“Found what?” Tony asks, not keeping up.
I stare at her in the review mirror. Her eyes are wide with shock and something else.
“We didn’t find Pandora’s Box, but we found the ring box and traded the Book of Maldor for it.”
“That’s why.” She puts all the pieces together. “How are you going to get it from him to Samara?”
“Everlee was going to stun Samara with her light while we unchained him. The Mist would ravage what little life is remaining of Brady, and when he dies, the Mist would need a new source, and it’s clearly attracted to power.”
“So it would go to Samara.” Lizzy nods. “But Everlee is powerful too. What if it goes after her?”
“Everlee is light. Light would destroy the dark. He wouldn’t go after her.”
“But Brady wasn’t a dark fae,” Knox chimes with a modicum of concern.
“No, but Brady was the only one around at the time the Mist was out. While Brady may not be a dark fae anymore, he was at one time.”
“Won’t the Mist of Morreux only make Samara stronger? He is a dark wizard, after all?” Tony chimes.
“That is a possibility, but she already has so much power. We’re hoping the Mist will move swiftly, consuming the power, thereby killing her.”
“So now you’re going to have a mist that has gained the power of a…” he looks at Brady. “I assume werewolf based on some tattoos on his arms, and a Djinn who is how many thousands of years old? He’ll be stronger than the Mist that’s in Pandora’s Box. And assuming you still have the ring box with the Urgsam wood, he will be too big for it. With his power, he will grow in size.”
“That’s why Ev left. She knew this idea wasn’t going to work out. It’s why she’s going to trade herself. To protect all of you. All of us.”
“Fuck!” I slam my hands on the stirring wheel! “Fuck!”
We’re at Allure a few minutes later.
“Tony. You’re from Helsgard. Do you all have something that can contain it?”
“No. I was on the task force, studying the Urgsam wood, but it’s unique and unfortunately, it’s all been destroyed. We have found scraps, but nothing of note. We’re trying to intertwine magic within the fibers of the wood so we can use smaller pieces, but we’ve been unsuccessful so far.”
I feel like this is unraveling. Samara has Jax and now has Everlee, who will trade herself for Jax, but she doesn’t know Samara like we do. Samara will use her words and twist them. The only option is to give Brady a warrior’s death and hope we can contain the mist, but Tony is right. He will be bigger after being in Samara. Fuck! How did we miss that? How did I miss that?
I’ve been studying the mist for hundreds of years. Why? How could I have missed that? I’ve failed them. I’ve failed everyone. I’ve failed Sofrai and Feyra again.
“Everlee! Are you here?”
“Callum?”Everlee answers, her voice is scared, panicked.
“We’re here.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Sorry? Sorry for what?”
Her words sound like a goodbye. Fuck! “Everlee. She needs us!”
“What do we do with Brady?” Emmett asks.
I look between Tony and Lizzy. Tony is shaking his head, while Lizzy is nibbling on her bottom lip, torn. She knows the implications.
“Bring him. Maybe we can somehow trap her with the chains. The iron will take away her powers, slow the progression of the Mist and buy us some time. Buy you some time,” I say, looking at Tony.
“Helsgard won’t let you keep her. They’ll want her.”
“All the better.”
