“We’re clearly twelve parts of a whole,” Angel added. “Twelve is the complete circle of our power. Without it, we won’t succeed here today.”
We had to succeed. This was our last shot before Dalmia’s spell was too strong to ever destroy. Faerie would be lost, and that could have a serious ripple effect to the rest of the worlds.
Trusting in my pack, I closed my eyes and let their powers fill up my well. When our essences were sufficiently mingled, I drew on as much Faerie magic as I could, needing the boost to send those three unmatched strands out into the world.
At first I attempted to direct them, but it soon became clear that they knew what they were doing. They understood the assignment and went off in three different directions.
No, wait. Two directions.
“Earth,” Shadow said softly. “Two are on Earth.”
There wasn’t a lot of information coming from the connection, but the other beings felt familiar. As if I’d known them. Or maybe Mera had known them.
Either way, these two were part of our connection, the cords locking on to them, no doubt confusing the fuck out of them.
“Where’s the third?” Reece rumbled, the air growing thicker and dustier around us as his power soared. “It’s moving between the worlds.”
It was Angel who put it together first. “Alistair,” she said with a mournful sob. “He’s part of our family. Our pack. We should have known he’d be one of the bonds.”
Panic flooded my veins, bitter and coppery in my mouth. “It’s his water,” I said with a shake of my head. “His water is the life needed to cool the fire and burn of our other powers.”
Alistair was the key to keeping the magic alive after it was cleansed.
A key who was no longer in this world.
49
SAMANTHA
The dark, panic-filled cloud that was threatening to pull me down faded when Len brushed his hand across my face. His lighter energy could wash away dark thoughts with ease. “You can reach him,” he told me, always so confident in my abilities. “You’re an Origin god, designed to walk through realms and planes of existence. You can step into the afterlife.”
Our eyes locked, and I wished that we were alone and without worries so I could lose myself in him for a few hours. Or days. Years and lifetimes.
“Wewillhave lifetimes,” he whispered close to my lips. “We just have to do this one little thing first.”
When the brush of his mouth ignited a million fires inside my veins, I let out a soft sigh. “You’re right. I can do this.” Ihadto do this.
The final cord was far from us now, but it would never penetrate the veil between worlds without an extra boost. There was only one boost I could think of: Origin power.
This power was the reason I could travel between realms.
Drawing from deeper in the golden cord, I managed to take without hitting any of the dark spell, knowing the last thing I wanted was to spread that taint between worlds.
I got what I needed, thankfully, and as soon as I sent a potent shot of that power along the last cord, it pierced through the veil of the living and landed on the other side.
I gasped at how warm it felt there, how calm, how perfect.
With no extra effort, that cord found the spirit of their brother, and as the cool flow of his energy finished our twelve, the others grew quiet.
Sorrow hummed in the air around us; they lowered their heads, one by one. A moment for their fallen family. My heart hurt for them, but we had no more time to waste.
As they mourned, I drew all the power into me once more. The eleven other cords, along with my connection to the Origin, hummed to life.
“We will proceed the same as before,” I called, voice booming into the abyss, “except this time water will cool the strands after fire and earth, and it will allow the blood to rejuvenate.”
And the light,Galleli added in our minds.Len’s light is for you, but ours is for life. We need to help restore what will be lost.
He saidoursas if he knew that one of the other strands out there was connected to him. Another light bringer.
