‘You’ve no secret brands, I take it?’
Maris shakes her head, hurt and confusion flickering in her eyes. ‘You knew?’
I nick her finger with the blade. ‘I found out recently.’
Proper explanations will have to wait.
I take the offering from Tansy last, then turn back to the sceptre.
Kneeling in front of it, I tip the vessel, my hands trembling. Our blood dribbles over the relic. There’s a hiss as the viscous liquid touches the crystal. I set the vial on the ground and make the sign of the Star.
Please let this work.
‘Stronger together.’ I speak Noelani’s charm clearly. The words echo around the cave, becoming a refrain.
I place my hand on the sceptre again, let my shaking fingers close around the smooth metal. I pull, pull again. It doesn’t move.
Serafine’s given her life for nothing.
Everyone’s watching me. Their faces fall as I spread my hands and open my mouth to deliver the awful news.
But before I can speak, thick plumes of shadow unfurl from the lost sceptre, and Arden’s high, cruel laugh peals through the cave. Where is she? Is she really with us at this very moment, hidden from mortal eyes?
I don’t wait to find out. I reach through the curling shadow and clasp the sceptre again. I can’t let that monster claim it.
This time when I tug, it wrenches free. I laugh in shock, but the laugh withers, turns to a gasp. An icy rush streams across my palms, flushing through my body. My fingers flare. And soon, it’s not just my hands. My arms, my legs, all of me is luminous – even through my damp clothes.
Distant cries. A jolt as the floor gives way beneath me. A feeling of weightlessness. I look down. I’m floating – floating in mid-air. A scream hovers on my lips, but before it can rip through my throat, my back arches.
Then there’s only darkness.
FINAL WARNING
ASTROPHEL
THESMOKEISthe first sign something’s wrong. Thick, dark plumes of it curling around Leilani’s reaching fingers like snarling briars. The laugh that chokes to a gasp the moment she takes up the sceptre is the second. I push towards her. I should have stopped this. But before I can reach her, she’s rising – hovering at shoulder-height. I swallow, the spectre of Orthriel’s last warning an anvil in my chest.
All my fears, ever since the avalanche. Coming true.
‘Leilani,’ I yell, reaching for her. But her back bows in mid-air, the angle unnatural. She falls to the ground with a thud.
I sink to the floor, Tansy following at my heels. I trace Leilani’s jaw, call her name. Tansy is more methodical. She’s checking pulse points. Leilani’s eyes roll back. She starts to twitch.
Alive.
I sit there, helpless, no longer even thinking of the night-birds. Let them come. If Leilani is lost, what does any of it matter? I can only see her shimmering face, her puckering lips, her writhing limbs. She’s trying to speak. I bend closer.
Then she stills.
This is worse. This is a tearing in my chest. Ice infusing every vein.
Move. Move.
I shake her. Roughly. She’s limp as the rag doll she held clamped to her chest the first time I ever saw her. I stare over at Tansy. She’s checking again, her movements jerkier now. And then she stops, lets fall Leilani’s wrist. She’s shaking her head.
‘She’s gone.’
No.
