Her spirit’s voice rang through her head, and Marci cracked open her eyes—which she hadn’t realized she’d closed—to see the Empty Wind standing over her.I can see it!
“See what?” she croaked, making Julius jump.
How we become a Merlin.
That got her attention.
I couldn’t see it before because you were alive,he said excitedly.But now that you’re on the threshold, it’s right there! Just on the other side.
By which she assumed he meant death.
He scoffed.Surelyyouare not afraid of death?
Of course she was. Everyone was afraid of death, even immortals.Especially immortals, which was why all the spirits had run when Ghost’s army had come marching down the mountain.
But you won’t run,the Empty Wind said with absolute certainty.You alone have never feared me. We were matched for a reason, you and I. You told me we would be a great Merlin. Now’s our chance to do it.
He put out his hand, passing it right under Julius, who didn’t seem to see the spirit at all.We’ll make the jump together,he promised.Let me guide you as you guided me.
But Marci didn’t want to take his hand. She didn’t want to die. She especially didn’t want to do it in front of Julius, who looked like he was on the edge of something terrifying. She’d never seen him look so scared, not even when he was the one who’d been shot, and the sight broke her heart for both of them. There was too much left to do. She hadn’t gotten her flight through the sky yet. She hadn’t even kissed him properly. What was the point of surviving everything else if she died before she got her dragon?
That thought was enough to make her cry. If she’d had the breath left for words, she would have told Julius she was sorry. Sorry for the waste, sorry for stumbling at the last second. She would have kissed him, too. She should have done it the moment she’d seen him, but it hadn’t felt appropriate. Now, all she could think was how stupid she’d been. Every chance she’d had to tell him the truth about how she felt, she’d let something get in the way. She’d always told herself she was just waiting for the right time, and now, suddenly, there was no time left.
The moment that thought crossed her mind, Marci knew this was it. For someone who’d spent as much time with death as she had recently, she’d never realized just how final the icy hand would feel when it finally closed over her. The weight of it was already pushing down on her so hard, she couldn’t keep her eyes open. She tried her best, if only so she could keep looking at Julius for just a little longer, but she was just so tired. Everything was cold and dark and heavy now. But even when she finally gave in and slid her eyes closed, the Empty Wind was still there, waiting for her in the dark with his hand still outstretched.
Take it.
No. She didn’t want to. If she took it, that was the end.
It’s already the end!he cried, his deep voice cracking.Please, Marci, you have to trust me. I can see exactly where we have to go. I’ll take you there, I swear it, but if you go by yourself, I can’t follow. You’re too remembered, too loved. If you leave without me now, you’ll pass out of my reach forever, and I’ll be alone again. Youpromisedyou wouldn’t leave me alone!
He was almost begging by the time he finished, and it broke her heart all over again, because he was right. Shehadpromised. Julius loved her, she knew, but he had others who could help him when she was gone. Ghost had no one. No one to trust, no one to cling to. No one but her.
With that, Marci knew what she had to do. Sucking in what was probably the last breath she’d ever take, she gathered what was left of her strength, which she’d intended to use to grab Julius’s hand one last time, and took the Empty Wind’s instead, wrapping her fingers around his ghostly flesh, which now felt as warm and welcoming as any human skin. “I trust you,” she whispered. “Take me there.”
She’d barely finished before the Empty Wind yanked, snatching her out of the cold, dead weight of her body into the dark.
And with that, Marci Caroline Novalli died.
Chapter 18
“No!” Julius screamed. “Don’t go! Don’t youdarego, Marci!”
But she wasn’t listening. What was left of her attention was focused on Ghost. Julius hadn’t seen the spirit since she’d been shot, but he knew he was there, occupying the last few seconds of Marci’s life. And in that moment, Julius hated him for it.
“You can’t have her!” he yelled furiously. “I’ll remember her forever! She’llneverbe yours!”
But it was already too late. Marci’s warm eyes had already closed, her lips moving in words he couldn’t hear. He was leaning down in a desperate attempt to try and make them out when her hand lifted, her long, lovely fingers curling like she was reaching for something he couldn’t see. By the time he grabbed her, though, there was nothing left. Her grip was gone, leaving only the limp coldness of her lifeless hand. And that was when Julius knew—knew with every cell in his body—that she was dead. Marci was dead, and he’d never see her again. Never get to tell her he loved her, never fly with her, never kiss her. He’d never get to see her eyes light up when she figured something out, never hear her laugh. She’d never tease him, never hug him. Everything she was, everything he’d treasured was gone forever, and he would never see it again. Never, never,never.
And it was all that human’s fault.
“You,” he said quietly, his voice flat and terrifying even to him as he turned on Emily Jackson, who was still being crushed beneath the Leviathan. “You did this.”
A few feet away, Algonquin smiled, her face changing to mirror the cold, terrifying rage Julius barely recognized as his own before she flicked her fingers, commanding the Leviathan away from the general, who rose to her knees.
“You did this,” he said again, gently folding Marci’s lifeless hands over her bloody chest. “You killed her.”
“I did,” she said, looking him dead in the eyes. “But she left me no choice. The Merlin is humanity’s greatest weapon. I knew before we came here that I would destroy her before I let her fall into the hands of our enemy.”
