Fractured Truth (38 page)

“I’m sorry I ever let you into my life,” she said.

“Found some courage, did you?” Robert said. “I didn’t think you had it in you.”

Liam was slowly moving toward me, his eyes darting back and forth between May and me.

“Let her go, Father. Llona has nothing to do with this.”

“That’s where you’re wrong.” He looked up again. “She has everything to do with this. If I can get rid of her, then you’ll have nothing left. The Fury darkness inside you will consume you.”

“You’re the one who’s mistaken.” She opened her fists. They were burning with fire. “If there’s one thing I’ve learned since living with Auras, it’s that light always destroys the dark.” Her eyes flashed to Liam.

In a move I didn’t see coming, May shot a bolt of fire directly toward us. I thought it was going to kill us both, but Liam grabbed me at the last second and tore me from Robert’s grip. We fell onto the ground, tumbling together, while Robert exploded into flames.

He screamed and his whole body started shaking. I thought he was having some sort of a seizure, but then the flames began to die down. He was somehow dousing the fire with his own energy.

Startling me, Liam burst into wind and circled around him several times. The dying flames reignited and spread into what looked like a fire tornado reaching for the sky. There was nothing Robert could do to stop it. In seconds his entire body was consumed, barely leaving any ash behind.

May stood there, stunned. I stumbled toward her, but all of a sudden my body was being lifted from the ground faster
than I could scream. The Shadow had taken me. Its dark energy pressed against me, squeezing me tight. I couldn’t have screamed if I wanted to.

But I could use Light.

I focused hard, imagining my whole body lighting up. My insides warmed, much like they did right before I turned invisible, but instead of keeping the light internal, I forced it out.

The Shadow made a horrible shrieking sound and let me go. The ground raced up at me, but before I hit bottom, Liam caught me. I fell onto my back and sprayed Light upward. The Shadow was gone.

“Get inside!” Charlie yelled. He jogged over to us.

I looked around for May. She had returned to the body on the ground. Who was it? “We need May,” I said.

Charlie ran in her direction and called over his shoulder. “I’ll get her. The Shadow should leave us alone.”

Liam helped me to my feet and ran with me over to the entrance of Chadni Hall. A lot of the chaos had died down from what it was minutes ago. It looked like most of the Auras had gone inside. Only older ones remained, gathered on the front steps with Mrs. Crawford, using their Light whenever they could to help those still fighting Vykens.

“Stay safe,” Liam said and squeezed my hand. He turned back around to continue fighting with the others.

“Has anyone seen Sophie or Abigail?” I asked the group of Auras. I was surprised to see Ms. Hady. In the back of the group, but here, a part of us.

“I heard they were spotted near the clock tower,” Ashlyn said, after Light left her hand and knocked a Vyken away from a Lizen man not far away. She looked at me. “What was Abigail doing with her?”

“She’s Lucent’s mole.” I ignored her angry cursings and went to Mrs. Crawford. She was still watching the skies anxiously.

“I can’t seem to get a fix on it,” she said. “It’s too dark.”

I thought out loud. “We need more light.”

“You need bait.”

I turned around. Kiera was searching the skies with us. Her gaze lowered to mine. “Light up the skies,” she said. “I’ll be your bait.”

“That’s crazy. No way.”

“Do it. I’m going out.” Before I could stop her, she descended the steps.

“You heard her,” I said to those around me. “Give us some light.”

At least ten pairs of hands rose to the sky and shot a steady stream directly above Kiera, who was walking toward the center of the lawn. Lycans, with the help of Liam, cleared a large section, keeping the fighting to the edges. I moved to the bottom of the steps where I could keep a better eye on her.

Kiera stopped, raised her hands, and shouted into the night. “Here I am! Come get me!”

I squinted, thinking I saw
movement to the east. I focused on the area. There it was again. The Shadow was coming.

This was it. The Shadow was circling Kiera as if looking for a way to get around the light shining above her. I carefully and slowly moved to the side where I’d have a better angle at hitting it. If the Shadow circled around one more time, it would cross just above me.

It was coming closer. I took a deep breath, held it, then released it at the same time I shot Light above me. At first I didn’t think I had it, but then I felt it’s energy buck against mine. I concentrated harder to make sure I had a tight grip.

