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And then it began to collapse
No! I screamed It would not end like this It would not!
Hold it open, Rachel! Al shouted in hts, and then suddenly I wasn’t alone The demons The demons had come!
Streaks of half-heard eile bubble of thought, etching ley lines with the footprints of theirinto place new lines to keep it alive
What? What have you done? the Goddess exclaihts as one for thisthe Goddess and hertight to it, she dove into the new reality sparkling in our joined thoughts
I staggered as the balance shifted Bis floundered, his ereat Like a great rushing wind it rolled ourus in as well Newt! I called, and then with the sudden parting of a leaf frohts hit a wall, and reeling, I took a huge breath, trying to figure out what had happened Real air sucked deep into hed out stardust
"Bis!" I called, but he ithwithin perfect balance The new reality was safe There were lines again!
The echo ofrose to replace it It was silent, and the hush of dust settling whispered over me My neck hurt, and I shivered in the dark as I looked up to the stars through the gaping hole in the church’s ceiling There was a new hole in the floor, too Newt and the Goddess were gone The one
Gone? "No," I whispered, voice raspy as I looked for Al I couldn’t see hiet up Bis took to the air, landing in front ofeyes down in sorrow They’d thrown themselves into the new reality to balance it out with their smut It wasn’t fair, damn it! I’d worked so hard It wasn’t fair! I couldn’t leave theain! Not now!
"Ivy? Ivy!" Nina cried out, the sound harsh I was alone, and it hurt
I collapsed, groaning as I hit the floor A second crash sounded againsthit me, and then I was pulled away, rocked as war me to never leave, to stay with him always
"Ivy, wake up! Please, don’t close your eyes Look at ed to openover Ivy She shook in fear, but her pain-induced savagery was gone, and the first feelings of success began to overshadow uilt from failure Al Newt What had it all been for?
"I’ht I couldn’t breathe I patted his back, s as Ivy’s eyes opened They flashed black, then spun back to her norlow of their auras was clear,but not, there but unseen I could see it, but it faded even as I watched
Ivy began to cry in joy, and she sat up and held Nina’s face with her hands as she tried to see past her tears "Your soul is so beautiful," she sobbed, and they kissed, clinging to each other as if they’d been apart for years and years But ood It was just
But the deone Newt, Al All of them And it hurt
"Are you sure you’re okay?" Trent said, and I nodded, grief for the de even as I was happy for Ivy I’d wanted to do so much more The demons The familiars in the ever-after There just hadn’t been time
"Of course my itchy witch is okay," Al said, and low of a handheld lantern to find hi over us, expression wry Bis was on his shoulder looking proud and exhausted He’d broken the lines The torlds had collided We had survived? Where is the Goddess? "Rachel is a pus bucket full of"Thank you, Bis I don’t know these new lines yet"
"You’re here!" I exclaiet rid of the last stardust Al’s light spell glittered with the clarity of a new sun, alood loith an aht you were sucked into the new reality!"
"We were" Al set his glowing lamp on the pool table and extended a thick, ruddy hand to haulhand and I rose fro pulled froet everyone across," he muttered, as if e the bits of ceiling laying upon the floor
Al grinned wickedly and yanked Trent up as well, the fastsupports "You saw us etch the lines to fasten it to reality, didn’t you? You think they only go one way? Stand up Fix your hair My God, you still haven’t learned how to dress yourself"
"But you were trapped," I ht until Trent slipped an ar I’d never seen him do that before Ever "All of you! Newt and the Goddess!" Fear slid through"She knohere I am"
"Don’t worry about her" Al’s eye twitched "Newt"
His words trailed off and his head bowed "Gone?" I echoed, looking over the church as if II would "She became, didn’t she Newt" I couldn’t say it There was no way that Newt could survive that She was gone, both Newt and the Goddess destroyed as they beca PerhapsBut I just felt as if I’d lost someone tied to me in more ways than I’d ever know