There was still a chance that it wouldn’t, because nothing like this had ever been done before.
It had involved calling on the essence of the necromantic core and permanently severing the ability of this spell to have the means to touch the living.
I stood with my six friends now, looking on from the sidelines as Dad gathered his power and started the spell.
Wesley was in one of his usual spiffy tweed suits—this one brown—hyperfocused and tuned out of the conversations taking place. His eyes were glowing burgundy, which was the naturalstate of his magic. Since being topside, and free of Ruxnoth’s corruption, several of them had lost the gray tinge to their power and it had returned to its natural color.
Fiona’s had returned to its tangerine hue, Philip to his maroon. Felix was working his rust magic. And the others were coming along with it, too. It would only be a matter of time.
Fiona and Philip, the two pseudo-siblings, were standing hand-in-hand looking on curiously, while also talking about certain furnishings they were going to add to the apartment they shared. On the surface it was jarring against the severity of what was about to happen, but also not, because it was obviously a coping mechanism.
I knew a lot about that now after everything that had happened. I had coping mechanisms coming out of my ears at this point.
Rex’s brown military jacket was flapping in the wind as Dad gathered more power. Rex had been so full of life since he’d awoken to find himself cured. He’d even been happy to see Dad, and the two of them had been texting. So much for that rivalry. Well, the rivalry that had been just on Rex’s end. To me it’d been clear that it had really been about him wanting to get closer to Dad, to learn from him, but being too proud to actually admit it.
Aliya laughed heartily at something Rex said, and as he stroked her arm in the midst of their revelry, I caught sight of Felix glaring. Apparently, him and Aliya were no longer just a casual thing. And he was going through a bit of a possessive phase, although Aliya certainly put him in his place when he went a little too hard with it.
He was over with two of the Temperance leaders, Raquel and Hale, being his charming self, and doing his very best to put them at ease, even as they were about to bear witness to the spell they were so very afraid of.
They’d wanted to be present. Insisted, actually.
I wasn’t surprised.
Just claiming that Risen Reckoning could no longer be used on the living wouldn’t be enough. They needed proof, to see it for themselves.
They kept looking at the white band now basically fused to my left thumb. Something I couldn’t take off. The only one who could remove it was Ambrose. He’d come here earlier to demonstrate the proof of that to them as well—that there now existed a fail-safe that could stop me if it ever came down to it.
I’d actually gotten some smiles out of them, and they hadn’t just been looking at the ring, but also seeming confused while they’d been around me for the last couple of hours. I guess meeting the source of what they thought was a major threat was different than it merely living—and growing—in their imagination. It looked like they were actually seeing me as a person now, not just a thing.
It all boded very well.
Honestly, it was something I’d never thought possible.
Yet here it was.
As Dad reached optimal power for the spell and crimson flash lightning tore through the night sky, I tensed, despite myself. Despite believing deeply that this would work. I’d seen the spellwork. Six necromancers had been involved. And Dad and me.
But with it being Grandpa standing there as the test subject… it twisted my stomach.
Pops had needed to be distracted by Mom and Father so he hadn’t burst down here. He wouldn’t have handled it well. Of course not. It was his dad in the firing line. And two decades back, he’d suffered through Morien leveling this exact spell at Grandpa. Twice.
The issue was that Ancients were pretty much the only supernatural species who could withstand Risen Reckoning’sinitial impact. Others would be neutralized instantly. Even then, an Ancient could only hold out for a few moments.
Dad called out to us, drawing everyone’s attention.
And then it happened.
He sent a flood of Risen Reckoning straight at Grandpa.
Come on. Come on.
It hit Grandpa head on.
He jolted, boots digging into the ground, and I heard a grunt from behind his metal mask.
But that was it.
Nothing else happened.
