Page 129 of Gates of Rapture
Greaves felt the future flow toward him like a dark wave, foreboding but exciting.Stannett was gone, so he had no one at the helm at the Illinois Seers palace to block his next moves.His only shot was to act quickly.
He contacted the war room at Estrella and had his generals ready to initiate the attack on the colonies once he was assured that he could burn all the mossy mist away.
Grace and Leto had somehow made their escape.He still wasn’t sure how, except that suddenly a miraculous healing had occurred.Even then he should have been able to blast them all to hell, but they just disappeared and he had no idea how they’d gotten past the shroud he’d created.
Unless of course obsidian flame was involved in a way he still didn’t understand.
He thought about folding back to Estrella, but the location within the Seattle Colony served his purposes better and he could monitor the results of his efforts right away.
He sustained the shroud over the cabin, settled back in his chair, and redirected his hand-blast energy.With great care, he began gathering kinetic energy; in a few minutes he’d be able to ignite the moss-based mist of the Seattle Colony.He’d worked out the sequence, and once he fired this special hand-blast, the burning would ignite all the colonies, one after the other, in quick succession.
He had only a couple of minutes, and then this part of his plan would unfold.
***
Grace stood on Diallo’s patio, her hand tucked into Leto’s.He was still in his beast-form, and she loved it.He kept looking down at her from his increased height, looking into her eyes as she looked back.
The world was new, different, better, brighter, even though she still wasn’t sure what had happened between them.
I love you,she sent.
I love your hand in mine, the beats of your heart, your smile, your infinite worth.
Love flowed from Leto now as it never had before.She could feel it, a warm, almost liquid sensation of caring and belonging.That was the difference—or at least one of them, since she felt changed as well.
Whatever strange shields had existed before now lay flat, dissolved, obliterated.
He leaned down and kissed her, apparently still not caring that everyone gaped at either his size or his affection for her.When he drew back, he whispered, “I love you so much.”
Her heart expanded, and she sighed.
“I love you, too.”
“Grace,” Thorne called softly.
She could hardly tear her gaze from Leto.She blinked and turned.He put his hand on her shoulder, the expression in his eye tender.“Marguerite has had a second vision about the colonies.It’s time.”
She nodded, but she wasn’t sure she could feel her feet.As she relinquished Leto’s hand and turned toward her obsidian flame sisters, though, she felt her power vibrate deep in the earth and once more rush up her legs and into her being.
She reacted swiftly, opening her mind to Marguerite, who shared the vision with both her and Fiona at the same time.Her breath left her body in a swift rush.
“He’s begun his torching sequence.The colonies will begin to ignite in a little over a minute.”
Grace glanced at Thorne.“How do we proceed?”
He shook his head.“I can only support you.Grace, this is your call.I anchor obsidian flame, but what I understand now is that you lead it.”
She could not have been more shocked—and yet it made sense in terms of the allocation of gifts.Marguerite could only indicate the direction.Fiona’s power could only support what Grace could offer.But Grace could find the location, then learn and amplify the ability needed to fix things.
In this case, what did she need to do?What needed to happen?
Her mind whirled swiftly.She needed to stop the process at the core, at the place where it would begin, where the moss would first be lit on fire.
“The mist,” she said.“The key is with the mist.”She shifted slightly toward Thorne.“And you know how to make the mist, right?”
“Yes.”
“Then may I enter your soul and find the formula for the mist?”She smiled as she said it.
