“Don’t!” I screamed.
He drove his claws into his damaged eye. Blood spurted.
An animal sound ripped from my throat. Horror and sorrow pumped through my veins as I fought my father’s grip.
Blood poured down Albie’s cheek. Jaw clenched, he dug his claws deeper into his own eye.
Tavish collapsed to his knees, a broken sound tearing from his chest.
Albie dug even deeper.
Then he pulled.
The eye came free with a wet tearing sound that would haunt my nightmares forever.
He held the eye in his palm, blood dripping between his fingers. A thick cord of pink, bloody tissue dangled from it. But so did something else.
Black and glistening, a second cord unfurled from the ruined eye. It thrashed in the air, whipping back and forth like it sought escape.
Albie flung the eye to the ground. The black cord sprouted tendrils. The wet length bristled, then shivered across the grass, dragging the eye behind it.
Da released me and rushed forward. Power exploded from his hands and struck the eye. Dirt flew. A shockwave knocked me backward. I flailed, going down, but someone caught me.
“Got you,” Tavish said.
The black cord caught fire, the flames quickly going from orange to red to blue. And, finally, pure white. The cord shriveled.
The shade of Mullo Balfour threw back its head and wailed. It climbed higher…and higher, piercing my ears. Tavish wrapped his arms around me, and we winced against the sound.
The white fire burned higher. A thousand ticking sounds filled the air, joining Mullo’s wail.
The eye and the cord winked out of sight.
Gone.
Another shockwave crashed into me, rocking me against Tavish. He held me tight.
Silence.
I stared at the spot on the ground where the eye had fallen. Nothing remained, not even blackened grass.
Asmira smiled. Light blazed around her. She stepped backward, and it poured from the portal in waves. Her long, white curls floated away from her face.
“The gods are pleased,” she said.
Then she was gone.
The space between the stones was empty, the clearing silent except for the scrape of a soda can tumbling over the parking lot. Mum and Dad stood hand in hand across the clearing. Da waited at my side.
Albie was on his knees with one hand pressed to his ruined socket. Blood seeped between his fingers and ran down his forearm.
Tavish and I fell to the grass beside him.
“You idiot,” I sobbed. “You stupid, brave, beautiful idiot.”
Tavish wrapped his arms around both of us and buried his face in Albie’s hair. “Oh, sweetheart. I’m so sorry.”
“Don’t cry, lass,” Albie told me. “I’m glad to have done it.” He turned his head toward Tavish, and even with half his face covered in blood, I could see the affection shining from his good eye.
