I barely felt the Stronghold shaking under my feet, not when the veil itself shrieked its agony. My magic tore at the edges and I was diving through, Max and the drach with me, Sass at my side. I gaped in horror, holding still with one hand clutching my chest as if I could keep the Universe safe even as, in a ripple of blips in the distance, entire planes snapped like rubber bands and vanished into the darkness.
How long it went on, how many we lost, I can’t say. I only know I was gasping for breath into lungs that finally demanded air when the last one popped, a bubble bursting into the void. I leaned against Sass despite not needing such support inside the veil itself, the feel of his lean form necessary. Touch kept me grounded.
It was a somber group who turned and reentered the Stronghold underchamber. Gabriel sat on Creator’s lap, silent and staring, while I struggled to find something to say.
“At least,” Max finally said in his deep, musical voice, “we have confirmation my fears were correct.”
He could say that again.
I wanted to approach Gabriel, to talk to him, but something held me back. He seemed lost within himself, struggling with who knew what. Did he feel guilt for what he’d been forced to do? I should have gone to him, been his mother. But all I could think about was what I’d seen in his eyes and the fact that I was Doombringer.
The distraction I thought I wanted—careful what you wish for, Syd—appeared through a gap in the veil as Meira strode through, her towering demon form rippling with anger and fear.
“Syd.” She shuddered inside her shining cat suit, long hair swinging around her as she spun and took in the scene before speaking. Good for her for having the presence of mind to try to sort out what was up before diving into her own stuff. Which she did. “You wanted to know if demons were disappearing.”
I nodded, mute, afraid.
She nodded back, grim, equally afraid. “And taking chunks of planes with them.”
“The Node?” That was all we needed, for the teardrop of power holding the demonic planes together to fall apart again.
Meira shrugged, more out of frustration and lack of knowledge from what she said next. “It’s fine,” she growled, like that was an offense in her eyes. “Stable, strong, happy.” She tossed her hands in the air, scowl so deep it darkened the red around her eyes to black. “It should be a freaking mess and it’s burbling at me like it’s never been so content. Even Ahbi’s acting like nothing’s wrong.”
Weird. Our demon grandmother, her soul now embedded forever in the Node, didn’t take such things lightly, never had. She was too invested—literally, now—in the wellbeing of Demonicon to take this in stride. Which meant the disintegration wasn’t harming her, for now. I’d take that slice of good news. Until it turned into bad news.
Pessimist.
“It doesn’t feel like last time,” Meira said, beginning to pace, my favorite. “But it does, in a way. And it’s got me thinking.” She stopped and pinned Max with her amber eyes. “What about creating a Universal Node? Something to hold the entire veil together?”
Brilliant. Why didn’t I think of that? What an excellent id—
Nope. Max’s big head shook from side to side, a sigh escaping him. I hated when he sighed. It meant a big no way, Jose was coming.
“I wouldn’t even know where to begin,” he said. “The planes of Demonicon are numbered and it is the group consciousness of the demons who live there that make binding them possible.” I didn’t know that, but it made sense. “How do we convince countless world inhabitants that they need to work together when they have no idea the veil and the Universe is even in danger?” Okay, he had a point. “We have only two options,” he said. “Continue reassembling Creator and be the cause of the end of everything, or stop.”
“From what I can tell,” Meira said, “the second isn’t going to make things any better.”
Agreed. “And the first is supposedly what we’re meant to do.” Doombringer raised her ugly head. “Right?”
Max shrugged. I hated his shrug about as much as his sigh.
“You know,” my sister said, all the intensity draining from her as she sagged a bit, Ruler turning into my gorgeous younger sibling for a moment, “when the time came, when I realized the end was near, giving up the bond of the Node was the only thing I could do. So I could build it again from scratch.”
The fact she was suggesting we do the same thing in so many words with the vastness of the Universe made my head hurt. And yet.
And yet.
“Creator must have a plan.” Max’s tone had changed, his calm returned. I wished I had his faith in Her. “She is calling the magicks home for reasons only She knows.” And maybe my son. “This must be the path we need to take.”
That was an about face. “So we let the Universe fall apart.” Yeah, great idea. “You do realize that choice might lead to Dark Brother breaking through?”
“If that’s the case,” Max said with his irritating calm, “then that is Her will.”
Damn it.
“This is a far cry from letting a bunch of planes revert to their natural state.” Why was I the only one angry about this? No, not the only one. The black ribbon flexed on my wrist.
“You forget the Order soldiers are falling into the void as well,” Mabel said. My ancestress had chosen to side with her leader, then. Fair enough. “The likelihood planes of the Dark Universe are being drawn into the void is high.”
But not confirmed. Still, her logic was solid. And sent a massive shiver down my spine.
“So what you’re saying is we’re all going to end up in the same place.” The void. “When Creator’s statue is complete, we’ll be stuck there, every single one of us. Including Dark Brother and the Order.”
No one said anything for a long time.
“Are we done?” I spun sideways, shocked to find my son standing just outside our group, watching us. His face had returned to himself, but whatever had lived in him remained at the edges.
I nodded, unable to think of a thing to say.
“We need to move quickly from now on.” Like we hadn’t been trying. Or had we? As I thought about it, I realized how much time we seemed to have wasted, months on my part. I’d felt a need to move before, but this urgency that gripped me was new.
And contrived. So, the Universe was finally ready to act, was it? Awesome.
“You have a location for another piece?” He’d stood in my son’s way just a little while ago. Now, Max seemed like a complete convert to Gabriel’s need.
“I don’t just yet.” My son’s frown was his own, his frustration showing. “But I will shortly. The time is coming, though. If we don’t act, if we don’t replace the pieces in the precise sequence intended from this moment on, the way between will be breeched and the Order will come through.” Not maybe. Not could.
Will.
Well, all righty then.
***