Chapter 33
Thirty-Three
Sebastian
Isabella was stiff and full of nervous energy as she gazed at everyone, but her eyes were slanted and full of determination. Instead of worrying about all the wrongs she had done while under Harvest’s control, she stepped up and offered help in the form of pain, knowing the reaction might be harsh.
“I know given how much control Julius has had over me, you have no reason to trust that I’m telling the truth or that this isn’t some sort of trick, but this isn’t something I can do alone.
” She glanced over at me and took my hand.
“There’s no way I can direct that much power alone or inside me for very long, the vortex was killing me.
Sebastian will have to take over when I have enough, then everything I’ve taken from you all—”
Isabella abruptly stopped when she saw that Maureen was heading toward her.
Eyes narrowed at her, she held her arm out to Isabella and I smiled while Maureen looked the other way.
“We don’t have the option to sit here and listen.
Our father is slipping away right along with the world, it’s us that follows if we don’t do anything. ”
“Ah, fuck,” August groaned. “Let’s get on with the touch of death, shall we?”
“Can someone knock me out before she touches me so that I don’t have to go through that excruciating pain again?
” Joy asked, and Barron snorted. It was Mom who came up behind her and slipped her hand over her forehead, putting her to sleep like she asked.
Joy’s eyes closed, her body leaning forward with Payne there to catch her.
He lifted her in his arms and cradled her to his chest as he carried her to Isabella.
“Such a baby,” I heard him mutter.
“Can you use mine?” Mom asked Isabella.
Isabella nodded. “More like, we’re going to need it.”
“Maybe when this is over, we can find me some of that touch of death.” Prudence piped in.
Soon everyone was lined up in front of Isabella oddly enthusiastic.
Or maybe it was the thought of our last moments being sad that kept the perk in the air because Prudence never made jokes or took the time to talk. “Would come in handy,” she even added.
“Sebastian,” I turned to Isabella as she said my name. “I need you to take it all away from me when it’s time.” She was referring to their power.
“How will I know when it’s time?” I asked her.
“You’ll know.” She smiled. “When my body at its limit, I trust that you will stop it.”
“Izzie…”
“This is going to work,” she whispered with a positive smile. “I didn’t meet you just to lose you in the end.”
“This isn’t the end.” Maureen nodded, sounding more determined. “Hear that, Dad?”
“I hear ya,” Dad whispered his response.
Turning away from me, Izzie took in the rest of them. “Payne, you’re going to have to let someone else hold her. You’re not immortal. You risk being exposed to my touch by touching her skin. We can’t chance it.”
Looking down at Joy, Payne seemed reluctant to let her go, which was weird considering he usually ran away from her.
“I got her,” Barron said, scooping her up in his meaty arms. “Okay, let’s get this started.”
“Everyone touch me at once.” That was all Isabella had to say, and they latched onto her like leeches.
They all started screaming, but none of them seemed able to let her go.
I stood as the bystander, in the eerie minute it took for Isabella’s skin to blister and bubble until she was screaming.
I was already reaching out for her when she opened her eyes and whispered my name. “Sebastian.”
This would be the only time her touch physically hurt me. The brutal force of everything the Reapers had given her, she had brought into me like an avalanche. For a second, I was suspended in air, only I wasn’t. Not really.
Isabella pulled away from the others and gripped me, then she forced me to my knees and that was it. Because whatever spell she had used, burst out of me like lightning as it struck the vortex straight down the middle.
It didn’t crumble. Instead, the maelstrom disappeared under the force of her magic.
Sucking in a breath, I planted my hands on the ground and coughed. When I glanced up, the sky was clear. We did it. I gave an imaginary fist-bump to both worlds for surviving as I grinned. My parent’s castle was destroyed, as well as most of the woods, but we had just prevented the Apocalypse.
Only it was a small feat. Because the vortex had been open long enough to wreak havoc on the human world. The death toll number was rapidly going up because even though we had just ended it, they were still suffering from what we had taken so long to destroy.
In a way, we had failed terribly.
And it wasn’t we as much as it was me. I glanced back at my reason. She was gasping for breath just like I was, and when she met my eyes, she burst into a beautiful smile that made my heart pitter-patter like a lovesick fool.
I was a lovesick fool.
Was this the choice the witch, Melinda, had been talking about?
If I could go back, I’d make the same choice to go after Izzie like a maniac until I had her in my arms again.
Maybe that made me a bad good guy, but the humans would never know a Reaper delayed saving the world—including his own life just to get his girl.
“We did it.” Isabella laughed as she said it.
I wouldn’t tell her the human world was in chaos. At least parts of it were. Not yet. Just a few more hours of the beautiful smile taking over her small face.
There would be a lot of work from here on out.
“Isabella,” a dark, penetrating voice came from behind me. I recognized it and stood, materializing a scythe in my hand. “What have you done?”