P. Cast - Destined

But I couldn’t move.

“No, wait.” Panicked, I looked down. The red glow that had outlined our circle had expanded. It carpeted the entire space, engulfing each of us. “This is too much! I don’t want Grandma to—”

“You cannot stop it,” Thanatos said. “Death has put this spell in motion. Only death can release us.”

Grandma managed to lift her arm. She slid her hand in mine. Trapped by the power of death unleashed through the elements, we saw everything. Neferet bound my mother with sticky, whip-like threads of black and then she slit her throat and let the threads drag her from the porch. In the middle of a blighted circle, the white bull of Darkness drank from her until the threads surrounding him were swollen and bloated. After Mom was dead and drained of blood, Neferet, laughing, mounted the beast and they disappeared together.

“It is true,” Thanatos said. “Neferet’s Consort is Darkness.”

Then Stevie Rae cried, “Help Rephaim! The bull’s gonna kill him!” I looked from the disappearing vision in the pool to Stevie Rae. I only had time to wonder why the hell she was on her cell phone before the world around me exploded into sound and blood.

Rephaim hadn’t told him. His son had let him believe the Goddess had forgiven him, and in doing so she’d gifted him with the form of a human boy.

Rephaim hadn’t mentioned that he’d been condemned to be a bird, a beast who could only long for something that was, with a creature’s mind, forever unattainable.

“At least for the hours of daylight it is unattainable,” Kalona said, pacing across the top of the ridge.

“Help you, we will?”

Kalona’s anger exploded at the hissing, semi-human sound of his other son’s voice. He turned on Nisroc, raising his hand to cuff him into silence. The Raven Mockers who were clustered around scurried back, out of his reach. Nisroc cringed, but remained near and did not try to escape his father’s wrath.

Mid-swing, Kalona hesitated. He let his fist drop to his side. He stared at his silent son who crouched, waiting for the blow.

“Why?” Kalona allowed the desperation he was feeling to be heard in his voice. “Why would you want to help me?”

Nisroc raised his head. There was confusion in his red gaze. “You are Father.”

“But I have not been a good father,” Kalona heard himself say.

Nisroc’s gaze remained steady on his. “That mattersss not. Ssstill you are Father.”

Utterly defeated, Kalona could only shake his head, and in a voice gentled by emotions he barely understood, he said, “You cannot help me with this.” Kalona gestured to the sky. “Go on. It is full dark now. You may stretch your wings and ride the sky without being seen. Just be back before dawn.”

They didn’t hesitate. They leaped from the ridge, and with raven cries took to the sky.

He didn’t realize Nisroc had not left with the rest of them until he spoke. His son’s voice was unusually soft. Perhaps it was the softness of it that made him sound so human. “Help you, I would.”

Kalona looked at his son. “Thank you,” he said.

Nisroc bowed his head as if his father’s words were as tangible as the blow he’d almost received.

Kalona cleared his throat, and looked away from the creature he’d created in anger and lust. “Go on. Join your brothers. I command it of you.”

“Yesss, Father.”

Kalona listened to Nisroc’s wings beat against the wind. He tilted his head up so that he could watch his son disappear into the night.

It was when he was alone that the phone began to ring. Feeling decidedly foolish, he lifted the thing from the rock he’d left it on the night before. The display said STEVIE RAE. Without hesitation Kalona tapped the accept button and put the phone to his ear.

“Help Rephaim! The bull’s gonna kill him!” The Red One’s voice shouted above a terrible swell of sounds.

There was a crackle of static and the connection went dead.

Kalona’s body was moving before his mind fully processed his decision. He launched himself into the air, gathering with him the ethereal wisps that drifted from the Otherworld to form invisible currents in the mortal sky.

“I call upon the power of the spirit of ancient immortals, which is mine by birthright to command. Take me to the blood of my blood, the son of my spirit. Take me to Rephaim!”

“Help Rephaim! The bull’s gonna kill him!” Stevie Rae screamed and dropped the phone, which was instantly engulfed in the scarlet glow. She tried to get to her feet and go to Rephaim, but her body was trapped within the circle’s power. Desperately, she yelled at me, “Close the circle! Let me help him!”

I didn’t hesitate. We’d seen the truth of Mom’s murder. The circle could be closed. “Spirit, earth, water, fire, air—I release you!”

But my words made no difference. The red glow still imprisoned us.

“What’s happening?” Stevie Rae was sobbing and struggling futilely to stand.

“Death has put this spell in motion,” Thanatos repeated. She sounded sad, resigned. “Only death can release it.”

“You represent death. You release us!” I said.

“I cannot.” She looked old and defeated. “Forgive me.”

“No! That’s not good enough. You have to—”

Before I could complete the words, Aurox lowered his horrible head to charge at Rephaim again. Bleeding and battered, Dragon Lankford staggered between the boy and the creature, taking the blow meant for Rephaim. Aurox’s horn caught Dragon in the middle of his chest, lifting him off his feet as the bull gored completely through the Sword Master. Aurox stepped back, shaking his head so that Dragon’s body came loose and slid to the ground. We watched Dragon shudder, cough, and with his last breath he looked toward our circle and said, “If only death can release you, then my death releases you…”

Aurox roared his victory and circled around Dragon to resume his attack on Rephaim.

But Dragon’s death changed everything. The red glow lifted from the circle. It went so high that it seemed to touch the moon. In the sky it exploded and a pure silver mist fell back to earth bathing everything gently in a warm, spring-scented rain.

The instant she was released Stevie Rae ran forward, calling, “Earth, come to me! Protect Rephaim!”

But the green glow that appeared instantly around Rephaim wasn’t needed. As the silver rain washed over the bull, the creature’s body jerked and twitched and then stumbled. I blinked and wiped my face, trying to clear my vision, but I realized there was nothing wrong with my sight. The bull-thing was melting, changing, shifting, and within moments Aurox, the boy who’d saved me from the falling branch, was standing in his place.

He blinked several times and looked around as if he was confused, as if he didn’t know where he was.

“Stay away from him!” Stevie Rae snarled at Aurox as she stood between him and Rephaim. Her hands were glowing green.

Aurox took a hesitant step back, shaking his head. He was looking around, still obvious dazed. I saw the moment his gaze found Dragon’s gored body.

“No!” Aurox said. “No.” He looked from the Sword Master’s battered body and his gaze found me. “Zoey! I chose a different future. I did!”

Then Stark and Darius were there, descending on him with swords raised. Aurox was still shaking his head and saying over and over again, “I chose a new future … I chose a new future…” but no matter what his words said, I could see that his body was beginning to ripple again. He was shifting back into the bull. Stark and Darius were going to kill him.