Abram figured we had an hour at most. That’s how long the second or two it would take for my already prepared father to jump through the portal would translate into on our side. An hour to stop the unstoppable. No sweat.
I had enough on my mind to move mountains. If stress could stop a bullet, I’d be practically Kryptonian. The entire world lay on what the group and I did in the next few minutes. All of my attention should have been focused on stopping my father. Only, it wasn’t. Something else, another worry, seemed to supersede it in my mind, and I knew I wouldn’t be able to get anything done until I fixed it.
Walking past Abram, whose ancient nose was buried in even older books as he looked for a mystical way out of our impossible situation, and Scott who seemed to be channeling the energy he’d stolen from the rest of the Astra coven as he very likely scoured through this and every possible reality in search of a solution.
We were all giving this our all, doing all we could. Well, except for me. My mind was bouncing between what my father was about to do and another very serious worry laying on my mind; a worry I was about to deal with.
“Come with me please,” I said in a whisper to Essie as I passed her, lightly brushing her arm with mine.
Without answering, she stood and followed me out into the great hall. Closing the door behind us, she looked over at me, her eyes taking me back what was years for me and much more than a decade for her.
“I’d ask if everything is okay, but I know the answer already,” she said lightly. “What’s going on?”
“We have an amazing son.” I said quickly, swallowing hard and trying to keep Luc’s face out of my mind for just another moment longer.
“Of course we do,” she answered the way any mother would, flatly and as matter of factly as you might if I were to say something as controversial as ‘ice cream is good’ or ‘people really seem to enjoy happiness.’ It was an uncontested fact for her. Luc was fantastic, and that was why I couldn’t stay mad at her for keeping him a secret from me.
She should have told me, of course. When she found out she was going to have my child, I deserved to know, but the truth was, she was better for him than I would have been back then. She was what he needed, and maybe she was still what he needed.
“You didn’t pull me out here to state the obvious though,” she said. “So why don’t you tell me what’s swimming around in that hard head of yours, Roy?”
Even after all these years, she knew me too well. Hopefully, she knew me well enough to know there was no malice in what I was about to say to her.
“I want you to get out,” I said, nodding firmly.
“What?” she asked, her eyes narrowing at me.
“Both of you, Essie. I want you to take Luc, and I want you to get as far away from here as humanly possible in the time we have left.”
Essie shuffled in front of me, turning back to the closed door before looking back at me. “I don’t think he’s going to like that.”
“I don’t care what he likes. My father is ruthless. If he and the people he’s trapped with are even half as bad as Abram lets on, then I don’t want my son anywhere near them.” I said, my tone as solid as a stone.
Essie took a deep breath, though her face showed none of the fire or concern that mine did. “He’s our son, not yours, and he’s absolutely not a child. He’s twelve years old. Do you even remember how far along in your training you were at twelve, Roy? Well, it’s been ramped up since then. He’s almost earned his stones.”
“I don’t give a damn about training!” I shot back, anger blossoming up in my chest. “And I don’t care about stones. The damn things were antiquated merits of accomplishment even when I was in training. The truth is, he’ll never be like the rest of them. He might have trained with the others, and they might have even treated him like one of their own, but all of that would have changed soon enough.”
“Just because it happened to you, doesn’t mean it would happen to Luc, Roy,” Essie answered. “And just because you don’t think you could have handled something like this at his age doesn’t mean he can’t. He’s focused. He’s good at what he does, Roy.”
I looked at her like she was a crazy person, because that’s the way she was acting. “He’s good at what he does?” I balked. “Are you even being serious right now? The world is literally minutes away from ending. In half an hour, the entire globe could be a barren wasteland.”
“Right,” she answered. “So what’s the point in running? You say the end is near. Perhaps it is, but I don’t see you tucking your tail between your legs and heading for the door.”
“Because I’m a grownup!” I shouted.
“You’re a father is what you are, and if this is your last night on earth, I would assume you’d want to spend it with your child.” She shook her head. “Heaven knows you haven’t done enough of it.”
“Don’t you lay that on me,” I said sternly, though guilt pulled at my heart like quicksand. “I didn’t spend any time with Luc because you refused to tell me he even existed. If I was an absent father, it’s because you turned me into one!” Well, that and the forced seven year hiatus, but there was little use in splitting hairs right now.
“I did what I did because I thought it was best for him. You were so broken when you left, so bitter. You almost killed me the night it all came out.”
“I didn’t mean to do that,” I said, shame bubbling up to sit alongside the anger. “I lost control. I would have never intentionally hurt you.”
“I know that,” she answered. “Of course I do, but that does me little good when considering the safety of our child. For all I knew, you’d have reacted horribly. You’d have hurt me or him out of spite. Or worse, you wouldn’t. You’d want him, and you’d take him away from me. I couldn’t have that, Roy. I couldn’t risk losing my child.”
“Then why in the fuck are you okay with risking losing him now?’ I asked. The entire thing seemed so insane to me I could barely put the words together.
“How much of our past do you remember?” she asked me, looking at me unblinkingly.
