The Four Horsemen (The Light Series) (21 page)

Willow’s
ghost is gone instantly. I look at Glory but Wyatt steps into her face, “Break
it now.”

She
shakes her head, “I cannot.”

Willow
is
back
again, “Glory, you break that curse. You now
that was wrong. You interfered with human karma. How could you?”

Her
red face gets brighter, “I didn’t know who they were at the time. She was a
sick girl and he was a boy. How could I know who he was?”

I
look at Wyatt. He scowls, “Who am I?”

She
gulps, “I can try to break it. Don’t make me tell you anything else.”

Wyatt
nods, “Fine.”

I
scowl, “No. Who is he?”

Glory
gives Wyatt a pleading look. I look past her at Willow. She shakes her head,
“Trust me, Nene. You need to learn everything when it’s the right time. You
can’t rush these things.”

I
give her a look, “Rush what? You witches have been messing with us since day
one. Giving us tiny tidbits of info. I’m done. I want the story.”

Glory
lowers her head, “I can try to break the curse, that’s all.”

Wyatt
grabs my hand, “She’s
hangry
,
she
gets like this. Just break the curse.”

I
look at him, “Did you just call me
hangry
?”

He
smiles, “Yeah, anger caused by hunger. You get it a lot.
Impatient,
mean, and bossy.
Then you eat and you’re all lovey and sweet again.”

Glory
gives me a sarcastic smile. I cock an eyebrow and sigh. Glory takes my hand and
Wyatt’s and pulls us into the house. We walk down the hallway that we walked
down last time. She opens a door I never went into before. We go down a flight
of stairs, and as we get lower and lower, I start to shake. There is something
in the basement that is making me shiver and vibrate. When we get to the
bottom, she pulls us down a shimmering tunnel. It’s carved of rock and has
torches every now and then, lighting the way.

She
pulls us to a huge
room,
I can see the torch light
from the hallway sparkling in the room. The vibration in my jaw is making my
teeth rattle.

The
witches form a circle around us. Glory is in the middle with us. She takes our
hands and places something cold in them. I can’t see in the faint light, but it
feels like glass or crystal. Like the kind of crystals Willow always had.

She
holds our hands and starts to chant. Lights fill the room around us as the
crystals start to glow bright red. The dark shapes of the witches around us
chant louder the crystals’ light changes to pink, blue, and green. It’s like
watching fireworks almost. The rock in my hand starts to heat up. I wince as it
burns me. I feel something pulling in my arm, like someone is taking out one of
my veins. I cry out but it is lost in the chanting and swaying of the witches.
Wyatt makes a face; I can barely see it in the light show. I know something
inside of my heart snaps. I scream as I feel a burning I have never felt
before. I look down and hot, molten silver pours from my chest. It trails down
my stomach, burning its path. It makes a puddle on the ground below. I am
screaming and my knees are almost buckling. Tears have blinded me and made a
kaleidoscope in my eyes with the colors.

I
don’t know how long it takes, or if I even stay awake for it all.
I know when it stops
,
it’s sudden
.
It’s a sudden, jolting stop. One minute my heart and soul are on fire and then
the next I am fine. I am standing there with a pile of dust in my burnt hand.
Glory takes it and blows the dust away. She does the same to Wyatt. She clasps
our hands together and looks at me, “Forgive me.” She drops into an instant
puddle of daisies. I start to cry.

Not
just because another witch has died but that there is so much. My heart is
bursting, and I can’t hear the cries or moans or feelings of my sisters. I look
at Wyatt and he is all I see. He is bigger than any emotion or description.

He
is everything.

He
smiles at me. “I remember you.”

His
hand intertwines with mine as we walk through the garden gate. The earth
witches look stunned.

“It’s
broken?”

I
look at the dark haired witch, “I killed the queen.”

She
looks sickened by it, “You murdered the queen of the fae? The most harmless of
creatures in the world?”

I
nod.

She
raises her eyebrows, “Wow. That’s harsh, sin eater.”

Wyatt
looks down on me, “Doesn’t change the fact the white stag spoke to her.”

I
scowl, “He wasn’t a stag when he talked to me.”

The
witch sighs, “So they are all flowers?”

I
nod, “Just like you all, they turn to flowers when they die.”

The
witch looks around the field at the other witches. The form a circle, holding
hands in the field. The sun shines down on them. It looks like Shakespeare in
the park. The dresses are so old fashioned. Wyatt and I step back.

They
look to the sky, as they chant everything grows brighter and lusher. The
garden, which I already felt was lovely, is incredible. Flowers bloom
everywhere and trees stand taller and straighter. The whole place comes to
life.
Birds
chirp, and insects buzz about.
It’s
like summer arrives in a matter of seconds and we get
to watch it.

I
see a cloud moving quickly towards us. It’s white and massive. When it gets
closer I gasp. It’s the flowers of the fallen.

