A bright white shine came from the altar, forcing me to close my eyes.
A ruckus sounded around me. The clanking of swords, the whoosh and oomphs of blows being dealt and received, the growls and the groans, the yells, and the rapid shuffle of feet on the rocks. I was aware of it all until the energy began pounding inside me, like a thousand jackhammers. The energy dragged me down to my knees, and then it slipped out from me.
I blinked my eyes open. My hands pressed against the stones on the altar, and lines of white energy ran down my arms and zigzagged to the scepters.
Eyes bugged, Micah reached for me. A shock coursed through us when his fingers brushed my shoulder. I yelped and he jerked away.
He cursed. “What is it doing? Is it hurting?”
“I-I don’t know,” I croaked.
Filling with the energy that had been in me, the scepters shone brighter and brighter.
My head felt heavy, my vision dimmed, and my muscles felt like jelly. The energy was leaving me completely. For a moment, I wondered if it had taken everything, even my own energy. I wondered if this was my purpose, if my aura was powerful to make Micah and Victor full gods again.
The last two lines left my arms and zoomed to the scepters, and I fell to my side gasping for air.
Once more bright light shone, blinding me for a moment, but this time they came from the scepters.
Micah knelt beside me, but I shook my head. “Go. Get your scepter. Now.”
With a pained expression, he stepped back and stood before his scepter. Victor and Micah shared a nod, and at the same time, they closed their hands around their scepters.
“No!” Omi yelled.
The lines of energy appeared on Micah’s and Victor’s hands, running up their arms and shoulders and chest, taking every inch of them until they were encased in white light and shone brighter than anything I had seen or encountered before. I closed my eyes again until the shine receded.
When I opened my eyes, the glow was gone and they were there, one on my left, one on my right, standing tall and proud, with their scepters. No bruises, no signs of weariness, and looking amazing in their own skins.
“Did it work?” I asked, pushing up on my elbows.
Micah beamed at me. “It did.”
For some reason, I expected them to become the older men I had seen in my visions, but they still wore the same handsome bodies and faces from when I had first met them.
“My, oh my,” Imha’s voice echoed through the room. “It seems I’m late to the party.”
32
Imha had brought chaos with her because everything and everyone suddenly went crazy.
Omi broke through Ceris and Izaera, and reached Imha. Side by side, Victor and Micah lunged toward Imha and Omi. More demons burst through the door, and Keisha and Zelen went to them.
I needed to help. If I didn’t, they would be two short. Even though two of them had just recovered their powers, we were still embarrassingly outnumbered.
I sat up and my head spun. Oh God, what had happened to me?
Keisha showed up before me, striking a demon that had dove to me and I hadn’t even noticed. My brain was mush. So were my muscles.
She fended off a couple more, while I scooted back. If I couldn’t help, I had better hide because I would only attract unwanted attention and distract Keisha’s focus. Feeling weak, exhausted, small, and alone, I reached the edge of the altar. I prepared to jump off and stopped. Morgan’s body was right there, at my feet. A sob raked my body, and I pressed a hand to my mouth to keep it in. Oh my God. Morgan was dead. My family was dead. The world was destroyed. How many more would die before this mess was over?
Keisha roared and the sound made me turn around. She brandished her sword, dropping one demon after another with her sure strokes, her blade ripping through their grayish bodies like she was ripping through paper. Zelen and his staff weren’t too bad either. He moved fast for a guy who appeared so old.
Farther away, Ceris and Izaera took turns assisting Keisha and Zelen, trying to thin the wave of demons running to them, and throwing bolts at Imha and Omi trying to catch them off guard. The beauty of it all was to watch Victor and Micah working together to beat Imha and Omi.
They looked like ninjas, moving fast, exchanging blows, spinning around each other, throwing bolt after bolt, a fierce look on their faces and a lethal glint in their eyes.
If I didn’t know better, I would believe they had worked together forever.
“Isn’t it fun?” Imha asked, flinging a huge purple ball at Micah. He slipped to the side and let it pass. “All of us back together. Playing, fighting, killing.” She threw a purple bolt at them. Victor cast a shield and when it broke, it exploded in purple smoke.
That was new.
Coughing, the guys clambered back, and Omi threw several red bolts at them. The bolts hit them on the chest and shoulders, sending them flying several feet. They landed on their backs.
Imha charged them, producing two Black Thorns on her palms.
Oh, God.
I jumped from the altar, not sure what I was doing, but knowing I had to do something. I took a step and kicked something.
The Crimson Dagger.
Morgan had kept that damn thing all this time. I wondered if he also kept …
I crouched down and searched his pockets. I found the vial in one of his belt pockets. There was only one drop inside. He probably used it to disenchant Keisha’s armor. Ugh, only the Fates knew what else he had used it on, what else he had done against us.
Rushing, I opened the vial and let the drop fall over the blade. Without hesitation, I shot up and ran—or better, limped—around the altar toward Imha.
“Hey, bitch,” I called her.
Surprised, she paused, giving me enough time to aim. I threw a dagger at her, missing on purpose, distracting her of my real objective as I threw the Crimson Dagger.
