The Greats disappeared, and the dark cloud dissipated. Only the billowing smoke from the Dark Fire remained. The pyre was still burning, and Sarafine and Lena were still tied to the slab.
The vortex of Vexes was gone, and something else had changed. We were no longer silently watching, waiting for an opportunity to make our move. The eyes of every Incubus and Dark Caster in the cave were on us, canines bared and yellow eyes blazing.
We had joined the party, whether we liked it or not.
Seventeen Moons
The Blood Incubuses reacted first, dematerializing one by one, and reappearing in pack formation. I recognized Scarface, the Incubus from Macon's funeral. He was in the front, his black eyes calculating. Hunting was predictably nowhere in sight, too important for simple slaughter. But Larkin was standing in front of them, a black snake coiled around his arm. Second in command.
They surrounded us in seconds, and there was nowhere to go. The pack was in front of us, and the cave wall behind us. Amma pushed her way between the Incubuses and me, as if she planned to fight them off with her bare hands. She didn't get the chance.
"Amma!" I called out, but it was too late.
Larkin was standing inches from her tiny frame, wielding a knife that didn't look anything like an illusion. "You're a real pain in the ass for an old lady, you know that? Always poking around where you don't belong and callin' up your dead relatives. About time you joined them."
Amma didn't move. "Larkin Ravenwood, you're gonna be ten kinds a sorry when you try to find your way outta this world and into the next."
"Promise?" I could see the muscles in Larkin's shoulder move as he pulled back his arm, preparing to lunge at Amma.
Before he could strike, Twyla threw her hand open, and white particles flew through the air. Larkin cried out, dropping the knife and rubbing his eyes with the back of his hands.
"Ethan, watch out!" I could hear Link's voice, but everything was happening in slow motion. I saw the pack coming at me, and I heard something else. A humming sound that started low and rose slowly, like the crest of a wave. A green light flew up in front of us. It was the same pure light the Arclight emitted when it spun in the air in front of us, right before we released Macon.
It had to be Macon.
The hum grew louder, and the light surged forward, hurling the Blood Incubuses backward. I looked around to see if everyone was all right.
Link was bent over, with his hands on his knees like he was going to puke. "That was close." Ridley patted his back a little too hard and turned to Twyla.
"What did you throw at Larkin? Some kind of Charged Matter?"
Twyla smiled, rubbing the beads on one of the thirty or forty necklaces she wore. "Don't need Charged Matta, cher."
"Then what was it?"
"Sel manje." She spoke the words in her thick Creole accent, but Ridley didn't understand.
Arelia smiled. "Salt."
Amma whacked me on the arm. "Told you salt could keep away evil spirits. Evil boys, too."
"We have to move. There isn't much time." Gramma rushed toward the stairs, carrying her cane in her hand. "Ethan, come with me." I followed Gramma up to the altar, the smoke from the fire creating a thick haze around me. It was intoxicating and suffocating at the same time.
We reached the top of the stairs. Gramma held her cane out toward Sarafine, and immediately it began to glow with golden light. I felt a wave of relief. Gramma was an Empath. She had no powers of her own, except the ability to use the powers of others. And the power she was taking now belonged to the most dangerous woman in the room -- her daughter Sarafine.
The one channeling the energy of the Dark Fire to call the Seventeenth Moon.
"Ethan, get Lena!" Gramma called. She was in some sort of psychic holding pattern with Sarafine.
It was all I needed to hear. I grabbed for the ropes, loosening the knots that bound Lena and her mother together. Lena was barely conscious, her body resting on the freezing stone. I touched her. Her skin was ice cold, and I felt the choking grip of the Dark Fire as my body started going numb.
"Lena, wake up. It's me." I shook her, and her head rolled from side to side, her face red from the icy rock. I lifted Lena's body, wrapping my arms around her, giving her what little warmth I had.
Her eyes opened. She was trying to speak. I held her face in my hands. "Ethan --" Her lids were heavy, and her eyes shut again. "Get out of here."
"No." I kissed her as I held her in my arms. No matter what happened, it was worth this one moment. Holding her again.
I'm not going anywhere without you.
I heard Link scream. One Incubus had escaped the powerful wall of light that was holding the rest of them at bay. John Breed was behind Link, with his arm around Link's neck, canines bared. John still had the same glazed expression, like he was on autopilot. I wondered if it was an effect of the intoxicating fumes. Ridley turned and threw herself onto John's back, tackling him. She must have taken him by surprise, because Ridley wasn't strong enough to take him down on her own. The three of them fell to the ground, grappling for the upper hand.
I couldn't see more than that, but it was enough to make me realize we were in serious trouble. I didn't know how long the supernatural field would hold, especially if Macon was the one generating it.
Lena had to end this.
I looked down at her. Her eyes were open, but she looked past me, as if she couldn't see me.
Lena. You can't give up now. Not when --
Don't say it.
It's your Claiming Moon.
It's not. It's her Claiming Moon.
It doesn't matter. It's your Seventeenth Moon, L.
She stared up at me, her eyes empty.
Sarafine raised it. I didn't ask for any of this.
You have to choose, or everyone we care about could get killed here tonight.
She looked away from me.
What if I'm not ready?
You can't run from this, Lena. Not anymore.
You don't get it. It's not a choice. It's a curse. If I go Light, Ridley and half my family will die. If I go Dark, Gramma, Aunt Del, my cousins -- they'll all die. What kind of choice is that?
I held her tighter, wishing there was a way I could give her my strength or absorb her pain.
"It's a choice only you can make." I pulled Lena to her feet. "Look at what's happening. People you love are fighting for their lives right now. You can stop it. Only you."
"I don't know if I can."
"Why not?" I was shouting.
"Because I don't know what I am."
I looked into her eyes, and they had changed again. One was perfectly green, and one was perfectly gold.
"Look at me, Ethan. Am I Dark, or am I Light?"
I looked at her, and I knew what she was. The girl I loved. The girl I would always love.
Instinctively, I grabbed the gold book in my pocket. It was warm, as if some part of my mother was alive within it. I pressed the book into Lena's hand, feeling the warmth spread into her body. I willed her to feel it -- the kind of love within the book, the kind of love that never died.
"I know what you are, Lena. I know your heart. You can trust me. You can trust yourself."
Lena held the tiny book in her hand. It wasn't enough. "What if you're wrong, Ethan? How can you know?"