by D. N. Hoxa
But…did I?
“Oh, my God,” Millie whispered, looking ahead into nothing. Kassian smiled at me, his eyes filled with pride. Sim began to laugh.
That’s when I saw the shimmer. It was so faint, so easy to miss, which was why I hadn’t seen it at first.
It was a screen. A fucking screen right in the middle of the room!
“How is this possible?” I asked Kassian while Sim and Millie hugged each other and laughed. “This…how is this possible?” The spear in my hand looked just the same. It felt just the same, too.
“I don’t know,” he whispered, lowering his head. I walked closer to him because Sim and Millie were singing now, and I wanted to hear what he had to say.
“You’re a master. You have to know.” If he didn’t, who would?
“I haven’t been a master in a very long time, but I do know that you’re something more than any of the other masters. You have so much magic in you,” he said almost breathlessly and slowly put a hand on my chest. I wanted to push his hand away, but for whatever reason, I didn’t. He touched me and closed his eyes. His face lifted like he was having the most wonderful dream. It was too good to ruin it, so I didn’t interrupt until he had enough and came to his senses. He took his hand back, leaving invisible flames on my skin where he’d touched me. “They’re going to be here soon. It’s best if you leave right now and come back later.”
“Come back here?” Was he crazy? “No, I’m never coming back here.” If that screen was real and not just some stupid prank, and if I really made it back home, I was never setting foot on Alfheimr again.
“You have to,” he said.
“I don’t.”
“Yes, you do. All the lives in this world depend on it.”
I laughed. “You’ve lost your damned mind!”
“Your magic can bring back life to Alfheimr. The more of it you release, the faster it will spread—just like the gods did.”
“But I’m not a god!” I’d say it a million times if I had to. “I don’t know what this is, and I honestly don’t care. As long as I get to leave this place, I’m taking it.”
“You can’t just leave,” he said, desperate now. “The world needs you.”
“No, the world needed you. You and all the other masters, but what did you do? They live on earth, all cozy and happy, and you hide in this mountain with your gold—for what?”
“I told you, I am no longer one of them,” he said through gritted teeth.
“On top of that, you keep humans here against their will and make slaves out of them.” I shook my head and made sure he saw all the disappointment I could show him with my eyes. “This world doesn’t need me. It just needs to die.”
“Why do you think I left the masterhood?” Kassian’s voice was bitter. “You think I gave up on everything I knew because I wanted to hide in a castle full of gold?”
Well, yeah.
“So why did you leave?”
He pressed his lips together, and I could barely see them through his thick beard. “Because they became something…else. Because they no longer asked for help—they took what they wanted and didn’t care if others suffered.”
That’s when it dawned on me. “You left them because of the humans in the mining site.”
He closed his eyes for a second. “I left because I didn’t want to be a part of it.”
“So why didn’t you stop them? You could have stopped them. You’ve got magic, too.” I’d seen it—felt it when he hit me. He paralyzed the entire left side of my body with just one blow.
“I tried. I failed,” he said, his hands pulled up in fists. I could read his guilt in the wrinkles of his forehead.
I wanted to feel bad for him but couldn’t. He still could have done something besides hiding away in his castle. He could have helped humans who came to him with nothing but hope, but no. He killed them instead and thought he was showing them mercy.
He was no better than the rest of the masters and the rest of the people of Alfheimr. The time had come for me to go home.
“Goodbye, Kassian,” I said with my chin raised, no longer afraid because I knew he wouldn’t stop me. If he wanted to, he wouldn’t have told me about the spear at all.
And while we were at it, I handed him the spear. He practically jumped back and raised his hands. “Take it. It’s yours.” It was in his castle.
“It was never mine, and it belongs to you now,” he said, shaking his head. “It goes where you go.”
My first instinct was to say no. I could have stayed and argued, but there was no use. I was ready to go. So I turned around and looked at where the screen had been, half afraid that it wouldn’t be there anymore. It was. It shimmered here and there, as if it was blinking at me, and Sim and Millie were right in front of it, waiting.
“Morgan, think about it. Alfheimr needs you,” Kassian said, but I shook my head.
“Alfheimr doesn’t need anyone. And I’m done.”
Millie took my hand, squeezing it tightly, and Sim took hers. I had the spear with me, too. That was fine. I could get rid of it when I got back home. For now, I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. The image of home was still waiting behind my closed lids.
After three years of torture, I was finally moving to somewhere else. Maybe the screen wouldn’t take me home. Maybe it would take me to yet another world—I would be a fool to trust in anything Alfheimr had to offer, but I meant what I said to Kassian: I was done here.
Holding Millie’s hand tightly, I stepped into the screen, and I never, ever intended to look back.
Eighteen
It felt just like it had the first time.
A tingle on the back of my neck—and that was it. I stepped forward with Millie’s hand in mine, and the view in front of me changed completely.
