“I need manna,” I stated. The words were simple, but my thoughts conveyed everything I didn’t want Jasmine and Costa to overhear. How could you not have told Adrian who his real father was? I know that you knew! You always know things like that!
“Jasmine, Costa, would you go down to the tree with the white flowers at the bottom of the hill?” Zach replied. “Bring me several of their blooms. They contain manna.”
I gave Zach an incredulous look as Costa took Jasmine’s arm and started down the hill. “Manna grows on trees?”
He shrugged. “Where else did you think it came from?”
I clenched my fists to keep from doing something rash. Then I knelt beside Adrian and began applying pressure to his head and stomach wounds, all the while cursing Zach with my thoughts. We hoarded manna like gold because Zach only gave us a little at a time, yet it literally grew on trees in realms that he had unlimited access to? Unbelievable!
“You now have unlimited access to them, so you no longer need me for your supply,” he replied in an unruffled tone.
My fists clenched tighter on the wadded-up fabric I held to Adrian’s stomach. “That’s information we could have used several months ago,” I managed to say very calmly.
His pointed glance settled on my clenched hand. “Until you passed the first challenge and the slingshot merged with your body, you wouldn’t have been able to enter them.”
“But I’m a Davidian,” I protested. “Judians can cross into demon realms, so I should be able to cross into Archon ones.”
He let out a snort that somehow managed to sound both elegant and imperious. “The forces that guard these realms are much stronger than the ones that guard the demon worlds. No bloodline is enough to give a human the ability to cross into them. Only the hallowed weapon in your flesh is powerful enough.” Then Zach shocked me by adding, “You can’t tell Adrian about Demetrius,” as casually as if he were remarking about the weather.
“No way,” I said at once. “I know what it’s like to have people conceal really important information about your lineage from you. Adrian might have done that to me when we first met, but it was wrong, and I won’t do the same to him.”
“Will you never take anything on faith?” Zach muttered, holding up a hand when I started to respond. “If you need a reason, here it is. Tell Adrian now, and you will both die.”
I didn’t take those words as a threat. If Zach wanted us dead, we would be, many times over, so he must be warning us based on foreknowledge. Times like this, he seemed to want us to succeed, although his habit of sitting on the sidelines during most of our battles was an infuriating way for him to show it.
“Fine,” I said, shooting a guilty look at Adrian while thinking, I’m sorry. “I won’t tell him. But Demetrius might, now that he knows I know.”
Zach made a dismissive motion. “Don’t worry about him.”
“Oh, sure, a demon with enough power to spill realms onto us or sweep them back up is nothing to be concerned about. His being Adrian’s biological father and my superevil arch nemesis is just the icing on the relaxation cake.”
Zach’s mouth twitched at my acid tone. “As I told you before, your mind and your willpower needs to rule your circumstances, not the other way around.”
“And as I told you, easy for you to say,” I muttered, but Jasmine and Costa’s return had us leaving it at that.
“Is this enough?” Jasmine asked, holding a bundle out.
Zach glanced at the blooms that were shaped like a trumpet’s horn. Costa had taken his shirt off and used it as a basket, allowing them to collect dozens of the white flowers.
“This will do,” he said. “Crush them together. The pollen will coat the petals and turn the entire mixture into manna.”
“Can I keep your shirt?” I asked Costa. I had nothing else to use as a container while I crushed the flowers. This realm might be stunning, but it lacked some basic conveniences.
“Of course,” he said. “Need help?”
I spread his shirt flat on the ground and began crushing up the flowers. “I’ve got it.”
Jasmine looked around, her expression reminding me of when we were kids and our parents took us to Disneyland. “This place...it’s so beautiful, it doesn’t even seem real.”
“Yes,” Zach agreed, with none of her awe. “That is why we took the survivors from the Bennington realm to these worlds. Their tranquility assists with the healing process.”
Costa made such a bitter-sounding noise that I looked up from my task. “I don’t remember getting any angelic rehab after my time in the demon realms,” he said in a steely tone.
“Me, neither,” Jasmine added, her expression hardening.
Zach’s arm swept out in a wide arc. “If you feel cheated and you want to stay in this one, then stay.”
I paused in crushing the flowers. “Are you serious?” Jasmine and I asked at the same time.
Zach’s stare was level, and uncompromising. “Yes. In fact, any of you can stay here as long as you wish, but remember, by doing so, you lose your chance to be a participant in this war.”
I began crushing the flowers with more force than necessary. “That’s not a real offer for me. I’m the last Davidian, so if I sat this war out by staying here, the realm walls would crumble and countless places around the world would look like the campus we just left.”
“Correct,” Zach replied in that infuriatingly calm tone.
I glared at him. “That’s no choice, and you know it.”
Zach glared back, only his eyes had lights shimmering in them. “It is a choice, and it comes down to this. You living happily here, or leaving this place to save strangers who will never even know what you did, let alone thank you for it.”
“Demetrius, is that you?” I replied mockingly. “Because Zach, Archon Who Only Follows Orders, would never try to talk me out of fulfilling my much-anticipated destiny.”
