Chapter 44

"It's only a few scratches,"Lila's voice says. "Nothing too deep."

We're back on Salttain, on the dunes above the beach where Sampling and his men beat Liam, a stalk of salttain weed bending over us. There's a long gash on my arm.

"How did you find that?" I ask, gesturing at the salttain with my unwounded arm.

"Thanks to you, it's much easier for any healer to summon it. I'm indebted to you. You saved me from that hell."

"I tried to save Liam. He—" I can't bear the thought of mentioning Tyler. The woman has been through so much.

Lila strips a few blooms off the stalk and begins to mash them between two rocks. "I know what happened," she cuts me off. "Randy bragged about it. This is war, Rosalie. A war Liam has been fighting his entire life, and I mine. The same war we've been fighting since our homeland was destroyed. The war that took my first son—and now maybe another."

My breath hitches. She does remember. But did she know her son was alive? That a month ago, I saw him die?

"I knew Fionn," I blurt.

"Ah," she says, her voice preternaturally calm. "I didn't trust my memories about…Fionn. Millie was the one who told me he'd drowned. I never believed her. I knew it was better to let things be. So Fionn would be safe from Randy."

"He killed him," I whisper. "Not that long ago. I loved him."

She closes her eyes and goes silent. "He would have been nineteen." When her eyes flash open they're huge, dark and glistening with tears. She smiles through them. "He was such a beautiful, graceful, good child. If only I'd gotten to see him again. Just once."

"I had pictures," I say. "But my phone is lost. He was brilliant. Passionate. Athletic. He was my best friend."

"At least he was there for you. And you him," she pauses to take in a long breath. "Whatever it takes, I will work to destroy Randy. I will help to finish what so many others began."

"I hope I killed that monster this time."

"Many have tried and failed. He'd have been prepared for your outburst. Unfortunately, you may have destroyed Etchmick Island, but I'm almost certain he escaped."

"He deserves to die. He doesn't even care that Wade is dead. I don't believe he wants to save this planet."

"Of course, he doesn't." She speaks in a flat whisper. "He wants power. Randy and his clan have been searching for someone like you for generations. You were the second one he found."

"The second?"

"The other was his first wife, your Aunt Millie. His second wife was my sister, Naya. He killed her. Randy destroys everything he touches."

She meets my gaze, her dark eyes wells of despair, then returns to kneading the salttain with savage efficiency. "I already have so many reasons for wanting you to take him down. Now I have one more, the true death of my beloved Fionn. But I fear for you."

My hurt arm throbs. "And you think I've got a better chance than my aunt, the tree?"

"You decimated Randy's hideout. Only one with a powerful gift could wield those words so effectively. But Randy has many other places to hide."

"Why didn't you take your family the hell out of here when you had the chance—before the curse?"

Lila meets my gaze, eyes shimmering. "Duty," she says. "And love."

"Charles Bailey."

Lila nods. "After I'd rejected him for the umpteenth time, Randy left the island. I don't know where he went the years he was gone, but I'm certain he found others who craved the old ways. Those were some of the most blissful years I can remember. Then he came back, and I've not had a single day of peace since. But enough stories. We need to complete the healing. If you're too weak to fight, they will matter little."

Warm daylight fades to cool blue. The familiar scent of burning salttain wafts through my nostrils. My sight blurs.

I envision lines that carve deep grooves in the soil, form riverbeds, or submerge far beneath the ground in veins of liquid metal, minerals, or underground currents. Spooled together, they form a matrix that encloses the Earth in a cocoon of energy.

My trance-self wanders through a misty field and kneels in the loamy dirt. I press my hands to the ground, drawing forth bright tendrils that break through the dark soil like phantom snakes. The lines pierce my skin, then merge with my veins and plunge directly to the pulsing diamond that beats inside of my ribcage instead of a heart.

I come to my senses, bathed in sweat. Lila curls next to me. I lean over to check on her, the slash on my arm now just a dark seam. Somehow, I hadn't noticed that under her sheath of long platinum hair, Lila is naked. Her pale hair is stained red and stuck to a small wound on her side. She groans as I rest my hand on her shoulder.

"Why didn't you tell me you were hurt?"

She turns to me, her eyes slits. "You're the one who needs to be strong. Like I told you, this is war."

"Let me heal you now. I can summon more salttain."

Her head is hot to my touch. She gazes at me, her eyes glassy and unfocused. "My seal skin. It's wrapped in those leaves. Thanks to you, I was able to get it back from Randy only slightly damaged." Lila gestures toward a nearby bundle. "The sea will heal my injuries. Now I must go to my son. I'm sorry."

A bitter taste floods my mouth. I close my eyes to press back tears. "Who will keep your human skin?"

"We keep them with us."

I think of Liam, separated from his own skin, and know it's true. He's doomed to swim the seas as a seal forever.

"What do I do? How do I stop Randy?"

"Your dreams know."

"I don't understand what they mean."

Lila shudders, then speaks once her trembling calms. "Oh, but you do. Please. Get me to the water."

She's small and light enough for me to help down the dunes and across the sand to the ocean's edge. Unfolding the delicate sheath, I see Lila's seal skin up close for the first time. Like Liam's, it's luminous and soft, with a faint iridescent radiance. Its beauty takes my breath away.

Lila floats, a red plume blooming from her wound. I drape the skin on her body. White light spirals around her as her human form bloats, stretches, then detaches, replaced by a sad-eyed creature, the wound in its pale hide still leaking blood into the water. There's no trace of her human skin, and I can only surmise that it's affixed somewhere to her seal's body. Lila, now a seal, gazes at me, then swims out beyond the waves.

A whining sound draws my attention. High above, a single helicopter hovers and descends. Figures drop down from a rope line.

I've only managed to make Randy angry, I realize. And a wounded lion is the worst adversary.

I turn tail and race into the dunes, hurtling over rock and sand, though I know running is probably pointless. With Lila gone, Aurora hopefully looking out for my dad, Liam out of commission, and Randy's strengthening powers, the wards that could hide me from him are null and void. Add the fact that he's got the local law enforcement in his pocket, and Randy's got the island on lockdown.

And I'm a sitting duck.

It's possible that I've temporarily disrupted his ability to tap into the Earth's power grid, so he's relying upon more traditional means to terrorize and capture me. I run on, each breath a stab. I'll be glad to die running, if it means foiling Randy's plans.

The helicopter maintains its position and makes no attempt to close the gap between us. Afternoon light bathes the dunes in majestic beauty. Even the destruction can't diminish the island's splendor.

As I run, phantom runes superimpose themselves over the terrain, then sift into tendrils of radiant smoke. The glowing threads stretch ahead of me. Braiding and unbraiding themselves, they shoot forward as vines of light, then backtrack and wind themselves around me. The touch of each strand is distinct: a unique resonance, each one filling me with strength, clarity, understanding. Riding on the light, I hear Tyler coaxing me forward.

I've been warned to keep Randy away from it at all costs, but I can think of no better place to make my last stand than in the Garden.