Lying on the ground at my feet, his blood seeping out around him, was Devin.
Raven let out a strangled cry and fell to the ground. Sheets of blond hair came loose from her bun and covered her face.
I killed him. The panicked thought tore through me. But then I looked closer. His eyes fluttered open, his chest rose and fell with shallow breaths. My sword was nowhere to be seen. Instead, a deep slice of blood arced across his chest. From a sword, it seemed, that had been held to his neck—but had missed its mark. No, I realized. I didn’t do this. Ardith did.
Devin’s breath came in short gasps. He met my eyes sadly.
“Over there,” Asher said somberly. And I followed his gaze. Ardith lay several feet away—where the force of my sword had thrown her back. Her eyes were closed, her mouth still. The sand around her was a deepening red.
A choking sob forced its way from my throat as Asher ran to me, and I dropped to my knees. Devin’s breathing was weak. He looked up into my eyes, and I was struck, again and again, by how deep they could pierce me. I grasped his hands in mine.
“I really do care,” Devin said, his voice barely a whisper. “I always have. Everything I did, I did for you.”
I knew I was crying, and my tears mixed with the wet air until I couldn’t tell where they ended and the elements began.
“No,” my voice cracked. “Please don’t die.”
Tears slid down my cheeks and I pushed them away with the back of my hand. “I’m so, so sorry. I wish it didn’t have to end this way.”
“Shhh,” he whispered, with effort. “It’s okay. Maybe it’s better that it end like this. Now. While you and I—we’re okay. While Raven knows how I feel about her. Happiness can’t last forever, right? At least I got to be happy at all.”
“I’ll always care about you.” I smoothed the hair back from his forehead. His eyelids fluttered.
“No!” Raven came running over, collapsed at Devin’s side, across from me. His eyes met hers.
“We would have been happy,” he said.
“I know,” she said, her voice trembling. She pushed the hair out of his face. “It’s all I ever wanted.”
And he held her hand in his and closed his eyes, and soon his body and Ardith’s disappeared with the mist and floated away on the wind. Gideon looked up at us helplessly.
Raven was sobbing into her hands. “I think I get it now,” she said. “I think I understand.”
Asher wrapped his arm around me. And, a second later, he wrapped his other arm around Raven. I let my head fall onto his shoulder.
I couldn’t think. I couldn’t stand. I couldn’t believe what this was coming to. Devin was dead, and the world was already unraveling. Chaos, Order, everything was falling apart. Maybe this was the End of Days. Maybe this is what it looked like. Losing someone you cared about. Knowing you were to blame.
The rest of the world came rushing back. The sounds of fighting, farther down the beach. The angry roars. The battle cries. Aunt Jo and Aaron and James—and hundreds of thousands of Rogues—were fighting. For me. And I had to finish this. I couldn’t let anything happen to them, either.
I stood up.
“Skye,” Asher said quietly. “Are you okay?”
I turned to him. “I love you,” I said.
“What are you—”
“It’s the only way, Asher,” I said. “I have to.”
“No.” He grabbed my arm. “Whatever you’re about to do, don’t do it. We can end this a different way.” I pulled away from him. “Skye, listen to me. We can end it together. We have to keep fighting.”
“All I want is to keep the two sides in balance.” The wind whipped and howled, and I had to yell to make my voice heard. “There’s only one way to do that. I see it now.”
Asher’s eyes turned dark and stormy. “If you’re thinking what I think you’re thinking—”
“It’s the only way.”
“No,” he said. “I’m not letting you sacrifice yourself. You’re too special, you mean too much. To the world.” He swallowed hard. “To me.”
“Asher, please, let me—”
“We can do this another way! If we talked to them—”
“You think we’ll end this fight by talking? They won’t listen to reason.”
I stood up and wiped my eyes, grabbed my sword from the ground.
“Skye, don’t!”
“Astaroth!” I yelled.
Maybe he was right, the night he visited my mind. Maybe in the end, you did have to choose between life and love.
