“This is not what we’re here for! Stop fighting about this!”
But neither angel relaxed nor took his steely gaze off the other.
With Hadrian between us, I was almost afraid to move closer to Garreth. Afraid that if I took one teensy step, it would mean I was once again choosing sides. Was it possible to be neutral? Where exactly did my heart draw the line? Somehow deep inside, I knew the answer to the choice I would soon need to make, no matter how painful that choice was.
We silently assessed each other, standing still as the fire crackled away. A slight motion shifted our attention, and I could now see that Brynn was beginning to stir. Hadrian was the first to move closer, checking her pulse, examining her pupils beneath her weary, transparent eyelids. But as he stood and faced me, the look in his eyes made me fear Brynn was not making any sort of recovery yet. She was pale with deep circles beneath her eyes and looked extremely weak. In fact, I was beginning to think the worst. Perhaps she couldn’t fight this, even with our help.
With heavy doubt, I knew Nate’s instructions were not going to be easy. Even with the three of us working together to stand up against Lucifer, to push back whatever darkness Brynn had invited in, we would have to work extremely hard.
“Where do we start?” This was all so confusing to me. I had pictured a fight against Lucifer similar to the fight against Hadrian last year in the woods.
That there would be flesh to flesh combat, that we would have to outwit each other, that perhaps one or even all of us wouldn’t make it. I looked at my hand and mentally split the eight in half. I pictured a three, hoping to draw strength from the fact that it symbolized us, right here and now. I knew we were up against the purest form of evil. Perhaps one that couldn’t even be destroyed.
Looking back and forth from Hadrian to Garreth, I tried to connect what we had to work with. Hadrian was dark and strong. Garreth was pure and comforting.
And me? I was the glue. Supposedly, I was the light. The stake.
The pawn.
Hadrian’s confrontation with Brynn rang through my head.
I had to let Lucifer in.
As if I had been speaking aloud, Garreth and Hadrian’s heads simultaneously turned sharply in my direction, knowing my thoughts instantly.
They both began protesting in unison, their voices growing, bouncing off the stones until I felt dizzy and screamed for them to stop.
“Enough!” Sternly, I looked them both in the eyes.
Garreth spoke first, cautiously, however, as he seemed to realize his absence and distance from me was not entirely forgiven.
“This isn’t the same, Teagan. You were lucky you were able to cross over to save me, but this is in no way the same. You can’t.”
I turned to Hadrian. Moments ago he had plenty to say, but now …
“For once, I agree with him,” he finally chimed in.
His dark, green eyes locked with mine. I could feel the change in the air immediately. It was calmer, lighter.
“You are an unexplainable radiance to me in a world where I have known only shadows. I couldn’t help but want to be near you. I came back because of you.” Then peering over my shoulder, Hadrian asked, “Why do you think Garreth risked so much, changing into flesh and blood just to be with you? You are remarkable. You are not a guardian, yet you have protected like one, and you are more than human as well. The explanations simply evade us all.”
He paused then, as if feeling the impact of his own words.
“I do know that there is a prophecy of a light coming to break the darkness. The story is very old and now your hand, your mark, tells of its truth.”
Very gently, Hadrian pulled me closer to him and rested his forehead on mine, “You are this magnificent illumination.”
It was so easy for him to take my breath away, and it didn’t even phase me that Garreth was witnessing this moment between us.
“The answer cannot simply be given to you, for it is so much more than any of us realize. Somehow you must draw Lucifer away from Brynn.”
“But how will I know? When?” I whispered back.
“No time better than the present.” But Hadrian’s eyes held something even he didn’t wish to acknowledge. Reluctance, maybe?
Immediately, Garreth sprung forward. “You’re sending her to the lion’s den!”
Hadrian looked up. “Do you have a better plan?” he replied flatly. “Brynn’s obviously not strong enough to do it alone.”
He turned back to me. “This is about second chances. You gave me a second chance. You saw through the lie I believed in for so long.” Hadrian glanced coldly at Garreth. “I like it no more than he does, but if you don’t do it, Lucifer will win.” He paused. “And I’m willing to help you.”
His pledge seemed to stop Garreth in his tracks as he realized that the three of us needed to work together. Would I be willing to give him a second chance as well?
I stared down at Brynn. Her eyes were open, yet unseeing, and every couple of minutes her body would shake with tremors. Time was crucial now.
I held out my hand and in turn, my two angels gave me their hands, our marks united. A burning sensation seared through my skin.
It was time.
“It’s not the same; remember that,” Garreth’s face was a mask. He wore the concentrated resolve well, but I knew worry and fear bled through the strength he was determined to give me. He sighed deeply, afraid for me. For all of us.
“You aren’t leaving and going to another realm.”
I nodded my head, understanding.
“Lucifer will challenge you. He will do whatever it takes to keep control.” Hadrian’s voice came to my other ear. “We’re right here. We won’t leave your side.”
If I admitted fear, then I would be weak against Lucifer. Against the dark.
Compassion broke through Garreth’s worry, “You’ll have to show him a weakness, Teagan. It’s how he enters.”
Hadrian squeezed my hand gently. “Ready?”
I couldn’t answer for fear the strength I was trying so hard to build up would desert me. I entertained thoughts of running from this place, of taking off down the long, twisting tunnels until I came to the river. Surely then my cell phone would pick up again, and I could call my mother to come get me. I could call Nate. I could call Ryan. Anyone. I could find a road, and perhaps a car would come along, and I could beg them to take me home, and I’d wake up to find this has all been a horrible, horrible dream.
Still holding hands, we walked over to Brynn, where I slowly crouched to the floor beside her. They guided me backwards, my head next to hers, my body stretching out in the opposite direction. I reached down, feeling for the filmy fabric of my now stained dress, wanting to cover myself as much as possible against the biting cold of the damp dirt floor. I felt hands do the work for me, then felt my legs being covered with a softer warmth than that of the ruined party dress. I lifted my chin and peered down at my feet to find Garreth gently rubbing my ankles, warming me, soothing me. Shakily, I smiled a thank you, but I was so chilled, it may not have appeared very grateful.
“If anything happens, we’re right here.” Hadrian looked fierce in the glow of the fire, but it was a look of determination. The face of a warrior. Of a guardian.
Turning my head to glance at Brynn, I could see her eyes were still fixed on the ceiling. Unseeing, yet seeing everything. I wondered where she was right now, deep inside herself. Was she battling the demon who had promised her she would have her mother again? Was she reliving nightmares? Was she happy with more false promises?
I turned my head back and closed my eyes, steeling myself, knowing I had to let him in. Slowly, I began to empty my mind, allowing tendrils of thoughts into my subconscious. Each thought, each fear, was like a whisper, a thread of smoke that wove through my head, snaking around to find the precise point where I could allow it to fester and take shape; to give it permission to become real. I pictured everything that tempted me, hoping it would draw Lucifer closer.
Desperately, I wanted to retreat deeper inside the safety of myself, to be away from the thoughts, the memories, but I allowed them to come full force. I felt a presence near me. Not on the outside of my body, where I knew Hadrian and Garreth were keeping a close watch on me, but here — within me. It was sharing the same space, and so I continued …
I felt over and over again the fear of being in the closet with Ryan. I pictured hell all around me, bidding it to come out of hiding and find me. I made myself hear Brynn and her years of taunting, of making me feel worthless and shameful for even being on the same planet as her. And then … I made contact, and someone, something, broke through and touched me.