Chapter 9
CHAPTER NINE
EVEREST
“Wait, what about Tegan’s plan?” Willow shouted, still unable to hear.
Tenn frowned. “She’s right. Let them get into position first.”
“No.” I waved my hand over the ground until the small black orb floated into the middle of the archway, right at my hip.
“It’s too late for that plan. Auryn has left this realm.
When I send her back out, it’ll be through this orb right here and Mother will know it.
There will be an ambush and you all will have better odds if you’re together and as far from Avolire as possible. ”
Tegan was already shaking her head. “Everest, there has to be something we can do to help.”
“Save my daughter. Stay alive. And then see about reaching me before Mother’s magic has a chance to wear down Ruth’s.
Everything else, well, it’s far too late for that.
” I smiled and held my hand over the orb, letting my body morph into shadow and smoke.
“Good luck, my friends. I hope to rejoin you soon.”
As my magic pulled me into the orb, I found identical looks of the purest form of terror staring back at me. Yet the last thing I saw was Savannah. I held her stare and prayed I would get the chance to see her see me for real.
I hadn’t been inside Mother’s realm since Celina was reborn as Frankie eighteen years ago, but the scent of embers and ash burned when I breathed them in the way they always had.
The air held that same thickness and stench of death in the distance.
My skin burned and itched, already revolting against our location.
Then again, this form had never liked Mother’s realm.
This form was a gift from my father, one of few good things he ever did for me, and was never fully welcome here.
Mother ensured I’d never forget which of my bloodlines was greater.
After all, my father had been a tool for her, a way to manipulate her other followers.
I opened my eyes, and the floating particles of death clung to my eyelashes.
The air was too dry, like a vacuum had sucked all of the moisture from my eyes.
I squeezed my eyes shut again, then took a deep, calming breath .
. . then shifted into my other form—my true form, the body my mother gave birth to in this very room.
For a moment, I let myself enjoy the peace and comfort this form gave me.
It’d been so very long since I’d taken this body that I’d forgotten there was a difference.
I’d grown so used to the Seelie form, the human-passing form.
There was always the slightest tightness in my skin as the Everest Earth knew.
That Everest barely registered the difference in temperatures on Earth because it was foreign to him.
This Everest felt the chill in the stone beneath all of my feet and the heat radiating from my right, just out the window on mother’s altar.
I arched my back, stretching all of my arms and legs.
Focus, Everest. Your daughter needs you and she has to be terrified.
Auryn had never stepped foot in this realm, neither had Raeven or Savannah, despite all carrying Lilith’s blood in their veins, so I had no idea what being here would do to them.
My stomach tightened into knots as a million possibilities rushed through my mind.
I closed my eyes and focused on the heat radiating from my right.
In Mother’s realm, the only source of heat came from creatures from other realms, Earthlings being the warmest. But that blast of heat from Mother’s altar was hotter than anything I’d ever felt in this realm.
Auryn. Has to be. I turned to smoke and leapt through the open window of my room in Mother’s castle.
There was no reason to hide or sneak here.
There was nothing and no one more powerful than me aside from Mother herself.
And by now, she already knew I was here.
I soared through the air. Time seemed to slow as I spotted Auryn perched on top of one of Mother’s narrow altar pillars.
Her long strawberry-blonde hair she’d inherited from Celina was caked and matted with grime and black demon blood.
The wings that hung from her back that should have been the most pristine white were turning gray at the ends of each feather.
Every inch of her bare skin was turning blue from the cold.
When I finally landed a few feet in front of her, she gasped and looked up with wide, tear-filled eyes that were identical to mine in my other form.
A blood-soaked piece of fabric was tied around her mouth.
Her body trembled. Up close I saw the chains digging into her bare skin, strapping her to the pillar with no way of climbing off.
Golden angel blood dripped down her bare arms and legs and down the pillar—I gasped.
She was entirely undressed. My whole body turned ice-cold while my soul burned with an inferno of rage.
A growl escaped my lips. My whole body trembled with fury.
