The Four Horsemen (The Light Series) (10 page)

We leave the grassy field
and enter a forest that looks magical. I sort of assume it is. We’re in a
dreamland, in an enchanted forest or the garden of the fae. Either way, this is
some magical shit.

When we get deep into
the forest, a woman in a long white dress walks towards us. She has
golden-blonde hair and a perfect face. Mona looks at me, “This is Lord of the
Rings.”

I nod, “I know. I was
just thinking that.”

“Is this still a
dream?”

I shake my head, “No
clue. The dead are here with me.”

She makes a face, “
Ewwww
. That’s doesn’t make me feel better.”

I watch the woman walk
towards us, “It should. Never underestimate the dead.”

The woman in the white
dress walks right past us. She doesn’t see us, nor notice us in any way. I
scowl, “
Uhm
, miss, excuse me.”

She walks on.

Mona scowls, “Snooty
bitch or ‘cause we’re in a dream, they can’t see us?”

“I hope the second.”
We continue on the trail that is more like a goat path between the trees.
Houses come into view. Small cottages. When we get closer, a small palace can
be seen between the trees.

Mona smiles, “I’m
going to assume your mother is in there.”

I laugh, “I would bet
my life on it.”

We walk through the
small village in the forest. No one looks at us. No one speaks to us. They wear
long dresses and old-fashioned tunics. It’s like Masterpiece Theater.

Mona shakes her head,
“Dude, this is messed up. That guy is wearing deer-skin shoes.”

I wave at him, “Hi!”

He walks past. Mona
shakes her head, “They can’t see us.”

We walk by them to the
cobblestone path where the palace starts. The houses are like the courtyard of
the palace. It is an ivory palace with turrets and strange oval windows. It
shimmers almost. I take Mona’s hand again. We pass over a bridge that isn’t
really a bridge. It's shaped like one, but it's got no moat or water below. We
enter the large doorway that is open. The dead stop. I feel it when the tingle
in the air is gone. I stop too. Mona gives me a puzzled look, “What?”

“The dead have
stopped. They aren’t coming in with us.”

She looks behind us,
making me smile. “You can’t see them.” She blushes and turns and walks farther
into the palace. Inside is like being in a historical movie.
Stone
walls
and lavish tapestries. They all have forest scenes with creatures
and nature on them. The furniture is made of wood but still rough and
unprocessed. It’s actually cool to see. It looks like the newest urban trend.

There is a massive set
of stairs in front of us. We climb them slowly, our feet not making a sound. A
man walks down the stairs. He has the tunic thing on. He looks like an idiot,
to be completely honest. I hate tunics. The pants are another story. They are
tight and
the man walking towards us has been graced by God
himself in the groin
.

Mona
gives me a look
, “
Michelle would love it
here
.”

I laugh, “That guy
should have been part of that thing she was petitioning about.”

Mona frowns, “What
thing?”

I roll my eyes, “The
whole free the Hamm-
aconda
movement.”

She snorts, “Jon
Hamm’s underwear situation?”

I nod, “That’s the
one.”

“I would have signed
that.”

I laugh, “Wow. I never
saw you as a petition sort of girl.”

Mona blushes, “I may
be a virgin, but I’m not that kind of virgin. I’m just picky. Have you seen the
pics
on Perez Hilton? Dude. Jon Hamm has a forearm in
his pants.”

“You sound like
Michelle.”

She glares. I put my
hands up, laughing, “I like that we can talk about Jon Hamm’s penis while dream
walking through the garden of the fae. This is what I love about you. You keep
it real.”

She blows me a kiss
with her glossy lips.

At the top of the
stairs, there is a hallway to the right and the left. Mona starts right
immediately so I follow her. We get to a series of rooms, like bedrooms. They
are simple, not what you would expect to find in a palace. The furnishings are
the same as downstairs, very rustic.

We turn around to go
the other way, but a man with a tunic and an old face is standing behind us. He
has white eyes. He smiles, “You have come, finally.”

We both look behind us
and realize the blind man can see us, somehow.

I bite my lip, nodding
slowly.

“Sin eater, daughter
of Lillith. We have waited this many years for you to come. She waits upstairs
for you.”

