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PANDORA

I stood near the bed, my robe draped loosely around me, the thin fabric doing little to warm me against the chill seeping into my bones. Long strands of wet hair clung to my neck, sending occasional droplets down my collarbones, vanishing beneath the silk.

My fingers toyed absently with the sash around my waist, knotting and unknotting it to exude restless energy.

The guys were all off doing little things to prepare for the mission that was coming up, but I stayed in our room with Nebula as they did, knowing Dex was checking in from the shadows every few minutes.

Not to mention Dad had Grimsworn cast a protective barrier in our room. It may not keep out dark magic, but it would alert us of any incoming threat. After Chaos broke down our bathroom door, we figured we needed some extra protection from a warlock.

I turned from the window, and my gaze landed on Nebula, where he was nestled on his stand that was on top of my nightstand and next to the jar of earthworms Bram had for Gumdrop.

His hollow eye sockets trickled with the flow of dark magic as he manifested. The dim candlelight of our room didn’t gleam off of the darkness that spilled out of him, it was absorbed by it.

I still couldn’t believe I’d been so blind as to not realizing what the dark substance that attached Nebula to his skull truly was. It was the dark magic residue from the curse that bound his skull, and I’d thought it was legitimately his soul.

As a soul eater who ate dark magic, I wished I had realized sooner.

“You’re quiet,” he murmured.

I tugged the robe tighter around me, letting out a slow stream of breath. The tears threatened to spill, but I pushed them down, pressing a hand to my heart as if I could physically hold myself together.

I wasn’t ready to let go of him.

Not yet—not ever.

“Just thinking,” I rasped.

“Thinking about all of the things you can’t change?” Nebula huffed. “You’re so much like me, you know? We are kindred souls.”

“We are?” My fingers traced the soft bedding as I moved to sit on the side of the bed.

“Yes,” he echoed. “We were both trapped, unable to change our situation. Me to my skull and you in that cellar under Penny’s control. But you saved yourself. You can save me, too. I have hope that we’ll both be free of Sybil Shaw soon.”

I looked at him again, at the tiny skull that once belonged to his living, breathing familiar form—a little black kitten that was warm and fuzzy and let me hug him when I’d never hugged anyone. “The freedom you talk about comes with a price, though.”

His answer came without hesitation. “Pandora…you are my only hope to escape this curse.”

My throat constricted, the weight of his words pressing down like a stone on my chest. “You don’t deserve to die.”

“I’m already dead,” he murmured. “You know it as well as I do. This isn’t living. I shouldn’t be here, suffering under Sybil’s curse to provide her power. It’s suffocating.”

I wanted nothing more than to argue with him, but I couldn’t find any argument that would work. Reed and Hunter researched every other option, as did the Supernatural Council. Bram wrote a poem for him to let him know how much he believed I needed him. Skel and Dex begged him to stay.

His reply to all of my mates and I had been unwavering. There was no other way to strip Sybil of that much of her power, and with her power level now, he bluntly told us that we would die if we faced off with her. The only reason I was able to get a taste of her soul when I’d met her was because I’d caught her off guard, and she’d underestimated me. She wouldn’t make that mistake again. I knew it, and so did everyone else.

“I love you, Nebula. You’re my best friend.” A sob caught in my throat. “I can’t— please . I want to do something more for you. I want to save you, but I don’t know how.”

“This is saving me. You’ve already done more for me than anyone else ever has.” His voice softened. “You are my only hope to escape her. Do you understand? You are the one who can end this torment.”

Torment.

He’d been suffering with me all of these years, and now, he was asking me to end it.

I couldn’t be selfish enough to deprive him of that just to keep him close. If I did, I wouldn’t be any better than Sybil herself.

“I understand.” A tear slipped down my cheek before I could stop it. “You are the only reason I made it out of that cellar.”

“I was happy to be there for you, and I would make the same choice again and again if given the opportunity.”

Silence stretched between us, thick with understanding. Comprehension that I would have to eat Nebula’s soul and the dark magic that chained him to his skull.

But I didn’t want to—no part of me wanted to kill my best friend.

I still needed him.

Fates, I loved him so much.

He whispered, “Promise me, Pandora.”

I swallowed hard. “Promise you what?”

“Before you face off with Sybil, set me free so she can’t use my powers against you. Set me free so you can defeat her once and for all.”

My breath caught. “Nebula…”

“You have to promise me. If you stand any chance against Sybil Shaw, it’s without me here boosting her powers. And more than that, I’m tired . The Fates are calling me home, I can feel it. The dark magic is blocking them.”

I squeezed my eyes shut. “I?—”

“Promise me,” he urged. “Please, Pandora.”

Tears burned hot against my skin, dripping down in silent agony.

Nebula’s pain laced his disembodied voice, and I’d been so blind to it for all this time—too focused on my own struggles to realize that he was in agony from the dark magic curse that kept him alive.

My lips trembled as I forced the words out, as they tore from my throat like something dying. “I promise.”

“Good.” His disembodied voice sounded relieved as it wrapped around me. “Thank you.”

For a long time, neither of us spoke.

I felt Dex’s presence a few times, but he no doubt knew this was a conversation I needed to have with Nebula alone. He must’ve shared that with the rest of my mates, too, because they gave us the space we needed.

I wiped my face and turned to Nebula. “I’ll do this for you because I love you, but I’ll never forget you. You’re the best friend I’ll ever have. You’re my family, you know?”

“I know.” His whisper surrounded me. “You, Pandora, are my best friend and my family. I know you’ll do the right thing when the time comes. Don’t cry for me. Just…kill the witch for me, okay? Make sure she suffers.”

I stared back out the window at the rolling dunes and the sun that felt too harsh. My whole body trembled as I whispered, “Okay.”

I wished more than anything that love alone would’ve saved him, but I vowed to claim vengeance for him and kill Sybil Shaw in the worst way I could think of.