by Brea Viragh
Through it all, the ticking of a clock sounded in Nasira’s mind. Shivers slid over her skin and, the second the eclipse became complete, a tearing feeling ripped through her. It blistered the earth, the air crackling and alive.
No, this wasn’t the time. Karsia was right. Nasira logically knew this and still, the feline inside of her screamed for retaliation against the injustice. She screamed to use her power to attack the person who caused the pain, who hurt the girls and countless others. Then, for an instant, Nasira thought of Brock and his daughter.
Vengeance wouldn’t keep them alive. But helping Astix would.
Nasira made it a point to turn her face away, her pupils contracting in the strange light as she forced her cat into submission. “You’re not worth my time.”
Cecilia laughed. Continued to laugh.
Nasira forced her attention toward Astix. Her hair rose in a halo around her head, a deep eggplant purple mist surrounding her body. Sweat began to bead on her forehead and drip down her arms.
The Telos Amyet was suspended between their realities. Untethered from its position in the cave. Astix tried to tune out the rest of the world and focus on completing the journey. She reached out and could almost draw it to her. Until she slammed against a wall of magic she couldn’t penetrate, not even with Leo’s help.
She stopped short. “I need more!” she yelled over the wind. “I can’t do this on my own.”
Karsia turned to stare at Nasira. She held out a hand. “Come on.”
The strength she’d felt course through her took a nosedive into uncertainty. Who did she think she was, standing here with these three powerful witches? She was a nobody! An outcast, unwanted. A cheater’s daughter.
Nasira shook her head, her mouth forming a firm, unhappy line. The wind beat her hair against her face in a whirlwind. “I can’t, okay? It’s not me. I don’t have magic.”
At her side, Cecilia nodded. “That’s right. You don’t. The sooner you realize it, the better.”
“Tune her out, Naz,” Karsia insisted. “You’re a Cavaldi. You have more magic in your pinky than most people have in their entire bodies.”
“I don’t know what to do.” Panic cut through her normally fierce control. She felt her cat slipping further and further away until the emptiness inside of her ached.
“Feel it. Feel it in your gut, in your soul. If you don’t tap into the well inside of you…we might not make it. Don’t you understand? We need you. Nasira…your family needs you.”
Karsia continued to hold out her hand. The atmosphere darkened and the purple nimbus surrounding Astix grew until it blotted out the light of the moon. She lifted her hands and called the stone. Power built.
Cecilia stepped forward and hit a wall. A bone-deep vibration rocked through them with her touch. “Yes, try,” she hissed. “Let me show you what happens when you’re done playing games.”
At that moment, Nasira recognized the taint in her mind. The little seed Darkness had planted starting years before she came on this journey. Years before she understood what made her different. She was facing one of the most formidable enemies of her life. The one inside her head.
Without a second thought, she took the offered hand and used the light of their connection to turn the seed to dust.
Cecilia twisted her fingers in the air, a complicated knot, and white-hot pain shot down Nasira’s spine. Threatening to tear her in half. Her free arm slapped against Aisanna’s back and the sisters came together, arms around each other’s shoulder, trying to dissipate the pain. Their bodies jerked against wave after wave of whatever Cecilia threw at them. The scent of decay crowded the air outside the circle.
The wind stole her tears the instant they burned to life at the corners of her eyes. Nasira was a Cavaldi. Through her blood, she had the right to call magic from the other side of the veil.
What had Bast told her? She only needed to ask and she would be given what she needed.
“Please.” She sent the word out into the universe. Soft and half-panicked. She willed her heart to still and her breath to calm. “Please. My family needs me.”
Tears of frustration pricked her eyes but her cat did not return.
The air rose up around them in a roar and together, the three sisters lifted their arms into the air. Darkness swirled around them. The earth trembled. Nasira held tight to Karsia and Aisanna as they circled Astix.
Rain fell at last, lashing at them, and Nasira cemented her resolve. Even if she didn’t believe in herself, her sisters did. The sisters she’d always wanted and never knew she’d had. She didn’t deserve them. They were power incarnate. Sure of themselves while she sat in the corner like a scared child. Her guts pinched.
