Shana led the way up the rocky, dark wasteland to the In-Between Citadel. Thunder rumbled overhead. Dark clouds flickered here and there with purple and scarlet light, adding to the foreboding atmosphere.
The Citadel loomed over them, dark parapets and sharp, angled towers seeming to lean forward, hungry with anticipation. This was a place of despair, a prison of anguish and fury that eagerly awaited its new inmates.
We won’t be prisoners. We’re going in there to save the prisoners.
The Crystal King, the Crystal Queen, and their youngest son. Garnet’s parents and her youngest brother.
And the jailer in charge of them: Glen Arianos. Prince. Garnet’s younger brother.
Turned to the Darkness. At least, it sure looked that way. He seemed like he was working for — or with — Sal, the Lord of Night, and the last Garnet had seen of him, Glen had stabbed his own father and pulled him, his mother, and his youngest brother into a dark portal.
The son had stabbed his own father in the back.
Shana couldn’t wrap her mind around that. She knew that there were complicated and even terrible family relationships out there. She knew that there were parents who were awful to their children, and children who were awful to their parents.
But she only knew it with her head. How could her heart accept such a thing? Her family was the most precious thing in the world to her. Walking side-by-side with her twin brother up this foreboding ascent made her feel more secure than she could ever feel with anyone else. There was a reason Christmas was such a treasured thing in the Greyson household. Having all of them together, giving gifts to each other and just being together…
How could Shana accept a family that didn’t love each other? How could she go further than that, and accept a son who would commit violence against his own father, maybe even kill him?
The word “tragedy” seemed like it had been invented specifically for such a heartbreaking scenario.
And Shana had to look at Garnet, who walked on her other side, and wonder how she was going to handle this. What must be going through her mind? Through her heart?
In some way, she was going to have to fight her brother. With words, with her heart, certainly.
Would she have to fight him physically? Would she have to see her brother come to harm to rescue the rest of her family?
If there’s anything I can do to help her — anything I can do to make sure she gets her whole family back — I’ll do it.
And within her, Shana felt both Heart and the Eternal Flame echoing that same sentiment. Padding along beside her, Altair wagged his little tail, looking up at Shana to show his support.
Staying close to Shana was Alexander, the former Nightmare-Child, half of Sal’s heart that had been trapped here in the Between realm.
“Glen isn’t one for subtlety,” Alexander said. “He won’t try to play games like I did. As soon as you walk through those doors, he’ll attack.”
“He won’t,” Garnet said firmly. “Not immediately, anyway. He’s going to talk to his sister, first.”
“We’ll back you up,” Shana said.
They arrived at the Citadel’s doors. Before any of them could reach to open them, the doors swung inward, silent and ominous.
Within, the Citadel was dark. For a moment. A crystal chandelier suddenly glittered to light, twinkling with dark blue light that cast its dim glow throughout the entrance hall.
In the center of the hall, directly beneath the chandelier, stood Glen Arianos.
If Shana hadn’t already known he and Garnet were brother and sister, it would have been obvious at a single glance. Glen had the same glittering golden hair, the same gleaming blue eyes. He even dressed like her, in luminous clothing that seemed woven from sapphires and accented with threads of real silver.
But he didn’t have the graceful, serene demeanor of his sister. Where Garnet immediately set Shana at ease, Glen immediately set Shana on edge. He smiled, but it was a smile that didn’t waver, a cold, detached smile that he held for too long. His eyes seemed to not realize he was smiling, either, save for an unsettling glitter of amusement at the edges.
“Welcome,” Glen said, his voice giving off a harsh echo in the vast hall. “It’s so good of you to come here. Sister, Dreamer… you two are the perfect additions to my collection.”
“Collection?” Shana asked, feeling a sickening sensation in her stomach not dissimilar from when the Nightmare-Child had talked about making Shana, Garnet, and Annabelle his. That possessive language about people immediately disgusted her.
“I’ve been learning from Dullan about how to make Furies,” Glen said. “And while I haven’t reached the heights of his perfection, I have traded out his methodical specificity for a far faster process.”
“Enough, Glen,” Garnet said, stepping forward, glaring at her brother. “Put an end to this farce. Return Father, Mother, and Jude to the Waking World, and then come back with us. Leave this wickedness behind. It doesn’t suit you.”
