“You weren’t the only one.” Amelia chuckled.
“Still… I was always on the outside looking in, somehow,” I continued. “But I knew I could do more for us, for the world.”
Taeral wrapped his arms around me and held me tight, leaving me breathless. “You did more than that,” he whispered in my ear, not caring what anyone else had to say. I softened in his embrace, the entire world disappearing for a few moments. Enough for me to remember what had driven me to push myself the way I had, back in the ocean. It was him. It was all because of him.
“You are valuable to this team, Eira. Don’t you ever forget it,” Lumi said to me as Taeral moved back, his gaze still fixed on me.
“Thank you,” I replied, smiling. “I know it’s what Inalia would’ve wanted, as well. She believed in you all, and it would’ve been foolish of me not to do the same.”
“She believed in you, too,” Eva cut in. “It’s why she wanted Taeral to bring you along. Do you really think she considered you so vulnerable and defenseless that you couldn’t be left on your own after what happened on Cerix?”
Come to think of it, Eva was right. After everything we’d learned about Brendel and her operation, there was one thing that had become painfully clear. Her machinations had never been aimed at the Hermessi children as victims, but rather as successors in the worst-case scenario. As long as we were alive, she could kill our parents if they didn’t fall in line, all the while threatening them with killing us to force them into submission.
What a horrible being she was…
“Oh, speaking of,” I said. “What of Derek and Sofia’s mission for Yahwen?”
“We’ve been out for a while. Eira’s on point. What do you know, Mom?” Taeral asked Nuriya, who, in turn, smiled broadly. Aisha and Horatio were practically beaming. I instantly knew that they had good news.
“They’re back in The Shade,” Aisha replied. “It was a success, and Ramin and his rebels helped. Granted, it was touch and go for a while, but they made it. The Hermessi children are safely in The Shade, including your father.”
Our cheers could not be contained, especially Taeral’s. There was too much good news, and we’d forgotten how to deal with such successes, after all the hell the Hermessi had put us through. But it was about time that things swung our way. We’d earned it. We deserved a better shot at saving our worlds.
This only proved one thing. The Hermessi weren’t all-powerful. They could still be stopped. Brendel would come after us, eager to pay us back for what had been done against her. It would get messy and bloody and horrible… I knew it.
As Taeral took my hand in his, keeping me close to him, I realized that I was no longer that afraid. We’d made it through to this point in our existence. The future was just one more leap ahead. All we needed to do was measure our movements and outsmart Brendel at every turn.
“This leaves you with one last task, as part of your mission to Death,” Nuriya said, after a while. “Finding Phyla. Do you know where to go?”
The Soul Crusher cleared his throat, his lips pursed for a second. He had our full attention, if that was what he’d been waiting for. He was the only one who knew where Phyla was, after all.
“Care to share?” Taeral asked him, his tone dripping with sarcasm.
“Ooh, you’re not going to like it,” Soul replied, though he was clearly dying to tell us.
“Just out with it already.” Herakles sighed, shaking his head in frustration.
“It’s on Aledras,” Soul said. “Right next to Yahwen. There’s a reason why Brendel tossed it there.”
“There where, smack in the middle of the enemy’s lair?” Raphael blurted.
Soul nodded. “It’s where the ritual is meant to be completed. Aledras is where Brendel and the Hermessi will carry out the end of days, as soon as they acquire the five million fae they require to power it up.”
The thought was chilling, but at least we knew where we had to go next and what we were up against. Phyla couldn’t be easy to retrieve. We were all aware of it, though none of us dared say it out loud. We couldn’t stay here much longer. Pyrr and the local Hermessi had turned to our side, but Brendel and the others would soon come after us.
On top of that, we were exhausted. We needed to just sit down and rest for a bit. “If we’re to go after Phyla next, we’ll need to replenish ourselves,” I said.
Lumi nodded. “Absolutely. We cannot go to Aledras with empty batteries. But we can’t stay in the In-Between while we rest.”
“Let’s go back to The Shade, then,” Amelia replied. “It’s safer there than anywhere else, right now.”
“You go ahead, my darling,” Nuriya said to Taeral. “I know you’re looking forward to seeing your father again. Aisha, Horatio and I will join you when we can. I need to delegate here for a while first.”
Personally, I looked forward to returning to The Shade. I’d quickly fallen in love with that place. A haven for supernatural creatures from all known dimensions. Where eternal night stretched across most of the island, and redwoods rose proudly, reaching for the starry sky. Where people from all walks of life came together to celebrate life.
The very life that the Hermessi were determined to snuff out. Not on my watch, they won’t.
Taeral
Fallon-Kabbah and the three Reapers joined us in The Shade, where we were welcomed with warmth, hugs, and kind words. Sofia and Derek, Rose and Caleb, Mona and Kiev, and all the other GASP founders were present, beaming at us as they escorted us into the Hermessi children’s new sanctuary.
They’d been given lodging on The Shade’s beach extension, in spacious glass apartments overlooking the midnight ocean. Those deemed hostile had been cuffed and locked inside their dwellings, but the friendly ones had been allowed to roam freely through the entire Shade, as their hearts desired.
“Of course, we’ve fitted all of them with tracking bracelets, just to be sure we know where they are at all times,” Sofia explained as she and Derek took us to the extension. The rest of GASP had stayed behind, preparing a feast for the evening—which we’d all agreed was well-deserved.
“Won’t they be able to remove them?” Amelia asked.
Sofia shook her head. “Not without our safety codes. We’ll also be warned if they try to get off the island or if they’re too close to the portal.”
“That’s understandably restrictive, yet it doesn’t make me feel any better,” Varga muttered.
We were all on the same page. But Derek put it best. “In times of war, tough choices must be made. In the end, the Hermessi children’s safety is all that matters.”
“Where’s my father?” I asked, my pulse already racing at the thought of seeing him back and as far away from Brendel as possible.
Derek pointed at the first glass house on the extension. “He’s there. Corrine is always with him, making sure he’s cared for. They had to put him in a crystal casing, though. We’re not sure how the Hermessi’s influence can affect him all the way here in the Earthly Dimension, but, since he’s still under it, we figured we couldn’t risk it.”
“That’s understandable.” I sighed.
