Released (The Eternal Balance #3)(54)

“It’s more complicated than that,” he said, his frown deepening. “Even my abilities have limits. I was able to restore your body and soul because we made a deal. They were never truly gone, only tucked away in a safe place for a short time.” Heckle glanced down at Jax. “His soul has moved on already.”

Van cleared her throat. “I can…I can wake him. You’ll have time to say good-bye.” Her eyes glistened. “I’m so sorry, Sam. That’s all I can do.”

I nodded. It was the most I could manage. Anything more and I’d likely fall apart.

Van spoke in a hushed whisper and moved her hand in a slow, wide circle, first over his heart, then over his head. It was wholly anticlimactic as far as resurrections went—not that I had a whole lot to go on—but when Jax opened his eyes, the world snapped back on its axis—even if only for a few moments.





Chapter Twenty-Three


Jax


Someone had turned on the air conditioning. That, or I’d gone swimming in an ice bath.

Wait. I had gone swimming in an ice bath. The cave. The stone. Sam… It all rushed back to me, and I forced my eyes open. They were standing around me, towering over me like vultures. “What the f*ck?”

Sam sank to her knees. I didn’t like the look on her face. The pain in her eyes. “Van was able to—” Her breath hitched. “We can at least say good-bye.”

Good-bye?

And then it all truly came back to me. Like a freight train, the memories hit me. I looked down and pulled back my shirt. There was a hole in it, covered in blood. “Sam…”

“Shh.” She grabbed my face and pulled me to her. “Chase is dead. Zenak is dead. The stone is gone. We did it, Jax. We finished it.”

“And it killed me,” I said. I knew it had. I could feel death like an axe hanging over my head.

Her only answer was a single tear. And that was it. All I could see. The cloud of color I’d seen around every human on Earth my entire life was gone. The weight of their emotions, the sting of inevitable hunger that came with it, was—almost painfully—absent. Azi was gone, and I was truly alone.

“But you’re okay, right?” Because, really, that was the most important thing. She would go on to live her life. I glanced up and realized for the first time that Heckle was here.

He nodded a silent greeting, then rested a hand on Sam’s shoulder. “I hate to do this now, but we have a deal to wrap up. You don’t have to do anything, just give me consent to take what we agreed on.”

Sam nodded without taking her eyes from me. “Take it. Take the whole thing. I don’t care. I don’t need it anymore.”

Without saying a word, Heckle closed his eyes and made an odd gesture with his hand. Something vaguely blue seeped from Sam’s shoulders, swirling for a moment around his fingers before sinking beneath his skin. “It is done. There is only one thing left then the balance will be completely restored.”

The moment Heckle’s hand touched my skin, it felt like someone had lit me on fire—and not the good kind. I roared in pain, and my body went ridged as the invisible flames licked at every inch of me. A rush of images flashed—dizzying and vague. The only thing I could make out was that they were all Sam. From the time she was a baby to the moments before I woke. It passed so quickly, but I retained it all. How saving her had caused a ripple, how Heckle had tried to fix the mistake, the fact that we were cut from the same soul—literally.

And then I understood.

Everything.

As Heckle pulled away, the haze cleared. I filled my lungs with air and fought back a shiver. We were going to get pneumonia if we didn’t get out of these wet clothes. The best part though? I could get pneumonia. Why? Because the living got sick.

Live. People. I was alive, and I was just me. For the first time in my life, there was total silence in my head.

Heckle helped me to my feet as Sam stood by with wide eyes. “You—did you—”

“The balance is restored, and the ripple is smooth.”

She shook her head. “I don’t get it. His death fixed most of the balance, but his life fixes the rest?”

I took her hand and pulled her close, and the moment I had her tucked against me, nothing else mattered. A sense of peace, unparalleled by anything I’d ever felt, rushed over me.

“I owed you for destroying the stone. If I didn’t give something back, it would have left things lopsided. You’re just lucky I was able to do it. You can’t go dropping pieces of other people’s souls into other bodies. The only reason this worked is because—”

“We were already part of the same whole,” I finished for him.

Heckle smiled. “Exactly.” He tipped an imaginary hat. “Now if you’ll excuse me—it’s been a long month.” And just like that, he vanished from sight.

Movement behind Sam caught my attention. A small tuft of black smoke seemed to seep from the cave walls. It grew bigger and bigger until it was tall like me and had roughly the same shape. Azi drifted toward us.

“You saved me,” Sam said. Her voice shook. “You used the last of your energy to do it, didn’t you?”

The shadowy image took on my face and smiled. “Do not be sad, Samantha Merrick. I have died a thousand deaths. I will die a thousand more.” A wispy arm reached toward her, tendrils licking at her face before retreating inward. “This is the one I shall always remember. The one that mattered.” Turning to me, it said, “Be well, my human. My Jax Flynn.”