He points the other
way, to the other hallway. I walk past him, pulling Mona with me. He stands
there, not moving. We continue to walk away from him, not sure if he’s coming
or not. I am actually lost in this dream. In the other hallway, we find an open
area with chairs and a fountain. There is another stairway. We climb it, still
looking back for the man.

“I don’t think he’s
coming.”

I shake my head, “No.
His eyes were weird. Really white.”

“I’m going to have
nightmares about this for the rest of my life.”

I laugh, “You won’t
remember it. The dead never let me see where they took me.”

We get to the top of
the stairs and again there are two hallways. Mona walks right. “We went right
last time, we should go left.”

She pulls my hand,
“No, right again.” She pulls, and when we pass by several ladies in dresses, I
have a feeling she is right. The room is a grand sitting room. There is a great
throne made of the brightest white crystal I have ever seen. It’s empty and
looks like it’s not really there, like it’s a hologram.

There are people
milling about the room. I catch a glimpse of one of them in the corner.
Instantly, my eyes are drawn to him. He is not a man, and he is not a monster,
but he is somewhere in the middle. He has dark-blue veins running his face and
throat. He looks like he might have been a vampire who fed off dark-blue ink
instead of blood.

He speaks to a woman
in a pale-violet dress. I know who she is the moment my eyes land on her. My
mother’s hair glistens in the light, the way I remember it. Instantly, Ezara
and Liana start to cry inside of me. They sob for our mother. Only Ezara,
myself, and Liana
know her. Maggie and Ellie could care less
about her. They want her dead and they want this ended. Liana and Ezara weep as
I walk to her. Mona pulls me back, “Is that her?”

I nod. Mona shakes her
head, “What if she can see us? What if she kills you?”

“She won’t. She wants
to die for me.”

Mona grabs my hands,
“You are an idiot. She doesn’t want to die for you. I am telling you. She
doesn’t. She wants to kill you and live out her life here. She wants the world
to end, I bet you anything.”

I pull Mona with me,
dragging her against her will to where my mother stands. I see her back
straighten. She knows I am here. She spins, looking at the air around me. Her
face breaks my heart. I cringe as she looks around me.

She smiles but I see
terror in her eyes that look like mine. She whispers, “You cannot see the truth
here. You cannot see the chains. Bring a dagger next time, child.”

She turns back to the
man with the blue veins. He scowls, “What was that?”

She shakes her head,
“I think a wisp has made it inside. Downstairs maybe. I can feel it.” She
smiles softly, placing a hand on his arm, “Where were we?”

He smiles, “We were
discussing how my mother was just telling me that when the era of man is gone,
and they are but a stain upon the Earth, the reign of the fae shall return.”

My mother nods slowly,
“Yes. What a wonderful notion that is, but what about the angels?”

A man next to the
blue-veined one gives Lillith a fierce look, “The angels? You would dare to ask
me about the very traitors who betrayed us from the start? You will always be
one of them, Lillith.” Her mouth opens, but instead of hearing her words, we
are sucked backwards. Mona holds my hand tightly as we are flung backwards. It
is as if a vacuum pulls us down the stairs. When we get back to the door where
the dead are, we wake.

I open my eyes, seeing
Mona next to me on our bed. She smiles at me, “Did that just happen?”

I scowl, “What?”

She cocks an eyebrow,
“Jon Hamm’s penis and the crystal throne and your mother?”

My brow pulls
together, “I don’t remember. Did we see the penis? Did you come into my dream?”

She smiles, “I do
remember, no we never saw the penis, and yes, I did join you in that bizarre
dream walk.”

She tells me a story
and I don’t recall anything. I pace the room, trying desperately to envision
the dream the way she recalls it. “I just wish…” I stop myself, “Oh my God, I
have an idea.” I grab her hand and drag her off the bed. We run down the
hallway to the room with the fire. I smile at Stella who is listening to music
with Michelle on the couch.

“Stella, can you get
the images from Mona’s head and put them in mine?”

She cocks an eyebrow,
“What?”

I nod.

She looks at Mona,
smiling devilishly. “Of course.” She gets up and saunters over to Mona who has
a nervous look on her face. “Is this going to hurt?”

Stella shakes her
head, “Only if you want it to.”

