Aion screamed as he suddenly came to; the pain of his magic leaving bringing him awake faster than smelling salts. Nyx glanced over at him and grimaced. Then she let go of her death mist and strode down the wall to Aion. The darkness around Hades dispersed to reveal a gaunt and skeletal version of him; gasping for breath. The other gods rushed forward to help Hades as several more came to assist us. Some of the Greek gods blasted Nyx's army with magic while others attacked her directly.
Nyx stretched a wing out like a shield and then formed an umbrella out of her magic and set it over Aion. But that only blocked the sun magic, and Aion continued to scream as I kept drawing out his magic.
“What's happening?” Nyx shouted at him.
“She's attacking me!” Aion shouted back. “That bitch still has the ability to take god magic, and she's stealing mine!”
Nyx turned to face me as she narrowed her stare. I braced myself; knowing that she was about to attack me as she had Hades, and I was closer to the wall than Hades had been. But there was nothing I could do; if I let go of Aion's magic, I might not be able to catch it again.
Nyx didn't send the dark mist my way, though. It appeared that she was trying something new on me. She collected darkness in her hand and formed it into an ax. My eyes widened as Nyx pulled back her arm to launch the weapon at me. I would have ducked, moved, something, but she moved so fast that I barely had time to register it. Within a heartbeat, the ax was hurtling toward my head.
Blue shouted and stepped in front of me. There was a horrible thud as Blue wavered on his feet. I screamed as he crumpled to his knees; the ax embedded in his chest.
Focus! Don't you dare stop now, or he will die for nothing!
Is he going to die?I asked in a panic.Blue's a god, he can live through that, right?
He may not, but it won't matter if you kill Aion!
I shouted with fury and yanked on Aion's magic more viciously. It came tumbling into me, and I fell back into Trevor's arms as I was overcome by it. Time unfolded before me; great spirals of glowing, hazy colors like the Northern Lights. I smiled softly as they filled me, but then a ticking began in my ears, and it grew louder and louder. It was unsteady—the rhythm off—and I knew that Aion had hurt Time itself when he had used his magic to alter it.
He went back too many times,Alaric confirmed.Too many attempts to accomplish one outcome; your pain. Time is not a weapon.
No; it's not.
I opened my heart to the magic, and let it take shelter within me. I let it see my intentions and my hopes for us. I wanted to right the mistakes that had been made. I wanted to repair the wounds Aion had left on Time. His magic approved of that, and it liked me. It settled into my bones and blood; sending an effervescent feeling throughout my body. But then it felt as if I were pulling away from my body; lifting into the air.
I watched as the world grew smaller, and then Time began to unfold. I saw the past and the future; the circle of life that we all traveled—even the immortals. Time bent and brushed against itself, but it wasn't just a circle; it was a spiral. The curved string of Time could be scrunched together or stretched apart; it could even be tangled or cut. Aion had cut Time; discarding a piece of it so that it could be rewritten. And he had done it three times. The surgery had left a scar that needed to be healed before I could replace the lost piece.
I sent my energy into the scar and gave it what it needed to heal. I did it without thinking; offering it anything to repair itself. But what it took was magic. The very magic that made it possible for me to do this was now fueling Time's healing. That wouldn't have been a problem, except that Aion had made three cuts and discarded three pieces of the past. I had to search for the proper pieces sew piece them back together in three places; cutting away the wrong futures so I could weld the proper past with its correct present.
Not only did this take patience, it took power. When I finally had the last piece in place, I discovered that my magic was nearly gone. I poured what I had into Time anyway, and pain ripped through my body as the magic tried to cling to me. I had betrayed it. I had promised the time magic shelter and health, and now I was sacrificing it to repair the future. But there was no other way; I pushed it out of me and into the bond of Time.
And it wasn't enough.
As I plummeted back into my body, I saw the spiral start to fray. I knew that it would break apart. But I didn't know what would happen when it did.
It won't hold,Alaric said grimly.I'm sorry, Vervain, but Time will unravel. We've lost this battle; in a very big way.
No!
You tried your best. But Time cannot be left hanging by a thread,Alaric said sadly.We will have to find a new path forward if we still can.
I came gasping back into my body and sat up in Trevor's arms.
“Minn Elska!” Trevor shouted as he moved forward with me. “Thank goodness.”
But my eyes were set before me; on Blue. The ax had been removed, and Teharon was bent over Blue; his hands pressed to the seeping wound. Blue's skin had gone pale and he wasn't moving. Teharon looked up at me; his turquoise eyes full of apology.
“No,” I whispered as I crawled forward.
“Little witch?” Blue whispered as he stirred.
“Blue?” I stroked the hair back from his face. “Blue, it didn't work; I couldn't heal Time.”
“I never expected you to,” he admitted as he drew a shaky breath. “But I hadn't expected to die, either.”
“And you're not dying now,” I declared.
