Crais (27 page)

“Put me down.” I smacked him on the arm. “I’m not a child. I can walk myself.”

He completely ignored me, taking off at a steady pace to follow Brace.

Nothing irritated me more than people not treating me like an adult. Damn my short legs. I’d turned eighteen a month earlier, but with all the drama we hadn’t made a big deal of it. I hadn’t felt like celebrating, what with that rat asshole Samuel’s deception. But I was still eighteen, and in my books that made me an adult.

Well
, it hadn’t been totally forgotten. Even with her own problems Abigail had still surprised me with this delicious three-layer chocolate cake, a gold heart pendant necklace and a pair of stunning black ankle-length boots. They were the most amazing shoes I owned and I was waiting for the right moment to wear them.

I
was never taken aback that my best friend was the chosen one to save all of the worlds. She was tough, smart and gorgeous, but the most important thing she had was a big heart. From the first moment I can remember I was drawn to her. We’re kindred spirits.

As we neared the bomb sit
e, the destruction was more obvious: massive zillion-year-old trees just ripped right out of the ground, vegetation flattened, remains of animals scattered around.

I might have buried my head as we passed
some of the debris; it was too destructive, plus I was going to take advantage of the muscled chest while I had it.

Finally we reached the
epicenter. All that remained was a large crater. Everything else had been blasted away. There was no evidence that a person or Walker had stood in this spot.

“Will he regenerate
after this much damage?” Abigail said as she snuggled into Brace.

He breathed deeply. “No, I don’t think so.”

Suddenly she gasped. “Are you now the Princeps of Abernath?”

Brace’s fallen-angel features tightened, making him look like one of those stone statues of the gods.

“Generally I would be the n
atural successor to Que, but it’s not that simple at the moment. Our clan is divided. It’s going to get messy.” He leaned down from his height of a million feet tall and kissed Abigail. “And right now I have other priorities.”

Sigh.

“Do you think the Seventine is floating around here still?” I asked, looking left and right.

“Our barriers wouldn
’t hold it inside, so it depends on why it was riding shotgun in Que.” Brace stared down into the crater formally known as his father.

“
Aribella!”

Everyone spun at the familiar bellow. Abigail’s
striking father, Josian, dashed over to where we stood.

“What the hell happened?
Where did that energy come from? I thought –” He broke off, his bronze eyes conveying his fear and panic.

She stepped forward and gave him a reassuring hug. “Que was hosting the third Seventine
. The power was too much, though. The energy exploded from him.” She indicated to the crater. “That’s what’s left.”

The talking and explaining continued, but I was starting to drift in and out. A headache of beyond crazy pain was trying to cleave my head in two.
What the eff? Three visions in this short amount of time was crazy. And if this was a vision, it was going to be a big one. I gritted my teeth, trying to ride out the pain. But there was no stopping it.

The images slammed into my head.

The world was dark where I stood, with small slivers of light dotted around. I moved forward, waiting for something to jump out. A brightness drew my gaze. It moved closer until finally I could see clearly.

W
alking toward my position were creatures, each surrounded by a glowing light. They were unlike anything I’d ever seen, humanoid in shape, but that’s where the similarities ended. Cruel faces with three slanted eyes, holes for nostrils and large slashes of a mouth. They were not tall, only standing a little above myself, and they moved as one. Each step, each swing of their arms was perfectly mimicked. What the hell were they?

As one they halted, linking hands and start
ing to speak in loud chants. I heard more footsteps coming from the same direction as the creatures. Again light broke the darkness.

But this time I
recognized some of them: Abigail, Fury and Talina. They were dirty, clothes torn and utter exhaustion written across their features. They were followed by four unfamiliar females whose faces were blurred to me, as if I wasn’t supposed to see them clearly.

As their light filled the area I noticed odd shapes surrounding them. Stepping closer
, I had to stifle my scream. Bodies covered the ground, thousands of them, their silent faces frozen in their last moments of a torturous death.

Since it was a vision
, I couldn’t throw my lunch up, but I really wanted to. The seven girls stopped in front of the ugly little gnomes.

Abigail screamed
out then. “Join hands. This is the final battle.”

Almost immediately
the halves began using their powers. I could see Fury’s fire and Talina’s water, but again there was no indication of the powers of the others.

“There
’s no point. We’ve already killed your family, and the six are next.” A slimy voice sounded from the gnome on the end. “All except my original: Abigail.”

Eww.
Gnome-love.

Abigail moved then, doing something that caused the power around her to soar. The Seventine blasted out at them
. It looked like electrical sparks were flying around the space. Abigail returned fire, the sparks connecting in mid-air. The two energies battled each other.

I watched in horror as the Seventine slowly started to inch closer to the girls. There was chanting and yelling, and it felt as if everything moved in slow motion.

Finally the electrical energy shot free and collided with each of the half-Walkers. The girls hit the ground. Abigail started screaming, which was strange, as she was the only one untouched. The gnome who had spoken before broke away from his sycophantic brothers and glided to her side. He lifted her chin.

“I have enjoyed systematically removing every person from your life.” He chuckled
.

I
t was creepy.

“I do admire your ability to keep moving ahead, despite the loss of your loved one.”

Abigail sobbed. She was as disheveled as I’d ever seen her, and her eyes were lifeless.

He leaned in closer, his oily voice lowering to a whisper. “
I’ve enjoyed our games, all the more because I never had any doubts of my success.” He chuckled. “Do you want to know why?”

She didn’t lift her head or show any emotion. I wanted so badly to hug her.

He continued. “I
discovered something when I possessed your mate.”

Tears started to run down her cheeks.

“Something that meant you could never have beaten us. So you really shouldn’t feel guilty.” He tried for reassuring but it came out more sociopath-serial killer. “The moment you melded with your mate it was all over.”

Abigail lifted her head at these words.

“You split your energy sharing it with Brace, and you needed every single iota to have stood a chance against us.”

He reached down and with a deceptive strength lifted her and threw her over his shoulder.

“And now we have an eternity and all the energy of the worlds.”

My last view was Abigail’s face, those silent tears that never stopped and the utter desolation written across her features.

I was screaming as I came back to reality. The first thing I saw, as I opened my eyes, was my best friend’s concerned face. She cradled my head in her lap.

“What, Luce? What did you see?”

I swallowed loudly. How was I going to tell her that, because of her unbreakable melding bond with Brace, we couldn’t win?

That e
veryone was going to die.

***

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I’d appreciate your feedback. – Jaymi
n
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Jaymin Eve is a twenty-eight-year-old with the best job in the world. When she’s not being a mother to two beautiful girls, you’ll find her hammering away at her computer lost in her fantasy worlds, or traveling to far-off places for family fun and exploration.
 

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