CHAPTER 28
Ash caught me in his arms and planted a kiss on my lips. A real kiss, one that was deep and full of all the things we could not say right now because there were no words. How could this be when we were dead?
I didn’t care how it was, only that this was real now.
I held onto him and Peta held onto us both, butting her head against my face and then his, purring so much that…
“You’re drooling, Peta,” I said.
She snorted, which sent a spray of moisture across my face. “How can this be death when I feel so much? Not that I’m complaining, but I am unsure how to take this.”
Ash kept his arm around me and turned me slowly. There, only a few feet behind us was my body. Raven held me in his arms, his face buried against mine, sobbing as though his heart was truly broken.
“Ah, Lark, I never told you.” He whispered those words and yet I heard them clearly.
Peta was curled on my chest as though she were sleeping and I had a hand wrapped around her, even in death… I looked away, my throat so tight, I wasn’t sure I could breathe past it.
The sight of our bodies in death was too much even for me, the sight of Raven’s pain as hard to bear as if I were again at Ash’s body, saying goodbye.
No matter that I didn’t feel dead, it was clear to me that I was. And that I had caused pain by leaving.
“Child, the soul never truly dies.”
I whipped around. The woman who approached us did so slowly, with a slight hunch in her back despite the fact she looked like she was tall. She was wrapped in a gray material that flowed around her body. Around her flew a fluttering cloud of butterflies. But otherwise, there was nothing outstanding about her.
She had grandmotherly features, her hair a mixture of brown and white curls that fell to her shoulders, and blue eyes that were watery with age. Her body was frail but still moving. She raised a shaking hand, palm up, fingers outstretched, and a butterfly landed in the middle of it. “I always thought butterflies one of my most beautiful creations, and I often send them to those who have lost loved ones. To remind them the soul carries on after death.”
A butterfly with one blue wing and one green flew to where Raven held onto my body. It lit softly on his hand, wings fanning back and forth. He lifted his head. “Ah, Lark. Even now, you are here.”
I couldn’t watch. I didn’t want to see his pain. It was worse even than my own.
The mother goddess continued to hold her hand out to me. “I want you to see what has been wrought in this world. I want you to see what good you have brought.”
Her hand settled on my forearm and I was no longer on two feet, but stretched out my wings, climbing into the sky. To one side of me flew Ash as a golden eagle, and to the other was Peta, if the green eyes and spotted feathers were any indication. Her eyes were a tad on the wide side, and that made me smile. Assuming a bird could smile. The mother goddess was a large snowy white owl, her wings spreading above us.
We flew through the Rim first. Bella was there, organizing our family, gathering them together. Leading them as the queen she was. They would be okay. I could see the strength in them.
I cried out once and Bella lifted her head. Her eyes were on mine and I think… I think she knew me. She put her fingers to her lips as her eyes filled with tears and she mouthed my name. Larkspur.
I banked away, running from her pain as I’d run from Raven’s.
Higher we flew until we were above what was left of the redwoods and we could see the landscape better. The Rim was no longer a part of the continent, but was its own island in the water, separated by a swath of ocean. We headed over the water to the east, not having to go far until we found the Pit. What had been in the Ring of Fire was now a new continent, long and narrow through the middle of the old Pacific Ocean.
Flint was there, alive, injured, but leading his people, and I could see their hearts and determination to rebuild.
Next, we went to the Deep where Dolph was leading the Undines and they were helping the humans closest to them. A better start already.
And finally we flew to the Eyrie. What was left of it, anyway. There were only a half dozen Sylphs, broken, bruised, but alive. From what I could see, Samara—Mattie—had sent them away to protect them from Viv.
Now, they were huddled around a thin fire and the Yeti were with them. Not a drop of snow was left, and the mountains were barely rolling hills.
They would take the longest to rebuild. I could see the devastation in their hearts as clearly as if they had been mapped out. But they would rebuild, and they would grow strong again.
Cassava was with them, and she held Raven and Mattie’s child. The new king had not even seen his first year. Again I cried out, and Cassava lifted a hand to us.
We flew over what had been the center of the North American continent but was now a coastline. Rylee and her pack were there, running triage on human and supernaturals alike. That made me smile. She would always be where she was needed most.
I couldn’t help myself. I banked my wings and flew down close until I landed on a fence post twenty feet from Rylee.
She was in the middle of checking on an injury on a unicorn, a broken leg. “It’ll heal, Tiomon.”
The unicorn flipped her head and tipped her horn in my direction. Rylee turned and saw me.
“That… bird has Larkspur’s eyes, doesn’t it?”
The unicorn bobbed her head. That is the Larkspur if I am seeing correctly.
Rylee’s jaw dropped and she hurried to stand in front of me. “Lark?”
I clacked my beak once. I couldn’t tell her… that her words of support had been what I needed. That knowing I had her at my back… I hopped onto her shoulder and pressed my face against hers.
“You’re welcome, my friend.” She brushed a hand over my back and I took off once more.
Ash, Peta, and the mother goddess waited for me high above the clouds and we flew on.
The humans’ war machines were sunk to the bottom of the ocean, or swallowed by the earth whole. Not one of their deadly bombs were left. Many perished, but those who lived… they would learn from this. I had to believe they would learn from it.
The mother goddess flew low and the three of us followed. She landed and as we did, our bodies went back to their true shapes.
“All of that…” I swept my hand outward.
She nodded and lifted a gnarled hand to my cheek. “Was coming to this world no matter what changes you might have made. Even if Viv had not chosen her path so wrongly, this world was always going to need a reset or die.”
She smiled but I didn’t smile back.
“And now? We are here in spirit, dead.”
“Yes and no. You are here in spirit, and as such, you can travel the world. When there is great need, you will be able to make yourself seen. Sometimes like this. Sometimes as your other forms.”
Peta shuddered in my shoulder. “I don’t want to be a bird again.”
The mother goddess laughed, and again, I was struck by her maternal nature. “You, Nepeta, have been one of my most joyous children.”
Peta ducked her head.
“So we won’t be separated now?” I asked the question that burned in me.
The mother goddess shook her head. “No, Lark. You will not be separated from Ash or Peta. Never again.”
That was all I needed. “Then we have more adventures ahead of us?” I arched an eyebrow and the mother goddess leaned in and kissed my forehead.
“Many more, Larkspur of the Rim, protector of the world and one true Ender. Many, many more adventures.”