Matt Archer: Redemption (34 page)

Slowly, like he had all day, he picked up the other two knives and stalked over. Aunt Julie’s went into my right arm, at the bicep, and struck bone. I was in so much pain now, I couldn’t even scream.

For some reason when he tried to stab me with Will’s knife, though, he couldn’t force it toward me. There was still some magic in this blade, and like Will, it was sworn to protect me.

With a frustrated growl, the Shadow flipped the knife over and swung the handle hard at my thigh.

Bone splintered. Now I screamed.

Finally, he picked up my knife, turning it over in his hand like he was weighing it. After a grunt of appreciation, he held my right arm still and stabbed my knife through my hand, catching bone, tendon and muscle. Tink wailed in my head, like the very act hurt her as much as it hurt me.

He paced away and I lay broken on the ground, bits of metal from the knives embedded in body, and slashes in my gut, my chest, my back. Outside, men shouted, trying to find a way in to help. From the panic in my uncle’s voice, they could see me.

I really wished those windows weren’t here. Nobody should have to watch this. An epic beating and an even more epic failure. I pulled my knife out of my hand, barely able to stay conscious, and let it drop on the floor beside me.

“It’s over,” I whispered, too hurt to feel much beyond the pain, but underneath it, I was heartsick.

No,
Tink murmured.
Not yet.

“The knives failed. I failed,” I whispered. “I couldn’t even free Mamie.”

God, talking hurt. I could hardly draw breath. Tears welled up in my eyes as I thought about Brent. Mom would lose two sons and Mamie, too. The heartbreaking thing was that she’d know it before the end came. The Master would make sure of that. He’d make them all suffer for my failure.

The Shadow Man chuckled. He didn’t attack me, though. Just paced back and forth, like he was waiting for something as my blood ran on the floor. “Why doesn’t … he finish it?”

He’s waiting for something rather important.

“For what?” I groaned and rolled onto my side. The pain was beyond anything I’d ever experienced. Broken ribs stabbed me. My left leg throbbed and blood foamed in my mouth. After all this time, I knew the difference between injuries you could fix, and those you couldn’t. “To watch me die and gloat?”

No. He made a mistake and has to ensure it isn’t the end of the war for him and his master.

“Mistake?”

A huge mistake—breaking you in such a way that joined us, so we can be remade. Now, if you please, get up and finish the job.

Finish the job? I tried to sit, and coughed up blood. “But, Tink … I’m—”

You aren’t dying. Our dark brother was never one to listen. He failed to understand the warning, and now, what was broken has been REMADE!

The last word roared aloud like a peal of thunder, echoing off the rock so that it was a thousand voices telling me to do what I came to do. The cries outside silenced and the Shadow Man paused in his pacing.

Mamie let out a wild shout. “It’s time, Matt!”

That’s when the power hit me. Life, warmth, electricity, who knew. Molten iron flowing in my veins. Light streaming along my skin, like I was a circuit board for the power of the spirits. A blinding glow from the universe concentrated in the metal I’d been imbued with. Pain beyond death seared my body—the pain of birth, of creation. Agony. Muscles coming together. Bones reknitting. Skin fusing. The broken off pieces of the blades oozing, melted, from my limbs. The metal sliding together on the stone floor. As I was remade, so were the blades.

Into a sword.

A burst of energy jolted me, so much so that I screamed. Worse than any spin-up during an eclipse, I felt like there were five of me, being stripped down to my nerve endings and rebuilt from the ground up. Then the pain was gone, leaving nothing but a feeling of strength and perfection. I looked down at my body. Not one scar or scratch, not even a bruise; my skin was new. I was remade and whole, glowing in the dark as if the light of a thousand stars circulated in my blood. I ripped off my shredded T-shirt, watching the stab wound across my chest heal into something else before my eyes. A silver pentagram, matching the one on my wrist, carved itself into the flesh above my heart.

The warrior is born of us.

Five voices in my head. Speaking as one, in perfect unison, for the first time.

“What happened?” I whispered.

We, who were broken, are rejoined by your blood. Finally.

The last answer clicked into place. They had waited all the ages of the universe for our blood—Archer blood—to be strong enough. For this.

