Page 92 of Hex You

Suddenly, warmth washed through Mercy. She was able to draw a full, deep breath and she stood straight as Freya’s blessing gifted her with borrowed strength.

“Mag? You have to talk to me!” Hunter said.

“I know. I’m sorry. I—I couldn’t tell you before, but now I have to die in Khenti’s world. I made a mess there and I have to fix it,” said Mercy.

Beside her Xena sobbed softly. “But kitten, there is no Summerland in Khenti’s Underworld, and that means there is no Freya, no Abigail—and eventually no me to be with my kitten in eternity.”

Mercy wiped the tears from Xena’s cheeks. “I know and I’m sorry. I wish I had time to explain. You’ll just have to trust me. I wouldn’t do this if I didn’t have to.”

“No!” Emily sobbed.

Mercy stepped out of Xena’s arms. “Em, it’s going to be okay. Remember, we’ll always be best friends, no matter where we are. Stay close to Hunter, ’kay? Do that for me?”

Weeping, Emily could only nod.

Jax put his arm around Em. Tears leaked down his umber cheeks, but his voice was steady. “I’ll be here, too. I give you my word.”

“Thank you. I love both of you,” Mercy told her friends—the family of her heart. Then she turned back to her favorite person in any world. “H, I gotta go. I gotta die in Khenti’s world. I—I don’t have time to explain now why. Please trust me. Please believe that I’m doing the right thing,withFreya’s blessing.”

Hunter shook her head back and forth, back and forth. “No. No, Mag. Stay here. Let me try one more time to figure out something to save you! Tyr is with me again! My magic is super strong! I can do this.”

The sense of preternatural clarity was back, and everything finally fell into place for Mercy. “I have no magic.” She studied her sister. “You were right. You are the Chosen One.”

“I don’t want it to be true!” Hunter angrily wiped away her tears.

“But it is. You gotta Buffy for me. You can heal the trees. You can close the gates. You can make everything right again. All it takes is for me to leave this world so that our magic isn’t fragmented between the two of us anymore—and, H, I’m leaving our world anyway.”

“No! I was supposed to leave,not you!”

“You’ll see,” Mercy said. “When I’m gone you’ll feel it. Hunter, your blood and body—everything about you is tied to this land—to thiscalling.You are a Gate Guardian—the magnificent Cosmic Witch Hunter Goode, daughter of the powerful Kitchen Witch Abigail Goode, sister to the faithful Green Witch Mercy Goode—who will love you always, no matter where she is.”

Hunter snorted a sobby laugh. “Are you really talking about yourself in the third person?”

Mercy grinned. “Why not? That’s what Xena did when she gave me her spark of immortality.”

“Well, when we feel our immortality we tend to feel it in the third person,” said Xena as she licked her hand and smoothed back her hair. “Kitten, are you truly joining Khenti?”

Mercy touched Xena’s tear-dampened cheek. “I am. I have to.”

“But I don’t understand!” cried Hunter. “Just stay!”

Mercy put her arms around her sister and held on to her tightly. “I wish I could.”

“Explain it to me!” Hunter insisted.

Mercy continued to hold on to her sister. “I can’t now, but someday—Hunter Jayne Goode—someday I’ll explain it to you in the Summerlands with Abigail beside us and all the other Goode witches surrounding us with their love. I give you my oath—so mote it be.”

Hunter stepped out of her arms and tried to smile. “So mote it be.” Then she added, “I always knew you’d leave me for some guy.”

“That I wouldneverdo!” But Mercy returned her twin’s smile. “And I can never really leave you. All you have to do is look in the mirror to see me.”

“You really have to go?” Hunter said.

“I really have to go,” Mercy repeated. Then she turned to Xena. “I’m sorry. I don’t know how long it’ll take, but I’ll see you again someday in the Summerlands. I promise. I love you, Xena. And I’ll miss you every single day.”

Instead of replying, Xena walked around Mercy to face Hunter. “My kitten, please forgive me.”

“For?” Hunter asked.