by Tara Brown
Of course I lied. It’s dark and quite frightening in the castle when the torches and lights are all out. Luckily my eyes do their thing, and I slip through the dark hall silently, not making a single sound. I don’t want anyone to know I am leaving.
When I get to the cellar door, my heart is pounding, but I know I have to go. I wince as I pry the door open. It squeaks. I close it and run. I know he will have heard me.
The cellar has not seen an update. The stairs are long and winding down into the earth. It’s cold and dank and smells like things Ellie and the others remember quite well. At the bottom of the stairs, I recognize the old door I knew was there. I pull hard on the rusty handle and the door squeaks like it’s the friggin’ alarm system warning Constantine of my escape. I leave it open and run, trailing my finger along the cobweb-covered wall of bricks. I can see that the stairs have no railing and the fall is far. My eyes do their glowy thing making it light in the room, light enough to see how horrid it is.
A light at the top of the stairs announces his arrival, “Rayne, goddammit. Get back here.”
I look back at Constantine and jump. The torch he holds lights up the massive cavern he once turned into an amazing escape. My wings burst from my back, and I float past the dimly-lit staircase and pitted wall. He jumps too, but the moment I touch ground, I’m running and leaping. My huge white wings fold in when I reach the tunnel to the sea. I can smell the spray of the ocean.
“RAYNE!”
I push my legs harder until I reach the cold wind in my face. I see dawn’s light on the horizon and leap into it and the misty air of the bluffs. My wings tuck and I dive fast for the sea below.
I split the water with such force I cry out from the pain of it. But instantly they are there. They wrap around me, surrounding me in light. I can hear the nixie singing and moaning in the water, talking all at once.
Seven beautiful sea witches. I smile at the nixie. They look up and I see the frothing sea explode with more commotion. He has followed me into the ocean. The nixie will smell their dead on him and attack. I see jeans and scowl; it’s not Constantine. It’s Wyatt. He looks at the nixie pleadingly, “Please?”
He surfaces again. The nixie look at me. I sigh and nod.
We all surface. I see Constantine’s evil face from the cave opening high above. I wave, “I’ll be back in a couple days.”
He flips me the bird.
“Wow, that was rude.”
He turns and stalks back into the cave.
I look at Wyatt, “You can’t come. You have to be able to cross the Atlantic with them.”
Wyatt ignores me and looks at the blonde with the hateful look for him. “I am the archangel Jonathan’s son. Please let me come. I promise to do whatever you say.” He sounds sweet and obliging. They look like they won’t be fooled, “Fine.”
A redhead grabs him and pulls him under. I scream, “He can’t breathe.”
The blonde laughs, “He is nephilim. They can all breathe underwater.” She grabs my hand and pulls me under with her. I grab her shoulders, like I’m swimming with a dolphin and we start the trip. The sun rises above, lighting up the entire ocean.
It is beautiful and strange to be swimming across the ocean. I can’t see Wyatt. There is a pit in my stomach that they just dragged him down and murdered him. He has killed nixie before.
I feel an overwhelming exhaustion suddenly. Before I can stop them, the dead take me.
I wake to pain, knowing I never dreamt. I scream out and look down. I am in a room I don’t know, and the source of my agony and sickness is the man sleeping next to me. He has sprawled across me. I snarl and shove him off the bed. He lands with a thump and continues to sleep. It makes me laugh.
I look around but I don’t know this place. It’s a simple bedroom, nothing fancy at all. I get up, nervous of what I will find. I no longer think it’ll be Van Helsings who want to kill me. I trust him now. My belly rumbles, and I know it’s not the kind of hunger a sandwich will fix. I haven’t eaten in days.
I leave the room, recognizing where I am when I enter the next room. The picture with the star makes me smile instantly. It is the reason I have come back to the States.
“Did you push me out of bed?” I jump and turn to see Wyatt rubbing his eyes. “That was mean.”
I laugh, “You were touching me. I woke screaming in pain.”
