Rive (18 page)

“Child,” a male voice echoed through the night.

She floated away, going higher and higher.

She was awash in the stars, a part of the night sky, wrapped in their power and beauty.

She blinked and was back on the ground, but she was only light. No longer human, no longer Tuatha, just a star of light bursting into existence. She saw the Rive squint, pressing their fingers to their eyes to block her light.

The ground shook under her feet and the sky ripped open. Bolts of lightening danced across the sky. The roof flew off the institute.

The
Sidhe
and humans struggled to keep their footing. Some cried, many screamed, some were silent.

It was open, and wide, and full of light and beauty. She called upon the ancients, all the
Tuatha
that had come before her, and all the magic left in the world.

She brought her hands up, folding the seam in front of her, marking the space between the
Sidhe
and human world.

She pulled in all the destruction and evil of the Rive, inviting it into her body through her outstretched hands.

“What comes from thine, returns threefold in kind.” The worlds came from her lips, but she wasn’t sure they were entirely hers. When she was ready, she dropped her hands.

A shock wave ripped out from her. Every tree, building, and person in her periphery flattened.

She fell in slow motion, feeling like an empty husk floating to the ground. She landed on her back, arms flopped out to her side. Too weak to roll over. Too weak to call for Rylan. Too weak for anything but death.

Black worked the edge of her vision, sweeping over her and taking out the stars in her view one by one. Then she passed out.

Chapter 21

She opened her eyes. Her body was tired, but she could feel her fingers and toes. Light filled all the spaces around her, but it was a gentle gray light.

“Am I dead?” she said.

“Not this time,” said the most beautiful voice she’d ever heard. Rylan’s face swam into focus, green and gold eyes flashing, hair matted with blood and sweat. “Thank God,” he sobbed, resting his forehead on hers. “I begged the universe to keep you here with me. I love you so much. Please don’t do that to me again.”

She managed to raise her hand, weakly touching his face. “And I you.”

He put his hand behind her back. “Do you want to sit up?”

She did, letting him help her. She gasped when she saw the destruction as far as the eye could see; crumpled bodies, downed trees, even the building of the institute looked like it has been shelled. “Did I do this?”

“You saved us. They were slaughtering us. You stopped them. They’re all dead.”

“Is everyone okay? Tink? My parents?” she asked. She stumbled to her feet. “Victor?”

He pushed his lips together. “You don’t have to do this right now.”

Her heart dropped into her feet. She pushed away from him, seeing the huddle of people around a still form.
No!

She ran toward the group, ignoring Rylan’s shouts to slow down.

She pushed her way through, eyes taking in the very still form on the ground. It was Victor. Tink lay on the ground next to him, moaning incoherently in his grief. “Victor!” she screamed. She sank to her knees next to him. He was still, cold, and dead. “No, no, no.” She pushed his dark hair out of his face. “I’m so sorry.” She rested her head on his chest. “I’m so sorry I didn’t save you.” But his heart remained quiet, his chest still.

“One of those beasts got him.” Tink sniffled. “It was horrible. I tried and I tried, but I couldn’t stop it.”

“Oh, God.” She wrapped her hands around Tink’s shaking form. “I’m so sorry, Tink.” She pulled him on her lap. He sobbed, soaking her lap with tears. “It’s okay. It’s going to be okay,” she whispered into his ear. But she knew it wasn’t okay, and that he would never be okay again.

Rylan crouched a few feet away, hands folded in front of him.

“Where’s Mateus? He should be here,” she said.

He shook his head back and forth. “Didn’t make it.”

“Oh, no.” She didn’t fight the fresh batch of grief. Regina gone, Mateus gone, Victor gone. Judging by the countless bodies crumpled around her, death was everywhere. “My parents?”

“They’re on their way here. They’re fine.”

Relief flooded her system and she felt guilty for it. She was surrounded by destruction and pain, and it didn’t feel right.

“Where is Regina’s body?”

“They carried her and some of the others inside,” Rylan said. “In what’s left of the building.”

She hugged Tink again, and then kissed his cheek. “We’re going to get through this together, okay?”

