Tears streaked down the pixie’s cheeks, but he swiped them away and nodded his head. “I trust you.”
“Good,” I replied. “Then there’s nothing to worry about. Mo’s sent me out on way tougher jobs than this. I survived Grant and Katia and everything else that’s happened this summer. I’ll get through this too.”
Oscar nodded and gave me a tentative smile. He zipped up, landed on my shoulder, and hugged my neck tight. I hugged him back, careful not to crush his wings.
And just like with Devon, we stayed like that for a long time while Tiny looked on in approval, slowly chewing his lettuce.
I scratched Tiny’s head a final time, then left the guest bedroom with Oscar riding on my shoulder. My friends were all waiting in the dining hall, along with the Sinclair guards and members of the Ito and Salazar Families, and we all went outside.
I got into the back of an SUV with Devon and Felix. Angelo was driving, with Mo sitting in the front seat and Oscar perched in the cup holder. Devon reached over and grabbed one of my hands, while Felix took the other. I looked at them both and smiled, and we stayed like that for the rest of the ride down the mountain.
It was only ten o’clock, but Claudia wanted everyone to get into position early, just in case Victor had any tricks or traps planned. Angelo parked the SUV a couple of streets over from the lochness bridge, and the other vehicles stopped as well. People poured out of the cars, every single one of them carrying at least one sword or dagger, and they all crept through the streets as quietly as possible. I hung back with Devon and Claudia, who was getting updates on her phone from the other guards.
Mo was here too, staring off into the night.
“What are you thinking about?” I asked.
He shook his head. “I’m thinking about the night that Serena left town. It was just like this one.”
We both looked up. When we’d left the Ito mansion, the moon and stars had been out in full force, but now, heavy clouds cloaked the sky and lightning flashed in the distance. It reminded me of Victor’s power, something that made me shiver.
Mo looked at me and smiled, although I could see the sadness in his eyes. “Serena would be so proud of you,” he said in a soft voice. “And I am too. You are everything that she ever wanted you to be. Smart, strong, brave, resourceful. I wish that she was here to see you for herself.”
I thought of the strange dream I’d had when I’d been poisoned by the copper crusher venom. “Maybe she is here . . . somewhere. Watching over us.”
He nodded. “That’s what I like to think too, kid.”
Mo slung his arm around my shoulders, pulling me in for a quick hug. I put both arms around him and hugged him back even tighter.
Someone cleared her throat and we broke apart to find Deah and Seleste standing behind us. Deah was dressed just like I was—as a Sinclair. Black boots, black pants, white shirt, black cloak. No cuff glimmered on her wrist, but it was obvious which side she was on. I was happy that it was ours.
Seleste wore another one of her gauzy white dresses, but her long hair was done up in braids with black and blue ribbons running through her golden locks.
Seleste grabbed my hands and looked into my eyes, although her own gaze was distant and far away. “Remember what I said, darling,” she whispered. “Don’t be afraid of the lightning.”
“Kind of hard not to be when Victor’s going to fry me to a crisp with it,” I muttered.
But instead of being concerned, Seleste gave me another serene smile, patted my cheek, and twirled away, making her braids and ribbons flutter like butterflies dancing around her shoulders.
I shook my head. At least someone was confident about my winning. I wondered if Seleste had seen me defeating Victor in one of her visions. I even thought about asking her how I could possibly do it, but I decided not to. She’d only speak in vague riddles that would likely confuse me more than I already was.
Deah’s dark blue eyes, so similar to mine, flicked over me, her gaze lingering on the black blade belted to my waist. She was wearing her own Sterling Family sword with its cluster of three stars carved into the hilt.
“Good luck,” she said.
“Thanks.” I paused. “I know this has to be hard for you. Everyone rooting for me to . . . beat your dad.”
The right word was kill, but I didn’t say that. It would have been cruel, and people had already been mean enough to Deah and Seleste over the past few days.
