Time slowed and I became essence, swirling around our bodies like a screaming tornado. I saw myself from afar—black eyes bleeding like a devil—and I struck like a snake, venom dripping from my proverbial fangs as I attacked.

  My hand curled around Owen’s neck and I snarled as the flesh of my hand began to flake and turn black. The flakes floated into the air like charred ash and I phased.

  Owen gasped, his eyes widening with fear as my spirit invaded his, twisting and choking the life from him. I was a demon possessing his Chimera soul, and I dragged the truth from him, one scrap at a time.

  The images in his mind came to me all at once. A ruined land, a castle carved into a mountain capped with snow, fire and brimstone, black-armoured creatures, a woman with green hair fleeing across a frozen lake, armies clashing on a field of red, an enormous snarled tree rising out of an ancient forest…

  It took me a moment to get it all into order, but when I did, the truth was too terrifying to comprehend.

  The Chimera wanted to take over the Fae world, then sweep into Earth, destroying the Witches for barring their way home, enslave the Druids, and when they had the power they desired, they would turn on humanity. The Chimera wanted to rule with a dynasty of terror that stretched across multiple worlds. They wanted to become all-powerful.

  They wanted to be gods.

  And my mother? I drove the truth from him, driving into his sprit like a hammer. The woman fleeing across the icy lake was her, but Owen didn’t know her face, just the story of her escape.

  He was telling the truth about her being destined for the king of the Dark Fae, but it wasn’t consensual. They intended to steal her away and turn her to evil, just like they were trying to do to me… They are trying to turn me to Darkness. They wanted me to destroy the world—both of them.

  This was the truth as Owen knew it.

  “You figured it out,” he rasped, as colour leeched from his body.

  “I told you I wasn’t the same woman you tried to kidnap on Calton Hill. You should have listened.”

  I wasn’t sure how to feel about the horror I’d found in his mind. All I wanted to do was kill him for his duplicitous lies—and get some kind of revenge for my father. The Warren, and the Druids who huddled inside it, seemed to be so far away.

  “Power corrupts, Owen,” I drawled. “Your heart is black and your king… He will never have what he desires. I will not enslave innocents on any world.”

  “At least my heart isn’t as black as yours. I can see the sun turning dark already.”

  “If the black sun rises, it will dawn on the Chimera,” I snarled.

  Cracks appeared on his cheeks, splintering into ragged shapes that reminded me of the surface of a dry lake.

  “And so the wheels of destiny turn,” he whispered as his spirit began to crumble. “You have no idea what you’ve set in motion.”

  “Too bad you won’t be around to see it.”

  Owen opened his mouth to reply, but it was too little, too late. He fell in on himself, crumbling into a pile of ash. It was a horrific sight, knowing a Fae had once stood there, but how could I feel sympathy for someone whose sole purpose was to twist me into something evil? If anything, all the emotion that beat through my heart was pity.

  Dark shadows flitted between the headstones and I raised my head. Owen hadn’t come alone.

  Chimera emerged from the surrounding cemetery, prowling around me like pack of hungry lions. They hadn’t bothered to hide their faces and as they approached, I was treated to their full grey-skinned, pointy teeth, gremlin glory.

  I was in big trouble, but I had one saving grace—the pile of ash at my feet.

  The millions dollar question was, could I do it again? I guess I was about to find out.

  “Okay, guys,” I said, sounding much more confident than I felt, “I guess we’re doing this.”

  Chapter 19

  “Any last words?” I asked, counting the Chimera circling through the cemetery.

  Six.

  One of the Fae stepped towards me, his sword glinting in the glow of the orange street light.

  “You killed our master,” he said. His pointed teeth gave him a lisp, reminding me of a certain hissing reptile.

  “You king will be pissed if you kill me,” I said.

  “Our king is not here.”

  A roar bellowed from behind me and a blur leapt over my shoulder and collided with the Chimera. The sword flew from his grasp, clattering against the side of a crumbling mausoleum.

  A tiger with glowing blue stripes mauled the Fae, swatting him with huge clawed paws.

