An Uncommon Truth of Dying (Broken Veil Book 2)

by Marie Andreas

“Hand me some dust and we’ll go for another run.”

  Aisling grabbed some dust, but left most of it in Dailten’s good hand, then rubbed the rest on the muzzle of her gun. There was a chance that the bullets could carry the dust into the dome. Aisling figured it couldn’t hurt.

  They swooped low again, this time Aisling got eight of them and Dailten dropped her dust. Dailten and Aisling chanted the spell that would activate it.

  If the dome were a living thing, Aisling would say they hurt it. It shook where the dust hit, causing more of the enemies on top to tumble. The people she shot this time fell back into the dome, causing more ripples in their wake. It seemed lighter also, but it could just be wishful thinking on her part.

  “Good work!” Narissa and four more flyers swooped near them and also dropped their dust. One of the people on the dome got off a good shot before they themselves were shot and a tall male pixie crashed to the ground.

  Aisling looked down but no one could catch him before he hit the ground.

  More flyers flew lower over the dome, some using guns after they dropped their dust, some flying away as best they could. Too many got hit.

  But the dome was shaking and showing holes. A large one opened right below them and Dailten flew inside before Aisling could say anything.

  Aisling swore as the air grew heavy around them. Their masks seemed to hold, as whatever gas was in here wasn’t affecting them. Dailten got hit and crashed to the street. Aisling quickly released her harness so she could roll away as they landed.

  Dailten was still alive, but had a huge tear in her right wing, and her eyes were rolling back in shock. Her wing was bleeding badly.

  Aisling dragged her unconscious body behind two parked cars.

  “Come out to play, little elf princess.” That was Nix. Aisling wasn’t sure how she knew, but it wasn’t a clone.

  Chapter Fifty-One

  Nix was down the street and close enough to a group of immobilized Londoners that Aisling couldn’t shoot without risking hitting them. No one was certain they were still alive in here, but that wasn’t a chance she could take.

  The dome walls were vibrating harder now and windows appeared. Caradoc and his toy must be nearby.

  “I will find you. This dome has almost finished its purpose, but I can keep you for much longer.” He was closer now.

  Aisling jumped up, checked for civilians, and when she saw none near him, fired.

  The shot was clear and aimed right for his head. The bullet stopped in midair and dropped into his open hand.

  “Oh dear, is that the best you can do?” He was next to her before she could move and knocked the gun out of her hand. She threw the rest of the dust at him but he was ready for it and waved it away with a flick of his hand.

  He grabbed her throat and started squeezing.

  Aisling fought to get her hands on him, but a heavy band spell was forcing her arms down. She kicked him away.

  The dome near them shook even harder, but she kept his focus on her. She needed to find out what the dome’s purpose was.

  “It won’t work.” Nix waved at the dome. “Whatever your people are doing, it won’t work.”

  As he spoke, holes started opening in the street behind him and green skeletal shapes crawled out. Unlike the creatures she’d seen before, these were having no problem moving about. They ripped apart a frozen gnome as she watched.

  “What in the hell are you doing? Those things don’t belong here.”

  “We don’t belong here. But we’re here, aren’t we?” Nix’s grin was nowhere near stable. “Did you know we can’t go back? It changes us too much. Not the same...not the same.” His voice dropped and a shadow covered his face for a moment. Then he shook it off. “But if we make this place more like beyond the veil, we’ll be fine. This will be my kingdom.” He nodded to himself again and Aisling leapt for him.

  She focused all of the anti-healing magic she could gather as she grabbed hold.

  Part of his arm where she was grabbing him was already turning black as the skin and muscles died. But instead of screaming in pain or pushing her away, he laughed and pulled her closer. “This could be fun. If I hold you right here, I can prolong killing you.” He managed to get one hand on her throat again.

  “Drop her, asshole.” Maeve’s voice was a damn good thing to hear.

