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“And it helped them to open the rift yet again,” Jo added.
“But they’re dead now,” Grey whispered.
Hale found himself staring at the dead bodies, some part of his brain searching for a little twitch or some hint that they were simply knocked out. Any second now they’d rise up and the fight would start all over again.
“Because the rift is finally, truly closed. The pestilents will never be able to tear a hole between our worlds. We are safe from them forever,” Flo declared.
Hale felt light-headed at those words. Safe forever. His job as the Air Weaver was over. No more running from the pestilents. No more fighting to save the world from the brink of disaster. At least, he wouldn’t have to save the world from alien-made disasters. Human disaster could be handled in their own time.
“What do we do about all the dead bodies?” Wiley asked.
“And all those innocent humans down in the valley,” Cort reminded them. “They’ve got to be waking up from John’s spell and wondering what the hell is going on.”
“I’ve got the bodies,” Lucien declared. He turned toward the piles of pestilent corpses and stretched out his hand.
And nothing happened.
No flames. Not even a tiny spark.
“Sorry, Lucien,” Aunt Flo apologized with a little smirk. “You gave your powers to close the rift and you died. All the powers once possessed by the Weavers have returned to us.”
“They were only meant to be a loan,” Willie added.
“A really, really long-term loan,” Flo muttered.
“Awww.” Lucien pouted.
“Seriously?” Gio snapped. “It’s not enough that I brought you back from the dead?”
Lucien and Calder wrapped the poor man up once again, cooing at him. “Of course we’re grateful. We don’t need our powers,” Calder immediately said, while giving Lucien a warning look.
“I don’t need my powers,” Lucien added. “I promise. I was just surprised. And you know, I liked setting things on fire.”
Calder leaned over and snagged Lucien in a brutal kiss. “I swear when we get home, I’ll buy you hundreds of boxes of matches.”
“So, we’re not Weavers anymore,” Grey whispered.
Flo was there at his side in an instant. Hale couldn’t even follow her movement with his eyes. She was simply there, brushing Grey’s hair back from his forehead. “You six will always be our Weavers. You saved the world, saved countless lives. Saved a trio of cranky, old goddesses. Losing your powers will never take that from you.”
“If the Weavers lost their powers, that means the mates lost their powers too, right?” Wiley inquired.
“I’m afraid so,” Jo answered.
“Crap.” Wiley kicked a rock. “I really liked doing magic.”
“You’ve got your own magic that no goddess can take away,” Baer purred in his ear, bringing a bright blush to Wiley’s cheeks.
“And the immortality?” Clay tossed out. His arms tightened around Dane as if he were suddenly afraid that something could come between him and his soul mate.
“Gone. You’re all normal human beings again.”
Lucien snorted. “There will never be anything normal about Baer, powers or not.”
“Do you mind?” Harrison murmured directly in his ear.
Hale turned and wrapped his arms around his lover’s neck, pulling him closer. “Mind not having powers? Not at all. I’ve got something better than powers. I’ve got a soul mate who loves me enough to steal me away from death to keep me by his side.”
Harrison tipped his head forward to rest his forehead against Hale’s. “I’ll always fight for you.”
“But we do have a little gift as a thank-you for centuries of service,” Willie announced. She twirled around the clearing, her feet easily skipping over the rocks and dead bodies.
“Really? You had to spoil the surprise?” Flo grumbled.
Jo sighed and rolled her eyes. The poor goddess had heard it all plenty of times before. She stepped into the center of where they were all gathered and snapped her fingers. Bright light flashed and was gone again. Hale looked around his companions and then at his mate. He didn’t notice anything for a second, but his eye caught on a silvery glint he hadn’t seen before.
He reached inside the collar of Harrison’s shirt and drew out a slender silver chain with a new pendant on it. This one was significantly smaller than the Heart of the Earth and was like a translucent amethyst.
A moment later, Harrison did the same to him, pulling out a necklace around his own neck that hadn’t been there a moment ago.
“What’s this?” Clay asked.
Hale turned to find them all holding silver chains with pendants of different colors. His own was pale blue like a summer sky on a cloudless day. He stared into it and he swore he saw something swirl and spark deep inside.
“It’s a thank-you gift,” Flo said with surprising tenderness.
“Your powers…in a somewhat reduced form,” Jo continued. “You won’t be able to do quite what you were able to as the Weavers, but as long as you wear the pendants, you’ll have access to some of your original gift.”