She patted his arm then stood to leave. “Please stay with him,” she said to Rylan. “There’s something I need to do.”

He didn’t object, but sank next to Tink on the grass, draping his arm across his shoulders. She glanced back at the two of them together, so thankful they’d survived.

She picked her away over the scorched grass. The institute loomed in front of her, looking old in the impending dawn light. The main walls were still standing, but the roof was gone. Parts were caved in like they’d been hit by a bomb.

She walked into the atrium. She spotted her female guard limping around, but alive. “Where is her body?”

“Board room,” she said without a trace of her usual snarkiness.

Celeste went into the room slowly, trying to prepare herself for the moment ahead. Regina and Mateus were both on the table, still and cold in death.

She kissed Mateus’s forehead first. “I’m sorry, Mateus. I’m so sorry.” Once she’d said her goodbyes to him, she approached Regina.

She stood next to Regina’s body. Even in death, she was regal. Her golden hair rippling over her shoulders. Her wide blue eyes wide open and staring, a small smile playing at her bloodied lips. She died the way she wanted to, saving her people.

Celeste pushed her eyelids shut.

She gently pushed down the collar of Regina’s shirt, seeing the silver key nestled against her marble-white skin on a slender chain. She unhooked it, and then gently removed it. Tears fell from her eyes as she clasped it around her neck. It settled right next to the charms on her other necklace, the moon pendant from her parents, and the pendant from Tink and Regina. She rested her hand on Regina’s forehead. “I won’t let you down.”

“Celeste?” Her mother’s voice came from the doorway.

“Mom? Dad?”

Her parents rushed into her room. They collided together in a group hug. Her mother covered her face with kisses.

“Are you okay, baby?” her mother asked.

“I’m unhurt, I think, if that’s what you mean.”

Her mom turned to look at Regina and Mateus. “Oh no, sweetie. Poor Regina, Poor Mateus,” she cried, wrapping her arms around Celeste and her husband. “This is so awful.”

Her father put one arm around each of them. “Let’s leave this room.” He gently pushed them out the door. “Is Tink okay? Rylan?” he asked once they were out in the hallway again.

“Yes, but Victor didn’t make it, so Tink’s…” She burst into tears again.

“There, there,” her father said. He rested his hand on her upper back. “We’re together, and that’s all the matters right now. How about we go get Tink and take him home, then we’ll go home for a while.”

She wiped the snot and tears off her face. “Kansas?”

“Yes.”

“Okay.”

***

The wind in Kansas was almost always blowing, sending grass and dirt everywhere and filling the air with howling haunting sounds.

But for once, it was still.

Celeste stood by her open window of her bedroom, letting the night air wrap her in comfort. She was a seventeen-year-old girl again, with messy red hair and a nightgown from the mall. She would soon get into her bed with the coordinating quilts and pillow shams. She would close her eyes, and hopefully, she would sleep.

It wouldn’t last. She’d have to back to Dublin. She’d have to open the vault with the key Regina left her. She’d have to rule. She’d have to train the new
Tuatha
.

But not tonight.

Two knocks preceded her mother’s entry, tea in hand. “You okay?” she asked. She handed Celeste the warm mug. The smell of lavender and rose wafted from the little white cup.

“I don’t suppose I’ll ever be the same again,” Celeste said.

“No, you won’t.” She pulled out the chair from Celeste’s desk and sat down. “But you will be okay. And you are okay.”

Celeste took a sip of her tea. “I will be, yes.”

Her mom pulled out her tea bag then rested it on her small saucer. She kept her eyes down. “I suppose you’ll have to leave soon.” Her voice cracked.

“I will,” Celeste said. “I have to get the institute back on its feet. And we have two new
Tuatha,
barely seventeen years old to train.”

“I know.” Her mother looked her in the eyes. “I knew you would grow up, and move away, and be important to the world. I didn’t think it would happen so soon.”

“I’m sorry,” Celeste said.

Her mom put her teacup down and stood next to Celeste near the windowsill. “Don’t apologize. We are so proud of you. You saved the world, honey. Not very many moms can brag about that.” She smiled.

