Darkness Fair (The Dark Cycle Book 2) (27 page)

FORTY-THREE

Aidan

Connor drops me off in the SubZero parking lot, telling me he’ll reach me through Hanna if he needs more help while I
figure my shit out
, as he calls it.

I stand in the middle of the lot, trying to process everything. I know where Ava’s soul is. And I’m pretty sure that I could use my resurrection power to wake her up, if I could get her soul and her body in the same place. The only thing I don’t know is why Daniel said I shouldn’t do it.

The possibility of causing more problems does make me pause, but at the same time, there’s really no choice. Of course I have to try and bring her back. Why do prophecies have to be so vague? If only there was a warning label:
Don’t screw with this or your hair will all fall out and you’ll grow warts the size of Canada on your forehead
.

Instead, I get:
Don’t screw with your dead sister or
. . . what? Bad shit will happen. Bad shit’s already happening.

The secret spider showed me her soul being guarded by two angels, two Bright Ones, near Mugu Rock. Hopefully the presence of the angels means she’s safe, but the vision was more of a fleeting impression than a complete picture of what’s happening there. At least I know that if her father finds her and wants to use her, he’ll be in for a fight.

I head into the club, looking for Hanna. I need someone’s help, but I don’t want to involve anyone at the house. Getting a young girl’s corpse to Mugu Rock will take some finagling.

It seems like a ridiculous spot for angels to be watching over Ava’s soul, considering how many car commercials have been filmed there. But spiritual events, portholes, crossroads, are all strongest in the places where there’s water—I think it helps disguise the energy. Like the beach cave, and the doorway Sid came through by the dam. So maybe the spot near Mugu is charged, as well.

I find Hanna in her office, talking on the phone. She holds up a finger for me to wait. The conversation seems to be about a paper order, napkins and stuff, and it takes a few choice words from her to get whoever’s on the other end of the line to cooperate. Who knew napkins could be so combative?

She hangs up with a satisfied smile on her face and turns to me. “How’s it going, Aidan? Day three, any luck figuring things out?”

I’m not sure how I’m going to approach this, so I opt for quick honesty. “I need to find Eric to get his help. Do you know how to contact him?”

Her eyes widen. “I see. What sort of help do you need?”

“I’d prefer to discuss that with him.” I’m pretty sure Hanna isn’t going to want to be involved in moving my sister’s body.

“Is this about Kara? He asked me to only contact him if it had something to do with you and your sister.”

“It’s my sister,” I say.

She studies me, like she’s checking to see if I’m lying. “Are you sure I can’t help?”

“You won’t want to be a part of this.” Because if we get caught wandering around with a little girl’s perfectly preserved corpse—with a stab wound in the chest—that won’t be a good scene for anyone. “Just tell him that if I do this myself, he’ll probably end up having to rescue me anyway, so he may as well join in the fun.”

She smirks. “Okay, I’ll contact him.”

“Thanks.” I start to leave and then pause, turning back. “So, are you and he . . . like, together?”

The scent of embarrassment fills the air. “How is that your business, young man?”

“I was under the impression that angels and humans weren’t supposed to, uh, fraternize.”

She clears her throat. “We aren’t,” she says quietly. “Eric is a good soldier.” She doesn’t seem thrilled about the last comment, but I’m sort of relieved, even though I’m rooting for them. I just don’t want Eric to be punished or fired or something. I’m not sure what happens to angels when they disobey, but I’m guessing it’s not good.

“Well, I’m glad he’s back,” I say. “With you.”

“Yes.” She shoos me out with a smile on her face that she can’t fully hide, telling me to let her work.

I wait. Sitting in the vault, pacing in the vault, and grunting a lot while pacing in the vault, for several hours before he finally gets there.

“Jeez, I thought you’d decided to go on vacation again,” I say. “What took you so long?”

“You are very impatient.” Eric leans against a shelf. “What is going on with your sister?”

“Have you had any news or anything about her father, Jaasi’el, or whatever?”

