“Sorry you had to come all the way back here to hang out with me again.” He grinned. “Anyway, I missed your ugly mug too.”

  “We’d better save the sweet nothings for when we’re out of here.” I ducked to avoid the arm of a Soul someone had lobbed at me.

  “For once, I agree with you.”

  Around us, the war raged. Ginevra had gathered an incredible army: the Damned, zombies, and various types of ferocious beasts defended our cause, battling the Witches’ army, which was composed of subjugated Subterraneans and a multitude of battle-trained Amazons. In the fray I recognized many prisoners I’d seen before in the Castle, including Faustian, who had joined our side. The rebels confronting the Witches were in the thousands, but our adversaries seemed infinite. The Witches summoned Hell-spawned creatures that swarmed in from all corners of the underworld. They conjured up statues of animals, which they then brought to life.

  Ginevra battled like a lioness, Simon and Peter at her side, while Drake had joined Stella. She was so skilled and so fierce in battling the Mizhyas that she seemed like one of them. I scanned the battle for Gemma and spotted her not far away, keeping the Souls of the Damned at bay. As I struggled through the crowd to reach her, my sword turned even against my allies to defend her. I would allow no one to harm her. “Gemma, we need to get out of here. My friends will help us escape.”

  “You will all die for this affront to the Empress!”

  “We’re taking you away from here whether you like it or not!” I shouted over the din. She pulled out her crossbow and aimed it at my face. “Please, come with me,” I pleaded. “Your place is with me.”

  “My place is here. With Sophìa.”

  “Sophìa betrayed you, can’t you see that? She didn’t hesitate a second to order the death of the Champion you chose.”

  A mighty boom drowned out the frenzy of the battle. We stopped, alert, and a large blue-eyed gorilla barreled toward us, raging. Gemma leapt out of the way and I dodged it a second before it could crush me. I watched her rush to her Saurus that had swooped down to her rescue. She grabbed hold of it with a single hand and leapt onto its back. Argas took wing. I struck down every creature in my path in my attempt to follow Gemma. She came to a halt above her Sisters, who were battling in the form of panthers, slid off Argas, and joined forces with them. One by one, the Witches morphed back into their human forms. All at once, the sky darkened and a barrier surrounded them, advancing with them and destroying everyone it touched. All the Damned retreated, but Ginevra stood her ground and faced them.

  “Step aside,” Gemma ordered her.

  “Come away with us and no one will get hurt,” Ginevra promised.

  “You’ve lost your mind!”

  “You’re the one who’s not thinking straight! You’re blinded by love for Sophìa. She ordered the death of your Champion. We’re here to save him and you.”

  “I don’t need to be saved.”

  “I’m your Sister.”

  “No you aren’t. Not any more. They’re my Sisters. Did you really think you could defeat us with a bunch of rebels? Consider them dead meat.”

  “Don’t count on it—they all have my blood in their bodies.”

  “Then this means war.”

  A lightning bolt streaked the sky and Ginevra’s entire army returned to the fray. I found Simon and Drake and joined them in battle. The Witches weren’t ordinary adversaries; their powers were immense. The air itself was imbued with black magic and it took all our strength to withstand it. Each Subterranean summoned the elements to help: air, earth, water, and fire—the fire that the Witches so feared and that now threatened them in their own territory, within their Castle walls. Their serpents hissed, sinking their fangs into Damned Souls and rebel Subterraneans alike. They fell like leaves in the wind. Peter was on his knees, Devina’s whip coiled around his neck. I hadn’t yet learned what his special power was but it must have been strong, because he freed himself from the whip and pinned the Witch against the wall.

  Absolon was also there, longbow in hand. He quickly killed off the Empress’s guards and headed straight for the Witches. Somewhere in the distance the massive volcano erupted, making the ground quake. I used my power over the earth to summon the poison that impregnated the soil. It rose up, forming a giant arch. Simon set it on fire and hurled it against the Witches, who defended themselves by creating a vacuum around them so the fire would have no oxygen to feed on. But the spell weakened their protective shield, opening a gap that we took advantage of to launch a new attack. Against their Soldiers we used the poisoned weapons Ginevra had prepared. Our lances and arrows burned with angel fire.

