CHAPTER 15
DREYA
T he problem with getting profound magical advice from ancient guardian spirits is that it tends to make you forget about the more mundane aspects of life. Like making sure we had enough lights and balloons to decorate for this Light Fae celebration. I was in the middle of doing a final inventory of our balloon arch supplies when the first tear appeared right in the middle of our storage barn. The air split open like someone had taken metaphysical scissors to it. It gave me an uncomfortably close view of about five different versions all stacked on top of each other.
"Well, that's just perfect timing," I muttered, watching as my carefully organized supplies flickered between dimensions. "We get the guardian circles properly activated, and reality decides to start unraveling anyway."
"Dre!" Phi's voice carried from outside. It was tight with the kind of tension that made my healer's instincts go on high alert. "Shit has hit the fan! We've got more tears forming! The crystal's power signature is off the charts!"
Because, of course, it was. The Lost Legends couldn't wait until after we'd finished setting up the party and got our trap prepped to start their reality-breaking ritual. That would have been too convenient. I grabbed what was left of my emergency kit and headed out. I mentally cataloged what supplies we might need for dealing with whatever fresh hell this was.
The sight that greeted me made me seriously question if I had enough healing power to deal with the crap that was about to go down. The plantation grounds, which had been glowing with the gentle power of the guardian circles just hours ago, now looked like someone had gotten drunk while editing a movie about quantum physics. Slices of fuckery hung in the air like broken mirrors. Each one showed a different version of events.
Through one of the tears, I caught a glimpse that made my healer's soul want to scream. The Lost Legends had the crystal suspended in some kind of energy field. Its pure light - the same light we'd just learned was meant for harmony and connection - was corrupted with streaks of sickly purple. Hannah and the other guardians had shown us what the crystal's power was supposed to look like. This was about as far from that as you could get.
Steve appeared at my side. His steady presence warmed me as more tears opened around us. "They're following the ley lines," he reported, gesturing to where new rifts were forming. "The pattern matches what you guys showed me after the Jackson Square incident."
Before I could respond, reality hiccupped, and suddenly we weren't alone. Our visitor looked like she'd raided a Hot Topic store. Her hair shifted colors depending on which tear you viewed her through. Perfect. Because what we really needed right now was more chaos.
"Well," she said, surveying our disaster zone with entirely too much enthusiasm, "this is delightfully messy."
"Who are you?" Dani demanded. Her protective magic was already gathering around her. We'd learned not to trust people who appeared out of nowhere. Especially, someone who looked at this chaos like it was an amusing art installation.
"Maeve," our visitor replied with a dramatic bow that somehow happened in multiple dimensions at once. "Dimensional witch extraordinaire. And you, my dears, have a rather impressive reality crisis on your hands."
"No shit," Kota muttered, dodging as another tear opened nearby. I shot her a look, but honestly, she had a point.
I studied Maeve more closely. My magical senses picked up something that made my head hurt. Her energy signature was wrong. Or not wrong, exactly. It was spread out as if she existed in multiple places simultaneously. It reminded me of trying to look at one of those 3D pictures where you have to cross your eyes to see the actual image.
"The crystal," Maeve said, moving to examine one of the tears with the casual air of someone inspecting an interesting wallpaper pattern, "was never meant to be used like this. They're forcing it to bridge realities and tear open pathways between dimensions. It's rather like using a delicate surgical tool as a sledgehammer."
That comparison made my healer's soul cringe. Through the growing number of rifts, I could see more of what the Lost Legends were doing. The crystal's corruption was spreading like a disease. Its pure energy was being twisted into something dark and hungry. Each pulse sent new cuts ripping through everything and creating alternatives that shouldn’t exist.
"They've started the final ritual," Phi announced. Her detection equipment was actually smoking. My scientifically-minded sister looked more worried than I'd seen her since our mother was fighting breast cancer. "These rifts are preparation for something bigger."
"Much bigger," Maeve agreed, waving her hand in a gesture that left trails across multiple dimensions. Show- off. "They're trying to break down the barriers between their constructs completely. They want to access all possible timelines simultaneously so they can pick and choose which to include in their remaking."
