Chapter Twenty-Four

I landed with a hard thud, all the oxygen banished from my lungs. I blinked, grasping for my spear, scurrying backward, and seeking out Thornton. I peered into the darkness, but I sat alone in a tunnel like the rabbit hole straight out of Alice in Wonderland, roots, snails, and worms twisting through the damp earth. It stretched out forever on both ends, and tiny pinpricks of light illuminated far in the distance.

“Thornton!” I screamed, racing randomly in one direction until I ran out of breath. My voice echoed beneath the ground, calling over the quiet shifting sounds of earthworms through the soil surrounding me, the occasional drip from the dirt roof above. I had no idea where Thornton had dragged me, but I had to find him, find the device, and do what had to be done. The wizard had brought us one step closer to the Tree of Life, and I had to stop him.

“Elizabeth?”

I gasped, whirling around to find Bel, his suit, once torn and covered in mud, now immaculate, the gray fibers almost shimmering silver.

“What are you doing here?” I took a deep breath, almost tripping over a root.

He reached out to steady me. “I would like to ask you the same thing. I assume you’re after that wizard.”

I blinked. “You know him?”

“He’s been poking around here for quite a while now.”

“A while?” I spluttered. “But I just got here. We—”

“You’re in the root system now. It works differently for everyone.” Bel walked forward, motioning me to follow.

“The root system?” I panted after him.

He raised his hands to the ceiling. “Welcome to the Tree of Life. The Spiritus Mundi. Akshaya Vata. Etz Hayim. The oak. The bodhi tree. The acacia of Iusaaset. There are so many names for it, and it looks different to everyone who enters it.” Bel patted the soil wall and rubbed a bit of dirt between his fingers. “Your vision is very humble.”

I shrugged. “Well. I mean. It’s a tree.”

Bel chuckled. “Something like that.”

We walked on for a few steps.

“So, are you like my guide?” I asked, edging closer to his side.

“No,” he replied. “There is no map in the Tree of Life. No place of origin or destination.”

“Oh.”

He glanced over his shoulder. “I need you to do me a favor.”

I cleared my throat. “Yeah, of course. But I really need to find Thornton first, if that’s okay. He has a bomb, and I think he could send this whole tunnel crumbling down upon us or, you know, destroy the universe because—”

Bel raised a hand and pointed to a door that had suddenly appeared in the wall of the tunnel. Actually, hundreds of doors had appeared, each one different. A gilded door, a rusted barn door, a humble red door with a knob in the middle. I gasped, clutching my throat. I had dreamed this before it all started, before the sky had torn apart.

Bell placed his palm against the gleaming ivory surface. “I need you to take me through this door.”

I pulled at the silver handle, but it didn’t budge.

“Ah,” I said, chuckling. “You need an Aisling thing.”

He sighed. “Yes. An Aisling thing. If you’re up for it.”

“Okay. Yeah, sure. But maybe you didn’t hear what I said about the end of the world because—”

He turned to me, and the shimmering light surrounding him turned to a blinding glow that strained my eyes. “Take me through this door.”

I hesitated. “Is this door to Mag Mell?”

Bel nodded.

“But I was told you could only enter Mag Mell if you…died.” I looked up at Bel. “Am I dead?”

“I have sought you out here, Elizabeth,” he said. “That changes the rules. You are welcome in this place because we need you.”

I nodded and then closed my eyes, collecting his energy close to mine. Energy? More like gathering the sun itself, the magic almost splintering whatever bonds I created to pull him to me and bring us through the door. When I opened my eyes again, I found myself standing in the midst of a glorious garden, flowers of every color surrounding us. Irises, hydrangeas, lilies, daisies, lilacs, all mix of blooms blending together in heavenly shades of pink, purple, soft oranges, and white. Verdant leaves filled the blue sky muted by dusk or dawn. I couldn’t tell which. The intoxicating smell of honeysuckle hit me with a wave of sweetness, and I breathed in the clear air. I took a step, and I felt as if I swam in a sea of life, the energy of the garden releasing with each bud bursting free, its sweet scent dancing in the breeze.

The sound of singing echoed in my ears, and recognition struck as I realized it was the song I had heard in the London Underground, the music I had heard when I prayed to Danu. I turned to Bel.

“She’s here,” I whispered.

He breathed in deeply, wandering toward the singing as if bewitched by some spell.

I followed him, pushing away a curtain of roses. The thorns pricked my skin, but it didn’t break or bleed. In a small clearing beside a trickling waterfall stood a beautiful woman in a long white gown, her hands threading through a line of daisies, their petals fluttering up and into the air like snow. Long chestnut hair flowed to the ground in rippling waves. Her eyes were closed and her luscious body swayed as she turned her face toward the pale shafts of sunlight streaming through the trees.

“Danu,” Bel said.

The woman opened her eyes and smiled. “You found me.”

He marched up to her and reached for her shoulders, pulling her in a tight embrace. He kissed her, and I had to look away, the passion thick in the air between them.

