“Are you….?” Penelope asked.
Willow realized that the clocks had all begun to tick faster. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. They returned to a normal pace.
“Is your magic back, too?” she asked Penelope.
Penelope nodded. “I can feel it. Though there isn’t much I can do in this place. Not unless I wanted to poison the earth.”
The forest stilled around them, as if sucking in a breath.
“Not that I would want to do such a thing,” Penelope added hastily.
They continued deeper within the clock forest, Willow feeling the warmth of magic surrounding her. The light grew brighter and brighter, until she could barely see a thing. Something rose ahead, but she couldn’t make it out. She slowed Bullet, squinting, but it didn’t help much. And then, abruptly, the light dimmed and a figure stood before her.
Her mother.
“Lyla?” Willow said, at the same time that Penelope said, “Atsa!”
They turned to look at each other, brows crinkled. “You see Atsa?” Willow asked. She swallowed, her throat feeling thick and dry. “It looks like my mother.”
Penelope turned to look at the figure and then looked back at Willow. “Maybe it shows us the person we miss the most.”
Willow looked back at the figure, which was a lot like looking in the mirror, except her mother’s hair had a reddish tint to the blonde. She wore her usual garb: jeans, a weathered shirt, suede jacket, and pilot goggles atop her head.
“Who are you?” she asked.
“I am the Keeper of the Key,” the figure intoned, and the voice sounded like her mother, too.
Willow shivered. “Well, we’re here for it. What do we have to do?”
The figure of her mother reached within her jacket and pulled out a key. Dark gray, almost black, it shimmered slightly as if shadows lived within it.
“The cost of the key does not come now,” the Keeper said. “I will give it to you willingly.”
Willow and Penelope exchanged glances.
“You said the cost doesn’t come now,” Penelope said. “So, when does it come?”
“It comes when you use the key.”
“Oh, well, we’re not going to use it,” Willow said with a shrug. “We’re collecting it for someone else.”
If the Keeper had any thoughts about this, her face didn’t show it.
“What is the cost of using the key, just out of curiosity?” Penelope asked.
“The cost to use the key is the thing you care for most in all the world.”
Willow shivered again, and the forest seemed to do so along with her. “What does the key open, anyways?” She felt suddenly foolish for not knowing. Not that it really mattered. The key was for Sahkyo.
“The key can open any door.”
“Any door?” Penelope’s brow wrinkled even further.
“Any door in all the world?” Willow pressed.
“Any door in all the universe. In any world, any realm, any place that exists in space and time.”
Willow felt her chest tighten. No wonder Sahkyo wanted the key. The question was, what did she want to do with it?
“Who do you work for?” she asked the Keeper.
“The Sheriff.”
“And who exactly is the Sheriff?”
“An enforcer of the law.”
Willow realized this line of questioning was getting them nowhere fast.
Penelope darted a glance over to her. “So, you’ll just give us the key?”
The Keeper stretched out her hand, palm up, and proffered the key to them. Willow moved Bullet forward and reached out with tentative fingers and took it. It was surprisingly heavy for its size; a length no more than three inches. Ornate, like the kind of key that might open a treasure chest. Cold as ice, so cold it burned. She held it up and watched it for a moment, enchanted by the play of shadows within the surface of the metal. Then she pocketed it in her cloak.
“There’s not by chance a back door out of here, is there?” she asked the Keeper.
“You can exit the same way you arrived.”
Willow groaned. “I was afraid you were going to say that.”
She turned and looked over her shoulder. She seriously doubted the giant wolves had gone far.
“Well, thank you,” Penelope said, ducking her head and backing away from the Keeper of the Key.
As soon as they began to retreat, the figure faded as if it had been nothing but a mirage.
Penelope frowned. “We need a distraction of some sort.”
Willow’s thoughts began to tick like the clocks around them. “I think I might have an idea.”
They approached the place where they’d entered the clock forest. On the other side of the barrier, she could hear the pacing and growling of the wolves.
“Get ready to run,” she told Penelope. “Run like you’ve never run before.”
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Felicity
Felicity felt pain lancing through her. But it wasn’t her pain. It was Dynah’s. And further, she realized that she was the one causing Dynah pain.
Which didn’t feel right at all. Why would she do that to her friend?
Her thoughts swirled, pressing in around her, dark and soft. She fell back into them, like falling into a warm bed on a cold night. Her eyes closed…
Pain shot through her again.
Dynah was looking at her with those big, blue eyes, looking at her with anger, and with… fear. Something was off again. Why couldn’t she remember? Everything was a blur. She must have been asleep. Dreaming. Maybe she was dreaming now. Nothing to worry about.
But then there it was again. A fiery wash like lightning through her limbs, Dynah’s limbs, a crushing tightness around her chest, her throat. If this was a dream, it was like no dream she’d ever dreamed before.
But if it wasn’t a dream, then what was happening to her?
She searched her memories. What was the last thing she’d been doing before the darkness? She’d been having headaches. Almost constant headaches. And before that? They’d been in the realm of the Fallen. Oxford. The library.
Sekhmet’s book.
The book.
