Chapter 20 Cinder
CINDER
The persistent, high-pitched, screeching ring felt like someone was jabbing icepicks into my eardrums and twisting them back and forth. Like a primitive lobotomy, but through the wrong orifice. Ouch.
My vision had shrunk to pinpricks surrounded by flickering white and blue light, each pulse of the tunneling vignette sending an electric shock through my brain.
My mouth felt like baked clay, and as I pried my cracked lips apart to suck in a breath, I swear half the skin of the top one peeled off, stuck to the bottom one.
My back ached and my lungs burned, but I forced in another breath, my mind scrambling to catch up with my racing thoughts.
Had we done it? Had we mended the veil? Or had the explosion of energy, ozone…the universe…killed us all?
I remembered holding hands, the circle of six. The intensity of the ritual. Hecate blasting us with enough goddess magic to melt our bones. We’d used our soul bonds as the loom to weave the fabric of reality.
Our soul bonds…
“Discord!” I rasped, scrambling to my hands and knees. My stomach heaved, every muscle in my body screaming in agony as I stared at the scorched earth beneath my hands, my hair a curtain of knotted pink strands cascading around my shoulders.
I blinked, and the tunnel in my vision began to recede.
I dragged in another breath, the burning in my lungs fading as my muscles slowly released their ache.
Deep cuts marred my bloody hands, no doubt from being blasted across half of Salem, but as I stretched my fingers, the wounds closed, weaving themselves back together like we had just done with the veil.
“What the actual eff?” I scrambled to my feet and held out my arms. Every cut, bruise, and scrape disappeared before my eyes. My mind cleared, and a surge of energy and vim washed through me, erasing every pain and discomfort I felt.
If Hell magnified pain, did that mean I was in heaven?
I better not be. Not without my demon.
I spun in a circle, taking in the scene. The explosion had blasted me deep into the tree line. I peered up where the silver moon shone through the canopy, the leafless branches forming a disjointed lattice, like skeletal arms outstretched, longing for an embrace that would never come.
All around me, the world shimmered with an unnatural chill.
Silvery frost coated the trees closest to the clearing, their bark fractured with icy scars, as if they'd suffered frostbite in the heat of a wildfire.
Crystalline rime coated patches of the ground, shimmering pale blue in the diffused, post-magic light.
Even the brush looked brittle, its leaves curled and edged in frosty white.
As I stepped forward, twigs snapped beneath my feet with a weird, glassy crunch, the strange aftermath of goddess power and soul bond-weaving leaving a winter’s mark in the midst of a scorched landscape.
Unnatural didn’t even begin to describe it. And the way my body had recovered from a blast that powerful…? This had to be Hecate’s doing.
I checked to make sure all my body parts were in the right place…and properly covered…before pacing toward the clearing. The moment I broke through the tree line, my heart leaped into my throat before taking a swim in my stomach.
All three demons lay prone, unmoving on the ground.
“Discord!” I raced to his side, my perception of the world around me disappearing, my focus tunneling until he and I were the only people in the universe. “Please tell me you’re okay.”
He rolled to his back and blinked rapidly before gasping and sitting upright. His brow furrowed in confusion, and he fisted his hands, his nostrils flaring as a dozen different emotions played on his features.
I dropped to my knees, hands trembling, and I reached for him. For a heart-stopping moment, he didn’t seem to recognize me. More confusion flickered in his eyes, then recognition, and finally, he smiled.
A tidal wave of relief crashed through me, and tears pricked the corners of my eyes as I pressed my forehead to his. “You scared me half to death.”
His fingers found mine, gripping tightly…alive, warm, undeniably real. For the first time since the blast, hope returned, fierce and bright, thawing the lingering chill inside me.
“How am I still here?” He searched my eyes, as if he could find the answer there.
Tears streamed down my cheeks, and I choked on a sob. “I don’t know, but you are. You’re here.”
I flung my arms around him, crawling into his lap and kissing him, drinking him in like he was the last drop of water on Earth.
His skin felt warm, feverish, and as he held me, tangling his tongue with mine, his wounds began to heal.
I clutched his shoulders, clinging to him as if I were afraid he’d disappear if I let him go.
No, not as if.
I literally was afraid to let him go. I hadn’t seen Hecate or heard Lucifer’s voice since the ritual ended, but if they wanted to drag my demon to Hell, they’d have to kill me first.
