Ethereal Entanglements (26 page)

Avery kept using the butt of his shotgun to try to knock Djembe down. Justin and Khalil likewise kept trying to take out his legs or knock him unconscious. This man had once been a friendly colleague to all of them. Killing him went beyond the pale.

“Claire!” Drew shrieked.

The boy’s anguished terror cut through everything in Justin’s head. “Avery, shoot him!” Justin bellowed. He swung for Djembe’s head. No matter how little he wanted to kill the man, he had to put their mission—and Claire—first.

Avery flipped his gun around and fired. Acrid smoke teased Justin’s nose. Djembe staggered into Justin’s swing. Khalil crunched Djembe’s knee from behind.

Justin snapped his head around to check on Claire. Enion lay on his side with Drew checking on him. Though Justin thought he remembered noticing Rondy abandon the dragons to help Claire, he saw no sign of the elder Knight’s ghost. Iulia and her dragon lay in unmoving heaps. That left Claire facing Caius alone.

He ran with all his heart to reach the young woman who’d burst into his life only weeks ago. In that short time, she’d shown him exactly how little he knew. Despite turning his life upside down, she’d been a big sister to his daughters and a little sister to him and his wife. She’d brought Drew into their lives and reminded him what they really fought for. Because of her, he’d faced the dark parts of himself buried deep inside and come out wanting to be a better man.

Caius stabbed her and she spat in his face. He couldn’t imagine how she could possibly make anyone prouder than he felt in that moment. His legs pumped as hard as he could, carrying him across the flat ground too slow. Claire screamed and he sped, reaching them as she crumpled.

Justin leaped over her, swinging for the dagger lodged in Caius’s neck and covered with dark sludge. His bat connected and jammed the dagger all the way through. Caius gaped. Gloppy black muck surged out through the ragged wound. His head pitched back and disintegrated as it fell.

Justin landed on his feet. The ground trembled. He crouched low to avoid falling. Drew scrambled to Claire’s side despite the shaking ground. With a great, shuddering heave, the flat plain disappeared, leaving them in a large stone room. Aside from the pillar of white light in the center, it resembled any other empty room in the Palace.

The remaining four dragons, aside from Iulia’s and Enion, pounced on Caius’s horse and ripped it to shreds. Avery and Khalil pinned Djembe to the floor.

“No,” Drew sobbed, snapping Justin’s attention back. Drew gathered Claire into his arms with Caius’s sword still sticking out of her chest.

Justin grabbed the sword and yanked it out, then he tossed it aside. “Claire, wake up.” He dropped to one knee beside her and Drew. Blood soaked her shirt all around the gaping hole left by the blade. Slick meat made up her chest. Justin patted her cheek. The wound would heal. It had to heal. She’d been brave, strong, and determined. She couldn’t die now, not after everything she’d been through.

Enion filled the air with a devastating, heart-breaking keen. The other dragons joined him, weaving a harmony of anguish together. Drew shuddered as he wept over Claire.

“Claire?” Justin felt his eyes burning. He refused to accept this. Ripping her shirt open, he prodded the wound. If he poked her, maybe the healing would start. He blanched at the sight of snapped ribs and gore. Nothing moved inside her chest. There should be things pumping and shifting while she healed.

He covered his mouth with the back of his hand and didn’t know what to do. If only he’d reached them a few seconds sooner. He thought he’d killed her an eon—two days—ago. This time, he’d done it for real. All because he didn’t want to kill Djembe. Looking up, he saw Djembe. The man seemed confused. Justin wanted to beat the crap out of him.

Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Iulia getting to her feet with her dragon’s help. Both seemed unsteady but otherwise fine. New scorch marks marred her already-stained dress. They approached, both limping and leaning on each other.

Justin tossed away the baseball bat so he wouldn’t be tempted to hit anyone with it. Still too stunned to think, he watched Iulia stoop and pick up Claire’s dagger. Her mouth went taut with a frown as she regarded Claire.

“Blood will always out,” Iulia murmured. She shook her head and limped to the column of light.

“Blood— What?” Justin surged to his feet, ready to blame all of this on Iulia. “You killed her,” he snapped.

“In an abstract sort of way, yes.” She waved him off. “Let’s not let her die in vain, hm?”

It hurt to see Claire’s face on such a dismissive woman. “I’m not done with you,” he growled.

