Only now did I understand what kind of gift I"d been given, being chosen to fight for her. For both of them.
End this, a five-fold voice commanded.
h.e.l.l, yes. I was going to end this. Right here, right now.
The Shadow Man faded in color from coal to an ashen gray. He hissed as I strode toward him, then covered his eyes. My light filled the darkness, and there wasn"t any place he could hide. I swung the sword over my head and slashed down. He countered with the spear. I brushed the blow away one-handed, much like he had before. Now it was my turn to be the stronger one.
Again and again he swung and I deflected the blows like I was batting a fly. We danced around the cave, and he couldn"t touch me. In desperation, he swung one more time. I ducked and the spear tip struck the wall with such force the blade embedded itself into the rock. The Shadow Man pulled at it, looking over his shoulder as I advanced. But the spear wouldn"t dislodge.
His shoulders slumped as he turned to face me one last time.
One swing of the sword, and I slashed open his chest. The Shadow Man, the source of all my nightmares, fell hard against the floor. Sludge, like tar, oozed from his body onto the stone. I watched without pity as he writhed in agony. The Dark Master should have relieved his pain, but he didn"t. Like all of his creations, the Shadow Man was given life, only to wither and die if he failed.
A tempest filled the room, tugging at my clothes, and the Shadow Man vanished into ashes.
My sword"s light dimmed. I needed to get to Mamie before it went out entirely. Even now, shadows crowded the edges of the room and I could hear her crying softly in the dark.
My nightmares came rushing back and my stomach churned. I looked all over the room. The shadows had swallowed her up. Crying in the darkness, and I couldn"t find her. My light was no longer enough.
"Sis?" Where was she? We"d won-I was supposed to bring her home now.
The sword"s light dulled to a faint glow and rays of light leeched from my body as well, rising to the ceiling, then winking out. The cave grew dark. Cold, so cold. I fell to my knees, staring at my chest.
The pentagram disappeared as the healed knife slash reopened. Blood trickled onto my stomach. What was happening to me?
A fine film of dust floated down from the ceiling. A few seconds later, the ground trembled. "Mamie! Where are you?"
But it was only Tink"s voice, echoed by her brothers, that I heard. I"m so sorry, Matthew.
"What?" I slumped onto the ground, hands clasped over the wound, trying to keep the blood inside where it belonged. "Where is she? Where"s my sister?"
We held the Archers in our grace for as long as we could, but now we"ve come to the end.
Tears filled my eyes as my ribs cracked one-by-one. Then my leg snapped and I let out a howl, unable to control myself any longer. Good G.o.d, this hurt so bad. Worse than before, so much worse, without the fight to keep me together.
You rejoined us, but now light must rise to reclaim the heavens to ensure the rift closes, so humanity is forever protected from him. Light is not meant to be earthbound. It never has been, even if we were bound here for a time. But we can be bound no longer. It"s time.
Hadn"t my sister said something about time? But that thought slipped away as my other cuts opened up in reverse order from when I received them. The pain was intense, but not enough to ignore what was happening around me. The tremble I"d felt before was now more distinct and the floor shook. Cracks formed in the walls. Was this place coming down? The Shadow Man was gone, but I needed Mamie. That was the only part left undone. Where was she? I had to free her, to end the war before he came into our world.
"Mamie!"
No answer.
I tried to sit up, to crawl into the darkness to find her, but agony laced itself through my veins. Metal seeped from my wounds and I moaned, unable to move. The walls shuddered and groaned and pebbles rained down all around me. The sound of men shouting in fear came through the stone. Whatever was happening in here, it was affecting the outside, too.
"It didn"t work," I whispered. "We lost."
"Not yet," a soft voice said.
Light, soft as early morning, lit up the dark shadows at the back of the room, and there she was. The glow seemed to be coming from her, like it had in the Master"s plane. Mamie"s clothes-the clothes she"d been wearing when she was taken, not the white dress-were bloodied and torn and the shackle marks on her wrists were scabbed over, but her chains were gone. Where, I didn"t know. She had pulled her hair into a long braid down her back, and she smiled as she came to my side. Without the pigtails, she looked older, more resolute.
Like a fierce statue, a warrior angel coming to my defense.
"I"m sorry I"m late," she murmured. "I tried and tried to rip those chains apart, but I couldn"t. After you killed the Shadow, though, they just dissolved." She held up her wrists. "Thank you for setting me free."