“Doesn’t suit me?” Glen asked, staring with that eerie fixedness at Garnet. For all that he smiled, his eyes contained only the slightest glitter of amusement, seeming overall cold and wicked. “Sister, you never knew me. Speak all you like of relationships or family, but you were never close to me. How could you possibly know what does or doesn’t suit me?”
“Never close to you?” Garnet asked, eyebrows creasing with concern. “What of all the times we played together, all the walks we shared together? I helped tutor you for so long in —”
“Yes, yes, you spent time with me,” Glen said, his voice dripping with derision despite his smile. “Shallow, meaningless time. You know nothing of me, sister.”
“Glen, please,” Garnet said, stepping forward. “If this is truly who you are, then please, explain why. Why would you attack Father? Why would you steal my family away from me to this wicked place? I don’t understand any of this, but… I would like to.”
“You want to understand so you can try and ‘save me from myself’ or some such heroic drivel.” Glen tossed his hands in an exaggerated shrug, chuckling in a smug manner. “There is no one to save, sister. I despise our father and mother. I despise our little brother.” His smile deepened as he stared at Garnet. “And yes, I despise you, too, sister. Your kindness, your joy, your unending love for everyone you ever meet, it’s all disgusting nonsense. I kept looking for a chink in your armor, for the truth behind the mask, but I finally learned that there is no mask. And that’s… well, it’s disappointing. I do dislike being wrong. But more than that, it’s disgusting to think someone as saccharine and pure as you exists.”
“Glen…” Garnet stared in horrified disbelief. “This can’t be you. I refuse to believe it!”
“Be a dear and shut your mouth, won’t you?” Glen asked. Always so cold, yet calm, and always with a wicked grin — he was unsettling, and more than that…
He’d crossed a line.
“Don’t talk that way to your sister,” Shias said, stepping next to Garnet. He spoke calmly, as he so often did, but there was a firm strength in his voice, and he fixed Glen with a stern, serious stare.
“Oh?” Glen asked, raising an eyebrow. “And what are you going to do about it?”
“You’re going to release your grip on the three you’ve taken,” Shias said. “And you’re coming back, too. “
“Why do you think that’s going to happen?” Glen asked, laughing. “What nonsense world do you live in?”
“You’re a family,” Shias said.
Shana beamed. “And your sister loves you, despite everything! How dare you turn away from that?”
Glen’s eyes narrowed, and his smile took on a more malicious edge. “Oh?” he asked. “Two little upstarts, meddling in some other family’s affairs? Typical of the latest generation of Greysons. But this conversation was only for personal amusement, and my amusement is wearing off. You already walked into my trap. Now it’s time to spring it.”
Glen raised a hand, palm out towards the intruders. Shias leapt for Shana, and Shana leapt for Garnet and Alexander, trying to keep them safe.
But before any of them reached each other…
Darkness. It rolled out like a wave, too fast and too complete to escape. Shana’s world was plunged into darkness, and she was all alone, tumbling through endless blackness.
Glen’s voice came through the void, laughing coldly. “And now you begin the process to join my father, mother, and little brother. The more Furies, the merrier.”
Whatever a Fury was, Shana had no intention of becoming one. But what could she do? She was all alone, and…
Wait.
No. She wasn’t alone.
She was never alone.
Within her heart rested Heart, the Dreamer’s Heart, as always. But there was even more than that now, too. The Eternal Flame lived within her as well, and together…
Together, they were unstoppable.
Shana stretched out her hand, and light blossomed in the darkness. It was a small light, a little swirling globe of magenta, gold, and blue.
But it was enough. It held her steady in the darkness, and as the light appeared, a second light leapt into being beside it — Altair. Shana’s constant, ever-faithful companion through thick and thin.
Confident and unafraid, with her heart, Shana sought out the others.
Shias, she found instantly. That in itself didn’t surprise her, but what did was how it felt. She’d always known she and her twin were connected, but it had always been this invisible bond, this unspoken thread holding them together.
But now she felt it. She felt his heart as if it were her own, but different, with all the steady strength and calm mind of Shias. She pulled on that thread, her heart pulling his to hers, and then he was there, pulled from the darkness and adding a little light to hers. His light was pure white, just like the shields he created with his Guardian Magic, and he gazed at her without even the slightest bit of surprise.
I knew you’d find me.
The words passed through her mind, through her heart, not needing to be vocalized to be known.
