by Jessica Gunn
We knew we needed to hurry. We should have stopped Lady Azar months ago. But Shawn and I hadn’t had our Alzanian power back then, and Riley hadn’t been ready. None of us had been.
All I had to do was get to Riley to stop this. One last fight.
Shawn waved me over to the shield and hovered his palms above it. “If we use our magik, it should counteract the shield. It’s similar to the one Kinder put up around Headquarters months ago. But it’s going to require blood to work.”
“Blood magik,” I mumbled. Like there hadn’t been enough of that going around. My heart sank, my eyes falling. Mom.
Shawn nudged me with an elbow as he drew a blade across one of his fingertips. “Head in the game, remember?”
How was anyone supposed to stay focused right now? Least of all me? My mother was dead. I was dying. The entire world might fall apart in less than twenty minutes. And the one thing, the single plan I had left in my repertoire…
Shawn lifted my left hand and cut my finger. The back of my palm started go glow red. The mark Giyano had left on me, some sort of demonic tracking symbol, lit up. It didn’t throb in pain like it used to. And I didn’t feel any sort of connection to him. But the mark continued glowing like a phantom of the man Giyano used to be.
I swallowed hard and looked up at Shawn, asking him without words how this could be. Giyano was dead. I’d held him in my arms when he’d died.
Shawn’s eyes widened as he glanced between me and the back of my hand. “That’s…”
“Impossible.” Unless Giyano’s spirit was still alive somewhere, reaching through and reminding me I still had work to do. Reminding me I had to save Riley at all costs.
But “saving” someone, as Giyano well knew, had many different meanings and possibilities.
I turned and placed my hands on the shield, grunting against the immediate shock of pain. But when my fingers glowed with Alzanian power, the shield accepted my hold. My blood trickled down my hand and along the curve of Lady Azar’s shield. My breath quickened, my chest heaving, as sweat rolled in a large glob down the side of my face. A chill coursed down my back with every ounce of magik used.
Shawn did the same, splaying his bleeding fingers across the shield. Together, our magik washed over the dome, shattering it in places. Only when Nate and Areus joined in with their various ether magiks did the fracturing in the shield turn into whole chunks falling.
Just as my vision started darkening, the shield broke completely, splintering into a thousand pieces. The blood magik made solid scattered across the courtyard’s stonework and landscaping.
Step one done. Now on to the quick part.
I rushed forward, begging my feet and legs to continue working, to not trip or falter, as I ran for Riley. “On me!” I yelled over my shoulder at Shawn without pausing to see if he’d heard it because there, at the very center of the courtyard, standing right over the symbol for the Son and Daughter named was Lady Azar and Riley. Ben and Rachel were at her side too, their eyes closed and faces crumpled as though deep in thought.
Good. Neither of them needed to see what I was about to do.
I took off in a run, ignoring the way my knees buckled on every step, and launched myself right at Riley, my sword still in hand.
And tackled him to the ground.
Chapter 21
Ben
Krystin’s scream tore my focus away from me. When the hell had she gotten here? Her scream was so wild, so heart-wrenching, that I didn’t know if she was attacking or being attacked.
I opened my eyes quick enough to catch her lunging through the air directly at Riley. She tackled him to the ground, seemingly careful not to land on top of him.
A yell broke over my lips as my feet carried me from where I stood next to Lady Azar to Riley’s side in seconds. “What the hell, Krystin?”
She rolled, pulling Riley up with her as she stood. She wrapped an arm around his middle, his hands pinned behind her against her clothes. She was being careful not to let him take her power. But her sword hung in front of him, ready to strike.
“Stay back,” she said, though her eyes weren’t on me.
Lady Azar stood, seething at the impossibility of what’d just happened.
The ground trembled, giving away beneath our feet. With my concentration gone, and Rachel’s and Riley’s, this would be over fast. Our power alone wasn’t enough to hold the cianza together.
I glanced briefly at Rachel to make sure she was okay. She stood a few feet away, struggling to keep her balance as the world shook. “Krystin, what are you doing?”
