The Night (6 page)

Zane was already striding towards it and she hurried to catch up. Magic slowly circled his hand and she could sense how weak it was. There was something about this place that dampened everything, but at the same time heightened something else.

Looking above her, her eyes widened when she saw a magnificent blue glass dome, its panels decorated with symbols of the night and the heavens, and of the stars. In its centre was a single star, spreading silver rays out that cut through everything else in the dome. From the star hung a black shard of crystal.

Celene shook her head and raised her hands.

Magic faltered around her fingers, broken and distorted.

A chill swept over her, fear bubbling to the surface and making her sick. She had never felt such a feeling before. It consumed her, driving her mad with hissed words of defeat, of death.

“Zane... we must leave,” she whispered.

He turned to look at her, and as he did, someone shimmered into being behind him. A beautiful woman stared at her, eyes black as midnight and hair white as snow. Her gaze narrowed and Celene felt a stab of pain in her heart.

Pain.

True pain.

Raising her hands, she held them in front of her, muttering words to protect herself and frowning when nothing but a fragile shimmering blue disc appeared. It wouldn’t protect her for long. She was too weak here.

“What’s the matter?” Erikka said with a look of amusement.

Celene looked up at the dome and cursed the stone hanging there. It was drawing all her power, all Zane’s power, and feeding it to Erikka. It was stealing their strength.

“Leave her be, Erikka.” Zane’s voice rung around the stone room, echoing off the corners and sounding strange in her ears.

There was confidence in it that she hadn’t heard in so long. It made her heart ache and the dread inside her conjured up images that made her believe that if they stayed here, he would surely die. She couldn’t lose him. She didn’t care about anything but him. Not anymore.

“Why do you return now? I had expected you to come back sooner, and alone. Instead, you bring this thing with you.”

Hearing Erikka refer to her as a thing made Celene’s blood boil. All fear disappeared as she straightened and stared at the witch. With or without her power, she was going to make Erikka lift Zane’s curse.

“Release him,” she said, finding her strength again and walking towards Erikka.

The witch looked shocked for a moment and then smiled.

“No.”

“I said, release him.” She raised her hand, calling all the power she could.

Sunlight broke into the room. The day was winning in her fight against it. The pull inside of her was unbearable. Her knees wobbled and threatened to buckle beneath her. She forced herself to remain standing, unwilling to give Erikka the satisfaction of seeing her weak. She was one of the heavens. She was a ruler of this witch.

“No,” Erikka repeated and flicked a glance at Zane. “He could so easily lift the curse himself.”

Celene frowned and looked at him. It seemed to be the exact moment that Erikka had been waiting for. A bolt of magic knocked her off her feet and she heard Zane call out her name as she skidded across the floor. When she hit the wall, she gave herself a moment to recover and then struggled to her feet. Her eyes widened when she saw that Zane was fighting Erikka. Magic zipped around the room as they threw spell after counter-spell at each other. The air began to cloud with the discharge of power and she ran to his side. Calling up everything she could, she launched it at Erikka and the witch flew backwards into one of the tall black banners at the rear of the room.

Zane ran forwards and Celene flanked him, trying to keep up with him and keep conscious at the same time. The dawn was calling to her now. She didn’t know how much longer she would be able to defy it. An orb of magic, crackling and red, flew past her ear and she ducked away from it, only to be hit by a bolt of silver. She gritted her teeth against the pain and pushed on.

A glance at Zane revealed that she wasn’t the only one being hit.

“You broke my heart,” Erikka shouted.

Celene stopped dead and almost laughed. A broken heart? All of this over a broken heart?

“If I can’t have you, no one should be able to! No one.” Erikka threw another bolt of magic but Celene easily dodged it. She frowned at the witch. Erikka sneered at her. “An easy curse, one to keep him alone for all his life... and he finds the one damn person who can lift it.”

Celene was too stunned by Erikka’s words to see the magic coming. It smacked her hard in her stomach and raised her off the ground. She looked down with wide eyes at the floor below her as it spiralled away and then up at the crystal that the magic was propelling her towards.

