Page 80 of Bright Soul

She turned her dark eyes my way. They reflected with gray magic deep in her pupils. “In this, you have fully avenged my daughter. The blood baron’s legacy is dust, and the unnatural remnant who attacked her is no more. I see now that you are on the verge of discovering your potential.”

I set my spine under that prophetic gaze, wondering what exactly she was seeing when she inspected me. “What should I do?” I breathed.

“The hour of our final confrontation with Myuna grows near. She has chosen a new champion and embedded a seed of entropy in their soul. In this, she has learned from us and plans a strategy to raise a larger force than ours. We must broadcast our evacuation plans before it’s too late for the majority of Cerris City’s survivors,” she intoned.

I held my breath, committing every word of her prophecy to memory.

“Pool your resources, and you will find the key to our victory.” She nodded slowly, and between one blink and the next, the gray magic left her. Her shoulders slumped, and shemuffled a yawn. “And speak to Phaeron. We can spare you both for a day while the rest of us prepare.”

“Fuckin’ hell. That was a damn good prophecy.” We both jumped when the gravelly voice spoke up behind us. Auric et Vess had appeared out of nowhere silently, just as Phaeron usually did. Maybe it was a dimensional thing.

Hana recovered first. “How long were you listening?” she asked.

“I heard the whole thing from the other side. The Void frothed up nicely for you. It speaks to you, hmm?” He was inspecting her closely.

“Augurs see the future,” she corrected.

“Fascinating,” he remarked. “Where I live, there are no human augurs. Only my kind.” He tapped the angular cheekbone below his sightless eye meaningfully.

“Perhaps the madness would be less if you saw, rather than heard, its wisdom,” she said.

“If only the whispering stopped that easily.” He flashed a multi-fanged smile before his one good eye trained on me. “Hey. Resources are usually pooled in a circle, if you catch my meaning.”

I felt my lips press together. If anything, it felt like he’d just said something random to confuse me.

“Eh. The Sudair will know, if you don’t figure it out.” He made a dismissive gesture.

“Well, thank you both for your wisdom,” I said, standing. I tucked away the tidbit that Hana had looked intothe Voidto see the future. I could wonder about the implications later.

Hana waved farewell while Auric said a gruff “Bye, kid” before turning his attention back to her. I went to Lucas’s room first, but it was empty, the sheets on the bed in an untidy pile to the side. While I stood in the threshold, I caught a hint of Ben’s laugh and followed it to a waiting room jam-packed with people.

My coven and friends were mixed with a group of healthy survivors. At the center of it all was Wren, phone in hand, interviewing a teenage girl.

Ben stood toward the edges of the gathering and waved me over with an eager smile. He had a hand resting on the handle of a wheelchair, where his brother sat, head lolled back. I was caught for a moment by Ben’s big, carefree smile. It was rare to see him without that signature smirk, but he was obviously carrying on over some story for Lucas’s benefit.

Geo was nearby, keeping careful watch as always. He flashed me a quick wink, and I brushed my fingertips up his arm on my way by him. The contact had him shivering with awareness.

“Cress!” Ben’s teeth were practically sparkling. “Come meet my bro, Lucas.”

“Hello, Lucas.” I held my hand out for a shake, and he gripped my fingers loosely. His smile was slow and shy, and he looked me over with unusually pale eyes. We’d met before, though I doubted he remembered it, as he’d been deep within the possession of the Hungering Darkness.

The real Lucas peered up at me with slow blinks, as if he were still waking up. He was nothing like the young man I’d briefly met; his weakened body was swimming in his hospital gown, and he looked like he’d been dipped in bleach from his ghostly skin tone and how platinum his overlong hair had become.

A little line of concentration marked his forehead. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.” He spoke slowly, almost stiffly. I wondered if it was difficult to talk after a monster had been speaking through him for months. “Ben has nothing but praise for his anam cara.”

I felt a blush touch my cheeks. “We definitely complete each other,” I said, sharing a quick look full of intention with Ben before returning my attention to him. “How are you doing?”

“Better…I think,” he said, speaking in short bursts. “It’s frustrating. I’m not a blood witch anymore. There’s no easy recovery ahead.”

“Not a blood witch anymore?” I echoed in surprise.

“Yeah, blood runes don’t work on him anymore,” Ben confirmed. The shadow of troubled thoughts passed over his face. “Big P might be able to take a look at him and tell us what happened to his affinity, but earlier, he restored Lucas’s soul and dipped. No one’s seen him since.”

He told me about the scrap of soul Phaeron had been holding after killing the Hungering Darkness. How Phaeron had pressed it to Lucas’s chest and woken him when modern medicine hadn’t done a thing.

“Oh, shit,” I muttered. “Ben, he’d just killed what was left of his own brother. No wonder he disappeared.”

He scratched the back of his head, lips quirked. “I know. The man needs a hug and a medal. Can you make him reappear so we can give him both?” he asked.

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