Beyond myself, I could feel Lincoln’s power pushing at me, offering its help. I looked at him and shook my head.
Not yet.
As Phoenix reloaded, I saw a new person enter the room. I recognised the stale senses that came from him alone.
Onyx had arrived.
Which meant they had managed to contact him through Dapper and extend Lilith’s invitation.
Onyx strode down the black carpet and did not look at me once, his eyes for Lilith only. When he reached the end of the runway, he gracefully dropped to one knee.
‘Onyx,’ Lilith sang, gesturing for him to stand. ‘It has been a time since our paths last crossed. When the child told me she’d managed to pet one of us, I never considered it could be you. Is she truly so powerful, or were you never so great?’
Onyx didn’t miss a beat. ‘I was almost certainly greater than you ever realised.’
Lilith smiled. ‘You must think highly of her then.’
‘No.’ He glanced at me briefly. ‘She was obscenely lucky.’ He feigned boredom. ‘What service is required of me here? I care not for watching torture if I am not the one reaping the benefits.’
Lilith seemed to appreciate this. ‘She has nominated you to lead her flock.’ She laughed. ‘For each arrow she endures a child I have imprisoned will be spared. She has elected you to deliver them to safety.’
Onyx nodded, still not looking in my direction. ‘So be it.’
‘But …’ Lilith said, her voice shrill, ‘I have an alternative proposal for you.’
Oh God, what is she going to do?
I felt Lincoln’s tension rise and saw Phoenix’s fist clench.
‘And what would that be?’ Onyx asked, showing the first sign of curiosity.
‘I can give you back your power – in all its glory. I can make you a true exile again.’
I heard Onyx gasp. ‘And what price would such a gift carry?’
Lilith took a few small steps towards Onyx and laid a hand on his shoulder. ‘No order will be given, for you are not one of mine to command.’ Lilith winked at me. ‘However, if once the children are handed over to you, you should … make a choice as to where your loyalties lie, I may feel that you have adequately proven yourself worthy of power once more.’
‘And how do you suddenly have the ability to restore my power?’ Onyx asked.
‘I am the first dark exile. Do you question my strength?’ Lilith asked, smiling unkindly.
‘No,’ Onyx responded. He seemed to ponder his decision. ‘You want me to destroy the children?’
Lilith clasped her hands together. ‘If that should be your desire, Onyx. I understand it was you who first began the quest for the lost Scripture? Is this not what you have dreamed of?’
Oh, it was. When I’d first met him he was indescribably evil and had tried to kill me without a second thought. He craved power like no other. With this ultimate temptation laid at his feet, I dreaded what he would choose.
‘And if I should not wish to fulfil my previous desire?’ Onyx asked.
I held my breath, a small tendril of hope dangling.
Lilith’s voice hardened. ‘If you are tainted so badly that that is the case, then you have become one of the rodents you so despised. But I have made my oath and will make no move against it.’
Onyx gestured towards me. ‘May I approach your sacrifice?’
‘Why?’
He stood and took a step towards the golden table, picking up an arrow, palming it. He turned back to Lilith and shrugged. ‘I wish to add one of these arrows to her myself.’
My stomach sank.
Lilith beamed. ‘By all means.’
Onyx walked towards me. He didn’t bother with the automatic bow. He was going to do this by hand.
When he got close, he spoke. ‘Lucky number thirteen.’
I had no idea what he meant. He took the arrow in his hand and positioned it at my wrist, just above the rope and at the top of my silver markings. Then, with as much force as his human body could muster, he drove the arrow into my wrist.
I screamed.
But Onyx didn’t stop there. He moved his hand down to the wound and collected my blood on the tip of his finger. He held it up briefly so only I could see the tiny specks of silver blended with the red.
‘Heard an interesting story on my travels,’ he whispered, leaning right into my ear. ‘That potion of yours has another name: “the breath of the afterlife”. They say when it took an earthly form it looked like mercury.’ He glanced at my marbled blood on his finger, his brow furrowing and voice becoming urgent. ‘Without you, she cannot be stopped. You must survive.’