I looked up. He stood on the top of the cliff, commanding his army. He met my gaze.
“Come down here and fight!” I screamed. “You and me. One-on-one.”
Astaroth’s face twisted into an evil smirk. He took a step and jumped off the cliff, descending on huge, ancient wings.
“Skye!” Asher called.
I stopped. To my right, my whole group was lined up. Asher and Raven, Ian, his dad, Aunt Jo and Aaron. Each held a weapon. Each was deadly serious. Behind them, the Rogues covered the beach.
“If you’re going to fight him,” Ian said. “We’re going to be behind you. And we’re going to finish him.”
Asher met my gaze, and his look said it all. I’m not going to let you die.
But all I could think of was Devin’s good-bye: Happiness can’t last forever, right? I had been happy for a moment. But I couldn’t let anyone else I loved die.
Astaroth had his sword outstretched. And as I ran toward it, I was surprised to hear a new voice bloom in my mind. Earth’s.
Save him, it said.
“Are you going to listen to me, Skye?” Astaroth sneered. “Here’s my sword. It’s now or never. You could end this. You could end this whole thing.”
Save him.
Earth’s message in the stars. Was it possible there was another way? She was sent to me for a reason. Help Skye.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a Rebel’s fireball soaring across the clouds—heading right for us. Before I could think twice, instinct took over. I veered to the left, grabbing Astaroth and pushing him to the ground with me. The fireball arced over our heads, leaving a trail of smoke and ember in its wake.
I sat up, gasping. Astaroth wrapped his arm around my neck and we struggled on the ground.
I knew then that Astaroth didn’t have power over my mind anymore. He didn’t have power over me. And I would end this my way. I grabbed him and struggled to my feet.
“You—you saved my life,” he growled. “Why would you do that?”
A group began to gather around us, Guardians and Rebels, swords and bows falling softly to their sides as they watched.
“Because now you owe me.”
Gideon limped to the front of the group. His face was pale, his eyes wild.
“That’s fair,” he said. “You know the laws of the heavens.” He stepped closer. “Cause and effect. For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. It’s the guiding principle of the Order and the Rebellion. The rules you fight so hard to maintain.”
“So what would you have me do?” Astaroth spat. He gnashed his teeth like a caged animal.
“Let us establish an Uprising,” I said. “A third group of Rogues, who will forever keep the balance between chaos and control.”
“And what about you?”
I’d thought about this moment for a long time.
“Let me go,” I said. “This isn’t the life I want. I don’t want to cause any more destruction, or fighting, or death. I don’t want to bring about an End of Days—or a Beginning of Days. I just want to go to college, and follow my dreams, and lead a normal life.” I took a deep breath. “I want to end this war. And I want to be human.”
“But Skye!” Aunt Jo cried out. “What about your parents? Everything they fought and died for? What about everything you’ve been working toward?”
“This is what I’ve been working toward,” I replied. “They had their fight, and this is mine. I can write my own ending.”
Astaroth considered this. “That may be a solution,” he said. “For now. You’ll keep the peace, perhaps. Your friends, your Rogue army. You may keep the balance of the heavens in check. It may be true that I owe you—that the rules dictate I cannot harm you. But that’s for now, only now. The universe exists in cycles, Skye. It ebbs and flows, like time, like the great ocean behind you. Nothing is ever truly over, not really.”
I thought about Earth, so young and innocent but with an incredible power. Would it be her job one day to lead the Rogues in another Uprising? Would she be the next chosen one, whose job it would be to keep the peace between the two sides? Would she rise too, to be a leader?
I didn’t want to leave her that kind of life, either.
“No,” I said. “You don’t understand. There will be no more Sight. No more Order and no more Rebellion. You won’t meddle in people’s lives anymore. There will be no such thing as destiny, no chaos, no cause and effect. They’ll live their own lives, as they want to. You, Astaroth—I’m ousting you from your position of power.”
“You can’t do that!”