  Ignis. I’d know that daft cat anywhere.

  Nothing in this world surprised me anymore.

  The Chimera screamed as the tiger clamped its jaws around his neck. A snap echoed through the cemetery and the Fae were still.

  Five pairs of eyes glared at me out of the gloom and the glint of metal told me that they didn’t come unarmed. Ignis prowled towards me, putting himself between me and the enemy.

  The challenge was clear, but I had nothing to fight with—no knife, no sword, no skills—just a dangerous power I didn’t know the limits of.

  Get a grip, Elspeth. Now wasn’t the time to fear what I might become. I had to grab hold of my destiny and make it my own…or die trying.

  “Ignis? I appreciate the assist, but give me some room, will you?”

  The tiger purred, licked his whiskers, and prowled through the shadows. His blue glow ebbed in the dark, letting me know where he was.

  Focusing on the remaining Chimera, I hoped this worked.

  I let go of the final barrier between me and the Fae blood swirling through my veins…and became black essence.

  The cemetery went dark, all the light from the city blinking out, and the shadows began to rise. I took one step forwards and a black vicious liquid rose in my wake, floating in the sky as if gravity ceased to exist.

  The Chimera hesitated, their eyes widening in fear.

  They want to kill you, a voice echoed in my head. They want to cut you open and tear your insides out.

  I looked to a shadow at my side. Mother?

  It hissed and dove at me, slamming into my body and feeding the power that rose within me.

  Kill them, kill them, kill them. They are the enemy.

  My head snapped to the front.

  Let me go. Let me go now!

  I raised my hands, balking at the bluish hue my skin had taken. My gaze focused through a filmy haze of shadow and the Darkness rose up from the ground and encircled the Chimera.

  The essence was me, yet it was something else. Something wild and elemental…beyond this reality.

  The oozing black liquid crawled over the Fae, consuming them one by one—strangling, suffocating. I drew them into death, Colour binding them, and five souls became shadow then drifted away into the currents of death like sand blown in the wind.

  Power rose behind me and I swung around, but I was too late to stop the unseen sword arcing towards my neck. Closing my eyes, I felt the Darkness seethe.

  The sharp sound of metal colliding with metal rang through the air. My eyes jerked open and I gasped when I saw Rory locked in a tight grapple with the Chimera.

  Their swords rasped as they slid together, then they broke apart and the Druid spun, the blade hissing through the air…and cut the Fae’s head clean off its shoulders.

  Jaimie appeared behind him, his German Shepard form padding between the headstones.

  My head snapped up and I stared at them through the film of darkness. More?

  “Get out of here,” I rasped. “I can’t hold it.”

  Rory dropped the sword and threw his arms around my trembling body. His Colours flared as he held onto me and the Darkness began to subside. I didn’t know if it was conscious or if it sensed his intent, but whatever I’d unleashed seemed to have run its course.

  I slammed my Colour around the Dark things and began to shake. If it wasn’t for Rory, I would have fallen to my knees.

  “Are you all right?” he asked, drawing back. He smoothed my hair behind my ears.

  “I-I don’t know.”

  His thumb brushed over my cheek. “The cut it gone. So is your black eye.”

  I raised my hand to my face and found he was right. The prism burns didn’t seem to sting anymore, either. “My eyes?”

  “Green as two shiny emeralds.”

  I sighed. I was Elspeth again.

  “It felt like that day in the close,” I said. “Like it was going to explode.”

  “Whatever it was, it knew we were your friends,” Rory told me.

  Now in his human form, Jaimie stood to the side. One hand covered his junk and the other swatted at Rory. “Help a man out, will you?”

  Rory chuckled, shucked off his coat, and tossed it to the Druid.

  Ignis leapt onto the headstone beside me and meowed, pawing the air. He was a tabby cat again, but no less needy.

  Rory scratched him on the head. “Your cat is really something, huh? He must have had some serious magic of his own when he was alive.”

  Nervousness crept into my heart and I glanced between the Druids.