“All of it,” I said without missing a beat.
“Then you remember my father. You remember my family and how important it was to all of us to carry our weight, to do what we’re called to do.”
“Essie,” I started. “This is a suicide mission. Is it really worth his life?”
“He was raised that way too, Roy. Whether it was right or wrong, whether it was my fault or not, Luc was raised by the people who were there to raise him. He holds the same values important that they did, that my father did. If you tell him he has to leave, he’ll look at it as a punishment. He’ll think his father is ashamed of him, of what he did.” His face twisted in empathetic pain for the kid.
“At least he’ll be alive to do it,” I answered bitterly.
“You don’t know that,” she responded. “We don’t know how far reaching this thing is or what will be effected. In truth, it’s very likely this is the last night any of us will spend on this plane of existence. Would you really condemn your son to spend it thinking of himself as a failure?” She moved closer to me. “Isn’t that how you felt about yourself, Roy? Isn’t that the way Abram and the others made you feel? Don’t do that to him. If this is the end for us, then let us go out together.
“This isn’t the same thing,” I answered. “This might be worse than a death sentence.”
“Worse?” she asked, her eyebrows lifting in surprise. “What aren’t you telling me?”
I swallowed hard. “When my father held me captive, he tried to bring me around to his way of thinking. He wanted to turn me into a disciple of sorts, keep the family legacy going as it was.” I shook my head, thinking of the weeks I’d spent there. “He was never able to convince me, to turn me to his side. But if he gets ahold of Luc, maybe he won’t have to.”
Essie’s face went ghostly pale. “You think your father would take him? You think he would break him and twist him until he made
a monster of him?”
“He has so much power now, Essie. Luc has enough power to rip a hole in the world. I don’t see my father getting a look at him and just letting him go. He’ll see him as his destiny, at his chance at redemption. He’ll want to use him and…and make him something else.”
“Stars and mystics,” she cursed, looking through me and off into some horrible perspective future where our son would be tortured until he was broken and then shaped into a monster. I watched the horror lay seize her face, and then steely resolve take free it.
“Alright,” she relented. “If you can convince him to go, then I’ll take him.”
“Oh no,” I said, shaking my head. “I’m not convincing him of anything. We don’t have time for that. I’m going to make him do it.”
“Are you?” she scoffed. “You just finished telling me he has the power to drill a hole through the planet with force of will and now you’re going to give him a mandate and expect him to follow it? Based on what, your fatherly authority?”
The skepticism in her voice hurt just a little. She might have been right, but I was Luc’s father. I liked to think that counted for something. Of course, there was no way in hell I was relying on that to get what I needed done.
“Hypnos,” I said simply.
“Bless you,” she answered.
“No,” I answered. “Hypnos is the Greek god of sleep. I was channeling him through Renee when Luc took Marissa out. The spell is a gesture away from complete. All I have to do is point and aim.”
Essie looked at me mournfully. “Do you really think your father could twist Luc into something else, something darker?”
“He killed someone, Essie,” I said, putting a hand on her shoulder.
“To save you, his father!” she shot back.
“I’m not blaming him. I’m not saying he was wrong. He did what he thought he had to, and that’s damn brave. But he did kill someone, and whether he shows it or not, that changes a person. It’ll change him. Right now is a very tender moment for Luc. If he ends up in the wrong hands, then-”
“I understand,” Essie said, not allowing me to finish that sentence. To be fair, neither of us wanted to think about what came next. The idea of lying to my son, of going against his wishes after having hurt him with my absence was almost too much to handle. “So you want to put him to sleep?”
“Yeah.” I answered. “It’s a strong spell, what you’d expect from the god of sleep. Still, Luc is stronger than Marissa. He might even be stronger than Hypnos now. So I’m not sure how long the spell will last. So- after I do it- you need to haul ass.” I blinked hard. “And when he does wake up, Es, you tell him I was never disappointed in him okay? Not for a single second. You make sure he knows that. Promise me.” I blinked back fresh tears and thought about all the years I’d missed.
“Of course,” she answered. Then, putting a hand on my cheek, she looked deep into my eyes. “I was only pretending not to be able to swim, you know. The night you found me there, I mean. I knew you would come out there with your brother. I had seen you do it from my window. I used to watch you and just wish I could find a way to talk to you. So, I treaded water until I saw you coming.” She shook her head. “I don’t know why I never told you that before. I guess I didn’t want you to know I lied.”
I placed my hand on top of hers. “I’m glad you did,” I said.
“Me too,” she answered. “Now let’s go. We need to get Luc out of here before-”
The door swung open. Scott was on the other side, his entire body glowing with energy. “It’s happening!” he said frantically. “It’s happening right now!”
30
I ran forward, realizing I was out of time. The frantic look on Scott’s face accentuated everything his words had said. It was over. There was no more time to figure anything out, no more time for last second Hail Marys, no more time to figure out a way to stop this from happening, and absolutely no time to get my son out of the crosshairs of a madman. This was happening right now, and all I could do was fight like hell anyway I knew how.
