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I don’t know what to do. We can’t have come this far to watch this happen now. But I can’t get over there in time. No one can.
No. Not no one. “Tsip!” I shout. She pops into existence on a catwalk across the cavern.
“You can take someone beyond reality if they don’t mind all their molecules being dissolved?”
“Yes!” She nods enthusiastically.
Cillian points at his father, tears streaming down his face. “Do it.”
She shrugs and disappears. Cillian’s father has one moment to look truly godlike in his wrath as he looms over our mothers before Tsip pops in next to him and then pops him right out of existence.
We all sit in the ringing silence left in his wake. Tsip reappears empty-handed. I feel a sudden rush of relief that she’s actually empty-handed and not holding any eyes. This is already too much trauma for Cillian to process.
“Are you okay?” I ask him. I know his father was an evil hellgod who was going to kill all of us, but he was still Cillian’s dad.
Cillian shakes his head. His brow is furrowed, but he still looks more like he belongs as a display of fine art in a museum than a real person. “My da died a long time ago. That wasn’t him. Not really. It had to be done.”
Across the way, my mother helps Esther stand. Esther is crying as she turns to hurry back through the catwalks to find us.
I’m struck with the thought that Cillian turned out to be the only one of all of us actually qualified to be a Watcher. He was faced with an impossible choice, and he chose the world. But we’ll be here for him, forever. We’re his family. And I think he knows it.
Rhys walks hesitantly to his boyfriend. He keeps adjusting his glasses like somehow it will change the way Cillian looks. “So. Erm. You’re … a god now?”
Cillian looks down at his hands. “Guess so. That or I’m totally off my nut and none of this is actually happening.”
“It’s happening.” Rhys takes Cillian’s hand in his own. “What about what he said—that you won’t be able to hold it?” Everyone looks at me like I’ll have an answer. For a moment I’m horrified that we’ve traded an immediate apocalyptic problem for the same problem in the near future. Then Leo shifts closer to me, and I realize I’ve done it.
I’ve saved everyone. Everyone I could, at least. Not poor lost murderous Imogen, or Cillian’s father, if any of him was left in the hellgod’s mess of a brain. But Faith was right. I used every ounce of power I had, the good and the bad, each part of myself. And we all came out on the other side. Including me.
“Two birds, meet one stone!” I lean back, laughing in relief. “We have a half god who will need siphoning and a half demon who can’t stand the idea of harming even demons by draining them.” I gesture to Leo and Cillian.
They look back at each other appraisingly. Cillian shrugs. “Could work.”
“You sure?” Leo asks.
“You can be my chief minion.” Cillian laughs at Leo’s horrified expression. “No? Head zealot. High priest.”
Rhys shakes his head. “God, you’re the worst.”
“You can still call me Cillian. We’ll save ‘God’ for formal occasions.” He’s joking, but his expression is still a bit shocked and raw. Rhys pulls him close and hugs him tightly. Esther bursts out of a tunnel onto our catwalk and wraps them both in her arms. She’s murmuring something quiet and broken that I know isn’t for me, so I don’t try to hear.
My mom sits next to us, and I lean against her, but I don’t let go of Artemis. I’m not letting go of her for anything. Plus, I’m bleeding quite a bit from my various stab wounds and frankly not feeling very mobile. Just exhausted and grateful. Leo lies back, his head brushing my leg. I finger-comb his hair away from his eyes, and he closes them, smiling. He looks stunned but happy. It’s not lost on me that only a few hours ago he was ready to die, but now he has a way to live without harming anyone. Sometimes we get happy endings.
Speaking of happy endings … “Where’s Doug?” I ask. “And the other Slayers? And Jade?”
“Here!” Chao-Ahn elbows one of the still-bowing zealots out of the way. “We are fine! A few vampires in the tunnels.”
“Done and dusted!” Maricruz twirls her stake again.
Doug and Jade appear on the opposite end of the cavern. They’re holding hands, laughing. Jade gazes proudly at Doug. “No worries about anyone stopping us on our way out. Sean and his crew are quite incapacitated. Blissfully out of it.”
Doug holds up Jade’s hand. “Also the police will find him with an extensive array of bomb-making supplies in his car, not to mention an entirely illegal arsenal of weapons.” Jade curtsies.
Honora drags herself across the catwalk. She looks so genuinely worried for my sister. There’s a lot I can’t—won’t—forgive her for. But I can’t deny that she loves my sister. She tried to help her. All this time I thought it was Honora forcing my sister into associations with hellgods, but I suspect it was the other way around.
“Is she okay?” Tears are streaming down Honora’s face, making tracks through the smears of blood and dirt.
“Do you …” I grimace, the words foul on my tongue. But I push on. “Do you want to come back with us? Help me make sure she gets better?” Artemis is going to need more than just physical healing. It will take a long time, and everyone who loves her should be there to help.
