Anomaly (Causal Enchantment) (30 page)

“Fledglings!” Lilly shouted, pointing out the window to dozens of figures darting past. They eyed us but, surely sensing our lack of heartbeat, continued on in a hurry. “How did they get out?”

“Evangeline
rebuilt the city.” They would no longer be buried within the tunnels and beneath buildings.

“
Well, crap,” Amelie muttered, her shoulders slumping. “Here we go again.”

“What’s the plan? H
unting?” Bishop cocked the gun he’d slung over his shoulder, a grin on his face.

“
No. No more risk to any of us. No more of this.” Evangeline stepped forward, her gaze trailing the figures, watching until every last one dropped to the ground.

Dead.

“For the love of …” Mortimer wrapped his arms around Veronique in protection. “Someone please tell me what is going on.”

Evangeline turned to face us
and I gasped.

Her eyes, still golden, with
the same twinkle that had won my heart when I saw her take her first steps through a patch of wild daisies, now held the slightest iridescent shimmer. “I can undo it all,” she rushed with excitement. “I can give us back everything
they’ve
ever taken, Sofie!”

I wanted to ask her what she meant. I wanted to ask her how she knew. I wanted to know if she
’d forgiven me, if she would let me be a part of her life.

I wanted to say so many thing
s, but I lost my chance. I was suddenly falling into eternal darkness, my name on her lips the last thing I heard.

I knew this place.

I’d been summoned here once before.

Chapter Thirty
– Evangeline

The sound of gushing water was my first clue that I’d been yanked out of Manhattan. Again.

“Dammit, Sofie!” I
cracked my eyelids to find a tall canopy of jungle trees hanging overhead. Heat from the sticky air crawled over my neck. Unfamiliar birds called out from somewhere unseen. A welcome or a warning, I couldn’t tell. How the hell had she transported me? Why?

I
sat up and found myself on a riverbank overlooking dark water, mottled with green algae on the surface. I instantly knew where I was.

“
These were happy times, were they not?” a familiar ethereal voice called out behind me, the sound almost like chords of an instrument, the way they carried together.

I was on my feet
and turning in an instant.

F
our sets of beautiful kaleidoscopic irises sparkled as the godlike creatures watched me from around a large, bowl-shaped pool, their white gossamer gowns flowing as if touched by a breeze. Their features resembled a human’s, though there was something entirely distinctive. I couldn’t deny them their unique beauty.

The Fates. I
’d met them once before.

When I spotted the figure standing off to the side,
her mint-green eyes shifting warily between us, I felt my face flitter with shock.

They
’d brought Sofie, as well.

What was going on?

As surprised as I was at this unexpected summoning, I couldn’t help but scan our surroundings once again, nostalgia seizing my emotions. It was the very spot Caden and the others had taken me, the day we left the caves for the first time. The day Caden picked a bunch of daisies from atop the mountain and I laid them down on the riverbank. My eyes darted to the very spot. A pile of fresh, white flowers lay there.

This was obviously an illusion.

“Yes, it is. We thought it might help you as you have to make your choice,” one of the two male Fates said as he stepped forward. It was the one who had granted my wish for immortality, his gold-spun hair flowing around his shoulders as if weightless.

Can
you still read my mind?

Yes,
came the answer, followed out loud by, “Hello, my child. My name is Incendia. I’m glad you remember me.” His greeting sounded like a lullaby. But knowing who I was facing, I didn’t feel at all soothed. I certainly didn’t trust them.

“
You can trust us,” Incendia tsked, picking through my silent thoughts.

The hairs along the back of my neck
stood. Much like Viggo must have felt when I rooted around in his head. Though, I didn’t have any sinister plans.

“You have changed since we last saw you.”

“Why did you give me these powers?” I blurted out.

Incendia’s paper-thin eyebrow arched
. “Do you not like them? Would you like them taken from you?”

“No, they’re great,” I answered truthfully. “I just don’t understand why.”

His lips twisted with displeasure before smoothing out. “Let us discuss more important things with you.”

“
Okay …” If I’d learned anything, it was that the Fates were conniving creatures and I should be suspic—

All four
sets of eyes narrowed, telling me they were reading my thoughts and not at all amused. “Why am I here?” I asked aloud.

Incendia
smiled, but the mirth never touched his eyes. “Because she brought you.” His long fingers stretched to point at Sofie.

“You liars! I did not help you bring her here!”
Sofie’s sudden shriek sent a flock of birds rushing from the trees.

A clucking
sound filled the air. “Do you not stop lying to the poor girl, ever?” Another Fate—this one female—stepped down from the platform, earning Sofie’s scathing glare. “The last time you were here, you asked for two requests, and you agreed to a catch.”

Sofie
growled. “Are you telling me Evangeline was the catch,
Terra
?”

If Sofie’s
demeanor bothered them, they didn’t let on. “To be honest, we didn’t know what the catch was when we made the deal. If you haven’t noticed, we like to make open-ended decisions. Thankfully for us, it worked out rather well,” the one Sofie called Terra explained.

A chorus of spine-chilling
laughs made me shudder.

“What do you want from me?” I
said, feeling like a mouse about to be batted around by cats.

