Exaltation (Insight #11)(99)

She’d moved a mountain.

Right as the song ended and her slow spin faded, her heart stopped. In the dark shadows of the rink there was an image. Hope exploded in her soul. She moved her hands to her mouth right as the boy reached out his hand and stepped into the dim spot light.

Dagen.

Raven didn’t cry but her voiced cracked when she said, “Hi.”

She hadn’t seen him since the wake. He’d been around those first few days but she couldn’t look at him. The resemblance was too strong.

“I didn’t mean to scare you.” Raven didn’t say anything. He pushed his hands in his pockets as he moved closer. “I’m glad I found you here. Must mean you’re healing.”

“I haven’t moved on if that’s what you think.”

Solemn nod.

“Why didn’t you move him? Save him. Why didn’t you do anything other than what you did?” The wrath which had been spitting out of her mouth for a while now was being aimed at Dagen. It was the part of her Jamison was trying to get her to control. A gift from the host her birth mother was.

“I obeyed him.”

“Sometimes it’s best to question the rules.”

“Agreed,” he said with an ache in his voice.

“It’s my fault. He gave me his vim,” Raven admitted.

“It’s not your fault,” he swore, sounding too much like Rydell.

“I want him back. How do I do that?” Raven had come so close to going into the Veil.

Really close, even asked her dad about it. He told her she would not find Rydell there.

A slow smile emerged on Dagen’s lips. “That’s why I sought you out tonight.” He cleared his throat. “Rydell didn’t die the right way.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean there was no black smoke, the sign of an Escort’s death. There was no light, no sign of light’s death. There was not a body or blood, the sign of a mortal’s death.” He let out a sigh. “That bothered me, so I tracked down a few people Rydell had spoken to when he was trying to figure out how to protect you.”

Raven was waiting for the good news, for him to tell her the hell was over. Even though his words seemed promising his stare was still filled with grief.

“A day or so before Rydell died he was told if he didn’t feed, take energy, that only one thing could save him.”

“Why didn’t he take it?”

“To keep you safe. Protect you from becoming addicted to it, or the curse attached to the high.”

All signs pointed to Raven. She was a black widow. She killed him…

“It took me awhile but I finally got the soul that gave him the advice to tell me what the one thing was.” Dagen paused. “I had to know what I could have done differently.” With those words Raven skated up to him.

He was carrying the same weight she was. He was taking the blame. He looked down at her the same way as Rydell used to, like she was a mystery.

“I was told the only thing that could save Rydell was this very coven. The emotion in it. I think your tears, your kiss saved him from being torn asunder.”

“Where is his soul?”

“Deep in the Veil. Rumor has it it’s near The Reaper. I don’t know. I’ve been asking around—someone even said they saw him being pulled away by a young witch.”

“A witch?”

Dagen let his eyes rove over hers. “Yeah, someone from your coven, I suppose. I’m trying to track her but she’s not easy to find. None of the witches in the Veil are. I asked your dad, but he didn’t have much to say about it. So I’m assuming he wasn’t surprised.”

Raven smirked. “He’s been giving me a lot of fate talks about how it takes time to unfold.” She looked away. “Can he come back?”

One nod. “The one who told me this said King needed to gain his strength. That the bravest, most logical thing King could have ever done was what he did. It was calculated so perfectly a higher power must have orchestrated it.”

“Nothing was perfect about that night.”

“You’re safe, and Revelin doesn’t think you’re a threat, meaning you’re protected. One day he’ll be back. One day you will rise. Just as you were meant to.”

“Is Rydell in pain?”

“I don’t know. This process breaks the soul down, puts it in judgment. If he’s in pain it’s because of that, at least that’s what I’m assuming.”

“How much time?”

“Enough.” He reached in his pocket. “I have a gift for you. I can store it if you want, or you can sell it. But it’s not mine, and every time I get in it I smell your perfume and his scent mingling as if it’s a part of the car’s creation.” He laid Rydell’s car key in her hand.

“I can’t,” she mumbled.

He pulled Raven to him. Raven buried her head in his chest as he caressed her head. “Your power is in bliss. It’s what he adored about you. Don’t let him come back only to find you faded. That after his sacrifice you died anyway.”

Raven nodded against his chest as her arms went around him. She closed her eyes and found hope. Those stupid books along with Berries had called her a black widow, said she would gain power when her lover returned from the grave.