Sammi felt the power roaring and raging, and yet surrounding it all, like endless space nursing a neutron star, was an infinity of hopelessness. She had never felt such a surge of despair. It brought tears to her eyes and a weakness to her muscles, and she knew without a shadow of doubt that she was utterly helpless in the face of this exotic, terrifying creature.

As Grace stepped forward her smile faded, her eyes dulled, and her mouth drooped open. She staggered two more steps and then stopped, as if she had forgotten how to walk. She became motionless.

“Oh, no,” Vince said, voice quivering with fear. “Oh, no... he has her. Mallian has her.”

Past Grace and across the valley floor, a tall, triumphant shape stepped out of the portal.

19

19

Lilou’s stomach dropped and her heart hammered in her chest once, twice, three hard times, as if seeking to finish her there and then. So much was happening she could barely keep track of events. After two years spent wandering the woods, and wondering what vague destiny fate had in store for her now that Mallian was gone, the future was coming to her. It was happening now, and she felt the pressure of every small decision she was about to make.

Mallian was back. And though she had betrayed him and she feared him more than anything in the world—more than the fairy, more than death—she also loved him. Theirs had been an unconventional romance, a deep respect and love for each other that had rarely manifested as physical. Though brash and superior, she also knew that the Nephilim had needed her, and valued her company for the long, long years they had known each other. Her decision to go against him and his plans for Ascent must have hit him hard.

She doubted he had forgiven her.

To her left, Bone stood close to the partially buried cooler room, hunkered down by the door as if to hide from everyone. Closer in front of her, Angela, Vince and Sammi hugged, and she had never seen a sight so right. The three of them were family. If the whole world and all its troubles were to envelop them now, they would still have each other, and their bond would keep them safe. She envied their closeness. However hard she had tried to help and protect them, she knew that she would always be an outsider.

Her own family was across the grey landscape and emerging from the portal that Grace had forced into the world. He seemed somehow diminished. Thinner than before, shoulders drooped, he was a withered husk of what he had once been, and Lilou wondered what the hell the fairy had been doing to him.

At least he’s still alive, she thought. Vince also looked changed. The two of them would have stories to tell, but she didn’t think they would ever tell them together.