9. Ivy
9
IVY
“The warlock is correct,” Mazzarat says, his voice somehow now echoing all around us. “Up to a point. If you can draw the escaped souls to a central location, it could create enough of a disturbance in the fabric of reality to allow you to reset the timeline.”
“ Reset the timeline?” I ask warily. “What exactly does that mean?”
“It means undoing the damage you fools caused when you reversed time,” he snaps. “But it’s not without risks.”
“Of course it’s not,” Bram mutters. “What kind of risks are we talking about?”
Mazzarat’s response is grim. “Best case scenario, reality snaps back into place, and only you four remember what happened. Worst case... well, let’s just say universal annihilation is a possibility.”
“Fuck,” Torin mutters.
“So how do we do this without the annihilation part?” Tate asks, his face set with determination.
“We need to call them back to you,” Mazzarat states.
I nod slowly. “Okay, and then what?”
“Then you use your collective power to reset the timeline. All of you together have enough energy to generate enough force to have reality snap back into place. Think of it like a saggy elastic band that hasn’t quite fit around the circumference of the realms. You need to put it back into place.”
Bram looks sceptical. “And how exactly do we do that without tearing reality apart in the process?”
“Very carefully,” Mazzarat replies dryly. “It will require precise control and timing from all of you.”
I take a deep breath, trying to wrap my head around what we need to do. “Okay, so first, we need to draw all the escaped souls to us. How do we do that?”
“You’re Death now,” Mazzarat says. “Call to them. They’ll come.”
“Right,” I mutter. “Easy peasey.”
Closing my eyes, I reach deep within myself, tapping into the wellspring of Death’s power. I focus on the escaped souls, sending out a silent call across realities. Come to me. It’s time to return.
I chew the inside of my lip as my desperate call to the souls does absolutely fuck all.
“Again,” David whispers. “You can do this, Ivy.”
I nod and put my back into it. Come to me, you fucking cunts. Playtime is over, and it’s time to get your fucking arses back inside the void.
“That’s the spirit!” David cheers.
“Get ready,” I warn the others as I open my eyes. “This could get intense. They are pissed. ”
The air around us ripples and distorts. Ghostly figures materialise, more and more appearing by the second. Warriors, criminals, monsters - the worst of the worst that Death has claimed over millennia.
I stand my ground as the horde of angry souls drifts around us, their ethereal forms flickering and pulsing with malevolent energy. There are hundreds, maybe thousands of them, filling the forest as far as I can see.
“So, is this the army that will fight Life?” Bram mutters, his eyes wide as he takes in the spectral army surrounding us.
Life. Lila. I’d almost forgotten about that bitch with this little sidetrack we went on.
“Yes,” David says.
“Wonderful,” Bram says. “Although, I feel better about winning now.”
“Right?” I snort and then focus as a terrifying creature that looks about a thousand years old snarls in my face, his putrid breath and straggly hair plastered to his head with grease, making me want to throw up.
“Stay back,” I warn the guys. “This is going to get ugly.”
“Uglier than him?” Torin mutters, but I see them all take giant steps back. I don’t blame them. I would too, if I could.
The souls press in, their faces contorted with rage and madness. I can feel their fury, their desperation to remain free of Death’s grasp. But I’m Death now, and I won’t let them escape again.
I raise my hands, channelling every ounce of power I can muster. “It’s time to go back where you belong,” I growl.
A wave of dark energy pulses out from me, washing over the spectral horde. Many of them shriek and dissolve instantly, sucked back into the void. But others resist, pushing back against my power. Lilith is there, struggling against the tide of power, but she can’t escape me. Not this time.
“Back in your box, bitch,” I spit out, keeping an eye out for Morrigan, but she is nowhere to be seen.
“Fuck,” I grunt, straining to maintain control. My planted feet sink into the forest floor as the pressure from the souls weighs me down before it dissipates into nothing.