  A Witch hurled a lightning bolt straight at me, but at the last second Argas pushed me out of its path. Gemma looked in our direction, surprised by her Saurus’s action. Anya also came running. She’d stayed close to Gemma since the revolt had begun. Though she hadn’t openly joined our side, she had to have been the one who gave Faustian the Devil’s Claw. Anya was there not to stand in our way but to protect Gemma, and I hoped she would help persuade her to come with us.

  A Subterranean nocked two flaming arrows. I realized too late whom he was aiming at. “Gemmaaa!!!” Horror filled my eyes. I tried to stop them, but one of them flew toward her, the fire piercing the twilight. Anya looked at me in shock and pushed Gemma out of the way, taking the arrow in the chest. A tear slid down her cheek before a wave of flames engulfed her. Her body instantly exploded into thousands of black butterflies.

  “Anyaaa!!!” Gemma screamed, kneeling where her Sister had been a second before. In despair, Ginevra slew the Subterranean who’d killed Anya. Sophìa’s shriek echoed throughout the realm. For an instant the battle halted as the sky transformed, filling suddenly with a tempest of lightning bolts that hurled their fury down on us. Gemma’s eyes transformed, becoming inhuman, as she flung herself at her adversaries.

  All at once something stopped her and she crumpled to her knees. For a second I feared someone had hit her, but then she raised her head and her eyes met mine. It was like finding each other again after centuries. She clenched her fists against the ground, her eyes fixed intensely on me, as a burst of emotion struck me full in the chest. “Evan,” she murmured.

  She remembered. Tears filled my eyes. “Jamie.”

  My Jamie—I had found her! I ran toward her, killing anyone who got in my way, but a swarm of black butterflies descended upon us like the darkest of prophecies, lifted some of the Damned from the ground, and tore them apart in midair before lashing out at me and hurling me away.

  “Sophìa, no!” Gemma screamed, her voice cracking with desperation.

  The Empress materialized in front of me, in her eyes all the world’s evil. “You are the cause of this!” she thundered. “Now die, Soldier!” She hurled her serpent straight at me and I realized that this was the end. Now that I had finally found my Jamie, I was about to die.

  Gemma’s agonized shriek shook the sky. “Noooo!!!” As Sophìa’s Dakor opened its fangs, there was a deafening boom, like a wave of energy holding back time. Gemma’s voice filled my mind. “He must live.”

  “It will be forever and there will be no return.”

  I cringed, my blood running cold. It was the Màsala.

  “It doesn’t matter. As long as he’s alive, my soul will be at peace.”

  The strange power subsided. I glimpsed another blurred form darting past me and realized to my horror it was Gemma’s serpent. I turned toward her, desperate, but it was too late. A tear slid from Gemma’s eye an instant before Sophìa’s Dakor sank its fangs into her serpent, ripping off its head.

  Gemma’s eyes, still fixed on mine, grew wide as the pain her Dakor had felt flooded through her. Ever so slightly, her lips moved: “Atyantam.” Her body exploded into a swarm of black butterflies.

  My mind reeled from the shock and tears flooded my eyes. I clenched my teeth and let out a shriek of pain that pierced the sky. Dazed, I watched the battle raging all around me. Ginevra was on the ground, sobbing and clutching the earth where a moment earlier Gemma had been. Sophìa sank to her knees, paralyzed.

  No! No! No! It couldn’t end like this. I couldn’t finally find her only to lose her again. Why had she done it? She’d sacrificed herself for me, dying in my place. I sobbed. The pain was unbearable; it wracked my chest. I turned toward the battle and realized I’d undertaken a journey with no return. Without Gemma, nothing had meaning any more. I began to run, tearing a sword out of the hands of one of the Damned, lopping off heads and venting my rage on anyone who stepped into my path. Argas’s cry of anguish rose up in the night as he circled in the air above us. I ran to him and he swooped down so I could leap onto his back and continue my massacre, hurling fireballs at the accursed Witches as the Saurus charged ahead in a futile attempt—like my own—to escape the pain. Subterraneans, Witches, the Damned—I didn’t care who I struck down. I didn’t care about anything any more. I had lost everything. No one deserved to live more than Gemma. They all had to die.

