Never (30 page)

Sanngriðr blinked in surprise. Wendy was mollified to realize that she'd startled the Lady Walker into speechlessness.

“Let me explain,” Wendy rushed to say. Her best chance of getting Sanngriðr to go along with the half-reasoned plan—she was still working it out—was to keep talking before Sanngriðr could get a word in edgewise. “This isn't a trick.”

She sneered. “An auspicious beginning, for certain.”

“Look…I'm not…” Wendy glanced at her feet. “I'm not Elise, okay? We have to see eye to eye on that before we can go any further. Yeah, I want spirits to
want
to go into the Light, rather than just shoving them in without the go-ahead, but I'm not withholding the Light from them if they ask. I'm not making them do stuff for me. I'm just…I'm just putting myself in their shoes. There's no penance to it.”

“You understand so little about the Light, girl,” Sanngriðr sighed. “Once they get close enough to the Light, any fears or trepidations a soul has melts away. They are eager to enter the Light. It is where they are
supposed
to go.”

“I know that now,” Wendy said, nettled at Sanngriðr's tone. “Even the most sane of spirits has a self-destructive streak, Sanngriðr.”

“Again, you use my name,” she said and there was steel beneath the words. Sharp steel. “I warn you, girl, such careless words will—”

“Yeah, yeah, you'll be pissed at me,” Wendy said, making a zip-it motion to Sanngriðr. “My plan's simple, okay? I want to blow up the Never.”

Sanngriðr groaned. “I should have known that you were speaking nothing but lies, girl. Either that or you are a naïve fool.
The Never cannot be ‘blown up.’ It is as eternal as blasted Freyja. It is endless and heartless as the Lady herself!”

“Oh really?” Wendy said. “Because not a month ago I destroyed every spirit in Palace Hotel in one fell swoop. There's nothing of the Palace left in the Never. It's all gone. Just a blank space the webs have taken over.”

Sanngriðr raised an eyebrow. “I beg your pardon? How—”

“I'm a natural, you know that,” Wendy said. “One who, as you yourself noted, is burning up.” She held up a nearly transparent hand. “There's not much of me left, to be honest. I'm crispy fried.”

The pause that followed Wendy's declaration was long and measured. After several minutes Sanngriðr rose to her full height. “Come closer.”

“Wendy,” Piotr murmured, his voice carrying no further than her ears, “be cautious.” He squeezed her hand.

“Always,” Wendy said and crossed the distance between Piotr and Sanngriðr. It felt as if she were traversing some vast gulf of space—the Lady Walker now emitted a tangible cold, an icy aura that shocked the system the closer Wendy approached. She shivered and forced her legs to keep going, passing Elise, passing the assembled creatures and Walkers, and finally reaching the Lady Walker.

Sanngriðr tilted her head and examined Wendy closely. “You are not lying. You have a great deal of spiritual energy built up within. This should have burned you to a crisp by now; how have you not burned up? How are you holding on? It should be impossible.”

“I don't know. Maybe I'm just stubborn. Maybe I'm just lucky.”

Narrowing her eyes, Sanngriðr tilted her head. “No. I think not. I think this is a ruse to stall me. I think you believe you can save both the worlds. No, girl, no. I have suffered too long to allow you to stroll in here and try and sway me!”

“Sanngriðr!” Piotr snapped. He straightened to his full height, his arm wrapped around his gut, fingers splayed against his ribs. “Sanngriðr, you know who I am.”

She laughed. “Of course I do.”

Piotr leaned down and gathered up his mother's cloak. Then he flung it at her feet. “You know what this is.”

Sanngriðr paled; her expression grew greedy and covetous. “How did…yes. Yes, boy,” she said slyly, “I know what that is.”

“I give it to you,” Piotr said. “In exchange for Wendy to do as she will with no interference from you or yours. She wishes to attempt to destroy the Never and
only
the Never. You will help her. For this.”

“No, Piotr—” Wendy protested but was cut off as Piotr jerked a hand sharply, lips tightening. She quieted.

“I give this to you, the cloak of my mother, so that you may return home,” Piotr said. “So that you may face your Lady and spit in her face if you wish. I care not. But this ends. Now.”

