Seth’s eyes fastened onto the spear of light, then shifted to Ian. “It’s too bad. I would have liked you to see Lilith’s return.” Seth grabbed Ian by the scruff of his shirt and threw him down onto the altar. The blade flashed as he swung it around, catching the beam of light. With as little remorse as a butcher slaughtering a pig, Seth slit Ian’s throat. Ian thrashed, a bubbling gurgle spilling out of his throat along with a wash of bright red blood.
“No—!” Idris’s breathless cry echoed through the chamber.
“God—!” Royal recoiled. I turned to him, ripping my eyes away from the gruesome sight.
“Ian!” The sounds of Idris’s grief filled the cave. Even after all she’d done—and all Ian had done—Idris’s raw agony wrenched at my heart. In response, my nose stung with a hot prickle of grief. I forced myself to turn back and look, afraid of keeping my back to Seth.
Idris rushed forward toward her dying son, but Seth planted a hand on her chest stopping her. For a moment, Idris could only stare at Ian, now lying still on the altar. Then she turned wide eyes to Seth. She looked shaken to the core. “Why?! We have done nothing but help you—”
“Indeed.” Seth gestured to the altar. Ian’s blood, still flowing freely from the wound on his neck, seeped into the carvings. Bright red lines flowed down from the altar and across the floor, tracing out those ancient patterns with more speed than I would have thought possible. Seth regarded the spreading pattern with satisfaction. “You have both served very well.”
I watched with sick fascination as fingers of blood—flooding different paths in the pattern—began meeting up. One after another, the carved ruts of the pattern filled with Ian’s blood, until only one last stretch remained empty. My eyes followed two lines of blood, edging toward one another until they connected.
The pattern was complete.
The ground beneath our feet surged.
“Holy crap, is that an earthquake?” Royal grabbed my arm, panicking. “We have to get out of here! Braedyn? Braedyn?!”
He tugged on my arm, but I couldn’t respond.
The quake wasn’t limited to our physical reality. A violent upheaval shot across the dream world, buffeting against my mind with the force of a category five hurricane. I flung out my free hand, trying to brace myself against the cavern wall. But—struggling against the storm in my mind—I couldn’t see clearly. I felt Royal’s arms fastening around me.
“Braedyn? Are you okay?”
“I—I don’t know.” My voice sounded tinny in my ears, distant and small. It sent a wave of goose bumps prickling over the skin of my arms.
I felt Royal’s hands tighten around me. “Okay. I’ve got you.”
After what seemed like an eternity, the storm in my mind died down. I blinked to clear my vision.
Seth had a hand braced against the far wall. I saw him straighten, presumably recovering from the same spiritual upheaval I’d just experienced. Then he looked up and met my eyes. The air around Seth shimmered, folding back like some kind of trans-dimensional origami.
“Done and done,” he whispered. “It’s starting.”
And then Seth stepped through the dream world. In less than a second, he was gone.
Chapter 21
Idris knelt beside the altar, laying her hands across Ian’s lifeless body. She bowed her head. Her tears glimmered in the last thin thread of sunlight. And then the sun continued its journey overhead, plunging the Temple back into a murky dimness lit only by candlelight.
“I—I don’t understand.” Idris’s voice was so low I almost couldn’t make out what she’d said.
“He played you.” I glared at Idris, but she didn’t lift her eyes from Ian’s face. “They all played you. Lilitu are not the victims. They’re the predators, and you just woke up their queen.”
“But—” Idris finally looked up, pain and confusion twisting her features into a mask of agony. “Lilith was created from the same earth as Adam. She is as much entitled to this world as he is.”
“Did a Lilitu tell you that?” I shook my head at Idris’s look of dim comprehension. “All the research you’ve done, and you glossed right over the part about how God kicked Lilith out?”
“Because she refused to submit to Adam.” Idris straightened, regaining some of her confidence.
“No. Because she refused to be a part of building this world,” I snapped. “Together, she and Adam were supposed to begin the human race. She shirked her one great responsibility; what makes you think she deserves any part of this world?”
