Chapter 24 ~Winter~
~Winter~
Pops always said that Grandpa was a badass motherfucker.
And here he was now proving it yet again.
For the good of everyone.
Standing down the barrel of a whole lot more than a loaded gun.
Dad.
Dad invoking Risen Reckoning.
On the living.
Well, if what we’d put into place worked, it wouldn’t do shit.
If it worked.
There was still a chance that it wouldn’t, because nothing like this had ever been done before.
It had involved calling on the essence of the necromantic core and permanently severing the ability of this spell to have the means to touch the living.
I stood with my six friends now, looking on from the sidelines as Dad gathered his power and started the spell.
Wesley was in one of his usual spiffy tweed suits—this one brown—hyperfocused and tuned out of the conversations taking place.
His eyes were glowing burgundy, which was the natural state of his magic.
Since being topside, and free of Ruxnoth’s corruption, several of them had lost the gray tinge to their power and it had returned to its natural color.
Fiona’s had returned to its tangerine hue, Philip to his maroon. Felix was working his rust magic. And the others were coming along with it, too. It would only be a matter of time.
Fiona and Philip, the two pseudo-siblings, were standing hand-in-hand looking on curiously, while also talking about certain furnishings they were going to add to the apartment they shared.
On the surface it was jarring against the severity of what was about to happen, but also not, because it was obviously a coping mechanism.
I knew a lot about that now after everything that had happened. I had coping mechanisms coming out of my ears at this point.
Rex’s brown military jacket was flapping in the wind as Dad gathered more power.
Rex had been so full of life since he’d awoken to find himself cured.
He’d even been happy to see Dad, and the two of them had been texting.
So much for that rivalry. Well, the rivalry that had been just on Rex’s end.
To me it’d been clear that it had really been about him wanting to get closer to Dad, to learn from him, but being too proud to actually admit it.
Aliya laughed heartily at something Rex said, and as he stroked her arm in the midst of their revelry, I caught sight of Felix glaring.
Apparently, him and Aliya were no longer just a casual thing.
And he was going through a bit of a possessive phase, although Aliya certainly put him in his place when he went a little too hard with it.
He was over with two of the Temperance leaders, Raquel and Hale, being his charming self, and doing his very best to put them at ease, even as they were about to bear witness to the spell they were so very afraid of.
They’d wanted to be present. Insisted, actually.
I wasn’t surprised.
Just claiming that Risen Reckoning could no longer be used on the living wouldn’t be enough. They needed proof, to see it for themselves.
They kept looking at the white band now basically fused to my left thumb.
Something I couldn’t take off. The only one who could remove it was Ambrose.
He’d come here earlier to demonstrate the proof of that to them as well—that there now existed a fail-safe that could stop me if it ever came down to it.
I’d actually gotten some smiles out of them, and they hadn’t just been looking at the ring, but also seeming confused while they’d been around me for the last couple of hours.
I guess meeting the source of what they thought was a major threat was different than it merely living—and growing—in their imagination.
It looked like they were actually seeing me as a person now, not just a thing.
It all boded very well.
Honestly, it was something I’d never thought possible.
Yet here it was.
As Dad reached optimal power for the spell and crimson flash lightning tore through the night sky, I tensed, despite myself. Despite believing deeply that this would work. I’d seen the spellwork. Six necromancers had been involved. And Dad and me.
But with it being Grandpa standing there as the test subject… it twisted my stomach.
Pops had needed to be distracted by Mom and Father so he hadn’t burst down here. He wouldn’t have handled it well. Of course not. It was his dad in the firing line. And two decades back, he’d suffered through Morien leveling this exact spell at Grandpa. Twice.
The issue was that Ancients were pretty much the only supernatural species who could withstand Risen Reckoning’s initial impact. Others would be neutralized instantly. Even then, an Ancient could only hold out for a few moments.
Dad called out to us, drawing everyone’s attention.
And then it happened.
He sent a flood of Risen Reckoning straight at Grandpa.
Come on. Come on.
It hit Grandpa head on.
He jolted, boots digging into the ground, and I heard a grunt from behind his metal mask.
But that was it.
Nothing else happened.
He had his sleeves rolled up purposely for us to see, and sure enough, there was absolutely no desiccation.
Dad continued, pushing past the timeframe that an Ancient could survive the spell.
