Forever (24 page)

“The
sirens are gone. I had to move the stars and freeze the gate. My army must have
finished coming through by now, so I imagine they are destroying it. Here, I’ll
show you.”

Teague
waved his hand, and the fog dissipated enough for Mina to see the Golden Gate
Bridge bending and torquing as two stone golems attacked it. One worked on the
base, bending and pushing the post, while the other stood in the middle of the
road causing all of the cars to crash and veer dangerously as it snapped the
cables.

“Stop it!
People are going to get hurt.”
What did
he mean the sirens were gone?

“It’s too
late for them, Mina. You can’t save them all, just like you couldn’t save your
brother, friend, and boyfriend. But why should you? You always were selfish.”

Mina
watched as the destruction kept on. A stone golem picked up the nearest car and
tossed it into the bay. The fog continued clearing, and she could make out more
of his army, of Reapers, giants, and beasts roaming and bashing the hoods of
the cars. A bright yellow school bus was trapped on the bridge.

Angry
tears flowed, and she turned on him. The Fae power rushed to her—her hair
whipped her face, and heat rose to her eyes as the power crackled off of her
and she channeled all of it at Teague.

Teague
stepped back startled. “Your eyes!” His hand moved to his heart in pain. “Stop
it!”

“Call off
your army!” she demanded.

“Never!”
Teague yelled back, his angry blue eyes glowing with power. He lashed out with
a blast and flung Mina against the railing. She lost her focus, the air
momentarily knocked from her, and he retaliated again. Another blast of power
had her spiraling through the air.

Onlookers
screamed as she landed on the pier. Nearby people scattered. Teague roared, and
the wood planks began to crack along the pier, separating her from anyone
trying to help.

Mina got
back up and tried to reach into Teague’s mind. Searching, calling for him, for
Jared. For the goodness that she knew was still inside of him. When Teague ran
toward her, she stood her ground. She needed to get close to him.

“You are
no match for me!” Teague stepped forward. With a wave of his hand, she slid
across the pier and under the railing to fall into the bay.

She
grabbed the post at the last minute and hung on, her fingers clawing at the
post. Her feet dangled twenty feet above the water. Using every ounce of
strength she had, she swung her body to the side and got her foot up. Slowly,
she pulled herself back onto the pier.

“You’re
no match for my power, no match for my hate. You are weak,” Teague taunted.

“That’s
where you’re wrong.” She stood up and wiped her hands on her pants. “You think
hate makes you strong, and I understand. But love always wins,” Mina answered
back. “Jared!” Mina called to him. “I know you’re in there.”

Teague
sneered, and she felt the squeezing pressure around her body as her feet slowly
lifted off of the ground. Teague came forward, pulled out the poisoned dagger,
and held it up in front of her. “You tried to kill yourself with this and rob
me of my victory.
 
I saved you. Now
I will finish the job. Only I’ll do better than
try
.”

Mina struggled to look out across the
bay. The golems continued to wreak havoc on the bridge. They were only a few
cars away from the bus.
This has gone on
too long. If I can’t have Jared, I’ve just got to die and give Teague what he
wants. It’ll save everyone else.

Just
then, she heard a loud piercing shriek, and one of the stone golems burst into
small pebbles. She saw the siren ship and recognized Kino at the bow attacking
a third golem who’d appeared in the water. A giant wave surged up and over the
bridge. As it passed, it deposited an army of very ticked off sirens. Cars
began to rise up out of the water as if on lifts.

Mina knew
Ternan and Winona would do their best to fight off Teague’s army. But she also
knew they were vastly outnumbered. There was only one way to stop this.

She
couldn’t feel her legs. They had gone numb from Teague’s grip on her neck. But
she had to fight against his power. As she hung in the air, she gathered all of
the love she had—all the feelings and memories of Teague before he was
poisoned—and she willed those images into his subconscious. Her memories
of Ferah stabbing him, of Mina trying to save him, to close the wound in his
chest.

He shook
his head and shoved his hands into his hair. “Stop it. It’s all lies.” The
pressure released from her neck, her feet touched the ground, and she sucked in
a deep breath.

“No, only
truth,” she gasped out. “Love always prevails. Good always wins.”

Teague
turned and this time physically grabbed her by the throat. She slipped and fell
backward onto the pier. He landed on top of her, and she tried to push against
him, but he was too strong. The knife landed with a thud on the pier next to a
piece of broken railing.

Mina used
her right hand and scrabbled around trying to find the dagger. In a desperate
attempt to stall, she closed her eyes and willed a piece of wood to morph into
a decoy dagger. Then she made the dagger look like the broken railing stake.
Jared had once shown her that very same trick on a beach.

