Torn. Part 30

"I have to go." I stood, suddenly frantic to get away. "It was so nice to meet you." I was babbling, knocking over my chair as I shook the rep's hand and backed toward the door. "NYU is a great school-it's my dream school, it has been forever, and I think I'd be a tremendous a.s.set to the student body. Thanks so much for taking the time to meet with me."

She leaned backward, startled. Probably not a lot of prospective applicants bolted mid-interview. "Mo, the early decision committee meets in just a few weeks. I won't be visiting St. Brigid's again this year. Are you sure you want to leave now?"

Her meaning was clear. If I took off, I'd be giving up my shot at early decision, and maybe even NYU entirely. But if I broke my promise to Verity, I'd never be able to go to New York, even if I got in. "Believe me, I would love to stay. But there's something I have to do, and it can't wait. Thanks again!"

"Mo," said Sister Donna, trailing after me. "In Heaven's name, child, what are you doing?"

Jill smiled and waggled her fingertips. "See you around, Mo. It's been fun!"

The chapel at St. Brigid's was a separate building, a small stone church a half block from the main school. It was quiet and cool and mostly deserted, reserved for special Ma.s.ses, the perfect place to hide. I ran for it, digging my phone out of my bag, wishing I could put more distance between me and the school. It was only a matter of time before they called my mom, and my mom called Colin.

Inside, the smell of beeswax and incense mingled comfortingly, and I dropped into the front pew.

It had been a long time since I'd prayed for anything bigger than a grade on a test, longer still since the prayers had been answered, and so I didn't form any actual words-just sat in the pew, with the wood worn smooth under my hands, and begged for time, and hope, and a hefty dose of miracles.

I pulled out my phone and dialed Luc. "You can find me because of the binding, right?"

" 'Course," he said. "Anywhere."

"Then find me."

I settled back to wait, hands twisting in my lap, eyes on the linen-covered altar. A moment later, footsteps sounded behind me.

"I should have guessed," said Colin. I spun around, banging my elbow on the pew back. "Have you ever done what I asked you? Even once?"

"How . . ."

"Did you think I was just going to drop you off and leave? After everything that's happened? Magic aside, things aren't over with the Outfit, not by a long shot." He glanced around the church, thumbs hooked in his belt loops, deliberately casual in the little jewel box of a church. "Looking for a miracle, Mo?"

"Maybe." I stood and walked to a small iron stand filled with red gla.s.s votives. "I have to go back. To finish it."

He followed, his hand closing over mine as I lit the long wooden match and guided it to an unlit candle. "What changed?" he asked, as the flame caught and straightened.

"Me. It's not about Verity. Or Luc, even. It's the right thing to do."

"For them."

"For me." I turned away from the flickering lights, and he kept my hand tight in his. "It's like you said before, about power. Who has it and who wants it and who's losing their grip. Billy and my dad, they ruined us to keep hold of all that power. Now it's starting again. He'll sacrifice me, just to move up and make his piece a little bit bigger."

He scowled. I could tell he wanted to disagree, but couldn't. "So this is about Billy?"

"It's about balance. The Seraphim think that if the Torrent comes, they'll be able to grab hold of the power in all the chaos, and who knows what they'll do with it. But it can't be good. It's never good when one person has all the power. It'll be devastating. I can't sit by and let it happen."

"It's too dangerous."

"I'll be stronger this time. I'll be better. You can't stop me, Colin."

His face took on a set, stubborn look. "Fine. I'm coming with."

Luc arrived with a sound like tearing cloth. Coolly, his eyes flickered over Colin, whose hand was still twined with mine.

"Little busy, Mouse," he said, and I could see the lines worry and exhaustion had etched deeply into his face. "Didn't you say your piece already?"

"Take me back to the Binding Temple," I said. "Right now."

His eyes narrowed and his mouth thinned. "Not gonna happen. Temple's too unstable. Won't stand much longer."

"That's why I need to go there."

"It's too late. Evangeline's right, you can't stop the Torrent now."

"Then why did she take the ring?" His brows snapped together, his attention caught, and I rushed on. "If it was really too late, she wouldn't have cared about the ring, because it wouldn't matter if I could get to the lines. But she made sure I couldn't, didn't she?"

"Exactly. You can't get to the magic. There's nothing you can do."

"The temple has raw magic running through it. In the columns. I can do it there."

"Mouse, it'll kill you." I could see the struggle within him as he realized that I could be right, and the cost if I was. Watching him fight it only strengthened my resolve.

"It won't," I said, with a confidence I didn't quite feel. Yet. "And you'll protect me. We're still bound, right? Losing the ring didn't change that. I trust you."

"I don't," said Colin, stepping between us. "You take her in there, you take me, too."