  Brandishing my sword, I was rushing at a group of Soldiers when a voice filled my head. “Evan, stop.” A shiver crept through me and I froze. It was Gemma. I turned around and her big dark eyes locked onto mine. “Enough,” she said softly.

  I slid off Argas’s back and rushed to her, wiping away the tears that blurred my view of her. I crumpled to my knees at her feet and wept. She cradled my head and I held her tight. She too knelt and I stroked her hair with the desperation of a man condemned to death. I rested my forehead against hers, our eyes exchanging forbidden promises.

  “How . . .” It was Gemma’s soul I was embracing. She wasn’t there to stay.

  “You’re free. Your soul no longer belongs to me.” Gemma touched her neck. The Dreide with which she’d claimed me was gone.

  “I don’t want to be free of you. My soul will belong to you forever.”

  “Evan . . .” she murmured, taking my hand. I squeezed my eyes shut as more tears flooded them, shaking my head because I knew what she was about to tell me—what was about to happen.

  “No. Don’t say it. Please don’t say it,” I begged her.

  “I’m here to say goodbye to you.”

  I held her tight against me, clenching my fists. I couldn’t accept it. I couldn’t let her go. “Stay with me,” I whispered, on the verge of madness. “Stay with me, I’m begging you. I can’t lose you now that I’ve found you again.”

  “I can’t stay. I prayed for forgiveness and it was granted to me.” She stared at me, her eyes mirroring my desperation. “I couldn’t leave without thanking you for fighting for me up to the very end.”

  I shook my head. “Without you, nothing I did means anything any more.”

  “It means something to me, Evan. You freed me.”

  “It wasn’t supposed to end this way. We were supposed to be together forever.”

  “This was how it had to end all along, but meanwhile you gave me the world. Death has whispered its last song to me.”

  “I didn’t save you.”

  “Yes you did. My soul will be at peace now.”

  A hooded figure appeared behind Gemma. It was one of the Màsala. Her great sacrifice had delivered her from the darkness, but crossing over into the light would take her away from me forever. I held her tight, refusing to let her leave me. “No. I won’t let you go.” A tear slid down my cheek. Never had I been so desperate. “This shouldn’t have happened.” I shook my head. “It shouldn’t have happened.”

  “We fought to prevent it but fate was against us, Evan. I’ll never regret having tried. I’ve lived moments with you I’ll never forget.”

  “There won’t be any more. There won’t be any more moments for us together!” I whispered. “You know the curse I’m under. If you pass over, I’ll lose you forever. Why did you do it? Why did you stop fighting?”

  “I only stopped fighting for myself. Now it’s time for me to protect you. If you had died today, I never would have forgiven myself. There won’t be any more wars to fight, Evan.”

  “This is the end—the end of everything.”

  Gemma took my hand in hers and raised it, gazing at our joined palms, our vows interlacing for the last time. “There will never be a true end for us.”

  Our palms pressed closer, caressed each other, explored each other for the last time. I looked at her fingers, stroking them, trying to memorize her touch. I would never experience it again. The Màsala behind her approached. Gemma’s gaze plumbed mine in a final farewell as a tear slid silently from my eyes. Then she disappeared.

  I sank to my knees. I had lost her forever.

  “Enough!” A commanding voice resounded through the night, and the battle all around me ceased. I was still on the ground, dazed and heartbroken. Slowly I raised my head, but only because it had been Ginevra’s voice.

  I started when I saw she was at Sophìa’s side. “The war will come to an end. Now!” she ordered. Everyone looked around, suddenly freed from her dark spell. I stared at her, bewildered, and she detected my thoughts. “It’s over, Evan,” she whispered, looking devastated. “We lost, but at least you can save yourselves.”

  “There’s nothing left in me to save.”

  “Yes there is. I led this revolt. I’ll be the one to pay the price . . . in exchange for your lives.”

  “No!” Simon stepped forward, emerging from the crowd.