He grimaces, “So I accidentally hurt you and you purposefully push me out of bed? I woke screaming in pain too.”
I roll my eyes, “You did not.”
He cracks a grin, “Okay, but I’m not a baby like you.”
I laugh, “Screw you, Wyatt.”
“That’s why we’re here, isn’t it?”
I shake my head and an idea hits. I grab his hand and drag him to the picture. I press the star and instantly we are there. He cries out like a baby then.
“What the hell?”
I turn, searching for her. She is in the garden in the corner. I run over, “Excuse me, ma’am.”
She turns to look at me, making my heart stop. She isn’t the lady from the picture before. She is Willow. I drop to my knees, tears streaming my cheeks. I can’t reach the agony inside of me, but I know it’s there. My body’s reaction is desperate and uncontrolled sobbing.
Wyatt comes running over, “Willow?”
She looks at us both, “What? How?”
I press my hands down into the earth, grabbing at the soil and crying. She is on me, instantly. “Nene, my precious Nene. You found me. I knew you would. I tried to leave you hints with the dead. I hoped they would tell you to come to me.”
Her warm softness surrounds me. She smells like patchouli and dirt. I cry harder, “Mom.”
She cries too, “My baby.”
“Wyatt, what are you doing here? Is that Rayne?” I hear Fitz, but I am so lost in my tears and the embrace of my mom that I can’t look.
She strokes my hair and kisses my head. “You came. I can’t believe you came.”
Wyatt hugs Fitz, “You’re alive?”
“No, son, I’m a ghost but I am held here by the magic of the earth witch I love.”
Wyatt shakes his head, “I don’t care. I’m just glad I can see you. I’m sorry I wasn’t able to help you.”
Fitz laughs, “You are doing your job, trust me.”
“Uncle, we need to find the garden. I know you’re the only person who will know where it is.”
I look up at Willow, “Can you tell me if Mona’s mom is dead or alive?”
She nods, “Give me a minute.” She closes her eyes, and even I get a shiver from the thing she is doing. I can’t see anything different, but I can feel the electricity in the air. She opens her eyes, “Mona is an orphan.”
I wince, “Oh God.”
“She is with God. She made peace before she left. Mona’s father was worried and went to her when things got bad. They died together, holding each other.” She smiles down on me, “You have killed the devils, haven’t you?”
I nod. She winces, “Then it has started. Have the horsemen come?”
I nod again, “The world is in turmoil. People are dying everywhere and the horsemen are wrecking everything.”
Wyatt scowls, “You guys knew they would come?”
Fitz sighs, “We suspected they would. They are the only way to start the end of days and pit the lamb against the usurper.”
I shake my head, “What?”
Willow kisses my cheeks, “You have to kill the antichrist. The horsemen will tip the balance of good on the planet to a disastrous level so that he might be born. It is judgment day for the believers. God’s children are going home, and only the worst of the worst and the non-believers will remain. The children of light, the fae, will stay also. They do not belong in heaven.”
My stomach cramps. Willow looks at me, “Have you been eating properly? You look tired.” She looks at Wyatt, “No sex right, Nene?”
I sigh, “No.”
Wyatt shakes his head, “You guy
s are really open in this family.”
Fitz looks down, “You have no idea.”
I laugh, “Has she got you eating plant enzymes?”
He shakes his head, “The week she died it was colonics week, that was…fun.”
Willow laughs, “I wanted you to live forever.”
“Willow, my love. I was already going to live forever.” He looks at me, “Being dead together forever is better. No colonics and no enzymes. If I imagine it, it’s here and there are no repercussions to eating it. No gas and no colonics.” Fitz sighs but focuses back to the business at hand, “Why are you here? Why have you wasted time coming here? The nixie know the way.”
Wyatt shakes his head, “They won’t tell her.”
Willow gives me a look, “Tell them, Fitz.”
Fitz points at the small cottage, “Come in for a tea.” Willow helps me up and we walk arm in arm. I grip to her for dear life.