With Shias, she searched out the rest of them. Annabelle she found next — they’d grown so close so quickly, and Annabelle was easy to pick out for the Dreamer, because she’d been Shana’s very first Apprentice. Annabelle emerged from the darkness, adding light, silver and pure, to Shana and Shias’.
With these three hearts united, it was easy to find the rest. Garnet, then Alexander, Shana reaching for them first because of how much was at stake for them, and how recently Alexander had been the Nightmare-Child — he couldn’t be left to languish in fear.
And Shana saved her fellow Dawn Riders for last, because she trusted them most to stay strong. Kathryn was the first she found, her heart so strong and bright with light and courage, always a gleaming beacon. Then came Rae, steady and sure, her old anxieties and nervous nature giving way to something similar to Shias, calm and thoughtful.
And finally came Ben. Jittery, constantly full of nervous energy, he had a fast, upbeat, constant rhythm to him. Being found last, there was a sensation from him, a sort of “…Typical,” that Shana both found amusing and wanted to apologize for. And yet he had a good humor to him, living up to Shana’s confidence, because he’d been just as confident in her.
The darkness hadn’t frightened him. He knew that Shana and the others would find him.
Together, all of their lights added to Shana’s, forming a bright, glowing beacon that blasted forth, rending through the endless darkness. It didn’t just cut a path for them, no, it shattered the endless void, depositing the eight of them in a rolling tumble back into the In-Between Citadel. But they weren’t in the entrance hall now, no — somehow they’d ended up somewhere completely different.
“What?” asked Glen, standing in the middle of the room, staring at them with a wavering smile. “How can this be? How did you escape the darkness? How did you find this room?”
Shana was the first to her feet, more confident than ever, smiling despite the gloomy atmosphere and the villain before her. “Looks like the light brought us where we needed to be,” she said.
The room was some sort of laboratory. Computer consoles flickered dark, foreboding blue on their display screens, and thick pipes and corded wires connected to tall, cylindrical tubes that were faintly illuminated, revealing…
People.
Three tubes, each one containing a person floating in a dark, translucent liquid. There was an adult man, and an adult woman, and a small boy. Each of them was hard to make out in terms of details, because within the liquid that contained them, darkness, living Darkness, swirled around them. It clung to their skin, seeped through every pore it could find, coated their contorted, screaming faces with a sickening, viscous mask.
“Father! Mother! Jude!” Garnet cried, scrambling to her feet. “Glen, what have you done to them?”
“As I said,” Glen said, regaining some of his composure. “I am creating them into Furies. My own brand of Furies. Not as perfect as Dullan’s, but I’ve never been a perfectionist. It’s an experiment. Can I make them good enough for my purposes, in a fraction of the time that Dullan’s exacting efforts take?”
“You’re filling them with Darkness?” Shias asked. “Your own family?”
“Stop going on about family,” Glen said, scoffing. “What a meaningless word. I don’t care about my family, don’t you get it? I’ve always despised them, and now I’ve found a use for them. You should be glad that I didn’t just kill them.”
Shias stepped forward, pen Talisman in hand, glaring at Glen. “This won’t continue,” he said. “Shana! Garnet! Get them out and figure out how to heal them.”
“As if I’d let them do anything of the sort,” Glen said, raising his hand.
“You won’t be able to stop them,” Shias said.
“Your magic doesn’t work here, silly,” Glen said, sneering. “Begone.”
Darkness blasted out in a spiraling lance, wickedly sharp at the end, aimed directly for Shias’ heart.
But Shana didn’t cry out, even though her twin brother was threatened. Because something resounded in her heart, and she felt it reach to Shias’, too. So when Shias raised his Talisman…
A gleaming white shield materialized in the space between himself and Glen’s attack. And for all its fury, the lance of Darkness struck the shield, strained…
And then fell, dissolving.
The shield flickered away, its work complete.
“What…?” Glen asked, his smile wavering.
“Garnet, let’s go,” Shana said, touching Garnet’s arm. “Everyone else, too! Altair, support Shias!” The blue pup barked once and raced to Shias’ side, casting a Support Magic aura over him, enhancing Shias’ already potent talents. “Alexander, can you help us?”
“Yes!” Alexander said, racing towards the consoles and the large cylinders they were connected to. “And once they’re free, I can put an end to this place.”
