Anne Bishop - Belladonna

In the end, It would have her. It would peel off her skin. It would crack open her bones like the shell of a nut and pick out all the delicious meat. It would feast on her screams and her cries and her misery. And then, when the True Enemy was nothing more than scattered garbage, It would break open another shell—and feast on the Places of Light.

It stepped back onto the sand, forcing the resonance of Its darkness upon the landscape that held Its first creation. Forced Ephemera to accept Its dominance, Its resonance, until the bonelovers’ landscape once more belonged to It. Then It changed to Its natural form, a rippling shadow beneath the skin of the world, and flowed as fast as It could to the access point that would take It to the school.

It was coming.

Fear shivered through her, but Glorianna kept at her task of shifting the resonance of the currents of Light that flowed through the school—and through the dark landscapes that belonged to the Eater of the World. She’d set the trap and had sent the bait flowing out into the currents of the world.

Borders and boundaries. She had brought Wizard City back into the world, and that landscape was now connected by a border with the gate that had opened to the Bridges’ part of the school. If the Dark Guides tried to come after her, they would have to cross more ground, take more risks against the Eater’s creatures.

The cage was almost closed. The Eater had touched less of the world than she had expected. Not surprising, now that she considered it. There were hundreds of landscapes held in the walled gardens at the school. The surviving Landscapers would reclaim their pieces of the world and take on the responsibility of being the bedrock for others. Ephemera would survive.

The landscapes she was leaving behind would be cared for.

It’s not a feather bed, but the nights are cold this time of year, and the sleeping bag will keep you warm.

She’d left it behind. Had to leave it behind, along with everything else Michael had wanted to give her.

Because kindness would kill her.

As she pushed the image of Michael’s face out of her mind, another face took its place. Dark eyes that held deep pools of wisdom. A hand holding out a white stone.

That day, when Yoshani had told her about the magic of his people in using the jar of sorrows, he had offered her a white stone as a way to cleanse her heart and let go of the hurts of the past. She had refused his offer, had refused that kindness because she had known, on some level, that she would need those kernels of remembered pain.

For this place. For this task.

Yes. She would need her sorrows.

She looked at the sky, at the daylight growing stronger.

The Eater of the World was coming. When It was inside the school, she would lock the last door, seal the last gate.

Then there would be just one more thing left to do.

The Warrior of Light must drink from the Dark Cup.

Hold them off a little longer, Magician. Just a little longer. After that, it will be too late—and they’ll be safe.

Teaser saw him first.

Michael had a moment to feel grateful that Lee wasn’t at Philo’s place with the two incubi. That would buy her a little more time. Besides, he wasn’t looking forward to facing Glorianna’s brother.

Then Sebastian turned around, and those sharp green eyes looked right at him. Right through him.

He kept walking toward the courtyard. Sebastian stepped away from the tables and chairs, meeting him on the cobblestone street. They stopped just out of reach of each other.

“Threat and promise is what you called me,” Michael said quietly. “I’ve made good on the threat, for the sake of the world.”

“What have you done?” Sebastian asked, his voice rough with restrained, but rising, anger.

“Told a story. Provided a key to a locked door.”

“In clear words, Magician.”

“I told Glorianna how to stop the Eater of the World. She’s gone to the Landscapers’ School.”

They couldn’t reach Lee, who had used his little island to go to the Island in the Mist, and Michael thanked the Lady of Light for that blessing. The timing had been a little off. Just enough. Based on what Yoshani had told them, Lee must have gone to Glorianna’s island within minutes of Michael crossing over to the Den.

So Lee was wasting time checking the house and the walled garden, while Glorianna…

They were all at Nadia’s house now, waiting for Lee because his island was the best chance of reaching the landscape that held the school. Nadia couldn’t cross over from any of her landscapes. Yoshani and Teaser, as unlikely a pair to become friends as he’d ever seen, had tried, separately, to cross over to the school by using the resonating bridge near Nadia’s house. But the bridge no longer worked. At all.

Ephemera was frightened. It wasn’t words he was picking up from the world, it was story-songs. Mood-songs. It was being asked to do things it didn’t want to do—was afraid to do. Asked by a heart it trusted. Commanded by a will so strong it couldn’t disobey.

Hearts had no secrets from Glorianna Belladonna. She understood the people who loved her all too well.

And they were all here now. Teaser and Yoshani. Lynnea and Sebastian. Nadia and Jeb. Even Caitlin Marie and his aunt Brighid.

It felt like a deathbed vigil—the women talking in the kitchen while they made mountains of food no one wanted to eat; the men in another room, talking in hushed voices, trying to fill time with words while they all waited for the transportation that would take them to the site of the grave.

Not enough room in the house. Not enough air in the house.

He was outside, staring at a flower bed in Nadia’s personal garden, with no clear memory of how he’d gotten there. He didn’t turn around to see who had followed him out of the house. Didn’t have to. Even lowered by sorrow, the music of Yoshani’s heart was a clear song.

“What brought you here this morning?” Michael asked.

“Your aunt,” Yoshani replied. “All day yesterday, she had been quiet, thoughtful. Except when she would go to the koi pond and ‘sing the day’ as she called it. There was a radiance in the air around her in those moments, and what flowed through Sanctuary made a person want to weep and smile at the same time. This morning she gave me a letter Glorianna had left for me and said she needed to speak with Nadia. She asked me to come with her.”

“And Caitlin Marie came this morning for her lesson.”

“Yes. So you, too, have your family around you during a difficult time.” Yoshani paused. “This story you told Glorianna Dark and Wise. Would you tell it to me?”

Michael shook his head. “Maybe sometime, but not now.”

For a moment, he thought Yoshani would argue, but the man simply bowed his head.

“It took courage to let her go, Michael the Magician,” Yoshani said gently.

Before Michael could think of a reply, Lee hopped over a broken part of the wall. Looking toward the house, he hollered, “Hey-a, what’s going on? The resonating bridge near the house is gone, just gone, and I can’t find…”

Lee saw him and stopped. Stared.

Words had not been spoken yet, so Lee’s mind didn’t understand what his heart already knew.

His expression turned grim. He took a step toward Michael.

And Sebastian was suddenly out the kitchen door, both distraction and threat. The Justice Maker flicked a glance at Michael, then focused on his cousin.

“Lee,” Sebastian said. “We need to talk.”

It tasted her fear in the currents that flowed through the school. It tasted her doubts. And It lapped at the Light as It flowed beneath the paths of the school, easily evading the silly traps the True Enemy had set to capture It.