I pull one of my scythes free as the fire that makes up Quill’s mane flickers to life.
The area the horseman has ravished is a maze of buildings, and since it’s close to the Door, I can feel the magic emanating from it all around me. I hear the wolves, but I don’t see them yet. I’m sure they’ve consumed every human in this area and will soon be looking beyond it.
It takes me far too long, but I finally see the Door standing in the middle of a desolate street, vines reaching out of it. I rush toward it, planning to see what cutting the vines will do, and if it’ll help stop the spread. But more than anything, I hope to draw in the horseman.
I dip my scythe into the flames of Quill’s mane and the fire leaps onto the metal before I swing the chain attached to the handle and fling it. The scythe flies through the air, catching onto the vine and slicing right through it. It sizzles and snaps as the vine jerks back through the Door, and I slice another before the wolves attack.
But it’s not them I want, it’s the white horse with a rider on its back that now stands at the end of a long road. The horse stomps and the horseman’s eyes lock on mine.
“You’ve made a mistake coming here, god,” he calls.
“I’m going to kill you, just like I did the last horseman who thought he was stronger than me.”
The white horse rears and throws its head while the wolves gather around the horseman by the hundreds, with more filling in as we speak.
“Yes… but Brother Death had the last laugh when your realm fell to ruin—much as this one will, even if you somehow accomplish killing me.”
The wolves charge first, but the horseman is close behind.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Riley
Something is holding me down. It’s like I can’t breathe or move. I feel like I’ve been imprisoned. My arms are filled with weights, and my legs can’t be lifted. My breath is gone from me. But this magic… so much magic. It ripples and spins around me, and when it touches me, I want to wrench away from it because my hands ache, my legs ache, my eyes ache. Everything hurts. Why does it insist on hurting me?
It wraps around me, caressing me, pulling me in?—
A spark of pain spikes into my cheek as I jolt awake and look up to see Mickey straddling me. It’s not the first time I’ve woken up like this, but I will never get used to it.
“What the fuck was that for?” I ask, raising my hand to the cheek he just viciously slapped before realizing that my hands are shaking badly.
Mickey looks frantic. “You need to get up. The Door has opened.”
I jerk upright, throwing him off me. “Where is Torin?”
“He went ahead.”
“How long ago?”
“I don’t know… twenty minutes? I tried to follow him, but… Vinny called to tell me that Imani already had the barrier up and she wasn’t going to let me through.”
Panic fills me when I comprehend his words. “What? Who else is in there with him?”
“No one,” Mickey says. “He went alone. Imani said there was really little choice in the matter since it was spreading so rapidly that they had to contain it.”
“She has to let me in.”
“I don’t think she’s going to.”
“No, she has to. I have to help Torin,” I insist, cursing myself for passing out or whatever the fuck happened out in that field. I was trying to comfort Torin, and instead I was hit with this horrible and overwhelming magicagain.
I race down to the Door and through it as Mickey hurries after me. A car with a siren is waiting with Joy already in the driver’s seat. The second we’re inside, she’s tearing through the city while the few cars that are out on the road hastily get out of the way. I’m surprised by the lack of vehicles on the normally traffic-jammed roads.
Mickey explains, “Lt. Lindsey has put out a regional emergency alert that all cars must vacate the roadways. Any vehicles out now should be emergency personnel. The subways and buses are still running to get people out of the city, but no other vehicles are permitted.”
I’m still lost in that dream, confused about what was happening in it and questioning why I have to go into this fight with my hands already shaking this much. My grip tightens on Kit who glances up at me, showing me my own worried expression. I give her a reassuring pat, even though I’m positive I’m the one who needs to be reassured. What if Torin dies because of me? What if I can’t make it to him in time? What if we can’t stop the horseman, even if I do make it to him?
The trip doesn’t take long at the speed Joy is driving. Mickey doesn’t even have time to fall asleep before we reach the area emergency vehicles are crowded around. I have the car door open before it even comes to a stop and leap out, anxiety eating at me.
