“How can I ever repay you?”
Caroline asked, her voice barely recognizable it was so thick with emotion.
Ari shook her head, taking a step
back. “I’m not in your debt,” she assured her, her heart aching at the sheer relief and joy in Caroline’s eyes. It suddenly occurred to Ari that Michael and Caroline were in a situation no other bereaved parent had ever been in. Unlike Charlie and Mrs. Creagh, who’d lost a son and a brother but would never realize the gift they’d been given, Fallon’s parents did. Ari imagined it had changed everything for them.
It also occurred to her that Fallon
would probably be cursed with overprotective parents for the rest of her life.
A movement out of the corner of her
eye drew her gaze, and Ari’s breath caught. Standing in the doorway was Fallon Roe.
And yet it wasn’t.
Fallon Roe had big, dark eyes that
sparked with the fire of life.
This Fallon Roe’s eyes were
haunted. “Charlie’s gone?” she asked softly, her words cracking a little.
Crap. Ari’s shoulders slumped.
“Maybe we can talk somewhere alone?”
Fallon nodded. Giving her mom and
dad a small smile of reassurance, she turned and led Ari out of the study. Ari quickly followed her to the back of the house to the library/pool room. As soon as they were inside, Fallon turned. The sight of the flashing fire in her dark eyes was a relief.
“What the f**k did you to do to me
and Charlie?” she snapped.
Or maybe not so much a relief. Ari
held up her hands defensively. “Your mother and father explained already, right?”
“Yeah.” She crossed her arms
stubbornly. “But I want to hear it from you, Prophecy Girl.”
Determinedly, Ari kept the twitch
from her lips. She was delighted to see Fallon acting like Fallon and not that weird little whipped girl she’d been acting like two seconds ago, but laughing at this point in time would probably piss Fallon off. “Okay. Here’s the deal.
You know the Labartu killed you?”
Fallon gave her a “well, duh” look.
Ari tilted her head in curiosity.
“Do you remember anything after that? Did you go somewhere?”
“Seriously? You want to question me
about the afterlife before you explain yourself?”
“A little bit, yeah.”
Fallon sighed heavily and shrugged,
her arms falling at her sides. “I don’t know. All I know is, one minute that bitch Jinn was there and the next, everything was dark. But not … not like you imagine dark. It was just … peaceful. There was nothing to worry about, to think about. I existed in this warmth. I imagine it’s a bit like being in the womb again,” she snorted. “That sounds creepy. It wasn’t creepy. It was beautiful.” Her eyes dimmed. “But there was no sense of time. One minute it was dark and cozy, and the next I’m in my bedroom screaming the house down. All these images kept colliding and fighting in my memory. It was … well, I’ll admit I was really scared. It’s taken me a couple of days to sort them into the right order. To sort them into what’s real for me and what’s real for this new reality or whatever.”
Ari took a step toward her,
eyebrows knitted together. “I never wanted to cause you pain or confusion. I just wanted to fix things. After what happened to you, Charlie went nuts. He had in his possession Mount Qaf emerald and it was making him darker and darker. He killed the Labartu and then disappeared off our radar for a couple of months.
Your dad, the Guild—our Guild—was given the task of hunting him. I was given the task of hunting him.”
Fallon’s eyes softened. “But you
couldn’t.”
“Would you have been able to? Even
after …”
“Even after having my neck broken
by the bitch he was obsessively hunting?” Fallon asked, her eyebrows rising at the suggestion. “I walked into that, Ari. Charlie didn’t want me there. He tried to protect me. But I love him. I thought …” She shook her head, laughing bitterly. “I thought he needed me to protect him.”
Feeling tears sting her nose, Ari
pushed the emotion back, knowing Fallon didn’t need that kind of sympathy right now. “He did need you. Your death really broke him up.” Ari silenced to let her meaning sink in. She saw gratitude shine in the Hunter’s eyes, so she took a second before destroying the moment. “Charlie decided to blackmail me. He wanted me to keep the Guild off his back, so he hooked up with Pazuzu and a Ghulah I’d used the Seal against. He said he was going to lead them to me if I didn’t help him. So we used it against him. We killed the Ghulah but Pazuzu escaped. We got Charlie, though.” Ari tried to control her emotions as she remembered those horrible weeks and their heartbreaking conclusion. “I dried him out.”
Fallon took a step toward her. “Did
it work?”
“Yes. But I was too late. He’d
broken down about everything—about us, about you, and then your dad and the Guild came for him.” Fallon’s eyes narrowed at that piece of information and Ari held up a beseeching hand. “Fallon, your dad was doing his job. He was trying to protect the only family he had left. You have no idea what your death did to him and Caroline.”
And just like that, the anger
melted from her expression. “I can imagine,” she whispered and then heaved another sigh. “So what happened?”
Ari shrugged. “I couldn’t let
Charlie die. You know that. So … I called in my favor with Azazil. As long as things existed as they did, the Guild wasn’t safe. Jai and Trey weren’t safe.