As the last of the spectral horde fades away, I stumble backwards, exhausted. Torin catches me before I can fall.
“You okay?” he asks, steadying me.
I nod weakly. “Just peachy. Nothing like absorbing thousands of psychotic souls to start your day.”
“That was... disturbing,” Bram says, looking around the now-empty forest.
“No shit,” Tate mutters. “So what now? We’ve got all the escaped souls back where they belong. How do we reset the timeline?”
I straighten up, taking a deep breath. “Mazzarat? Any tips?”
His voice echoes in my mind. “The hard part is done. I’m impressed, girl. I expected that to be a lot harder for you.”
“Fuck off, you old fucker,” I snap. “I’m not some little girl playing the part. I’m the real deal.”
“Oh, yes, you are,” he says, in a way creepy enough for my skin to crawl.
But then he seems to snap out of it. “The world is primed. Combine your powers and focus on the moment you want to return to. The exact moment before you reversed time.”
“And how do we do that without tearing reality apart?” Bram asks.
“Very carefully,” he states again.
I nod, trying to ignore the exhaustion weighing me down. “Okay, let’s do this before I pass out.”
We form a circle, joining hands.
I take a deep breath, feeling the power of Death buzzing through me as I join hands with the guys. “Okay, everyone focus on that moment right before we reversed time. Picture it clearly in your minds.”
I close my eyes, recalling the chaos and desperation of that moment. The sickening feeling of being torn apart across realities is easy to remember.
Our collective power builds, swirling around us in a vortex of energy. The air crackles with electricity.
“ Now ,” Mazzarat’s voice echoes in my mind again.
We all concentrate, channelling our power towards that focal point in time. Reality bends and warps around us. Trees blur and twist, the ground ripples like water. I grit my teeth against the strain, feeling like my atoms are being pulled apart.
I scream as the vortex intensifies and the world fractures, splintering into shards of possibility. I catch glimpses of alternate timelines again. Versions where we failed, where we never met, where everything went wrong. But I push past them, zeroing in on that crucial moment.
Just when I think I can’t take anymore, there’s a deafening crack that reverberates through my entire being as reality snaps back into place. I gasp, stumbling as the world stops spinning.
“Did it work?” Torin asks, steadying me.
I look around, trying to get my bearings. We’re still in the forest, but we are alone. No sign of Life’s minions or Aunt Cathy. Did we reset, or did we change it completely again?
“I’m not sure.”
Bram nods, his eyes scanning our surroundings warily. “How do we know?”
“I’ll call Ramsey,” I say, already pulling out my phone.
“Ivy?” he answers on the first ring. “What’s up?”
“Oh, not much. How’s Josh?”
“He’s good… why?”
“Is he still part of The Resistance?”
“Yeees. Did you hit your head?”
“And you and I are part of The Syndicate.”
“Obviously. Ivy, are you okay?”
I smile in relief. “I’m great. I’ll speak to you later.” I hang up and pocket my phone. “It worked. Everything’s back in place.”
The guys visibly relax at my words.
“Thank fuck,” Torin says.
“So what now?” Bram asks. “We just... go on like nothing happened?”
I shake my head. “Not quite. We still have unfinished business.”
“Life,” Tate says grimly.
I nod. “Exactly. We reset the timeline, but that bitch is still out there. We have a scary as fuck army to take her down, but I have a horrible feeling they aren’t going to want to help after this shitshow.”
“Only one way to find out,” Bram says.
“Yeah,” I mutter, a slice of worry creeping over me. Morrigan definitely didn’t return to the void. She is still out there, and that concerns me more than I’d like. Chances are, she is going to align with Life to get what she wants, which is her power back at any cost. The stakes in this fight just got raised again, but I’m too exhausted to think about it right now. “Sleep?” I ask, already turning to head out of the forest, but I don’t even make it two steps before I collapse, and Bram catches me, transporting us back to my bedroom, where I curl up on the bed and face oblivion.