“Faith in the face of disappointment, Skylar,” Vivienne said. “Look.”
Skylar turned her head and looked back up the hill toward the laboratory.
A figure walked toward her, the moon bright behind him. He was a massive, godlike man. Skylar’s breath caught in her throat. She choked in as much air as her lungs would allow, sputtering at the end. It was Argan. But he was not the same. This Argan had a saunter.
She rose to her feet and stood waiting on shore, unable to move at the sight of him. This man she had loved since the beginning of time had returned, transformed—his black hair longer, his face darker from a thick smattering of a beard. Gone were any hints of the boy he’d still carried before. His gray shirt, ripped and bloody, exposed a body she hardly remembered. He had always been perfect, but now his perfection had exploded into something greater.
He stopped inches away from Skylar, and she was unsure if it was another dream. As she touched his face to see if he were real, he stared into her eyes. Yes, this was her Argan—the man that forced her to tell him with her eyes what her words could never say. He kissed her hard on the mouth, and she felt his desire for her roll off his body.
“You’re free,” she said when he released her.
“Likewise,” he said, his stare so intense that she had to look away. For all the power and confidence she had gained in recent months, his new intensity made her blush.
“Argan, what happened to you?” she asked, still processing the sight of him. “You look beastly.”
He chuckled. “Legend is, no one is the same after the soul cage.”
“So you’re different on the inside too?”
“Let’s just say such prolonged silent introspection is enlightening,” he said. “Especially when you don’t take a breath.”
“You mean like the Buddha?” she asked in all seriousness.
He shrugged but didn’t answer.
“No one had ever survived it,” Skylar said.
“Until now,” he said. He greeted Vivienne, and then Heather, whom he caught gaping at him in his new form. He smiled at her. “You look different too,” he said.
Her hand flew up to her cheek.
“We don’t have much time,” he said. “Magus is rallying his men. Something’s been switched on.”
“Mother Earth,” Skylar said. She looked at Heather.
“I can’t stay here,” Heather said.
Argan closed the distance between them. “Won’t you help us?” he asked. “You know you want to.” He winked and flashed a fatal smile.
A squeak escaped Heather’s mouth, and she ran toward the laboratory without a word.
“She’ll come around,” Argan said.
“Argan, what the hell are we doing here?” Skylar said. “Going to battle? Seriously? You and me against Magus and his goons?”
“Yes. We are going to battle. All this time, we’ve been changing ourselves and honing our skills and fighting to get to the light, but all along we didn’t need to change into something, Sky—we just had to uncover something. The light is inside but so is the dark. That’s what Magus is afraid of. That’s why he can’t see the Underworld. He denies his own darkness and will never attain ultimate power until he embraces that. He can’t win.”
“That’s hot, babe,” she said. “And it makes me want to take you right here on the beach. But your words don’t stop the fact that he’s coming down here with a hundred men.” She pointed up at the hill. Magus was riding down it on horseback. Behind him, a wall of men walked like an army. “Man, that’s overkill,” she said.
“Not necessarily,” Vivienne said. “He knows what he’s up against.”
They both looked at her.
“Me.” She closed her eyes and the waves parted as she stepped into the water, submerging both her feet. A path emerged down a lighted line. It ended far off in the distance, exposing the cave that contained her luminescent tree. The light shining upward was so bright that it overpowered the moon and lit up the sky.
A swirl of wind kicked up on the horizon. Skylar thought Beatrice might have come to help.
Vivienne mouthed an incantation quietly as the swirl of air got closer. As it approached, Skylar could see the squall was made up of beings. She could make out faces in the mist.
“Ten thousand celestials,” Vivienne said. She had summoned the mass of souls from the Underworld, and they were ready to take orders. “Well, maybe not ten thousand, but it’s important to remember the help from the unseen realms, dear ones.” She winked and raised her arms high in the air. The tempest of souls flew toward Magus’s army. They acted as one, diving down and leaving a wake of bodies behind them. Magus’s men were shells of humanity—no match for the souls of the Underworld.
“Cyril’s world is just an illusion, remember that,” Vivienne said. “Anything is possible now.”
Magus reached the shore as the last of his men fell behind him. The souls dissipated after their task was complete. Skylar thought again of Beatrice, and hoped she was on the other side to receive them.
Magus dismounted his horse and Argan stepped in front of Skylar.
“How right you are, my beloved,” Magus said to Vivienne. “All of the magic of the ages is right here, before our very eyes.” He leered at Skylar, and Argan grew even bigger in stature. “The magic in your blood has fortified the stone within you. You carry the heart of the world, goddess of water. I know you were hoping to return that heart to Gaia, but worlds are in motion and there is one more step to take.”
He took a dagger from his jacket pocket and Argan’s eyes grew wide. Skylar recognized the design too. Milicent’s secrets stretched back to Atlantian times.
The light from the emerald rivaled that of Vivienne’s tree. Argan didn’t hesitate; he lunged forward to take it from Magus. As they struggled, Skylar saw more men pouring out of the laboratory and running toward the shore.
Magus fired a blow of electric energy at Argan. He fell to his knees but regained his strength quickly. A shine reminiscent of the black jaguar glowed from Argan’s eyes. It was as if the blow had fueled him from within.
The new round of men had reached the shore and went after Argan. The newly enriched dark power within him gave him the ability to fight off each one.
With Argan distracted, Magus went after Skylar. The movement of the dagger created a ray of light that blinded the men on the shore, but Skylar’s vision remained clear. She raised her hand to reflect the light back at Magus, hoping that was enough to buy some time—and it was. All motion sped up, but she was still able to catch what others would have missed.
It happened so quickly, all she could see was a flash of white hair, but she knew it was Heather, and she caught the girl in her arms when she fell.
Argan felled the last two of Magus’s men. He rushed toward the girls but Vivienne put out a hand, stopping him.
“Wait,” she said.
Magus stood before them, frozen. “That was not the plan,” he said, confused. “We practiced this many times. This was the moment. I don’t understand. There was a plan.”
“She changed the plan,” Argan said.
Skylar held Heather in her arms, staring at the dagger in her chest. With a motivating growl, she forced herself to pull it out. She dropped the dagger to the ground. The jewel on the tip was gone. Nothing but the orichalcum blade remained.