The thirteenth ingredient.
The silver halls.
What I seek.
Beginnings and ends.
The angels have been trying to show me, but couldn’t tell me.
It’s in me. All this time, we’ve had the final ingredient.
The truth hit me hard, taking my breath away. I felt the link between Lincoln and I, and I knew he knew. The difference was – he wasn’t surprised.
I looked at Onyx, wishing we’d known about this before.
My eyes flashed to my wrist. ‘Take the arrow,’ I whispered. ‘Give it to Steph.’ If nothing else its tip had some of the silver blood on it. Maybe it would work. ‘You’re a good man, Onyx,’ I nodded at him. ‘No matter what you say.’
His dark eyes connected with mine for a moment before he spun back to Lilith, gesturing to my wrist. ‘Would you mind if I kept a souvenir?’
‘Please do,’ she said, unfazed by our interaction.
Onyx pulled the arrow out, causing another bout of agonising pain. I bit down hard but couldn’t stop the cry that fell from my lips. Exiles all around laughed.
‘As tempting as your offer is,’ Onyx began, ‘I find myself with a humanly debt to repay another. Until then, as your oaths bind you, so mine binds me.’
I was glad then that I was already crying. I didn’t want them to see my tears were now for Onyx. He had become a better human than most.
Lilith’s rage at Onyx showed, but she wasn’t about to let his denial derail her. The show would go on. She ordered him out of her sight to wait outside.
‘Phoenix!’ she snapped.
He nodded once, turned back to the golden table and loaded the next arrow.
I screamed when it hit my stomach.
He reloaded.
I tried to breathe and prepare myself. The desire to shut my eyes tight and close myself off from the world – to take myself to that other place – was intense. But I didn’t. I kept my eyes open. I wouldn’t give any of them the satisfaction of seeing my fear.
The arrows continued to fly – my legs, my arms – Phoenix aiming as carefully as possible, trying to cause the least damage. They hurt more and less at the same time, as new arrows didn’t increase the pain that was already so extreme. But they were starting to wear me down.
I focused all of my energy on healing, on regenerating and keeping as much blood as possible inside my body.
I kept count of the arrows, each one reminding me of another life – another child that would live to destroy these exiles one day. By the twentieth, I was starting to tremble. I was weakening way too soon. I needed to keep going.
I felt Lincoln’s power pressing at me.
I closed my eyes briefly. I wanted to keep him strong but I was unable to resist his help any longer. I opened the channel and his power flooded into me, rejuvenating my own power like a breath of fresh air. My healing kicked up a notch, the wounds closing around the arrows. Some of the arrows were even pushed out altogether, clattering to the ground as my body repaired itself.
Phoenix ignored all of this. He simply reloaded. And fired.
By the thirty-fifth strike, the world was spinning. I’d developed a cold sweat that felt like my life pouring out from me. I could hear my heart beating, too slow.
Phoenix fired again.
I healed myself.
&nbs
p; This time, I felt Phoenix sending me his emotion. Solid determination. I could feel his undiluted belief in me and in my power. So much so, I sensed his belief that I would survive. It made me sad that he could think that, when I knew otherwise.
He also took emotion from me, like lifting weights from my shoulders, one brick at a time. First, he relieved me of despair, then sorrow, then the well-buried fear. He found them and absorbed what he could.
By the fortieth arrow, Lilith was on her feet. The exile spectators had started hollering. Lilith came right up to me, yanking a few of the arrows from my body, twisting them as she pulled them away. I cried out. She smiled.
‘You are just mortal. You think you have purpose? You do not. You think you are powerful? You are not. Are you watching, Evelyn? Are you proud?’
Evelyn struggled under the hold of the exiles restraining her. ‘Look at her, Lilith. Take a long hard look at the mere mortal who is going to destroy you for good.’ Evelyn spat out the words.