  “How long were you…” I edged backwards.

  “Uh, a while,” Jaimie admitted.

  They’d seen me talking with Owen, then. They’d likely heard our conversation…and seen me turn him into a pile of ash.

  “You thought I was going with him, didn’t you?” I asked.

  Rory shook his head. “Never.”

  I glanced at Jaimie. “I just wanted answers.”

  “I know, lass,” the shapeshifter said. “They were hard won…and we didn’t help when we should’ve.”

  “You were there when it counted,” I told him, glancing at the dead Chimera. “That’s all that matters.”

  I was the black sun.

  The revelation hit me like a tonne of bricks. When the black sun rises, death will choose the hand of fate. My power would choose who lived and died, not me—not unless I learned how to control it.

  “The Warren should be safe now,” I said. “I forced the truth from Owen. Well, the truth as he knew it.”

  “What does that mean?” Jaimie asked.

  “It means time will tell if the knowledge spread without his knowing.”

  And everything he told me about the Fae and my mother might be a lie fed to him to keep him obedient. There was nothing better at keeping trapped fanatical soldiers loyal than blind faith.

  “Elspeth?”

  I must have been silent for a long time. I blinked and knew what I had to do. I’d been doing it all my life, so it wouldn’t be much of a stretch.

  I stood before Rory. “Do you understand what I am?”

  “You’re not ascending, are you?” he murmured.

  I shook my head. “No, I’m not.”

  “It’s astral projection,” Jaimie said. “You projected your soul, lass.”

  “That’s a kind way of putting it, I suppose.”

  “You projected your soul inside the Chimera?” Rory asked, his brow furrowing.

  “I possessed him, Rory. I controlled him, took his truth, and broke everything he was.” I shook my head. “You know Delilah’s shattered souls? What I did to Owen was worse…and it was easy.” I swept my arm around, gesturing to the fallen Chimera. “And then I pulled his friends into death and turned them inside out. Cutting off that guy’s head was kinder.” The Druids stared at me in shock. They didn’t understand, but neither did I. “Whatever kind of Fae I truly am, I can’t say for sure, but mixed with my ability to Spirit Walk… All I have to do is will it and I could enslave you all by accident. I can’t go back.”

  “Of course, you can come back,” Rory said. “The Warren is your home.”

  “You don’t understand. I had no control. None. Once the Darkness took hold, I had to let it run its course. If I did that in the Warren?” I shook my head and sighed. “They were right to try to kill me.”

  “No,” he snarled, grabbing my arm. “Don’t say that, Elspeth. Let me help you control it. I—”

  “She’s right, Rory,” Jaimie said, placing a big hand on the Druid’s shoulder. “I don’t like it either, but her power is unstable. Until she can handle it, going back to the Warren isn’t the best idea.”

  “But you can’t go alone,” Rory argued.

  “This power…it makes me Dark, Rory. I can feel it. It’s like…” I pressed my fist against my heart. “It’s like someone else is living inside me and I just let them out of their cage.”

  “Your power is not who you are, Elspeth,” he murmured. “You have a good heart. You’re kind, funny, sweet, caring—”

  “Maybe,” I said, “but it isn’t enough. I need to go, and it has to be on my own. This won’t be the last we see of the Chimera and they have to follow me if the Warren is to remain hidden.” I felt Ignis’ paw tap on my shoulder and I looked up at the cat. “Stay with the Druids…and please listen this time.”

  Picking up my beanie, I dusted the dirt off and put it back on my head.

  Rory was watching me with a forlorn expression that tugged at my heartstrings. He truly cared about me. I’d wanted someone to look at me like that my entire life, but now that someone was, I had to turn them away. The world was a cruel place for people like me—people wrapped up in a prophecy of extinction.

  “Don’t worry,” I told them, “I’ll figure it out.”

  “I know you probably won’t need it, but…” Rory pulled the knife and matching scabbard from his belt and handed them to me, “best not go unprepared.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Where will you go?” Rory asked, pressing the knife towards me.

