I saw bright sunshine, a house—old, pretty, built of stone, surrounded by a huge garden—filled to bursting point with flowers and unfamiliar fruit trees. I started walking toward the front door when Ruby appeared in the doorway. She smiled broadly. “Come on, you two!” she called out.
Us two? I looked down. I was holding on to the hand of a small boy, who looked up at me with bright blue eyes. He tugged, impatient. I was moving too slowly. I looked back up at Ruby. She turned away, ready to go back indoors. Her stomach protruded—another one. I followed her inside the house, overcome by the smell of more fresh flowers, and cooking.
On my right was a large living room full of furniture that seemed strange to me. Sitting on a sofa was Jenney. She was speaking into a screen, her voice serious, a small frown on her forehead. When she noticed me she smiled and waved. “I’m talking to Derek—Ruby will debrief you.” She turned back to the screen, and I made my way into another room.
Ruby was standing at a stove, humming as she threw herbs into a pot. It smelled good. The boy ran toward her, wrapping himself around her leg.
“We have company,” she noted, turning to me. “Tejus and Hazel.”
How does she know?
Moments later there was a knock on the door.
True Sight. Ruby was a sentry. A gifted one at that. I heard the voices of our friends floating in from the hallway, but before they appeared the image started to flicker and blur. The vision was ending.
No!
I wanted to hold on to it. To me, it seemed like paradise. One I’d never even had the capacity to contemplate. I realized in that moment that my future expectations were sadly lacking. I had known only servitude in a gray, stone castle in a land where light was dull, the life for all—master or servant—harsh.
I broke the mind meld.
“What?” exclaimed Ruby. “That’s not fair. You said—”
“I know what I said,” I replied hoarsely. “Forget what I said. I want that—I want what you showed me. More than I’ve ever wanted anything in my life. I would give anything, Ruby—anything.”
I meant it.
“Oh, Ash.” She half laughed and half looked like she was about to cry. I guessed she had been as invested in that vision as I was. I couldn’t get the image of our son out of my head. And Jenney—safe, happy, part of my family. “I still don’t know where we were. I couldn’t decide!”
“It doesn’t matter,” I said simply. “You were right. It doesn’t matter where we are. If I get to wake up to you every morning, I’m sold.”
“Softie.” She nudged, poking me in the rib.
“Shortie,” I retorted, gently pulling on her damp hair.
Hazel
Tejus was pacing up and down the terrace that bordered the back of the castle. Earlier I’d tried to go to our room and get some sleep, but I was too anxious, too worried about what was to come. I’d found Tejus here, and, not knowing what else to do, had sat down, watching him walk back and forth while I tried to collect my thoughts.
His muscles were strained, each step he took seemed to have a kind of repressed aggression about it—as if he was already desperate to be on the battlefield.
“Tejus, are you okay?” I asked pointlessly. He clearly wasn’t.
He turned toward me, surprised, as if he’d only just realized I was there. With a sigh, he raked his hair back from his forehead and came to sit next to me on the stone steps that led to the gardens. His elbows came to rest on his knees.
“I keep thinking that we’re missing something,” he replied, rubbing his unshaven jaw with his thumb. “That there’s something we’re not understanding. Like the fae, Sherus, saying that he had omens about the entity…why was someone from another dimension having omens about Nevertide? It doesn’t make sense to me. Is this creature hoping that it will destroy this dimension and move onto the next?” He rubbed his forehead in irritation. “What makes it so sure that its plan will succeed? It makes me nervous that its rise has been so gradual, as if it’s an elaborate game of chess, each of us being positioned exactly where it wants till the time is right.”
I knew exactly what he meant. When GASP had told us about how they entered the portal, I recalled Benedict throwing the stone into the sea. The entity had obviously seen them there, trying to use their powers to re-open it, and, when that failed, had used the children. The same with us in the castle, before Benedict became possessed. How long had it been watching, waiting for the right kid to come along that it could use? How long had it waited for the emperor to release the stone?
“We’re doing what we can,” I mumbled eventually, knowing that my reassurance meant next to nothing. I shared Tejus’s unspoken feeling—that we were well and truly out of our depth here.
“What does Ash say?” I asked.
He smirked, glancing at me out of the corner of his eye.
“He’s too busy being given an inquisition by Ruby’s parents.”
“Oh,” I replied sheepishly, looking down at the ground as I felt heat rise in my cheeks. I had a feeling my parents were going to be just as hard on Tejus—and the grilling my mom had given me earlier hadn’t been fun.
“Just so you know, my grandfather met my grandmother when she’d been kidnapped from Earth for his harem, and my mom met my dad after she’d been kidnapped by vampires, my father being one of them. So, if any of my family even think about giving you a hard time for that, shut them down.”
Tejus started laughing.
“I’ll remember that,” he replied, “it’s quite a record.”
“Tell me about it. The women in my family obviously do captivity well.”
“You do. You were an excellent captive—polite, subservient, amenable…”
I rolled my eyes at him and elbowed his arm sharply. I expected him to laugh, but instead he grabbed me, pulling me into his lap. His face had lost all traces of humor, and he looked down at me with dark, unreadable eyes.