The pages beneath her fingers.
A strange light…
Felicity felt a shove against her mind. Darkness whooshed in, sucking her down, pulling her into it like a mother settles a child against her breast. Why was she spending so much energy on these memories? She didn’t need to do anything right now. Just sleep, rest, dream…
Chapter Thirty
Penelope
The Forest of Time rumbled and then the metal began to screech and shriek as Willow clustered the clocks around them. She formed a circle, like a Roman shield wall. Domino and Bullet pranced in place, not entirely thrilled about being boxed in. Willow looked over at Penelope, nodding to signal her, then raised her hands over her head and sent two clocks through the invisible barrier like spears. A yelp and a cry came from the wolves on the other side. They pushed out through the barrier, the clocks surrounding them.
Except the moment they stepped through the magical wall, the clocks all fell to the ground.
Willow kicked Bullet into a gallop, leaping over the falling clocks and shooting like an arrow through the snowy forest. But Penelope knew the wolves would be on their heels in moments. And this time they didn’t have a head start.
She was still halfway across the barrier, so she acted on instinct, reaching behind her and summoning magic. Summoning night. Even though it was day within the clock forest and beyond. She didn’t know what made her do it, why she thought it would work. It was an act of pure desperation, a command to nature to obey her.
But obey her it did.
Darkness rushed from within the golden forest, pouring out and across everything. Night fell like the dropping of a curtain. Penelope heard another yelp from the wolves, and she knew it was now or it was never. She laid low across Domino’s neck and they raced out into the snow.
&
nbsp; They rocketed between the trees, heading for the open fields beyond. Behind her, several confused yips, and then the sound of pursuit. Paws pounding across snow. A howl, followed by another and then another. Her heart turned to ice. Ahead of her, Willow was pushing Bullet for everything she had. If nothing else, she’d bought her friend’s escape.
Winter turned to summer, and then trees gave way to grass. Penelope could hear the snarls behind her, feel the pounding of the wolves over the ground. They were closer this time. She could feel the heat of them, hear the gnash of their teeth. The night she had cast out within the forest faded away to sun once again. Domino ran as he’d never run before. Ran and ran and ran, eating up the distance between the forest and freedom.
They managed to maintain a slim lead on the wolves, but without magic, Domino could only run so long before he tired. She could sense the barrier to the Sheriff’s realm ahead. She saw it ripple as Willow and Bullet passed through it, about thirty feet ahead. The sounds of the wolves had drawn closer, right on her heels now. She didn’t dare look back, but she could only guess she had at most five feet. One big leap and they’d be on her. She wasn’t going to make it.
One of the wolves came level with Domino’s hindquarters, and its powerful jaws snapped…
A blast shook the sky as Willow fired the Colt, and the wolf at Penelope’s side dropped hard. A second wolf came up on her right. It leaped for them, claws and teeth and yellow eyes. But Domino also leapt, and as he did, they passed through the barrier. He lifted into the sky, the wolf missing them by inches.
Penelope slumped against his neck in relief as he spiraled upward. As they passed over the place they’d just been, she saw four wolves staring up at them. Four wolves, and a man. The Sheriff, his shoulder a bloody mess from the bullet Willow had shot into him. Her heart froze.
She’d heard tales of skin-walkers, people who could change shape into animals. But she’d thought they were just that—tales. When was she going to learn? All the fables were true. After all, she was living proof.
They circled once more and then headed south back toward Sahkyo’s domain. Penelope felt a swell of relief to feel magic pumping through her veins once more. Within the Sheriff’s magicless realm, it had been like missing her heart. The core of everything she was. It was a part of her now, through and through.
Traveling by sky, they reached Sahkyo’s realm within an hour. Penelope didn’t know how to get to Sahkyo’s outlook over the world, and wasn’t sure it was even a place accessible by normal means. Even with flying horses. So they landed, and Willow pulled the key from her cloak and raised it aloft.
“We have your key!” she yelled into the gray wasteland.
For a moment, nothing happened, and then the air rippled and they were standing atop the red butte once again. Sahkyo stood a few feet away from them, her wings folded behind her. Her eyes glowed feverishly, and she held out her hand. They got off the horses and Willow stepped toward the winged woman.
“Don’t forget your end of the bargain,” Willow said as she passed the key over to the half-angel.
“We need to find the other two Riders before we begin our training,” Penelope said.
Sahkyo did not answer. She held very still, hands trembling slightly as she raised the key up, turning it this way and that, watching how the light hit it.
“What are you going to open with the key?” Willow asked.
“That’s none of your concern,” the winged woman said. She finally lowered her hand and flicked her gaze over the two of them. “And as for you finding your two companions, that is no concern of mine. I did not agree to wait while you assemble your group. We begin training right away.”
Penelope ground her teeth together. “We nearly died getting that key for you.”
“Not to worry,” came a voice. “We’re here.”
Penelope blinked as Felicity stepped out of thin air, Dynah a step behind her. Sahkyo’s eyes widened and then narrowed.
“How did you get here?” the half-angel hissed, glaring at the new arrivals.
