by Emma Glass
This is it. I know what I have to do now. So… help me.
The amulet flared hot against my touch—and its magic flowed straight through my fingertips, flooding my veins. I felt every ounce of my own, natural magic crackle as this incredible birthright of mine offered itself up to me.
I might need everything you have. But don’t you worry…
There was a little pushback there. But we had a mutual trusting, it and I. Whether it realized what I had in mind or not, I felt it relinquish its strength to bolster my own.
“Clara!” Elliott shouted.
I could feel it. Everything around me shattered apart as this vicious creature, spell, whatever it was bore down over me with the intent to kill. This is my moment. My test. It’s all led up to this. Every midnight, you hunted me… every dream, you stalked me. When I crossed worlds, sometimes you couldn’t find me. But in the end, you always did. But after all these long years… just knowing that you always waited for me… it’s time for us to end this game. Only this amulet could ever stop you.
My eyes flew open. And this amulet needs magic…
I growled out a single word: “Delego.”
* * *
The wind screamed as my old nemesis finally struck.
But it was too late. The spell was cast.
Branches and trees collapsed all around us. The storm screeched its death cry as it threw everything that it could at me—with every ounce of murderous might that it had.
It probably would have killed me, in the end.
Luckily… I wasn’t alone here. Not anymore.
Led by Elliott and Nikki Craven, the vampire lords all lunged towards me, landing in a protective circle. As they pulled in close, everything moved in slow motion—Nikki and Elliott bounced back and forth above me, slashing the falling debris away with their blades as the vampire lords repeatedly cast healing and shielding spells. Surrounded by a ring of allies and guardians, I held my amulet tightly and braced myself against its power while the entire world tore itself apart around me.
Not this time, you bastard. No matter how hard you try.
The malevolent force roared in anguish. Even now, the breaking forest steadily lost its power. Meanwhile, the relic of my birthright, the amulet I would use to overthrow the Calamity, burned hotter and hotter to the touch. Steadily, it tore all the magic right out from this diabolical maelstrom. For the first time ever… the Blackwell Amulet was about to be one hundred percent charged.
It would reach its true potential.
And, holy hell, did it feel good.
Earth crumpled under my feet. I felt an incredible force pushing me back down, driving me onto my knees. I held my own, ignorant of the complete chaos exploding around me as I wrung out every. last. drop. of that malicious entity, feeding its power to my deserving amulet.
The wind started to die down. My amulet glowed with an incredible power as the final branches fell and the roots finally gave way, collapsing against the ground.
Everything creaked. And then everything was silent.
“That’s… it.” I finally gasped. “After all this time…”
Elliott Craven slung his sword in its scabbard, pulling me into his warm embrace. “My gods, Clara. You did it.”
“Fine. I’ll say it,” Nikki noted. “That was badass.”
Over Elliott’s shoulder, I saw the vampire lords look at each other in confusion. “Bad… ass?” Eyes-Like-Fire asked, her brows so high I thought she’d tear one on a piercing.
“Human thing,” she shrugged. “You wouldn’t get it.”
He released his grip on me. “Incredible work, Clara. So, does that mean…? Is it…?” I heard another creak.
“Oh yeah. It’s charged, alright.” I held up the amulet.
“That is… much more beautiful than it used to be.”
I glanced down at the black amulet with its inset ruby. “Can you see it now? What it really looks like?”
The vampire lords leaned in, all staring curiously at it. Around us, leaves and twigs still drifted down.
“Where did you get this?” Svetlana asked.
“Don’t touch it. Hungry little thing,” Nikki crossed her arms and turned away. “Just glad it isn’t eating my magic anymore…”
That earned a few looks.
“Long story,” she shrugged aloofly. “I’m not very fond of talking about it, so… don’t hold your breath.”
Faintly, I heard another distant creak.
“Hey,” I let go of the amulet. “Anyone hear that?”
“Hear what?” Chandra asked, looking around.
I ignored them all as the creaking sound grew, drawing my attention to the ground itself. The small patch of earth between us and the trees seemed to move and buckle, a long split growing along its full length.
Oh no—
Suddenly, the ground gave way beneath us. I threw out my hands in panic as we all fell backwards. The force of the beast had torn free a massive piece of the cliffside itself, and we were along for the ride. My sight choked by a thick cloud of collapsing earth. Elliott dove after me, his hands reaching out as we all plummeted into the abyss below.
* * *
Freezing darkness engulfed me.
Light scarcely filtered down through the water above—light held back by the chunks of earth now penetrating the water’s edge in a barrage of dust and chunks of cliff.
I couldn’t tell which way was up, not until I caught the direction of the air bubbles. It seemed that I had stupidly screamed out most of my held breath in a blind panic. My lungs burned as I desperately swam, hoping I was moving away from the collapsing cliffside. But I realized now that the water glowed wherever I touched it—and I had a path back to salvation. even if all of the water in sight was becoming a minefield of falling stones…
But the water was too fierce. I felt myself being flung in one direction or another, hoping against hope that I wasn’t about to be smashed or drowned in the chaos. Heavy pieces of stone bounced off my hopelessly exposed body. Although I banged against chunk after chunk of hard rock, it seemed all those protection spells were still in effect—but they wouldn’t last, and none of them would help me breathe underwater…
FOOSH! Someone plunged into the water near me.
