Once, he even saw a tiger walk by.
So when the Elder appeared, he thought it was just another hallucination.
The Faedin knelt down beside him, his blue eyes twinkling. “You have done well, child.”
“Well?” he cried. “The Faedin! They’re all dead! Stassi’s dead!”
“The world is safe and the Faedin have gone to the Wonder. They are where they belong.” A gentle hand covered Cal’s forehead. “I knew you could do it. That is why I left you the feather.”
The heaviness in Cal’s chest grew until he felt like he was melting into the ground. “You left me the feather?”
“Yes. I knew a Faedin could not do what you just did. Your will to survive and your love for Stassi is what saved the day.”
“Who are you?”
The Elder ignored his question and placed something round in his hand. “I was asked to give this to you by someone who misses you very much.”
Cal struggled to lift his arm. A white baseball lay in the palm of his hand. Tears flooded down his face. “But… how?”
The smile widened and the Elder stood and held a hand out to Cal. “Come. It is your time, too, child.”
“Wait!” Cal’s weak arm clawed for Stassi. To touch her one last time. To etch the feel of her into his soul so that no matter where he went, he would remember her always.
“Here,” the Elder whispered and placed Stassi’s limp hand in his. “Go together. That is my gift to you.”
Cal brought their intertwined hands to his lips and with his final breath, told his warrior girl one more time just how much he loved her.
EPILOGUE
A strong wind blows over the land. A cleansing wind. An enchanted wind. It sends spirits onward and flesh into the ground, leaving no trace of the scars of battle.
Earth to earth. Ashes to ashes. Dust to dust.
From which all new life grows.
Life.
Unstoppable.
Inexorable.
For there is nothing more potent than the will to live.
To exist.
The first blade of grass pushes thro
ugh the new ground, reaching for life. Others follow and soon the clearing is covered in a fresh carpet of verdant grass.
A daring squirrel scurries out across the unexpected growth, searching for food. Birds chirp as they fly overhead. And, somewhere nearby, the soft breathing of two.
The boy and girl lay together, their fingers intertwined, their faces upturned toward the winter sun.
The boy opened his eyes in fright. “Stassi, wake up!”
The girl stirred with a soft moan and sat up.
“It’s late! We must have fallen asleep out here. Your father is going to kill me!”
“Oh, no, Cal! We’d better hurry!”
Cal pulled Stassi to her feet and they ran from the wooded clearing. Giggling like schoolchildren, they sped along the trails and didn’t stop until the white fence in front of Stassi’s house came into view.
At the gate, Cal pulled her tightly to him. “See you after cheerleading practice tomorrow?”
She nodded. “I get done at five.”
“I’ll be done with football practice at four-thirty, so I’ll wait for you and walk you home.”
He kissed her nose just as a discreet cough came from the front door of Stassi’s house.
He looked up at Stassi’s father waiting on the porch, his arms crossed at his chest, his long gray hair pulled back in a ponytail.
Cal waved. “Hey, Mr. Julius! Sorry we’re late.”
Stassi’s father waved back, but he didn’t look happy.
Cal shrugged and ran back down the road to the long driveway that led to his house.
He ran up the porch and shouldered his way inside. “Hi, Mom!”
“Hi, honey! I’m in the kitchen.”
Cal could smell the fried chicken from the doorway and his mouth started to water. He found his mother standing at the stove and his brother, Landon, sitting at the table, licking the chicken grease from his fingers.
“It smells great, Mom.”
“It better — it’s your favorite.” She wiggled her eyebrows at him. “Oh, before I forget, congratulations.”
“For what?”
“Look in the envelope on the table.”
Cal reached for the letter, opened it up and read. It was his acceptance to the University of Pennsylvania. Cal whooped and ran to his mother, picking her up into the air and twirling her around.
His mother threw her head back and laughed, hugging him fiercely. “I’m so proud of you, honey. But what am I going to do without you around here?”
He put her back down. “You need a boyfriend, Mom.”
She snorted. “Maybe someday. Right now, all I care about is you and Lan.”
“I need to go call Stassi.”
Cal went into his bedroom and flopped down on the bed. He couldn’t believe how happy he was. All of his dreams were coming true, and the biggest was yet to happen. At the end of the school year, he planned to ask Stassi to marry him.
They were young, yes, but he knew that there would never be anyone in this life for him other than her.
He turned on his side to pull out his cell phone and a sharp prick pinched him in the back. “What the…?”
He reached behind and pulled out a large, white feather.
“Hmm… where did this come from?”
Most likely something Landon found out in the woods. Then again, a feather this big probably wasn’t even real.
He shrugged and let it drop to the floor. He closed his eyes and put his hands behind his head.
Suddenly, without warning, a pervasive dread flowed from the top of his head down to the tips of his toes, soaking him in sweat.
His eyes popped back open.
I remember.
The End
Afterword
Thank you very much for reading Eden’s Creatures. I so hope you enjoyed it. Please reach out with comments at my website at www.valeriezambito.com. I would love to hear from you!
Below are links to more titles you may enjoy.
Once again, thank you! I couldn’t do what I love to do without your support.
Books by Valerie Zambito
Island Shifters
An Oath of the Blood
An Oath of the Mage
An Oath of the Children
An Oath of the Kings
* * *
Angels of the Knights
Fallon
Blane
Nikki
About the Author
Valerie Zambito lives in New York with her family. A great love of world building, character creation, and all things magic led to the publication of her epic fantasy series, ISLAND SHIFTERS, in October, 2011. The first book in her paranormal fantasy series, ANGELS OF THE KNIGHTS, followed the following year in 2012.
Keep up with Valerie:
Website: www.valeriezambito.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/pages/Valerie-Zambito-Author-Page
Twitter: @vzambito
Goodreads: www.goodreads.com/author/show/5281726.Valerie_Zambito
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