“She clearly has a plan,” Soul mumbled, visibly dismayed. “And she ain’t sharin’.”
“Exactly,” Death shot back. “Frankly, I am tired of having my authority and decisions questioned. You’re all forgetting that I will be free again—if not with your help, with other Reapers’ assistance, since our society cannot function without me at the helm for too long. Someone will get me out eventually. You’ll want to be on my good side when that happens.”
Sooner or later, Death was going to regain her freedom and full power. She was right about one thing: I definitely wanted to be on her good side when that came to pass. But I also didn’t want to be another cog in her machine, a drone that didn’t at least ask questions or object to her decisions.
Whatever she was hiding from us regarding Visio, it had to be big; it had to be important to her. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have cared. But I could no longer risk angering her. I had to do my job, which was now about finding the Unending, the Night Bringer, and the Morning Star. The sooner we set Death loose, the faster we could resolve whatever it was that had occurred on Visio.
Aware that my curiosity might be the end of me, I knew I wouldn’t stop asking questions about that planet and its Reaper abandonment. Luckily, I had a direct line to Rudolph. All I could do for now was get Soul, Widow, and Phantom together for a search mission, while praying that Seeley would be in touch again soon.
Lumi
I’d lost Acantha to the Thieron challenge, and it had nearly broken me. Nethissis’s death was infinitely worse. The sigh of relief I’d breathed upon her surviving the Hermessi war had now come back to pummel me into the ground, each blow more painful than the previous.
My heart ached in a way that made my eyes sting and every inhalation downright agonizing, and there was nothing I could do to move past this. It was done. Nethissis had been killed, and regardless of what the Aeternae had suggested, I refused to believe that a damn venomous fox had been the one to topple her. No. Not my Nethissis.
I chose to focus on setting the record straight for her, instead of mourning. I refused to spend a single second grieving, not ready to surrender to my emotions just yet. There was too much torment waiting just around the corner, and if I were to cave in, I’d fall apart at the seams, unable to ever pick myself back up again.
With this investigative mindset, I made myself unavailable to the rest of GASP. Ben and River had offered to stay with me, as had Kailani and my other apprentices, but I’d shut everyone out. As far as GASP was concerned, I was in my summer home, a couple of miles down from Stonewall, grieving and processing what had happened. Of course, I was lying through my teeth, but the fewer people who knew about my intentions, the better.
What I was about to do could imperil Derek and Sofia’s mission as well, and that was one of the things I aimed to avoid. Secrecy was paramount if I was to get any closer to the truth behind Nethissis’s death.
The summer house was something I hadn’t considered having before the Hermessi apocalypse. I’d never thought I’d need a place away from the world, far from the madding crowd and neatly carved into the shore’s massive, gray stone wall. I’d built it with the help of a couple of Bajang boys, and it was connected to both the mainland, through a series of narrow steps, and to the rocky beach below.
I’d wanted it to be as inaccessible to the others as possible, mainly because I cherished my privacy more than anything. Situated approximately fifty feet above the beach and about fifty feet below the mainland, my little crib was perfect. I’d built a terrace for it, as well, which was wide enough to host a decent dinner party—provided I decided to invite anyone for dinner. It was also a good launchpad for my interplanetary spells.
It was a good day on Calliope, bright and sunny and wonderfully breezy. The complete opposite of how I felt, but it didn’t really matter much, as long as I did what I’d set out to accomplish. Drawing the pentagram on the solid wood terrace, I placed all the spell paraphernalia in the appropriate brass bowls and checked my supply bag once more.
I’d packed everything I thought I might need on this journey, including a considerable amount of invisibility paste. My ability to blend in and disappear was crucial to this mission. Nethissis’s image kept appearing before my eyes, like a sullen mirage, as if beckoning me to come to her. I knew she wasn’t real, but my heart didn’t care.
“I’ll find your killer,” I whispered, sitting in the middle of the pentagram.
The salty wind blew over the coast, making the windows tremble behind me. There were strong currents at sea. In the blue distance, I could see the boats—long and slender giants with pale yellow sails, their incubi sailors casting nets far and wide.
Life was much simpler here on Calliope. Sometimes I’d wondered whether I’d be better off on my own, out here, away from GASP and all the many ways in which my other apprentices could die. This was a good place, by the foaming water, and I could easily add more rooms to the summer house. It was big enough to keep the entire swamp witch culture safe. Sure, I enjoyed playing a bigger part in the grand scheme of things, protecting supernaturals and saving innocent people, but… where would it all stop? When would it end?
The more we fought, the more trouble there seemed to be ahead, and I was getting genuinely tired. Something needed to change, eventually, and I wasn’t sure I’d live to see such a day.
Uttering the interplanetary spell’s incantation, I placed a piece of Fire Star rubble in front of me, smack in the middle of the pentagram. My destination was set, and the light bubble swallowed me and my bag of supplies.