The
witches, holding hands still, walk to the gate. They leave and stand on the
shores of the river and the ocean. They chanted and the most amazing thing I
have ever seen occurs. Each flower joins a small group. They form a person and
then the person fills in with sparkles, and then they are standing there as if
nothing ever changed.

The
queen of the fae, with her cake hair and creepy white eyes, looks for me the
moment she is alive again. She points at me, “You are a betrayer of your own
kind.”

I
shake my head, still in the gates of the garden.

She
walks past the chanting witches but something happens. The gate slams shut,
keeping her out. She grabs the bars and screams at me, “WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?”

I
jump, seeing her white eyes turn evil.

Wyatt
grimaces, “The garden just locked out the queen of the fae.”

I
smile, “Her heart is not pure. It’s probably why she never left, she knew there
was a risk she might not ever get back in.”

He
smirks at her, “Funny how the garden accepts you and not her.”

She
is raging and screaming, but the gate is made of something stronger than any
magic she has. It is made of belief.

When
the gate opens, I am a bit scared, but it’s not her that comes through. It is
all the other fae. She stands there weeping as they file past her, leaving her
outside of the gates.
I imagine they feel the way Gill did
,
grateful she was dead
.

She
looks weak and defeated but angry, in a way I know I will pay for later, when
she turns and walks from the gate. The nixie snub her, not even looking at her
when they walk up the shores to the gate in their jerky way of moving. When
they cross through the gate, they walk normally. They don’t jerk or float and
their dresses lie limp like normal dresses.

The
redhead comes to me, “Thank you, sin eater.”

I
shake my head, “What did I do?”

She
smiles brightly, “You saved them. You saved our people.”

The
earth witches walk through the gates too. The nixie and earth witches speak, as
if it is a normal occurrence. The redhead kisses my cheek and walks past me to
the forest path.

Wyatt
pulls me through the gate. I spread my wings and fly us back to the castle.

When
we land, he looks at me, “That was crazy.”

I
laugh, “So crazy.”

Constantine
comes to the door as we walk up to it. He looks at Wyatt, “You will remember
everything you have been asked to forget and forget everything you were made to
believe.”

Wyatt
drops to his knee, taking a sharp inhale.

Constantine
gives me a defeated smile, “You will remember everything you have ever been
asked to forget and forget everything you have been made to remember.”

My
eyes close as stabbing pain fills my head. I drop to my knees too, but I cry
out. I grab my head as the images of five lives fill me. I cannot hear them any
more, and I cannot feel them, but I remember my soul sisters. I remember each
of their lives. I remember every second I spent being tortured and murdered.
The pain is there, searing my flesh as even the tiniest details fill my head.

It
is a horrible flash of agony, and then as if it was a cloud passing over, it is
gone. My eyes open and I am
me
again. I am Rayne. I am
not any of them. My feelings are my own and my heart is empty of the heavy
weight it has lugged around. I look at Wyatt, smiling at him. He is the boy,
leaning against the light post, giving me that shitty grin. He makes my stomach
flip and
flop
and flutter. Everything else is gone.

I
remember being a child with Willow. I remember every act I have committed as
myself and no other
.

I
look at Constantine and smile. My attraction to him is undeniable, but my heart
doesn’t have him in it at all, except as a friend.

I
know he sees it. He winces and turns and walks away.

“Thank
you.”

He
waves a hand and vanishes.

My
heart doesn’t break. I turn and smile at Wyatt, “Hi.”

He
looks lost for a second, “Maggie, Ellie, and Rayne.”

I
smile wider. He shakes his head, “There is so much.” He lifts my hand and
kisses the back of it.

Gill
walks up to me, “I wish you to take me and Mona home.” I scowl, “What?”

He
nods, “I have to go to my people. I am the ruler now. Mona will be my queen.”

I
look at Mona. She nods, “We have to. He felt the moment you fixed the gate. He
knew he had to go home. This way, we can be together forever. I will be
immortal in the gates.”

I
swallow hard, “
But,
what if I can’t come in?”

She
shakes her head, “You will always be welcome.”

Gill
looks at me and he knows what I mean. He gives me a desperate look. I offer
them my hands, “I don’t know if I can fly two people.”

Mona
pulls her hand back, “Take him first and then come back for me.”

I
nod. I fly him to the gate. It’s a long, hard journey. There is no joy in my
choice.

When
I land him on the riverbank, he hugs me. I moan when I smell him. He chuckles,
“I will take care of her.”

I
look up at him, “I know you will. You have to protect her at all costs. She is
all I have left that’s real, besides Wyatt.”

He
runs a hand down my face, “If I can aid you, sin eater, I will do whatever I
can. But keeping her safe within the gates is my main focus.”

I
smile, “Good. If I fail, never open them again.”

He
nods and turns to the gate that appears. It opens and when he walks through, I
feel myself lose a small piece of my heart.

