“Only because they always put you in danger somehow.”
“Well, you don’t have to worry about that this time. I’m not doing much of anything it seems, so all safe here!” She lifted her hands in defense and rolled her eyes.
“That’s ‘cause you’re on the wrong end,” Ray’s sharp tone rang next to them.
“Huh?” She ducked out from under Liam’s hold and stood at his side.
“You keep trying to pull the plasma out.”
“Isn’t that the point?” Liam asked.
“No, pretty boy. The point is to make a trap.”
Ruby didn’t like her tone of voice. She especially didn’t like that Ray seemed to know something they didn’t and was wondering why she waited until this moment to share information. This kid was really starting to get on her nerves, it’s like she was trying to look untrustworthy.
“That’s what we’re trying to do, Ray,” she hissed. “Not sure if you missed the memo.”
“Yeah, cool story.” Ray brushed her purple bangs over her forehead. “Seems to me like you’re trying to take whatever pathetic amount of plasma you can manifest and put it in the frame.”
“I mean, that was the plan…” her voice trailed off.
“No offense, but that plan’s real dumb.”
“Let me guess, your genius hacker mind knows a better one?” Liam asked.
“Obviously.”
“Care to share?” Ruby snapped; she had reached her breaking point with the kid.
“You said whoever made the Room of Mirrors must have been pretty strong, right?”
“Ray, how long were you eavesdropping on us?” She yelled, slapping her hands on her thighs.
“I wasn’t eavesdropping. Get over yourself. You’re not exactly quiet and we’re in a library. The sound carries.”
“Still creepy,” Liam teased.
“Whatever. Anyway, that AetherBorn was one badass!”
“And?”
“And so were you when you were in there. From what Zag tells me, you were like a killing machine or something.”
“I still don’t see your point.”
Ray breathed out an annoyed sigh. “Hello? What do you think you and the AetherBorn had in common?”
“The sword?”
“No, not that! I mean, yeah, that helps, but what else?”
She shook her head. She had nothing.
“The plane! You were both inside the plane!”
“Holy shit.” She looked from Ray to Liam. “The kid is right. We’re on the wrong side. We need to be inside the plane for me to have enough power to do this.”
“You want to make another mirror room inside the plane?” Liam asked. “It won’t work. Demas will never fall for it. He’ll never meet you in there.”
“Oh, we won’t make the mirror in there.”
“Sorry, I thought you said I’m right?” Ray sulked.
“You are. But so is Liam.”
“So, what are you going to do exactly?”
“I’m going to open the portal. The one Demas opened last time.”
“Oh!” Ray’s eyes widened as she caught on.
“What ‘oh’? What does that even mean?” It seemed Liam was not on the same page.
“She’s going to split herself in between both places. Pull the plasma in from one end and push it out the other. God, you’re slow!”
“Watch it, Ray!” she barked. “But, yeah, that about covers it.”
“And you think that’ll work?”
“I think so. But I’ll need help.”
“How much help?”
“About fifty AetherBorns worth of help. I’ll need their power, it’s the only way I can get enough juice to open the portal.”
The excitement of actually being able to do this lingered at the tip of her tongue. She nearly jumped at the thought as she turned to fill Zag in. She wasn’t useless. She was strong and she could do this. She repeated the words in her head over and over until she almost believed them.
“Oh, and kid?” she turned to Ray and nodded. “Good job.”
Chapter 54
Ready
“Rue! You need to hurry up!” Liam yelled, straining to help Jake and Zag hold up the frame. “They can’t hold on much longer!”
She looked over them to the group of AetherBorns. Some were hunched over, some held the hands of those around them; all of them looked like she was sucking them dry, though she supposed that was a fair assessment seeing as how it was exactly what she was doing. Their powers flowed into her, the black fog rushing from their bodies into the dagger that vibrated in her hand. She could almost taste their energy in her mouth.
“I almost got it!”
Her short hair was plastered to her ears and forehead, darker in shade from the sweat that now coated it. She was squeezing the dagger so hard that she felt it might pop right out of her hands. The rise in power threw all her vitals into overdrive. Her heart pounded; her breathing was faster than that of a marathon runner, but she didn’t stop. She was close to opening the portal, she could feel it.
What was it that Demas said last time?
The further you travel, the bigger the energy needed.
Well, she needed all the energy she could get right now!
A moan sounded, followed by a heavy thud. She didn’t bother looking back, knowing that if an AetherBorn passed out there was nothing she could do to help them right now. The only way to help everyone was to get this portal open.
Sweat beaded on her brow and a rogue drop ran into her eye. She blinked the burn away, concentrating deeper on the space in front of her. The glimmer of light that started to push through.
So big, it starts to seep out sometime.
She heard Demas’ words in her head. She was doing it! She was actually opening the portal to the Aether Plane! Not by accident and not without any knowledge. She was in full control.
Her lips parted and a hint of a smile formed as the light grew, opening the doorway large enough for her to step through.
“Mirror! Now!” She yelled and stepped halfway into the light, keeping the dagger exposed to the library.