Mona scowls, “I don’t
want it to, at all.”

Stella puts her hands
on Mona’s head, “Stay very still.”

Mona nods.

Stella lowers her lips
on Mona’s. Mona freezes for a second before returning the kiss to Stella.
Stella bites down gently on her lower lips, sucking it. Mona moans into the
kiss.

Constantine walks into
the room, still looking wounded. He sees the kiss and I know he’s jealous. He
narrows his eyes, “What is this?”

Stella sucks a little
more before pulling back. She takes my hand and looks into my eyes deeply, “You
will read my mind and remember everything you see.”

I nod, “I will.” The
sound of my voice is weak and trancelike.

Her pupils dilate and
instantly the images flood my mind. My heart cracks a little at the sight of
her face—my mother’s face. She is unchanged, young, and exactly as I
recall her.

Stella steps back,
smiling at Mona again. Michelle stands up, looking confused, “What was that
shit?”

I grin, “Jon Hamm’s
penis, a crystal throne, and my mother.”

Michelle smiles, “I so
need to see Jon Hamm’s cock. He has a forearm in there, I swear it.”

Me, Mona and Stella
laugh.

He doesn’t meet my
eyes as I retell the dream to him. Constantine paces in front of the fireplace,
“So she is a captive? We are to believe that regardless of leaving several
times, she is a captive?”

I shrug, “That’s how
it seemed.”

He shakes his head but
Gretel nods, “That makes perfect sense.”

I scowl, “What?”

She nods, “It does. If
the fae took her in with the hopes of using her to end the world, she wouldn’t
be able to escape. They are more powerful than anything. There is no way they
will let you in with a dagger though. The garden doesn’t allow sin in and it
doesn’t allow violence.”

I scowl, “Holding her
captive isn’t a sin?”

Gretel shakes her
head, “Not if they believe in their hearts they are doing it to save the Earth.
That could be a legitimate thing for them.”

Wyatt enters the room.
He doesn’t meet my eyes either. I know inside of me, my hearts—all five
of them are breaking.
Liana and Ezara for our mother.
Maggie and Ellie for Constantine.
Me for Wyatt, Constantine,
and my mother.

He sits on the couch
next to Sarah, “What have I missed?”

I get up and leave the
room. I don’t want to be in there with them, retelling the story and living
through all three things that are hurting me.

Mona runs after me,
“Do you think you and I could find the garden?”

I look back at her,
“We need to.”

Mona scowls, “Where
are you going?”

I grab the door to the
cellar, “I’ll be back in a bit.” She folds her arms, “I saw on the news that
pillaging has gotten so bad that they’re doing food rationing and only allowing
people to take so much per week.”

“I don’t know how to
help them. The air witches said we don’t kill the horsemen, but that feels
wrong. I need to end my parents and be done with the devils so I can face the
antichrist.”

Her eyes glisten like
she might lose it any second.

I nod, “I know how you
feel. This has been a very bullshit year.” I stomp down the dark hallway to the
nixie.

When I get to the
cliff, I can feel the dead. They’re trying to tell me something, but they
aren’t using their words. The day is gray and cold. The ocean is covered in
white caps and froth. I hold myself for a second, thinking about what I’m about
to do.

“The queen, the sea
queen. That’s who you need.” When I hear Wyatt’s voice, my guts burn. I turn
back to see him in the tunnel. He winces, “I don’t care. I don’t care what you
did with him, before. When you were the other girls.” His eyes burn like my
stomach does. He steps towards me, “I love you. You. The person you are right
now. I don’t know those other girls; I don’t even really care about them. I
love you. I adore you. You scare me more than anything in the whole world,
because like I told you before, I don’t think I can live without you.”

I walk to him, “I
didn’t know he and Ellie did that. I swear I didn’t.”

He nods, “I know. You
were too scared to know. I could see that you didn’t know.”

I take his hands in
mine, kissing the palms of them both,
“I love you.
I
can’t feel it right now. I can’t even feel your words. My heart is splintered
into the five pieces of my soulless soul. But I know I love you.”