  “I will blow your brains out right now.” That Reece was saying it, but not doing it, meant he didn’t have as clear a shot as he was implying. Sunlight and a slight breeze told her Caradoc had opened the dome again.

  Nix laughed. “If you kill me, the dome drops. If it drops without my control, it will kill the people trapped in here. However, my new friends will feast well on them before they move forth to the rest of this island.”

  Aisling kept one hand on his arm and one on his wrist, trying to keep him from strangling her. There was no way to tell if he was lying about the danger of the dome dropping, but the words without my control indicated there was a safe way to do it. The pressure on her throat was constant and she had no idea how long it would be before she blacked out. She was already seeing spots. He could have killed her; she had a feeling that would have been better than whatever he had in mind for her.

  “You know your mother said I could kill you?” Nix ignored Maeve and Reece. “But she said I had to bring you to her first. You were lucky to have such a good mother.”

  Sounds of a fight came from behind her. Her vision was starting to fade, but she could move enough to duck. Nix followed but not low enough. Maeve leapt off a car, over some of the green skeleton attackers and swung a machete at Nix’s head.

  Aisling closed her eyes at the resulting splatter and crumpled to the ground rubbing her throat.

  Reece held her up. “At least we’ll be together for the end.” The dome was starting to shake so hard pieces were falling from the top.

  “Tell Bart to back away.” Aisling forced the words out of her damaged throat. “Get everyone away from the dome.”

  He nodded and radioed Bart.

  Maeve stood over Nix’s headless corpse. “No way to be sure he was dead until his head was gone.” She looked up as the dome shook harder and the skeletons moved away from the sides and toward the holes they’d come out of.

  Reece was holding her close when her pendant started vibrating. Harlie had told Aisling to use her pendant, but not what for. It was pulling toward the wall of the dome. “Get me there.” Aisling pointed toward the wall.

  Reece and Maeve walked her over.

  Aisling leaned forward, pendant in hand, and put the other hand on the dome. Then she pressed the pendant to it. Nothing happened at first. She focused her magic into the pendant. Healing energy, anti-healing energy, shield spells, any spell she’d ever known was funneled into the pendant.

  At first it looked like it wasn’t going to be enough. The dome was falling apart, but the gas within it was stronger, and the skeletal creatures had turned away from their holes and were coming for them.

  “Think of your mother,” Reece said as he held her.

  That helped. Thoughts of all of the people who had died because of that woman’s actions forced still more power into the pendant. It glowed so bright, she had to look away. But she hung on to it and kept it pressed to the dome wall. The shaking stilled. As she was about to pull away, it rocked hard enough to knock the three of them over and send them back a few feet.

  Reece covered her and Maeve as best he could but the explosion that followed was massive. It came from the dome itself, as if in the middle of collapsing, it changed direction and burst outward.

  Sunlight hit them as the dome vanished and millions of blackened pebbles landed around them.

  The skeleton creatures ran back into their holes or fell to dust where they stood. The gas vanished, or it might have exploded with the dome, but the air was clear. The formerly frozen Londoners started slowly moving.

  Caradoc came racing up and hugged them all as they sat on the ground.

&nb
sp; Bart, Kenko, and Reg came marching up, looking around as medics ran to the formerly frozen Londoners.

  “Good job folks, not sure what all you did, or how you did it, but you stopped him. And got rid of that damn dome.” Bart nodded to them then yelled for a medic to get Dailten. She was conscious now, but not happy about it. Her wing would take a long time to recover.

  “It was this pendant again—really wish I knew what it was doing though.” At least it was becoming easier to speak now.

  Bart looked from the headless Nix to Maeve to the bloody machete at her feet, opened his mouth, then closed it and shook his head. “Good job, Maeve. I might have done the same.”

  Reece helped Aisling to a medic station. Aside from some bruising on her neck, she was fine.