She
turned her head, frantic, and reached for the true dagger. Teague hadn’t
noticed her switch. He turned, grabbed the fake, and raised it above his head.

“I love
you!” she choked out. “I always will.”

It was
about to come down toward her chest, when with a final lunge, her fingers
reached her goal. She closed her eyes. The stake grew hot in her hand, and then
it was gone. Disappeared. Morphed back into the dagger of Erjad.

Without
hesitation, she thrust the blade upward into Teague’s chest. He shuddered, his
blue eyes opening wide in pain and then traveling to look at his closed hand.
He opened his fist, and the wood shaft fell to the ground.

Mina
sobbed as she shoved the knife deep, deeper, until it couldn’t go anymore.

Teague’s
mouth opened and closed, and he reached down to gently touch her face. He
didn’t look angry. He didn’t look full of hate. He looked… relieved.

“I knew
you had it in you,” he whispered and slowly fell forward.

Mina
caught him and helped him onto his back. She leaned down and took his hand in
hers. “I didn’t want to. I never wanted to kill you. But you’ve hurt too many
people, taken too many lives.”

He tried
to say something, but it was lost in a scream of pain as the blade, made
entirely of hate, began to poison him again.

Desperate,
Mina pushed more power into his mind. She searched and called and coaxed. He
had to be in there. She imagined it like the dream, different mirrors with
different reflections of Teague.

“Don’t!
Let me be. Let me die in peace,” he said, trying to push her hand away.

Mina
ignored it and kept holding onto him. “No, I won’t give up on you. I won’t.”

Teague
screamed at her, his eyes glowing with hate. He transformed, his mouth turning
downward, his hands arching into claws. “Get away! I hate you.” Blue veins
appeared along his face as the dagger’s hate-poison traveled through him,
changed him. He gasped, and black blood bubbled up and poured slowly from the
corner of his mouth. He grabbed at Mina’s hand.

She
gripped it tightly. His eyes opened again, and she watched the familiar blue
slowly fade to gray.

“Mi…na,”
he mumbled. “You did what I didn’t have the strength to. Thank…” He coughed,
and more blood came up. He lost the battle with one last word, whispered across
his lips. “you.”

Grieving,
she eased her grip. His hand fell to the ground.

Chapter 31

“I’m
sorry, Teague. I’m so sorry. I tried, and now I’ve lost you.”

Mina felt
the tingling of an approaching Fae and turned in time to see a wave rise up.
The sea witch appeared.

“Aw, a
death to feed on.” Taz Clara stepped up onto the pier, her green skin slightly
glowing, her dark green hair moving on its own.

“No, you
can’t feed on him,” Mina spat. She stood.

The sea
witch’s face turned ugly. “You don’t want to share? You’re the one covered in
his blood, not me.”

“Go
away!” Mina said.

“Listen,
child, and listen well. Let me feed, and I’ll see if I can save a part of him
for you.”

“You said
you wouldn’t help me with Teague.”

“Not
unless you killed him. I am a sea witch after all. I feed on the dead, the
dying, and their fears.”

“You can
save just a part of him?”

“Did I
stutter?” She smiled. “I am the most powerful after a death.”

“Then
save him!”

“How
about a please?”

“Please,”
she added softly and kneeled back down next to Teague.

Taz Clara
sighed. “I do owe you a boon after all.” She smoothed out her sea green dress
and kneeled on Teague’s other side. Her mouth opened, and Mina caught a glimpse
of sharp, pointy teeth. She almost changed her mind—but the sea
witch-sprite didn’t bite or tear into Teague. She began to sing.

It wasn’t
a happy song but a low-pitched song of mourning. Her voice carried across the
bay. Time slowed as Mina listened to the haunting song and watched as the
sirens battled the giants, ogres, and golems.

One of
the giants picked up an abandoned truck and threw it at the ship. Kino blasted
the truck mid-air. It exploded into smaller pieces, still hitting the ship but
causing less damage. Mina saw someone or something flying along the bridge,
leading a mass of people away from the army. Ever had revealed her wings to the
world. Compared to the beasts behind them, she probably looked like a guardian
angel.

The Coast
Guard had shown up. They were trying to shoot the giants, but bullets kept
bouncing off their thick skin. Another stone golem appeared out of the water,
picked up a passing fishing boat, and launched it across the air. The crew on
the US Coast guard ship dove overboard just as the boat crashed into their
deck. An explosion followed, and Mina turned her head to protect her eyes from
the blast.

