“You haven’t helped!” I burst out. “Nevertide’s been falling to pieces, and you haven’t done a thing. Why not? If you locked the entity and its army in the stones in the first place, why didn’t you just do it again? Loads of people have died! I got possessed—and it was really crap!”
The Oracle looked at me, her expression sad, like a wounded animal.
“I’m so sorry, but things must be this way. It is not true that I have not helped—I have intervened to the extent I could. I have maintained the dome that surrounds this land to keep Nevertide cut off from the rest of the supernatural world, I sent the warning signs as I promised I would, and I gave Tejus of Hellswan the opportunity to rise to power by building the labyrinth of the dead emperor, so that Tejus’s mettle might be tested against his brothers’. Had I not offered my services to the Emperor when I saw that Jenus would have automatically been his father’s choice, and offered to help him put his sons to the test instead – Nevertide would have been destroyed. If you could but see the events that have not unfolded, you would be thanking me—not treating me like a monster.”
I was starting to feel a little bad, but there were still so many things that I didn’t understand. The Oracle looked like she was about to start crying, and I nudged Yelena—say something!
Yelena shook her head in panic, looking devastated that we’d managed to get off to such a bad start.
“Tell us about the dome,” Horatio prompted, his voice a fraction more gentle than Aisha’s. “You said you maintained it—who created it in the first place?”
“My parents did. They found this land for me a long, long time ago. It was empty—there were a few ghouls here, and some other creatures like goblins and nymphs, but they never bothered me. I liked the nymphs…” She sighed sadly. “But then more ghouls came, and then the humans—and I decided to intervene after the first war. That’s when I locked the entity away.”
“But what is the entity?” I asked, confused that she was only referring to ghouls.
“I suppose you could call him the original ghoul,” she murmured. “The first—along with his army. They are a very different breed than the others, far more powerful, with several differing traits, and they have been around since the dawn of time… the darkness to any light.”
We were all silent. I couldn’t believe that the ghouls I’d seen were the same as the shadow and the entity—or, at the least, the same species. Ghouls were gross and horrible, but they didn’t terrify me as much as the shadow, or seem to have the same amount of power.
“We need to take you to GASP,” I replied hoarsely.
“Wait,” Aisha snapped. “I want to know why your parents trapped you here. Did they think you were a danger? Was it a punishment?”
Now the Oracle looked mortally offended. For the first time since we’d interrogated her, she looked angry. She fixed her unseeing white eyes on Aisha.
“You can be cold and unfeeling, Aisha of the Nasiri Jinn. You are lucky to have Horatio Drizan to rub away some of your sharper edges. My parents put me here to protect me. As you rightly said, the Ancients and the jinn would not have looked gladly on my parents’ union. They loved me, and my being here is an act of love.”
Aisha looked a little shamefaced, and shut up, but still eyed her speculatively. I didn’t think Aisha trusted the Oracle one bit…and to be honest, I didn’t blame her. From what I knew of the Oracle twins, the Ancients and even most of the jinn, her heritage wasn’t exactly the most comforting mix. Even so, we needed to get her back to GASP and the sentries.
“Will you help us now?” I asked, hoping that she wouldn’t just vanish thanks to Aisha’s blunt tongue.
She smiled faintly at me.
“There is no more help to be given, but I see that you won’t understand that. I will come to see your tribe, human. There is gray there…I can’t see clearly. Some things have not been decided.”
What does that mean?
“About the entity? Will we win the battle?” I asked eagerly.
“You can ‘win’, as you say. If nothing changes from the current course of action. But I see that you are resourceful. You took the flowers my parents created for me—the ones that I used to create the stones. That was clever.”
“So you don’t know?” I clarified. What was the point of an Oracle if they couldn’t predict anything?
“The future is flexible; it changes as the wind does. There is nothing sure in this life except perhaps the passing of time, and even that is malleable…” She sighed with contentment, as if that fact pleased her greatly for some reason.