“Unhand him, witch,” Lady Azar spat. “Are you trying to kill us all?”
“Are you?” Krystin volleyed back. “This is the original cianza. If this one goes, they all explode. Or did you not know that?”
Riley looked so small against her. “Krystin, I swear to god—”
“Stop it!” Riley wailed.
“This isn’t easy for me either, Ben,” she said, though she still didn’t have the guts to look at me. “He’s just a kid. But he’s a kid with access to magik we barely understand. Magik that should keep this cianza neutral. But since this crazy bitch has decided to bring an entire armada of demonic magik down onto the cianza, much of which is in reach of Riley and his Power, she’s all but guaranteed this cianza will tilt. And explode. And it’ll take every plane of existence with it because all cianzas are linked.”
Lady Azar’s eyes narrowed. “Who told you that?”
“A Neuian,” Krystin spat. She lifted the sword closer to Riley. “Retreat. Take all of your soldiers with you or I’ll ensure neither of us get to see the world you think you’re creating.”
My jaw fell open. Lightning called to me, asking to be used, but I swallowed down the urge. I couldn’t use magik here. Well, I might have been able to without tilting the cianza, but I didn’t want to risk it. And if I used magik, that might make Lady Azar use it too. Whatever Krystin was doing, she was right. One wrong move and Riley had the power to take us all out rather than save us. But Krystin threatening my son was not something that was going to happen.
“Let him go, Krystin,” I snarled, curling my fingers, as though lightning zapped around them.
She had to be playing Lady Azar. Krystin would never hurt Riley. Ever. So why the hell had she taken him for a human shield?
Lady Azar seemed less worried about it. “I would not trust the word of a Neuian. If they were that concerned about the state of Cianza Alzan and their other weapons, they would have come to stop me themselves.”
I couldn’t argue with her logic, but her decision to not retreat might cost Riley his life. “What are you doing?”
Riley wriggled in her arms, trying to break free or—no, he was trying to free his hands. He was going to steal Krystin’s magik!
“Shouldn’t you be trying to save Alzan in the way that was prophesied rather than this madness?” Lady Azar asked, stepping closer to them.
Krystin raised her sword in response, the blade now inches from my son’s neck.
A dozen emotions ranging from rage to desperation flashed across my mind’s eye. Krystin was supposed to be my ally. My teammate. And even after coming back and helping us fight Lady Azar a few days ago, she still turned against us?
That’s when I saw it, the glowing red mark on the back of her left hand as she held Riley against her. Giyano. He’s here? Or was his spirit sending her some sort of message?
No, that was impossible. I glanced around, searching past the immediate wave of soldiers and between Nate, Areus, and Shawn, who were making their way closer to us on unsure feet. They didn’t look panicked as they approached Krystin as she held on to Riley. But they really, really ought to have. Because if I’d learned anything over the past year, it was that when Krystin set out to do something, she did it.
And yet something about Giyano’s glowing red mark felt off.
“Prophecies are for those who believe in a fixed fate,” Krystin said. “I’m not one o
f them. Besides, this seems a lot more efficient than giving you an opening to stop whatever Shawn and I might have done.”
Lady Azar gave her an incredulous look. “I am not evacuating the city on the word of a desperate witch with backfiring magik. You shall meet your end, as will they. And then Darkness will rule two planes of existence.”
Krystin dropped her mouth close to Riley’s ear. “Do you see what she’s doing? I don’t know how much you understand, kid, but I know that if you have magik, you can feel the cianza beneath our feet. I know you can feel its connection to all of life itself. If you side with her and continue this, you’ll end us all.”
“He’s three,” I shouted. “Krystin, stop whatever you’re doing. Please. He doesn’t understand.”
“Yes, he does,” she said. “Don’t you, Riley? Lady Azar made sure of that.” Then she said something else to him, but I was too far away to make it out.
Riley nodded but didn’t speak. His small burgundy eyes were trained on the weapon before him. The ground still shook, every tremble bringing the blade that much closer.
