Burn the Night (48 page)

With my eyes closed, I reached out with my fingers toward the open sky and easily felt where the scar was, marking the entrance into the naturi cage. A faint groan escaped me as I grasped the two jagged edges and pulled them apart. A bright light blinded me for only a moment before my eyes focused on a world that looked all too similar to my own.

There were green fields edged with dark trees sparsely decorated with shining green leaves.

However, the sky above was a leaden gray instead of a deep blue. As I stepped through the opening, I also noticed that the ground was hard and unyielding, with patches of dried dirt showing through the thinning grass. The air was completely still and there were no sounds of singing birds or the scurry of wildlife. This world was dying.

Behind me, I heard the crunch of earth under heavy feet as Danaus quickly joined me, followed by the lighter step of Adio. I glanced over my shoulder to see that both men had their swords drawn and at the ready. And I felt guilty. Any naturi still trapped in this world were already sick and dying. If they ran, they faced death at the hands of Adio and Danaus, and if they stayed, they faced an even slower death of this world. Were they to escape to the real Earth, they had a chance at life again, this time under Cynnia’s enlightened rule. They had a chance to live.

“I’ve changed my mind,” I said in a low voice. “Don’t attack anyone unless you are attacked first.”

“Are you sure?” Adio inquired.

“You want to give them the chance to escape?” Danaus said.

“They are already dying here and are doomed to death if they stay, even if we most likely succeed today. Cynnia will give them a second chance.”

“As you wish,” Adio said softly, to my surprise. I hadn’t expected Our Liege to so quickly follow my direction, but then I believed that his larger focus was on his own survival and the eventual survival of our people. Now that Aurora was dead, the naturi were a smaller concern for the nightwalkers.

“Do you know where you are going?” Danaus asked as we started across the field and into the surrounding woods. Off in the distance I could see the crumbling remnants of stone and thatch houses built among the trees. I could feel a faint swirling earth energy surrounding us as we preceded, marking the presence of the naturi, but they didn’t approach us. For now they were content to watch from a distance and edge closer to the opening that I was maintaining in the back of my mind. The pull of power to keep the door open was minimal, like a slowly growing headache in my temple. Nothing more than an annoyance.

“I can feel a great source of energy ahead of us. It has to be her,” I said as I continued to trudge forward. I placed the knife I had been carrying in my right hand back in its sheath. I wouldn’t need it for the time being.

“I can feel it as well,” Adio added.

Unfortunately, a second source of great energy was hovering around what felt to be the entrance to the naturi world. Nick was starting to grow suspicious of my absence from this world and he didn’t trust me. We were running out of time. Danaus and Adio needed to have the goddess in hand by the time Nick appeared or this was all for nothing.

Grabbing the arms of Danaus and Adio on either my side, I clenched my eyes shut and caused us all to disappear and then suddenly reappear closer to the source of the energy. I couldn’t pinpoint her exact location with the first jump, but we were significantly closer. It felt as if she was in the center of the world, and yet I didn’t know how vast this world was. I would have to rely on Adio to do the same thing with Danaus—to get him out again with the goddess.

I kept a tight hold on their arms as I jumped us forward a second time, getting significantly closer to the power this time. We jogged the rest of the way to what appeared to be a large tree in the center of a barren field. Here the grass was at its greenest and a castle rose up in the distance. I was willing to bet that Aurora had set up her home as close as she could to the source of the power for her new realm, in hopes that it would strengthen her own powers, regardless of what kind of drain it proved to be on the goddess.

As we drew closer to the tree, we discovered that it wasn’t a tree at all, but large, thick vines that had grown up from the ground, wrapping around something. The power I had sensed at the doorway was now starting to slowly grow closer to our position. We were running out of time. Stepping back, I raised my hands above my head and let my eyelids drop shut. I dug deep into the energy I sensed from the earth, which was leaking through the doorway, and used it to touch the vines. They proved to be more than a little resistant at first, but after some loud creaking and snapping, the vines started to part and recede back into the ground to reveal a crystal chamber hovering just a few inches above the ground.

