Endless Magic (56 page)

“For many reasons, Dear,” Delia said in a soothing voice. “We are tired of running, tired of traveling. It is time for us to be together in a world where your kind of evil does not exist.” Lucan growled at her, but she continued, “And I could not let my daughter or my son feel responsible for the lives you planned to take today. They are good and strong, and they will rule this kingdom after they destroy you. They will restore our immortality; they will bring peace and life again. You may take my life today, I will grant you this, but soon, very soon they will take yours and my sacrifice will be for the greater good of my people.” Delia turned to face the crowd, beseeching them to see reason, “Immortals, look; my children are your future,” She raised her hand toward Avalon and the crowd turned to face him. “Eden’s twin brother will help her usher in a new life, and restore your life. Lucan is not the rightful king of this realm, it was my bloodline elected so many millennia ago. And now we suffer in vain because we keep a false leader on the throne where my son and daughter belong! Do not hesitate to believe me, because when my life has been taken from me, they will be the ones to lead you into peace. They will be the ones to end the tyranny and death!” And as she finished speaking, her words turned into a scream as Lucan plunged the sword into her heart.

Transfixed on my mother, I had forgotten about Lucan and his desire for vengeance. But now, as he helped her fall to the ground, and a single tear slipped from his cold blue eyes, I realized she had been allowed to speak while he gathered the will to end her. There was love in his veins still, but a twisted love that turned him evil and insane. Her magic floated from her in a pure, perfect white, until there was no life left to bleed.

The blue magic left my body, anxious to get to her, but Lucan’s force field of magic stayed in place until every ounce of life drained from my mother. The smoke pounded against the king’s magic, desperate and violent, but he hardly noticed my attempts. I was too weak to save my mother, to reverse her sacrifice and change my parent’s fate. And then when she became a lifeless body in his arms, the energy field dropped. It was too late now though. There was nothing I could do.

I turned into Kiran, released from Lucan’s hold while the evil king held my mother’s dead body close to him. I shivered uncontrollably in his arms, letting his love for me hold me together. If I needed any more proof that Kiran was not his father, I remembered how willingly Kiran let me go to Jericho, with only the faint hope that I would come back to him. Lucan’s loss had turned him into a monster, and my mother’s life taken in an act of deranged love.

“Citizens,” Kiran’s self-assured voice called above the horror-stricken silence that settled over the crowd. “You have seen the monster my father is, you have witnessed firsthand his psychotic behavior. You know now, without a doubt who truly belongs as the ruler of our people. Will you still cower under his oppressive thumb? Still bend at his every tyrannical whim? Or will you stand with us and fight for a new way of life? Will you fight for your freedom?”

The crowd stayed silent, confused by Kiran’s words. And then Avalon stood up taller, commanding the crowd to look at him without uttering a word. When he finally chose to speak, Lucan had stood up again, casting his dark shadow across my parent’s dead bodies. The sun was at its lowest point over the mountain tops before night would settle on the Citadel. Lucan did not look at Avalon at first; he moved his eyes to his son with a murderous expression that sent chills through my body. He managed to murder my grandfather, my father and my mother. I would not let him touch the man that I planned to share eternity with.

“Stand with us, Immortals. Help us take what is rightfully ours!” Avalon’s voice called in fateful command. He looked across the square, not at me, but at Kiran and the boys shared a nod that sent confirmation through the crowd that they stood together.

“Guards, bring me that boy,” Lucan shouted. A wave of magic rolled out from him, violently crossing the crowd and destroying the fountain while Avalon jumped out of the way.

Suddenly everything set into motion. The Guards swarmed the plaza from every direction, in search of my brother who seemed to disappear. At the same time, the captured Resistance returned from the shadows and engaged the pursuing Guard into battle, along with Seraphina, Sebastian, Amelia, the Cartiers and to my surprise Analisa. I gasped when Jedrec and his team turned against the other Titans they stood with, their job of protecting me not yet finished.

Immortals seemed to either scatter from the fight or turn and help fight off the Guards. Lucan crossed the stage in pursuit of Kiran who pulled me from the platform, into the chaos of the crowd.

“We need to find your brother, so we can fight my father together,” Kiran shouted above the deafening noise of battle.

I nodded, but knew what I had to do. We couldn’t fight all of these Guards and win, our numbers were too small. And the three of us certainly stood no chance against Lucan. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Talbott and Lilly, fighting Titans and struggling to survive.

“Do you trust me?” I yelled, pulling Kiran in the direction of his bodyguard.

“No!” Kiran yelled back, afraid of what I was planning.

“Kiran, do you trust me?” I stopped him before we reached Talbott and turned to face him. Our eyes met and I held his gaze with the promise of a love that would continue after this night.

“Yes,” He relented in a tormented voice. I leaned up to kiss him on the lips and even in the middle of civil war, the world stopped spinning when we touched.

“Then stay with Lilly, keep her safe. I’ll meet you back here, just…. Promise to wait for me!” I demanded, making it clear that I wanted him to survive until I came back.

Talbott looked back at my best friend with the longing and desperation that resonated in my own blood. I knew that leaving her was as difficult for him as it was for me to leave Kiran, but if I didn’t do what needed to be done, none of it would matter anyway.

With one more shared gaze, he tore his eyes from Lilly and forced himself to face our destination. We ran with purpose toward the outside entrance of the prisons and he looked down at me with a fear I had never seen from Talbott before.

That seemed to be an adequate answer for him, so he ripped the dungeon door from the hinges with incredible strength, and then chivalrously let me go through first.

We ran down a dark stairwell that led into the bowels of the castle. Our feet flew quickly from step to step, sometimes jumping down entire sections at a time. The oppressive magic of the dungeons weighed heavier the deeper we went, and even though Talbott’s magic would still work, I could feel the pressure of the mysterious power still affecting him.

