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"Time to sever the worlds," I say. "And reverse the damage to them."
Sarah grips my hand harder. "We'll remember each other when this is over. I know we will."
Dax glances at Allison. "Everyone will remember the apocalypse, and each other, but we'll be free of the Echo forever."
I swear I can feel the anxiety inside our circle, like a palpable force that might knock our final blast of magics out of whack and wreck what we're trying to do. "Come on, guys, no wistful gazes or repressed anxiety. I spent enough time in that machine to know the Echo feeds on negative emotions. We all have to believe we can do this, or it will go sideways."
"You're right," Grant says. "No worries. I know we can do this."
"That's better."
Dax touches his forehead to Allison's. "I want our child to grow up in a beautiful world. We can do this—for our baby."
She touches her lips to his. "Me too. Let's make it happen."
I glance at Sarah. "No turning back now."
"We don't want to go back. Everyone on Earth needs to move forward, and what we're about to do will make sure that can happen."
While Aldith and Jarek observe from a distance, we begin the new alchemy of worlds, gathering magics from both worlds and transmuting them from bad to good, weaving a spell of such magnitude that I doubt anyone else in any universe has ever attempted something like this. The power once housed in the Echo, in the castle built by Sefton, reels out of that world and into us, whirling around our group like a hurricane wind. We cling to each other's hands to keep from falling down.
Whatever happens now, it's beyond our control.
A monstrous cracking sound originates overhead, from the place where the gateway to the Echo once hovered. The sky splits apart, but not in the same way as it had on that day when one man's fury and madness destroyed the Earth and unleashed hell on two worlds. The cracking gets louder and louder, and though I want to cover my ears, I keep hold of Sarah and Allison's hands, squeezing my eyes shut as the magics inside the Echo are sucked out of that world and dissipate into the air, gone forever.
Silence descends. The most profound silence I've ever experienced.
Then I begin to hear other sounds, things I haven't heard since before the apocalypse. Birds chirping. Leaves rustling. I open my eyes, and the sun blinds me for a moment. Then I realize we're standing on a grassy hill that overlooks a river and the City of Fort Worth.
"Look!" Allison shouts, grinning as she points toward something in the distance. "The library is back."
"You're excited about that?" I say. "What about the green grass and the wildflowers and the lack of a gaping hole in the sky?"
"That's awesome too," Allison says, still grinning as Dax folds an arm around her. "You don't understand. I used to work at the public library. Seeing it again, the way it used to look, is amazing."
Sarah stares at me, her eyes wide. "We did it. The worlds are unbound, Earth has been restored, and we remember everything."
"But do you remember your life before Sanctuary?"
Her face goes blank. Her gaze is aimed directly at me, but she just stands there as if she's turned to stone.
"Sarah?" I grasp her shoulders. "Are you okay?"
"Gabriel…"
She collapses in my arms.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Sarah
I rouse gradually, at first hearing only the sound of my heartbeats and my breaths, then noticing the breeze that tickles my face and the feel of strong arms wrapped around me. I smell the unique and indescribable scent of Gabriel, then realize the breeze I thought I'd felt is actually his breaths on my skin. My lids flutter open.
Gabriel hugs me to him even tighter and cradles my cheek in his hand as he gazes into my eyes. "You're awake. How do you feel? What happened?"
"Not sure. I got woozy, and then I must have passed out."
"I know that. But how do you feel?"
