Chapter 42

FORTY-TWO

BASH

“COLLINS!” I screamed, my voice breaking. “ COLLINS! ”

She was plummeting toward the ground in a free fall, gaining speed with every split-second. That turquoise crystal sparkled from her arm, sending little turquoise bolts of lightning across her entire body.

She’s not stopping. I cursed and dove for her. I’d never pumped my wings as hard or as fast, yet I felt like I was being dragged through sludge. It was a nightmare come true. She was getting farther away with every second.

I threw sheets of ice one after another to break her fall but each one only slowed her down slightly. They were like speed bumps but she was still plummeting. I was a fast flyer but the laws of physics were beating me. Movement in my peripheral vision caught my eye so I glanced over and my stomach sank. Aphid and several other villagers were flying with their arms stretched out. All of us were racing to catch her but we were all too far away.

The ground was perilously close.

“NO!” I bellowed.

And then shimmery silver mist coiled around her body and she froze mid-air.

I choked on a gasp and looked for him. Savina staggered around a huge chunk of the crystal islands that had fallen. She had one of Stellan’s arms draped over her shoulders and was holding him upright. Actually, it looked like she was half dragging him. Blood covered half of his face and down the side of his neck. But those green eyes were bright and sharp. He had one hand in the air, his muscles pulsing from fatigue. I tucked my wings in tight and dove for her.

Her arms and legs were hanging lifelessly, her head thrown back.

No, no, no. Don’t you dare be— my chest tightened. You’re fine. You’re fine.

I slammed into her with force, her body being the only thing to slow my speed. But I wrapped my arms around her body and flipped us upside down. Her limbs dangled over mine and it made me want to vomit. I pumped my wings until we were upright. Her back arched in the cradle of my arms and her head fell back, that long pink and purple hair of hers swaying almost to my feet.

Thankfully, my wings were sturdy so we only bounced mid-air. I supported the weight of her head, then slowly lowered until I could lay her down on the snow. I brushed hair off her face, then ran the backs of my fingers across her forehead and cheeks. Her skin was hot and clammy. Her aura was so weak I might’ve mistaken her for a human had I not known better. I pressed my fingers to her throat, but the pulse was terrifyingly weak, so I pressed my ear to her chest. The beat was soft and seemed to tremble with each inhale.

But she was breathing. That was important.

“Collins?” I cupped her face with one hand. “Collins! Please, love, come back to me.”

Nothing.

No change in pulse.

No deep breaths.

No color back in her skin tone from that shimmery shade of aquamarine.

I scooped her up off the snow and into my lap. Every second she didn’t open her eyes my heart began to shatter. A hot lump of emotion burned in my throat, choking the oxygen from my lungs. I gasped for air, but nothing was coming in. I took her face in my hand again and stroked her cheek with my thumb.

Please, Collins. Please stay with me. Just breathe. Just open your eyes.

Stellan and Savina sank to their knees across from me. I couldn’t look up and see their faces, but I did see their hands touching her bare forearms, the barest hint of their magic billowing beneath their palms.

“ Is Ellie ? —"

“Alive, ” Stellan breathed.

Savina collapsed at Collins’ feet, her eyes shimmering.

No, no, no. No tears. She’s fine. She has to be fine.

“Collins!” Sandra cried as she dove for her daughter’s face. In a panic, she checked for a pulse and the temperature of her scalp. “Collins, come on, baby. You can wake up now.”

My body trembled. It felt like my bones were rattling. A heavy hand landed on top of my shoulder. In my peripheral vision I saw the soft sage-green magic of Shylock slide over my chest. The pressure in my lungs loosened. I sucked in a deep breath. My body stopped trembling and my bones went still. I meant to look up to him to thank him, but I was frozen in place just staring down at the nearly lifeless body of my soulmate.

I accept, she’d said. Why did you accept that? Why didn’t you ask me first? We could’ve killed her without sacrificing you.

Sandra sniffled and pressed her forehead to Collins as she whispered to her.

“ I don’t understand, ” I whispered. “ What happened? What was that? Why isn’t she waking ? —”

“ It was the Chaos Stone. She became Chaos to save us.” Shylock whispered from over my shoulder. “The Origin Stones . . . they’re on a different level? — ”

“Let me zap her,” Weston said gruffly. He crouched down and held his hands up. “Let me try. Let’s see if we can get her some breathing room to get back to the angels, to the doctors.”

“Okay,” I heard myself say.

He nodded and licked his lips. “Everyone take your hands off of her.”

As they all jumped back, I lowered her back onto the snow. Shylock was the only thing keeping me in place and not scooping her back up again. Weston rubbed his palms together, then hovered over her chest. He counted to three out loud and then pressed his hands to her. That powder-blue magic sizzled and sparkled.

Collins gasped and her back arched.

“COLLINS!” we all yelled and dove for her again.

Weston dove backwards with a grin. “Hell yeah.”

I bent over and cupped her face in both of my hands. “Collins, my love, can you hear me? Look at me. Please.”