Shana smiled as she followed after him with Garnet and the others. Now that he wasn’t the Nightmare-Child, now that he was finally purified and healed, he was so excited to help undo the damage that he had caused, and the damage he had allowed to grow alongside him.
Glen blasted at Shias with Darkness again, and Shias blocked it with a shield. Three lances followed, all blasting outward and then lancing inward, to strike Shias from all sides, but Shias stood firm, unblinking and unmoving, as he brought forth three shields to cover all three attacks, rendering them harmless.
“You’re just a child!” Glen shouted, his smile gone as he railed at Shias with attack after attack. “A Human child, who hasn’t even lived two decades! How can you possibly stand against these attacks?”
“I could explain it,” Shias said calmly, but with a flicker of fire in his voice. “There’s something incredible about fully understanding the properties and potential of Guardian Magic. But the fact is, you don’t need to know. And I don’t need to explain it, as long as I can protect everyone.”
“Everyone?” Glen asked, sneering. He sent his next barrage of attacks swarming towards Shana and her team, far from Shias.
Shias didn’t move. He didn’t have to. Shields appeared in the air between the lances of Darkness and Shana’s team, blocking every single blow meant for his sister and friends.
“You can’t harm her,” Shias said. “Not as long as I’m still standing. So don’t waste your time trying.” He twirled his pen once, a simple, understated flourish. “Your fight is with me.”
Glen snarled and went on the attack, and Shana put all her focus on her own task, trusting Shias. They reached the first console, the one running the giant test-tube with the little prince Jude inside it. Alexander worked at the controls, his fingers flying swift and precise.
“You know how to work these things?” Kathryn asked, whistling, impressed.
“Apparently,” Alexander said, smiling. “I wasn’t sure until I tried. Hang on. I can release him, but…” His rapidly moving fingers came to a stop, and he looked up at Garnet. “Released, the Darkness could set him on a warpath. It seems like… well, it seems like they’re all being specifically geared towards tormenting you.”
“He’s my brother — he won’t harm me,” Garnet said, firm and determined despite evidence to the contrary battling it out with Shias just a few dozen feet away.
“Go for it,” Shana said, nodding to Alexander. He went back to work, and a moment later, the liquid drained from the tube, and then a glass panel slid open, and Jude came tumbling to the floor, rolling twice, writhing strands of Darkness trailing around him. When he came to a rest, the Darkness surged, chasing into his body, and he convulsed, mouth wide in a silent scream.
“Let him go!” Garnet said, and before anyone else could act, she leapt to her brother…
And embraced him.
The Darkness writhed, lashing at her, too, but she didn’t let go. “You’re all right, Jude,” she said softly, holding him close. “Your sister’s here, and she won’t let anything harm you. Come back to the Light. Come back to me.”
The Darkness suddenly fell back, the loose tendrils slackening. Jude’s convulsions stopped, and he hugged his sister back. Light suddenly blossomed between the pair, pure white light that blasted outward, slowly enveloping Jude’s body. Dissolving bits of Darkness floated up into the air, vanishing one by one.
When the light faded, all of the Darkness that had taken over Jude was gone. The little prince was restored. And he was all over his sister, crying and thanking her profusely.
“It’s going to be all right, Jude,” Garnet said soothingly, stroking the little boy’s back. “Let’s save Mother and Father, shall we?”
Alexander was already leading the way to the second console. Shana raced after him, her heart bursting with joy for the siblings. She still had no idea how Garnet could save Glen, but for now, saving those being overtaken by Darkness took priority.
And while they went to work, Shias continued to stand tall and firm against Glen. Nothing the boy threw at him could touch him. Twice, Glen even did the same blast he’d used before to swallow them all up in endless Darkness — but it didn’t get far enough. Shias saw it coming, and shielded against it early, forming powerful shields right in front of Glen’s hand and rendering the enveloping wave of Darkness inert.
Glen had to move around a lot, because Shias kept forming shields right in front of the boy’s hands, and apparently Glen could only attack by unleashing Darkness from his hands. Of course, no matter where he moved, Shias could still block him the same way — Shias could materialize his shields anywhere he could see, and with Divination Magic, he expanded his field of view to a full 360 degrees around himself. It was a perfect combination, and let Shias simply focus on tactical decision-making — where to place his shields, when, for how long, and at what strength or to what purpose.
