The Fallen didn’t pursue them but stayed close to the library doors. Their empty eyes gazed toward the Rift, mouths agape, as they swayed mindlessly, holding their position.
Logan fell backward, gazing up at the creature that had taken Bosque Mar’s place. “Behold, the Harbinger. Master of the Nether and Lord of the Keepers.”
TWENTY-SEVEN
“I WILL HEAR YOU SCREAM for this treachery, Logan Bane,” Bosque rasped.
The sound of his voice startled me. It was the same as it had been when the Harbinger had been cloaked in a human body. The only change was the repetitive clicking of his pincers meeting each other in front of his lips.
He clawed the air with one of his upper limbs and Logan dropped to the floor, gasping in pain. Blood poured from four deep, symmetrical gashes in his chest.
“No!” Shay rolled to the balls of his feet.
“The Rift!” Adne shouted. “You have to drive him into the Rift with the Cross!”
Bosque shrieked his rage at her, raising his spiny limb once more.
Shay was already moving. The blades of the Elemental Cross whirred through the air, sparks of its power leaping from the swords. I could no longer distinguish his body from the whirlwind of light and sound that built up around him. The column of the elements that enveloped his form was ever changing, sliding from the roar of a firestorm to the crash of a waterfall only to morph again into the scream of a hurricane followed by the shuddering strength of an earthquake.
I knew Shay was there, wielding the blades, only because the limb Bosque had pointed at Logan suddenly went flying. It twitched on the library floor where it landed.
Bosque screamed as black blood leaked from the stump on his torso.
“Defend me, children!”
In a rain of leather wings and sharp talons, the throng of succubi and incubi descended on Shay. The moment they touched the edges of the sphere that surrounded the Scion their bodies dissolved, pouring to the ground in harmless piles of sand.
“No!” Bosque screamed, and there was real fear in his cry. His bulbous silver eyes searched the room in desperation. His frantic gaze settled on me. Laughing wildly, he grinned at Shay, revealing rows of sharp fangs behind his pincers.
“Very well, Scion,” he said. “You’ve claimed your legacy. But continue on this path and you shall lose that which you love the most.”
He stretched his arm out, shrieking an unintelligible order to the surviving Nether creatures. One of the incubi swooped low, dropping its spear. Bosque gripped the weapon, using the spines on his upper left limb like fingers. He turned that terrible smile on me and hurled the spear. I bolted, but not quickly enough.
Bosque’s aim had been true. It was only my scrambling aside that left me with a spear impaling my shoulder and not my heart. Bosque was strong. Very strong. Not only was the spear lodged deep inside me, but it had pierced all the way through my body to lodge in the wall behind me. I was pinned there.
“Calla!” Shay’s voice broke through the torrent of power shielding his body. I knew his advance faltered when the storm of elements surrounding him flickered, its light beginning to fade.
“No, Shay!” I screamed, struggling to break the spear or at least pull it free of the wall. “Forget about me. Kill him!”
Bosque shouted, “Take her. Tear her apart!”
The swarming Nether beings shrieked in unison and flew toward me. I thought about shifting, but a wolf pinned on its back was even more helpless than a human.
“Kill him, Shay!” I threw my arm up over my face as I waited for talons to rip into my flesh.
The screams of the flying horde grew louder, but the attack I’d been expecting never came. Snarls that were even closer than the furious shrieks made me look up. Bryn was almost on top of me, bristling at the Nether creatures. My father and Sabine stood just beyond her. One dead incubus already lay at their feet. Others dove but were met by the wolves’ teeth tearing through their wings, taking them to the ground and making sure they didn’t get up again.
“Move it, Scion!” Ethan shouted from the center of room, where he and Connor still stood guard over Adne. “Your lover girl is safe enough.”
Shay raised the swords again, striding forward. The sound in the room became deafening and the house began to shake. The flying Nether creatures stopped their attack and began to swarm above the fireplace like wasps panicking in their rattled nest. Near the door the Fallen’s moans became frantic. Their shuffling turned to chaos as they started to move, bumping into one another, swinging wildly at bookshelves and tables as if they’d lost any sense of purpose.
Bosque was backed up against the fireplace. He stretched out the three remaining limbs of his upper body, clawing at the stone frame.
“I will not be conquered,” he screamed. “I am your master. I gave you everything. You are nothing without me.”
“The Scion has no master.” Shay’s voice boomed over the chaos of noise in the library. It was his voice, but somehow different than the voice of the boy I knew. It was a deeper, older voice that echoed in my flesh and bone.
Bosque’s grip on the stones faltered. He slid a foot backward into the fireplace.
The storm of the Cross pursued him, the voice from within booming through the library. “The earth will no longer bear your corruption.”
“I will not yield,” Bosque spat.
The torrent of earth, wind, water, and fire around Shay flared brighter. “Begone, fiend.”
Bosque winced as the light of the Elemental Cross touched him. “No!”
“Begone!” the voice that wasn’t quite Shay’s cried out.
Bosque screamed as the sickly green aura of the Rift expanded, curling around him like arms drawing him into an unwelcome embrace. He screamed again as the thick tendrils wrapped around his body.
Then I could see Shay moving in the firestorm. He leapt forward, spinning as he hurtled toward Bosque. He brought the swords down in two lightning-fast strokes. Bosque howled in agony as three limbs were shorn from his torso. The green aura in the fireplace flared into immense spires of flame, consuming Bosque. I could hear him shrieking even though I couldn’t see him.
The roar of the Elemental Cross became deafening and the storm surrounding Shay thickened, making it impossible to find him amid its chaos of sound and motion.
“Take cover!” Connor shouted, throwing himself over Adne.