Iulia paused and glared over her shoulder at him. “Don’t even consider taking Caius’s place. We came to destroy the seal. That,” she pointed to the column of light, “is the seal.” She raised the dagger and took the last few steps to reach the column.

His shoulders slumped and Justin rubbed his face. Distantly, he noted Iulia stabbing Claire’s dagger into the light. The brilliant column melted from the ceiling like a candle at high speed. In the center, a large, clear crystal with jagged silver and black lines shot through it rested in a black marble pedestal. She jabbed the dagger into the crystal.

The crystal exploded, filling his vision with pure white. For a moment, he thought she’d killed them all. He hit the ground with a thump, cracking his head on a knotty tree root. He groaned and sat up and touched the back of his head, finding a tender spot but not blood. Aches assaulted his entire body.

Even without the yellow ribbon on its branch, he recognized his sycamore and the bare earth at its feet. With him landing here and no other Knights in sight, he suspected everyone wound up at their preferred doorway into the Palace. At least he could count on never seeing Djembe again.

The sooner he got up, the sooner he had to deal with Claire. Out here, with no one watching, he covered his face and admitted to himself that he couldn’t hold tears back.

Chapter 41

Drew

Drew fell onto the couch in Justin’s cottage with Claire still on his lap. Enion thumped onto the floor behind it. Another dragon landed in front of him, smashing the sturdy coffee table into pieces and tossing crystals and sticks everywhere. Iulia, her aura swelled with an immense amount of power, landed beside her and fell onto her side.

Everything he cared about in the entire world lay in his arms. Her death was his fault. He should’ve been stronger or talked her into waiting. He’d learned so much in a few days, he could’ve been much more powerful in only a month. But they rushed. Like morons.

Tears streaked his glasses. He ripped them off his face and tossed them aside as useless. The mark on his arm burned with an itch he couldn’t motivate himself to scratch. Wild hope took seed inside him and he pressed the mark to the blood-covered locket on her chest. Nothing happened.

“Drew.” Iulia knelt before him, holding Claire’s dagger. Claire’s face looked up at him with polite sympathy and he chose to be grateful he couldn’t see it clearly without his glasses. He held Claire tighter. “Caius is dead. She made it possible. She did everything necessary to set the pieces into play and saw it through to the end. She’s the hero here.”

“But she’s…I swore…” He shook his head and squeezed his eyes shut. The pain didn’t go away. “Bring her back!”

“Magic doesn’t work that way.” Iulia touched his hand, her fingers smooth and warm. “I’m sorry. I had hopes and dreams for her too. But be still while you hold her, because I need her to make the new seal.”

“The new seal?” Drew blinked at her. He didn’t care about a seal unless… “Will she be inside it like Caius was?”

“No, not at all. That was a mistake.”

“Then why should I let you do anything?” Drew pulled Claire’s body out of Iulia’s reach. Enion raised his head and growled.

Iulia sighed. “Because this is what she died for. Her death isn’t stupid and meaningless. It’s a sacrifice she made in the name of doing the right thing for everyone. She didn’t have to charge in and face Caius. She could have hid behind those three Knights or helped you get back on your feet, or any number of other things. Instead, she stared down the thing she feared the most. She died to save everyone else. You knew her best, I think. Isn’t that what she would’ve wanted?”

“She would’ve wanted to live!” Drew buried his face in her neck, heedless of the blood.

“We all want that,” Iulia murmured. “But we all die. Better to die for something than nothing.”

He’d never see her smile again. He’d never wipe her tears away again. He’d never do a lot of things again, or for the first time.

The air thrummed with power and the symbol on Drew’s arm flared with white-hot pain. Not expecting it, he screamed. The woman from the graveyard stepped out of Missy and Lisa’s toy chest, displacing the stuffed animals and costumes as if she’d been hiding inside it all along.

“Oh no,” Kay moaned. “We’re so dead.”

“You swore an oath, guardian.” Her voice echoed over and over inside the house.

Unable to speak, Drew nodded. He held Claire’s body so the spirit could see what had been done to her.

“There is only one penalty for failure.”

“Please, something happen,” Kay whined. “Whatever’s listening, for the gods’ sake, intervene!”

“Shut up, Kay,” Drew choked out. Death seemed too kind for him. He closed his eyes and hoped it wouldn’t hurt much. Maybe he could be with Claire on the other side. They could do whatever ghosts did…haunting the Portland Underground and scaring the crap out of people might be okay.

“No. Wait. I need him. And her. Both of them.”

