Chapter 12 Carla
CARLA
Ikeep my eyes on Amari as we walk through the void. He’s holding my hand with confidence, looking around while I search for threats. The darkness presses against us from all sides, but his presence anchors me.
“How do we find the children?” he asks, his eyes scanning the nothingness.
“We don’t,” I admit.
Amari stops walking, turning to face me. “Then what the hell are we doing? You said time passes in the living quickly when we take walks like this.”
I shrug nervously. “Oops.”
I sigh, knowing I need to be honest with him. “I’m looking for Nathaniel.”
He looks around at the endless darkness. “I don’t think you’re going to find him in this unless you are magically pulled to him.”
“You’re right.” The admission stings, but he’s always been the logical one between us.
“I can call for them,” I say, then look at him with a smile spreading across my face, “but I’d rather you do it. Tofi hearing a call from her daddy might give her the surprise she’s hoping for.”
Amari looks at me with a grin that makes my heart flutter. “I love you.”
I shrug, trying to play it cool. “I know you do.”
I start to wiggle my fingers, pink magic spilling from them. “Children,” I whisper, and the magic flows from my fingertips, the pink light glowing in the darkness. I look to Amari and nod gently.
He takes a deep breath, then calls out into the darkness. “Children... Daddy’s here.”
Immediately, we feel them coming—that familiar pull of their presence drawing near.
Amari looks at me with a smile that looks like he’s about to burst with excitement, and I just smile back at him.
He really does love us—all of us. Sometimes it’s so hard for me to wrap my head around the way Amari loves not just me, but our children. His devotion to us is unwavering.
Amari looks back into the void, and immediately, images begin to flood our minds. Mommy! Mommy! Daddy! Daddy! Daddy!
Tofi and all the other spiders come into view, some crawling on the floor of the void, some on the sides, some overhead. It’s a chaotic rush of legs and love.
Amari furrows his brow and reaches around as if he’s looking for walls but can’t find them. “How are they doing that?”
I shrug. “I don’t know.”
He chuckles when Tofi nearly slams into him, images flashing: Daddy!
Amari bends down and pets her gently. “I’m here, Tofi, baby. I’m here.”
I just smile as the children surround us. Tofi leans against him, vibrating with happiness.
“I can’t stay long,” he tells her, his voice thick with emotion. “I missed you so much.”
Tofi sends images of loving her daddy, and I watch Amari choke up a bit. “I love you too.”
“I feel like I took you for granted,” he continues, rubbing Tofi’s sleek body. “When this is over, we are going to spend more time together. I swear it to you.”
He moves from Tofi to Noki, then begins embracing the other children. Moria and Kemnebi skitter up to me, and I look down at them.
“How are things going?” I ask.
Kemnebi and Moria start sending us images, but they also seem anxious to get some love from Amari.
As I process the images, I see what looks like a massive mob of lost souls.
With Aya’s help—she doesn’t have access to magic, but she’s managing to reroute them with distractions to different parts of limbo.
It reminds me what I’ve heard about Aya being so good at distractions.
I notice the mob seems endless, yet I haven’t run into one of these lost souls.
The weight of the realization settles over me.
Moria, Kemnebi, and all of my children have always been working overtime since I’ve taken over limbo, making sure I don’t see any of them.
They’ve been my most true, loyal guardians, and I didn’t even know it.
I look up when I hear Aya’s voice. “The fear of limbo is fading. Nathaniel has emboldened many of them, empowering them to believe they can take you down.”
Aya walks around the spiders, approaching us. “And they can, in numbers.”
“This isn’t sustainable,” she continues. “Eventually your children are going to tire out. All these souls need is one—just one of your children to fail—and they’ll kill all of them.”
Fear rises in me like bile. I remember feeling the death of Verde and Petra. I cannot handle that again. I won’t lose another one of my babies.
Verto comes into view, and I look up at him nervously. His massive form towers over us, more intimidating than comforting right now.
Aya points at him. “It’s the big one that’s keeping them down. As soon as they see him, they back off.”
I sigh. “The one time I’m grateful for Brookstone and Blackburn.”
Aya looks at Amari, her ghostly form shimmering. “What are you doing here?”
Amari glares at her. “Is it a problem that I want to be with my mate and children?”
“Yes!” she exclaims. “You are a vulnerability in here. You need to go back to the living where they cannot access you.”
Amari looks at her, then deliberately ignores her, turning back to the children.
Aya starts to say something else, but then a door suddenly appears in the void.
“Oh shit.” She looks at me, her blue eyes wide. “It’s him.”
The children immediately skitter around Amari, creating a strange web around him that glows pink—an additional cloaking over the one I’ve given him.
The door flies open, and I gasp when I see the hallway of the academy, all the closed dorm rooms stretching before us.
“Children, break the cloak,” Amari commands, but they don’t listen.
I look at him, then step forward toward the door. The children’s sole focus is protecting him, and I appreciate that more than they know.
“He cannot defeat you in the living unless he possesses a body,” Aya calls out.
I look back at her and nod, then step through the door. The moment I cross the threshold into the academy, I look around. The door stays open behind me, a portal between worlds.
