Page 31 of Wild Ivy
“Very good, little Death,” Morrigan sneers. “But you’re missing one crucial detail.”
“Oh?” I raise an eyebrow.
“She already has most of what she needs.”
“Which is?”
But before she can answer, a familiar voice rings through the clearing.
“Now, now, Morrigan. You’re spoiling all my surprises.” Life, dressed as Lila, steps out of the shadows. “Hello, Ivy,” she says with Lila’s smile. “Ready to learn what you really signed up for?”
“Fuck you.”
“You know what I hate most about you, Ivy?” Life says, circling our group slowly. “You never knew when to stop asking questions.”
Her palm snaps up before I can react. A blast of pure energy hits me square in the chest, and suddenly, I’m being yanked backwards, not through physical space, but through reality itself.
“No!” I hear Bram shout, but his voice sounds distant, distorted.
The world tears apart around me like wet paper. For a moment, I see multiple realities overlapping, and it’s horrific. Life’s true form, ancient and terrible, superimposed over Lila’s face; Morrigan’s power streaming toward Bram like green lightning; my army of souls dissolving into chaos.
Then everything goes black.
When my vision returns, I’m floating in the void. But not like before, when I called the souls. This time I’m fully immersed in it, surrounded by endless darkness and the whispers of the damned.
“Welcome home,” Life’s voice echoes through the void. “Let’s see how well you understand your power when you’re the prey instead of the hunter.”
The darkness shifts around me. Countless souls stir to awareness, their attention fixing on me like predators scenting blood.
“What are you doing?” I demand, trying to sound commanding rather than terrified.
Her laugh reverberates through the void. “Teaching you a lesson about balance. These souls you’ve been so casually threatening to destroy? They’re part of the natural order too, and now they’re going to show you exactly what it means to be hunted by death itself.”
The first attack comes from behind. Spectral claws rake across my back. I spin, trying to defend myself, but how do you fight shadows in a realm made of darkness?
“You can’t command them here,” Life taunts in my head. “This is their domain, not yours. You’re just another intruder now.”
More souls emerge from the darkness, their forms twisted and dreadful. I recognise Lilith among them, but the real one, and she is not happy to see me.
“You wanted an army?” she hisses. “Congratulations. Now you get to face one.”
I draw on Death’s power, trying to assert control, but something’s wrong. My connection feels muted and distant.
“Oh, did I forget to mention?” Life’s voice drips with false concern. “I’ve been planning this for a very long time. The void isn’t just a prison anymore; it’s a trap, and you, my dear new Death, just walked right into it.”
The souls surge forward, and the hunt begins.
16
TATE
One second Ivy is there,the next she’s gone. She was ripped away by Life’s power so fast that even my magick couldn’t reach her in time. The clearing erupts into chaos. The souls she commanded scatter like smoke in the wind, some disappearing entirely, others turning on us with violence that I know they were just waiting to unleash.
“Where is she?” Bram demands, magick crackling around him as he advances on Life. “What did you do?”
Life—wearing Lila’s face again, like an ill-fitting mask—just smiles. “I put her where she belongs. In the void with all her subjects.”
“Bring her back,” I snarl, my ancestral magick arcing from my fingertips.