Idris shook her head, but I could see defiance settling behind her eyes. “If not for Adam’s arrogance, she would have—”
“We have no way of knowing what she would have done. All we know is what she did.” I shook my head. “Why are we even arguing about this? Seth just killed your son! Doesn’t that make you angry?!”
I saw the raw emotions playing across Idris’s face. But then she turned back to Ian, stroking his cheek tenderly. “He has made the ultimate sacrifice,” she whispered. “Because of him, we have ushered in a new era of peace.”
“Peace?” I stared at Idris, truly dumbfounded. “You’ve just experienced firsthand the kind of peace the Lilitu will bring to this world!”
Idris’s shoulders tensed, but she did not answer.
I took a step toward her, then swayed on my feet, still unsteady. “You can’t honestly still believe you were right about all of this?”
Idris looked up, her eyes clear and calm once more. “I stand by my life’s work.”
“But—?”
Royal squeezed my arm gently. “She just watched her son die because of her own deluded mistakes; she’ll believe whatever she needs to believe,” he whispered. “You’re not going to change her mind. Come on, let’s get out of here.”
“Yeah, fine.” I let Royal help me across the Temple. He stopped along the way to pick up one of the lanterns harboring a flickering candle inside. But as we reached the tunnel, I froze. “Wait.” I spun back to face Idris. “The acolytes.”
Idris’s eyes flicked to my face, suddenly alert.
“Three girls, with ‘courage, conviction, and a lightness of spirit akin to that of a child.’” I saw once more the selection in my head. Idris had been looking for specific qualities among the eager volunteers. She chose the girls she chose for a reason. “What did you need the acolytes for?”
It was as if a veil came down behind Idris’s eyes, obscuring her emotions. “I’m sorry, child, but until you are willing to open your mind to the truth, you are an enemy of Lilith.” She shrugged her shoulders sadly. “Unless that changes, I cannot—I will not answer your questions.”
“You initiated them—”
The ground lurched under our feet. Royal and I braced ourselves against the walls of the cave. I clung to the rough wall, once again rocked from within by the spiritual upheaval in the dream world.
“It’s not over.” Royal reached for my hand, his voice strained with urgency. “We need to move.”
“The ritual,” I hissed, glaring back at Idris. “Their blood—what was it for?”
Idris met my gaze evenly. “You ask all the right questions, Daughter of Lilith. But again, I will not provide answers to an enemy.”
“One of those acolytes is my friend. You’d better believe you’re going to answer my questions.” I took a step toward her, meaning to cross the distance between us and grip her forehead; if she was unwilling to give me the truth, I would take it directly from her thoughts.
The ground heaved once more, and a few chunks of rock broke off from the walls surrounding us. While I stood there, still dazed from the tremors shooting through the dream world, Royal grabbed me around the middle with one arm.
“That’s it.” Royal hauled me into the tunnel. “We are leaving now.” In his free hand, he held the candle aloft, lighting our way.
I was too weak to offer much of a fight. “Wait. She knows something. We have to find out what she’s done to Cassie—”
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Royal didn’t answer. He dragged me up the tunnel with more strength than I could have anticipated. The ground jolted beneath us once more, sending us crashing into the tunnel wall. As I struggled against the riptide in my mind, I forced myself to look back.
I could just barely see into the Temple. Idris lay her head down across Ian’s chest, unmoving. Around her, larger chunks of rock were breaking free from the walls, and a small shower of dirt rained down on her.
“She’s not leaving.” I heard my voice, but it sounded like someone else was speaking. “Royal, she’s not leaving.”
“Right now, I’m more concerned about us.” Royal grabbed me, looping my arm over his shoulders. “You have to run, Braedyn. Can you do that?”
I heard a great crack, like the earth splitting open. I glanced back. The Temple was caving in on itself.
“Run!” Royal didn’t have to ask twice.
We tore down the passage. It took all my concentration to force one foot in front of the other, all the while clinging to Hale’s sword. It was much longer than I’d expected—we ran for nearly ten minutes before the tunnel reached an apex, then slanted sharply down.
