Page 57 of Ignited Spirits (Haunted Magic #3)
The closer we get to Lua, the more spirits we encounter, and the more often we’re attacked by spells. Our group manages to hold it all off pretty well, but there are casualties as we move at a sluggish pace.
We’re only a hundred feet from Lua, but we’re moving less than a foot a minute. I grow increasingly frustrated at how little progress we’re making and feel my magic bubble up in response to my agitation.
It fizzles out when I hear a mournful cry echo from hundreds of shifters. My stomach drops as I look around to try to figure out what happened. It takes me a moment to find Mateo on the ground, a huge hole in his chest. His brown eyes are wide and unblinking as his face is frozen forever in shock.
The jaguars around him are roaring in sorrow and rage and loss as someone lays a field blanket over the fallen alpha, covering him from view.
“No,” I whisper, my heart breaking into tiny pieces as I watch the jaguars grieve for their alpha.
He was a wise and fair and kind man who wanted nothing more than to help his people and give them a good life.
He was the rare type of leader who didn’t need to yell or swear or intimidate his prowl to make them listen.
Instead, they all followed him because they believed in who he was and what he was doing.
A couple of tears drip down my face as I can’t take my eyes off the man who was always kind to me. The man fought this fight that wasn’t his because he believed in the cause. The man who paid the ultimate price to keep those he loved safe.
The heartbreak and despair and guilt swirling around me coalesce into something jagged and sharp and powerful.
Anger infuses my veins and has my power whipping around me almost as furiously as Lua’s.
Determination fills me, and I’m striding through the spirits without a second thought, intent on taking out Lua before she can hurt anyone else.
Each spirit I touch heals almost instantly, although I don’t pay them much mind, because my gaze is locked on Lua. Later, if I survive this, I can marvel at how I can now heal spirits with a simple touch. But, right now, all I can feel is burning rage.
Lua swivels her head to lock eyes with me, as if she can sense my gaze on her.
She grins at me, the expression smug and cutting.
“Isabel Gallagher! Still think a pathetic mortal like you can defeat me? Look around you, sport. Your allies are dying in droves because you refuse to accept your fate. How many more lives will your selfishness cost?”
Each word is a fucking arrow into my chest. I’ve lived my whole life afraid that my magic would cost the lives of the people I love.
I worried for the past fourteen years that I would put everyone I ever cared about in danger.
I feared the day that anyone would learn about my magic or what I could do.
And all those worries have come true over the last month or so. My destiny of defeating Lua has put my family and friends in the most dangerous situation of their lives.
But at the end of the day, I know that all this death and suffering and carnage is on Lua. If I didn’t fight her, she’d still kill everyone to become powerful enough to take over the universe. Not stopping her wouldn’t lead to any less death.
The only option I’ve ever had is to see everything through. So, that’s what I’m going to do now. I’m going to stop Lua or die trying.
“I don’t know if I can defeat you, but I’ll keep trying until my dying breath,” I shout at her as I take off at a sprint toward her.
She tips back her head and lets out a deranged cackle that raises the hair on the back of my neck. “That can be arranged, sport.”
I thought Lua was expending a lot of magic before, but she triples the amount of power she’s throwing at our group as we make our way closer and closer to her.
Letting Levi, Hades, Legion, or whoever handle shielding our group, I focus on blasting my magic into as many of the damaged souls as I can.
The confused ghost faces around us make me feel kind of bad about hitting and quitting them, but I really can’t focus on the non-murdery spirits right now. If I’m still alive after this, I’ll help them get where they need to go, but right now, I can’t afford to divide my attention.
We’re making our way closer and closer to Lua in record time. With me being able to heal so many souls, others in our pack are able to deflect her magic, and still others are killing some of the ghosts. We’re only a few feet from her now.
I’m starting to feel like we might actually have a chance. I might be able to slip in there, stab her, and end this once and for all.
The feeling of elation doesn’t last long.
Lua notices how close we are to her and aims the biggest ball of magic yet at us. My eyes widen when I see a sphere of magic larger than Cerberus in his full form heading toward me.
I throw up a shield, hoping that everyone else is doing the same. I still brace myself for impact, even hoping it won’t get through.
The blast of magic shreds through our defenses like they’re nothing. I cry out as it feels like someone is shoving a blade into my chest when my shield is forcibly broken. But I don’t have much time to do anything other than accept my death as Lua’s magic for me.
Right before it hits me, Cain jumps in front of the magic meant for me in his hellhound form. I guess this form is big enough to block such a big blast because it hits him square in the chest and fizzles out.
I scream at the impact and watch helplessly as Cain transforms into his human form before his body even hits the water. He lands with a sickening thud in the river, his mouth twisted in a grimace and his eyes pinched shut in pain.
Sinking to my knees beside him, I shake him in vain, trying to get him to open those stunning green eyes of his.
“Cain!” I scream when I can’t get him to wake up.
I shake him a few more times before realizing that he isn’t breathing anymore.
Taking a hard look at the bloody, charred mass of his chest, I realize that he’s gone.
“No!” I wail as sobs rip from my chest, unwilling or unable to accept what happened.
As I kneel in the Styx with my heart shattering into a billion little pieces, the river calls to me and my magic.
Not really caring anymore what happens to me, as I’ve lost my quiet boy, I willingly let my power pour out and into the rushing river.
It feels weirdly cleansing, letting my tears and magic wash away into the same waters cradling Cain as he lies there, not seeming at peace even in death.
Letting all my magic flow out of me, I don’t fight the urge to allow my suddenly heavy eyelids to droop. At least until I hear god-awful shrieking start up. Lethargically, I open my eyes and look for the source of the sound. I startle when I realize it’s Lua screaming, not in victory but in panic.
The souls trapped in the waters of the Styx are rising up to surround Lua. With spectral forms, gaping holes for mouths, and glowing black eyes, these are nothing like the souls I usually encounter.
They’re digging their claws and teeth into her as she desperately tries to fight them off, but it’s no use. The damned souls start dragging her with them back into the murky depths of the Styx.
I watch in horror as what little I can see of her is pulled farther into the center of the river before she starts to disappear underwater, bloodcurdling screams leaving her the whole time. The sound abruptly cuts off when her head disappears underwater, despite her desperate thrashing.
It takes a long moment before the turbulent waters, where she was fighting for her life, finally calm.
When they do, the damaged souls she controlled vanish into thin air.
I have the briefest moment to realize that that’s it—Lua’s dead and we won—before blackness obscures my vision, and I surrender to unconsciousness.