I immediately understood the implications. "The human mind isn't meant to process multiple realities at once," I said, already thinking about the catastrophic effects this would have. "Even supernatural beings aren't built for that kind of exposure."
"Why risk it?" Lia asked as she clenched her sparking fists.
"Power, of course," Maeve replied with another reality-bending gesture. "If you can access every possible reality, you can create the one where you have everything you want. You can rewrite history to your liking. Become gods of your own infinite multiverse."
"That sounds..." Dea started.
"Completely insane?" Lia suggested.
"I was going to say catastrophically dangerous, but that works too." Dea laughed nervously.
Another tear ripped open. This one was larger than the others. Through it, we had a clear view of the Lost Legends in their robes. They were arranged around the crystal in a pattern that made me recoil in horror. What they were doing was like watching someone perform open-heart surgery with a rusty spoon. It was technically possible but guaranteed to end in disaster.
"There might be a way," Maeve said thoughtfully, "to separate the crystal from their influence. To sever their connection before they complete the ritual."
I felt my stomach drop. In my experience, when someone says something like that in that tone of voice, they're about to suggest something that's going to hurt. A lot. "I'm sensing a 'but' coming," I replied as I reached for my magic. Something told me I was going to need to be powered up and ready to go.
"But," Maeve confirmed with a smile that somehow existed in several dimensions at once, "the cost would be significant." She paused, watching another rift form. "Breaking that kind of connection, especially when they're using your own power to strengthen it... Let's just say it would leave marks. That would be painful."
"Define 'marks'," Dani demanded. She was using her 'don't bullshit me' voice. It usually made even the scariest supernatural beings think twice.
Maeve didn't seem impressed. "Think of reality as a tapestry," she explained, gesturing to everything around us. "What they're doing is pulling threads loose and unraveling the pattern. To stop them, you'd need to cut those threads entirely. The tapestry would heal. Eventually. However, the scars would remain as permanent tears in the fabric of space-time."
My instincts were screaming now. Reality wasn't meant to scar. The implications for the natural flow of energy and the balance of power... "And what would that mean for New Orleans? And the rest of the planet?" I asked, already dreading the answer.
"Oh, nothing too dramatic," Maeve said with disturbing cheerfulness. "There would be some permanent dimensional instabilities. Areas where time flows differently. Places where reality might be a bit... flexible."
"Fantastic," I muttered. "Because this city wasn't weird enough already."
My heart skipped a beat when the Lost Legends began the next phase of their ritual. The crystal's corruption was spreading faster now. I could feel reality stretching thin like skin pulled too tight over a wound. Taking the additional power from them doesn’t seem to have impacted them in the least.
"We're running out of time," Phi announced as she checked her readings with hands that barely shook. "These rifts are spreading exponentially. Once they reach critical mass..."
"Reality goes boom?" Lia suggested, her usual snark barely hiding real fear.
"More like reality goes 'oops, I forgot how to exist' and then everything everywhere everywhen happens simultaneously," Maeve corrected with entirely too much enthusiasm. "Which would be fascinating to watch, assuming anyone survived to do the watching."
I took a deep breath and centered myself. "What's the actual cost?" I asked through the chaos. "For separating the crystal from them?"
Maeve's expression turned serious, which was somehow more unsettling than her previous cheer. "It would require a sacrifice. A willing severance of your own connection to the crystal. Not permanently," she added quickly, seeing our expressions, "but long enough to create a, let's call it a power vacuum. Something to disrupt their ritual at its peak."
I immediately understood what she wasn't saying. "The backlash would be catastrophic," I said quietly. "That much corrupted energy flowing back through a severed connection..."
"Most people wouldn't survive it," Maeve confirmed as she cut me off. "Even with your enhanced abilities, it would be unpleasant."
"Unpleasant like that time I tried to heal a possessed alligator? Or unpleasant like that time we thought Lia was going to die from swelling in her brain after being attacked by a Skinwalker?" I asked, trying to gauge just how bad this would be.
"More like having your entire existence temporarily scattered across multiple dimensions," she replied. "With a side of possibly being erased from history. Temporarily. Probably."