Rachel now stood beside me, her hands clenched and body taut as if she were going to act, regardless of magik being a no-no on top of the cianza. Ours should be neutral, right? If her requirem had worn off too, we could take Lady Azar and Krystin by surprise.
I gave her a quick glance, nodding. We just needed an opening to act, then we’d get him out of here.
Nate climbed over a hedge in the courtyard with Shawn. They were both here watching this insanity too.
“Take her magik, Riley,” Lady Azar ordered. “End this fight now. I’ve conditioned you for this.”
“Do you hear how much of a monster you are?” Krystin asked. “Conditioned? He’s a child.”
Lady Azar snarled. “And yet who’s the one holding a sword to his throat?” She grinned evilly. “Although I must admit it is a quick end. Your mother went just as swiftly. A sacrifice she paid so we could all be here now.”
Krystin’s eyes grew wild. Her hands white-knuckled around the handle of the sword as she moved the blade even closer to Riley’s throat. “You will pay for that with this loss.”
Rachel reached out, collecting water from the molecules in the air, and shot shimmering blue water in Krystin’s direction. The torrent wrapped around her blade hand and pulled it away from her. Krystin stumbled as another set of tremors began. She fell, Riley with her, to the ground. He pushed off of her and backed away quickly.
Lady Azar appeared in a teleportante next to Riley. She shot out her hand and a gust of wind sent Krystin rolling away. Krystin didn’t resist. I squinted my eyes as I made my way closer to Lady Azar, waiting for Krystin to wake up.
She didn’t. She just laid there, half-inside a hedge.
“Let him go!” Rachel screamed. The ground’s shaking multiplied, violently twisting the surrounding stone. Water sprung up between the brickwork. Then another torrent and another until the entire courtyard flooded.
Lady Azar spun on Rachel, her hand up and ready to shoot again. But at the last second, Lady Azar went flying through the air. Shawn ran into the center of the courtyard, sloshing water around with every step. He had his left hand raised to strike again with telekinesis.
Riley wailed next to him, but it sounded different this time. It wasn’t a cry for who he perceived as ‘Mom,’ but rather… a general sense of shock?
My heart splintered with that realization. My son, so scared, and there was so little I could do. I’d never felt as helpless as I did right now. Not even on the morning Giyano had kidnapped him.
“You’re not going to win,” Shawn said. “This is our city.”
“No, it belongs to the Powers,” Lady Azar said. “It should have been conquered thousands of years ago. And now I see the Neuians want it as well. They have—”
A solid block of white ether slammed into Lady Azar’s jaw. The sound of the collision, of cartilage breaking, echoed through the air. Her head snapped back as she staggered on her feet.
“You’ve done enough,” Nate said as he walked past me on his way to Lady Azar’s side. “This ends now. Asanak.” He lifted his right hand and a whip of ether sprouted to life in his fingers. Nate hurled the whip back over his shoulder, then shot it forward.
Lady Azar flicked her fingers open, sending a burst of her wind-elemental magik flying at her feet. It slid her backward and out of range of Nate’s asanak attack.
I willed lightning to my hands, loving the way it felt after too long of not having it, and volleyed a strike directly at her. Three years ago, I wouldn’t have trusted my aim. Not with my son in the direct line of fire. But three years ago, I had been a completely different man.
The strike soared, sizzling through the warm air. It arched up and over Nate, Shawn, and Riley and headed directly for Lady Azar, coming within inches of her face and—
The lightning bolt was knocked off-course, so quickly only another lightning user could have seen it.
Riley.
I spun to face him. No lightning lit his hands at all.
Realization slammed into me like a mega truck, so hard that it actually knocked me to my knees. All air was swept from my lungs, leaving me breathless and cold. And scared.
No. Oh god, no.
Riley stood with his hand raised in the air, a glowing white light swirling around his fingers. “I understand,” he said, but the seriousness with which he said it mixed with his toddler voice and suddenly, I didn’t know which to believe anymore. He was just a kid, but he stood there with all the commanding presence of a Hunter Circles Leader.
