As I stared in horror, steadying myself against the altar, the earth rumbled and the edges of the fissure pulled tight again. Screams tore from the crack as the marble floor repaired itself over top of its victims.
Inspector Davies tried to claw her way out of the void, but a sharp piece of marble sliced through her hand as she searched for purchase on the slick marble floor, and she was torn back into the crack once again.
The tiles sank back into place. The puddles of blood dried up and faded away.
It was as if the whole thing had never happened.
“No. Give them back!” I sank to my knees and pawed at the ground, trying to get to the fae. But the marble had completely closed over, becoming a smooth floor once again. The rumbling stopped.
Jane still cowered against the altar. I rushed to her, wrapping her in my arms and gazing down at little Connor’s face. We kept him safe, but at a terrible cost.
So many people…
Flynn and Rowan picked themselves up from the back of the church and made their way toward us, stepping around buckled, broken marble and chunks of masonry. Corbin wiped green fae blood from his face. Arthur slid his sword back into its scabbard, his eyes hollow. Blake sank down beside me, his usually casual face pale and drawn.
One by one, my boys shambled their way up to the altar and collapsed beside us, wrapping their arms around me and Jane, resting their heads against mine. Rowan’s face was streaked with tears.
I couldn’t cry. I was too numb.
I counted them all. Jane, Connor, Corbin, Blake, Arthur, Rowan, Flynn. Even Clara sat on the steps, her hands trembling as she clung to her black shawl that had been ripped to shreds. The priest stared with hollow eyes across the church, where a handful of people crawled out from behind the pews. All of them had torn clothes and filthy skin and horror in their eyes. But all were gloriously, beautifully alive.
If only it wasn’t at such a horrible cost.
“How did you guys not get killed?” I choked out, wrapping my arms around Flynn. Rowan fell against us, his breath warm on the back of my neck. The others piled on, and soon I was engulfed in the warm, hard bodies of my coven.
My boys are alive. But only just.
“It was the wildest thing. I was fighting a Far Darrig when something splashed in my face and this girlish voice inside my head chanted the Lord’s Prayer.” Flynn ran a hand through his fiery hair, now caked with stone and plaster dust and splattered with fae blood. “I thought it was you working some kind of magic.”
I shook my head. “Not me. I was busy trying not to die.”
“The same thing happened to me,” Rowan said. “The water splashed on my face just as one of the fae tried to throw me in the void, and I hit the ground instead.”
“That’s what happened to me.” I squeezed him harder. “It was as if I bounced off and the Far Darrig who touched me went up in smoke. Sheryl said something about them not being able to take me because I’m baptised. But they were fine touching me in the fae realm, so I don’t get it.”
“Maybe because it was us who went there, not the other way around. But that doesn’t explain how we were saved – none of us have ever been baptised…” Corbin’s face twisted. “That was it. Someone – or something – baptised us in the middle of the fight. But I didn’t think that was possible. You have to be a priest or something.”
“What about all those other people?” I demanded. “Why did this mystery person not save them, too? Now Daigh has them and he’s going to use them as his sacrifice. We have to go after them. I can drag them back through my dreams and?—”
Blake shook his head. “They’re gone, Princess. Not even you can follow them to that place.”
My whole body shuddered.
We couldn’t save them. Now Daigh has everything he needs to raise the Slaugh. What can we even hope to do now?
A few other people crawled out from behind pillars and under pews, their bodies bloody and broken. They huddled together at the back of the church. The vicar crept out from behind the vestibule.
“Is it over?” he asked, his whole body trembling. “Have they gone?”
“They’re gone, but it’s not over,” I croaked out. “Not even close.”
My phone rang. I pulled away from our huddle and dragged it out of my pocket. Kelly’s picture flashed on the screen.
I’ll always be there for you.
In the midst of the broken church, I pulled the phone to my ear and managed to croak out a greeting. “Kelly? Is everything okay?”
“Hey, sis. Yeah, I’m good. I’m great, in fact. That’s what I wanted to talk to you about. Is this a good time?”