  Ginevra turned to look at him and a tear slid down her cheek. “Earth isn’t a good place for those like us. I’m sorry. I have no choice.”

  “But I do,” Simon replied, and she nodded. If Ginevra had decided to remain in Hell to put an end to the war, Simon would stay there with her. A band of panthers surrounded me and a Witch bound my wrists behind my back. I stood and let them lead me away, casting a final glance at Simon and Ginevra.

  The air shimmered in front of me as the portal opened. I saw Drake staring at me from his position at the head of our army. He was covered with blood and ash, and his powerful body was shielding Stella’s protectively. We looked at each other one last time. Driven forward by the Witch and the panthers, I crossed through the portal and all the chaos disappeared. The Witch didn’t speak; the panthers made not a sound. They too were mourning. I allowed them to lead me to the center of the Dànava, my eyes lost in the void as the mechanism was activated and a whirlwind of butterflies came to life around me, dragging me out of Hell.

  But a worse Hell dwelled in my soul that had been darkened forever. I had lost Gemma. I had lost everything.

  Thunder. Inside me and out.

  Bolts of lightning. They crash down onto the confines of my reason.

  Light. Darkness. Shadows.

  Vain hope.

  A FINAL PROMISE

  I stared at Gemma’s casket as they covered it with dirt. It was empty, like my heart and everything else that remained of me. Even the sky wept, bathing the black umbrellas of the community that had come together to say a final farewell to my wife and our child. I let its tears fall on me. I didn’t deserve its consolation.

  Breaking the news to Gemma’s parents had been the hardest thing I’d ever done. Their grief was like salt in my bleeding wound. Her father had collapsed to the floor in tears. Her mother had hit me over and over, refusing to believe it. At the end she had clung to me as we wept bitter tears together, tears that burned like the deadliest of poisons.

  I gripped the violin tighter, squeezing my eyes shut as I moved the bow across the strings, playing a final lullaby for Gemma and Liam. I would never see them again. The notes cut into me, exposing my pain as Gemma’s eyes returned to fill my mind. Every time those eyes looked at me, my heart broke in two to let her in. She was inside me and no condemnation could ever move her from there. But death had breathed its last whisper into her ear. There would be no happy ending for us—for any of us.

  Ginevra had sacrificed her freedom in exchange for my life and Simon’s. He too had made up his mind, refusing to leave her. And so he’d stayed with her in Hell.

  Someone rested a hand on my shoulder. It was Peter. When I looked up, I saw that the crowd had dispersed and we were alone. “I’m sorry,” he said.

  “They let you go,” I remarked.

  “Simon intervened for me. He stayed in the Castle with Ginevra.”

  “He’ll get by. He’s strong.”

  “I know. Ginevra imposed some conditions.”

  “You fought well. Thank you for protecting Gemma.”

  “I didn’t do it for you.” He looked down. “You know, when I got back from Hell I went to eat of the Tree,” he admitted. He was talking about Eden, but not even he dared say the name aloud, almost as though it had become a forbidden place. “It’s strange, knowing she’s there and I can’t see her.” I closed my eyes. I hadn’t found the courage to do the same. “I stayed a while, listening. I tried to imagine her there next to me. Maybe she really was there and I didn’t know it. It’s frustrating. But you—you haven’t eaten of the Tree since you got back from the war, have you?”

  I didn’t reply. Peter was right, but I couldn’t go back there. I’d once told Gemma there was no world where we could be together. Inside me I’d always hoped it wasn’t true, but it was. We were separated, in two different worlds, lost Souls who would never meet again.

  It had happened. What I’d feared from the very start had happened: Gemma had crossed over. I’d lost her. Like a dream that fades with the morning light, it was the end. The end of everything. The end of me.

  “I know I can’t replace your friends, just like no one could ever replace the one I lost,” Peter continued, “but I want you to know you can count on me, for anything.” I nodded my thanks. “I have to go now.” Peter turned and walked away, leaving me alone with Gemma.

  I stared at the engraving on her headstone. Leaning over, I stroked the stone. The words transformed beneath my fingertips and my final promise to her appeared.