Darkness clouded my immediate vision. We weren’t knocked out like the last time, but we also weren’t privy to the path from the Mother’s realm. We fell, and yet at the same time it was like floating. The strangest dueling sensations. I couldn’t speak with the other girls, but I could feel them there, beside me. The familiar energy continued to ebb and wane between us. Our time in the white realm had strengthened our power. Now, even when we weren’t tethered together, there was still a link there. We were irrevocably tied to each other now.
My contemplations were cut short as the darkness started to recede. A blast of white light rocketed across my eyes and forced them shut. I must have lost a few minutes, because when I managed to pry my lids open I was no longer moving. I was flat on my stomach, the rough rockiness of the cave floor beneath my body and face.
“Abby! Abbs … are you okay? Speak to me or I’ll pixie-dust your ass.”
We were back. My heart jolted into overdrive at the next voice.
“Give her a minute, Lucy. I can feel the bond kicking in again. Cerberus is here and awake. Abby is going to be okay.” Brace sounded calm but tense as he attempted to talk down my crazy best friend.
Still, I knew when I looked at him he’d have that rigid jaw thing going on.
Hey, baby.
He used our bond and called me ‘baby’. Insert massive sigh right there.
Hey, yourself. I wrapped his warmth and energy around myself.
An emotional resonance streaked across my soul as it reacquainted itself with its mate.
What happened?
The Mother had said that she’d slowed time for us. Brace hadn’t been here when we’d collapsed, so how much time had passed?
After your call, Jedi and I got here as fast as we could. But it was too late. You and the girls were down, and we’ve been trying to wake you for the last few minutes.
Okay, so we had only lost a few minutes. Brace reached down and hauled me to my feet. I knew he was running through the mental images in my mind of everything which had happened in the white realm. To speed things up I filled in the rest of the blanks. Brace seemed slightly impressed about my name-dropping; you know, just chilling with the Mother of All. Well, impressed and worried.
Around the room, the other girls were helped up by their mates, or other Walkers. I reached out and grasped Lucy’s hand, before pulling her in for a hug.
“If I get gray hair, Abbs, I’m totally kicking you in the ass,” she said against me. “And why the heckers do all of you have permanent marks now? What happened?”
I laughed and pulled back. Then the half-Walkers and I quickly explained what had happened to us. I wasn’t sure they all believed our story; some of them were probably wondering if we’d smashed our heads a little too hard.
Ria had just finished telling them of our journey home when I realized that something was bugging me about this room.
I swiveled my head before taking a step into the stone area. “Where are the Seventine? And what happened to the prison?”
The purple light was gone. The area where the opening to the prison had been was closed over now, and only stone remained. Not to mention that I couldn’t sense the first.
“Uh …” Lucy quickly glanced at Brace before coming back to me. “When you all tried to join, the energy blast knocked us all down. Even me. And I was almost out of the mountain. Brace found me, and by the time we got back the Seventine ... they …”
“They freed the seventh. They’re no longer spirit but solid form, and they’re out there leading their army.” Brace picked up where she trailed off.
Shit!
The Mother must have known that our joining had given them enough energy – combined with what they already had – to free their brother. I wondered why she hadn’t told us they were all free. Probably thought we wouldn’t be able to concentrate long enough to learn our abilities. In her own way, she had given us the only shot we had to beat them.
I turned to Jedi, my eyes focusing on the handsome princeps. “Is the ritual still the same now? I know you said it was going to be more difficult …” I trailed off.
Dark eyes, with that unusual ring of silver around the pupil, remained unblinking as he hesitated to speak. “Yes, it’s going to be much harder now they’re free and in physical form. I believe the basis of the ritual is the same, but I need some time to double check. I feel we’re missing something. When the Seventine were still in the prison, that essence would draw the rest of them in. That’s what the ritual did. But now, how does it work?” He muttered a few times. “I need to speak with Nos. He’s our best bet for information.”
Ria’s face perked up at the mention of her father. Nos retained the memories of all past clan members that had held his position. If he decided to share, he could be a veritable well of information.
I took a few deep breaths. “Okay, well we get one chance at this, Jedi, so please hurry and figure out each step. Find me as soon as you know what we need to do. Until then the rest of us will try and keep the Seventine from destroying everything.”
Jedi bowed his head toward me. “I just wish … you were going into this battle with more of the original energies. To lock the Seventine away now. It will take too much from you.”
I knew that, but we had no choice. The rest of the original power was with Que, and as far as I knew he had not been released yet.