She shrugged. “I’ve always known that he wasn’t a nice man. But these last few days . . . I know what kind of person he really is now.”
Her voice was calm and steady, but anguish glimmered in her eyes. Her dad had broken her heart, and it was a deep, ugly wound that she would carry with her the rest of her life.
Deah chewed on her lip. “Do you think that . . . do you think that you’ll actually kill him?”
“I don’t know. I don’t imagine he’ll give me much of a choice, especially since he’ll be doing his best to kill me.”
She let out a short, humorless laugh. “No, he won’t give you a choice. Just like he didn’t give those monsters or all the people he killed a choice.” Her face hardened, and she looked at me again. “So you do whatever you have to in order to protect yourself. Use every single low-down, dirty trick you know. Because that’s exactly what he’ll do. He won’t fight fair. He never fights fair.”
Deah blinked back the tears shimmering in her eyes and gave me a sharp nod. Her warning delivered, she hurried over to where Seleste was now twirling around Mo and Claudia.
I went over to Devon and Felix. They both gave me somber looks, but they kept on talking, as though we were all just out for a late-night stroll instead of one final battle to determine who took control of Cloudburst Falls—for good.
Felix glanced down at his phone. “The Ito and Salazar guards are in position, hidden in the buildings and alleys on all the surrounding side streets on the opposite side of the bridge. So Victor won’t be able to use his own guards to flank and overwhelm us. We’ve got your back, Lila. All you need to focus on is Victor. Don’t worry about anything else.”
I flashed them both a smile, forcing myself to hold the expression on my face. “Me? Worry? Please. Besides, if I don’t beat Victor, maybe you can talk him to death instead.”
Felix rolled his eyes, but he smiled back at me. He opened his mouth to say something else, but Claudia strode over to us, her face serious, her phone in her hand.
“The Draconis have pulled up on the opposite side of the bridge,” she said.
I nodded, knowing that it was finally time for my battle with Victor, the same one my mother had fought before me. But now, here, tonight, I was determined that the outcome would be different. That I would finally be able to end Victor’s reign of terror.
For my mom, for me, and for my Family.
“Are you ready?” Devon asked.
I drew in a breath and wrapped my hand around my mom’s sword, sliding it free of the scabbard and staring at all the stars running down the black blade. Her symbol, the Sterling Family symbol, and now, my symbol too.
“I’m ready,” I said, tightening my grip on my sword. “Let’s settle this—once and for all.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Claudia signaled everyone to be on high alert. Then she started walking toward the lochness bridge. Mo was right beside her, with Angelo and Reginald on her other side. I walked directly behind Claudia, with Devon, Felix, and Deah flanking me and Oscar flitting around our shoulders.
Even though it was midnight, the July air was warm and humid, and the clouds had darkened in the time we’d been out here, now hanging so low that I felt like I could almost reach up and touch them. Despite the thick clouds, there was plenty of light to see by, thanks to the old-fashioned iron streetlamps at either end of the lochness bridge and the lightning crackling in the sky, getting closer and closer with every passing second. It wouldn’t be long before the storm was here.
I just wondered if I??
?d be dead before then or not.
But I kept my face blank and didn’t let any of my worry and uncertainty show. More and more Sinclair guards fell in step behind us, and together, as one group, we walked toward the lochness bridge, where the Draconis were already waiting.
Several dozen Draconi guards lined the opposite side of the bridge, all of them wearing their blood-red cloaks and hats, with their hands on the swords belted to their waists.
Victor and Blake were standing in the middle of the guards. Blake was dressed like all the others in a red cloak and hat, but Victor wore a long-sleeved red silk shirt, black pants, and glossy black wingtips. The really interesting thing was the fact that he didn’t have a weapon strapped to his waist like everyone else. No sword, no dagger, no blade of any sort. Odd. I would have thought that Victor would have been carrying some sort of weapon to make it easier for him to kill me.
Then again, he had his lightning magic. He didn’t need anything else.