She tilted her head back and cackled. “By the Everlast, Nadine, what a lou—” She looked down at the Crimson Dagger in her chest.
I snickered. “Lousy aim?”
One second later she disappeared into thin air, taking along Omi and the demons.
Everyone else stilled, looking at me.
“What was that?” Ceris asked, carefully approaching me.
The adrenaline was wearing out. I leaned on the altar for support. “Morgan still had the vial with the fountain water. I put the last drop on the dagger and threw it at her, wishing her and all her associates to appear in a deep cave in the South Pole.”
“Clever,” Micah said, standing up. The wounds on his shoulders and chest were already healing. “I like that.”
Heat crept up my cheeks.
Keisha put an arm over my shoulder and kissed my cheek. “You’re my hero!”
Ceris stood before me, her eyes on mine. “You truly are a hero.”
“Whatever you are, you’re amazing.” Zelen patted my back.
I winced.
“What is it?” Victor asked.
Micah pushed through them and reached to me. “Her wound.”
The cloth he had tied around me was gone, and my shirt and the side of my pants were soaked in blood.
Exhaustion and pain flooded me, and I slid to the floor. Micah passed his arms under my knees and shoulders, and pulled me to him.
A huge groan shook the mountain.
“It’s going to explode,” Izaera said. “Any second now.”
“We need to be outside to transport to another place,” Ceris said.
“Let’s go, then,” Victor said.
Holding me tight, Micah ran back to the entrance with the others. I rested my cheek on his chest and closed my eyes, welcoming the sleepiness.
I could feel heat and more tremors, but I wasn’t sure if it was the volcano or me.
“Stay with me, darling,” Micah whispered. “Please, stay with me.”
I tried to stay with him, I really did, but I had no strength or will left.
When t
he darkness closed around me, I couldn’t fight it.
33
The front door opened, and Ceris stepped out onto the porch.
She sat in the rocking chair beside mine. “Here,” she said, handing me a new mug with steamy coffee. “It’s black.”
I dropped the empty mug over the railing and took the new mug from her. “Thanks.” I sipped the hot liquid, kind of pleased when it burned my throat.
“How are you?” she asked.
Everyone asked me that every two minutes.
Apparently, I had lost consciousness when we were halfway through the first tunnel, right before the volcano erupted. They got outside with a second to spare and took us back to the island. Victor tended my wound. It was deeper than Micah first assumed, and I had lost a lot of blood. Victor performed a small surgery, transfused blood, and all that jazz. I stayed in bed, in and out of consciousness for four days. Keisha told me Micah barely left my side. Meanwhile, Ceris, Victor, and Izaera were out most of the time, looking for a new place for us. Since Morgan had been working with Omi, we didn’t know if the island had been compromised or not, and we didn’t want to risk it.
When I woke up, I cried nonstop for a couple of hours, feeling extremely guilty for having killed Morgan. They all assured me there was nothing we could have done to save him. I had saved Micah’s life. Oh, I had saved all their lives, which was another thing they kept saying every two minutes.
Ceris explained to me what she believed happened at the altar. I had the ability to heal Victor and Micah, and this same healing power was the key ingredient to “heal” them from human to god form. My healing was the power required for the altar to do its thing. Which sounded crazy, but we seemed surrounded by crazy.
I was freaking tired of it all.
I had escaped to the porch early in the morning, when I knew everyone was still sleeping. This was the third day that I sat here, surrounded by snow, with a mug of coffee and Pinky, under a heavy blanket, and stayed quiet, my mind blank, my soul calm. My moment of peace. Peace I didn’t deserve.
Today though I wanted my peace and quiet. I wanted to stay alone and keep my mind blank, so I wouldn’t remember what day it was. In vain, though. Each time I closed my eyes, images of Raisa and Olivia dragging me to a bar to celebrate invaded my mind. It made me more frustrated because I didn’t deserve to feel a happy warmth remembering those times.
Ceris sighed. “Nadine, you can’t live your entire life with this guilt. It’s not right.”
Ha, if only she knew. Now that Victor and Micah were full gods, my days in this world were halfway over. Now all we needed to find more allies, strategize a war, fight, and win.
“I know there was nothing we could have done for him,” I said. “I know that. I believe that. But that doesn’t change the fact that I killed him.”
She placed a hand on my arm. “I don’t think there is anything we can say to you that will lessen that feeling.” She paused. “The first time I killed a human I cried for days, then I disappeared for almost a year. I neglected my duties. Families everywhere began fighting, relationships crumbled, and wars began because of discord. Obviously, every deity in the world was franticly trying to find me. In the end, I realized I had to move on. Though that human had deserved it, I couldn’t stop living and neglecting my subjects and my own family because of my guilt. They deserved better. I pulled myself together and worked through it.”
“So I should pull myself together.” I hated when people lectured me.
“You should, but I understand if you don’t want to do it yet. Just don’t take too long. We have tons of things to do, and we’ll need your help.”
I scoffed. “Now that the guys are gods again, you don’t need anything else from me.”
She squeezed my arm, and I stared at her. “That’s not true. More than once you proved you are part of this family. We need you. We truly do.” Tears brimmed in my eyes. This family? Had she really said that? She offered me a sweet smile. “And Mitrus would go cuckoo if you left.”
