was dying. So much had happened up here. The memories were equally sweet and painful. How she longed for the prince to be standing here with her.
The ground began to rumble again, and the tower swayed.
Mina tried to make sense of all this. She still felt like she was missing something. Captain Plaith said the Fates were a conduit of magic for the land, and with their deaths, the magic was gone.
“Again, you get in my way!” Annalora shrieked from behind Mina. The tower leaned, shifting with the quakes. Annalora stood in the stairwell, bracing the wall for support as the round of tremors passed. “How are you here? You should be dead! I’ve sacrificed too much for you to still be here.”
“I guess I’m not so easy to kill.”
Annalora placed a strange instrument—the bone whistle!—to her lips and blew. Mina instantly recognized that sound. She’d heard it the day her mother died.
Suddenly, the Death Reaper stood before her.
But not the same one.
This one wore a long black leather jacket. His head was bowed, and his dark hair fell loosely around his face, disguising him, but when he lifted his pale, white eyes and met her gaze, she wanted to cry.
Teague.
He had taken the place of the Death Reaper. In his hand, he held a black dagger.
“It’s always come down to this,” Annalora said. “We’ve waited centuries for the gnomes to have a chance to rule. We’re the forgotten ones, the race that everyone overlooks. We’re strong in our own right. Our armies have proven it. And our poison is the most deadly in the world. It’s pure hate. It was perfect… until you came along. There could only be one of us in the end.”
Annalora’s laugh echoed through the tower. “I win.” She pointed her finger and spoke a command.
Teague shifted into a black griffin with white eyes and lunged for Mina.
She didn’t run, didn’t move, but simply closed her eyes and opened her soul to him. There was a moment of shock as he passed through her. She expected the reaping of her soul to hurt, but instead, she opened her eyes to see that they were surrounded by darkness. Teague stood with his arms wrapped around her, his breathing ragged as he looked into her eyes.
“What happened?”
“I’ve taken you to the In Between. A place of purgatory for souls.”
“So I’m dead?”
“No, you are very much alive,” he whispered. “And I plan on keeping it that way.”
“Teague, what happened to you?”
“A new omen has been chosen. I’ve become Death, a Reaper who will forever collect souls and bring them to the In Between.”
“But how?”
“You saw that nothing can stop Death, except one who is dead or close to death. The omen brought my soul here, to the In Between. As soon as I stepped over, I challenged the Death Reaper and killed him, taking his place. It was the only way. I had to fight to get back to you. I won’t abandon you again…ever.”
“So you’re here to take my soul?” Mina asked hesitantly.
“I’m here to collect a soul, but not yours,” Teague spoke softly, touching his forehead to hers. “You have the other half of mine.”
She inhaled in disbelief, but deep down, she knew it was the truth. How else could she have sensed such trouble on the Fae plane and the closing of the gates? Jared’s side was still with her.
“Are you ready?” Teague asked, pulling away and holding out his hand to her.
She recognized the dagger he held and paused.
When he saw her hesitation, he quickly sheathed the dagger. “The weapon that kills the soul becomes the Reaper’s weapon.”
“I’m so sorry,” she said again, her heart aching at what she had done.
“Don’t be,” Teague assured her. “You were the only one strong enough to do it. I’ve caused a lot of death over the years. I needed to be stopped, and this is truly a fitting punishment for me.” He patted the hilt of the knife and smiled crookedly at her. “I’m just thankful you killed me with a bladed weapon instead of a rock.” He chuckled, and she wanted to punch him in the arm.
In the darkness around her, she could hear the sounds of howling and gnashing of teeth. “What is that?” she asked fearfully.
“The lost souls. We can’t stay here long, because you still have your soul, and there are those who hunger for it. They’ll take it by force.”
“It reminds me of the place in my dream, when I tried to