“Let the world die.” He grabbed her shoulders and stared into her eyes. “I would rather we all meet a violent end than live a single second without you. I love you, Ember.”
“I love you too, but I can’t do this.” Tears streamed down her cheeks. “We already removed our bond, so go, please.”
He crossed his arms, widening his stance. “I will not.”
“You will.” She dropped and spun, kicking out her leg and making him stumble. Before he could catch himself, she shoved him…hard.
Mayhem careened backward toward the rift, and Ember turned on her heel to storm away. But the second his foot crossed the threshold, my sister let out a blood-curdling scream.
Her right leg turned to vapor below the knee, and she dropped to the ground, rolling back and forth and clutching her thigh. Mayhem lunged for her, his body resolidifying as he stepped out of the rift.
“Holy shit.” Shade backed away, dragging Miles with him as Mayhem fell to his knees beside my sister.
“What the actual eff?” Ember shot to sitting, and her leg reformed before our eyes. “We don’t have a bond anymore. What…? Why…?”
We all looked at Hecate, who arched a brow. “Interesting,” was all she said.
Ash opened her mouth to speak, but Ember held up a finger, cutting her off. “I don’t need an I told you so right now, Ash.”
The world rumbled again, and the veil tore even more as low, demonic energy poured through the rift. Hecate inhaled deeply, pulsing her own energy around us. The temperature plummeted, and my arm hairs stood on end as she attempted to restore the balance.
But even the goddess of magic couldn’t mend it on her own.
“You must perform the time spell,” Chaos said. “Rewind the veil’s state.”
Hecate’s nostrils flared. “You cannot counter dark energy with more darkness, demon. Only light can achieve that feat.”
“We have to channel her.” I looked at Mom.
She nodded. “Like we did in the cave.”
“All of us.” I gestured for my sisters to join, and I stood on Hecate’s left side, while my mom took her right.
Before we could link hands, a commotion rumbled across the veil. Dad’s scream drew my attention to the rift. Two shedims had slipped past Lucifer’s barrier, and they circled my father, saliva dripping from their massive maws as they prepared to have him for lunch.
“Marshall!” Mom screamed, drawing the beasties’ attention to us.
They snarled, baring dagger-like teeth, their muscles coiling beneath their charcoal skin.
My dad jabbed a knife into one’s side, and it wailed. The second shedim grabbed him and launched itself toward the rift, dragging my dad with him.
Dad screamed as they crossed the threshold, and they hit the ground in front of us, rolling over each other before the shedim shot to its feet, leaving my dad lying in a lifeless heap in the dirt.
18
CINDER
“Marshall!” Mom started toward him, but Hecate grabbed her hand. Her eyes glazed white as she slipped back into the same trance she’d endured in the Underworld.
The ground shook beneath my feet. The rift widened, groaning like a heavy, rusted door that hadn’t been opened in decades. Storm clouds rolled across the sky, billowing above us, sinking downward like a dark ceiling as light flickered in the canopy, giving the atmosphere a static charge and turning my skin to gooseflesh.
A bolt of lightning struck a tree. Thunder clapped. The trunk split in two.
The shedim charged.
“Stop,” the demons commanded in unison, but the beastie ignored them and barreled toward Patrice.
“The worlds are unraveling,” Hecate said. “It has no master now.”
