“Messia, what are your orders?”
Isolara’s element pours through me, unlike Endora’s earth magic, which steadies and strengthens my own element immensely. This power opens doors to new abilities.
Calindra is fighting us with everything she has, and I pull on everything I have as my eyes open, power blazing through me.
I see Mama watching me, and there’s doubt and disbelief in her eyes, but it’s fleeting, as there’s no room to break focus; she doesn’t question it.
Not yet, anyway. I can hear cries… screams in the distance.
Aunty Kiara’s here, but it’s too late. I can hear her anguished cry in the distance. I heard it, I know I did, but I don’t want to believe it. Theo will fix this. He’ll ask Hades. He got my voice back. He protected us in the Gods’ Realm. He can do this.
He has to.
Suddenly, the ground erupts without warning, the force violent enough to fling us apart, my body slamming into the earth as blood splatters across my face, my shield snapping up on instinct just as darkness crashes into the clearing.
He’s here. The one she referred to as Il Messia.
His eyes blaze with rage so intense it’s suffocating, his presence swallowing the air as he stabs Ahren through thestomach, throwing him back and grabs Calindra, shattering the spell we were casting, his gaze sweeping the ground until it lands on Mama lying in the dirt.
He takes two steps toward her.
I try to move, but can’t.
Sienna snarls.
“You bitch; you have fucked up enough!” he snarls with hatred at Mama, and then he brings his foot down at her, but Ahren appears out of nowhere, pushing him back with his power as he steps in front of Mama, who staggers to her feet. Blood drips down her neck.
Dante lands behind him, eyes blazing. “Touch her, and you will lose this whore,” Dante snarls, his wolves circling Calindra. The sound of gunfire makes me glance to the left, where a bloody Leo stands, his eyes cold and unreadable.
The so-called messiah turns his attention to Leo, his eyes unreadable.
“Enzo…” Calindra breathes. “Let’s go.”
Enzo hesitates, as if he thinks he can end us all.
“The Indomitable have made their move, again and again. From here on out, it’s the Dauntless who will make theirs,” Leo says quietly, his eyes locked with Enzo’s, although something tells me holding his gaze isn’t easy.
A shrill sound pierces the air, reality buckling as darkness floods everything. I can hear wings beating, feel Ahren, Sienna and Aunty Delsanra’s power swirl over me. They’re creating a barrier to protect us.
When the darkness clears, Enzo is gone, and so are Calindra and Velasara.
I rush to Mama’s side, helping her up as Dante’s wolves thunder past, to stop the Indomitable’s retreat, killing those left behind.
Rain begins to pour down hard and heavy, washing blood into the dirt.
“We can’t rest,” Mama says, struggling to stand. “We need to raise the barriers.”
“They’ll have to wait until you’re strong enough,” Aunty Delsanra says quietly. Mama shakes her head as they look at each other, and then something in Mama’s expression breaks.
“I should have been here,” she whispers. “She was always checking in… Always making sure everyone was okay… I failed them,” she whispers to Aunty Delsanra.
My throat tightens as I look at Sienna, silent tears tracking down her face, and the truth finally settles in, heavy and irreversible.
Aunty Raven is really gone.
“She always did, same with me,” Aunty Delsanra says before she hugs Mama.
“Raven… huh…” Leo says as he looks away, but not before I see the sadness etch across his features for a second.
