“Snowdrop,” I breathe in relief, kicking aside the shattered etherium necklace to wrap her in my arms.
Well—arm. The broken one isn’t moving very well.
Maven hugs me back weakly before pulling away, her breaths labored. She grimaces. “Her life force is really fucking potent.”
Shit. “Silas?—”
“On it,” he says, pulling the briefcase out of his pocket void and quickly handing Maven one of the clear etherium pieces.
She grimaces and whispers the strange words until the stone darkens. Silas accepts it and places it with the other two for safekeeping until our keeper needs them later. For a moment, the four of us stand beaten, bloodied, and exhausted in the aftermath of the brutal fight.
Until I notice Silas visibly flinch, closing his eyes as he becomes even paler than usual.
“You good?” I frown.
“There are many ghosts here. Scyntyche is reaping,” he murmurs hoarsely.
A chill rolls over my back as I glance around. Of course, I see nothing because I’m not a fucking necromancer, but knowing the goddess of death, fate, time, and so much else is nearby is…chilling.
Baelfire coughs nearby. We all look over as he sits up and yanks the tranquilizer out of his mouth with a grimace. The shifter’s face lights up when he sees the four of us before he notices the headless immortal.
“Holy fuck. We did it!”
“Maven did it,” I correct, glancing up at the sky when I hear another helicopter approaching. “We can’t stick around here, Snowdrop.”
She doesn’t respond, her eyes closed as if in concentration.
Or—shit, is she in pain?
“Darling?” Crypt checks, stepping over a couple of bodies to cradle her face. His markings glow softly, but he ignores them. “Maven?”
“What’s going on?” Baelfire demands, hauling his ass up to approach. As usual, he’s butt-ass naked after a shift, streaked in ash and dirt.
Maven’s lashes flutter open, relief stark on her face as she looks at the four of us. Her voice has a surprisingly emotional rasp to it. “It worked. The humans can leave the Nether.”
“How do you know for sure?” I frown, reaching out to brush dirt from her jaw.
“Felix has a piece of etherium that I marked with a beacon spell before I left the Nether. He just activated it. I’ll transport us to where my spell was set off.” She takes a deep breath. “And when we get there, the exodus won’t be far behind.”
38
SILAS
The skyover North Carolina is a thick blanket of turbulent dark clouds as far as the eye can see while I heal Everett’s broken arm—the last of our significant injuries.
The white-haired elemental sits on an old stone bench in the cemetery where we appeared when Maven transported us after the ambush. This cemetery is connected to a massive, empty field of dirt and brambles on the brink of the encroaching Divide.
The Divide itself lurks along one side of the cemetery and field, a towering wall of perturbing dark gray, like a misty veil.
I can sense it even from here. The powerful, old magic humming in the air, now barely keeping the Nether at bay.
Maven stands waiting for the caster named Felix where we first appeared. Crypt waits next to her, smokingreveriumand ignoring his glowing markings.
Meanwhile, Baelfire paces nearby as he waits for his phone call to be answered. He’s dressed in spare clothes, which I’m now thanking all six gods that I tossed into my void pouch at some juncture—otherwise, all the poor humans escaping the Nether would be greeted by the idiot’s bare ass.
“Mom?” he checks when Brigid Decimus picks up the phone. I can’t hear her on the other end, but he breathes in relief. “Yeah, we did. No, I’m good—we are all. Yeah, it got pretty fucking rough. What do you mean, footage? Oh, shit, I didn’t realize they filmed that.” He listens for a moment and then grunts. “You’re right. Maven wants any willing Reformists here as soon as fucking possible for when the shadow fiends start to pour out. I’ll send you the coordinates.”
As he talks, I finish with Everett’s arm and straighten, grimacing at my sore muscles. Our entire quintet is sore and exhausted. We’ve been patching ourselves up as best we can while we wait, but we’ll require serious time to recover and rest once this is over.
