15. Impasse—Sofie
I stood with my mouth agape, speechless.
“Yes, it’s been rather interesting, watching your precious little human cuckold you,” Incendia purred, a malicious smile curving his lips. Unda and Ventus joined in with a chortle that pained my eardrums.
I finally found my voice again. “I don’t believe you.”
“Really? It’s quite basic,” Terra began. “Evangeline was linked to Veronique through that pendant. You knew that. When the Tribe released her from its curse, it also released Veronique from hers. The curse of her tomb. I’m surprised you didn’t put two and two together. I expected more from you.”
“That was not a curse,” I began breathlessly. “I did that intentionally to preserve her, to—”
“We considered it a curse,” Ventus cut in flatly. “And so we ensured she was released.”
I stood silently, replaying all that I knew of the spell. Chills coursed through my body as realization set in. If this was true, that meant the same magic coursing through Evangeline’s body was in Veronique. She could be turning into Walking Death. She certainly couldn’t be touched by magic. She couldn’t be turned … My knees buckled beneath me and I crumbled into a heap on my pedestal, my hands holding my forehead. After all this. After all we had struggled through. No … no, it couldn’t be real.
I looked up to see Incendia’s eyebrow quirked as he looked from me to Terra, reading my mind. “No? Not real?” With a flourish of his hand, my surroundings morphed again. I heard feet splashing through shallow water a split second before two forms rushed around the bend. I frowned as Evangeline and Wraith passed by me.
“Why are you in the sewer?” I asked. They didn’t answer. They couldn’t hear me. I wasn’t really there. “What are they doing in the sewers, Terra?” I demanded angrily. “Where exactly are they going?” I already knew the answer. I recognized these sewers in particular. They were just below Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. If one knew the path, they would lead right into Viggo’s garage.
The vision blurred and I was back on my pedestal in front of the Fates. “Well, since you asked,” Incendia stepped forward, thoroughly enjoying being the bearer of bad news. “Your spell over that love-struck Bishop failed miserably. He took off to New York to seek vengeance, your dear friend Mage is chasing after him, allowing this troubled foursome the opportunity to run off to New York and try to change the fate of the world. I believe that about covers it.”
“No …” I whispered. Something didn’t make sense, though. “But why is she alone?”
“She’s not alone,” Terra reminded me.
“Oh, yeah. Sorry,” I rolled my eyes. “Why is she with Wraith and not the others?”
“Because she cares greatly for them and doesn’t want them to die,” Terra explained. “Quite gallant of her, don’t you agree?”
“So … are you ready? We’re granting you one request. One spell. But what will you choose? There are so many fires to put out, aren’t there?” Incendia’s hands clasped together triumphantly.
I set my jaw as I leveled him with a look. “No.”
A small twitch of his lip—perhaps amusement, perhaps irritation—was the only reaction my denial triggered.
“Are you sure?” The space changed again. I was now trailing behind Evangeline and Wraith as they crept up the stairs from the underground garage in Viggo’s place.
God, Evangeline! Why must you torture me like this? I chased after them as Wraith pushed through the door, as they entered the atrium, the destruction as vivid as I remembered it, right down to the heaps of charred bodies, to the cobblestone I’d torn up during my magical tantrum. Only now the pristine statue that had withstood more than a century, cocooning my sister, lay in chunks.
I didn’t get to spend long mourning that, given the other big difference in the atrium. The army of sorceresses. All staggered through the courtyard. All eyes locked on Evangeline.
All with flames at the ready.
They would kill her.
“Evangeline! Get out of there!” I screamed, knowing my words were heard by no one but the Fates. I watched in horror as she stole through the atrium quietly, heading toward the red doors. What was she doing? Couldn’t she and Wraith see the danger in front of them? I inhaled sharply when I realized that was exactly the problem. The witches had to be using a cloaking spell. They were walking straight into a trap.
“Evangeline!” I screamed out, stepping forward. The mirage fractured and I heard little crunches beneath my feet. I gasped as I looked down to find dozens of shattered worlds.
“Oh, don’t worry. Only four of those worlds were populated,” Terra confirmed, plucking the horror from my thoughts.
“That is quite the predicament your human is in,” Incendia goaded. I barely heard him. My mind was spinning in dizzying circles. How was this all possible? What was she doing? And how did she manage to evade every vampire and Max to get there? The wolves, I understood. They couldn’t smell her. But the others? Caden would never allow this! No, it couldn’t be real …
“It is real,” Terra purred.
I frowned, already shaking my head, playing the logic out in my head. “Then how did they make it into the atrium thirty seconds after being in the sewer?”
“Time means nothing to us,” Ventus explained. “You think you’ve experienced thirty seconds but really, it could have been five minutes, or five hours, or five days of your time. Regardless, I assure you, what you just saw is happening as we speak.”
“I don’t believe you,” I finally stated. “You’re trying to trick me.”
“Trick you? How? We’re simply giving you a chance! Think of it as a token thank-you for all your hard work and suffering.” Incendia’s thin lips curled. “Go ahead! Do nothing. In a few moments, none of this will matter anymore.”
I looked at Terra—my champion. She didn’t deny it; she didn’t try to convince me. She stood quietly. In that moment, I knew they were telling me the truth. All the turmoil that oozed out of Evangeline … it was over this, over burying such a deep, dark lie. But why would she?
Of course; because I would’ve stormed the place to save Veronique. Or Viggo and Mortimer would have. Either way, it was guaranteed doom. My little girl knew me too well.
“That is correct. Your Evangeline endured quite the internal struggle. She is stronger than we expected.”
“No shit,” I muttered. That girl couldn’t keep a secret for anything. How she had managed to stay silent on this was beyond me. But when Viggo discovered her lie … “Where is Viggo?”
“Do we look like an information center?” Unda retorted, her voice calm but nothing about her words were friendly. “We have agreed to grant you one spell. You can take advantage of that, or you can lose everything.”