When she said it, unlike before, I knew what she was getting at. I knew what she wanted.
It was instinct leading me when I put my hand on her shoulder. She met my gaze, the wind in the room, emanating from a well of magic that suddenly seemed endless, whipping both our hair, and then I closed my eyes to focus.
“Tell me when,” she whispered. “Tell me when it’s time.”
I dug deep, tapping into magic I’d only brushed against over the course of my life, and exhaled. “Now.”
She blasted the gate that Renley had disappeared through, unleashing enough firepower to cause the gate to implode. I noticed that, when it fell, the other two flickered. She didn’t pause before sending another burst of magic toward the middle gate, causing the third to momentarily go dark before flashing back to life as the second tumbled inward. By the time she focused on the third gate, I knew what was going to happen, and I was ready. All three gate lights had flickered out within seconds. They were gone. It wasn’t triumph that I was feeling at their fall, though.
A groaning sound echoed throughout the room and when I turned, I realized the other gate, the one that led to the basement, was flickering.
“Move!” Aric ordered, grabbing Zoe around the waist and lifting her.
Braden did the same with me, and the Grimlocks tumbled through the opening quickly, ignoring the constant flickering because it was obvious that if our hesitation was too great, not everybody would make it to the other side safely. Once we were back in Renley’s basement, Zoe geared up to kill the remaining gate — but it disappeared before she could, blinking out of existence.
I leaned over, my hands on my knees, and caught my breath. So much had happened — and yet it was almost anticlimactic, given what I had expected — that I knew my brain would take months to catch up.
“Is that it?” Aidan queried, glancing between Zoe and me. “Are they gone?”
“Not gone,” Zoe countered. “At least not for good. They can’t use those gates again, though.”
“What about the other gates?” Cormack queried. “We know there are others.”
“There’s only one I know to check,” Zoe replied. “We can go back to the house in Poletown and look to be sure, but I’m willing to bet that one is gone. Their network of gates is likely damaged, if not completely broken … but I don’t think Renley is dead.” Her eyes drifted to me. “As for potential other revenants who look human, I honestly don’t know what to tell you.”
Cormack nodded in understanding. “We did what we set out to do tonight.”
“Yeah.” Zoe lifted her eyes to the ceiling, to where feet pounded against the floor. “I’m not sure we’re done yet, though.” She bolted toward the stairs, throwing open the door at the top and poking her head out. The party guests were present, screaming as they raced away from incoming wraiths. There had to be easily thirty of them and they looked to be enjoying a feeding frenzy. Rather than panic, Zoe lifted her hands, ready to join the party, and then a booming voice took over.
Cernunnos, dressed in what he probably thought was a perfectly acceptable moss green suit, unleashed a bevy of sprites to chase after the wraiths. They were tiny, only about a foot and a half tall, but they packed quite the wallop as they dragged the wraiths to the ground and then proceeded to dismember them.
“Hello.” Cernunnos smiled as he saw us. “I understand the gates have fallen.”
“How do you know that?” I challenged.
“Just call it a hunch.” He winked at Zoe. “You figured it out again. You never cease to amaze me.”
“Yeah, you and I are going to have a talk when this is over with,” Zoe snapped. “A really long talk.”
Cernunnos merely smiled. “I’m always open for conversation with you, mage.”
“We’ll see about that when I’m done with you.”
Twenty-Nine
I slept hard. Once back at Grimlock Manor, Braden took me upstairs before Aisling could pounce and grill me for answers. Sami was at the front door with a myriad of questions but Aric picked her up, tossed her over his shoulder, and carried her into the parlor to give me a break.
All I wanted was to rest my busy brain, so that’s what I did.
Braden didn’t push me, or offer up a word of complaint. Instead he merely stripped down, climbed into bed next to me, and tugged me until my head rested on his shoulder. Then I slipped under. I have no idea when he followed.
He was already awake when I opened my eyes the next morning, and the sympathy waiting for me in his tender embrace was enough to have my stomach churning.
“I’m okay,” I reassured him immediately. “You don’t have to worry about me.”
“I love you. I’m going to worry if I feel like it.”
His matter-of-fact response nudged a smile out of me. “Okay.”
“Okay,” he agreed, gracing me with a soft kiss, his hand automatically going to the back of my head so he could smooth my hair. “Tell me what you’re feeling.” His voice was barely a whisper.
“I don’t know what I’m feeling.” That was true. “Do you think he was telling the truth about my parents?”
Braden hesitated and then shrugged. “I don’t know, baby. I’m not familiar enough with the specifics of what happened at your house back then to say either way. I mean ... did they have a funeral? Were there bodies for a funeral?”
I honestly didn’t know. “I’ll have to ask my grandfather, although that’s really not something I want to discuss with him. It seems like too much.”
“You don’t have to