I look down the hallway and see one of the young shifter children at the edge of the corridor. His eyes glow an unnatural blue.
I glance back at limbo. The door remains open, my family visible through the portal.
“You aren’t stopping what’s about to happen, Carla,” the young shifter says, his voice wrong, older. “You’re too late.”
The young shifter steps forward. It’s a young wolf shifter I’ve seen playing with Torin, but I don’t know his name. He cocks his head to the side unnaturally.
“I’m thankful for your Amari. He kept you away long enough for me to put my plan in motion.” His child’s mouth forms a cruel smile. “Now all I need to do is kill you.”
The young wolf shifter lets out an animalistic growl, his hands partially shifting. Claws extend from his fingertips. He’s possessed—possessed by Nathaniel.
I let magic spill from my fingers, pink webs forming. “Let’s do this.”
He charges toward me at inhuman speed, and I brace myself for impact. I can’t bring myself to hurt the little shifter. He doesn’t know what’s happening to him.
The boy leaps into the air, pouncing toward me with claws extended.
I start to cast a web spell from my fingers to stop him gently, but Amari suddenly jumps out of the door of limbo, breaking free from our children’s protective webbing.
He flashes in front of me with his vampire speed, catching the boy by the neck mid-leap.
Amari looks at me with a glare. “You may not be able to hurt these possessed innocent children, but if they hurt you, I don’t give a shit, Carla.”
“No, Amari, no!” But he’s not listening.
He slams the possessed boy against the wall. The boy’s body impacts with enough force to crater the plaster, dust raining down, but instead of crying out in pain, he begins to laugh—a horrible, grating sound, too deep and knowing for such a young throat.
“Amari Al-Baqar? The traitor.” The boy’s voice drips with venom. “I’ll never call you my Moorish brother. You had the ability to save us, and you didn’t.”
“And what did you do?” Amari growls back, his grip tightening. “My actions didn’t land me in limbo.”
Nathaniel laughs again through the boy’s mouth, the sound carrying unnaturally through the hallway. The possessed child’s small hands grab Amari’s wrist with impossible strength.
Amari looks at me for a split second, and Aya appears at the door of limbo. “Use your magic! He can’t stay in the body if you subdue the boy.”
I start to channel my magic, pink energy swirling around my hands, but the boy displays combat skills no child should have.
He twists his body with serpentine flexibility, bringing his knee up to strike Amari’s elbow joint.
The impact forces Amari to loosen his grip slightly, and the possessed child follows up with a devastating punch to Amari’s face that sends him staggering backward.
Blood drips from Amari’s nose as the boy lands in a crouch, then immediately launches another attack. His small fist connects with Amari’s gut, doubling him over. The force behind the blow is supernatural, Nathaniel channeling rage through this innocent vessel.
“You were always weak,” Nathaniel taunts through the boy. “Choosing love over power. Look where it’s gotten you.”
The possessed child spins low, trying to take out Amari’s legs. Amari barely keeps his feet as they trade blows, the child impossibly fast and precise.
I watch in horror as they dance this violent ballet, torn between helping Amari and not wanting to hurt the innocent boy caught in the middle. The child backflips away from Amari’s grasp, then races toward the balcony railing.
“Catch me if you can, traitor!” Nathaniel calls out mockingly.
The boy vaults over the railing, leaping from our floor with reckless abandon. It’s at least a four foot drop to the level below. My heart stops, knowing that even possessed.
Amari starts to flash after him, his vampire speed blurring his form, but to everyone’s surprise, black smoke erupts below and Kade appears, snatching the falling child from the air.
She grins up at us, cradling the possessed boy against her chest. “Hey, Nathaniel, get the fuck out of my boy.”
In the blink of an eye, she teleports, reappearing directly in front of us. A black cloud of mystical smoke dissipates around her and the child. The shock of teleportation seems to break something in the possession—the young wolf shifter’s eyes roll back, and he goes completely limp in Kade’s arms.
We all watch, frozen, as blue magic begins to seep from the boy’s unconscious form. It coalesces above us, forming a strange glowing ball of pure energy. The sphere pulses with malevolent intent.
“Now!” Aya shouts from the limbo doorway.
I react instantly, trying to cast a web spell around the blue orb. Pink strands shoot from my fingers, reaching for the escaping essence, but it’s too fast. The sphere zips through my webs like they’re made of smoke and flies straight back through the portal into limbo.
The door slams shut with devastating finality.
I want to rip open another portal, to chase after Nathaniel into limbo and end this once and for all, but Amari grabs my arm. His grip is steady, grounding me in the moment.
“Wait,” he says, blood still trickling from his nose.
I stop, my magic still crackling around my fingers. I look over at the boy who’s unconscious in Kade’s arms. His small chest rises and falls with normal breath now, the possession broken. He looks so young, so innocent. Just a child who was in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Kade adjusts her hold on him, her face a mixture of rage and relief. The other students are starting to peek out of their dorm rooms, drawn by the commotion.
“This is far worse than we thought,” I say, the weight of it all crashing down on me.