“Remember us.”
“I promise.” My tears threatened to blind me, but I refused to let them fall.
“I hate to break up this family reunion,” Violet said from the side, “but time’s up, people.”
I clung to my parents for an instant longer, attempting to store up a lifetime of memories in this moment. To fill the emptiness of a childhood without parents. To fill in every stage that my parents were supposed to be present for, and for every memory going forward. And then I released them. It took everything in my being to do it, but I did it. Looking at my mother’s face, I could see everything I felt reflected back at me. It was the same with myfather.
I shoved everything I was feeling aside, into a trunk in my mind, and locked it tight. There would be time to deal with it later. Hopefully. Right now, it was time to fight.
The hordes were surrounding us. There were too many of them, overpowering us. These weren’t like most of the ones I had faced back in my time—freshly changed, with hints of their previous selves. These were pure darkness, lethal in every way. As though the darkness had sucked out their souls and left them knowing nothing but death. Feeling no pain. The torches flickered across their darkened faces, deepening the shadows and illuminating features I wish had been left hidden.
My father stepped out of the tent and I understood immediately what he planned to do. My mother pulled her sword to cover his left side. I drew mine, as well, covering his right. My mother shot me an approving look, one that I tucked away inside to sustain me.
Da flung his palms to the sky and called upon the heavens themselves to open. Rain came, a deluge pouring down in sheets, turning the ground to a muddy and sooty mess, creating flash floods that roared down to the village, a thundering rush of waves. I sent up a prayer to any gods who happened to be listening that the townspeople were all inside—on high floors, I quickly added. The rainwater continued down, and the river Avoneitha rose to greet it, flooding the plain below Valdris, turning it into an island. The waters crashed and churned against the rocks at the base of the city, a furious energy given life. Hundreds of hufen were caught in the rushing waters, tugged out to the Avoneitha that flowed to the sea.
But many remained. Too many.
“Lexa,” Violet snapped. “You need to stay safe?—”
“Too late.” I swung my sword as they swarmed us, attacking with whatever weapons they had scrounged up. Some simply used their hands as claws.
I was separated from my parents, drawn apart in the movement of the fighters. My father drew his sword, putting his back to my mother’s, and they moved as if in a choreographed dance. But stillthey came. I saw faces I recognized in the field. Zachariah moved with a grace I didn’t believe possible, slicing and diving, bloodstains splashed across his face. Several of the older soldiers I trained with were around him. A shadowy figure off in the distance caught my attention. I wasn’t sure how I knew it with such certainty, but that was Nana, taking me as a baby to safety.
A hufen jumped in front of me, a sinister grin on his face. As I cut him down, I lost sight of Nana. Even knowing what happened, I sent up a quick prayer for her and the baby she carried.
And still they came, slipping in the mud but continuing onward with fanatical focus. Without thinking, I let loose a blast of pure-white power. Not fire. Not any single element, but something deeper. Something that felt like starlight made solid.
The blast drove them back, vaporizing everything in its path.
For a moment, blessed silence.
Then they rounded toward me.
Shit.
That power hadn’t just driven them back—it had been a beacon highlighting me as the most powerful creature here. And they wanted that power.
Shit.
Violet glanced at me askance, but I had no time to ask why before they were on me, like moths to a flame. As I set about laying waste to any hufen that came within reach, Violet moved as a blur. Even though the vast majority of my mind was occupied with defending myself, killing the creature in front of me, and the creature that took its spot, and the next, I marveled at her grace. I would never be that swift, that cunning with a blade, even when I was the one who held Anamlae. It was as if they were made for each other. Anamlae flared with light, shattering the hufen it touched, and for a moment, the circle around us was clear.
But we were running out of time.Iwas running out of time. I needed to leave, lest I get trapped here. But how could I leave in themidst of this battle? When I knew what happened here and how it changed the course of history—the course ofmyhistory?
But how could I not? This was how they bought us, all of us, time. And we needed that precious time.
I looked at the destruction around me. My parents fought back to back, desperate to get to the cliffside for their sacrifice. I closed my eyes and let loose twin tornadoes. They spiraled out from me and swept everything in their path away, hurtling the hufen off the cliff and into the roaring waters below, sweeping the way clear.
I had just enabled their sacrifice. The thought caused me to physically stumble. I couldn’t do this. Couldn’t be the one who cleared the way so that they could die. I started to go to them, but Violet grabbed my shoulders, spinning me around to face her, determination etched in every line of her face.
“No! Save enough to get home. You have to go. You have to get back.”
Go back? I couldn’t leave now. I had come for answers and still hadn’t received any.
“Tell me how to fix it,” I begged her. I realized the insanity of the timing—my parents going to their deaths, Violet about to go to hers, Valdris overrun with darkness—but I had to know what she knew.
“Fix it?” Violet laughed, with a tinge of hysteria. “It’s not about fixing it. It never was.”
That couldn’t be. I couldn’t leave here with nothing. Not when this was my one chance.