“No!” Royal stopped, breathing hard. “How the hell do we get out of here?”
“It has to be this way.” I darted down the passage, scouting my way through the darkness ahead with ease. I knew Royal was close on my heels; I could see the flickering of the lantern casting its meager light against the tunnel walls around me.
Soon, I could hear the sound of water. The muted roar lent me another burst of energy.
“Up ahead.” I pressed on, and in another minute or so, the tunnel dropped sharply, letting out into a deep stream. “Through here.” There wasn’t much to it; the level of the water was low enough that we could see a sliver of daylight above the surface of the river.
That being said, we still had to take a deep breath and submerge ourselves underwater to clear the front edge of the tunnel.
We came up in the stream, gasping. The sun had dipped behind the mountain. Overhead, the sky glowed with the last light of day.
“Now what?” Royal looked at me, his wet hair plastered to his head.
“We have to warn the Guard—” But I stopped myself, remembering the battlefield, strewn with most of our forces. “What’s left of the Guard,” I amended, my voice shaking. “They should be at the mission.”
We paddled our way toward the closest shore until our feet found the sandy bottom of the stream. Water cascaded off our bodies as we hauled ourselves out. The temperature was already dropping, and I shivered in my wet clothes. I scanned the area, trying to get my bearings. Thanks to Dad and my cave-hunting excursions, I managed to figure out roughly where we were. And even though the mission was out of sight, I was fairly confident I knew which direction to go.
“This way.” I took off, trusting Royal to follow. It wasn’t easy running with the sword—in sopping clothes—through the high desert prairie. Our path took us up the side of a low foothill, winding around cacti and Piñon trees. When I crested the hill, I could see the mission ahead of us, nestled on the next ridge. Royal joined me a moment later, breathing hard.
“Oh good.” He eyed the mission miserably. “I was hoping we’d get to do more running.”
“We’re almost there,” I said.
Royal squinted, catching sight of something. “Isn’t that your dad’s truck?”
I turned in time to see Dad’s truck pulling into the parking lot. It was followed a moment later by another car. The vehicles squealed to a stop, their tires kicking up plumes of dust. The Guard soldiers poured out and raced into the mission. I counted just six men.
“How did they know where to go?” I glanced at Royal, mystified.
He shook his head, but then we had our answer; the ground shuddered beneath our feet once more, and I saw one of the mission’s elegant stained glass windows shatter into a cascading spray of rainbow glass.
“It’s collapsing,” I hissed. I sprinted forward, pumping my arms and legs as hard as I could. The desert flew past as I raced toward the mission—toward Dad.
As I rounded the front of the mission, I saw the main doors standing wide open. I charged through and skidded to a stop. Dad and a dozen or so Guardsmen stood—weapons drawn—around a deep pit in the center of the mission. The Seal was gone.
“Dad?!”
He turned at the sound of my voice. Half a second later, he sheathed his daggers and moved quickly toward me. Matt moved to join us wordlessly.
“Not so fast, Murphy!” One of the other Guardsmen stepped forward, eyeing me with naked hostility. I recognized him from the fight at the mines, though I couldn’t recall seeing him before then.
“She’s not your enemy,” Dad growled. He reached me and grabbed my arm, propelling me toward the mission’s doors. “Quickly, Braedyn.” His voice was low and tight with anxiety.
Another Guardsmen stepped into our path, blocking our route to freedom.
“No? It was her little friend who sent us to the mines to die.”
“What?!” I turned to the Guardsmen, incensed. “That’s insane! It was Ian who sent you to the mines. Ian who insisted we commit all our forces. He’s the one who betrayed us!”
“It’s true,” Matt said. “I was there. Murphy was there.”
“Aren’t you the one she kissed?” one of the Guardsmen muttered, glaring at Matt. “How do we know she hasn’t messed with your head?”
Matt’s face flushed with anger. Dad put a hand on his arm, warning him to cool off.
Other Guardsmen were drawing closer. Among them, only my father’s and Matt’s were friendly faces. Of my other allies, Gretchen, Lucas, and Karayan were still locked in the mines and Hale, Marx, Caleb, the others who knew and trusted me—they were gone forever.