“She can,” said Ian, stepping up beside me. “Watch her.”
“I’m establishing a new council, to govern the celestial laws fairly and honestly. Gideon.” The bereft angel nodded at me grimly. “Raven. Ian. Can each of you step forward? The three of you all have a mix of blood, of powers. Your allegiance was never to a side, but to your heart. I trust the three of you to keep peace and balance in the world. Will you accept?”
“It’s all I have now,” said Gideon simply.
Raven raised an eyebrow, and a small, sad smile spread across her face. “I’ll do it for Devin,” she said. She held out her hand. I took it, gripped it tightly in mine. Our hands buzzed with the power that flowed between us, connecting us. “You know, you really surprised me, Skye.”
“Thank you,” I said. “I know I can never make it up to you, but—”
“Stop,” she interrupted. “You’re changing the way of things. So that it won’t ever happen again. And that’s enough.”
I turned to Ian. “What do you say?” I asked. “You can be the council’s liaison to earth—the Rogues and humans need someone like you to look out for them.” I smiled. “Like you’ve always looked out for me. This is what you were meant to do—remember?”
Ian grinned, his freckles stretching across his face.
“I told you, you helped me find my place,” he said. “I would be honored to do this.”
Astaroth fell back, helpless, as I held my sword aloft. Silver flashed through me as the wind blew around us, the sun broke through the clouds, and night became day. The whole beach flooded with light.
“It’s done,” I said, tears in my eyes. “It’s over.”
Across the beach, Asher and I found each other. I began to run at the same time he did, and we met in the middle, pulling each other close and holding on tight. The wind still howled around us, and we pressed together, my dress and hair blowing in all directions at once.
“Are you sure this is what you want?” He yelled over the wind. “To give up your wings—and be human?”
“Yes!” I cried. “But only if you come with me. I promise we’ll be a team from now on. I’ll fight for you over and over. I’ll never stop fighting for you.”
“I may be a Rebel,” Asher said, his voice cracking. “I may be free to think and feel what I want. To choose what I want. But I didn’t know what love was until I met you. I didn’t have anything worth fighting for until I fought for you. I’ve never had a choice about how I feel. Wherever you go—I’m going, too.”
I remembered sitting, curled up with Asher in the big Adirondack chair on our deck, as the moon rose above us in the sky, and he kissed the top of my head and said:
“I have a choice, Skye. I have the power to choose whatever I want. And there is nothing that I’ve ever wanted more.”
If I had understood then what was going to happen, I would never have let him go. I would have said the same thing. I would have meant it.
And it wasn’t too late.
“I choose you, Asher. I want so much more than just memories. I want more than just one moment of happiness. I want to live and not know what the future holds.”
We leaned into each other, and the wind and light raged around us, blinding us, and we kissed in the middle of that vast expanse of beach as if we were the only two people in the world. Suddenly, a searing pain sliced through my back. Asher’s face contorted in a grimace. Silver liquid pooled with blood in the sand at our feet. And then, our wings were gone.
I held out my hand to him. He took it.
“Partners,” he said.
“For always.”
I looked into his eyes. We both knew that Astaroth was right. In the course of time, war would break out again, cities would fall and be rebuilt, and people would be born and live and die, and we would always fight for the balance, and that’s life. It existed in cycles, ebbing and flowing, and this might not be the end. But maybe it was a new beginning.
And I couldn’t wait to find out what would happen next.
We held hands and looked at each other.
“Are you ready?” I said. “To jump?”
“I’ve been ready for a long time,” said Asher.
And together we closed our eyes and let ourselves fall.
29
I opened my eyes.
The tiny, glowing lights, the click of high heels against the gymnasium floor.
The taste of punch and the sound of laughter.
My boyfriend’s dark brown eyes, smiling as they realized I was awake.
It all came rushing back to me.
“We’re back,” I said. “We’re at prom. We made it.”