Sanngriðr snorted. “Deal, boy. But how do I know that this little natural has the power to even—”

“The last time my soul was released,” Wendy hurried to point out, “it caused an earthquake in the living lands.” She looked up at the hole in the sky. “Sound familiar?”

“Your energy wasn't concentrated properly in the Never then,” Sanngriðr sneered, plucking at the ruins of her face. “Such sloppy handling of your power, allowing it to spill over into the living lands.”

“I did the best I could, given the circumstances,” Piotr replied dryly. “Since my goal was to return Wendy's soul to her body, not harm anyone.”

“
You
had access to this Reaper's powers? Outside her body? How…” Sanngriðr paused and looked between the two of them, confused, before comprehension dawned. “Oh, my. Your mother really
was
very good at what she did, girl. If she were still kicking I'd give her my compliments.”

Sanngriðr laughed, not bothering to hide the cruel glee. “Had the White Lady succeeded in her endeavors, she would have returned
to the living lands, riding the wave of your power. She pulled it out whole, yes? A ball of fiercely burning Light?” Sanngriðr shook her head. “Using the power of a natural's soul as a conduit. Brilliant. If she had succeeded—”

“Well, she didn't,” Wendy said flatly, “which is lucky for you, isn't it? If my mother had killed me returning her soul back to her body, you wouldn't have me to play this stupid cat and mouse game with. She wasn't a natural; she couldn't have offered you what I'm about to. So what will it be? Will you help me?”

“Don't,” moaned Elise from the ground at their feet. She wiped one ringed hand against her torn mouth, smearing the blood further across her cheek. “Don't do this, Winifred. Please.”

“No one is talking to you,” Sanngriðr sneered, kicking Elise in the gut. The older woman doubled over but Wendy, ignoring Sanngriðr's snide expression, knelt down by Elise.

“What would you have me do, Elise?” Wendy asked softly. “I've seen the beginning of what we are. I know what we were supposed to be.”

“You don't have to listen to our ancestors or whatever ridiculous nonsense you think you found,” Elise whispered. “Tracey and Mary thought they found it, too. I knew that they were wrong. Just as you're wrong. We are what we make of ourselves. We are
Reapers
! We make the rules here!”

“And if making your own way hurts everyone else? If making my own way leaves countless souls to suffer?”

“They chose this suffering,” Elise reminded her. “They must toil through their penance! Many souls turn from the Light on their own. Many are frightened of the lives they've led, the sins they've committed. The Never may not be perfect, but it's a safe place for them to recoup themselves, for the spirits to find their own way. Limbo, Winifred. A respite from Heaven and Hell. Don't you think they've earned the right to decide on their own?”

She had a point.

“If I unweave the fabric of your soul, you may not survive the explosion,” Sanngriðr interrupted idly, fingering Elise's chain, dangling around her neck. “Have you thought that far, girl? Once done it cannot be undone. If your Light does not obliterate all the souls, you will have failed and the Never will still exist.”

“Yeah, I got that part,” Wendy growled.

“If I take your Light but this fails, you will still stink of Reaper. You will still taste of the Light but be unable to protect yourself. You will most likely die a painful death at the hands of Walkers or Lost or even creatures from between the worlds. Not that you will last much longer, as it is. Your body is nearly done.”

Wendy flicked a nervous glance at Piotr. He nodded; Sanngriðr was telling the truth. Wendy squared her shoulders and put on her most haughty expression. Her heart was racing. “I can handle myself, Sanngriðr.”

Though she knew it would most likely bother the older woman, Wendy knelt and smoothed Elise's tangled hair. She just didn't look like
Elise
, lying there bloodied and beaten. Elise shook her head and wordlessly lay her cheek to the ground, beaten and done.

“Wendy,” Piotr said in an undertone, “you do not have to do this. You can let them fight among themselves.”

Rising to her feet, Wendy was tempted. So, so tempted. The Lady Walker and the Reapers had been at one another's throats for centuries—why should it fall on her to change it all?

