Iniquity (The Premonition Series Book 5) (31 page)

“You could choose me, Evie. You can choose me as your love,” he says desperately, looking up at the ceiling as if something is there.

“I do choose you, Reed. I will always choose you as my love.” The most beautiful smile I have ever seen passes over his lips.

Reed’s body begins to flicker as if he’s a piece of film on a screen that isn’t threaded properly. His smile fades. “Say it again, Evie.”

I take a step closer, saying to him, “I choose you, Reed. You are my love.”

Reed’s body flashes with light, fading more and more each time. “No!” Reed cries. He becomes flat—two-dimensional. His features fade so that he is no more than a silhouette filled with stars that transforms to just a shadow, fading until he’s gone in a pinpoint of light.

“Reed!” I sob. I don’t move for a moment. I can’t move. Something shines on the floor beside me. I go to it. Crouching down, I pick up Reed’s ring and ball it in my fist. The faerie souls come to stand before me, waiting for me to give them an order. They’re all awake now, having freed one another from the curse that was on them. When I still don’t move, Other Finn approaches me. He crouches down to my eye level and touches my wing reverently. I glance at him. He extends my battle hammer to me. “Dis belongs ta me queen.” He speaks in Faerie to the weapon, it become small once more. He reaches out and puts it on my back. It clings there, singing its melody, trying in its own way to cheer me. I look down at the floor again, lost in sorrow—
tristitiae
.

Other Brennus comes to stand in front of me. He crouches down so that we’re face to face. His hand lifts to my cheek; he runs the back of his fingers over it, wiping away my tears. “Ye’re me queen. Tell me whah ye need and I will do it for ye.”

I lift my eyes to his. “I want to go home,” I whisper.

“Show me da way,” he replies.

I touch the boatswain around my neck. Putting it to my lips, I play the tones that I used the first time I touched it. In front of us, a doorway to Earth opens up. Other Brennus picks me up off my feet, holding me in his arms as he straightens to full height. Dazzling sunlight shines in on us. The faerie souls shield their eyes from it, unaccustomed to the glare. Other Brennus doesn’t flinch, he faces it as if it was an answer to a prayer and carries me into the daylight on the other side.

O
ther Brennus strides
out of Sheol with me in his arms. Crossing the threshold into my world, he becomes a ghostly soul without substance. No longer able to hold me up, I drop through his arms, landing on the frozen ground that once had snow, but now is charred with only a few grassy areas to cover the mud. Brennus’ soul spirits away from me, as if he’s an overfilled balloon that’s untied and let go. He disappears through a crowd of monsters still fighting on the battlefield where I’d left them. I watch him go, a shiny light in the growing darkness. The ground beneath me shakes from a tremendous explosion. My ears ring at the noise it makes. Dirt rains on me. Screams of anger and anguish fill the air as pieces of angels fall from the sky.

Finn’s soul enters Earth’s realm, crossing the threshold from Sheol. The same thing happens to him. He loses his Sheol body and his ghost snaps away into the crowd. I rise from the ground, numb and disoriented. I walk without thought of destination. “I’m wi’ ye, aingeal,” a voice says next to me. I glance beside me, but don’t stop walking. It’s Declan, but not the Declan I know. He’s not Gancanagh; he’s Faerie. He pats my wing, his eyes surveying the buzzing swarm of killers surrounding us. “Dey’ve given me a second chance—a new body—’tis like me old one—da one I had before Aodh…” he doesn’t finish.

“Who has given you a second chance?” I ask.

“Heaven,” Declan replies, “and ye. I will na fail ye, me queen.”

Declan snatches up a discarded sword next to a dead angel. A troll runs toward me with his arms raised above his head. The blade of his hatchet is poised to cleave me in two. I stare at the bald creature, numb, wondering what it will feel like to be cut down by him. Declan raises his sword to block the hatchet, but the troll bursts into flames from an elf dart thrown at him by Eion. Faolan and Lachlan run on ahead of me, blocking clashing demons from getting too close.

“I hate trolls,” Eion grumbles beside me, while scanning the sky to make sure nothing is targeting me from above, “dey smell like arse.”

My sense of déjà vu is not helping with my sense of unreality. I keep walking, but everything is a violent blur. Ogres clash with angels and Werree pick through the abandoned flesh of corpses. More faeries join us, spreading out around me: Goban, Alastar, Cavan, Eibhear, Torin, Lonan, and Ninian. I stumble when Keegan moves beside me. He has a dagger. The blade reflects the color of his red hair right before he plunges it into the skull of the fallen angel who tries to reach me in the center of their circle.