He shakes his head. “Only hints that he’s close. Rumors. He’s very capable of remaining hidden, even from my kind.”

“The crack in the doorway is growing and there are demons escaping. I encountered one. Here at the club, in Hanna’s office.”

“Yes, I’m aware. I heard about the resurrection. I’ve fixed the wards here, strengthened them.”

“Heard?”

“It was written in the annals once it was done. Your father’s resurrection, as well.”

“What annals?”

“I believe it’s called the Book of Life here. It records the movement of souls. You’ve caused a lot of movement lately.”

Yes, more than I’d like. I wonder if my own soul movement is recorded in there. “Well, I didn’t have much of a choice with the woman.”

“You did the right thing, Aidan,” he says in a calming voice.

I suppose if I’d messed up, I’d have heard from him. Seems to be the pattern. “Listen,” I say, lowering my voice. “I know where Ava’s soul is. It’s not in Sheol. It’s close, on our side of the gate.”

He pushes off the shelf. “How do you know this?”

“She’s been seen. Apparently wraiths gossip.”

“A wraith saw her? That seems unlikely. Are you sure it wasn’t lying? They are much like demons, you know.”

“Yeah, I’m sure. It wasn’t a lie. I know right where she is, being guarded by two angels—the wraith called them Bright Ones.”

“It used the term Bright Ones?”

I nod.

“That would mean she’s being guarded by Powers.” He doesn’t sound like he believes that.

I know that Powers are an order of angelic beings that rarely take form or show their faces. They are, basically, harnessed power. Light and Good and Truth.

“Why would such beings be guarding her soul on
this
side?” Eric asks, more to himself. “I assumed she’d be in Sheol. As did her father.”

“Well, apparently not. But that’s good, right? Because now I can put her soul back in her body and resurrect her. Then all this mess with the door can stop. There must be a way to heal the rift—”

Eric’s face turns stern. “Your gifts aren’t meant for bringing back anyone on a whim. They’re only meant to return the Harbingers.”

As if Ava is just
anyone
. “Daniel said the gift would also right the wrong of my birth. If a death occurred because of me, then I would have the ability to change that.”

“You spoke with him?” He steps back, almost like the idea frightens him.

“He came to me and gave me a message.”

“What message?”

“That doesn’t matter.” I’m not going to tell Eric what Daniel said about Ava, that’s for sure. “I just need to do what I can to bring Ava back and then try to find a way to help Kara.”

“Yes, Hanna spoke of what’s happening with Kara. I’m sorry that I wasn’t more aware of Rebecca. I assumed your soul mate’s destiny would shift when yours did. That is what usually occurs.”

“Yeah, well, it didn’t.” The worry for Kara surges back, but I make myself hold it in. For now. “About Ava, I’m thinking we should bring her body to the spot, so that I can have her soul and body in one location. Then I can do the resurrection.”

His brow pinches. “That will be difficult, Aidan. We don’t know what we’ll find when we reach her. And a resurrection will take a lot from you. You still aren’t fully aware of the price.”

“I’m aware enough. And for Ava, it’s worth it.” I know the price is power and I seem to have plenty of that. And what good is power if it can’t save the people I love?

“I will help you, because I’m fully aware that you’ll do this with or without me, and I’m your guard. Though, my role will end if Heaven is involved in any of this; I cannot fight my own brethren, even for you. And Bright Ones watching your sister is no small thing.”

“I know. Let’s just take it one step at a time.” I go to my bag and pull out the alabaster box. “Will I need this?”

“Does it call to you? Or open for you?”

I try to lift off the intricately carved lid, but it doesn’t budge. “No.”

“I’m not surprised. It’s only meant for things that link to your calling.”

So this event ahead of us isn’t a part of the order of things that connect to my destiny. I’m not sure how to digest that.

Eric releases a sigh, obviously having reached the same conclusion. “You’re positive this is something you want to do? It doesn’t appear to be the correct path right now.”

“I need to try.”

“Very well.” He steps toward me, coming up to my side. “This may sting a little,” he says. Then he puts his hand to my shoulder and I’m torn in two.

