Destiny Gift (The Everlast Trilogy) - By Juliana Haygert Page 0,75
a bolt at Imha.
“Power. Chaos. The world has been so calm lately.” Imha’s smile was intimidating. “Are you on my side?”
Gaping, Ceris turned to Omi, who remained standing, stiff and still, beside the delusional goddess. “You agreed to this? Are you on her side?”
Like the few times I had seen him, Omi’s clothes were crumpled and smeared with dirt and blood, and he ambled as if he walked on the deck of a ship being tossed by waves. He turned to Ceris, half of a smile covering his thick lips. “I’m with her.”
Ceris shook her head and retreated a few steps.
“Are you on my side?” Imha repeated her question, her voice resonating through the crystal walls. “I won’t ask again, Ceris, so be smart.”
“I’m smart. And I’ll never join you.” With that, she cast a magic wall before her and ran to the exit.
The wall crumbled when multiple purple and red bolts hit it, but she was already gone.
“After her,” Imha shouted.
Dozens of demons appeared from the shadows of the room. With piercing shrieks, they set out after the goddess of love. Giant bats flew out with the demons. One soared over my hiding spot and I looked up, suddenly seeing the creature as I’d never seen them before. These weren’t bats. Demonic faces were hidden behind a bat disguise.
Before I could see more, the scene changed.
I was inside a dark cave and I could hear heavy rain falling outside. Ceris was beside me, kneeling before a pink bonfire. Her tears mixed with the dampness of her hair and clothes. Her pain was visible through her eyes and in her shaking body.
Poor Ceris. She had lost the man she loved and now was on the run from a powerful and mad goddess. Despite my ghost state, I reached out to her.
Everything turned to clouds again. Seconds later, the fig cleared away, and I was in a dark and noisy bar, filled with several men whose narrowed eyes glanced sideways every few seconds, who laughed and clanked loudly for nothing more than a poorly told joke.
In the corner behind me, Ceris was seated at a table across from the Fates.
“I felt it,” she said, as quietly as she could with the loud sounds around them. “I felt this immense power, like an explosion of pure life.” Her blue eyes were huge and gleaming. I could see a smile ready to burst out of her lips. Her hands moved as if by their own volition. “Please, please tell me.”
“Tell you what, child?” one of the Fates asked.
“I’ve been crying for seven years,” Ceris almost shouted. “Please tell me I can stop crying.”
“Why were you crying, child?” another one asked.
“Stop it,” she hissed, clenching her fists. “Why do you take me for stupid? You know exactly what I’m asking.”
“Please, Ceris, make your question clear so we can decide if we’ll answer it or not.”
Ceris took a deep breath, as if getting ready to step onto a stage. “Is Levi alive?”
The Fates united their right hands and closed their eyes. A few seconds later, one of them answered, “Yes.”
She put her hand over her chest, and she started panting.
Oh God, really? Levi was alive? Ceris had said she had been crying since his death—for seven years. We’d been living under the darkness for thirty. That meant this vision was one of the past. Twenty-three years had passed since this occasion. Where had Levi been this entire time? Why had they not been united?
“Where is he? Where has he been?” Ceris struggled to stay upright. I could feel her need to bolt after Levi. If I’d learned my man still lived after all those years, I would have the same desperation.
“No, child,” one of the Fates said. “He’s been dead for the past seven years.”
“Pardon me?” Ceris asked.
A waiter pushed his way between her and the Fates, and asked if they wanted anything. Ceris shot him an angry glare. When he backed off, she returned her focus to the other women.
“Levi was dead,” another said. “What you experienced was his birth.”
“Birth?” Ceris closed her eyes for a minute. “Please explain.”
One of the Fates leaned closer. “Levi died when the Black Thorn pierced him. However, his spirit found its way back. A few days ago, he was born into this world.”
“Born? You mean, as a baby? A mortal baby?” Shock drained Ceris’s face of color when the Fates nodded. “By the Everlast! What should I do now?”