Treason: Book Two of the Grimoire Saga (a Young Adult Fantasy series) (49 page)

When Kara opened her eyes, she stood on top of a circle of jet-black cliff about a hundred feet wide. Fog hugged its sides in all directions. The rock hovered in the sky like an island surrounded by clouds. A red sun burned the horizon, distorting the world around her into shades of orange and amber.

A tall man with dark red skin stood near the edge, his back to her. She couldn’t tell if the strange light tinted his body or if he was actually red. He wore only black pants. Layers of muscle seemed to push against the skin on his shoulders and back in an attempt to find space on his body.

The man cracked his neck and turned. His eyes made her stomach lurch—they were all white, with no irises to them. He watched her. For several minutes, neither spoke.

“Am I dead?” Kara finally asked.

“That is your choice.” His voice echoed in her ear long after he spoke.

“Then I want to go back. What do I have to do? Stone said—”

The man held up his hand. She stopped talking.

“You must first answer to me,” he said.

She paused. “Who are you?”

“I am Death.”

“I thought you would have less”—she paused—“skin.”

“A mortal’s imagination is often quite impressive.”

“I’m imagining you?”

“No. You are in the middle ground between your old life and the next world.”

“But I can go back, right?”

“Why would you want to return?”

“What kind of a question is that?”

“One you must consider. You may easily move to the next world, but you will not as easily return to the last. You must prove yourself. Answer me. Why should I let you go back?”

Her back straightened involuntarily at his blunt tone. When she did finally speak, her voice came out far softer than she’d intended.

“I’m not done yet,” she said.

“You aren’t done with what, exactly? Your mentor abandoned you. The Grimoire will not answer you. Those you protected betrayed you for the thinnest hope of greater power. And as an isen, you will be thought of as a monster for the rest of your life.”

“How do you know all of that?”

“I am Death. I know all.”

“That must make your job simple.”

“Focus!”

The cliff shook, as if trembling at Death’s voice. Kara lost her balance and fell to her knees. The terrifying sound of splitting rock rumbled beneath them. She braced herself with her hands, but Death didn’t move until the trembling stopped.

He continued. “You forbid yourself from loving Braeden in an attempt to protect him, which is foolish at best. But worst of all, he left you, defenseless, in a world you no longer understand when you had no one else to trust. He did not think you were capable of protecting yourself or others, and in his misguided effort to save you, he made you vulnerable to Niccoli—the one creature in all of Ourea who wanted you most. You are here with me because of Braeden’s decision. What do you have left? Who in that world will want you when they learn what you are?”

A lump formed in Kara’s throat.

Wow. Death is a jerk.

Her forbidden anger pulsed beneath the layer of calm that kept it in check. It threatened to rip free and force her to say what she couldn’t even admit to herself. She bit her cheek.

Death eyed her. “More often than you might think, it takes getting to your lowest point before you realize you need to make a change. This moment is your lowest point. The world you knew tried to break you, child, but nothing can take away a person’s will to fight. That’s something you have to give up. But you don’t have much to gain by staying. You’re not really a fighter.”

Kara arched her back, but couldn’t speak. Not a fighter?

An orb of blue light floated by, distracting Kara with its movement. It slipped past, much like the healing lights the Ayavelian seers had performed with at the Gala. It dove into the ground next to Death. Spindles of light grew from the rock. They spun and splintered until they formed the outline of a person. Details emerged: eyes, a nose, a mouth. Shadows and depth emerged from the body, creating everything from a neck to bare feet sticking out from beneath a hospital gown. Hair sprouted from the glowing light, curling over the figure’s shoulders.

Recognition set in. Kara gasped. Her throat tightened.

“Mom?” she asked.

The woman made of blue light opened her arms and curled her fingers, beckoning Kara to come closer.

Kara stepped forward, more than willing to obey, but a hand grabbed her shoulder. She looked up to see Death’s white eyes staring down at her. She shuddered. A second ago, he had been on the other side of the cliff. She hadn’t even seen him move.

“If you touch your mother, you will die and go to the next world with her,” Death said.

