“I’ll explain later,” Levi said. “Now we have a fight to win.” He turned to the demons and, after staring at me for another few seconds, Ceris shook off her shock and commenced fighting the demons.
I fought too, but most of my attention was on Nadine, looking super-hot in her repaired uniform and a sword in her hand. She cut through the demons like water until she was fighting by my side.
I couldn’t help but smile. “Hi, darling,” I said, throwing a black bolt at the chest of a demon. The bolt exploded on its chest. The demon crumbled into ashes soon after.
“Hi,” Nadine said, sounding a little timid. She knelt to avoid a claw and brought her sword up, slashing the demon’s gut. It fell on the floor, in a pool of gooey blood, and she stood up, smiling at me.
By the Everlast, I wanted to sweep her in my arms and kiss her senseless.
But a demon lunged at me and I had to kiss it instead.
Not even ten minutes after it started, this battle was over.
Nadine turned to me and I turned to her, both of us already reaching for the other. In two seconds, my arms were around her waist and my mouth on hers.
“Gods, I missed you,” I said, before sealing my lips on hers again and kissing her like she deserved it. Nadine’s body melted into mine. Gods, I loved the feel of her, the scent of her, the taste of her. I loved all of her.
Someone cleared his or her throat. Nadine and I broke apart—though my arm was still around her waist and nobody would be able to get it off there—to see the rest of gang approaching us.
“That was easy,” Levi said, serious.
“So,” Ceris started, sounding wary, “you were on our side the entire time?”
“Yup,” I said.
Maho looked from Levi to me. “Why all this mystery? Why tell us we were going to Imha’s training camp instead of here, and why not tell us about Mitrus working for us?”
“Yeah,” Sol said, a deep frown between his brows. “I do not take being lied to lightly.”
“That was quite a surprise,” Ronen said, sounding amused.
Levi stood tall. “Mitrus was working with us,” Levi corrected Maho before glancing at me, a meaning hidden under his brief stare. “Let’s just say it was necessary.”
The uneasiness hung around our group and I thought it wouldn’t wear off easily.
I scanned around. The throne room looked like a slaughterhouse. Our side didn’t have any deaths, but I could see a few deities bleeding—nothing worrying. Most of the demons were dead, and about two dozen were gathered in the center of the room, being watched by Ceris and other deities and held by magic.
Ceris nodded toward us and we nodded back. Then she teleported out, taking the demons with her. The plan was to take survivors to the island in Croatia, where Ceris had worked her magic and said no one, no demon, no deity could get out without her to undo her spell.
While Ceris was out, Nadine walked around the room, using her new and improved healing abilities on the deities with the worst wounds.
Ten minutes later, Ceris was back with us. “We should keep moving,” she said.
“Where’s the portal?” Levi asked me.
“Through here.” I took Nadine’s hand in mine and led them to the back of the castle, where a curved shallow pool complemented the garden.
When we approached the pool, our symbols appeared as bright lights in the water’s surface. One by one, we walked into the pool, using our powers to walk on the surface, and stepped on our symbols.
Levi, Ceris, Izaera, Maho, Ronen, Sol, and I extended our hands in front of us and our scepters appeared in our hands. We bumped the scepters three times on strategic places of our symbols, and a new light appeared in the center of our symbols, forming a big, united circle. Bright light shone through it until it reached the skies.
The portal was open.
They all stepped into the light. I turned to Nadine and beckoned her to come with me. Looking a little wary, she walked to me, caught my hand, and we marched through the portal together.
36
Nadine
I had seen the Clarity Castle in my visions and in my dreams, but I had never thought I would actually see it with my eyes.
We emerged from the reflective pool in the throne room. The crystal thrones around the crystal pool—all as I remembered, but it all was also new to me. I gawked at the place as the rest of our army came in through the pool.
Ceris and Victor took charge and assigned posts and places for everyone that came through the portal—almost three thousand people. We had more allies, almost another thousand according to Ceris, but she had sent them to the training camp to distract Imha while we took over the Clarity Castle.
