I tried to reach for the light, but it was gone.
Fifty-One
Tessa
When I opened my eyes, a familiar vision stretched before me. It was a nightmare from my past. Gone was any evidence of life. Teine’s grassy fields were buried beneath piles of ash. All around me, the world was full of decay. My wings pulsed behind me, the feathers tipped in red.
But something felt different this time. In my nightmare, I’d been certain all this death and destruction was mine. It was the result of my rage. My determination to remake this world into something better—to put an end to all the death, the blood, and the hate.
Iwouldremake the world, I thought, my pulse pounding. But I had not been the one to cause this.
But if not me, then whom?
It was you, a voice whispered inside my head. It was Andromeda’s voice, now a part of me because of what I’d done.Your kind did this.
Humans,Orion spat.
I swallowed, feeling the presence of Perseus and Sirius there, too. All of them were there. Inside of me, hearing my every thought. The woman who had whispered my name in the stars had told me I was strong enough to control them, but I could barely think with so many voices desperate to be heard.
“I don’t understand,” I managed to say, though my voice came out shaky.
Andromeda sighed.Then it is time to show you.
The world dropped out from beneath me, and we were spinning through the stars. All around me, bright lights sparkled like diamonds. I wanted to go to them. I wanted to visit every one. But the world rushed in around me once more. We stopped above a plain of blackened dirt. Everything was gray and lifeless, just as before.
This was our world, Andromeda said.Centuries upon centuries ago, it was full of life. Trees and grass and flowers bloomed. Creatures of all kind flourished. But there was a particular creature that flourished more than most. Humans.
I started to say something, but I was too dumbfounded to find the right words. There were other worlds, like ours?
Humans eventually did all this. They took and took and took of this world until there was nothing left of it. A short-sighted endeavour, as it resulted in their deaths, too. We wanted to stop them, but we didn’t understand how, particularly when they learned how to catch us, encasing us—the essences of nature itself—in gemstones to be used to their liking.
But, near the end, the humans realized our power should not be trifled with, so they cast us into the stars. They hoped it would save them. It did not. For a world cannot exist without the essences of nature. We were lost for a very long time. Then we found your world, where we hoped to survive outside of these stones.
“And you discovered humans here, too,” I murmured, starting to understand. These Lamiae, these essences of natures, believed all humans were the same. They’d seen what others did, so they expect the worst from those here, too. That was why they’d fought so hard against them. That was why Andromeda had insisted the ‘gods’ were not the ones to be feared. The humans were.
The fae were here, too, Andromeda snapped, cutting through my tumbling thoughts.How excited we were to discover another intelligent species among you. And we saw, with the comet’s power of foresight, that the humans would destroy this world, too. They’d already killed off all the dragons. You thought they were only from stories? They were real once. Next, they would destroy the fae. We warned them. We tried to save them. And then they betrayed us. They befriended the ones who would one day be their end.
I shook my head. This was too much. And then suddenly, we were back above an ash-drenched Teine. A whistling wind was the only sound other than the voices in my head.
Distantly, I understood that perhaps I was dying. None of this was real. It was only happening inside my head. I’d done too much, taken in too much power. My mortal body could not hold it all. In the end, it might break me.
And yet there was nothing I could do but listen.
We saw, do you understand? We saw the future of this world, and we tried to stop it. And so you must stop it now.
“No,” I whispered. “These are lies. You’re trying to get into my head and make me do what you could not.”
Look at it,Andromeda hissed.Look at Teine and tell me you do not know that this is true. This is the future your world faces. Because of the humans. They saw it coming, too. That’s why they cast us out and hid the truth from the fae. Because they knew if you understood why we were here, you would join our cause.
“Wait,” I said. “The other world, you said it died because the humans cast you into the stars. But humans and fae were already here before you arrived. How did they survive without your essences?”
Because you already had your own essences here, separate from us, Tessa Baran. All the wind in your hair, the rain on your face, and the shadows that darken the night. The constant war. The battles and the blood. And the fear you cannot ease. The peace you feel in your sister’s arms. It’s all here. It always has been. We are merely essences from another world. We were trapped in gemstones and then found a way to physically manifest ourselves. But the humans will destroy this world’s essences, too. Nothing will survive here any longer.
“And so you don’t belong here. Destroying you would be the best thing for everyone.”
You would have to destroy yourself now that you contain us. But just know, it would not save your people. The humans will win, and everyone you know will die. You must use us. You must destroy Duncan Hinde. It is the only way to ensure the survival of this—
Hands shook my shoulders. My eyes flew open. Nellie’s face hovered above mine, her long chestnut hair hanging in her face. She looked relieved when I looked at her, but then she blinked and sat back.