Encased in the diamondlike structure was a woman with thick brown hair and dark skin. She appeared thin and frail, with her head leaning against the side of the crystal as if she were trapped in a deep sleep. I stared at her a moment, her appearance reminding me too much of the dark-haired Inca women who had been sacrificed for the amusement of the naturi so many centuries ago at the ruins of Machu Picchu. But she wasn’t an Inca woman. She was
the
goddess; the creator goddess of all things great and small. And she was dying.

“Give me your sword,” I commanded, holding out my right hand, not caring who gave up their weapon. As soon as I felt the heavy weight against my palm, I wrapped my fingers around it and raised it above my head as I stepped forward. I was prepared to pound against the crystal until the end of the world wrapped around us, but to my surprise, a chunk of the crystal broke off with the first hit. In her weakness, her own cage had become fragile. Her last bit of protection had been the vines. A second blow to the crystal created an opening large enough for her limp body to slide through. Danaus immediately stepped forward and caught her before she could hit the ground.

I slid the sword he had handed me back into the sheath strapped to his back. When I looked at his face, I saw a tear roll down his cheek as he stared down at the woman cradled gently like a child in his strong arms. She was exquisitely beautiful and immensely frail. Her chest barely rose and fell with each breath, and I could barely make out her heartbeat.

“Adio, can you get Danaus to the doorway the same way I got us here?” I asked, slowly dragging my gaze from my lover’s heartbroken expression.

“Yes, it shouldn’t be a problem,” the nightwalker said, taking a step closer to Danaus so he could lay a hand on his shoulder.

“Danaus, get her to the clearing with the tree and lay her flat on the ground,” I said. “The connection with earth should help rejuvenate her.” He merely nodded, unable to break his gaze from the woman’s face. “You are to stay at her side no matter what. Protect her with your life. Promise me.”

“I promise,” he whispered.

A dark, ominous voice rumbled across the plains. “Mira!” Nick was nearly upon us.

The sound of Nick’s voice was enough to suddenly snap Danaus out of his trancelike state. He looked up at me with narrowed eyes as he realized what kind of corner I had backed him into. He had promised to watch over the goddess and so would not be able to help me in my fight against Nick. He was trapped.

“Go now!” I screamed, backing away from my two companions. Danaus gripped me with one last desperate look, and then he and Adio were gone from my sight. I could feel Nick approaching with lightning speed, but I turned my back and approached the crystal chamber that had held the dying goddess.

“Stop!” Nick commanded as soon as I laid my left hand on the edge of the opening to the crystal. “What lunacy do you have cooked up now, my little daughter?” There was a desperation to his voice I had never heard before, causing his usual calm to splinter. I glanced over my shoulder to find him standing just a few feet away. He was back to the appearance I had briefly seen upon our first meeting, with his wild red hair and lavender eyes. It was as close to human that this god of chaos could come, and it only succeeded in solidifying my link to this creature in my mind.

“The goddess that inhabited this world is dying because of her lack of contact with the earth and her mate. If this world falls, then so will the cage that hold the bori,” I argued. “The world has been shaken enough by the presence of the naturi. They cannot survive the arrival of the bori as well.” The bori were the natural enemy of the naturi. Creatures that drew their powers from the souls of living creatures, they had no bodies of their own, but succeeded in tricking humans into becoming hosts for them. They shapeshifted into various creatures, tempting the weak and the vulnerable with promises and desperate pleas. Where the naturi wanted to destroy mankind and save the world, the bori were determined to enslave mankind and destroy the Earth.

“What could you possibly hope to accomplish by entering this world and taking out the goddess?” Nick demanded, smoothing out his voice in an attempt to sound reasonable.

“She was dying. Someone needs to replace her,” I said, grasping the other side of the crystal case before placing my foot on one of the vines closest to the entrance.

“Mira, my dear, you’re not a goddess. You can’t replace her. You’re simply not strong enough.”

“I can try.”

