Chapter Twenty-Six

The Morrígan no longer appeared as a ghostly specter, but solid, corporeal, clothed in a silky black dress that fluttered and swirled against her skin as if she stood in front of a movie projector. Then I saw it.

Ravens. They flew over her in a strange, circular pattern. She smiled, the glowing device casting ghoulish shadows on her sharp features.

“Where’s Charlotte?” Finn said in a low voice.

Morrígan grinned wider, her dark eyes locking onto Finn. “Charlotte Hayes has been dead a long time, but her identity has proven so useful. Infiltrating the government, working with the Fir Bolgs. All that time, no one suspected a thing.”

She laughed, and the sound of it twisted my insides. She eyed Finn and Amergin, her gaze turning stern. “Both of you swore fealty to me. Prayed to me. But you had no idea, did you? The prison Danu and Bel bound me to.”

Amergin set his jaw, but the terror in his eyes beamed like a beacon of blue fire. “The affairs of the gods are beyond us, my lady. Had we known—”

“Lies!” she shouted, and I flinched, the sound of it reverberating deep in my chest. “You chose to ignore me, let me remain a prisoner in exile, but now, they are the ones who will suffer for eternity.” She waved her hand, and the two pillars of blue flame burned brighter. At the same time, Danu and Bel snapped awake, their faces contorting in silent screams. Morrígan let out a long, sickly laugh at their suffering, and holding the device high, she whirled around and pointed to Finn. “With this, I will create my own world with this warrior as my consort. Your blood is mine, Finn O’Connell.”

I summoned all the power I possessed into my palm. I had to stop Morrígan and somehow get hold of the device.

But how do you stop a goddess?

Morrígan stepped toward Amergin. “I can give you what you long for. Your wife. Back from the dead.”

Amergin stepped forward. “Scéne. You can return her to me?”

“The Fae killed her,” the Morrígan spoke in a low voice. “You made the pact for appearance’s sake, but you always wanted your revenge.”

“Amergin, no…” Finn reached for him, his eyes desperate and pleading. “The goddess is treacherous.”

The Morrígan stood close to Amergin, and he stared, transfixed, into her eyes. “Kill Elizabeth Tanner, and I can bring her back.”

“No!” Finn cried, raising his sword.

The Morrígan lashed out, and Finn stood as still as a statue, completely under her control.

“Finn!” I shouted.

The Morrígan laughed. “That’s better. I can’t have my future consort interfering. Wouldn’t want to scratch that pretty face.” She whispered something in Amergin’s ear, and the bard turned on me, his eyes blazing red. Amergin rolled his hands into a circle, and a ball of blue fire barreled straight toward me. I made to stop time, but nothing happened. I dodged, the fire singing my shirtsleeve.

“Oh, Elizabeth Tanner, your time travel tricks don’t work here,” Morrígan called out. “There is no time in Mag Mell.”

“She’s spelled you!” I cried. “This isn’t you doing this. This isn’t Trinity!” I growled, summoning energy in my hands, and I sent it sailing from my fingertips. Amergin flew through the air, crashing against a pillar with a sharp crack.

The bard staggered to his feet. “Trinity is a lie. It has always been a lie.”

“It doesn’t have to be.”

I barely had time to dodge behind a marble pillar before another blast of blue fire barreled toward me. I glanced over at Danu, caught in the pillar of flame, shrieking, body contorted with pain. The Morrígan stood beside the Tree of Life, device in hand, uttering a spell. My mind raced, my hands shaking. I couldn’t defeat the Morrígan on my own, but I needed to stall Amergin.

“We can have peace.” I grabbed a loose brick and threw it across the chamber to distract him. “A true democracy.”

“Democracy is an illusion for the weak!” he called, his voice echoing through the temple. “All that exists is power.”

