A Radiant Sky

28

The sword gleamed in the firelight. I held it at the ready, in a fighting stance.

“Guardians!” Astaroth yelled. “Attack!” The sky grew dark with clouds. The Gifted let their arrows rain down around us, and Guardians swarmed from the steps of the cliff, storming the beach. Immediately, I felt my optimism fade, and a sense of gloom and dread seep into my heart.

They’re manipulating us, I realized with horror. Making us weak. I turned wildly to look for Asher and Ian, Raven and the Rogues. They’d all brought hands to their ears, as if somehow they could block out the Gifteds’ sickening voices.

You will never beat us.

“Rebels!” Ardith shouted with a grimace, and the dark army of Rebels raised their hands in the air to create fire.

The Rogues spanned out around us on all sides. They had a range of powers to draw from—they called upon their different holds over each small part of the natural world. Birds swooped from the sky and fish darted from the ocean. Plants and roots sprang up across the beach, tripping people as they fought. Aunt Jo, James, and Aaron grabbed one another’s hands once again, and with their powers combined, they created a series of watery fissures that zigzagged across the beach.

“Skye,” Ian grabbed my arm. He spoke quickly, as the fighting swarmed around us. “I know our friendship wasn’t ever meant to be anything more. I really see that now. I think the reason I always felt so close to you is because you were supposed to help me figure out who I really am, and lead me to my true calling.”

“Don’t tell me you believe in fate now!” I yelled above the wind, above the shouting voices. “It’s a little late for that!”

“Honestly? I don’t know what I believe,” Ian said. “But I do know that we were supposed to find each other. We were meant to help each other, Skye. I’m a Rogue, and my father is a Rogue, and one thing I have to do is fight by your side for all the Rogues until the bitter end. For all of us who don’t know exactly who we are yet—and don’t want to decide. Call it fate. Call it free will. But it’s a choice I’d make again and again.”

“Ian,” I said, grabbing him with both hands. “Thank you. I couldn’t have done this without you.”

“Don’t,” he said. “Don’t thank me. Just win.”

Asher was by my side then, the wind whipping at his dark hair, a wild, determined look in his eyes. He held out a hand to Ian. And Ian took it without hesitation.

“Let’s do this,” Asher said.

And together, we ran into the fray.

My beautiful, diaphanous dress blew in the wind. I kicked off my heels and fixed my sword to one of the straps of my dress. I would try to fight using my powers first. I’d only use my sword if I needed to. If it came down to life—or death.

All around me, I watched angels throwing fireballs, blowing wind, casting those force fields that Devin had once used against Asher. My blood began to simmer and then to rise to a boil, and I knew, though I hated to admit it, that Astaroth was right—I could control my powers, but when I felt out of control, it was out of my hands. The blackening clouds above us opened up, and rain began to pour down.

“Careful, Skye,” Asher called.

Through the rain, I could make out Devin and Raven fighting, side by side. A Rebel’s fireball zinged toward Raven’s face—but Devin pulled her out of harm’s way at the last minute. So he really is fighting on his own terms, I thought happily. Ian had taken my sword from me and was fighting off Guardians. I turned around and saw Asher going head-to-head with Ardith. It broke my heart, but I lobbed a ball of fire in her direction. She ducked, and Asher looked at me, fierce and proud.

The battle raged on. I don’t know how long it lasted. We might have been there for hours, or it could have been days. The beach thinned out. But I managed to keep my powers under control. The waves churned, lapped angrily against the shore. The rain turned to hail, pelting down hard.

“Traitor!”

I spun around at the voice, but it wasn’t meant for me. Gideon was crouched on the black sand, panting. Devin stood above him, his sword raised above his head. Behind him was Raven. Her hair whipped in the wind and she gazed at him gratefully.

“Don’t you touch her.” Devin’s voice was low and dangerous.

Gideon’s face, which had once been so open and friendly to me, was twisted in a sneer.

“How easily you turn your back on your supposed side! First the Order, and now you’re fighting against us? Does honor mean nothing to you? Is loyalty just an empty word?” He pushed his glasses up on his nose.

“No.” Devin’s voice was scary calm. “It meant too much to me, for too long. It ruled my life. But now, all of this is meaningless. The Order, the Rebellion. The Rogues. At the end of the day, what does any of it mean? They’re all just empty words for something I don’t believe in anymore.” He tensed, about to strike. “I just know I have to fight for the only people who have ever cared about me.” His eyes found Raven’s. And then mine.

Gideon looked unsure. He opened his mouth and paused. The two of them stood there, and for a minute I wondered if Gideon was about to come fight with us. But before he could speak, a dark figure hurtled itself at Devin.

Ardith took him from behind, her arms wrapped tightly around his chest and a sword at his neck.

