“You have to listen to me,” Lily said, her voice filled with pain and sorrow so deep it resonated inside Karmen’s heart in ways she wasn’t expecting. “I don’t have much time before she takes my mind again, and I’m afraid this time, I won’t ever recover. You have to send Parrish. Tell her if she ever wants to see her sister alive again, she has to come now.”
Karmen stood still in the middle of the battle there on 79th Street, knowing she had one of the most important decisions of her life to make right now.
Did she send Parrish away and risk sending her into a trap? Or did she ignore Lily and keep fighting, possibly only to risk Zoe and David’s lives if she was telling the truth?
In the end, it wasn’t a decision she could make on her own.
“Guys, we have a problem,” she said. “Pull tight to me for a second.”
“We’re kind of in the middle of something here,” Parrish said, sending another blast of flames toward the horde.
“Zoe’s possibly going to die if you don’t listen to me right now,” Karmen said, knowing that if that didn’t stop Parrish in her tracks, nothing would. “Now, come to me.”
The others let off whatever magic they’d had building up, and then ran toward her. Karmen connected all six of her new pets in a web of thought and sent a single directive out to all of them.
Circle around us and protect us, no matter what.
Her pets did as they were told, closing the gaps so that their small group of four could huddle inside.
“What’s going on?” Crash asked.
Karmen explained Lily’s message as quickly as she could.
“I can’t make this call on my own, but from the tone of her voice, I don’t think we have much time,” Karmen said. “She made it sound like the Dark One has had control of her mind this whole time.”
“And you believe her?” Noah asked.
Karmen bit her lip. “I do. I know it’s crazy, and it’s a huge risk. But yeah. I think she sounded sincere.”
“We can’t trust her,” Parrish said, but there was panic in her expression.
One wrong choice, and her sister could be lost to her forever. Karmen didn’t want to be the one responsible for that.
Crash grabbed Parrish’s arm, his eyes wide.
“Go,” he said, the absolute certainty in his voice drawing out goosebumps on Karmen’s flesh. “I dreamed all of this, the night after the hospital. Us fighting Lily, and then Lily capturing your sister and David. I didn’t tell you, because I thought it meant we were going to lose. I thought it meant we died at Lily’s hand and then she captured the others. I never even dreamed of the possibility that she could be in two places at once.”
“Go,” Noah said. “We’ll be right behind you.”
Parrish didn’t hesitate.
She reached inside the collar of her shirt and grabbed hold of the fatalis stone. She placed her thumb on the spiral symbol as a glowing purple light formed around her entire body.
“Come find me,” she said.
Then, with a flash, she disappeared.
Forty-Nine
Parrish
Parrish disappeared into a darkness so complete, she saw and felt nothing.
When she emerged from that darkness, her feet landed on a sidewalk several blocks away. The jarring change nearly took her breath away. She blinked through watery eyes and sucked in a breath as the face of the friend who’d betrayed them all just a few short days ago came into view.
She had no idea how she’d known to touch the symbol, or how she’d teleported herself to his location, but she could feel the surge of power at her back.
One glance behind her brought fresh tears to her eyes. Zoe and David huddled together near the ground, a tower of flames burning across the street behind them. Zoe’s eyes widened, and Parrish wanted nothing more than to grab her sister in her arms and kiss her face, but there was still one final battle to fight.
She straightened and pulled her sword from its sheath, the twin flames of fire and ice dancing across the blade.
“I won’t let you hurt her,” she said, expecting a fight or a trick of some kind.
Instead, Lily fell to her knees, tears streaming down her face.
“I was so afraid you wouldn’t come,” she said. “You have to hurry before she takes control. I can’t hold her back much longer.”
Confused, Parrish stared ahead, unsure what Lily wanted her to do.
“I hope you can understand,” Lily said, pressing her fingertips hard against her temples. “This is not what I wanted. This isn’t who I am, but the second I stepped into this world, she was here in my head. Telling me what to do. I couldn’t stop myself.”
Lily cried out in pain, and Parrish took a step back, unsure what to do next.
“All I ever wanted was to be loved, the way you love Zoe,” Lily continued. “I wanted my life to matter to someone.”
Lily doubled over, as if in agony.
“I’m so sorry, Parrish,” she said through gritted teeth. “I can’t hold her back. You have to do it quickly.”
Parrish shook her head, not wanting it to end like this. If Lily was telling the truth, none of this was her fault. She’d been manipulated by the Dark One’s power this whole time.
It all made sense, though. The way she’d told her about the Dark One’s plans, let her know Zoe was still alive, given her the stone. The way she’s saved Zoe’s life today, when she could have killed both her and David with a flick of her wrist just now.
Everything Lily had done was because of the Dark One.
“There has to be a way to save you,” Parrish said. “If we can get Karmen over here, maybe she could shield your mind the way she shielded Crash’s dreams. We can still fix this.”
Lily’s mouth opened in surprise, and she lifted her eyes to meet Parrish’s.
“Thank you,”