“We tracked you, of course,” Felicity said.
She made a casual gesture with her hand, as if it were the most natural thing in the world. Penelope’s eyes roved over her. Something seemed different. A confidence had replaced Felicity’s usual shy demeanor. It was the squaring of her shoulders. The shine in her eyes. Next to her, Dynah looked the opposite. Eyes frantic. Stance wide as if to flee at any moment. Penelope had never seen her sister looked this unsettled in her whole life.
“What’s going on?” she asked, and she directed it to Dynah, her dark eyes resting on Dynah’s blue ones.
Dynah opened her mouth and her lips moved, but no sound came out. Her eyes widened even further, and she lifted a hand to her throat.
“Cat got your tongue?” Felicity asked, a strange smile twisting her lips. She let out a laugh. “No. I suppose it’s just me.”
Felicity lifted a hand then, so quickly no one had time to react, and sent a bolt of magic straight into Sahkyo’s heart. It looked like lightning, but blacker than tar. Penelope screamed as Sahkyo staggered backward, looking down at her chest. A gaping hole had opened. It swirled like a galaxy, like the pull of planets toward a dark sun. Stars and sky moved within it.
And then Sahkyo fell sideways into the dirt, the life leaving her eyes.
Willow pulled the Colt, but it flew through the air and off the edge of the butte.
“Everyone calm down,” Felicity said. She lifted her hands in the air as if making a placating gesture, but the push of magic upon them was anything but peaceful.
Penelope fell to her knees alongside Dynah and Willow. She was positioned closest to Sahkyo, and her eyes moved down to the hole in her chest. She felt as if she had the same wound in her own abdomen. Could feel her own energy draining out onto the ground. Everything they had done, everything, had been so that Sahkyo could teach them to use their magic. Being chased by the Others. Attacked by monsters. Traversing a shadowscape, starving and alone, for two days thinking her best friend was going to die. Then herself nearly dying in the jaws of a skin-walker. And now, in a single instant, in the blink of an eye, it was over. It had all been for nothing.
“Who. Are. You?” Penelope managed to grind out, though it felt like the magic surrounding them had wired her jaw shut.
“Ah. You picked up on it so much more quickly that this one.” Felicity—or whoever she was— cast a disdainful glance down on Dynah. “You can figure it out if you think on it long enough.”
Penelope looked over at Dynah and then Willow. They had more than a few enemies.
An arched brow, and an impatient twitch of the lips. “You took something that belonged to me.”
Penelope’s eyes widened in horror. The book. Sekhmet. She would rather it have been anyone else. Anyone at all.
“What are you going to do?” Willow asked, her voice low. Penelope knew from experience that when Willow’s voice got calm like that, it meant she was anything but.
“Well, let’s see,” Sekhmet said. “I promised revenge. So revenge it shall be. This was the first of several surprises in store for you all. I know you wanted this one—” she cast a disdainful glance at Sahkyo’s body—“needed her to gain control of your powers. So, of course, she had to go.”
Sekhmet smiled with Felicity’s pretty face. Penelope felt a shiver like spiders crawl up her spine.
She watched her sister’s face crumple, and not for the first time, she wondered at the true feelings between her and Felicity. How long had this been going on? And where were the Fallen? It must have been horrific for Dynah watching Felicity turn into this monster.
“But enough idle chatter,” Sekhmet said. “We’re just getting started.”
She sent another wave of power down on them, and Penelope gritted her teeth as pain lanced through her body. Rough stone dug into her knees, and her bones felt as if they’d been filled with fire ants. She tried to resist, but it battered into her relentlessly until sh
e fell onto her palms, a low wail ripping from her throat.
“The first thing we’re going to do is partially selfish,” Sekhmet said with a shrug.
She released her magic and Penelope sucked in a breath. Her brow was beaded in sweat, her heart beating too rapidly, her breath coming in pants.
“Because I benefit from it in more ways than one. Not only do I get to watch you suffer as I do it, but I also get to reap all of the souls that come along with the task.”
Penelope’s eyes widened as a wave of horror and nausea rolled over her.
“You see, everything Felicity knows, I know.” Sekhmet tapped a slender finger to her temple. “And since Felicity knows where you four hid the sixth seal, so do I.” She smiled, wicked and cruel. “So, the first thing we’re going to do is break the seal and bring the Apocalypse one step closer to completion.”
Chapter Thirty-One
Dynah
Dynah felt bile rise in her throat. It was all too much. Her friend possessed by a goddess. Sahkyo’s body lying, lifeless and staring, just a few feet away. The buzz of residual pain moving through her body. And now the sixth seal, the second to last of them.
They had utterly and completely failed. The Apocalypse would continue, and there was nothing they could do to stop it.
She remembered when Felicity had found Sekhmet’s library, down in the dark depths of her temple. She’d been able to sense it when none of the rest of them could. But how? Had it all been a trap? She remembered their brief time among the sacred books, the blossom of hope in her heart that there was a spell book that could help them reverse the Apocalypse. Save all the lives they’d lost. She remembered the light on Felicity’s skin, and how beautiful she’d looked.
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