Their orders were to distract, not to engage. We didn’t want to put their lives at risk. If Imha engaged before she heard of our takeover, then they were supposed to flee until we were able to regroup. The bigger our army, the stronger we were.
Still holding my hand, Micah guided me to one of the archways behind the throne room. From there, he took me to a grand staircase made of crystal, and to the next floor, which had a balcony overlooking the back of the throne room.
“You’ll hide here,” Micah said. “Once Imha emerges through the pool, you throw the spear at her.”
I nodded, feeling a little nervous thread taking root in my chest. I rolled my shoulders. “I can do this,” I whispered.
Micah cupped my face with his hands and stared into my eyes. I was lost in the dark abyss of his gaze. “You can do this.”
I sighed. A girl-in-love kind of sigh.
Taking advantage of every second we had together, I stood on my tiptoes and brushed my lips against his. Micah groaned before kissing me for real. My lips parted and his tongue teased mine. I loved him and I loved kissing him—his lips on mine had become one of my favorite things.
“You two do realize we’re getting ready for the biggest battle yet, right?”
Micah sighed against my lips before throwing a black bolt at Ceris’s feet. “Go away.”
“Hey!” She jumped back. I put my hand over my mouth to hide the laugh bubbling in my throat. “This is not a joke,” she chided.
“Sorry, Ceris,” I said after I was sure I could talk without breaking into a fit of giggles. “Micah was about to go to his spot.”
She humphed and left.
After we found Victor’s and Micah’s scepters, I thought Ceris and I had broken an invisible wall that had prevented us from being friends before. We were never Cheryl and Nadine again, but we were slowly discovering a new kind of friendship. Until I became a lady of Diana, and Micah and I became what looked like a couple. She now seemed to hate my guts again.
“She’s just jealous,” Micah said as we watched Ceris walk away, stopping every two seconds to make sure everyone was in the right position, with the right weapon, in the right state of mind.
“Of you and me?”
“Not of you and me but of what we have.” He glanced down from the balcony to where Victor stood, talking to some deities. “Levi and she still aren’t the same as before, and I think she knows it’ll never be the same again.”
And what did we have? Here we were, pretending to have a “normal” relationship when he was immortal and I had a death sentence. Soon I would be dead and there would be no relationship.
“Hey.” Micah brushed his fingertips along my cheek. “What’s with that pouty face?”
I shook it off and smiled at him. “Nothing.” I planted a quick kiss on his lips. “You should go.”
“I will, darling, but only after a proper kiss.”
Clasping a hand around my nape and with his arm secured around my waist, Micah dipped me backward and kissed me. His lips were soft against mine, but the kiss wasn’t. It was harsh, desperate, as if this was the last time we would kiss and he wanted to make it count. To have it engraved into his mind, into his soul.
Then he broke the kiss, let go of me, and walked away as if he couldn’t bear to say g
oodbye.
“Good luck,” I whispered to his retreating back.
When he disappeared behind a doorway, I looked over the balcony. Everyone was moving about, checking his or her weapons, traps, and tricks.
A trickle of fear ran through me, icing my veins. I let out a shaky breath.
Only a handful knew about the spear and my role in this battle, but in the end, they were all counting on me. If I could hit Imha as soon as she appeared through the portal, there would be no fight. Nobody here had to risk his or her lives. The war would be over. Only if I got it right.
What if I didn’t get it right? What if I missed? Imha and her army would come charging into the Clarity Castle and a real battle would begin. And it wouldn’t be as quick as when we invaded the throne room in her castle in England. This time, we would have thousands of people and she would have thousands of demons. It would be a bloody mess. And—
I closed my eyes and shut those thoughts out.
Now was not the time to let doubt creep in. Now was not the time to imagine everything that could go wrong. The only thing I had to focus on was making that shot.