  I shrugged. “Who knows? I have a cool teleporting power. Maybe I’ll go to the Bahamas.”

  “Lass,” Jaimie stepped forwards and put his hands on my shoulders, “if you ever need help, all you need to do is call.”

  “Thank you.” I glanced at Rory. “For everything.”

  Chapter 20

  Waverley Station was buzzing.

  The early morning rush hour was well underway. Overhead, automated announcements blared out of speakers. The next train to depart from platform four, is the eight-forty-five ScotRail service to Glasgow Central, stopping at Haymarket, Linlithgow…

  Ticket barriers squealed as they opened and banged as they shut. People lingered at the departure displays, waiting for their trains to be announced while others circled the WH Smith looking at magazines and purchasing sweets.

  I nursed a can of energy drink between my knees and looked up at the display and checked my ticket. The 9:08 Virgin Trains service to London Euston was twenty-four minutes away and the platform wasn’t ready yet. It was less than half an hour, but the time was dragging after the night I’d had.

  I sighed at the cost, which was quite a blow to my wallet, but I didn’t think I’d get away with fare evading with my Druid illusion in a tightly packed train carriage. I was on the run now, and that meant I had to be careful.

  The Chimera were ingrained in the police and most likely other government institutions, so if I used my credit card, they’d be on me like moths to a flame. A cashless society wasn’t for me.

  Besides, the Darkness was back in its box and I wasn’t going to let it out any time soon. For now, I was just a plain Druid with meagre fighting skills.

  I watched the humans do as their namesake and sighed. Everyone had someplace to be, and I felt like the only person in the world who didn’t know where she was going.

  Someone sat next to me and I looked up at Delilah.

  “You can’t change my mind,” I told her.

  “Humour an old woman.”

  “You don’t look a day over fifty.”

  “Fifty?” She raised a hand and prodded at the fine wrinkles around her eyes. “I’m losing my touch.”

  We sat and watched people walk across the overpass above the concourse for a few minutes. There wasn’t a Fae amongst them.

  “The Warren is safe,” Delilah said. “The Chimera who knew of its existence have perished.”

  “It’s still not safe. Not while I’m around.”

  “The Druids know what you did for them. Raurich and Jaimie made sure of it. You will be welcomed back, granddaughter.”

  “Perhaps, but there will always be an underlying prejudice towards me,” I said. “I’ll never belong. Not really. My dad hid me because I’m half Fae. He knew I wouldn’t be accepted.” But even he didn’t know what I’d be capable of.

  “No, I think it’s more than that,” Delilah mused. “You are a curious woman, Elspeth Quarrie, Spirit Walker.”

  “Dead in darkness,” I whispered. “When the black sun rises, death will choose the hand of fate.” The clues were there all along.

  “Prophecies rarely manifest as they are spoken,” she told me. “The black sun could mean any number of things. Worrying will not achieve anything, Elspeth. Follow your conscious.”

  “My conscious is telling me to leave before I cause more harm.”

  The Druidess sighed. “Fair enough. I see you cannot be swayed.”

  “You’re an Elder, surely you can understand why I’m doing this?”

  “In this moment, I’m your grandmother, Elspeth. My heart doesn’t want to let you go, but I know I must let you create your own destiny. If anyone can change fate, it’s you.”

  I shook my head. “How do you know?”

  She smiled softly. “Call it a hunch.”

  I snorted and shook my head. I wanted to believe her, but I had so much to figure out before I could form my own opinion on the matter.

  “I have a gift for you.” She reached into her bag and pulled out a book.

  It was one of those fancy journals with a wraparound cover that fastened with a matching strip of leather. This one was about an A6 in size and a deep chocolate colour. Dents and scratches marred the leather—it had seen a great deal of use—and vibrated with a curious echo of Colour.

  Offering it to me, she added, “It’s your father’s journal. His portal research.”

  Eyeing the journal with suspicion, I asked, “Why would you give this to me?”

  “Perhaps it holds a clue only his daughter would understand…or perhaps it’s simply because his daughter has the only right to possess it.”