Page 65 of Torn Between Two Worlds

She closed her eyes. Like when she’d been learning to use the powers left over from Alcott, she pictured her magic as a ball of energy. Swirling with colors, like the doorways between where the real world and the fictional ones stood. Taking a deep breath and holding it, she imagined it flowing off her in a continuous stream into Dale.

It felt like no more than a few minutes since she’d begun, but she watched in her mind as the last of the shimmering energy left her palm and transferred to Dale. Slowly, she opened her eyes. She wasn't sure what she had been expecting. For him to glow a little? For her to feel empty as if there were a hole?

“Kind of anticlimactic there,” Dale joked and stepped back from her to Nessa.

The man in the trench coat laughed and opened a doorway behind himself. “That it is Dale. Stryder, Ciara, it's time for you to take your place in your chosen world. I cannot open a doorway again for you, and neither can you now. Thank you for being on my side in a fight that has no clear right from wrong. You will be missed.”

Stryder had walked up beside her and ran his hand down her back in support. “Thank you from me as well, sweetheart.” His head lowered, and he kissed her. The same Earth shattering, heated kiss as the very first one, and she wrapped her hands around his neck, nipping at his lips as he pulled back.

“No, thank yous. We did this together.” She turned to Dale and decided it best not to say anything. With a small wave and one in return, she took Stryder's hand, and the two of them walked through the doorway, to their home. To her new world.

Epilogue

Closingthe doorway after he stepped through it, he sat down on the couch and waited for his brother to show up. The actual door closed, and he turned his head to see his brother pulling off his leather jacket and sitting down next to him.

“You had to fucking step in didn't you?”

His brother's sneered words didn't faze him like they normally did. He'd never helped a Word Speaker before, and it felt damn good to help, not just use them for once.

“You couldn't have swayed her, anyway. Somehow, she was Stryder's from the get go. Which meant mine, given the path those particular demons had chosen. Not just Word Speaker to Guardian, but mate to mate. Maybe her name was connected to his from the author. We'll certainly never know. But you never would've had her powers. So what did you lose? Dale?” He felt a bit bad putting the guy down, but up until recently, he'd been a bad seed. Had it not been for Ciara's belief in him, well, who knows where he would have fallen without her.

“Yes. Stupid of you not to just let her go missing and stay in the demon’s world. You're slipping brother. My side is growing stronger with each and every Word Speaker who tires of not knowing the truth. When this war finally comes, it will be my side that wins.”

They'd had the argument every time a Word Speaker sealed their path at twenty-seven. His brother always insisting his would win. Regardless of what was thought, it was evident the path his brother walked was dark, and by all standards, evil. But that was a conversation for another night.

“I had hoped when you showed up, there would be some sign of my brother. Of the twin I used to be fond of. But he's gone, and I'm tired from today. So get out.”

With a mock salute, his brother left using the physical door. So his brother was home. Home, a place outside of the worlds as a whole, with the gods of their people now.

He had work to do. A missing person’s case would sooner or later be opened for Ciara, and it was on him to come up with a clever solution to put an end to her life in her world. For death was the only way, she would never be sought out. He had a feeling when the war truly began, he would see Ciara Miller ping on his radar again.

Dale had been growing usedto the power day by day. Little by little, he had played with it. When Nessa had failed to show up during an assault, he'd been able to handle it on his own. He had so much power. He knew that he wouldn't ever lose any gifts from his Guardian's either. Plus, he could come and go between the worlds as Ciara had.

He smiled as he placed his glasses on. “Power is good.”

“This just in. News of the missing girl from Southern California, Ciara Miller, has been received, and the search is over.”

Dale damn near tripped over his feet getting to the TV in the living room. Pushing the volume button until it was loud enough to make his ears bleed, he stood and stared at the screen.

“Authorities note that the body of Ciara Miller was found today just outside her childhood home. The cause of death is unknown, and she has no known relatives to release the body to.”

“So that's what he meant by closure.” Dale shuddered at how the deception could have possibly been pulled off. “Goodbye, Ciara Miller. I know you're most certainly in a better place. You will be missed.”

Shutting the TV off, he focused and opened a doorway, ready to see more of what his power could do. He stepped through and left his world behind, just as Ciara had.

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