“Stop!” Raven screamed. Gideon scrambled to his feet and held her back. She struggled frantically against him.

“Never hesitate when it comes to love,” Ardith spat. “Never stop fighting for a second.”

“Ardith!” Asher yelled, appearing beside me. He held an arm aloft, a cluster of embers burning and smoldering in his cupped palm. “Don’t you dare hurt him. Put the sword down and join us.”

Ardith glared at him, tightening her grip on Devin. The fallen Guardian and former Rebel looked strangely serene—at peace, almost. Was I hallucinating, or was Asher trying to save him?

“Surrender!” Ardith cried. “I’ll kill him—I’ll do it! And if you don’t, it just goes to show you how meaningless your words are.”

“Don’t do it,” Devin said, his voice barely rising above the wind. “The rules, the sides—none of it matters, anymore. You were right, Asher. You were right all along.”

“No!” Asher and I cried at the same time. The embers whizzed from his hand—but Ardith ducked, and they missed her by a hair.

“It does matter!” I yelled. A fog, thick and heavy and white, was beginning to descend on the beach. I tried beating it back, but it was the work of many Rebels’ powers combined. Instead, it surged forward. I could hardly see what was happening. “Keep fighting, Devin! We’re going to win! You and Raven will be free to be together. You just have to believe that this is going to end well.”

Ian drew up beside me, panting. “What’s going on?”

Through the fog, I could just make out Devin’s face, Ardith’s arms circled tightly around his chest. The sword’s blade glinted at his throat.

Devin looked between me and Asher. But I was done trying to figure out what all of it meant. I had a fight to win.

“Give me my sword,” I said to Ian. He placed it in my hands. My heart was pounding. I had to trust that love would guide my aim. Like it had for me throughout my whole life. Astaroth was wrong. Love would make me strong this time.

And so, I raised my sword above my head and threw it into the mist with all my strength—aiming straight at where I could just see Ardith’s silhouette. The sword disappeared into the mist.

Ian gripped my arm. “Where’s Asher?” I whipped around to see him hurl himself into the mist at Ardith at the same time. Straight at where I’d thrown my sword. And then the mist was so thick I couldn’t see anything anymore.

A strange silence settled across the beach. I was aware of Ian standing at my side, saying something that I couldn’t hear. There was a scream, and then a sob. A vague understanding dawned on me. I had hit someone. The world bottomed out from under me as I realized it. But who?

As if in a dream, I began to move. I tripped on something and fell to my knees. Panic tore at me blindly, but it was only the hem of my dress, dirty and soaked, that had gotten tangled beneath my feet. I stood up. I kept moving, collecting the folds of the beautiful dress in my arms to keep from stumbling again. And then my feet hit something solid.

Feet, I realized. Those are feet.

The fog drew out with the tide, and now that I could see again, dread descended on me.

Asher was kneeling on the sand. He looked up at me, helplessly.

Lying on the ground at my feet, his blood seeping out around him, was Devin.

Raven let out a strangled cry and fell to the ground. Sheets of blond hair came loose from her bun and covered her face.

I killed him. The panicked thought tore through me. But then I looked closer. His eyes fluttered open, his chest rose and fell with shallow breaths. My sword was nowhere to be seen. Instead, a deep slice of blood arced across his chest. From a sword, it seemed, that had been held to his neck—but had missed its mark. No, I realized. I didn’t do this. Ardith did.

Devin’s breath came in short gasps. He met my eyes sadly.

“Over there,” Asher said somberly. And I followed his gaze. Ardith lay several feet away—where the force of my sword had thrown her back. Her eyes were closed, her mouth still. The sand around her was a deepening red.

A choking sob forced its way from my throat as Asher ran to me, and I dropped to my knees. Devin’s breathing was weak. He looked up into my eyes, and I was struck, again and again, by how deep they could pierce me. I grasped his hands in mine.

“I really do care,” Devin said, his voice barely a whisper. “I always have. Everything I did, I did for you.”

I knew I was crying, and my tears mixed with the wet air until I couldn’t tell where they ended and the elements began.

“No,” my voice cracked. “Please don’t die.”

Tears slid down my cheeks and I pushed them away with the back of my hand. “I’m so, so sorry. I wish it didn’t have to end this way.”

“Shhh,” he whispered, with effort. “It’s okay. Maybe it’s better that it end like this. Now. While you and I—we’re okay. While Raven knows how I feel about her. Happiness can’t last forever, right? At least I got to be happy at all.”

“I’ll always care about you.” I smoothed the hair back from his forehead. His eyelids fluttered.

“No!” Raven came running over, collapsed at Devin’s side, across from me. His eyes met hers.

“We would have been happy,” he said.

“I know,” she said, her voice trembling. She pushed the hair out of his face. “It’s all I ever wanted.”

