very active.”
All that was about to change, because Rhoswen had decided it was time to part ways with her host.
Ciaran wasn’t sure if the ghost rising from Ruby’s body went unnoticed by everyone around them because there was so much commotion or if she only appeared to a chosen few. Fritz was not happy to be one of the selected.
Staring in fright at the apparition who had just stepped out of his girlfriend’s body, Fritz’s first thought was that the guest monster of issue seventeen of
A bit more used to witnessing unexplainable phenomena, Ciaran was entranced by Rhoswen’s eerie beauty and not disturbed by the fact that she had been living inside Ruby’s body. Rhoswen couldn’t see Ciaran, but she could sense his presence. And his future. “Stay here, and you will all be safe,” she said. “And don’t worry, Ciaran. Before the summer ends, Ruby will be yours.”
Beaming, despite the tragedy he had recently witnessed, Ciaran sat next to Ruby and held her hand as she slept. He was greatly relieved to know that they wouldn’t need any help to survive the so-called celebration that was raging all around them.
Imogene didn’t need any help either. She had gotten what she wanted—her freedom. Standing on the other side of the rocky dunes on Inishtrahull Island near an inlet about a mile from the shore, Imogene, with Brania and Edwige behind her, waited for it to come. When they saw the boy walking toward them, they knew Imogene’s freedom had arrived.
“Penry!” Imogene squealed. She was so excited she jumped up and down in place and forgot that she could run, that she was free to do as she pleased. She didn’t have to wait for instruction or fear to compel her to disappear. Or maybe she just wanted Penry to make the first move. She didn’t have to wait long.
Penry didn’t stop running until he had wrapped his arms around Imogene and lifted her up off the sand. “I’ve been waiting for you for so long!” he cried, his red hair shining in the sunlight.
All Imogene wanted to do was count the freckles on his cheeks. She couldn’t remember how many there were, and a girlfriend should know those sorts of things. But there was time for that. “I’m sorry,” Imogene replied, not letting go of his embrace, but tilting her head to indicate the other women on the beach. “I was kind of delayed.”
Edwige looked away to give the couple some privacy. She knew that she should feel guilty for having killed Imogene, but she didn’t. She wanted to look at life differently, so she accepted the fact that she was the one who had made it possible for Imogene to be reunited with her boyfriend. Truth was, she couldn’t take all the credit.
“My plan worked!” Imogene cried.
“What plan?” Penry asked.
“To die.”
That didn’t make any sense. They all knew that she had fought harder than anyone else to stay alive.
They just had no idea how hard she had fought to stay dead. “I didn’t want to die, Pens,” Imogene clarified. “I
Edwige couldn’t help but smile. Imogene really was a spitfire. Brania felt her heart shrink. Imogene really was an ingrate.
“I’ll fill you in later,” Imogene said. “But once I realized I had some power over my situation, I took advantage of it.”
Shaking his head, amazed as he always was by his girlfriend’s moxie, Penry shrugged his shoulders.
“All that matters is that we’re together, and now I get to show you the world,” he said. “You won’t believe how magical everything looks from this side.”
“I thought you said you were waiting for me?” Imogene cried. “Not traipsing all over the earth.”
“Crikey, Ims! You were taking your sweet time. What did you expect me to do?” he laughed. “I did wait, but then I got bored so I started to explore a little.”
She couldn’t blame him. He had returned when she needed him, and she knew he would never leave her side again. “Well, what are you waiting for?” she asked. “Let’s go explore.”
Watching Penry and Imogene run down the beach, holding hands, on their way to start their journey together, Edwige blushed. The warmth in her cheeks was comforting, because it meant she understood what it was like to have known a love that was so innocent and pure. Brania had no such knowledge.
Edwige also knew that there was a man in her life who might be able to help her feel that kind of love again. He wasn’t as good as Saxon, but in time and with her love as encouragement, he could be a worthy successor. Before she left the island to go find him, she hesitated and thought about her children. Her maternal connection was rusty, but it was still working. She knew that Ciaran and Saoirse were unharmed, and she knew that as long as Ronan was with Michael he would be safe and, most important, loved. It was time for Edwige to commit to finding those same joys with Vaughan.
The only thing Michael knew for certain was that if David didn’t land soon, he was going to crash onto the beach with Ronan’s lifeless body still clutched in his hand. His feathers were peeling off his wings and swirling in the wind as they floated onto the ocean’s surface, polluting the water with their filth. Now that David had proven himself unworthy of Zachariel’s unholy gift, the vile archangel was destroying his creation. Michael prayed he didn’t destroy his boyfriend in the process.
Standing on the shore, Michael watched as David whirled about at a dizzying speed. Up, down, around, spinning, diving, flipping. Michael couldn’t tell if David was showing off or if he was throwing a tantrum in the sky. He had never felt more frustrated, more helpless than he did watching Ronan hang like a rag doll in David’s grip. But then all motion stopped, and David hung in the sky like a vulture that spies a bleeding lion. And just like a greedy vulture, David swooped down toward the beach zeroing in on yet more prey.
Michael was prepared to move at the last second. He would not become David’s next victim. But David wasn’t returning to land to seize Michael; he was after a different treasure. Rolling on the beach to avoid being whipped in the face by a rotting wing, Michael turned around just in time to see David grab Brania by the throat and soar back into the sky. What the hell was he doing?! Attacking Ronan was one thing; it was a vicious act, but it was understandable. Trying to kill his own daughter too?
That was deplorable. Michael had always believed David was an immoral being, and now he had proof. A blight on an otherwise gorgeous blue sky, David hovered miles above ground, his wings unsightly, half-evaporated, holding Ronan and Brania like puppets in front of him.
A shiver of fear ran up Michael’s spine. He did not have a good feeling about this. And he was right.
A maniacal laugh spilled out of David’s mouth, poisoning the air, the sea, and the earth below.
The laughter continued as David raised his arms and let his cargo fall.
chapter 31
Michael watched Ronan’s body free fall through the air, and he couldn’t believe that another one of his visions was coming true. He hadn’t wanted to believe this one was a prophecy. He didn’t want to believe Ronan’s life could be in danger. All this time he had held onto the hope that he had remembered it wrong or that he had misinterpreted the true meaning of his dream. And now that the vision was coming to life before his very eyes, he realized that’s exactly what had happened.
When he heard the words “You must protect me” spoken once again, he heard them as they truly sounded, not the way he had imagined hearing them. It wasn’t Ronan’s voice that called out to him; it was The Well’s. He recognized the magnificent voice immediately as the same one that had spoken through Saoirse last year, and the moment he heard The Well call to him, he knew what he had to do.
Just before he ran across the waves, his feet hardly touching the water, he begged Ronan for forgiveness.