“I can do this,” I whispered to myself.
Then, a scout came through the portal. “They are here!” he shouted.
A second of silence. The next second, everyone was hustling about, the ones that weren’t in the right position ran and yelled.
“Quickly!” Ceris said, her voice booming across the throne room. She, Victor, Micah, Izaera, Maho, Ronen, and Sol were positioned between their thrones and the reflective pool in a wide arc. As the strongest, they insisted on being the front line, to eliminate any weak threat quickly, as Micah had put it.
Alice and the lesser gods and goddesses stood behind them—our second strongest group. Hopefully, the battle would be quick and the deaths would be minimal.
Fifteen seconds later, it was as if a blanket had fallen over us, muting every one of our sounds, even our erratic breathing and thumping hearts.
I reached down to my belt and pulled the spear-in-the-form-of-a-sword from its scabbard. The power of the spear thrummed against my hands, and I wondered if anyone could guess that I wasn’t really holding a sword. I glanced down at the weapon. It was still hard to swallow how I could touch it, how I could use it. Could I use it? Would it work? What if, in my hands, it didn’t work as it was supposed to?
Focus, Nadine!
I put one leg in front of the other, in a fighting stance, and grabbed the sword by its hilt. With one simple thought, it would change from sword to spear. I just had to wait for the right moment.
A dozen demons came through the portal first, quickly followed by another dozen, and then another dozen. The gods and goddesses were able to take care of most of them quickly, but a large number escaped between them. The demons were met with the meat of our army, but because of the limited space in the throne room, we weren’t thinning them out quickly.
On the balcony on the other side of the room, archers waited for an opportunity to fire, which wasn’t easy considering how close everyone stood.
I groaned, wishing I could do more than stand here and watch the pool. I wanted to fight too! I wanted to keep an eye on Micah, make sure he was okay.
Another trickle of fear sliced through me, telling me that Imha could emerge in the middle of the demons, hidden behind them, and I could miss her.
More demons came. And more. And more.
And nothing of Imha and Omi.
Surging from the stairwell, demons made their way to me. In a flash, Micah was at my side, killing them as quickly as they came, then he teleported back to the front line.
In that moment, my focus had shifted. I had glanced at the demons coming, then at Micah. What if Imha had sneaked in then?
I cursed, calling myself all the names I knew and some that I invented. Stupid, stupid, stupid.
But it was impossible not to look around. Bodies and blood covered the floors, and in the mess it was hard to identify which side had more bodies down.
Purple smoke exploded from the reflective pool, shaking the ground and the walls. I fell on my knees. Micah and the others flew back several feet.
The smoke dissipated, revealing about ten lesser gods and goddesses surrounding Imha and Omi, who stood right in the middle of the pool, looking regal and powerful.
Quickly, I got to my feet, transformed the sword into a spear, aimed, and threw. Directly at her chest.
Imha looked surprised as she twisted her body and let the spear fly past.
“Ouch, Nadine.” She offered me a big, sarcastic smile. “I thought we were friends.”
I gaped in disbelief.
I missed.
I missed.
Oh my God, I had missed.
“And you, Mitrus.” Imha tsked, her eyes on him. “I’m so disappointed.”
Ceris recovered from the blast and stepped forward. “The Clarity Castle is ours. Surrender now, Imha!”
Imha let out a loud, evil laugh. “Never!”
Then Sol lunged at Ceris, but she ducked and he took Izaera instead. Her back to his chest, Sol wrapped his arm around Izaera’s neck and held a Black Thorn to her chest.
“What the …?” Maho muttered, his voice breaking.
Sol retreated two steps, getting closer to Imha. “Stand back!” he yelled. “Stand back or I’ll kill her!”
The gods and goddesses took a couple of steps back but didn’t lower their guard. The throne room thrummed with tension and anticipation.
“Oh, didn’t you know?” Imha said, her tone amused. “Sol here was working for me the entire time.” She snapped her fingers and Lua—a hurt, dirty, shackled Lua—appeared at her feet.
