by Steve McHugh
Layla moved on, and stopped at the temple where Harry, Leonardo, and Antonio were standing in front of the realm gate.
“Harry, you asked for me?” Layla asked, as everyone else said hello.
“I just wanted a chance to say goodbye,” Harry told her, as Kase entered the temple and ran over, giving Harry a kiss.
“You’re official now?” Layla asked.
Harry looked sheepish. “I guess I overreacted about Tommy wanting to kill me.”
“No shit,” Kase said under her breath.
Layla stayed with Harry and Kase for a few hours, before leaving the temple to get breakfast. She found Chloe and Piper—Chloe’s tall, red-headed girlfriend—in the house that had been set aside for their use while they were in Solomon, and the three of them sat chatting, laughing, and enjoying their time together. For Layla, it felt like something she imagined a normal twenty-three-year-old would do. When breakfast was over, Layla went for a shower and stood under the hot water for a long time, letting the aches and pains, both physical and emotional, of the last few days melt away. When she finished, she found a new set of leather armor on the bed, with a note from Zamek telling her he wished her all the best.
Layla got dressed and made her way to the temple with her friends. There, she found Tego at the top of the stairs, lying next to a large bag. Olivia sat beside the cat stroking her behind the ears.
“I packed it,” Olivia said, getting back to her feet and hugging Layla tightly. “You’re going to be missed. Keep safe.” She turned to Tego. “You too, you big pussycat.”
Tego flicked her tail in Olivia’s face, making her laugh as Zamek activated the realm gate to Helheim. The library was Layla’s first destination, and she hoped to find some clues about where the elves and remaining dwarves had vanished to.
Kase and Harry hugged her, then Chloe ran over and dragged her away. “I know you’re leaving,” she said, taking her over to Piper, “but I need you to know something. We’re engaged.”
Layla made a weird noise that made Chloe laugh. Layla hugged her friend tightly, before hugging Piper. “I’m so happy for you both. Do you know when you’ll be getting married?”
“Not until this is all done,” Piper said in her thick Irish accent.
“So, you’ll be back, right?” Chloe asked.
Layla nodded. “No realms can keep me from being there. Also, a wedding will be a nice change from all the fighting. I’ll be able to wear a dress. An actual dress.”
Chloe and Piper laughed. “Glad you’re so keen,” Piper said.
“I never thought I’d give a crap about whether or not I’d wear a dress,” Layla said. “But wearing combat armor for the better part of two years really gives you an appreciation for clothing that isn’t rune-scribed.”
“Take care,” Chloe said.
“You too,” Layla told her. “You’re like my sister, and it doesn’t matter where I am, if you ever need me, I’ll come running.”
Chloe hugged Layla again, and for the first time in the years since Layla had become an umbra, since she’d been thrown into a world of violence, death, and magic, Layla had real hope for the future.
Epilogue
MORDRED
Two Weeks Later. Maine.
Mordred woke up in bed to strips of sunshine passing through the blinds of the nearby window. He looked over at Hel, who slept beside him, and smiled. Don’t screw it up, he said to himself, as he swung his legs out of bed, stood up, and stretched.
“You are the single loudest stretcher on any realm,” Hel said, rubbing her eyes.
“Sorry, I was going to go get a drink,” Mordred said.
“Coffee, black, one sugar,” Hel said. “Also a kiss.”
Mordred leaned over the bed and kissed Hel on the nose. “Morning breath sucks.”
Hel playfully punched him in the stomach. “Get me my damn coffee.”
Mordred kissed her again and left the bedroom, going downstairs. Half a dozen buildings made up the hotel complex in the middle of the woods not too far from the town of Stratford, Maine, where Mordred and Hel had been staying for the last few days. Diana, Irkalla, and Remy had all taken rooms too. Hades had practically ordered them to get some rest, although Mordred found the joke on them considering Persephone had dragged Hades away from Shadow Falls to one of the buildings across from where Mordred stood.
Each of the buildings had one bedroom and bathroom upstairs, and a small kitchen and lounge downstairs. There was a large TV facing a gray couch that Mordred was pretty sure had been made about fifty years earlier than anything else in the house. He switched it on as he filled the kettle with water and picked out two mugs from the cupboard. He retrieved the coffee from the freezer and spooned some of it into the French press.
Someone knocked on the door and Mordred opened it to see Irkalla, Remy, Diana, Chloe, and Piper, all of whom looked somewhat concerned.