The room rumbled violently and the shouts outside turned to cries. "Can you close the rift, then?"
"I will, but give me a minute," she said, wiping blood from my face. "Poor Matt. You need a hospital. And you"ll get to one. I promise."
"Mamie-" I paused to cough up something the consistency of coffee grounds, but my pain had faded to the background. I knew what that meant. I had minutes. Maybe. "My part"s done. It"s your turn now. It"s time to let me go so you can finish the job."
"Not yet," she said. Her tone was bright in the darkness. "We have a little time."
The arched doorway that led to the hall collapsed and stone crashed down. All around us, the walls shivered and shook. Outside, a strange, low growl overcame the shouts of the men. I knew, deep in my broken bones, the Master had come.
"I don"t think ... we do," I gasped. "He"s here."
Tears ran down the sides of my face. Why couldn"t I just pa.s.s out? But, no, then I wouldn"t get to see my sister for the last time. Now that I was about to lose her, I couldn"t get my fill of looking at Mamie. I"d never really realized how beautiful she was, here in real life. Angel didn"t do her justice. Her eyes shone clear and her smile lit up the darkness.
A convulsive shudder ran through my body. Cold. Then I saw them, everyone; ghosts now, no longer mine. Ella"s face that night in D.C. Will laughing at something Penn said. Uncle Mike cracking his knuckles. Mom"s office, wrecked with boxes on trial week. Dad, nodding his approval. Brent ...
I"d see him soon.
"After you close ... the rift," I managed to reach Mamie"s cheek, touch her face. "Tell everyone ... I love them. Tell Ella-"
Mamie pressed her hands to her eyes. "Stay strong-understand me? You"ll be all right. I promise."
Every breath was a struggle. "You need ... to face it .... I"m dying."
"No, Matt. Your life is my gift," she murmured. "The prize for following through." Mamie glanced up at the ceiling and nodded. "Last wishes, remember?"
I forgot the pain a minute. My heart squeezed. "Sis? What are you-?"
Mamie moved to the center of the cavern, heedless of the falling rocks and not seeming to care about the large crack opening up in the floor behind her. She smiled. "You"re hurt really badly, so I don"t blame you for being a little slow."
I stared at her. She was so calm, so serene. "I don"t understand-"
"It"s like Tink told you-Light isn"t earthbound," she said. "It belongs to the stars, as it always has. And my time has come."
Tears ran down her face, but she looked fulfilled in a way I"d never seen. Thousands of hints came roaring back. The fact she dropped out of school. The sad, exhausted demeanor in D.C. The distance. Her reminder never to forget who I was. To always remember her love. To do what I had to do.
No. This wasn"t .... She couldn"t ....
"You"re wrong!" I said. Gasping for air, I shouted to the roof, "Tell her, Tink! Tell her she"s wrong!"
No answer.
I dragged myself a few inches, but couldn"t reach her. She was too far-because that"s what she wanted.
Mamie smiled at me, then touched her fingers to her lips. "I love you. Never forget that."
She took out her sapphire earrings, the ones I"d given her for high school graduation, and laid them on the ground. Desperate now, I clawed my way toward her, knowing I was too late.
"Tink, you better keep your promise to me." She cast me a bleak look, her eyes full of a fathomless weariness. "He"s the only brother I have left."
She raised her arms to the crumbling ceiling and shouted, "What was bound has been set free! Now light must rise to reclaim the heavens, so the rift mends forever. And so it shall be."
A flash of light burst from my sister"s hands. The ceiling fell away, giving us a view of the sky. The black hole had swallowed up almost everything above us. Only the faintest hints of faded gray sky rimmed the edges of the broken rock and the writhing darkness was eating away at the little bit that remained.
Mamie"s light reached up, higher and higher, until it collided with the black hole. A sunburst exploded into shooting stars that broke the darkness. The sky started creeping back into the existence. The darkness pushed against it, growing a little, and my sister"s forehead wrinkled as she strained to contain it.
The howling, the shouts, the cries-everything fell silent. Mamie stood completely still, face turned up to the war in the sky as light poured from her very skin. As I watched, struggling for breath, my sister began to fade. The more the sky ate into the black hole, reducing its size, the dimmer she became. Finally, when the darkness went from a pinpoint to nothing, the sky regained its color and a shower of sparks fell to earth in trails of silver. The sunset glowed orange over the dune once more, and Mamie"s light winked out.
