Witch and Wizard_ The Fire - James Patterson [77]
But it doesn’t work, not without Wisty, and when I open my eyes, it’s getting worse: a frigid, unseen hand is sweeping over everything.
Icy air blasts along the shoreline, and I follow with my eyes as the river freezes over, inch by inch. Hail tears through the sky, pelting down in sharp, relentless sheets that cut into my flesh. My breath billows in front of me, and ice crackles in my wet hair.
The valley is a luminous masterpiece, an ice world glistening under the red clouds. It’s breathtaking.
But the implications of The One’s power are devastating: Hell really has frozen over.
Chapter 80
Whit
THEN, AS IN every situation I think is hopeless, Celia appears at my side.
“Whit, I think I can help,” she says, her glow seeming brighter in the chaotic darkness. I feel better with her here even as we brace against the unfathomable wind and debris.
And then I remember the power of the Half-lights. “Can you bring them? Can they defeat the darkness like they did before?” I shout over the raging weather and the screaming of the multitudes.
“No,” she answers. “It doesn’t work like that, not against an evil so complete.”
“What can you do, then?” I nearly wail. I’m freezing, soaked to the bone in the land of the dead, and my sister is still hovering next to the river, power surging out of her as The One holds her in his iron clutches.
This is the definition of desperate.
“I can’t explain,” Celia says. “This is personal, Whit. You don’t understand. He … he came into my cell late at night. He came to my bedside.”
“What do you mean? Did he —?” I feel sick.
“No, Whit. He’s the one who murdered me!” she yells. “He strangled me with his bare hands. He killed me — to get to the two of you.”
I’m speechless. And angry. My hands shake with the effort of containing my fury. I understand why Celia needs her vengeance.
Before I can ask what she’s going to do, she runs. Away from me. Toward him. It.
“No, Celia, not like this!” I cry out. She doesn’t listen.
She hurls herself into the eye of the storm. Into The One.
She disappears right into his evil, swirling mass, and in seconds the storm has absorbed her like another small fleck of sand.
I lurch forward, screaming her name.
But she’s gone. Consumed.
Chapter 81
Wisty
I WAKE UP lying on the hard, icy ground, feeling like I’ve been beaten up but oddly rejuvenated.
The Shadowland is in utter turmoil, with dead people stumbling around screaming and hail tearing through the air.
I spot Whit sobbing farther downstream. I make my way over to him, still kind of dazed, and when I touch his shoulder, he jumps, his eyes nearly popping out of his head. He’s staring at me like I’m a monster, and I suppose I look like one.
“Wisty?” he croaks, touching my face, unbelieving. He envelops me in his arms and then holds me back to look at me again. “Wist, excuse me, but … how … how the heck are you still alive?”
“Not really sure about that,” I admit. “Are you okay?” I eye his dirty, tear-stained face.
“He took Celia,” my brother says, and his face is distorted with grief. “I mean … she sacrificed herself. I think she saved your life. It must’ve broken the connection. It’s all over …” Whit trails off, his speech disjointed with shock.
I feel awful about Celia, but what he’s just told me makes me realize something: we still have a chance.
“It’s not over, Whit. Not by a long shot. If I can survive prolonged electrocution and you can survive losing the person you love the most, it just proves we’re getting stronger. We’re finally ready, finally strong enough to end him.”
“And if it doesn’t work?” Whit asks, his voice already defeated. “Are you ready for our own end as well?”
“Yes,” I answer. What other choice do I have? This is the Prophecy; this is our purpose. And if we fail … well, life’s not going to be worth living anyway. “Are you?” I whisper.
“If it means joining her, yeah,” Whit says, and my heart breaks for him.
But there’s nowhere to go but forward. “One last shot?” I ask.
“Let’s do this, little sis.” Whit nods, reliable until the very