22. Matilda
22
MATILDA
Heaven’s forces scatter like startled birds, their godly light dimming as they retreat. My power thuds through me, wild and satisfied, as I watch Vazna hover above the carnage. His wings are singed with Hellfire, his perfect face marred by Vex’s dark magick.
“You don’t know what you’re doing,” he spits, but there’s uncertainty in his voice now.
“I do. This power might’ve once belonged to Heaven, but that was thousands of years ago. It has evolved, and it doesn’t want to return. It will fight every last one of you who tries to jail it. It is safe with me. You know it deep down. You can see, can’t you?” I ask coldly. “You lost. Go home, Vazna. Heaven has no claim here, and if you are worried about Hell, don’t be. This magick chose me , and I am bound to nothing except the Praxian. If you truly want to fight me for this, you will have to send your God because I’m not giving it up without a real battle. ”
His gaze sweeps over me, assessing me, before he looks over the battlefield, taking in Draven’s army of enhanced spirits, over Luc’s evolved Hellfire that burns with severe darkness, over Vex’s black magick, over Blackthorn who is as pissed off as I’ve ever seen him. Finally, his eyes meet mine again, and I see something I never expected to see. Understanding. This was never a fight Heaven could win.
With a crack of divine thunder that sounds suspiciously like a tantrum, Vazna vanishes. The few remaining Angels follow, leaving behind only scattered feathers and the acrid scent of defeat.
I turn away, my power settling beneath my skin but my anger still burning bright. The guys are watching me closely.
“Tilly,” Vex starts, taking a step forward. “We need to talk.”
“No,” I say sharply, already walking away. “We need to clean up this mess and make sure Heaven can’t break through again. I don’t think Vazna will be back, but you never know.”
“The wards can wait,” Draven says, his enhanced spirits swirling around him restlessly. “This can’t.”
I keep walking, but Luc appears in front of me in a flash of Hellfire. His eyes still burn with that deeper darkness. “You were right,” he says simply. “We were wrong.”
I stop, my chest tight with conflicting emotions. “Were you? Because I’m starting to think maybe you had a point about my power being dangerous. ”
“That’s not what we meant,” Vex says from behind me. “Your power isn’t dangerous. It’s magnificent. We understand now. It’s part of you. An extension, not an addition. It’s unusual, but we know it now.”
I blink as he sums it up in a nutshell.
“We understand,” Draven repeats quietly. “We should have trusted you. Should have understood that your power is part of you, not something to be feared or dulled.”
“Look what it did to us,” Luc adds, gesturing at himself. “It didn’t corrupt us or destroy us. It enhanced us. Made us stronger.”
I look at how my power has changed them, evolved them. “The Praxian force recognises you as mine. That’s why it hasn’t tried to absorb your power like it did with the Angels. It knows you belong with me, as part of me.”
“Just like we know you belong with us,” Vex says softly. “Soul bond or not, powered up or not, angry or not. We’re yours, Tilly.”
“Well, isn’t this just lovely,” Blackthorn spits out, his rage almost a living thing that lashes across our cute moment and douses it with arctic water. “To my office, all of you, NOW!” His roar is deafening, and I gulp. We have fucked up. Big time. And now we are about to get our arses kicked, possibly out of MistHallow, but to be honest, I wouldn’t blame him this time. With our heads hanging, we shuffle along behind him, not touching, not speaking, not even looking at each other.
Blackthorn’s office feels smaller than usual, or maybe it’s just the size of his fury making it seem that way. We stand in a line before his desk like naughty school children, which would be funny if I wasn’t genuinely worried about what he has to say.
He paces behind his desk, practically vibrating with rage. The usually composed vampire-mage looks ready to explode.
“Do you have any idea what you’ve done?” His voice is deathly quiet now, which scares me more than his yelling.
None of us speak. What can we say? We just helped halve Heaven’s Army.
“The wards are in tatters. Again. The foundations are compromised. Again. There are holes in reality where Draven’s enhanced spirits pulled divine essence from Angels. And let’s not forget the absolutely catastrophic amount of damage this entire battle caused across the realm. Do you really think those walking dead filled with Angels’ souls are just going to go back to their deathbeds like good little ghouls? Hmm?”
I wince.
“Sir,” Vex starts, but Blackthorn cuts him off with a look that could freeze Hell.
“Don’t you sir me, you little shit. You are up to your neck in this dung heap you have created. I have been amenable. I have been helpful, even, with this problem you have all found yourselves in. But let me make one thing absolutely clear. MistHallow is not your battleground. This is a respectable academic institution which has kindly taken some of you in.” He glowers at me, and I gulp before he slams his hands on his desk, making us all jump. “And you are bordering on throwing that generosity back in my face. I blame all of you, not just you, Miss Matilda. This ends now. You get your shit together and deal with that menace downstairs, you fix magick before it unravels completely and then you will all get back to classes and let me be quite clear on something. You will all finish this term with straight As, or you are out on your backsides, and I don’t give a flying flamingo what inconvenience that has for you. Am I making myself perfectly clear?”
“We didn’t mean—” Luc tries.
“I don’t care what you meant!” Blackthorn roars. He takes a deep breath, visibly trying to compose himself again. “Am I making myself perfectly clear?”
The threat of expulsion hangs in the air like a guillotine blade.
“Whatever rift you have in your personal relationship can be sidelined. You have until sunrise to show me you can work together without destroying everything around you to fix those rifts. If you can’t...” He doesn’t finish the sentence. He doesn’t need to. “Dismissed.”
We file out silently, the severity of his words settling on our shoulders. He’s right, of course. We have been fucking about, and we need to focus on getting this entire situation on track and under control.
As soon as his door closes behind us, I turn to the guys. “We have fucked up.”
“You don’t say,” Luc mutters .
“The holes in reality are probably the biggest concern,” Vex says. “If we don’t seal those, who knows what might slip through.”
Draven nods, his enhanced spirits appearing and hovering around him like anxious pets. “Another thing… Those Angel souls aren’t settling properly in death.”
“Because they’re not meant to die. They’re celestial beings. When your spirits pulled their divine essence out...”
“They created tears between life and death,” he finishes grimly. “Between our realm and others.”
Luc runs a hand through his hair, his eyes still burning with that deeper darkness. “So what do we do? How do we fix this?”
I take a deep breath, pushing aside my lingering hurt and anger. We can deal with our relationship drama later. Right now, we need to clean up this mess before it gets worse.
“The Praxian force,” I say slowly. “It’s what enhanced all of your powers. Maybe it can help us contain the damage too.”
“How?” Vex asks.
“It wants to absorb power, right? That’s what it was doing to the Angels. But with you three, it enhanced instead of absorbed because it knows you as...” I hesitate, then push on. “As mine. As part of me.”
“So what are you suggesting?” Draven asks, though I can see understanding dawning in his eyes.
“We work together by combining our powers. Let the Praxian force guide us in sealing these rifts and stabilising the damage we’ve caused.”
“Where do we start?” Vex asks.
I hold out my hands. “With this.”
Rainbow light spills from my skin as they each place a hand on me, forming a circle. The Praxian force surges through me, reaching for them eagerly, and this time, I don’t try to hold it back.
This time, I let it show them exactly what we need to do.