Would he? I hadn’t really spoken to him since we came back. We had exchanged a few words. How are you? Are you hungry? Do you need help? But we hadn’t been alone and talked—really talked.
“Speaking of him,” she whispered, standing up.
As if on cue, the front door opened and Micah appeared behind it. “Hey,” he said, with a half smile.
“I’m gonna make more coffee.” She winked at me, and I shook my head, fighting a smile. How had we gotten here? Why wasn’t I wanting to jump at her throat anymore?
She left and Micah leaned on the porch’s railing, a couple of feet in front of me.
“How are you?”
I groaned. “If one more person asks me that, I’m gonna punch him.”
Bending over, he smiled. “Promise?” I punched his shoulder. “Ouch. Darling, I was teasing.”
“I wasn’t.”
He stared intently into my eyes. “I’m glad you’re okay.”
I nodded, turning my eyes to my coffee. “And you? How’s life as a god?”
“The same shit it always was.”
I lifted my eyes to his. “Why is that?”
“It’s lonely,” he said, surprising me. “Right now it’s different because we need to help each other, but once we win this war, it’ll be lonely again. Levi, Ceris, Izaera, and the others are my family. We fight a lot, but each of us has his or her own life. Some, like Levi and Ceris, Sol and Lua, and sometimes Omi and Imha, have a life together, which probably makes eternity more bearable.”
“Wait … are you telling me you don’t like being a god?”
One corner of his lips turned up. “I never said that, darling. I love the power, the rush, the adrenaline, but when things are calm, which is most of the time, it can be lonely and boring, which is Imha’s explanation for her sick actions.”
I sipped from my mug, unsure where he was going with this topic or what I should say.
I whirled my finger around a strand of my hair. Micah smiled. “What?”
He pointed to my hand. “You haven’t done that in so long.”
Ugh, I hadn’t noticed. But he had. “Have you always been this observant?”
“I notice everything about you, darling. For instance, I know you haven’t sung in a long time, which is a shame.”
Wow, he was right. With everything going on, I hadn’t noticed that. But he had. I wondered if he knew more about me these days than I did. Now that he had mentioned it, my heart squeezed. I missed singing. But what good would it do? Singing wasn’t a weapon I could use in the war.
“So.” Clearing his throat, he pushed away from the railing and extended his hand to me. “Come with me. There’s something I want to show you.”
I watched his hand for a moment, unsure. Then I watched him. His expression. His eyes. The way they conveyed how he was really hoping for me to accept it.
I took his hand, expecting him to guide me inside the cottage, or out to the beach.
Instead he took us somewhere else.
We stood in the middle of a desert. There was sand and sand and more sand, an occasional cactus or two, a few rocks, a couple of dried trees, and more sand. Oh, yes, more sand.
“What the hell?” I asked, letting go of his hand.
“Through here,” he said, approaching the short, dead-looking trees. He stood in front of two of them, and then he beckoned me to follow him. “Come on, darling. You want this, I promise.”
Letting out a frustrated sigh, I strutted to him.
With one of his smug smiles, Micah touched the center of the trunk of each tree and a black veil formed among them.
“A portal?” I asked and he nodded. “To where?”
“You’ll see.”
He offered to take my hand again, and this time I didn’t hesitate. Curiosity was a hard thing to push back.
Together we stepped into the portal and into—I gasped—the underworld.
My mouth hung open as I glanced around. It was d
ark all right, but even so, there were spots of lights here and there, and it looked like a huge cave. We stood on a high ledge on a wall made of rocks, looking down at what seemed to be a park, with dark green grass, some trails and paths, even flowers and bushes, but what caught my attention was the lake. It was large and deep black, and several people—dead people—surrounded it.
“What is this place?” I asked, looking over the ledge.
“The Lake of Life.”
“B-but I saw it before, in a vision with Ceris. It was in a cave.”
“There are many caves around the lake.” He pointed to a stone wall on the far left. A small opening swallowed the water. “The dead come to the lake every once in a while to check on the loved ones they left behind.”
I whirled around to face him and almost tripped. “Wh-what are you saying?”
With a hand on my back, he steered me back to the edge and pointed to where a couple, three kids, and a baby walked down a path, going to the lake.
My knees buckled, and I crouched down. Tears blurred my vision, but I quickly wiped them away because I wanted to see them. I needed to see them.
My father, my mother, Nicole, Tommy, Teddie, and Troy sauntered down the path. They had smiles on their faces. The kids played with each other, pushing and teasing. And Troy—oh, God—baby Troy was with them, looking healthy.
Micah knelt beside me. “Happy twentieth birthday.”
I whipped my head so fast to look at him, my neck hurt. “What? How did you know?”
He shrugged. “I just know. Do you like my gift?”
I didn’t deserve any gifts, but at this moment, he was giving me more than I could ever ask.
Tears brimmed in my eyes. “I love it.”
“From what I’ve learned, they come here once a week to check on you.”
“They can see me?”
“Yes, through the reflection in the lake.”
“And now? Will they look at the lake and see I am here?”
Soul Oath Page 27