Teague
was dead. This should have stopped. Why were they still fighting? Mina had to
do something. She looked over just as Taz stopped singing and lifted Teague’s
wrist, bending her mouth to it.

Mina
couldn’t stay and watch. She could do nothing more for Teague, but she could do
something to help the others. She weighed her options, looked once more at
Teague and Taz, and back to Ever at the bridge. Then, she took off running.

Mina had
to tread carefully over the broken boards and walk along holding the handrails.
When she got to the street, she waved down a passing car and leaned into the
passenger window.

“I need
to get to the bridge,” Mina commanded. But when she saw a small child in the
back, she quickly told the woman to go home by another route.

She waved
down a white van. The driver was a heavyset guy, probably in his late forties.
“I need to get to the bridge.”

“That’s
where I’m headed. I hear there’s a Godzilla-type-thing destroying it. Hop in.”

She
jumped in and held on as he drove crazily, weaving in and out of traffic. He
ran two red lights as he made his way to the bridge. When he got as close as he
could before being stopped by the police, he pulled over, jumped out, and
opened up the back.

That was
when Mina saw the camera gear and paid closer attention to the signage on the
van. She’d gotten in a news cameraman’s van.

“You
can’t video this,” Mina begged.

“Are you
kidding me? How can I not? This footage will be the start of a new career. I’ll
be famous.”

She
touched the camera and willed a flare of power into it. It sparked and caught
fire.

“Ow,
what’d you do?” He dropped the camera to the ground, reached in for a fire
extinguisher.

“Sorry!”
Mina called over her shoulder, as she ran past the police tape.

No one
tried to stop her from going in, because the police were so busy rescuing
people from the bridge.

Mina was
exhausted, darting left and right of abandoned cars. She made it past the
school bus, grateful to see it was finally deserted.

She found
a metal pipe on the road and held it between her hands. Concentrating, she felt
the power flare up. She turned it into a glowing sword just as a troll
attacked.

Mina
screamed and swung blindly at the troll’s midsection. She let loose her power
and—as she let the grief of Teague’s death wash over her—the power
eked through her skin.

She swung
again at the troll. This time, he howled in pain and jumped off the bridge to
avoid another onslaught from her. She turned to the next opponent—another
smaller troll. On and on she fought, clearing a path until she got to the
middle.

It seemed
the advance charge from the sirens had stopped. Kino was on defense now,
fighting off projectile attacks. Her grandparents and half the sirens were
diving under water and doing their best to rescue people from the sunken cars.

Which
were
still
being tossed from the
bridge by one of the giants.

At the
center, she realized there were too many. Fae were still pouring through the
gate, more than just the strongest of Teague’s army who had come through on
small boats and vessels. This was a different army, more human-looking with
tanned skin and angry eyes. Familiar, but Mina couldn’t place who they were or
why they would attack.

She had
to stop the giants and the stone golem.

Ever
waved and flew past her, knocking into a Fae wolf who looked a bit like Lonetree.
He flailed and hit the water. He started to swim toward the land, but a siren
pulled him beneath the water. Bubbles surfaced for a moment, then stopped.

Mina’s
stomach rolled. It would only get worse if she couldn’t stop this.

“Mina!”
Nix slid over the hood of a car to get to her. “Catch!” He tossed her journal
to her, and Mina caught it mid-air. Her used-to-be notebook of
Unaccomplishments and Epic Disasters. Now, leather bound and ready for action.

“Nix!”
Mina looked down at her book and smiled.

“Yeah, I
thought you might want that. If today isn’t a day to use it, I don’t know what
is.” He winked.

“Stand
back.” She waved them away.

“What’s
your plan?” Ever said as she flew around a nearby car.

“Ever, I
thought I told you to get back!”

“And when
have I ever listened to you?”

“I listen
to her,” Nix answered from the other side of Mina. “Just not this time. And
yeah, what she said. What’s the plan?”

“My plan
is to not have a plan.”

“I’m down
with that.” Nix pulled up short when they confronted the stone golem. “Except
for now. Now, I think a plan would be dandy.”

“Well,
anyone know how to weaken a golem, so I can capture him in the Grimoire?” Mina
asked.

“Water.
No, fire… I think,” Nix answered.

“Which is
it?” Mina sang out as the golem turned and noticed the three teens standing
below him on the bridge.

“Fire!”
Nix yelled.

“Got it!”
Mina turned the book into a large, flaming fireball, which she sent shooting
directly at the golem’s eyes. It roared in distress as it fell backward onto
the cars, which rolled right off the broken bridge through the railings it had
destroyed. The splash reached them on the bridge, soaking them.

