“She tried to warn us,” I said. She had tried to give me to my grandfather, and now I understood why. She thought the only way was to convince my mother to fight him with her. To risk my life if it meant keeping the pathways closed. With my grandfather dead and my mother alive, there would be no reason to open them. So what if I ended up dying in the process?
Without warning, the dark mass pulsed outward, almost like it was absorbing the air to make itself larger. Within seconds it stood as tall as the trees.
“Everyone back!” Braxton shouted, and the guys dragged me back too.
But I couldn’t take my eyes off the darkness. Something tickled at the edge of my memory. Memories my mom had stolen that never fully came back. Darkness flowing from my hand when I was just a little girl.
I shook my head, because that couldn’t be right. Maybe the darkness I had absorbed was messing with my memories. After my experience in the bath, I could believe it was capable. Everyone gasped as the darkness flared larger.
“A power capable of destroying realms,” Mistral said. “I hadn’t truly understood it until now. This is what they were afraid of. Those who agreed to have your mother destroy the pathways.”
“But where did it come from?” Crispin muttered.
“It does not matter,” Sebastian growled. “It is here. We should flee and sever the pathways behind us.”
Suddenly coming out of my dream-like stupor, I eyed him sharply. “We’re not abandoning everyone.”
His jaw twitched, then suddenly he was gripping my arms, giving me a shake. “Eva, can you not feel its power? It came to this place because ofyourmemories. This thing wantsyou.”
I had been hoping no one else would put that part together, but leave it to Sebastian. “Exactly,” I said, sounding a hell of a lot more calm than I felt. “It’s here because of me. I won’t run.”
The Realm Breaker at my back felt like little more than a simple toy. It could create and sever pathways, but it wouldn’t help us here. Even if Varian brought ten more vortices, I doubted it would be enough.
There was no warning as the darkness flared again. Hands pulled me back, but it slammed into us. I had expected it to hurt, but it didn’t. Suddenly all was quiet. And I was alone with only a memory.
I wasn’t sure how young I was, but I was in our old apartment in the city. It was nighttime, and only a single lamp lit the living room. I had the vague knowledge that my father was at work, and my mom was doing something in the kitchen. I was playing by myself on the rug, summoning stars to weave between my small fingers. That was when I saw it. A little wisp of darkness creeping toward me from the corner of the room.
Eyes wide, I watched its approach, feeling more curious than afraid. Once it reached me it lifted partially from the rug, like a little snake getting a closer look at my summoned stars. When I remained still, it floated up from the carpet to weave around my fingers, just like I’d been doing with the stars.
I laughed, and I heard my mother’s movements pause in the kitchen.
“Is everything alright, Evelyn?”
“Fine!” I called back, not wanting her to come and chase the little dark wisp away.
After that, it visited me frequently. And as my magic grew, it grew too, like it was linked to my progress.
But now I understood something that I hadn’t back then. My mom tried to cut the darkness off before it reached earth, but she had failed. A wisp made it through, and it had hidden itself away. My great grandfather believed conduits were born to restore balance. That I quite literally became what I was because there was too much magic on earth.
But he was only half right. I wasn’t born to create destruction and balance out all the magic. I was born to balance the darkness. It hadn’t been waiting to find the rest of itself. It had been waiting for me. And when I forgot myself, it had waited until I remembered. I might be half human, but the blood of something ancient coursed through my veins.
Someone grabbed my hand, startling me out of the memory. Even in the pitch blackness, I recognized his energy. Of course Gabriel was the first to find me.
His hand squeezed mine as a wolf howled in the distance. Then another. They were all in here with us, but where washere? The howling of an unearthly wind echoed the cries of the wolves. I needed to help them, but I wasn’t sure how. I wasn’t a destroyer of darkness. I was what balanced it.
And what balanced darkness…
“I need you to kiss me!” I called over the wind gusting my hair around my head.
Gabriel didn’t ask questions. His hands simply went to my waist, pulling me against him. Sunlight flared between us as our lips met. I arched my back and Gabriel molded against me, drinking me down. The sunlight flared brighter and when I cracked open one eye, I could actually see the space around us. We were still standing in the grass. The darkness hadn’t taken us somewhere else, it had simply enveloped us.
Now that my senses were returning, I could feel Crispin nearby. He was using the golden cord to find us, and Gabriel’s sunlight was amplifying its shining light. His fingers dug into myhips as he pushed his power into me until it was like breathing pure sunlight. I felt it as Crispin stepped into our dome of light, then his hands were on me, his chest pressing against my back.
“Leave it to you two to make out at a time like this.”
I pulled my lips away from Gabriel with an exasperated huff of laughter. “Just shut up and help us.”
Chuckling even as darkness swirled around us, Crispin lowered his mouth to my neck. Hot breath mingled with cool moonlight, echoing Gabriel’s magic like two sides of the same coin. Sun and moon.