My father shifted forms, grabbing Sabine and hauling her to my side. He pushed her tight against me and Bryn while he shielded us beneath his body.
Logan fell backward, gazing up at the creature that had taken Bosque Mar’s place. “Behold, the Harbinger. Master of the Nether and Lord of the Keepers.”
TWENTY-SEVEN
“I WILL HEAR YOU SCREAM for this treachery, Logan Bane,” Bosque rasped.
The sound of his voice startled me. It was the same as it had been when the Harbinger had been cloaked in a human body. The only change was the repetitive clicking of his pincers meeting each other in front of his lips.
He clawed the air with one of his upper limbs and Logan dropped to the floor, gasping in pain. Blood poured from four deep, symmetrical gashes in his chest.
“No!” Shay rolled to the balls of his feet.
“The Rift!” Adne shouted. “You have to drive him into the Rift with the Cross!”
Bosque shrieked his rage at her, raising his spiny limb once more.
Shay was already moving. The blades of the Elemental Cross whirred through the air, sparks of its power leaping from the swords. I could no longer distinguish his body from the whirlwind of light and sound that built up around him. The column of the elements that enveloped his form was ever changing, sliding from the roar of a firestorm to the crash of a waterfall only to morph again into the scream of a hurricane followed by the shuddering strength of an earthquake.
I knew Shay was there, wielding the blades, only because the limb Bosque had pointed at Logan suddenly went flying. It twitched on the library floor where it landed.
Bosque screamed as black blood leaked from the stump on his torso.
“Defend me, children!”
In a rain of leather wings and sharp talons, the throng of succubi and incubi descended on Shay. The moment they touched the edges of the sphere that surrounded the Scion their bodies dissolved, pouring to the ground in harmless piles of sand.
“No!” Bosque screamed, and there was real fear in his cry. His bulbous silver eyes searched the room in desperation. His frantic gaze settled on me. Laughing wildly, he grinned at Shay, revealing rows of sharp fangs behind his pincers.
“Very well, Scion,” he said. “You’ve claimed your legacy. But continue on this path and you shall lose that which you love the most.”
He stretched his arm out, shrieking an unintelligible order to the surviving Nether creatures. One of the incubi swooped low, dropping its spear. Bosque gripped the weapon, using the spines on his upper left limb like fingers. He turned that terrible smile on me and hurled the spear. I bolted, but not quickly enough.
Bosque’s aim had been true. It was only my scrambling aside that left me with a spear impaling my shoulder and not my heart. Bosque was strong. Very strong. Not only was the spear lodged deep inside me, but it had pierced all the way through my body to lodge in the wall behind me. I was pinned there.
“Calla!” Shay’s voice broke through the torrent of power shielding his body. I knew his advance faltered when the storm of elements surrounding him flickered, its light beginning to fade.
“No, Shay!” I screamed, struggling to break the spear or at least pull it free of the wall. “Forget about me. Kill him!”
Bosque shouted, “Take her. Tear her apart!”
The swarming Nether beings shrieked in unison and flew toward me. I thought about shifting, but a wolf pinned on its back was even more helpless than a human.
“Kill him, Shay!” I threw my arm up over my face as I waited for talons to rip into my flesh.
The screams of the flying horde grew louder, but the attack I’d been expecting never came. Snarls that were even closer than the furious shrieks made me look up. Bryn was almost on top of me, bristling at the Nether creatures. My father and Sabine stood just beyond her. One dead incubus already lay at their feet. Others dove but were met by the wolves’ teeth tearing through their wings, taking them to the ground and making sure they didn’t get up again.
“Move it, Scion!” Ethan shouted from the center of room, where he and Connor still stood guard over Adne. “Your lover girl is safe enough.”
Shay raised the swords again, striding forward. The sound in the room became deafening and the house began to shake. The flying Nether creatures stopped their attack and began to swarm above the fireplace like wasps panicking in their rattled nest. Near the door the Fallen’s moans became frantic. Their shuffling turned to chaos as they started to move, bumping into one another, swinging wildly at bookshelves and tables as if they’d lost any sense of purpose.
Bosque was backed up against the fireplace. He stretched out the three remaining limbs of his upper body, clawing at the stone frame.
“I will not be conquered,” he screamed. “I am your master. I gave you everything. You are nothing without me.”
“The Scion has no master.” Shay’s voice boomed over the chaos of noise in the library. It was his voice, but somehow different than the voice of the boy I knew. It was a deeper, older voice that echoed in my flesh and bone.
Bosque’s grip on the stones faltered. He slid a foot backward into the fireplace.
The storm of the Cross pursued him, the voice from within booming through the library. “The earth will no longer bear your corruption.”
“I will not yield,” Bosque spat.
The torrent of earth, wind, water, and fire around Shay flared brighter. “Begone, fiend.”
Bosque winced as the light of the Elemental Cross touched him. “No!”
“Begone!” the voice that wasn’t quite Shay’s cried out.
Bosque screamed as the sickly green aura of the Rift expanded, curling around him like arms drawing him into an unwelcome embrace. He screamed again as the thick tendrils wrapped around his body.
Then I could see Shay moving in the firestorm. He leapt forward, spinning as he hurtled toward Bosque. He brought the swords down in two lightning-fast strokes. Bosque howled in agony as three limbs were shorn from his torso. The green aura in the fireplace flared into immense spires of flame, consuming Bosque. I could hear him shrieking even though I couldn’t see him.
The roar of the Elemental Cross became deafening and the storm surrounding Shay thickened, making it impossible to find him amid its chaos of sound and motion.
“Take cover!” Connor shouted, throwing himself over Adne.
My father shifted forms, grabbing Sabine and hauling her to my side. He pushed her tight against me and Bryn while he shielded us beneath his body.
