"Death left this for us to find," he continued. "I can feel traces of her on it. What I couldn't sense earlier, I do now."

"She left us breadcrumbs?" I managed, remembering an old tale from Earth about a little boy and a little girl who'd gotten lost once, and they'd used breadcrumbs in the hope that their father might find them before they starved.

"It's her old language. The very first she invented," Phantom said, and looked up at Seeley. "Do you know of it?"

He nodded. "She taught me a few words. It's the one language Reapers don't have access to unless she allows it," he replied. "But I can't tell what she's saying. Can you?"

"I'm a little rusty, too, but I can tell you one thing. The words are jumbled." Phantom sighed. "They're not meant to make sense in that order. We need to figure out the message on our own."

Widow scoffed. "Why would she do that? And how did it mess with Soul's spell?"

"I don't think it did. Not on purpose, at least," Soul said. "It's her energy signature. Like Phantom suggested, my spell reacted to an object of hers."

"Why didn't it take us to her, directly?" I asked.

The Soul Crusher seemed uncomfortable. I figured he didn't have an encouraging explanation. "Because she's probably untraceable. Either by her own devices or by the Spirit Bender's doing. So the spell brought us to the next best thing… something she left behind for us to come across."

Lumi cursed under her breath, looking up at the sky and closing her eyes for a moment, as if praying. Maybe she was, in fact, praying. To the Word… to all the forces of the universe.

"Then why did she leave a puzzle and not a clear message?" the swamp witch asked. There was tension in her voice, and I felt it all the way down in the pit of my stomach.

"I'm afraid we're going to have to ask her when we see her," Phantom replied.

Thunder boomed as lightning sliced through clouds I hadn’t even noticed gathering. A storm was swallowing up the moons, and the wind swelled, making my cheeks freeze. Instinctively, I got up, and Raphael joined me as we turned to the east. Something was coming.

Kabbah was already standing on the eastern edge. His fists burst into emerald flames as lights emerged from the clouds, flickering anxiously in different elemental colors. The Hermessi were coming. Normally, I would've said this was to be expected. But leading the pack was Brendel. I recognized her orange fire anywhere, these days.

"How did she know to come here, to this mountain?" Eva breathed, horror widening her yellow eyes.

"The pebble," Seeley replied, realization dawning on him first. "This was a trap."

"What?!" Taeral shot back.

It made sense. As the lights grew bigger in the clouded sky, and as lightning webbed across with bright, nerve-wracking flashes, I understood. "The Spirit Bender took Death. They were here, at some point, long enough for Death to leave us a message," I said. "Whether it was suggested by the Spirit Bender in the first place, or whether he let her do it… it doesn't matter. Leaving the pebble here was deliberate. The energy signature… Spirit knows his brothers better than anyone else."

"He knew we'd be coming," Soul concluded, his lips twisted with disgust and anger. "You're right, Seeley. We walked right into a trap."

As the Hermessi descended upon us, led by Brendel, we all became aware of an impending reality. There was no more running from the Hermessi leader, not this time. This was our turning point, the moment in which we'd fight to the very end. We would either win, or we would lose.

Whatever the outcome, this was unavoidable. Brendel had had enough of us, and, with the Spirit Bender's help, she was determined to do everything in her power and beyond to put an end to our mission.

As scary as that was, it gave me more hope than anything else. It meant that we were still a threat to her. It meant that we still had a shot at stopping the ritual.

Eva

"Gather closer," Taeral advised us. "I doubt she's letting us leave this time."

Riza was the first to notice that she could no longer teleport. "That bitch! She cut us off again," the jinni snarled.

"It was bound to happen," Taeral replied. "We were meant to waste our time looking for Death until we reached this spot. The Spirit Bender lured us here so he could serve us up to Brendel."

The truth of his words echoed deeply inside me, making my bones ache. We'd been played by the very creep we were trying to find. He'd already found us, and he'd sent Brendel our way, just to make sure we didn't bother the ritual.

We moved into a tight circle, drawing our pulverizer weapons first. There wasn't much we could do with them, but the pellets were still powerful enough to at least annoy them. Our strength in this fight belonged to Lumi, Nethissis, and Taeral and Riza's magic, along with Eira and Kabbah's Hermessi mojo. My Druid spells were weak, but I could still try something. The aces up our sleeves were, of course, the Reapers who'd sided with us, and I had a feeling Taeral might play a decisive role, as well.