Pushing through the doorway, I found Abram and Renee speaking.
“Are you sure?” she asked in a soft voice, her mouth a grim line across her otherwise beautiful face. She had transformed again, back into the armor wearing, sword wielding badass goddess who’d greeted me on my return trip to this plane of existence. Seeing her like this really put a fine point on the nature of everything that had happened.
Rushing to the goddess in question, I gave Abram a withering look. It was strange that- even now- with the world hanging by the thinnest of wires, I still couldn’t find it in myself to forgive him.
“What’s going on?” I asked, carefully looking at both of them.
“I found an ancient text hidden within the words of our forefathers,” Abram said, his voice cracking with exhaustion.
“Why the fuck do forefathers always do that?” Gary asked underfoot. “Why hide the important information? It’s not like the skull and crossbones symbol on poison is hidden within the words. No. It’s written in big, bold, goddamn letters for the entire world to see!”
I looked down at him wearily.
“Sorry,” he croaked. “It’s just upsetting is all.”
“Anyway, I found the ancient text.” Abram’s eyes moved down toward Gary. “Which I’m sure was hidden for a very good reason, and went through it.”
“Come on, you whippersnapper,” I said through gritted teeth. “We don’t have all day. In fact, we don’t have any day left. Tell me what it said.”
“It said the breach must exist at the point of the last sacrifice. Meaning the portal must open-”
“Where I killed that girl,” Luc said in an overly firm voice. I hadn’t even seen him over there but, now that he’d made himself known, I couldn’t help put look over.
His eyes still glowed red. His hands were clenched into fists at his sides and he was practically shaking, thought whether it was with fear or anger, I had no idea.
“To save me,” I added, looking over at my son. My heart felt like two separate pieces as I looked at him. There was the piece that had always existed, the sometimes selfish, sometimes gallant piece. Then there was this new piece; a piece devoted entirely to making sure nothing and no one hurt my son. And I was failing. “You killed her to save me. Don’t forget it.”
“I’ll never forget any of it,” he answered, biting his bottom lip the way I used to whenever I was nervous or despondent.
I looked over at Renee. “Get them up to the Inner Sanctum. Let Scott take the lead. He’s brimming with energy.”
“I’m stronger than him,” Renee answered.
“I know that,” I said, which is why I need you to hold off. If I know my father, he won’t risk himself. He’ll send others through first. Knowing we’ll be there to try and stop him, he’ll let them take the brunt of the fight. Then, once he figures they’ve taken us out, he’ll come through. That’s when I need you to attack. My father might be the devil, but yours is a god. He won’t stand a chance.”
She smiled at me. “If it even gets that far,” she answered.
“What does that mean?” I asked, questions running through my mind.
“It means I’ll see you up there,” she said and, glancing over at Luc, she added, “He really is a special kid.”
A bright light blinded me, and when it was gone, so were Abram, Scott, Renee, and Gary.
Only Essie and our son remained below with me.
“What are we waiting for?” Luc asked. “We need to get up there. We need to fight!”
“No we don’t,” I said calmly. “You’re not going.”
“I most certainly am, Father,” he answered in what had to be the politest infuriated tone any twelve-year-old had ever used. God, he really was a product of the coven, wasn’t he? “I caused this, and I intend on fixing it.”
“You didn’t cause this, Luc. You might have made a mistake, but you couldn’t have caused it. All of this was
in motion years before you were born. Hell, it was in motion the instant I was born, I think. So pull yourself off the cross, son. No one’s putting you there.”
“I put myself there because that is where I belong. You may say I made a mistake like it’s not a big deal, but my mistake destroyed the only chance you had at stopping this.” He shook his head, his red eyes glaring at me. “Is that what we do in this family, father? Do we destroy things?”
His words sent spikes of hurt and shame through me, though it also pricked at my demon side curiously.
“We do what we have to,” I answered. “There’s no shame in being who you are.” I said it loudly, hoping my words wouldn’t ring hollow and betray the doubt I was feeling inside.
“Who I am is a near man, Father,” he said, solidifying his stance as more and more energy began to pour from his body. How much was in there? How much of the coven’s power had Scott stuffed into my little boy? “And men do not run when there is a fight to be won.”
“I know your grandfather taught you to be strong,” I started, walking toward him with my hands out. Hopefully, Luc would think this was a show of submission, of letting him know I meant no harm. In reality, I was readying myself to redirect the spell I’d started back in the Inner Sanctum and put his bratty little ass to sleep.
“I did not learn this from my grandfather,” he spit back, blinking at me. “When I was a child, I learned of many things. The classes I endured from the coven taught me how to be a warlock. They introduced me to spells and educated me on the proper use of magic, but I never looked forward to any of them. Would you like to know what I looked forward to, Father?”
“I’d like it better if you just did what I asked, seeing as how the world is literally coming to an end as we speak,” I said, still walking toward him, still working on redirecting the energy.
“During my childhood-”
“Which you’re still in, by the way,” I cut him off.
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