Illuminate

by Tracy Clark

  “I think some will be swayed. Some won’t. Same with your kind.” As soon as I said it, I regretted it. He was not apart from me. No longer could I think us versus them. We were supposed to be two halves of one coin. Wholemates. “Sorry.” There was no crevasse deep enough for the well of guilt in my heart. One man had already died for me, and I was asking another to do the same. Possibly. I didn’t know what we’d “be” afterward. But I didn’t hand us our fates. This task was set before us thousands of years ago, and time was running out to complete it.

  Finn’s hand hovered over mine for a split second before he laid it softly down. “We’ll convince them together.”

  Edmund greeted the car as we pulled up. His eyes scanned for Giovanni, but I couldn’t say the words. Not yet. He slung his camera up to his face. “I have to ask just one question.”

  I held up my hand. “Not now, Edmund. This isn’t the time. Is everyone okay?”

  “Mostly, yes. Please Cora, I don’t think there is another time,” he said, desperate. “This could be your only chance to speak to the world the way you wanted. I can tell the story and have enough to show evidence. But the world will want to hear from you. I’m mad at myself for delaying.”

  I sighed. I’d keep my word to him and it was important. I wanted the world to hear the truth from me. “Go,” I said, motioning impatiently for him to roll. “Quickly.”

  “Okay.” Edmund slid into reporter mode. “Big question first. The world saw you save those children from the clutches of death. The church has said that it was an act of God, working through you. Do you think you are an instrument of God?”

  “If we’re all created in God’s image, then I’d say I’m a reflection of God. And so are you. We all are.”

  Edmund looked moved by my answer, pulling his face away from his camera with an exhale toward the ground but quickly refocused and continued. “The tool of those in power is often secrecy. The existence of your kind—givers of light, the Scintilla, and the others, the takers known as Arrazi—has been shrouded in a vast conspiracy that has spanned thousands of years, at least. What would you say to those who might still wish to deny reality, who wish to deny that what we are revealing to the world isn’t real?”

  “I’d say ask yourselves, have you ever inexplicably felt your energy drain or lift depending upon who you’re with? Then you’ve had your own taste of the lineage of the Scintilla and Arrazi. Beyond that, all I can say to the cynics is…” I squared my shoulders, blew out a breath. “I stand in my truth.”

  There was no simpler statement. Nothing more to say. Once I knew for certain what I was, what I was here to do, the cacophony of the messy world fell away. My intention was to save it, to give light so the darkness would retreat like a shadow under the sun’s rays.

  Finn, Edmund, and I walked toward the ranch. Not everyone was congregated in the big room where I’d expected them to be. There was a chaotic vibe running through Rancho Estrella and Scintilla milled around, unsure of what to do. “Do they know the Arrazi are coming?” Finn asked Edmund.

  “Yes. Ehsan texted Adrian and Will, too. Adrian and Will tried to set up a strategy based on their powers. No one was keen on sitting together in the common room like fish in a barrel, but there’s a group still in there. We could really use Giovanni’s leadership right now.”

  “He can’t help us anymore. He’s dead.” I pushed the words out through the dam of my gritted teeth. I could barely say it to Edmund. How was I going to explain it to Claire? “And the cardinal is missing.”

  Edmund gave a shocked and apologetic look before his eyes tracked two Scintilla with packs on their backs, darting into the brush. They were running away. I had to step up. “I will lead now. Did you tell the Scintilla what needs to be done?” I asked. “Do they know about joining with the Arrazi?”

  Edmund chuckled. “I did more than tell them. I showed them the video of your episode when you touched the book. Then, I did what any orator would do, I recited gospel—noncanonical but let’s not split evangelical hairs.” Edmund cleared his throat. “He said to them, whoever has ears, let him hear. There is light within a man of light, and he lights up the whole world. If he does not shine, he is darkness.”

  “Who said that?” I asked. “It’s beautiful.”

