Mom sat on a fallen log nearby, her hands over her face as she sobbed uncontrollably. Her shoulders bounced with each heaved breath, and when she lifted her head to look at me, tears streamed down her snot-stained cheeks. “Your father is gone.”
“What do you mean, gone?” Ash scrambled to her feet. “Where did he go?”
Mom wiped beneath her nose, smearing more mucus across her face. “I don’t know. I was with him when the blast happened. It knocked me back, and when it was over, he was just…gone.”
“Did you look for him?” Ember asked.
“Yes.” Mom nodded and sniffled. “But I don’t sense him anywhere.”
“That’s not okay.” Ash cut her gaze to me like I should have the answer.
I didn’t, but I knew damn sure well who did.
“Hecate!” I shouted her name like a command. “This isn’t over yet.”
The temperature in the clearing plummeted instantly, and a shimmer of silver light formed in front of us. Goosebumps rose on my skin, the static in the air making every hair on my body stand on end.
The goddess stepped out of the luminescence, and Discord tightened his grip on my hand. Her divine, radiant glow made the frost on the trees sparkle like diamonds, and the amulet hung around her neck, the red stone pulsing with a steady, peaceful light.
“But it is.” Her voice carried the weight of a thousand years, yet it was as soft as a breeze. “The balance is restored.”
“Where is my dad?” I stepped toward her, and Discord moved with me, his hand never leaving mine. “Forget Lucifer’s blessing. You have your power of resurrection back. There’s no reason you can’t send my dad home.”
She snapped her gaze to my eyes. “You haven’t a clue, child. I can think of a thousand reasons to leave him dead, most of which involve mending my relationship with Lucifer. My king is not pleased with this outcome.”
My jaw trembled, so I snapped my mouth shut.
“Please, Hecate.” My mom fell to her knees, clasping her hands over her heart. Her voice trembled, raw with desperation, echoing through the frozen clearing. Tears streamed down her cheeks as she looked up at the goddess, her entire body rocking with her sobs. “Please return him to me.”
Hecate’s eyes flickered, the chill in the air deepening as she considered my mother’s plea. For a moment, the clearing was utterly silent, save for Mom’s broken sobs.
The goddess’s features softened just enough to reveal a hint of ancient sorrow beneath her divine composure. She knelt, her silver light enveloping my mother in a gentle embrace, and she laid a hand atop her bowed head. The glow from the amulet intensified, illuminating the frost beneath them in a radiant crimson wash. A silent tension hung in the space, fragile as spun glass, as if the world itself was holding its breath—waiting for her judgment.
A figure emerged from the trees.
Dad stepped into the clearing. He wore the same cracked glasses and clothes, tattered from his time in Hell, but he looked whole, healed. Alive.
“Marshall!” Mom screamed. She launched herself from the ground and collided with him.
He caught her, spinning her in a circle as they both laughed and cried. Ash and Ember raced over to join them, and for the first time in months, the Holland family was complete. A tear rolled down my soot-stained cheek, and I didn't bother to wipe it away.
Hecate turned her gaze toward the demons. Discord, Chaos, and Mayhem stood tall, reverent, and they bowed their heads as the goddess approached.
“You were forged in strife and bound by spite,” Hecate said, her silver eyes scanning each of them. “But you chose love over vengeance. You chose to save a world that denounced you. The Fates recognize your growth. Welcome home.”
“Home?” I asked, my breath hitching. “Do you mean they get to stay here…in Salem?”
She looked at me, then at my sisters. “I mean, they can never return to Hell.”
Ember arched a brow. “Even if I stab him in the heart and chop off his head?”
Mayhem laughed, but Hecate narrowed her eyes.
“Your souls are no longer merely bound,” she continued. “The ritual you performed wove your essences together. Because you channeled my light without buffers…and survived…your life forces are now intertwined. Your very beings have become one with your soulmates.”
I looked at Ash and then Ember, skepticism warring with the hope in my heart. “So if Lucifer decides he wants his princes back…?”
“He is out of luck.” Hecate fought a grin, and I had a feeling she planned to hold this over his head and enjoy every minute of her victory. “Your energy grounds them to this realm. It is physically impossible for them to cross the veil, no matter who tries to summon them.”