Discord pulled back just enough to look into my eyes, his gaze wonderous and intense. He ran a hand through my hair, his fingers catching on a tangle before lingering on my neck as if he still doubted I was real.
“I thought the explosion sent me back,” he whispered, his voice rough. “I thought I lost you.”
“You didn’t. You never will.” I leaned into his touch, my heart finally slowing to a normal rhythm. “You’re my soulmate. Now and forever.”
He blew out a hard breath, tugging me to his chest, his arms creating a protective cage around me, and I knew that he would make certain he never lost me. Not to Hecate or Lucifer. Not to any beastie I might battle. Not to anything.
We sat there holding each other for a minute or two before the rest of the world began slipping back into my mind. I looked around the clearing. The air smelled faintly of sulfur and burnt wood, and the violent vibration of the shredding veil had been replaced by a heavy, profound silence.
We’d done it. We’d mended the world.
I brushed a kiss to his lips and stood, offering him a hand up. He accepted, rising to his feet and keeping my hand locked in his.
“Ember? Ash?” My voice cracked.
“Over here.” Ash sat on the frost-covered grass near a fallen, scorched pine, her head resting on Chaos’s shoulder as he held her tightly. A few yards away, Ember stood with Mayhem. She leaned against his chest, her eyes closed while he stroked her hair with a tenderness that made my chest ache.
Miles and Shade stood at the edge of the clearing, their expressions incredulous and full of wonder, and Patrice stood several feet away from them, her head bowed and her hands clasped in front of her.
The knot in my chest loosened. Everyone was alive.
No, not everyone.
Mom sat on a fallen log nearby, her hands over her face as she sobbed uncontrollably. Her shoulders bounced with each heaved breath, and when she lifted her head to look at me, tears streamed down her snot-stained cheeks. “Your father is gone.”
“What do you mean, gone?” Ash scrambled to her feet. “Where did he go?”
Mom wiped beneath her nose, smearing more mucus across her face. “I don’t know. I was with him when the blast happened. It knocked me back, and when it was over, he was just…gone.”
“Did you look for him?” Ember asked.
“Yes.” Mom nodded and sniffled. “But I don’t sense him anywhere.”
“That’s not okay.” Ash cut her gaze to me like I should have the answer.
I didn’t, but I knew damn sure well who did.
“Hecate!” I shouted her name like a command. “This isn’t over yet.”
The temperature in the clearing plummeted instantly, and a shimmer of silver light formed in front of us. Goosebumps rose on my skin, the static in the air making every hair on my body stand on end.
The goddess stepped out of the luminescence, and Discord tightened his grip on my hand. Her divine, radiant glow made the frost on the trees sparkle like diamonds, and the amulet hung around her neck, the red stone pulsing with a steady, peaceful light.
“But it is.” Her voice carried the weight of a thousand years, yet it was as soft as a breeze. “The balance is restored.”
“Where is my dad?” I stepped toward her, and Discord moved with me, his hand never leaving mine. “Forget Lucifer’s blessing. You have your power of resurrection back. There’s no reason you can’t send my dad home.”
She snapped her gaze to my eyes. “You haven’t a clue, child. I can think of a thousand reasons to leave him dead, most of which involve mending my relationship with Lucifer. My king is not pleased with this outcome.”
My jaw trembled, so I snapped my mouth shut.
“Please, Hecate.” My mom fell to her knees, clasping her hands over her heart. Her voice trembled, raw with desperation, echoing through the frozen clearing. Tears streamed down her cheeks as she looked up at the goddess, her entire body rocking with her sobs. “Please return him to me.”
Hecate’s eyes flickered, the chill in the air deepening as she considered my mother’s plea. For a moment, the clearing was utterly silent, save for Mom’s broken sobs.
The goddess’s features softened just enough to reveal a hint of ancient sorrow beneath her divine composure.
She knelt, her silver light enveloping my mother in a gentle embrace, and she laid a hand atop her bowed head.
The glow from the amulet intensified, illuminating the frost beneath them in a radiant crimson wash.
A silent tension hung in the space, fragile as spun glass, as if the world itself was holding its breath—waiting for her judgment.
A figure emerged from the trees.
Dad stepped into the clearing. He wore the same cracked glasses and clothes, tattered from his time in Hell, but he looked whole, healed. Alive.
“Marshall!” Mom screamed. She launched herself from the ground and collided with him.