Kino was
there to meet the golem and introduce him to his powerful siren gift. A few
seconds later, the golem was more debris littering the San Francisco Bay.

“One
done, a hundred to go!” Nix marked an imaginary line in the air.

Ever
rolled her eyes and said, “We can’t take them on one at a time. Where are the
Godmothers when you need them?”

“That’s
what you’re for, remember?” Nix called out jokingly. “You always said you were
worth a hundred Godmothers.”

“You’re
right, Nix.” Ever’s shoulders went rigid as she took a deep breath. “I am.”

She flew
straight and true toward the mass of the army. Her fluttering wings created a
wave of blue and purple in her wake. Above the army, she began to fly in
circles. Round and round she flew, and blue pixie dust fell from her wings
toward the army of Fae warriors climbing onto the bridge.

Mina
waited, confused, as the first one playfully jabbed the second and laughed.
Then the other one started laughing. One after another, the Fae stopped
fighting and started rolling on the ground in hysterics.

Ever flew
back, her face flushed with excitement. “Can you do anything now?”

“Yeah,
the laughter is making them vulnerable.” Mina rushed forward and held open her
Grimoire.

The pages
began to glow, and light burst from within, covering the Fae army in a gold
aura. The book lifted out of Mina’s hands, and she stepped back. The laughing
army cried out in fear as they were dragged into the pages of the book. Trapped
forever.

“Wow,
Ever, who are you and where did you come from?” Nix looked amazed.

“I’m a
pixie, you nitwit, and my gift just happens to be joy.” She grumbled at him and
punched him in the arm. “Don’t you ever, ever tell
anyone
, or I swear I will send you to your grave.”

He only
grabbed her around the waist to bring her near. “So, Miss Pixie-of-Joy, am I
going to die laughing?”

“Nix!”
Ever growled and stomped on his toe.

“Ow,
okay, okay. Your secret’s safe with me,” he mumbled as he jumped up and down on
one foot. “If anyone asks, you’re an irritable tyrant.”

Nix
covered his ears and looked around in panic. Mina didn’t hear anything at
first, and then her skin crawled as she heard the haunting whistle.

Just
across the expanse of the gaping hole in the bridge, yards away, the Death
Reaper with chin-length black hair stood beside the driver’s door.

Mina’s
heart seized. The Reaper disappeared.

Then she
heard the click of the omen’s claws on the hood of a nearby Chevy Impala.

Mina
stood there facing her doom. With Teague gone, she almost felt a sense of
relief that it would all be over. But then she remembered Charlie.

“No!”
Mina tried to send a full blast of her siren power at the dog. It phased right
through him.

“You
can’t, Mina.” Ever answered her question before she even spoke. “He’s dead.
Nothing can stop it. I don’t even think the Grimoire can.”

“Run!”
Nix yelled. He tried to place himself in front of Mina to block the omen.

She
didn’t need any more prodding. She turned and ran, and she heard the sound of
Nix screaming as the omen attacked.

“Nix!”
Ever yelled.

“Get her
out of here,” Nix commanded. He tried to hold onto the dog.

Ever
grabbed Mina under the arms and flew up in the air. Mina looked down and saw
Nix lose his grip. He fell, struggling under the large black beast. He kept his
arms up to protect his face, but its teeth and claws tore at his chest.

Come on. Come on. You want me not him.
The farther away they could get, the
sooner he’d give chase
.

She heard
a howl of pursuit, and the dog was after them again. She tried to look past her
feet dangling in the air above the roofs of the cars, but was unable to see
what had become of Nix. She prayed he was okay.

Something
wet landed on her cheek, and Mina first thought it was rain, but then she
looked up and saw Ever’s face, wet with tears. Another one fell on Mina’s
shoulder.

They
heard a growl beneath them, and Mina instinctively pulled her legs up. Ever
tried to fly higher, but she was struggling with the added weight and getting
tired. Ever couldn’t keep up her pace. She was slowly flying lower and lower.
Mina tried to reach into her bag for the Grimoire, but it was behind her.

She heard
a howl and tried to scan the ground below her, but she couldn’t see anything.
The omen had disappeared. Ever whimpered, and her grip loosened. Mina’s shoes
brushed the top of a Toyota. She was too heavy for the sprite.

“Ever,
stop. Put me down. It’s fine,” Mina said.

“No, I
can’t. I promised to protect you.” She choked as more tears poured out of her
eyes. “Even if we’re doomed, I’ll still protect you.”

“Then fly
over the water, and let’s see how well he can swim.”

Ever, too
tired to answer, nodded and turned to fly Mina over the water. They had just
cleared the railing when Ever cried out in pain.