Inside of the cottage, I shake my head, “It looks just like our house did.”
Willow gives Wyatt a hateful look. He sighs, “I didn’t know you guys then.”
She sneers and sits on the couch, pulling me with her. We snuggle as Fitz makes tea.
“The garden is the least of your worries. The antichrist is clearly born. He is most likely your brother. We found texts that essentially said Lucifer and Lillith would make both. He is unaware of his mission in life.”
I swallow the lump in my throat, “He’s my brother?”
Willow kisses the top of my head, “I’m so sorry, Nene. We discovered it recently. He is most likely your brother and until the devil rises in him, he will not know what he is. He may even be frozen in a state of unconsciousness while he waits for it.”
I feel sick. “I have to kill him?”
She nods.
Wyatt shakes his head, “How do we find the garden?”
Fitz sits at the table, waiting for the kettle to boil, “It finds you.”
“What?”
He nods, “The garden gate will be there, somewhere random. Only a person looking for the garden for a pure purpose will find it. No one has ever recorded going in. People search for it because they want the healing and immortality of it. They want something from it. They don’t have a pure purpose. Only the purest of heart may enter too. I have heard of the gates opening for people but their feet are unable to cross into the garden. We sort of assume that being minus a soul you cannot enter.”
“Shit.”
Wyatt nods, “Double shit. How do we have a pure purpose when she wants to go there and kill Lillith?”
Fitz puts his hands out, “That’s why we hoped the nixie would tell you. They come and go; the last of the witches are able to come and go. They know how to get in there.”
I give Willow a skeptical look, “Why don’t you ask them?”
She swallows hard, “They don’t like me much. They think I was working with Lucifer. The week your father was to meet us at the house, I spelled it. I knew it was my best chance at keeping you safe. I had hidden you away at the school, the land is hallowed there. As long as you were on campus, Lucifer couldn’t get to you. It’s the only reason I even let you go. The devils couldn’t fill you there either. School was the safest place you could have gone. When it was time, Lucifer contacted me and told me that I was to bring you to the house and let him take you to fulfill your destiny. But I spelled the house. Whether you had been at the school or the house, he never would have found you. I couldn’t take you to the witches; they wouldn’t let you stay once it had hit. Once you ate the evil in someone that was it—the end of you being welcome there for any length of time.”
“How are the nixie and Lucifer tied together?”
She looks pained, like she is seeing something behind her eyes that she isn’t sharing, “Lillith. We think she might not have been who we thought she was. She sent Lucifer to me, knowing I had you. She sent word to me in a dream that you had to die once and for all and that she was grateful I had cared for you. She was the only one who knew where you were. I told the nixie this and they called me a traitor against Lillith. I never even told the other witches until it was clear to everyone who met you who you were. It’s why we lived separately. I told them I had a non-magical daughter with a mortal. You were an abomination to them.”
“But the nixie don’t seem to think I’m supposed to die.”
Willow smiles, again like she sees something she doesn’t share. “They don’t think it. They told me they don’t think it and that is why they will not tell you where the garden is. They want you to live. They want you to rid the world of Lucifer.”
“But that will take Lillith with him.”
Willow’s smile turns wicked, “They have been led to believe Lillith will be safe from you so long as the antichrist and Lucifer have been killed.”
Wyatt looks confused, “You have lied to them?”
She shakes her head, “Not me.”
He looks at Fitz, “You?”
He nods, “They will only help so long as they believe their precious Lillith will live.” He looks at me, “You must go to the air witches. They are the only ones who know how to kill the horsemen.”
I drop my head into my hands, “What about the friggin’ garden? How the hell do we get in there to get Lillith?”
He pours the tea, “The answer will come. God will not leave you helpless. The answer will come when it is time. God has not left you alone yet.”
I shudder, remembering being chained to the wall and tortured, “Well, let’s not get too overzealous. He hasn’t exactly been there for every step I’ve taken.”
