Witch and Wizard_ The Fire - James Patterson [54]
I could kill them, I think, shocking myself with this realization that I would do anything to get to The One right now. More than that — I have the power to.
But they’re already distracted, and I’ve reached the side gate. There’s no room for fear as I quietly take the palace keys from my belt loop and unlock the door, adrenaline and the daydream of defeating The One urging me forward.
I pad up the stairs to the imperial suite, rehearsing over and over in my head what I’ll say, how I will open the door silently and stealthily, how I won’t hesitate to zap The One with a brain bolt so powerful he’ll drop dead on contact.
Instead I’m totally unprepared when I reach The One’s door to find him, the picture of cool nonchalance, leaning against his doorway.
Expecting me.
He takes a small ceremonial bow, an amused smile playing across his lips, and says, “I really am proud of you and how well you do toilets, Wisteria Allgood. It’s a step in the right direction anyway. So is that New Order uniform. It looks stunning on you. Truly.”
“But —,” I falter. “You mean … you knew it was me?” The One sneers and manages to look both furious and amused at once. “Of course I knew it was you. I didn’t want to push you if you weren’t ready to join me quite yet.”
He studies his creepily long, manicured nails absently. “I wasn’t willing to wait much longer, and I’m delighted you sought me out at last. So are you now? Ready to join me, Wisteria?”
Chapter 57
Whit
MY EYES ARE shut tight against the grisly horrors about to take place, but when the Lost Ones’ fierce chanting stops suddenly, I force them open.
Sasha and Emmet are gaping at something in the distance, and I follow their gaze with a mix of hope and fear.
What I see takes my breath away.
An extraordinary light grows on the horizon, breaking through the bleak fog. I squint against the bright radiance, and it’s Celia in all her glory, racing toward us from over the hills with an army of Half-lights in her wake.
There is a long, silent moment when the Lost Ones freeze in place, their faces distorted with distress. Not a soul moves as the light pulses onward.
And then all hell breaks loose.
The Lost Ones stumble forward, dazed, pulled toward this age-old enemy as moths to flame. The Half-lights surge to meet them, and the forces of light and dark collide in one blinding, writhing mass. An explosion of energy bursts forth like a sun reemerging after an eclipse, too painful to look at directly.
It’s over in an instant.
Then the Lost Ones tear off, frantic and screeching, and beat a path of destruction through the bone forest. Defeated.
The Half-lights take the camp and get to work untying the kids from the stakes and putting out the raging fires. Sasha is already singing songs of victory and gathering together the saved Resistance, but I can see that his cheeks are wet with tears.
And Celia, my Celia, races to my side, her deft fingers flitting over my body though I can’t quite feel them, undoing the straps and releasing the levers. She’s still a Half-light, not quite solid, but in the Shadowland, it seems, her touch has more weight; she can move these objects constructed by other creatures of the Underworld.
“Celes, how did you …? Why did they …?”
I’m babbling with relief, unable to get a coherent word out.
“The balance had shifted,” she murmurs, still working, her mouth twisting in concentration. She looks up at me. “In the Shadowland, what’s good becomes more pure over time and what’s bad just rots with its evil.”
“So you’re at your strongest when they’re at their weakest?”
Celia nods. “When we’re all together like this” — she gestures at the Half-lights —“the light wins.”
Soon I’m standing face-to-face with her, and I feel … whole again. And I’ve finally put something together. “It was you before, wasn’t it? When our parents were executed and Wisty and I were supposed to go down with them. There was that blinding, painful light, and The One was on his knees, screaming. Wisty and I fell. Like falling into death, only light caught us. It was you. You and the