FORTY-FOUR

Aidan

My vision blurs, my skin burns as I’m pulled apart, turned inside out, and before I can even register the pain, the movement, I’m collapsing onto the sand. I fall to my hands and knees and my stomach rebels, releasing its contents as spots dance in front of my eyes.

“It may take a moment to steady yourself,” Eric says from beside me. “But we need to hurry. Ears everywhere. Once we move her, she won’t be hidden any longer.” His voice echoes off stone walls, and I realize we’re in the beach cave.

I attempt to catch my breath, trying not to gag again as my stomach roils. It feels like it’s still catching up with the rest of me. “Okay.” I breathe in through my nose, out through my mouth—once, twice—then I get to my feet and lean on the altar. “I’m not sure I can carry her.” Not if I feel this way when we make the next trip. I might drop her halfway to Mugu Rock. Not sure how the whole teleportation thing works, but I’m guessing humans aren’t supposed to do it.

But then I remember Daniel seemed to disappear right before my eyes. “Is that travel
poof
thing something that prophets can do?” I ask.

“Of course,” he says, sounding distracted. He points at the doorway. “I see what you mean about the rift.”

The crack is all the way across now, stretching from one side of the archway to the other.

“We better go,” he says. “Quickly. We need to remedy this now. Once Ava’s returned to her flesh, perhaps Jaasi’el will feel it and stop this madness, so the rift can be healed.” He gathers Ava gently in his arms, her small form limp as he settles her head against his chest. “Hold on to my shoulder.”

I reach out and as soon as I touch his skin the world is swirling once more. My entire body flashes with agony, as if I’m being stretched out for miles. We land on the edge of a cliff, rocks and dirt flying as I skid to the ground. Eric is standing gracefully, like he just stepped off a curb. Ava is tucked gently against his chest, her sandaled feet dangling.

I look around us; we’re on the ocean side of the rock, behind the fence that blocks access to the weak ledge. This is where the old highway used to be, until tide and time washed most of it into the sea. Now it’s just a broken memory of concrete and asphalt above the waves. The small mountain they call a “rock” is behind us, and in front of us is the blue horizon of the Pacific.

“How will I know where the Powers are?” I ask. I saw them in the vision from the spider bite, but it was very vague. First I saw Mugu Rock, then the rocky shore far below.

“I should be able to feel them if they’re here,” Eric says, walking along the edge of the broken road. “I sense many ghost souls, and they seem to be clouding the energy, as is the water. Just give me a moment.”

Ghost energies. I let my walls down a little and immediately feel them. I don’t see anything but—

Wait, there’s a girl. Maybe a little younger than me. She’s standing just off to the side, near a spot you might be able to begin climbing down to the water. Her eyes are hollowed-out holes. I focus my energy on her and realize she’s not a wraith. Just a ghost. Her eyes were cut out when she was killed.

I shiver and shore up my walls again. But I can still see her standing on the worn rocks, the wind from long ago whipping at her torn dress. A poor girl’s dress. Maybe more than a hundred years old. She just stares at us with those sightless eyes.

“I feel the energy of the Powers,” Eric says. “But we’ll need to go down, closer to the water.” He begins to walk toward the spot where the ghost is.

“We’ve got to climb down?” I ask.

“Don’t mind the young woman. She appears to be a deterrent, but she won’t bother us.”

I grit my teeth as we begin the precarious climb down the rocks. I lock my walls up tighter, tight as I can, when we pass the ghost. She doesn’t move except to follow us with her sightless gaze.

“She will, however, warn the guardians that we’re here,” Eric says over the growing sound of the waves.

When we finally make it to the lower shore, there’s a small strip of rocky outcropping uncovered by the low, swirling tide that we begin to work our way across, trying to avoid stepping in the small tide pools. “I don’t see anything weird.” Or smell anything, or feel anything.

“There.” He moves closer to a large rock that’s jutting from the churning tide ahead just in front of us, and points past it, out at the horizon.