They whispered words I could not hear, and the woman, Danu, turned toward me. Her skin shimmered gold, her eyes a dazzling shade of green, like polished emeralds caught in the sunlight. I thought of Finn’s ring, but the memory fled as soon as she took my hand. Her skin was so warm, like a smooth stone from a riverbank, and a feeling of pure peace washed over my shoulders. I felt rejuvenated, as if I had slept for a week.

“Thank you for bringing my consort back to me,” she said.

Recognition dawned on me. “Oh. You’re Danu. The Danu. You’re a goddess!”

She nodded. “Welcome to Mag Mell.”

“Thanks,” I said, glancing around. “Is Thornton…here?”

She looked around, her gaze closing in on something in the distance I could not see. “He is close.” She gestured toward the pool beside her. “Come sit with me and stare into the pool. It will show you the way.”

Bel nodded.

“The way?” I said. “You mean, the way to Thornton?”

She gestured to the pool. “It will show you the way.”

Okay. That wasn’t vague at all.

I sat beside her and looked into the pool. The rippling water created an image. A raging battle. Screaming and writhing bodies. Bullets. The flash of explosions. The vision rushed into one warrior like a camera zooming in on a single actor. A giant on the field, covered in blood and grime. He wiped his face, and I gasped. It was Finn.

And he was in trouble.

A Fir Bolg pounced from nowhere, a long knife slicing for his throat. Finn parried, throwing his attacker back into a mass of bodies. A bullet whistled through the air and shattered his shoulder. His fighting arm.

“Finn!” I shot to standing, my heart pounding. “I need to go to him. I need to…” I spluttered, pacing.

“Why would you show me this?”

Danu gave me a blank stare. “It’s the way.”

I glanced back and forth between her and Bel, a cold sweat breaking out on my forehead. “The way? The way? Everyone dies? The Fae alliance loses? All my friends slaughtered? The love of my life destroyed? No, that is not the way.”

Danu folded her hands in her lap and closed her eyes, a slight hum emanating from the back of her throat.

I gestured to her. “Bel! Talk to her!”

He frowned, looking away. “We cannot always see what fate has in store for us.”

I crouched down, pointing to the pool. “Uh, hello? I can see fate right here. Everyone dies and nothing matters. I save the universe and for what? For what?”

He shook his head, and with a tentative hand, laced his fingers with Danu’s before lifting his head to meet my gaze. “Everything matters. This is the sacrifice. This is what it means to destroy Thornton, to bring balance to the universe.”

My blood grew cold. This was the price of saving the world. All my friends destroyed, and Finn alone and dying on the battlefield. Just as Danu had sacrificed Bel, I would need to sacrifice my greatest love and all the people I held dear.

“No,” I said, edging backward, pointing to Danu. “I won’t take this bargain. I know how this works. This is how you got my mother.”

Bel began, “Your mother—”

“My mother is dead.” The words echoed through the garden, the breeze stilling for a moment and the sunlight dimming. “And Finn… I have to go. They need me. My people need me.”

“If you leave, you may never come back,” Bel said. “And Thornton is close.”

“The mirror,” I mumbled to myself. “I’ll come back through the mirror.”

Bel made to reach for me. “Elizabeth…”

“I’ll come back, I promise.”

My hands shook and Danu’s palm closed around them, pressing a kiss against my forehead. “We will wait for you.”

Bel’s hand lingered on Danu’s shoulder. “We are weak. We cannot hold Thornton for long.”

“I know. But Finn needs me. I’m sorry.”

The god’s face darkened, the light in his eyes flickering like a smoldering candle. Before he could say another word, I shifted out of there, my feet landing in a quagmire, mud sinking up to my ankles. The sounds of battle deafened me, and when I opened my eyes, I staggered backward, my hand clutching my throat. A roiling mass of bodies collided before me, churning out blood and death. Disoriented in the smoke, I whirled, seeking him through the melee.

“Finn!” I screamed. “Finn!”

The faint sound of my name echoed beneath a writhing mass of bodies, and I closed my eyes, seeking out his energy. So faint and quiet, like the end of a symphony.

Energy blasted through me, all the pain and fear collecting like thread on a spindle. The force washed over me, all-consuming, and my belly rippled with the sensation of imploding. Like vertigo in an elevator in between floors, heavy and weightless at the same time.

Gravity belonged to me. Time. Matter. I held in the palm of my hand and turned it inside out just as easily. When I lifted my arms and spread my fingers, I sent a colossal wave of energy toward the Fir Bolgs, ceasing their relentless onslaught. Finn appeared, his sword dripping with blood. He roared, racing toward me, planting his mouth on mine. I tasted sweat and tears, other men’s blood.

I tore myself away. “What happened?”

Finn pointed at some sparkly howitzer-looking thing pumping out artillery shells like clockwork. “They have us bottlenecked on that knoll. The dragans can’t get to it.”

I peered at the Fir Bolgs’ defenses and shook my head. “I can’t travel there or I’ll risk getting vaporized.”

He clapped his hand on my shoulder. “We need to retreat.”

