by H. D. Gordon
I reached into my pockets, feeling the box in one and an orb in the other, and hid the smile that wanted to come to my lips. “Where’s the fun in that?” I asked. “I hear you like a challenge.” I slipped my hands out of my pockets and spun my staff around, grin spreading. “What do you say?”
Typhon laughed, the sound deep and booming. Once he sobered, his eyes glowed red again, and I caught a glimpse of the beast behind the mask, the one the Seer had warned me of. “I have killed Gods with more power in their toenails, child,” he said.
I shrugged. “Well, if you’re afraid, I understand. I can be pretty intimidating.”
Now he was not laughing. “Do you know who I am, girl?”
“Typhon,” I said. “The God Killer. Father of Monsters.”
Another flash of white teeth. “And you still wish to challenge me?”
I spun my staff again, taunting. “You’re the one wasting time. You want the Relic? Come and take it.”
Chapter Thirty-Two
The smile melted from my face like spring snow as he changed into his true form.
One moment, he was the man in the suit, and then his bones shifted, his body rearranging itself to become something else entirely.
What stood before me now was a beast with a head like a bull, complete with two curling, massive horns. His feet were hooves, but his hands had fingers that gripped a wicked looking war axe. Brown fur covered his body, which was corded with muscle, and he stood over eight feet tall, his form draping me in shadows.
I barely had time to process this before he charged, the floor of the library shaking beneath his hooves. Books tumbled from shelves and bits of plaster floated down from the ceiling. There was a flash of metal, the sound of it slicing through the air. I ducked and rolled just in time to avoid losing my head.
And then he was on me again.
I dipped and dodged, narrowly avoiding that deadly axe. It came so close that it sliced the fabric of my suit, a hair’s width from my skin. I looked down at the cut, unable to believe that I wasn’t bleeding. When I looked up, I caught a glimpse of huge furry knuckles before they connected with my face, sending me flying.
My body collided with a bookshelf, knocking it over and creating a domino effect with the other shelves. For several moments, I couldn’t see, couldn’t find my feet. Distantly, I heard Thomas trying to yell against the gag in his mouth, no doubt urging me to get up.
The floor rumbled beneath me, and I rolled to the side as Typhon’s axe embedded into the linoleum, pain shooting through my head with the movement. I pushed to my feet, dancing back away from another swipe of his axe.
I kept looking for an opening, any chance to go on the offensive, but Typhon was as fast as I was—faster. For such an enormous creature, this was beyond impressive, and it meant that I had no physical advantage. Not one.
The sound of his hooves as he approached was like thunder, beating in time to the pounding of my head. I tasted blood in my mouth and spat it out, wiping it away with the back of my hand.
“Stop running, child,” Typhon said. “Come here and I’ll kill you quick.”
As he was speaking, I swung my staff at his legs, a move that had knocked many a foe on their butts in the past. On Typhon, however, instead of breaking him, the staff broke in half, the sound of it cracking like a shot to my soul. He hadn’t even stumbled or cringed, as if he hadn’t felt the strike at all.
I stared down at the broken half of my staff still in my hand, blinking in disbelief. I backpedaled until my butt hit the wall, and I could retreat no further. Typhon advanced, the victory clear on his hideous face. I ducked and slipped through his legs, planting a kick to his back that didn’t budge him an inch.
I slipped a dagger out of my suit and launched it at him. The damn thing bounced off his hide as though it were made of metal.
“Mortal weapons do not work on me,” he said.
Of course they didn’t.
I drew a breath, my body aching from the impact I’d made with the shelves, my head fuzzy from the same. I made a quick decision and let him draw near, hoping that there was still enough magic in my old staff to make a difference.
When Typhon got close enough, he gripped me by my throat, grin spreading over his face.
I jammed the jagged edge of the staff into his collarbone with every bit of strength I owned.
It didn’t go deep, but it broke the skin, and his grip loosened enough for me to slip free, falling to the floor in a heap.
He looked at the piece of magical wood sticking out of him as though it were little more than a gnat buzzing around him, ripped it free, and let it clatter to the floor.
“You’ll pay for that,” he said.
I readied myself for the attack.
But he didn’t come for me.
Instead, he turned and headed for Thomas, who was still bound to the chair, still struggling against his bonds. I heard myself scream, pumping my legs to reach him before Typhon could, my head spinning with the rapid pace of the moment.
Typhon reached him before me. He took Thomas’s head in his hands and snapped his neck. Thomas slumped to the side, the light leaving his eyes, his aura blinking out entirely.
The sound of his neck cracking echoed in my head, identical to that of my broken heart.
I think I screamed as I ran at Typhon, but I couldn’t be sure.
All I could see was Thomas without his aura. All I could hear was that awful crack.
Typhon scooped me up before I could reach him, lifting me as though I weighed nothing. I kicked and clawed, rage tingeing my vision red. Tears sprang from my eyes as I tried to cry out, and was unable.
“The Relic,” Typhon said. “Enough of this.”
My fingers shook as I reached into my pocket, removed the portal orb, and shoved that shit so far down his yawning maw that he dropped me and started choking. With mumbled and shaking words, I spoke the incantation, and the orb did its work.