I follow his direction and think I’ve accidentally looked into the sinking sun over the water. I squint, blinded for a second, before my vision clears and I see the outlines of three figures in the air. The two on the ends are like oval balls of light. I can just barely make out the shapes of wings and faces within their bright glow. The figure between them is a grey mist, hair like smoke curling around a tilted head, arms held out, wrists shackled with heavy chains.

Shackled. Ava’s soul is shackled.

“These Powers aren’t guarding her to protect her, Aidan.”

“She’s imprisoned,” I whisper.

Eric kneels on the rocks, the white foam of a crashing wave spraying him; Ava’s body is still curled in his arms. He yells over the tide, greeting the bright lights. “Oh, holy ones. We have come to bring this soul back into its earthly form.”

The two lights pulse in unison. They don’t speak, but I hear in their sound:
She is to be held until the day of judgment
.

I step forward, legs trembling. “I’m her brother and I need to bring her back. Her life was taken before her time.”

Not safe
,
they sing.

“She’ll be safe with me,” I say.

“And I am his guardian,” Eric says. “I watch him for our Lord. I will speak on his behalf.”

The light forms pulse more strongly, more insistent:
Not safe
.

Eric turns to me and says under his breath, “This feels wrong, Aidan. They aren’t usually sent to guard just anyone.”

“Are you giving up already? We just got here.”

“They aren’t willing, and I have no authority over them. Only you have that. If you won’t let this go, then you have to order them.”

I gape at him. “What?”

“The only way for you to resurrect your sister is to force their hand. They will have to obey you, as Powers will yield only to prophets.”

I turn back to the bright lights, clenching my fists at my sides to try and stop the shaking inside of me. So much energy surrounds them, so much power. The idea of forcing the will of these creatures feels . . . terrifying. “I order you to release that soul.”

Their hum intensifies:
In whose name do you speak this?

The answer comes to me as the question is still being asked. “In the name of
Go’el Haddam
, Kinsman Redeemer and Redeemer of Blood.”

This time, I don’t understand any meaning in the escalating hum and the pulses of the ever-brightening lights, I just feel heat and overwhelming power. I cover my eyes with my hand as the radiance surges one last time and the pitch reaches glass-breaking levels, sending me to my knees beside Eric.

Then it’s silent. Still. Both of the Powers blink out. And all that remains is Ava’s silver ghost, suspended over the water.

“Ava!” I call out.

Her soul doesn’t move or seem to hear me.

I stumble over the few rocks between Eric and me. “I need to touch her to pull her soul back into her body, I think.”

He holds out Ava’s limp form, resting her legs over a larger rock. A wave crashes, water spraying over us in a salty mist. I kneel beside her and take her hand, gripping it as hard as I can. “Come back to me, Ava,” I say. “Please!”

I hold my breath and plead with my power to work, but nothing happens.

“Your energy is too locked down right now, Aidan.”

“I know, I know.” Urgency fills me but I don’t have a clue what I’m doing, I’m not sure how—

The air beside me flickers and suddenly the ghost woman with no eyes is an inch from me, her form a translucent presence against the backdrop of the water.

Her story floods over me, the violence of her death, the man whose hands choked her, stabbed her, murdered her in the most horrible way, foul beast that he was, foul man of gold and status . . .

My insides jump to life, the power surging through my mark in a painful rush of heat. The fire licks down my arm into my hand and spreads over Ava’s shoulder and chest before sinking in. A section of my mark begins to slide down my hand and wrap around her arm. When I look up and over the water, I see that her soul begins to fade out and I realize it’s working.

“The wound on her chest is healing,” Eric says, his voice anxious.

A crack sounds at the air, and Eric and I startle, turning toward it, losing our focus on Ava. A large figure is careening our way at rocket speed. It lands with a heavy thud on the shore, no more than ten feet away, shaking the ground beneath us, sending the tide into fits as the water tries to decide where to go. Loose rocks tumble from the ledge above with sharp clacking sounds, before splashing into the frantic tide.

