Morgan exhaled, a bright spark drifting from his mouth.
It hung between the two brothers.
And then Myrin inhaled, mouth open, teeth bared.
I prayed to the gods.
They didn’t answer.
Myrin closed his mouth around the spark.
The bubble began to flicker as Myrin’s head rocked back, the cords standing out on his neck as he started to seize. He dropped his brother’s hands, and it took an age for Morgan of Shadows to fall to the floor, skin ashy and pale, eyes blank and unseeing.
Another crack sounded in the room, and suddenly Randall was standing in front of me, hands on my shoulders, shaking me furiously. I managed to look up at him.
He said, “I will do what I can, but he will be stronger than me. You must do what is right, Sam of Wilds. You must do what is necessary, even if your heart is breaking.”
And he was turning then, rushing toward where Myrin stood, the seizures slowing, the magic once again building. He dove toward Myrin, and as Myrin turned his head to look at me, Randall collided with him. There was a sharp flash of light, and they were gone.
The only sounds were the creaking of the crumbling house around us.
Ruv lay upon the floor, groaning, though he didn’t open his eyes.
Ryan had fallen to his side, a pool of blood spreading underneath him.
Morgan stared up at the ceiling, eyes glassy and unblinking.
I waited for him to take a breath.
He did not.
“Morgan?” I whispered.
Chapter 23: Stone Crumbles
I STOOD in front of the Great Doors that led to the throne room in Castle Lockes, willing myself to push them open.
I couldn’t find the strength.
I stood there for a long time.
Pete came, eventually, out a side door to my left.
“Sam?” he said quietly. “They’re waiting for you.”
“I know,” I said, still staring at the doors.
I felt his hand on my shoulder. I didn’t shrug him off. “Do you need more time?”
“I don’t deserve it.”
“What? What don’t you deserve?”
“To be here.”
I could hear the frown in his voice. “Sam, of course you do. He…. Out of everyone in the world, you deserve it the most. He would want you here, Sam. I know it.”
“Randall? Is he…?”
“No, Sam. He isn’t. We…. No one knows where he is. He hasn’t—I’m sure he’s fine. He’ll be back when he can. You’ll see.”
I nodded tightly, staring at my hands pressed flat against the doors. They were smooth and warm against my fingers.
“Do you remember that day in the alley?” Pete asked me quietly. “When you turned the boys to stone.”
I swallowed thickly. “Yeah.”
“I was walking by his side when we left. Do you know what he told me?”
I shook my head.
“I’ll never forget it. He said, ‘That boy is going to do great things, Pete. You mark my words. He is going to do great things.’ Out of all the years I’d known him, never once had I ever heard him speak about someone like that. And Sam, he was smiling when he said it, a smile that I’d never seen on his face before. But I would see it again and again and again for years to come, because that smile was meant for only you. He loved you, Sam. More than anything else in this world.”
I hung my head between my hands, staring down at the nicest robes I owned, blinking rapidly, trying to calm my aching heart.
“So you will do this,” Pete said, not unkindly. “Because even if you don’t think you deserve it, he does. For all the things he’s done for Verania, he deserves the one he loved the most being at his side.”
I nodded.
“Okay. That’s good. This isn’t the end, Sam.”
“Then why does it feel like it is?”
He shook his head. “Take another moment. But give him the respect he’s owed.”
Pete squeezed my shoulder again before he walked back toward the side door. He opened it, and I heard the murmuring of a crowd before he closed it behind himself and left me alone once again.
The star dragon whispered in my head, a memory like a knife wound.
A warning. All of you will not survive until the end. There will be loss, Sam. And it will burn like nothing has ever burned before. You must remember to keep in the light, even when the dark begins to curl around your feet.
I pushed open the doors.
They groaned as they parted.
The thousands of people who stood in the throne room fell silent, turning toward me.
For a brief moment, I thought of running.
Instead, I stepped into the throne room.
I held my head high.
My shoulders squared.
I would not break.
Not in front of them.
There were tears on some of the faces around me.
Others refused to look at me.
Still others stared with open hostility.
They whispered, He did this.
All his fault.
The gods chose him, but they chose wrong.
All his fault.
How could the gods be so wrong?
All his fault.
He is not strong enough.
ALL HIS FAULT.
I pushed those voices away.
Mom and Dad were waiting for me near the front, at the bottom of the raised dais. They hugged me at the same time, and I stood stiffly, trying to focus on the feeling of them against me, nodding at their whispered words of strength and love.
Gary and Tiggy were next. Gary’s lip was trembling, and Tiggy’s eyes were wide and solemn, and I wanted to tell them how sorry I was, that I should have been better than I was.
Gary hung his head over my shoulder.
Tiggy kissed my forehead.
Pete nodded at me as I passed him by.
The doors to the rear of the throne room were open wide, and Kevin hunkered down on the other side, head pushed through. His eyes never left me. For a moment I thought they flickered completely black, and felt a strange pull in my heart, but then it was gone.
Justin stood on the dais, dressed like the king he would one day be.
He raised his hand and clutched my wrist.
I wrapped my fingers around his.
“I promise you,” he said quietly, “I will do everything in my power to help you. Best friends 5eva. Okay?”
I took in a shuddering breath.
He let me go.
My King broke decorum and hugged me tightly against his massive chest. The crowd murmured behind us, but we ignored them. His chin rested atop my head as I sagged against him.
“I know your heart is breaking,” he whispered to me. “But you have my word that I will help you pick up the pieces and put it back together. It may not fit together as it once did, but it will hold. This is my promise to you as your King.”
He pulled away only to cup my face in his hands. He leaned forward and kissed my forehead before stepping back.
Which left only the last.
There, upon a raised slab of stone, lay the body of the greatest wizard the world had ever known.
Morgan of Shadows.
His eyes were closed, and his hands were clasped on his chest.
His robes were bright and blue.
On his feet were pink shoes whose ends curled up.
His beard had been brushed and cleaned, little flowers braided into it.
He looked as if he were sleeping, and if it weren’t for his pale skin, I thought I could have convinced myself of exactly that.
But I knew better.