Lightning speared from the sky and charred the ground around them. When Nasira dared to open her eyes, she saw the world on fire. The sky had turned a rusty shade of red and the storm swirled around them like a fury. A whirlwind of energy circled them and for a moment, she wondered if this was where she’d meet her end.
Then resolve brought her strength back. She felt the grip of hands on hers, the punch of energy they created and recognized fierce waves of love and terror. She stood straighter, tightened her grip on her sisters, and called out about the explosion of thunder. “I am Nasira Cavaldi, and I claim my birthright!”
The cat inside of her returned with a fierce howl and energy pounded across the circle.
The moon shone like a beacon through the raging storm. It illuminated Astix, her magic flaring out in unparalleled waves of pure energy. This would end by their hands. With their choice.
“I give you all I have,” Nasira murmured, completing her next words and feeling a curling tendril of something dark and evil glancing off her hair. Ignoring it all, she remained strong. Kept pushing.
A core of heat burst to life in her stomach. She accepted the burn, the snarl and snap of unrestrained magic. Instead of being afraid, she willed the burn to grow. To consume her. “I give you all I will ever be. This magic is mine to give. By body, by blood, by soul.” She tossed aside her insecurities, the shields and locks she kept in place to protect herself. The energy pulsing inside of her burst free.
Astix fell forward to her knees, her limbs trembling and tears falling freely from her eyes.
“We won’t lose.” Nasira broke her hold on the others and placed her hands on Astix’s shoulders. Destiny was bright and clear in her mind. Panic receded and magic built inside of her, rising through her heart and spreading along her limbs. “I give my power to you. Harbinger.”
Karsia joined her then. “Harbinger.”
Aisanna was the last to step forward, and when she spoke, her voice was quiet, hardly heard above the roar of the wind. “Harbinger.”
Breathless, soaked to the bone, and at peace for the first time in her life, Nasira accepted her fate. Magic coursed through her in a steady wave. Reddish gold sparks licked along her exposed arms with the brightness of a thousand bonfires, traveled down the length of her skin, and flowed into her sister.
She hadn’t anticipated the rush. The energy. The love. It streamed through and out of her. Nasira used her gift to shield the others, she and her cat merging into a single cohesive conduit.
Yes, she thought. Finally. This was what she’d been waiting for.
An electric tingle spread across her skin until the hairs on the back of her neck stood up. There was a tug on her midsection and it felt as though someone was hurling her forward from the inside. Heat rose off the sand in waves that danced like ribbons in the air.
Nasira permitted herself a small smile.
Astix screamed, the sound furious. She rose to her feet and gathered the last of her considerable powers. Her hair flew in the wind while a monstrous stream of black smoke cut down through the sky. A stream of fire burst to life around the four sisters.
Now.
It felt like an eternity. An eternity of having everything inside of them tapped and strung like a wet dishrag.
“On this
night, I make my choice!” she roared. “I accept my destiny as the Harbinger witch. I bring about the means to stop the dark and return the veil. Return the balance.”
The words sounded off of her tongue and the girls repeated them. Another surge of energy rose up around them. Connecting them with chains of translucent gold. Connecting them to what they were doing, what they would accomplish.
The pull on her midsection increased until it filled her limb to limb. They were nearly tapped out. If they didn’t finish this soon, they would die.
Astix flung out her arms, eyes sparkling with purpose. “Through my heart and my blood, I call you here,” she shouted. Her voice spilled out like an explosion. “Telos Amyet!”
Nasira’s heart sped up. She watched the sky ripped open and the front of their circle shine like heat rising from the scorched earth. The air crackled. Another breath. In. out. A stone of purest white and darkest black shimmered to life. Its form became solid and then, in the span of a heartbeat, the world was silent.
The storm paused. Cecilia shot them a final sinister smile before disappearing.
