Chapter 24

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

Time seemed to freeze in the space between one heartbeat and the next. The harp hummed in my hands, and the hourglass glinted in Zara’s grip, our last desperate chance. Behind us, the chapel door remained stubbornly locked. Above, Maci’s shadow turned the morning light blood-red.

I had to choose. Keep playing and die slowly, or risk everything on the hourglass’s power.

I met Justice’s gaze. “Ready?”

He gazed at me, those newly restored brown eyes holding a universe of worry and love. Eyes I’d fought so hard to see again without the demon’s taint. “As soon as you stop playing, he’ll charge.”

“I know.” The words emerged steady despite my racing heart hammering against my ribs like it might break free.

“I love you.” He bent his head and brushed his lips over mine like a goodbye kiss. Yet we’d just gotten him back, freed him from possession. I refused to let this be our last moment together, to watch him die when I’d barely found him again.

“Seriously? Now?” Damon’s gruff voice broke through our moment, tension making his sarcasm sharper than usual. “Save the romance novel stuff for when we’re not about to die, preferably when I don’t have to watch my twin sister making out with a vampire.”

A fierce determination burned inside me to protect him and my team. We’d survived too much. Shadow mines, demon possessions, countless battles. We’d fought too hard to die on these chapel steps. The worn stone beneath my feet had weathered centuries. We only needed to survive the next few minutes.

Maci flapped her wings over our heads as if she knew what I had planned, her shadow turning day to dusk. Each beat of her wings sent a hot wind whipping around us, carrying the scent of brimstone and ash. Every muscle in my body coiled tight as I made my choice.

I stopped playing the harp.

The silence lasted less than a heartbeat.

Rage’s roar shattered the dawn air as he charged, his form a blur of darkness and hatred. The sound vibrated in my chest like a bass drum. Behind him, the demon horde surged forward like a tide of nightmares, their twisted forms scrambling over gravestones and each other in their frenzy to reach us. Claws scraped against stone, leaving burning marks in their wake. The air filled with their shrieks as hundreds of voices cried out for our blood, our souls.

Maci’s chest glowed with hellfire, the scales lighting up like hot coals. Her wings spread wider, and the air seemed to burn as she prepared to rain death upon us, the temperature rising until sweat streamed down our faces.

Lisa and Zara’s spells crackled through the air like lightning, their voices strong but strained with effort. Brody’s shield spun in a deadly arc, taking down three demons at once, but hundreds more were coming. Damon’s blade flashed in the dim light as he kicked a smaller demon back into the horde. Justice raised the mirror, its surface catching what little light remained. His body tensed to protect me even though he was still weak from the possession.

We were surrounded, outmatched, with locked chapel doors pressing against our backs. The carved stone angels above the entrance watched our last stand with empty eyes. Dark shapes writhed in the morning mist, more demons than I could count, their red eyes burning with hunger. My team’s ragged breathing told me everyone was running on empty. Too much fighting, too little time to recover.

The world narrowed to this moment, this last, desperate stand on sacred ground, with monsters at our throats and holy artifacts in our hands. Time seemed to stretch like taffy as I reached for the hourglass, knowing I had seconds at most before we were overwhelmed.

I held it up, its glass warm against my palm. The weight of everyone’s lives pressed down on me as Rage’s demons surged forward. “Inside Rosslyn Chapel.” The words came out as both prayer and command.

The phoenix clasped the hourglass in her massive talons, and power rippled through me like a lightning strike. It started where her claws met the artifact, then surged up my arms and into my chest until every nerve ending screamed with holy fire.

My bones felt like they might shatter from the raw energy coursing through them. Wind ripped through my hair, hot and cold at once, carrying the scent of ancient stone and sacred power. The force of it stole my breath.

Colors spun around us, gold from the sunlight, crimson from Maci’s flames, and violet from Lisa and Zara’s spells bleeding together like wet paint in a whirlwind. The world became a kaleidoscope of light and shadow, sacred and profane. I caught glimpses of my team’s faces, distorted and stretched like reflections in funhouse mirrors. Justice’s golden healing marks blazed in the chaos, and for a moment, I was terrified we’d be torn apart again.

Then I was lifted off my feet, the ground disappearing. My stomach lurched into my throat as gravity released its hold. For one terrifying moment, I was suspended in chaos, unable to tell up from down, my team’s faces blurring around me. The only constant was the burning sensation of phoenix power coursing through my veins like liquid starlight. Time lost all meaning. It could have been seconds or centuries.