And he held her hand in his and closed his eyes, and soon his body and Ardith’s disappeared with the mist and floated away on the wind. Gideon looked up at us helplessly.

Raven was sobbing into her hands. “I think I get it now,” she said. “I think I understand.”

Asher wrapped his arm around me. And, a second later, he wrapped his other arm around Raven. I let my head fall onto his shoulder.

I couldn’t think. I couldn’t stand. I couldn’t believe what this was coming to. Devin was dead, and the world was already unraveling. Chaos, Order, everything was falling apart. Maybe this was the End of Days. Maybe this is what it looked like. Losing someone you cared about. Knowing you were to blame.

The rest of the world came rushing back. The sounds of fighting, farther down the beach. The angry roars. The battle cries. Aunt Jo and Aaron and James—and hundreds of thousands of Rogues—were fighting. For me. And I had to finish this. I couldn’t let anything happen to them, either.

I stood up.

“Skye,” Asher said quietly. “Are you okay?”

I turned to him. “I love you,” I said.

“What are you—”

“It’s the only way, Asher,” I said. “I have to.”

“No.” He grabbed my arm. “Whatever you’re about to do, don’t do it. We can end this a different way.” I pulled away from him. “Skye, listen to me. We can end it together. We have to keep fighting.”

“All I want is to keep the two sides in balance.” The wind whipped and howled, and I had to yell to make my voice heard. “There’s only one way to do that. I see it now.”

Asher’s eyes turned dark and stormy. “If you’re thinking what I think you’re thinking—”

“It’s the only way.”

“No,” he said. “I’m not letting you sacrifice yourself. You’re too special, you mean too much. To the world.” He swallowed hard. “To me.”

“Asher, please, let me—”

“We can do this another way! If we talked to them—”

“You think we’ll end this fight by talking? They won’t listen to reason.”

I stood up and wiped my eyes, grabbed my sword from the ground.

“Skye, don’t!”

“Astaroth!” I yelled.

Maybe he was right, the night he visited my mind. Maybe in the end, you did have to choose between life and love.

I looked up. He stood on the top of the cliff, commanding his army. He met my gaze.

“Come down here and fight!” I screamed. “You and me. One-on-one.”

Astaroth’s face twisted into an evil smirk. He took a step and jumped off the cliff, descending on huge, ancient wings.

“Skye!” Asher called.

I stopped. To my right, my whole group was lined up. Asher and Raven, Ian, his dad, Aunt Jo and Aaron. Each held a weapon. Each was deadly serious. Behind them, the Rogues covered the beach.

“If you’re going to fight him,” Ian said. “We’re going to be behind you. And we’re going to finish him.”

Asher met my gaze, and his look said it all. I’m not going to let you die.

But all I could think of was Devin’s good-bye: Happiness can’t last forever, right? I had been happy for a moment. But I couldn’t let anyone else I loved die.

Astaroth had his sword outstretched. And as I ran toward it, I was surprised to hear a new voice bloom in my mind. Earth’s.

Save him, it said.

“Are you going to listen to me, Skye?” Astaroth sneered. “Here’s my sword. It’s now or never. You could end this. You could end this whole thing.”

Save him.

Earth’s message in the stars. Was it possible there was another way? She was sent to me for a reason. Help Skye.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a Rebel’s fireball soaring across the clouds—heading right for us. Before I could think twice, instinct took over. I veered to the left, grabbing Astaroth and pushing him to the ground with me. The fireball arced over our heads, leaving a trail of smoke and ember in its wake.

I sat up, gasping. Astaroth wrapped his arm around my neck and we struggled on the ground.

I knew then that Astaroth didn’t have power over my mind anymore. He didn’t have power over me. And I would end this my way. I grabbed him and struggled to my feet.

“You—you saved my life,” he growled. “Why would you do that?”

A group began to gather around us, Guardians and Rebels, swords and bows falling softly to their sides as they watched.

“Because now you owe me.”

Gideon limped to the front of the group. His face was pale, his eyes wild.

“That’s fair,” he said. “You know the laws of the heavens.” He stepped closer. “Cause and effect. For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. It’s the guiding principle of the Order and the Rebellion. The rules you fight so hard to maintain.”

“So what would you have me do?” Astaroth spat. He gnashed his teeth like a caged animal.

“Let us establish an Uprising,” I said. “A third group of Rogues, who will forever keep the balance between chaos and control.”

“And what about you?”

I’d thought about this moment for a long time.

“Let me go,” I said. “This isn’t the life I want. I don’t want to cause any more destruction, or fighting, or death. I don’t want to bring about an End of Days—or a Beginning of Days. I just want to go to college, and follow my dreams, and lead a normal life.” I took a deep breath. “I want to end this war. And I want to be human.”

