Page 62 of Evil Eyed
Gulping for air, I fought to bring myself back under control.:If you can still hear me… I love you. Always.:Breathe. Again.:Some snake worm things are wrapped around me. He’s going to use me to drain all the magic out of Faerie.:
Another breath. In. Out. I made myself laugh at least inside my head.:Well, he’s going to try, at least. I hope…:Gritting my teeth, I forced out a growl that would have made Aidan beam with pride.:Fuck that shit. I fuckingknowthat you’re alright. You’re hearing me. You’re fighting to reach me as hard as I’m fighting to get to you. And we’re going to win this time, right? I will it to be so.:
Closing my eyes, I repeated that mantra again. Magic was all about my intention.I will it to be so.
Magic spun through the wheel faster, brighter, a cascade of rainbows and velvet ribbons, sparkling emeralds and gleaming gold. My treasures. My leprechaun. Vanta, my black kitty, the mother I’d never known, trying so hard to protect me the only way left to her. Dragonfly wings, glittering like delicate stained-glass windows.
I thought of my painting that had called to Warwick so much that he’d immediately whisked it away to safekeeping. Everything I needed to know was there—if I could only put the pieces together.
The wide-open door with magic spilling out all around me—when I’d looked at the painting in full sunlight. A glimpse of Faerie. Only the door was shut when I looked at it through the hag stone. And in the darkness…
The somber plain of standing stones. The smaller idol stone representing Cromm Crúaich, that had turned into gold when I put it upright into its slot. Releasing so much power that the huge stones had fallen.
Not fallen—blasted. Into a circle. An eye.
This huge well holding all the magic that Evil Eye had stolen. Magic that needed to be returned to the mortal plane and the other worlds he’d drained.
Doran had shouted that I needed to close the eye but that wasn’t right at all.
I needed to blast the motherfucker wide open.
The wheel spun brighter, faster, and I embraced it. I became the wheel, pulling energy from my men and magnifying it. Even though I couldn’t see them, I felt them. Their gifts poured into me without hesitation, trusting me. Giving me everything they had, all their strength and will. I braided their magic with sparkling rainbows of my mother and the grim shadows of my father, just like my painting. The door wide open, magic spilling through me. Dark and light alike. Shadow and highlight, shade and accent. I needed all the layers to create the perfect masterpiece.
I stood at the center of the wheel, the hub for the spinning spokes.
“Magnificent.” Boss Man’s voice rose with a twisted glee. “Drop the veil, and Tír na nÓg is mine!”
Holding the wheel around me, I stood on the stormy plain. Twelve standing stones surrounded me, and I was the golden stone in the center. I allowed myself to drop into the waiting slot made for me.
Thunder rumbled. Lightning tore across a black, stormy sky. All the hairs on my body quivered and rose, electricity arcing all around me as power ramped up higher. The golden wheel whirled so fast it blazed into a fiery ring wrapped in emerald ribbons. My teeth ached, and pressure built, making my bones throb.
More. I needed more.
I tipped my head back, straining to hold on as the magic built even higher. My skin felt gossamer thin, dissolving in the steady stream of pure energy. As if my mortal body was burning away, torn apart beneath the force of such magic. Ivarr said he’d burned himself up before.
Cromm Crúaich required sacrifice.
So be it. If that’s what it takes to set my treasures free.
“You fool!” Boss Man roared. “Not even fae can hold all the magic of Faerie at once!”
I’m the conduit. I can hold it all!
Something shook me, tearing at the creatures that bound me. A distant distraction that I ignored. Lightning cracked overhead, a blazing jolt of energy that tore open the night sky above Magh Slécht and exploded through me.
Power blasted in a rolling, vicious wave of devastation. The twelve standing stones didn’t fall—they crumbled into oblivion. The black sky blazed with molten gold and the lonely plain crackled with wildfire. Everything burned, my clothes disappearing in wisps of ash and char. My hair. My skin. I screamed endlessly until no voice or throat remained.
Power swept through me, blasting through the stone walls of Balor’s eye. I spilled into the black pool, a liquid, boneless thing of pure energy. I burned the sticky tar away, pulling the tainted magic back through me, cleansing it through the wheel of fiery gold. Up. Up the eye. Through the dimensions. The endless darkness. The brutal world of an eternal sun. Bark against my cheek, drinking in the flood of magic like a sweet, gentle rain ending a devastating drought. The upside-down world tilted in a dizzying flip into a rocky, windy cliff.
I pulled harder, draining the bottomless lake. Taking back all that had been stolen. Burning. Dissolving. All the bits of me that Jonathan had left behind.
The dark god required sacrifice. His own first-born child. So be it.
A door opened in my mind. Giggling, I ran forward into the shining light.
35
So much light. Colors I couldn’t even describe. So much love. So beautiful. Beauty was dangerous. That much I remembered. But I couldn’t think why.
