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It’s over.
Well… almost. The insect demon gibbers and breaks free. It darts at the place where the window was, pauses when it realizes it’s trapped, then turns on me. Before it can strike, all three werewolves pounce. They rip it to pieces and feast on the brittle remains, instantly forgetting about the trauma of the battle, fully focused on their meal, ignoring the rest of us as we sink to the floor and stare silently at each other with shock, bewilderment, and dismay.
Grubbs is the first to move. Rising slowly, groaning painfully, he hobbles over to check on Dervish. His uncle’s in bad shape, the worst of any of us. Blood is pumping from the hole in his chest and I don’t think any amount of magic will stop it. Grubbs starts arguing with him. He wants to open a window back to the demon universe, where Dervish will stand a chance of recovery, but the battered Disciple is having none of it. He told Grubbs a while ago that he wanted to die on Earth when his time came. It looks like he’ll soon be granted his wish.
“How’s the foot?” I ask Kirilli, who’s sitting nearby, staring at the place where his right foot used to be. He’s crying softly.
“It’s gone,” Kirilli moans, then looks up. “I don’t feel any pain.”
“You will soon,” I tell him. “But I can work some magic here. I’ll bandage it up and help numb the pain. Then I’ll open a window and drop you off at a hospital before I leave.”
Kirilli doesn’t ask where I’m going. Instead he grins weakly. “I did good, didn’t I?” he asks hopefully.
“You did great.” I smile.
“I never thought I’d be a hero,” he whispers. “I dreamed of it many times but I never believed…” He falls silent, reliving the highlights, conveniently ignoring the part where he danced like a fool in the stomach of the Shadow. I don’t remind him of that, but fetch bandages from behind the spot where I used to sleep. He’s earned the right to be proud. It’s not stumbling along the way that matters, but how you finish.
Grubbs limps over as I’m bandaging Kirilli’s ankle and healing it with magic, closing off the veins and arteries. He watches silently until I’m done, then nods at me. Leaving Kirilli, we squat near the place where we once kept a fire burning. Grubbs’s face has altered. He looks more human than he did when he was fighting. He also looks like he’s in a lot of pain, but he says nothing of it.
“Meera’s dead,” he mumbles.
“I know.”
“She took Juni with her. I’d have rather killed that traitor myself, but as long as she’s gone…” He sighs, then says quietly, “Dervish is dying. He asked me to take him up top, so he can die outside. I need you to open the trapdoor.”
We’re deep beneath the ground. A rope ladder leads to the surface, but a stone slab blocks the way out. It’s operated by magic. Focusing, I mutter the correct phrase and set it sliding free. “Done.”
“Thanks,” Grubbs says and starts to rise.
“I could take him to a hospital with Kirilli,” I suggest.
Grubbs shakes his head. “No point. They couldn’t do anything for him. What a moron, letting the demons bite a chunk out of his chest. He should have kept his guard up. The old fool deserves…” He shudders, fighting hard to hold back tears.
“I’ll wait for you to return,” I tell him.
“That’s OK. Take care of Kirilli. You can come back for me.”
“I’m not coming back.”
Grubbs had made it to his feet, but now he pauses, stares at me, and squats again. “What are you talking about?” he asks gruffly.
“It’s over. I’m going to the ark.”
“You can’t. We need you. This isn’t finished.”
“Of course it is.” I wipe blood and sweat from my forehead. I feel so weary. It will be a relief to leave this world and the fighting behind. “We gave it our best shot. We tore the Shadow to pieces. But you heard Beranabus. Death will return, and it’ll be even stronger next time. We can’t defeat it.”
“We have to try,” Grubbs growls. “We got the better of it once—we can beat it again. I’ll unleash more of the power of the Kah-Gash next time.”
“How?” I snort. “We don’t have Bec. It’s just you and me now.”
“We’ll rescue her,” Grubbs says, as if it’s the simplest thing in the world. “Lord Loss won’t kill her. He’ll want to torment her first. I’m guessing he’ll return to his kingdom to wait for the Shadow, and he’ll take her with him.”
“What if he does?” I sigh. “We can’t fight him there. We’d stand no chance of defeating a demon master on his home turf.”
“Maybe not,” Grubbs agrees curtly, “but we have to try. Everyone’s depending on us. Meera died for this. Dervish will be dead soon too. Beranabus and Bill-E. All the others who’ve given their lives. They can’t have died for nothing. We fight on until the demons kill us all. Only then do we stop.”
I shake my head. “If I stay here and perish, the demons will conquer the universe completely. I shouldn’t have come back at all, but I did, for one last stab at success. We tried and failed. The ark is all that’s left.”