Her eyes opened. It was just a crack but it was enough to see a sliver of her turquoise eyes. Her lips moved ever so slightly.

“No, no. Don’t talk. Save your strength. We need to get you back to the infirmary?—”

“ No, ” her voice was mostly just an exhale.

“You need help, my love.”

Sandra lifted Collins’ hand and pressed it to my neck, right over the crystal pendants hanging from my necklaces. “Go ahead. Whisper it.”

There was a beat of silence and then I heard Collins’ voice whisper in my mind, Crystal Henge. Chaos.

“You want to go back to Crystal Henge right now?”

Yes. Even her whisper was weak in my head.

“Take her.” Savina urged everyone else to back away. “Just trust her.”

Sandra pushed Collins’ hair back from her face. “We’ll be right here.”

I cursed and scooped her into the cradle of my arms with her legs draped over my elbow. My wings fluttered in preparation. I took a few deep breaths, then pushed off the ground and shot into the air.

As soon as we started flying, the Chaos Stone attached to the band around her arm began to glow bright like a light bulb. Little streaks of turquoise spread to the ground all around us. The second it touched the ground the snow instantly melted away. One second it was white, the next I saw lush green grass. My wings faltered and I froze mid-air. What is happening?

I glanced around and my heart skipped beats. The magic of the Chaos Stone was spreading faster than fire, chasing away the ice and snow. Tears filled my eyes. The sky turned a bright blue. I turned to look at the forest and my breath was knocked from my lungs. The trunks were still made of solid crystal but now the leaves were leaves , like actual nature.

The crevices running up and down the land in every direction suddenly filled with sparkling blue water. Beneath the water, bright sparkling coral reefs made of crystals glistened in the golden sunlight streaming down. A warm breeze—I gasped. A warm breeze swept over us. A strangled cry escaped my lips as I just spun in slow circles. I could not believe what I was seeing. The realm was coming back to life before my eyes. I’d never known my realm could look like this. It was a perfect combination of nature and crystal, just like Collins.

Fae villagers came pouring from every direction. They screamed in delight and wept happy tears. There was cheering and hollering all around me. I turned back to our friends and found them jumping up and down and cheering. They ran to the middle of the open grassy field in what used to be the front shadows of Mother’s palace and just started dancing. The villagers surrounded them from every side.

I wanted to celebrate our victory with them because it was a victory. My mother was finally dead and the Chaos Stone was returning the realm back to its former glory of thriving life . . . but Collins was still barely alive, so I blocked the cries of joy down below and flew as fast as I could back to Crystal Henge.

But when I landed, I was shocked.

The mountains were no longer made of ice and snow. Crystal Henge was no longer covered in it. Each of these monoliths were a different-colored stone that shimmered in the bright sunlight. I was mesmerized by their beauty. I flew to the center of it, then lowered Collins down to the grass.

Instantly, her skin shimmered aquamarine like a shadow hanging over her body. It peeled off of her slowly, sliding up her body until it all popped off at once in a solid piece. The colored mist swirled in circles, growing tighter and tighter with every loop until a six-inch-long turquoise crystal hovered directly above her chest. It seemed to hesitate over her but then the ground rumbled and groaned. The grass split apart and a large column raised up from the soil of the realm. It reminded me of the stone pillar in Second Realm where they kept the Astral Stone— OH.

Just as it clicked in my head, the Chaos Stone floated itself over and nestled into the open groove of where it belonged.

Collins gasped and jumped up.

“Whoa, whoa—I’ve got you!”

She gripped my shoulders and turned wild eyes on me. “Did that really happen? Is Tephine dead? Did the army die? Are we saved?”

Tears spilled from the corners of my eyes. I dragged her into my chest and just held her while I cried tears of happiness and relief. She sagged in my arms and wrapped hers around my neck. We held each other for a long, long moment.

Then she pulled back and cupped my face. “Did we win?”

I grinned. “We did. It all happened.”

She closed her eyes and smiled. When she opened them again, the color was shining brighter than ever before. “I can’t believe we did it.”

I pulled her lips to mine and just let us revel in this moment.

Bright turquoise light flashed in my eyes, so I pulled back. A stream of magic from the Chaos Stone was shining onto the band on Collins’ arm. The color grew bolder and brighter until a small, one-inch-long turquoise crystal was nestled back onto the band.

Collins sighed. “Thank you. For everything?—”

The magic slammed into her back, causing her to arch. Her body lifted off of my lap. Glittery light sparkled behind her. It took me a long, long moment to realize what was happening, but when I did, all I could do was stare. Collins had tears running down her cheeks.

Her wings fluttered behind her, lifting her ten feet into the air like they were happy to have her back. She giggled and did little flips in the air. I swore I’d never smiled as much as I did watching her reunite with her wings.

I jumped to my feet to join her when that magic stream lit up my chest. I froze, my eyes wide. My skin sparkled in a circular shape right where my chest stone had been. I reached up to touch it, but Collins smacked my hands away. She just stared at me, grinning.