“Hazel, it doesn’t matter what they say. What anyone says. Watching your family today, the supernatural fighting dynasty that is your destiny, I realized that danger would never have escaped you. I’m glad I kidnapped you. At least this way I can protect you for the rest of my life.”
“You can’t protect me from everything,” I reminded him gently. “In the same way that I can’t protect you either.”
“I can try.”
I kissed him, running my hands across his shoulder blades and up to his neck, pressing myself closer against him. Just for a moment, before the danger came again, I wanted to curl up—to let myself believe that he could protect me—that he could take away what was bad in this world, all the memories of my brother suffering under the entity’s possession, the dying face of Queen Trina that haunted me every time I closed my eyes, and the horrible, blood-curdling shadow that crept over the forests, waiting for us. If I could stay like this for just a moment, then I could imagine that we were a million miles away from here—just two people sitting on a step, looking out over a garden, nothing in the world existing except us.
It was a nice fantasy.
But we weren’t ordinary people. We were soldiers. Part of a team that happened to be the only thing that stood between the entity and Nevertide’s complete destruction.
“What happens now?” I asked, breaking away from the kiss.
“We decide whether we attack at the cove, or build up a stronghold here. We need to discuss it.”
I nodded. We both rose from the steps, ready to head back into the palace.
“I hate to think of the entity having watched us all that time,” I muttered as we walked to the main entrance, “lying in wait, calculating its next move.”
“As do I. Which is why I think we should be going to the enemy, not waiting for it to come to us.”
The idea frightened me, but I agreed—and so would my grandfather. GASP members didn’t wait. They fought. Bravely, fearlessly, facing the enemy head on. Not cowering behind protective barriers and castle walls.
> Jenus
I stopped wondering what time of day it was. The endless blackness of the tunnel seemed to seep into my brain. In my weakened state it felt like I’d never known what daylight was—that all I had known was the dark and the slow, steady plonks of water droplets running from the ceiling to the floor.
We crawled the entire way mostly in silence, except when the apothecary chastised me for my smell. Humiliated, wet and exhausted, I continued to crawl along the passage, hoping for a small flicker of light that would indicate we were nearing our destination.
The only thing that brought me comfort was imagining the rage and disbelief on Tejus’s face when he realized that I had managed to escape him. Not only had I escaped him, but I would finally be united with my master—I would have my revenge on the humans and the rest of them. To occupy my mind, I thought of all the ways I could end the life of his newly created sentry—how I would make him watch as I tortured her, drawing out the pain, making sure that each scream and cry for mercy was forever imprinted on his mind.
That would be an appropriate vengeance for all that I had suffered at the hands of my brother.
I stopped crawling. My right hand had found a space in the wall of the passage. I could feel a slight wind coming from the opening, though the air was dank and stale.
“There’s an opening, do I turn?” I asked the apothecary, feeling my way along the outline of the passage. It felt like there was another tunnel joining this one.
“No, that goes to Hellswan. Keep straight.”
My home.
I felt a small pang of emotion—something close to regret or sorrow, I couldn’t be entirely sure. I ignored it, continuing to heave myself along the passage in the direction of the cove. Hopefully reaching the adjoining tunnel meant that our journey would soon be at an end.
Eventually, through the gloom, I started to see light. It wasn’t the daylight I’d expected, but a strange greenish glow, too bright and lurid to be natural.
“What is that?” I whispered, a strange sense of awe and reverence overcoming me. It was powerful, whatever was causing that light.
“The temple of my people,” she hissed. “The fact that you’ve never set foot in it makes me wonder why our master wants you at all. I have spent most of my life devoted to the cause—and he wants Hellswan swine instead!”
“Why would he want someone like you?” I shot back. “Your bloodline is lowly and poor. I am the son of an emperor, with more power and ability than you could ever hope to obtain.”
Foolish woman.
“You are no longer the son of an emperor,” she reminded me cruelly, “and you are weak—so weak that you let your own brother treat you no better than a four-legged beast.”
I ignored her. She knew nothing. My master recognized my true power—he would know me, know the glory within me that would shine through, if only I was given the chance.
Pushing myself forward using the last remaining vestiges of my energy, I slid, face first, down into the open. I looked up from the ground. Four stone walls surrounded me, all carved with rudimentary runes, all of them bleeding green light into the chamber. In the center of the room was an oblong-shaped box, split in half as if it had burst open from the inside—its top split in two, each lying either side of its base. Crawling toward it, I peered over the top, seeing what lay within. It was empty—just dirt lay at the bottom—and it reeked of decay.
The apothecary squeezed out of the passage.
“We need to go above,” she muttered, making her way to one of the walls. She pressed her hand against the stone wall, covering one of the runes. A moment later, part of the wall slid sideways, revealing a door—and beyond that, a sandy and muddy track which led up to the cove.
I followed her up, walking with difficulty, having to hold on to the walls and then the foliage on either side of the track. I didn’t want my master to see me on my knees, helpless and weak.
