Chapter 28 #2
“Bummer for you.” Booker patted Declan’s head as if he was a dog, then met Galen’s steady gaze. “I’ll make sure she’s okay.”
“I know you will,” Galen grumbled.
“I think Lilac is going to end this before it even gets started,” Booker added.
Now Galen smiled. “I’m kind of sorry I’m going to miss it.”
“I’ll give you the play-by-play.”
Galen kept a solid grip on Declan and glanced at me. “Do what they say. Stay safe.”
“I’ll be fine. Have a little faith.”
“I have nothing but faith when it comes to you.” With that, Galen tossed Declan through the door and marched after him, Marjory on his heels. Brody followed without a word.
My gaze moved to May and my mother as they tested the door.
“It’s strong enough,” Mom said in wonder.
May’s eyes moved to me. “We’ll be on the other side.”
I nodded. “Wesley will be really happy to see you.”
“He’ll be angry because I was going to stay behind,” May countered. “He’ll be really angry that I modified his memory.”
I looked to Mom. “He’ll understand.”
May’s lips curved. “He will. Eventually.”
I exhaled heavily as Mom paused in front of the door. “Go,” I prodded when she looked uncertain. “We’ll see each other soon.”
She nodded. “We’d better.”
I held my breath until Mom and May disappeared through the door. When they didn’t bounce back I allowed myself to exhale in relief.
“And then there were four,” Aurora intoned, her eyes on the bluff where Declan had appeared.
“Do you think he’s here?” I asked, my eyes bouncing over the sparse vegetation. “Why would he allow Declan to get the upper hand like that?”
“He’s here,” Booker replied. “He knew we’d take out Declan. He wanted us to.”
Bogdan and Declan liked creating tableaus. Mom had told me they did it near doors, behind doors. It made sense that Bogdan would be behind this one.
My impulsivity had me moving before I even registered what was going to happen. Lilac and I had always been in tune. She was moving with me.
Lilac and Booker crossed behind the door at the left. Aurora and I took the right.
Bogdan, a bigger shadow trailing him, went wide-eyed when he saw us. He was indeed behind the door. “How — ?”
He never got a chance to finish the question. Lilac slammed her hellfire weapon into his chest.
Bogdan saw it coming, tried to dodge, but Aurora used her water magic to flood the trail he wanted to use for escape. He slid forward, making the sword blow all the more brutal.
He screamed at the pain and adrenaline had him scrambling to find a different route of escape. That brief burst of energy fled as soon as it came, however, and he dropped to one knee.
“How did you know?” he rasped, looking down. He refused to meet our eyes.
“You’re a coward at heart,” I replied. “A bully. You get off hurting weaker people.”
“I was the one who was hurt,” he hissed.
The old me, the newbie on the island, might have fallen for his act. The Hadley who had been through more than her fair share of fights knew better.
“I will never say that what happened to you was okay,” I offered. “You were bred to be a slave. That will always be wrong. What you did in retaliation was worse. You could have been a better person when you escaped. Instead, you tortured people to make yourself stronger.”
“Everyone wants power,” Bogdan hissed. “I couldn’t help myself. What do you expect from me?”
“Anything other than what you did.”
“I’m not done.” Bogdan shook his head. “I’ll overcome this wound and I’ll be back. You won’t escape me a second time.”
His posturing didn’t bother me. He’d suffered a mortal wound. Unless … could he heal like a vampire?
Lilac read my mind and swung out with her swords once more.
She was poetry in motion the way she moved and the swords were sheathed and the fire flowing around her had disappeared by the time Bogdan’s body hit the ground.
There was no way he could overcome this wound. Not unless he could grow a second head.
“That was impressive,” was all I could say as unnatural silence flowed around us.
“It was,” Aurora agreed. “I’m kind of disappointed. I didn’t get to do anything.”
“It’s a hellscape,” Lilac pointed out. “This is sort of my domain.”
“I guess.” Aurora was grudging. “You could have let me do something.”
Movement caught my attention and I looked up to find a group of ghosts — almost all of whom I recognized by face if not name — watching us. They were the souls attached to the zombies from the cemetery. May had been right. They were all here.
“Go home,” I said, sweeping my arm out and clearing a path in front of the door. “Don’t stay here. Go home.”
The ghosts looked beaten down by life. One by one, they filed in front of us and raced back to their former world. We might have to deal with them at some point — and I had no idea what that would look like — but for now they were safe.
“We’re done here, right?” Booker asked.
“We’re done.” I inclined my head toward the door. “Let’s go home.”
I was the last to leave the hellscape plane. I gave it one final look — I had no intention of coming back — before walking away from death and destruction and landing in Galen’s arms.