29. Tate
29
TATE
I’ve never liked the way Vex looks at Ivy. Even now, as we materialise in MistHallow’s courtyard in the middle of a crisis, his hand lingers too long on her arm. But there’s something different now. A strange sort of understanding between us since learning about our blood connection. Half-brothers, in the most twisted sense of the word. It doesn’t make me like him more, but it does make me understand him better. He doesn’t fancy Ivy in that way, at least I don’t think he does. It’s more that he is just a giant douche canoe. That is confirmed when he shoots me that smug look I want to smack off his face with my ancestral power. I grin when I think it is our ancestral power. Oh, how poetic that would be…
“Tate!”
Ivy’s urgent tone snaps me out of my wayward thoughts. We follow Vex across the misty campus.
The air in MistHallow feels different from before. The gentle hum of protective magick is discordant, like an orchestra playing out of tune. My markings burn in response, sensing the wrongness.
“This way,” Vex says, leading us into the main building. “We’ve moved her to a warded room, but it doesn’t seem to be helping.”
“How long has she been like this?” Ivy asks as we hurry down a corridor.
“She started declining rapidly about an hour ago,” Vex answers. “Then the disturbances started. We thought at first it was just her body finally giving out, but...” He shakes his head.
“It’s Life making her move,” I mutter. The energy is stronger here, and it’s twisted, desperate.
Bram’s shadows float around us as we approach the door, and Torin’s chaos magick sparks in response to the energy saturating the air. We’re all on edge, sensing the danger.
The sight that greets us when we enter Lila’s room makes Ivy gasp. The shifter’s body is barely holding together, her form flickering between human and something else entirely. The void between realities shows through her skin in places, like tears in a cosmic fabric.
Blackthorn is there and he gives Ivy a swift nod but otherwise ignores her for the moment as he and Vex exchange a quiet word.
Hovering around her, barely visible but unmistakably there, is Life.
Haggard, ancient, fragile looking, but still emitting power on a wavelength that concerns me.
“She’s trying to force her way back in,” I say, watching the way Life’s essence circles Lila like a vulture. “Using their old connection to anchor herself.”
“You can see her?” Ivy asks with a frown. “Where is she?”
“There.” I gesture vaguely, frowning back at her. “You can’t see her?”
She shakes her head.
“Nor me,” Bram murmurs,
“Nope,” Torin says.
“Vex?” I ask,
He shakes his head.
“Why can I then?” I mutter.
“Does it matter?” Ivy snaps, her agitation getting the better of her. She is trying to get to Lila, but she is unable to break past whatever barrier Life has up. “If you can see her, you can fight her.”
“She’s weak,” I say, studying Life’s form more carefully. “Trying to repossess Lila is taking everything she has.”
Life’s head snaps toward me, and for a moment, our eyes meet. There’s recognition there, and hatred, but also desperation. She knows I can see her.
“Tell me what to do,” I say to Ivy, not breaking eye contact with Life. “I can see her, but you’re the one who knows how to fight her.”
Ivy’s hand finds mine, and immediately, I feel her power rush into me through our connection. “We need to sever that link between her and Lila,” she says. “Can you see it?”
I can. It’s like a sickly golden thread stretching between Life’s form and Lila’s failing body. “Yes. But it’s not just connecting them - it’s the only thing keeping Lila alive right now.”
“Fuck,” Torin mutters. “So if we cut the connection, we kill her?”
Life laughs - a horrible, echoing sound that apparently only I can hear. Her form flickers closer to Lila’s bed. “You can’t save her without saving me,” she speaks directly to me. “We’re bound together. Cut one thread, sever them both.”
“Cut one thread, sever them both,” I repeat out loud. “That’s what she said.”
“No,” Ivy says steadily. “There has to be another way. Tate, you can see both the connection and Life herself. What if...” she pauses, thinking. “What if, instead of cutting the thread, we redirect it?”
“To what?” Vex asks from where he’s strengthening the room’s wards with a brutal efficiency that impresses me. He can be focused when he wants to be, apparently.
“We need to break her hold first,” I say, watching Life’s essence pulse and twist. “Then maybe we can stabilise Lila without her. I think she’s lying. We have to risk it.”
Ivy hesitates for a fraction, but then she nods, squeezing my hand tighter in a sign of trust. “Together then. All of us. Tate, you’re our eyes - guide us.”
I feel their power flow through me. Even Vex adds his strength to the mix, his power feeling surprisingly similar to my own. Blackthorn moves in closer, maintaining the wards as Vex shifts his focus. Life’s barrier shimmers visibly now, a sickly golden dome around Lila’s bed.
“There,” I gesture with my chin. “The barrier’s weakest at the top, where she’s focusing on Lila. If we hit it there...”
Without warning, we strike together, our combined power slamming into Life’s shield. For a moment, nothing happens. Then I see it - a crack, spreading like spider webs across the golden surface.
Life screams in fury and pain, the sound reverberating through my skull as I slam my hands to my ears. The connection between her and Lila wobbles dangerously.
“Again!” I shout.
Another blast of power, stronger this time. The crack widens. Through it, I can see Life’s form becoming less stable, more frantic.
“You fools,” she hisses. “You’ll kill her!”
But I can see she’s lying - the connection is weakening, yes, but Lila’s life force is actually growing stronger without Life’s parasitic presence. I turn my head to Blackthorn, when I realise this is his doing. The wards around Lila are healing and protection. They have been keeping her alive this entire time, which is why they cannot allow them to fail, even for a second.
My respect for Vex shoots up a notch. Or a hundred. His responsibility for this girl is admirable and I should take a moment to tell him if we get the chance later.
“One more time,” I grit out. “Everything we’ve got.”
This time, when our power hits, the barrier shatters completely. Life’s form recoils violently, her essence scattering like smoke in a strong wind. She doesn’t disappear entirely; I can still see traces of her fleeing through the walls, but her hold on Lila is broken.
“She’s gone,” I say, sagging slightly as the strain catches up with me. “For now.”
“Gone how?” Ivy asks, hopefully.
“Not dead. Fled.”
“Oh, what a downer.”
I snicker as Blackthorn rushes to Lila’s side, his hands glowing with healing magick. “Her vitals are stabilising,” he reports after a moment. “Whatever you did, it worked. She’s no longer declining.”
“But Life’s still out there,” Ivy says grimly, looking around even though she can’t see what I saw. “And now she’s even more desperate.”
“Let her be desperate,” Bram says, his shadows curling protectively around us all. “At least now we know we can fight her.”
I nod, but something nags at me. The way Life fled… it wasn’t just retreat. It felt like she was heading somewhere specific.
“We need to figure out where she’s going,” I say. “Because that didn’t feel like running away. It felt like she was running toward something.”
“Or someone,” Torin adds quietly.
We all exchange worried looks, knowing this is far from over. But at least for now, Lila is safe. One small victory in what I suspect will be a much larger war.