Total pages in book: 162
Estimated words: 151630 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 758(@200wpm)___ 607(@250wpm)___ 505(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 151630 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 758(@200wpm)___ 607(@250wpm)___ 505(@300wpm)
“Hey, you didn’t leave anyone for me,” Lee complains.
Cassie has a grin on her face as she stands over the guard she did in. She nods to her brother. “I think this one’s safe to snack on.”
“He’s not really here?” Daniel asks as he stares at the altar where the King of the Seelie Fae has managed to sit up. There’s a deep longing in his eyes.
That makes me ache, Dev says. He knows it’s not me, but he can’t…
“All will be well, father-in-law,” I promise him. “Let me deal with this first.”
“I suspect he has not been here since he transported us from the tent,” Ostara explains, and if she’s bothered by the amount of blood spilled around her, she does not show it. She simply gets into Sasha space after he drops the corpse of the guard he took out and huddles close to him.
Sasha found his wife and she’s a freaking goddess.
A weird joy suffuses me, and I know it’s going to be all right.
“I have to go back and see if there’s anything I can do,” Daniel begins. “He’s tough. He might be alive.”
Zoey puts a hand on his arm. “He’s gone, Danny. I don’t want to believe it either, but you can’t bring him back. He’s… We have to concentrate on getting our kids out of here now. If Myrddin closes the door there will be all kinds of trouble. Maybe we should go to the mountain and try to figure out how he’s doing it.”
She cannot see what I can and can’t feel the shift in magic the way her son and Ostara do. My poor mother-in-law is trying so hard to save us.
“Mother, there is no need for worry. My goddess is going to handle it,” Rhys says with great confidence. It fills my soul.
“It doesn’t matter if I’m there or somewhere else,” Myrddin announces. “You will still bear witness… What?”
The wizard turns, and I swear I can see a shadow like someone is trying to bring him news. His face goes tight, and I see his mouth moving but he’s being quiet about it. Not so quiet I don’t hear him curse.
He calls himself a wizard. Well, he’s a little like the Wizard of Oz in this moment. Hidden behind a curtain, all his magic falling to something real. My magic.
His is selfish and temporary. My magic moves the world.
Rhys ignores Myrddin entirely. “Would you like sunshine or a lighter rain, my goddess?”
Ostara joins us. “Sunshine would be nice.”
“There is no winter allowed here today. Today, for an afternoon, I declare it to be spring.” Not that winter was too rough in the sithein, but here in the mountains it definitely feels like it, and I want joy and warmth for what is about to happen.
And it will happen. I already feel them. And I see the first spirit out of the Hellmouth. My mother bursts free of the spell and flies up.
The sun comes out, gentle breezes bathing the mountain valley, and I can feel the grass grow beneath my feet.
Something happened in those moments she spent inside the Hellmouth. Gone is all vestige of her previous state. She is who she was in life. Petite and vibrant, with curls for days when she doesn’t keep her hair in braids, and a smile that warms the darkest night.
Bris is behind her, flying up to float beside her as they guide souls out.
“Guide them to me. To my light,” I say, the words sounding right on my tongue. Like I knew them before, though the language was different. “I am Death. I am a door to whatever happens next. Come into me and begin again.”
“Shy,” my mother-in-law gasps. “You’re…”
Glowing. I glow with invitation, and they take it. I feel the first of the sluagh fly through me.
Feel his cool presence. In life he was a farmer. A half-troll who was killed because the king feared his size and ordered his family slaughtered. He holds on to his two sons, also killed and then trapped by the wizard. He holds them close so they won’t lose each other. So they can be together wherever fate leads them.
I feel his love and gratitude as he flies into eternity. Into whatever way station waits for him and those he loves.
I hear shouting but I pay no mind to it. I don’t need to. My husband and our family and friends will take care of me. He won’t allow anything to happen when I’m in this vulnerable time. Or am I? I don’t feel vulnerable. I feel my gift.
Each soul who passes through has a story to tell, a life to share, and in those seconds it takes to cross over, I take them in. I open myself and let them fill me.
I feel when all who were trapped have passed, and yet they do not stop. Some of these souls were stuck in Hell for centuries, but when they saw my mother and Bris, they took the chance that their long suffering could be over. They realized Hell is a choice they made, and they can make a new one.