Luc shot him a glance of utter scorn. "And what are you gonna do, Cujo? Shoot the magic? Frown at it real hard?"

"I don't give a rat's a.s.s about your world and all its magic. I care about Mo. She thinks she needs to do this, fine. We do it. But I go, too, or she stays home."

Luc jerked a shoulder. "Long as you keep out of the way. I won't have time to babysit."

"Excellent," I said, feeling suffocated by all the testosterone in the room, and wanting only to get my plan into motion. "Let's go."

CHAPTER 28.

The polished stone floor of the Binding Temple was cracked and smashed, the mortar in the walls turning to sand and pouring down in small rivulets. The air itself seemed to thrum with magic, pushing against me as if it was angry. For a brief moment, it seemed nearly sentient. But when I saw the First Arch, light streaming through the carvings, blindingly bright, I forgot all about magical theory. I'd thought I needed to know the rules about magic, but it turned out I needed to feel my way all along.

"I don't know how much time we have," Luc said, pitching his voice to be heard through the din. Each time another rupture emerged, there was a noise like a zip line, a whipping, snarling, high-pitched whine, and some other part of the temple crashed down in a cloud of grit.

He gestured to an ever-widening crack in the floor. It reached out to all four pillars of the archway. Every few seconds, a portion of the side sheared away and disintegrated. "You sure you're ready? You don't have to do this."

"I do," I said, walking past him.

"Mo," Colin said beside me, so soft I could barely hear him. "Please. Don't."

"I am choosing this. You have to let me," I told him. He scowled, but nodded his understanding. I bit my lip in concentration and sank to my knees, reaching into the gap.

Immediately, the magic slammed into me, knocking me backward into the wall. I pushed up to my hands and knees again, wiping a trickle of blood from my nose. Colin rushed forward, helping me to my feet. Luc was right-having all four elements together was exponentially more powerful. It sounded in my head like a bell, deeply resonant, and I tried again, feeling carefully along the disintegrating pathways. I drew on Luc's magic as I searched for the weakest sections, trying to reinforce them with my Flat, useless fingers.

Luc motioned Colin away. "Too hot for you here," he said tersely, and laid one hand lightly on my shoulder.

A crash sounded behind us, and I faltered at a new voice.

"Oh, honestly, Lucien!"

"Evangeline. Shouldn't you be off polishing your broom?" He curled his fingers around the back of my neck. The magic flowed strong and true through our connection, heavy and golden in my veins.

"It's a new world. I wanted to bear witness when this room crumbled away." She looked around the ruined temple, her lip curling with disgust. "Bindings. The very notion one should sully one's power with another line's. It led to the decline of our people. The houses should have remained distinct, relations with Flats forbidden. It's what cost us our power . . . talents skipping generations, appearing randomly, like mutts from the pound. And who is your champion, Lucien? Pitiful. An insult to our world's legacy. It will be a pleasure to watch you fail."

I worked frantically as she rambled, eyes fever-bright, color high in her crepe white cheeks.

"Gloating makes you look old," he told her offhandedly.

She goggled at him, and then her eyes went icy blue as she recovered.

"I'm not surprised you're willing to risk the girl's life," she said sweetly. "You've always cared more for the prophecy than anything or anyone, just like your father. There's no reason to think a mere Flat would be any different. How on earth did you convince her to come back? She must be out of her mind."

"She is right here," I said. "Quit acting like I'm invisible."

"But you're so good at it." Before I could react, she whipped out her staff, slamming it against my sternum. I landed at the base of the arch, inches away from the crack in the floor.

"Mo!" Colin scrambled toward me, jumping over fissures while Luc pulled his sword and sent a bolt of magic toward Evangeline. "You tried. Let's go."

"I'm okay," I slurred, staring up at the glowing columns. "I'm so close, Colin. I can do it."

He helped me to my feet. "It's not worth it."

I touched his face, burning the feel of his stubble-covered cheek into my memory. "It is. I promised. Should I let everyone else suffer so that I can stay safe?"

He wove his fingers through my hair, tipping my face up and kissing me like I was made of gla.s.s. I memorized that, too, wanting to hold on to it forever. It was over so quickly, though, and he glanced around us, a.s.sessing everything.

"You need Luc?" Colin asked. Behind him, Luc and Evangeline battled ferociously, the magic from their weapons filling the air, mingling with the sparks from the rupture.

"What?"

"To do this-you need him, right?"

I shook my head, but Colin wasn't looking. Instead, he drew his gun and shot Evangeline, the bullet hitting her stomach.

She shrieked, turning the staff on Colin, the blue-black magic knocking him away from me with a sickening crack.

I screamed and struggled toward Colin, shaking off the pull of the magic coming from the rupture, the effort squeezing my lungs. "No!"