  Harlie came running to them and hugged Aisling fiercely. “You used the pendant, very good. The mystics found that Nix had used the Area 42 building to counterbalance his escape beyond the veil, then was using the pieces of it to bring through the underground creatures and other unsavory types to our side. You and the pendant stopped the dome from spreading and growing when it collapsed.” He smiled.

  “So no more building parts dropping on things?” Jones had his left arm in a sling, but looked like he didn’t even notice.

  “No. Well, we don’t think so. Communication was hard until the dome fell. But we think no.” Harlie hugged her again.

  “How are Stella and Dailten?” Aisling had seen an awful lot of covered bodies as they came in, she hoped none of them were people she knew.

  Bart stepped in to answer. “Stella is fine and off directing people. Big bandage on the side of her head, but it won’t slow her down. Dailten should be fine, but it might be a while before she can fly again.” He frowned. “We lost Greely; he went down fighting though. Kenko lost all of his people except the shachen mage, but the mage’s powers are seriously drained. They will be in seclusion for years according to Kenko. But it looks like most of the people trapped under the dome will recover.”

  “I was thinking of taking everyone over to the base?” Reece asked, then clarified to the others. “There’s an old Area 42 base about a mile from here. Nothing secret remains, so it gets used for local events. We’ve set up an area to get non-injured people fed and rested.”

  “Good idea. I’ll radio if I need you. Go rest. Reg took some of his people there too.”

  Aisling, Reece, Maeve, Caradoc, Jones, and Harlie all rode over in a van. Aisling wanted to walk but she was outvoted.

  They’d just sat down in the mess hall, when their radios crackled to life.

  “Not all of the enemies were accounted for. There’s a hostage situation in the back lab. The outer doors have been sealed—you’ll have to take care of it.” Bart’s call was brisk and ended abruptly. Reg, Grundog, and a few other trolls were somewhere in the complex, but Aisling didn’t think they had time to find them.

  She was closest to the door and took off running. The lab was at the end of the hall, but there were no guards. She sent a text to Grundog; trolls might be a good idea right now.

  Aisling and the rest ran into the room. She’d expected to see a group of desperate gunmen holding hostages. But that wasn’t what awaited them in the dimly lit room.

  “I didn’t need all of them—just you. I might have been too dramatic in my cry for help. By the way, you should have let Nix have London.” Her mother stood in the center of the room as an eerie light appeared from the back wall.

  Chapter Fifty-Two

  Her mother said a single spell word, then frowned. “You should also be frozen. Why aren’t you frozen?”

  Aisling turned to the others behind her but they were all were standing locked in place. She could still move, albeit slowly. Her magic was deflecting her mother’s spell, but not stopping it completely. Both of her brothers were frozen, and they were still stronger magic users than her.

  “You used my magic when you had Harlie block it, didn’t you?” Even though Aisling could move, rushing her mother right now wasn’t an option. “I’m sure both Harlie and Caradoc could explain it better but you’re using some of my own stored magic against me. Doesn’t work.”

  The scowl on her mother’s face told Aisling she was probably right. And that her mother hadn’t thought of it. “I can still move faster than you right now, with or without magic. I wanted to give you one more chance to join us. Join the High Council and find out what power really is.”

  “This is still about power?” Aisling shook her head. This might be her only chance for answers—and maybe if she stalled, someone else might show up to help. “Did you change the humans? Back when they were dying of the Black Death, did you and other members of the High Council change them?”

  “Not that it matters, but of course we did. We had no choice.” Her mother’s voice sounded as if it had been a drapery selection. “The humans were already out-breeding us and would have surpassed us in massive numbers within a few years. We didn’t create the Black Death; they did that on their own. While we were making certain our people couldn’t be infected, some of our scientists realized that changes could be made to the human physiology. We were able to save them and make sure we would be the dominant species on this world.” She shrugged. “It was the prudent thing to do to ensure our survival.”

  Aisling was stunned. Even having a theory of what had been done didn’t prepare her for the reality. “Our survival wasn’t at risk. We have magic, humans don’t. As that late idiot you supported was trying so hard to prove, it wouldn’t take many magic users to rule humans.”