None of us were … not from Pazuzu. Charlie was going to die, which meant that in total, I’d inadvertently killed my adoptive father, my best friend, my best friend’s girlfriend, and his little brother. So I changed it.”
Fallon nodded. “You had Azazil make
it so you were never involved in your dad’s life. But … I don’t get how that means you’re standing here. With Jai and everything still the same for you.”
“I asked Azazil to keep my reality
the same. In effect, I don’t have another past. It was an incredibly complex thing I asked him to do, and it literally drained him.”
“It also means that Charlie doesn’t
know who you are.” Fallon’s eyes dropped to the floor. “He doesn’t know me anymore.”
“I’m so sorry. It was the only way
I could think to save you all. And you should see him. He’s himself again and Mikey’s alive and it’s … wonderful.”
Fallon’s head jerked up. “You’ve
seen him?”
Trepidation froze Ari in place. She
answered carefully. “I hid in the Cloak.” She shook her head slowly.
“Fallon, you can’t see Charlie ever again. I did what I did to keep him out of this life.”
Her dark eyes dimmed. “It doesn’t
matter to you that I was in love with him?”
“If you love him, you’ll let him
go.”
“Maybe some of us can’t be as noble
as you.”
“It’s not about being noble. It’s
about doing what’s right for the person you love.”
“So if it was Jai you had to let go
of … would you?”
The question halted Ari, the mere
thought causing a pain deep in her chest. Finally, she replied, “If I had to let Jai go to save him … then yes.”
The tears slipped down Fallon’s
cheeks, and she wiped them hurriedly away. “I’m not trying to be ungrateful,”
she told her hoarsely. “I think what you did was amazing. It’s just … I was in that motel room with him only a few days ago, and now you’re telling me I’ll never see him again.”
Choking up, Ari nodded briskly. “I
get it,” she whispered back.
Their eyes met and for the first
time since Ari had known her, Fallon strode toward her and wrapped her arms around her tight. “You’re the only one who does.”
Ari rubbed her friend’s back
soothingly, letting her friend cry for the boy she’d loved and lost.
The sound of the double doors
crashing open broke them apart. As Fallon quickly cast an enchantment to hide her red eyes, Ari spun around to find Jai and Trey in the doorway, their expressions grim. “Oh, God.” Her heart beat hard in her chest. “What? What now?”
Jai gestured to her to follow him.
“You need to see this.”
Exchanging a quick, concerned
glance with Fallon, Ari hurried after her roommates as they guided her and Fallon into one of the family rooms. Upon entering, Ari found Caroline and Michael watching TV, Red and Glass by their sides.
“What …?” Her gaze moved from them
to the news channel and the devastating images flashing across the screen.
“The 7.9-magnitude quake hit
central Ethiopia in its capital city of Addis Ababa at six thirty eastern time this morning, causing devastating destruction in the densely populated city. Currently, the estimated death toll sits at over 100,000 people and growing—”
“What’s going on?” Ari drew
everyone’s attention from the news report, the blood whooshing in her ears as her fears began to whisper the answer.
Her uncle Red took a step toward her,
his expression severe but thankfully not accusatory. “The White King used Azazil’s current physical weakness to storm the palace, steal the Seal of Solomon from Asmodeus, and command Father to tell him where Lilif’s body is.”
The news hit Ari in the gut. She shook her head frantically but Red continued, “Azazil had hidden her in a secret underground chamber built under the Menelik Mausoleum in Addis Ababa.”
Ari’s eyes turned to the television
screen where tear-streaked children clung to sobbing parents. “The earthquake?”
“The result of Azazil’s will
breaking under White’s command. Remember I told you Azazil was like a bridge between my brothers, my brothers and I the roads that connect the pathways in the mortal realm and all the others? This bend in his will broke a thread. It caused a crack in your world.”
“Oh, God.” She felt sick as she
gripped the back of the couch. “What the hell have I done?”
She stood before him, waves of great power pulsing from her as it did from her twin, Asmodeus. It was a power almost as great as Azazil’s.
This moment should’ve been the most
glorious of White’s life, gazing upon his beautiful mother as she promised to right all the wrongs of the Jinn world. Instead, he felt only complete and utter despair. This was not the Lilif he remembered. The Lilif he remembered had been a soft-spoken, quietly commanding, ethereal beauty with a wealth of wisdom and experience in her eyes.
This … this Lilif was just as the
paintings had depicted her. Paintings White had declared slanderous in their wrongful portrayal of her as a selfish seductress.
This Lilif … this Lilif was exactly
as his brothers, even Ari, had described. Silken fabric wrapped around her youthful body showing far more skin than White could ever remember. Her dark curls fell down her back in a riot of black magic; rubies glittered from her ears and throat. From her deep red lips fell words of insanity, of destruction, and of The After. Red had attempted to tell him this was Lilif’s plan. To bring forth the legendary After—it was what would happen if balance was destroyed completely. The realms would collide and cause desolation to all. In its place would exist The After, and only those powerful enough would survive. They would find themselves alone in a brave new world.