“But Skye!” Aunt Jo cried out. “What about your parents? Everything they fought and died for? What about everything you’ve been working toward?”

“This is what I’ve been working toward,” I replied. “They had their fight, and this is mine. I can write my own ending.”

Astaroth considered this. “That may be a solution,” he said. “For now. You’ll keep the peace, perhaps. Your friends, your Rogue army. You may keep the balance of the heavens in check. It may be true that I owe you—that the rules dictate I cannot harm you. But that’s for now, only now. The universe exists in cycles, Skye. It ebbs and flows, like time, like the great ocean behind you. Nothing is ever truly over, not really.”

I thought about Earth, so young and innocent but with an incredible power. Would it be her job one day to lead the Rogues in another Uprising? Would she be the next chosen one, whose job it would be to keep the peace between the two sides? Would she rise too, to be a leader?

I didn’t want to leave her that kind of life, either.

“No,” I said. “You don’t understand. There will be no more Sight. No more Order and no more Rebellion. You won’t meddle in people’s lives anymore. There will be no such thing as destiny, no chaos, no cause and effect. They’ll live their own lives, as they want to. You, Astaroth—I’m ousting you from your position of power.”

“You can’t do that!”

“She can,” said Ian, stepping up beside me. “Watch her.”

“I’m establishing a new council, to govern the celestial laws fairly and honestly. Gideon.” The bereft angel nodded at me grimly. “Raven. Ian. Can each of you step forward? The three of you all have a mix of blood, of powers. Your allegiance was never to a side, but to your heart. I trust the three of you to keep peace and balance in the world. Will you accept?”

“It’s all I have now,” said Gideon simply.

Raven raised an eyebrow, and a small, sad smile spread across her face. “I’ll do it for Devin,” she said. She held out her hand. I took it, gripped it tightly in mine. Our hands buzzed with the power that flowed between us, connecting us. “You know, you really surprised me, Skye.”

“Thank you,” I said. “I know I can never make it up to you, but—”

“Stop,” she interrupted. “You’re changing the way of things. So that it won’t ever happen again. And that’s enough.”

I turned to Ian. “What do you say?” I asked. “You can be the council’s liaison to earth—the Rogues and humans need someone like you to look out for them.” I smiled. “Like you’ve always looked out for me. This is what you were meant to do—remember?”

Ian grinned, his freckles stretching across his face.

“I told you, you helped me find my place,” he said. “I would be honored to do this.”

Astaroth fell back, helpless, as I held my sword aloft. Silver flashed through me as the wind blew around us, the sun broke through the clouds, and night became day. The whole beach flooded with light.

“It’s done,” I said, tears in my eyes. “It’s over.”

Across the beach, Asher and I found each other. I began to run at the same time he did, and we met in the middle, pulling each other close and holding on tight. The wind still howled around us, and we pressed together, my dress and hair blowing in all directions at once.

“Are you sure this is what you want?” He yelled over the wind. “To give up your wings—and be human?”

“Yes!” I cried. “But only if you come with me. I promise we’ll be a team from now on. I’ll fight for you over and over. I’ll never stop fighting for you.”

“I may be a Rebel,” Asher said, his voice cracking. “I may be free to think and feel what I want. To choose what I want. But I didn’t know what love was until I met you. I didn’t have anything worth fighting for until I fought for you. I’ve never had a choice about how I feel. Wherever you go—I’m going, too.”

I remembered sitting, curled up with Asher in the big Adirondack chair on our deck, as the moon rose above us in the sky, and he kissed the top of my head and said:

“I have a choice, Skye. I have the power to choose whatever I want. And there is nothing that I’ve ever wanted more.”

If I had understood then what was going to happen, I would never have let him go. I would have said the same thing. I would have meant it.

And it wasn’t too late.

“I choose you, Asher. I want so much more than just memories. I want more than just one moment of happiness. I want to live and not know what the future holds.”

We leaned into each other, and the wind and light raged around us, blinding us, and we kissed in the middle of that vast expanse of beach as if we were the only two people in the world. Suddenly, a searing pain sliced through my back. Asher’s face contorted in a grimace. Silver liquid pooled with blood in the sand at our feet. And then, our wings were gone.

I held out my hand to him. He took it.

“Partners,” he said.

“For always.”

I looked into his eyes. We both knew that Astaroth was right. In the course of time, war would break out again, cities would fall and be rebuilt, and people would be born and live and die, and we would always fight for the balance, and that’s life. It existed in cycles, ebbing and flowing, and this might not be the end. But maybe it was a new beginning.

And I couldn’t wait to find out what would happen next.

We held hands and looked at each other.

“Are you ready?” I said. “To jump?”

“I’ve been ready for a long time,” said Asher.

And together we closed our eyes and let ourselves fall.