I
jump up and fly back to the castle. Tears slip down my cheeks as I land in the
courtyard. Stella’s eyes dart from Mona in the courtyard to the stables where
hundreds of her finest are kept. They would eat Mona in a heartbeat.

Mona
looks excited. My heart is crumbling and she is excited.

She
takes my hand and hugs me tightly. I jump into the air, “Did you say goodbye to
everyone?”

She
sighs, “I did. Constantine cried I think. It was weird. Michelle was a complete
bitch. Wyatt acted like he couldn’t give a shit, and Stella made me promise to
find a way to get her inside. Maria cried and Tom nodded at me.”

I
laugh and the flying becomes a little easier. “I am going to miss you.” I
mutter.

She
squeezes tighter, “Me too.”

I
can’t look down so I have to wait until we have landed on the riverbank before
I can look at her. “If you need me, tell the dead. They will come for me, and I
will come for you. Just whisper it. My sisters feel like you are their sister.
It is the only thing we agree on. Tell the dead in a whisper on the wind, and I
will be at the gate as fast as I can fly here.”

Her
eyes fill with tears, “Rayne…”

I
shake my head, “Never trust them all. Just because they’re in the gates doesn’t
mean they would get back in if they ever left. I watched as the gates closed on
the queen. She is alive again. She may have those who are loyal to her in those
gates. Trust me and Gill. And even Gill has to think of his people. He may have
to put you second to them.”

Her
eyes widen, “Why are you trying to scare me? Why can’t you just be happy?”

Tears
fill my eyes, “I am so happy for you. But I’m scared for you the way I’m scared
for me. I trust you—in this whole world of people, I trust you and the
dead. That’s it.”

Her
lower lip quivers, “I trust you too.”

“I
love you.”

She
wraps her arms around me, “I love you too.” She pushes off and takes off for
the gates. They open and she vanishes. My heart crumbles. I jump into the air
and just flying myself back to England is hard. There is no joy in me at all.
When my feet touch down on the cobblestone, I have to drag my weepy self into
the castle. Stella meets me at the door. She wraps her arms around me, “I know
we will never be true sisters, but you will always be like one to me.”

I
cry for no reason into her shirt.

She
pats me on the back, “Mona will be safe,
be
grateful
for that.”

I
sniff, “I know. I wish you could go there and be safe too.”

She
nods against my cheek, “Me too.” She pulls me back, “Constantine told me what
he did, to your memory.”

I
flinch, “It wasn’t mine. It was Ellie’s and Maggie’s.”

She
shakes her head, “I didn’t know. I’m sorry I judged you.”

I
kiss her cheek, “You didn’t. The memories are not mine and the transgression
wasn’t done to me.”

She
laughs, “You still talk like them sometimes.”

I
laugh, “It’s like a habit. It’s for the best
though,
I
sound like an idiot when I talk like me. Rayne, the hippie’s kid.”

She
wraps an arm around my neck, “Come on, I like it when you act like a
sunflower.”

I
laugh, “It’s flower child.”

Michelle
is sulking on the couch. I stand with my back to the fire and toast my buns.
She gives me a look, “Why does she get to be a fairy princess?”

I
laugh and look at Stella who rolls her eyes.

Wyatt
comes in and sits down on the couch. He pats the seat next to him. I shake my
head.

Michelle
scowls, “I’m serious, it’s so not fair. I didn’t know I could trade my soul for
stuff like that.”

I
laugh harder, “Stop being a baby. Mona fell in love with him and he fell in
love with her. They never planned it or used magic or schemed.”

Wyatt
points at her, “Your problem is that you think you’re entitled to things you
don’t work for.”

Michelle
gets up and runs from the room. I sigh but it’s Stella who goes after her.

Wyatt
walks to me, wrapping
himself
around me. I take a deep
breath of him and savor it.

“You’re
weak, you need to eat.”

I
nod, “I know. I just don’t want it to get to you.”

He
pulls back, “Rayne, if you don’t eat, you won’t be strong enough to fight the
antichrist. That’s the important thing, saving the world.”

“I
know.”

Maria
comes into the room with a tray of drinks. I take one, “Thank you.”

She
shakes her head, “I only wish it were your real food.”

I
give her a look, “Want me to cleanse you of your evil?”

She
nods and hands Wyatt the tray. Gently, I take her face in my hands and press my
lips against hers. Nothing but love and kindness and goodness comes out. It has
no flavor. I would starve if I had to eat off of her. I push her back, “You are
sin free, Maria.”

She
shakes her head, “No. I think bad thoughts about Constantine regularly.”

He
walks into the living room as she says it. He scowls, “Why is it always the one
you love the most, who betrays you the worst.”

Maria
gasps, “You no meant to hear that.”

He
laughs, “I deserve every bad thought you have, fair Maria.”

She
is flushed and upset when she snatches the tray and leaves the room.

I
smile at him, “I bet that stung.”