“What’s happening?”

“Wait for it,” she whispered. Then she counted down with her fingers. When it hit one, she nodded in approval. “Go ahead. Look.”

I looked down and frowned. “Is that . . . Crystal Henge? Like a tattoo . . . on my chest?”

“Yes, it is.” She cocked her head to the side, then a wide grin spread. “The Chaos Stone says this is to balance the magic of your father with the magic of Earth and her realms.”

My jaw dropped. “Th-thank you?”

Collins nodded to the stone. “Be at peace. I know how to find you now, but call if you need me.”

That stone pillar slid back beneath the ground.

Collins squealed and pounced on me. “OH MY GOD!”

I laughed and spun us around in the air. “Your wings are just as beautiful as I remember.”

“I didn’t think I’d get them back.” She wiped tears from her face. “Is everyone okay? I thought I heard them, but I was buried beneath the fatigue of Chaos.”

“Oh, that explains it. And yes, we’re all alive. Injured to various extents but I didn’t get a chance to check. Well except for mother, she’s dead dead .” I pulled her toward the edge of the mountain and gestured down below us. “Look at what you’ve given back to us.”

She gasped. Her hand covered her mouth. “Look at that. It’s gorgeous.”

From up here we had one hell of a view.

Fireworks lit up the sky and I knew by the hint of purple on the edges that it was all Ellie’s doing. Which meant she was doing okay despite her brush with death.

“Come, let us celebrate our victory with everyone.” I moved away from her and held my hand out. “Fly with me?”

Her grin dimpled her cheeks. She placed her hand in mine and let me lead her over the edge of the mountain toward our friends down below. We were going for our friends down closer to the river, but animals emerged from every direction. Animals that I’d only ever seen be made entirely of crystal were now a mixture like the forest. Those bunnies had light-colored fur, but their eyes were sparkling crystals. Birds flew overhead. BIRDS. I almost cried. Those colorful birds I’d always only seen hopping along tree branches probably couldn’t fly because the crystals made them too heavy. Now they flapped their wings and the crystal tips glowed in the sunlight.

“BART?!” Collins screamed so loud I jumped.

When I looked, I let out a little squeal of my own. The massive animal rushing up to us was definitely Bart but now he had dark-brown fur that covered his body. His eyes, antlers, and hooves were made with the same moldavite his whole body had been. The eyes shined bright, and it was spectacular.

“Of course you’re still my Bart!” Collins closed the distance between them and pressed her face to his snout. She giggled. “We can make you whatever you want.”

“COLLINS!”

She spun away from Bart and screamed, “MOM!”

The wolves descended on her. I hung back and laughed as she squealed and hugged each of our friends. The guys were talking super animatedly and using their hands. Savina gave her like a hundred two handed high-fives in rapid succession, I’d heard this was called high-tens but I wasn’t sure. No one paid any attention to all the blood or the purple bruising around their throats.

Jada just nodded and clapped her hands from where she laid on the ground. Collins dropped to her knees beside her Nephilim then lifted Jada’s hand to touch the piece of Chaos Stone on her arm band. Jada gasped and sat up. She rolled her neck then jumped to her feet and kicked her legs out. Her hazel eyes glistened. Thank you, she mouthed.

Collins jumped back to her feet and gave her a hug. “We’ll work on your voice, okay? See what magic we can conjure for you now that we’re not on the brink of death.”

Jada grinned and nodded.

“ Ellie, hold on, love,” Stellan grumbled. “You died back there, give it a minute.”

“I’m fine now, Stellan! Oh- COLLINS !” Ellie’s arm was draped around Stellan’s shoulders as he held her up. Her aura was weak but once she rested it would return. Not that the grin on her face reflected any of this. “Dude, oh my GOD! That was like Avatar the last Airbender when Aang went into the Avatar state?—”

“ I thought that’s what it looked like! ”

Ellie was so excited she was pulling her own hair. “Holy SHIT, dude. That was epic. Oh my God. I hope someone got that on video.”

I frowned. “I don’t think anyone was filming, Ellie?—”

She scoffed loud. “Have you met Zuriel? They watched that like a movie, and I need to see their footage. It felt like that last scene in Avengers End Game?—”

“NO!” Collins covered Ellie’s mouth. “I still haven’t seen it! No spoilers!”

Ellie’s eyes went so wide I could see the white all the way around. “Okay, okay, once we get Tallulah back, we’re all gonna sit down and watch it. I can’t keep it a secret any longer.”

I rolled my eyes. My jaw burned from how hard I smiled. Third Realm was still in chaos but now it was good chaos. Ellie pointed her fingers in the air and sent more fireworks exploding over our heads. The villagers went nuts, screaming and dancing. Collins joined in with her crystals, letting them explode into glitter that rained down on everyone. Third Realm wasn’t the most populated of realms, not since it began to freeze over, but it was one hell of a society all celebrating in the big grassy field without Mother’s palace looming in the distance.

There was work to be done to get this realm back on its feet.

But for now, they deserved to celebrate.