A Shade of Vampire 77 A Fate of Time - Bella Forrest Page 0,65

all this.

"Amelia, you do what you have to do," I replied. "I trust you. We all trust you, and Taeral, and everyone else who's out there with you. Do you hear me?"

She didn't answer right away, while I could almost hear the seconds pass us by.

"Tell Mom and Dad I'll see them again soon," Amelia said.

"I will. I promise."

"Oh, and Sofia? Just in case you or anyone else is thinking of giving up," she added, "tell everyone: Taeral killed Brendel."

The concept hit me like a runaway train. It slammed right into me, knocking the air out of my lungs. I leaned into Derek, who didn't hesitate to hold me. A grin stretched across my face as I looked at him, then at every other Shadian present.

The end was bloody nigh, right at our doorstep, but Taeral and his team had managed to do the impossible, against all the odds. If anyone could find Death and stop it all before it was too late, it was them.

Sure, we didn't know anything for certain. Not yet. But it looked as though life was not ready to surrender. Not while Taeral was still upright, his heart still beating, his mind and spirit still stronger than anything.

Taeral

"What can Death do, should we get Thieron back to her?" I asked, wanting to hear it from the Time Master again. He'd revealed something shortly after the last of the five million fae had died. Something that the other Reapers and First Tenners hadn't even known about, and the Word, speaking through Lumi and Nethissis, had confirmed it. I needed him to say it once more, for the sake of retaining my sanity.

"I've said it before, and I will say it again," Time replied, while our spell bubble shot toward Aledras at a dizzying speed. "If two powers of the universe combine, there's a chance they'll be able to stop the ritual from destroying everything. It's a little-known, obscure rule, and I have a feeling the Spirit Bender is not aware of it."

Dream giggled, beaming with pride as she looked at her time-controlling brother. "To be fair, you were always the nerd of our crew."

"I only asked the right questions, that is all," Time said, shrugging. He looked at me, his eyes peering into my very soul. "You must understand, it is not a recipe for success. It's just something I picked up by reading between the lines. We were all taught by Death that there are greater forces at play in the universe, and that she is but one of them. The Spirit Bender broke a pattern, and it got him the ire of the Word, as you can see."

Lumi and Nethissis stood still, their expressions blank and their bodies glowing white. "Perhaps I would never have intervened, had the Spirit Bender not taken Death. It is one thing to toy with the living and the Hermessi, but it is something else entirely to give offense to my sister. That is unforgivable, unconscionable."

"We have one last chance," Seeley said, drawing a bitter conclusion. "We may or may not get to win this, but we still have a shot. That's what matters."

The spell bubble breached the atmosphere of Aledras. The sky was white—a strange sight but not entirely unexpected. The entire planet was glowing, reacting to the ritual's completion. All the trees and oceans, the cities and the mountains… everything was shimmering, as if this world had been coated in mother-of-pearl. It was weird and scary as hell, because we all knew it was the beauty before the destruction.

The silence before the storm.

Nethissis cut a hole through the interplanetary spell's fabric with her bare hand. "The ghouls should all leave now. We don't want the Spirit Bender knowing we've got them."

Herbert didn't wait to be told twice. We were headed toward a frozen lake in the northern hemisphere of Aledras. The cold air swished through the hole, making my skin tickle with newfound delight. Whether it was the chill or the eagerness to face off with Spirit, I wasn't sure. But I welcomed the sensation. It meant that I was still alive.

The ghouls slipped out, vanishing into thin air as they spread and converged on the lake. Thankfully, they were all able to hide themselves—we were going to need them to act as the element of surprise.

"I'm just wondering here," Herakles said, prompting both Nethissis and Lumi to turn their heads. "Why don't you just fix it? I mean, you're the Word. All-powerful and whatnot. You've stepped