by P. C. Cast
“What happened to them?” Stark asked as he stared down at the field of keening red vampyres.
“They’re mourning,” Kevin said. “Their humanity has been returned and they understand exactly what monstrous things they’ve done.”
“That—that’s terrible,” Stark said, wiping a hand over his face. “Are they dangerous?”
“Only to themselves,” I said.
Stark picked up the microphone and commanded, “Blue officers—escort all humans from the field and the stadium. Leave the Red Army where they are. We will deal with them after the humans are safely outside the stadium.”
The blue officers and soldiers instantly did as Stark commanded, ushering humans to the exits.
“What is Neferet?” Stark turned to me and asked.
“Well, she’s not immortal. Yet. Or she wouldn’t have been this easy to defeat. But she’s definitely heading that way. Stark, you need to talk to my grandma, Sylvia Redbird. She can help you learn about the Tsi Sgili.”
“The what?”
“It’s what Neferet’s becoming. And it’s real bad,” I said. “But you can defeat her. You just have to work together with my brother, Kevin.” I nodded to Kev, who paid no attention. He was staring down at the field—at Aphrodite. “Also Dragon and Anastasia Lankford, and all the rest of the High Priestesses and Warriors Neferet banished or forced to flee and become the Resistance. They’ll help you—and you’ll need them.”
“Zo, we gotta go. The sprites are gone and Aphrodite is alone down there,” Kevin said.
“I know. Air will take us back down.”
Kevin held his hand out to me, but before I could take it Stark stepped between us.
“Wait, don’t go yet. Who are you? No, what are you? Why do I feel like I know you? I met the other Zoey once, just before she was killed, but she didn’t have your powers—or at least I don’t think she did. I didn’t get to know her hardly at all.”
“You do know me, but not in this world. In this world Neferet ruined that for us. I’m the same Zoey you met, just older and I hope a lot wiser. What am I? A High Priestess who believes we’re stronger, better, more humane together—and that means red vampyres, blue vampyres, and humans. They aren’t our refrigerators. They’re not that different from us. Hell, Stark, we used to be them. But you already know that because you are a good man—a truly good man. Nyx knows you. She trusts you. You can do great things in this world. You can be a big part of the healing that needs to take place between humans and vampyres. You have to listen to your gut, though. And trust the Goddess.”
“You’ll help me too, right?”
I smiled sadly at him. “No, Stark. I have to go home.”
“But will I ever see you again?”
“Look for me under the Hanging Tree in the Goddess Grove. But don’t be in a rush to get there. Live a long, happy life. Love passionately and often. And may you always blessed be, my love.” I put my arms around him and pulled him into my embrace, kissing him like I wanted to kiss my Stark.
Then I went to Kevin and took his hand. I didn’t look at Stark again. I couldn’t—not if I was really going to leave. “Air! Come to us again please. Take us down to the football field.”
Together, Kevin and I stepped out into the arms of the night air where it held us close until gently placing us on the field.
“Aphrodite!” Kevin cried, as he caught sight of her. She was crumpled on her side and laying there very still while a Warrior stood over her, keeping the gawking crowds back as the other Warriors hurriedly helped the teams and the cheerleaders from the field.
Kevin sprinted to her, getting there first. I could have run with him, but I knew what I was going to find and, perhaps selfishly, I wanted just one more moment not to feel the heartbreak.
When I reached them, I wasn’t shocked to recognize that the vampyre Warrior who had been standing over Aphrodite was Darius.
Kevin had pulled Aphrodite into his lap and was cradling her like a child. I knelt beside him.
“It’s okay. It’s okay. I’ve got you. Everything’s going to be okay now.” Kevin was talking to her softly as he rocked back and forth, and tears slipped silently down his face.
Aphrodite’s eyes fluttered open. I couldn’t believe she was still alive. She was so pale her skin seemed translucent. Her breath came in wheezing gasps.
“Kev.” Her voice was so soft we had to lean in to hear her.