“Do you remember my telling you that Adrian’s fate was in his own hands?” Zach replied, his tone far more sharp. “So is yours. The Creator gave all humans free will, and that gift is so strong, not even destiny can overcome it.”
Everyone’s eyes were suddenly fixed on me. My heart began to race, but I tried not to show how affected I was as I crushed the last of the blooms into the sticky, crumb-like substance. Then I spread some onto Adrian’s head and stomach while my thoughts careened over this unexpected offer.
What if me, Adrian, Jasmine and Costa did ride out the fall of the realm walls in a beautiful world where demons could never harm us? As I well knew, even if I found the staff, I might not be able to wield it long enough to fix the walls. The more likely scenario was my touching it, falling over dead and having demons dance around my corpse as they used the staff to send all the realm walls crashing down.
In fact, might it be better for everyone if I stayed? Sure, some realm walls would crumble, but not all of them, and if only some fell, then the majority of people would live. After all, if I stayed here, then the staff stayed lost. Demons had already struck out for millennia trying to find it on their own and I doubted their luck would change anytime soon. If I stayed, then demons couldn’t find the staff through me, and if Adrian, Costa and Jasmine happened to stay with me, well, what was wrong with that? Weren’t they also entitled to a little happiness after everything they’d been through?
Zach stared at me, hearing every thought as if I were speaking them out loud. His expression didn’t change, but his dark, steady gaze reflected the truth of my rationalizations, and I hated what I saw in their reflection.
I didn’t want to die, and I really didn’t want the people I loved to die, either. There was nothing wrong with that, unless I was willing to trade our safeties for the lives of untold millions. If I was willing to do that, then I was as evil as the creatures I despised with every fiber
of my being.
I looked at Jasmine and Costa. My sister’s gaze was filled with silent urgings for me to take this way out. Costa’s was jaded, a little knowing, and I flashed back to our conversation several days ago, although with everything that had happened, it felt like several years ago. You need to find something else to fight for, he’d said. I hadn’t believed him then, but faced with such a momentous choice now, I knew that he was right.
I couldn’t just fight for the people I loved. I also had to fight for everyone who couldn’t fight for themselves, for everyone who didn’t know there was a war going on around them, and for all those who’d suffered and died at the hands of demons and minions, my parents included.
“I don’t understand your boss,” I finally said to Zach, “but I have to believe that my bloodline and my abilities have given me a real chance to win this war, and I hope—” My voice hitched before I finished strongly with, “I hope if those two things aren’t enough, your boss will care enough to make up the difference, but either way, I have to do this. So thanks for the offer, Zach, but no thanks.”
A moan jerked my attention back to Adrian. His eyes opened, and he sat up, that horrible gash on the back of his head healed, as was the deep slash in his stomach.
“What happened?” he muttered thickly. “What’d I miss?”
“Nothing,” I said, shooting a quelling look at Jasmine when she opened her mouth to respond. “Nothing at all.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
ADRIAN HAD A barrage of questions that I fielded while trying not to out-and-out lie. How did we get away from Demetrius? What did I mean Demetrius had pulled the realm back into itself? Why would he do that? I was endlessly grateful that Costa and Jasmine hadn’t witnessed any of this, so my explanations, although not the full truth, went unchallenged.
“Demetrius still doesn’t want you dead, so when the other demons kept trying to kill you, he pulled the realm back to stop them,” I’d said, leaving out the crucial reason why. “Plus, his shadows are mostly gone, so I don’t think he felt up to taking on me with my slingshot and Brutus with his guillotine wings.”
Answering his question of “What is this place?” was much easier. After I was done explaining about light realms, he looked around, disbelief stamped on his features.
“I didn’t know these even existed. None of the demons ever talked about them, and neither did any minions.”
I let out a shaky laugh. “Until a little over an hour ago, I didn’t know they existed, either.”
“Thanks for keeping that a secret,” Adrian said to Zach, followed at once by “And nice of you to finally show up.”
“If you are not the Ancient of Days, I am not required to run to you when you call,” Zach replied almost airily.
Adrian glowered at him before returning his attention to me. “I’m surprised you couldn’t see glimpses of these realms, especially since you can catch glimpses of demon ones.”
“Nope,” I said, the irony of that hitting me. “Guess I have enough darkness in me for hallowed weapons to hurt me, too, and for me to see the demon realms, but not enough light in me to see the Archon realms. If I didn’t have the slingshot melded into my arm, I couldn’t even cross into them, either.”
Adrian stopped pacing to grasp me by the shoulders. “Doesn’t matter. I’ll be your darkness when you need it,” he promised in a low, throaty voice.
“And I’ll be your light,” I replied at once.
His mouth crushed mine in a kiss that ended far too soon. “You already are,” he whispered when he lifted his head.
Then he let me go to pace again, and I could almost see him snapping back into battle mode. “We need to get back to the campus. I have to get that tablet from Father Louis, and we need to get Brutus.”
“Brutus is here,” I said, gesturing toward the tall bushes the gargoyle was hiding in. “But you’re right, we need to go back, especially since we have plenty of manna to help people.”