“But you’ll come back with us?” I asked, wanting to get back to a conversation that made even the slightest bit of sense.
“Yes, but like I say, it is too late.”
I looked at the rest of the team. They shrugged, no one really knowing what to say. Aisha rolled her eyes.
“Horatio and I will travel back with her,” she snapped.
I took one last look at the Oracle before stepping into the arms of Sky. She looked nervous, and I wondered if her reaction was due to the possibility of coming face-to-face with the entity, or GASP.
I supposed we would soon find out.
Hazel
Ash, Ruby and I were waiting by the barriers when Sherus arrived. He looked pale and exhausted, perspiration forming at the hairline of his copper waves, his clear amber eyes troubled.
“Derek sent me,” he stated. “They’re waiting for you back at the cove. The entity and the ghoul queen have departed through the portal—we are afraid that Tejus’s vision is beginning. We need to leave for Earth and the In-Between.”
“Is Tejus okay?” I asked.
“No casualties, though Lethe was injured. But I believe he’ll survive.”
“We’re ready to move,” Ash said.
We were. Ever since Lucas had passed along the message, Ash had been ensuring that GASP, the guards and the ministers were as well armed as they could be. We had sent Azaiah, Blue and Rock to the Impartial Ministers’ monastery to collect more of the water. Sixteen guards now had barrels strapped to their backs, full of the deadly liquid.
The children and the villagers would be marching down to the cove with us. It was too dangerous to leave them in the palace—if they had a chance to escape through the portal, they should be allowed to take it. Otherwise, if we failed, they would be left in Nevertide at the mercy of the entity. We had given some of the older kids weapons, and they had vowed to protect the younger ones. The villagers were all fully armed too, more ready and willing to fight to the death than we’d given them credit for. The rage they’d expressed toward Tejus when the first earthquakes had struck was now entirely focused on the entity and his armies. They wanted their freedom, and they were willing to pay the price.
We started to march, the dragons and the Hawks flying ahead along with the ministers who were using vultures, and the rest of us either running or riding on bull-horses. I wondered how we were all going to travel through the portal, and hoped that we had enough witches and jinn to pull it off. If Tejus’s vision was correct, then we’d be traveling to multiple places within Europe—along with a journey to the In-Between.
“Are you ready?” Ruby asked me as we rode out of the barriers.
“Hell, yeah,” I replied. “I want us to end this today. I want to go home…” The word caught in my throat, physically choking me. It had been so long. I would have thought that having all my loved ones around me would totally eradicate any feelings of homesickness, but it wasn’t the case. I missed the familiar smells, my own bed—the peaceful waters, the redwoods, the lake, everything.
“Homesick?” Ruby asked gently.
“Yeah,” I replied. “You?”
She looked over at Ash, riding on the other side of her. She turned back to me, her eyes soft and thoughtful.
“Not as much as I thought I’d be.”
I nodded. I got it. I gave my bull-horse a gentle kick. If Ash and Ruby were going to stay in Nevertide and make it the
ir home, then I was going to make damned sure that there wasn’t a shadow, a ghoul or an entity in sight.
When we reached the top of the cove, I caught sight of Tejus up ahead, and my heart leapt. Even from this distance I could see that he looked exhausted—he looked like a panther after a hunt, waiting to go off somewhere and lick his wounds. Ignoring the rest of the army behind me, I veered away from the procession and rode up to him. The bull-horse had barely come to a stop before I jumped off, launching myself in his arms. He grabbed me fiercely, his strength taking the breath from my body. There was so much that I wanted to say to him in that moment, some sentiment that would let him know that I loved him with everything I had, but I just couldn’t find the words. I pushed my feelings toward him, lights and colors that painted them better than I could speak them. He rested his forehead against mine, letting his own thoughts and emotions flow back into me, everything swirling together in technicolor.
“Tejus!” my grandpa barked.
I stepped back, and Tejus grinned at me.