“It isn’t what we want from you so much as what you will want from us,” the second male said, hop
ping onto one of the narrow walls that divided the marbles into various sections. He moved with the grace of a tightrope walker, stopping at a pedestal in the center to pick up the lone marble set on top. With a grin and a bow, he spun around and headed back the way he’d come. “Do you want the chance to go back to your world—” He held up the marble and the blue and green swirls caught my attention. My eyes widened.
My world.
He held Earth in his fingertips? Dropping my gaze to examine the giant bowl, the thousands of tiny colorful marbles divided into sections, I finally comprehended what I was looking at. Worlds! All of them were worlds!

As if waiting for my internal thoughts to slow and my shock to even out, the Fate continued, “And live out eternity
however you want, with your friends … your beloved …” With a wave of his hand, a thin layer of water formed and shimmered over the giant bowl. Suddenly, faces appeared within. Julian and Amelie, Veronique and Mortimer, Bishop and Fiona … Max … Caden. Everyone we’d left back in the office building in Manhattan. “They’re all very worried about you.”

The image shifted again to show the sky full of helicopters, descending
upon the miracle city, the bridges flooded with tanks and Humvees rolling in to investigate. “It doesn’t look like a very safe place, does it?” Incendia said with a pinched face. “And I doubt they’ll be willing to leave anytime soon, waiting for you.” A pause. “You can see them again. Right now, if you want. Rescue them from possible danger. Rid that boy of his agonizing heartache.” As if to emphasize his point, a close-up of Caden’s face appeared again, showcasing the hollowness of his jade eyes.

“What do I have to do?” The words rushed out of my mouth without thought. I would do anything for them.
Anything
.

“
Choose
them
.” Incendia glided around the bowl toward me, his feet never touching the jungle floor. I had to tip my head back to look at his face, looming high over me.

“That’s
all
?” That seemed easy. Too easy.

Choose.

A choice.

A difference between this or that.

“Choose them over what?” I asked, stealing a glance at Sofie, hoping she understood what was going on.

Sofie’s expression twitched for only a second and then, with a
nod of comprehension, a sad smile curved her lips. “Let’s make this easy, Terra.”

“No!” Incendia barked. “
My player will be victorious through fair means.”

“You call this fair?” Sofie yelled but her words were quickly lost to me, Incendia
’s statement stealing my attention.

“Your
player
?” My brow tightened. “I’m your player? What does that mean?” Again, I looked at Sofie for answers.

She
smoothed her scowl, closing her eyes. She was trying to calm herself. “When I told you that this was all a game to the Fates, I meant it quite literally. They each choose an unsuspecting pawn as their player. There were two more but I don’t know who they were. They are dead. Now the Fates have pitted us against each other.” A long exhale escaped her lips. “I’m offering to end this game for them.”

It finally clicked.

We were both players, against each other.

They wanted me to choose everyone else over Sofie.

They wanted Sofie to die.

“I won’t do it!”
I yelled.

“You will.” Incendia stuck his hand out and the other male Fate placed the marble
—Earth—in it. Letting it roll around his palm momentarily, he finally held it between his forefinger and thumb. When he spoke again, the pleasant tenor was gone. “Or I will crush this world and every soul within it and you will have nothing.”

An ultimatum. That’s what they were giving me. It’s Sofie or the entire world
. Ironic, really. Hadn’t Sofie faced this same situation—either Amelie or the world? She’d had to make a choice, and she did.

But how could
I
make this choice? This was Sofie!

“It’s okay.” Sofie’s
voice cracked. “I will gladly sacrifice myself for your happiness.” Her smile dropped as she turned her attention back to the wall of faces, waiting for me to condemn her to die. “But first, I have to wonder what the rush is? Why does this
game
need to end now?”

“Because we decided that it must be so,” Terra
threw back. “Do not question us, mortal!”

Sofie’s eyes narrowed. “Do not trust
them, Evangeline. They will lie to get—”

Sofie’
s words were cut off with shrill screams as flames erupted around her, swallowing her entire body.

Burning her alive where she stood.

I didn’t think. I simply reacted. “No!” I shrieked, shattering the watery surface over the bowl of worlds.

The flames extinguished instantly
and Sofie, unharmed, again stood in the conjured setting of the jungle.

The Fates exchanged a panicked look before settling eyes on me again.

A look of understanding filled Sofie’s face. Her words came out in a rush. “
They
didn’t give you these powers. Fight them, Evangeline! You can—”

She vanished before I could hear her last words.

“What have you done with her?” I screamed, turning to the four faces that no longer held any beauty or serenity.

“She is where she belongs,” Terra spat, her features curled into a hideous sneer as she pointed toward the pool. The layer of water
I’d shattered reappeared and displayed a fresh scene of Manhattan, one where Sofie stood surrounded by Caden and the others. Caden’s eyes burned with hatred as he shouted at Sofie. As he threw her against a wall. As Mage jumped in to stop Caden, only to have Sofie attacked by Amelie and Fiona, all asking the same thing. “What did you do to her?”

That spine-chilling laughter once again filled my ears. “Not exactly what we planned but it will still work. One of them will surely kill her and then you will be victorious.
You have avoided making the difficult decision. We both win,” Incendia smiled. I was about to snap at him, to tell him that watching my loved ones kill each other over a game was not winning, when Incendia brushed his willowy hand across my back.

And v
oices suddenly filled my thoughts.

How long will this take?
A female asked.

Not long, I expect. Look at the
ir rage
, a male answered.

We must send her back immediately after. This is dangerous
, another female demanded.