He was talking to Rhys and Nara but kept glancing at us.
“He’s been morose since you left,” Raine continued. “I’m not sure whether it’s because he misses you or he really does feel whatever Celestia is feeling. Don’t leave without me. I need to talk to Torin before he leaves. He’s not going to believe what you just told me. My best friend is one of the roosters. Wow.” She hugged me again then took off.
The second we entered Eirik’s room, Dev rushed to Celestia’s side. Tammy still kept vigil from the other side, and the same healer who’d mentioned the three roosters stepped away from the bed and walked to Raine. She kissed her hand and bowed.
“It is an honor to meet you,” she said.
“Thank you.” But Raine’s focus was on Celestia. “Have you figured out what’s wrong with her?”
“No,” she said sadly. “But the young goddess said a friend she healed was coming.”
“That’s him.” I introduced Dev to the healers. “Celestia healed him before she lost consciousness, so compare his energy to the one you felt inside her.”
Dev’s aquamarine eyes clouded. “Celestia’s a giver, not a taker. Remember how she checked my energy before she healed me? All I felt was the flow of her life force toward me. I would never harm her or contaminate her energy. If I did, I’d willingly give up my life to save hers.”
The anguish on his face said he was suffering with Celestia, but I had to confirm it. “I understand what you are saying, Dev. But we need to confirm it because the healers detected another energy and memories that cannot be hers.”
“Memories? Her memories didn’t blend with mine, or I would have some of hers.”
I sighed. “Dev—”
“Okay. If it eases your mind, doll-face, I’ll let them check.” He sat on a chair and smiled at the two healers. Raine and I stood behind his chair as the two Dwarves pressed their pudgy hands on his forehead and chest.
Eirik returned wearing some outfit that looked like a scuba suit. He frowned when he saw Dev.
“Did he?” he asked.
I shook my head. “They are still comparing?”
“They’re inside my head,” Dev grumbled. Raine and I exchanged a glance. Dev had done terrible things, the same things the healers had seen in Celestia’s heads. On the other hand, he’d recently done so many amazing things. The Dwarves mumbled in their language.
“What are they saying?” Raine asked.
“I don’t know.” Eirik marched off to the living room, then we heard him yell to the guards to find Lavion. When he returned, his Dwarf friend was with him. “Translate what they are saying.”
We waited while Lavion talked to the healers. “They’ve never seen energies so alike. They want to know if Celestia and Dev are twins.”
“She healed him. That’s all they need to know,” Eirik said. “Is the other energy his?”
“I’ll tell you what they find out, Eirik,” I said. “You need to shower and change. Mother expects us in the Throne Hall as soon as you are ready.”
He nodded, stared at Celestia one last time, then disappeared into the bathroom.
“Enough,” Dev said firmly in a voice I’d never heard him use before. He pushed the hands of the Dwarves away and stood. “I didn’t do this to her, but I’ll find out what’s wrong with her even if I have to die again to do it.”
“Dev,” I protested.
“If I have to be a soul again to help her, I will. Rhys. Nara.” The Grimnirs entered the room. He spoke rapidly in Druidic language. All I got was a brief sentence here and there, but they were enough. The shock on their faces must have mirrored mine.
“What’s going on?” Raine whispered.
“He just asked Rhys and Nara to find a way to… to kill him,” I said, my voice breaking. Celestia had sacrificed herself for him, and now he was doing the same for her.
“What? But his soul can’t really replenish her life force,” Raine muttered.
“He wants us to find a way to drain his life force and give it back to her. That’s something some healers can do,” Nara said, fighting tears. “They take from one and give to another, killing the giver in the process.”
Rhys looked furious, but he didn’t speak. Objecting to what Dev was suggesting meant agreeing to sacrifice Celestia. Besides, Dev’s expression said he’d do it whether they agreed to help him or not.
He walked around the bed, sat on the chair, and took Celestia’s hand. He closed his eyes. “Celestia, mon mhuirnín. Thank you for the best two weeks of my life. You gave me a chance to reconcile with my brothers and sister, talk, eat, and drink with them. I would not have had this opportunity if it weren’t for you.”
Tears filled my eyes.
“I can feel you struggle to break free, but you can’t without my help, so I’m going to freely give you what you’ve given me.” He opened his eyes and looked at the two Dwarf healers. “You will transfer my life force into her. You both have the gift.”
The two Dwarves watched him with stricken expressions. Rhys and Nara were having an argument by the door and moved closer. No one could stop Dev. Giving up his life for Celestia’s was his decision.
“This is crazy,” Raine said.
“It can’t be”—my voice shook so much I had to stop and clear my throat—“the only solution.”
“What solution?” Eirik asked, stepping into the bedroom in a bathrobe, his hair wet. No one spoke. We were all fighting tears.
“I’ve decided to give back what she gave me,” Dev said. “It will be enough to jumpstart her healing. Whatever is stopping her from regenerating her life force will no longer be there. I don’t care about my life. I will not let her fade away while I live.”
“Neither will I,” Tammy said. She’d been quiet, until now. “If Dev and I both gave her some of our life force, we could all survive. She will not forgive herself if you sacrificed yourself for her, Dev. But between the two of us, we might help her and still survive.”
“No!” Everyone turned to look at me, but I was looking at Eirik. His expression said he couldn’t believe I was choosing Dev over Celestia. “Dev, you said something is stopping her from regenerating her life force. The evidence has been there all this time, and I didn’t see it.”
“See what?” he asked.
“Celestia generates more life force than most people, yet she’s in a coma. That’s what I’d expect from someone like me after I’m possessed. Do you remember, Raine, when I’d let a soul possess me without medium runes? My energy would drain, and I had to nap to rejuvenate. Even with medium runes, I still get drained. Imagine a soul staying inside me indefinitely.”
“It would drain your energy or drive you crazy,” Dev said.
“Exactly, except we are dealing with Celestia, who is like an Energizer battery. She keeps generating more.”
They all continued to stare at me like I was crazy.
“Celestia is possessed. Something or someone is inside her right now, constantly draining her energy. The memories the healers saw are not Celestia’s. They belong to whoever possessed her. The same with the energy the healers detected. It belongs to the thing inside her.”
“But the energy inside her is weak,” the Dwarf healer said.
“I can’t explain that. All I know is she’s displaying classic symptoms of possession.”
“Do you remember when we were at your place and she astral projected to find the person who’d stolen your blanket?” Raine asked. “She said something powerful and dark had chased her.”
“And when she healed the villagers in J?tunheim and Gj?ll Pass days later, she’d grown tired quickly,” Eirik said. “That’s why I was worried about her healing Dev.”
“When she healed Dev, her energy dropped so low, but the sucker is still mooching off her and barely keeping her alive.” I was getting really pissed. Why hadn’t I seen it before? I’d been so caught up with meeting and learning about my parents, and the drama with Echo, I’d stopped thinking. I engaged my medium runes and locator runes, and moved closer to Celestia.