No damage.
Grandpa was completely unharmed.
Dad smiled, then ended the spell, calling his power back.
“It has no effect now on the living as you can see,” he called over, as he walked to Grandpa and hugged him tightly.
When they pulled apart, Grandpa turned and gave me a chin lift, then took off in a burst of speed.
“Nicely fucking done!” Felix cried, giving Dad a high-five as he reached us all.
Wesley slapped his shoulder. “Excellent work as always.”
“It was definitely a collective effort,” Dad offered very modestly.
I grinned at him and he winked.
He was trying hard to form a strong bond with all of them.
It was for the good of us all.
Well, I could see he also had an affinity for them. He felt a kinship. It was sweet.
As he drew the Temperance leaders aside to have words, and my friends talked among themselves excitedly, I heard Raquel and Hale admit that they were extremely relieved, that their view of me was also altering and would be reflected in their protocols and rhetoric going forward.
Relief sang through me.
I couldn’t quite believe it.
The weight of it lifting off me… it was hard to reconcile.
My phone buzzing in the pocket of my hoodie drew my attention, and I pulled it out to find some texts had come in via the Group Chat.
Zayn: You want the oatmeal here too? Or just the ribs for now?
I smiled to myself.
Winter: Is that your way of trying to figure out my mood before I get there so you can all have damage control prepped?
Zayn: Uh… what? You think I’m that calculated? I’m crying, Win. Out loud. Right here in the middle of the restaurant.
I laughed.
Winter: No. I think you’re that sweet and tuned into me, into us all.
Vax: Adorable. Of you both.
Evira: Aww, little puppies.
I shook my head. That puppy thing was just not going away.
Small price to pay for the three of them.
And maybe sometimes I liked it.
Winter: Let’s go all out. Add in the oatmeal, please. See you soon. XOXO.
They were already there. I needed to hurry.
We were all having dinner at Lunaris Nocturn tonight.
It was the restaurant I’d had dinner at with Dad months ago, just before I’d started at Loxley Academy.
We were heading back to classes on campus tomorrow, no more remote learning, so I’d figured it would be a cool way to mark it.
Well, three of us were heading back. Vax wasn’t. He’d dropped out a couple of days ago as he had to attend to things in the Basilisk Dominion. Instead of being overwhelmed by having such an immense responsibility thrust upon him, he was loving it. Seriously in his element with it.
I’d thought I wouldn’t be able to focus enough to sit through actual classes and be around other students until we’d dealt with Ruxnoth.
But the tracking of that fucker had ended up hitting a snag.
His magic had been petering in and out and Ambrose had determined that Ruxnoth had immersed himself in a deep meditative state in a bid to try to heal the damage I’d done to him, and that was why the spell sweeping the supernatural world for him hadn’t pinged him yet.
With that delay, holding out any longer had become unhealthy.
Not just for me, but for my loves trying to put up with that.
No. Not happening.
Also, it would have been like Ruxnoth was still controlling me, still ruling my life.
I wasn’t having that.
Ever again.
I spun and strode over to Dad still talking with the Temperance leaders. “Dad, I have to head out now. I’m already running a bit late.”
“Late for what?” Hale, the brasher of the two leaders asked.
“Dinner with his three loves,” Dad said, sounding so proud and happy for me.
“Dinner?” Hale mused to himself.
“Still getting used to the idea of me being a real boy?” I asked.
His lips quirked. “Perhaps a little of that, yeah.”
“I get it.”
Dad kissed the top of my head. “Go. Head out. Enjoy your meal.”
I squeezed him to me for a moment, then strode off.
Ideally, I wanted to teleport, but showing any display of my power while Temperance still had me in their eyeline didn’t seem like the best idea right now.
They were coming around, so it was best not to do anything to tip that back the other way.
I really did believe now that things would stabilize with that soon.
But I also understood that it would take time.
The important thing was that it was changing.
It took me about twenty minutes before I was finally able to turn a corner out of sight.
Then I teleported out.
Gray light tore into my teleportation path.
I was ripped from it in the next second, then hurtling into a black rock wall.
A cry escaped me as it all happened too fast for me to react, and I smashed into it face-first, my flesh scraping across the jagged unforgiving material.
What the—
Hands grabbed my shoulders, wrenching me off it, only to slam me into it again.