Darkness hurled her across the room — her body collided with the wall, denting it with an imprint of her body. The deafening silence that followed was broken by the creaking of the walls as if they were recoiling in horror from the violent impact.

“What do we do now?” Nightmare asked, combing his fingers through his hair.

Ruin groaned as she tried to peel herself off the ground. “We… must… stop… him….”

“Shut up!” Nightmare and Storm yelled simultaneously.

“We banish her to The Underworld and then stop the war,” Darkness said, his eyes glued to Ruin as she attempted to get to her knees. He slowly stomped over to her, twisting her hair around his hand, and lowered himself to look directly into her eyes. “You are done.”

At first, a defiant sense of anger etched across her face, but when Darkness tightened his grip, a wave of despair rippled through her body. Her shoulder dropped as she burst into inconsolable sobbing.

“I can’t go there!” she wailed. “You all know what they’ll do to me.”

Darkness laughed. “At least I will not have to be the one to do it.”

“You don’t understand,” Ruin said, twisting her neck to look up at him. “It’s not my fault.”

“You let the gremlin in, and now The Oracle is dead. You are lucky we aren’t all dead,” Darkness roared.

“They said if I didn’t help, I would die,” Ruin said between gasps.

Nightmare clicked his tongue. “Damned if you do and damned if you don’t, huh?”

“You should have come to us,” Honor said, keeping his eyes down toward the floor.

“Give me another chance,” Ruin begged. “I’ll do anything.”

“Silence!” Darkness bellowed. “There are no second chances. Your actions led to a death. You violated the terms of living peacefully in the Between. There are no exceptions.”

Darkness forcefully dragged her toward the front door, keeping his eyes focused ahead. He was done. There was no more discussion on the matter. He knew — and somehow I knew — what needed to be done.

Ruin waged a desperate battle for her freedom as he yanked her along. She clawed at furniture as she slid across the living room floor. Her body contorted to grip the door frame, and as he pulled her outside, her limbs unleashed ferocious kicks and savage punches, attempting to break free. But it was a waste of energy because Darkness was at full strength. She wasn’t getting away with her crime.

Storm charged ahead and opened the shed door. “I hope you rot for killing that kind man who never did a damn thing to you or anyone in this realm.”

“He wasn’t supposed to die!” Ruin croaked.

“You would have preferred The Oracle, then?” Storm asked, her eyes filled with dark anger.

“Well… I… stop… please!” Ruin begged.

Her desperate ramblings were brushed aside. There wasn’t anything she could say that would clear her name from her heinous betrayal of the entire Between realm. The magnitude of her actions was an unforgivable scar that would haunt her no matter where she was.

Darkness picked her up, his grip devoid of all compassion, as he tossed her into the shed like an overstuffed trash bag. With a grunt, Storm slammed the door shut, brushing her hands off with the finality of the situation.

“Now, what are we going to do to stop this war?” she asked with a huff.

“We’ll figure it out when we get there,” Darkness said, walking back toward the house.

Back inside, Honor was sitting on the couch, guarding the open chest of artifacts. His knee bounced as he watched me approach.

“It’s time,” he said somberly as he folded his hands together.

My brows knitted together with my frown. “We tried that. Nothing happened.”

“Do we even know where to go?” Storm asked, pressing her lips together.

“Earth,” Darkness replied.

Their collective gazes bore into me as if I had selected the battleground — the weight of the silent judgment pressed upon me, increasing the tension in the room. I could feel their expectation of me resting on my shoulders.

“I don’t think I can do this,” I said, covering my face.

“Remy,” Darkness said, his voice rumbling from deep within. “We need you.”

I swallowed hard. “Yeah, I get that, but I’ve been trying to tell you that I don’t know what to do.”

“We will all figure it out,” Darkness said, glancing toward the door. His eyes narrowed at the sound of a distance rumbling. “Time is of the essence.”

“I feel like I’m leading us all to our graves,” I said, lowering my gaze as my shoulders dropped. “Are you sure there isn’t anyone else? Someone stronger… someone that understands how these things work?”

“It’s you, Remy,” Darkness said. “You are the one.”

I let out a heavy sigh. “I’m sorry, but I don’t think I am.”

“Well, we don’t have a lot of choices here,” Storm said, tapping her foot. “If this is the end, then it’s the end. I’m ready to see Calista again if that is my destiny.”

“Destiny,” I repeated, nearly spitting the word out.

The ground quaked beneath us, vibrating the floor. Storm teetered on her feet, bracing herself against the wall, while Honor sat down, extending his hands as if he would hold up the walls if they collapsed.

“If we feel it here,” Nightmare said, turning to Darkness.

Darkness gave him a single nod before taking my hand in his. “Remy, we must go.”

Chapter

Twenty-Nine

Storm, Honor, Nightmare, and Darkness walked around me as if they were my bodyguards. I felt ridiculous stepping into the shed wearing all of the artifacts, but the feelings vanished the minute we arrived on Earth.

The skies were blacker than I’d ever seen. Thunder rolled as lightning crashed and rain poured down on us in vicious waves. I had only one thought when I saw the violent weather… Aunt Joyce.

I wanted to go to her and make sure she was safe, but there wouldn’t be an Aunt Joyce to go to if we didn’t stop the war. If we stopped it, I’d be able to go to her afterward.

“I recognize this area,” I said as Darkness protectively placed his hand on my back.

“Oh?” he asked, carefully scanning the area.