I crab-walked into an alcove, closing my eyes and directing my energy to Danu’s fiery prison. It wasn’t a spiderweb of magic like a ward, but a wall as solid as concrete. Beyond the impenetrable binding spell, I heard a sound. Not a scream, but a song, and the song seemed to grow inside of me, billowing out into a swell of notes, glorious and majestic. The Morrígan’s magic was strong, but this was stronger. Love. It was love, pure and maternal. It was Danu calling to me, and I listened, grasping onto the music. As I pulled it toward me, I could feel the wall falter, and I knew it was enough.

Loud footsteps awakened me from the enthralling essence of Danu’s power, and I rolled away just in time to avoid a blast of blue fire. With a cry of rage, I threw another wave of Aisling energy at the bard, but Amergin ducked behind a pillar. Scrambling, I dislodged a knife from my boot. I had one chance to hit him, and I had to make it count. He would never stop under Morrígan’s spell. The temple shook, and plaster and bits of rock tumbled from the ceiling. The Morrígan was close to finishing the spell.

“What would your wife say?” I rolled away from the pillar. “Scéne, was it?”

His eyes flashed recognition for a moment. “Scéne…”

I hesitated with the knife, but it was too late. A ball of blue fire raced toward me, and this time I had nowhere to run.

I braced for impact, but it never came. I opened my eyes, and there in front of me stood the goddess Danu, her palm held out. She had escaped from her fiery prison and stood before me with a snarl. Amergin screamed, but it was too late. The blue fire ricocheted back to him and he disintegrated. A few flakes of ash flew into the air and disappeared.

“Morrígan!” Danu whirled, her beautiful face glowing with power. “This has gone far enough.” She stormed toward the dais, magic swirling around her like a maelstrom.

“Not so fast,” Morrígan snarled. “I will incinerate your consort Bel with a wave of my hand.”

“You don’t have the power!” Danu cried. I thought for a moment she would charge the Goddess of War, but she reached through the fire for Bel. An animalistic howl filled the temple as the fire burned her smooth skin, and the Morrígan’s chilling laughter filled my ears.

“Oh, Danu,” she said. “You were always such a fool for love. But you’re too late.”

I pulled out the vial, ready to tackle the Morrígan, grab the device, and escape the temple. Her eyes flickered to my hand, and the glass shattered, the potion turning to nothing but water. The canteen of Morrígan blood burst into flame, and I tore the container from my body.

“You think I would let you and that Druid destroy my precious device?” She laughed, holding it in the air before her. “Everything I told you was a lie. The Green Man has given you passage here, and the spell is complete. There is no going back now. It was always fated thus.”

The Morrígan was right. The device glowed brighter, pulsating with energy. I glanced back at Finn, still frozen in place. I couldn’t save him and stop her from severing the universe. I knew what I needed to do.

He stared at me, unable to move, but his eyes filled with emotion, with loss.

“I love you so much,” I cried, tears stinging my eyelids.

The Morrígan had said time didn’t exist in Mag Mell, but I felt the seconds crawl forward, stretching and suspending us all in a single moment of silence. With one final look at Finn, I lunged toward the Morrígan, using the butt of my spear to send her spiraling backward. The device fell through the air, and I caught it with one hand.

Danu let out a roar, and her face contorted, turning a shade of darkest green, her eyes shining gold. She grew until she towered over the Morrígan and, pointing a finger at her, let loose a volley of vines speckled with deadly-looking thorns. They coiled around the Morrígan, the thorns twisting into her flesh, black blood spilling out and onto the floor in waves of corruption and chaos. The flowers outside the temple invaded, their gentle petals turned menacing as they crept up across the vines, creating a prison that left the Morrígan decimated, her flesh turned gray, and her body no more than a skeleton.

With another flash of light, Bel broke free of the temple of fire, joining Danu at her side.

“Elizabeth,” Bel cried. “You must get that device out of here!”

The wires began shifting. This was it. The final phase. If they locked into place, this universe would be broken forever.

I gave myself a split second to glance back at Finn, free of the Morrígan’s spell and tumbling to the floor. And then, without a moment to lose, I traveled out.