There was no describing what her body was going through. Ruby felt like all of her atoms were ripping in half, like the plane was pulling her into pieces. The part of her outside of the portal ached to be in while the part inside screamed to get out. She was at war in her own body. There wasn’t pain, which shocked her to no small degree. Just a discomfort that could only come from one’s energy being turned upside down and shoved back into their body. Her blood started to feel solid and she glanced at one exposed arm to see black veins run across it. It’s starting, she thought and closed her eyes.
She pictured the plasma. Imagined feeling it on the tip of her fingers, twirling around her index finger and latching on like she was a chew toy. She pictured it flowing through her arm and into her chest. Into her entire body. Ruby willed the power of the plane to enter her. Willed it enough that it obeyed. She couldn’t see herself, but she was certain that her eyes were pitch black and judging from the veins that covered her skin, there was not a single part of her left untouched by the plane’s energy.
When she took as much power as she could hold, she pushed it into the dagger. Her back teeth anchored against each other, grinding down the enamel on her molars. The dagger grew heavy, pulling her hand down, but she fought against it, raising it higher and higher. The power rushed through her and she could feel it push her organs aside as it flowed. As it passed her, she changed it, filling it with her own energy, making it answer only to her.
There were whispers all around her and she was pretty certain that she heard Jake curse in astonishment. Ruby couldn’t open her eyes for fear of losing her grip on the plane. Instead, she shut them tighter and pictured the plasma flowing out of the dagger and filling the mirror.
“Ruby!” Nola yelled; her voice closer than she anticipated. “Go!”
It was time.
She opened her eyes an
d stared at the plasma filled frame in front of her. She did it! She actually did it!
“Ruby!” Nola yelled again; her arm outstretched.
“Right, sorry!” She grabbed her hand and let the AetherBorn pull her out.
Ray was already at her side, the three of them feeding their powers into the portal to keep it open while Liam and Jake dragged the mirror in front of it. The moment of truth, she thought, time to see if Zag’s theory was right.
As soon as the mirror was in front of the portal, the AetherBorns dropped their hands, letting the portal begin to close. It pulled on the plasma in the mirror, sucking it back into itself. Taking back its property. Jake and Liam gasped as the mirror was yanked out of their hands, flying back into the portal.
She kept one eye open, afraid that if she stared too intently the portal would swallow the mirror whole and all their work would be for nothing. It didn’t. The edges of the mirror slammed into the light and stopped like it plugged a hole.
Ruby folded her body in half, leaning her arms on her bent knees in a forward fold.
“I told you, Zag. You’re a freakin’ genius.”
“And you’re absolutely certain that they won’t be able to get out?” Hemera raised an eyebrow at the mirror.
“Only I can activate the portal behind it. And only when I have the dagger,” Ruby assured her. They only had a short while to test the trap before Nyx showed up, but she was certain that no one else could walk through. It was as though she had put a combination lock on the plasma when it passed through her. When they tried it out earlier, Ray nearly had a heart attack thinking that she was stuck in the plane before Ruby opened the portal again. “There are no other doorways in that part of the plane either. Ray made sure of it.” She winked at Ray who stuck her tongue out before turning away.
The deity ran her long finger over the silver frame.
“Don’t worry,” Ruby lied, “I’ll pull you back out.”
Hemera’s face froze. “Don’t.”
“Excuse me?”
“Don’t pull me out. I want to stay with them.”
“But why? It’ll be like it was before. Weren’t you sick of it? All alone like that for ages? Plus, this time, you’ll have betrayed them. Pretty awkward, no?”
“I wasn’t alone, silly girl. I was with my family.”
“Still. Seems unbearable.”
“At times. But you keep forgetting we’re not like you. Time isn’t the same for us. And trust me, we have ways of keeping ourselves entertained.” She smiled and Ruby’s blood froze. She didn’t know what entertainment might be for a group of vicious deities and she never wanted to find out. “Besides,” Hemera continued, “if they’re locked up, maybe they’ll start acting like themselves again.”
“What’s that like?”
“Nothing like what you’ve been forced to see, my dear.” The deity lowered her gaze. “They were all so special. Fierce. Powerful. Absolutely brilliant.”
“So, what changed? When did they–”
“Develop their taste for killing?” she frowned. “About the time Demas came here. It wasn’t right away. They grew bitter over time, angry. At each other, of course. They blamed themselves for what happened to him. For how they treated him when they found out about Eirene.”
“You mean locking him up in Tartarus?”
She nodded. “I wasn’t there when it happened, but I know my mom and Eros fought against the rest of the family when the decision was made. They felt for Demas, understood his pain. They wanted to help him.”
“So, what happened?”
“Majority rules. They didn’t stand a chance. Neither did he.” Hemera sighed, “When they dragged him to Tartarus, he cursed them all. Cut his ties and loyalty to the family, even my mom and Eros.”
“So that’s why they’re helping him now? Guilt?”
“It can be a powerful weapon, even for a deity.”
“And you?”
“In your world, I would be a good daughter.”
“Even to a murderess?”
“Even to her.”