The spirits sang with power and demanded victory. My heart sang with them, because I was part of them. The metal from the blades was inside me, had melted into my body even as it flowed out. I didn’t just have a sword.

I
was
a sword.

Standing took no effort. Gravity had little hold on me in this place. I gripped the handle of the sword and laughed when its familiar shape melded to my hand. The white bone handle from my knife was its hilt. The handle vibrated, and the sound rang around the cave. The sword’s blade flashed a brilliant blue.

Archer blue.

As it had always been.

Voices cried battle in my head, coming together in a harmony of vengeance and one voice spoke louder than the others: Tink, The Mistress of Light Herself. The foil to her brother, the Dark One. The power who had rallied her troops to fight back since the moment time began. Who had been
losing
the fight a millennia at a time, until her proxy—and that proxy’s guardian—had been born.

Only now did I understand what kind of gift I’d been given, being chosen to fight for her. For both of them.

End this
, a five-fold voice commanded.

Hell, yes. I was going to end this. Right here, right now.

The Shadow Man faded in color from coal to an ashen gray. He hissed as I strode toward him, then covered his eyes. My light filled the darkness, and there wasn’t any place he could hide. I swung the sword over my head and slashed down. He countered with the spear. I brushed the blow away one-handed, much like he had before. Now it was my turn to be the stronger one.

Again and again he swung and I deflected the blows like I was batting a fly. We danced around the cave, and he couldn’t touch me. In desperation, he swung one more time. I ducked and the spear tip struck the wall with such force the blade embedded itself into the rock. The Shadow Man pulled at it, looking over his shoulder as I advanced. But the spear wouldn’t dislodge.

His shoulders slumped as he turned to face me one last time.

One swing of the sword, and I slashed open his chest. The Shadow Man, the source of all my nightmares, fell hard against the floor. Sludge, like tar, oozed from his body onto the stone. I watched without pity as he writhed in agony. The Dark Master should have relieved his pain, but he didn’t. Like all of his creations, the Shadow Man was given life, only to wither and die if he failed.

A tempest filled the room, tugging at my clothes, and the Shadow Man vanished into ashes.

My sword’s light dimmed. I needed to get to Mamie before it went out entirely. Even now, shadows crowded the edges of the room and I could hear her crying softly in the dark.

My nightmares came rushing back and my stomach churned. I looked all over the room. The shadows had swallowed her up. Crying in the darkness, and I couldn’t find her. My light was no longer enough.

“Sis?” Where was she? We’d
won
—I was supposed to bring her home now.

The sword’s light dulled to a faint glow and rays of light leeched from my body as well, rising to the ceiling, then winking out. The cave grew dark. Cold, so cold. I fell to my knees, staring at my chest.

The pentagram disappeared as the healed knife slash reopened. Blood trickled onto my stomach. What was happening to me?

A fine film of dust floated down from the ceiling. A few seconds later, the ground trembled. “Mamie! Where are you?”

But it was only Tink’s voice, echoed by her brothers, that I heard.
I’m so sorry, Matthew.

“What?” I slumped onto the ground, hands clasped over the wound, trying to keep the blood inside where it belonged. “Where is she? Where’s my sister?”

We held the Archers in our grace for as long as we could, but now we’ve come to the end.

Tears filled my eyes as my ribs cracked one-by-one. Then my leg snapped and I let out a howl, unable to control myself any longer. Good God, this hurt so bad. Worse than before, so much worse, without the fight to keep me together.

You rejoined us, but now light must rise to reclaim the heavens to ensure the rift closes, so humanity is forever protected from him. Light is not meant to be earthbound. It never has been, even if we were bound here for a time. But we can be bound no longer. It’s time.

Hadn’t my sister said something about time? But that thought slipped away as my other cuts opened up in reverse order from when I received them. The pain was intense, but not enough to ignore what was happening around me. The tremble I’d felt before was now more distinct and the floor shook. Cracks formed in the walls. Was this place coming down? The Shadow Man was gone, but I needed Mamie. That was the only part left undone. Where was she? I had to free her, to end the war before he came into our world.

“Mamie!”

No answer.