“She tried to warn us,” Dad said, his voice unnaturally calm. “It was only because of her and Karayan that the rest of us made it out of there alive.”
And then I spotted Amber. She was standing beside a column, clutching her arms tightly around herself.
“Amber, tell them! You saw Ian running off, he’s the one who betrayed us.” I stared at Amber eagerly. Her eyes swept across the gathered men. “Amber? Tell them they can trust me.”
“I—I don’t know.”
“What?” For a moment, I thought I’d misheard her.
“You were going to sleep with Lucas. You had it all planned for tonight.” Amber’s eyes landed on my face. “Even though you knew what it would do to him.”
Matt’s eyes sought mine out, a startled expression washing over his face.
I shook my head. “It’s not that simple—we—we had a plan—”
“Braedyn.” Dad’s hand tightened on my arm. But the damage was done. Guardsmen edged closer, gripping their blades.
I stared at Amber, empty, numb. I’d saved her life. Twice. I’d pushed aside my own feelings about her for the good of the Guard who so desperately needed spotters. And still, after all of that, she refused to trust me.
“Rhea warned me,” Amber whispered. “She said that’s what Lilitu do. They get you to trust them, to believe they’re your friends. Suddenly you find yourself doing all sorts of things you wouldn’t usually do. You drift away from old friends. You give up secrets you’d never tell another living soul.” Her eyes hardened, and I felt a chill. “It’s just like she said. They worm their way into your heart, and then they betray you.”
“I didn’t betray you,” I snapped. The Guardsmen around me started to mutter to one another, shooting dark looks at me. “I didn’t betray the Guard!”
“Rhea’s dead now.” Amber clutched her arms tighter around herself.
“Rhea was an idiot!” My voice cut through the noise of the crowd. Shock registered across more than one face, but I was too pissed off to care. “If she’d listened to me right when we got there, we might have had time to escape the mines before the Lilitu attack.” I turned on the Guardsman I recognized from the mines. “
You were there. Tell me I’m wrong.”
The Guardsman hesitated, glancing back at his peers.
“He can’t,” I growled. “Because it’s the truth.” I took a step forward. “I’ve made mistakes, but today wasn’t one of them.”
“No?” Another Guardsman stepped up, his eyes glinting, hard. “Today the Guard was nearly wiped out.”
“Nearly,” Dad said quietly. “Without Braedyn, we might have lost everyone in that mine. We have eleven lives to thank her for, including Gretchen’s and Lucas’s.”
“Make that twelve.” Royal entered the mission, breathing hard. “Braedyn stopped Seth pretty much immediately before he sacrificed me on a way-too-creepy-to-be-believed stone altar.”
Dad turned to me, eyes lighting with hope. “Does that mean you stopped the ritual before—?”
“No.” I met Dad’s eyes. “Seth sacrificed Ian instead. He completed the ritual.”
The Guardsmen shifted their feet as this news sunk in. Silence settled around us, heavy and pregnant with a new fear. Amber’s eyes cut to the hole in the center of the mission, where the Seal once stood. I walked forward. Guardsmen parted, letting me pass.
As I reached the edge of the hole, I felt my heart flip over in my chest. I’d expected to see the Seal below, having fallen through the floor, maybe cracked, but still recognizable.
What I saw, instead...
I shivered. It was as though the Seal had burned out from the center. What remained looked more like ash than stone. Whatever power the Seal had once contained, it was gone now. There would be no closing this door, not ever again. The twining ropes of shadow danced freely around the edges of the hole, tracing out the boundaries of the fully open portal between our worlds.
The Temple below—if it even still existed—was completely obscured by the rubble. Idris’s body, Ian’s body, there was no sign of either of them, or of the altar, or of the strange carved patterns traced out in Ian’s blood.
I turned back to the Guardsmen. More than a dozen pairs of eyes watched me. No one made a sound. Dad’s eyes shone with anxiety as he studied me. Amber’s expression was cold, distant. Whatever flicker of friendship we might have kindled, this afternoon it had guttered out.
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