I’d been so close. I couldn’t give up now. I wouldn’t give up.
I gritted my teeth and squeezed my eyes shut, willing those threads of At and anti-At to reemerge. Tears streamed down my cheeks, and my teeth ground together. I poured everything I had into cleansing the shadows.
But it wasn’t enough. I wasn’t strong enough.
All around me, the whispers and moans of the shadows grew louder, and the heartbeats of the people surrounding me slowed. The shadows were feeding again, making up for the damage I’d dealt them by devouring the souls nearest them. They were killing these people.
And there wasn’t a damn thing I could do to stop it.
Chapter Thirty-Four
I felt a hand press against my chest, just over my heart, and a swell of energy bolstered the strength of my ba. My eyes snapped open.
Nik was kneeling on the turf before me, his hand to my heart and his face just inches from mine. I felt ten times stronger with him there, and those stubborn strands of At and anti-At stretched out from my hands, seeking out the shadows once more. Those otherworldly strands weren’t moving nearly as fast as before, but at least they were moving.
But it still wasn’t enough. The shadows were in a feeding frenzy, and the people weakening all around me wouldn’t be able to outlast the time it would take me to disarm their attackers.
“I can’t do it,” I whispered. “I’m not strong enough.” A tear leaked out of my eye, gliding down my already damp cheek.
Nik rested his other hand on the crook of my neck and leaned in, gently pressing his lips against mine. “Yes, you are, Kitty Kat. Look around you,” he said as he pulled away. “These people believe in you. I believe you. You can do this.”
I shook my head, more tears breaking free. He didn’t understand. I wasn’t enough to save these people. Isfet would have been, but not me. I’d made a selfish choice back at the house, choosing Nik over the rest of the world. And now, faced with the grim reality of the situation, I knew it had been the wrong choice.
I flinched when someone touched my shoulder. For a fraction of a second, I was convinced it was a shadow. But the hand was warm. It was alive. And, miraculously, it spurred another, smaller surge of energy within my soul.
“I believe in you,” a woman said, and I was surprised to find that I recognized her voice.
I craned my neck to see Alison kneeling behind me, her hand resting on my shoulder. A weak smile touched her lips, and she bowed her head.
Someone else touched my lower back, also whispering, “I believe in you.” Someone else touched my other shoulder, someone else, the top of my head. And with each of these touches, the strength of my ba spiked ever higher.
Those spikes turned to surges as I watched the people surrounding me link hands. Hundreds of souls joined with mine, lending me their strength. Together, we were more than the sum of our parts. Together, I thought we might just be strong enough to defeat the shadows. Not just those here at Newport High School. All of the shadows left over from the Cascade Virus.
I straightened my spine and stretched out my arms to either side of me. Those threads of At and anti-At lashed out from my hands, striking their victims with a vengeance. The rush of the taint siphoning in through my soul increased until it was nearly overwhelming. All around the field, the glow of the trapped souls blazed as the shadows stifling their brilliance faded.
First one shadow soul fell, the pristine soul beneath slipping away into Duat. Three more followed in quick succession, and then it started to snowball. A dozen . . . fifty . . . a hundred . . . the air temperature rose until it felt nearly tropical to my cold-numbed skin.
Unexpectedly, my connection to the soul-energy rekindled, and I was suddenly a star, shining blindingly bright in the center of the football field. There was no stopping me—us—now.
I sent those otherworldly threads farther out, seeking the shadows all over the Pacific Northwest. All over North America. All over the world.
We cleansed the taint from the final soul in a matter of seconds, and the crowd let out a collective sigh. Hands fell away from me. Others, farther away, unclasped. People stepped back, until it was only Nik and me in the center of the field.
I knelt there, bowed over, my forehead resting against Nik’s chest. I was panting and weak, but I was still alive. I raised my head and met his eyes, and my lips spread into a grin, wide and disbelieving. “It worked.”
“See,” Nik said. “I told you you could do it.”
“Told you so?” I said, raising my eyebrows. “Really?” I found his hand and gave it a squeeze. I couldn’t have defeated the shadows without him. I couldn’t have done it without any of them.