I looked at my sisters. I saw the same conflict in their faces that I felt. Resolve and determination quickly followed. We'd come too far to back down now. Even if the cost was higher than we'd expected. Besides, what was a little temporal dissolution between families? That's when it hit me. Our connection. The very thing that had always been our strength.
"There might be a way," I said slowly, my mind racing through the possibilities. "Not to avoid the cost, but to share it. We can spread the backlash across all of us and maybe through the brothers if we need to. We’ve known we need better grounding before dealing with the Legends, perhaps this is how we accomplish that." I was still so new to the magical world that I couldn’t be sure it would work. I thought of it as distributing the shock of a massive injury across multiple systems instead of letting it overwhelm just one.
"That's..." Maeve paused, looking genuinely impressed for the first time. "That's either brilliant or suicidal. Possibly both."
"Story of our lives," Lia quipped, but I could see the worry in her eyes. My sister might joke about most things, but even she knew when we were pushing the boundaries of what was possible.
"We need to decide now," Phi said urgently. Her detection equipment was practically screaming.
"Before we commit to this potentially existence-ending plan," Steve said as his hand landed on my shoulder, "maybe we should discuss the actual mechanics of how you're going to share a magical backlash that could scatter you across multiple dimensions?"
The faith in his touch centered me. It also reminded me why we were risking this. Some things were worth fighting for. Even if the fight might temporarily erase you from existence.
"Oh, that's the easy part," Maeve replied as she extended her hand and pulled what looked like a crystal prism from somewhere. Possibly another dimension. "We just need to synchronize your connections to the crystal before attempting to sever their link. Like tuning instruments before deliberately shattering them."
"That's not as reassuring as you seem to think it is," I informed her.
"The good news," Phi said, "is that our existing shield network should help distribute the backlash more evenly. The bad news is that it'll also amplify whatever feedback we get from the crystal."
"The plantation's guardian spirits," I said, thinking of their willingness to help as they taught us about the circles. "Could the circles help stabilize us during the backlash if the guardians agree to it?"
"We will help." Hannah's voice came from behind us, making me jump. I hadn’t realized they were there. "As we have always chosen to protect this place and its power."
The other guardian spirits appeared as well. Their presence created pockets of stability in the chaos. Their power felt like the opposite of the crystal's corruption. “Thank you,” Lia told them. “Your choice will save the world.”
“Let’s do it then,” Maeve said as she began to set up what looked like the world's most complicated crystal array. Her movements were precise despite existing in multiple dimensions. "This will take perfect timing," she warned. "We'll need to sever your connections at exactly the right moment. When their ritual reaches its peak but before they can complete it."
"And if our timing is off?" I asked, though I already knew the answer.
"Best case scenario? Temporary existence failure. Worst case? You experience every possible version of this moment simultaneously until you explode in a shower of goo."
"Remind me to never let you talk to any of my patients," Dea muttered.
Through the tears, we could see the Lost Legends' ritual building toward its climax. The crystal's corruption was almost complete. "Okay," I said, looking at my sisters. "Last chance to back out."
"Really?" Lia scoffed. "After everything we've been through? Please. Being temporarily erased from existence is practically an average day for us at this point."
"Besides," Dani added with a grim smile, "someone has to be around to heal reality after we break it."
"And to stop you from adopting any temporally displaced beings," Kota teased.
"Or starting a collection of interdimensional artifacts," Phi finished.
Steve's presence behind me was steady, as always. "Just come back to me. Or, I’ll make those assholes pay.”
Maeve's crystal array hummed with power. The guardian spirits took their positions. Their ancient power helped to anchor the shifting reality around us. "Remember," she instructed as we took our places, "don't fight the backlash when it comes. Let it flow through you. Like water finding its level. Resist, and you'll shatter instead of bend."
I looked at my sisters. These amazing women who'd faced everything from ghosts to evil loa to Marie at her worst. We'd discovered our heritage, embraced our destiny, and were now about to risk temporal dissolution to save reality itself. "Together?" I asked, though I already knew the answer.
"Together," they confirmed.
As Maeve's crystals began to glow in multiple dimensions at once, I felt the guardian spirits' power flow around us. It helped to anchor us as reality began to buckle. "Here goes everything," I muttered. "And possibly nothing. And maybe everything else simultaneously."