Page 93 of The Stone Survival
I was going to die.
I closed my eyes and summoned all the faces that I loved. Touron, Shar, Palia and Ginia, Levi and Curi, Romi, and finally Serath. My heart ached because I hadn’t had time to love my mother or Ivor. To be a family. I hadn’t said goodbye.
“Cameron…” Melanie whispered in my ear. “I’m here.”
“Mum…” My voice trembled.
“Yes, sweetheart. Take my hand.” I felt her fingers wrap around two of my clawed ones, and a gentle calming warmth spread out from the contact. “I wish I could have seen you grow up. I wish I could have held you. Nursed you when you were sick. Told you every day how much I love you and how proud I am of you. I wish so much that I could have been a part of your life.”
Hot tears burned my eyes. “I know. I know. I wish it too.”
“I can’t get back the time that we lost. But I can giveyoua little more time.” The heat from the contact between us cooled and grew icy.
What was happening? “What? What are you?—”
Pain stole my breath as the ring constricted on my finger, cutting off my circulation before the pressure vanished.
I snapped my eyes open. The ring was gone, and my mother floated ahead of me, glowing and solid, her hair flying about her head in rippling waves, skin laced with golden veins of power.
The ring glinted on her finger.
Ice crawled over my body. My wings missed a beat, then another. “What did you do?”
“I’m borrowing what I need, sweetheart. Your power. Your essence. Enough to do what needs to be done.”
She was siphoning from me. Oh god. She was going to detonate in my place. “You can’t. You’ll die.”
“I’m already dead, sweetheart.”
Which meant… “No! Mum, your soul will be decimated. Stop!”
“I love you!”
Energy rushed out of me, leaving me limp and helpless as I was propelled away from the rift. The ground hurtled up to meet me, but I landed in taut arms instead.
Serath’s arms. “Ubron?”
“No, it’s me. Serath.”
“Serath. Oh god…My mum…Serath, my mum!”
He hugged me tight, cradling me as my mother began to shine brighter and brighter.
Her smile filled my vision. Her love filled my heart, then it filled the world with its blinding, dazzling beauty.
EPILOGUE
TWO WEEKS LATER
CAMERON
The aftermath of any battle comes with highs and lows. Death lingers, weaving its way among the survivors to remind them of their mortality. After the rift closed, there was a numbness followed by a haze of activity as the council and the human government sought to restructure because, although the world would always need guardians, there was no longer a need for such rigorous training methods. The threat that had hovered over us for over a century was gone. Gargoyles were free to choose what to do with their lives. To serve and protect humanity or…not.
My mother had died to give me a second chance at life. By borrowing my power, she’d tricked the ring into using her as a conduit. The life I would lead now was all due to her sacrifice, and I wasn’t going to squander it. I had wings now, a graynite form of my own, and there was a big wide world out there,waiting to be explored. I was going to see it all with my mate at my side…Once we separated him from Ubron, that was.
Ubron watched me now from his spot on the infirmary bed in Ivor’s base. I fixed a reassuring smile on my face. “Are you ready?”
“Yes. Let’s get this done,” he said.