“Ssh, don’t talk. I’ll get you some help,” Kevin said.
“Too late. I was waiting to say goodbye to you.” Her face crumbled then. “Don’t want to go, but I have to. Scared, Kev. I’m scared.”
“Hey, hey! No. You’re gonna be—”
I touched his arm. “That won’t help her. She’s dying, Kevin.”
Raw despair shimmered in his eyes, but he nodded and lifted Aphrodite in his arms until she was almost sitting.
“You don’t have anything to be scared of. You did it. You saved all of them.”
“It worked?”
“Yeah, you were fantastic. And now you’re going to go see Nyx. Zoey says it’s great there with her, right, Zo?”
I leaned close and took Aphrodite’s cold, limp hand. “It’s more beautiful than I can describe. You’re going to love it. I promise. The me from this world is there. Find me, ’kay?”
Aphrodite nodded, tried to smile at me, and failed.
“And I’ll come find you someday—just in case your Darius isn’t up there waiting for you,” Kevin said.
From the corner of my eye I saw the tall Warrior’s body jerk in surprise, but Kevin and Aphrodite were in a world of their own, and for just a few moments more, no one else was alive except them.
Aphrodite tried to touch Kevin’s face, but she couldn’t. Kevin caught her hand and pressed it against his cheek.
“Silly Kev,” she said. “Don’t you know by now that you are my Darius in this world? That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you.”
“I love you, Aphrodite. Always,” Kevin said.
“Me too. You’re my person … who fits together with me perfectly. Kiss me goodbye, Kev.”
Kevin bent and kissed her. Aphrodite breathed one long sigh—and then she breathed no more.
Darius approached us slowly, respectfully. He reached out and touched Aphrodite’s golden hair.
“I did not know her, yet she seems so familiar. And so very spectacular,” he said.
Kevin looked up at him. “Her name was Aphrodite, and she is spectacular. In any world.”
Darius nodded, bowed respectfully to me, and then rejoined the other Warriors trying to figure out what to do with an army of hysterical vampyres.
I knew they needed help. I knew I should figure out something to do for them, but at that moment I felt so numb—so empty—that all I could do was sit there with my arm around my brother as his cries joined with the red vampyres, lifting into the heavens.
“She did it! Those sprites were amaze—” Stevie Rae was shouting, as she and Rephaim ran us to us.
And then she saw Aphrodite.
“Oh, Goddess. No.” Stevie Rae dropped to the grass beside us with Rephaim staying close to her. “Why?”
“I don’t know,” I said.
“It worked!” I heard Dragon’s voice behind me.
“Aphrodite was incredible!” Anastasia’s voice came from over my shoulder as well.
I turned to see them jogging up to us, smiling victoriously—until they saw Aphrodite.
“Oh, Aphrodite.” Anastasia crouched beside me, gently closing Aphrodite’s eyes. “May your reunion with Nyx be filled with joy.”
“I don’t understand. This sacrifice did not take her life in your world,” said Dragon.
“No, it didn’t.” I wiped my nose with the sleeve of my sweatshirt. “I don’t understand it either.”
Chills cascaded over my skin as the Goddess’ familiar voice filled the air around us. As one, the stadium gasped and then went completely silent as every vampyre, red and blue, fell to their knees and bowed their heads.
Standing just a few feet from us was Nyx. In this incarnation she looked like an exquisite Cherokee maiden. I instantly recognized the tear dress she wore—it was a glistening calico print in all the colors of the rainbow. Glowing ribbons decorated the quarter-length sleeves, and around the skirt, just above the flounce, were shining diamonds creating the design of our people’s seven-pointed star. She wore her hair long and free, and it floated in a dark waterfall around her waist.
“Hello, Nyx.” I bowed my head and fisted my hand over my heart. “Merry meet.”
She drifted to me and lifted my face, kissing each of my cheeks, instantly drying my tears.