The creature stands to full height, rising, rising, until it’s more than twelve feet at least, dark-brown wings spread wide, immeasurable. My gut turns liquid. A dominion angel, I recognize its armor, the scent of the power. “You will not have her,” it says, voice booming with authority.

My throat closes and I can’t breathe. I can’t move. I’m frozen, staring as its dark skin shimmers with gold dust. It steps closer. Its bare chest is covered in scars that seem more like burns, in circles and lines that are ordered—not the chaotic markings of battle. Red-orange hair licks over its head and neck like tongues of fire. Its features are vaguely human, but also entirely alien—brow too prominent, green eyes too large. It wears a simple loincloth, and from its wrist and forearm grow thorny green vines that form finger-less gauntlets.

I know I’ve met the creature before—I recognize its scent. But for the life of me I can’t remember which face it wore when it came to my mother.

I stumble back, letting go of Ava’s hand as it moves closer, each step making the tide roll back and the rocks shake. It looks down on my sister’s still body. And back at her silver ghost that’s halfway home.

Then the creature turns to me. “You will not do this thing.”

“I have to,” I breathe out.

Jaasi’el looks at Eric. “What is your authority here?”

“I am the prophet’s guardian.”

“Since he led me here to my daughter,” Jaasi’el says, “I will release him. But take him away from this place or I will do what I must to you both.” Then he turns, finished with talking. He reaches his large palm out to Ava’s silver ghost, and a command fills the stone, the water, every molecule within reach. Not a verbal command, but still a command:
Come!
And Ava’s soul begins to float closer to his hand.

I led him here? My stomach rises, thinking of my foolishness. “You can’t have her!” I shout, my will sparking in my skin, brightening my mark. “You won’t use her!”

His thorny gauntlets slide over her ghostly throat as it enters his grip. “No, I will not use her corrupted soul. I will destroy it. I should never have allowed it to come this far.”

“You’ve broken the Law by creating her,” Eric says, “and now you seek redemption in her destruction?”

“No,” Jaasi’el says, sounding resigned. “I am already Falling because of my folly. That cannot be mended. But I can right the wrong and hold back the tide of destruction just a little longer.”

He begins to squeeze her soul, and my body reacts as if it were happening to me. “No!” I yell, hoarse from the pain. “Stop!”

I lunge, grabbing her body’s wrist just as my power surges again, filling my vision with white light. Ava’s energy links with mine, through our connection, that special link I’ve been looking for. It’s there. Bonding us in spirit and soul and body. And I feel the fist on her soul, the burning, the agony of slowly becoming nothing.

Come back to me, Ava!
I scream.

The air snaps, a surge of electrical energy breaking free with a loud
crack!
against every surface around us. I’m blown back, my power flickering out as I land ten feet from where I was. Eric flies back into the tide on the opposite side. Between us is Ava’s body, hovering over the rocks, just as her soul had been. But now . . .

Her white-blonde hair blows around her head. It moves back and forth with the water below her. And her mouth opens to take in a gasping breath.

Jaasi’el turns to me, growling in rage. “What have you done?”

I hear Ava’s mind spark to life.
Aidan! Where are you? I hear you
.

I’m here
,
I answer.
Open your eyes
.

He moves toward me like a predator ready to pounce. “Now it will be on your head.” And before I can move, the creature has me by the chin, lifting me from the ground. Its thorny armor digs into my skin, the prongs growing as they enter, weaving agony into my skull. “Prophet.” He spits on the rocks at his feet. “Curse you and your wicked soul. I should rip out your throat.”

My mind goes blank from the pain. I flail, trying to find purchase on his large shoulders, trying to attack him with my fire. I spark and fade and flicker out, my breath locked in the vault of my lungs. And just as the world seems a million miles away, I’m tossed through the air. I land in the rocky tide with a splash and a crack. My head hits hard against stone, my skin shreds over the rough surface.

A scream rises around me, a banshee tearing at the air. And then someone is picking me up. I’m yanked through the pain and darkness as Eric’s voice fills my ear. “Hold on,” he says. “Hold on.”