“No!”
Finn dove in front of me and slashed, cutting the horror off. He stood in front of me, his swords coated in a bright light. They swirled and glowed like the wings of a firefly.
He looked over his shoulder and gave me a short, Finn-like smile.
My vision blurred. I blinked. “You’re you?”
“Mari,” he said, his hazel eyes filled with a thunderstorm of love. “How could you doubt it? I’ll always stand with you against the darkness.”
“You’re alive,” I whispered.
What had he figured out? What had my brother told him? That you can’t fight evil with evil? That darkness can’t defeat darkness? Had his surrender, his love, allowed the light to spear the cruel Finn and chase away the darkness?
“He was you,” I said, “but not you.”
He nodded, keeping himself between me and the horror. “I’m sorry. When I died, I fractured myself. I was me and I was revenge. I couldn’t fight it with anger—I had to become what it couldn’t exist alongside.”
“What was that?” I stepped closer to him and reached out to touch his cheek.
“Forgiveness,” he said. “Love.”
I felt the strength of him, the heat of his skin, the reality of him. “You’re really here.”
He smiled. “I vowed to protect you and shield you, help you and love you, all the days of my life. I can’t do those things if I’m not with you.”
Those had been our wedding vows. I’d promised the same thing.
I loved him beyond reason, and the light of it filled me.
He knew what I was thinking. He always did.
He swiped his swords as the horror swarmed, threatening. I pointed to the writhing mass.
“It has Justice. Winnie.”
“Can we get them out?”
I shook my head. “I don’t know. They might already be gone.”
I could tell he wanted to hold my hand. Instead, he said, “You’re free.”
I nodded. “I’m free.”
The horror had grown so big it had swallowed four blocks and now reached over the highest building’s roofs.
Finn knew me almost better than I knew myself. He knew if I was free, I wouldn’t stop until Justice and Griff were safe and free too.
If they were still alive.
“All right. Let’s try,” he said. “We’ll save them. Save the city. Where there’s darkness, we’ll be light. Where there’s despair, we’ll be hope. Where there’s doubt, we’ll be faith.”
I smiled at him. “Where there’s hatred, we’ll be love.”
“Ready?” he asked.
I nodded. “Ready.”
He leaped forward, but instead of swords, he shot giant golden beams of light into the black mass. They looped like chains around the horror.
