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“I don’t think it works like that with the Chosen Ones, Bradley.”

“Your mother thought so, didn’t she? Isn’t that why she tried to kill you?”

Bradley was right. It wasn’t a scenario that had really crossed our minds since this all started. We were so worried about vampires coming after us that we didn’t think about other witches desiring our powers.

“It doesn’t matter,” I said. “You’d have to get close enough to me first.” I held up my hands, ready to fight him. But I couldn’t kill him until the spell on my family was released. I had to disable him somehow.

Before he took a step closer, I released my energy, blasting him up into the air and throwing him back toward the back fence. Once he hit, the dagger flew from his hands.

I dashed for it.

But I didn’t get far. Bradley lunged out and grabbed my legs, pinning them to the ground, and yanked me closer to him. I punched him hard in his face, but he barely flinched. He grabbed my head, and I felt a whirl of dizziness take over. The power he had was something I hadn’t encountered before from other witches. Even Julian’s magic didn’t cause me to feel faint. He created a sense of vertigo in my head, and I was on the verge of throwing up, but I kept my hands steady as I tried to tap into my powers. I attempted to summon the surrounding earth, the dirt, the trees, the air, and fire, but nothing worked. I couldn’t focus enough with the pounding in my head to conjure up my magic. He was crippling me, making me feel like I had overdosed on drugs.

“Stop it, Bradley. You don’t want to do this,” I cried. “My powers will kill you if you take them. You can’t handle this amount of magic.”

He just laughed at me while continuing to distort my mind.

My pleading was pointless, but I had to try something. I brought my knee forward and up, kicking him in the groin and causing him to fall to his side. I was on my feet before he could grab me, and I side-kicked him, causing him to fly through the air and slam into a tree.

I blasted my powers toward him, keeping him pinned to the ground. I jumped onto him, gripped his throat, and threw a punch, but when his hands lifted, he shot back powers I hadn’t seen coming, and I flew back, landing on my side.

Just as I looked up, I saw Bradley’s face in doubles, and triples, a blur of confusion. He was now on top of me, pressing his hand to my head, causing another wave of extreme vertigo, and I could no longer use my powers on him. I tried to lift my fist, but I missed his body, and he gripped my arm, pulling it back down. I struggled against his grip and kicked out, but I couldn’t connect. Then I remembered what I had done to Maurice at the lab. I jerked my head upwards and slammed my forehead into Bradley’s face. His grip slipped, and my arm came loose.

Once my hand was free to strike again, I mustered up every ounce of power I had in my body, not from my magic, but from my own physical strength. I lifted it up, slowly brought it back down to my body, and trusted my fist forward with every ounce of strength that I had in me until my fist broke through his chest.

I felt his skin, muscles, and sternum crushing right before my fingers wrapped around his heart in a firm grip. I held on, his eyes wide open, blood pouring from his mouth, but before I could move, the piercing sound of a dagger plunged into my stomach. A cold sensation bloomed around the wound and started to spread.

With the dagger still in me, I looked into Bradley’s eyes. “I’m sorry about your wife; I really am. But you failed in your revenge. And you hurt Lily. You killed Sarah. I can’t forgive that.” I squeezed his heart with my hand and yanked it out of his chest. Hot blood washed over my stomach and legs, soaking me through. I tried not to vomit from the smell and from my own numbing body.

Bradley fell over me, which caused him to push the dagger deeper into my belly, but I was able to push him off so I could sit up, but barely. Blood spewed out of my mouth, and I felt like I was choking.

I eyed my family and Dorian and moved as fast as possible, though my body was weakening by the second. I covered each body with my hands and started to chant a spell, bringing them back from the brink of death. They’d all started to fade away after I ripped Bradley’s heart from his chest, their breathing becoming shallow. I focused my energy into bands of light that tied around each person. The light then touched on Bradley’s spell and burned it away. The spell’s connection snapped, and everyone’s strength came rushing back.

I watched all three of their chests rise and fall. They were alive, thank God. I sighed with heavy relief, but I couldn’t hold on anymore. The power from the dagger was taking my life.

I was going to die.

“Mercy!” Dorian cried as I fell into his arms. My name was the last thing I heard before I slipped away.

CHAPTER 38

Mercy

I LOOKED DOWN a long hallway where the walls were bright white.

Was this the spirit world?

I continued down the hallway until I reached a door, but when I placed my hand on the knob, my hand went through it, and I stepped onto the dark pavement beneath my feet. The air was thick, and the only things I saw in front of me were bodies walking shoulder to shoulder like a crowded street in a city. Most of the people walking looked lost, sad, or frightened to be there.

No, this wasn’t heaven.

“Excuse me,” I said to a young woman with golden blonde hair. She stopped and turned to me; her eyes widened, and her face looked terrified.

“It’s you. That means …”

I died. The woman meant to say that I haddied.

Failed.

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