“What are you doing?” Ben asked, confused. “You wanted the Elixir destroyed!”
“We could have all lived forever!” he wailed.
I shot a look at Ben. This was it.
In the split second before they pulled the triggers, I tried to be brave. At least we’d stopped the Saviors from becoming immortal. And with the Elixir gone, the curse over the CV would be lifted. Ben, Sage, Nico, myself . . . none of us would die in vain.
But the bullets never came.
Instead the earth began to rumble and shake. The giant boulders surrounding the altar shattered and fell. The first hunks of broken rock knocked away the guns pointed at Ben and me, and the Saviors and CV members scrambled to get away from the chaos.
“Just stay low and covered,” said Amelia’s voice in my ear. “You’ll be fine.”
Amelia. I hadn’t even known she was here. The earthquake was from her . . . her way of protecting us.
She must have spoken to Ben, too, because he hit the ground, curling into a ball and covering his head. I did the same, but I peeked out just enough to see the complete devastation of the ceremony site. Everything in a fifty-foot radius shook to the ground, and the earth itself opened into a bottomless crevasse, swallowing several CV and Saviors not smart enough to scramble away when they could.
Eventually the dust was so thick I couldn’t watch anymore. I ducked my head and remained hidden until the shaking stopped.
Finally I looked up.
There was nothing but a circle of flattened ruin, with Sage’s ragged, empty shell of a body strapped to the rock altar in its very center. It was too horrible. I couldn’t even look at it.
Ben was already standing, looking down at Nico’s lifeless body.
“I killed him, Clea,” he said. “I killed a man.”
I wanted to tell him he had no choice, but I didn’t know. Would Nico have done it? Would he have held on to the dagger until after midnight and saved Sage? I had no idea.
I couldn’t even imagine how I would explain everything to Rayna.
It was time. I had to face Sage. Carefully, I stepped to his side and knelt down. He had looked the same from the time I was born, but now I barely recognized him. The man I loved wasn’t in this wrecked and ravaged body. He wasn’t anywhere.
I put my hand on his sunken cheek. I remembered our last moment. He’d looked at me like he wasn’t even sure who I was.
I started to cry. This was what I deserved. I had made him break the bond between us. Now I was doomed to remember everything, every second of our love and lives together . . . while he’d died with me meaning nothing to him.
No. He didn’t die. He lost his soul. It was torn from his body. I remembered how Magda described it—Sage’s soul had whirled around, suffering terrible pain until it ripped apart into nothingness.
“I’m so sorry, Sage.” I sobbed, “I tried . . . I tried so hard.” I looked into his unseeing eyes, reaching out to a soul that was no longer there. “I love you. I’ll always love you.”
“Clea!” Ben gasped.
I turned . . . and nearly collapsed in shock.
Nico . . . all but disemboweled by the dagger when he fell on it . . . was stirring.
I locked eyes with Ben, and I knew he was remembering too. Nico had been dying at the same time the dagger ripped away Sage’s soul. Magda had said something else about the ceremony . . . something about a ripped-out soul searching for an empty vessel. . . .
Nico’s body rose to its feet, unsteady but very much alive. He looked down at his stomach curiously, as if he’d felt a strange bug crawling on it. He lifted up his shirt . . . to reveal his unscathed skin.
He lowered his shirt, then looked around. He took in Ben, gazing at him from head to toe.
Then he turned to me. He cocked his head and furrowed his brow, as if searching for a piece of information he knew he should have but didn’t.
“Clea?” he asked.
“Yes,” I whispered.
“It’s me.”
acknowledgments
* * *
AN ARDENT THANK-YOU to my dedicated fans for their continued support and for making Elixir such a success! I wish I could express what your love means to me, and how it continues to shape the person that I am.
To my friend Elise Allen, you never cease to amaze me with your skill and passion for your craft. Thank you!
To my literary agents, Rob Weisbach and Fonda Snyder, thank you for your continued guidance and for taking the time to make everything run smoothly.
Thank you to my editor, Zareen Jaffery, and her assistant, Julia Maguire.
And thanks to the hard-working camp at Simon & Schuster, who have collectively made this effort an exciting endeavor: Carolyn Reidy, Jon Anderson, Justin Chanda, Anne Zafian, Paul Crichton, Nicole Russo, Elke Villa, Jenica Nasworthy, and Lizzy Bromley.
Hilary Duff, Devoted
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