Claudia stepped out onto the bridge and stopped, looking over her shoulder at me. “Are you sure about this? You can still change your mind. I can still go out there and face Victor instead.”
I drew in a breath and slowly let it out. “No, I want to do this. I need to do this.”
She nodded. “All right then.”
I took off my cloak and handed it to Felix. Devon reached out, threaded his fingers through mine, and squeezed my hand. I turned to face him, focusing on the blazing conviction and rock-hard certainty shining in his eyes, and letting his emotions flood my chest, letting them comfort me and add to my own determination to defeat Victor.
We didn’t speak, but we didn’t need to. Not after everything that had happened the past few days.
I stared back at Devon, letting him see just how much I cared about him, just how much I loved him. I pressed a quick kiss to his lips, then slipped my hand out of his and joined Claudia on the bridge.
Together, the two of us walked out to the middle of the span. I glanced over the side, but the surface of the river remained smooth and calm below. I wondered if the lochness would help me again, since the monster had already saved me twice before. But three times might be asking too much of it, especially against Victor.
Victor strode out to the middle of the bridge as well, with Blake by his side. Both of them blinked at the sight of me standing next to Claudia.
“So you survived the copper crushers,” Victor said, his eyes narrowing in thought. “How did you manage that?”
I shrugged. I wasn’t about to explain myself to him.
“What is this?” he asked, turning to Claudia. “Why is she here?”
Claudia raised her chin and stared back at him, her features as cold and hard as his were. “Lila has volunteered to represent me, to represent the entire Sinclair Family.”
“Are you actually sending this girl out to do your fighting?” He let out a low, ugly laugh. “You really think she can beat me? What a fool you are. I killed Serena and I’ll be happy to do the same to her daughter. Then you’ll have two Sterlings to mourn instead of just one.”
Claudia’s lips pressed together into a tight line, but she ignored his cruel taunt. “Do we have an agreement or not?” she snapped.
Victor studied her a moment, then his gaze flicked to me. It only took him a second to decide that he could beat me. “Agreed. As previously arranged, the winner of the duel will take control of both our Families—and do whatever they like with the losers.”
He whirled around and stalked back over to his guards, filling them in on the terms of the duel. But Blake stayed in the middle of the bridge, staring at me as if he had never seen me before.
“I thought you were dead,” he muttered. “You should be dead. Those copper crushers should have killed you.”
I looked at him, trying to reason with him for Deah’s sake. “You know that your dad is going to turn on you one day, right? You’ll do something to displease him, and he’ll order one of his men to kill you, just like he ordered you to capture Deah. Victor doesn’t care about anything or anyone other than himself. Even if he beats me, even if he takes control of all the other Families in Cloudburst Falls, it still won’t be enough for him. He’ll start thinking about what other Families and other towns he can take over. Nothing will ever be enough for him.”
A bit of doubt flickered in Blake’s eyes, overcoming his usual arrogance. But his uncertainty quickly vanished and he gave me the same sneer he always did.
“That’s never going to happen,” he said. “My dad loves me. Besides, I’m the Draconi bruiser, his right-hand man. He can’t run the Family without me. He’s told me so himself.”
“Just like he told Deah and Seleste how much he loved them?” I asked.
Blake blinked, as though it had never occurred to him that he might be just another tool for Victor to use, the way he had used Deah and Seleste all these years. He opened his mouth to say something, but the sharp, ringing tap-tap-tap-tap of Victor’s wingtips on the cobblestones had him clamping his lips shut again.
Victor stopped in the middle of the bridge. He looked at me, then went over and placed three quarters on the center stone, the one marked with three Xs, before stepping back out into the center of the span.
“You didn’t think I would forget to pay the lochness toll, did you, Lila?” He smirked, seeing my disappointment. “Your mother taught me better than that.”
I really had been hoping he would forget about the toll, just as Grant Sanderson had all those weeks ago, and that the lochness would make Victor pay for his oversight. But of course Victor wouldn’t make things that easy.