She fought against it and managed to turn in time to grab the crystal and stop herself from being impaled on it. It burnt her hands and she growled with effort as she pushed her fingers through the solid material as though it was made of thick tar not stone.

A cry from below her caught her attention. Zane curled up into a ball on the white stone floor and turned into a cat.

Screaming, Celene unleashed all the power she could muster into the crystal. It exploded, raining down fragments on the room below. She fell to the floor and landed on her feet. She didn’t pause and give herself a moment to recover from the drain of what she had done. She ran over to Zane and grabbed him by the scruff of his neck, slinging him onto her shoulder.

“You chose a great time to change!” she said to him.

Erikka roared in pain as the shards of crystal settled on the floor and the power that had been humming in the air disappeared. Celene gave her a hard look as the witch collapsed to the floor, clutching herself and muttering incoherent words.

It was over.

The ground trembled beneath them and Erikka raised her head, her eyes dark as midnight and empty. Celene sensed the rise in magic around her. The white walls fractured and then cracked open and pieces of stone crashed to the floor.

Erikka stood and Celene bolted, holding Zane to her so he didn’t fall. They couldn’t fight Erikka. She had hoped that the destruction of the crystal would render the witch powerless, but it had only seemed to anger her. She didn’t have the power to fight Erikka alone, not with the constant battle she was waging just to stay in this spot, and Zane was no use to her now.

All they could do was flee and hope to make it out in one piece. She had been wrong. They shouldn’t have come here. She had forced Zane into it and had risked both of their lives in the process.

Running down the steps, it was hard to keep her footing as the castle shook, pieces of it falling away. She leapt over a gap in the steps where they had dropped to the floor and kept moving. Her face screwed up when Zane dug his claws into her shoulder.

“You’re hurting me!” she said and tried to get him to release her but he only dug his claws in deeper.

She struggled to keep running as the pain tore through her and she instantly knew that something was wrong.

A glance at his paws confirmed her fears. Blood coated them, rivulets of red that ran onto her skin and soaked into her dress. Cold dread engulfed her, stealing away her sense and blinding her. He was hurt.

There was no time to run. She had to get him out of here now, regardless of how dangerous it was for her to use her power. She didn’t care where they went. She just wanted him safe so she could heal him.

She focused as best she could and the world shifted around her. The castle bent and buckled, and then imploded and darkness swept her away. When her feet touched solid ground again, she was standing beside the lake where she had left him the previous morning.

She carefully placed him down on the ground and looked at him. He shifted back, becoming human once more and lay still. Her heart wrenched and tears stung her eyes.

Celene bent over him, cupping his cheek and bringing his head around to face her. He was cold. Her eyes dropped to the blood trickling from the corner of his mouth and she stared at it as she pressed her hand to his bare chest and tried to heal him. Pain set her nerves on fire, burning her body. She frowned, focusing everything on him and not caring how much damage she was doing to herself. Gasping for air and unable to continue any longer, she halted her magic and looked at Zane.

Nothing.

Sinking back on her heels, she stared blankly at his face. This couldn’t be happening. A tear slipped onto her cheek as she blinked and it was quickly followed by another. They dropped, heavy and fast, from her chin onto her dress and her knees. As the reality sank in, more tears came, blinding her and making her heart burn. Anger fought against remorse, grief against hatred. She lowered her head until it rested against his chest and broke down in sobs that wracked her body so fiercely that she couldn’t breathe.

The wind picked up. It started gently, a light breeze that played with her hair and made the leaves dance, but it grew rapidly until it was a gale that threatened to flatten the land. She sat quietly in the middle of it, laying over Zane’s body and not bothering to control her feelings. What was the point when he was gone? She cared about nothing else, not like she used to. He had become her everything and without him she was nothing. She didn’t want to go on alone.