And then she remembered Kara, hanging from the ceiling, bloodied and crazed, corrupted by the creature and torn asunder yet still having enough strength to keep the location of the hearth, the door to the Never in the basement of her own home, locked away from Dr. Kensington. He'd killed her girlfriend, the worried woman who wore bunny slippers to the ER, sacrificed her to open up the hole to the darkest realms, and still Kara fought with the beast and kept her cool.

What about Chel and Jon? What about Eddie?

Decision made, Wendy sniffled. “The dead have made their choices. The living deserve to be given that chance. I'm going to do it. I'm going to destroy the Never.”

At her feet Elise moaned and Sanngriðr laughed.

“Is it enough? Will it be enough? My Light…powers…whatever? Are they going to be enough to get the job done? Is there any way I can…I don't know…any way I can up my powers so I don't burn out the way you think I will? Enhance them or something?”

“Short of allowing yourself to burn to a crisp and releasing your Light seconds before your body gives out, no,” Sanngriðr said shortly, crossing her ravaged arms over her chest. “We can, of course, do this if you so desire, but it will ensure that you cannot return to your human body when this is all done. The act of destroying the Never by yourself will kill you. You won't even be able to go into the Light. You'll merely burn out.”

“
Net
!” Piotr snapped. “This is not to be allowed.”

“Excuse me?” Wendy said, irritated. She tried not to think of the promise she'd made Eddie. “
Allowed
? Who do you think you are, Piotr, my dad? You aren't the boss of me. You can't just tell me what I can and cannot—”

“Wendy,” Piotr said, grabbing her hand. “
Solnyshko moyo
, look at me.
Net, lyublyu tebya vsem sertsem, vsey dushoyu
…I love you…
puzhalsta
…please, please, were anything to happen to you then I could not bear it.” Piotr drew her close, resting his chin on her shoulder and pressing small, feather-light kisses against her jaw as Piotr whispered his explanation fast and low.

“Wendy, you have so much to live for…”

“What, and your mom didn't? My mom didn't?”

“This is not about them,” he said urgently. “They are both dead, Wendy. This is about you and this world. You do not belong here. You are still alive.
Puzhalsta
, Wendy, please, please…please do not do this thing.”

Sanngriðr stepped close to them. “I can appreciate your tender moment,
children, but I am a woman on a schedule. Wendy, make up your mind. You can sacrifice yourself and burn out, or—”

“Wait,” Wendy said, pounding Piotr once on the chest and bouncing on the tips of her toes, overwhelmed with excitement. “Wait! The spirit webs!”

Piotr's hand brushed his chest. “What?”

“The spirit webs. They're full.
They're full
!”

Nodding, Piotr glanced at Sanngriðr; both he and the Lady Walker gave Wendy a quizzical look. “
Da
. Brimming.”

“We can tap that, right? Tap their…juice? All that living willpower? All the Shades the webs devoured? Use the power to—”

Sanngriðr's laugher, long and cruel and overjoyed, cut Wendy off. “I was wrong, girl! You are
every bit
as smart as your mother was! YES! Yes, yes, if you let me infect you with a spirit web, you will be connected with the forest. Of course, again, you are so weak that the web itself may kill you.”

“She doesn't have to,” Piotr said. He rested a hand on his chest. “I already have a seed inside me.”

Sanngriðr raised one ruined eyebrow. “Indeed? I see.”

“How…” Wendy swallowed deeply, “how do we…how do we do this?”

Sanngriðr lifted the necklace. “Wearing this, Piotr takes your orb of Light and flings himself into the mouth between the worlds. That is all. It will destroy the—”

“NO!” screamed Elise, shoving to her feet and striding forward. Light bloomed in her hands—fierce and sharp and blazing—and Piotr dropped to his knees beside Wendy, dazzled.

“Everything you do is poison! The Never must
not
be destroyed! I will destroy her first!” Elise screamed and, just like that, she was writhing with Light, a fiery figure with ribbons alight, flinging herself at Wendy. Sanngriðr moved too slowly, Piotr was down…

And, falling back, Wendy's hand scrabbled in her pocket. The dull knife ripped through the side of her jeans…

…jutting out…

…stabbing Elise between the breasts, punching through the ribs and burning Wendy's hands. Elise, grunting, sliced jaggedly at Wendy's face and temple as she writhed on the blade.