“Merry meet, u-we-tsi-a-ge-ya. You did well in coming here, though I know the cost to your heart has been great.” Then she turned her radiant gaze to Kevin, still holding Aphrodite’s body in his arms as his head bowed.
“U-we-tsi, you may lift your head.”
My brother did. His face was ravaged by grief and tears, but he smiled at his Goddess. “Merry meet, Nyx.”
“I want you to know why Aphrodite’s life was sacrificed here today. In this world she was not strong enough to withstand the loss of her humanity. She did not have friends here. She only knew love briefly, with you, Kevin Redbird. Her loneliness broke her.” The Goddess’ gaze included Dragon and Anastasia. “Learn from her loss. You need each other. It matters not the color of the Marks on your face—or whether you are vampyre, fledgling, or human. You need each other to truly live. And you will always be stronger together.”
Then the Goddess turned in a slow circle, her dark eyes taking in the red vampyres where they knelt or lay. All were staring at her as they continued to weep silent, soul-shaking tears.
“Oh, my poor children.” She spoke softly, but her voice carried to every corner of the stadium. “You are not responsible for the atrocities you committed. You were used by someone in my name, as if I approve of pitting my children against one another. I do not! No god or goddess worthy of worship approves of war and violence and killing. No, this sorrow must be mine and not yours to bear.”
Then the Goddess began to weep, and, as tears cascaded down her smooth cheeks, the sky opened and a warm, gentle rain began to fall—just over the stadium. As it soaked us we didn’t get wet. Instead it absorbed through our clothes, through our skin, and poured into our bodies to find our hearts—our souls—and it washed the sadness, grief, and pain completely away.
The red vampyres’ tears changed as well, from despair to joy, as they hugged each other and shouted praises to the Goddess.
I looked at Kevin. He was still crying, but he was smiling down at Aphrodite’s still body as he stroked her hair and held her close one last time. And then I saw him grimace and jerk, as if something had just smacked him across his back. He turned his head and pulled at his shirt and I saw his fresh sapphire tattoo, which looked exactly like the one that stretched from one of my shoulders to the other.
He looked up and met my eyes.
“Really?” he asked incredulously.
“Really.” I nodded.
We both looked to the Goddess, but she was staring up at the night sky.
“Oak! Return,” Nyx commanded.
The tree sprite instantly materialized, bowing low to the Goddess.
“Dear sprite, you have my gratitude for righting the terrible wrong that was done to my red vampyre children.”
“Anything for you, Great Goddess,” Oak said.
“Then I do have one request.”
“Name it, Nyx, Goddess of Night.”
“Let this child’s sacrifice be payment enough to return my three children to their rightful world.”
“So you have spoken, Immortal Earth Mother. So mote it be.”
Nyx came to us. “You must return now, children. There is only so much meddling that can be allowed from one world to the next, and your time here is over.” She paused, catching my gaze. “Zoey Redbird, would you like to say a final goodbye before you return?”
I knew what she was talking about—or rather who she was talking about. And my answer was easy.
“No, thank you. I know my heart. We said our goodbyes in your grove.” Speaking those words gave me the greatest sense of relief I’d ever felt in my life. I loved Heath. I would always love Heath. But the man who wore his face in this world wasn’t my Heath. He didn’t share my memories, and he couldn’t share my future. Seeing me now, so briefly, would only cause him confusion and pain. “But does he know I’m here? Does he know this was me?”
“No, Daughter. He saw only a dark-haired, powerful vampyre High Priestess, not his Zo. You chose wisely, as I knew you eventually would.”
“Thank you, Nyx. Thank you so much.”
But I did still have goodbyes to say. Kevin looked up at me and, gently, he lay Aphrodite’s body on the grass. He kissed her forehead, and then he stood and pulled me into a hug.
“I’m gonna miss you,” he said.
“Me too.”
“Are you being nice to the other me over there in your world?”
“Yep. You’re not as dorky as I thought you’d be.”
“Good. Be his friend. Don’t let him be lonely,” Kevin said.