“I’m coming!” he roared, grabbing my hand. We made our way over to the GASP members, standing with Ash and Ruby.
“I’m going to divide the teams up,” my grandpa instructed us. “We can’t afford to stay together—won’t get there in time. From Tejus’s visions it’s likely that the entity is going to focus its own efforts on one location, sending its shadow army, the ghouls and the queen elsewhere. Sofia, Rose and I discussed the locations using Hazel’s description. I think we’re looking at Paris, Brussels, Berlin, London, and of course the In-Between. The fire planet. Each team will get a full briefing on the exact locations—Hazel, will you do that?”
I nodded, frantically trying to recapture the memories of the mind-meld Tejus and I had shared…what if I left out a detail and sent them to the wrong place? Thousands of people could die! Ruby’s arm brushed up against mine and she smiled reassuringly.
You’ve got this, her expression said.
I inhaled a breath, trying to calm down.
“Each team will be assigned a leader,” my grandfather continued, “and each team will be assigned at least one witch or jinni to assist with transportation. As soon as any of you come into contact with the entity, those who can portal easily need to be sent to find me and my team—we will consolidate our attack. I think, or rather, I hope, that the shadow is going to lose power once the entity is destroyed. Vivienne, you’re leading the Paris team; Kiev, Brussels; Ben, In-Between; Bastien, you will lead the London team; and I will lead the Berlin team. Team leaders, speak to Hazel, and I will organize the rest of your team members.”
I stood back, suddenly confronted with expectant faces all looking in my direction. My great-aunt Vivienne was the first to approach, her intense blue-violet eyes latching on to mine. “Tell me everything you know—don’t leave out any of the details.”
I nodded. Taking another deep breath, I started to describe what I’d seen. Tejus approached halfway through, helping me fill in some of the details that I’d missed. Next came Kiev, Bastien, then Sherus and Ben who wanted to double-check the location of the vision, and finally my grandpa, who brought my mom with him—she’d spent some time in Berlin on a mission, and could remember it well.
I felt light-headed when I’d finished.
“Grandpa.” I stopped him before he could walk away. “Whose team am I on?”
“You’re with me.” He smiled.
I nodded a thank you. Huh. Fighting side-by-side with the famous Derek Novak?
Benedict would have a fit when he heard…which reminded me—somehow we needed to get word to my brother and the others that we were leaving Nevertide. I didn’t like the idea of him remaining here without us. I’d always envisioned us walking out of here together, having finally made it, despite the odds stacked against us.
When Tejus and I walked over to my mom and dad, they were already discussing it with my grandpa.
“We’ll send the other Hawk boys to tell them,” he agreed. ‘The important thing is that they keep searching—and hurry. Using the stones might be the only way to trap the entity; if that’s the case…”
My mom placed her hand on my grandpa’s arm, stopping him from finishing the sentence.
“We know,” she said firmly, “but they won’t fail—and neither will we.”
I turned away from my parents. I hoped my mom was right.
“You’re fighting with us too, right?” I asked Tejus. I had assumed that he would be—my grandpa tried his best not to split up families and friends during a battle, though often it was unavoidable.
“Like I’d let it be any other way,” he muttered. I knew he wasn’t pleased that I’d be fighting, but there was nothing he could do about it.
I looked at Tejus. “I can’t wait for you to meet the twenty-first century.” I laughed, thinking more of Tejus’s old-fashioned values than the cities we’d be traveling to. He would have seen some of Earth’s urban areas before anyway, but perhaps only from a distance.
“If you think a dimension change will stop me from being so over-protective, you’re sadly mistaken,” he replied dryly.
“I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
I meant it. As much as I valued my independence, knowing that Tejus was watching my back as I was watching his made me feel safe—no matter what the danger. I hoped that would never change between us.
