‘No,’ his mum answered quickly. ‘It’s not her either.’
An immediate rush of relief punctured Cyrus’s anger. He was glad. It wasn’t Evie. That’s all he could think. It wasn’t him either – which was annoying, given he’d gone through all that self-sacrifice and then spent eight weeks in a mental hospital wearing basically what amounted to a dress and paper slippers. But it wasn’t Evie either – that was good.
He took a deep breath. ‘So who is it, then?’ he demanded, standing suddenly. ‘Are we supposed to wait around for this White Light person to show up, and just hope they know that that’s who they are and hope they also come fully armed with an instruction manual on how to shut this thing?’ He took a few steps backwards. ‘We don’t have the time for that. There are unhumans walking around trying to kill us all off. How long’s it going to take for this White Light to show up? Because the clock’s ticking.’
‘A while.’
‘How do you know?’
His mother weighed him up for a second, and then she flipped open the book nearest to her. It fell open as if the page was well read. She turned it around so it was facing him.
The whole page was covered in what looked like ancient hieroglyphs.
‘What is this?’ Cyrus asked, peering closer. ‘It looks like a game of Pictionary.’
‘It’s not. It’s the prophecy. The original in its complete form. I only just found it. After you were … gone, I thought that maybe there would be a way to open the gateway again. I had this idea that maybe you were still alive, you see. That you were stuck on the other side. So I started researching. I re-read all the books I had collected over the years.’ She swallowed, her eyes darting nervously to the page.
Cyrus glanced down again at the squares and triangles and splots covering the paper.
‘Is there a CliffsNotes version? Or a translation?’
His mum thrust something across the table towards him. It was a piece of paper with writing scrawled on it. ‘The funny thing is that the Hunters had the prophecy in its entirety the whole time,’ she said. ‘It’s just the order of the verses that we had wrong.’
Cyrus frowned at her, not understanding. Then looked down and read.
Confronting an army drawn from the realms,
The sun, the giver of life and the light
Together will stand and together fight
One sacrificing all to close the way
Passing through the light and into the dark
Memories will fade, shadows fall on this day
Of two who remain a child will be born,
A purebred warrior, the fated White Light
Standing alone in the eventual fight
Severing the realms and closing the way
Passing through the light and into the dark
Memories will rise, shadows fade on this day
‘That’s you three,’ his mother said, pointing to the first verse, ‘You, Evie and Lucas. The sun, the giver of life and the light. This verse here,’ she pointed to the first verse, ‘we thought it came after the White Light was born. But it doesn’t. It comes before. Evie isn’t the White Light. The White Light is a child that will be born to the two that remain.’
Cyrus read it again. Then he read it once more just to be sure he was getting it. He looked up finally, meeting his mother’s eye. She was studying him, waiting for him to figure it out.
‘Her child. Evie’s child is going to be the White Light. Is that what you’re saying? Is that what it means?’
Margaret nodded.
Cyrus took a deep breath in and stared down at the piece of paper in his hand, the ground tilting beneath his feet.
‘Of two who remain?’ he asked, hearing the weird strain in his voice. ‘You’re saying …?’
‘Yes,’ his mother answered.
‘Evie’s the only girl. And Lucas is dead.’
‘Which leaves only you.’
Cyrus shook his head and pressed his hands to his temples, reading it once more.
Of two who remain a child will be born.
He sank down into his seat. ‘This is … I’m kind of ...’ He broke off, trying his hardest not to hyperventilate. ‘I need another coffee. Actually,’ he shook his head, ‘scratch that. I need something stronger.’
Chapter 29
Evie woke with the sensation that Lucas was in the room with her. Not just in the room – that he was in the bed with her, with his arms wrapped tight around her waist. She stayed absolutely still, keeping her eyes scrunched shut. If she lay