I landed hard. Cold flagstones pressed against my palms as I gasped for breath, each inhale burning like I’d swallowed fire. My skin tingled with leftover energy, little sparks of phoenix power dancing along my nerves. The world spun around me like a carnival ride, and my head felt stuffed with static.

The abrupt silence after the battlefield’s chaos was almost as disorienting as the journey itself. Gone were the demon shrieks and the sound of combat, replaced by the holy quiet of the chapel’s interior. My body trembled, every muscle aching like I’d been struck by lightning.

I groaned as I moved to a sitting position, every muscle protesting the movement. Black spots danced at the edges of my vision, and I did a quick scan of the chapel’s interior, counting heads. Brody was helping Zara to her feet near the altar while Damon leaned against a pillar, looking like he might be sick.

Justice raced over to me, his vampire speed making him appear almost instantly at my side. The concern in his eyes warmed something in my chest. After everything he’d been through, his first thought was still my safety. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” I managed, though “fine” was relative when your whole body felt like it had been torn apart and put back together wrong.

Bam-bam-bam!

The chapel doors wavered, ancient wood groaning under supernatural force. The sound echoed through the space like thunder, making the stained-glass windows rattle in their frames.

“We have a problem.” Lisa wobbled over to us, her face pale from the magical transport. She had to grab a pew to stay upright. Magic residue still sparked at her fingertips as she pointed toward the entrance. “The chapel isn’t warded. They’ll be able to break in any second.”

“Well, that’s awesome.” Damon pushed himself off the pillar. “Magical teleporting bird drops us in a chapel with no protection. That’s some grade-A planning right there. Any other surprises? Maybe the floor’s actually lava.”

Another crash rattled the hinges. This time, splinters of wood scattered across the floor.

“Everyone who can stand, get ready,” Brody ordered as he moved to the center of the chapel. “We didn’t survive everything else only to fall here. Form a defensive circle. We protect each other, or we die trying.”

Outside, Rage’s laughter mixed with Maci’s shrieks. The chapel’s acoustics distorted the sound into something even more terrifying.

I raced toward the chapel pillars, my gaze darting over hundreds of carved faces. Which ones represented Pride? Wrath? More splintering wood behind me made my heart jump into my throat. Ancient stone angels and demons blurred together in the dim light.

“Found Gluttony!” Damon shouted from near the altar, his flashlight beam highlighting a grotesque figure with an oversized mouth. “Though I gotta say, not the prettiest decoration for a church. Who builds a chapel full of demon art, anyway?”

Justice’s vampire speed made him a blur among the pillars. “Here—Lust!” His voice echoed off the vaulted ceiling as he pointed to a figure wrapped in sinuous curves, its face twisted in eternal desire.

Lisa and Zara’s joined hands trembled as they maintained the barrier, sweat beading on their foreheads. Blue protective light flickered like a dying bulb across the doorway.

BOOM!

The entire chapel shuddered. Dust and small pieces of stone rained down from the ceiling.

“We need more time,” Lisa gasped.

I scrambled onto a pew for a better view, scanning the higher carvings. There, was that Pride? The figure stood tall and arrogant, its chin lifted in eternal defiance. “Pride’s up high on the north wall!”

“Greed and Envy are here,” Brody called, gesturing to two figures flanking a window, one clutching a bag of coins, the other reaching for something beyond its grasp.

“That leaves Wrath and Sloth,” Justice announced, still searching. “They have to be?—”

Another explosion rocked the chapel. The magical barrier crackled, now more holes than protection. Through the gaps, I made out Maci’s fire, illuminating the sky like hellish lightning. Rage’s laughter echoed through the weakening barrier.

“There!” Justice pointed to a shadowy alcove near the roof beams. “Wrath. It’s almost hidden behind that gargoyle!”

Another blast shook the chapel doors. Through the new cracks, Maci’s fire painted the stained-glass windows in hellish colors. The heat of her breath seeped inside, turning the air sulfuric.

“Last one,” Brody shouted over the chaos, his shield ready as he backed toward us. “Where’s Sloth?”

I spun in place, heart hammering. We were missing one. Just one. My gaze raked every inch of stone, every carved face and figure. The chapel almost seemed to be moving in the flickering light of Maci’s flames.

“Look down!” Justice’s voice cut through my panic. “It’s carved into the floor. Sloth’s lying down!”

Of course he was.

I dropped to my knees, fingers tracing the worn carving beneath years of dust and foot traffic. The figure was barely visible, stretched out in eternal laziness under our feet.

“Guys?” Damon’s voice carried an edge I rarely heard. “Whatever we’re gonna do with these ugly little sculptures, we better do it fast. Our demon pals are about to?—”

The barrier shattered like glass.