“I know how much I ask,” she said, calmly now. “I am the spirit of Algonquin, the once-great lake that is now five. I protected and loved my water for millions of years before the first humans appeared on my shores. When they came, I welcomed them as I would any other animal, and I have paid for that choice ever since. We haveallpaid.”
A murmur of agreement rose from the crowd, and Algonquin’s water twisted into something like a smile. “They use us,” she said. “Even before they grew plentiful enough to turn their fears into gods, they took from the land. They killed our children, burned and raped and dumped their trash into our bodies. They took our magic and forced us into sleep, and when we finally woke a thousand years later, what did they leave for us? Poison. Destruction. A whole world gleefully sacrificed to their endless greed. Just look what they did to my lakes. To my beautiful water.”
Her voice was shaking by the end, and Algonquin folded, her silvery current curling into itself with a hollow, mournful sound. She wasn’t alone, either. All the spirits were shaking, filling the cavern with their grief for what was lost. It was such a sad sound, even Emily’s eyes started to blur. She was fighting it when Algonquin spoke again.
“We must fight back,” she whispered, her water uncurling. “Humanity has done more damage in the last thousand years than anything we’ve seen since the mass extinctions, and that’s without their gods. Now the magic is back, filling not just us, but the canyons of humanity’s hate and fear. When they are full, the Mortal Spirits will return even greater than before. What do you think will become of the land then? What will become ofus?”
No one said a word. All the spirits just pulled further into themselves, shrinking down against the wet stone as Algonquin moved in for the kill.
“We will be trampled,” she whispered. “You all know how much magic it takes to form even one Mortal Spirit. That sort of power doesn’t just go away. Even if every human on the planet dies of their own greed, their Mortal Spirits will remain for millions of years, just like the rest of humanity’s pollution. When that happens, our beautiful world will be a wasteland, ahellof mad gods, and we, the immortal spirits, will have no escape. We don’t even have the mercy of death to save us from what is coming. We will be forever trapped beneath the boot of monsters we cannot fight or control.Thatis our destiny.Thatis what is coming if we do not act now, while we still can.”
By the time she finished, the room was so silent, Emily could hear thedrip, dripof water sliding down the Leviathan’s glistening flesh. Even Myron was holding his breath, watching Algonquin with an expression Emily couldn’t read. Then, like a wave breaking, the gathered spirits lowered their heads in defeat.
“You’re right,” Wolf whispered. “But what can we do?”
“What we have always done,” Algonquin said bitterly. “Fight to survive. I called you all here specifically because you are the spirits who have suffered the most at human hands. Some of you woke to find your children hunted to near extinction. Others have had their domains stolen entirely, the land of their roots literally mined out from under them. I know your pain, because I’ve lived it, too. When I woke, my water was poison and my fish were dying all around me, but I was not a helpless victim. I rose up and fought back against the cities that had hurt me, killed them as they sought to kill me. I took Detroit for myself and forged a new future, one whereIwas in control. That is what we must all do now, because wearethe future. We are the land. We were here before words were spoken or history written. We are the living magic of this world, and we must take back control of what is ours before we lose it forever.”
Her water spread as she spoke, flowing out from the puddle at her feet over the rocky ledge to embrace the spirits in a glowing tide. “We already have what we require,” she said as the glowing water crept higher. “You asked how I would get enough power to fill Raven’s Construct, but the answer is right in front of you. We have all the magic we need right here in this cavern to fill a Mortal Spirit, and this time, we have a secure vessel to hold it.”
One of her glowing tendrils slid up the Leviathan to brush Emily’s cheek. “Even the dragons can’t harm Raven’s Construct. It will push her to her limits, but Myron assures me her spellwork can contain the power we need long enough to spark a Mortal Spirit. Better still, by growing it inside the prison of the Phoenix’s spellwork, our spirit will awaken under the control of my mage, which means we won’t need to wait for it to choose a Merlin. This Mortal Spirit will beborninto chains, andwewill be the ones holding them.”
“Don’t you mean him?” Wolf said, baring his teeth at Myron, who took a wary step back. “I’ve always applauded your daring, Algonquin, but this is reckless even for you. Your mage has already betrayed his own kind. What makes you think he won’t do the same to us?”
“Because we have what he wants most,” Algonquin said sweetly, turning her mirror-smooth face toward Myron. “A chance to be Merlin. Hislastchance. It’s hard to tell mortal ages, but Sir Myron here is old. There’s a very good chance another Mortal Spirit will never rise again in his lifetime. Even if one did, his chance of being in the right place at the right time to claim it is next to zero. We are the only path left to his dream, which means he’s ours, bought and paid for.” Her water rippled in something like a smile. “Ambitious humans have always been the easiest to control.”
Emily expected Myron to balk at that. Algonquin was absolutely right about his ambitions, but he was equally arrogant.Tooarrogant to swallow such open mockery, or at least that was what she’d thought. To her amazement, though, the mage was nodding along with the spirit, smiling as if this was exactly what he wanted.
“So long as I become Merlin, nothing else matters,” he assured Algonquin. “I will be the first human in a thousand years to open the Merlin Gate, and I swear to use whatever power I find there to make sure I’m also the last. You aren’t the only ones who fear Mortal Spirits. I was there when Marci Novalli’s pet death invaded Reclamation Land. I saw firsthand the horror and destruction powers like him are capable of, and he wasn’t even fully grown. That’s not something I can allow to happen again.”