I leapt forward and ripped the chains from where they were fastened to the stone floor, then I scooped her up in my arms and leapt off the altar.
She trembled against me, her body covered in patches of ice.
Her bloodshot eyes stared up at the sky in horror, so I followed her stare and cursed.
Mother’s little pets were on their way to scavenge what I’d stolen.
Lilith kept her demons underfed and always ready to rampage.
They wouldn’t have dared touch something on her altar or in her castle, but everywhere else was fair game, and they played to the death.
The sky thundered, red mist billowing from behind thick gray clouds.
Shrieks filled the air a split second before the demons circling above like vultures dove for us.
I charged for the castle, not daring to use my magic to travel there faster in case that was what Mother was waiting for.
As I ran, with Auryn gripped tightly against my chest, the darkness around us moved from within.
Arms, talons, and wings emerged from the black sludge pools on either side of us.
Big, glowing red eyes surrounded us. I slid to a stop and roared as loud as I could.
My breath hit the first wave of demons like a tsunami.
With my other arms, I fired magic in every direction, picking off my attackers one by one.
A small smirk pulled at my lips. I’d forgotten how nice it was to have more than two hands.
A violent shiver ripped through Auryn’s body, making me look down at her.
My heart sank. Her skin was turning bluer by the second.
She would freeze to death if I didn’t get her out of here quickly.
I fired magic as I sprinted for the castle, yet they kept coming.
Part of me didn’t blame them. A Heavenly angel was a meal unlike anything they’d ever tasted.
A wall of demons shot up between me and the castle.
I reached into my darkness and pulled four long blades, then charged for them.
It only took a few moments to slice through them all but more seconds than Auryn had to sacrifice.
Finally, I leapt over the rest of them and onto the castle terrace outside my chamber.
The demons hissed and cried from down below.
I rushed through the doorway, slamming it closed behind me with one of my hands, then tossed Auryn onto the bed I hadn’t touched in a century.
I gripped the end of one of her chains and yanked it off her body—and she dove away from me.
The chain had apparently been pinning her arms to her chest, and the second I’d freed them she ran.
From me. She grabbed two of the long swords I’d dropped when we came in here and raised them up as if she were going to fight me.
I frowned and reached forward only to spot my monster arms in my peripheral vision.
OH. I cursed but it came out as a growl. Auryn had never seen me in this form. It wasn’t one I’d ever allowed myself to take on Earth. She had no idea it was me. I took a step back and held my hands up, letting my magic wash over me until the father she recognized reclaimed my spot.
Her arms lowered ever so slightly and her eyes widened.
“Auryn, it’s me. You’re okay,” I said softly without moving. “That’s just my other form, the one I’ve told you about—”
A violent sob burst from her cloth-bound mouth as she threw herself at me. Relief threatened to choke me. I wrapped my arms around her tight as she sobbed and trembled in my arms. Her skin was too cold, too blue.
“I’ve got you. I’ve got you,” I whispered over and over as I pulled back and used my magic to carefully remove the fabric around her mouth. “Breathe for me, Auryn.”
She sucked in a shaky breath through nearly royal-blue lips.
I pulled her back into my arms and pressed my palms to the other chains still coiled around her.
It was much easier to use my magic with these human hands, so it took me a few seconds at most to leave the chains as piles of ashes on my chamber floor.
I spun away from her and grabbed the black cloak I always wore when in this realm, if in my human form, then wrapped it around her.
She let out a shaky sigh, her teeth rattling against each other. “F-f-f-ath-th-ther-r-r—”
“Save your strength for the trip home,” I said in a rush as I lifted my hand and summoned the black orb identical to the one I’d entered through.
When I looked back to her, she had questions in her eyes, so I took her face in my hands and silently prayed this wouldn’t be the last time I saw her.
“This is a secret back door I made into Earth. Help is waiting on the other side. Just get to them.”
She nodded, but when my shadow magic coiled around only her, she began to panic. “Wait, Father, what about—”
“That door can only transport one person at a time. By the time you get through, Mother will have realized what I’d done and I won’t have a chance to get through—”