32
They moved hurriedly, through the hallways and down the broken staircase. Melody trailed behind Lucus, still clutching his hand. Everywhere she looked she saw darkness. Decay.
Smoke filled the foyer, thick and black. A burning smell reached her nostrils and she realized the manor was on fire. She couldn’t see flames — not yet, anyway — but embers swirled up from below. They looked like orange fireflies, circling lazily as they rose from the first floor to the second.
“It’s on fire!” Melody shouted, but Lucus didn’t seem to hear her. “What do we do? Where are we going?”
She’d been scared before, but her experiences had mostly included being spooked. Now, with the rising heat, and the swirling smoke? For the first time she was genuinely afraid.
They reached the bottom of the landing. Melody could barely see the openings into the other rooms now. The house was being consumed, not only by flames, but by a churning, rolling chaos. The smell of the mist was back again too, thick and heavy and electrically charged.
“OH!”
Pain shot through her foot as she stepped on something — a hot cinder maybe, or something else. There was no time to look. Lucus was practically dragging her over to the double doors, pulling her along through the ash and smoke.
He pulled open one of the doors, and Melody’s heart leapt into her throat…
The mist was right up against the house now.
“It’s here!” she shouted, glancing left and right. “It’s all around us, Lucus! We can’t get out!”
She was still looking for an escape — an avenue through the mist maybe, or a break in the fog — when Lucus grabbed her. He turned her so that she faced him, squeezing her shoulders tightly.
“You can get out,” he said. “But you have to go now.”
The roar of the flames was getting louder. Melody looked back at him in confusion.
“Go where?” she cried. “There’s nowhere to—”
“Into the mist.”
Her entire body went stiff. She cocked her head as if she hadn’t heard him correctly.
“But… But you said—”
“The fog will take you,” Lucus shouted over the noise. “It’ll take only you. You’ll be safe in it.”
“Since when?” she yelled back.
“Since always,” he smiled.
Why the hell is he smiling?
Melody locked eyes with him, trying to delve into his mind. She didn’t get far. There was worry and concern, but also relief… even pride. Lucus was smiling because he knew she’d be safe. And to him that’s all that mattered.
He pointed, and Melody looked down. Slung low between her breasts, her pendant was glowing again, as it had before. This time it was brighter and hotter than ever, throwing off a beautiful, pulsating violet light.
“This will protect you,” said Lucus, closing his hand around the Heart of Isolomara. He held it up between them. “This is why you can go.”
She swallowed hard, past the lump in her throat. All at once she realized what he was saying.
“And what about you?”
His smile broadened, though it seemed more forced now. His expression was bittersweet.
“Evermoore has me,” he said with a sigh. He shrugged.
“No!”
Lucus immediately shook his head. His eyes hardened. “You don’t understand,” he said. “You don’t belong here. I do.”
“Come with me!” shouted Melody. “This place can’t keep you! It can’t just—”
“I wish I could,” he smiled. “But that’s not how it goes.”
She glanced down at the amethyst, beating with a life all its own. Beating like a heart…
“Maybe this can protect us both,” she said, shaking it at him. “Come with me, Lucus! At least try.”
He shook his head again, sadly. “It doesn’t work that way.”
The mist was around them now, swirling against their bodies. The smell of electricity was palpable. It practically choked the air.
“Goodbye Melody Larson,” Lucus smiled. He pulled her against him, clenching her tightly one last time before letting go. “I wish you—”
Moving quickly, Melody reached behind her head and grabbed the heavy gold chain. Throwing her arms around him, she lifted it from her neck…
“Melody no!”
In one fluid motion she flipped the pendant around and dropped it back over both their heads. There was barely enough slack. Only by hurling herself into his arms — and pressing her body tightly against him — could she even hope to do it.
“IT’S NOT—”
She yanked down on the chain… hard, with both hands. It pulled impossibly tight. She could feel the soft precious metal giving way, the gold links straining against one another.
Threatening to break…
“MELODY!”
She launched herself backwards, into the mist. It engulfed her completely. Thrown off balance, and with her entire body weight hanging from his, Lucus tripped forward, sprawling into the fog. They fell together, spinning into the nothingness.
Weightlessness…
There was a ‘pop’ as the chain made it past her ears, slipping down around both their necks. They continued falling… falling without hitting the ground. It seemed like forever. Forever in a single moment.
Never take it off…
Xiomara’s voice rattled angrily through her brain. Her head spun dizzily, as her mind slowly emptied of all thought. Everything that ever mattered slipped away, fading until nothing mattered at all…
Never…
It was the last word Melody heard before blacking out.