Kara’s voice failed her, and her words came out as a whisper. “That’s not fair.”

“No, it isn’t.”

“Can I at least talk to her?”

“No. She is dead, and you are not. Not yet, at least. If you go with her now, she will explain everything—why Niccoli wants you so badly, why she never told you the truth of what you are, why you never met your maternal grandparents. Of course, none of it would matter anymore. But if you return to your old body, you will have to live a full life and learn those things for yourself.”

Kara bit her lip. “Do you
like
what you do? This is just cruel.”

“This isn’t cruel, child. Death isn’t good or evil. It just is. Your mother is waiting for you, restless to find peace with her mistakes. You owe her that much.”

Kara brushed Death’s hand off her shoulder. “Don’t tell me what I owe her.”

“Then you tell me.”

She tightened her hand into a fist. “You want to talk about what I owe people? Fine. I owe it to Mom to bring Dad back to her. I owe it to Dad to free his soul from Deirdre. I have to help Braeden find peace with himself.”

Death shrugged. “You have all the time in the world to wait here for those things to unfold naturally. Deirdre will die in due time and release your father’s soul. Braeden is guaranteed to find peace when he dies, which will likely be soon. You can simply wait for them both. Tell Braeden how you feel when he crosses over. I can ensure you appear when I see him, if you wish. So why should you go through the pain of being Stone’s slave just to expedite your parents’ reunion or Braeden’s peace? What if you fail?”

Kara paused. Her gut twisted. “I won’t fail. And what about Twin? She and all the vagabonds she created are waiting for me to come back. I can’t just leave them.”

“Why not? They are intelligent enough to survive.”

“I’d be abandoning them like the first Vagabond abandoned me! I refuse to be remembered as a coward!”

Death didn’t react or respond to her outburst. He simply waited. Kara took deep breaths, but it wasn’t enough to slow her racing pulse. Death just got under her skin.

She paced. “Whether I like it or not, history will remember me. That’s the consequence of being the Vagabond. But I control what’s written. I won’t let Ourea remember me as the pathetic girl chained in a cell because the Bloods beat me. To hell with that! If I go down, it’ll be with a fight!”

“Why is pride so important to you?” he asked.

She paused. “It’s not pride. It’s more than that. Yes, I have eternity to wait for my loved ones. But I only have a limited time to make a difference in life. To enjoy life. I can change the world. The powerful cause so much pain simply because they have never known what it means to be weak. If they have, they’ve forgotten. I can remind them.”

“So this isn’t about peace. It’s a vendetta.”

Kara suppressed a groan. “
No.
This is my chance to show the yakona how strong they could be if they’d only unite with each other.”

“Why you? You’re hardly qualified.”

“I’m beginning to think that doesn’t matter. For whatever reason, yakona believe in the Vagabond. They believe in the Grimoire. I might be an isen now, but I was the Vagabond first. I don’t know how to lead. I have no idea why people should follow me. But I can’t run away from that anymore.”

“But you
can
run away. You can run right over to your mother and never have to think about it again.”

Kara glanced over to the woman made of blue light and swallowed hard. “I misspoke. I don’t
want
to run away. There’s so much left of my life in Ourea. For once, I want to be great. I want to do something that changes lives for the better.”

“Whose lives, exactly? Those you meant to save betrayed you.”

“So you’re saying I shouldn’t forgive them?”

Death was silent.

Kara crossed her arms. “What they did was wrong. I won’t deny that. Maybe I should hate them. Maybe I should make them figure things out on their own, but that won’t fix anything. They won’t change. They’ll keep fighting until they kill each other off.”

Death shook his head. “Nothing is left for you in your old life but a war, and I will meet most of your friends before it ends. They will not have the option to return. So tell me, what do you have to live for in a world full of loss?”

“Everything,” Kara said without thinking.

The anger within her dissolved at the word. Peace surged through her in a way magic never had; it rippled and pulsed with its own life force, strengthening everything it touched with an unimaginable power.

