***
"You can get up now, Dominique."
When I opened my eyes, I was back at Elk Rapids Beach. Abigail and Jan were in front of me. Jan looked radiant. The worry lines around her eyes and mouth were smoothed out. She looked fresh and happy. Abigail looked happy too with a small smile on her delicate face. She wore the white dress that I had seen at church, but this time it tied up at her knees like she had been running up and down the shore.
They had found each other.
"What…just…happened? Where…am I?"
"Your soul is in the space between," Abigail said. "But your body is still over there."
She pointed over my shoulder. When I looked, I saw the red desert. My body lay on the floor. My limbs sprawled out. My eyes wide open. Blood dripped out of my mouth. Mom, Dad and Farrell blasted their energy at Tavion. He hurled his back. Over and over the assault continued. It was like watching a sci-fi movie.
"They fight hard for you," Abigail said. "They always have, and they will until the end."
"But what they don’t know is that this isn’t the end," Jan said.
Trent crawled to my side. Tears streaked down his face. He studied me for a while before straightening my legs and my arms. He wiped the blood from my mouth, and brushed the hair out of my face. He leaned over, stroked my face, and then kissed my lips.
"Watch," Abigail said. "He doesn’t even know he has the power."
He took my hand and held it to his chest, completely unaware of everything happening around him. He didn’t want to leave me. My eyes watered, my heart hurt, when I noticed a blue glow seep from his hand and wrap around his fingers—his aura. He had said it was blue. But how could I see it now? Was it because I was dead? Trent stared at his hands for a moment, at the light pouring out of him, before reaching out to the cross around my neck. He touched it, almost timidly. When he did, sparks of light burst from the cross until a pink vapor poured out of it and covered my body. Trent watched, but didn’t seem surprised at all.
"I put my energy source in the cross because I knew you would need it," Abigail said. "That’s why I had Julian Huxley kill me. I also knew that if I gave this cross to Andres, Trent’s grandfather, it would work its way to you. As the cross passed down through the Avila family, the energy stored inside it learned to respond to their touch, and I knew Trent would save you."
"One life for another," Jan said.
"Yes," Abigail said. "My life for yours, Dominique."
The image of Jan and Abigail started to fade. "No! You can’t leave!" I reached out to them, but my hand passed right through their bodies.
"When you go back," Abigail said, "use the cross."
Jan added. "Don’t forget that the cross is made of bloodstone, the stone of courage, the stone that has the power to overcome enemies, the stone that soldiers often carried into battle."
"Wait! What do I do with the cross! How do I use it!" Their image continued to blur until they disappeared. The still and peaceful lake vanished and I plunged into total darkness.
My eyes flew open. My chest tightened. I gasped for the heat-filled air.
Trent hovered over me. "Dominique! You’re alive!"
Even though my ankles throbbed with pain, I got to my feet. He steadied me with his arms. “You, you, were dead,” he said, his hands now cupping my face.
He brought me close for a hug. I pulled away. “It’s up to me to end this."
Mom, Dad, and Farrell continued to barrage Tavion with their blasts. Sparks flew through the air. The stench of sulfur, metal, and blood clogged my throat. I needed to get to Tavion. The daggers in my boots were gone, but then I thought of what Abigail had said about using the cross. I yanked it off my neck. It was pointed at the end—a cross that looked like a sword. But it wasn't a sword. It was more like a dagger!
“Dominique, what are you doing?”
I held the tip to my palm, jabbed it into my skin, and raked it through. Blood dripped from my hand and covered the stone. Out of nowhere, a humming filled my ears, like the sound of an engine from a small car. I studied the cross, realizing the sound came from it, when it expanded in my hands until it became a weapon—heavy and perfectly pointed. I held it tight, my blood still all over it.
Trent grabbed my arm. "What the hell is going on?"
"I have to kill him, Trent. It’s the only way. Please, let me go."
He stared at me. I could tell he didn’t want to release my arm. He looked at Farrell and my parents. They couldn’t take much more. He knew it. He gave a squeeze. "Kill that asshole," Trent said.
Head down, I ran through the blasts that flew by, barreled into Tavion, knocked him down, and rammed the cross-like dagger into his chest before he even knew what was happening. I pushed down with all my might, pushing the hilt deeper and deeper while my blood soaked through his open wound. Tavion howled and I screamed as his chest melted under my force. His eyes popped out of their sockets. Blood poured out all over the place. I shut my eyes tight and continued pressing the dagger into him until his shrieking stopped.
Strong steady hands gripped my shoulders. "Dominique," Farrell said. "You can let go now. It’s over."
When I opened my eyes, Tavion had vanished. We were back at Galveston. Daylight had started streaking through the sky. A puddle of blood pooled at my feet. The small black cross hung from its chain and draped over my bloodied hand. My hands trembled so violently that it fell to the sand. Farrell picked it up and handed it to me. Mom and Dad fell to their knees, one on either side of me, and hugged me. Tears streamed down my face.
"What just happened?" Trent whispered.
I wiped my tears and looked at my dad. "He can’t know, can he?"
"No," Dad answered. "He can’t."
Just like back in my den after the first time Tavion attacked us, Trent’s memory needed erasing. He couldn’t know anything about everything he’d just seen. It was better that way.
"Wait, I deserve an explanation," Trent said. "I need to know what the hell just happened."
I wanted to tell Trent everything, including the way I felt about him. Instead, I got up and put the cross in his hands. "Yes, you deserve to know everything. But you can't."
Shock and disbelief covered his face. I nodded at Farrell and Farrell went to Trent. He put his hand on Trent’s shoulder. His white mist started to trickle out.
Before Trent could object, Farrell’s misty vapor swirled around their feet until Trent vanished. He was probably back home. His memory wiped clean.
Relief, sadness, and exhaustion washed over me.
"Let’s go home and get you cleaned up," Mom said.
My blood soaked hands and clothes would be easy to clean. The hard thing would be moving on after everything I had been through because nothing would ever be the same.
Not ever.