“So you’re on probation, huh?” Asher chuckled. “Never thought I’d see the dayyou’dbreak the cosmic rules, Spooky.”
If Liam was surprised bymyhug, he was downright shocked by Asher’s uncharacteristic display of affection. Ash tackle-hugged the poor guy, nearly knocking him onto his very human—and very nicely packaged in those jeans, I noticed—ass.
“I am… pleased to see you liberated,” Liam said, awkwardly patting Asher on the back. “I am pleased to see all of you, though I wish it were under better circumstances.”
He broke free, then looked at Ronan, who nodded in greeting. Liam’s gaze finally came to rest on Emilio, and the two locked eyes for a long moment, a silent understanding passing between them.
“Where’s the vampire?” Liam asked.
“Basement,” I said. “Sleeping. Someone should probably go check on him.”
“I’ll go,” Elena said. “I need to check in with the department, too. I want to know if anyone else was affected by this—”
“Arctic missile,” Haley said. Then, to Liam, “Yeah, so getting back to that… I thought Darkwinter created the storm? But Jael said it was some kind of ancient magic. Now you’re saying it’syourfault?”
“The dark fae did indeed create the storm, but due to my predicament, it is now growing even larger and more brutal than they’d envisioned. My arrival here seems to correspond with the polar weapon that targeted this precise location. It was as if the stripping of my powers had an immediate and equal reaction on the material plane.”
“I thought it was targeting us,” I said. “Haley and I were in the woods, and everything just turned into this insane winter wonderland.”
“Only not so wonderful,” Haley said. “More like a winter wasteland.”
“I believe it was drawn toward my energy,” Liam said. “Understand… The suspension of my powers is not just about human souls. I am Death, the Great Change, the Ultimate Transformation. Without me, life energy such as that which balances nature cannot—well—transform. We will now experience a state of perpetual winter, compounded infinitely by unchecked fae magic and spellcraft, and a complete power imbalance resulting from the disruption of the witch communities here. All of those forces have conspired in this moment to bring about the destructive forces you’ve just witnessed.”
I leaned back against the kitchen counter, trying to stabilize myself. “This is insane. You all know that, right?”
“I’m afraid there’s more,” Liam said. “The longer I’m stuck here, powerless, the worse those inhabitants of the material plane will suffer. Living souls will not be able to pass on in death.”
“What, like no one can die?” Asher asked.
“People will still die. And their souls will vacate their bodily vessels. But I won’t be available to guide them, to call upon my ferriers, to move them through the transition. The souls will wander on the material plane as ghosts, trapped, and growing increasingly confused and frantic at their inability to move on. The more restless a spirit becomes, the more dark energy it draws to itself. That’s when you begin to see poltergeists and hauntings, non-demonic soul possessions, things of that sort. That happens now with restless spirits, but consider it on a mass scale, whereallspirits are restless.”
“Humans will go insane,” Emilio said. “They will absolutely break with reality.”
“Yes, that is my prediction as well,” Liam said.
“So we’ve got a winter weather lockdown,” I said, “with the possibility of random, deadly, unpredictable events like what we saw today. We’ve got ghosts, possibly angry ones. We’ve got hauntings and possessions. And that’s on top of the militarization of cities by the dark fae and the hunters.”
“It’s a lot to face,” Haley said. “But remember what Ronan and Darius said. One thing at a time, deal with the known, figure out the rest as we go.”
Footsteps echoed up the basement stairs, and I turned to see Elena emerging from the doorway, cell phone in hand. “No reported injuries from the arctic blast,” Elena said. “Not in Raven’s Cape, anyway. And Darius is fine, too. Sleeping like a vampire. I decided to let him be. He’ll have a busy night ahead of him—as will the rest of us.”
“So you got through to the department?” Emilio asked.
“Mayor’s office, actually,” Elena said. “It seems that what happened here was localized to my property—a rare weather anomaly, they’re calling it. But another band of heavy snow is moving in fast, and the rest of the region is still dealing with the accumulation and frigid temperatures we’ve already experienced. The governor has declared a state of emergency. They’re requesting federal aid, with military intervention a strong possibility, should things continue on this trajectory.”
“But that means more humans flooding into the Cape,” I said. “Right into the path of danger.”
“That’s exactly what that means.” Elena’s lips pressed into a grim line.
I looked around the kitchen, cataloging the damage. Broken glass. Broken windows. Cracked walls. Outside, I thought of all the living creatures that must’ve been buried under that ice fall, and my heart broke.
The full implications of what Liam and I had done in the magic realm were slowly sinking in.
“This is my fault,” Liam said.
“No,” I said. “It’s mine. I’m the one who tracked Emilio to the Shadowrealm. It was my decision to bring him back. You were simply honoring my wishes.” I turned to look out the back door, beyond the edge of the property where the trees now sparkled like diamonds in their icy prisons. “I risked all of you… All of this… I put everything on the line to bring Emilio back.” I turned back to face them, their outlines blurred by my tears. When I found Emilio’s warm gaze, a smile touched my lips. “But I won’t apologize for it. I’d do it again in a heartbeat, for any one of you.”
“As would I,” Ronan said.
