For a moment, the pounding on the other side of the door ceases and shouts erupt in the hallway. I look up just in time to see the Horseman lifted off of his feet and flung away from the tiny hospital door window. Tiles, boards, and steel beams follow after him and instinctively, I know this is the work of Colton and his abilities. At this moment, I couldn’t be more grateful to have him here. I just hope I have it in me to make their efforts and any sacrifices worth it.
Diana yells something, but I can’t make out her words over the sounds of crunching metal and debris. Shuddering away the images it conjures, I take a deep breath and turn back to the box.
My vision shows me the final three moves and I continue quickly until I remove the final piece. The top of the box opens like a time-lapse video of a flower opening. Bright-white light spews from the opening, making me shield my eyes with the back of my right hand.
Mom twists around, shielding her eyes as well.
The lights in the room dim, then flicker off as the box creates a sort of energy vacuum. The hairs all over my body stand on end, but I can’t seem to tear my eyes away from the white light. It’s as if I could just crawl into it and stay there forever.
Maybe I should just…
“Close the box,” Mom yells, dropping her arms, and racing toward me. “You can’t have it open until you’re ready. It’s too dangerous.”
She reaches forward, pressing her hands to the top components, and forcing them closed one by one. As the last piece locks down, the light instantly goes out, plunging us into semi-darkness. It only lasts a moment because emergency lighting suddenly floods into the room, casting a strange orange-and-red glow.
“That was close. Thank you,” I mutter, shaking my head. “I don’t know what came over me. I couldn’t look away from the light.”
“Its magick resonates with you. You’ll need to be more careful,” Mom says, pulling her shaking extremities back from the box. Her hands are charred black as the skin burns from her fingertips to her forearms.
“Mom,” I gasp, nearly dropping the box. “Your hands.”
She returns her determined gaze to me and holds out a burnt palm between us. “Forget it. They will heal. Focus on your mission. There’s a homicidal Horseman on the loose and we don’t want to be on the receiving end of whatever he has in mind. Trust me.”
My mouth snaps shut, and I nod. She’s right. Besides, if this goes the way I think it will, none of this will matter. What I’m about to do could alter everything.
Swallowing hard, I soften my focus on her hands and look past them to the commotion in the hallway. I can make out Diana and Cat, but Colton must be somewhere near the Horseman. Blood is smattered against the side of Diana’s face, but her expression is as fierce as ever.
I can’t believe any of this. It’s like a nightmare beyond anything I could have imagined. Wade’s gone and his body has become a Horseman for the end of days.
The box is in my periphery, reminding me of everything that needs to happen and why.
Turning back to Mom, I fight back angry tears and say, “I might need your help for what comes next. We need to get the Fates here.”
“The Moirai?” she says, clearly startled. “Why?”
“Because I’m taking them down,” I say, my jaw firm. “It’s the only way this ends. I think that’s what Wade’s father wanted me to do. I think this box is meant to trap their sins—their discretions. But it’s too big for me to do it alone, so it needed to be housed somewhere else.”
Her eyes are wide, hazel orbs. “Are you sure?”
“Not really, but I have to try,” I say. “Can you help me? I don’t know if I can do it alone.”
Dropping to her knees beside me, she nods. “If you want to summon the Moirai, it requires a lot of power. But the Moirai are bound by the laws of the Ancients. In many ways, they’re more susceptible to the pull of magick than even you and I are. If we summon them forth with clear intention, they should be forced to heed our call.”
All of a sudden, the commotion on the other side of the hospital room door kicks up again. By the looks of it, the Horseman has managed to break free from whatever Colton and the others were doing. Colton’s form flies through the air and the backlash from this turn of events is a fireball so big it unleashes the hospital’s sprinkler system.
Water pours out of the little ceiling spigots, dousing everything.
“Goddamn it, Cat—” Diana curses from somewhere nearby.
The Horseman laughs, and the deep, jovial nature of it sends a shiver straight through me. Suddenly, his black streak rushes past the window and without a shadow of a doubt, I know Diana and the others are in serious trouble.
My heart leaps into my throat and I know it’s now or never.
“Come on, Moirai. Is this all you’ve got?” I yell, directing my anger and terror in their direction. Water cascades in sheets across my face, and I wipe it away with the back of my hand. “Why don’t you come back here and be a part of this fight? Or are you the type that only lets others do your dirty work? I bet that’s it, right?”
“You need to use their names,” Mom warns, cradling her hands to her torso. Water drips from the ends of her hair, but she doesn’t even shudder.
I