“What is that?” Orestes stepped forward through the fire, his gaze captured by the stone. Nasira saw it reflected in his eyes. His entire being focused on the stone. “Is it truly…Have you brought me what I want?”
Astix reached behind her to clamp her hands over her sisters, fumbling for a hold. “It’s yours. Whatever you desire. The choice is yours to make. I’ve just given you the tool.” She was out of breath and shaking. Her magic tenuous and her body in desperate need of grounding.
Orestes shuddered, his lungs pumping. “At last, I see your worth.” He didn’t speak to them, however. Only the stone. “I see you for what you are. A means to an end. I will make my choice, and I choose everlasting power. Magic eternal. My perfect world will be realized!”
He stepped forward with his arm outstretched. The second his fingertips grazed the stone, the atmosphere electrified. Nasira’s every hair stood on end.
“Go,” Astix whispered. “You seal your fate.”
Nasira knew something was wrong. Orestes placed his hand firmly on the stone and, instead of the twisted smirk he’d worn since they’d met, his eyes went large. Fear. Terror beyond human reckoning. He tried to pull his hand away and found it adhered to the surface.
“What have you done?” he screamed, tugging at his arm. “You stupid bitch, what have you done?”
Astix smiled. “I’ve given you the noose to hang yourself.”
Orestes shuddered and his face shifted. Melted into something dark. His howl was unearthly. “No. No! This is not what I wanted.”
A voice sounded. Absolute in its strength. It spoke to them from inside their minds.
You will keep the balance.
You will keep the dark.
You will be the veil.
Orestes had been judged, and instead of the absolute power he’d desired, he became the sigil. The pain and loneliness and chaos keeping the two worlds separate. He’d been taken for Dark.
The shadows reached for him and his body shifted, became intangible. He plunged up through time, through space, screaming. Hurling his fury into the void.
At once the world came alive again. The fire surrounding them was swept up into the sky in a funnel cloud.
“Why isn’t it stopping?” Nasira cried.
Astix turned to stare at her over her shoulder. “The battle’s only half done. To restore the veil, we need to restore balance. The stone needs two willing sacrifices. Orestes provided himself, but no one has stepped forward for Light. Without a second person…I can’t finish what I have to do.”
“This was for nothing?” Karsia’s voice echoed in the odd quiet, though the storm continued to rage around them.
“I wouldn’t say that, sweet girls.”
Nasira swirled around and stared into a very familiar face. One she’d been accused on numerous occasions of sharing. One with long black hair, dark eyes, and a strong chin. Her heart lodged in her throat and she bit her lip to keep from breaking down.
“Momma…no.”
Neret Khepri smiled and stepped forward and crossed their circle without harm. Her arms reached out, she gathered her daughter close. “Look at you, my darling. So proud. So beautiful.” She stepped back and stared. Her hand traced Nasira’s face as she took in the changes. “I’ve known this day was coming for a long time. Bast showed me a vision of the future and two possible outcomes. It was an easy decision to make. Not even a choice.” She met Nasira’s eyes, then wiped at the tears there. “I’ll do whatever I can to keep my baby safe.”
“But you’ll die!” Nasira clutched at her mother. Trying to make her understand. “If you do this, you’ll die.”
“A small price to pay so that you can live. Try not to think of it as an end, Nasira. I raised you to be strong.”
It was a reprimand, completely and utterly out of place in the situation. If her heart wasn’t splintering apart, she might have found it funny. The mom voice.
“I won’t be dead. Okay? I’ll be there watching over you. All of you. Always.” Neret tugged Nasira close to her chest until their hearts pressed together. When she spoke, her voice echoed, “My fate is set. My force of will formidable. With my choice, you will live and prosper. Be with the man you love, Nasira. Be with your sisters and your family. And know I love you more than anything else in this world.”
“I’m sorry,” Astix said, turning to them. “It should be me. I’m the Harbinger.”
Neret stepped back and drew the other woman toward her. Drew all four sisters close in a shared hug. “It was never meant to be you, sweetheart. You’ve done your part. Now it’s time for me to do mine. Take care of my baby.”