FOOSH! Another descended in a flurry of bubbles.
The vampire lords dropped into the sea all around me, one by one. I could see them clearly as the water glowed in their stead. They each tried to hold out against the current of the churning water, inflicting their useless wills against the current. As mighty as these creatures were, they were powerless here—just like me.
I felt a grip at my clothes, pulling me back down.
I can’t die here! What is happening?
The grip was too strong. I turned. Elliott?
He was pulling me far away from the churning water, dragging me deeper. I was in a panic, pulling wildly at his fingers, trying to free myself. I needed to reach the surface. I needed air. He was trying to save me. But you’re going to bloody well drown me! I don’t want a watery grave!
Elliott pulled me into his arms, holding me back down. In the current, we tumbled together; his embrace wrapped around me like a cage of limbs. Elliott wouldn’t release me from his grip, and even if he did, I was certain I’d never reach the surface.
I was doomed to die here.
My lungs burned and my vision blurred on the fringes. I started to see stars as my chest trembled in a fit…
Finally, I let go, inhaling deathly water.
Only, my entire body simply relaxed. For all my frantic breathing, my lungs slowly adjusted to the water and my chest steadily settled down. I inhaled it now, natural as air, like I was built to breathe it.
Elliott looked down and nodded.
Yes, I nodded back. I understand.
As the swirling tides shifted again, Elliott held me close and propelled us both upwards. His powerful legs kicked harder than I had ever felt before. We only had a matter of seconds before
the water tried to claim us anew, and I felt the last few drops of those spells wearing off. Even if we could breathe here, the danger was back—there was still all the unforgiving rubble and those sharp, rocky teeth of the nearby mainland to contend with...
I gasped wildly for breath as we crested the water.
Several of the other vampires had already made it here. Others still burst free afterwards, trying to stabilize against the current. All were startled and disoriented.
Elliott held me close as he kicked against the water, pushing us further from the still-crumbling rocks. I was still gasping for breath when we finally reached safety, our bodies moving up and down with every wave.
“What was that? You let me think you almost drowned me!” I finally managed, watching the other vampire lords as they swam toward us.
“What? I did no such thing!” Elliott said, splashing at the water with his free hand. “Don’t you see, Clara?”
“See what?” I demanded. “You pulled me under!”
“But Clara—it’s not water!” Elliott replied in laughter. He slapped at the surface again—small sparks of glowing light flashed beneath his fingertips.
I reached down, grabbing at the water. Cupping a palm as I lifted it up in my hand, I let it pour back between my fingers into the ocean, studying the faint glow. Only then did I finally realize that the water wasn’t… wet.
In fact, none of my body was.
Another voice sang over the waves. “You can breathe—but you don’t have to. You aren’t even breathing now…”
Startled, I turned my head to see Nikki Craven calmly swimming on her back, a few meters over. For a dreaded hunter of the untamed magical wilderness, she was clearly enjoying this bizarre turn of events. As she splashed a little water with her backstroke, I realized she was right. I didn’t gasp with burning lungs for air anymore.
In fact, I didn’t seem to need to breathe it at all.
“But how are we…?”
“Don’t ask me—it’s your dream,” Nikki laughed.
Elliott drew me close and motioned. “This way!”
Freeing up his arm, I clung to his side. He powered us both across the roaring waves as I guided him towards the island in the distance. In all my dreams before, the shadow version of Elliott made it clear that’s where I was meant to go. Never before have I ever made it this far. My dreams always ended right before I hit the water…
I held onto my beloved as we swam across the sea of my dreams. In our stead, the other vampires followed suit.
And we swam towards whatever came next for us…
* * *
It took us upwards of half an hour at a steady swim to cross the sea to the mysterious island.
When we stepped onto the beach, I instinctively tried to dry myself off before realizing how unnecessary it was. None of us had a single drop of water in our hair, let alone in our cloaks and armour.
“Right. That’s convenient,” Nikki chuckled darkly.
Valentine scowled. “How very strange.”
“This is a dream,” Lord Krum wearily replied. “All that we know from before—from the rules of our own world—is useless here, I suspect.”
Elliott nodded sagely. “We are in a place that laughs at the mere notion of a natural order. It would serve all of us to remember this fact… and to take it to heart. There isn’t any telling what we might face around every new corner.”
“Speaking of corners…” I looked further up.
I felt their eyes turn to follow my gaze. A path wound up against the side of the cliff, curving up and out of sight.
“Where do we suppose that goes?” Lord Lovrić mused.
Nikki walked past us, already bored. “It goes up.”
Lord Vasiliev sneered. “Is up where we want to go?”
“Anyone got a better idea?” Nikki halted, looking over her shoulder. “Anyone? No?” The rest of the group shared a few shrugs. “Then yes, old bat. Up it is.”
“Always so eager to lunge into danger, aren’t you?”