It was a combination that matched Shana’s twin perfectly. And he wielded it now with a skill, speed, and efficiency that spoke of his experiences. From humble beginnings at the start of the Dawn Riders, to all of the adventures they’d had along the way, he’d grown so much. He’d failed to protect them from Neith’s spider at the beginning of their journey. But he’d protected Shana from Dullan, and held an escape for all of them during the Annabelle rescue mission. And on top of the battles he’d been through were so many other experiences, where he’d grown and shown how steady and reliable he could be. Without him, how could Shana have braved the Nightmare Road, or gotten through her test at the Garden of Memory? And of course he, like Annabelle and the other Dawn Riders, was one of Shana’s Apprentices now, able to help her purify Nightmyrn and Nightmares.
Caleb, who’d trained so much with Shias, had always praised his talents. Shias, for his part, had always, always downplayed his own abilities. He was brilliant, Shana knew that, everyone else knew it, but he never saw it that way.
But no matter how humble he was, no matter how he saw himself, when it came to the key moment, he never failed to step up to the challenge. No matter how big the obstacle, Shias’ humility never held him back from the fight.
Shana alone knew just how much Shias’ magic meant to him. She was the only one he’d ever told why he’d chosen to specialize in Guardian Magic, and back it up with Divination Magic.
It was no grand secret. She’d often teased him for not telling anyone else. But beneath the calm, quiet, thoughtful personality was a very dramatic individual. To Shias, his reasons, simple as they were, were the most important thing in the world. They were the core of who he was, and telling them to someone else, even his twin sister, to whom he told everything, was a big, meaningful act.
It was his reasons, and all of the moments that he’d stepped up, and just who Shias was through and through, that let Shana always feel confident relying on and depending on him. And right now, when they needed to be clear to save the ones who needed saving, Shana was so grateful that Shias could stand up against the villain who had set all of this up.
His shields were so bright, beautiful, pure white. When Shias entered into battle, he was always a light, brighter than his personality would ever suggest.
A light to stand against the darkness.
And he didn’t have to stand alone. Shana was so proud of Altair, standing right beside him, bolstering Shias the best he could.
“There,” Alexander said, emptying the Crystal Queen’s tube. The Queen came falling to the floor, and Garnet raced to her, Jude beside her. They both embraced their mother, never fearing the horrible, vicious Darkness that enveloped her, that thrashed and raged against the threat the children posed.
Light blazed once more. Light born of love, a love that felt no fear, a love that would never let their family go.
When it faded, the Crystal Queen was free of the Darkness. She fell, weak and tired, into the embrace of her children. For a moment, she didn’t even register they were there. But when she finally did, she stroked Garnet’s hair, and a small smile played across her lips.
“Thank you, dear daughter,” she whispered, for that was all the strength she could muster. “Thank you.” She fell unconscious, but that was all it was.
“She’ll be all right,” Garnet said, letting her go and gratefully accepting Ben and Rae’s help with her. “Jude, come on. Let’s rescue Father.”
Alexander worked the final console faster than the last, and soon the Crystal King came tumbling out of the final tube. But something was wrong from the moment he hit the floor. And when Garnet and Jude embraced him, while the Darkness struggled and raged against them…
The Crystal King didn’t move at all. Where Jude and the Queen had convulsed and cried out in silent agony, the King didn’t move a muscle.
When the light faded, and the Darkness was gone, the King slumped against his children, eyes closed.
He said nothing. He didn’t move at all.
“Father?” Garnet asked. She shook him once, then twice. “Father! Please, Father, wake up!”
“He’s hurt,” Jude said, and Shana soon saw the terrible wound she’d heard of — the wound that Glen had inflicted, stabbing his own father in the back with a knife. Blood still stained the King’s clothing, and even now the wound bled anew.
“If he’s bleeding, then there’s still life in there somewhere!” Kathryn said, racing to his side. “Shana, bring Altair over. You can at least close the wound, right?”
“Altair, hurry!” Shana called, and Altair came running. He didn’t need to stand right beside Shias to give him his Support aura, and so Shias remained strengthened by Altair — by Shana — even as Altair rushed over to help the dying King. Together, Shana and her Summon worked Healing Magic, closing the wound. But that was all they could do. They couldn’t replenish blood that was lost. And there was complicated internal damage that Shana could sense, but didn’t have the knowledge or delicate precision to repair.