"You did it," I rasped. "You closed the rift. You saved us."
A single tear ran down her cheek, then my sister collapsed. A whisper, much like Tink"s voice, echoed in my head. This time, though, it wasn"t Tink calling to me from the cosmic plane. It was Mamie.
Goodbye, Matt.
The sound lingered for a moment, then pa.s.sed with a sigh.
Light was no longer earthbound.
Chapter Thirty-Nine.
The barrier holding my team back fell away, no longer needed in a world safe from the dark. Because an angel gave her life in redemption of ours.
A sacrifice that shattered what little was left of my heart.
Footsteps, many of them, pounded the hard stone. "Daisy! Daisy May!" Mike"s cries echoed against the rocks as he flung himself down next to her. "Oh, G.o.d, Daisy. Open your eyes, baby. Help! Medic!"
Aunt Julie dropped down next to him, barking orders, but Johnson knelt by Mamie"s other side and touched his large fingers to her throat. With a shuddering breath, he shook his head and buried his face in his hands. He knew there was no going back, that the world had forever changed.
In the confusion, no one noticed me lying in a pool of my own blood on the stone floor, except for one person. The one person I could always count on.
The only brother I had left.
Will leaned over me to press his jacket against the wound in my chest. "You don"t get to die today, understand?" His voice was barely a rasp, angry and hurt. "You will live through this. I swear to G.o.d you will. Hear me? You stay with us."
A tear splashed onto my face.
Then it all went dark.
Chapter Forty.
The incessant beeping crept into my consciousness before anything else did. Voices sped up, slowed to a crawl. I knew I should wake up, that I"d been lost for a long time. But something pressed me to stay in oblivion, and I drifted.
Until a single shard of light flickered in my brain.
Mamie.
My eyes flew open and I let out a shout, fighting get up. The room had nice furniture and heavy curtains on the windows, but I was in a hospital bed and my whole body ached. I had a cast on my leg, taped ribs, st.i.tches and bandages everywhere. All of those impediments, along with my IV and blood pressure cuff, trapped me to the mattress.
"Mamie!" I shouted. If I called loud enough for her ...
People rushed to my hospital bed. Mom and Dad, pale and worried. Two nurses in lavender scrubs. Uncle Mike, unshaven with bloodshot eyes. A doctor with gla.s.ses and a long white coat.
"Lucy, get me some valium." The doctor said to a nurse over his shoulder as he held my leg still. "Matt, you can"t move so much. You"ll reinjure yourself."
The door banged open. Aunt Julie and Will ran into the room, both bruised and panicked. Will"s right hand was wrapped past his wrist in gauze.
It was a nightmare, it had to be. None of this was real. I was hopped up on pain pills and I"d dreamed the whole thing. I was still dreaming.
"Where is she?" I looked wildly at Mom. She was choking back a sob. No. No, this wasn"t right. "Where are Brent and Mamie? Why aren"t they here?"
Please don"t say it, please don"t say it, please don"t say it, please don"t say- "They"re dead, sweetheart."
"He hasn"t spoken a word for two days," Mom said outside my hospital room, her voice cracking. "Erik, I can"t lose them all."
"He"ll find his way back," Dad said. "It"s a dark place, where he"s gone. But he"s my son. I found my way back. So will he."
I closed my eyes. I didn"t want to come back.
Someone knocked and I turned away from the door. Soon it"d be the doctor telling me it was time to leave Fort Carson. General Richardson had commandeered the senior officers" private hospital room for me, but I couldn"t stay here forever. My leg, encased in a brace now, could bear some weight if I used a crutch to help, and my st.i.tches would come out day after tomorrow. I"d have to head home then, even if I didn"t want to go. Day four since I regained consciousness, and I still couldn"t speak. Every time I tried, I wanted to scream, so I stayed mute. Didn"t talk when Mom cried at my bedside. Didn"t say h.e.l.lo to the nurses when they did their business. Stared into s.p.a.ce when the military shrink came to visit. I couldn"t even look at Will or Mike or Johnson. How could I, knowing Mamie"s last wish was to save my life? Why was I still here when my brother and sister weren"t?
The door hissed as it swung open and a person with a heavy tread lumbered into the room. I lay on my side, facing away from him, but I knew who it was by the sound of his walk.
"I brought something for you," Will said. He sounded hoa.r.s.e, exhausted to his bones. "Flew a long way to get it."