“Remember to toss it up into the air if you have to use it. Don’t just hold it. Otherwise, it will suck you right in, and it’s kind of painful,” Vivian had said.
Typhon’s eyes widened, his axe clattered to the floor, his hands going to his throat. Then, he was sucked into the swirling portal that had opened within his throat, blinking out of sight as though he’d never been, as though I’d imagined the entire thing.
Then it was just me in the old library, just the sound of my heart beating, of the air tearing in and out of my lungs.
I crawled over to where Thomas was still strapped to the chair, working at the bonds to free him, my hands trembling, my mind in a stalled state of shock. Once I had him free, I pulled him into my arms, sitting on the floor as I stared down at his lifeless face, running my fingers through his dark brown hair.
Tears streamed down my face and landed on his cheek. I wiped them away. I kissed his forehead. Once, twice, and again. “Please,” I whispered, but I didn’t know who I was talking to, what I was even hoping for.
Thomas was gone. Had been gone the moment Typhon had snapped his neck. There was no aura around him, not even a little bit, and auras never lied.
I couldn’t be sure how long I sat there with his body cradled in my arms, his head resting on my lap. I couldn’t be sure of anything, except for the fact that I had failed. This time, I had failed horribly.
When a rat scurried up to me, I blinked at it, wondering if I’d gone insane. It came close enough for me to reach out and touch, staring at me with beady eyes that appeared too wise to make sense. Then again, nothing in the world made sense in that moment.
“What?” I said, hearing the insane note in my voice and not caring. “What do you want?”
I was talking to a rodent, and it was not the craziest thing I’d done in the past twenty-four hours by a long shot.
The rat stared back.
I was just getting ready to shoo it away when it tilted its head…and transformed into something else entirely right before my eyes.
; The air around it shimmered, and where the rat had been a moment before, now there was a tiny person, about a foot tall. Her body was almost translucent, as if she couldn’t fully take form. She had blue skin and long, white hair with eyes that were so familiar I would have sworn I’d seen her before.
Then it hit me. I had seen her before. In the eyes of the homeless man in the park, and the monkey in the forest, and the raven in the woods. I’d seen that intelligence, that sharp gaze.
“You’ve been following me this whole time,” I said. It was not a question.
The guardian nodded, white hair rippling as she did so. “I have, Aria Fae. I’ve been watching you rather closely, indeed.”
Later, I would think of a million things to say to this little creature, a million curses to throw at her, but in that moment, I was numb. I couldn’t think beyond the ache that started in my chest and had spread out to every fiber of my being. I couldn’t think beyond the fact that my Thomas was gone. Really gone.
I reached into my pocket and pulled out the box with the Relic. I pushed it toward the guardian. My eyes went back to Thomas, tears spilling down my cheeks.
Beside me, the guardian opened the box and pulled out the Relic, examining the stone with care before tucking it away in her flowing blue gown. “The balance will be restored, Aria Fae,” she said. “This is a very noble thing you have done.”
I didn’t reply. When she just stood there, I looked up, anger flooding into me. “What?” I asked. “I gave you what you wanted.”
She nodded, eyes twinkling. “Yes, and I’m going to give you what you want. I will grant you one wish. Any wish, but just one. As soon as you tell me what that wish is.”
Of course. The wish. In the torment that was Thomas’s demise, I’d totally forgotten about the damn wish. The wish I was supposed to use to break my deal with Saleos, and save myself from an eternity as his slave and a granter of ill wishes.
I almost laughed at the cruelty of it.
I brushed a hand down Thomas’s cheek, placed a kiss to his forehead.
“Bring him back,” I said. “I want Thomas to live.”
The guardian was silent for a moment as she stared at me. If she’d been following me this whole time, she knew what this meant. “Are you quite sure?” she asked.
I nodded.
Her voice was low and gentle, her form less translucent and more real than it had been only moments before. “Then you have to say the words, child of Immortals and men. You have to wish it in no uncertain terms.”
Tears came faster now, but I swiped them away and cleared my throat. “I wish for Thomas to live,” I said. “Final answer.”
The guardian nodded, stepping closer, her face revealing that she’d known this was the choice I would make. She placed her tiny hands on Thomas’s neck, and a light appeared beneath her fingers, seeping from them into Thomas.
“Your wish is my command, Aria Fae.”
Chapter Thirty-Three
If I hadn’t seen it, I might not have believed it.
I watched in wonder as the guardian worked her magic, as the aura around Thomas reappeared. Slowly, at first, just a small glow that started where the guardian touched and spread outward until it encompassed his entire body.
When she was done, she stood back to survey her work, nodding in satisfaction. “My debt is paid,” she said.
When she stepped close and placed a kiss on my cheek, I didn’t shove her away. I was too busy staring down at Thomas, at his beautiful, magnificent aura.
“Very noble, indeed,” the guardian said, and before I could think of a response, she disappeared. There one moment, and gone the next.
I wiped the tears from my face, my heart skipping a beat when Thomas began to stir. He let out a low groan, his eyes peeling open slowly, as if he was waking from a deep sleep. When he saw that he was lying in my lap, a small smile pulled up his lips.