It hummed softly before it took off, raising me above the entire world in a matter of minutes. Looking back, I could see Stonewall farther up the coast, settled atop the wall and towering over the ocean with its dark gray walls and robust towers, where the morning fires still burned as beacons for the sailors out on the water.
Deeper into the mainland, the beautiful castle of Luceria rose proudly above the thick emerald woods. Mount Zur was about a hundred miles to its right, a thin plume of smoke connecting its glimmering amber peak and the clear blue sky. For a moment, I remembered my younger days as a pixie, still figuring life out, wandering through those forests, climbing those mountains, and cozying up to the Dearghs around a midnight campfire.
Those had been good days. Difficult, sure, and rather demanding, but I could sleep better back then. As soon as I’d put my head down, I’d drift off to other worlds, and I’d dream of the travels I’d go on, if I ever got the chance. Now, about ten thousand years later, not much had changed in the landscape itself. But the people were different. I was definitely different. Time had a way of doing this to us.
Warping us, molding us to the events that had the greatest impact on our hearts, then making us remember what we’d been like. I almost couldn’t recognize myself anymore. Nethissis had been one of the few creatures who’d made me feel more connected to that younger version of me—her passion for living, her curiosity, her determination and titanic ambition. Her fearlessness… the way her yellow eyes sparkled whenever the Word taught her a new spell… I’d never see that again, and it hurt so much.
Soon enough, I left the Eritopian system behind, with its streaks of pink and orange stardust. Maybe I’d never see it again. I certainly couldn’t exclude the possibility, given what I was about to do. At least I would leave a true legacy behind. Kailani and the girls would carry on with the work of the Word. Some measure of peace was welcome, in these circumstances.
The spell bubble darted through the In-Between, the cosmos unraveling around me with its colorful galaxies and voluminous asteroid fields, its endless rivers of stardust and exploding red stars. I’d modified the interplanetary formula to a new level, and I could now breach the very fabric of time and space with it. It ate up an entire serium battery and about eighty percent of my own energy—which was a lot more than what had been used to additionally power an interplanetary spell, to begin with.
It was also extremely volatile and dangerous, as passing from one dimension to another with this spell bubble was an unstable process. I risked instant disintegration, but I’d had no other choice. All the portals that the witches had built in the In-Between for GASP had security cameras on them, all fitted with red lenses and motion sensors. Using an invisibility spell to get to the Fire Star would’ve landed me in the spotlight, and I wanted everyone to think I was out by the sea, away from the people and not wanting to be disturbed.
This journey had also been a good opportunity to test this spell. Fortunately, it worked, though the pressure of the passage from the In-Between into the Supernatural Dimension had given me a nosebleed. Everything stretched around me, coming apart in swirls of black and light and neon colors, before it all went back to normal.
The spell bubble was now capable of producing a wormhole through which it could pass from one dimension to the next. My heart was in my throat for the briefest of moments, before I saw the fae planets ahead in all their elemental splendor.
I’d made it.
The light around me vibrated nervously, readjusting to its natural form and speed, while I took deep breaths and wiped the blood from my nose. My head hurt, but I would eventually be all right. This wasn’t something that a healing potion could fix, unfortunately. I recognized the pain. I’d felt it before, whenever I’d pushed myself with the Word. It transcended the physical realm.
But I’d made it. Nothing else mattered. I’d made it, and I could use it again. I could finetune its formulas and the mineral quantities; I could add more serium batteries, too… I could perfect this new interplanetary travel spell before sharing it with my apprentices, with Kailani and the rest of GASP.
The Fire Star rose before me, big and bright and beautifully reddish storm clouds gathering over the vast blue oceans, almost covering them completely. I pushed through its atmosphere and steered my way behind the royal palace, where fewer fae could see me. No one was expecting me, anyway.
That quickly became obvious when dozens of palace guards gathered around the bubble spell as it landed between the artesian fire fountains. As the light dissipated around me, I stood slowly with my hands up in a defensive gesture, hoping one of the uniformed fae would recognize me. None did, to my dismay.
“It’s okay,” I said, smiling. “I’m Lumi. Here to see Taeral?”
The guards moved in closer, their hands glowing amber—a threatening display of power. I’d come here unannounced, right outside Sherus and Nuriya’s palace. After everything that had happened, I couldn’t exactly fault the fae for being extra cautious. The fearful looks in their eyes reminded me that the Hermessi trauma was still fresh for most of them.
“Lumi. Of GASP. Come on,” I said, rolling my eyes. There wasn’t much patience left in me, especially since the travel spell had basically drained most of the energy out of my flesh. All I wanted to do was talk to Taeral and sleep for a few hours to recover before leaving again.
“I know you,” one of the guards finally said.
“Perfect timing,” I replied.
He motioned to the others to put their hands down. “She’s a friend of the kingdom,” the young fae with light blue eyes said, then shot me a polite smile. “The prince is in his study, madam. I can take you there, if you’d like.”