I tried to sit up, to crawl into the darkness to find her, but agony laced itself through my veins. Metal seeped from my wounds and I moaned, unable to move. The walls shuddered and groaned and pebbles rained down all around me. The sound of men shouting in fear came through the stone. Whatever was happening in here, it was affecting the outside, too.

“It didn’t work,” I whispered. “We lost.”

“Not yet,” a soft voice said.

Light, soft as early morning, lit up the dark shadows at the back of the room, and there she was. The glow seemed to be coming from her, like it had in the Master’s plane. Mamie’s clothes—the clothes she’d been wearing when she was taken, not the white dress—were bloodied and torn and the shackle marks on her wrists were scabbed over, but her chains were gone. Where, I didn’t know. She had pulled her hair into a long braid down her back, and she smiled as she came to my side. Without the pigtails, she looked older, more resolute.

Like a fierce statue, a warrior angel coming to my defense.

“I’m sorry I’m late,” she murmured. “I tried and tried to rip those chains apart, but I couldn’t. After you killed the Shadow, though, they just dissolved.” She held up her wrists. “Thank you for setting me free.”

The room rumbled violently and the shouts outside turned to cries. “Can you close the rift, then?”

“I will, but give me a minute,” she said, wiping blood from my face. “Poor Matt. You need a hospital. And you’ll get to one. I promise.”

“Mamie—” I paused to cough up something the consistency of coffee grounds, but my pain had faded to the background. I knew what that meant. I had minutes. Maybe. “My part’s done. It’s your turn now. It’s time to let me go so you can finish the job.”

“Not yet,” she said. Her tone was bright in the darkness. “We have a little time.”

The arched doorway that led to the hall collapsed and stone crashed down. All around us, the walls shivered and shook. Outside, a strange, low growl overcame the shouts of the men. I knew, deep in my broken bones, the Master had come.

“I don’t think … we do,” I gasped. “He’s here.”

Tears ran down the sides of my face. Why couldn’t I just pass out? But, no, then I wouldn’t get to see my sister for the last time. Now that I was about to lose her, I couldn’t get my fill of looking at Mamie. I’d never really realized how beautiful she was, here in real life. Angel didn’t do her justice. Her eyes shone clear and her smile lit up the darkness.

A convulsive shudder ran through my body. Cold. Then I saw them, everyone; ghosts now, no longer mine. Ella’s face that night in D.C. Will laughing at something Penn said. Uncle Mike cracking his knuckles. Mom’s office, wrecked with boxes on trial week. Dad, nodding his approval. Brent …

I’d see him soon.

“After you close … the rift,” I managed to reach Mamie’s cheek, touch her face. “Tell everyone … I love them. Tell Ella—”

Mamie pressed her hands to her eyes. “Stay strong—understand me? You’ll be all right. I promise.”

Every breath was a struggle. “You need … to face it …. I’m dying.”

“No, Matt. Your life is my gift,” she murmured. “The prize for following through.” Mamie glanced up at the ceiling and nodded. “Last wishes, remember?”

I forgot the pain a minute. My heart squeezed. “Sis? What are you—?”

Mamie moved to the center of the cavern, heedless of the falling rocks and not seeming to care about the large crack opening up in the floor behind her. She smiled. “You’re hurt really badly, so I don’t blame you for being a little slow.”

I stared at her. She was so calm, so serene. “I don’t understand—”

“It’s like Tink told you—Light isn’t earthbound,” she said. “It belongs to the stars, as it always has. And my time has come.”

Tears ran down her face, but she looked fulfilled in a way I’d never seen. Thousands of hints came roaring back. The fact she dropped out of school. The sad, exhausted demeanor in D.C. The distance. Her reminder never to forget who I was. To always remember her love. To do what I had to do.

No. This wasn’t …. She
couldn’t ….

“You’re wrong!” I said. Gasping for air, I shouted to the roof, “Tell her, Tink! Tell her she’s wrong!”

No answer.

I dragged myself a few inches, but couldn’t reach her. She was too far—because that’s what she wanted.

Mamie smiled at me, then touched her fingers to her lips. “I love you. Never forget that.”

She took out her sapphire earrings, the ones I’d given her for high school graduation, and laid them on the ground. Desperate now, I clawed my way toward her, knowing I was too late.