That was new.
Coughing, the guys clambered back, and Omi threw several red bolts at them. The bolts hit them on the chest and shoulders, sending them flying several feet. They landed on their backs.
Imha charged them, producing two Black Thorns on her palms.
Oh, God.
I jumped from the altar, not sure what I was doing, but knowing I had to do something. I took a step and kicked something.
The Crimson Dagger.
Morgan had kept that damn thing all this time. I wondered if he also kept …
I crouched down and searched his pockets. I found the vial in one of his belt pockets. There was only one drop inside. He probably used it to disenchant Keisha’s armor. Ugh, only the Fates knew what else he had used it on, what else he had done against us.
Rushing, I opened the vial and let the drop fall over the blade. Without hesitation, I shot up and ran—or better, limped—around the altar toward Imha.
“Hey, bitch,” I called her.
Surprised, she paused, giving me enough time to aim. I threw a dagger at her, missing on purpose, distracting her of my real objective as I threw the Crimson Dagger.
She tilted her head back and cackled. “By the Everlast, Nadine, what a lou—” She looked down at the Crimson Dagger in her chest.
I snickered. “Lousy aim?”
One second later she disappeared into thin air, taking along Omi and the demons.
Everyone else stilled, looking at me.
“What was that?” Ceris asked, carefully approaching me.
The adrenaline was wearing out. I leaned on the altar for support. “Morgan still had the vial with the fountain water. I put the last drop on the dagger and threw it at her, wishing her and all her associates to appear in a deep cave in the South Pole.”
“Clever,” Micah said, standing up. The wounds on his shoulders and chest were already healing. “I like that.”
Heat crept up my cheeks.
Keisha put an arm over my shoulder and kissed my cheek. “You’re my hero!”
Ceris stood before me, her eyes on mine. “You truly are a hero.”
“Whatever you are, you’re amazing.” Zelen patted my back.
I winced.
“What is it?” Victor asked.
Micah pushed through them and reached to me. “Her wound.”
The cloth he had tied around me was gone, and my shirt and the side of my pants were soaked in blood.
Exhaustion and pain flooded me, and I slid to the floor. Micah passed his arms under my knees and shoulders, and pulled me to him.
A huge groan shook the mountain.
“It’s going to explode,” Izaera said. “Any second now.”
“We need to be outside to transport to another place,” Ceris said.
“Let’s go, then,” Victor said.
Holding me tight, Micah ran back to the entrance with the others. I rested my cheek on his chest and closed my eyes, welcoming the sleepiness.
I could feel heat and more tremors, but I wasn’t sure if it was the volcano or me.
“Stay with me, darling,” Micah whispered. “Please, stay with me.”
I tried to stay with him, I really did, but I had no strength or will left.
When the darkness closed around me, I couldn’t fight it.
33
The front door opened, and Ceris stepped out onto the porch.
She sat in the rocking chair beside mine. “Here,” she said, handing me a new mug with steamy coffee. “It’s black.”
I dropped the empty mug over the railing and took the new mug from her. “Thanks.” I sipped the hot liquid, kind of pleased when it burned my throat.
“How are you?” she asked.
Everyone asked me that every two minutes.
Apparently, I had lost consciousness when we were halfway through the first tunnel, right before the volcano erupted. They got outside with a second to spare and took us back to the island. Victor tended my wound. It was deeper than Micah first assumed, and I had lost a lot of blood. Victor performed a small surgery, transfused blood, and all that jazz. I stayed in bed, in and out of consciousness for four days. Keisha told me Micah barely left my side. Meanwhile, Ceris, Victor, and Izaera were out most of the time, looking for a new place for us. Since Morgan had been working with Omi, we didn’t know if the island had been compromised or not, and we didn’t want to risk it.
When I woke up, I cried nonstop for a couple of hours, feeling extremely guilty for having killed Morgan. They all assured me there was nothing we could have done to save him. I had saved Micah’s life. Oh, I had saved all their lives, which was another thing they kept saying every two minutes.
Ceris explained to me what she believed happened at the altar. I had the ability to heal Victor and Micah, and this same healing power was the key ingredient to “heal” them from human to god form. My healing was the power required for the altar to do its thing. Which sounded crazy, but we seemed surrounded by crazy.
I was freaking tired of it all.
I had escaped to the porch early in the morning, when I knew everyone was still sleeping. This was the third day that I sat here, surrounded by snow, with a mug of coffee and Pinky, under a heavy blanket, and stayed quiet, my mind blank, my soul calm. My moment of peace. Peace I didn’t deserve.
Today though I wanted my peace and quiet. I wanted to stay alone and keep my mind blank, so I wouldn’t remember what day it was. In vain, though. Each time I closed my eyes, images of Raisa and Olivia dragging me to a bar to celebrate invaded my mind. It made me more frustrated because I didn’t deserve to feel a happy warmth remembering those times.
Ceris sighed. “Nadine, you can’t live your entire life with this guilt. It’s not right.”
Ha, if only she knew. Now that Victor and Micah were full gods, my days in this world were halfway over. Now all we needed to find more allies, strategize a war, fight, and win.
“I know there was nothing we could have done for him,” I said. “I know that. I believe that. But that doesn’t change the fact that I killed him.”
She placed a hand on my arm. “I don’t think there is anything we can say to you that will lessen that feeling.” She paused. “The first time I killed a human I cried for days, then I disappeared for almost a year. I neglected my duties. Families everywhere began fighting, relationships crumbled, and wars began because of discord. Obviously, every deity in the world was franticly trying to find me. In the end, I realized I had to move on. Though that human had deserved it, I couldn’t stop living and neglecting my subjects and my own family because of my guilt. They deserved better. I pulled myself together and worked through it.”
“So I should pull myself together.” I hated when people lectured me.
“You should, but I understand if you don’t want to do it yet. Just don’t take too long. We have tons of things to do, and we’ll need your help.”