“We will become vengeance incarnate,” the spirits of the unascended Maere responded. “We will become dark matter, beautiful and terrible.”
I wasn’t going to be the one to explain to a bunch of dead teenage girls what dark matter actually was, especially because it was something of a natural miracle that they were speaking to us at all.
I took a deep breath. “If you hurt people you should not, I will have to destroy you.”
The truck had moved past the midpoint of the bridge. We’d already missed our window, but if this was the only way, I would do it.
“We understand,” they responded, through Eryx. “Do it now.”
My hands moved quickly; though the work I did was with my mind, it helped to focus my power as I took each of the girls’ auras in my hand and pulled, hard—with a violence I didn’t feel towards them, but towards their captors. Towards the people who would use younglings in such a way for their own gain.
When their souls ripped free from the traps, I felt them change. Felt their essences howl into the dark night, as they were torn asunder from their prisons. Eryx crumpled to the deck. Rhiannon dove after him, keeping him from hitting his head. When I was sure he was all right, I turned my attention back to the bridge.
The truck had skidded to a stop. Everything was still for a few moments, the air thickening as the mist over the river rose in dark clouds. The truck doors blew open, the driver andguards tossed out. They were dead. I could see that much from here; the blood and gore were overwhelming in scope and scale.
I’d seen hundreds of scenes just like it. Most Poltergeists were simply irritating, like Stanley, but those who were vengeful were pure, unadulterated destruction. Goosebumps raised over my skin as a chill slid deep into the base of my spine.What had I done?
I had turned six young women’s spirits that were destined for unimaginable power into vengeful entities with the power to destroy. Bile rose in my throat, and as it did, the spirits appeared on deck.
Their eyes were dark hollows, glowing with powerful red light, as were each of the four swords they carried. Deep in the indigo dark of this autumn evening, the Maere’s swords shone with power. Rhiannon took her sword and Sera’s, going to her knees in gratitude as Lara stepped forward to take the sword offered to her.
“Thank you,” the two of them whispered.
“Come with us, Ares Necroline,” the spirits whispered as one, an eerie amalgamation of all their voices. Like Stanley, they had the power to change forms, and they did so now, melding together to become a six-headed sea dragon, a creature of legend, with eyes that glowed with the same crimson light as the swords.
Upriver, two boats sped towards us with purpose. Ember’s sword was in my hand before I could reach for it, and the spirit dragon had slid into the water. “Come with us, Necroline King. We shall aid the Queen together.”
Before Av or my brother could argue, I was astride the spirit dragon, holding onto Ember’s sword, and the reptilian spirit, for dear life. I struggled to tap my earpiece back into the “on” position as we raced through the water.
“Come as soon as you can,” I pleaded. “We’ll need all the help we can get.”
CHAPTER 40
EMBER
Rain peltedmy body as I stumbled a little in the puddles that were forming on the Gallery’s manicured lawn. Cromvale was surprisingly good with the thrysos. If I had to guess how he got that good, it would be expensive LARPing camps. The other option, fencing, wouldn’t have given him skills with a long weapon. Had to be LARPing camps.
I was tempted to say something about it, to see if he was sensitive about it, but he was keeping me on my toes. If that thing got me one more time, it might kill me. Already, my strength was waning. He’d kept me on the move for at least ten minutes, striking me not one, but three times. Once in the shoulder, rendering my dominant arm useless. And twice in the abdomen. I was bleeding profusely, but I was still moving.
If he got me again, I would go down. It hadn’t been long enough for them to get the swords. I had to keep going. I staggered, but kept moving. Typically, the wounds he’d inflicted would hardly slow me down, but something about the thrysos drained me. Every time he nicked me with it, I felt worse.
And he was just so damncalm. In fact, he smiled now as I tried to regroup, my vision blurring. “You’re wondering how I gotso good at this,” he purred.
“Not really,” I quipped, sounding better than I felt. “Just wondering if LARPing camp ever got you any ass.”
Cromvale smiled, undeterred by my petty comments as lunged forward again, narrowly missing my left arm as I ducked him. “Haven’t you been wondering how I knew all those dates? How I’m beating you now?”
I shrugged, dodging another of his strikes, but he was getting closer every time. Was he playing with me? “To be honest, Chad, I haven’t spent much time thinking about you.”
“Chase,” he hissed, nicking me again, this time in the thigh.
“Whatever.” My brain struggled to find some sort of nasty remark. Something that would bother a man like Cromvale enough to slow him down. But it felt like I was moving through a sea of thick honey. Every movement I tried to make was slow and sticky.
Suddenly, he was standing closer to me. Too close. “I know every move you make before you make it. I’ve seen the way this ends.”
His words weren’t enough to scare me, but the shift in his aura was. Chase Cromvale’s mask of humanity fell away, suddenly, revealing something much, much worse. He was Cognoscenti. The Cognoscenti.
Cromvale was the one who’d been helping the Authority. The one who’d predicted the powerful parapsychs. And he was a Chioric. This all made a horrible kind of sense. His smile stretched over his face. It was odd how non-descript he was. How mildly handsome. How forgettable and trustworthy he looked.