Blood was soaking Evangeline's front, and she pressed one hand to the wound, a blue glow spreading as fast as the bright red stain, healing herself. With the other hand, she leveled the staff at my throat.

"That's enough, Lucien, or I'll kill her this instant."

Luc froze midstride, the ruby lights on his sword flickering but contained.

"Your arrogance is staggering, Mo. You're a Flat. You're nothing but a shadow of Verity, and yet you presume to interfere here? You'll never be her. You'll never have Lucien, not truly, and you have nothing to fight with. You're powerless."

Colin made a weak noise and fell still. It took everything I had not to go to him. Tears streamed down my face, but I couldn't afford to be distracted now.

"You're right." I eased back toward the arch and its gaping chasm, my steps small and tentative, almost reluctant. "I've got nothing at all, except for what Verity gave me in the alley. I didn't even want that. But there's power in a sacrifice, isn't there? You said that once."

Luc's eyes shifted to mine, his sword still pointed at Evangeline. "Sorry," I mouthed, and I saw from the dread on his face the instant he understood.

"Whatever she gave you won't be enough," Evangeline countered, picking her way over the broken ground as it heaved beneath her. I used the distraction to take another step back, almost directly under the arch. The four columns pulsed with magic, the carvings standing out white hot, a keening, whirling nebula forming between them. The sound nearly blotted out her words. "The Torrent is upon us now. There's nothing you can do to stop it."

"Good." The magic geysered up between us and she stared at me, eyes rounding as realization dawned. "Because I don't want to stop the Torrent, Evangeline. I want to become it."

All around me, the archway was crumbling. I stepped into the center of the four carved pillars, stretched out my hands, and let the nebula consume me.

CHAPTER 29.

The temple disappeared.

Everything disappeared, the entire world blotted out by a white so brilliant I closed my eyes to no effect. There was an instant-the s.p.a.ce between a heartbeat, when there was nothing but white, and utter silence, and then, like a heart starting up again, the world rushed back in, and I watched it all re-form.

This must be what G.o.d feels like, I thought dizzily. I was everywhere, all at once, and I knew everything. I could see the temple, as if from a distance, Luc and Evangeline and Colin all frozen as the magic blazed around them. I saw my mother, scrubbing down the counter at the diner, and I could feel her joy in setting things right and orderly again, stained by her worry over me. I saw Billy in his booth at Black Morgan's, dispensing advice and whiskey, always with an eye toward maintaining his own place at the table. I saw Lena at school, currents of power and insecurity eddying about her as she sat in cla.s.s, and the thready undercurrent of loneliness trailing after her.

I looked for Verity. An infinity of worlds were spread out before me, mult.i.tudes of lives and lines crisscrossing, staggering in their variety and their beauty. Her spirit should have been there, too. I wanted to see her, one last time, to say a proper good-bye. But even as I drifted through, my heightened senses tracing out along the lines to search for her, I couldn't find her. At the edge of the lines was a soft, dense blackness, like velvet, and I tried to reach through it, convinced she was on the other side. It was impenetrable, though. The magic wouldn't take me there.

As the magic surged inside me, panic did, too. The nebula consumed me, turning me inside out, more painful than I could have imagined. I was burning away. I forced myself to breathe through the agony, and took the power in without reservation. Cell by cell, I came back, filled with the knowledge of everything I could see, and suddenly the pain dropped away. I wanted to stay forever, tied into everything, at one with the lines and the magic. I could, too. All I needed to do was follow the magic back to the source, like breadcrumbs, and I could watch the entire world, the endless flow of lives, forever.

I felt a sharp tug, but I ignored it to savor the power coursing through me. The tug came again, more insistent this time.

It was Luc, pulling me back. The magic was so seductive, so welcoming, I'd nearly forgotten him and the world I'd left behind, the job I'd set out to do. But our connection dragged at me, and I remembered my promise to Verity. It was time to go.

I gathered myself, pulling back from the source and bringing the magic with me. I took the pain along with the magic, without trying to resist or fight, just channeling all that power until it flowed out, whole again, made new again. The lines took it over, the source pumping magic through them like a heart. My work was done. I contracted as the nebula dispersed, coming back into my body, landing hard on the ruined floor of the Binding Temple.

I opened my eyes to see Evangeline standing over me, the forked end of her staff still pointing at my throat. The last, lingering shred of raw magic flowed out of me, and I flung it at her with all of my might. It arrowed toward her like flame, too fast and powerful to block. She flopped back like a marionette whose strings had been cut, the staff clattering next to her. I slumped to the floor.

Luc came for me, his face streaked with dust and tears and blood, and gathered me up. "Mouse? What did you do?"