Kiera ran over to me. “You got it!”

“Now just make sure no one attacks me,” I said, already gasping for air. The Shadow felt stronger somehow. Or maybe I was weaker. “And Kiera?”

She looked at me. “Yes?”

“If you see Sophie”—I stopped to take a breath—“don’t let anyone harm her.” I inhaled again. On my exhale, I said real quick, “The Shadow is bound to protect her. I’ll lose my grip.”

“Got it.” She turned back around to watch for anyone attempting to interrupt me.

Several minutes passed. My arm grew so tired I had to use my other one to hold my right hand up. Ashlyn and Mrs.
Crawford had come down by Kiera to help her whenever a Vyken broke through Liam and the other men. Not many did.

The Shadow’s force above me was starting to shrink. So was I.

“Uh-oh,” I heard Kiera say. “Sophie and Abigail are coming.”

I didn’t dare glance over for fear of losing concentration, but those around me were looking to my left.

“You must stop this, Sophie!” Mrs. Crawford called.

I haven’t even begun.
Sophie’s voice was in my head, and by the reaction of the Auras around me, they’d heard the same thing.

A stream of Light shot by me, barely missing my shoulder.

“Light her up,” Ashlyn said.

In my peripheral vision, I saw Kiera raise her hands. “No! Llona said we can’t harm Sophie or she’ll lose her grip on the Shadow. All we can do is block her Light to protect Llona.”

Kiera turned suddenly and blocked Light that was heading right for me. I fell to my knees.

“Llona!” May’s voice. She came to my side. “Llona, please don’t do this. There has got to be another way.”

Kiera walked backward toward us, keeping her eyes on Sophie, and said over her shoulder, “How much longer is this going to take, because Sophie’s coming, and if we can’t harm her she’ll be able to walk right up to you and kill you.”

I wanted to answer, but I was so tired. Every ounce of strength was flowing from me and into the Shadow. I almost mentally called out to Liam then but thought better of it. He should stay busy helping the others.

Kiera must’ve noticed how tired I was because she said, “What’s wrong with her?”

May said, “She’s dying. It’s the only way to kill the Shadow.”

“What? That’s crazy! You can’t do this, Llona. There’s got to be something we can do.” She looked up at the Shadow trapped in my Light. “What if we add our Light to it? Then you won’t have to use all of yours.”

“Try it.” It was Dr. Han’s voice from behind me. I wondered how long he’d been standing there.

“Everyone direct your Light to the Shadow,” Kiera called.

Sprays of Light turned upward, igniting the darkness with a brilliant white. The Shadow didn’t react any differently. It still continued to stretch and pull as if trying to escape.

After several seconds, Kiera asked, “Is it working?”

By the familiar sharp pain in my head, I knew it wasn’t. Blood trickled from my nose, and I sunk farther to the ground.

“Ah, how sweet,” Sophie said. She didn’t sound that far away. “Trying to save precious Llona, but don’t you remember how she hated you all? She thought she was so much better than Auras.”

A flash of Light came toward me, but a ball of fire put it out. I wasn’t sure if it was Dr. Han or May who had thrown it.

There were sounds of a scuffle. I could barely hear it over the growing humming in my ears.

“Let me go!” Abigail called.

“You’re not going anywhere,” Mrs. Crawford said. “Take her inside and lock her up.”

“What do we do about Sophie?” Kiera asked. More Light sounded through the air, but it was blocked again.

“You won’t do anything to me,” Sophie said. “I’m going to walk right up to her and finally solve that pesky hair problem of hers by cutting off her head.”

I heard Dr. Han’s voice next, but my hearing was so messed up now I couldn’t decipher his words. My vision too began to blur.

A cool palm pressed on my back. Liam’s touch. If he was talking, I couldn’t hear him.

Liam?
I thought.

The words came back to my mind:
I’m here.

Take care of May.

I promise.

I thought my next words to him would hurt, but they didn’t. They gave me peace.
I love you.

I love you too.

There was a lot of yelling behind me. Sophie was probably getting closer. Would this be over by then? I hoped so because I never wanted to go through this again. Death had become my frequent visitor ever since Mr. Steele came into my life. He had given me my first taste of Death. Yet I had survived.