The dragon god’s castle disappeared.
Something cold and wet fell on my face rapidly. Rain.
It was rain, and it smelled pure. Even heaven couldn’t feel this good.
The darkness lifted and my eyes couldn’t get enough of the view in front of me. I was standing on the sidewalk across the street from where I grew up in Manhattan, New York. The sound, the lights—everything was exactly as I’d remembered it. Millie screamed, but I couldn’t let out a single sound. I couldn’t hold myself upright, either, so I let go of her hand and fell to my knees on the cold, wet asphalt. The rain kept falling, washing away all the torture I’d endured in Alfheimr and washing away the rust from my very soul. Setting me free.
The lights of the stores across the street, the cars speeding by, the sound of tires as they hit the wet asphalt, the people walking by, some running, it was all perfect. It was home, and it was exactly like I remembered it—the training center, the bookstore, the coffee shop—as if that part of the City had been frozen in time just for my benefit.
I didn’t dare close my eyes as the tears fell, joining the raindrops on my face, for fear that it would all disappear. For three years I’d dreamed of this day, and now that I was here, it was better than anything I could have ever imagined. My father’s training center and the apartment I grew up in were just feet away from me now.
No more Alfheimr. No more stories of wicked gods and masters and magic. For a little while, there would be no more thinking of the past three years of my life.
Millie hugged me from behind, and Sim squatted in front of me, smiling like he was a newborn man. He looked good on the streets of Manhattan, even wet like that. It suited him. In his dark eyes I saw gratitude, and I saw kindness I’d never seen before. He put a hand on my shoulder and nodded to say thank you.
But I should have been about to thank him if I could speak. He was the one who set things in motion. If it wasn’t for him, I’d have still been in Vanah, working for Sennan, beating people for a living.
No more.
Eventually, I stopped crying and gathered enough strength to stand. The spear in my hand helped, but I didn’t pay it any attention. Millie’s smile couldn’t have bee
n bigger as she faced me.
“You were right all along,” she said, breathlessly. “We made it. We’re home.”
“We are.” Finally, we were home.
“Thank you so much, Morgan. For everything,” she said, holding my hand in hers, her honey eyes full of tears. She didn’t mind the rain, just like I didn’t. The skies looked angry and there was no sun in sight, but it was home.
“Thank you,” I finally said. “The both of you.”
Millie laughed and the sound of it touched my soul. “If you don’t mind now, I’m going home to my grandmother.”
“Go!” I said, so happy for her, but her words were a stab in my already wounded gut. She had someone who was waiting for her. What waited for me was an empty apartment, but that was okay. “Go, don’t let me keep you.”
“You’re coming with me, right?” Millie said to Sim, who couldn’t stop smiling himself.
“Always,” he said with a solemn nod. That made me happy, too. Sim could take care of both himself and Millie for a while. Then, he turned to me. “Before I forget…” He reached for the inside pocket of his jacket and brought out a handful of golden coins.
“No way!” I said, completely shocked when he handed them to me.
“You didn’t think I’d leave that place without a piece of the gold, did you?” Sim said, laughing.
“Oh, my God, you’re a genius!” Millie said, clapping her hands and jumping in place. I wished I could do the same, but I didn’t have the energy. “You’ve got more, don’t you?”
Sim grinned. “Lots more. Take it,” he said, putting the golden coins in my hand. I took them. I had no money, and as much as I didn’t want to have anything to do with Alfheimr anymore, I still needed to eat.
“Thank you.”
We smiled at each other, tears in our eyes, hope in our hearts.
“Until next time?”
“Until next time,” Millie repeated, and giving me another kiss on the cheek, she turned around and left with Sim by her side.
I turned toward the building that used to be my father’s, already feeling like a brand new person, even though my body still hurt. With the spear in my hand, I crossed the street without rush, feeling completely at ease in my skin because I knew that my father would be proud of me.
And I knew that it wasn’t going to last forever, but for now, all was right in the world.
Also by D.N. Hoxa
WINTER WAYNE SERIES (COMPLETED)
Bone Witch
Bone Coven
Bone Magic
Bone Spell
Bone Prison
Bone Fairy
SCARLET JONES SERIES (COMPLETED)
Storm Witch
Storm Power
Storm Legacy
Storm Secrets
Storm Vengeance
Storm Dragon
VICTORIA BRIGHAM SERIES (COMPLETED)
Wolf Witch
Wolf Uncovered
Wolf Unleashed
Wolf’s Rise
TRAPPERS, INC SERIES (ONGOING)
Reaping Willow
Angel Wings
STARLIGHT SERIES (COMPLETED)
Assassin
Villain
Sinner
Savior
MORTA FOX SERIES (COMPLETED)
Heartbeat
Reclaimed
Unchanged