He smiles, “I’ll take
that. I’ll take a fifth of the love you can give.” He lowers his face, brushing
his lips against mine. The feathery kiss is delicate and something we don’t
normally do. I like the smell of him, the feel of him, and the warmth of his
body against mine. I wince into the kiss as my wings burst from my back. I grab
onto him and leap. We soar up into the air, like a backwards swan dive. My
wings pull in as we break the cold surface of the ocean.

The redhead from
before is there. She smiles, “Have you seen your mother?”

I nod. Wyatt leans
over me, “Take us to the queen, please.”

She looks like she
might say no, but she glances at me again and offers me a hand.

I take Wyatt’s and
suddenly we are pulled down. We go down for a long time. We pass an old, rusted
shipwreck, fish, and weeds. Then we pass into darkness like I have never seen.
Her eyes glow like mine. I can see, and yet, I cannot. It is dark and there is
nothing to see. We pass through the darkness until it gets light again. There,
in the water below, is a series of miniature palaces. When we get closer, I
realize how far down they are; they’re huge.

We soar towards them,
gaining speed. I am ready to burst my wings like a parachute when she slows us
and we float down. There is gravity. It is like a regular place. I could walk
if I chose to. It’s not the same as the ground above. I can float and swim, but
I float down to the surface.

We pass sea life,
rocks, and plants. It’s like an aquarium. I don’t even have words for it. Wyatt
doesn’t either. He is staring like me. She pulls us to the largest of the
palaces. It is made of shells and sparkles in an unnatural way; the light is
unnatural. It is blue and effervescent.

She looks back at me,
“He doesn’t speak, no matter what.”

I nod. I don’t need to
look at him. He knows this shit better than I do.

We get into the
palace, and instantly I am regretting my decision to seek out the sea queen.
She looks like a fairy, but she has sharp teeth and scales. She looks evil and
cartoonish. Her features are sharp and tragically beautiful. Her glowing white
eyes land on me, “Sin eater.”

I nod, “Your
highness.” I bow again. I have to. She smiles, “You are exactly as I imagined
you would be.” She holds her nose a little higher, “I saw you coming. I
predicted it. I knew you would look this way and be this way.”

I don’t say a thing.
She makes me nervous, that I can feel. I think all five of us are freaking out.

She does a swim-walk
back to the shell throne. “You wish to know how to get into the garden?”

I nod, “Please.”

“The garden will come
to you when you desire something pure of it. If you want a thing, it will never
come. You must truly wish to lie at the feet of Lillith and worship, and gain
nothing from it.” She is smug. She and Wyatt should
talk,
they would get on like a house on fire.

I offer her my hand,
“My mother is a captive of the fae.”

She laughs instantly,
“You are a fool if you believe them capable of evil. They are the keepers of
this world.”

I nod, “They want the
world back. They want the humans dead.”

She stops laughing and
motions for me to come closer. I go closer, offering her my hand. I don’t know
why I feel like I should, but the dead are urging me to do it. They are
whispering that she will read me.

She snatches my hand,
bringing it to her face. I don’t expect the intense pain I receive and cry out.
Her sharp teeth bite down hard on the palm of my hand. I stand there, tense and
trembling until she
lets
go, “Who has planted this
memory?”

I shake my head, “It
is the memory of a dream walk in the garden. The dead took me.”

She looks stunned,
less smug for sure. She gets up, pacing back and forth. Her dress moves around
her like a bunch of snakes or eels. She turns sharply, “You must take him with
you. That is all I have for you. The best place to have the garden show itself
to you is a stream in Ireland. She will take you there now. Leave and never
come back.”

She turns her back. I
have shamed her or something, but either way, she is not going to help me
again. She speaks without looking back at us, “Seven of our strongest will go
with you. He must be cleansed before he can go. Take them to the shores of the
riverbank.”

Wyatt looks sickened.
He opens his mouth, but the redhead gives him a look. She grabs my hand and I
grab his. My hand is throbbing still where she bit me. The redhead pulls us up,
fast. I swear my head feels like it’s going to explode. When we break the
surface, we are not on the cliffs near Constantine’s but Constantine is there.
He offers me a smug smile. I crawl from the ocean to where the riverbank is,
but Wyatt stays behind.

The first nixie offers
her throat to him.

Constantine shakes his
head, “Let me.”