Adrian gave a cursory look at the residue still smeared on his stomach. “How much did Zach give us?”
“He didn’t. It grows on trees here,” Costa supplied.
Adrian stopped in midpace to nail Zach with a glare. “Really?” he asked with sarcastic accusation.
“My thoughts exactly,” I muttered before yelling, “Brutus!”
The gargoyle came out from the bushes, cringing and using his wings like a huge umbrella to block against the sun.
“Don’t worry, we’re going back to the darkness,” I told him as I began walking toward the gateway that led to the campus.
Adrian and Brutus followed me. Costa did, too, but when Jasmine began to fall in line, I stopped, turning around to face her. “You don’t have to go. Why don’t you rest a little here?”
She let out an exasperated noise. “I know I can’t fight like the rest of you, but if the realm tunnels are gone, then the demons are, too, so none of us should need to. Besides, I can help by treating any seriously injured people with manna.”
I hadn’t meant to insult her, so I said, “Great,” in a hurried manner and thrust Costa’s shirt at her. “Good thinking.”
She gave me a look that said she knew when she was being patronized. “I’m not stupid, Ivy. I know my limits.”
Costa sidled up and placed a casual arm around Jasmine’s shoulders. “She’s also tougher than she looks. You’re not the only person I trained when you were living at my house, Ivy.”
When had that happened? Jasmine and I had practically been joined at the hip for those two months, and I hadn’t seen Costa train her once. The only way I would have missed that was if they’d been sneaking out to do her training while I was asleep, or perhaps during one of my many trips to the grocery store...
All at once, I remembered their guilty expressions when they’d jumped up from the couch after I stormed into the bus earlier. My eyes narrowed as I looked at them. Was this the only thing they’d been hiding from me? Or was there something more?
“Great” was all I said, but I made a mental note to corner Jasmine later and find out if anything was going on with her and Costa. Not that Costa was a bad guy, but Jasmine was only eighteen, and Costa was...well, a lot, lot older.
Yes, I was being a total hypocrite by letting their age difference concern me since Adrian was over a century older than I was, but I couldn’t help it. She was my little sister. If I didn’t look out for her, who would?
I was still wondering if something more than friendship had been brewing between Jasmine and Costa when I pulled Brutus through the gateway first. But when we tumbled onto the street in front of Zilber Hall, the horrible aftermath from the realm spilling onto the campus chased everything else from my mind.
Fire trucks were lined up on several streets, spraying water onto the still-smoldering buildings. So many cop cars had their red-and-blue lights flashing that it cast a weird strobe effect over the campus. New ambulances were arriving as fast as other ones were leaving, their sirens almost indiscernible over the equally loud wails from the fire trucks and police cars. Students were either huddled together in groups, or were running around screaming out names as they searched for missing friends.
It was so awful, no one had noticed me and Brutus suddenly stumbling onto the sidewalk. Judging from the few people I made eye contact with, they were too shell-shocked to care even if they had seen us appear out of nowhere. We’d been in the light realm for at least half an hour, but on this end, it looked like it had only been minutes since Demetrius had pulled the realm tunnels back, so chaos still reigned.
“Keep an eye out for demons,” I told the gargoyle, patting him on his wings. “I’m going back for the rest of them.”
Once I had everyone back on this side, we scattered; Jasmine and Costa to treat the injured that the paramedics hadn’t gotten to yet, and me and Adrian to
find Father Louis.
We went to St. Joan’s Chapel first. The roof had a huge hole from where Brutus forced his way inside to get to me, but I was surprised to see that the chapel doors looked like they’d been blown off with dynamite.
“Blinky,” Adrian said by way of explanation, flashing me a quick, wry grin. “That demon really wanted to kill me.”
Considering that Adrian had kept him locked up for the past several years, I didn’t doubt it. “You shouldn’t have sent me away with Brutus,” I muttered. “Seriously, Adrian, don’t ever do that again.”
“I needed to slow him down to make sure you got away,” he replied without the slightest hint of remorse.
I stopped our brisk pace to grab him. “I’m not the same girl you rescued all those months ago. I can take care of myself now, especially with the hallowed weapon in my arm. Your staying behind could’ve gotten you killed, just like your diving into a crowd of demons with Brutus almost got you killed. All I had to do was run by Demetrius and get to the Archon gateway, and I would’ve been fine. Stop thinking that you need to save me, Adrian.” My voice softened. “Saving people is my job, remember?”
His expression flashed between fury and tenderness, until I wasn’t sure if he was going to kiss me or shake me. “I can’t help it,” he finally replied. “I see you in danger, and my world narrows to only one thought. Keep you safe.”
He sounded so frustrated that I took his hand, pulling it up to kiss his knuckles despite all the dirt and blood on them.
“I love that you feel that way,” I said with all sincerity, “but we both need to expand our worlds beyond concern for each other if we’re going to win this war.”
He looked like he was going to say something else, and then his mouth closed with an audible click. Instead, he brushed my face with his hand and turned around.
“Father Louis’s car is still in the parking lot, so he didn’t leave the campus,” he said, getting back to the task at hand. “I’ll try his cell.”