Kara smiled. “There are good people that make life worth living. There’s beauty. Have you ever sat beneath a waterfall and just watched the mist? I have. I sat next to Mom on a trail, and we just listened to the forest. We didn’t say anything, and it’s one of my favorite memories. She and I used to watch sunsets after hiking trails most people don’t even know about. Mom taught me that I can find peace from the world if I just walk out into it.

“Ourea is beautiful. My life there is complicated, but it’s mine. I don’t know what comes after death. I don’t want to. Whether it’s terrifying or breathtaking, I’m going to enjoy as much of this life as I can while I still have the option.”

The corner of Death’s mouth rose in the barest hint of a grin. “So you wish to return despite all the yakona have done to prove themselves unworthy of your help?”

“Yes.”

“Are you certain?”

Kara glanced over to her mother’s ghost. The woman wrapped her arms around herself, which left wrinkles in the hospital gown. They watched each other for a moment, guilt churning in Kara’s stomach. But she had to free her dad. She had to help Twin. She had to find Braeden. But most of all, she wanted to live.

“I’m sure,” she finally said.

Death eyed her, and Kara resisted the urge to squirm under his glare. He nodded. The cliff shook yet again as he moved.

Kara’s mother blew her a kiss and smiled. With a
hiss,
the blue light dissolved into the windless sky.

“Do you remember asking the Grimoire if you could bring back the dead?” Death asked.

Kara’s jaw tightened. This was a trap. She didn’t answer.

He continued. “You must know by now that you cannot do such a thing. I will come again for you someday, just as I have come for every living creature since the dawn of time. Today is not your day to die. You may return, but use your second chance at life well. Few ever have this opportunity.”

Death offered her a giant, red hand. Kara reached for it but hesitated, examining the crevices in his palm. There were folds, wrinkles, even fingerprints. Death looked so…mortal.

Kara drew her hand back. “Can I ask you a question first?”

“If you wish.”

“Deirdre and Niccoli are crazy. Evil, even. Why did you let them go back when they turned?”

“I judged only on how much they valued being alive. Goodness has nothing to do with it.”

He offered his hand again, and she took it. White light consumed everything. The cliff disappeared from beneath her. She floated, unable to see even herself in the brilliance of Death’s touch.

A sharp kick in her chest knocked the air from her lungs, and she awoke to the sound of crickets chirping. Darkness clouded her vision, even when she opened her eyes. A soft breeze rolled over her face, tickling her skin with the loose curls on her neck.

Kara took a deep breath, and it was the sweetest feeling she had ever known:

Life. 

No one spoke as Braeden stared at each of the Bloods in turn. They watched him, wary but quiet, as if no one wanted to go first and explain themselves.

Bloods, afraid to speak? The world had gone mad after all. Braeden leaned back in his chair and sighed.

“At least it wasn’t a complete loss,” Gavin finally said.

“Carden lost a good deal of his army,” Ithone agreed.

“A fifth of what he brought,” Braeden corrected.

The room went silent again.

“A fifth, and we have you back,” Gavin said with a small nod.

“Much to your disgust, I’m sure. Kara told me about all of you. Especially you,” he added with a glare toward Gavin.

The Hillsidian looked out the window.

Aislynn leaned forward, eyes wide. “You saw her? Where?”

Braeden didn’t even look over. “You are never to speak to me again, Aislynn, unless it involves diplomacy. And you are never to ask anyone of Kara.”

In his peripheral vision, the queen’s eyes narrowed. She didn’t respond.

He sighed. “You all fed me false information. You expected me to succumb. It’s obvious none of you expected me to escape the Stele with my free will intact. Are you disappointed?”

“I think the word is ‘surprised,’” Frine admitted.

“No, we did not expect to see you again,” Aislynn said evenly.

Braeden wanted to fling a chair at her. All these years, he’d thought of her as a friend. He should never have told her they’d found drenowith at all. He had exposed this side of her. This ugly, evil side of the woman his mother had sacrificed herself to save. Aislynn was unworthy of such an honor.

He glanced out the window, unable to look at her anymore.

Ithone grumbled. “I’ll say this if no one else will. You have a dark nature, child, and an evil family. You cannot judge us for fearing you will not overcome it forever.”