“Not this time,” Nikki snorted. “Just eager to figure out where the hell we are. And I sincerely doubt the little patch of sand down here has any answers…”
She started to head onward without us.
I followed with Elliott right on my heels.
The rest of the vampires—even Lord Vasiliev—fell into step at our backs. The path was wide enough for two of us to walk at a time. Though his eyes stayed on Nikki’s back, I felt Elliott’s fingers clasp into place between mine.
“Do you remember what I said, the day we met?”
The fearful anticipation in my heart quelled. “Yes, I do. I’ll never forget those words…” It seemed so long ago. In a lot of ways, it really was. At a wooden table in a dungeon cell, staring at one another over a single flame in the darkness… each of us trying to trust the other. Making a pact together—one that holds true, even to this day… ‘By my side, Clara Blackwell, you stay under my protection.’”
The vampire nodded slowly. “True now, as it was then. So long as breath moves through my lungs, Clara, I will never waver in my commitment to keeping you safe…”
“Even in my dreams?” I leaned into his shoulder.
“Are you kidding? Especially in your dreams…
* * *
Before I knew it, we met the top of the curved path.
And we faced something that made my heart tremble.
Nikki froze ahead. “I’m, uh, pretty sure we’re here.”
The peak of this island wasn’t wide at all; the flattened top was brief enough that I could probably cross the entire thing at a comfortable pace in well under a minute.
That fact gave its single meaningful feature plenty of dominance over the landscape.
A stone chamber rested at the front of the structure, no bigger than a classroom back on my own version of Earth. Wide, stone stairs stretched up to a pair of enormous doors that looked as if they were carved from rose quartz. They stood partially translucent with ageless, glowing etchings surrounding the frame. But there two other distinguishing factors commanded the view of this place..
The chamber was bathed in a powerful column of light from far above, raining down dark dust that swirled along its stones. But, even while still, the structure throbbed.
“Can anyone else feel that?” Lord Song gasped.
“Yes,” Lord Krum nodded darkly. “Malediction magic. A higher concentration than I thought possible…”
“But what… is it?”
“A prison,” Elliott remarked.
“Worse.” Lord Vasiliev folded her arms. “A temple.”
I couldn’t break my gaze from the sight. Nor did I want to. It was beautiful. As I admired it, it nearly brought tears to my eyes. The column of light pouring down from above contorted once it reached the temple; the glow twisted into a pinkish purple shade, bathing the stones in dark light. All the while, the immense aura of magical energy around the impossibly ancient building throbbed, well, like a…
A heartbeat, I realized. It’s throbbing like a heartbeat.
“Well. It is certainly very pretty,” Nikki whirled around, a devilish look across her face. “So then. I’ll be generous—who wants to try and kill it first?”
Chapter 17
Elliott
The strange structure defied my comprehension—apart from the fact that it terrified me beyond the capacity for rational thought.
My mother’s enemy… no, my enemy, is in that chamber.
It didn’t feel real. In some ways, that made sense. None of this was real—and yet, this was easily the most tangible dream I had ever encountered in my entire life. I began to wonder if we were standing on the other side of a dream—on the distant shore, in a place where few had ever tread. Divided from all we knew by a great gulf of magical sleep, had we washed up on solid ground?
What if this is real? It feels real…
From whence we came, conscious thought and reality. Between there and here, a sleeping s
ea: the dark depths of which our dreams are born and our nightmares spring.
And then there was this. Where we stood together now, another reality. One that was just as real as the other, one we could touch and hear and damage, with all the right to exist. But it laid alone, held back by the sea…
I shook my mind clear.
This wasn’t the time for rampant philosophy. It was the time to consider our options and forge a path ahead. With that in mind, my gaze drifted to Clara. The young witch, the unwitting host for all of this, stared at the temple as if it was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen. Before I could nudge her, the vampire lords took notice of this. Their disapproving glares troubled me.
A sharp change in the wind drew my attention; it blew a thick burst of black dust out of the column, whirling in a flurry to the side. The wind whipped them around to form the slightest hint of a dark cloak, flapping open to reveal…
“Sabine.” The sinister name on my sister’s lips dripped with malicious venom. “I wondered when you were going to finally slither out from your hole.”
“Do you see?” The sorceress turned to face the temple. “It is a thing of majesty. So beautiful. So inherently… pure. The gate unlocks for my master, our saviour.”
The surviving council moved to leap forwards—Sabine merely blink-stepped away, standing on the temple stairs. The purple glow throbbed around her; she lovingly graced the stone with her fingertips before turning back to us.
“You’re a fool,” I told her. “Your master will kill us all.”
“Not all,” she noted. “Nor will it be my master’s doing. All of you should already know that progress is so rarely a bloodless affair. In restoring the rightful old, the mistaken new must become swept away…”
I turned to Clara; she was mesmerized. Just great.
“You are dooming far more lives than you can fathom,” I told Sabine in no uncertain terms, unwilling to hide even a single drop of my burning disgust. “You honestly believe that you are doing what’s right? You’re a bigger fool than I would have could have imagined.”