Celeste giggled, despite all the pain pressing on her chest. “They don’t have a bumper sticker for that.”

They hugged, Celeste resting her chin on her mom’s shoulder, breathing in her familiar almond lotion.

“You’re home will always be here. We will always be your parents,” she whispered into Celeste’s ear.

“I know.”

Her mom gave her one last squeeze. “Goodnight, then. Tell Rylan I said hello.” She winked, and then shut the door behind her as she left.

“She knows I sneak in here?” Rylan said, appearing in her bedroom doorway.

“She knows everything, somehow.” Celeste crawled into bed, patting the sheets next to her.

He shed his jeans and sneakers, then laid beside her.

“So what now?” she asked. “What do we do?”

“We go to bed and sleep,” he said.

“And then?”

“And then we get up in the morning and we live our lives, together,” he said. “Always together, Celeste.”

“Always,” she whispered.

She shut her eyes, falling into the sweetest, safest sleep she’d ever had.

EPILOGUE

“It’s time,” Celeste said. At her command, two burly
Sidhe
began tearing up the beautiful marble floor of the boardroom. Within a few minutes, they’d completely removed the flooring. A large silver rectangle had been underneath the conference table the entire time. It was a doorway.

The
Sidhe
left, casting furtive glances at her as they did. She was familiar with it by now. It was fear. After her intense destruction of the Rive, the
Sidhe
feared her. She suspected the other
Tuatha
did, too, though they’d all been cooperative and friendly.

She’d naturally taken over the institute, rebuilding the damaged parts and expanding the potentiate program. She’d been kind and fair and loving, but she was still feared.

And here she was, finally back in the one room she’d been seeking to avoid. She’d been meaning to do this.

Months had slid by since the battle with Rive. Then years. Then a few more years. The key had remained around her neck all these years. But it was time, now.

“Are you sure?” Rylan asked. “Do we have to do this while you’re in this state?”

“Now, more than ever,” she told him.

“Okay.” He moved behind her, unclasping the necklace, then handing it to her. “I admit, I’m curious what’s in there, but more worried about what’s in here.” He rested his hand her on her swollen belly, his gold wedding ring flashing in overhead lights.

She placed her hand on top of his. She felt the life inside of her move and kick. “Whoa!” Rylan lifted his hand. “Little lady is excited.”

“Oh, my God. Are we doing this or what?” Tink interrupted her thoughts. He was practically bouncing on his expensive loafers. “I can’t sit here all day. I’m due in Milan for a meeting in like, two hours.”

“Yes, yes. Here we go.”

She carefully knelt on the floor. Her seven-month pregnant belly made it hard to crouch, but she needed to do it herself. She pushed the key into the lock. The door hissed, like a chamber releasing air. She stood, and then let Tink and Rylan pull it open.

Stairs led down into darkness.

Tink and Rylan stood behind her, staring into the hole in the ground.

“Okay, I’m starting to think that sending a very pregnant lady down there,”—he pointed into the stairway—“is really dumb,” Tink said.

“It’s fine. There’s a railing, look.” She lit up, letting her light shine out. The stairs were well made with rubber grips on each step. A railing lined the steps all the way down, where she could already make out stacks of books and display cases waiting at the bottom.

She went down slowly, breathing carefully and doing her best to watch her steps. The last step gave way to a large open room. Bookshelves were crammed with books and odds and ends. Cases were filled with glittering jewels and strange looking objects.

On the end of the biggest bookcase was a large, white envelope with
Rua
written in Regina’s handwriting.

She opened it while Tink and Rylan busied themselves with checking out the weapons displayed in the ornate glass case.

Dear Rua,

On this shelf, you will find a book named “financials.” It contains several account numbers and pass codes to Swiss bank accounts. It should provide you with everything you need to financially support the institute for generations to come.

More importantly, these other books contain the written history of the Tuatha along with the names and locations of all the bloodlines. You must guard these bloodlines and these secrets carefully. Find the newer bloodlines and bring them into the fold.

This information must never fall into the wrong hands, and they must all be kept with care. Read them all.

Lead them well. Lead with kindness. Be fearless. You are the new Tuatha.