“I knew we would,” said Asher. He offered me his hand and pulled me to my feet. The hem of my ethereal dress swept across the floor. There was not a trace of the battle on it—the sand, the surf, the blood, all of it, gone. Left back in the other world.
“How did it—”
“I don’t know.” He smiled. “But we’re lucky, Skye. We’re so, so lucky.” He pulled me into his arms, and I pressed my face into his chest. The familiar gray T-shirt. The beat-up army jacket. The scent of cinnamon and pine, the woods, my home, washing over me.
It was over. It was all over.
Somehow, incredibly, and against all odds, I had saved the world.
“Get a room, lovebirds!” Cassie came bounding up to me, her pale pink dress shimmering in the light and a prom princess tiara perched on her head. I grinned. “You did it, Skye! You really did it! Dan, come here! They’re back!”
“Babes,” Dan yelled from across the floor. “Leave them alone. They’re having a moment.”
Cassie pouted. “But I want to be part of it.”
“Come here, Cass,” I said, pulling her into our hug. “Dan, you can be part of it too!” Dan came sprinting over and pounced on us.
“Dad!” A little voice cried. I turned my head, and Earth was running full-speed across the dance floor. I followed her path to where Aaron stood by the door to the gym. Beside him was Aunt Jo, her hand in his, her head resting on his shoulder.
“Hey, Trouble!” he cried, kneeling down so Earth could jump into his arms. “Were you good for Cassie?”
“Duh,” she said. “You were only gone for, like, a minute.”
She caught my eye and winked at me. “Thank you,” I mouthed.
Behind them, James Harrison looked around. Suddenly, his face lit up. Ian was standing by the punch bowl, grinning at his dad.
“Ian!” Cassie cried, waving him over.
“Ian, what are you doing here?” I asked. “I thought—”
“Rogues live on earth, right?” He said with a wink. “Maybe I’ll be the first Rogue in my family to graduate high school, stick around. Besides,” he said. “Can’t I keep the peace from homeroom?” We laughed.
“We made it through the battle, and junior year, guys,” I sai
d. “Can you believe it?”
“It didn’t seem so daunting back in September,” said Ian.
“Senior year is looking pretty good, huh?” I grinned at him.
“Ooh,” Cassie cried, “this is our song. Daniel, shall we show them what we’ve been practicing?”
“I believe,” he said, extending his hand, “we shall.” Cassie put her hand in his, and he twirled her out onto the dance floor. And then, before my very eyes, Cassie ran toward Dan and he lifted her up into the air. She squealed, the light from the disco ball reflecting off her pale pink dress, as she spread her arms wide like she was flying.
“We did it! We did it! We—” Dan’s footing faltered beneath her. “Ah! Put me down! There’s no river to catch us this time!”
I watched them tumble to the ground with the biggest smile on my face. Asher was right. We were so, so lucky.
“Hey, Skye?” Ian put his hand on my back and smiled. “I knew you could do it,” he said. “Even when you didn’t. I always believed.”
I watched him make his way across the gym to where James was waiting for him. And when I turned around, I realized someone was waiting for me. He stood on the edge of the dance floor, in the shadows.
And then he stepped into the light. His eyes were dark and dizzying. His hair was as black as the Colorado sky at night. He grinned and raised an eyebrow as he held out his hand.
“Skye,” Asher said. “Will you dance with me?”
But the screech of an amp feeding back made us turn suddenly to the stage. Cassie stood up there with an acoustic guitar, the rest of the Mysterious Ellipses behind her.
“Girls and boys, for the last dance of the night, I have a surprise for my best friend. This is a song about being brave.”
She began to sing, her voice high and clear as a bell. The band strummed softly, filling the gym with slow, beautiful music.
Asher and I grinned at each other. I took his hand without a word, and everything I’d ever felt for him came rushing up inside me. He pulled me close, and I rested my forehead against his chest as he guided us across the floor.
“This is what I would wish for,” I whispered, “if I could go back to that night we met. I may not have known it then, but I do now.”
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