Chapter 20 Amari #2
There are dozens of blue orbs around us now, floating like jellyfish. Not enough enclosures for all of them. The children collapse to the floor one by one as the spirits leave their bodies, their small forms crumpling.
“Well, what now?” Angie asks, staring at all the spirit orbs.
Then suddenly, each orb is attacked by another pink magical web. The webs shoot out from nowhere, wrapping around the spirits like lassos. We all look around, trying to find the source, trying to understand what’s happening.
I look down from the balcony to the main floor. I see both Damon and Selene together, staring up with expressions of absolute wonder.
I run around everyone and flash down the stairs to the main floor with my vampire speed. I’m anxious to get to Carla, desperate to hold her, to see her, to make sure she’s okay.
But when I reach the door, I find it still locked by Tofi’s protection spell. The pink webbing holds firm against my attempts to open it.
Through the window, I can see her.
My beautiful Carla is levitating about ten feet off the ground, her body glowing with pink light.
Her eyes are pulsing bright pink, so bright they’re almost white at the center.
Her curls float around her head like she’s underwater, moved by invisible currents of power.
She’s pulling all the spirit orbs from the academy toward her with threads of magical webbing.
Even the one in Bobby’s enclosure bursts out, the device unable to contain it against her will.
The orb follows with the others, drawn to her like moths to flame.
She pulls them toward her with magical web strings, controlling them with the grace of a conductor leading an orchestra. It’s the most beautiful and terrifying thing I’ve ever seen.
The children lift the shield protecting the academy. I feel the magic dissipate, the barrier falling away. I burst out the door into the night. I watch as all the spirits surround Carla in a swirling vortex of blue energy, dozens of orbs circling her like planets around a sun.
Then she does something even more magical. Her eyes meet mine through the chaos, through the spirits, through everything.
That’s when I notice Nathaniel in his full form, standing not far off in the courtyard. But he’s looking up at Carla with fury twisting his features, his hands clenched into fists at his sides.
“Enough, Nathaniel. Time to end this.” Carla’s voice rings out across the courtyard, resonant with power.
It doesn’t sound entirely like her anymore.
There’s something otherworldly in it, something divine.
“You aren’t taking my cousin, or any of the children of Wintermoon.
And I’m taking back the power my ancestors gave you. ”
“Try.” Nathaniel sneers, his lip curling. “You cannot take it unless I give it willingly. That’s the law. Even you can’t break it.”
Carla smirks, and it’s the most confident expression I’ve ever seen on her face. “We shall see.”
She snaps her fingers. Every spirit orb caught in her magical web explodes simultaneously, turning to blue dust that evaporates into the night air. The display is breathtaking.
I smile, knowing exactly what’s happened. Understanding floods through me.
She’s ascended.
And she looks magnificent. I marvel at her, unable to look away.
Her power radiates from her in waves I can feel even from here.
She looks like a goddess made flesh. Her beauty has always been there, but now it’s amplified, transformed into something that transcends mortal comprehension.
I couldn’t be more proud of my woman, doing this for us, for our family, for all of Wintermoon.
Nathaniel becomes fearful. I can see it in the way his eyes widen, the way he takes a step back. He creates a door to try to escape, the familiar blue portal forming in the air beside him.
Carla snaps her fingers again. The sound is sharp, final. The door vanishes like it never existed, not even leaving a ripple in the air.
“No more running,” she says simply, her voice calm and cold.
Nathaniel turns to her, desperation bleeding into his voice for the first time. “This isn’t the end. You can’t keep me contained forever.”
“I know.” Carla’s expression hardens, her jaw setting. “For what this is going to cost me, I’m going to have a lot of fun with you in limbo.”
She casts a spell from her fingers, pink webbing shooting out faster than I can track. It envelops him, trapping him completely. He struggles against it, but it’s useless. The pink magic turns brilliant white, so bright I have to shield my eyes.
“Give me back my family’s power, you fucking asshole.”
Carla siphons the magic, all the blue energy flowing out of Nathaniel in streams of light.
It pours into her, her body completely absorbing it.
She glows so brightly she looks like a star.
When it’s over, she opens her eyes. They’re blue at first, crackling with the Blackwood magic she’s reclaimed.
Then they shift back to pink, even brighter than before.
“Now you’re just a simple soul.” She tilts her head, studying him like an interesting specimen. “Let’s see how far you get before Verto catches you.”
A portal to the void opens up directly under him, the black emptiness of limbo yawning wide. It sucks him in with tremendous force. He screams as he falls, the sound cutting off abruptly when the portal closes with a snap.
Carla lowers herself slowly, gracefully, her feet touching the ground gently. The glow around her dims slightly but doesn’t disappear.
I charge toward her with my vampire speed, desperate to hold her, to touch her. But I hit something hard when I reach her. Some kind of shield that’s like a pink web, invisible but impenetrable. The impact doesn’t hurt, but it stops me completely.
And then Carla starts to cry. She has a full breakdown where she stands, sobbing so hard her whole body shakes. Her tears flow down her cheeks, pink with her magic, leaving glowing trails on her skin.
That’s when I realize. When understanding crashes through me.
She’s no longer of this plane. Of this realm.
Carla is lost to me. It feels like death all over again, like Granada burning, like watching everything I love turn to ash.
But I just stare at her, smiling through my own pain because I know why she did it.
I understand the sacrifice she’s made. For me. For our children. For Wintermoon.
“You’re all safe now,” she says through her sobs, her voice breaking.
Tofi, Noki, Moria, and Kemnebi all rush toward her from different directions, but they hit the same web. They claw at it in frustration, their legs scraping against the barrier with sounds that tear at my heart. They’re desperate, frantic, unable to understand why they can’t reach their mother.
“No, babies, no more limbo. Your job is done.” Her voice breaks completely. “I need you to stay here and protect Daddy and Wintermoon.”
Images flash from them. I can see it in their movements, in the way they communicate. They’re pleading with her to come home, showing her memories of their family together.
“I can’t, not yet. It has to be for a time and I don’t know how long. Just know that I love you all.” Tears stream down her face endlessly.
I fight back my own tears, but it’s a losing battle. “You have no idea how proud I am of you, beautiful Carla, my Spider Queen, my Guardian of Realms. I’m so proud to have you as my woman.”
Carla starts sobbing uncontrollably, her face crumpling. “Shut up.”
I laugh through my tears, one finally escaping to roll down my cheek. “I love you.”
“I don’t want to go,” she cries, her whole body shaking with the force of her sobs.
“Go. We’ll be here, waiting for you.” My voice doesn’t shake despite the tears. “My loyalty to you won’t waver. I love you so much, Carla, baby.”
She puts her hand against the web shield. I do the same immediately, placing mine against where her hand rests. Our palms line up perfectly, separated only by the barrier. I can’t feel her. She’s still sobbing, her tears endless.
“Go. Go, baby,” I whisper, even though it’s killing me to say it.
She looks at her children, her face twisted with agony. “I love you.”
She looks at me, her eyes meeting mine one last time. In them, I see everything we’ve been through. Every fight. Every laugh. Every moment of love. “I love you.”
Then she disappears, fading away like light dissolving into darkness. One moment she’s there, solid and real. The next, she’s gone. The shield breaks, vanishing into nothing.
I fall to my knees, my legs giving out. She’s gone. My woman is gone.
I break down in a fit of crying, my body shaking with sobs I can’t control.
The pain is worse than anything I’ve ever felt.
Worse than losing my civilization. Worse than centuries of loneliness.
The spider children surround me, shielding me from the world with their bodies, sharing in the agony we all feel.
She’s gone.
And we don’t know when she’ll come back.
If she’ll come back.