Ruby bit the inside of her cheek and looked away. She didn’t want to feel sorry for Hemera, much less for the rest of them but she could almost understand it. Not the murder and complete disregard for anyone’s life but their own, but for the guilt of betraying their brother. Demas should be held accountable for every one of his actions, but in a way, they put him on this path. Them and the Elemental elders that killed Eirene. Its too bad Ruby wasn’t around back then; she would have given them a run for their money. Her hands played with the locket that Hemera gave her as proof of her kidnaping and for a brief second, her heart broke for the deity.
“You ready?” she asked, pushing her remorse away.
Hemera fell silent for a moment before finding her eyes. “I don’t expect you to forgive him,” She glanced briefly at Liam, “but I hope you can understand him.”
With that, she turned her back and stepped into the mirror, her golden hair disappearing in the dark of the plasma.
Chapter 55
Some will die
Ruby twirled the locket’s chain around her finger then let it fall back down again. She’d been doing this for almost an hour, and her patience was wearing thin. Behind the rows of books, she could feel the restlessness of the Elementals and AetherBorns that joined them. Their sharp sighs echoed through the library’s main hall, and each one made her wonder who it belonged to. Cyril? Ren? Sealie? She wrapped the metal around another finger.
Nyx should have been here by now. Maybe she shouldn’t have trusted Hemera after all. Even though the deity did everything they asked. She called her mother, asked her to come alone, told her that they were unarmed and just wanted to talk. She should trust her. So why was there a knot in her gut right now?
Feet shuffled beside her and she turned to see Liam get up from his chair. He arched his back before making his way to her. “She’ll be here.”
“When? Hemera called her an hour ago,” she let the chain stretch down in her hold.
“She’ll be here.” Liam said again.
Her attention snapped to the back of the hall where Jake and Nola sat on the floor, both of them looking as bored as ever. Nola leaned her head back and closed her eyes. Is this girl for real? She’s napping? Ruby shook her head and scanned the book stacks wondering how many others were asleep on the job. Between the center and those who came on Ren’s request, they had managed to get almost three dozen fighters to join them. She knew the word ‘fighter’ was a stretch to describe them. With the exception of the knights, not one of them was fully trained for battle. Some had put in some practice time while Ruby was away, but she doubted it was enough to prepare them. She wasn’t even sure she could win this, and she was the one with the dagger.
It would have to do. Maybe they could win solely on numbers alone.
“What if she doesn’t show up?”
“Then we think of something else. The bright side is that you actually made the mirror. And we already have one of them in there.”
“Yeah, unfortunately, not the right one,” she sighed.
“Rue. Think positive please.” Liam nudged her elbow, “You made a plasmic mirror! That’s pretty badass!”
She parted her lips, forcing a smile to her face. “Yeah, I guess that’s pretty cool.”
“You think she’s alright in there?” He jerked his head to the mirror.
“She’s fine. She just has to last long enough for Demas to get here.”
“About that…”
“What? What about it?”
“Have you thought this out? I mean, I know you want you to end this and I know you made up your mind, but have you really thought this out?”
“You mean killing him?” She threw her hands up, “I have thought of nothing else but that. So yeah, babe, I thought it out.”
“And what about them?” He pointed at the book stacks, “Have you thought about them?”
“Yes.”
�
��And?”
“And what do you want me to say?” She lowered her voice, “That I’m sure no one will get hurt? That no one will die? I can’t say that. Some will get hurt and some will die. We can’t avoid that!”
He was quiet for a moment, then reached to press his palm against the curve of her back. “I guess we can’t.”
The locket dropped from her fingers one more time.
“I really wish it could be different. I’m doing my best here.”
“I know. I hate that you’re in this position. You shouldn’t have to make these decisions on your own.”
“Of course, I should! It’s better this way. If we actually pull this off, they’ll feel accomplished and powerful. And if we don’t,” she paused, “well, at least they’ll have someone to blame.”
“Wow. Being an AetherBorn really sucks,” he laughed.
“You’re telling me!” She pressed her back against his side, breathing in the musk of his cologne. “Hey, when this is ov–”
The short hair on the back of her neck stood at attention. They weren’t alone, at least not for long. Her gaze focused on the empty spot in front of her.
“What is it?”
She pointed at the sliver of light that started to peer through the air. “She’s coming. Warn the others.”
Liam pulled out his phone, his fingers dancing across the screen. She could hear the rest of her group start to shuffle behind the bookshelves and wondered if they were as afraid as she was.
You got this, she whispered to herself.
The light grew and she watched it, mesmerized by its beauty. Both light and dark at the same time with sparkles fleeing from the air within it. Aether Plane air. She raised her palm to her forehead to block the rays peering through. They had spent so many hours in the dim library hall that the opening portal was almost blinding.
Through squinting eyes, she saw a leg emerge into the hall. Then another. Two long, slender legs peeking from beneath a sheer black skirt. Nyx.
Ruby nearly jumped for joy before realizing the portal wasn’t closing. She glanced at Liam whose eyes were fixed on the light. When she looked back to face Nyx, her heart dropped to her feet, shattering every hope she might have had. The deity wasn’t alone. From behind her pointed shoulders two more pairs of eyes stared back. Eros and Demas eyed the four of them with hostile grins on their lips.
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