Page 103 of Ignited Spirits
With a lump in my throat from Bishop’s words, I nod and choke out, “I love all of you. Be safe, too.”
Turning around before he responds, because if I don’t leave now, I’ll never leave, I march back to the Styx and hope not to get dragged under again. I’m tense as I step into the murky liquid.
When nothing happens, I splash through the ankle-deep water over to Hades and his mate group.
The four of them are surrounded bycuraeof all shapes and sizes, many of them not even slightly resembling humans.
I push my way through their pack until I’m next to Hades. He looks down at me curiously while still slinging magic at the attacking ghosts and his mother. “Do you require something, earthling? Or are you just here to watch us fight?”
I huff. “I need help getting closer to Lua.”
Hades considers me silently before nodding. “Follow the earthling,” Hades shouts to the fifty or socuraesurrounding him. They glance at him in confusion before he starts walking toward Lua. Then they follow him.
I pick up my pace so I can be in the lead with Levi and Cain trailing me. Cerberus and Legion are watching from farther back, since their massive bodies can’t fit in all areas of the battlefield.
Blowing out a breath, I ready myself for the confrontation that’s about to happen. Well, I ready myself as much as I can be because nothing can prepare me for putting all the people I love on the line to save the world.
The closer we get to Lua, the more spirits we encounter, and the more often we’re attacked by spells. Our group manages to hold it all off pretty well, but there are casualties as we move at a sluggish pace.
We’re only a hundred feet from Lua, but we’re moving less than a foot a minute. I grow increasingly frustrated at how little progress we’re making and feel my magic bubble up in response to my agitation.
It fizzles out when I hear a mournful cry echo from hundreds of shifters. My stomach drops as I look around to try to figure out what happened. It takes me a moment to find Mateo on the ground, a huge hole in his chest. His brown eyes are wide and unblinking as his face is frozen forever in shock.
The jaguars around him are roaring in sorrow and rage and loss as someone lays a field blanket over the fallen alpha, covering him from view.
“No,” I whisper, my heart breaking into tiny pieces as I watch the jaguars grieve for their alpha.
He was a wise and fair and kind man who wanted nothing more than to help his people and give them a good life. He was the rare type of leader who didn’t need to yell or swear or intimidate his prowl to make them listen. Instead, they all followed him because they believed in who he was and what he was doing.
A couple of tears drip down my face as I can’t take my eyes off the man who was always kind to me. The man fought this fight that wasn’t his because he believed in the cause. The man who paid the ultimate price to keep those he loved safe.
The heartbreak and despair and guilt swirling around me coalesce into something jagged and sharp and powerful. Anger infuses my veins and has my power whipping around me almost as furiously as Lua’s. Determination fills me, and I’m stridingthrough the spirits without a second thought, intent on taking out Lua before she can hurt anyone else.
Each spirit I touch heals almost instantly, although I don’t pay them much mind, because my gaze is locked on Lua. Later, if I survive this, I can marvel at how I can now heal spirits with a simple touch. But, right now, all I can feel is burning rage.
Lua swivels her head to lock eyes with me, as if she can sense my gaze on her. She grins at me, the expression smug and cutting. “Isabel Gallagher! Still think a pathetic mortal like you can defeat me? Look around you, sport. Your allies are dying in droves because you refuse to accept your fate. How many more lives will your selfishness cost?”
Each word is a fucking arrow into my chest. I’ve lived my whole life afraid that my magic would cost the lives of the people I love. I worried for the past fourteen years that I would put everyone I ever cared about in danger. I feared the day that anyone would learn about my magic or what I could do.
And all those worries have come true over the last month or so. My destiny of defeating Lua has put my family and friends in the most dangerous situation of their lives.
But at the end of the day, I know that all this death and suffering and carnage is on Lua. If I didn’t fight her, she’d still kill everyone to become powerful enough to take over the universe. Not stopping her wouldn’t lead to any less death.
The only option I’ve ever had is to see everything through. So, that’s what I’m going to do now. I’m going to stop Lua or die trying.
“I don’t know if I can defeat you, but I’ll keep trying until my dying breath,” I shout at her as I take off at a sprint toward her.
She tips back her head and lets out a deranged cackle that raises the hair on the back of my neck. “That can be arranged, sport.”
I thought Lua was expending a lot of magic before, but she triples the amount of power she’s throwing at our group as we make our way closer and closer to her. Letting Levi, Hades, Legion, or whoever handle shielding our group, I focus on blasting my magic into as many of the damaged souls as I can.
The confused ghost faces around us make me feel kind of bad about hitting and quitting them, but I really can’t focus on the non-murdery spirits right now. If I’m still alive after this, I’ll help them get where they need to go, but right now, I can’t afford to divide my attention.
We’re making our way closer and closer to Lua in record time. With me being able to heal so many souls, others in our pack are able to deflect her magic, and still others are killing some of the ghosts. We’re only a few feet from her now.
I’m starting to feel like we might actually have a chance. I might be able to slip in there, stab her, and end this once and for all.
The feeling of elation doesn’t last long.