“Come on, wake up,” Kathryn urged softly as Garnet and Jude held their father. Glen roared in anger at all three of his captives being freed, but none of his attacks came near them. Shias had the boy locked down.
Slowly, the King’s eyes fluttered, and then opened halfway. He looked slowly from Garnet to Jude, then back to Garnet. And then, with a surge of strength, he gripped one of her hands tightly. “Garnet,” he said in a faltering, gasping voice. “Garnet… thank you.”
“Father, don’t speak, please,” Garnet said. “Just let us get you out of here, so you can heal.”
“It’s too late for me,” the King said, and at Garnet’s protests he held up a trembling finger to her lips. “Please. I just… you must know, that I… trust you. When the Palace is restored. When there is a place for a Crystal Family once more… you will lead the way. You, not your mother. You… will understand. I know you will.”
“Father, don’t go,” Jude sobbed, burying his tearful face in his father’s chest. The Crystal King wrapped an arm around his youngest son, hugging him with what little strength he had left. His other hand remained clenched to Garnet’s, but its grip was slowly failing.
“Garnet… you will find it,” the King said. “The will to carry on. And… what I have left for you. You know… you know where to look.”
“Father,” Garnet said softly, nodding once, tears running tracks down her cheeks. “I won’t let you down.”
“Far from it,” the King said. A faint smile touched his lips. “You… were always the best… of us. My daughter… I am so very sorry.”
“You have nothing to apologize for,” Garnet said, shaking her head. “Father, I love you. Always.”
The King looked taken aback for a moment. Then, smiling, he murmured, “And I you, my daughter.”
He gasped, softly. His eyes closed.
His hand fell from Garnet’s.
The Crystal King breathed no more.
Garnet and Jude held their father close, weeping over him. Shana turned away, giving them some privacy — for as little time as they’d have. This was no place to mourn the dead.
They’d accomplished what they’d come for, and needed to get out of here. But…
What should they do?
How do we get everyone out? Jude’s doing okay, but the Queen’s in no condition to move, and we aren’t leaving the King’s body here. And then there’s Glen…
Can Garnet save him? Especially now, having just lost her father… can she face him once more? Can she get through to him?
Shias continued to battle Glen, forcing the boy back into a corner through clever usage of his shields. Glen had nowhere to go, and he couldn’t get an attack out now, with Shias blocking every blast at the origin point of Glen’s hands. It was hard to call it a fight at this point.
And Alexander was ready to do his part, too.
“I can destroy the Citadel whenever you’re ready,” he said, looking to Shana, keeping his back turned to Garnet and her father just like Shana did. “But…”
“But I’m not leaving Glen here,” said Garnet, rising and joining them.
“Garnet, are you sure?” Shana asked. “If you need more time, or…”
“I will mourn my father properly when we leave this place,” Garnet said, wiping tears from her eyes. She fixed Glen with a determined gaze. “I need to save both of my brothers. Now more than ever.”
“There’s nothing you can do to change me!” Glen said, dropping his hands to his sides. He was sick of fighting futilely against Shias, and the fact that Shias didn’t have any offensive techniques of his own meant that if Glen stopped fighting, the fight ended. Shias just watched him, ready in case the prince decided to attack again.
“Glen, please,” Garnet said. “Our father is dead. Mother is weak. Won’t you come home with us? Can’t we start over? If you’ll talk about it all, if we can spend time together, we can find a path forward, I’m certain of it.”
“Your certainty has no foundation,” Glen said, sneering, “and will bear no fruit. Our father is dead by my hand. Yet you act as if you can forgive me? Spare me your platitudes, sister. If you have nothing else to offer, then leave this place. I will not go with you.”
“We won’t merely leave this place,” Garnet said. “Glen, we’re going to destroy it! If you get left behind —”
“Then I’ll die,” Glen said with a low, careless chuckle. “I’d rather go down in the ruin of something I built than go ‘home’ with you to a place I despise. You have beaten me. Now leave me.”
“Glen, don’t be stubborn!” Garnet said. She clenched her hands into fists, and then reached out with one, spreading those fingers wide, beseeching her brother. “You don’t need to be a villain, you don’t need to be this way! No matter what the Darkness promises you, your true home, where you can truly belong and find real, lasting joy, is and always will be in the Light.”
“Why would you just give up?” Shias asked. “You’d choose death over your sister? Over even a chance at trying something else?”