  “Jesus. Who else? When I saw they needed more, I read them this little ditty from the Gospel of Thomas. It’s Jesus speaking again. When you make the two into one, and when you make the inner like the outer and the outer like the inner, and the upper like the lower, and when you make male and female into a single one, so that the male will not be male nor the female be female, when you make eyes in place of an eye, a hand in place of a hand, a foot in place of a foot, an image in place of an image, then you will enter the Kingdom.” Edmund waggled his brows at me when he finished. “Amazing, right?”

  I was speechless. It was a nearly perfect description of my vision of the joining and of the being who left the truth in the spirals. “Thank you, Edmund. Running into you in Italy was a fate I’ll always be glad for.”

  Edmund leaned and kissed my cheek. “It’s been the biggest thrill and privilege of my life,” he said. “Now let’s go save the world.”

  The three of us set off. I needed to find Will and see what plan was in place so far. Convincing the Arrazi was paramount, but that would never happen if they killed us before the words even got out of our mouths. Just then, Will and Maya ran around the corner, and our eyes locked. They also had packs on their backs. They jogged over, both looking warily at Finn before exchanging glances.

  “Where are you two going?” I asked, hearing the accusatory tone in my voice. I grabbed Finn’s hand to show them they had no reason to fear him.

  Much to my surprise, Maya leaned with her hands behind her back and kissed my cheek.

  “I always knew this was about duality,” Maya said. Her head jerked toward Will. “I told them in the car the other day, didn’t I, Will?” Her deep brown eyes darkened with solemnity. “The Scintilla’s role in the story is a much bigger part than I ever imagined.”

  “Tell her the rest,” Will urged her.

  “We can’t do it. It sounds like the ultimate peace, right? Two enemies joining…but it also sounds like a suicide pact. Will is my other half—not some Arrazi I’ve never met who wants to kill me. We have a baby coming. We have to run, try to live our lives someplace else and give our baby a chance at life. We truly wish you luck and…light.”

  “You’re telling me that you believe in the truth of what I saw, believe that we can save a world spiraling out of control, the world your baby will soon inhabit, and you’re running away? Even if you refuse to join, can’t you at least stay and help us?” I wanted to cry. If they ran, how many others would do the same?

  In my deepest heart, I couldn’t blame Maya, though. If I were pregnant, would I walk the plank with an Arrazi? “I’m sorry,” I said, reaching for her hand, but she deftly held it out of reach. “I have no right to judge your choice. I wish you luck.”

  “Thank you,” Will said. “Adrian’s inside the hall, and he’ll fill you in on the plan. Most Scintilla are going to be in a ‘let me see it and then I’ll believe it’ mindset. None of us really knows what it means to join with an Arrazi, but it sounds like the end of life as we know it.”

  “Probably. I’m not going to lie.” Will’s eyes widened at that, or maybe not that, but something behind me.

  Faster than if it had been a blade hurled through the air, Arrazi energy hit my back, slicing into the tender spot between my shoulders—right over my knife marking.

  Chapter Fifty-Seven

  Finn

  Cora arched her back, gasping for breath, or air, and from the way she writhed, for relief from the pain. I spun around to confirm; she was under Arrazi attack. I let go of her hand to leap in front of her. Her agonized green eyes met mine, and for one sickening moment, I realized there was a shocked question in them. Did she think I attacked her? As soon as I blocked her, the clawing ass
ault on her spirit hit my chest and seconds later, a surprised guttural yell came from the attacker as the man blew back and landed on the ground with the force of his own energy ricocheting off me.

  Aside from the horrific scene at my house, this was the most terrifying moment of my life. Half a dozen Arrazi advanced toward us along the main road through the ranch, and more cars were arriving. Every beam of headlights and crunch of gravel under tires was a death knell. No telling how many would be upon us. Possibly much more Arrazi than Scintilla, and the Scintilla were already overpowered by nature. The Arrazi were on us, their leader, the cardinal, was missing, and we were so very unprepared.