The deeper we ran, the more oppressive the magic became, but my own electricity still seemed to be in my control. I was pleased with this, knowing I would need everything I possessed to face the task ahead of me.

At the base of the stairs, one more door stood in our way and Talbott opened this one just as roughly. We slowed our pace as we entered the prisons, not sure what to expect. If there were Titans left down here, hopefully they wouldn’t be warned about the mayhem happening in the plaza above, but our presence would still cause some eyebrows to rise.

Once I stepped fully into the prisons, I was immediately hit with flashbacks of India. The magic that usually restrained an Immortals magic turned on me realizing it couldn’t restrict mine. It attacked me violently, even this far from the cave where I knew the source lived. I clutched at my throat, the magic choking me, gripping at my throat in an effort to extinguish my different magic.

I stumbled, unable to fight against the unseen power. I reached out for Talbott’s arm and he turned to catch me just before the magic pitched me forward and my face hit the hard ground.

“What’s wrong?” Talbott demanded, his eyes flashing with panic.

“You have to help me,” I gasped, trying to find the breath that was locked in my lungs. “The magic…. It doesn’t recognize…. me….”

Talbott understood immediately, or at the very least understood that we weren’t going to get anywhere like this. He reached down, swept me up in to his arms and then took off running again. Sweat trickled from his temple and his footsteps struggled not to stutter over the rough terrain.

I heard the moans and cries for help from the hundreds of prisoners all around us, and the deeper we went into the cavernous darkness, the more hopeless this environment felt. I sent my magic like a force field around me, but the underground power source seeped in, crushing my body in an effort to protect itself.

In India, that magic actually had nothing to worry about. If it would have left me alone, I would have gladly left it alone. This magic however, needed to be worried, I had plans to take this magic and the fight we had begun did not surprise me.

After several more minutes of Talbott sprinting through the prisons, we reached the edge of cells and Talbott slowed. I could feel his magic waning after what seemed like an invisible dividing line. He struggled to hold onto me as he made his way carefully further into the earth.

On this side of the prison cells there was no flat ground, no manmade staircase to make our journey easy. Talbott hiked over rocks and boulders deeper into the earth, closer to the cave that held this magic.

Talbott continued to struggle, and my own fight worsened. I released more of my magic into the air, but at this point the fighting energy was still an unseen force. It could attack me, but until I reached the source, I wouldn’t be able to effectively fight back.

Talbott stumbled on some rocks sticking up from the ground and dropped me roughly as he fell down next to me. I stood up, painfully brushing off the dirt, and reminding myself that I could do this without the oxygen that seemed to be entirely stripped from me.

I reached down to help Talbott up, but he did not move. Panic pricked at my neck as I realized he lay unconscious. I shook him, trying to get him up, but he did not stir.

I abandoned my plan and dragged him, over the rocky ground, and back toward a safer place. I shook him again, willing him to wake up. A tear slipped from my eye, realizing the urgency in my mission and the worry for my friend.

I sent the blue smoke against him, hoping it would work, even in this desolate place. Water dripped somewhere in the distance and I felt myself counting the drops as the blue smoke worked to heal Talbott.

After what seemed like minutes, he finally took a big breath, sitting up, gasping for air. Normally, I would have breathed a huge sigh of relief, but I still fought my own battle against the magic I had yet to properly meet.

“Eden, I’m sorry….” Talbott began, shaking his head. He seemed so disappointed, my natural instinct was to rub his back and comfort him.

“It’s Ok….” I wheezed. “I can…. go on…. from here…. You…. go…. unlock the prisoners,” I bent over, fighting the exhaustion from the effort. My head swam in dizziness and my lungs burned from the oxygen that refused to flow to them. “If I’m not…. back…. thirty minutes…. protect…. Kiran….”

He looked at me with heartbroken eyes, but we both knew what needed to be done. He nodded once, stood up and clasped my shoulder under his mammoth hand.

“Eden, we are counting on you,” he offered and I was thankful for his reminder that I was needed. He could have simply encouraged me, but the truth of his words would be what spurred me on and nothing else.

He took off, shakily at first and then stronger the farther away from the power source he got. I turned around, alone now. I shook my head and demanded courage. A year ago, I had set off on a journey that changed my entire life. A year ago, I traveled to Romania alone and took on the monarchy. Today, I was in the same place. Alone. Determined. With friends and loved ones to save.

I took one step forward, and then another. This magic was not my enemy, but I would fight it until it became mine, until it became the weapon I could use to destroy my true enemy.

If this magic’s sole purpose was to weaken the magic of others, then it was the only hope I had to hinder Lucan enough to kill him. I had no choice but to face this demon, this evil presence and make it mine.

I would worry about the consequences later.

The power source stood in front of me, disguised behind a natural wall that blended seamlessly with the rest of the caves. I could feel the magic pumping and vibrating behind the stone, fighting off my very presence.

I stood, just barely, weakened by the already forceful magic and its strong hold against me. But still, on this side of the wall there was nothing to fight, there was nothing to see. I had to break through the stone and face the magic before I could possess it. It felt like every ounce of strength had been used just to get here, I had no idea how I would find the will to break through this wall, let alone fight the magic that would rather see me dead.

And then my thoughts drifted back to the fight happening above my head, those that I loved that died today or before today, to my best friend, to all the friends I made along the way, to my brother, to Kiran, to this life I now claimed as my own and I found my willpower. I found the drive to push forward and fight back for them. Even if this day ended in sacrifice, I would not let myself stop trying, I would not quit until my last breath was breathed and my eyes opened into an eternity that existed beyond this world.