Lilith’s composure slipped and she spun to Phoenix. ‘Speed things up!’
He nodded and loaded another arrow.
‘Not that way!’ she snapped. ‘Bring forward her wounds.’
I struggled feebly against the restraints.
Oh God. I can’t. This is it.
Lincoln’s strength flowed into me, holding me together. Blood now covered my body and poured from my mouth and nose.
Phoenix moved a step closer to me, his eyes closing briefly. I could feel his sadness and regret at what he must do.
I looked up at him and ground out, ‘Do it!’
And he did.
Onyx’s first shocking wound to me, after I’d embraced – the sword in my back that went right through me – returned. Phoenix did his best to minimise the pain, but he couldn’t do much in the face of such a horrific wound. Blood poured from me as I watched him – my vision blurring again – reload the bow, and aim.
Fire.
Fire.
Fire.
Fire.
I choked on blood. I suffocated in Lincoln’s power, pouring – no, hammering – into me. I couldn’t imagine how he had anything left to send, but it kept coming. So I took it, and I used it. My body convulsed against conflicting urges; my human body wanting to give up, my soul demanding me to go on, and my angelic ability forcing my warrior to fight.
I thought of Tom, singing with his divine voice. I thought of Simon, the warrior he would become. If this was my purpose in life – if this was why I had been created, made Grigori, given this power … If this was why I was Lincoln’s soulmate – to survive these arrows – I could live with that. Or die with it.
Arrow number fifty-six.
There was little space left on my body that was not marked and bleeding. I hiccupped through short trembling breaths.
At least one of the arrows had punctured a lung.
I tried to heal it.
Arrow fifty-eight.
I coughed. Blood splattered. I couldn’t draw on any more power.
I refused to close my eyes. I looked at Lincoln, my love. He was crying, his face twisted in agony as four exiles held him back.
I let him see the truth. It was time. He screamed till there was no breath left in him.
Phoenix turned to Lincoln. Then back to me. Lincoln started shouting at him, ‘No! No! No more! Phoenix, no more!’
Phoenix reloaded.
I held on. He fired.
One more child.
Each breath more shallow, more broken. I was afraid.
Still refusing to close my eyes, I began to mentally say my goodbyes, first to Dad, then Evelyn. I thought of Steph and Salvatore, of Dapper and Onyx, of Griffin, Zoe and Spence. My family.
I looked to Phoenix and sent him my apology, my forgiveness, too. He blocked me and reloaded. But it was okay. Every arrow equalled one more life.
Finally, I looked back to Lincoln and let my heart go to him. With the last of what I had, I whispered, ‘I love you.’
Another arrow jolted my body.
Good. One more life.
Lincoln pushed against the exiles restraining him and screamed, ‘I’m yours! Always. Always!’
Then he sent me everything he had. I saw him fall to the ground as the rest of his power fed into me, helping me to survive a few more arrows.
Arrow sixty-four hit.
Arrow sixty-five.
Arrow sixty-six.
Evelyn cried out.
Arrow sixty-seven.
I was sinking.
Finally, I let myself go to that place. I forced my eyes to stay open, but I let myself shut down and go to that place I’d taught myself to seek. The place that locks the rest of the world out, the place that created the rules.
I will not run from you. I will not hide from you. I will endure anything you give to me. I do not believe in fairy-tale endings. I will stand and I will fight. I will … I will … I will …
Arrow …
Arrow …
I didn’t know if my eyes were open any more. It didn’t matter. Eventually, there was only darkness.
No tunnel.
No light.
Only the promise of nothingness.
And yet, suddenly, in those final moments, a sharp wave of fear lurched up and penetrated every part of me. I was sure, more sure than I had been of anything in my entire life, that something truly terrifying awaited me. But there was nothing I could do.
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
‘What! Could you not then understand? This is the hell with which you were threatened.’
The Holy Quran 36:62–63
Conflicting smells hit me first. Something damp, pungent – like disinfectant. Then, salty sweat and heat. But above all, the tangy smell of fresh blood mingled with the rotten odour of dried.