  “We could have killed them instead.” Her mother looked annoyed. “Or let the plague do it for us.” She glanced over to Maeve still frozen in place. “We didn’t.”

  “You wanted a group of people subservient to you. They might not worship the fey anymore, but they are still dependent for reproduction abilities. You have to reverse the spell.” Aisling looked at the others. They might be frozen, but their eyes said they were alive and pissed. She needed to force her mother to release the spell she held on them. It was more than just her magic; she never could have held both Caradoc and Harlie, let alone everyone else. Others created the spell and were feeding their magic into it, but her mother was the one who cast it.

  “I want people to know their place. Look what happened in London. Humans and fey stormed the place and many died that didn’t have to.”

  “They died because you let a homicidal sociopath have more power than he should have ever had. They died trying to stop him—something the High Council should have been doing.”

  The sound of a dozen or so heavy feet running was welcome to Aisling. She’d hoped reaching out to the trolls would help. If they could distract her mother, she might be able to break the spell holding the others.

  Reg flung open the door and charged forward. Only to be frozen in place along with Grundog and all the trolls still out in the hall.

  “Trolls? Really?” Her mother shook her head. “I shouldn’t have let your father bring you back to life.” She gave a grim laugh as she watched Aisling’s face. “You already knew. How?” She might not be able to freeze Aisling, but she was still able to lift the pendant out of her shirt. She tugged, but it still wouldn’t go over Aisling’s head. “What is this?” She flicked her fingers and Harlie’s spell vanished so the pendant showed in its full glory. “Someone has been naughty. And tricky.” She didn’t come closer, but she examined the pendant. “Not you. Nor your brothers. Who made this?”

  Aisling smiled. “Something you don’t know? Interesting.”

  “Where did this come from? Take it off, immediately!” Her mother was starting to shake but it appeared to be equal parts anger and fear.

  “Even if I could, I wouldn’t. This was a gift by a secret admirer and sadly it doesn’t come off.” She shook as a bolt of pain glanced off of her. The pendant bounced it back at her mother. “And it’s very protective of me.”

  “That can’t be on this side of the veil. It doesn�
�t belong here.” There was a rising note of worry in her voice.

  “Do any of us? Technically this was the humans’ world. We were taught that we came here in desperation. That might be partially true. But I have a feeling you and your cronies messed up things so badly on the other side of the veil that you had to find another world.”

  Before her mother could respond, the walls started shaking. Her eyes went wide in terror and she started backing up. “You have to take that off. Destroy it. Now!”

  The pulling pressure from the pendant stopped and it dropped back down to her chest. The shaking continued. Her mother had slowed her down but hadn’t frozen her. If she pushed hard enough, she could get out. But there was no way in hell she was leaving Reece or her friends behind.

  “Release them! It’s an earthquake.” She took a few steps closer to her mother.

  “I can’t. They are doomed, we’re all dead now.” She spat at Aisling. “I should have left you dead.”

  “But then you couldn’t have pulled on my power all these years, would you? That was it, wasn’t it? You had to kill me to honor the pact you and the other first families made with beings from the other side who helped you cast your twisted spell. Then you realized they would have tracked me through my magic signature. You had Harlie block most of my magic, which would change the signature, and you could siphon off what you needed over the decades. You hated me because I could have been more powerful than you.”

  The shakes grew stronger. It wasn’t an earthquake unless one had grown legs. It felt like something massive was running for them. “Release my friends!”

  “There’s nothing we can do. Nothing—” The rest of her yell was cut off as the wall next to them burst open and a mass of skeletal beings came through. They didn’t look right, aside from being skeletal, their bodies were out of proportion—no two were the same, and everything looked mis-matched. They moved to grab Caradoc, the closest to them, but Aisling moved in front of him. They stopped as soon as she blocked him.