Page 113 of Children of Anguish and Anarchy

“I really thought…” Inan’s voice cracks. “I don’t know what I’ll do if she doesn’t wake up.”

“Don’t say that.” I shake my head. “We have to believe. There’s still a chance—”

BOOM!

We pull apart as plumes of black smoke rise in the distance. The air echoes with cannon fire and the faint shouts of the Skulls’ brutish tongue.

They’ve landed.…

I drift to the mountain’s base. I reach for my obsidian blade—

“Go to them.” Inan guides me forward. “We still have time.”

I race down the spiral steps, meeting the wall of steam head-on.When I reach the bottom, Zélie and Mae’e already float in the natural spring. Ribbons of red leak into the glistening waters.

The Green Maidens circle around them. The emeralds flicker at their feet. All at once, they join their hands. I hold my breath as they begin to chant.

“Mama Gaia, hear us now.

We demand your healing fires.

Your holy waters need you now—”

The waters start to thrash with the maidens’ words. The rising steam swirls around their circle. The maidens’ pleas echo through the rumbling mountain. A new pressure builds in the air, forcing me to the ground.

The veins bulge along the Green Maidens’ arms. Their bodies shake with the power they call forth. But one by one, they start to collapse. They don’t wield the force of Yéva or Mae’e.

I don’t know if they’re strong enough.

Please.I shut my eyes, praying with everything I have. I think back to Mama Gaia, to her mighty spirit running through these lands. I picture the Skulls amassing on New Gaia’s shores, their leather boots storming through the main waterfall. We can’t face this fight alone.

We need Zélie and Mae’e to be reborn—

All at once, a pulse radiates from the mountain’s base. The black stone heats beneath me, burning my bare feet. The final Green Maiden collapses from exhaustion. An emerald light rises from the bottom of the natural spring, encasing both Zélie and Mae’e.

I shield my eyes as the bright light travels down their temples and up their feet, meeting at the medallions in both of their chests. It glows through the runes carved into their skin. It threads itself through the gash in Zélie’s heart.

Please!I crawl forward. The earth beneath us shakes with new force. Fragments of black glass crash down from overhead. A crack ruptures far above.

“Please!” I cry out loud.

The waters glow so bright they burn.

Then both girls disappear beneath the surface.

Relief hits me like the rays of the sun as Mae’e emerges.

“Ugh!” Mae’e inhales a sharp breath, clutching her chest. Her head whips from side to side as she takes in her surroundings, a look of bewilderment in her diamond gaze.

“Mae’e!” I can’t stop the tears that fall. I hook my arms around her neck and hold her tight. The medallion in her chest pulses with her reawakened heart.

I move to embrace Zélie, but she doesn’t emerge from the waters. I release Mae’e and lunge forward. Panic grips me as I pull Zélie’s body above the spring’s surface.

“Zélie?” I whisper her name. A world I wasn’t ready to face crashes before my eyes. Though her wounds are healed, her body hangs limp.

It didn’t work.…

Every part of me goes numb at once. Sound muffles in my ears. Bars close around me, trapping me inside a nightmare I can’t escape.

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