Remembering Thieron, an idea shot through my head, faster than the lightning above. With the Hermessi growing bigger and brighter as they approached the mountain, I figured we'd have to take drastic measures in order to survive and win this, and there was one thing we hadn't tried yet.

"Tae, do you think Thieron will be of any serious help here? I mean, do you think you can get something more out of it than the last time you used it against Brendel?" I asked, my gaze fixed on the incoming Hermessi.

"I can definitely try," he breathed. “What other choice do I have? I’m not a Reaper, though, and I’m certainly not Death… I’m not sure what I can do with it now that it’s complete.”

"Don't be daft, boy!" Soul replied dryly. "It's already weird that you were able to use just two-thirds of Thieron so effectively against Brendel. Dial it up to eleven, and let's find out what you can do!"

"There's no clearer sign that you're a good fit for Thieron," Phantom added, drawing my attention. She was smiling at Taeral in a way that made me swell with pride.

He nodded slowly, as the air thickened and heated around us. The night was illuminated by dozens of Hermessi, with Brendel at the lead. They were close enough to make my skin tighten and my nerves snap, the blaze of their fire drawing sweat from my temples.

With shaky hands, he raised Thieron, his mind focused on it. Something happened inside him, something that had an instant effect on the weapon—it surprised him as much as it did us. Energy rippled outward from Phyla, and light glowed through the symbols carved along Eirexis. It looked different than the last time he’d used it, but we could all feel the power surging through Taeral and through each and every one of us.

My limbs tingled as I beheld a quite active-looking Thieron in Taeral's hands. For a moment, hope dared to brighten my field of vision, and I allowed it to swoop through me, for the prospect of victory was not as dim as I'd thought.

"Attaboy," Soul said, grinning like the devil.

“I’m not sure what I just did,” Taeral replied, staring at the blade.

“You opened yourself up to it,” Soul explained. “There’s more Death in you than I thought.”

I would’ve loved to ask a couple more follow-up questions, but with annoyingly good timing, Brendel reached us. She landed with a thud on the edge of the platform, her orange fire so intense that it obliterated everything it touched. The rocks blackened beneath her. My throat burned from the excessive heat she emanated. There was something about her, I realized… something different.

Her humanoid figure formed, and only then did I see her eyes for the first time. Two white slits that hated everything they encountered. "You've wasted a lot of my time already," she said. "It's time to give up, Taeral. You will never find Death."

"Shouldn't you be out there preparing for the ritual's completion, then?" Taeral replied. Thieron glowed in his hand, and Phyla seemed to revolve in the blade, casting light reflexes all around it like a magic disco ball. It was beautiful and scary at the same time. "How am I still a threat to you?"

Brendel took a step forward. The other Hermessi landed on the side of the mountain behind her, making their way up with sluggish, fiery moves. There were fewer of them now, though, and I wasn't sure whether anyone else had noticed. Brendel had consumed some of the Hermessi who'd joined her on the Fire Star, during our Zetos mission. Maybe none had dared to take their place. We already knew many of her allies had fled after the Hermessi children were taken from Yahwen.

"Her forces are dwindling," I said, eyeing her nervously. "Her allies are scarce."

Taeral smirked. "Yeah, figured that out when I saw them come in. I would've expected an entire party, not a small posse."

"I don't need an army to destroy you," Brendel retorted.

One by one, fiery energy figures emerged behind her—some white, some blue, some green or orange. Despite the dramatic entrance, I had to admit, I wasn't exactly… overwhelmed. Nevertheless, I hadn't been touched by Death, and neither had Varga. Or Riza. Herakles. Raphael. Amelia. Nethissis. We were still vulnerable, and we could still be killed. That was what Brendel was banking on—taking us out first.

She couldn’t kill Taeral, Lumi, or Eira, but she could wipe out the rest of us. She could keep Taeral distracted from finding Death long enough for the ritual to be finished.

"Thieron is complete, as you already know," Taeral said. "If I managed to break you into little pieces with just two-thirds of it, imagine what I'll do with the full Thieron."

"I doubt you'll get to enjoy any of it, Taeral. Nothing can stop the ritual now," Brendel replied.