So … so … Imha had Lua all this time? That was why I could never find her?
“I did my part,” Sol grunted, his eyes on our group.
Imha sighed, sounding bored. “A deal is a deal.” She snapped her fingers again, and the shackles around Lua’s ankles and wrists disappeared.
Sol pushed Izaera toward Omi, who grabbed her with much more efficiency, and rushed to Lua. She jerked away from him, as if disgusted by what he had done. For her.
“Lua, please,” Sol muttered.
Bored, Imha stepped around them. A smile crept over her face as she raised her hands above her head. “Kill them!”
Armed with Black Thorns and swords, the lesser gods and goddesses on Imha’s side advanced.
Imha and Omi stayed by the pool while the battle commenced. Our gods engaged the lesser gods, while the demons advanced, taking on our deities. And Sol caught Lua in his arms and retreated to the back of the throne room.
I couldn’t just sit here and wait for the spear to appear by my side. I had to go find it, and on my way, I could help with the fighting.
I drew my real sword from its scabbard and turned around, thinking of taking the stairs. But before I could reach them, a swarm of demons came up and faced me. I didn’t hesitate. I raised my sword and lunged at them.
37
Micah
Imha had targeted me. I guess she didn’t like being betrayed.
She threw a purple bolt at me, one after the one, and I rolled out of the way. My back hit the first step around the pool, and I braced my hands on it to help me stand.
Imha didn’t give up. She screeched as she flung a big, purple bolt at me. I jumped to my feet, avoiding it completely. The bolt hit the pool. A loud boom resonated across the throne room. The pool broke in half, and water spilled on the floor around it.
“What …?” Levi inhaled sharply.
The crack in the middle of the crystal pool began opening up, more and more, until it was a huge hole in the floor. And a huge, crystal-like creature stepped out of it. I gawked, taking in the translucent creature that had bones and muscles and veins intertwined with crystals. Its arms and legs were long and thick and its head was massive, with a big mouth and sharp teeth. The monster opened its arms, showing off the long crystals claws at the end of its hands. After
scanning the area once, the monster let out a huge roar. The ground and walls shook again.
“What is that?” Alice asked, somewhere behind me.
“I don’t know,” Nadine whispered.
I did a double take, not expecting to see Nadine standing here. I thought she was still on the balcony, waiting for her next opportunity to hit Imha with the spear.
“It’s the Lucent,” Maho explained to them. “He’s the Clarity Castle’s protector.”
That was a nice way to put it.
“So he’s going to help us?” Nadine said, sounding relieved.
Maho scoffed. “He attacks whoever is putting the castle at risk, and right now we’re all destroying the castle.”
Lucent roared again and swiped one big claw around the fountain. Several deities had to jump back, but some were still hit. He fished for the deities and demons, closing both hands around two and then three of them. He threw the three in his right hand at the wall across the room. The deities hit the wall with a loud thud, and then fell to the floor, from where they didn’t get up. Then, Lucent lifted his hand with the other two above his head. He tilted his head back, opening his mouth wide.
“Oh my God,” Nadine gasped as he ate them.
“Maho! Izaera! Ronen!” Ceris yelled. “On Lucent! Now!”
The gods and goddesses came forward and engaged the big monster. They taunted him, trying to make him leave, but he never went more than ten yards from the pool.
As if a switch had been flipped, the fighting commenced, and Imha threw another bolt at me.
I conjured a shield wall and turned to Nadine, glancing at her hands. “Darling, where’s the spear?”
“I lost it when I first threw it at Imha,” she said.
I cursed and scanned the area. I couldn’t see the damn spear. “I’ll keep Imha entertained. Go find the spear.” She nodded. A new bolt hit the shield and I put more power into it, making it stronger. “Use your senses!” I yelled as Nadine ducked under the claws of a demon and disappeared among the sea of enemies.
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