“Hello, beautiful,” he said.
I swallowed past the lump in my throat. “Hello, Thomas.”
He winced as he tried to sit up, so I held him in place, telling him to take it easy for a minute.
“What happened?” he asked, glancing around.
“We won,” I said. “I returned the Relic to the guardian.”
“You did?”
I nodded.
“Did you get your wish?”
I swiped at a stupid tear that had escaped my eye, and nodded again. “Yes, I did.”
“So everything is going to be okay, then?”
I kissed his lips, lingering there for a moment before pulling back again. “Yes, everything is going to be okay.”
Thomas sat up, surveying the old library and the wreckage of my fight with Typhon. He rubbed at the back of his neck. “My neck hurts,” he said.
I smiled, but couldn’t hide the sadness behind it. “I bet it does.”
Thomas looked at me then, really looked at me. “If we won, why do I have this awful feeling? And why do you look so sad?”
I climbed to my feet, offering him a hand and helping him do the same. “I’ll tell you everything,” I promised. “But first, let’s just enjoy it, okay? Can we do that?”
Thomas smiled, his aura lighting up with enough love to heal a soul. “Your wish is my command,” he said.
I pulled him to me, holding him as though I would never let go, fighting against a shiver at his strange and ironic choice of words.
I was a coward.
I knew it wasn’t right, but I just couldn’t bring myself to tell them. If I did, it would ruin the little bit of time we had left, and maybe it was selfish, but I wanted to spend my last days in this world as though everything were normal. I wanted them to look at me without sadness, to remember me as full of life, and to share our final memories without the nasty tint of my impending doom.
So I lied. Well, I omitted the truth, which is pretty much the same as lying.
When they asked, I told them the same thing I’d told Thomas, that I’d returned the Relic to the guardian and made my wish. I just didn’t specify whose life I’d wished to save.
Lying to Thomas and Sam was the hardest of all. While I loved the others, the two of them would take my loss the hardest. They would suffer the worst, and I was sorry for it, but I felt like I’d spent my short lifetime doing what others needed, and at the end, I wanted to do what I needed. And right now, I needed to be with them without the heartache. I could only hope they would understand.
I’d written them both letters. In the letters, I’d told them how much I loved them, how much better my life had been for having known them. I’d stated in no uncertain terms how much they’d meant to me, and asked them to forgive me for my deception. Cowardly, yes. But it was the best I had.
I’d had to rewrite the damn things three times because my tears kept smearing the ink.
The night that it all had happened, I’d taken Thomas to his sister, so she could look him over and make sure he was in good shape. Dr. Reid had confirmed that Thomas was in perfect health, and had apologized to me for being so harsh the last time I’d seen her. I’d told her there was no need for that. She’d kissed my cheek and told me to take care.
At Thomas’s order, Sam and the others had fled the school building when Typhon arrived, and had tried to come back and help, but had been chased by yet another blue beast that was no doubt an orchestrated effort between Typhon, Cross Corp, and the Brokers. Luckily, Remy, Nick, and Vivian had been able to contain the beast and keep everyone safe.
But it meant I’d had to explain about everything that had gone down in their absence. It meant I’d had to lie to their faces, too.
Only Nick wasn’t fooled, because of his aura reading abilities. We were back at the warehouse, the following day, and everyone had been celebrating our victory. He’d approached me and thankfully kept his voice low.
“You want to tell me what really happened?” he’d asked.
I did not want to, but I did, anyway, and it actually felt better having it off
my chest.
Nick had sighed, pulling me close against his side and placing a kiss to my forehead. “Oh, Aria,” he’d said. “Noble until the very end…. What am I going to do without you running around annoying me?”
I tried for a smile and almost succeeded. Looking at them all gathered, laughing and joking, made my heart ache. I wished I could freeze time and live in that moment. But I’d used up my wish, and that was that.
“Take care of them, Nick,” I said. “Please? Promise me you’ll look after them?”
In all the time I’d known Nick, I’d never once seen him cry, not when we’d received punishment with the Brokers, not even when he’d found out about his father’s death when he was ten years old. But as he squeezed me a little tighter, his brown eyes meeting mine, I watched a tear trail down his cheek. He’d brushed it away quickly, clearing his throat.
“You got it,” he’d said.
Sam had wandered over then, and she was so happy that her mood seeped into me, confirming my choice not to tell them the truth and spoil what time we had left.
“Where did you send Typhon, by the way?” she’d asked. “When you opened that portal in his throat like a true badass?”
I’d laughed, the first real laugh I could remember issuing in God knew how long. “I sent him to Shiva’s basement. Maybe he’ll get out eventually, but I wouldn’t count on it.”
If that prison could keep in Seers and all other manner of beast with its magic, I didn’t see why Typhon would be any different.
“What’s going to happen now?” Sam asked as we all sat around eating pizza and cake. “I mean, the Relic has been returned, but what about Cross Corp? What about the Peace Brokers?”
Those answers trickled in over the following days.
Caleb Cross came to visit me at my apartment about a week later, and I wouldn’t have been more surprised if I’d opened the door and seen Santa Claus standing there.