“It can never be allowed,” Algonquin agreed. “The end of Mortal Spirits is the only way any of us survive, including humanity. Normally, their plight wouldn’t concern me, but we cannot do this without them. We’ve always known it was Merlins who caused the drought, but we’ve never knownhow. Whatever they did to block the flow of magic is hidden behind the Merlin Gate, which none but a Merlin may enter. Now, though, with Myron Rollins as our inside man, we can turn their weapons to our cause. As Merlin, he can enter the gate and cap the flood of magic back to what it was right after it returned. Back when there was only enough power forus, and the vast hollows of the Mortal Spirits were empty. When that happens, we shall once again be theonlyspirits, and the world will be ours again, just as it was before. Is that not what we’ve fought for all these years?”
“But where is our victory?” whispered a spirit from the back, one of the piles of moss, who hadn’t spoken before. “Even if your mage keeps his word, your plan uses us as the fuel that fills Raven’s Construct and grows your Mortal Spirit. You may succeed in stopping the humans’ gods, but we will still be all used up. Our vessels will be empty, and with the magic throttled to such a low level, how will we fill back up?”
“You will only be empty for a moment,” Algonquin promised. “I will not insult you by pretending I ask a small thing. For this to work, I needallof your magic, but though the sacrifice is great, it will not be long. Once it’s served its purpose, Myron’s Mortal Spirit will no longer be needed, and with the chains of its Merlin to hold it down, my mage can simply give you your magic back. The return won’t be a hundred percent, obviously, but there are many, many ways to get magic. Once the world is safely ours again, I will be free to pursue them for you, starting with the second-greatest threat to our future, the dragons.”
Her voice grew hungry. “When this is over, I won’t have to worry about the DFZ or human politics anymore. Vann Jeger and I will be free to hunt snakes to our hearts’ content. When they are dead, I will drain their magic—magictheystole from living in our world—back into you, restoring you and raising you up above all others. So you see, my friends, I’m not asking you to degrade yourselves forever. There is no death for the deathless. This is just a short sleep, a pause compared to the full stop the Merlins sentenced us to. This time, though, when you wake, it will be into a better world. One whereweare gods again.”
All the spirits chittered excitedly. Even Emily had to admit it wasn’t a bad plan. Algonquin’s hatred of dragons was no secret. Now she had the perfect excuse to hunt them and no one to stand in her way. But before Algonquin could clinch the favor that was swinging her way, a new voice rang out through the cavern.
“You were never a god.”
Algonquin whirled around, glaring at Emily, who was just as shocked. The words had indeed come from her mouth, but they weren’t hers. The deep, croaking voice speaking through her lips was Raven’s, and it was furious.
“Foolish lake,” he cawed. “Can you not see beyond your own banks? These are our brothers and sisters, the souls of the earth itself! They are not fodder for your paranoid ambitions. You strut and claim that you will cut off the magic and turn everything back to the time when it was only us, but time doesn’t work that way. We cannevergo back, Algonquin! The past is gone, and now you’re risking our future by gambling it on powers you have never understood. We will all suffer for your hubris if youdo not stop!”
“You’re a fine one to talk of hubris, carrion feeder,” Algonquin snarled, her water surging up until Emily could see the reflection of her own wide eyes inches from her face. “You sold out to the humans ages ago, spilled our secrets for all to know. You even entangled yourself with adragon, and you think you have the right to speak in this place? To tell us what we will suffer? We have already suffered! For a thousand years, we were tortured while we slept, abused when we were most powerless, but now it’s our turn. This time,weshall take the power, andtheywill be the ones to pay. All of them! We will strike down the Mortal Spirits before they can rise. Take back our magic from the humans, who damage everything they touch. Then, when it is done, we will use the dragons, who’ve never paid for anything, to recoup our costs. So you see, little bird, my plan risks nothing.”
“But itdoes!” Raven cried. “If you do this in our name, you make the entire world our enemy!”
“It’s far too late to worry about that,” Algonquin said. “This world has been my enemy from the moment I woke. I am sick and tired of being filthy, of being used. I am exhausted from seeing so much destruction, and yet, when I look forward, that’s all I see. More people, more dragons, more abuse, more death. If that’s our future, Raven, what does sacrifice matter? What doesanyof this matter if there’s nothing left to look forward to anyway?”
Raven’s shock and sadness at Algonquin’s words were enough to bring tears to Emily’s eyes, but the anger that followed was ten times worse. “I won’t let you do this,” he said, his voice rising like a gale. “We are the immortal land, the eternal magic itself! If we give up hope in the future and burn the present in a futile grab for the past, there will be nothing left foranyone.”
“There never was,” Algonquin said, reaching up to wrap her water around Emily’s throat. “Don’t you see, foolish bird? The die’s already been cast. This is our last stand. If we can’t turn back this tide, we will be trapped forever in a world that’sworsethan death. A world where we are powerless, dirt for the mad gods to stomp on. I would sacrificeeverythingto avoid that, because if we lose here, if that is indeed our future, then I would rather have no future at all.”
She’d entwined her water entirely around the Leviathan by the time she finished, and deep in Emily’s mind, Raven began to tremble. “No,” he whispered. “I won’t allow it. I won’t let you make this our end.”
“Too bad,” Algonquin said as the water she’d wrapped around Emily’s neck began to trickle down her body, toward her sundered chest. “You don’t get a choice. You already turned your back on us.”