Lady Azar stood on wobbling legs, confusion twisting her features. “Riley?”
He’d saved her. What the hell did she care beyond that?
Riley looked over his shoulder and peered at Krystin, who was now pushing herself off the ground. Shawn rushed to her side to help her, a questioning look on his face. She said something under her breath that made Shawn’s face pale.
“I do understand,” Riley said again. “And there will be no more fighting. I hate the fighting.”
Krystin nodded to him. “Then end it. You’re more than capable and we’re here to help you.” She nodded at Shawn. “I can’t do it without you, Riley. We can’t. We need to be a team.”
Riley turned his innocent face on Lady Azar, his bottom lip quivering. But then his gaze fell on me. “Ready to come home, Daddy.”
A million responses fought for dominance. I wanted him to know how happy hearing that made me. How surprised hearing sentences from him at all was, given the short time I’d spent with him. I wanted Riley to know that I loved him and would always welcome him back. But all that made it past my lips was, “I’ve been waiting for you.”
A bright white light emanated from his hands. It crawled up Riley’s arms, cocooning him in bright ala-ether magik.
It’d happened so fast I hadn’t even seen it, despite having my eyes trained on Riley this entire time. And if I hadn’t seen it happen, Lady Azar sure as hell hadn’t.
Shawn and Krystin stood behind Riley, directly on top of the symbol for the Son and Daughter at the center of the courtyard. They each reached a hand out to his tiny shoulders and knelt beside him, Krystin a little more wearily. Her face had paled and slicked over with sweat. Purple bags now hung under her tired, red eyes. And her hands still shook even while holding Riley’s shoulder.
Riley had taken Krystin’s magik. But… not because even as the first wave of ala-ether from Riley touched the symbol, more of it poured out of Krystin’s and Shawn’s bodies too. It was one giant overflow of magik that seeped across the symbol. The intertwined “S” and “D” stonework glowed with the magik. Lit-up lines shot out from the center of the symbol, tracing out all across the courtyard for as far as I could see. All along the stretch between here and the city, little beams of light shot upward, a bright burst of magik before being snuffed out completely.
“No!” Lady Azar screamed. She charged forward, eyes wild, drool dri
pping from her mouth. “Stop this! You can’t take this from me! After all we’ve accomplished!”
“Asanak,” Nate roared from beside me.
I whipped out another strike of lightning, aiming for her feet. Blue lightning wrapped around her ankles and dragged her to the ground. Rachel added another binding made of water that rushed in a torrent around Lady Azar’s ankles too fast to possibly break. A split second later, Nate’s soul-cleaving ether-shaper move collided with Lady Azar’s chest, slashing her from waist to shoulder, draining her of her access to magik for who knew how long this time.
“This is over,” I said as I formed a lightning blade in my hands.
Lady Azar scrambled to stand up but looked more like a fool than anything else. Blue lightning and water ropes still wrapped around her ankles, sending her off-balance as she struggled to remain upright. Her hair had slipped out of the carefully tied-up style she’d had it in, strands of it now falling into her face like tiny fire waterfalls. “You can’t stop me. You would have done so already if you could.”
“There’s a first time for everything.” The lightning blade grew to the size of a short sword. Lightning crackled around it with blue sparks, popping in front of me.
Lady Azar stopped fighting. Her chest heaved as she stared me down. “Even if you kill me, you’ll never keep Alzan alive. More will come. The balance of this cianza will always remain in question. And if you can’t stop Riley and refocus your own energies on balancing the cianza, it will still explode. I win either way. Another will take my place. Perhaps the Neuians this time.”
That she was even speaking of being replaced spoke volumes about our almost-victory. But she was right. Depending on what happened next, the cianza might still tilt out of control.
“Ben,” Rachel said, her voice reaching me somehow past all the chaos unraveling in my head. A reminder to follow through with the most important promise I’d ever made.
I raised the lightning sword over my head. “Send my regards to Giyano. Thank him for me.”
