We cried a bit when Serena and Draven bumped through the crowd that had gathered around the Great Dome and saw their sleeping Isabelle. My eyes stung. I couldn’t help it. She’d been missing for two months. This was certainly the better of the possible outcomes. “Oh, honey,” Serena sobbed as she held her daughter tight, planting kisses on her forehead.
“She’s okay,” Draven sighed, smiling as he ran his fingers through her hair.
Corrine took a moment to hug, kiss, then smack each of us on the back of the head. “That’ll teach you to go through shimmering portals without knowing where they’ll take you,” she barked, scowling at me before giving me one of her tonic potions. It felt amazing, pure energy spreading from my stomach and through my whole body, my limbs tingling with joy.
“I’ve missed you,” I said, chuckling softly.
Voss and Chantal were still sleeping, but their parents were just relieved to see they were okay. Field and Aida were calm, choosing to remember the many times Voss had fallen and broken something during the early years of his hawk wings. The man had seen much worse—I’d seen a lot of that myself. Yeah, he’d be okay. Vita was shaking as she hugged Chantal, but Bijarki was an absolute mess, tearing up and sniffing, the hard-edged fighter completely gone as he’d been reduced to a relieved, worried-sick dad. That was the trouble with love, I realized. It brought out the best in us, but losing someone you loved was truly a nightmare. I couldn’t imagine what it might be like for a father to fear for his daughter’s life.
Soph’s parents were still on Neraka, thus spared of this madness. It didn’t make her feel much better, but she found hope in knowing that they hadn’t been dragged into this insanity as well. Richard was smushed between Jovi and Anjani, both nearly drowning their son with love and affection—both just thankful that their troublemaker was alive and well.
It took us a while, but we did plenty of catching up and managed to bring everybody up to speed. Upon realizing that the entire population of the real Shade had been transferred into the fake one, Astra and I had agreed to ease our people into this madness. There was still a lot we didn’t know, but the few things that were glaringly obvious were easy to slap onto a list of “crazy.” The seniors, along with my parents, listened patiently as we told them about our journey and our strange encounters. The Reapers lit up like kids at a mega-mall when we mentioned Purgatory, Order, Berserkers, and Valkyries. Obviously, they had questions, but I had to drown them out with the rest of the intel we’d picked up before bringing our new friends out.
“Let me see if I’ve got this straight,” Phoenix said, arms wrapped around his wife and daughter. I doubted he’d ever let them out of his sight again. “There’s another realm beyond that of Reapers.”
“You kind of knew that already,” Nethissis replied, but he playfully shushed her. His mood was light despite having found himself here in this fake Shade; he had his family back, that was all that mattered.
“I did, but still. Let me go at it old school. So! There’s the realm of Reapers, who take our souls and send them beyond, but you fellas aren’t quite sure what the beyond really is,” Phoenix said, eyeing the Reapers, who nodded in agreement. “Okay. Now, we know Purgatory is what’s beyond, where Valkyries and Berserkers enforce the laws of Order, much like Reapers enforce the laws of Death. Correct?”
I smiled. “Correct.”
“And Valkyries are creatures of light and glory and justice, while the Berserkers are creatures of darkness and wrath and punishment. Am I on the right track here?” Phoenix replied.
“You are,” Myst said, appearing out of thin air. She’d apparently grown tired of waiting. The crowd offered a collective gasp at the sight of her. This was followed by a second gasp when Regine joined her, then a third when Brandon and Haldor materialized beside them.
The Shadians were mesmerized by the sight of them. Myst alone was stunning, a work of art with flowing gold hair and incandescent blue eyes. Her gold and steel armor captured every bit of light around. Regine was the smaller version, a petite creature but just as fierce. Her sword was almost as tall as she was, a splendid piece that drew infinitely more gasps when she took it out and had Astra touch the blade for a quick demonstration of how the sword worked.
I couldn’t take my eyes off Myst. The way our paths had crossed in the midst of chaos—it had to mean something. I knew it. I’d have to figure out what, eventually.
Brandon explained his role in the entire operation, along with Haldor’s. Naturally, that drew some frowns. A few of the Shadians weren’t at all in a forgiving mood, considering where they’d been brought by magical force. “You’re a danger to us,” one of the vampires said.
“We’re a danger to evildoers, and now, my friend, we are free,” Brandon replied serenely, motioning around us. “Hrista and the clones. They’re gone. Our fellow Berserkers, too. I can’t feel any of them anymore.”
“The replacement is complete,” Haldor announced sadly, lowering his gaze.
The more I looked at him, the less intimidated I felt. He was nothing like the nightmarish creature we’d repeatedly fought in the woods. He was surprisingly gentle and noble in nature, yet he’d played his part well as the antagonist. His shadow hounds were close by, but he kept them at bay and out of sight, knowing the psychological effect