So I dug my own set of quarters out of the hidden slot on my belt, walked over, and placed them on the center stone, careful to keep them away from his. I waited a few seconds, wondering if the lochness might appear to take its tribute, but the surface of the river remained smooth and calm, so I moved back over to the center of the bridge.
“You can do this,” Claudia whispered, her eyes steady on mine. “Just remember Serena and everything she taught you.”
“Always,” I whispered back.
She squeezed my hand, then turned and walked to the end of the bridge, where Devon, Felix, Mo, Oscar, Deah, Seleste, and all the other Sinclairs were waiting.
Victor murmured something to Blake that I couldn’t hear, and Blake nodded and looked past me. I glanced over my shoulder and realized that he was staring at Deah and Seleste. I wondered what Victor was telling Blake about his own sister and stepmother, if he wanted Blake to try to capture them—or worse—if he lost the duel. Part of me didn’t want to know. It would only remind me of how cruel Victor was.
And how he was most likely going to kill me.
Blake nodded at whatever Victor told him. He smirked at me a final time, then stalked to the opposite end of the bridge so that he was standing with the rest of the Draconi guards.
Victor turned around and strode forward until he was right in the center of the bridge. I let out a tense breath, then stepped up to meet him, leaving about five feet of space in between us.
“I’m going to enjoy this, Lila,” he purred, his voice showing the first hint of warmth I’d ever heard. “Just as I did with your mother.”
He was trying to make me angry, get me to fly into a rage and do something stupid, like recklessly charge at him. But I forced myself to ignore his horrible words and take slow, deep, steady breaths. He wasn’t going to rile me up that easily. He wasn’t going to win that easily.
He wasn’t going to kill me that easily.
“Good,” I said. “I hope you do enjoy this.”
He arched a golden eyebrow. “Really? Why is that?”
“Because it’s going to be the last thing you ever enjoy.”
Instead of being concerned, his face creased into a wide smile, and he let out a low, deep belly laugh. The sound reminded me of the copper crushers slowly slithering toward me, their rattles shaking and their scales scraping against the concrete floor of the wa
rehouse. But I stood my ground, not letting Victor see my fear and disgust.
“You certainly are confident,” he said. “Just like your mother was. And I’m going to kill you, just like I killed her.”
His golden eyes glimmered with a sinister light. My gaze locked with his and my soulsight kicked in, showing me just how much he meant every cruel word—and just how cold, dark, and empty his heart truly was.
In that moment, I almost felt sorry for him. Victor Draconi would never know true love or happiness or anything else. All he cared about was magic and the power it gave him over others. Even if he beat me here tonight, even if he killed me and took control of the Sinclair Family, it wouldn’t be enough for him. Nothing would ever be enough for him, just as I’d told Blake.
My hand tightened around my sword. But he wasn’t going to win.
“This ends tonight,” I said, raising my sword into an attack position.
Victor gave me a thin smile. “The only thing that’s ending tonight is you, Lila. I’ll see to that.”
“Then let’s get on with it,” I snarled.
He shrugged. “As you wish. But don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
Instead of reaching for his magic right away, Victor just stared at me, his golden eyes glowing in his face as he studied everything about me, from my face to the cuff on my wrist to the way I slowly twirled my black blade around and around in my hand.
“That sword isn’t going to save you,” he said. “I don’t even need a weapon to kill you.”
“We’ll see.”
He looked at me another second, then turned around as though he were going to walk away. I knew it was a trap, but he was giving me an open shot at his back and it was too good a chance to pass up. So I raised my sword high, ready to bring it down on top of his head.
But I hadn’t taken three steps toward him before he whipped back around and reached for his magic. A ball of lightning popped into his hand, and I barely managed to duck out of the way as he sent it streaking through the air toward me. The lightning hit one of the streetlamps at the end of the bridge, making white sparks shoot up into the night sky.