Page 37 of Wild Ivy
Ooh, okay. That makes sense. I guess it does affect everyone, not just us, after all.
“Go on,” I prompt when he stops.
“Everything is changing,” Blackthorn says grimly. “When you altered time to save Ivy, you didn’t just change events. You changed the fundamental nature of reality itself. The void isbecoming something new, something neither Life nor Death can fully control.”
“And that’s why Life is dying,” Tate concludes.
“Dying?” Vex straightens up with a frown. “Life can’t die.”
“Apparently, she can,” I say. “And she’s trapped Ivy in the void to force us to give her what she wants.”
“Which is?”
“Morrigan’s power.”
Blackthorn’s eyes narrow. “Life wants Morrigan’s power? How interesting. That wasn’t something I considered. Do you know why?”
“To save herself somehow? We don’t know. We are here to see if you can help us figure it out.”
Blackthorn rises, moving to one of the towering bookshelves. “The problem isn’t just that Life is dying. The problem is why she can die at all. She made a fundamental mistake - one that’s corrupted her very essence.”
“Lila,” I say, the realisation hitting me. “Lila was a real creature, and Life possessed Lila for too long.”
“Yes.” Blackthorn pulls out an ancient text, its pages crackling. “Immortal beings aren’t meant to inhabit lesser vessels, even supernatural ones, for extended periods. A few hours, maybe days at most. But Life...” He shakes his head. “She stayed in Lila’s form for years, playing at being Ivy’s best friend, manipulating events from within.”
“How do you know this?” I ask with a frown. “How do you know about Lila?”
“She is here on death’s door, Mr Sinclair.”
“Fuck,” I mutter.
“So being Lila poisoned her,” Tate concludes. “Being in a lesser vessel for that long... it changed her. Weakened her.”
“If Life dies, the void collapses,” Blackthorn says. “Everything collapses. The natural order depends on both forcesexisting in balance. Without Life, there can be no Death - there would be nothing to die. Except...”
“Except Ivy,” I say, the power inside me surging. “She would survive because she’s Death incarnate.”
“She wouldn’t just survive,” Tate adds his revelation from earlier. “She’d be the only thing left. A god in a dead universe.”
“That’s why Life needs Morrigan’s power,” I say slowly. “Wild magick is pure, primal. She thinks it can purge the mortality that’s corrupting her and make her a god, too.”
The power writhes inside me, and suddenly, its reluctance to leave makes perfect sense. It knows what Life intends to use it for.
“But she’s trapped Ivy in the void,” Torin says. “Why? If everything’s at stake...”
“Insurance,” Blackthorn says simply. “And containment. She needs Ivy, where she can’t interfere while she attempts to save herself. But she’s miscalculated badly.”
“How so?” I ask.
“Because the void is the one place where Death’s power is absolute. By trapping Ivy there, she’s given her access to power even Life doesn’t fully understand.”
The magick inside me pulses, almost eagerly, and I know now it’s been trying to tell me something all along.
19
IVY
The void is...different.