“Keegan,” his name falls from my lips. He was the first being I ever killed. I slaughtered his Gancanagh counterpart in the copper mines in Houghton when I had to fight him. Keegan yanks his dagger from the angel’s forehead as the Power crashes to the ground. He glances at me, concern in his eyes. “Me queen, are ye well? Do ye need me ta carry ye?” My world spins. I’m dizzy. My hand rests on his shoulder. His arm goes around my back, supporting me.

“You’re alive,” I breathe. I touch his face as tears well up and spill down my cheeks. “I didn’t want to kill you. I didn’t…”

“Ye did na kill me. Aodh did. Ye saved me from Sheol.” I nod my head stroking his face. I can hardly breathe. “We have ta go. We have ta get ye ta safety.”

I nod again, too overwhelmed to be able to speak. A series of explosions rock the ground. Keegan and I are both knocked sideways. My fingers trip over the silky softness of my feathers. The acrid smell of smoke is all around me as my head lies against the grassy ground. Above me, angels are flying, moving chaotically.

Fire rains across the dusky skyline, turning what is left of the blue filament to red and orange as giant rockets burst and riot. The explosions make the ground tremble. There is a pain in my belly; fear twists it. A shrill roar causes all the hairs on my body to stand up at once. I’ve never heard its like and I dread seeing what is capable of making such a sound.

As I sit up, my head throbs painfully. Using my trembling hands, I rest my head in them, hoping that the world will stop spinning. From the corner of my eye, I see an armored-clad Power angel flying low to the ground near me. His forward trajectory switches in the sky as a hulking Seraph broadsides him. They rapidly lose altitude, plummeting towards me.

When the warring angels tumble to the ground only a few feet away, my hands go up to cover my head and I brace myself for their impact. Rather than being crushed by them, I’m scooped up and thrown over someone’s shoulder. My cheek rests against his strong, blood-colored wing. Yelling in Angel echoes in the air as carnage from the war waging around me litters the ground.

From my position, I see my faeries rise from the ground as well. They chase after us, hacking at attacking beasts that try to stop them from getting to me. There’s a small clearing where divine angels stand guard. We land there and the Seraph puts me on my feet. I straighten, noticing the red armor of my father’s army. I’m disappointed to see gray eyes instead of brown and auburn hair instead of tawny. Tau waits for me to speak, scanning me with critical eyes. I glance down at myself. My black armor is covered with mud and blood. My hair is caked with dirt and tangled in knots. I must look like hell.

“Do you have the boatswain?” Tau asks in a voice one would use when speaking to a frightened child.

“Yes,” I answer blankly.

“Can you do something for us?” he asks. The feathers of his red wings are stirred by the wind

“Who’s us?”

“All the divine angels fighting on this battlefield right now.”

“What do you want me to do?”

“Will you close the gateway to Sheol? The Fallen are retreating into it. We’d like to cut off their escape.” I look away from him. He’s right, the path to Sheol is still open and monsters are fleeing into it. Tugging the boatswain from beneath my armor, I put it to my lips, piping out the key that will lock it down. Tau moves a short distance away to get a better view. The fabric of our world knits together, closing off the way in to Sheol.

I stare at Tau. His hands are braced behind his back as he watches the carnage from this clearing on a hill. He looks like a general surveying his troops. For him, this might be what it’s all about, what it has always been about—finding ways to draw Fallen out of Sheol—setting dangerous traps by using enticing bait to lure them. Maybe all this ever was about is the war of Heaven and Sheol.

Or maybe it isn’t. “I found Xavier.”

Tau stops breathing for a moment, but he doesn’t turn to look at me. “Is he dead?”

“No. He ascended. You will see him again when you return.”

“What happened?”

I can’t even begin to explain it to him. I don’t think I’ll be able to ever speak of it. “He’ll tell you.”

“And Reed?” Tau asks. His name, said aloud, is a knife wound in my heart.

“He ascended, too.”

“Then your contract with Heaven and Sheol is fulfilled?” When Tau sees the look of confusion on my face, he adds, “Xavier told me the deal you made.”

“Byzantyne ceases to be…Emil has been annihilated—body and soul.”

“You are extraordinary, Evie,” Tau says, his eyes shining with pride.

“No. I’m just done,” I reply in a thready voice, “with all of it.”

“There is no done. Not while we’re at war with Sheol.”

I don’t argue with him. There’s no point. He has his views on my life and I have mine. Only time will tell who is right. Instead, I move away from him toward the line of angels who are protecting us from the fray. Tau calls after me, “You haven’t asked me about your friends.” I halt and am unable to move forward even though I need to leave.
I won’t survive it if one of them was killed.
I glance over my shoulder at him, my eyebrow rising.

“They ascended.”

My knees become weak. My first reaction is relief, but I need to clarify, “All of them?”

“All of them.”

“Buns and Brownie?”