The pain came next. From my forehead to the back of my neck, my shoulders, arms and down from there. Everywhere. It felt like my body was on fire.
I laboured to breathe. My throat was raw, every inhalation felt like knives to an open wound. On some level it registered that it was because of all the screaming, but the thought was too difficult to hold on to.
‘She’s coming round,’ a voice said.
Footsteps sounded, moving nearer. ‘Hey, Dapper just called. They’re almost back.’ Different voice.
Who? Was that … Spence?
‘Good. Go back outside and stand guard.’
A pause. Then footsteps fading away.
‘Get her some water,’ said the same voice.
‘I’m not leaving her,’ a female, replied.
‘She can barely breathe, get her some water,’ the first voice growled in response.
‘I don’t trust you with her.’
‘I brought her here, didn’t I?’
Another pause. Scuffled footsteps followed.
Someone yelled out from further away. More sounds then a loud bang followed by a click.
My mind wasn’t working properly. I tried to open my eyes. Panic started to slowly rise as I questioned where I was and what had happened. Was I somewhere I’d been before? I started to see glimpses of light. Something flashing through the air towards me.
Arrow.
A hand smoothed my forehead with a damp cloth. It didn’t help the pain. There was a loud banging nearby.
‘Violet?’ the voice said. ‘You need to try and wake up.’
I couldn’t understand why. Nothing made sense. I saw more flashes.
Memories started coming back to me. My body jolted. Strong hands held me down. I remembered Lilith. I remembered the children – Simon, Katie, Tom. I remembered the arrows.
So. Many. Arrows.
I tried to speak but no words came out.
‘Don’t try to talk,’ said the voice. ‘You need to concentrate on waking up. When you wake up properly you can heal yourself.’
But why?
I was supposed to be dead. I’d felt myself slip away.
A flicker of irony ran through me. I thought when
I died all the pain would go away.
Just my freaking luck it hasn’t worked that way.
But who would talk to me if I was dead? And why did he sound so familiar?
God?
If so, then surely I wouldn’t get a house call; I’d never even believed in him.
‘Violet, I don’t want to have to slap you. Open your damn eyes!’
Definitely not God.
My eyes fluttered. The lighting was dim and my face felt badly swollen. Slowly, the person standing over me came into view.
There was more banging, louder this time. I couldn’t work out if it was coming from my mind.
‘Phoenix?’ I croaked.
‘Concentrate,’ he said. ‘This is very important. Can you understand me?’
I tried to nod. I was alive.
‘Good. Good,’ he soothed, as if encouraging us both. ‘Violet, you need to heal yourself. Dapper’s power isn’t going to cut it and I can’t help you until you’re strong. Jesus,’ he sighed. ‘We have to do this now or I never will. Do you hear?’
‘Chil-dren?’ I whispered, concentrating on simply breathing through the extraordinary pain. Coming to terms with dying was one thing, coming to terms with surviving in the face of so much awfulness, knowing if I recovered I’d have to relive over and over all that had happened was … earth-shattering.
Phoenix’s expression softened.
‘You saved seventy-one.’ His voice held a strange kind of bewilderment. ‘Dapper and Onyx are making sure they get back to the Academy safely. I … I don’t know how you did it, but you stayed conscious through it all. I monitored your heartbeat the entire time, waiting for you to pass out, but you just kept going. When you finally closed your eyes, Lilith was sure you were dead, but I healed your wounds and Lincoln sent you the last of his strength. It was enough to keep you alive. She forced me to shoot you with another few arrows, but you didn’t stop breathing and she refused to let you have an unconscious death. She saw it as a waste. So she sent you away until you could be returned to her so she could kill you herself. I got you out of there, but this is only temporary and we don’t have much time. Violet, you need to help me.’
I was confused, trying to process all I had just heard. And the banging was getting more insistent. ‘Banging?’ I asked.