Nik helped me up to my feet, and I looked around. The people were watching on in silence, almost like the crowd was holding its breath. Almost like they were waiting for me to speak.
I inhaled deeply, uncertain of what to say. So I started with the obvious. “Thank you,” I said, my voice faint. I cleared my throat and took several more deep, sustaining breaths. “Thank you,” I repeated, stronger this time. “All of you. Thank you for teaching me what true strength is. It doesn’t come from years of training or from immortality—it comes from within. It comes from the soul. And you all have the strongest, most beautiful souls.”
I scanned the faces of the people surrounding me. I thought I should’ve felt awkward with all of them staring at me, but I didn’t. I felt connected to them. I felt like this—us working together—was right. “You know, we’re not all that different . . . not really. I know things are confusing right now with the Nejerets coming out and everything. And after what happened here, I know it feels like your world isn’t yours anymore . . . like things are spinning out of control. And if you think things are going to get worse before they get better, you’re probably right. But you know what—we just proved that so long as we work together, like we did tonight, we’ll get through whatever comes next.”
I released Nik’s hand and walked over to Alison, clasping her hand and raising it up into the air. “Because if we work together, we can do anything.”
I thought that maybe, just maybe, no matter what danger lurked beyond the horizon, we would be able to handle it. Without Isfet.
So long as we could continue to work together . . .
Chapter Thirty-Five
“Quite the speech,” Heru said as he walked up the steps of the bleachers, his loafers making the metal rungs clang.
Several people had pulled out their cell phones after the last shadow fell, and from what I’d overheard, my off-the-cuff address of the crowd had already gone viral. Not quite the lay-low image I’d been trying for, but what the hell. Sometimes change could be a good thing.
Nik and I were sitting on the top row of the bleachers, watching the people receive medical treatment down on the field. Nobody had bothered us up here. Even the PNS crews were keeping their distance.
I studied Heru’s features. He didn’t seem angry, which surprised me. In fact, he looked pleased. Maybe even a little smug.
“I’m not sorry,” I said. “I had to come here. It had to be done.”
“I can see that now.” Heru placed one foot on the next bleacher down from ours, leaning forward and resting his forearm on his knee. “You did the right thing, Kat—for these people, and for ours.”
Well damn it all to hell if that didn’t warm my tarnished soul. And then he uttered the four little words I never thought I’d hear him say.
“I’m proud of you.”
* * *
The end
Thanks for reading! You’ve reached the end of Soul Eater (Kat Dubois Chronicles, #4). Kat’s story continues in Judgement (Kat Dubois Chronicles, #5).
Also By Lindsey Sparks
ECHO TRILOGY
Echo in Time
Resonance
Time Anomaly
Dissonance
Ricochet Through Time
* * *
KAT DUBOIS CHRONICLES
Ink Witch
Outcast
Underground
Soul Eater
Judgement
Afterlife
* * *
ATLANTIS LEGACY
Sacrifice of the Sinners
Legacy of the Lost
Fate of the Fallen
Dreams of the Damned
Song of the Soulless
Blood of the Broken
Rise of the Revenants
* * *
ALLWORLD ONLINE
AO: Pride & Prejudice
AO: The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
Vertigo
THE ENDING SERIES
The Ending Beginnings: Omnibus Edition
After The Ending
Into The Fire
Out Of The Ashes
Before The Dawn
World Before
* * *
THE ENDING LEGACY
World After
For more information on Lindsey and her books:
www.authorlindseysparks.com
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About the Author
Lindsey Sparks is a bestselling Science Fiction and Fantasy author who lives her life with one foot in a book—so long as that book transports her to a magical world or bends the rules of science. Her novels, from Post-apocalyptic to Time Travel Romance, always offer up a hearty dose of unreality, along with plenty of history, mystery, adventure, and romance.
When she's not working on her next novel, Lindsey spends her time hanging out with her two little boys, working in her garden, or playing board games with her husband. She lives in the Pacific Northwest with her family and their small pack of cats and dogs.
www.authorlindseysparks.com
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