The nixie scowls, but
he is gone in a puff of smoke and then behind her. He bites into her throat,
pulling the essence into him. He screams as he swallows. There is a sizzle as
the nixie essence goes in his mouth. The next one swims up. She holds her head
to the side.

“Constantine stop, we
need Wyatt to come into the garden with me. Stop!”

He smiles, “If I eat
their essence from them, I can come instead.”

Wyatt tries to grab at
Constantine, but he is gone and the
nixie are
too.
Wyatt slaps the water, “What the hell is he doing?”

I shake my head,
scanning the water for them. Constantine is next to me on the shore, dripping
wet and angry looking. He smiles, but I can see the pain in his eyes. “You can
fill me in while we wait for the gate.”

We walk up to the
stream we are in front of. I am shivering and aching. Constantine gives me a
look, “Hungry?”

I nod. He grabs my
face, kissing me harshly. I suck instantly. His kiss is filled with the last of
the bad things he has done. Wyatt grabs my hand, but I am pulled into the food.
I can feel when it changes over, and I am no longer getting evil from him. He
continues to kiss me. I push him back and land in Wyatt’s embrace.
Constantine’s eyes dart from my face to Wyatt’s. I wipe my lips, “Where is your
unending supply of evil?”

He laughs, “I am clean
as a whistle again. Nixie essence is truly a miracle drug. I saved you the last
little bit, just in case you hadn’t remembered to eat. I recall that about you.
Always starving and then attacking.” He walks up to the creek, “So, when does
the garden gate come to us?”

“How did you know
where we were?”

“The nixie. There was
one at the shores when you dove in, a blonde who stayed behind. When I ate her,
I could see everything. The nixie are linked. They speak to each other without
speaking.”

“Like you and Stella.”

He nods, “And the air
witches. The fae do it too. Only the earth and fire have lost that. Too mixed
with the humans.”

Wyatt gives him a
sneer, “The gate probably won’t come for you.”

Constantine smiles,
“You doubt my resolve in this, don’t you?” he leans into Wyatt, “The thing you
don’t realize is that I have been on this path for hundreds of years, with her.
Your six months and weird Van Helsing juju is nothing, compared to the undying
love I have for her. I wish for nothing but her success, and I will die to see
it happen.”

Wyatt laughs, “You
think I wouldn’t?”

Constantine shrugs.
They give each other the same arrogant and cocky expression. Constantine
smiles, “I know this much, when push comes to shove and I die for her, you
better be ready to step into my boots, son. They’re big boots to fill, and you
have to be up to the task.”

“Oh, don’t you worry
about me, old man. I got this.”

Constantine gives him
a smug smile, “We’ll see, won’t we?”

I grab them both,
“Pretty sure arrogance isn’t going to get us in the gate. You two shut the hell
up and start wishing you could lie at my mother’s feet for no other reason than
to see her succeed.”

We sit on a mossy
stump. I’m shaking, cold, and tired. I’m tired of
friggin
’
winter, cold water, swimming with the
friggin
’ nixie,
and the damned cold wind in England and Ireland. I need a vacation, somewhere
warm. I need to sleep with the dead for a year.

Wyatt leans against
me, “People are starving everywhere. The first horse has come and gone. The
rich are fine, still eating what is left in the warehouses. The military is
guarding them and delivering the food to the people who can afford it the
most.”

I shake my head,
“That’s sick. I do wish my mom could succeed in her goal. I wish the world was
free of the bad things people do.”

Constantine nods from
beneath the tree across from me, “Yes. Humans have long lived a life of greed
and selfishness. Lillith and the fae have the right idea.”

I feel my eyes
threatening to close, but I push the dead away. They sparkle around me, wanting
me to follow them to sleep, but I can’t. We have a goal.

The last thing I see
is Constantine shouting at me. He disappears as I close my eyes.

When I wake, I am in
my bed at Constantine’s again. There is warmth next to me. I see Wyatt’s face,
not Mona’s. I smile, “Why are we here?”

He laughs, “You passed
out. We waited for two days and then we both got hungry and mean, and decided
to come home. The nixie swam us back the castle.”

Constantine comes into
the room. His eyes are pained when he sees us on the bed. He sighs, “There is
something unbelievable in the courtyard.”