Gage stood before Harley and me, fighting off a demon while the bigger battle raged on the hill.
We did it. We actually did it. And I’m still alive! Maybe Skye was wrong after all?
Spinning, I moved to make sure the rest of the souls would get through, when a hand clamped around my throat. My windpipe pinched shut as I was hauled into the air and came face to face with my father.
Genuine terror ripped through my body at the sight of the absolute rage on his face. He barely looked human.
“I will consume your soul and then feed your flesh to my hounds for what you’ve done,” he growled.
I felt a tug deep inside of me as his power slapped against me and pulled at my vital life force.
Something crashed into my back and then I was falling, torn out of Apollyon’s grasp.
“Touch her again and I’ll castrate you,” Harley snarled.
She’d kicked me out of his grasp and I wasn’t even mad about it, just grateful that I could finally breathe.
Gasping for air, I rose to my knees sputtering as Apollyon grinned. “Oh good, you’re both here.”
Before I could even pull on my power, he thrust his hands out and Harley and I were yanked into the air. An invisible force wrapped around my body, pinning me three feet above the ground.
Straining against the hold, I flicked my gaze over to Harley to see her green magic lighting up in her hands and then sputtering to nothing.
Apollyon laughed. “I can control you better than her,” he said to Harley. “Your magic is just like mine.”
Harley yelped, and a fine white mist leaked from her open mouth and carried along the wind into Apollyon.
No.
I’d never really seen Apollyon consume a soul, but I knew with certainty that was what he was doing to my sister. I had to do something or she was about to die.
What he said about being able to control Harley better had given me an idea. Maybe the fact that I chose Lumen, the fact that I was blessed by Avalon, was my greatest asset.
Aurelia suddenly appeared behind Apollyon and nodded to me, opening the portal up that would lead into the armory at Lumen Academy and the cell there. Aurum and Gage rushed to take their places behind my father, and I knew what I had to do.
I knew now that Apollyon was too strong for any of them to take him on. Despite their good intentions, if Gage and Aurelia went up against Apollyon he’d kill them with a snap of his fingers, and I couldn’t live with that. I was going to have to finish him off before he consumed Harley’s soul and killed my loved ones.
If this was how I died, then I was okay with it.
Cael promised me when he gifted me powers that he’d given me enough to deal with my task. I didn’t know what half of these marks did, but I knew I had enough power to beat Apollyon.
I allowed the panic of losing Harley to fill me up, and then for some reason I envisioned Avalon, the glass bridge, the golden castle, everything about it that made me feel like I was home. I pulled that feeling into myself and then let it all go.
I wasn’t really sure what happened at first, just that my purple magic shot out of me, and then halfway to reaching Apollyon, it turnedgold. The same gold that was streaked through Gage’s wings. The same golden glow that appeared when Cael descended from the clouds.
Avalon gold.
Somehow, instinctively I knew that I was channeling pure Avalon power.
The invisible force that held me and Harley dropped us. I landed on my feet, arms out and still channeling that golden pure power. It slammed into Apollyon and he shrieked, his skin starting to sink in and wither on his face.
“Tate, no!” Gage said, and rushed forward, but Aurum snapped out with his teeth and yanked him back by the leg.
Gage fell to the ground, staring in agony while I killed my father, knowing what would happen to me once I succeeded.
I couldn’t look at Gage, I couldn’t listen to Aurelia and Drea’s shouts. I even ignored Harley’s sobs on the ground.
All of it faded away as I slammed my power into this evil creature before me. If I let up even for a second Apollyon would kill Harley and me instantly, out of spite.