“I don’t think so,” Nick hissed. A heavy blast of energy slammed into my chest, ripping the crystal out of my grasp as I was thrown several yards across the field. I hit the ground with my back and rolled several feet before finally hitting the side of a tree. Gritting my teeth, I pushed off the tree and regained my feet so I was once again facing my father. He immediately wrapped his energy around me again, and I had a feeling he intended to drag us both out of the naturi world, but I wouldn’t allow it.

Summoning up my own powers, which he had taught me to use, I pushed off his grasp, shoving the energy back at him with enough force that he stumbled a step backward.

“I’m not allowing this place to falter any further,” I bit out as I wrapped more energy around my hands.

“The naturi and the bori are no longer your concern. Your only thought should be pleasing me,” Nick said with an evil grin.

“You’ve been accommodated enough, I believe.” With the energy spiraling around me, I commanded one of the vines to wrap around Nick, but the bastard suddenly disappeared from sight. I shifted my focus to grab him back, but he reappeared before I could grasp him. His fist slammed into my jaw, snapping my head around as I slammed into the ground again. His punishment didn’t stop there. He kicked me several times in the ribs, breaking more than one before he reached down to wrap his fist in a length of my hair.

“You’re coming home, child,” he snarled, his foul breath dancing under my nose.

“I think the lady prefers to stay,” announced an unexpected voice seconds before Nick was pulled away from me. I twisted around to see the god of chaos hurtling through the air until he slammed into the side of the vines still wrapped around the crystal chamber. Adio knelt beside me, gingerly helping me back to my feet.

“You shouldn’t be here,” I grumbled as I pulled my arm free of his assistance.

“I can help.”

“Where’s Danaus?”

“Where he promised to be.”

A weak smile lifted one corner of my lips. “I can’t keep the door open much longer. I have to focus on Nick.”

“We understand. Danaus told me to tell you that ‘he will be your Rowe,’ whatever that means.” Tears welled up in my eyes as I quickly looked away from Our Liege and turned my attention back to my father. I knew what it meant. Danaus intended to spend the rest of his life fighting to find a way to open the doors to the naturi world again to set me free, just as Rowe had in an effort to free his queen, Aurora. I could ask for no greater gift.

“Son of the dawn?” Nick said as he stood, brushing himself off. “I don’t know what you think you’re doing here, but this is a family affair.”

“As head of the nightwalkers, this is now a nightwalker affair. If Mira wishes to enter the chamber and hold this world together, there is nothing I can do but help her,” Adio said in an easygoing manner that was more than a little frightening to hear. For a moment I was convinced that Adio would have been content to have either or both of us trapped in this world, he only lacked the ability to close the doors again.

To prove his point, Adio waved one of his hands toward me and I floated off my feet toward the crystal chamber. My stomach twisted into a knot as I approached the tiny prison, but I didn’t hesitate to grab the sides and try to pull myself in. At the same moment, Nick screamed in frustration and used his own powers to pull me away, once again slamming me to the ground. However, this time Adio was there to soften the blow.

Rolling to my feet, I grabbed as much energy as my body would hold and threw it at Nick. I could only guess that Adio felt what I was doing because he mimicked my move, succeeding in shoving the god back until he was pinned against the vines. With my left hand, I tore a limb off a nearby tree and bashed Nick in the face with it, hoping to disorient him.

The god crumpled to his knees, shaking his bleeding head. I seized the opportunity and ran for the crystal chamber once again. “Get ready to close it!” I screamed at Adio.

Getting my hands on the edges of the chamber, I pulled myself in and was immediately encased in the feeling of something draining away my energy like a great suction pump. My eyelids flickered for a moment as I tried to focus over the disorienting feeling. Nick bellowed and lunged at me, his foot stepping onto the edge of the chamber at the same time his hand grabbed my arm to pull me out.

Clenching my teeth against my growing lethargy, I grabbed both of Nick’s arms and pulled him into the chamber while I slid around to the opening. He screamed, but the sound was cut off as I released one of his arms long enough to smash my fist into his nose. Nick released me to cover his broken nose, allowing me the chance to fall out of the opening. My legs scraped against large chunks of crystal as they rushed back into place to cover the opening. If I had hesitated a second longer, Adio would have closed us both in the chamber together.