“Every time,” Glen said, throwing up his hands in a derisive shrug. “I had my fun. It wasn’t all for naught. I rushed my attempt at Furies, but no matter. I enjoyed this side of my life, which is more than I can say for life before I chose the Darkness.” His smile returned. “Whatever you do, sister, you won’t be leaving here with me.”
A sudden rumble shook the floor, and Shana nearly fell to her knees. “What did you do?” she asked, staring at the smiling prince.
“He dismantled the Citadel’s cornerstone,” Alexander said, eyes wide in horror and disbelief. “He… he’s destroying the Citadel himself.”
“Glen, no!” Garnet cried, racing towards Glen. He raised his hands, unleashing new blasts of Darkness straight at his sister, but Shias’ shields were there, defending her.
But a shockwave from the contact knocked Garnet back. Glen had devised his attacks specifically to keep distance from his sister, even if Shias blocked them.
Another rumble shook the ground, and cracks spread through the floor. The rumbling continued, and one of the computer consoles shattered, broke in half, and fell to pieces, spraying sparks and steam all around. On the far side of the lab, a support pillar shook as a series of cracks ran through it.
“We’ve gotta go!” Kathryn cried. “Let’s find a way out.”
“We’re ready when you find one,” Rae called. Shana turned and was amazed — Rae had her magic back, too, and so she’d Summoned Brutus. While she rode on his shoulder, Brutus held the unconscious Queen in one hand and the body of the King in the other. Ben had his magic, too — they all did, now — and had split into three doppels, Blinking each one to a door and trying them all.
“They won’t budge!” the three Bens said, heaving and tugging with all their might.
“I’ve got ya, kid,” Kathryn said, helping Jude up as he stumbled from another earth-shaking rumble.
Shana was ready to leave. Only… she could tell that Garnet wasn’t.
How could she be?
“Should I just wrap the kid up?” Kathryn asked, pulling out one of her ribbon wands and glaring at the smiling Glen.
“No,” Garnet said in a forlorn voice, shaking her head. She kept her eyes fixed on Glen, tears swimming in them. “If he won’t come with me… then he won’t come at all.”
And then she took off running, straight towards her brother. Shana cried out, chasing after her, and Shias moved to intercept her as well. Glen launched a new attack, but Shias blocked it at the source —
And the shockwave sent Glen flying back, smacking into the cracked pillar. Garnet screamed.
The pillar tore apart, and came crashing down.
Sections of roof were caving in with it. Shias formed shields to bounce back Garnet and Shana, who were running too fast to stop themselves, just in time to keep the roof from crashing down on top of them. Shana held Garnet, keeping her from racing into further danger, but her eyes were fixed on the collapse.
Where was Glen? He couldn’t be dead, he couldn’t —
There!
She found him, saw him in the midst of the rubble. Slumped down, sitting on the floor. Blood streamed down his face from several cuts to his head and face. His legs appeared to be broken.
But he was still smiling.
“Shana, we can’t get out!” Ben said, Blinking to her. “But it’s a Dream, right? Can you get us out?”
“I…” Shana started, her mind whirling from all that was happening. She turned back, saw Rae and Kathryn with the rescued members of the Crystal Family, waiting for an escape route. She saw the walls shattering, pillars cracking, the ceiling starting to fall.
She turned to face front again, and there was Shias, staring at her, calm and steady despite the destruction coming down around them.
“You can show the way,” he said, reaching out and holding onto Garnet, who still strained to run to her brother. That left Shana free to do what only she could do.
It broke her heart. How could she take Garnet from Glen?
But how could Glen be who he was, how could he choose the path that he’d chosen?
How could he so completely reject his sister?
She didn’t understand this family. And she didn’t know how to save all of them.
But she could save the ones right in front of her. She could save most of them. Maybe… just maybe…
That could be enough.
Through her, Heart and the Eternal Flame opened up an avenue, light blazing forward to form a clean road, unthreatened by the collapsing Citadel. Rae and Kathryn raced to it first, followed closely by Alexander and Annabelle.
Shana helped Shias guide Garnet there. They didn’t say anything, and were as gentle as they could with Garnet, who was still desperate to reach Glen, now fully buried in a building pile of rubble.
Onto the road they stepped.
Go ahead, Heart, Eternal Flame.
Get us out of here.
Light filled Shana’s vision, and she left the Citadel behind for good.