“Umm, what?” Mordred asked.
“Are you watching the news?” Remy asked as Hel walked downstairs wearing a purple robe.
“What news?” Hel asked. “We’ve literally just woken up.”
Remy darted into the building and took the TV remote from the couch, turning over the channel showing a cartoon that Mordred couldn’t identify to the news. Remy turned it up.
“Our top story this morning,” a male TV reporter said, “is the explosion in the town of Clockwork, Oregon. It appears to have happened just outside of the town limits, atop Mount Hood. The devastation we’re seeing from our aerial pictures is incredible.”
“Any chance that Avalon have started to go after civilian populations as a way to get back at us?” Irkalla asked.
“It feels like an Avalon move,” Remy said.
Mordred had stopped listening to anyone and was watching the news with complete attention. “Someone go wake up Persephone and Hades.”
Piper ran off as the others watched the footage from the news helicopter showing a partially destroyed mountaintop. The forest all around the crater—easy to see even from a distance—was ablaze.
“You want to tell us what’s going on?” Hel asked.
Mordred shook his head. “Wait until Hades and Persephone get here.”
It didn’t take them long. Hades had sprinted across the courtyard between the buildings with Persephone close on his heels. Everyone piled into the small living area.
Hades clapped. “About damn time.”
“‘And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him’,” Mordred said.
Everyone turned to Mordred.
“You changing your video-game quotes for Bible ones?” Remy asked. “Because I kind of prefer Mario.”
Mordred shook his head. “Just felt appropriate.”
“What is going on?” Hel asked.
Mordred looked up at her. “I can’t say right now, but I will, I promise.”
Hel opened her mouth to argue, and closed it again, nodding slightly. “Okay, I trust you.”
“It’s finally happening,” Hades said. “Sky needs to see this.”
Persephone looked between Mordred and Hades. “This is something big, isn’t it?”
Both men nodded. “This is where Avalon will wish they’d never started anything,” Mordred said. “This is where we take the war right back to them.”
“From this?” Hel asked.
“You might as well tell everyone,” Hades said.
“Tell us what?” Irkalla asked.
“You all have a blood curse mark on your body, except Hel and Piper, who weren’t there at the time,” Mordred said. “When I tell you this, that mark will vanish and you’ll remember everything that you agreed to have erased.”
“What the hell are you talking about?” Diana asked.
“Nate Garrett is alive,” Mordred said.
Remy, Chloe, Irkalla, and Diana fell to their knees as the memories that had been taken from them flooded back.
Diana was the first to look
up at Mordred. “This is real?”
Mordred nodded. “That is almost certainly Nate Garrett coming into his powers.”
“Then you were right about one thing,” Remy said. “The only thing that could survive something like that is death himself.”
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
So, ten books published. Ten. It feels like I should get a badge or something, like I’ve leveled up as an author. I never thought I’d get to this stage of my career, I just wanted to keep writing stories that people enjoy reading as much as I enjoy writing them.
First of all, thank you to my wife for just being her. She listens to my ramblings and plot ideas without complaint, and I can’t begin to think of a better person to stand beside me as I write.
My three daughters always deserve a mention, not just because I love them all, but because they’re a big part of the reason why I keep writing.
My parents are still some of my biggest cheerleaders, and it’s still both awesome and a little weird to see all of my book covers on their living room wall.
To my friends and family. Thank you. For everything.
As always, a big thank you to my agent, Paul Lucas, for his guidance and friendship over the years.
Jenni Smith-Gaynor has edited nearly all my books over the years, and I’d like to think I’ve become a better writer because of all the little comments and suggestions she makes. Thank you for your help.
A massive thanks to the OWG family. You all know who you are, you’re all still awesome, and each of you played a part in me ever becoming an author in the first place.
To everyone at my publisher, 47North, thanks for your support and help. There are a huge number of people who work behind the scenes to make these books possible, and each of them is awesome, but a big thank you goes out to Alex Carr, who has not only supported my books over the years, but also has been someone I’m happy to call a friend.
To all of my fans and readers of my work, thank you for enjoying my stories, for sharing them with your friends and family, and for basically just being cool people.
So, book ten is done. I guess I’d better get started on book eleven.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Photo © 2013 Sally Beard
Steve McHugh is the author of the popular Hellequin Chronicles. He lives in Southampton, on the south coast of England, with his wife and three young daughters. When not writing or spending time with his kids, he enjoys watching movies, reading books and comics, and playing video games.
