The sky grows darker and darker with storm clouds, and the air is thick with the smell of rain. We all know what that means—the Skylords are upon us.
“We need to get to the grove,” Haden says. “We need to drive the Skylords away from town and into the gate.”
As much as I wish I could just revel in the presence of my loved ones for a few more minutes, I know he’s right. There isn’t even time for planning.
Haden approaches Rowan, who is tied up in the corner of the room. There wasn’t much opportunity for storytelling, but I’ve gathered that Rowan had something to do with Haden’s near-death. I can hear the angry tones rolling off of Haden. Rowan flinches away from Haden’s touch and at first I think Haden is going to wring his brother’s neck, but instead he pulls the bindings from Rowan’s hands. Haden’s tone changes suddenly from angry notes to a tight, restrained tune. As if he were willing himself to remain calm and collected. “I should hate you, Rowan. I should want to punish you for what you did to me. For what you’ve always done to me. Alas, what is happening today is bigger than you and me and we need all the help we can get, so instead I will offer you a second chance. Will you fight with us?” he asks Rowan. I can tell from his inner tone now that Haden has had to humble himself quite a bit to offer this olive branch to his horrible brother. It makes me love Haden even more. “For the sake of the Underrealm?”
Rowan stands, rubbing his wrists. He looks from Haden to their father, who stands behind him. His lip curls in disdain. “I’m done with this,” he says. “I’m not going to risk my life to clean up your mess. Find someone else to watch your back.” There’s a dark tone wafting off of Rowan that makes me shiver, but there’s not time to analyze what it means now.
“Then you are free to leave,” Haden says, showing him the door. “But I never want to see you in this town again.”
“As if you will ever see it again? Have a nice death, little brother.” Rowan throws Ren and Haden one last glare and then marches from the room. I watch out the window until he’s down the driveway and on his motorcycle that’s parked a few houses down. He drives out of sight.
Good riddance.
“As soon as we go I need you to get my mother out of here,” I say to Joe. “Drive her as far away as you can get.”
Joe shakes his head. “I can’t drive your mother. I’m coming with you.”
“Joe, you can’t.”
“I can, Daphne. And I will. I was supposed to be there last time. I was supposed to help you. Maybe none of this would have happened if I had been.”
“It’s okay, Joe, I don’t blame you . . .” Joe had been under so much stress and he was an addict after all, I should have realized he wouldn’t be strong enough to resist the temptation to drink. . .
“Yes, but I blame myself. Even if I was drugged—”
“You were drugged?” I ask, sticking my hand in the pocket of my cloak and clutching the sobriety coin. So he hadn’t given in? “That’s why you didn’t come.”
“Yes, someone drugged my water bottle. We think it must have been Garrick trying to manipulate the situation. But I should have pulled myself through it. I should have been there for you no matter what. There’s nothing you can say to stop me from going now.” Notes of absolute determination pound off of him, and I know there is no way to deter him. He wants to be redeemed, not only for not being there the last time the gate was open but also for all the mistakes he made in the past. That was the reason he had wanted to go last time. I can’t deny him the opportunity now.
I nod, conceding, and he gives me a cheeky smile. I think for a moment that I always want to remember him with that expression on his face.
“Do you know how to wield one of these?” Dax says, offering a large sword to Joe. “We had to incapacitate a few guards on our way out of the Skyrealm. Thought a few of their weapons would come in handy.”
Joe takes the sword. “I’ve never handled a sword, but I have wielded a few guitars in my day,” he says, playfully swinging the sword as if it were a guitar he was about to smash against an opponent’s head.
“I guess that will do,” Haden says, but I can sense the worry in his voice.
We all look at her as if she’s growing a second head all of a sudden.
“What I mean is that I’ll make sure Daphne’s mother and I get as far away as possible. Maybe an outlet mall near Vegas? That’ll be fun.”
My mother raises an eyebrow at this but doesn’t protest being taken away from this mess.
“Phew, Lexie,” Haden says. “For a second there, I was almost worried you were going to insist on coming with us, too.”
“Whatever, I know my strengths and my limitations,” Lexie says. “I’ll let all of you with the superpowers take on the monsters. I’ll provide the hot chocolate and muffins when you get back.” She sounds flippant, but to my surprise the hidden tone behind her words makes it sound as if she actually does care.
“Thank you for watching out for my mother,” I say to her.
“Please, make sure Tobin comes home, okay?” she says, her tone softer and sincere.
“Okay,” I say, but I don’t know if it’s a promise I can keep. I try not to think about the likelihood that Tobin is even still alive after facing the swarm of Keres that pursued us to the gate. Instead, I give her a reassuring smile.
Haden takes my hand again. He holds it like he never wants to let go. I wish he never will. Ethan, Jonathan, Dax, Abbie, Psyche, and Joe follow us out of the house. There’s a car parked askew in the driveway, and a woman in a rumpled red dress-suit jumps out when she sees us. She looks so frazzled, with frizzy, disheveled hair and sleepless eyes, it takes me a minute to recognize her.
“Mayor Winters, what are you doing here?” I say to Tobin’s mother.
“My son, where is he?” she asks, tones of desperation clinging to her words. “He hasn’t come home in days.”
“You know where he is,” comes a voice from behind me. Abbie steps forward. “The same place you tried to send me in order to get seed money for your company.”
“Abbie?” Mayor Winters looks even more crazy-eyed than before. “How? Where? What about Tobin?”
“Nice to see you too, Mother,” Abbie says. I realize it’s been at least six years since they’ve stood face to face. “But I don’t have time for this not-so-pleasant reunion. I need to save Tobin from the Underrealm.”
Mayor Winters’s mouth drops open. She stammers until Haden puts his hand on her shoulder. “I need you to evacuate the town again. Get everyone as far away from here as possible. Things are about to get far more stormy than last time.”
She nods, still in shock, and we leave her behind. Haden leads us out into the street.
“Shouldn’t we drive?” I ask. “There’s no time to waste.”
“We’re going to fly,” Haden says.
“Fly?” I ask, thinking maybe he isn’t feeling quite well after his near-death experience.
He smiles and hooks my arms around his neck. “Hold on,” he whispers, his breath caressing my ear, and a second later we’re rocketing into the air.
“What the—?” I cling to his neck, looking down at the ground below us. We’re actually flying. Haden laughs and I stare into his jade-green eyes, forgetting for a moment that we are heading off into battle. “Well, I definitely picked a winner. What’s better than a boyfriend who can fly?”
“Boyfriend?” he asks.
“Do you have a problem with that title?” I say, punching him playfully.
“Not at all,” he says. “I was just thinking that the word seems inadequate to me.”
“It does, doesn’t it?” I light a kiss on his cheek. I can’t believe we’re together after all this time, I can’t believe I’m in his arms, and we’re flying no less. I look at the town below us and notice a toddler pulling on her father’s pant leg, trying to get him to look up from his iPhone to see the “big birds” above them. I laugh and then close my eyes.
“Are you okay?” Haden asks.
“Yes . . . It’s just that . . . I know I shouldn’t feel this happy when the world is coming apart at its seams.”
“I know what you mean.”
Jonathan flies up beside us, flapping his great wings, with a less-than-enthused-looking Joe wrapped in his arms. Ethan, carrying Ren, and Psyche and Abbie hefting Dax are not too far behind. “Look,” Jonathan says, nodding toward the grove island in the middle of the lake. A thick, black cloud swirls up from the center of the island. It almost looks like smoke. “Skylords?”
I swallow hard. “Keres,” I say. “They’re coming through the gate.”