Through my blurry vision, I saw a Lycan toss a Vyken into the air. Flames burned bright behind them. I wondered if it was Petros. This made me think of his words about finding solutions to our problems in our past.

Words appeared in my mind:
This is the end for you.
It was Sophie.

Her figure appeared in my peripheral vision. She was almost to me. I sensed Liam nearby too. He wouldn’t let her touch me, that much I was certain, but the second he tried to hurt her, my power over the Shadow would be gone, and we’d be back to where we started. This had to end tonight.

I thought of Mr. Steele again, of the way I had killed him: borrowed light mixed with my own. I’d done the same thing when I was trying to escape from the warehouse and had to turn invisible.

Light could flow into me.

And it could flow out.

I pushed a thought to Liam.
Don’t move.

A plan quickly formed in my mind, and if it worked, the Shadow would finally be trapped in the Ruby that Dr. Han still possessed.

Sophie’s voice invaded my mind again.
I hated your mother. She may as well have murdered Llona with her own two hands. I wish she could be here to watch you die the way I watched Llona die.

I slowly lowered my left hand off my right. Light continued to flow from me, but not as fast as before. There wasn’t much left.

It’s time for a new Auran race to rise. One that will be worshipped for their power!
Sophie raised her hand above me.

I made my move then. With my right hand still spraying Light up at the Shadow, I made a pulling motion with my left hand in Sophie’s direction and concentrated on sucking the Light from her. It was a difficult task, trying to concentrate on two things at once, especially when I was so weak.

At first I didn’t think it was going to work. Sophie’s hand was coming down toward me. In her grip she held a dagger. The shiny silver of the blade reflected the fires in the distance. Liam moved toward her as if to stop her, but then her whole body jerked like someone had kicked her in the gut.

Light, just a trickle at first, escaped her body from her stomach, and I pulled it into me. The second I felt the new surge of energy, I inhaled, finally getting my first deep breath in a long time. But as much as I wanted to, I didn’t hang onto it. Instead I rerouted it back out of my body and up to the Shadow.

My biggest fear was that the Shadow would detach to protect Sophie, but so far it wasn’t moving, other than to continue to diminish in strength, whereas I wasn’t anymore.

I tugged harder, taking more of Sophie’s Light.

“What are you doing?” she gasped.

I heard her voice, crystal clear. Although I could barely hold my arms out, my vision and hearing cleared.

“It’s working!” May said. She was somewhere behind me. The sounds of battle seemed to have died down, and I wondered if we finally had the upper hand.

“Keep doing it!” Kiera cheered. Others offered words of encouragement. It gave me strength.

Sophie dropped to her knees while I rose to my feet. “Don’t do this, Llona. Please. I didn’t mean any of it.”

“You called this creature into existence,” I said. “Now you can send it back.”

Her face twisted into an ugly scowl. “You little witch! This isn’t over. There are others—”

I jerked my hand into a tight fist, accelerating the rate in
which Light fled from her body. She fell to the ground, sucking in what little air she could.

I glanced up. The Shadow was almost gone, a writhing blackness shrinking to nothing. My gaze lowered to Sophie. “Maybe now you can finally find peace.”

Between shallow breaths, she said, “There is no peace for people like us, Llona. There is only pain.” She chuckled uncomfortably, like the movement hurt her ribs.

I looked away from her then, feeling an incredible sadness. She could’ve chosen to find joy in life. It was all around her if only she could’ve let go of the pain. Instead, she entertained it, and that pain had turned into anger, which turned to hate. And when you hate, the world becomes a dark place. Eventually, that darkness rotted her soul.

There was no more Light to take. I realized it the moment I fell to the ground.

“Llona?” Liam was leaning over me. May was next to him.

“I’m okay,” I said. “Just tired.” My eyes closed to the sounds of cheering in the background.

Sophie was dead, and the Shadow was gone, trapped in the ruby where it belonged.

I didn’t dream. I probably
wouldn’t for a very long time. time. I woke up almost an hour ago but kept my eyes closed, listening to the different conversations of people who had come in and out of my room. My body was exhausted, as was my heart and mind.