Fitz looks like he might explode for a second, “He has carried you, Rayne. Make no mistake of that. Everything that is happening is meant to be. Find the air witches.” He passes me and Wyatt a tea. I sip and think. Willow hugs me, like it might be the last time. She whispers, “I know you can do this, Nene.”
I nod, “I’m glad you think so.”
Three
“I can’t believe they’re both dead.” I mutter, passing him the painting from Fitz’s that’s wrapped in several garbage bags and sealed with his vacuum sealer for clothes.
He shakes his head, “They don’t seem very dead. Did you always know about that photo?”
I nod, “No, the dead showed me once.”
“Spooky, Rayne. I asked Fitz about the fire witch. He is certain there is one in Boston who is strong enough to redo a handfast.”
I smile, “Excellent!”
We slip back into the water and let the nixie surround us with their warmth. They smile and flutter about the water. I point up, “How does one go about finding the air witches?”
They shake their heads and the redhead speaks softly, “One doesn’t. Why would you want to see those pontificating winged devils?”
I laugh, feeling weird about the water in my face when I do it. “We need them. I have to kill the four horsemen, for Lillith.”
I look around at all of them, so pretty in the water. Their movements are fluid and smooth. The memory of the nixie on the shores is traumatizing; the jerky movements and dresses that seem alive still haunt my daydreams.
The blonde nods once, “We will take you to the place.” She looks at Wyatt, “Does the evil one have to come?”
I smile at him, “He does.”
She makes a face, grabs his hand and drags him through the water like a child dragging a doll by its hand. My ride is much smoother. We come to the shores after a short swim, “Go to the old part of town, Salem. The fire witches will help you find the air devils.”
The redhead kisses me softly. The lights in her eyes make me nervous but the soft lips are calming. Wyatt sputters as we climb from the water. The black rains have stopped. The sky still brews as though a storm is coming, but at least there is no weather beyond the cold wind.
“We need to find dry clothes.”
I nod ahead, “I have an idea.” We cross the street in the dark. He looks at me funny, “Your eyes are doing
that glowing thing.”
I nod, “It’s dark out. They always do it in the dark. The darker it is, the brighter they are.”
“Creepy.”
I stick my tongue out.
He laughs, “I love how mature you are about all of this.”
“Whatever.” I stalk across the dark street to a row of old houses. I do the thing I hate and walk to the one with no lights on and creep into the back yard. I can heed his dissatisfaction at the idea of what I’m about to do, but I don’t care. I open the back door quietly. Poking my head inside, “Hello, Uncle Stan?”
No one makes a sound or answers. I open it all the way, stripping my drenched clothing from my body. I almost leave my underwear on, but after the shower, I don’t bother.
“This started out wrong but I’m liking it more now.”
I look back at Wyatt, “Shhhh. Just strip.” I carry my clothes to the garbage and feel a small pit of remorse. I’m always losing clothes and throwing them away and ripping them with my wings. I never get to have nice stuff.
Wyatt scowls, “These are three hundred dollar jeans—you want me to put them in the trash?”
I smile when I see his naked body, “Yeah.”
He smiles, shaking his head, “Eyes above sea level.”
I laugh, “This is probably the worst experience ever.”
He closes the cupboard to the garbage and looks down on me. I like the way he towers over me, casting a shadow so big I can’t see past him.
“Your eyes are really glowing now, like a cat with a glimmer of light in them.”
I nod, “I know. They’re crazy.”
“I want to touch you.”
I smile, “This family could be home at any second. Trust me, hide and seek with glowing eyes is not easy.” I turn and walk towards the stairs I know he can’t see. “Besides, I don’t want you to touch me.”
I dash to the shower, jumping in and rinsing the sand and salt from my body. He gets in with me. When I’m clean, I jump out, “I’ve never been naked this much in front of anyone, except Willow. She’s always naked. Huge fan of nakedness.”
“I can see that.” I can hear the smile in his voice even though I can’t see him past the shower curtain. “I’ve always been around nakedness. Sports teams are brutal.”