Pushing herself up, she looked at him and then raised her eyes to the sky. Clouds gathered there, so dark that day became night. Her hair whipped across her face and a tree nearby succumbed to the wind and crashed to the ground.

Celene rose to her feet and stared at Zane, willing him to come back to her, to make this world one she wanted to live in again.

Raising her hands, she frowned at the heavens as the storm pounded the earth. Thunder boomed in the distance and rain shrouded the landscape.

“Save him,” she supplicated, tears streaming down her face, hot against her cold wet skin. “Take my life and bring him back. He deserves to live. I won’t go on without him!”

She collapsed to her knees beside him and pressed her hand against her chest.

“What life was mine is now yours,” she whispered.

Her whole body felt as though it was on fire and thunder rumbled threateningly overhead. Lightning crashed to the ground, tearing it asunder and filling the air with the smell of wet earth. She ignored Gaia’s anger and brought her hand to his chest, placing it directly over his heart.

“What fate was yours is now mine.”

CHAPTER 6

Z
ane felt as though he had been dragged over the peaks of Amaranthia naked. He took slow deep breaths as his body ached and burned with white hot pain. When it began to subside, his head cleared and he suddenly remembered what had happened to him.

He shot up into a sitting position and stared around him, trying to get his bearings. He was naked. The earth was torn to shreds, huge pits and crevasses carved into the land. Rain lashed down so heavily that he couldn’t see for more than a few metres. Thunder rolled overhead and the wind plastered his wet dark hair to his face. He scraped it out of his eyes and wondered how he had got back there. He remembered Celene grabbing him after Erikka had hit him with the spell.

He remembered her crying, but he felt as though he hadn’t been there at the time. It was as though he had watched it from afar.

The air felt different and he looked back in the direction the castle should have been. There was a blurry shape through the rain and he was surprised to see it still standing. Whatever power had once ruled this land, it was now gone and he could sense that his magic was no longer dampened by the valley.

“Celene?” he said, sure that she was close by.

When she didn’t answer, he turned his head to look for her.

His eyes widened and his heart smashed against his chest when he saw her.

He scrambled to his feet and ran to her where she lay a few feet from him, naked and soaked. He couldn’t believe his eyes. Her pale skin was even more like milk, glowing as bright as a full moon. Silvery wings stretched out on either side of her but their feathers were tattered and scattering in the wind that stirred them. Her face was still, beautiful and soft as though she was sleeping. He knew she wasn’t.

He glanced down at her chest when something shone there and frowned at the symbol that was fading from her. His chest burned and he looked down to see that same symbol appearing on him.

It was so familiar.

Kneeling beside her, he brushed the wet strands of hair from her face and his throat tightened. He swallowed, trying to shift the dry lump there, but it wouldn’t go. She looked so peaceful, her hands resting on her stomach and her face serene. The feathers of her wings began to disintegrate and the ground shook as lightning slammed down all around him.

This shouldn’t be happening.

He had been right. She wasn’t a witch, but she had tried to help him anyway, saving him in the end by sacrificing herself. Her power had brought him back. The curse had been lifted, but not by her gift. No, it had broken because of the realisation that the symbol now burning fiercely against his skin had brought.

He knew who she was now, and why she left him each day. He knew the truth behind the mystery.

But what had happened here today wasn’t right. It was impossible.

The night couldn’t die.

Another tremor shook the ground and he looked up to see the sky clearing. Stars spun above him, slowly falling to earth in bright fiery streaks and leaving the black heavens barren and lifeless. They burned the sky until it turned as red as blood.

The ground began to split and the trees around him were swallowed whole.

The night was one of the immortals. She couldn’t die. She brought balance to the world and it couldn’t continue without her.

Mustering up all the power he could, Zane put his whole heart and soul into the magic and surrendered himself to it. Tears spilt onto his cheeks and he took hold of her hand, gripping it tightly with his and staring at her face.

“You cannot leave this world,” he whispered to her. “I will not let you.”

The earth buckled beneath him, jolting him but not moving her.