  The man who’d been flung to the ground didn’t stay down long. He jumped paranormally fast to his feet and gave another Arrazi a sinister smile. “Sortilege,” he said. Like yelling “smorgasbord” to refugees, they hungrily attacked, wanting what only Scintilla energy could give them—supernatural powers. No doubt, after they obtained their power, they’d kill. More Arrazi energy whooshed our way, much more than I could hold off, though I tried. I stood my ground in front of Cora and yelled for them to stop. I blew some of them back, but I was taking multiple hits that were weakening me. I staggered backward into Cora.

  Will and Maya whimpered behind us. I looked over my shoulder, and they were both crouched down, Will over the top of his wife, trying in vain to shield her. I worried what the attack could do to her unborn child. “Help!” I managed to scream out.

  A soundless flash of red-orange fire shot out from between two of the domed huts and hit an Arrazi, igniting his clothes and hair. He screamed and flailed, and I swallowed down bile that rose as I watched him burn. The attack on our auras stopped as the Arrazi scrambled for cover and peered between the buildings to see where the threat came from.

  “It’s one of the twins,” Cora said from behind me. “Gavin and Cooper. They’re what Giovanni called ‘elementals.’ One wields fire, the other, water.”

  “Those twins just saved our arses,” I said to Cora, and we both lifted Maya and Will by their arms. We rounded the corner of the hall, and Cora stopped to bang on one of the windows. “They’re surrounding us!” someone yelled from within the ranch. Will and Maya exchanged petrified looks. Their window for escape had closed unless we could find an opening.

  “We have to warn the people inside!” Cora said above more screaming. Behind us was the eerie glow of burning figures and black shadows. Someone’s face appeared in the window. “Samantha, right?” Cora said to a young woman in an impressively calm tone. “Tell everyone that the Arrazi are here.” The girl nodded, her large half-moon eyes showing fear but also resignation. “Everyone has to use their powers to stay alive until I can confront the Arrazi and convince them to stop attacking.”

  A big man pushed his way past Samantha. “She comes!” he said in a thick Italian accent. “I foresaw it. One most powerful is among us.”

  “Ultana,” I murmured to Cora. Her gaze snapped to me. So much had happened that I hadn’t the chance to tell her. “I don’t think she’s dead. I think her son Lorcan has helped her fool everyone.”

  “I saw her!” the man bellowed again. “Where is Giovanni? I must speak with him.”

  Cora didn’t answer that question. It had to kill her every time someone asked it. “Does anyone know where my grandmother is?” Cora asked past the wild-eyed man to a new person at the window; a scrappy-looking young man with tattoos all over his neck and arms.

  “I’m Adrian,” the guy said. “She’s in here, what’s up?”

  “Adrian,” she said. “I know your name. Giovanni told me about you. Twin boys are out here being our only defense right now. Everyone needs to help. You can’t hide in here and wait to be slaughtered.”

  Adrian gave a chin lift and steeled himself before turning to yell over his shoulder. “Yo, it’s time! We have powers for a reason; let’s go use ’em! We’re sitting ducks in here! Out the back door!” We heard the stampeding feet and the scuffle of steps coming out the door just a few feet away from us. I didn’t need to see auras to know they were afraid. Waves of fear rolled toward me and collided with my own. Their distinctive auras were honey, and the swarm was upon them.

  “I need Mami Tulke,” Cora said. Adrian bolted from the window. Mami Tulke was pushed through the crowd out the back door, and soon we had a group of Scintilla around us, waiting for instructions. “I have to speak to the Arrazi and convince them to join with us,” Cora said to her. “I need you to shield me long enough to—”

  “It can’t be you,” Mami Tulke said. “Remember, you are the one person I cannot shield.”

  Cora let her head fall back to the stone wall. “That’s right…”

  “Sydney and I will talk to them,” Samantha said, motioning to a tall young woman with piercing gray eyes. “I can try to use my telepathic cozening to convince them to halt their attack so Sydney can mimic Cora’s appearance for a short time. We can only pull it off for a few minutes, though.”

  “I can shield just one of the girls,” Mami Tulke gravely reminded us.

  “Shield Sydney,” Samantha said, bravely. “She’s the one who has to do the talking.” That was the first hint of fear I’d heard in her voice. For someone so young, she was incredibly self-assured.