“Never. I’ll never let him be lonely,” I assured him. “I love you, Kev.”
“I love you too, Zo.”
As I stepped into his arms I whispered, “You can love again. I promise. I’ve been where you are.”
He didn’t say anything, but his arms tightened around me and I hoped he would remember what I said and allow himself to be open to love again.
When he let me go I shared a hug with Anastasia and Dragon, and Stevie Rae and Rephaim also said their goodbyes.
Unable to stop myself, I looked up at the press box. Stark was there, standing in front of the broken wall of windows. Slowly, he lifted a hand in a simple goodbye salute. I touched my lips to my fingers, and then lifted my hand to him in return.
I turned to my friends and the three of us held hands and faced our Goddess.
“We’re ready to go home now.”
“Then I shall say merry meet, merry part, and may we merry meet again, as I have a new Prophetess to greet in my grove. Remember that we are all linked by love … always love.”
As the Goddess disappeared in a great burst of black glitter, Oak waved her hand in a circular motion ’round and ’round and ’round in front of us until the circle became tangible and we could see the door between our worlds.
“Call if you have need of me again. I find you most interesting, Zoey Redbird.”
I smiled and nodded, but muttered, “Not if I can help it.”
And then I led my friends through the opening, and we left my brother’s world behind …
* * *
I felt the difference instantly. That strange, lost feeling that had clung to me for the past several days was finally, finally gone.
This is my world. This is where I belong. I breathed a sigh of relief as Stevie Rae and then Rephaim appeared behind me, which instantly closed the circular opening.
“Man, it’s good to be—” Stevie Rae began, but was cut off by a joyous shout.
“Z!”
I turned in time for Stark to wrap me in his arms, lift me in the air, and kiss me over and over. Before I’d even found my breath, he put me down and began to feel my arms, touch my face, even turn me around to look at my back.
“What are you doing?” I asked him breathlessly.
“I’m making sure you’re one hundred percent okay! You are, aren’t you?”
I opened my mouth to answ
er, and then what was behind him caught my eyes. There, pitched right beside the newly cleansed tree, was a tent.
“What’s that?” I asked, my heartbeat racing.
“It’s my tent,” he said. Then he gave me his cocky, cute half smile. “You might have to leave me behind once in a while, but you’ll come back. And when you do you need to know that I’ll be right here. Waiting. Always.”
“You asked me before if I was one hundred percent.”
“Yeah, I did.”
I went to him and he wrapped his arms around me.
“Now I can answer you. Yes, James Stark. Now that I’m back where I belong, I am absolutely one hundred percent.” It was my turn to kiss him, and I did—like I never wanted to stop.
“Z! Hey, Z’s back!” I heard Jack’s shout echoed by Damien and Shaunee.
I glanced over Stark’s shoulder to see the three of them, with Erik, Shaylin, Nicole, Lenobia, and Travis sprinting across the grass toward us—and my heart soared with happiness.
“Hey, Rephaim, know what’s the strongest thing in any world?” Stevie Rae said.
“Yes, I do. It’s love … always love …” Rephaim said.
And I couldn’t agree more.
THE END … for now.
Fan Q&A
You have questions? P. C. & Kristin have answers for you!
When writing about multiple worlds, do you ever have trouble switching between them? Like something similar to a book hangover? If so, how do you overcome it?
—Leah George
P. C.: I used to, but not so much anymore. The more books I write, the more writing tools I have in my toolbox, and part of those tools help me compartmentalize worlds and characters. It’s actually easy to write a book on my own (like one of my Tales of a New World books) while I’m coauthoring with Kristin. It gives me a break in each world!
K. C.: I agree! I thought it would be a lot more difficult than it is. (Not saying that it’s easy. Some authors prefer to only write in one world at a time.) I welcome the break. The change in scenery, which is how I think of it, gives that part of my brain a chance to rest a little bit, and when I come back to work on the world I’ve left for a bit, I find that I discover things I wouldn’t have if I’d just kept pushing through.