“Yes. The Reapers were taken by Heaven right after you left for Sheol, and from what I understand, they were not happy about it.”

“Zephyr?”

“The Power stayed for some of the battle, but he was pulled home when he was injured—” Tau holds up his hands when he sees my eyebrows take the shape of concern, “—nothing that cannot be mended. He went with Preben, who is also your friend, yes?”

I nod. “And Russell?” I whisper his name.

“He wanted to stay—he wanted to wait for you. He said he knew you’d be back and he was going to wait by where the door had been until you got back, but Anya was injured and when she ascended, he went with her.”

“Did he say anything else?” I ask.

“There wasn’t time.”

“Of course,” I murmur absently. I look away from him. There’s an argument brewing just down the hill between divine angels and my faeries who have collected there. They’re demanding the return of their queen.

“You have a job to do,” Tau says. “It’s why you didn’t ascend.”

“A job?” I don’t really care what
they
want me to do.

“You saved the faeries. You can save more.”

“How can I do that?”

“You can do that by helping Brennus.”

“I’m not following you.”

“He has a mission. He has created thousands of Gancanagh throughout the years. He now has a chance to save them—to give them a second chance. He’ll need your help to do it.”

“Why do you think I can help?”

“You could be a team. You and he could use the boatswain to find faerie souls in Sheol, rescue them, and reunite them with their Gancanagh counterparts on Earth.”

“What if they’re evil?” I ask.

“You would watch them, if they continue to disappoint once they return from Sheol, you would send their souls back.”

“Revoke their green cards?”

“You could start with Molly,” Tau says offhandedly.

An excruciating ache squeezes my heart at the thought of my childhood friend. “You know what Brennus says about Heaven?” I ask.

“No, what does he say?”

“He says Heaven knows all your secrets. They know exactly the right buttons to push to get us to do what they want.”

“I’ve been told that he possesses an uncanny sense of intuition. So you’ll do it—for Molly?”

“I’ll do it.” My voice is a whisper on the wind.

“Mo chroí,” Brennus calls from behind me. The sharp points of his white wings meet my gaze as I turn to find him moving toward me from down the hill. His black hair falls onto his brow, over skin that’s flawless—a normal hue, turning rosy from the crisp air. The black armor he wears is streaked with mud and blood. He’s no longer Gancanagh; his soul has merged with his body and he’s Faerie once more.

I’ve never felt so lost. I stumble toward him. Falling into the shelter of his arms, I hide my face against his chest, trying to blot out the violence around me. His heartbeat is fast and strong, and wrapped in the sound of it, I feel safer. “Help me, please,” I manage to say. Holding onto him with weak fingers, my knees buckle beneath me.

He picks me up. “I will, mo chroí. I’ll protect ye wi’ me life.” He turns us away from Tau and takes me down the hill to the faeries waiting for us.

Finn is at our side. His soul has merged with his Gancanagh body. He’s no longer undead; he has become a faerie once more. His white wings spread wide when he looks upon me. “Ye did it, Genevieve. Ye saved us.” The respect in his look just about breaks me. He goes down on his knee, bowing his head. All of the faeries except Brennus who holds me follow his action, getting on their knees. “We pledge our lives ta ye, me queen, for now and forever.”

When he rises, I can hardly see him through my tears. Brennus notices my distress. “I’ll take ye home now, if I may?” he asks.

I nod my head, unable to speak. Brennus gives a perfunctory nod, looking beyond me to Finn. “I’ll meet ye dere, brother.” Finn steps back from us. Brennus whispers a spell. A soft glow emits from us. The battered skyline with its smoke-filled night fades from view, gradually replaced by an elegant bedroom. It’s just the two of us. I hear movement in other parts of the building—the faeries are arriving home, but we’re alone on this floor.

He sets me on my feet. “Finn worked on yer room for ye. If ye do na like it, we can change it.”

The room is bright and timeless with a lovely bed all in white and two soft chairs that face a fireplace. Brennus waves his hand and the pile of logs in it catches fire. There’s a row of windows that show the fading light. Snow piles in waves on the windowsills. A full-length mirror nestles in the corner of the room. Brennus goes to a beautiful armoire. Finding a set of cotton pajamas, the kind I like, he brings it to the bed and lays it on the gorgeous coverlet.

“Do you know what they want us to do?” I ask.

He nods. “Atwater found me, jus after I transitioned back ta Faerie. He explained da path of redemption ta me.”

“Are you going to do it?”

“’Tis a chance for me ta right all dat I’ve done wrong, Genevieve. I’ll take it and be grateful. Will ye join me in it?” he asks.

“I will,” I murmur. “Do you…do you remember me?”

“I tink I remember everyting—whah happened while I was Gancanagh and whah happened ta me soul while I was in Sheol.”