Curse of Shadows and Light (36 page)

“
Because it’s me… I’m the one who has to die, right? It’s me who needs to make the ultimate sacrifice. All this time… she’s the one with the powers, the strength, the courage… I’m the liability, the weak one who throws everything into chaos and puts everyone’s life in peril, right?”

“
Are you asking, or do you know?”

“
Tell me! I need to know!” I pound my fist on the damp lawn.

“
I cannot tell you your truth.”

“
DO IT!” I scream. I struggle again to stand, but I can only get to my knees. “Do the spell on me. The
real
one. The one that works. Make the demon in us disappear entirely, and make us so we are only a human girl with no powers or anything. Make Lucky disappear!”

She moves closer to me, and I can see the sparkle of her eyes. “Is that what you really and truly want?”

Weeping, I cover my face and nod.

“
Impressive. So my sister was right. She knew you’d figure out the truth and step up. I wasn’t quite as sure.”

I look up at her, my eyes drenched with tears.
Tattie. I’ll never see her again.

But that’s a small price to pay for setting her free and keeping her safe.

Anastasia beckons me with a finger.

“
Follow me.”

********

For the first time I enter Anastasia’s castle, but the magnificence of it is completely lost on me. As we walk up the stairs to the third floor, I know that each step I take is bringing me closer to my last. I’m amazed, though, at how happy I am about that. I’m not afraid. If anything, I welcome the thought of going to sleep and waking up somewhere with Bones and leaving this cursed existence behind me forever.

Anastasia pauses briefly outside a narrow door. “Are you really sure you want to do this?”

I nod. “I’ve never been more sure about anything in my life.”

She looks at me solemnly and opens the door, and when I step inside I can’t help but gasp and stare in awe. The room is obviously under a deep enchantment, and the power of its magic is abundantly clear. Candles float aimlessly beneath a clear night sky. High above us, the triple moons of Illyria hang side-by-side, casting a soft glow over the lush, mountainous landscape. I can see for miles it seems, and the scene is one that brings me great joy.

It is Dryndara. My home.

If there’s one place I’d want to be at the end of my life, other than with Tatiana or in Bones’s arms, it would be here. Fresh tears spring to my eyes as I soak up the magnificent surroundings. I know this isn’t real. But right now it’s enough.

Anastasia points to a large pentagram on the floor. “Sit there.”

I take a deep breath and oblige her, sitting cross-legged in the middle of the star. She walks around the outside of it, setting a black candle on each of the symbol’s five points. She turns to me. “Tell me exactly why you are here,” she says.

I gulp. Is it my imagination or did the room suddenly get darker? I glance up and see that the three moons above me have dimmed considerably. I take another steadying breath.

“
I want you to rid this body of its demon,” I begin. “I want you to send me, ‘Lucky’, wherever it is I’m supposed to go. Because it sure as hell isn’t here. I want you to make this body be human and give it to Liora. I want my existence, my personality, my spirit… whatever it is… to be sent where I can be with Bones forever, and we can have the life together we were destined to have.”

Anastasia nods. She turns and picks up a golden box, and retrieves from it what looks to be a diamond the size of a small grapefruit. Then she fixes her eyes on me, as the diamond begins to glow. “You must relinquish your ties between this world and that of
Demonia.
You have a link, a very powerful connection you wear as a talisman.”

“
You mean this?” I retrieve my Boumeaux from beneath my tank top and hold it up. Somehow it makes perfect sense.

Bones had placed the onyx stone around my neck when I was a young demion, and had told me how it would be the most important thing I could ever hope to possess. For not only would it grant me access to my ancestral home of Thiberoux, it would also serve as a warning against danger from our most mortal enemies, the Light-angels. Having the bloodline of
demonia angelis
gave me the ability to touch this stone and bear its great powers. Others, humans and Light-angels alike, would turn to ash.

“
You must destroy it.”

I close my eyes. This is all becoming too real. Can I actually go through with it?

But I have no choice. There is no other way. Now is the time to end it.

With a trembling hand I gently take off my necklace. I hold the stone in my palm and give it a final kiss. Then I lay it down beside me.

“
Okay, I’m ready. Do it. Hurry,” I whisper, fighting to hold back the tears.

Anastasia hands me the glowing diamond, and the room grows suddenly dark.

One by one, the candles around me ignite, as Anastasia again walks around the pentagram, chanting softly. I take several deep breaths to steady my nerves. But my blood is on fire, and I’m screaming inside. All my most passionate emotions… my anger and guilt, my jealousies, fears and resentments… all rise to the surface in this very moment.

The room begins to spin, and my heart is pounding in my ears. I can’t breathe. Suddenly I’m more afraid than I’ve ever been in my whole life. Ever. What if this is it? What if there is no ‘next’? Anastasia’s chanting becomes faster, more frenzied, and the flames on the candles burn higher.

I feel more and more terrified, as I begin to gasp for air. I’m almost ready to jump from the pentagram, when Anastasia stops circling and commands, “Now!”

With a blood curdling scream, releasing years of torment, I slam the diamond against my Boumeaux with every ounce of power I possess.

Chapter 35.

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Chapter 36.

Slowly I open my eyes. I feel like I’m awakening from a long, deep, deep slumber. It takes me a moment to realize where I am, and a few more to convince myself I’m not dreaming.

I’m on my bed, in my room, at the cabin in the woods. And there, sitting on a rocking chair in the corner, is Tatiana. The late afternoon sun streams through the window pane, catching speckles of dust as they float in the air.

But how…?

“
Hello, sweetheart.” Tatiana beams. “I’m very happy to have you back. How are you feeling?”

I sit up and shake my head, confused. Last thing I remember, I was going into some strange room in Anastasia’s house. What happened? How did I end up here?

“
Did the spell not work?” I croak. My throat is scratchy and raw, and my voice sounds funny. Different.

“
You tell me,” Tat replies.

I close my eyes and shake my head again. Everything is a blurry mess. “How long was I asleep?” I ask, looking at her again.

She gives me a cryptic smile. “A very long time.”

I glance around my room. “How did I get here?”

“
I do believe your friend is a teleporter. He and the others have been patiently waiting for you to come around.”

I blink slowly several times and stare at her. “Am I really here?” I whisper. “Or am I actually dead and dreaming?”

Tatiana rises and comes over to take a seat on the bed. She places a soft hand on my cheek.

“
You are really here, sweetheart. And I do believe you are more alive than ever.”

My heart swells, and I catch my breath. She is real. I’m not imagining it.

I spot a glass of water on the nightstand and chug it down eagerly. The liquid feels strange, but good.

“
I feel weird,” I mumble.

Then a memory flashes through my mind. I gasp and grab at my chest in panic.

Whew! Good
…
must’ve just been a bad dream.

Tatiana is looking at me intently. “What is your name?”

I chuckle. “What is my
name
? Is that a joke?”

She tilts her head. “Are you the human child we call Liora?”