Witch and Wizard_ The Fire - James Patterson [79]
My parents rush to Whit and me, and we’re all choking on our tears and squeezing one another tightly, just grateful we’re alive. But Whit breaks away from us.
Finally able to have his time to grieve, my brother collapses to his knees on the gravel. “Celia!” Whit yells. “Celia, no! Celia, please!” Sobs overtake my poor, wrecked, heartbroken brother, and it feels like the end of everything.
We’ve defeated The One, like the Prophecy said. The balance has been restored. But it doesn’t mean life will go back to the way it was. The One is gone, but many other things are gone, too. Like the parents of so many of these children. Like our homes. Like our innocence. Like our loved ones.
“Come back!” Whit shouts, and I suppress a sob myself.
It wasn’t supposed to feel like this.
Chapter 82
Whit
SEVERAL SECONDS PASS. No one says a word, and the silence shrieks in my ears like a million wailing ambulances.
But then, as if taking a breath from a short swim, Celia emerges from a wisp of fog, glistening and spectacular. And I start breathing again.
I stand up on shaking legs and try to take her into my arms — her light is so bright it’s almost blinding.
I’m still sobbing. With all of that pain, all of that emotion finally unleashed, I wonder if I’ll ever be able to stop the torrent of tears again. In front of my parents, and my little sister, and the thousands of people in the crowd who have watched this whole spectacle and think I’m some big hero, I’m choking back hiccuping breaths like a kid.
But I don’t care. All I can see is her.
“I know, baby,” Celia whispers softly, her face so close to mine. “I know.”
I can hardly feel her at all, and she’s not looking at me like she usually does. It’s like she’s still far away, less here. It’s seems like each time I see her, she’s less real.
The One is gone, so why does everything still feel so very wrong? I don’t want to ask her why she’s different, why she’s looking at me like she’s already let us go, because my heart can’t take that right now. So instead I ask what every other soul here is wondering: How could she possibly come back from that writhing mass of One?
“What did you do?” is all I can manage to say.
Celia pulls back from me, slipping through my fingers. “I’m not sure. I think all of our powers were working in reverse. Magic works differently in the Shadowland. We think it passes through here to the Overworld from other realms, so —”
“Talk to me like I’m not going crazy, Celes,” I say, groping to find a way to cup her ethereal face. “Even after all that’s happened, this is still too much to follow.”
“You’re able to heal, so you were able to hurt,” she goes on. “Wisty can create electrical impulses, so she could shut them down, too. And I …” She pauses, trying to make sense of all of it. “You brought death to his body; Wisty brought it to his mind. And … well, I’m a Half-light, so I’m half life, half death. I think I brought death to his soul.”
I’m still trying to process this. “I thought you’d become a part of that … monster.” My voice wavers, the sobs threatening to return.
Celia nods slowly. “In a way, I did.” I can’t grasp that. “But I needed this, Whit. I needed to pay him back. For stealing my life. For stealing our life together.”
Chapter 83
Wisty
THANKS TO MY brother’s awesome healing spells, the drawbridge across the River of Forever is back in working order, fully lowered and functional, looking like it never even encountered the wrath of the elements. And with The One’s influence gone, the crowds slowly begin to file across again.
The Resistance — Emmet, Janine, Sasha, and the others — are standing downstream, holding hands and grinning at us. Sasha lets out a wild whoop and Emmet’s supporting a beaten but not broken Byron, who gives me a wan thumbs-up. I return the signal, and for a while we all watch as the natural order is restored, souls moving on and journeys coming to a close.
I stand with my family, and Feffer runs up and licks my hand. After all this poor pup’s been through, she’s ready to go home. We