Tejus
We waited for the teams to be assembled, and the villagers and human children to be ushered out of immediate sight at the opposite end of the cove, moving them as far away from the rotting corpses of the dead Acolytes as we could. When the guards arrived, I would ask them to set the bodies on fire – we didn’t have time to hold proper funerals. I knew that Ash was worried about the safety of the villagers, but if we needed to get them out of Nevertide quickly, the cove was the best place for them. I had other concerns—mainly that we were putting a lot of faith in the visions I’d had. I still wasn’t convinced they weren’t some kind of trick, images placed in my mind by the entity to mislead us. I’d shared my thoughts with Derek while we’d waited for the rest of GASP and the sentries to arrive. The vampire felt that, as it was the only lead we had, we should follow up on it, otherwise we’d be traveling from continent to continent across Earth without any direction. It would take too long. I had agreed, eventually, but I still couldn’t shake my misgivings.
I watched Blue and Rock, the two Hawk boys, fly off into the distance in search of Benedict and the others. As soon as they disappeared from view, I noticed with curiosity that one of them appeared to be returning—a black dot in the distance growing steadily larger.
“Do you think he forgot something?” Hazel asked, coming to stand next to me as we gazed up at the sky.
“Maybe he wants to join us—I suppose it doesn’t take the two of them to deliver the message.”
“I don’t know,” Hazel replied doubtfully, “the Hawk boys tend to stick together. I’d be surprised if one of them would be willing to go off into battle without the others voluntarily.”
As the dot became larger, I started to notice that there were two people approaching. They were still too far away to distinguish who it was, but the Hawk boy was carrying someone—probably a male sentry, judging by the size, who was dressed in the red cloak of Hellswan. I used True Sight to get a better idea of who the sentry was, and as I honed in on the Hawk, I realized that it was Field—the boy with the long dark hair, related to Ben. In his arms, he was carrying Zerus.
“Are you seeing what I am?” Hazel breathed.
Seeing my brother for the first time since the earthquakes brought up mixed emotions. I had truly presumed that he was dead, slowly adjusting to the idea that aside from Jenus, I was the only Hellswan left. I was glad to see him—and I was glad that out of all my brothers, he was the one who had survived. Zerus had always been the nicest, kindest and quietest one of all of us, happier in his room with his telescope, watching the stars, than he was with the business of the king
dom or Nevertide politics.
How he had survived in the first place was astonishing. I wondered if he’d gotten out of the castle long before its collapse—or managed to escape unnoticed while the mayhem ensued. Either way, it was strange that he hadn’t sought me out prior to now. Did I need to be as wary of this brother as I was of Jenus?
The crowds of GASP members and sentries parted as Field landed. He released my brother, who stumbled forward, looking around at us all with wide eyes, his hands clasped together. He was nervous.
“Zerus.” I greeted him with a nod, not sure how comfortable he would be with an embrace. He seemed even more skittish than usual.
“T-Tejus,” he stammered, and then fell silent.
Field looked from one of us to the other, and then cleared his throat awkwardly.
“We found Zerus in the Dauoa forests. Benedict believed he could help us find a path through the mountains, but we soon discovered that he was receiving messages from Jenus. We thought we should bring him to you.”
I stared at my brother in astonishment.
“Is this true, Zerus?” I barked, trying to get his full attention. His eyes continued to dart across the assembled members of GASP, clearly taken aback by their strangeness.
When it was clear that he wasn’t going to speak, I tried to put him at ease.
“These are Hazel’s friends and family, they’re here to help us end the entity and its armies. You know of the threat we face, I assume?”
Zerus nodded.
“I have seen the shadow. I have seen the darkness,” he mumbled.
“So tell me what Jenus has said,” I encouraged, trying to keep my impatience in check. We were running out of time, and I could sense that I wasn’t the only one who wanted to shake the information out of my brother.
“He speaks to me in my dreams,” Zerus whispered. “Begging forgiveness and absolution. He cries that his master tricked him, that his soul dies more every day, and that he wishes to be free from his enslavement. He shows me images of Earth, of humans in great pain, running in terror from the armies of the entity.”