  “Are there others who can do telekinesis?” Cora asked, and Adrian nodded affirmatively. “Okay, tell them to position themselves by the debris piles from the earthquakes and use their sortilege to strike any Arrazi who threaten.” Her voice lowered as she turned to her grandmother. “How many Scintilla have run?”

  “Easily half.” I couldn’t tell from her tone what Mami Tulke thought of that fact, but it was clear as crystal what Cora thought. Her whole body seemed to droop for an instant as she mentally processed the implications.

  “We were at a disadvantage anyway,” Cora said. “This just makes it worse. Thirty some-odd Scintilla against who knows how many Arrazi who can take from and kill multiple people at once. We have to end this. For good.”

  “You’ve found a way,” I reminded her. “We can do this.”

  No sooner had the words come from my mouth than a pack of Arrazi stepped from the shadows in the trees and charged the air with their hunger for the Scintilla. Everyone around me clutched their chests and bent forward like they were bowing to royalty. I moved to defend. Suddenly, chunks of cement and glass hurtled through the air in front of me, slamming into the Arrazi taking numerous bodies down. The Scintilla were fighting back, and it was clear that the Arrazi hadn’t anticipated it.

  From the ground a bloodied Arrazi focused all of her attention in the direction from where the objects had come, and moments later, a body fell to my right. A Scintilla was gone. The Arrazi who could stand did so, but before they could attack, a wall of water arced over the trees and the force of the wave knocked them down again.

  “Cooper,” one of the girls whispered as a teenage boy ran from the trees with his arms outstretched in front of him. His face contorted in effort as he balled the water around the Arrazi in an attempt to drown them. It was working, but for some reason his ability waned and the water splashed to the ground around their feet.

  “Someone’s taking from him!” Cora said. “His aura is pulling from his body to the left over there.”

  I ran out in front of the boy who fought to stay upright. He was so young, and he looked at me with terrified blue eyes until he realized that I intended not to attack him but to block him from the Arrazi man whose face I could now see a few feet away.

  “Traitor,” the man hissed at me. “You think you can stop this?”

  “Aye. One Arrazi tool at a time.”

  The man walked calmly toward me, unconcerned about the Scintilla scattering around the compound and the intermittent yells around us. Three of the water-soaked and slightly injured Arrazi got to their hands and knees in the mud and then to their feet, their faces emanating total hate for me, the one Arrazi trying to defend these people. He unsheathed a knife from his belt, w
hich glinted under the solar lights of the hall as the other Arrazi circled around me. Cooper was thankfully gone. He must have run when he could, and I was glad. Kid was too young to die. I was, too, come to think of it, and I had no defense from a blade.

  The man raised the knife over his shoulder, poised to chuck it at me from only a few feet away.

  “No!” Cora yelled, and I winced. She should be running, hiding. She shouldn’t see this. Not only wasn’t she running away, the blasted girl was running toward me until she was attacked so viciously that she was thrown from her feet and onto her back in the wet earth. Her body curled in on itself.

  A loud popping crack split the air, and the man with the knife fell to the ground. I crouched as more shots rang out. Two Arrazi were hit and fell to the earth. The other two ran. Who among the Scintilla had a gun? We’d run for our lives from the cave when the earthquake struck, leaving everything behind. I crawled over to Cora, who was too weak to talk, and scooped her into my arms. Mami Tulke ran to us, and I felt the steam of Scintilla energy as she gave to Cora, helping her to regain her strength. My eyes searched the darkness for signs of the shooter, and I couldn’t believe who ran from one of the small rectangular homes.

  Giovanni.

  Chapter Fifty-Eight

  Giovanni

  Alive.

  It was a mystery to me how I woke on that quiet hillside next to the hole that had swallowed Cora. I’d saved her, used every ounce of strength I had to lift her gently from that chasm. I’d lost consciousness, and my last memory before I’d slipped away was the weight of her crying against my chest and her sweet words.

  When my eyes opened and all I saw were stars, I thought, how ironic…heaven isn’t a place, a destination. Heaven really is above us and around us and the earth is just floating in it…