He snapped his eyes open and stared at Iulia, now standing between him and the spirit. She stood in a pose of defiance, ready to defend him.

“What?” Drew sputtered. “Why?”

The spirit tried to reach into Iulia’s chest, but Iulia snatched its wrist and held on. It failed to pull itself free. “Who are you?” it demanded, eyes flashing teal.

Iulia straightened and glared at the spirit. “My name is Iulia Marius, daughter of Albanus of Perusia and wife to Caius Marius of Antium, the Gorgon Slayer. Who are you?”

The spirit froze, though its edges and hair still rippled. After a moment so tense Drew could taste it, the spirit lowered itself to one knee and bowed to Iulia. “A servant of Marius. May I be of assistance?”

“Yes. Power me.” Iulia turned and touched Drew’s cheek with warm fingertips. “Drew. I can see how much she means to you. But Claire is the key to everything. Will you help me make her immortal?”

Drew’s breath caught. “Immortal? What do you mean?”

Iulia smiled at him again. “There’s so much you don’t know or understand. Right now, the barrier between Earth and the ghost realm is gone. It failed a long time ago. We put a new one into place, then it was flawed by Caius creating the Palace. Thanks to Claire’s sacrifice, the Palace and its seal are gone. Do you see?”

Claire lay dead in his arms and Iulia wanted to explain magic to him. The only true friend he’d ever had died and she wanted him to understand a concept defying the laws of physics and every religion he knew about. “No? What do you want from me?”

“Let me do what I need to do.” Iulia touched Enion’s face. “She trusted me. I’m only asking you and the dragon to do the same.”

Enion slid behind the couch, sniffling and whimpering. Drew traced the line of Claire’s cheekbone. She felt cold already. “She’s all I have.”

Iulia nudged his hand aside. “You don’t have to leave. Just don’t interfere.”

Whatever Iulia wanted to do, Drew kept hearing the word “immortal” echoing in his head. If it meant some demented fable-worthy half-a-life version of forever, he’d have to undo this. Somehow. And probably kill a piece of himself to do it. But if she meant genuine immortality, he had to let her try. “Okay. Don’t hurt her.” The absurdity of his request only made his tears fall faster. Drew leaned back on the couch and hugged himself with Claire’s limp body draped across his lap.

The spirit, this time not a blazing inferno in his face, covered the locket face on Claire’s chest with its palm. Iulia laid her hand over the spirit’s. Kay whimpered as Drew’s skin crawled with growing power in the room. The fleeting thought they shouldn’t be doing this in the living room drifted through his head.

Pure white crept over Claire’s skin like a blanket. Iulia frowned as the gaping hole in Claire’s chest filled with bright green-tinted light. Claire’s mouth fell open and darker green light spilled out, pure and vibrating with raw, magical power.

The magic felt oppressive and dissonant. Drew covered his ears and screwed his eyes shut, and it still pressed on him, poking him with thousands of tiny barbs and assaulting his hearing with thrumming agony. Burning bile filled his nose and threatened to make him throw up.

“Stop,” he whimpered.

“What have you done?” Iulia shrieked. “I said clear! I told her to use a clear crystal! Why didn’t she?”

“The working fails,” the spirit wailed.

“Don’t die,” Kay squeaked. “Don’t die, don’t die, don’t die, don’t die, don’t die.”

Enion roared and Drew dared to open his eyes. The dragon leaped halfway over the couch to shove Iulia aside and growl something at the other dragon. The second dragon trilled in despair.

Iulia stretched her hand toward Claire’s body, but couldn’t reach past Enion. “Spirit! Help me!”

“All is lost,” the spirit said, its voice thin and reedy.

“No! I’ve waited too long. I can’t fail.” Iulia gritted her teeth and struggled to push Enion’s claw away.

The mark on Drew’s arm exploded with agony. Even if he knew what to do, he couldn’t act. Light bulbs throughout the house burst inside their fixtures. Drew felt the power building, trying to tear him apart, and forgot to breathe. Kay panicked inside his head. The door slammed open.

“What the hell is going on?” Justin shouted.

The ground shook. Wood exploded everywhere. Drew flinched and hid his face. Iulia screamed, her voice receding into the distance. The power and pain flowed away, leaving Drew’s ears ringing. Someone approached and he finally opened his eyes again to see Justin dropping to a knee in front of him with red, puffy eyes. Anne crouched nearby. She picked up Drew’s glasses and cleaned them on her dress.