“Always.”
Nasira clutched her mother’s shirt, trying to memorize her face in the seconds they had. The laugh lines spanning out from around her eyes. The full mouth she’d always known to be turned up in a smile. Trying to keep her there.
She tried not to think of this as a loss. She couldn’t quite make her heart understand. Her fingers refused to let go, claw-like fingertips tearing through the fabric.
“Don’t go. Please.” Head shaking, she watched Neret pry her fingers loose and kiss each one of them before turning away. She would have walked into the flames if not for Aisanna and Karsia stepping forward to hold her. “Mom—”
Neret spared a look over her shoulder. And smiled. “Walk away from the edge, Nasira. I love you.”
“I love you more.”
The words had hardly left her mouth when her mother pressed her hand against the Telos Amyet. She threw back her head. Gasped. Her mouth drew open with a luminous smile. Then she laughed. It was a full-throated and jubilant sound. Her body burst apart in a hailstorm of sparks, rising toward the heavens in a whirlwind.
Nasira watched until the sparks disappeared. The moon sailed white overhead and at once the storm dissipated, the wind died down until a gentle breeze tickled her sensitized skin.
There, in the calm and stillness, she broke down.
“It’s done,” she sobbed. “The veil is in place.” Her legs trembled and she went down into the arms of her sisters. They lay for a moment together and she gasped for breath, taking stock. We’re still alive.
It took a long time for her eyes to clear. For the dust to settle and the four of them to catch their breath. They stood together in a quiet circle.
Though they’d won the battle, there was still work ahead.
Astix glanced up in time to see the bright white moonlight on the lake’s surface. As she watched, the moonlight stretched higher and two ghostly forms stood.
Vane and Cecilia.
Only this time, they were different. They were more human. Happier.
Cecilia smiled and the madness was gone. Her mouth moved and Astix made out the words before both disappeared.
Thank you.
Karsia stretched her back and spotted Morgan rushing toward them in a daze. “You’re here
.” She ran to him. Collapsed into his waiting embrace. Pressed a hand to his heart.
“You did beautifully.” He rained kisses down on her face.
Astix stared at the display, trying to muster up enough energy to be happy for her sister.
“Do you see that?” Aisanna’s hand tightened on Astix’s and her voice was thick. “Look at the trees. There’s someone moving there.”
Astix saw it and knew she didn’t have anything left inside of her. The last bit of her strength was dead. Vanished. She needed to eat and ground herself. Try to replenish the huge amount of energy she’d expended before she collapsed.
The movement solidified into a male form. Tall and dominating, with bright golden-hair. Wide shoulders. A familiar crooked smile.
She cried out and, in a stumbling run, rushed forward to fall to her knees where Leo stood. He crouched beside her and covered her face with his hands. Tears flowed down her cheeks and their touches were frantic. An attempt to reassure one another that the other still unharmed. Alive.
“I knew he wasn’t dead.”
Nasira turned to smile at Aisanna. “I’m happy to know true love can be reunited. We live. We have wounds, but we live.”
“It’s a time for rejoicing.” Aisanna finished what Neret had started, wiping the tears from Nasira’s cheeks. “Don’t cry.”
“Aisanna!” Astix called from across the lawn. “Come here! It’s Elon.”
“Excuse me for a minute,” Aisanna told Nasira and hurried away.
He should be here, she told herself, thinking about Brock. Scanning the sand and grass and wondering where the hell he was. Hoping Orestes hadn’t killed him.
Her three sisters were with their men. The circle completed. Nasira stood with her arms wrapped around her sides. If she let the tears out now, she’d be empty, refusing to stop until there was nothing left. Sometimes a heart needed the release. Needed the deep well of tears in order to move forward.
She pressed her lips together and reminded herself it was rude to stare. Their grieving had come to an end with the return of their loves. This was a time for celebration. Like a damn national holiday. She wouldn’t put a pall over their happiness after all they’d worked hard to preserve.