As soon as I emerged from the track and faced the open cove, a strange sensation crept over me. A weight settled over my being—heavy, forceful, as if it was trying to suck the life out of my body. I froze, waves of sickness welling up inside of me while grotesque, unnatural thoughts ran through my mind.
“Can you feel it?” the apothecary whispered. “It’s his power.”
She fell forward onto her knees, her upper body lying prostrate on the ground in worship.
I looked around, trying to focus away from the hell erupting in my brain and see. My eyes lighted on the large object in front of me—a strange dome, filled with erupting lightning bolts, emerging from a circle of dead bodies which were easily recognizable as the Acolytes with their black robes and, even in death, their faces were concealed by their hoods. I saw the navy blue of Queen Trina’s robe, her body squashed pitifully beneath the others.
I turned my eyes away, terrified and not wishing to dwell on the sight.
Further ahead lay the frozen sea I’d glimpsed from my chains when Tejus and his armies had annihilated the Acolytes. Behind it, emerging from over the horizon, was a dark shadow—impenetrable and dense, like thunderclouds had rolled in from the ocean.
You have come to me.
My master’s voice whispered to me in the breeze.
“I have, master. Do with me what you will. Bring me to glory that I might be better able to serve you!” I cried, falling down on the ground in the manner of the apothecary.
Son of Hellswan, rise up!
Elevated, proud and renewed with a sense of energy and purpose, I rose. My master wanted me. He knew I belonged on a throne, that I was better than the wretched peasant woman beside me.
“What would you have me do, master?” I asked, opening my arms up toward the sky, feeling his awe-inspiring benevolence and love bearing down on me.
You, son of Hellswan, will be an anchor to the world of the living. A powerful half-human, gifted with the magic of my people, you will serve as my body.
“A half-human?” I asked, momentarily taken aback by my master’s insult.
You know yourself not, Jenus of Hellswan. But you shall. You shall see all, as I do.
“Yes, master! Gift me with your power, so I might share in your glory!”
You will become my power. Over time, we will merge as one. One being to reign over the dimensions of the humans and the fae.
I stopped, feeling a chill run down my spine. I had thought that I would rule Nevertide—had he not promised me that all along? That I would become all-powerful?
“M-my master, I do not understand—will you not gift me with emperorship? The power to rule my kin?”
You will have power, my power—till the end of days. Child—his whispers became soothing, caressing—have you not sworn to love me? To dedicate yourself to my rise and our rule?
“Yes, master! Yes!” I trembled, looking down at the sand with blurred vision as my eyes grew wet with tears.
“If he will not, I shall!” the apothecary cried out.
“NO!” I screamed, kicking the prostrate woman. “I am who my master wants. I will serve him faithfully!”
Very well, son of Hellswan. Step into the dome, let me meet you. Let us be joined as one.
With a sinking sensation in the pit of my stomach, I trod slowly across the sand. Flies buzzed around the dead bodies, and the reek of their death overpowered my senses as I moved closer. I hoped that the obvious power in the dome—the strong pillar of blinding light in its center—would call to me, reassure me. But it left me cold. Petrified and alone, I reached out to grasp the nearest body. It was cold and still like stone.
“Master! Help me!” I wept.
There was no reply.
My hands trembling, I pushed myself over the bodies and stepped into the dome. The moment I did so, my energy was restored—tenfold, a thousandfold. The feeling grew and grew, power and strength filling me to bursting point.
Elated, I moved toward the pillar of light, drawn forward by the power of my master.
The moment I stepped int
o it, the feeling changed.
“NO!” I screamed, the cry erupting from my body, so pained and awful, it sounded like the cry of a beast, not a man.
My body felt as if it was being ripped and torn from the inside, the pain unbearable, more than I could stand. The shaft of light filled my open mouth, its power consuming me, sucking out my very soul till it felt like I was no more.
Rose
We had decided on a course of action. The armies of Nevertide and GASP would march down to the cove in full force. Hopefully we would be taking the entity by surprise—armed with weapons infused with the waters of immortalitatem, which we believed would give us enough power to take down the shadows and the entity itself.
Many had misgivings about our plan. Ash and a few of the ministers of the various kingdoms had questioned the wisdom of bringing our people out into the open, with no barriers to hold back the force of the shadows. I understood their misgivings, but I knew Tejus was right. We couldn’t wait. Every moment that we hung back, the opportunity of the entity to rise to its full power and escape the portal that led to the human dimension and then on to the In-Between grew greater.
“Rose, prepare the human children,” my father said, stopping on his way out of the banquet room where we’d just finished the meeting. “The sentries will need to build a barrier to protect them while we’re gone.”
“How many sentries do we leave behind?”
“Tejus says four.”
“And our children?” I asked quietly. I knew that Benedict, Julian, Ruby and Hazel would want to come along, and in truth, Hazel’s powers qualified her to take part, but I was afraid for them.
“They fight with us. Tejus and Ash won’t leave them. And in all honesty, I think we are better off having them with us—despite the danger. They have shown themselves to be equal to the task.”
I nodded, my gut twisting.
Tejus and Hazel emerged from the hall behind him, and I left my father to get on with his preparations.