Falling Light (Game of Shadows #2)(85)

Jamie was here?

Not Jamie. Nicholas.

“What are you doing here?” Michael rolled to his feet. “You’re supposed to be with your father and sister.”

“I saw them to the safe house and came back to see if there was anything I could do. I got here as fast as I could.”

Mary struggled to stabilize her senses so that she could see. Her head throbbed as her vision remained blurred, and she kept seeing double. She swiped at her eyes. Where had Astra gone? She could have sworn that she had seen Astra earlier.

Nicholas stood nearby, his long hair bound tightly off his strong, sensual face. He had found black jeans and a black sweater somewhere, and he still wore Jamie’s silver and leather bracelets and held a semiautomatic in one hand. Michael strode over to him. Figures raced across the clearing toward them, and both men lunged into a brutal counterattack.

The black diamond man huddled in a sullen cloud over his prone body, the crystalline force of his presence weakened. If there hadn’t been enough of the drug in the darts to knock him out, the effect wouldn’t last long.

She groaned at the thought of moving, forced herself up on her hands and knees and groped along the ground. There were bodies all over the place. Someone had to have dropped one of those dart guns somewhere.

She could barely see anything beyond three feet in front of her with any clarity, which was why she didn’t see the figure that slipped past Michael’s and Nicholas’s guard to reach the Deceiver, until it was too late.

No, no, he couldn’t migrate to another body and escape. The figure bent over his body, and she sucked in a breath to scream.

Then she realized the small, shabby figure was Astra. Astra reached out a hand and touched him.

The Deceiver roared. Power surged, like the dark stone-like power from her altar. Only what had happened in her dream was a small mote compared with the force that poured from the ground like Mount Vesuvius erupting.

She cowered to the ground and covered her whirling head with her arms. We caused the end of the world, she thought. I don’t think we were supposed to do that.

A figure appeared out of the formless roar. It was a most elegant shape, a black diamond figure overlaid with a shining web of white radiance. The pattern reminded her of a harlequin, beautiful and deadly. It bent over her.

Perhaps she made a terrified noise. She was beyond noticing. With glowing hands, the figure gathered her close.

She could feel physical arms holding her body, but the power in the psychic realm was so gigantic it overwhelmed all her other senses. The power washed over and through her, until she felt tumbled head over heels by an enormous wave. All she could see was the harlequin’s black-and-white face in front of her.

It had a bright blackbird’s gaze. She cried out and clutched at it.

“There, there.” The figure spoke with Astra’s briskness as it patted her shoulder. “I’ve already healed you. You took some psychic damage, a ruptured eardrum, bruised ribs and a bad scare. It could have been worse.”

“We thought you left us,” Mary said. “I thought you left.”

“That would have been most foolish,” said the harlequin, who pressed a kiss to her forehead. Mary distinctly felt physical lips on her skin. “Because I wasn’t supposed to leave until right now.”

“I don’t understand.”

The figure laughed, and it was a carefree sound. “There isn’t much to understand. The land is lending me strength so I can hold him prisoner while I say good-bye.”

“Good-bye?” She clutched harder. “You don’t have go. You can choose to live without him. You said you could.”

“But I don’t want to,” it said.

“Then let go of this life, rest for a while and be reborn,” she said. “You can start over in a new life.”

“I’m too tired to start over. I’m ready for a different kind of ending.” It passed a hand over her hair. “I am so proud of you. Thank you for all of your years of exile and sacrifice. Thank you for everything. Your obligation is finished. Make your future bright and new.” It paused and cocked its head. “Oh, and one last thing.” A bright blackbird eye winked at her. “Remember, my canoe is in my favorite place.”

“Your canoe? Wait.” She reached for the figure again, but this time she couldn’t seem to touch it.

The harlequin stood. It reached into its chest with glowing, white hands. The black diamond energy roiled and emitted a howl of despair and rage.

The harlequin said, “Michael, it’s time.”

Michael joined the black-and-white figure. His radiance shone as golden as the sun. A clarion sound belled from him, as sharp and piercing as an angel’s sword.

Astra’s white energy picked up on the vibration and intensified it until it stabbed through the fabric of reality and rang with unearthly purity.

It shattered the black diamond.

The harlequin flung out its hands and scattered the black energy, dissipating it completely. At the same moment, the harlequin broke apart. As the white energy faded, it seemed to give a peaceful sigh.

The roar of the land faded from the psychic realm. Mary lay curled on the ground. After a time, she became aware again of her physical surroundings, the cold night, the cabin’s fading fire and men shouting in the distance. She ran her fingers along the quiet, unbroken ground in amazement.