I shook my head and grasped my spear tight against my body. “Follow me.” I was already two steps ahead of him, my spear whirling up. Down. Making contact with flesh with a satisfying crunch. I paused time, sped it up. Stopped bullets in midair. Traveled in. Traveled out. Inch by inch. Finn fought behind me, even with his shattered shoulder. From far away, I heard him calling to Fianna across the field, and they fell into formation, flanking us. Blood splattered across my eyelashes, my lips. Screams filled my ears. A rain of bullets soared through the air, but they fell like raindrops on the ground with a flick of my hand. The flash of Druid fire sent a wave of protection as we reached the howitzer.

I threw my spear into Finn’s hands. “Hold this for me.”

I let the power race through me like a cyclone. The force of it made me levitate in the air an inch off the ground, my hair whipping around me. I held my hands a foot apart, inviting the power to build in the space between my palms. It grew. A great white ball of flame. Of light and energy. My hands burned, the ache spreading through my body, hot and endless. I let out a scream at the same time I turned my hands out. The flame coursed through the field like sheet lightning, and it pierced the howitzer. A great shockwave threw me five feet backward as twisted metal and shrapnel flew up into the sky. A strange silence rushed across the battlefield, right before a great cheer sounded from the rebels. A stampede rumbled behind me, and Finn grabbed my arm, flinging me behind a tree before the army could trample me.

He kissed me, hands tangled in my hair. “Jaysus, that was brilliant.”

I laughed, grabbing my spear from his hands. “You ready to win this, Finn O’Connell?”

He smiled, wincing in pain, and I reached out a tentative hand to his shoulder. “You’re hurt.”

“I haven’t practiced with my left hand for a while.” He shrugged and then immediately grunted, his eyes watering. “I was due,” he said in a strained voice.

I slipped my hand down his chest, lingering at his belt. “When this is over, we’ll make sure that left hand gets a good workout.”

He growled, lacing his fingers with mine. “Let’s finish this, my lady.”

I winked and pulled him to his feet. “We need to find Malachy, and—”

The air fractured, a tinny whistle hitting my ears. A flash of white blinded me, and an explosion hit. I barreled through space, hitting the ground with a hard thud. My spear skittered out of my hands, dirt pummeling me like hail. My ears rang, the world tilting as I blinked, trying to regain focus. Ten feet away, Finn staggered to his feet as a lone Fir Bolg raced toward him. He parried, but not before the Fir Bolg sneaked in another blade in his side.

“No!” I screamed, grabbing my spear. Blood. Heat. Rage. Fear. It burned inside me, my teeth gnashing, cold sweat rolling down my forehead. I whirled my spear in a wide arc, catching the Fir Bolg’s terrified face before I cut straight through his neck with one clean strike.

I fell to my knees at Finn’s side.

“No,” I whispered, pressing my hand into his side. “Nononononononono…”

He looked up at me, his gray eyes dull, the light in his eyes flickering out. “Look at you. A queen. Savage and beautiful.”

My heart pounded, my teeth chattering and shoulders shaking. “I need you to get up. We have to find Máirtin.”

His trembling hand reached up and stroked a loose curl resting on my chest. “You don’t need me now, Elizabeth.”

“No!” I screamed, grabbing onto his armor. “Get up, O’Connell. Goddammit. Get up!”

He closed his eyes, a long sigh escaping his lips.

“Stop…” I let out a low wail. “Come back to me. Please…”

The sharp crackle of a raven’s call broke through my soft sobs, and my head shot up. A large crow hopped along the battlefield, its beady black eye focused on me.

“Fuck you, Morrígan.” I waved my hand at the raven. “Is this what you wanted?”

The raven hopped and then unfurled its great wings and landed on Finn’s chest.

“Get away from him!” I screamed.

The black bird dissolved like melting silver, bleeding into Finn’s skin.

“No!” I grabbed at the strands of light, but I couldn’t stop the flow of magic.

Finn glowed for a moment with a blinding light, and then his eyes shot open. He bolted to sitting. “What happened?”

“I…” I spluttered, unable to say. The raven had warned me. The Morrígan had warned me.

His blood is mine…

“A Fir Bolg.” I nodded to the headless Fae half buried in the mud. “But you’re okay now.”

He blinked, rubbing his side. “I feel…different.”

I shook his shoulder, now healed completely. “We have to go. The Fir Bolgs could be sending reinforcements, and we need to meet up with the Fianna.”

A dark shadow blocked out the sun, and Malachy and Talia swooped down.

“Come on!” he cried, gesturing for us to hop on. “We’ve infiltrated Teamhair. Balen is dead. The Fir Bolgs have surrendered. We’ve won the day!”

I looked up at the sky filled with smoke and the screams of the dying, and I laughed. I thought of that damn raven, the magical force now coursing through Finn’s veins, and I laughed. Laughed until tears poured down my cheeks.

The Morrígan had saved him, healed him, but now Finn would be bound to her in a way that was so much deeper than his vow. Her essence flooded his, and there was nothing I could do to banish her power from his veins. His blood belonged to her, and while I didn’t know what it meant, I knew that in spite of our victory, Finn was not safe.

He drew me close.

“It’s all right now,” he whispered in my ear.

But it wasn’t.

And it wouldn’t be.