Page 47 of Rage of the Fallen

“It’s done,” Lisa whispered. “She’s really…”

“Part of the chapel,” Zara finished, crossing herself despite not being religious.

Where Maci had been a creature of flame and fury, she was now another mystery for future visitors to wonder about, another secret carved into Rosslyn’s stones. The weight of what we’d done, what I’d done, wasn’t an easy pill to swallow. Maci had been evil, but sometimes killing evil leaves a bad taste in your mouth.

Rage’s darkness swirled around us, then around the pillar. He howled in outrage as he brushed over Maci’s still form, thesound carrying all the fury of hell itself. His shadows writhed and twisted, becoming more solid, more threatening. We’d taken something from him. His dragon, his weapon. Now, we’d have to face his wrath.

The darkness took shape, pulling into something almost human but wrong. Where features should have been was only void, deeper than night. The temperature in the chapel plummeted, our breath coming out in clouds despite the lingering heat from Maci’s final flames.

“Well, that’s not terrifying at all,” Damon muttered, shifting his grip on his blade. “Anyone got a nightlight handy?”

“Stay together,” Brody ordered, his shield ready. “Whatever he’s become?—”

“You think you’ve won?” Rage’s voice shook the ancient stones, making dust rain down from the vaulted ceiling. “You think trapping Maci ends this?”

His darkness surged forward like a tidal wave. I clutched the harp tighter. Around us, the other artifacts blazed bright as if responding to the threat.

“Stay close,” Brody shouted, moving to form a defensive line. “The artifacts are connected now. Use them together!”

Justice tensed beside me, his golden healing marks flaring. I felt him flinch as Rage’s darkness brushed too close, the memory of possession still too fresh, too raw. My heart clenched. I wouldn’t let that monster touch him again.

“Hey, ugly!” Damon called, always drawing fire away from me. “You’re not looking so hot without your pet dragon. What’s wrong? Having a bad day?”

Rage’s form twisted toward my brother, and for a heartbeat, I saw what looked like a smile in that void. Something that made my blood run cold.

“Bad day?” The chapel trembled with his laughter. “I’ll show you a bad day!”

The darkness rushed at us from all sides.

“Circle up!” Brody shouted.

Lisa and Zara grabbed the crown and the hourglass, then began to chant, their voices weaving together as they had in countless battles. The crown pulsed in sync with the hourglass, creating a rhythm like a heartbeat.

“Fools,” Rage’s voice boomed through the chapel. “You cannot banish me. I am darkness itself.”

His shadows struck like serpents, but where they touched the light of our artifacts, they hissed and recoiled. The harp thrummed in my hands, its notes rising without being played. The artifacts glowed brighter, creating that seven-pointed star again.

“Sawyer, look!” Justice pointed to where the beams of light intersected. “The pattern—it’s the same as the pillar’s spirals!”

“Oh, hell no,” Damon growled, slicing through another shadow tendril. “You are not pulling that stone trick on us, you smoke-show reject.”

But I understood suddenly. The pillar hadn’t been meant only for Maci. The artifacts, the seven sins, the spiral pattern, it was all connected. All part of an ancient trap.

Rage must have realized it, too. His darkness surged back, trying to escape the web of light we’d created. “No. I am not some weak dragon to be caged in stone!”

“The pillar needs all seven artifacts,” Lisa called, understanding dawning in her eyes. “Like with the sins, they have to work together!”

The harp’s song grew stronger in my hands, almost pulling me toward the other blazing artifacts as everyone grabbed one. Justice’s mirror cut through shadows, Damon steadied the phoenix feather, Brody held the scales like a weapon. The crown and hourglass pulsed between Lisa and Zara while the phoenix grass in Justice’s other hand glowed with internal fire.

“I will not be imprisoned!” Rage’s form writhed between solid and shadow, his darkness trying to slip through the gaps in our circle. “I will tear you all apart!”

“Not this time,” I called, my voice stronger than my quivering insides. The memory of what he’d done to Justice, how he’d twisted him, made my grip tighten on the harp. “You’re done hurting people we love.”

“Everyone move toward the pillar,” Brody ordered, his calm authority cutting through the chaos. “Keep the circle tight!”

“Right, because getting closer to the creepy stone-making pillar is exactly what I wanted to do today,” Damon muttered, but he moved in perfect sync with us, years of fighting together making us one unit.

We approached the pillar where Maci’s stone form coiled. Each step made the artifacts’ light grow stronger, their power connecting like pieces of a puzzle we were supposed to solve all along.

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