Page 82 of Zero Happily Ever Afters

Lazarus had lived life almost as long as the sisters, possessing the ultimate rejuvenation magic of resurrection. He could die, but he always healed, always returned, always worked as the Eastern Pillar of the Four Corners. Even if he seemed to prefer a solitary existence outside of the coven.

Grim possessed the foulest augmentation branch according to the sisters, who considered him a beast, perverse and unsettling. His magic allowed him to grow and control his bones in unique ways. By seeping his being—magic and mind—into his bones it allowed Grim a version of immortality. So long as he performed rituals, old magics that the Celestial Coven prided themselves upon, then Grim found himself eternal.

He was the youngest of the four, but he’d also walked this earth for more centuries than they could count, and he ruled beside them as the Western Pillar of the Four Corners.

The final member, the leader of the Celestial Coven, was Amara. The True Witch. The founder. The Northern Pillar of the Four Corners. She led their coven through this world, shaping it, preparing it, protecting The Sisters Three and other witches when the magic of the world disappeared.

The True Witch worked to bring back magic, worked to bring back the world she loved, worked to bring back her godhood.

“How does she extend her life? Who is she really?” I looked down on The Sisters Three, each white silhouette crumbled on the ground, reaching out to one another, but incapable of moving under the weight of my psychic energy.

I hadn’t realized how heavily I’d hit them, how much force boomed off my being.

“Tell me,” I roared, carrying a demand that ripped open each of the sister’s minds.

They shrieked and cried and presented every memory of their being, incapable of resisting my will and helping me scour for memories that held intel on The True Witch. But they didn’t have the answers I looked for. They didn’t know how Amara extended her life. They didn’t know how to remove her oceans from everyone’s minds.

“I see you do know a lot of other things, though.” I stared at the seemingly infinite number of memories on display, holding a trove of knowledge. “I’ll sort through this later.”

“You speak as if you could grasp our glory, our—”

“Quiet.” I thought past The Sisters Three, ignoring their feeble attempt to challenge my magic, my psychic power that overwhelmed their minds, and I searched outside this room. Everyone was still alive, still holding on despite the power of Oceanic Collapse.

It’d merely been a few seconds since The Sisters Three had delved into my mind and attempted to torture me.

I needed to be rid of The Sisters Three and then contend with The True Witch. With all my magic fully restored, it might be enough to shatter the oceans from some minds. No. It’d be enough to free everyone. I’d see to it.

“But first, I need to remove you.” I stared down at the sisters. “I can’t keep you in my head. Well, I could, but I don’t want to. You’ve been here less than a minute and proved to be quite the fucking headache. However, I can’t simply let you leave. You’djump back into poor Debra or some other unsuspecting soul. No. Neither is much of an option. I’ll have to end you here and now. Strip away your psychic energy until it’s completely depleted.”

“You can’t do that. You’d be killing us.” Clotho had this confusion in her voice. “We don’t die. We are forever.”

“You’ve had a long life, longer than most.” I shrugged. “Mainly by taking from others, might I add. Taking their body, their will, their future.”

“It was ours to have,” Lachesis said, truly perplexed I’d question the justification of a god.

“Sisters, join me.” Atropos reached out her hands, hoping to harness their magic and escape.

I chuckled.

The idea of fighting me actually frightened them. Three witches who declared themselves goddesses fused as one being, a deity of the psychic branch, was afraid of little ole me.

I turned my gaze onto them. “And you should be. You should be very afraid.”

Atropos grabbed her sisters’ hands, attempting to merge into their solitary form, but with a wave of my hand, they flew to opposite sides of my subconscious.

“You think I’d allow you to escape? Let you live? After you wormed your way inside my boyfriend’s head. After you attacked the love of my life. After you harmed the best person I’ve ever known.” I snapped my fingers, shattering Clotho into nothingness; her light lilt carried a sad, sour note as she faded away. With a flick of my wrist, Lachesis joined her sister in the ether of nothingness. “Maybe there’s an afterlife. If so, I hope Hell is kind to you three because I sure as fuck won’t be.”

“You can’t do this. We foresaw…” Atropos widened her eyes, her face fully forming as her memories and magic fizzled to nothing. She couldn’t see anything, no futures, no pasts, no thoughts outside the few dwindling ones in her head. “Why?”

“Because you had the audacity to fuck with me. To threaten my future, the happiest ever after that Milo has worked so hard to create.” My words carried an echo of authority, a furious snarl.

It shoved Atropos out of my head and to death’s door which had long awaited her knock.

Now that I’d ended the Southern Pillar of the Four Corners, I stepped out of my subconscious and returned to the auxiliary gym, where I planned on saving everyone’s life by ending The True Witch and Theodore Whitlock.

Chapter Twenty-Four

Milo remained locked inside his own head, an ocean burying him beneath currents so powerful that his already shattered mind struggled. The Sisters Three had fractured his inner core, ruining every layer of The Inevitable Future’s sanctuary. A piece of my magic had leapt ahead of me, sitting at Milo’s side and wishing him well. I wanted to kiss him, to mend the cruel, callous injuries dealt, but first, I had to stop Theodore, who’d moved on from beating Milo’s unconscious body and retrieved a knife.

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